Author's note:
Here is a new chapter. The next one will come soon, I promise. Writing keeps my mind busy while I wait for the next Merlin episode.
Tell me what you thought of Season 5 so far. The big smile for me was Gwen taking charge. The big let down was the alien-creature, the Key. But that's just my opinion. Feel free to share!
Enjoy the chapter.
…..
Chapter 26: Of Monsters and Men
Arthur knew that his army would meet resistance from Morgause's hired thugs before they even reached the city. If not the mercenaries, then the dragon shades would make a meal of them before the end of the night.
Instead, early in the evening, Arthur chose a field well-concealed by the hillside and ordered for the men to set up camp. The light was getting dim and he preferred to take on those dragons during the day when they would be less potent and the men would be more alert. Besides, the soldiers needed their rest. Tomorrow, they would face a great evil. Some of them would never see their homes again.
Arthur Pendragon hated war. More than that, he hated the night before a battle when his mind was always filled with doubts. And now he didn't even have Merlin to cheer him up.
"He will return, my Lord," said a voice behind Arthur's back, echoing the king's thoughts.
The young ruler did not even need to turn around to know the speaker. Galahad had been following him like a shadow ever since Merlin's departure.
"I know he will return," replied Arthur, wheeling his horse a little further away from the cluster of soldiers. "The question is: what will he be like when he returns. Such a quest can change a man."
Galahad brought his horse up to pace to ride alongside Arthur.
"Not Merlin," he said with a half-smile. "He's still very much the same as he was when I met him in Aria's Cradle. Whether it's Lord Merlin Brittanicus or Merlin the Manservant doesn't make much of a difference."
"Yes, but what about 'Merlin the Most Powerful Wizard that Ever Lived'? If that happens, how am I ever going to be able to tease him?"
"My Lord?"
At least Galahad's bewildered expression gave Arthur some level of satisfaction. The knight from Aria's Cradle was obviously used to more protocol, especially surrounding the king. However, the men that Arthur would be leading into battle in just a couple of hours had not been bred for battle like Galahad had. Some of them – most of them – were simple folks who had come to honour a request made by King Lot. As such, and in Arthur's experience, these soldiers were more likely to follow a man equal to them than to follow a banner or a crown.
Thankfully, on this particular occasion, there was actually more than one person for the job.
"My Lord, for your security, I think we should stay closer to the men. Sir Gwaine will bring his report as soon as he returns from his patrol. There is no need for you to wait out here."
Arthur ignored the comment about his security and wheeled his horse deeper into the woods. Galahad followed close behind, muttering under his breath in protest. The knight wasn't likely to let the king out of his sight therefore Arthur had decided to include him in the plan instead.
"I'm hoping that Gwaine will bring us a little more than just his report," said Arthur when he was sure that they were out of earshot.
"Sire?" replied Galahad. The following words sounded more like grunting.
"Speak your mind," said Arthur.
Galahad hesitated. Then his sentence burst out as though he had meant to say these words for a while now. "How can I protect you if I don't know what's going on?"
The young king could not help but smirk. "I could have told you. But then, I don't think you would have believed me. Here we are."
Arthur stepped down from his horse at a cave's entrance. Galahad did the same. The sun had gone down and they were easily concealed in the semi-darkness of the evening.
It wasn't very long before they heard the sound of horse hooves coming towards them. Soon enough, they could see two riders approaching, threading carefully between the trees. One of them had shoulder-length bouncy hair. The other was…
Galahad immediately caught Arthur's arm in alarm. "What in the devil's name…?"
For Arthur, it was less alarming. Still, seeing another man bearing his traits was slightly disconcerting. Was this really what his hair looked like? And his chin? His chain mail seemed a little tight. Had he put on some weight? Why didn't anybody tell him these things? Merlin did, but that didn't count.
Gwaine was the first to catch up with them. He quickly stepped down, pulling his horse at a quick pace. The knight had a malicious grin from ear to ear.
"Galahad, my friend, you should see your face."
The older knight looked more puzzled than ever. "A twin brother?" he breathed out, glancing from one Arthur to the other.
"Brother-in-law," said Arthur. "Sir Galahad, meet Sir Elyan."
Elyan immediately strode towards the knight and pulled out an orange stone from underneath his tunic. The large gem was glowing faintly.
"Obviously without this I'm much better looking," said Elyan with a smirk.
Galahad's expression changed from puzzlement to comprehension almost at once.
"Magic," he whispered. "Powerful magic. The illusion is perfect. Merlin's doing?"
"Of course," said Elyan. "But if I take it off, the magic ends. Where is Merlin? We have something important to show him."
The tone of the conversation immediately became gloomier. However, there was too little time to explain everything.
"He's on a quest," said Arthur. "He will be along, but for now we have to do without him."
Elyan nodded. "In that case, Gwen will fill you in. I have to warn you, that bit of magic that Merlin did, opening up the ground all around the city walls, it has turned out to be a proper moat. Camelot will need a drawbridge, Sire."
Arthur could recall many debates on the issue. "Well, Sir Leon will be happy," he snorted.
But Galahad did not seem concerned by the drawbridge at all. "You're swapping places?" he almost cried out, glancing from Arthur to Elyan. "You cannot be serious."
"Yes, and you're coming with me," said Arthur. When he saw that Galahad did not seem convinced that this was a good plan, he continued to explain. "Elyan has my trust. He can lead the men. Gwaine will tell him what he needs to know. In the meantime, you and I are going to get ahead of everybody and try to sneak into Camelot, take it back from inside with my knights."
Galahad's face seemed to almost grow pale, which only caused Elyan to smile widely.
"If you stay around long enough, you'll get used to this way of doing things," the knight said encouragingly before mounting Arthur's horse.
Gwaine seemed in the same type of mood. "Cheer up, Galahad. You were in Aria's Cradle. I'm sure you've seen worst."
"Only when Merlin was in charge," replied the older knight with pursed lips.
"How did the illusion go?" asked Arthur as Elyan was leading his horse away from them.
"Not everyone is easily fooled, Sire," replied Elyan. "Especially not the Knights of Camelot."
A bubble of pride swelled up in Arthur's chest. Somehow, he couldn't wait to tell Merlin about this.
Elyan and Gwaine were soon out of sight. Arthur and Galahad had only a short way to go and thankfully they were undisturbed. When they met the first guards near the ruins, the young king was recognised at once. Only the presence of Galahad seemed to raise any suspicions. Arthur merely introduced him as an ally and friend of Camelot and they were allowed to move on.
The ruins of the Ancient Kings had become a hideout for the court, the knights and the queen. They had used this place before. Arthur particularly liked the Round Table. He saw it as soon as he walked in, and also he saw the many occupants working feverishly around it. But the sight that he was happier to behold was the figure that came striding towards him with a look of relief on her face.
"Guinevere," Arthur breathed out as she came to greet him.
The tone of his voice stopped her at once. Then the expression on her face became one of complete understanding.
"You're back," she said softly. Then she kissed him passionately.
It took Arthur a few moments after that kiss to notice the familiar people who were coming closer to meet him. Sir Leon and Gaius were anxiously waiting nearby. Arthur could read the panic on the old physician's face: Merlin was not with them. But that explanation had to wait.
Arthur introduced Galahad briefly, but he immediately felt the urgency around him. He had barely time to finish his sentence that Gwen was taking him away from the crowded chamber and into the narrow passages. Sir Leon led them with a torch. Arthur tried to remember how many turns they took, but it was almost impossible.
"Do not worry, Sire," murmured Gaius. "We had plenty of time to explore these passages. I thought that Merlin would be with you."
"Not now, Gaius," murmured Gwen right away. "We're almost there."
Soon after she had said this, the passage they were in opened into a larger chamber, deeper, carved in the rock, but large enough to hold at least a dozen people. There were already four or five torches there. Arthur could easily tell that this place had been occupied in the last few days. There was a bed of fur pelts in one corner. A huge stone table held a few goblets and plates, as well as parchment and quills. There was also a pile of velvety and silky dresses lined against the wall.
"We call this the queen's chambers," Leon explained.
However, it did not seem as though the knight was stopping there. Leon took a second torch and handed it to Galahad, before moving on to another tunnel.
"You can basically go anywhere through these tunnels," said Gaius. "Even back to Camelot."
The passage was narrow and the walls almost seemed like they were shaking. Arthur really wasn't feeling great about this journey, and mostly he didn't like the fact that Gwen seemed to know the way. Obviously, she had been here before. Had she been in danger? Arthur tried to see her expression, but it was just too dark. After a short while, they began to see a faint orange glow up ahead. It was casting dancing shadows on the walls.
Sir Leon reached the orange light first. "I think it's safe," he called to the others.
Arthur heard the beast before he even saw him: the low, rumbling roar of a fire-breathing monster.
"Kilgharrah," whispered Arthur.
There could be no mistake that this was Merlin's dragon. The color of the scales, the size of the head, the powerful jaw: these were the traits of the Great Dragon. The dragon-shades were more ghost-like and they seemed almost made of black vapour. But the beast before them was flesh and blood, and it was snoring.
"He's… sleeping," murmured Galahad, echoing Arthur's thought.
"I couldn't sleep because of the snoring," Gwen began to explain. She had swept to Arthur's side and had slipped her hand in his. "We searched the tunnels to find the source of the noise and found this cave with burnt branches and blackened rocks all around." She pointed at a large opening on the far side of the cave. "We waited and sure enough, the following night, the Great Dragon appeared. He just curled up like this and slept, and on the morning he took off. And we began to think that if we could keep him here, it would make Merlin's job easier."
Sill holding Arthur's hand, she made her way around the sleeping dragon's head until they could see his legs and the tip of his tail, all curled up in a mess of scaly limbs. And then, in the center of it all, Arthur saw it.
"The dragon egg," he whispered.
It was the same bluish-white that Arthur remembered, almost crystal-like, and the size of a man's kull.
He couldn't help but marvel at Gwen's bold move. He was just getting more and more in love with her by the second. "The dragon egg is giving him a reason to come back here," he said to Gwen. "It's brilliant. But why is he still sleeping? And why are we walking around like he's not a fire-breathing, men-eating monster?"
A noise behind him made Arthur turn around. Gaius was joining them. He was less graceful than Gwen on the broken rocks and burnt branches and he kept loosing his balance.
"To answer your first question, Sire, I gave him a powerful sleeping draught," said the old physician when he had finally found a sure footing. "Powerful enough to knock down a dozen grown men. I placed the poultice directly in the dragon's nose."
Now he was really impressed. "Well done, Gaius," said the king.
But the old man kept peering at him with searching eyes. "On the second topic, I'm not sure Merlin would agree with you. Dragons are not monsters. Those dragon-shades are wild and destructive, nothing like the noble race of Great Dragons used to be. I'm sure Merlin would have told you that?"
"He did," replied Arthur, feeling a little sheepish. "Merlin has an understanding of dragons that I can never have. It's making me realise how powerful he actually is, and also how terribly lonely he must be. But don't tell him I said that."
He looked over at Gwen for support but he saw that her eyes were fixed on the sleeping dragon and the dragon egg.
"Even with the egg here, he kept leaving," she murmured. "Why would Kilgharrah leave his child, the last of his kind? LeNoir's power over him must be very powerful indeed. I'm just hoping that there is something that Merlin can do. The sooner the better."
She began to walk back towards Galahad and Leon who were standing at the entrance of the cave.
"Why?" said Arthur, following her.
It was Leon who replied. "Because once LeNoir realises that the Great Dragon is no longer answering, he'll send his men to seek him out."
"Which will lead them here," Arthur concluded for him.
"Exactly," continued Leon. "At least we managed to map out most of the passageways. It will make escaping easier."
"Good thinking," said Arthur, placing his hand on his knight's shoulder in a brotherly gesture.
"It wasn't easy to do," Leon explained. "We kept walking into the Great Dragon. I'm surprised that Morgana didn't run into him on her way out of here."
The name made Arthur freeze in shock. "Morgana?"
The exchange of nervous glances between Gwen, Leon and Gaius was unmistakable.
"Leon caught her," Gwen said softly. "But I let her go. She said that she was going to kill Morgause."
Arthur distinctively saw Leon turn his eyes away, visibly disagreeing. Gaius seemed equally distraught.
"That can't be something that Merlin asked her to do. It's not like him," said Galahad pointedly.
"Merlin and Morgana," Gwen breathed out. "Are they in love?" She turned to Arthur with pleading eyes. "Is it possible?"
All that he could do was nod. His first reaction at Morgana's leaving the Refuge had been to think that she had betrayed them. Now he wasn't so sure. Perhaps she had chosen another path. Whatever it was, he couldn't worry about it. He had to stick to the plan. He couldn't waste anymore time.
They walked back through the tunnels in silence. Arthur had much to tell to his queen. He wanted to relate to her every word of their many encounters at King Lot's Refuge. He wanted to share his worries about Merlin's present quest and his infatuation with Morgana. He couldn't really call it love; that was just too strange.
But the questioning had to wait. He had to put his mind on the task at hand.
When they reached the main chamber, Arthur gathered his most trusted knights at the Round Table.
"Now, Sir Leon, we will take a closer look at your maps."