Chapter 41 A/N I don't own Merlin, hopefully the wait's worth this, right? Biochem killed me, almost figuratively. But I got my A. And then Harry Potter took up so much of my mind, so there's that. And also, Christmas and New Years came, which is always fun and family filled, so it was almost all family Dec 16-through now. Also, the Novena every day up until Christamas is super fun and we always make a big deal out of it at my house. Anyways, hope you like! Might be better about writing this fic since I have a bunch of the Harry Potter one done, but no promises.
"Oh, Cassie!" Morgana cried, hugging the girl tightly, "I was going to go down to the- to visit Gwen. Please come with me?" she asked with tears falling down her face.
"'Gana, I was going to ask you the same thing." Cassie said, handing her a small white handkerchief and leading her down to the dungeons.
"Gwen!" Morgana and Cassie cried together when they were in front of her cell.
"Cassie! 'Gana! I didn't do it! I swear, I didn't. My dad just got better, I swear to you."
"Gwen, we believe you." Morgana said softly, taking the girl's shaking hands through the bars.
"Y-you do?" she asked, looking between the two with her big brown eyes.
"Yes, Gwen. We know you're innocent." Cassie confirmed softly.
"We're doing everything we can to get you out safely. Uther's gone mad. Everytime he hears 'magic' he does." Morgana muttered darkly.
"We will get you out. I know Merlin's doing everything he can to free you. Trust me, trust us." Cassie told her, taking her other hand and giving her a reassuring smile.
"Thanks, Cassie." Gwen told her.
"You're like my sister, both of you. I couldn't fight for my family in Hispania, but I refuse to lose my family here. I will fight arm and hand for you, Gwen, 'Gana." she told them, making them giggle.
"It's tooth and nail, Cassie." Gwen told her, still too scared for the laughter to calm her down a bit.
"Close enough, you're my family now. I won't lose you." Cassie told them with conviction, a determined gleam in her eye.
"Thank you, Cassie. Really. That means the world to me." Gwen said with tears falling down her pale face, the moonlight showing the angry red splotches stark against her milky skin.
"Here," Cassie said, handing her a small handkerchief, "Your face is covered in dirt."
"It'll just get dirty again." Gwen said, refusing the square cloth Cassie was holding out for her. "You two should go, please. Thank you for everything, Morgana. Cassie." Gwen told them tearfully.
"I swear we'll get you out of this, Gwen." Cassie told her quickly, holding the handkerchief through the bars for Gwen to take, refusing her silent protests, and hooking her arms through Morgana's to lead her out of the dungeons.
"Don't worry 'Gana. I'll break her out if I have to. I won't leave Gwen in there. " Cassie told her in latin as they passed two guards. Unfortunately, it only worked to make Morgana take off running up the Wrought Iron Stairway, passing by Merlin as he walked down.
"Please tell me you know what to do, Merlin." Cassie whispered when they crossed paths.
"No." he said dejectedly after a slight pause. "I don't."
"Tell me if you do." Cassie asked him with a hopeful, determined expression.
"I will." he told her with a nod, continuing down to see Gwen.
"Thanks for watching them while I went to see Gwen." Cassie told Sir Bruin when she got to Gaius' chambers and found him there.
"Yeah, the King called a council meeting just as he was stitching me up." Bruin told her, playing on the floor with the small six year old. "Besides, I need all the practice I can get, right?"
"That you do. Although, you might want to start with the baby, It'll be years before your child is this big." Cassie said, tickling the boy from behind and getting a surprised squeal followed by loud laughter from him.
"First I need practice with my pregnant wife." he told her, standing up from where he sat on the floor and handing the baby over to her.
"You think she and Ellie are bad? You should have seen my sister when she was pregnant with her fourth: talk about demanding." Cassie said with a slight smile.
"I should go, bye Cassie. Bye Alex!"
"Bye!" he called out excitedly.
"Great, now he's all riled up and raring to go and I have no energy for this" Cassie mumbled softly to the baby, getting an idea to cheer Morgana up. "Do you want to hear more of Morgana's story?" Cassie asked him, holding out her hand for him to take.
"Okay!" he said, standing up quickly and all but dragging her to the Lady's chambers.
"Morgana, you don't mind watching them for a bit, I have some rounds I need to do." Cassie asked her, acting desperate so she'd agree and hopefully get cheered up by Alex's antics.
"Of course, Cassie." Morgana said, sniffling. "I'll watch them for a while."
"Thanks, 'Gana. I don't expect this from you every day, just for today while I figure everything out. I still don't know what's going to happen with them. Should I raise them as my own, and if I do, how am I to nurse the baby?" Cassie said, rambling anxiously in latin.
"Relax, Cassie. You've got time to figure it out. And other things to worry about, for now." Morgana told her.
"Gwen." Cassie agreed, nodding. "Be good to Morgana, Alex. She's new to the whole kids thing." Cassie told him jokingly.
"Goodbye, Casiopea." Morgana said with a roll of her eyes
"Merlin!" Cassie hissed from behind a pillar.
"What are you doing, Cassie?"
"Do you have a plan? What are we going to do for Gwen? I was thinking you could lift the keys off Arthur and I'll sneak down to the dungeons and free her." Cassie whispered.
"Don't be ridiculous, Cassie. Uther'll have our heads before we'd make it to the dungeons. Especially with how things are. I'm going to confess." Merlin told her quickly, walking quickly to the council chambers.
"What?!" Cassie asked, following closely behind him. "Merlin! Are you mad!?" she hissed at him.
"It was me! It was me who used magic to cure Gwen's father!" Merlin said as he burst through the chamber doors, making all the Council members stare at him. "Gwen is not the sorcerer. I am!" he continued.
"Merlin! Are you mad?" Gaius demanded standing up, Cassie, who was standing at the entrance nodded in agreement, stopping when she felt Gaius' eyes on her.
"I cannot let her die for me." he told his uncle passionately, "I place myself at your mercy." he said, to Uther.
"He doesn't know what he's talking about." Gaius told the king quickly.
"I do."
"Then arrest him." Uther said, waving his hand dismissively.
"Father, please! I can't allow this! This is madness! There's no way Merlin is a sorcerer." Arthur said, looking dumbfounded.
"Did you not hear him?"
"Yes." Arthur relented.
"He admitted it." Uther said, looking him dead in the eye.
"He saved my life, remember." Arthur continued.
"Why should he fabricate such a story?" Uther demanded.
"As Gaius said, he's got a... grave mental disease." Arthur said, thinking on his feet.
"Really?" Uther said, leaning forward in his chair.
"He's in love." Cassie said from the door, stepping forward tentatively as Merlin turned around to glare at her.
"What?" he demanded.
"With Gwen." Arthur said, looking at Cassie with gratitude while his father grinned.
"I am not." Merlin sputtered out, looking between the two of them as if they were crazy.
"Yes, you are." Arthur and Cassie replied at the same time.
"No way." Merlin defended himself.
"I saw you yesterday with that flower she'd given you." Arthur said walking over to him.
"And how often the two of you have been flirting since you'd met!" Cassie piped up helpfully, from his other side with a cheeky grin as Gaius slowly sat down and Uther walked around the table..
"I'm not in love with her." Merlin said quickly, looking at Arthur as if he were a bumbling fool as Arthur put his arm around Merlin.
"It's alright. You can admit it." Arthur said, waving his hand vaguely around the room.
"I don't even think of her like that!" Merlin cried.
"Perhaps she cast a spell on you." Uther deadpanned from behind two of his councillors' chairs, leaning on them. Both Cassie and Arthur started to panic, although Cassie was content with screaming mentally and avoiding the King's gaze while Arthur looked at his father worriedly. Uther snickered after a few seconds, with the other council members joining in and Arthur smiled in relief-showing exactly how Cassie was feeling.
"Merlin is a wonder, but the wonder is that he's such an idiot. There's no way he's a sorcerer." Arthur said, challenging Merlin as he uttered the last part with his eyes.
"Don't waste my time again. Let him go." Uther said, walking back to his chair at the head of the table and settling down. Arthur followed suit and returned to where he was before the outburst.
"My Lords." Cassie said, curtsying and backing out of the chambers after Gaius as Merlin hung his head in defeat.
"Arthur's the idiot." Merlin said when he opened the door of his and Gaius' chambers, forgetting that Cassie was within earshot.
"No. He was right to do what he did. And, thankfully, he saved you from your own stupidity." Gaius corrected him, also appearing to have forgotten about her.
"What else could I do? It's my fault Gwen's going to die."
"Yes, but you don't prove her innocence by offering to jump into the flames. You do it by finding out what's causing the disease!"
"Well, whatever it is, one thing's for sure: Arthur isn't going to find it. He thinks he is so sharp! But even when I told him I was a wizard, he still couldn't see it."
"Not a wizard." Cassie said from the open door as she crossed the threshold and closed it.
"What?" Gaius and Merlin both said, whirling around at the same time looking like two wide-eyed deer.
"Not a wizard. A warlock or sorcerer. But you have no…varita mágica. How do you say…whatever. Not a wizard." she clarified.
"Sometimes they're pretty hard to spot. And how do you know?"
"Magic isn't outlawed in Reccopolis." Cassie told them with a shrug.
"Well, maybe I should go around wearing a pointy hat." Merlin told them, looking at Cassie as she started giggling as if just realizing what was happening.
"I don't think you'll find one big enough. Anyway, forget that. If we're going to save Gwen, we have to find out what's contaminating the water." Gaius said tossing a bag to Merlin and walking out of his chambers, both of them following after him.
They walked around the castle walls to get to the door of the aqueduct, Merlin lighting a torch after Gaius unlocked the door for them.
"The water from here supplies the whole town. Take a sample." Gaius told Merlin as he and Cassie looked around quickly for something out of the ordinary. Merlin put the bottle in the water, taking it out and stoppering it when it was full of water. "Let's take it back and examine it."
"What the hell was that?" Cassie and Merlin asked at the same time.
"Come on." Gaius mumbled, grabbing them both by the arm and leaving the underground aqueduct.
"Research?" Cassie asked with an annoyed glance at Merlin before a thought occurred to her. "Bye! I've got Alex and Taran to take care of!" Cassie told them, running off with a sly smile and closing the door behind her.
"Hey, Morgana. They give you any trouble?" Cassie asked her friend while she was playing with Alex.
"None at all." Morgana said, making Alex snicker.
"She had to call another girl to change Taran." he said between giggles.
"Don't feel so bad, Merlin's been the one to change him while I learn." Cassie told her, taking a seat next to her. "We've been down to the water cavern, Gaius and Merlin are researching right now to find out what we saw down there."
"What did you see?" Morgana asked.
"A monster of some sort, like I said, Merlin and Gaius are trying to figure it out now."
"A monster?! We can free Gwen! Stay with them, I'll tell Uther!" Morgana told her, quickly rushing out.
"Princesses don't rush, 'Gana." Cassie called after her. "All right, let's go get some lunch. Alina should be expecting us soon to nurse Taran. May as well take her something to eat" Cassie told Alex, taking the baby in her arms when she stood up and holding her hand out for him to take.
"Have you found anything more?" Uther asked his son as he entered the Council Chambers.
"I've tried. I can keep looking." Arthur told him dejectedly.
"People are dying, we can't delay any longer. We must kill the witch. Bring her execution forward to tonight." Uther said, not turning around to deliver the order. Arthur bowed his head respectfully and left the room, not noticing Mogana hiding around the corner, tears flowing down her face.
"They're bringing forward the execution, we have to prove Gwen's innocence." Morgana said, bursting into the physician's chambers determined to save her best friend.
"We're trying."
"Please just tell me what I can do to help." Morgana pleaded.
"We need Arthur." Merlin told her, walking towards her.
"Arthur?"
"There's a monster, an Afanc, in the water supply. That's what's causing the plague." Merlin said, ignoring as Cassie and Owaine walked past their door.
"I'll watch them. Go help." Owaine whispered to her as he handed her his sword belt, giving her a quick kiss before he carried the sleeping six year old through the door.
"We must tell Uther." Morgana said, looking between the two as if asking why they hadn't already done so.
"The Afanc's a creature forged by magic. Telling Uther wouldn't save Gwen. He'd just blame her for conjuring it." Gaius explained.
"So what are we to do." Morgana asked.
"Kill it." Cassie said at the same time Merlin told her what they planned to do.
"We need to destroy it. Then the plague will stop and Uther may see sense."
"And that's why we need Arthur." Morgana summed up, nodding as a plan formed in her mind.
"He's our best chance. But he won't want to disobey the King." Merlin said pointedly.
"Leave that to me." Morgana said, turning on her heel and strutting out of the room purposefully.
"She'll convince him." Cassie said firmly, nodding at the two as she led them out of their chambers.
"Where are you going?"
"If Morgana can't get him to come, I can."
"How?" Merlin asked, confused.
"I can get him to understand there's people he needs to protect. Morgana's going to appeal to his hubris, I have other ways." Cassie said, pushing him out towards the courtyard while she went the other way to Prince Arthur's chambers.
"Poor Merlin." Cassie heard Morgana say from outside the doors.
"Yeah." Arthur agreed.
"To offer to give up his life to save Gwen's. I certainly can't imagine any man loving me so much." Morgana said.
"No, I certainly can't imagine that either." Arthur said tauntingly.
"That's because you're not like Merlin. He's a lover."
"Yeah, maybe that's because I haven't found the right person to love."
"Sadly the age of gallantry seems to be dead. You look around and all you see are small men, not big enough to fill their armour. There's not one of them that's able to stand up for what's right."
"What do you want me to do?" Arthur asked annoyedly.
"Good going, 'Gana." Cassie mumbled to herself as she made her way out to the courtyard, the other two following a few paces behind.
"Let's go." Arthur said when he reached Merlin, unsheathing his sword and following him to the water cavern.
"You'd better be right about this, Merlin." Arthur said as they descended into the cavern. "You should stay here." he told the two girls who'd gasped at the echoing roar.
"Fat chance of that!" Cassie said indignantly while Morgana said, "I'm coming with you."
"No." he told the two firmly.
"Scared I'll show you up?" Morgana teased.
"Father will slam us both in chains if he knew I'd endangered you."
"Well, good thing he doesn't know about it then."
"I'm telling you, Morgana, turn back. You could get hurt."
"You could too…if you don't get out of my way." Morgana said with a smirk, walking in front of him and leading the way down.
"Well, are we going to stand around?" Cassie asked the two men, following Morgana down. Merlin seemed seriously amused by the two girls, Arthur, however, rolled his eyes.
"How are we going to find it?" Morgana asked
"I just hope we do before it finds us." Merlin told them.
"Stop." Arthur said suddenly as they walked further in, spinning around quickly.
"What?" Cassie and Merlin asked simultaneously.
"It's just a shadow." Arthur said after a second of looking around, stepping in front of Morgana and Cassie and continuing down.
"Spread out." he told them, pointing each towards a different direction once they reached the water source. The four of them looked around cautiously, Arthur and Cassie tightening their grip on the swords.
"Arthur, behind you!" Cassie cried as the creature reared up on its hind legs. He dodged it and spun around quickly, waving the torch as he did so. The three others ran up to him, standing by him.
"What is it? Are you alright?" Morgana asked worriedly as she reached him.
"Yeah." he told her breathlessly.
"Did you see it?" Merlin asked from Cassie's other side.
"Yes." Arthur and Cassie said at the same time.
"What did it look like?"
"It... it's quick."
"And wet." Cassie said, wrinkling her nose as Morgana screamed. Arthur pushed her back and swiped at it with his sword, but it had disappeared once again. They all looked around frantically, wondering where it would be.
"Where is it?" Arthur asked, looking everywhere.
"I think it went this way!" Merlin exclaimed after following the echoes of its growl.
They slowly walked into the tunnel looking around carefully. When they reached the fork, the growling could be heard from the left as the Afanc slowly walked around the corner into view, growling at them on all fours. It swung one of its gnarled paws at Prince Arthur, making him lose his sword as he swung to defend himself and his companions. Having disarmed one of them, the Afanc changed his target and swiped at the torch held by the terrified ward of the King, causing her to drop it as well.
Cassie grabbed Morgana by the hand and firmly tugged her back behind her, keeping her sword poised and ready to defend as Arthur stepped in front of them and drew its attention back to him, circling slowly to make it turn around and ignore the two women. While brandishing the torch as a weapon.
"Arthur, use the torch!" Merlin cried when he saw that they were far enough away from Cassie and Morgana.
"Lyfte ic þe in balwen ac forhienan." Merlin chanted lowly, causing a wind to ripple through the tunnels and blow the fire onto the Afanc, incinerating it.
"Well, that's that then. Let's go tell the King." Cassie said, picking up the discarded sword and handing it to Arthur as she passed them on her way out.
"Hang on! I'm the Prince, I give the orders!" Arthur told her, throwing his hands up.
"Right, my Lord. What shall we do now?" Cassie asked teasingly, bowing and flourishing her hand out.
"Well you can start by not mocking your Prince."
"Yes, my Lord. Anything you say." Cassie said, winking at Merlin and Morgana.
"Owaine's going to have his hands full with you and children." Arthur said rolling his eyes and taking the lead out.
"He's just as childish sometimes." Cassie told him with a grin and giggle. "Speaking of, I've got to go feed them, they're probably starving! Owaine can't cook for the life of him."
"Oh, what are you having?" Merlin asked, following her towards the Physician's tower.
"They seem like siblings to you?" Arthur asked Morgana as he looked after them with a confused look.
"Yeah, they do." she agreed.
"Good. It's not just me then."
"Water should be fine now, right?" Cassie asked Gaius when they reached his chambers.
"Should be. The Afanc's destroyed, there's nothing poisoning it anymore." Gaius told her.
"Good. I'm really thirsty and I am rather tired of milk." Cassie said, taking their bucket and going out to the courtyard to get some.
"Might want to test it out first." Merlin said. "Better safe than sorry."
"Fine, I'll grab a flower and test it out, let you know in the morning."