A/N: The Gael (from Last of the Mohicans) by The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards is the song within this chapter.
Chapter VIII
The non-corporeal forms glimmer in the sunlight and create prisms of colour that dance off the still waters of Lake Avalon. The hundreds upon hundreds of dead stand gathered on the shore of the lake facing the rowan tree in the centre with the surviving Camelotians stood behind them. Lily, Regina, Robin and David stand within the crowd, staring through the ghosts at the small gathering in the centre of the lake. Killian stands sheltered beneath the towering trees of the Evergreen Meadow, hidden from view by the leaves. His thoughts continually return to that moment when metal pierced flesh, and the feeling it had brought with it. Now all he can feel thrumming through his veins is the cool icy touch of dread and fear. He recoils as the realisation that he is no longer standing alone seeps through him.
"Freya will tell you off if you keep brooding. Yes you killed him, so what?" comments Maleficent, her voice lowered.
"I thought I'd truly changed. When Regina broke Pan's curse and we came back here, I thought the change permanent. But…"
"Have you even considered, and I hate saying this and will deny ever saying it if you tell anyone, but have you thought that even the good guys kill? What you did saved us all. Freya didn't have the strength...the internal strength to do it and so you helped her. Did you even think of that?" she raises an eyebrow before laughing shortly at the shock on the pirate's face. "Better. Not much, but better than the brooding. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to return to my daughter's side to watch this properly. I doubt anyone will ever witness anything like this again."
Killian gives a small smile and follows after the dragoness. Silence suddenly descends and envelops the entire crowd as if on some signal but all there is a sudden stronger scent of grass, water, and life. Freya glances through the crowd and spots the handsome captain, her eyes momentarily fearful of what she might find but she breathes a sigh of relief at his more peaceful face. She smiles at him before nodding to her five companions.
"The power of music is more powerful than many think. Through it we call out to the Goddess to aid us and call out to the guardians of Avalon to give you all safe passage to the netherworld. The song we play for you is known as The Gael. You spectres are imprisoned and shackled here upon this land and through this song we ask for your chains to be shattered and for you to be free. Be at peace, dear friends," calls out Freya in a loud and clear voice.
Angus begins with a harsh and slow drumbeat slowly followed by Piotr and Gily on the bagpipes playing a hauntingly beautiful tune. All three stop and only the clear crisp wispy notes of the flute pierce the morning air as Freya plays on with her eyes shut. Gawaine joins in with the bodhrán; a quick jaunty beat that plays on as Freya stops playing and the two pipers join in once more. The cry of the bagpipes calling out. With a sharp staccato beat of the bodhrán the music stops for a moment and then picks up with only Piotr playing the melody as a lone piper. Twenty seconds later Mary adds to the music with an underscore on her fiddle; Angus giving a gentle crash of his drum every so often. Gily joins in as an echo to Piotr's playing along with Gawaine accompanying the fiddle with the beat of his drum. Interspersed Freya plays the mystical notes that reach out from beneath the bagpipes and strengthen the melody of the fiddle.
As the song draws to an end Gawaine continues a soft swishing of his bodhrán, Angus' drum beat quickens and the bagpipes drift off leaving only the quick strings of the fiddle and the mellow sound of the flute that fades in and out. The final beats of the drum echo through the grove and lake as a brilliant golden light shines along the shoreline of the lake, opening the doorway to the next world. As the light touches each of the ghosts their forms solidify. They have colour and are corporeal once more as together they are enveloped and disappear through the doorway.
The light dims until it completely fades away. Silence resonates all around, but every person has their eyes shut and their faces are lax from the feeling of tranquillity remaining in the air. Time passes and the feeling slowly dissipates. The group glance to one another, all filled with the same knowledge that they will succeed in getting Merlin back to Storybrooke and saving Emma.
"Now that the Camelotians are back home, and the ghosts at rest again, we can get on with finding Merlin. Oh now you show up!" smiles Freya as Navarre swoops to perch upon one of the rowan tree's branches.
Freya shakes her head at her familiar before walking through the lake, the water not even stirring in her wake. An unnatural wind rushes up around them all, gusting from the grass up to the clouds above. The group feel their clothes blowing against the harsh winds and have to hold tight to the garments to prevent them from flying up with the invisible gale. The hems on the women's skirts all flutter, threatening to rise up; whilst Prince David's cape flies up over his head, Killian's leather coat tries to pull him away from the ground and the leather hood of Robin's almost strangles him it is pulled so forcefully back.
"Can't you do something about this?" shouts Regina, her black coat with silver embroidery blowing up and floating behind her, as her kimono-style sleeves catch the gust and almost sweep her off her feet.
Without a sound or even a single movement the wind falls silent, leaving only a pleasant breeze to sweep around them and the grove of trees behind them. The leaves rustle as the branches gently creak and the entire area is bathed in the warm, soft golden light of the sun shining brightly above them from the clear blue sky. Regina glares at the back of Freya's mussed red curls as she smooths her long coat back into place over her scarlet velvet dress. Lily reaches up with a slight smile as she fixes her mother's crooked headpiece.
"This isn't like at the duck pond," comments David, his gaze focused on the ripples of water forming in the silent and unmoving lake.
The others all watch on as the ripples grow until spheres of moving water globes begin to rise out of the surface of the lake and hover about eight feet in the air. The globes of water gently bob up and down whilst the water forming them continues to spiral round and round and round. The sun's rays catch one of the nine spheres and it bursts with colour and motion. Freya turns to look at the dancing sphere head on. She tilts her head and Maleficent gasps quietly when she catches side of Freya's eyes.
"Mal, what's wrong?" whispers Regina.
"Her eyes. She's using lapis lazuli again," replies Maleficent, her voice barely carrying over to the others.
"Why are we whispering?" asks Robin, being sure to keep his own voice low.
"So as not to disturb whatever magic she's weaving. Can't you feel it?" explains Regina, glancing away from the Lady of the Lake to her leather-clad lover.
"The forest behind us and the earth below us, they feel more...alive than normal."
"Freya's power. With you having lived in a forest it'll only feel slightly different to you. Anyone who's lived away from nature though it feels much stronger," Killian tells them in a hushed voice.
"Like another entity hidden from sight?" asks David, his tone unsure, his eyes darting about the lake.
"That's how it feels to me too," adds Lily.
"But I was born and raised on a farm, why is it different for me?"
"'Cause mate you've been living a long time as a prince now. You may still have all the memories of being some farm boy, but in reality it is only a memory and you've distanced yourself from nature."
"And what about you pirate, what do you sense?"
"Slight increase of nature and Freya's power."
"You can sense that?" cries out Regina, whirling around to stare in shock at the captain. "But you don't have magic."
"If you're around one person's magic enough you can gain a sense of it, whether you have magic or not," Freya tells them with a wry smile. "My senses go when I open myself to that power so there wasn't any real need to whisper."
"Did you find Merlin?" asks David.
"See for yourself," she gestures towards the only remaining globe of water spinning high above the lake.
"I've met him, but King Arthur introduced him to us as Emrys."
"I know his face too," adds Robin, staring in wonder at the young lanky man. "He told me where I could find an antidote for Marian's sickness when she was pregnant with Roland: the Dark One's, that is Rumplestiltskin's, healing wand."
"He likes to blend into the background and help from the sidelines like that," comments Freya before turning her gaze back to the dark-haired man cooking on a large cast iron stove as she mutters under her breath, "sometimes."
"Can you tell from the sphere where he is then?" asks Lily.
"The spheres are known as the Pools of Avalon. Seeing spheres of the past, present and future across all the kingdoms. By 'using the lapis lazuli', as your mother is wont to calling it, I can connect within the spheres to more knowledge than what they show within them. In two days time in a small cottage at the edge of King George's old lands Merlin will be."
"Back to the ship then. That's a fair distance to travel in such a short time."
"Not if you're sailing on the Jolly Roger, mate," grins Killian before glancing at Freya and sighing. "Nor if you have the Lady of the Lake."
Freya chuckles. "You're not going to pout over that old argument are you, Killian?"
"What argument?" questions Lily, glancing between the two.
"My powers versus his prowess," winks the redhead making the captain groan. "We'll need supplies from the ship. We can camp here for the night, or aboard the Jolly Roger if you prefer. In the morning I can create a portal to take us where we need to go."
The seven traipse back through the Evergreen Meadow and along the heavily trodden trail to the castle; Navarre remaining behind by the lake to hunt. Freya grabs Killian's arm and waits until the others are out of earshot. Killian ignores the sorceress and stares up at the sky high above the trees. She in turn sighs softly before wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her head against his chest. Buh-bump. Buh-bump. No noise passes between them but the sound of his heartbeat echoing through his chest and into the ear Freya has pressed against him.
"The prince has finally started trusting me again. Whilst he can be an annoyance sometimes, he's still Emma's father. If he sees us together like this…" drifts off Killian, his tone slightly nervous.
Freya pulls away and reaches up to force the pirate to look her in the eyes. "It's me Captain Jones. You don't have to fill silences, just let them be. I know I'm not Emma and you didn't always share everything you felt and thought with me, but something's up with you. We don't have to discuss it. You looked like you needed a hug so I gave you one. Nothing more and nothing less."
"I'm struggling," the handsome man begins as he paces away and leans against a nearby tree, his back to Freya. "Even after what Maleficent said to me, it's still running through my head over and over again. What I did to Mordred...a good man wouldn't do something like that. I thought I'd changed. I thought meeting Emma had helped me realise the kind of man I want to be, but I've fallen back to what I once was."
"Why?"
"'Why?' Why what?" frowns Killian, swirling round to face Freya.
"Why did you do what you did? Why launch yourself at Mordred and hurt him the way you did?"
"Because of what he was saying. I could see it. I was stood behind you and even though your face was blank and emotionless I saw the twitch you gave; I saw how your back tensed. He was making you remember, unknowingly I think, but it made you remember Percival's death. I couldn't let him do that to you."
"So you did it to protect. Is protecting someone you care for an evil act?" smiles Freya as the storm within his blue eyes eases. "I could feel the itch of my brother's scar on my back. With every word I saw another glimpse of Percy's demise. You saved me from having to relive it all. Thank you, old friend. Now let's catch up with the others and get our supplies."