Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to BBC
Chapter 12
"Treason!?" Morgana exclaimed.
"Yes, Morgana, treason. The blacksmith was consorting with a known enemy." Uther calmly answered, as if speaking with a fidgety child.
"Enemy? What enemy?" The seer asked.
"Tauren. The leader of a band of renegade sorcerers sworn to bring down the King." This time Arthur answered.
"And where is this Tauren now?" She inquired.
"He escaped." Arthur replied.
"Well, then how can you be sure?"
"Because Arthur saw him with his own eyes." The king retorted.
"Well, even if the man is who you say he is, you can't sentence Tom to death for just being seen with him!" She argued.
"We have reasons to believe he was forging weapons for Tauren." Uther explained.
"Rubbish! He would never do such a thing." Morgana countered.
"Every man has a price." The king coldly stated while Arthur slid the lump of gold across the table.
"Found this on the blacksmith." The young prince said.
"So he was paid! He's a blacksmith. He could've been paid for shoeing Tauren's horse!" Morgana tried to reason.
"In gold?" Uther countered, dismissing her argument.
"This is madness! You condemn a man with no proof! Did Tom even know that Tauren was a sorcerer?" She questioned, trying to convince Uther to release her father's friend.
"Tauren is a known enemy. There are wanted posters all around Camelot. No one can plead innocence based on not knowing his features!" The king answered with a menacing growl.
"Father, the blacksmith committed a crime, but we don't know for certain he meant treason." Arthur pointed out.
"No. You're right. Nothing's certain. Save one thing: the law stands or this kingdom falls." Uther said.
"But the law must give him a fair trial!" Morgana exclaimed.
"He'll get a fair trial, and he'll be found guilty, 'cause that's what he is." The king stated, stoically.
"This is outrageous!" Morgana bawled and continued: "I'm sure that Tom wouldn't willingly commit treason or any other crime! He's innocent and if you execute him, I'll never forgive you, never!"
And then she stormed out of the room, leaving Arthur and Uther alone.
When she reached her chambers, Morgana tried to contact Merlin through mind projection:
"Merlin, are you still awakened?"
"Morgana? Yes, I am."
"Gwen's father, Tom, was arrested. Uther won't give him a fair trial, I need your help to plan his escape." She told him, sounding anxious in his mind.
"Slow down, Morgana. Helping his escape will only prove that he's guilty. Why was he arrested in the first place?" The young warlock inquired.
"Because he was caught receiving gold from a known sorcerer, Tauren, and Uther thinks that he was making weapons for him." She replied, still edgy.
"I never heard of him, this Tauren." Merlin said.
"Neither have I, Merlin. But Uther says there are wanted posters with his face." She answered.
"There must be another way. We have to produce proofs that Tom isn't guilty" He pointed out.
"Perhaps … the posters! I'm sure that one can't recognize any of the criminals due to the awful drawings our guardsmen do! Merlin, you're a genius! I love you and I want to kiss you now, badly!" She told him in his mind, excitedly.
"Hey, I didn't do anything, not that I'll complain if you kiss me." He grinned while projecting the words.
"Tomorrow night, I'll kiss you so much that you'll be unable to think straight!" She said, happily.
"I'll wait anxiously, love. You should rest now, have sweet dreams, Morgana." He replied.
"Good night, Merlin. Sleep well." She answered back.
"All of them deserve a fair trial!" Morgana was baffled, Uther had condemned everyone that had any sort of contact with Tauren. She stood by the king's side in the courtyard.
"They were convicted of treason, by consorting with a known sorcerer. The punishment is death." Uther stated.
"That's hilarious. You too consort with a sorceress and yet the law doesn't apply to you." She snorted.
"Morgana, watch your tongue!" He growled.
"What? I'm only speaking the truth!" She rebelled.
"Do not test my patience, Morgana." He said in an intimidating tone.
She lowered her head, measuring her words, fully aware that what she said next could be the difference between life and death for those men and for Tom, also.
When she rose her head to stablish eye contact with the king, she calmly said:
"At least give them a chance to have a defender. The law can't be applied blindly. You have sworn to be a just king." She pleaded.
He grabbed her wrist and said:
"If I do this, you must promise me that you won't mention the forbidden subject in public ever again. Are we understood?"
"Yes, my lord." She complied.
"Good." Uther released his daughter, pausing briefly before saying: "Do present their defenses or a defender."
Morgana left the king's side and went in the direction of the guards that secured the prisoners.
The ward took out a piece of paper and presented it to the guards, asking them if they recognized who the drawing depicted. Most of them nodded negatively. Then, she proceeded, inquiring the prisoners and she received the same answer. Folding the lower part of the paper, she showed it to Uther, asking if he could identify who was the criminal in that poster. He also answered that he couldn't.
In reality, the drawing had bland features, presenting a man – only identified as such by the beard (black dots made with coat that could also represent freckles, excess of acne, scars, well, pretty much anything) – with green eyes (also two green badly done dots, almost turning into a line at the end) and dark hair.
So, she spoke loudly enough for the king and the people gathered to hear:
"People of Camelot, my King." She curtsied for him and kept speaking: "These men are accused of having consorted with a sorcerer, a crime punished by death." She made a dramatic pause, making sure that everyone was paying attention.
"The sorcerer in question is Tauren, leader of a group that openly opposes the King." She paused again, briefly and proceeded:
"And his features are shown in this poster here, so that everyone in the kingdom can recognize him as a known enemy of Camelot."
"Yet, not even Camelot's guards, nor the defendants, were able to identify this picture as faithfully portraying the criminal's face."
"My King, when I showed you the poster, not even you distinguished who was depicted here." She stated.
"Therefore, condemning those men for consorting with a known sorcerer, when his face wasn't truly acknowledge by Camelot's citizens, goes against everything this kingdom stands for. They weren't aware that they have sheltered a criminal, thus cannot be found guilty of a crime that lacks its main element to be configured." She claimed.
"So, in front of the absolute impossibility of recognizing any men's face from this drawing, I plea that you absolve them from the accusations, granting their freedom." She finished and spun to look at Uther's face, turning her back to the mass of people.
The crowd was silent, awaiting their king's decision. What the king's ward had said made sense and they knew that they could be in the place of the accused men if they had the misfortune of finding this Tauren man, a name that lately haunted the conversations in Camelot.
"Pledging ignorance won't –" Uther began to say, but was stopped when he noticed the golden hue on Morgana's eyes and the sound of a standard-bearer trembling.
Damn it! He cursed inwardly. It was happening again, her wild magic, no, curse, was reacting again and right in front of Camelot's subjects! He hated to back down on his beliefs, but if he didn't her uncontrollable magic would be public known and he'd be forced to take more drastic measures.
He mentally kicked himself for interrupting her lessons for a week, after the unicorn incident, and then another week after she stubbornly kept repeating that magic wasn't a choice, but a fate's decision.
In short, during the last month his daughter had
So, being irritated that he had to give in, at least in this matter, he continuing speaking:
" – always be a reasonable excuse for absolving those accused of consorting with sorcerers. Although, in this case, I admit that the wanted poster didn't depicted his features accurately, thus inducing Camelot's citizens in error." He stated, pausing briefly before adding:
"And as I am a just king, this time the prisoners shall only be flogged for hosting a sorcerer, so that their crime doesn't go unpunished and you're all remembered that sorcery isn't tolerated in this kingdom!" He glanced at Morgana again, noticing that her eyes had flashed gold but that quickly disappeared, maybe the lessons where finally paying off and she was controlling her curse.
"Gaius, how is he?" Gwen inquired the physician, concerned about her father's wellbeing.
"He will be fine, Gwen. He needs to rest. He supported grave injuries when he was whipped, but he'll live." The man answered.
Morgana hugged her friend and the young maid openly cried on her shoulders. Tom was alive, but he had suffered the same treatment as the other prisoners, after he was questioned about Tauren's intentions. Her father's innocence was proved afterwards, though he was badly beaten up.
The only thing left to do was to wait for his recovery there, at their small house in the lower town.
Guinevere was concerned that she wouldn't be able to assist him as much as he needed because she had her job to attend. She clung to her friend's dress as if she was clinging to her own life and Morgana tried to soothe her stroking her hair and telling that everything was going to be alright, that she could take the time off it would take Tom to recover, that they'd be safe from the king's wrath and that they wouldn't go unassisted.
Merlin was waiting outside the house, still aware of the king's prohibition. He too wanted to comfort his friend and tell her that they would protect her and her father, but he knew he couldn't promise that. Damn it, he couldn't even be sure if he would be safe from harm in case the king had the smallest suspicion that he had magic or was seeing and teaching Morgana during the nights or worse, that he had audacity of having a love affair with the king's ward.
Yep, he knew he was a walking corpse, just waiting to be caught and have his head detached from his body, though he couldn't help himself. It felt so right to be by Morgana's side, to love her, to dream along about a better future, one in which they could be free and unafraid to just be themselves.
After having examine Tom, as the man winced in pain, Gaius left the house, meeting Merlin in the entrance. The old man told him:
"I think you should spend the night here, for Tom and Gwen's sake. Wait for my signal there in that old barn. Once Morgana has left, I'll tell you."
"Okay, Gaius." And Merlin went to the old building. Not much later, he sensed someone speaking in his mind:
"Merlin." He could easily recognize Morgana's voice and so he replied:
"Morgana."
"When I was looking for Gwen this morning, I found a strange stone in Tom's workplace." She told him.
"Hmm. Tell me more about it, as I won't see you tonight." He replied.
"It has an oval shape, the stone is orange and is embedded in a claw." She said.
"You should show it to Gaius, I'm sure he'll know what it is." Merlin told her.
"Fine. Will he replace you tonight in the lessons?" She inquired.
"Yes, he will. I guess that it'll take longer for me to kiss you again." He sighed, mentally too.
"I'll hardly survive until then." She joked and continued projecting her thoughts: "Watch over Gwen and Tom tonight, okay?"
"I will." He replied.
After that, Morgana returned to the palace and Gaius did the same after calling for Merlin. The young warlock improvised a bed with Gwen's help.
When the evening came, Merlin heard a noise, similar to someone jumping through the window.
He immediately stood up, feeling sore from his sleeping arrangements, and quietly approached the source of the noise.
It was a man, dressed in dark garments, that had broken into Tom and Gwen's house and was, at that moment, taking the dust off him.
Merlin watched him, hiding behind a wall in order to use his magic if needed.
The man got near Tom's bed and shook the blacksmith shoulder, gaining a wince as a reply.
"Tom!" The man whispered.
The blacksmith woke up and turned his head to him, saying loudly:
"Tauren!"
The sorcerer covered the blacksmith's mouth with his hand, shushing him. Whispering again, he said:
"Do not shout. If you awaken your daughter and she screams for help, I'll kill you both!" He threatened.
Tom nodded and the magic user continued:
"I want the stone back! You have until the sunset of tomorrow to give it to me or else I'll kill your daughter in front of you! Meet me at the darkling woods when the sun gets down!"
Merlin knew he had to do something. That man was threatening his friend and her father, so he used his magic to knock him out.
When the sorcerer fell, he did so with a loud thud that woke up Gwen. Tom looked utterly surprised with the turn of events while his daughter asked what was happening.
Merlin got out of his hiding place and went to check the Tauren's vital signs.
The sorcerer was alive, although he was unconscious.
"What happened?" Gwen asked and Tom said: "I don't know, one moment he was talking to me and in the other he was hitting the ground and the crates!"
"He must have slipped." Merlin replied, nonchalantly.
"But how? He was firm in his stance, he didn't even took a step, he just fell!" Tom exclaimed.
"Well, slipping. It happens when you least expect." The warlock tried to convince them. Noticing that it wasn't working he decided to change the subject:
"Let's call the guards, we have a dangerous sorcerer here!"
Getting out of their reverie, Gwen and Tom agreed and the young woman left the house to do that while Merlin waited with her father.