Chapter Eighteen

Never Alone

Future stories will say that they came thundering across the Kingdom like a storm, or like great waves of a furious sea. You heard them before you saw them, the pounding of a great many feet, the shouts and cries of the restless ready for war. Then they appeared from over the hill or across the horizon, hundreds of them: Knights and peasants striding side by side, even women marched with them. Leading them was a man whose sword shone gold in the sunlight. As they travelled through the Kingdom more people joined them, grabbing whatever weapon they could and melting into the throng as it headed towards Camelot's castle. There were soldiers who tried to stop them but they had not expected such numbers or to see the Prince alive again with a weapon that struck fear into their hearts, though why they couldn't say. They either fled or were trampled by the masses who had arisen to take back their Kingdom. A sorcerer walked beside the Prince, casting the enemy aside with the flick of a hand. The air was filled with both fear and joy.

It had been two days since Merlin, Arthur and Gwen reached the Lake of Avalon and Arthur had pulled the sword from the stone. Since then they had done little else other than preparing themselves for their attack on Camelot. They never thought they would have to attempt to take over their own Kingdom, but ever since Morgana had revealed her betrayal negotiation seemed to have been forgotten. They began to make as many efficient weapons as possible and training people to fight. Merlin was a great help as he was now more open about using his magic, although he still said little and his eyes were set with a steely determination. However they couldn't stay at the lake for long in case Morgana was alerted to their presence and came to ambush them, so after two frantic days of work they began their march to the castle. Only the very old and young were left behind. Even the women wanted to fight, including Gwen, despite Arthur's fear for her safety.

At first there was very little opposition to the huge crowd marching across Camelot's countryside, shouting that they had come to take back the throne for the rightful heir. Some people they passed simply stopped and stared, while others picked up scythes or sticks and joined them. They camped at night in the countryside with great fires burning and many people singing and dancing, either celebrating that they were about to overthrow a tyrant or to enjoy what could be their last night on earth, as who knew what was waiting for them at dawn?

It was only when they reached the City, with the great castle towering over them, that they had any difficulty. Even more people joined them then, but for the first time they met soldiers in their dozens and they clashed in the streets. They built barricades out of whatever they could find to hold back the tide, but Merlin's magic burnt them to the ground. When the soldiers saw the amount of people there and the Prince returning, many surrendered or even joined their sides, but those who didn't put up a fight. Only a few people like Sir Leon and Arthur were fully trained to fight these soldiers, many others had little else but determination. However the sheer numbers and courage of the people eventually crushed the soldiers' efforts and they fled to the castle, with Arthur and his allies following.

When they reached the gates of the castle everyone stumbled to a halt. The huge black gates were closed, and behind them were Cenred's soldiers, not as many as there had been when the castle was first taken, as some had left after the death of their leader, but there were plenty who had remained for the power and the money offered to them. At least a hundred stood before them, ready to defend the castle.

If Arthur felt any fear, he did not show it as he stepped forward towards the gates and addressed the soldiers who stood on the other side.

"Open the gates and let us pass, in the name of the King!"

One of the soldiers, probably their leader, stepped forward too and faced Arthur. He looked similar to Cenred with his dark hair and beard, but his eyes were covered by a helmet and when he leered at them, showing yellow teeth, suddenly the resemblance vanished.

"There is no King here," he said calmly.

"There will be. Now let us in or we will force our way in!" Arthur commanded.

The yellow-toothed man laughed. "I would like to see you try. After your people caused so much trouble our Queens put a spell upon these gates so they cannot be opened by the enemy. So you can try all you like, even try to climb the walls instead, but all around is a curse that will burn your skin before you lay a finger on me and my men. Now return to your hovels before we make you."

Arthur glanced at Merlin, "Is what he says true?" He whispered.

Merlin looked closely at the gate. He could see something shimmering just before them, rippling like water. There was no denying it was magical, he may even be the only person who could see it. He had never encountered such a spell before and to defeat it he would need time, which they did not have. But there was perhaps another solution.

"What he says is true, but you have a weapon that can defeat anything magical. I believe it could cut through a spell." He replied.

Arthur didn't look too sure, but he raised his sword and sliced down upon the gates as if he wanted to cut his way in. The soldier who had spoken began to laugh at this feeble attempt, but his laughter was cut short when there was a loud crack like thunder, as if something very powerful had just shattered.

Merlin could see a huge gash in the rippling spell that Arthur had made, and moments later it began to dwindle from the gates, falling away and disappearing into nothing. There was a moment of silence, then with a slight creek one of the gates opened a crack.

The yellow-toothed man dropped his smile and stared in horror as Arthur calmly pushed open the gates and stepped through. "This is your last chance. Stand aside." He said.

The man hesitated then pulled out his sword, behind him a hundred others did the same. All these soldiers had been well trained to fight and defend, but they had something Arthur's people did not: fear in their eyes. It gave Arthur the confidence to fight and as he strode forward to face the enemy there was a cry from behind him as many more rushed forward to do the same.

This was the final moment in the fight for Camelot: it could be won or lost once more in its very courtyard surrounding the castle, filled with soldiers dressed in black against peasants, Knights, soldiers, a magician and a Prince. Arthur's new sword was the perfect fighting weapon and with the end so close his people were more determined than ever. Merlin constantly kept watch at what was happening around him, whenever someone looked like they were losing a fight and getting in trouble gold would flash in his eyes and their opponent would be thrown aside. At one point he saw some peasants fall down with arrows in their legs and chests and realised that there were soldiers firing arrows from the castle roof. Using all his concentration Merlin balled his hands into fists and closed his eyes, picturing the archers with their bows and arrows.

With a distant cry Merlin looked up and saw that the archers drop their weapons in fear as the bows began to smoke and burn their fingers.

However Merlin couldn't help everyone in the carnage. While concentrating on the archers Arthur, who had been beside him, had disappeared. Panicking, Merlin forced his way through the courtyard shouting his friend's name, fearing that after everything that had happened the Prince had now fallen.

Something slammed into Merlin's back and he fell to the ground, his elbow scraping against the hard stone floor. He looked up to see one of Cenred's men standing over him, ready to deal a fatal blow. However before Merlin could react a sword pierced the man's chest from behind and with a cry he fell sideways.

Arthur pulled his sword out of the now lifeless soldier and held out a hand to Merlin. For the first time since Freya's death Merlin felt something other than sorrow, guilt or determination: gratitude.

"Stick with me." Arthur told him as he pulled Merlin up to his feet.

Merlin didn't argue, he knew this was what he had been born to do: fight side by side with Arthur.

But then the Prince noticed someone else had gone. "Have you seen Gwen?" He asked.

Merlin shook his head, the last time he had seen Gwen she was with him and Arthur, but now she had vanished into the fray. He could see Arthur beginning to panic and tried to control his own fear.

However the two of them were distracted when they heard a sound from behind them and turned to see that men with horses had now entered the battle and were easily cutting down the peasants before them. For the first time since they set out from the lake there were cries of panic and fear from their own side.

"Can you do something?" Arthur asked desperately.

Merlin took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Muttering a few words under his breath he raised his hand.

Suddenly the wind picked up around Merlin and then billowed across the whole courtyard, picking up speed and power with each passing moment. Think clouds darkened the sky over the castle and there was even a flash of lightning. Soon anything that wasn't tied down was picked up and carried off by the huge gusts of supernatural wind. As it grew more and more powerful both sides of the battle found it hard to keep standing and the horses that had entered the courtyard panicked, rearing up on their hind legs before fleeing. Many soldiers in black also fled as the wind began to get too much and they saw that those surrounding the Prince and his manservant were untouched by the mighty storm. The battle was won.

The wind began to die down. The people who had been blown off their feet stood up, unhurt, but around them were many who lay dead or injured. There should have been cries of joy now that the battle had been won, but instead there was a shocked silence as the survivors stared at the devastation. Arthur was first to break the silence.

"Gwen!" He called out, looking around at the survivors, who stared silently back at him. "Gwen!"

"I'm here!" Called a voice from within the crowd, and seconds later Gwen pushed her way through to Arthur, exhausted but unharmed.

Arthur rushed to her and threw his arms around her, "Don't ever leave me again," he said.

Gwen smiled, "I won't." She promised.

The castle was theirs. But there was still one unanswered question: where was Morgana?

While checking for survivors amongst the bodies, Arthur found the yellow-toothed man he had spoken to and first engaged in battle. He had survived the wounds Arthur had inflicted on him, but he wasn't looking good.

"Where is your Queen?" Arthur demanded.

Despite his pain the man was still able to grin, "Queens," he corrected.

Arthur shook his head. "Morgause is dead. Her body lies far from here. You only have one Queen now, and I demand to know where she is."

The little colour left in the man's face drained away and he looked fearful. "We don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"We haven't seen either of the Queens for days. Morgause left the day she and Morgana put up the protection spell on the gates, she said she had business to attend to and I must protect the castle. She hasn't returned. I haven't seen Morgana for days, I was just following my last orders."

Arthur looked round at Merlin, worried by these words. Had Morgana truly gone, or was she hiding in wait in the castle? Only one way to find out.

While some remained behind to care for the injured, the rest followed Arthur, Gwen, Merlin and Sir Leon, who had also survived the battle, and went into the castle to find Morgana.

Inside it was carnage, servants and guards who had seen the battle outside and were now in a complete panic, not knowing who was going to come through the door. However when they saw Arthur many looked relieved and thrilled that their Prince had returned, the mysterious event at the joust forgotten. Morgana's allies fled, Arthur let them go but he continuingly tried to ask if anyone if they had seen Morgana or Uther.

The answer was always the same. They didn't know. They hadn't seen the Queens in days. They didn't even know Morgause was dead. But some said that Uther had been taken to the dungeons.

"What about the physician, Gaius, have you seen him?" Merlin asked.

"The last thing I heard he had been arrested too." Said one servant.

Arthur turned to Sir Leon, "Search the rest of the castle for Morgana, if you find her do not attack, she is dangerous. I fear it is only this sword that can defeat her," he glanced at the bloodied Excalibur clutched in his hand, "but I must find my father and there are many people who need Gaius."

Sir Leon nodded and, bowing to Arthur, swiftly left the corridor they stood in, taking some survivors of the battle with him. The rest followed the Prince underground.

The dungeons were never a well-kept place, but since Morgana and Morgause had taken over it had sunken into a terrible state, it stank of despair and human filth. There were a few guards that tried to stop them entering, but Arthur's skill and Merlin's magic was too much for them. They surrendered and handed over the keys. Behind bars peered many pale faces of people who had wronged their Queens in one way or another. Arthur ordered them to be released, but he didn't find his father until they came to the last cell.

It was as if the real Uther had gone away and only his shadow remained. He looked so much older than he once had and thinner too. He sat amongst the straw with Gaius beside him, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. Merlin was thrilled to see Gaius alive and well, but the sight of the King was harrowing. It was as if all the years of his tyranny had caught up with his soul and he was paying a heavy price for them.

"Father!" Arthur used the keys he had taken from the guards to unlock the cell door and he rushed in. It took a while for Uther to realise his son was there.

"Arthur," he said with a weak smile, his once piercing eyes now clouded with fog. "There you are, I was wondering where you had gone. Did you go out hunting?"

"What-" Arthur looked bewildered from Gaius to Uther, who just shook his head solemnly. Arthur took a shuddering breath. "Yes father, hunting, sorry I was gone for so long."

"That's all right," Said Uther calmly. He didn't notice Gaius move aside so that Arthur could sit beside his father.

"Do you remember much about happened before I left?" Arthur asked tentatively.

Uther hesitated and frowned, but then said, "No. I'm afraid not. My memory, it is failing me, I must be getting old," he gave a soft chuckle. "Why? Did I miss anything important?"

"No father, nothing for you to worry about," Arthur said calmly. A tear rolled down his cheek.

"Good." Uther sighed, then he remembered something else. "Have you seen your sister recently?"

Arthur was astounded. "Sis-sister?" He stuttered.

"Yes," continued Uther, quite calmly. "You know, Morgana. I haven't seen her in a while, when I last did she seemed quite...angry with me. Is she all right?"

"Yes father," Arthur said at last, struggling to form the right words in his head. "Morgana's fine," he lied.

"Good." Suddenly Uther looked very sad and afraid of something, "I have done many terrible wrongs." He shivered, "it's very cold in here Arthur, can you ask the servants to get the fire going?"

"Yes, right away father, we'll get you out of here and put you in a much nicer chamber" Arthur said. All of a sudden he looked completely exhausted, both emotionally and physically, as he hugged the shell that was once his father.

They put Uther back in his old chambers, he didn't seem to notice a difference but he did say the bed was more comfortable. Merlin found a mandrake root under his bed and quickly had it destroyed, but the damage had already been done, especially after Morgana had taken his crown. Arthur and Gaius stayed by Uther's side day and night. His appetite began to return and Gaius said he was now having less nightmares, but at the same time the great King was beginning to fade. Merlin found his old book of magic, but nothing he could find seemed to help. He had already learnt the hard way that he couldn't heal death.

While people celebrated in the streets, Uther faded away and died the day after Arthur had taken back Camelot. He told Arthur he looked just like his mother, and that she was standing right beside him, before he closed his eyes for the last time.

There was little time to mourn however, much had to be done. Arthur's coronation date was set just two days after Uther died. That day Merlin found himself summoned to Arthur's chambers.

"You asked to see me?" Merlin said, hovering in the doorway.

"Yes, I wanted to talk to you about a few things," Arthur said as he stared out his chamber window. Both spoke formally and solemnly as if they were both mere acquaintances. The banter between them would one day return, but for the moment they had both lost too much to find any humour.

"About what?" Merlin walked a little further into the room.

"In one week's time I'm going to be King."

"How are you feeling about it?"

"Terrified," Arthur admitted, turning to look at his manservant. "But I wanted you to be the first to know. I have already made a decision. As soon as I become King I am going to legalise magic, people will be free to practice their powers as long as they cause no harm to others and they will no longer have to live in fear."

Merlin was so surprised he found it hard to stay standing. He felt like he was going to cry and laugh at the same time. After all they had been through, after all his people had been through, was this really happening? "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Despite everything my father taught me, I've learnt more in these past few weeks than I have in my life so far, and it's made me see some things differently. Now I am King I can make those differences."

"I don't know what to say...but...thank you." Merlin said.

Arthur gave a small smile. "My pleasure."

"What about Morgana?" Merlin suddenly remembered. Sir Leon had searched the whole castle, but she was nowhere to be seen. "You haven't given any orders to find her, what are you planning to do?"

Arthur sighed and looked bitterly sad. "I don't know. I was going to send out men to find her but after my father told me...who she really was, I couldn't do it. I talked to Gaius about it, he said Uther had admitted it to him before...while he was still well, after we had gone missing." Arthur couldn't bring himself to say the word 'sane', he couldn't bring himself to remember how his father looked when they found him in the dungeon. "And I don't know if I can do it, despite all she has done, she's my sister. I can't go after her."

"She might come back."

"I know...but I don't know what to do, perhaps this time I should let her go and hope I'll never have to make an enemy of her." Arthur sighed again, "besides, we have much more important things to worry about. Many of her and Morgause's men belonged to Cenred, but they killed Cenred in the progress of keeping this Kingdom. If his people decide on revenge we might have another battle to face. We need to focus on that for now."

"Yes," Merlin agreed, then he hesitated. "I also needed to tell you something. I-I'm going away for a while. Not long," he added quickly as Arthur looked concerned. "I'll be back before the coronation, but I need," he took a deep breath, "I need-"

"You need to say goodbye," Arthur said. He knew exactly why Merlin had to leave, and he understood. "Do you want anyone to go with you?"

Merlin shook his head, "No. I'll be fine, I think I need to do this alone."

Then Arthur did something he had never done, and Merlin thought he would never do. He walked over to his friend and gave him a hug. It was brief and both men looked rather embarrassed afterwards, but it gave Merlin comfort that Arthur was there for him. "Good luck," he said.

"Thank you."

"Never forget you're never truly alone," Arthur said as Merlin made his way to the door.

"I won't," Merlin said, giving a small smile of his own.

"Oh and Merlin-" Arthur added quickly.

"Yes?"

"Do you think that-" Arthur hesitated and his cheeks went a little pink. "Do you think Gwen will make a good Queen?"

Merlin's smile broadened. "Yes, I think you two will be perfect together."

"Well...yes, good. That's what I thought," Arthur said, his cheeks turning as red as tomatoes as Merlin gave him a knowing smile and left the chamber.

Freya's body looked just as it had when Merlin had left it, she was ghostly white, but she looked as if she was merely sleeping. Morgause's body had vanished. Merlin supposed someone else had come to collect her, perhaps Morgana herself, but the day he returned the trees were empty of life.

He used magic to carry Freya's body to the lake, knowing that after a while she would get too heavy to carry. The journey there took just over a day, but it was the longest journey of Merlin's life.

The lake was deserted, there were a few signs that many people had once been there, but now it was as tranquil and quiet as it ever had been. The water was still calm and the mountains still looked beautiful. Freya would love it.

There was a small boat on the side of the lake that outlaws had used for fishing while they hid there. Merlin decided to do the same thing he had done last time. He laid Freya in the boat and surrounded her with flowers. He looked down at her and let out a choked sob. Tears tumbled down his cheeks as he knelt down beside the boat to say goodbye.

"You gave me so much," he told her, "you made me feel for you a way I had never felt before, you gave me such happiness in such darkness. You saved my best friend." For a moment Merlin couldn't say anything because he was drowning in tears. He rocked back and forth on his knees, sobbing, the palms of his hands pressed up against his eyes as if to stem the flow, before he lowered them, took a deep breath and made a final promise. "I will never forget you. I will always be grateful of what you gave back to me - a friend, a Kingdom, a life of hope. I just wish we never had to say goodbye."

For the last time Merlin kissed Freya before he let the boat slip onto the calm waters and float away. Back on his feet he used the same spell as he had once before, what felt like a lifetime ago, and flames sprang up inside of the boat, taking his love away into the next world on the peaceful waters of the lake.

As he stood there watching a soft wind blew around him, and Merlin had the strange sensation of a ghostly hand holding onto his as he looked out over the lake, reminding him that he will never be truly alone.

With a heart that was somehow lighter than it had been before, Merlin turned and headed back to the castle, where the future King of Camelot was waiting for him.

The End

Yep, we have come to the end of the story everyone! I hope you enjoyed this final chapter and that it didn't feel too rushed, there was a lot to fit in!

I know some of you wanted to see Morgana again and may be disappointed that she never showed up, but this was what I had planned from the beginning as I wanted to leave some of this story's questions unanswered so you, the reader, can decide where it goes from here - does Morgana ever come back? Does she take the opportunity to become good again, or is she now forever bent on revenge?

Thank you to everyone who read this story and made it to the final chapter. Life can always get really busy so the fact that you stuck with this story until the end means a lot to me :) It's been one of my shorter stories in terms of chapters, but one of my longest in terms of word count. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much I enjoyed writing it :)

A big thanks to all those who followed, favourited and, of course, reviewed. You guys give me loads of encouragement to keep writing and advice on how to improve it, so thank you once again :)

I'll now be taking a bit of a break from fanfiction to focus on writing my dissertation for uni amongst other things, I don't know for how long but I'm sure I will be back, probably around Christmas time. I have plenty of other stories you are welcome to read in the meantime :)

Anyway, I don't think there's anything else I need to say, apart from thank you once more and if you could put one last review to let me know what you thought about this chapter and the story overall, that would be much appreciated :)

All the best,

Naisa x