It had been a month since Arthur had arrived in Ealdor, and overall he was settling in quite...
"MERLIN!" Arthur shouted, as he ran from the fields out towards the village. Hunith was nearby and watched with a smirk on her face as Arthur, who appeared to be covered in manure. As he came nearby, he stopped and walked towards her, "Hunith, have you seen Merlin?"
"I haven't sorry Arthur, but should I tell him to run if I see him?" She teased.
"He'd better." Arthur smirked evilly as he picked up a thick stick and hit it against the palms of his hands. He then started to run off towards the house.
Meanwhile, Merlin was watching from the top of one of the trees in the woods to the side of the village laughing as Arthur stormed around looking for him. He understood that his spell to spread the manure without touching it had some unforseen consequences but he still believed that if Arthur had stayed away like he had said then it wouldn't have happened.
Either way, it was safer to stay out of his way for a bit, and he quite enjoyed watching the village from this height. You could see everything that was happening, viewing it from a distance. It was quite peaceful.
Then a picture came into his head of him falling off of the tree. Merlin smirked, and thought back, "Don't worry. I'm not going to fall. I'm using magic to keep me tied to the tree."
He then saw a picture of Mordred smiling, Merlin thought again, "Are you ok? I know it's been different for a while because of Arthur."
He saw a picture of Mordred nodding, and then of Arthur and him smiling. Merlin smiled, "Yeah, he's alright. He can be a bit of a prat. But he is a good guy, I guess. He is currently threatening hitting me with a stick though, so I'm not sure today."
Another picture formed in his head of an army storming on the village, Merlin frowned, "What? Do you think that they are going to come here."
Just words appeared in his head this time, they read "Of cause they are." Merlin sighed, Mordred was right. They were going to come here and they would kill everyone in the village if they had the chance. "We can't stop them. The most likely thing is everyone's going to die, right?"
Merlin saw a picture of an unsure Mordred. Merlin had thought about it a lot. The most obvious thing would be for them to escape to the various forests around Camelot and hide in them. If they kept on moving then they would be able to escape. But a lot of the villagers did not want to leave and thought that they would be able to fight against the Magic King, something that was, from everything they had seen so far and the fact that they were just ordinary villagers, wrong. It's not going to happen.
Their chance was Merlin and Mordred, but from what Mordred was imagining they did not stand a chance, and Mordred had a gift for knowing what was going to happen. Merlin had asked him about it before, and Mordred had explained that he goes to sleep and then when he wakes up he has an idea of what is going to happen in the future. The tricky thing is whether it is magic or not. Merlin decided to assume a while ago that if Mordred ever told him anything then he should take it as the truth, which meant that they were coming soon.
"Can we get them all to safety somehow?" Merlin asked. Another picture of an unsure Mordred appeared. Merlin sighed, "Ok. I'm going to go and tell Mum."
Merlin's eyes then glowed and he disappeared off of the top of the tree and was back on the ground. He slowly walked towards Hunith, but before he could reach her he was tackled to the ground. Within seconds he was pinned to the ground and unable to move due to the mucky figure above him, "You smell." Merlin commented.
Arthur laughed, and then rubbed his shirt on his transferring manure onto his clothes, "Well so do you now." Merlin frowned, he didn't like the feel of this. It felt quite uncomfortable. "Sorry." Merlin replied. Arthur then sighed, "I guess it's alright. Just next time don't go flinging muck around."
"Next time stay out of the way." Merlin muttered, Arthur then grabbed his shirt and gestured towards his face, Merlin looked straight at the shirt and was scared of what might happen. "Be careful what you say Merlin." Arthur then loosened his grip and stood up, allowing Merlin to get up. Merlin then walked towards the house with Arthur and Merlin got a fresh shirt while Arthur tried to have a bit of a wash (as much as was possible with a bowl of well water). Merlin was currently sharing his clothes with Arthur (luckily Merlin's clothes were a bit too big for him, so they fit Arthur ok), so Merlin made sure to leave him out a different coloured top (he decided a red one, Merlin was feeling like a blue shirt, red neckerchief day). If they matched then it would just be a bit too weird to deal with.
Merlin then remembered what he had been meaning to do and went out to find his mother. She was still where she had been talking to another village. As Merlin approached she finished talking and walked over to him, "Hi Merlin. Are you alright?"
"Mostly." Merlin replied with a smile, knowing this was a nice way to respond, "Mordred thinks that we're going to be invaded soon."
"Oh." Hunith said sadly. There was silence for a few moments as the two stood there.
"What are we going to do?" Merlin asked. Then there was more silence.
"Well. I guess that I'll tell everyone that I can, see if they want to leave and if they do then they can go and if they want to stay then they can stay. It's their choice." Hunith replied, with sadness in her voice.
"But if they stay, they will..."
"Yes Merlin. They probably will. We don't need to say it though." Hunith then started to walk to the first house, leaving Merlin standing in the street.
"Mum." Merlin called out.
"Yes Merlin." She called back, smiling lovingly at him.
"What are we going to do?"
She looked at him for a minute, and then smiled, "I have a plan Merlin. I'll tell you once I've seen everyone." Merlin nodded and she then knocked on the first door. Merlin returned to the house to see Arthur lying on the bed with a book. When he saw Merlin he frowned slightly.
"Are you alright? This isn't about me is it? You got what you deserved earlier." Arthur said gruffly.
"No, it's not you." Merlin muttered as he went over to the bed and sat on the edge facing away from Arthur, "It's the Magic King. Mordred thinks that his army is going to be coming here soon."
Arthur nodded and sat up on the bed, "Ok. So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know yet. Mum has a plan."
"Do you think that I'm in that plan?" Arthur asked.
"If you want to be, then I'm sure Mum will include you in it." Merlin smiled. Arthur then nodded and smirked.
"Great. I guess that will do for now." Arthur chuckled.
The two sat there for a while. Arthur had tried to talk about what Hunith's plan was, but Merlin didn't respond as he didn't know. Instead he started to recite numbers again, "One, One, Two, Three, Five, Eight, Thirteen, Twenty-One, Thirty-Four, Fifty-Five, Eighty-Nine." Eventually Mordred returned home, though he didn't have any better conversation for Arthur. Arthur had gotten used to this though, and so continued to read his book. Sometimes it was best to just let them do what they were going to do. In the case of Mordred, he was sitting with a bowl of water changing the shape of the water as he wished.
When the sun started to fall Hunith returned, "Hello Merlin, Mordred, Arthur. I managed to tell everyone."
Merlin stopped repeating numbers and asked, "What are they going to do?"
"They're mixed. Some are going to leave and head for the woods, some are going to stay." Hunith replied, "The one's who are staying are not going to fight. They are going to hide and surrender if they need to. They think that there might just get imprisoned."
"We know that they're wrong though." Arthur muttered, and Hunith sighed.
"What about us though?" Merlin asked. Arthur could hear him muttering the numbers under his breath, he was nervous.
"I have a plan for us. Well, a plan for you." Hunith replied, "You are going to leave, tonight."
Merlin felt a sudden panic rise though him as he watched his mother's determined face, "What?"
"I have been sending letters to an old friend of mine. He believes that Arthur is the only one who will be able to stop the Magic King. He thought he found a prophesy that stated that Arthur could defeat him, but for it he would need help." Hunith explained. Mordred then pointed to him and Merlin, "Yes. That means you two."
"But...what about you?" Arthur asked, as Merlin started to mutter a bit louder.
Hunith let out a weak smile, "If we surrender then we may just be imprisoned."
"No! You know that's wrong!" Merlin suddenly shouted.
"We don't know it for sure Merlin." Hunith mumbled.
"But we do know! We've heard the stories. We know how he kills anyone without magic. You are going to die if you do this!" Merlin continued shouting.
"Shut up Merlin." Arthur stated calmly. Merlin continued to shout as tears started to fall down Hunith's face. Arthur then moved himself up the bed and sat next to Merlin, "Merlin. Shut up. Now is not the time for this. Your Mother has made up her mind. It's time to stop."
Merlin wanted to shout. Shouting would make it all better. If the world understood for a second how angry he felt, then maybe something would happen. Magic existed, so surely something like this could happen too. Surely he could awaken something that would protect them from the Magic King. Something that could make all of this easier.
But that wasn't going to happen. Shouting wasn't going to help. Arthur was right.
Merlin stopped shouting and instead ran in and hugged his mother as tight as he could. She returned the hug putting as much pressure in as she could. They stood there for a minute until Merlin started to let go. The embrace finished and Merlin went to sit in the space between the bed and the wall.
Mordred sat silently. He wasn't moving, he was just sat in that moment unable to share how he was feeling. He wanted to shout, he wanted to let it out like Merlin had, but the person who would have to hear him was Merlin and in the state he was in it would break him. Mordred didn't want that.
Instead he picked up a knife and started to carve an image into the floor. Hunith came and sat down near him, watching as he drew the picture of all of them. Next to it he wrote the words, "May it never end." Hunith embraced him, holding him tightly to her. He started to sob as the two sat there, remembering the past. Remembering the things that they did not want to let go.
Arthur sat on the bed next to Merlin, who was repeating numbers to himself slowly. He knew that this was the closest he could be to him at this point. He knew how Merlin felt, as his father had sent him off before he was...Arthur didn't want to think about that. He just continued to sit there, letting Merlin know that he was there.
In the distance, two ladies stood looking over the village. They both wore fine dresses, embroiled with jewels and lined with threads made of precious metals. One lady wore a white dress that shimmered in the dusk light and complimented her light blonde hair. She had silver sown in to compliment her figure, and wore a silver necklace with a large diamond in the middle. The other wore a purple dress, with amethysts sewn in spirals rising up from the bottom. Unlike the other woman, she had black hair and wore a gold belt and a gold necklace, but on her wrist was a bracelet that shone faintly, it's ebony with ancient imagery molded into it with gold looking a bit out of place amongst the rest of the outfit, but somehow like it was meant to be on her wrist.
"Sister. Is this the place?" The lady with black hair asked.
"Yes sister." The other lady responded, "We'll find the boy here, then we can take him back and end the Pendragon line for good."
"Yes."
"You sound troubled Morgana." The blonde haired lady noted. Morgana then shook her head and smiled.
"It's just...I was brought up with Arthur. He is a good man. Uther was not, I understand that. I saw what he did to people with magic for many years. I saw his tyrany and I saw where it spread from. But Arthur doesn't have that...evil inside of him. I just...I don't think we should kill him." Morgana explained. The other lady then held her in her arms.
"It's alright Morgana. You are a kind woman. We can ask him when we get back. We can see if there may be something more...lenient for him. Maybe imprisonment instead? I will ask him for you sister."
"Thank you Morgause." Morgana replied, smiling in a sweet way that meant that nothing could stop Morgause from smiling. The two then returned to looking at the village, "We should signal the forces to come in then, shouldn't we?"
Morgause then laughed, "Sister. Do you not think that we will be enough?"
"Maybe you're right," Morgana laughed. The two then took one last look at the serene setting before they turned it into a battlezone.