(IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please read the previous chapter, (56), before reading this chapter, as it was updated recently and more content was added. Thank you!)
Merlin should have known better, he really should have. In fact, he did know better, bursting into Arthur's empty chambers was just a formality, deep down Merlin had known he would not be there. He knew the moment he had left his chambers just hours before that he was not going to follow through on their deal, Merlin damn near didn't even expect him to, but it would have been nice. So instead, Merlin started scouring the town, using his magic to help guide him to wherever this prat was and this led him to the caves under the castle, because that was always a wonderful place to visit. Merlin used magic to conjure up a troch and headed into the darkness of the caves. He had to find Arthur quickly, it was a matter of life or death, for both parties at risk. Merlin and Gaius had figured out what the beast was and more importantly...who the beast was. He walked almost at a run, only being met with wall after wall of rock instead of Arthur. Suddenly there was a feminine scream not too far ahead and Merlin took off, running, willing his magic to make him run faster. When he came to a cavern he found 'the beast' looming over Gwen of all people, holding Arthur's sword in her hands in defense, while behind her lay Arthur, on the ground, unmoving.
"GWEN!" he let out a yell, it was almost a question. What was she doing there? He rushed over to Arthur regardless of what had happened and he kneeled, touched his forehead with his palm to feel the warmth there and then Arthur stirred almost at once.
"He was hit, because he was trying to protect me," said Gwen, as Arthur began to blink open his eyes, they looked unfocused and confused. Merlin figured then that he was alright, he didn't see any bites or cuts. He stood up then and allowed Arthur the time to come around on his own. In the meantime, the beast growled and snarled from behind him. Gwen kept Arthur's sword pointed toward it. "I couldn't possibly defeat this thing, it is going to kill us all."
"It won't," said Merlin, Arthur sat up then and looked around. He stared at Merlin with both irritation and happiness, that felt all too normal to Merlin, so he ignored it. "Gaius and I have figured out what-" There was a roar from the beast then, that took the sound from Merlin's words, it backed up, more into the shadows. Merlin would expect as much. He turned toward it then and began to walk closer to the beast, this had been the closest surely any of them had been to it, the beast looked frightening, and perhaps what it was capable of was quite terrifying, but Merlin knew better. He stepped closer and the beast shuttered with fright.
"MERLIN," Arthur yelled then, staggering to his feet. "It will kill you..."
"It won't," Merlin repeated once more, not turning back to look at Arthur, even though he knew Arthur was starting to bound toward him. He held up his hand to stop him. "She wouldn't hurt me."
"She?" said Gwen then in utter disbelief, it was then that he could hear Arthur stop his rush toward him. He was obviously confused, too. Merlin nodded as he reached the beast, who was not actually a beast at all. He turned back and smiled at Gwen and Arthur both, to reassure them. But they both only looked horrified. Arthur was pale as a ghost, either frightened of Merlin's possible death or still shaken from being knocked out. Gwen just bit her lip and stared at Merlin as if he were stupid, and maybe he was.
"Freya," he spoke his words softly, maybe to her, maybe to them, it hardly mattered which. He could hear Gwen gasp. "Gaius thought he ought to look at curses instead of beasts and we found what we were looking for. Someone has put a curse on her...a terrible one. When she is frightened, scared, worried...angry...she turns into this."
"The attacks only began after she arrived," said Gwen, accepting Merlin's words as truth without giving it much thought. Arthur was not as convinced.
"Who would want to curse her?" he questioned. "She's just a girl."
"A Druid, Arthur," said Gwen then. "There are many out there much like-"
Her words froze and stuttered out, and Arthur sighed at them, "Like my father..."
"I'm sorry," she said and Merlin still did not turn around. This all might be true but he still had to deal with the problem at hand now, before they went into any more detail. The beast with much more human eye's now stare at him, silent, non-vicious, almost pleading with him to help her, he wanted to. He offered out his hand to her and waited. "Please be careful, Merlin," Gwen added, with worried tears laced in her voice. Merlin planned on being careful. He pulled the charmed pendent he and Gaius had made from his pocket, he inched closer to her yet again, still offering his hand.
"Take my hand," he told her. "It's safe, you know none of us would ever hurt you...there is no need to be frightened," Merlin felt as if he were talking to one of the children that live in the lower town, whom barely have any food, he spoke to her now in the same sort of forced calm tone that he talked to them, when he snuck them breads from the kitchen. He got close enough to her then and he kneeled down, exposing too much of himself, his neck, his head to her teeth, but he knew she would not attack him, but there might always be a chance he was wrong. He could hear a whimper, as he leaned forward. He placed the pedant around her thick, furry neck and pushed himself back as she began to trash around in what looked to be pain. He could hear Gwen sobbing from behind him, but he ignored it, as in a heap on the ground now lay a girl in one of Morgana's purple dresses, now torn quite badly. "Freya," he whispered again, coming closer to her once more. She threw her arms around him at once and cried, be it a lot quieter than Gwen was crying.
"I'm so sorry, Merlin," she said in a horse, tired voice. He didn't need her to be sorry, this was not her fault, he said nothing and only hugged her back.
After some time and allowing Freya to collect herself, the group left the caves. Freya and Gwen walking ahead. Gwen had her in a tight embrace, whispering things that were probably very comporting as they walked. Merlin only hoped they were anyway. Merlin and Arthur walked just behind them, not speaking at first until they were well from the caves of the castle. And when Arthur did speak, it was in a whisper.
"This pendent you put on her," he said slowly and quietly, in that whisper, probably so Freya could not hear. "Will it stop her from turning into that beast?"
"Yes, Gaius had it stored," Merlin lied, because it was he who actually made it, but he could hardly tell Arthur this. "It will counter the curse that makes her turn into that thing."
Arthur nodded at his words. "Regardless, you know she cannot stay here like this," he said, of course Merlin had already known that and did not say anything. This would not hurt him to know as much as it would hurt Morgana, and even Gwen, they had grown very close to Freya. "There is always a chance the pendent could break or be lost, I cannot allow that kind of threat in Camelot again, I'm sorry."
"I know," whispered Merlin.
"We will find somewhere safe for her to go and hopefully find a way to break this curse," said Arthur. Merlin looked over at him then and shrugged, he was not sure of the process of breaking this curse, Gaius seemed to think it couldn't be done, at least not by them, or man at all. "Other Druid camps, they might know something, we can take her to where we were before."
"They will not want someone so dangerous near them, they are kind and gentle people, they do not like violence or want to welcome it into their camp," said Merlin, but Arthur already knew this and said nothing at all to it. Instead, as they finally reached the town he broke away from them.
"I will go speak to Morgana about what happened tonight, I know she will not be happy," said Arthur with a bit too much diplomacy. "You two take Freya to Gaius, he should check her over, make sure she is not hurt."
They listened, for once Merlin actually listened, but even so he wondered what Arthur was really doing. Was he upset at the idea that Merlin fancied Freya again? He thought they had been through this already, or was it something else? The mention of Druids or that specific Druid Camp? That was where Merlin had lied to him about his feelings for him and perhaps that had gotten into Arthur's head again, he hoped not. Gaius looked over Freya and said there was nothing wrong with her, she just needed rest, it was very late now and Gwen had left long ago. This left Merlin alone, with no bed as Freya was in his and his mind began wondering far too much for his own good. He wondered where Arthur was, had he gone back to his chambers and gone to bed or was he still with Morgana?
Merlin entered Arthur's chambers and he was not sure how he had gotten there, or when he had made the decision to go, it was almost like a muscle memory, traveling there, coming in. It was not an active thought. He entered the chambers to again find them empty. He couldn't understand why, where the hell was Arthur now? Had he actually gone to speak to Morgana? Merlin hadn't believed him. Suddenly the door opened and Arthur walked inside, looking stressed and still a little pale. He noticed Merlin there at once, because he had been standing in the middle of his room, looking foolish, but the look said a bit too much. Merlin thought that both of their looks always did.
"Hi," Merlin said softly. What excuse did he have to be here? Did he need one, really? Arthur did not respond to this and shut the door behind him, he stepped deeper into the room and Merlin added, "Where were you?"
Arthur raised an eyebrow at this. "With Morgana, I told you."
"Yes, but I didn't think you were actually going there," he said, maybe a little bashfully. "How did she take it?"
"Badly," retorted Arthur. "What do you mean you did not think I was actually going, where else would I be going?"
Merlin paused then, not sure what to say, because he didn't really know. Honestly, Merlin had just been worried Arthur was in a mood again because he didn't think his heart or really any other part of him could take that again. He just wanted them to be normal once more and he wondered if that could ever happen again. "I thought maybe you were off sulking because you were saved by a woman."
Arthur's face scrunched up in confusion. Merlin had really just pulled this idea right from his backside, this was not what he thought Arthur was sulking about at all, but it was a good cover, he had to admit. "What do you mean?"
"When you had been knocked unconscious, Gwen took your sword and defended you," explained Merlin, with a smirk, Arthur only stare at him unamused. "I just assume you're not taking it well."
"Well, it is a hell of a lot better than being dead," said Arthur and Merlin's smirk turned into confusion. Arthur looked a bit annoyed at this now. "I'm not sure of your point, Merlin."
This surprised Merlin, which is why he was confused, he shrugged then. "Well, the Prince I first met would have been beside himself if he were saved by a woman."
"I'm not the prince you first met," said Arthur without missing a beat, his voice was stern, not angry but perhaps disappointed in Merlin's view of him. "I would have thought you knew that."
"I do," Merlin said and that was true. "But sometimes I forget..."
"Well, that's because you're an idiot," Arthur retorted, Merlin rolled his eyes then. Maybe he had not changed as much as he dare think he had. Merlin shook his head then, in disagreement, but he smiled nonetheless.
"Or maybe it's because you're a prat so often..."
Arthur shrugged, and offered a small grin then in return, this was a comforting sight to Merlin to say the least. "I'm a delight, I haven't an idea what you mean, Merlin."
They both laughed then, because they both knew neither of them were actually a delight at all. A few days passed rather quickly afterward, Merlin and Gaius spent a lot of this time trying to figure out where Freya could go. Freya herself had been quiet about this, she knew for the betterment of not only Camelot, but herself, that she had to leave. The only one who did not seem to understand this was Morgana, who was quite angry about it, though deep down Merlin knew she understood. She was just rather spirited at times. It was the middle of the night that Merlin had thought of an idea that might work, he couldn't hold it in and woke Gaius from his sleep just to talk to him about it.
He shook him awake and yelled in his face, "My father!" Gaius looked very alarmed indeed, as he woke. "I can ask my father to look after her."
Gaius blinked a few times and sat up slowly, "We haven't a clue where your father is, Merlin, how will that work and what will you tell Arthur?"
"That she's going to stay with the Dragonlord, he won't question it more than that," said Merlin. "I will write to him and find out, we can travel to meet him."
Gaius was already half asleep again, but he nodded all the same. "At least he could look after her..." and then he was asleep again and Merlin didn't take much offense to it and only went and grabbed a bit of parchment to write his letter. He used magic to send it and by morning he had gotten a response. Gaius had only just left to run his errands when a pigeon flew in the opened window and landed on the kitchen table right next to Merlin. Merlin took the note wrapped around it's leg and instead of flying away like a normal bird, it poofed into nothingness with a bit of smoke. Merlin ignored this entirely as he began to read his father's words with a smile. As he read he heard the door open, and he had thought it was Gaius, this was until he heard a voice right behind him.
"What are you reading...?"
"Nothing, a letter from my-" Merlin stopped himself before he said it. "It is a letter from the Dragonlord, Balinor"
"Why is he sending you letters?" retorted Arthur then.
"Because I sent him one..."
"For God Sake, Merlin," said Arthur sounding rather irritated all of a sudden. Merlin didn't understand his problem, and so he looked up with confusion. "At least Freya made sense."
"What are you talking about?"
"Why are you grinning so much while reading?" offered Arthur then, instead of answering Merlin's question. "Do you not think this man is too old for you?"
"What?!" said Merlin, almost demanding an answer now. He really didn't have time for this, his father had agreed to take on Freya and wanted to help her find some sort of relief of her curse, if not a cure. And Merlin didn't understand what Arthur was going on about now.
"It really just has to be anyone and everyone else..." Arthur was saying now. "Do you really fancy this old man?"
To say Merlin was dumbfounded was an understatement, he was floored, almost angry in fact, he was so taken aback by Arthur's words. "Are you crazy?" Merlin retorted then, as if he were not speaking to royalty. "You jealous prat," he couldn't believe his own ears at Arthur's words, to think...he fancied his own father? Merlin's stomach turned, it all came out before he could stop it. "He's my father, you idiot!"
The room shifted suddenly, the feeling no less charged, but different now. "...your father?" said Arthur then, slowly, and Merlin wished hadn't said that. He wished he had said almost anything else, let Arthur think whatever he wanted, but he hadn't. He stood up then and stared at Arthur. "Why didn't you tell me this before...?"
"I didn't know how you would take it, if you would think-"
"He is a Dragonlord, does that mean you are...-"
"No," Merlin cut over his words quickly. "That only passes on to the son once the father dies."
"So, you will be," said Arthur and Merlin felt his skin go pale. This was the last thing he wanted. Arthur couldn't find out about Merlin's magic, about any of anything at all. Now Merlin felt dread sinking into his heart.
"Arthur, I-"
"At least I know you will not always be completely useless," he said, and Arthur forced a smile at this. Merlin just stare at him, not able to speak. Why had he said that? Did he see the fear in Merlin's face? Probably. Arthur's smile dropped then and he sighed. "You should have told me before, Merlin. What did you think I would do?"
"I don't know..."
"You must really think I am heartless."
"No," Merlin said almost at once again. He did not think Arthur was heartless at all. "I was just..." he had no good excuse, at least none he could say. "No one knows, my mother doesn't want people to know, she doesn't want any problems."
"She won't have any," said Arthur then. "You have to learn to trust me, Merlin. Do you think I will run to my father over every little thing?"
"I know you wouldn't..." said Merlin and he felt shameful, he felt ashamed of himself that he could not trust Arthur with everything, with all of Merlin. But he really couldn't and he as much as he wished it could be differant, he knew better than to have hope. "I only sent him a message to ask if he would allow Freya to come and stay with him."
Arthur took pause, clearly not over the hurt he felt from the truth Merlin unwillingly told. "And what did he say?" Arthur pushed through the question anyway.
"He said he would happily."
"Then we will go to him," said Arthur then. "At least then you will be able to see him again, it has been a long time."
Merlin shrugged, "It had been my whole life before..."
"Even so, if I had a chance to spend time with my mother I would take it without a second thought," said Arthur. "You should not miss your chance."
Merlin stomach dropped at Arthur's words, knowing how he felt about missing his mother, Merlin felt a sense of either sadness or complete and utter love, he wasn't sure which, he wasn't sure he would ever really know either. "Thank you, Arthur."
The next morning they prepared to leave. Arthur had gone to tell Uther some complete lie about Morgana needing time away from the castle and that they would be spending some time in the south where it was warmer so she could clear her head, all of that was utter rubbish but Uther in his drunkard state seemed to believe it all the same. In the meantime, Merlin prepared the horses and got their supplies ready to go. Morgana joined him in the courtyard, as she had to go thanks to Arthur's lies, not that she wouldn't have wanted to go anyway, Merlin knew she would and he assumed Arthur knew this, too.
"Arthur told me your father is a Dragonlord," she said as her greeting, as she pulled along her white horse that happily followed her. Merlin looked up with stress and she laughed. "Don't worry, I pretended I didn't already know."
"I accidently told him, because the prat thought-" he stopped himself before he told her what Arthur had thought and he frowned. "It doesn't matter...I didn't mean to say it."
"He seems to have taken it well," said Morgana then. Merlin shrugged, because Arthur hadn't said another word about it at all, so had he really taken it well? What did it really mean anyway? To Arthur Merlin was still a useless toad, he didn't know anything differant. "You should tell him about your magic," said Morgana then and this pulled Merlin from his thoughts, he looked at her as if she were crazy. "I have told you countless times, he won't care...he's too in love with you to give a damn what you tell him. You could tell him you've killed his favorite pig and he would still marry you in an instant."
"That's not true," said Merlin, but she only scoffed at him. "And me having magic is very differant than a pig...I've lied to him all this time, I don't see how he could forgive that."
"I didn't say it wouldn't hurt him, but it won't matter...he's too far gone."
"I wish you would stop saying that," Merlin admitted. "We can't be in love. Uther said that quite plainly a long time ago."
"Uther says a lot of really stupid things," said Morgana then, getting onto her horse. Just off to the left Merlin could see Freya and Gwen walking near, Gwen would be coming along, too. It would be quite the trip they all would be taking together. "You cannot hide it from him forever, Merlin, and wouldn't you rather it come from you first? It will be a lot worse if he were to just find out on his own...he doesn't deserve for you to hide things from him."
Merlin knew she was right, but he still couldn't do it.
(A/N: No, you are not hallucinating, I really am updating this story after nearly a year of not having done a damn thing...I do hope you all saw and read the added bit of story to the last chapter I did add it a few days ago. It isn't super important to this chapter, so if you chose not to read it, it wouldn't hurt your experience too much, but it does explain how Gwen got involved. Originally this part would have been in this chapter, but I changed this chapter last minute and made it in Merlin's POV. And it is true, this story is mostly in Arthur's perspective because it was his story and character I wanted to develop more than Merlin's but I do like to do little check-ins with Merlin from time to time. There is going to be a few more Merlin Check-ins rather close together as we come to the end of this story, which will be very soon. I feel like in some strange way this story is just apart of me somehow, and once it is actually, finally over what will I even do with myself...? I honestly do love this story. Because it has taken me literally two years to write the Freya portion of this story, (shows you how much I like Freya,) needless to say I had to reread the start of her arc in the story and I was so into it, I obviously remember important bits, but not word for word what is said in every chapter. Arthur said a line that was literally KILLER and I got out of my seat excited, like YAS MY KING, YOU SAY THAT LINE BOY! I do want to do a reread of this story when it is finally over and EDIT SO MUCH, like I called Morgana Morgan at one point on accident...I wanted to hit myself. But anyway, enough of me talking for no reason. I hope you enjoyed, I hope this update makes a lot of very kind and lovely, and VERY patient people happy. )
