Merlin's Chosen
Summary: Arthur has slept in Avalon, the otherworldly place just beyond the reach of magic for all but Merlin and his chosen, recovering from the injuries sustained in the battle at Camlann. Years have passed and times have changed and Hogwart's school of Witchcraft and Wizardry has taken it's place on the edge of the Lake of Avalon, unknown to modern witches and wizards. The world is in need of the Once and Future King to unite Albion again but to do that the immortal Merlin, the man that has learned to live backwards, must be there and he is nowhere to be found. It is now the job of Merlin's Chosen. Only, Harry Potter thinks he's going mental.
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own that of Harry Potter or this incarnation of the myth of King Arthur and Merlin.
A/N: I had the outline and most of the chapter written since June and the last scene just didn't want to be written. So frustrating, but I hope you enjoy this!
Chapter VII:
It took Merlin nearly two years to convince Hunith to move to Camelot. But it wasn't until after Gaius died that Hunith decided to move into a small cottage near the citadel. She didn't know how Merlin managed to find the house so fast, but she suspected that the King and Queen had something to do with it and she was grateful for their kindness.
It was in that small two room house that Merlin burst into late into the night nearly a month and a half after Gaius had died.
"Merlin?" Hunith tried not to panic at the look in her son's eyes. The door slammed and locked behind him and Hunith saw the gold in his eyes fade.
"He knows," was all his said as he sank to the floor next to the fire that seemed to flare for a moment before settling.
"What happened?" she asked. She knelt beside him, trying not to look to the door in fear of soldiers following him.
"We talked. At least now he understands." He gave a smile. "And there is no pyre or banishment, so there's that."
"But are you okay?" Hunith was relieved that she didn't have to plead for her son's life, but she knew that the truth still held a hefty price.
Merlin just stared into the fire and his mother couldn't help but realize that while he was grown up and he still seemed old beyond his years. "I'm not okay. We're not okay. But we will be. And that's really important."
Hunith pulled Merlin into a hug and didn't say anything as she felt his tears soak into her shoulder.
Merlin was helping his mother with some of the more arduous household chores when there was an urgent knock on the door and Sir Leon appears on the other side.
"My Lord," Hunith greeted dipping into a curtsey.
"Ma'am, is Merlin here?"
Merlin emerged from the back room wiping his hands on a cloth. "What is it, Leon?"
"I am sorry, Merlin, but there has been an accident on the training field and we need you with the physician in the lower town today." Leon almost looked uncomfortable standing in the doorway to the hut. "I wouldn't have come if it wasn't urgent."
"I know, Sir Leon. It is okay." He followed the knight to the training field and watched the the group of squires and knights closely as they stood in the tight circle. "What happened?"
Leon pushed through the group, forcing them to give the fallen knight room to breathe as Merlin followed. "Gawain and Galahad were sparing and one of them slipped just enough and Galahad's leg was cut pretty bad. We didn't dare move him with the amount of blood he was loosing."
"I thought the blades were blunt for training."
Leon's eyes darkened. "So did we all."
Merlin knelt down and checked the wound, pausing briefly at the well-done tie high on the young knight's leg. The bleeding had slowed enough that they could move him. "Have a squire send for Emlyn," Merlin instructed. "Leon, Gawain, make a stretcher and have Percival help take him to Emlyn's rooms." The knight's nodded and there were a flurry of activity. Merlin stepped away and saw the king approaching. "Galahad was accidentally injured, Sire. From what I could see, he has lost a lot of blood but is not in danger of loosing his leg."
Arthur nodded. "I am sorry this pulled you away from your mother."
Merlin smiled. "I am just glad I can help."
Merlin and Arthur followed the stretcher off the field. Hunith was waiting for the injured knight with clean water and rags and quickly set about cleaning the wound as Merlin set about sterilizing a needle and making a poultice to combat infection. Merlin was about to begin stitching the wound together, thankful that Galahad was still unconscious from pain and blood loss, when Emlyn walked in. The older man just shook his head when Merlin tried to hand the needle to him. "You have already prepared. It would take me too long and this young man has already lost a lot of blood." Merlin just nodded and went to work slowly stitching the torn flesh together only leaning back to inspect his work before applying the poultice and wrapping a bandage around the wound.
"When he wakes, give him this for the pain," Emlyn said handing a vial to Gawain who didn't seem to be moving from Galahad's bedside.
Arthur moved close. "Will he be all right?"
"He lost a lot of blood, sire. Hopefully, it wasn't too much. If he makes it through the night, we will then have to worry about infection." Merlin tried to ignore the pained look of Gawain's face. "Only time will really tell, Sire. He will need time to heal."
"This was my fault," Gawain said brokenly.
"It was no one's fault, Gawain, just an accident." Merlin didn't quite understand why the knight was reacting as he was. They were all worried, but it wasn't as if he had hurt him deliberately.
"I promised Lancelot..." Gawain whispered brokenly. Merlin was sure he was the only one who heard. He patted the knight's shoulder, hoping it was taken as comforting.
"I will be here in the morning, and Emlyn is always in the room next door. He will be all right, Gawain. You'll see." But Gawain was looking into his lap as he nodded and Merlin didn't know what else to say.
He quietly made his way from the room and went in search of his mother only to be surprised to find her in the Queen's chambers talking over Gwen's latest embroidery project. They looked up at his knock, and they tried to smile.
"How is Galahad?" Gwen asked.
"We will know more in the morning." She nodded and settled back into her chair. Hunith stood and pulled him into a hug.
"He'll be alright," she whispered in his ear. "I did not realize that Guias taught you so well."
"Neither did I," Arthur said appearing behind him.
Merlin snorted. "Then who was the one that stitched you up on the last campaign when you decided that getting stuck with a lance was a good idea."
Hunith gave them both a horrified looked and then turned to see Gwen's amused face.
"It was merely a shard of a lance, and it wasn't that bad."
"But it did get infected," Gwen chimed in.
"Only a little bit," Arthur countered and Merlin snorted while Gwen just smiled.
"Whatever you say, Love," Gwen said, winding the thread and putting the needle away. "Would you like to go for a walk, Hunith? I am in need of some fresh air."
"Of course, your majesty." Merlin saw Gwen's eyes roll, and he bit back a laugh. Gwen had spent weeks trying to convince his mother to just call her Gwen, but it hadn't worked.
"I will visit later, Mother," Merlin called after the pair but he got no answer.
He followed Arthur in the direction of his chambers, and for a few moments they sat in silence. "Why didn't you just heal Galahad with magic?" Arthur said.
"In front of everyone? And even if we managed to clear the room how would we have explained the miraculously healed leg?" Merlin poured them both ale knowing that it was going to be a long conversation.
"But you could do it?" Arthur asked.
"I can do a lot of things, including heal."
Arthur was silent a far away look in his eyes. "You know it's been almost a year since Guias died." As much as Merlin missed his mentor he knew Arthur wasn't talking about him. Arthur looked straight at him. "I'm going to lift the ban."
Merlin nodded. "Okay."
Arthur started. "Okay?"
Merlin smiled. "Okay." Merlin leaned forward. "How do you want to tell the knights and the court?"
There was another swift knock and Merlin leaned back annoyed at the interruption. "Come!" Arthur called and Gawain burst in looking worse than he did before.
"What's wrong?"
"It's Galahad! Something- something isn't right! Emlyn is doing all he can, but it isn't helping! Merlin..." Merlin was already out the door and down the hall.
Merlin ran through the open door to see Galahad writhing in pain. Emlyn was frantically circling him at a loss of what to do.
"Thank the Gods, Merlin. I don't know what to do! He won't wake and I can't get him still enough to force a pain reliever into him without causing more damage."
Merlin grabbed the young knight's hand and hissed as an electric shock ran up his arm. "Is it- is it magic?" Emlyn whispered the word as if Uther would come back to life at the mere mention of sorcery. Merlin didn't know what to do. He knew that he had to heal Galahad with magic, but it would mean doing it front of someone else. A someone he didn't trust.
Merlin heard the hurried footsteps of Arthur and Gawain entering the workshop and he didn't even turn when he yelled, "Arthur, get them out!" Merlin ignored the shouts as he gripped Galahad's hand ignoring the pain as the invading magic fought against him. Merlin felt his magic flow from him into Galahad without words and he closed his eyes, but must have been too late to hide the gold flash by the gasp he heard.
The foreign magic was fighting him and it was strong, but Merlin was stronger. After a few moments Galahad stopped flailing but still wasn't waking, so Merlin pushed harder with his magic forcing the remnant of the enemy out.
Galahad woke with a start nearly knocking Merlin out with his own head before realizing where he was and settling back onto the cot with a groan.
"Merlin?" Confusion was written all over his sweat covered face.
"You're going to be okay, Galahad," Merlin said.
"But what happened?"
"What do you remember?"
Galahad thought for a moment. "I remember training with Gawain. We were sparring and I was too slow. The blade cut my leg." Galahad's hand swept over the injury as if to make sure it was there and the pain seemed to finally register on his face.
Merlin stood, grateful to see that they were alone, and retrieved a pain reliever, helping the young knight gulp it down then handed him a goblet of water to wash away the taste.
"The swords we use are dulled. What happened?" Galahad asked.
"We're going to figure that out," Merlin said as the door opened behind him. "But for now you need to recover." Merlin pushed Galahad back into the bed encouraging him to sleep.
"What do you want me to tell them?" Arthur asked when Merlin stood to face him.
Merlin sighed and started pacing. "Gawain needs to know, but there is so much that I need to tell him for him to understand what happened..." He glanced at Galahad and Arthur wondered what really happened that day with Lancelot. Merlin had said point blank that he wouldn't tell him, even when Arthur railed against him for keeping secrets. "As for Emlyn, I don't trust him, but he will be suspicious. Especially, with what just happened." Merlin paused. "Tell them what you will. I just hope that this can be settled quickly."
The early autumn sunlight filtered through the stained glass windows that lined the throne room. The sight was normally beautiful but this gathering was solemn. Almost two months had passed and while Galahad had healed, there was still an underlining tension of not finding who had attacked him. Until an arrest had been made.
The crowd was silent as the man was led in, his shackles clanging with the sound reverberating off the walls. Merlin tried not flinch as the man was pushed to his knees in front of the seated king. Arthur stood and faced the assembled people. He seemed stone-faced, but Merlin could see the nervousness in his eyes.
"Elric, son of Bale, you have be accused of sorcery and the attempted murder of a knight of Camelot," Arthur said. "What do you have to say in your defense?"
"Your highness, may I have the privilege of facing my accuser?" Elric's voice steady but the fear was there.
Arthur nodded and motioned for someone to step forward. "Your highness," she greeted with a curtsey. The woman was well past her child bearing years and hardened from her years of working the land.
"May the court have you name, madam?"
"My name is Firinne, my Lord."
"Tell the court what you told me, Firinne."
"My Lord, I witnessed Elric with what I have since found out where the knights training swords."
"Under what circumstances did you see him with the swords?" Arthur prompted.
"He was placing them into his cart and then heading toward the citadel."
"Did you see him place the enchantment on them?"
Firinne paused and looked uncertain. "No, my Lord."
"So for all you know, he was unknowingly taking already enchanted swords to the citadel," Arthur pressed.
"Yes, my Lord."
"Is that what happened, Elric?" Arthur asked.
The once downtrodden Elric looked like a weight had been lifted. "Yes, my Lord."
"Are you able to prove it?"
"Yes, my Lord."
Arthur nodded to the guards surrounding him and the unlocked the chains. "Elric, son of Bale, the conditions of your release are these: a knight of Camelot is with you at all times, and you return to the court within a weeks time with proof of your innocence."
"I thank you, Firinne, for your testimony. Without it we would not have gotten this far to finding out who did this."
"Thank you, my Lord." She curtseyed and moved back into the crowd.
Arthur looked at the assembled group of Lords, Ladies, knights and servants with hard steel in his eyes. "I will not tolerate any attacks against my people. It does not matter from whom or what. However, I treat magic with the same contempt as those who commit crime with fist or blade." Arthur shifted and squared his stance. "Thus, from this point on magic users are once again welcome in the kingdom of Camelot, and subject to the same laws as those who wield any other tool and weapon. So I have said, so may it be." There was a deafening silence in the hall as Arthur motioned for Merlin and Geoffrey to move forward. Merlin handed the King the scroll entrusted to him. "Lord Geoffrey, have this decree read throughout the land and strike the law banning magic from our laws."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The doors opened and Elric was slowly led from the hall and even more slowly the crowd followed. They seemed to be at a loss of what to make of the announcement yet Merlin beamed with pride at his king.
The Knights of the Round Table were the last to leave the hall and Gawain turned with a smirk on his face. "So does this mean that Merlin can finally magic the dirt off your clothes?" The knight only laughed at Merlin's indignant squawk and Arthur's quiet, "Of course Gawain already knew."
