Amelia's POV
Arthur drifts under murky water wearing his armour. A woman stands over him watching as he drifts further into the water's depths.
Amelia wakes with a gasp, her breath shakes. "Arthur! Arthur!" She gasps quietly.
Once she calms down, she leaps from her bed to where her notes are, which she had recently found and flicks through the pages till she gets to the episode she had noted down after Edwin.
"Season 1 Episode 7 - A girl called Sophia turns up with her father, enchants Arthur and tries to kill him in lake but Merlin stops them."
Okay, she can work with that. At least she now knows that while her dream partly comes true, Arthur does not die, which is a relief. Now all she has to do is wait for them to show up and make sure the ending her notes say happens and does not change for the worst or she can try to prevent it happening in the first place.
—
The next morning, Amelia learns that Morgana also had a similar dream. This is not unusual as there are times that she and Morgana have the same dreams at the same time, it is like they are connected.
Amelia tells her that they will have to see what happens as there is nothing they can do right now.
Later that morning her and Morgana take a walk through the Castle. When walking down one corridor, Amelia notices Merlin handing a familiar girl a blanket. The girl, most likely Sophia, enters her Guest Chambers. As she does so, she turns her head and looks directly at Amelia and Morgana causing the both of them to slow down to a stop. Once Sophia has entered her room, Morgana picks up speed and approaches Merlin anxiously. Amelia follows.
"Who is that?" Morgana asks, still staring at where Sophia had once stood.
"Er… Sophia Tír-Mòr. We rescued her in the woods." Merlin says before muttering, "Well, Arthur did most of the rescuing."
"She can't stay here," Amelia says.
"The King said that she and her father are welcome in Camelot. Is everything ok?" Merlin asks, noticing the anxious looks on both Amelia and Morgana's faces.
"Yes. Thank you." Morgana tells him, snapping out of it.
"Let's go to Gaius," Amelia tells her. Morgana nods in agreement. If they tell Gaius, then when something starts happening then he will probably mention it to Merlin and make him aware that something is going on. She wants to encourage as much suspicion as possible on Sophia.
—
Amelia and Morgana enter just as Gaius takes a flask off of a burner.
"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to disturb you," Morgana says as they walk over to him.
"Nonsense, my children. My favourite patients are always welcome." Gaius kisses both their cheeks. Amelia then glances behind Gaius and spots that a small part of Gaius' bench is now on fire. She can see that Morgana has also noticed.
"I'm sorry about the mess," Gaius tells them, having not noticed it yet but has noticed the looks on their faces. "Most of it's Merlin's. If I'd known you were coming, I'd have tidied up in here."
"Er… it's not that. It's just... your bench is on fire." Amelia awkwardly tells him.
"My bench is on fire? What are you..." he trails off catching onto what they had just said and turns to look. "My bench is on fire!"
Morgana hands him a bucket. "Here."
Gaius uses tongs to drop the flask into the water. "You two are always getting me into trouble. What brings you to this dark corner?" He leans against his bench that no longer has flames on it.
"We had another dream." Morgana begins.
"I see."
"We saw Arthur lying underwater, drowning, and there was a woman standing over him, watching him die," Amelia says anxiously. "And she's here in Camelot."
"The mind plays tricks. It borrows from everyday life and plays out its own fantasy." Don't play Gaius.
"But we had this dream before she came to Camelot." Morgana steps towards him in earnest.
"You must be mistaken."
"No," Amelia shakes her head, "We know what we saw. It was so real...so vivid." She notices her voice shaking slightly.
"We saw him die, Gaius. She's going to kill him." Morgana then says tearfully her voice breaking.
"These are just dreams nothing more. Are you taking the sleeping draughts I made up for the two of you?" Gaius says, boarder-lining on the line between patronising and trying to be helpful and caring.
"Oh, it doesn't help," Amelia tells him.
"Here. Try these. They will induce a deeper sleep." He hands them two bottles. "You've nothing to fear." He says reassuringly.
"Thank you, Gaius," Morgana says. They turn to walk away.
"Morgana. Amelia." Gaius calls to them causing them to turn around. "Don't bother Uther about this. No need to worry him." Well, that is the opposite of reassuring. Now Amelia feels unsettled.
—
Later that night, Amelia is restless as she sleeps. She sees the same vision of Arthur drowning with Sophia standing over him. This causes her to wake up and once again feel shaken.
The next morning, Amelia stands at the window with Morgana. Anne and Gwen stand behind them as they all watch Arthur ride out of Camelot with Sophia.
"You're sure it's her?" Anne asks. Anne has been quiet recently and hasn't been responsive to answering why that is.
"I could never forget that face," Morgana says not looking back at her.
"You should speak to the King," Gwen says.
Amelia scoffs turning to her. "And tell him what? That I can see the future? That Morgana can?"
"If you think Arthur's life is in danger." Gwen tries again while Anne doesn't. Amelia knows that Anne also believes that it is pointless to tell Uther.
"You know how he'd react." Says Morgana, now also turning to face her.
"You're his wards, he wouldn't harm either of you." Gwen insists.
"He hates magic more than he cares for us," Amelia says.
"That's not true." Oh, Gwen so naïve.
"Would you care to put it to the test?" Morgana says raising an eyebrow.
"What are you going to do then?" Anne now pipes up.
"We are going to have to try and stop her ourselves," Amelia says as they all turn to look back out the window. She can't let Arthur die.
—
Merlin's POV
Merlin enters his and Gaius' Chambers covered in rotten tomatoes after having been put in the stocks for covering for Arthur.
"Have you been playing with your food again?" Gaius asks, pottering around the room.
"The King put me in the stocks." He says, walking further into the room past Gaius.
"What'd you do this time?" Gaius sighs.
"Nothing," Merlin says indignantly. "Honestly, it wasn't my fault." He says, noticing the non-believing look on Gaius' face and turns round to pour water into a basin so that he can clean his face. "Arthur wanted to get out of going on patrol with Uther and the Guard, so I covered for him and took the blame."
"And Arthur was prepared to let you do this?" Gaius asks in surprise, walking over to one of the tables carrying something he had picked from one of the cupboards.
"It was his idea." Merlin washes his face.
"And what made him neglect his duties? It must've been something terribly important."
Merlin looks up smiling. "Sophia."
Gaius looks concerned as he walks around the room though Merlin cannot understand why. "The girl from the forest?"
"He wanted to take her out for the day," he takes food out of his hair, "He is besotted."
"But they've only just met." Gaius now looks even more worried but Merlin ignores it.
"I know." He says stopping. "I guess it must have been love at first sight." He then says somewhat jokingly before continuing with his task.
"Yes… suppose it must be."
—
Amelia's POV
Amelia is walking down one of the Griffin staircases when she bumps into Sophia who is walking up.
"Sorry!" Sophia exclaims, smiling and taking a step back. "Lady Amelia, isn't it? I'm Sophia." She puts out her hand. She is putting up a good front but Amelia is not going to fall for it.
"What are you doing here?" She asks drily.
"My father and I are guests of the King."
"You're lying," Amelia says. "I know what you're going to do to him, and I won't let it happen."
"Does Arthur know you feel this way about him?" Sophia says condescendingly. Amelia scrunches up her nose in disgust. "Of course he does. I suspect he's already turned you down."
"Do not be so disgusting. He is like a brother to me."
Sophia blinks in surprise. "Well, you are still managing to make a fool out of yourself anyway."
"Stay away from him," Amelia says, narrowing her eyes.
"Or what?" Sophia pauses for a moment. "Jealousy is such an unattractive trait in a woman. You cannot keep your supposed 'brother' to yourself forever. He needs to have a life. You should not be so selfish."
Amelia steps closer to her, looking down at her due to the fact she is on a higher step. "If anything happens to Arthur, I'll find you. However long it takes." She steps around Sophia and continues on her way, letting her message hang in the air.
Amelia tells Morgana about her encounter with Sophia and Morgana decides that she will tell Arthur to stay away from her despite Amelia's protests that it is not going to work.
And she is right as as Arthur took Morgana's warnings as her being jealous. Apparently, they cannot show that they care about Arthur without him assuming that either of them fancy him. Something Amelia finds hugely annoying.
—
Merlin's POV
The next day after being pelted by fruit once again as he had been covering for Arthur, Merlin enters covered in rotten food.
Gaius sits at his desk with Anne standing next to him. "Not again Merlin, surely?" The two of them look like they have been in a serious conversation but had ended it once Merlin entered. Recently it seems that the two of them have this secret going on between them.
"You would think that the appeal of pelting the same person with fruit would wear off after a while, but, oh, no!" Merlin feels somewhat disgruntled.
"I heard that Arthur wasn't at the knighting ceremony," Anne says.
"Yeah," he says casually as he pours water in a basin, "he wanted to make the most of his time left with Sophia."
"So you helped him?" Gaius asks. Merlin is confused at why both of them seem so serious.
He starts to wash. "I'm his servant, I had to."
"You shouldn't have done that, Merlin," He looks up at Gaius and Anne, "I fear that Sophia may not be all that she seems."
"Why?" Merlin asks confused.
Gaius gets up. "What do you know about seers?" Anne asks.
"Not much. They're… supposed to be able to see the future, like prophets?" He is not sure where they are going with this.
"It's said to be an innate ability. Those who have it are born that way. Some aren't even aware that what they see is the future. It comes to them in their dreams." Gaius sits on a bench on the other side of his desk.
"What's this got to do with Sophia?"
"The night before she and Aulfric came to Camelot, Morgana and Amelia both had a dream. Sophia was in it." Anne says.
This surprises Merlin. "Before she arrived in Camelot?"
"I've been watching Morgana and Amelia since they were very young. And though I tried to persuade myself otherwise, I realised that," Merlin comes closer and sits on the bench near Gaius and Anne, "some of the things they said they had dreamt came to pass. I kept it secret from Uther, of course. The gift of prophecy is too close to the work of magic."
"You both think Morgana and Amelia are seers?" Now that he remembers, Amelia has previously mentioned something about dreams stopping her from sleeping properly.
"We don't think it. We fear it. They said they dreamt that Sophia killed Arthur." Anne tells him.
"Couldn't that have just been a dream? Maybe the- the woman Amelia and Morgana saw just looked like Sophia." Merlin says, trying to come up with an explanation for how this is possible.
"That's what I hoped. But Aulfric caught me in Sophia's room and, in a flash of anger, his eyes changed colour." Gaius says.
"Who are they?" Merlin asks, the seriousness of the situation hitting him.
"It's not who they are that worries me. It's what they want with Arthur." Gaius says.
—
Anne's POV
Merlin leaves to investigate more and it could not have been more than an hour before he burst into Gaius' Chambers again. He tells her and Gaius about how he saw Aulfric go to a lake and tell some blue fairy things that appeared about offering Arthur as a sacrifice for immortality.
"Avalon. What you saw at the lake, it's Avalon. It must be…" Gaius says in shock. Anne feels confused.
"What's..." Merlin voices her confusion.
"The land of eternal youth. Mortals are only supposed to glimpse it the moment before death."
Anne raises her eyebrows in surprise before glancing over at Merlin. "Well, he's seen it and he's still here." She says.
"Extraordinary. What did it look like?"
"Does it matter?" Drawing Gaius back to the more pressing topic. "They're going to sacrifice Arthur and we don't even know who "they" are yet."
"We do now." Gaius sits by his desk. Merlin and Anne follow him. "I found writing like this on the top of Aulfric's staff. It's Ogham, an ancient script. Abas ocus bithe. Duthectad bithlane. "To hold life and death in your hands." From the writing on his staff and what you saw at the lake, I'm afraid I'm now certain. We're dealing with the Sidhe."
"That does not sound good," Anne says.
"They're masters of enchantment," Gaius tells them.
"You think Arthur's been enchanted?" Merlin asks.
Gaius nods. "Almost certainly. I'm afraid Morgana and Amelia's dream is coming true."
—
Amelia's POV
Before long Amelia sees that they are too late in stopping Sophia from getting her claws into Arthur as he had asked for an audience with Uther in front of the Court.
He stands before Uther, who is reading documents, with Aulfric and Sophia one step behind him. Amelia and Morgana sit next to Uther in their usual seats.
"I request this audience, Father, to discuss a matter of great importance," Amelia sees Merlin and Anne enter the Council Chambers, "It cannot have escaped your attention that I and Lady Sophia Tír-Mòr have grown very close."
Uther responds teasingly, "Not too close, I hope."
"We're in love." Yep definitely enchanted. Amelia exchanges a look with Uther and Morgana. "Which is why I come before you today to ask your permission to marry." She and Morgana share another look but this one is of concern and Amelia can see that Merlin and Anne have a similar look. They have clearly gotten the message that Sophia is bad news.
Uther is at first startled but then laughs. "I assume you're joking."
"No. I'm going to marry her."
"But you only met two days ago." Uther begins to frown slightly.
"We're in love." Uuuggghhh.
"In love? We had no idea that you were such a romantic," Uther says before turning to Amelia and Morgana, "had we, Morgana, Amelia?"
"No," Morgana says through clenched teeth. "He's full of surprises."
"I'm going to marry her. I don't care what either of you think about it." Arthur says, not deviating from his mission.
Uther clearly does not like that. "I thought you'd come to ask my permission?"
"Out of courtesy, nothing more." Arthur turns back, takes Sophia's hand and they walk toward the door along with Sophia's father.
"Guards, door." The Guards prevent Arthur and Sophia from leaving. Uther stands up. "You've forgotten who's Court you're standing in."
"You won't stop me. If I want to marry her, I will." Uther simply turns to the Guards, "Arrest Sophia and Aulfric Tír-Mòr…" The Guards step forward.
"What are you doing?" Arthur demands but Uther continues, "…and inform the executioner his services will be required tomorrow morning."
"You can't do this."
Uther raises his voice. "Yes! I can! And unless you show me some respect," he leans to Arthur, "I will!" Arthur reluctantly bows his head.
"Release them." Uther orders before turning to Arthur. "You've got your whole life ahead of you. Sophia is no doubt your first love, but she certainly won't be the only one. Enjoy yourself while you can."
Uther leaves the room still holding his papers and Amelia immediately follows him with Morgana trailing behind. They catch up with him in the Courtyard Corridor.
"You two are not planning on springing any surprises on me, are you?"
"Don't you think you should be taking this a bit more seriously?" Amelia asks him, now walking alongside Morgana on her other side.
"He's young, foolish and in love. Give it a week and he'll be chasing after the next girl that catches his eye."
"Sophia will never let that happen," Morgana says almost venomously.
"Do you bear a grudge against our guest?"
"There's something about her we don't trust. You've seen the way Arthur changed since she's arrived." Amelia argues.
"He's a fool in love," Uther says, still not taking this seriously.
"She's dangerous," Morgana argues.
"Dangerous? To who?"
"Arthur." Amelia simply says.
"Why do you say that?"
"We just have a sense, a feeling," Morgana says.
"And what has she done to make you have this feeling?"
"Nothing, yet. It's what she's going to do…I don't know how to tell you this." Amelia then says, deciding that maybe they need to take drastic measures.
"Try. Whatever it is, you can tell me." They all stop and face each other. Uther waits for either of them to speak.
After a pause, Amelia realises that she cannot say and neither can Morgana as she then says, "We've just seen girls like this before. They string men along and then drop them. We don't want to see him get hurt."
Uther seems to believe this. "I know you two want to protect him, but some lessons we have to learn for ourselves." He places his left hand on the nearest shoulder, which is Morgana's. "He'll hurt for a week and then Sophia will be forgotten." He then nudges Amelia's chin gently.
"I hope so," Amelia says as he lets go of her chin.
"Are you sure there's nothing else behind this?" It is weird how kind Uther can be sometimes.
"Yes, it's nothing," Morgana says, giving him a false smile. Uther leaves. Morgana and Amelia look after him.
"What are we going to do now?!" Morgana asks desperately.
"We have to hope that she cannot take him away," Amelia says.
—
Amelia stays in Morgana's Chambers that night and the both of them see Arthur leaving the Square with Sophia and Aulfric. Amelia wonders where Merlin is.
She and Morgana run out of the Chambers in the direction of Gaius'. They burst in once they arrive, not bothering to knock.
"He's gone! Arthur's gone with her! She's taken him!" Amelia cries.
"Slow down." It is then that Amelia sees Anne standing in the room.
"I know you don't believe us, but we are so sure it's going to happen. Our dream is going to come true." Morgana says, not slowing down.
"I do believe you," Gaius says.
"I've got to tell Uther." Morgana continues.
"You can't," Anne says, drawing Morgana's attention.
"We've got to do something, if we don't then Arthur will die," Amelia exclaims.
"You can't tell Uther about your dreams. If Uther thinks you two have got the seers' power, he'll charge you with witchcraft." Gaius tells them.
"We don't have a choice. I couldn't live with myself knowing I'd let him die." Morgana says in desperation.
"Wait. We've known each other a long time, you both trust me don't you?" Gaius asks.
"Yes, you know we do," Amelia answers this time.
"Then trust me now. Stay here and don't say a word to anyone about this."
"But Arthur..." Morgana tries.
"We'll take care of it," Gaius says as he walks around them with Anne following.
"Where are you going?" Morgana asks.
"To find someone who can help." He motions for them to stay inside and leaves. Amelia does not like how they are not letting her get involved but if she leaves, Morgana will follow so she begrudgingly lets it be.
—
Anne's POV
Anne and Gaius rush to find Merlin and enter Arthur's Chambers to find him just coming around to consciousness.
"Merlin!" Gaius exclaims. "What happened to you?" Gaius and Anne kneel down on either side of Merlin and help him stand.
"Aulfric. Where's Arthur? I have got to go after him." Merlin mutters, getting louder as he begins to be more aware of his surroundings. "What's that buzzing noise?"
"Careful, Merlin, you can barely stand up," Anne tells him.
"I have to go."
"You can't, not in this state. You owe it to your powers that you survived this at all." Gaius says.
"I'll be fine, he needs me." Merlin insists.
"Has that buzzing stopped?" Anne asks, knowing it probably has not.
"Yeah." Merlin lies.
"Liar." Gaius clearly agrees with her.
"I have to go. He'll die if I don't."
"The Sidhe are a vicious people. You must be careful." Gaius warns him.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." But Merlin proves that wrong when he walks toward the window.
"Merlin?" Gaius calls to him, pointing at the door, which is in the opposite direction. "This way."
"Just testing." He says before leaving the room.
Anne turns to Gaius, "I'm going with him." She leaves the room before he can say anything.
—
Merlin and Anne run through the forest. At one point Merlin trips and falls to the floor.
"Merlin! Come on!" Anne yells at him as she pulls him up so that they can keep running. At one point they have to stop as Merlin tries to remember the direction of the lake.
After a bit more running, they then see the lake in the distance and see Aulfric chanting from the shore while Sophia stands in the lake with her hand stretched out.
Anne sees Sophia's staff on the ground next to Aulfric and nudges Merlin so he will see it. "You can do it, Merlin." She tells him.
"Onbregdan." Merlin chants and the staff flies into Merlin's hand. Merlin points it at Aulfric. "Swilte, gold beorþ." Aulfric turns just in time to see a bolt of light emit from the staff and hit him before he explodes.
It is then that Sophia notices. "Father! No! No!" Sophia tries to run to the shore. Merlin points the staff at her. "Óga ceoles." A bolt of light hits Sophia and she explodes. Merlin takes his jacket off as he runs into the water to grab Arthur, who is, Anne can only assume, in the water. She stays where she is as her dress will not help her movement; it is not like she had time to change into something more appropriate.
"Arthur! Arthur! Arthur!" Merlin calls trying to find him before diving under the water. Merlin comes up for air before diving down again. And the next time he comes up he is dragging Arthur to the surface.
When he is able to bring Arthur to the shore, Anne rushes forward to check Arthur. He briefly regains consciousness for Anne to help him cough up some water before losing consciousness again.
"Well done Merlin." She says looking over to said person who is lying on the ground next to her still breathing heavily. He huffs a laugh.
—
Amelia's POV
She is sitting next to Merlin, Gaius and Anne at Arthur's bedside waiting for him to wake.
Arthur groans causing them all to look at each other before Merlin asks, "Arthur? Arthur?"
"What happened? Where am I?" Arthur groans.
"Can you remember anything?" Amelia tentatively asks.
"Oh! Oh, my head!" Arthur brings his hand to his forehead, propping himself up on his elbow with the other, letting it move in circles as he tries to remember. "There was a girl. Sophia, she... I asked my father something about her, I asked him..." He suddenly bolts up in bed, now more fully awake. "What was I thinking?!"
"Well, we did wonder. Especially when you eloped with her last night." Anne then says.
Arthur looks at the four of them frowning. "I did what?"
"Merlin and Anne had to bring you back to Camelot," Amelia says.
Arthur frowns even more if it were possible. "I don't recall any of this."
"Must've been some blow," Gaius says, nodding conspiringly in Merlin's direction.
"What blow?"
"Well… er… when I caught up with you, I couldn't persuade you to return, you were beyond reason. So I had to make you." Merlin says.
"You managed to knock me out?" Arthur asks in disbelief.
"Yep. With a lump of wood." Merlin says.
"I helped! I picked the bit of wood!" Anne pipes up cheerfully.
"They only did it to bring you back safely," Amelia says.
Arthur suddenly points menacingly at Merlin and Gaius, "No one… can know about this," before pointing at Amelia and Anne, "Any of it. Is that understood?"
They all look at each other and then nod. Arthur falls back on his pillows.
—
Later in the day, Arthur stands before the Court with Merlin, Anne and Gaius standing behind him while Uther stands in front of his chair with Amelia and Morgana in theirs.
"When you failed to show up for patrol this morning, I feared you'd eloped with Sophia in a fit of passion," Uther says.
Arthur turns to Merlin. "I… I wish he had. Because then I wouldn't be stood in front of you feeling like an idiot... again." Merlin stumbles awkwardly.
"This is becoming a near daily occurrence for you."
"But there was a mistake. And I would not say it was anyone's fault," he says before Arthur then looks at him, "Not…not really. Erm,..you…you could say it was mine."
"Could somebody tell me what happened?" Uther asks.
"Well..." Merlin begins.
"Someone with a brain." Poor Merlin.
"After Sophia left, I wanted to take my mind off her so I went for a hunt," Arthur says.
Morgana glances at Amelia confused. "And killing things mends a broken heart?"
"No, but it's good fun," Arthur says cheerfully. "Merlin was meant to inform you that I wouldn't be back till later today." He gestures to Merlin.
Uther walks over to Merlin. "Have you some kind of mental affliction?" Probably should have checked before hiring him Uther.
"Probably."
"I'm looking into it, Sire," Gaius says.
"Well, I hope for our sake you find a cure. Or we'll find ourselves with a food shortage on our hands."
Merlin chuckles, "Food shortage…" Everyone looks at him waiting for him to realise. Amelia can see the realisation dawn on his face.
—
Merlin's POV
After another day of being hit by vegetables and fruit, Merlin sits at the table with his dinner set out in front of him while Gaius stands on the other side. Morgana knocks and enters holding two bottles in her hands.
"Morgana."
"Amelia and I have had some troubled nights. I've come for the both of us." She stops walking when she reaches the table Merlin sits at.
"I prepared more draughts for the two of you. Have the dreams stopped?" Gaius says from the other table he had moved to. Merlin sees Morgana glance at him before Gaius diverts her attention.
Morgana shakes her head. "Arthur and Amelia told me what actually happened," she turns to address Merlin, "You must've hit him round the head really hard." He looks up at her.
"Yeah. I feel really bad about that." Merlin says.
"Here you are," Gaius says handing two bottles to her. "Remember, every night just before you go to sleep."
"Thank you, Gaius." Morgana walks to the door.
"They must never find out the truth," Gaius says once she leaves.
"Why not?" Merlin asks. "They had a premonition that helped save Arthur's life. Amelia knows about me and Anne."
"And it could've cost them their own. And for Amelia, it is one thing knowing someone else has magic and another if you have it yourself. If Uther ever found out about either of them, things would never be the same again. It must remain a secret."
"Are they like me? Can they use magic?" Merlin asks.
"No one's like you, Merlin."
Merlin looks down bashfully before looking up at Gaius again. "But they have the gift?"
"For their sake, I hope not."