*Dons multiple layers of custom-made protective armour, then peeks out from behind the largest, most secure rock available*

Hello...

It's... um... it's kind of been a while...

I'll try not to give any huge excuses. Let's just say that I appear to develop the mother of all writer's blocks when I'm not busy. If that makes any sense at all...

So, yeah, a lot has changed since last I posted. I've grown older. I'm become more insane than ever. And I moved to Japan almost a month ago, and am now living out my dream job. Why is this good news for you? Turns out that teaching English in Japan leaves me with quite a lot of time sitting in various Teachers' rooms. Turns out this is a fairly much perfect environment for writing- I've even managed to write the next one and a half chapters along with this one! (Although they're not typed up yet).

Anyway, I think that's enough from me. I'll shut up and allow you to get to reading.

(Ps. Please don't kill me for taking so long!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin

Chapter 27

Michael paused at the entrance to the Great Dragon's former cave, taking a moment to marvel at the tremendous size of the cavern in question. Merlin and the others in the party had, thankfully, been quick to agree to his plan once they had heard it, trusting him with such a crucial role even though he had been their enemy such a short time before. Whether they were too trusting, or simply good judges of character, was something which remained to be seen. He was inclined to believe the latter, but something told him the former had played a part in their decision too. Although the fact that time was against them, especially once Merlin's message to the vessels had finished being delivered, had almost certainly been a terrific influence.

Stepping into the cave and looking around, Michael noticed a set of old steps carved into the stone, almost hidden from sight and leading towards the giant outcrop of rock in the centre of the cavern. Taking a deep breath to steady the nausea which had risen within him at the thought of the steep drop to either side of the uneven stairway, the sorcerer began his slow trek along the path, cursing the fact that he couldn't simply transport himself across the drop magically. Unfortunately, such a powerful spell may alert Morgause and her crazy sister to his position. And there was no way on Earth he was going to give them an excuse to come and investigate his unusual behaviour. Not when the entire future of Camelot- indeed, of Albion itself- rested on his success. Instead, he focused on thoughts of what the future might offer once everything was over- a future of freedom, where he and Aveline could live together in peace- where his daughter could grow older free from the secrecy and lies which had, until now, been necessary in order to keep them both alive. Where those magic users who had been hoodwinked into playing the parts of Morgause's puppets in her insane plan could make their own choices once again. Emrys was alive. The Once and Future King was well on his way to fulfilling his destiny. And nothing- not even the complex spells set up by the witch-sisters- would be able to prevent them from walking the path the prophecies had set out for them so many hundreds of years before. Not if he had anything to do with it.

Finally reaching the island of stone, Michael ran a shaky hand through his sparse hair, calming his mind ready for what came next. Casting his eyes over the small platform upon which he now stood, his attention was caught momentarily by a hefty pile of thick black chains, their final link scorched and broken clean in two. This must have been the precise spot where the Dragon had been chained- he recognised it from Merlin's memories. The sorcerer allowed himself a satisfied grin. Perfect. He had, indeed, made the right decision regarding where to perform this task.

Placing the tip of a finger against the solid rock before him, Michael ran through his duties once more in his mind. Once the spell was completed, he would have to move fast. There was no way Morgause would not notice such a shift in the magic she had set- he would have to transport himself to Emrys directly after finishing if they had any hope at all of working fast enough for this to work.

With this in mind, the sorcerer took yet another deep breath and reached out with his mind. Searching out for the position where he knew Merlin must be, he probed the other man's consciousness, waiting for a response. As soon as he knew the young Warlock was listening, he spoke.

'I'm in position. About to start.'

'Alright,' came the reply, 'almost everyone's here now anyway, and the rest are definitely on their way. I'll start as soon as they get here.'

There was a small pause before Merlin continued once more. 'Oh, and Michael?'

'Yes?'

'Good luck.'

Michael smiled faintly, reassured slightly in his mission with this reminder that he had the support of the mighty Emrys himself. 'You too.'

Withdrawing from the brief conversation, Michael focused his mind completely on what shape the final rune needed to take, and began to cast his spell.

Arthur propped himself against one of the pillars scattered around the edges of the room, trying his utmost to project an air of confidence and approachability. It was only thanks to a lifetime of practice that he was able to prevent his utter disgust at the situation from showing on his face, and the task only grew harder as each new 'vessel' ventured hesitantly into the room.

Thirty Seven.

Including Aveline, that was the total number of children to arrive so far. All, by the looks of it, between the ages of four and thirteen. And all, according to Merlin at least, completely untrained in magic. The Warlock had been greeting each child as he or she arrived, introducing them all both to himself and to the other members of their party and attempting, in general, to lower the level of tension in the room. It wasn't exactly an easy task, but it really was a necessary step considering how much trust they were asking the children to place in their small group.

Once everyone had arrived, bringing the total number of vessels up to thirty-nine (and it was amazing, really, that the witch-sisters had managed to position so many people within the city, even taking the effects of their spells into consideration), the Warlock joined Arthur where he stood.

"Thirty-nine?" The Blond questioned. "That's kind of an odd number, isn't it?"

Merlin quickly developed that shifty expression he always wore when he was trying to hide something.

"There were forty. One isn't a vessel any more."

"What? Why?" What in the name of Camelot could have happened? Was the last one dead or something?

The younger man paused for a moment, as though he was considering something. No doubt whether to give Arthur the entire truth or just half of it. Merlin had an annoying habit of trying to shield the Prince from things he thought he couldn't cope with. It was a habit Arthur was definitely planning on breaking eventually- even if he had to beat his friend to a pulp in order to get the message across that he didn't need babying.

"He was your vessel. Morgause must have worked out that you weren't affected, so she removed the spell from him."

"But that makes no sense." Arthur frowned. "Why bother removing the spell if it wasn't doing anything in the first place? She could have left it as it was, and it wouldn't have made the tiniest amount of difference to her."

A flash of something similar to guilt flashed across Merlin's eyes, but he quickly masked it. "Who knows? I certainly don't want to try and fathom how that Witch thinks."

The Warlock, evidently believing that he had said enough on the subject, beamed at his friend. "You ready?"

Arthur grinned past the anxiety he was feeling about the situation, memories of their past adventures flitting through his mind. He and Merlin had faced seemingly impossible odds before. Together they had fought Afancs, Bandits, Armies and Dragons, and they had even battled against death itself. And, no matter what, they had always come out victorious before. Nothing was going to stop them from doing so again.

"Always."

The two bumped shoulders- their own way of showing support for each other- and Merlin stood aside briefly so that the Prince could take charge. Stepping forward, Arthur looked around at the collection of children, the well of righteous anger within him filling progressively as each worried face stared back at him. In just a few short seconds the well burst, and words began to stream forth almost effortlessly.

"I know you're scared." He nodded reassuringly. "And so am I. But if there's one thing I have learned in life, it's that we should not let our fears control us. Instead, we need to take that fear and work hard to turn it into our strength. Without doing so, we can never move forward. Without doing so, we can never protect what we need to protect.

"Today," he continued, "we need your strength. Each and every one of you-" a smile to the youngest there- "however small, are a vital part of today's mission. If you're willing to help us- if you're willing to trust us- then, together, we can stop the spells Morgana and Morgause have cast over Camelot."

He paused, sensing the question some of the elder children no doubt wanted to ask. "I can't promise that things will be perfect. I know that life in Camelot is not easy for those, like yourselves, with magical abilities. But I promise that I will do absolutely everything in my power to make sure that everyone here, together with your friends and families, can live lives full of happiness, smiles and laughter."

Glancing around to see his message slowly sinking in, Arthur took the only course of action open to him. Kneeling down so that he was on level with most of the smaller children, he faced his audience once again.

"So how about it? Will you help us?"

As a wave of nods and a chorus of 'yes'ses broke forth, the Blonde cast his eye towards his companions. The proud expressions on Merlin's and Guinevere's faces said it all. With his heart filling with gratitude and joy, Arthur rose once again to his feet.

"Thank you."

Then, finally, it was time for Merlin to take the lead. And of course, being Merlin, he felt he had to do it in style. Walking forward into the middle of the room, he tapped his foot against the floor, eyes flaring gold as five glowing blue rings magically etched themselves into the floor, forming the five points of a star, with Merlin in the centre.

"If you could," began the Warlock, his calm smile almost ridiculously infectious, "I'd like you to form four groups of eight and one of seven, and enter the circles. Try to balance out the ages of each group, too, so that the circles are about the same."

Therein followed a few minutes of confusion, with Arthur, Gwen and Kennard dashing about, trying to make sense of the approximate ages as the children formed their clusters. But eventually the groups were roughly balanced, and the vessels entered their circles, fidgeting anxiously, some of them holding hands to share in each-others' strength. As the last child took her place, lines of light shot out of each ring, sketching out the completed image of a star, and also forming one large circle to encompass the whole set-up.

Merlin rotated slowly on the spot, watching with satisfaction as the image he had formed in his mind came to life without a single fault.

"Alright," he began, "I know that none of you have been trained to use your magic, so I've going to have to ask you something a bit strange. I need to ask you, for the next few minutes, to let me take control of your power."

Seeing a hint of panic on some faces, Merlin rushed to reassure them.

"You don't need to worry. It won't hurt, and I won't be taking your magic away. In fact, if you focus, you'll be able to sense everything I do with it, and you may even be able to learn how to use your magic on your own. Aright?"

As, one by one, the children gave their approval, the young Warlock grinned widely, thrilled at the fact that they were all so willing to trust him.

"Alright then, everyone, please close your eyes. Concentrate. Now imagine that you're shrinking. Smaller and smaller, getting more and more tiny, until you''re about the same size as a single ant or a grain of rice." He took a moment to make sure they were all complying. "Good. Very good. Now, imagine your tiny self sinking right into the centre of your real body. Search around. It may take a little while, but you should be able to find your power. It could be any colour, but it probably looks like a small ball of glowing light."

As they searched, Merlin kept an eye on their progress, with both his physical and his magical senses. Most of the children were doing surprisingly well, and for those who weren't he was able to provide a tiny nudge in the right direction without any of them actually realising that he was doing so. In this manner, it only took a few short minutes for every single one of them to have found their centre of power.

"Excellent," he beamed. "Now just stay focussed on that light. In a moment, I'll connect to each of you magically. Don't be afraid- just just me in. I won't completely take over- I'll just act as a guide of sorts. Ready?" He paused a moment. "Here I go."

Then, closing his eyes, Merlin sank once more into a world of glittering magic. A large portion of his mind fragmented, each shard moving swiftly but gently to link onto the power of each of the vessels. The children were surprisingly calm, each one welcoming him openly, so it was only a matter of moments before he had control.

And so the first stage was complete. To go any further than that right then was far too risky. So, instead of splitting his mind any further just yet, he instead took a moment to go over the plan once more. This wasn't like so many of his and Arthur's past adventures. There could be absolutely no more room for mistakes. A single slip-up, and Camelot was doomed.

Assured that he knew for definite how to progress, Merlin used the magical links to explain the very basics of what was going to happen to the children. Then, finally, he reached out with his mind to where, all those long months ago, Kilgarrah had been chained.

'How are things going there?'

'Almost complete.' Michael's mental voice came back almost instantly. 'I just have to make the final join, and then the spell will start automatically. I'm just waiting for your signal.'

'Good. We're all set here, so start whenever you want. We'll be waiting for you.'

'Got it. Good luck.'

Merlin gave the equivalent of a mental smile, allowing his gratitude to sink through the bond. 'You too. Thanks for all your help.'

'It's my honour. I shall join you soon, Merlin.'

Opening his eyes, but keeping his mind completely focussed, the young Warlock temporarily broke off his link to Michael, and instead spoke to the room at large.

"It's time."

Just as Arthur, Gwen and Kennard settled into their defensive positions, it started. A soft wave of magic emanated from the Dragon's former lair, rippling outwards so gently that it could have been mistaken for the lightest of summer breezes. Nevertheless, Merlin knew that Morgause, at least, would quickly realise what had happened. It would take a miracle for her not to notice the tethering spells disappearing from so many sets of clothing at once. They could only hope that details such as the location of origin would confuse her for a safe enough length of time for their counter-attack to become unstoppable.

Almost as soon as they had started, the ripples came to an abrupt end. Merlin quickly formed a vacuum in the magic around him- just about large enough for one small man. Three seconds passed with almost agonising slowness to his hyper-aware mind before the tell-tale sound of rushing winds announced Michael's arrival in the very spot the young Warlock had just prepared. It took only a second for the two to link their magics, and even less for Merlin to launch outwards mentally in all directions, commencing the attack.

There was no going back now.

It's all kicking off for real now! Things over the next couple of chapters have a couple of moments I've had planned for absolutely AGES.

I was going to punish myself by asking you not to give any reviews whatsoever for this chapter, but I now realise that that would mean denying you a means to berate me for my horrendously long break from writing. So shoot. Just not literally. I don't want to die yet.

Ps. I wrote the following review reply back when the previous chapter was posted. I don't typically reply to anonymous reviews (although I definitely appreciate them), but this one felt important. So here goes (you don't have to read it):

Review Reply: Jacqs-

Thanks so much for the comment. I completely agree with you- Merlin never has seemed uncomfortable with the respect the Druids give him. I considered changing that bit slightly, but decided to keep it as is, the reason being that this is the first time he's been treated as such in front of others. In my eyes, especially after so long apart, right now it's important to him to have them see him as 'Merlin,' and not as a Lord, in a similar sort of way to how Arthur probably appreciates being called by his name sometimes, rather than by a title- titles have an annoying way of labelling people and placing them in a certain position. Also, I don't think he's seen as a Lord or a King to the Druids- as they only have elders- but rather as someone to be highly respected. Merlin, in my opinion, has never seemed to like being treated as someone worthy of respect, as such, but rather the respect is something he acknowledges, and feels he has to earn. Plus, being treated with respect and being given a title out of the blue are two very different things.

I'm sorry if I've rambled a bit here. Thank you so much for taking the time to review, and I really appreciate your advice- under most other circumstances, I probably would have changed it, but this seems to me to be what fits with this particular time line. I hope my reasoning makes sense.