Chapter Twenty-Four
Hey, everybody!
Sorry I'm late! The computer crashed yesterday...we didn't lose anything, thankfully...and I was super tired, so I didn't get writing as soon as I would've liked.
I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written. It begins slow but doesn't stay that way for long. I hope it lives up to expectations! If not...well, I tried!
Okay, I'll stop talking now, but there is a super important AN at the end of the chapter...so please read that! (But not before you read the chapter itself)
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin or anything related.
Like so many other things in life, it just wasn't fair.
"It's a shame that, the last time we saw each other, we parted on rather bad terms. I wished for days afterwards that I'd said something more noteworthy than 'get the hell out of here'.We met so unexpectedly, we didn't have time to talk…it's just not fair. It all could have been over so quickly…if we'd spoken, just for a little while…about what happened ten years ago, about Father…maybe we could have parted amiably. Maybe we could've gotten the twins out of the city, gone home together. Things would be different. We might even be home by now…safe. Far away from here.
"When I saw you in Haig's throne room, I felt so awful, not just because what he'd done to you, but because I should've prevented it. I don't know why exactly I feel responsible for you all of a sudden; it's always been the other way around, hasn't it? Like when you used to call me a 'young, irresponsible idiot'. And then I'd call you an 'ugly old toad'. Even though we're really the same age…okay, fifteen minutes apart…Just a joke, but we took it rather seriously back then, didn't we? We were so young…and siblings never seem to get along perfectly…not even Everard and Elwin.
"We never got along half so well as they do, did we? You were always with Mother and her friends, learning about herbs and magic spells while I learning from Father or tagged along with Aldwyn and Haralda. When we were little though…remember when we always seemed to have the same dreams? And then it just stopped…I used to know exactly what you were feeling, but that changed so long ago that I don't think I remember what that even felt like…Thought at times I miss it…You know, I knew when you were in trouble, when you were captured and being harmed, but it wasn't…I did nothing. Now I feel so useless, and hopeless. Because…okay, I'll admit it, I'm frightened. That would probably make you laugh. Just a little. Because you're you.
"But I'm in earnest here, Elen. I…Despite everything... after all this, I don't want to lose you. I don't want to lose my big sister."
As he, Aldwyn, and Elen were hauled up to see Lord Haig again, Gwaine reflected that he honestly wasn't sure why he'd said those things (and others of a similar nature), or even if he'd actually spoken only a few or all of them aloud. He only knew that at some point during the agonizingly long night, he'd started thinking about talking to his sister...and seemingly had begun to.
Gently holding her close to him with one arm and grasping her hand, he allowed himself broken whispers of thoughts that, under any other circumstances, would never have been possible for him to reveal. Not to his sister. It just wasn't who they were. But he dared to now, even though he wasn't entirely certain if she could hear him. He rather thought not.
Because Elen was dying. They had enough of a mental connection left for Gwaine to feel the life slowly ebbing away, as it doubtless had been for days now. It felt to him both like a gradually draining pool of water and a caged butterfly fluttering desperately until its wing beats weakened to nothing.
For once, Gwaine could see no escape whatsoever, other than death; for all of them. There were too few allies, too many enemies, no tricks or escape routes. Unless some miracle occurred, they'd all be dead very soon.
Somehow, the knowledge didn't simply frighten Gwaine. Yes, he was scared, but more than that, he was sad. He felt a strange sense of deep melancholy as everything in his life, and Aldwyn's life, and Elen's, seemed to spiral to this one point in time in this one filthy castle.
It all seemed so futile. Like nothing any of them had ever done had ever meant anything or would ever mean anything save for boundless pain at the expense of their family, all to satisfy the petty revenge of one forgotten man.
It's not fair. And, like so much else, doesn't have much meaning ultimately.
This train of thought led Gwaine to such a place so that when the three Barclayn's were deposited at the feet of Lord Haig, all he could think was Will his revenge upon our family feel empty, in the end?
At the moment, Haig didn't seem to think so. "Well, well, here they are again, the filthy Barclayn brats."
"I think you need to work on your insults, Haig." Aldwyn remarked icily. He and Gwaine were on their knees before their captor, but Elen once again was lying prone on the floor.
Gwaine really wished that his head was clearer; no sleep or food for a very long time wasn't exactly helpful to one's mental abilities. Dredging up what he could of his characteristic gallows humor, he commented, "So, My Lord, have you decided which delicious way you wish to slaughter us? I once knew this fellow who liked to…"
Haig signaled to one of the guards behind Gwaine, so the young man didn't see the blow coming. It sent him sprawling from his knees to the floor, stars dancing wildly in his vision. He then registered a throbbing pain at the back of his skull. "Ouch." he groaned before he was roughly pulled upright once more.
"I will have none of your smart mouth in here, Lord Gwaine." Haig sneered. "You'll have plenty of time to use that when you've lost a couple limbs."
"Ah, dismemberment. How barbaric." Aldwyn cut in.
Haig turned to the prince and growled, "I intend to flay you alive, Barclayn, until you cannot feel anything but the pain. But first, you're going to watch both of your cousins die. Very slowly." Without further words, he turned and motioned to one of the dozen or so men in the throne room. The rather short, weedy-statured soldier stepped forward wielding a relatively small but wickedly sharp axe. Haig looked, if possible, even more delighted than before. "Let's see, Raf, we should start wi…"
Outside, male voices could suddenly be heard shouting along with the sound of weapons being drawn. Then, something large and black smacked into the outside of one of the open windows on the left wall of the room and rebounded off with a hissing shriek. "What in the devil's name was that!" bellowed Haig as he stumbled back and tripped over his fur cloak.
Gwaine and Aldwyn glanced at each other, clearly thinking the same thing.
Hayden.
The first sign of commotion down in the dungeons came in the form of a rather young guard flying down the steps at the end of the passage, screaming about monsters.
The prisoners in the cells watched the other guards trying to calm their companion down with raised eyebrows. "Not very brave, is he?" commented Elyan wryly.
Merlin grinned in response, but Leon and Arthur remained sober as they watched the guards arguing. A few words drifted to their ears…"That's absurd…What do you mean…Lord Haig ordered who…outside…attack… snakes with wings?"
The argument lasted until one guard looked up the stairs and shouted, drawing his sword, "Halt!" The others stopped talking and reached for their weapons as well.
"Flíeh!" a masculine voice screamed from the stairwell.
The guards promptly went flying in all directions.
Recoiling, Arthur shouted, "What the hell?"
"Magic!" Leon yelped, though it was rather obvious.
Magic…but who…
The Ryle stormed down the last few stairs into the dungeons with Sir Percival right behind him.
One cursory glance around the dungeon and the dark-haired rouge shouted, "Where the blasted bloody hell are the Barclayns?!"
"You're a sorcerer!" Arthur yelled back.
Percival, wisely staying silent, quickly located a bunch of keys and hurried to open the cell doors. Elyan, Leon, and Merlin quietly thanked him and moved out quickly, but Arthur stayed right where he was, gaping at an increasingly frustrated Ryle. "You have magic!"
"So what if I do? It's not like you liked me anyway! Now where are the Barclayns?"
Arthur spluttered something along the lines of "Does no one tell me anything?", then, seeming to realize that his cell door was open, strode out. "Get the guards' weapons." he ordered his knights, now ignoring Ryle. "Thank you, Percival, for coming back for us."
"Of course, Sire." Percival bobbed his head slightly. The king and his knights then hurried to arm themselves for the imminent battle ahead.
"Guards took them." Merlin answered Ryle's question, as no one else seemed inclined to do so. "To see Lord Haig, I think."
With a wordless snarl, Ryle turned and bolted past the knights, back up the staircase.
Merlin stared after him for a long moment. He's a sorcerer? I should've known.
More pressingly, he wondered exactly how Ryle and Percival had gotten in to the castle in the first place.
Snakes with wings, maybe?
Lord Haig forgot about dismembering people for the time being as he began shouting orders at his soldiers. Most of them were sent out to investigate the source of the commotion ("And find that bloody black thing!"). Four men, including the axe-bearing Raf, remained in the room to guard the prisoners, all growing visibly more nervous and agitated with every yell, metallic clang, and bestial shriek. Grabbing a wine flask, Haig sat himself heavily on his throne and grumbled angrily under his breath.
Kneeling was just getting excruciatingly uncomfortable for Gwaine (and doubtless Aldwyn too) when they heard someone give a shout right outside the throne room's main door.
Startled, Gwaine twisted around so he could look in the direction of the door just before the weathered wood shattered and crumbled to the floor in a cloud of dust.
In strode Ryle, eyes blazing.
Haig let out a shout and leapt off his throne. "Kill him!"
Straight away, the guards drew their weapons and started forward.
"Swilte!" Two were thrown backwards onto the ground, dead. Ryle gave a maniacal laugh. ""Onbaerne." Another man caught on fire. He also collapsed to the floor, screaming.
Raf dropped his axe and ducked behind Haig's throne, which had been very recently vacated. The warlord escaped through a side door in the wall, narrowly avoiding a ball of fire which Ryle sent his way.
Before the sorcerer could begin pursuit, Aldwyn snapped, "Oi, Ryle, untie us!"
Ryle's gaze landed on them, and on Elen. And Gwaine saw something extremely painful flash through the older man's eyes. But he quickly unbound their hands and helped them to their feet. "Was that…creature Lord Haig?"
Now how does he know that? Gwaine decided that he really didn't want to know. "Yeah, that was him." As he knelt to check on Elen (no change), his nose wrinkling involuntarily at the stench of burning flesh; the still-flaming remains of the guard.
Aldwyn noticed it too as he took swords from the other two guards' bodies. "Can you put that out, Ryle? Now, where is…damn! How the hell did that scrawny axe-bearing bastard get out of here?" Raf had apparently disappeared.
Ryle mostly ignored the prince as he knelt next to Elen, across from Gwaine, but did extinguish the flames on the corpse with a wave of his hand. However, the stench remained. "How is she?" he asked quietly; strangely quietly.
Gwaine narrowed his eyes as he looked at the other man, but had no time to even respond to his question before Aldwyn was next to him. "I got you a weapon, now let's get the hell out of here."
How many times have we done this? Merlin wondered. How many times have we found ourselves running wildly along dark hallways, pursued by armed opponents?
It was certainly much like those other times.
They got lost rather quickly and ended up following Arthur around random corners and up and down narrow, crumbling staircases. The king behaved like he knew where he was going; Merlin suspected an act. Oh, well, they'd probably get out at some point…
They came across a intersection of two passageways and were instantly surrounded by adversaries. Arthur began sparring with three at once, Elyan and Leon worked together to bring down several, while Percival simply began throwing his opponents against the walls. Merlin tried to stay out of the way, perhaps surreptitiously tripping a couple enemies with magic.
But when more soldiers flooded the passageway and the group from Camelot took off running, Merlin found himself fleeing from at least a half a dozen armed men alone.
Oh, great. Well, at least I can use magic now.
He soon dealt with the men chasing him. But he was still lost.
Gwaine hurried after Aldwyn down the dimly lit staircase, slowed by the weight of his sister, who was slung across his left shoulder. "See anyone?" he whispered as his cousin skidded to a halt at the bottom of the stairs.
"Nothing. Let's hope our luck holds." Aldwyn glanced back at Gwaine, then frowned. "Where's Ryle?"
"Uh…said he was going after Haig. Since we're too busy getting Elen to safety."
Aldwyn grunted and began hurrying down the next passage. Gwaine followed.
"Aren't you coming with us?"
"I'll go after 'Lord Haig'."
"Oh, I was hoping to come back later and fillet him myself…"
"I'll make sure he gets what he deserves. Take care of her."
Gwaine felt almost glad that Aldwyn had missed that little exchange while scouting for enemies. He was still trying to understand it himself.
Haig's men are idiots.
Honestly, they acted like they'd never seen a wyvern before! Okay, maybe they hadn't. But some of their screams were really quite pathetic.
Still, most of them put up a fight. Though it wasn't enough.
Ordering the wyverns to attack had been easy. Hayden had led them to a hill near the castle, pointed at some of the guards outside it, and let out the two shrill, high-pitched whistles that meant "attack". He usually used it on hunting trips.
The wyverns hesitated only momentarily. When the soldiers actually started brandishing weapons…well, it was pretty simple from there. Wyverns didn't really appreciate having sharp, pointed objects waved at them.
Sapphire and Emerald were more than a match for the men at the gate, while Obsidian and Diamond soon began picking off the ones that were farther along the wall and the others which fled. Hayden had been momentarily concerned when Obsidian had dodged a spear and had gone crashing into a wall, but the animal simply shook it off and chased down another soldier.
Hayden had been, initially, worried about bringing his (admittedly lethal) pets to a battle.
Doesn't look like I really had anything to worry about.
Merlin had found a way out; a tiny side door near what looked like the remains of the castle kitchens. Exiting, he found himself in a thorn-ridden thicket. To avoid being shredded, he ran beside the castle wall, heading towards the muffled sounds of battle. I've got to find Arthur and the others…
He came around to a more open space in clear sight of the castle gates at stopped dead.
I sort of suspected…but…wow.
No less than four fully-grown wyverns were attacking Lord Haig's men. And winning.
The largest wyvern kept his aim high, swooping down and disabling the men that were on the wall above the gate. Another wyvern concentrated on the men below, while two more circled, attacking those who tried to flee. As Merlin watched, the largest creature seized two soldiers at once and swung them heavily off of the wall before regaining its balance and sinking his teeth into third. The wyvern down below simply tucked in its wings and plowed into a row of five men, knocking them flat with what sounded like an elated shriek. A couple men escaped that and fled yelling in terror, only to be felled one at a time by the claws and teeth of the smallest, most graceful wyvern.
Even though Merlin had previously seen an actual dragon in action, he couldn't help but be impressed.
Especially if someone who's not a Dragonlord is controlling them.
He watched in admiration as the fourth wyvern, almost black in color, swooped down and picked up a man who had been running towards the woods and threw him into the nearest tree.
The wyvern landed for a moment, regaining its stability. It shook itself, turned its head…and saw Merlin. Its reddish eyes narrowed and it let out a snarl.
Uh-oh.
Growling, the wyvern leapt into the air, staying low as it swooped toward Merlin. Its jaws opened wide, displaying rows of razor-sharp teeth.
And the warlock reacted without thinking. His mouth opened and a torrent of fiery words spilled out, asking…no commanding…the wyvern to stop.
Naturally, it did. Slowing its approach, the beast landed before Merlin and quickly bowed its head.
Merlin let out a sigh of relief. Okay, Merlin, the wyvern's not attacking now, it's all good…
Abruptly. the wyvern straightened up, surprising Merlin. A low-pitched, three-note whistle sounded from behind Merlin.
He turned quickly as the wyvern slipped past him, moving to stand next to a slender young man with short light-blond hair and very dark grey eyes, which were very wide in his pale face. As the wyvern approached him, he reached out seemingly automatically and stroked it under the jaw.
Merlin swallowed. "Uh…Hi." he stuttered. I'm just glad it's not Arthur or Leon or…
"You're a Dragonlord." the man said blankly.
"Um…yeah, but..." Merlin wasn't sure how to respond to that.
Suddenly, the other man's face broke into a smile. "I never thought I'd get to meet one." Stepping forward, he held out his hand. "Hayden."
Merlin grinned and shook Hayden's hand. "I'm Merlin."
"Nice to meet you. But…wait, Ryle mentioned you…Aren't you Arthur Pendragon's manservant?"
"Um, yeah." Merlin shrugged. "It's…he doesn't know."
"I'd hope not. Wouldn't make any sense." Hayden unexpectedly yelped as the wyvern nudged his shoulder. "Obsidian! Too hard!"
Merlin spoke after a moment, "Gwaine mentioned you."
"Oh, so you know Gwaine?" Hayden smiled a little. "He used to be a friend of mine."
"That's what he said." They simply stared at each other for a moment longer until they heard a shriek from above. Peering upward, they glimpsed the largest wyvern wheeling away from the castle wall, clearly in pain. On the wall, a solitary soldier began reloading a crossbow.
Merlin glanced back at Hayden fast enough to see the man's eyes harden. "Damn him, if he's hurt Sapphire…" Looking to the blackish wyvern, Hayden pointed at the soldier and whistled twice, shrilly. While the creature leapt into the air, Hayden shouted, "Go get him, Obsidian!"
Seconds later, the man had fallen to his death off of the wall. The larger wyvern…Sapphire, Merlin remembered…seemed to be managing flying still despite any injuries he had sustained. Hayden let out a relieved noise and turned back to Merlin. There was a moment of awkward silence before he said, "I need to get to Sapphire. I suppose you have somewhere to be?"
"I have to find Arthur." Merlin replied. Then he added, "When this is all over…I hope we get a chance to talk. I mean, I'd like to know how you get wyverns to respond to whistles."
"Agreed, but what for? You can just talk them into submission!" Hayden joked. With that, he began to run along the treeline, calling for his wyvern.
Merlin headed back towards the castle.
By the time Gwaine and Aldwyn found the front gate, the battle was over.
Aldwyn had taken Elen a few minutes previously, so Gwaine was the first to leave the gates, picking his way through numerous dead bodies. He was confronted by a very large, very agitated wyvern.
It…no, it's a he, long horns, remember…promptly screeched at him and went to take his head off.
Then, Gwaine recognized him.
He wasn't sure whether it was the face or the greenish scales, but he was almost certain that he knew which one of Hayden's pets this was.
"Emerald!" he shouted so loudly that his throat hurt.
The wyvern stopped dead and stared at him suspiciously. Aw, hell, I forgot how unerving those red eyes get…at least he recognized his name…I think…
The wyvern started moving again; creeping slowly. "Aldwyn, I'd stay back if I were you!" Gwaine called, not moving from where he stood.
"What is it?" he heard Aldwyn shuffling around, then, "Oh, lord. Yeah, I'll stay back here."
Gwaine forced himself to hold still as Emerald started sniffing him. After a few long moments, the beast relaxed its posture.
Gwaine heaved a sigh of relief and reached up to scratch the animal on the top of the head. Emerald always liked that spot best. He still seemed to.
"Is it safe?" he heard Aldwyn ask from behind him.
"Yeah, I think." Gwaine tried moving past the wyvern and through the castle gates; Emerald simply followed him with Aldwyn trailing behind as he carried Elen.
Outside of the gates, they found Cleva and the twins standing slightly apart from three other wyverns. And with the wyverns was…"Hayden?" Gwaine exclaimed.
The blond man turned quickly and let out a yelp. "Gwaine?"
Gwaine grinned and gestured to the wyvern behind him. "This belong to you?"
"Emerald, there you are! Some idiot shot Sapphire; he's not badly injured but I had to check him over…"
"Aldwyn! And…Lady Elen?" Cleva hurried to the prince, who carefully laid Elen on the ground. The twins followed her, but kept their distance. "What happened to her?"
"Some bastard named Haig happened. Former knight of Bernicia, apparently…to quote my dear cousin over there, he…'took honor a few steps to far'?"
Gwaine shrugged. His eyes found Cleva's, and they simply gazed at each other for a moment as Aldwyn continued, "He was looking for revenge."
"Revenge for what?" Everard quieried. "Ryle said something about it, but he couldn't tell us what it was all for…"
Gwaine suddenly felt very, very tired. "It doesn't matter." Ignoring the confused looks he was getting, he added, "Haig doesn't matter anymore. Without his mercenaries, he's nothing. Ryle's going to kill him, anyway."
Somehow he felt very sure of that.
Ryle didn't know what he felt when the spear went through his chest.
He'd felt pain before; the pain of severe injuries, even. But this…
He felt nothing. Except pleasure.
Because he could see his killer's face. And, in a moment, he became his own killer's killer.
"Swilte." His eyes glowed gold; one final spell.
Ryle couldn't pretend that he knew what it had all been for; that he knew exactly which events had set into motion this pointless trail of revenge that ended here in this gloomy castle.
Nor could he pretend that he did not feel a harsh joy at the sight of Haig's terrified face as the warlord breathed his last.
In a way, Ryle could understand. His own path had been one of twisted loneliness and bitter regrets. He had spent so long not caring so as not to become like the man who fell before him now.
But that was over now.
Elen Barclayn will be safe. Her brother will see to it.
Funny; in the end, his love for someone he would have never had set him free.
As the pain finally struck him and he fell one last time, he felt the taste of bittersweet victory.
Merlin managed, with his usual bumbling skill, to slip past the still-battling wyvern at the gates and back into the castle. He hadn't gone too far before he almost collided with Arthur and Elyan (apparently Leon and Percival had taken off running in yet another direction). However, there had been no sign of enemy soldiers within the castle for several minutes, so Arthur felt confident enough to leave the building. "We'll assess the situation outside, regroup, and go back in to find Sir Leon and Sir Percival."
Once outside, the situation briefly took a turn for the worse.
"Wyverns!" yelled Arthur, raising his sword once more.
"Oh, for God's sake!" shouted Aldwyn. "They're on our side! Why do you think all the soldiers are dead?"
The wyverns had already drawn their own conclusions and had started snarling and moving to attack.
It took several minutes and the combined efforts of Hayden and Gwaine to calm them down; during which Arthur and Aldwyn decided to swear pointlessly at each other in a very exhausted fashion.
And when everyone finally relaxed enough to talk civilly, the first person to speak was Elwin. "I suppose you have questions, Your Majesty?"
I'd say he's toying with Arthur a bit. Probably trying to relieve the tension. Merlin wished that it would.
Things were certainly very tense. Cleva, the twins, and Aldwyn had taken up defensive positions around the limp form of Elen, while Hayden and Gwaine were still trying to keep the wyverns from doing anything unfortunate.
"Yes, I have questions, but…I'm not entirely sure I want to know the answers." Arthur eventually grumbled.
So, I killed off an OC. Yes, Ryle's gone for good. I've been planning to kill him for a long time...I know it probably seems kind of pointless but his death means something to me for whatever reason so I had to kill him. Oh, but on the plus side Haig's dead too.
OK, now for the super-important AN: This may seem cruel, but this story is coming to a end. I know, it seems weird, but I have only one more chapter planned plus an epilogue; it's always ended this way for me and I'm not going to make myself miserable by trying to change that.
However, there is (hopefully) good news. I'm considering a sequel. What do you think? Too early to decide? Let me know!
Thank you all, for your enormous support. Your follows, favorites, and reviews mean the world to me! Thank you again!