Apologies for the delay. Let's continue.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, anything you recognise belongs to the BBC.

Chapter 18: The Battle of Our Lives

After his confrontation with Agravaine, Merlin ran back to where he had left the others before bumping into Arthur and the knights who were protecting Gwen and Morgause, not that they needed protection. "Merlin!" Arthur shouted. "Where's my uncle?"

"Dead. Sorry. Him and his men won't be following us now we can head back the other way where we came in. We need to find the rest of the knights and anyone who managed to escape from Camelot during the attack." Merlin spoke quickly.

"He has a good point, Arthur, we should go back." Leon agreed.

"If we go to the Forest of Ascetir, I can see if the Druids would be willing to help us and it is probably where anyone who escaped would be hiding out." Merlin added.

"Ok, so we go there then. We head to the forest of Ascetir then we plan how to take Camelot back. Merlin, did you get what you needed from there?" Arthur questioned.

"Yes, we did." He replied holding up the sword that had been forged in a dragon's breath.

"Ok, let's move." With that they headed to their destination.

Helios and Morgana walked through the long corridors of the castle as they spoke, "when they arrived there, the ground itself was still on fire. They'd all been slaughtered every last one of them." Helios reported to the new Queen.

"And Agravaine?" The raven haired woman asked as they stopped walking.

"Dead."

"There's only one person who could have done this. Only one man who could command a dragon." Morgana stated before continuing walking. "This is Emrys' doing." Helios looked on as she walked away slightly concerned.

Once they had reached the Forest of Ascetir, they began to find people who had fled from Camelot during the attack, villagers and knights alike. Arthur arranged for the villagers to stay in the forest whilst the knights would go and take back their kingdom before everyone else could safely return. Merlin and Morgause had managed to gain the Druids support as they came to meet with everyone before they began to plan what they would do.

The plan was simple. Once it had gotten dark, Merlin was to venture to the castle and place a simple enchantment on Morgana which would cause her to temporarily lose her powers long enough for the them to take back the kingdom and imprison Morgana before she could hurt anyone else. Merlin disguised himself as an 80 year old man to get past the guards and make his way through the castle, making his way to Morgana's chambers promptly before being caught. The warlock was seen by Morgana and Helios, shocking the high priestess who seemed to scared of him when he looked his old self. He got to his destination easily enough before pulling out a wicker figure and placing an enchantment on it and leaving it under Morgana's bed out of sight. He found a guard which he had knocked out on his way through the castle removing his black knight coat and putting that on so he was able to leave without being detected, making his way back to Arthur and the knights.

Once morning came, everyone was readying for the battle ahead. Merlin was half asleep to begin with, having Arthur snap his fingers in front of his face to wake the former servant. "You sure you are ok to do this? We don't need you falling asleep on us." Arthur said lightly.

"I'll be fine once we get going." Merlin reassured with Arthur nodding in response before walking towards Gwen.

"Guinevere, I was meaning to ask you before all this happened and I know it is a bad time but, when we get back to Camelot and all this fighting is over, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" Arthur asked as soon as him and Gwen was away from everyone else. For a moment, Gwen stood speechless at Arthur before smiling and then hugging him. "Is that a yes?" The blonde asked.

"Oh, sorry, yes. Yes. Yes." Gwen quickly answered as Arthur placed a ring on her finger. "You are right though, it is bad timing." They laughed together and walked hand in hand in front of everyone else as they made their way to Camelot.

Arthur, Percival, Leon, Gwen, Merlin, Morgause and the rest of the knights all stood at the embankment as Arthur waited to give the order they were all ready for. The King raised his sword in signal that they were to advance toward the castle, and toward the fight. Percival and Leon with some other knights headed towards the dungeons where they assumed Gwaine, Gaius and Elyan were being held whilst Arthur, Merlin, Gwen and Morgause headed towards where they thought Morgana may be hiding; the throne room. Unlike last time they took the castle back from the dark haired High Priestess, they decided not to go keep the warning bell from ringing. The group made it to the throne room fairly easily, barging through the heavy wooden doors, shouting battle cries only to see Morgana sat on the throne and Helios leaning against the back of it. "Welcome, dear brother, sister." Morgana spoke casually as they came in. "It's been far too long." She stood from the throne making her way over to them. "I apologise if you had a difficult reception. It's hard to know who trust these days."

Arthur did not reply right away, instead he showed his sword before putting it back in his sheath as walked forward facing his sister. "What happened to you, Morgana? I thought we were friends."

"As did I. But alas, we were both wrong." Morgana spoke venomously.

"You can't blame me for my father's sins. I have changed the law. I can see now how his view upon magic was wrong." Arthur somewhat pleaded.

"It's a little late for that. You only did that because of Merlin. You never accepted me for my magic, but you did for him and my sister."

"I didn't know about your magic! Morgana, I found out the day you decided to betray us. Your family. I only wish you would have told me. I am not our father. You of all people should have known that."

"That didn't stop you before when you killed all those innocent Druids, those who were helping me." Morgana argued back.

"You're one to talk." Morgause walked to stand next to Arthur. "You killed all those innocent Druids. Our kind. You are being a hypocrite, Morgana."

"I thought I was protecting you. Now I realise my mistake." Morgana paused before adding, "I should have just let them kill you either way." Morgana took the opportunity to strike. She muttered a spell under her breath but nothing happened. She tried the same spell again, and it still did not work. She looked around the room and caught Merlin's small smirk. "You! What have you done? Where is it?" The witch screeched.

"It's only temporary to stop you from harming any of us with your magic." Merlin responded calmly. Morgana just responded by a quick swipe of a sword none of them saw her pick up. The Warlock dodged her blow with ease, as Helios then joined the fight, thrusting his sword in Arthur's direction. Some of Morgana's knights had entered the room joining the fight.

Arthur and Helios were deep into their fight, the blonde always keeping the under hand, Gwen was busy fighting off some of the knights that had entered the Throne Room, Merlin and Morgause were also fighting some knights between them, Merlin using his magic because his sword skills were still yet to improve much to Morgause's annoyance, and Morgause was using both her sword and her magic. Morgana had backed away continuously trying to gain control of her magic back so she could use it. Eventually, the raven haired sorceress had managed to tap back into her magic and knocked everyone to the ground and using it to throw a sword at...

I know it's mean of me to leave it like that, sorry :(

NEXT TIME: THE FINAL BATTLE CONTINUES... WHO WILL SURVIVE?