Chapter Seven
Of course Merlin argued.
"No, Arthur, you can't."
"Merlin, I can do whatever I want; I think you're forgetting that." Smiling slightly, Arthur made his way over to his horse. "I am the prince, after all."
Merlin rolled his eyes and went over to stand in front of Arthur. "No, Arthur, I have to do this on my own."
"You can't do anything on your own."
"I'm not as useless as I look. Trust me, Arthur, if you go on this journey with me, you'll wish you hadn't. You… you won't really approve…"
"Then why are you doing it?" asked Arthur, unperturbed as he began to saddle his horse.
Merlin moaned inwardly. Usually, he was the one who did whatever the heck he wanted while Arthur issued orders that would be ignored. But this time, it was Merlin on a quest with a fight on his hands, and the roles were reversed.
But there was magic involved. Arthur couldn't come. What would he think when he discovered Merlin was off to rescue a sihirli kisi, born with magic and raised with a lifestyle practically soaked in sorcery? Merlin shuddered at the very thought. The things Arthur could find out on this trip... All things that would get Merlin in some deep trouble. Besides, if Arthur was along, then Merlin couldn't use magic to save Xyla.
"I have to, Arthur, but I have to alone."
"Merlin…"
"What?"
"You're an idiot. And while you've been talking, I've been getting ready. Now I'm waiting on you."
Merlin stared at him for a second. What could he say to get Arthur to stay here? That he would more than likely get killed on this fool's errand?
Mind darting back to the time with the dragon, Merlin knew that the fact that they would probably be killed might not keep Arthur away.
Blasted stupid prat of a prince. "I should've had Gwaine sit on him," he muttered to himself.
"Merlin," said Arthur, disrupting the silence, "if you keep arguing, I'll change my mind and drag you back to Gaius's."
Pausing abruptly, Merlin snapped his mouth shut (he'd been opening it to argue), and walked over to his horse. "Fine," he said. "Suit yourself. But what about your father?"
Arthur shook his head. "Gwaine's got it."
"That's what I said about you."
But they didn't argue about it anymore.
Within minutes, the two men were riding out of Camelot (the guards barely twitched) on a servant's quest. The thought amused Merlin. The great secret warlock, Merlin, and his trusty prince, Arthur.
Chuckling, he turned to Arthur. "Do you remember the way to the Castle of Fyrien?"
Arthur blinked at him in some surprise. "Where Cenred held Elyan? I remember."
"Good, me too. That's where we're going."
"What? Why?"
Merlin shot him a look. "You said you wouldn't ask." Oh, you know, to face down your half-sister and her sister and rescue the magic woman who tried to kill your father. Like he was going to say that. Trusty prince or no, Arthur would kill him.
Arthur put his hands up in surrender. "Alright, I'll find out later, then."
I hope not.
But Merlin decided, as he'd been doing a lot lately, to worry about what Arthur might find out later. Around the same time he would begin worrying about the fact that this quest could end in his death.
Merlin patted his horse's neck absentmindedly, and the prince and servant started off into the woods towards the castle where they had been captured. Merlin knew the secret passages would be useless now, but maybe, if he could distract Arthur, he could use magic to get in and save Xyla. Or maybe he could give Arthur a sword, point him in the right direction, and help him defeat Morgause and Morgana from the sidelines.
He would worry about it later.
"She was passed out? Why?"
"I don't know, Morgause. That's just what I saw. She's awake now, and ready for us to try another dream in case Merlin didn't get the message from the last one."
"Give her more food, in case that's the problem. She has to stay alive you know, Sister, or Merlin won't come, and we'll never discover what he did to take back Camelot."
"And we're going to use Merlin to catch Arthur after we find that out, right, Morgause?"
"That is the plan."
"I'll have someone do that at once, then."
"But it's more likely that she tried to use magic to escape, and doubtless discovered that she can't do anything without her neckerchief."
"Stupid looking thing," mumbled Morgana, casting it a distrustful look, as though it would leap from her sister's hand and attack her.
"Indeed, Sister."
They finally decided to stop for the night, and Arthur volunteered to take first watch. Well, "volunteered" meaning that Merlin immediately took out his roll and lay down on it, telling the prince that he hadn't sleep at all yet. He didn't say a thing about setting a watch, and so Arthur knew that he would simply have to do it himself for now.
Merlin turned so Arthur couldn't see his face, not really planning on sleeping if he could help it. Of course, a dream might come and knock him out, but he wasn't sure if Morgana and Morgause knew he was coming already. He hoped not… That would take away the element of surprise that he would like to have when he reached the castle.
At least the dreams aren't about what I thought they were.
Well, not that Xyla in danger is any better… It just feels better, but it's not.
Merlin wondered to himself what it would be like to see Xyla again after a year. Would she like him, still? She might not like how he'd changed, and he had changed. Merlin knew that Xyla thought he was the good guy.
And he was still the good guy. It just didn't always feel like it.
Truthfully, he was quite nervous about seeing Xyla again. He just wasn't sure how he'd be able to face her after what happened last week when the sorceress attacked…
Soon, he fell asleep. First he had the dream (beginning to be routine) where Xyla's voice came to him again. He told her that he got the message, but tried not to admit flat out that he had already left for the Castle of Fyrien. He thought that he rather failed at that.
I mess everything up. At least I didn't tell Morgana and Morgause about Arthur, he thought to himself as that dream faded slowly into a more natural (and infinitely more terrifying) one.
Smoke seemed to linger in the air as Merlin rushed through the streets, determined to follow the knights. They'd ridden out after the sorceress, who had fled into the forest upon seeing them approach.
Now the men of Camelot were fighting her when they could barely see her through the trees, and they couldn't get close enough to attack with swords or spears. Meanwhile fireballs and blasts of fire knocked them off their horses and into trees. Merlin had heard their screams, and could place a few. Arthur's, Lancelot's. And there was no telling who had fallen silently.
Arthur had told him to stay behind.
The thought was laughable. He'd escaped Gwen, Gaius, and the makeshift hospital the minute he could.
The trees were on fire. That was the first thing Merlin noticed as he ran onto the scene of the fight. The second thing was that the knights lay pell-mell on the ground, arms and legs sticking out gracelessly. He couldn't tell who was dead and who was alive because at that moment he spotted the sorceress.
She wore trousers like a man, but the way she held her head high, brown hair falling across her shoulders… Only a proud woman could pull that off.
"One more person to get through?" she said. "Why don't you just run away, boy? I'll be killing the king no matter what you try."
"Why are you doing this?" he yelled, looking through the smoke and trying desperately to find Arthur.
"Why does anyone try to kill the Pendragons? I watched as Uther killed my family!"
There were tears in her eyes, he noticed with half of his mind. Unbidden, the picture of Xyla crying as she confessed that Uther had killed her family and friends came into his mind.
"Killing others won't bring them back!" pointed out Merlin, finally spotting his master. Breathing. That was a relief. Just unconscious.
Then it started. The speech he'd heard before, the speech about her magic not being evil, but rather Uther Pendragon being the real evil, and all who supported him. The image of Xyla, whom he'd lost to her revenge, was pounded into his head with every word she spoke. He brushed the thought away, but it kept coming back.
And then the sorceress shot her power at him, tried to push him out of her way.
Merlin blocked it with magic.
He'd heard the next speech, too. The one where his opponent couldn't believe he had power. The one where he was blamed for protecting the killer of his kin when he had magic of his own.
She'd tried to fight him, but she didn't know that he was the most powerful warlock of legend.
He destroyed her. Killed her. Just like that. It took only a few minutes for his own ball of fire to crash into her chest, burning her heart into a cinder in a second. When the flames were gone, she was just a singed corpse with a hole in her chest. Empty eyes, burnt brown hair.
You killed her. And yet you let Xyla go.
The accusation in his mind was like a gnat. He wiped at it and it went away, and he quickly doused the trees and then went to wake Arthur and the knights, most of whom were still alive.
But the thing about gnats was that they kept coming back.
Merlin woke up. He was still for a few minutes, his breathing just a tad quicker than was normal. His eyes tried to make out shapes in the darkness, but he wasn't really seeing anything.
Stupid gnat.
He brushed it away again and decided to relieve Arthur and let the prince get some sleep.
As he stood up, he couldn't help reflecting to himself: She really did look a bit like Xyla.
A/N: Thanks to Dodo123, Naisa, and DarkAngel2112 for reviewing last chapter. Please review. I'll try to update Friday.