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Desperation
"Arthur!" Merlin let out as he took a few steps forwards, he let out a gasp as the Archers released their arrows. This couldn't be happening.
Instinctively his eyes flashed golden, stopping the forwards momentum of the arrows that had been rained down upon him. The projectiles floated in the air all around them, and he could see the faces of the archers and all the knights go pale. It was as if they expected him to shoot the arrows right back at them. As if they expected him to hurt them. He couldn't take it.. He didn't want any of these people to fear him. He didn't want anyone to fear him! He didn't want to hurt anybody, and he certainly did not want to attack anybody! He let the arrows drop to the ground, a gasp of relief could be heard from the crowd of knights. His gaze trailed to Arthur, noticing an expression of terror briefly washing over the man's face. And then he had that look, the look he had when he had found out about Merlin's secret after the battle at Camlann. Everything was wrong. It shouldn't be this way. Something terrible had happened, and he had no idea what it was.
"I do not wish to fight you! I don't want to hurt anyone!" Merlin called out in a pleading voice, desperation visible in all of his facial features. Arthur had to listen to him, he was the only one who could do something about this situation. He needed to see Gaius! Gaius was the only one who could know what had happened, how all of this could be possible. He needed Gaius' help in breaking whatever had caused all of this.
"Please, Arthur! You must believe me!" Merlin pleaded to the man that had once been his best friend.
"This is your final warning, Warlock. Leave." Arthur spit out towards him, disgust blended with terror and poorly hidden behind a mask of bravery.
"Arthur! Don't do this, please!" He pleaded as he took a small step backwards and away from the King of Camelot. His mind was racing. None of the pleads he was making was getting through to them. Had they been enchanted whilst he had been gone? Was Morgana still alive and had she done this? It didn't make sense. None of this made sense to him. The only thing that could make sense was an enchantment, but that still didn't explain why Arthur was still alive.
"I don't want to leave, Arthur! This is my home! I belong here, with all of you! I need to see Gaius! You've been enchanted and I need his help in breaking it! I don't know what to do, please Arthur. Don't do this!" He let out, tears now finding their way through his eyes, running down his cheeks as they were involuntarily released.
Arthur stepped in with the line of Knights, raising his sword into the air. It wasn't Excalibur. Why wasn't Arthur wielding Excalibur? "For the love of Camelot!" He roared, dragging his sword down through the air, aiming the tip towards Merlin. The knights roared, and the archers drew their bows, releasing a rain of arrows down towards Merlin from above, just as the Knights begun to charge forwards shields raised and their swords pointed in his direction.
This couldn't be happening. This must all be a terrible nightmare. He had run out of logical explanations to all of this. It had to be a nightmare. It had to be!
"I don't want to fight you!" Merlin cried out as his eyes flashed golden once again, stopping the movement of the arrows before they struck him, the projectiles falling to the ground. In a few seconds the knights would be upon him, all of them attempting to cut him down where he stood. He felt sick to his stomach, his mind was racing, and his heart pounding in his chest.
Instinctively Merlin flinched as a knight got close, his eyes flashing golden as his sword got dangerously close to his body. With a thrust the knight was thrown backwards and to the ground, losing his sword in the process. He seemed unharmed, much to Merlin's relief as he searched for his lost sword shortly after impact with the ground.
Several swords were slashed out after him, and like the one that came before them, their attacks were repelled in a harmless fashion, disarming the knights in the process. He stumbled backwards as the knights pushed forwards towards his location. He shook his head furiously, begging to wake up, begging for this nightmare to end.
"I don't want to do this!" Merlin screamed out, large currents of tears running down his face. "Please Stop! I don't want to hurt you!" Merlin pleaded as Arthur came before him. He couldn't do anything to Arthur. He wouldn't! He didn't want to risk hurting his best friend as he had the other knights. "You've brought this upon yourself, monster!" Arthur barked out as his sword swung. Merlin stumbled backwards, raising his arm defensively, protecting his torso in the process. The sharp metal of the blade cut into the flesh of his upper arm, almost as if in slow motion. His arm had been over his heart. Arthur had tried to kill him.
He let out a yelp of pain taking several steps backwards after getting cut, his other hand cupping the wound he had suffered as blood poured out of it, hugging the arm close to his body. It felt more like he had taken a stab to the heart, rather than a cut to the arm. Arthur had called him a monster, and he had tried to kill him. That pain ran deeper than anyone could ever imagine. Arthur who had accepted him for who he was only a few days prior, was now calling him a monster, and assaulting him like he was the most evil and dangerous person in the world. Like he needed to die, in order for the world to be safe.
He continued to backpedal, his tearful eyes set upon Arthur for the longest of whiles, and as he turned heel and started running away from the walls of Camelot, a victorious and joyous cheer could he heard originating from the knight's location. This was no nightmare, he thought to himself his gaze trailing towards his arm, seeing his wound with blurred vision. He should have woken up by now. This wound felt too real to be a part of a dream. He wasn't dreaming, no. He was fully awake and something terrible had happened to the world. He was beginning to fear that this terrible thing was him. But he didn't understand, he never wanted to hurt a fly.
Nobody but Gaius and Arthur had known of his magic, but Arthur had died at the Lake of Avalon. But he wasn't dead. Arthur was very much still alive, and everyone had known of his magic. The look on their faces when he had stopped the arrows haunted his mind. They had expected him to fire them back towards them, they had expected him to kill them. All the knights had an expression of facing imminent death upon their faces. Arthur had watched him with fear and disgust.
He needed to learn of what had happened. He needed to know what he had done for everyone to be terrified of him, but nobody wanted anything to do with him, he couldn't reach Gaius. He didn't have his book. He came to a halt as a thought crossed his mind. Kilgarrah.
Kilgarrah would have no choice but to come to his call. If anyone could help him, it would have to be The Great Dragon. Kilgarrah would be the only one who could help him in learning the truth of what had happened. He was his only hope. Merlin could only beg and hope that he was still a dragon lord, and that Kilgarrah was still alive. He didn't dare to think of the alternative, for if Kilgarrah was gone, and he was no longer a dragon lord, the he would have nowhere to turn.
Merlin continued on his path away from Camelot, making his way toward the clearing near the castle, the location where he had called for Kilgarrah so many times in the past. He needed answers, and most of all he needed to see a familiar face who did not want him dead.
Desperately he was clinging to this last piece of hope. Kilgarrah had to come. He had to.
He comes to a halt in the middle of the clearing taking a deep breath as he continues to clutch to the wound on his arm. He should probably bind it, but he has other things on his mind right now. He was feeling desperate, broken and most of all alone. He feared that if he waited the time it took to bind his wound, then his last hope of any resolution to this situation would disappear.
And then he threw his head back, shouting from deep within as he sounded the call for Kilgarrah.
"O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!" His heart was pounding in his chest as he waited, a lump forming in his throat as he counted the seconds. Any minute now. He stared up towards the skies, waiting, and waiting. And after an hour he felt a sinking feeling in his gut. Kilgarrah wasn't coming. Panic begun to spread within his body as he threw his head back once more, shouting the call with a desperation so grave, that it rivaled the shout he had made when Arthur was slipping away. Tears sprouted from his eyes as he relentlessly continued. No Kilgarrah. The great dragon was not heeding his calls. He wasn't coming. He was all alone, with no one to turn to, nobody to seek advice from.
His knees touched the ground as his legs gave away, the young warlock gritting his teeth as he released the most heart-wrenching cries that had ever come from a man. There were no one around to hear, no one he could go to for comfort, no one he could rely on for support. It felt like he was in hell. A living hell he could not escape from, and in his desperation and in his grief, he cried. He cried for the loss of his home, and all his loved ones, because he was alone and because he feared the future. He had nowhere to go, and the thought that he may have, in a twisted reality, hurt Arthur and Camelot.. It broke him on the inside.
Several hours had passed, and tears no longer came. He did not know how many hours he had spent in this clearing, but his bleed had stopped on it's own, although he had lost quite a bit of blood in the process. The sun had also set, and it was nighttime. The air was getting cold, and mist escaped from his mouth as he exhaled. Tiredly he gathered himself to his feet, binding his wound tightly with his neckerchief, at the lack of anything else to use, before he proceeded to wander into the woods, to gather firewood. He needed to keep going. Surely there must be a way to undo this. If Arthur and the rest were enchanted, there would still be a way to undo the enchantment. There had to be a way. Deep down, they all knew him for who he truly was, not this monstrous, destructive and evil figure this enchantment had twisted their minds into seeing. He clung to this last piece of hope, that whatever had been done, could be undone.
Firewood was piled into his arms and brought back to the edge of the forest, with good view of the clearing. Maybe Kilgarrah had simply been too far away to get back here in a mere couple of hours. He'd just have to stick around for a little while, give him some time.
"Forbaernan"He muttered, his eyes flashing golden. The wood caught on fire that very same moment, it's light and warmth spreading in the nearby area, pushing the cold out of Merlin's body as time went on. His knees were pulled up tightly to his chest as he leaned his back against a nearby tree, a keen eye aimed out towards the clearing and the skies above. "Come on, you stupid dragon.." he muttered under his breath.
He must have fallen asleep, only to be awoken by an echo of his name running through his mind. "Merlin" His eyes shot open, his gaze flickering around the area. He had heard this during his first night in Camelot, and then the thought struck him like a hammer.
Kilgarrah was still in the cave underneath Camelot.
That was also the moment that Merlin realized that this was no enchantment. Nobody but a Dragon Lord could force The Great Dragon back into the cave. Nobody but himself could do such a thing, unless.. His father was still alive.