CAMELOT – THE COURTYARD
The citadel was full of life and gossip the next morning.
As the sun rose from dawn Merlin and Ava rushed through the courtyard to see guards running around fully armed in and out through the lower town, and many knights still armed to the teeth peering over battlements and shouting orders at one another.
"Elyan!" Merlin shouted and raced up the stairs to stand in front of the knight who looked relieved to see him, "what is going on?"
Ava stared at her uncle.
Her heart missed a beat and her eyes looked around at the castle which although the same as the one in her time seemed… younger…
Her hair was hanging long down her back, two front plaits pulled away from her face ina purple ribbon, as her mother has always had it styled for her.
Her purple dressed looked grey with walking in places but she swallowed and looked up.
She could hear Merlin muttering something and Elyan shaking his head.
"Well whether you left the vaults open or not Arthur is furious… the man got in and took something, probably a book…"
"It wasn't a book it was a crystal, the crystal of Breckfar." Merlin told him.
Elyan narrowed his eyes, "how do you know that?"
Merlin sighed and shook his head, "I will tell you later… I need to talk to Arthur, Ava!"
He called for her and she steeled herself, running up the stairs to stand at his side.
"Ava this is Sir Elyan." He gestured between them briefly.
Elyan studied her for a moment before he looked at Merlin, "She…"
"I found her in the forest lost and probably in danger… lets go…" Merlin pushed her gently to enter the castle before him.
He followed her inside before he appeared half out the door and hissed to Elyan.
"And I know… she looks stupidly like Gwen."
CAMELOT CORRIDORS
Merlin skidded to fall into step beside Ava.
"Considering you have never been here before you seem to know where you are going…" He leant close as they rounded a corner.
"err… lucky guess." She tried to laugh it off.
Merlin could not help his eyes narrowing, "mmm… whoa!"
As they rounded another corner Ava walked smack into the mountain that was Sir Percival. He caught her arms and steadied her.
"Sorry my lady…" He stammered and looked her over before his hands fell away sharply.
He looked at her properly before at Merlin, "Oh sorry… I thought…"
"Many people think I look like the queen… it would seem… Sir Percival." Ava looked up at the man she knew.
He looked so young, but had he always been this tall…
Percival smiled and looked to Merlin, his tone firm but his eyes apologetic.
"Arthur wants to see you…"
"Yes we have seen Elyan; we are going there now… Ava wants to meet the king for the first time!" Merlin strode past and Ava followed.
The sorcerer leant close and dropped his voice to a hiss.
"Although I should warn you he is probably not going to be at his best."
Ava swallowed.
THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS
Arthur was sat at the head of the long table in his high wooden throne.
He was wearing his deep blue shirt, his sword and brown jacket slung over each side of his seat.
Gwen was dressed in deep red and sat at his left side, staring as Arthur did at the large open book that Gaius had put before them.
The old man was stood on Arthur's right facing Gwen across the table, his hands folded in front of him and his face grave.
Leon was stood ever vigilant just behind Gwen's chair.
The doors opened swiftly and Merlin entered. Ava stepped in behind him and stared at the people around the table.
"Arthur…" Merlin strode to the table to stand at Gaius's side.
The doors sung closed behind Ava and no one had seen her.
She was trying hard not to sob as she stared at the young man at the head of the table.
Her father.
"Ah Merlin…" His voice was almost sarcastic, "allow us to fill you in while you have been, that's a very good question, what the hell have you been doing?"
Merlin stared at him for a moment, "I…"
"Please take the time to choose your next words carefully." Arthur narrowed his eyes.
A tear dropped on Ava's cheek as queen Guinevere lifted one hand to cover her husbands in a firm grip of warning patience atop the table.
Merlin glanced at Gaius before he pressed on, "I received a message from the druids and I had to go and see them."
"You mean to tell me that you have been wandering around talking to druids all night?" Arthur almost demanded.
"I am court sorcerer that is what I do now." Merlin snapped.
"Sure you haven't been to the tavern?"
"Quite sure!"
"Really?"
"Yes!"
"Then who is your friend?"
Arthur gestured to Ava at the end of the hall.
She was stood half in shadow so could not be seen clearly by those around the table.
Merlin's mouth opened and closed for a moment before he turned his eyes on Arthur, not liking one part what the king was trying to hint at.
"She was lost in the woods heading to Camelot… I kept her with me to be safe." Merlin stated.
"Well I bet she found that reassuring." Arthur lifted his goblet and took in a large mouthful to ease his fury and frustration at those he loved being continuously in danger, "what is your name?"
Ava took a moment to realise that he was talking to her.
Her heart stopped beating.
"It is alright." Gwen smiled.
Ava swallowed and stepped towards the table from the shadows.
Everyone's eyes widened.
She looked down and curtsied, hiding her tear stained face.
"I…"She couldn't say anything.
She remained curtsied, eyes downcast.
Arthur's eyes were impossibly wide.
Everyone was thinking the same thing.
She looked so much like Gwen.
Merlin cast a glance at Gaius with a small shrug, saying that he had noticed also but didn't know why she looked so much like their queen and friend.
Arthur leant close to merlin who walked around Gaius to bend forwards so Arthur could hiss only to him, "you went gallivanting around the woods with a girl who looks exactly like my wife…"
"No I told you." Merlin hissed back, "I thought she was in danger on her own…"
Gwen dug her nails into the back of Arthur's hand.
"Ahh…" The king hissed and snapped his eyes to look at her.
Merlin stood upright once more at Gaius's side.
Gwen inclined her head at her husband, "Something you would like to share?"
Arthur glanced at Ava before he shook his head to clear his throats, "you need not curtsey so long Ava… I am sure if you go with one of the guards they will find you…"
His voice trailed away as he stared at her.
She looked so like his wife.
As usual it was Gwen to gather her thoughts first.
She stood from the chair and walked towards Ava.
Ava swallowed and straightened.
Gwen took her elbow gently, "I imagine you are tired from accompanying Merlin all night but you are here safely now. A guard will take you to get some food and somewhere to rest then you can go and do whatever it is that you wanted to do in the city."
Ava stuttered, "my lady I…"
"It would make me feel better knowing that you have had some rest and some food inside you." Gwen said firmly.
There was a fierce maternal note in her voice that made Merlin narrow his vision.
Arthur was staring at the two ladies, so alike… but there was something else in this Ava that they had only just met….
Ava looked back to the king and her heart broke, "thank you…"
Gwen smiled and gestured for a guard to lead her from the room.
Ava cast one look back before the doors closed behind her.
CAMELOT CORRIDORS
As the guards led her around a corner Ava felt her knees give way.
She stumbled slightly and sunk to sit in between the arches on the stone wall that went around the courtyard.
She wrapped one arm around her middle and the other hand lifted to cover her mouth as she fought not to sob uncontrollably.
She looked up at the sky with wide eyes, wondering how she would have the strength to see him again…
THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS
Gwen sunk to sit back in her seat as Merlin continued to speak.
"The druidswanted to warn me that someone was going to take a very precious and dangerous crystal from the vaults… that one, actually."
Merlin shot his hand out to point at the page that Gaius had open in the large book.
His finger rested on a drawing of the large granite statue holding a glowing crystal that changed from silver to crimson when in danger.
It was the crystal of Breckfar as Merlin had seen it in the waters and visions Lassar had shown him.
"The Crystal of Breckfar." Gwen murmured, her elbows resting on the arms of her chair, her hands folded over her tiny in her lap absentmindedly. It was clearer when she was seated than when she was stood.
"It was stolen last night from the vaults." Gwen said, "Although I imagine the druids told you that as well."
Merlin smirked hard at Arthur, "see."
Arthur opened his mouth to retort but Gaius stepped in, "My lord this is a weapon that is under threat and in turn that puts the royal family in danger."
MORGANA's HOVEL
The witch lifted a silver crystal from a man's hands.
He was on his knees before her, lifting it up like an offering towards her.
She wrapped her hands around it and laughed.
"Absolute power…" She whispered, her eyes glowing.
No sooner had they than the crystal turned a violent red in colour and burned white hot.
She let out a scream and dropped it to the floor.
THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS
As the crystal in Morgana's hovel fell to the floor and glowed burnt orange once more Gwen felt another stab of heat on her palm.
She grabbed at her hand with her other and hunched slightly forwards.
CAMELOT CORRIDORS
Ava felt a burning sensation, as she had done the night before, this time in her shoulder.
Her hand flew to it and she fisted her left hand against the pain.
The pain left but the marks that she could not see because of her angle did not.
As she swept her hair over one shoulder and remained sat on the wall, waving the guards assigned by the queen to see her safely to the kitchens away and declaring she was fine, she rubbed at the skin of her shoulder.
She could not see that her palm was moving over white silver lines that did not leave.
THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS
But once more for queen Guinevere the pain and marks only lasted for a moment before her necklace glowed and dispersed the lines and burning pain.
Arthur stood immediately and rushed to his wife's side, putting his hands on her shoulders as she released her hand and stared down at her palm.
They all watched as the white mark disappeared.
Merlin swallowed, "someone is making the crystal think it is in danger… it is trying to take a royal host, but the necklace I gave you protects you from magical enchantment or curse so it cannot…"
"But I am not Royal…" Gwen stared at him, listing her hands to cover Arthur's on her shoulders as he rubbed them firmly, glad and relieved that she was once more without pain.
"You are the queen." Her husband said firmly.
"But not of Royal blood…"
"You carry King Arthur's heir my lady. There is royal blood inside of you." Gaius stepped forwards gravely.
Gwen looked down at herself and her small rounded belly, dropping one hand to rest on it as her other tightened around Arthurs.
She let out a worried breath.
"We need to find the crystal and bring it back here where it is safe, before it takes another of you Royal Pendragon as a host for its power…"
"What happens to a person Merlin?" Gwen asked, "When the crystal consumes a person?"
"You are not in danger of…"
"Answer me, please." She hissed almost desperately.
Merlin straightened and glanced at the large doors Ava had left through before he thought for a moment shook such a thought away…
He looked back to Gwen.
"They will die… no one is meant to be controlled and possessed by that amount of power… their soul burns out and they die… and the magic bleeds from them and forms a new crystal that must be protected." He said gravely, "It has been safe in Camelot for centuries and has kept the citadel safe, providing longevity simply to the idea and values of this great kingdom… feeding off of the thriving people and therefore never being more powerful…"
Gwen leant her head against Arthur's hand wrapped around hers on her shoulder and sighed.
Arthur squeezed her hand tight.
"Then we need to get it back and safe here before it possesses someone we love."
Merlin nodded firmly in agreement.
CAMELOT CORRDIORS
Ava sat on the stone wall looking out over the courtyard rubbing at her lower arm.
She did not peel back the material to look at her skin, and she could not see under her hair or her shoulders because of her angle, to see the pulsing white tingling lines slowly growing over her body.
They did not leave her flesh.