Chapter 30. A/N I don't not own Merlin. I'm going to do alternating POV here, with Merlin and Cassie. Merlin's will be underlined (hopefully, formatting sometimes doesn't take with this for some reason as guest pointed out.) Cassie's is just there.
Merlin woke around eleven, hearing the same voice from before calling his name. "Merlin. Merlin." He got up out of bed and snuck out of Gaius chambers, but not before crashing into something and making sure he hadn't woken Gaius. When he got to the bottom of the stairs he saw Cassie walking towards him, absentmindedly twirling a flower in one hand, so he backed into a corner and waited for her to pass. Her ring fell, however, and she stayed there looking for it for far too long. So he used his magic to help her out, especially when she was getting too close to where he was hiding, He flinched when she cried in pain, he hadn't meant for her to get hurt. She was kind, if a bit playful and teasing. When she finally put the ring back on and kept going towards her chambers could Merlin take a breath of relief and keep going.
He wound his way through the hallways and the square to get to the dungeons and heard the voice call him again. "Merlin." He looked around, hoping to see who was calling him and why it sounded so close, but found no one, just a guard. He kept going and made his way down to the dungeons. He stopped halfway down because of the guards stationed there. The two guards were playing dice, so Merlin distracted them by using his magic to roll the dice away every time they got close to them.
'How Camelot is maintained with such lax security measures is a wonder. Me, a perfect stranger to the city, can get to the dungeons without seeing a single patrol! The king should seriously do something about this!' Merlin thought, rather comically, since he was sneaking around like a thief in the night.
When the two guards were effectively distracted, Merlin descended the remaining stairs and lit a torch he took from the pile under the stairs. He made his way through the dungeons towards the voice that kept calling him. Down seemingly hundreds of stairs, winding through various chambers, some empty, others not. More stairs for him to go down.
'I better find whoever is calling to me. These are way too many stairs to be going up and down with no clear end. And what's with the damn time! Let me sleep!' Merlin complained to himself.
He finally got to the mouth of a great cave, whose ceiling he could not see and who's bottom was so far down he dared not look.
"Merlin." the disembodied voice laughed as Merlin looked around frantically for its source.
"Where are you?" Merlin asked out loud.
"I'm here." Suddenly a great Dragon flew in front of him, startling him backwards and making him look up in fear and wonder. The dragon landed with a thud on an outcropping of rock worn away from years of use. He regarded the young man with a kind of awe. When he spoke, Merlin was taken aback. The damn dragon can speak!
"How small you are for such a great destiny." the dragon said, nearing the boy by stretching his snout.
"Why what do you mean? What destiny?" he asked, nearing him out of curiosity, hoping he had the answers he so desperately wanted.
"You're gift, Merlin, was given to you for a reason." the dragon replied, sitting back on his haunches.
"So there is a reason?" Merlin asked, a glimmer of hope rising in his chest.
"Arthur is the Once and Future King who will unite the land of Albion." the dragon started. 'Damn! And here I thought he would tell me about me. But no. Prince Arthur this, and Prince Arthur that.' Merlin complained, thinking to himself.
"Right." Merlin said instead, showing his incredulity and confusion.
"But he faces many threats from friend and foe alike." the dragon continued.
"I don't see what this has to do with me."
"Everything. Without you, Arthur will never succeed. Without you, there will be no Albion." the dragon finished gravely.
"No. No, you've got this wrong." Merlin said, shaking his head in denial. 'Me help that jerk! When pig's fly.' he thought to himself.
"There is no right or wrong. Only what is and what isn't." the dragon said sagely, trying to convey the importance of his words to the boy.
"But I'm serious! If anyone wants to go and kill him, they can go ahead. In fact, I'll gice them a hand." Merlin cried out, not really serious about helping, but he wasn't about to stop anyone. 'The prat would get what he deserved. Good riddance!' he thought sourly.
"None of us can choose our destiny, Merlin. And none of us can escape it." the dragon said, laughing at the young man's stubbornness.
"No, no way. No. No. There must be another Arthur because this one's an idiot." Merlin said, shaking his head in denial. 'There is no way the prat from today will unite all of Albion. He couldn't unite all of Camelot!'
"Perhaps it is your destiny to change that." the dragon said, flying off. He didn't wait for Merlin to understand just what he had said, he bowed once and took to the air.
"Wait! Wait! Wait, stop! No, I- I need to know more!" Merlin cried out, leaving with more questions than answers.
Cassie was walking down the hallway, twirling the flower in her hand and smiling to herself when she reached the staircase that would lead to the physician's quarters. When she got to the corner, the signet ring fell off her finger, it was much too big for her, and she bent down on all fours to look for it. It was rather dark, but she couldn't use any magic out in the open so she crawled around looking for it for a few minutes. She thought she saw a pair of feet in the corner she was crawling towards, and heard the rustle of fabric, but she knelt on the ring and gave a sharp cry of pain before straightening up and dusting herself off.
She felt someone sneak off, more than heard them. The months she spent in the forests and her magic heightened her senses just a little. She turned around in time to see a brown jacket turn the corner. 'What's Merlin doing sneaking around at this time of night?' she wondered suspiciously. It only took a split second before she decided to follow him. She snuck the same way he did. 'Uther really should do something about the patrols.' Cassie thought absentmindedly, following Merlin throughout the square.
When he used his magic openly she had to stifle a gasp. She watched him use his magic to move the dice the way she used to play by herself as a child and was struck with a sense of kinship she never had with her family. Her siblings all believed as her father did, but her magic never let her. But with Merlin… 'he understands me, if only he knew about me.' she thought sadly, ignoring his suspicious attitude.
She watched him grab a torch, light it and disappeared down a corridor and followed him silently after a few breaths. She followed down the stairs slowly to not make too much noise and around corners stealthily. She saw him emerge onto a cave, it was dark and looming and big, but there was nowhere to hide, so she stepped back into the shadows and listened to what was happening.
"Where are you?"
"I'm here. How small you are for such a great destiny." Cassie heard a voice she had never heard before and thought, 'destiny? Who's talking?' Luckily, Merlin asked what she was thinking.
"Why? What do you mean? What destiny?"
"Your gift, Merlin, was given to you for a reason." Cassie wondered 'Is he talking about his magic?'
"So there is a reason."
"Arthur is the Once and Future King who will unite the land of Albion." '
"Right"
"But he faces many threats from friend and foe alike." Cassie started at this, was he talking about Merlin? Or who?
"I don't see what this has to do with me." 'Good question.'
"Everything. Without you, Arthur will never succeed. Without you, there will be no Albion." 'So, what does this mean? What's with all the riddles, why won't he just answer Merlin's questions!'
"No. No, you've got this wrong."
"There is no right or wrong, only what is and what isn't." Cassie held back a sigh of exasperation, thinking how Seriously annoying he was.
"But I'm serious! If anyone wants to go and kill him, they can go ahead. In fact, I'll give them a hand." Cassie started reeling at this; 'Will he really help? I know Arthur isn't his favorite person, but to go so far as to help kill him?'
"None of us can choose our destiny, Merlin, and none of us can escape it."
"No. No way. No. No. There must be another Arthur because this ones an idiot." 'Arthur's not that dumb' Cassie defended to herself.
"Perhaps it's your destiny to change that." 'change Arthur?' Cassie thought dubiously. She had been trying for months and didn't think she ever got anywhere.
"Wait! Wait! Wait, stop! No, I-I need to know more!" Merlin called out. 'Where would he have gone?' Cassie wondered.
She saw Merlin turn to go back and pushed herself against the cold stone wall, hoping the darkness would swallow her up. Merlin passed by her without a second glance and Cassie released a breath she didn't know she was holding. She waited there until she could no longer see the light from the torch, and she walked into the cave.
"Wow!" she exclaimed at its vastness. She saw the shadows move before she heard the rustle and clinking. She saw this massive dragon fly down and land on a ledge rather roughly. To say she was shocked was an understatement.
"¡Eres un dragón!" she cried in her native tongue, too shocked to speak in english.
"I have been waiting for you, Llys Dôn." he said with a smile-or as much of one as a dragon could do.
"Who? My name is Casiopea. Cassie."
"Just like Merlin, you have another name. One which has been given for you. You share a great destiny."
"I renounced my destiny when I left my home." she said, hating herself for abandoning her people.
"You left your home to start your destiny, child." the dragon said not unkindly
"I don't understand. I'm just a girl. What destiny could I have?" she asked with a furrowed brow
"And Merlin is just a boy. You both share a path. You will be the Beacon that guides all. Destiny is not something you can change." he finished sagely
"A path?" Cassie asked, knowing that she would never do anything to hurt Arthur or Morgana, and glad that Merlin wouldn't either.
"Yes. You are named after a goddess whose children you will come to recognize from Welsch tradition. And while you share similarities with her, your children will be nothing like hers."
"Children?" Cassie asked, ignoring all else. "Owaine and I will have children?" She repeats with such hope.
"Dôn was wise and virtuous, the leader of the gods of light. That is why you are known to seers as such. You will be the beacon that keeps the path towards Albion unobscured." he said, ignoring her question, he bowed to her and took off, just as he had done with Merlin.
"Wait! Hang on! How do I keep the 'path unobscured'? How will I know the right decisions? Please, come back! I don't even know your name!"
"Kilgharrah." he said, once the clinking stopped.
"Thank you, Kilgharrah." Cassie said as goodbye. Turning around and whispering: "inlīht" Cassie made her way up the stairways and through the chambers. When she saw flickering light from torches, she quickly whispered: "fordimme" and snuck through to the corner.
She poked her head around and saw the two guards still there. She figured she would take a page out of Merlin's book and let her magic distract them. She called her magic to flare up inside her and directed it to the far wall and made a clanging noise. The two guards unsheathed their swords and took a torch to go investigate the noise. Cassie took this as the opportunity and blithely went up the stairs. Once out of the dungeons, Cassie quickly made her way to her chambers and washed off all the dirt from the dungeons.
Post chapter A/N It's not even my longest chapter, can you believe that! Anyways, the two spells here mean illuminate and darken. I had no idea where I was going with Cassie and Kilgarrah's conversation, but I liked the way it turned out, still seriously obscure, but enough answers to convey. I hope i got him right, I'm seriously bad at talking in riddles and being obscure and all that. My brothers tell me I'm super obtuse sometimes, like I need to have everything spelled out for me. So, I'm no good at the whole not telling you straight up. Hope you liked it. You've read, all you need now is to review, tell me what you liked, what you hated and what i could do better!