Chapter 16
They were moving through the corridors. Merlin was leading her by the hand. How could this be possible? Merlin was Blue. Merlin was a sorcerer. Merlin was rescuing her. The same Merlin that cleaned Arthur's armor, that once tried to poison her, that somehow thwarted most of her plans. Now she knew how; he had magic. That's when it hit her; he had always had magic, even when she had first learned about her powers.
She stopped cold and let go of his hand, which made Merlin turn around.
"Come on Morgana," he said, in a low voice, "we have to get out of here before they realize you are gone."
"You lied to me Merlin," Morgana said. "I begged you to help me, begged you, and you stood there without saying a word." Merlin's face showed that he knew what she was talking about. "You told me to trust you, and you know what? I did! And all I got back was lies and a knife in the back."
"How do you dare to say that?" Merlin asked, pointing at her. "What about you trying to kill Uther? Giving the Crystal of Neahtid to the druids? Freeing Alvarr?" Morgana's eyes widened as Merlin revealed that he knew about all that. "You say that I betrayed you, but the truth is you betrayed me!"
"You tried to kill me!" Morgana protested.
"Do you think it was easy for me to poison you!? That I enjoyed it!?"
"Didn't you!?"
Merlin moved until he was close to her and placed his hands on both sides of her head.
"Merlin, what are you doing?" Morgana asked, startled.
Merlin's eyes glowed gold. "Watch," he said.
Suddenly, images started to fill Morgana's mind.
She looking away when the son of Mary Collins was being executed, she mistaking Merlin for Gwen and asking him to help her with her dress, she walking into the banquet in her red dress. She quickly realized that they were not thoughts, they were memories, Merlin's memories, and with every image she could feel what he felt at that time. She was not surprised to learn that he had had a crush on her; after all, she knew that almost every man in Camelot had found her beautiful.
The images kept going. She putting her finger over her lips the day they defeated the Afanc, she talking with him about magic when they saved Mordred, she helping him save his home town from bandits. The crush was still there, but now there was something more, friendship.
The next memory was one she remembered too well. She was asking Merlin to help her with her magic and he just stood silent. She could feel the battle that was raging inside him at that time, on one side his desire to tell her the truth, on the other the warnings he had against doing that. Now he was talking to a dragon, defending her, asking him where to find the druids. Then he was in the druid camp trying to take her back to Camelot, she told him that she couldn't, that she didn't felt so alone there. She couldn't understand why was Merlin talking to a dragon, or why did it seemed to hate her so much, but she didn't have time to think about that.
Suddenly the feelings changed to doubt, fear, anger, betrayal. She saw the things that Merlin said before. She trying to kill Uther and saving him at the last second, she giving the Crystal to Alvarr, everyone in Camelot being asleep except for her, the dragon telling him that killing her was the only way to lift the curse, the knight of Medhir stopping his attack on her. She could feel how Merlin's hearth broke more and more with every memory.
She already knew what would follow. He was handing her a water skin. She said she wasn't thirsty but he insisted. When she started drinking he couldn't hold the tears any longer, he turned around. The choking sounds made him cry even harder but he had to face her. He wiped his tears and looked at her. Her feelings echoed Merlin's at the sight of herself choking to death. Merlin nodded at the silent question in her eyes, he kneeled next to her and tried to hold her; he had to try a few times before she stopped fighting him. Merlin's feelings were jumping like crazy: sadness, happiness, hatred, love, doubt, determination… and then it all stopped; the second she died all those feelings suddenly disappear. Morgana first thought was that the flashback was over, but the images just kept coming, and that was when she realized that she was still feeling what Merlin felt at the moment: nothing. The part of him that felt had died with her. How could that be possible? What exactly had been she to him? She couldn't take it anymore.
"Stop!" she yelled as she stepped back, out of Merlin's grip. "What is this? Some kind of game? of payback?" Suddenly an idea came to Morgana's mind. "You set me up, didn't you!? You told Arthur where to find me! That's what this was all about, you and Dragoon playing pretend so you could caught me with my guard down. Of course! Why didn't I see it before?"
"Morgana," Merlin said, "not that you are going to believe me, but before tonight I had no idea who Green really was. Trust me when I tell you that I would have preferred that she had been anyone but you."
"And what about Dragoon?" she asked.
"Oh, he knew, alright. I tried to find him tonight, but he had left the city." Merlin clapped his hands together. "I tell you what, let's get out of here and then we'll find a way to get back at him." Morgana's face was probably showing more that she wanted, because Merlin added, "And no, we are not going to kill him."
Morgana tried to think.
Could she trust him? Of course not, but then again, she didn't have to. Magic or not, he was still Merlin; if he tried to betray her she could blast him away with a swing of her hand.
Was he truly Blue? Probably. Thinking back she could relate him to a lot of things Blue had said, especially that annoyingly endless hope of him.
Had he had anything to do with her capture? All Blue knew is that she was going to go to the Ancient Temple; if it had been a trap the knights should have been waiting for her there, which hadn't been the case.
Had he really not known who he had been writing to? She looked at him, who was extending his hand for her to grab. He claimed that Dragoon had played both of them, and for what she knew about Dragoon, that could be perfectly true. That would have meant that Merlin had just found out about her capture tonight, and somehow had managed to come up with a plan to rescue her that same night. That's not something she would have expected of the Merlin she knew. Who was he really?
She would follow him... for now. However, there was no way in hell she was going to keep grabbing his hand.
"Let's go," she said, as she walked past him, leaving him with his arm extended.
"As you wish, my lady," Merlin said, with a mocking voice.
And, although he couldn't see, Morgana smiled.
.
.
They had just left the castle when the alarm went off. In hindsight, with all the time they spent talking and yelling to each other, it was a miracle that it hadn't happened sooner.
Merlin cursed and then signaled Morgana to follow him to the nearest alley.
"So, how are you teleportation skills?" Merlin asked.
"That won't work," Morgana said, "it takes a lot of preparation to pull it off."
"I thought so, but I had to ask," he said. "Well, I guess it's plan B then."
"Wasn't that plan B?" she asked.
"Fine, plan C, are you happy?"
"Not really. What's plan C?"
"No idea, just let me think a bit," Merlin answered.
"You know, the fact that you have magic made me felt a bit better with myself since you ruined so many of my plans, but now I'm beginning to reconsider," Morgana said.
"You shouldn't underestimate improvisation. Follow me," he said, as he started moving.
"Where are we going?" she asked, following him.
"Look, there is no chance that we can get out of Camelot now. We have to hide you for a while and try again tonight."
"Where? The catacombs?"
"No, Arthur had them closed down since nothing good ever came from there. He has made some smart decisions recently."
"Quit with the Arthur propaganda, where are we going then?"
"There," said Merlin, pointing at a door in front of them.
"The physician's quarters? Isn't Gaius there?" Morgana asked.
"Yes, but he's probably asleep," Merlin answered.
"Probably?"
"Welcome to Merlin's way of doing things."
"Now I feel really bad about you thwarting my plans."
"You had your moments," said Merlin, which brought back a pile of thoughts he didn't want in his head at that moment. He started moving again. "Hurry, we are almost there," he said.
Merlin peeked through the door and cursed once more. Apparently the alarm bells had woken Gaius, who now was searching exhaustively through his books. Merlin realized two things. First, that Gaius was probably looking for the book he took earlier, and second, that he was looking away from the door. Merlin signaled Morgana to be quiet and follow him, to which Morgana replied with a handful of gestures that implied Merlin was crazy. In the end, he started to move anyway, so she had no other choice than to follow him. They were almost through when Merlin hit a pile of books with his elbow, which after swinging in doubt a few times, finally decided to fall.
"Merlin, are you there?" asked Gaius, without turning around.
"Yes Gaius," said Merlin as he gestured Morgana to rush towards the door.
The door to Merlin's room closed at the same time Gaius turned around.
"What was that?" Gaius asked.
"What was what?" Merlin quickly asked back.
Gaius looked at the door and back at Merlin.
"Probably nothing," he said as he made a dismissive gesture. "Have you heard the news Merlin?" he asked.
It was obvious what news he meant.
"Yes, Gwaine told me," Merlin answered.
"I still can't believe it," Gaius said. "Not that I don't trust the knights, but Morgana is very powerful. I wonder how that happened..."
Gaius stood pondering for a second and then turned around to keep searching.
"She had a book with her," he explained, "but I don't think it's a regular book. I think is a magical artifact used to communicate among sorcerers called a two-way book." Gaius stopped to look at Merlin, who acted surprised. "Arthur gave it to me to study," Gaius went on, "but now I can't seem to find it. I don't suppose you have seen it, have you?"
"Sorry Gaius, I haven't," Merlin answered. Apparently, now he was also lying to Gaius.
"It's fine, I'll find it soon enough." Merlin was starting to walk towards his room when Gaius spoke again. "Merlin, do you know why they sounded the alarm?"
"Not really, no."
"Do you mind finding out?"
"Right now?"
"If it's not too much trouble..." Gaius said, sarcastically.
"Fine," said Merlin, after being unable to come up with an excuse, "just give me a few minutes to change clothes and I'll go."
Merlin went into his room. Morgana was sitting on the bed. His bed.
"Finally," she said.
"Yeah, sorry for that, but I think we are safe now."
"Does he know about you?" Morgana asked, nodding towards the other room.
There was no point in lying.
"Yes," Merlin said.
"Of course he does..." she said, with a sad smile on her face. Suddenly she opened her eyes. "He is Doc!" she exclaimed.
Merlin nodded.
"Then who is—" Morgana started asking, but suddenly burst into laughing.
"Keep quiet!" Merlin hushed her, trying himself not to laugh.
"Is everything alright Merlin!?" asked Gaius aloud from the other room.
"Yes Gaius, don't worry, I'm almost done!"
"I've just realized who Blondie was," Morgana explained, in a low voice. "So, everything you told me about him?"
"Mostly true, although I had to change a few things for obvious reasons."
Obvious reasons; meaning he couldn't tell her about Arthur. For a second there, she had been talking to Blue, but now she remembered that that wasn't his true name. He was Merlin. He was Arthur's manservant. He had magic. He had just rescued her. Nothing about this made any sense.
"What now?" she asked.
"Now I have to find Arthur and ask him about the alarm," Merlin answered. "I'll try to skip work today, but in the meantime I need you to stay hidden here."
"And what am I suppose to do in here until then?"
"I don't know... You could read something," Merlin said, pointing at a pile of books in a corner.
Morgana didn't like to be ordered around.
"You know Merlin, a girl might think that you orchestrated all this just to get her into your room," she said, teasing him.
"What!? No! I didn't— I just— I promise!"
"It was a joke Merlin," she said, giving him one of her famous evil smirks. "I did miss torturing you."
Merlin gave her a cold stare.
"That was a bad choice of words," Morgana said, remembering she had actually tortured him. Why was he helping her?
Merlin sighed. "Morgana, look," he said, "if we are going to pull this off, we are going to have to work together. What do you say if we just forget about the past, at least until you get out of Camelot?"
She looked at him. Merlin had to force himself to hold her gaze.
"Fine," Morgana finally said, "but just until this is over," she said. She turned away from Merlin and grabbed a book. "Go now, I'm sure Gaius is wondering what is taking you so long."
Merlin was going to reply, but decided not to. He left the room and closed the door behind him. His heart was pounding like crazy.
"Are you alright Merlin?" Gaius asked, looking at his face.
"Yes, everything is fine," he said, walking away from the door. "I'm going to find out what happened"
"Weren't you going to change clothes?"
"Right!" Merlin said, looking at what he was wearing. "I forgot. Never mind, I look fine," he said as he moved towards the exit and left before Gaius could say anything else.
He took a deep breath. That had been close. Too close. And now he had to find Arthur and fake-ask him about the alarm. Alright, first things first. His eyes glowed and he activated the privacy enchantment in his room. He had placed it there to avoid awaking Gaius and half of Camelot when he practice some of the more volatile kind of magic. Also, it made people feel less inclined to enter his room, unless they absolutely have to. The enchantment ended when someone opened the door, so as long as Morgana stayed in there, there wouldn't be any trouble...
On second thought, he better hurry.
Knights and soldiers were patrolling the streets, going in and out of the castle, but Merlin didn't see any of his friends. He walked into the castle once more; it was a lot easier when you didn't have to hide from everyone. He climbed a few stairs and went towards Arthur's quarters. He knocked and, after a decent amount of time, he opened the door. He had just realized there was no one there when all of a sudden a heavy hand pressed on his shoulder, which made Merlin jump.
"It's time you showed up Merlin."
"Arthur!" said Merlin catching his breath. "You scared the hell out of me..." After a bit more of breath-catching, Merlin thought about what Arthur had said. "Wait, did you expect me?"
"Of course," said Arthur, "every single time there is an alarm you appear within minutes. What took you so long?"
"Oh, I got caught up in some things I was doing... Yeah, just things," Merlin lied, terribly.
"You know Merlin, if I didn't know you better, I would think you have a girl you haven't told me about," Arthur said, narrowing his eyes.
"So, what happened?" asked Merlin. " Why did the alarm went off?"
Arthur sighed.
"Follow me," he said, and started walking.
From the path he took, Merlin knew they were heading towards the round table.
"I assume that by now you already know who we caught last night," Arthur said.
"Morgana," said Merlin.
It took Arthur a few seconds before answering.
"Exactly," he said. "She was caught by a group of knights doing a routine patrol of the lands. When they brought her here I told everyone to keep her capture in secret until I decided what to do with her, and we locked her up in a cell specially build to stop magic. Even so, today we found out that she had escaped."
With that word hanging in the air, Arthur went into the meeting room. They weren't the first to arrive. Merlin looked around the room and saw a lot of familiar faces. There was Elyan, Percival, Gwaine and Leon.
"Alright men," started Arthur, "what do we know? Gwaine, any news from the town?"
"I've talked to some of the villagers, but no one claims to have seen anything out of the ordinary," Gwaine said.
"Fine. Percival, the guards?" asked Arthur.
"They said they felt a strange smell before falling asleep. They are still a bit confused, but from what they told me, I think that Morgana escaped half an hour before we found out."
"That's less than we suspected," said Arthur. "Any chance she may still be in the city?" he asked Gwaine.
"Maybe," he said after some thinking, "assuming she didn't just conjure a set of wings or turned into dust."
"For now let's assume she didn't," replied Arthur. "Leon, do you have what I asked? "
"Yes," Leon said, handing Arthur a piece of paper, "it's a list of everyone who knew about Morgana being caught."
"Do you think anyone of them had something to do with this?" asked Merlin.
"Morgana was in a cell that blocked magic; the only way she could have gotten out is if she had help," Arthur explained.
"Sire, if I may," said Leon, "I know all of those men personally and I vouch for everyone of them; there has to be another explanation."
"I don't want to believe this either Leon, but there is no other explanation," Arthur said.
Merlin wasn't going to let a random knight take the blame.
"Actually there may be one," said Merlin, and every eye focused on him. "Remember the book you gave Gaius to study? He told me that it wasn't a book, but an old way of communicating between sorcerers. There is a very good chance that Morgana told an ally of her that she was going to get caught and so he came to her rescue. That would also explain why the book is missing."
"Missing?" Arthur asked.
"Yes, Gaius is still looking for it, but I don't think he'll find it; it's like the book just vanished."
"I can work with this," said Arthur, after some thinking. "Men, today we have been fooled, but it's not too late to fix this," Arthur said in what Merlin called his 'commanding tone', which made everyone cheer. "There is a chance two sorcerers are hiding somewhere in the city, and if they are we are going to find them." Again everyone cheered. "That's why we are going to search all of Camelot, house by house if we have to." Once more, everyone cheered. Well, almost everyone.
"Yea— wait, what?" Merlin asked.
"Yes," said Arthur, "for once Merlin had the right idea. We shall detain the sorcerers if we find them, or be sure our city is safe if we don't."
"About the house searching..." started Merlin, but Arthur wasn't listening.
"You four," said Arthur pointing at the knights, "grab a few knights you can trust and search the town. Don't tell anyone who are the ones we are looking for, just that they are fugitives. Meanwhile, Merlin and I will search the Citadel. If you find something let me know immediately, and if you don't, come back here and start planning the security for tonight festivities."
"What festivities?" asked Merlin.
Arthur looked at him in awe. "Really Merlin, can you be so daft? Tonight is the anniversary of Camelot's founding, we have been getting ready for this for weeks!"
"Oh, those festivities!... Of course I remember those festivities! I thought you were talking about a different festivities."
"Sure..." Arthur answered, obviously unconvinced. "Alright men, let's do this!"
After making a small bow, everyone left and the only ones left in the room were Arthur and Merlin.
"So, the searching... I think an hour is plenty time to get everything ready, don't you? " Merlin asked.
"Get what ready?" asked Arthur. "We are starting right now; there is no time to lose."
"Right now?"
"Why Merlin, do you have somewhere more important to be?"
Merlin was going to say yes, but Arthur's face indicated that that probably wasn't the right answer.
"Of course not, I'm ready."
Arthur muttered an 'unbelievable' and both of them left the room.
.
.
.
They had already searched through almost every building in the Citadel and surprisingly for Arthur, not so much for Merlin, they had found nothing. Now the only building left was the physician's quarters.
The door opened and both of them saw Gaius resting his head next to many piles of books. When Gaius saw them, he stood up in a hurry.
"Sire, I wasn't expecting you." He looked around. "I apologize for the mess."
Arthur opened his mouth, but Merlin spoke first.
"DON'T WORRY GAIUS, EVERYTHING IS FINE, ARTHUR AND I ARE JUST CHECKING IF MORGANA IS HIDING HERE SOMEWHERE!" Merlin yelled, and then he looked at Arthur. "He is having hearing problems," Merlin told him in a low voice.
"Oh," Arthur said and looked at Gaius, "HELLO GAIUS, ANY CHANCE YOU'VE SEEN HER!?" he asked, enunciating every word.
"WHY ARE YOU YELLING!?" asked Gaius, confused about what was going on. "Wait, Morgana has escaped? That's terrible!"
"Yes, it happened this morning," answered Arthur in his normal voice, "but it's still a secret, so please don't tell anyone."
"Of course, of course..." replied Gaius. "Sire, about the book..."
"Don't worry Gaius, Merlin already told me," said Arthur. "We think that Morgana may have had an accomplice who released her and stole the book."
"And do you think they could be still inside Camelot?" asked Gaius.
"It's a long shot, but we have to make sure. Do you mind if we take a look around?" Arthur asked.
Gaius looked at Merlin and back at Arthur.
"Of course not sire," he said.
Arthur nodded in thanks and started to walk around the room, checking possible hiding places, while Merlin followed. It wasn't long until they reached the door that led to Merlin's room.
"Arthur, are you really sure that you need to go in there?" Merlin asked, hoping that his spell would keep him away.
"Of course I'm sure Merlin. Why? Is there something you don't want me to see in there?" Arthur asked. "Oh God, you don't have a shrine of me, do you?"
"What? No!"
"That's good; there was this servant once..." Arthur shivered. "I'll tell you the story some other time."
He opened the door and both of them went into a room that looked empty.
"You really have a lot of books in here!" exclaimed Arthur.
"Some of us actually like reading," Merlin said.
"I'll never understand that. Give me a good swordfight or a hunt. Hell, even a dance. That I like."
"And that's why you are a cabbage head."
"Very funny Merlin, now let's see what you have in here," said Arthur, moving towards Merlin's wardrobe.
"NO! Wait, let me," said Merlin, rushing to reach there first.
"Are you sure you don't have a shrine?" Arthur asked.
Merlin approached and opened the wardrobe. It was empty.
"Nothing here," Merlin informed.
He then checked under the bed. A pair of green eyes were staring back at him.
"Totally empty," he said as he stood up.
Then he searched behind a pile of crates he had in a corner. He peered over his shoulder and saw that Arthur was double checking the wardrobe and turning around towards the bed. His eyes glowed gold and the pile of crates went crashing towards the ground, which raised a big cloud of dust.
"I think she wasn't there either," Merlin said, once the dust started to clear.
"You think, Merlin?" asked Arthur trying to remove the dust from his clothes.
"So that's it, right?" asked Merlin. "Morgana isn't in the Citadel."
"Apparently not," said Arthur.
"Shouldn't we go see if the knights have found something?" asked Merlin, trying to get Arthur out of there as soon as possible.
"There is no point," Arthur said. "If they had found something we would know by now."
Arthur sighed and threw himself on the bed, laying on his back and placing both hands behind his head, which almost gave Merlin a heart attack.
"Can I tell you a secret, Merlin?" Arthur asked, looking at the ceiling.
Merlin was still too shocked to answer, but Arthur didn't mind.
"I'm relieved we didn't find her," he continued.
"How so?" Merlin asked, confused.
"I... I didn't expect us to capture Morgana, and when we did, it fell on me to decide what to do with her." He sit on the bed and looked at Merlin. "After what she has done, there wasn't really a choice, any less that death would show favoritism, but even then... I couldn't give that order." Arhur laughed nervously. "Even as she was escaping we were still arguing what to do with her."
Merlin couldn't believe his luck. Not only Arthur was talking to him like a human being, but he was doing it where Morgana could hear them. This was a one in a million scenario, and he would be damned if he didn't take advantage of it.
"But, what about everything she has done? Don't you think she deserves to pay for that?" Merlin asked, baiting Arthur.
"Yes, yes, of course, but kill her?" Arthur took a deep breath, lost in words. "I grew up with her, we used to play together. She was like a sister to me... Then she turned out to be actually my sister and everything became a mess. That's my problem Merlin, I can't kill the evil witch without also killing the girl I once knew, and I can't do that."
Merlin didn't know what to say.
"I'm sorry Merlin," Arthur continued, "I know how selfish this may sound. After all Morgana had put you and Gaius through... and so many more. Maybe I'm no such a good king after all."
"Arthur, it's fine. I understand," said Merlin. "More than you know," he added, looking at the space beneath the bed.
For an instant Merlin thought that Arthur was going to ask him about that, but he didn't.
"Anyway, since she has escaped there is no point talking about this," Arthur said, getting out of bed. "I have to get ready for tonight." He was already opening the door when he turned around. "Oh, and Merlin, you do know that I would kill you if you tell anyone a word of what I've just said, right?"
"Of course, Arthur," said Merlin.
"That's good. You may not be such a terrible manservant after all."
"I have waited all my life to hear those words!" exclaimed Merlin, covering his mouth.
"Idiot," said Arthur, smiling, as he went towards the main gate. "Are you coming?" he asked, looking over his shoulder.
"In a second, I have to sort this mess," answered Merlin, pointing at the crates on the ground.
"Alright, then."
Merlin waited until Arthur was gone and closed his door.
"Are you alright?" Merlin asked, looking beneath his bed.
"Leave me alone Merlin," she answered.
And, as much as Morgana tried to hide it, Merlin could hear a break in her voice.
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A/N: I hope you liked it!
Sorry Arthur/Morgana shippers out there, but in this universe it's not meant to be.
There will be a more extensive Merlin & Morgana chat in the next chapter!
Thanks Patiku, CHARLES CHUKU, Lady Flurryous, AJsRandomm, mersan123 for the reviews =D
Lady Flurryous = Actually the cell only blocks magic if you are inside it, so from now on Morgana is free to toss Merlin all that she wants (or so she thinks...).