A Marriage that Started a Legend

by IJustShowedUp

Follows canon but with my own arranged marriage spin on it. What happens when Hunith makes a mistake and is forced on the run with her infant son? What happens when Camelot knights find her twenty years later? What happens when Arthur learns he's betrothed to a peasant boy? Will Merlin be able to stand among royalty? Will these two different boys survive each other? Review!

217. Chapter 219

Merlin Pendragon could honestly say that he had never taken another life with his own hands before. He didn't have blood staining them so red, that he could still see the red tint even after he had cleaned himself. Merlin wasn't exactly a knight, like the three men standing in the room with him were. These three had been trained in mortal combat for far longer than Merlin had even known how dangerous the world really was. And the only thing that Merlin's ever killed for himself had been animals, when the meat was needed. By Merlin didn't really think killing a few pigs or chickens who had outgrown their usefulness and was now only taking up resources they didn't have in Ealdor to maintain them any longer than they had to, was anything close to what Draconis, Handrain, and Ronald must have done in their lives. That first kill Hadrian had made when he had been only scantly fourteen summers old could hardly be the last kill he's made over his years of being a knight. And hell. Merlin had cried himself quite silly when he had been fourteen and needed to break the neck of a chicken for the first time in order for it to feed them. It had been messy and awkward and Merlin hadn't done it right, so the chicken was still alive and in so much horrid pain that it had nearly traumatized him. Of course, over time, Merlin had grown better when it had been his turn to slaughter the meat, but that had been only a skill Merlin had forced himself to learn so that it wouldn't cause it more pain than what was necessary. Quick and brutal, Merlin had ended up learning, was the only way to end the life of their animals. It meant that it was over quickly in order for it to not suffer.

Merlin didn't know if he had what it took to end a human life.

When Merlin had used his magic just last month in order to craft the weapon needed to kill the griffin, it had been Lancelot who had been wielding the lance that ended it. But the griffin was hardly anything close to human. It had been a magical creature, yes, quite similar to him in a way, but it had also been trying to hurt people and kill them or drag them back to its nest for it to snack on far later in the day. And when Merlin had drunk the poison to stop Arthur before it could be him that drunk him, he had been out of it for several days, and hadn't came anywhere close to the woman that had put the poison in the cup first of all. And when Merlin and Arthur and Morgana had faced off against that beast in the waters beneath the city, all he had done was conjured the flames to end something that had never been real to begin with. Even when Arthur had faced off against Valiant in the final rounds of the tourney, the only thing Merlin had done was forcing the snakes to come out of their hiding place so that all of the people could see the dark knight for what he really was. A fraud. But it was the prince that had been holding onto the blade that had ended his life. That could hardly be considered Merlin's fault. Valiant had been human, yes, but the man should not have been messing with magical artifacts that he would never have been able to truly understand. Even Merlin, as magical as he would, would've needed years of study beneath his belt before he could truly understand how insane the power behind the making of the shield must have been. If he hadn't been playing with magic, then perhaps he would have been alive today. Merlin figured the closest he had ever came to taking a human life had been…

Mary Collins.

Mary Collins had been the first real witch he had ever saw, probably the only one he had ever seen other than himself, when he had first came to Camelot. It had been horrible, watching from his windows in the royal suite when her son, Thomas James Collins, had been executed in the courtyard for using magic. It had been the first execution he had ever seen, and of course, it had to include somebody who very well could have been Merlin himself one of these days. He had watched Mary Collins mourn her son and scream at Uther from the ground as she swore vengeance on his bloodline, on Arthur, for the pain and grief that the king had caused her. And then he had promptly had a panic attack, his first brush with the law that stood against him almost enough to cripple him. It was a few days later before Mary Collins had returned, using her magic and an odd spell work that Merlin had never seen before in order to masquerade herself as Lady Helena, the woman that was meant to be the singer at his wedding to the prince. It was at his wedding that she had made her move, using her voice as a means of enchantment to make the entire wedding hall fall asleep so that she could kill Arthur and be on her merry way before anybody woke up. She hadn't been anticipating another sorcerer, Merlin, to be there and able to fight off her magic just long enough to do something to break her spell.

The chandelier…

Merlin had used magic in order to break the chain on the chandelier, that held at least a good thousand or so candles in order to light up the entire hall, so it would fall and land directly on top of the woman. It wasn't something that he's spent a lot of time thinking about after it was over. Merlin had fallen into some sort of daze due to the woman's spell, and he had been growing more tired so it had been hard for him to think past when needed to be done. But thinking on it now… Mary Collins was only dead because the chandelier had fallen from the great height it was at and landed on top of her. Everything else had happened quickly after the spell had been broken and everybody was awake… Merlin had saved Arthur for the very first time by pulling him out of the way when she had used the last of her strength to throw a dagger at the prince. So he never had a chance to properly think about it until now. But… yeah… Merlin supposed this was true.

Mary Collins was dead because of him.

But Mary Collins was also very much dead because of her own actions, even if Merlin couldn't very well blame her because of what Uther had done to her son first. But Merlin hadn't been in the right state of mind when he had broken the chain because of what magic she had used on them all. Perhaps he did have a hand or two in contributing to her death, but Merlin also couldn't say he was at fault for it. There had been circumstances that had been out of his control and if Mary Collins had been more interested in her own life than in killing the child of the man that had taken her child away, than she probably could've used the last of her strength in order to save herself. Merlin may not ever know if Mary Collins had the power to save her life or if her injuries had already been more severe than she could've handled, but… her blood wasn't on Merlin's hand. He was still clean, at least in this way, even if he wasn't in others.

But how much longer would his hands remain clean?

It wasn't all that long ago that Merlin had thought all he needed to do was find some deep dark secret the prince wouldn't want to get out, and he could kind of… blackmail him into leaving him alone. He could use whatever knowledge he managed to glean from this secret like a shield in order to protect himself, and be more proactive about stopping Arthur before he had a chance to launch the second attempt on his life that he was sure the prince was planning. Why else wouldn't Merlin have seen him all day if the man wasn't off planning something to end him? But… Hadrian had only escaped the rat faced man that tried to kill him by killing him first. So what if that was something Merlin was going to end up having to do? What if blackmailing Arthur wasn't enough, or what if Merlin wasn't able to find something he could use against Arthur before the next time he tried to kill him? What if there came a time where it was between just Arthur and himself… Arthur had clearly decided his obsession with Merlin wouldn't be worth keeping him alive. So Merlin didn't even have that to use as some sort of advantage to keep Arthur from taking his life. It wasn't as if Merlin would have made it easy for him if Arthur did come straight at him, he would fight against him with everything that he had. But Arthur had already proven that time when he had backhanded Merlin across the face, that he was useless without magic to defend himself with.

But to use his magic against Arthur and take his life before he took Merlin's…

Wouldn't that taint his magic?

Merlin didn't even have to ask that question. He already knew that it would've tainted it beyond belief. It would have left blood on his hands and a dark streak of black across the light that was his magic, mixing into it as if it'd been there from the start. Merlin would never be able to use his magic again without him seeing what he had done to Arthur over and over and over again. He could've …launched Arthur into the air until he hit the ground with a sickening crack. Or he could have caused a balcony or even a statue—ironically—to splinter until it cracked apart and rained down on Arthur. He could have knocked trees down onto the prince or angle his sword when he was training so that it ended up in his stomach instead of his intended target. There were a thousand things that the consort could do to make sure Arthur would never get the chance to come at him again. But after all was said and done, if Merlin was forced into even the unthinkable, then it had to be something that Merlin was going to have to find a way to live with after.

Killing Arthur wasn't what he wanted.

Don't get Merlin wrong. If Arthur died tomorrow, then Merlin wouldn't waste a single moment mourning the man that continued to make this life hell, even if he was now doing it from a distance instead of to his face. In fact, there was a very good chance that Merlin might even celebrate. He felt nothing for Arthur exact a deep loathing that couldn't be competed with. He would feel nothing if he got the news of Arthur's demise after some… training accident went wrong or something. He would feel nothing if another scorned witch got beyond their gates and struck Arthur down where he stood before he could attack. Even if it somehow ended up… ended up being that Arthur took his own life, something Merlin would've taken personally considering his own history with that sort of thing, than he would still feel nothing. Why should he feel anything for the man just because he happened to be Merlin's husband? Arthur had scorned him for months, and had hated him from the moment that they met, and had tried his damn hardest to break him down into nothing. Until Merlin had felt as if he was nothing. Arthur had obsessed over him for longer than Merlin probably actually knew, and he was possessive and crude and it was honestly surprising that the prince was changing things up and trying to kill him now, instead of continuing to try keeping Merlin strapped to his side. That man wasn't Merlin's problem! It was just something Merlin was over and done with. There's nothing inside hm that felt for that man or sympathized with him. Arthur had stolen his first date and his first kiss for crying out-loud! Anybody that said Merlin was simply over reacting by thinking it might come down to either him or Arthur, was obviously underestimating the pain Merlin had been put through and the lengths Arthur's always gone through when he decided to do something to Merlin.

But Merlin wasn't a murderer.

But Arthur might not give him a choice…

He wasn't built like Arthur, who seemed as if he had no soul, perfectly content to play happy family by escorting Merlin all the way out here to the estate even as he plots Merlin's murder in the background. Hell, for all Merlin knew, Arthur had only brought Merlin out here because there would be less witnesses that may see him doing something incriminating. Such an isolated place would be a perfect place to kill somebody and with only a handful of contained knights in the area, it would be perfectly easy for Arthur to control the narrative. Merlin, on the other hand, found it difficult to plan how he was going to get this place up and running like it should be. He couldn't plot a murder. Even on somebody who deserved it more than anybody Merlin had ever known. But Merlin had to have some kind of line of defense for whenever Arthur acted next… he would be DAMNED if he allowed Arthur to steal away the life that Merlin has worked so hard to claim for himself again during these last two months. Merlin would be executed if a fight between him and the prince happened, and he somehow came out on top. But…

Arthur wouldn't be around to watch him being swallowed up by the flames.

And Merlin didn't intend for Arthur to end his life, one way or another.

There was always another way, always a different way for Merlin to go, and this would change his fate. Turning left inside of right changed what happened and going back instead of forward could bring Merlin to a new destiny. Plotting the way he could escape if Arthur's blood stained his hands could leave him with a chance for freedom, instead of ending up dead by a Pendragon's hand. Merlin, the last time he had tried to escape Camelot, had done so by taking horrid and drastic measures… taking his own life. Merlin's biggest regret. But Merlin was determined to spit at the Pendragon's and chart a course for a new life… there was no telling where he would go or if there was anyplace far enough that may stop Uther from following him after Arthur's death. But running might be his only option if Merlin wanted to live. And damn it, he did want to live. And if Arthur wanted to go to war with him, then… Merlin would simply have to be far smarter than Arthur had ever given him credit for and figure out this problem of his.

But Merlin was getting ahead of himself.

One failed assassination attempt on Arthur's part didn't mean Merlin had to try and make his break for it.

Not yet.

If he ran now… it would be as if Arthur won whatever this thing was that's been brewing between the two of them since Arthur decided to 'turn a new leaf.'

Merlin was going to stay right here.

And figure out a way to stay in Camelot.

Fuck, Merlin never thought there would ever come a day in which he decided to fight like hell against Arthur just to say in a kingdom that he had spent much of his time detesting on principle alone. But if it was between staying inside of the kingdom and making a run for it after he had no choice but to murder the prince in an attempt to save himself, then… Merlin was clearly going to have to take a step back and figure things out. So many options that made him feel as if he was going back and forth. And all of his options were surrounded with a delicate web that would crumble and smash his other options if he happened to choose the wrong course of action. Maybe it would be best for Merlin to just …plan for every option and wait until Arthur made the first move before he had to decide which would be best for his future. Information was key, after all. It's probably the one thing Merlin knew best. He couldn't do anything until he had all the information. And he didn't have anything until Arthur slipped up, making some kind of mistake that would give Merlin a clue on what to do next.

Information was key…

Information was key…

Information was key…

He had to remember that…

"The only thing I did was ask you if you could help me get out of the chains on my wrists that were blocking my magic so that I could get home. I was so glad to meet another young sorcerer who was actually my age and didn't seem as if he was planning on holding me hostage like that bastard did. Especially as you were such a handsome little knight in training. I wanted to thank you for saving my life, and maybe flirt with you a little. You know I didn't grow up knowing any other people my own age, since my parents thought I would be safer locked up in our estate until I could get a proper handle on my magic. The last thing that I expected was for you to freak out on me and start running away as if I tried to kill you instead. I had to dig through that man's disgusting pants just to get to the key and unchain myself before walking through bandit-infested forests all by myself for hours just to get back home. I pretty much thought you were an idiot after that, and it never crossed my mind at the time that our paths would be destined to cross later in the future."

Merlin's hands had started shaking at some point, thinking about what he may be forced to do to Arthur if he needed to preserve his own life, when the other man started talking. It was Draconis, this time, Merlin noted as he slowly tried to squeeze his hands into small fists by his sides to stop anybody from seeing the movement. There was no love for the prince in this room, as even the other men seemed as if they would be willing to turn their backs on Arthur if given a chance. But plotting Arthur's murder… thinking he might not have any choice if it came down to it… while he stood in a room of knights didn't sound like it was the best idea. But luckily, Draconis seemed as if he was enraptured with a red-flushed Hadrian as he recounted how the two of them had met. So young and so unaware that the two of them would be stuck at the hip come eight years or so later. Unluckily for Merlin, it appeared as if the shaking of his hands weren't unnoticed by Ronald, considering the red-haired man was now staring with his eyebrow raised in Merlin's direction. The pulse in Merlin's throat fluttered as if there was a hummingbird in his throat, and he quickly turned back around just to avoid his eyes. With how quiet Ronald was, Merlin often forgot that the man was clearly the eyes of this little operation they had going on around here. The red haired knight never seemed to miss anything, and Merlin couldn't help but wonder if there was something magical in him as well. Maybe he could see the truth of what Merlin had been thinking without the consort having said a single word on the matter. Maybe he could see other truths that Merlin had kept from them, hiding behind other secrets that were no less important. Maybe the man could also see why Merlin was truly willing to keep this group hidden whenever he should have been turning them in, as consort of a magical-hating kingdom,

"You can't really blame me for running, Dray. Considering it was my first time, I honestly thought you were going to end up turning me in for sorcery. It wasn't until later on when I managed to calm down did I even realize that you said you were a magic-user yourself. After I realized that, you honestly don't know how much I wanted to backtrack and try to find you just so I could ask questions or understand better about what was going on with me. I didn't have anybody I'd be able to talk to here at the estate. Not anybody who weren't going to try and turn me in the second they realized I inherited what my parents could do. But I was far too scared to actually do it. You seemed so… calm about everything on that day. As if you were used to magic and being kidnapped hadn't phased you in the slightest, like it would other people. I didn't know how I could've stood in front of you and ask for help without seeming incompetent, even though that's exactly what I was. And if anybody had saw me… I didn't want to drag you with me if they clocked us both as sorcerers. It was… best for me to stay away. I did not want anything to happen to you if I couldn't keep myself under control."

There was a faint pinkish tinge that was starting to work its way up the cheeks of Draconis, clearly flustered by Hadrian's matter of fact attitude about trying to keep him safe. Merlin was almost flustered by the display himself, watching the way that him and Hadrian were now eyeing the other as if they were really the only ones in the room. Here Merlin was, trying to figure out if he could kill Arthur if the blond left him with no choice, and he had this couple right in front of him who were clearly so in love, that not even the rough start they had was enough to ruin what future they had built together. A romance that had clearly had its own trials and tribulations right from the start, though it seemed as if it had only made the two of them all that much stronger for it. Carrying together their own secrets and willing to kill even the consort of Camelot before either had been willing to betray the other. Merlin was stuck wondering how he was going to get on top of a man that had superior training and demonstrated how willing he was to knock Merlin on his arse whenever he felt like it, and then the consort met THESE two and they looked as if they were about to start kissing each other, needless of whoever else was in the room with them. Hadrian was the first one though, that seemed to remember they were not as alone as they wished they were, and turned back to him and Ronald, as if his boyfriend was not still looking at him with weirdly heated eyes…

"As I was saying with my story, I returned home after the whole incident in the woods had happened. And it would be another three years before I finally saw Draconis again. But during that time in between, from ages fourteen and until I was seventeen summers old, I kept the secret as tightly closed as I could. This was something that could cost me my life, and for that first year, I was terrified that something would happen and I would be found out. I was terrified that one day, one of the knights would look at me and see sorcerer written on me that I myself couldn't see. I tried my hardest not to allow anything to happen, but it's become like an itch under my skin. Ever since that first night I used it, it was as if I could feel it beneath my skin and that it wanted me to use it. To be honest, I never listened to the people who followed the propaganda concerning magic. People were always whispering whenever we heard about another magic user being caught near the capital and being led to their execution, but that was a fact of life. You hear about things all the time like that. But considering I knew my parents weren't evil people, I learned how to tune it out. It really became so much harder when it was suddenly YOU and now you had to question whether or not you were really the evil one all along."

There was… so much packed into that statement, that Merlin could've wrote an entire book about his own feelings on the matter. There was a certain type of… loneliness that came with being a sorcerer in this day and edge. One that you were unable to escape, especially when you were actually alone and didn't have the tight knit group that Hadrian seemed to have formed around him over the years since his lonely days. And Merlin could feel his guilt starting to creep in on him. Here Hadrian was, practically bearing his soul and telling him a story that he bet only the people in their group had heard before, and Merlin hadn't even been totally honest with them! They didn't know that he was able to truly understand them on an insanely personal level that others would never be able to understand. The fear and the pain and the constant running and hiding, that was always tied into a single lie that seemed to sprout thousands just to try to hide the first lie that was meant to conceal you. It was a balance beam of hard work that could leave you tipping over the edge if you stepped a single toe off of the wire you've carefully crafted your life around. Merlin had offered them a substitute truth, when he had told them about the real reasons behind how he had married Arthur. But they seemed to be telling him the whole truth, and he felt icky about doing what he had felt he needed to do. There had been many a day in which Merlin had looked himself in the mirror and saw only a monster in his reflection, and… he really had grown monstrous, hadn't he? Lying to people who might be the only ones who could truly understand him. Plotting murder if the chips were down and Arthur finally showed his hand to him at last…

"I fought off this feeling for what felt like months. I kept pretending that it was not there, and that I was only imagining, as if it was simply just some messed up version of post traumatic trauma. You hear about knights suffering from it all the time, so maybe that was just it, you know? Or at least that was the lie I told myself every time my fingers itched or my skin tingled unprompted or if I got the urge to… do something but didn't know what it was. But eventually, it's a lie that not even I can tell myself. At some point, I started to get… restless or fidgety and everything around me felt like it was wrong or out of order. It felt as if my temper was starting to get shorter with the other knights and I lost my cool more and more often. Ronald here had only just showed up at the estate to become a knight, and he and I were fighting all the time because I was not able to control the endorphins that would hit me randomly throughout the day. I later learned that many of the other knights had started wondering if I started taking something that I shouldn't be, which would have explained my erratic or downright scary mood swings. It was… terribly embarrassing to know what all of them had started thinking about me, but I suppose it was far better than my truth being discovered. But in the end… it was Hermione that figured out what was wrong with me."

Hadrian had this almost fond little smile on his face as he seemed to recall the early days of his foray into magic, and Merlin almost startled at hearing those two names being dropped into the story. He had been thinking about the story as something that was between Draconis and Hadrian, considering it was only those two that had been part of it so far. He had almost forgotten that Ronald and Hermione as well as the other two serving girls had been part of this story as well. All six of them with webs that were so tangled together that it might've been impossible to move even one of them from the equation. But the way that Hadrian spoke about mood swings and erratic behavior was becoming familiar to Merlin. It sounded as if he had been suffering from a good old case of being magically repressed, or at least that was the term his mother had coined when it had been Merlin doing the same that Hadrian once had. A few times when he had been young, and Merlin had been convinced his mother would have a way easier life if he hadn't been born a sorcerer, he had tried stopping his constant use of magic. Though he must have been far magically stronger than Hadrian was, because Merlin had only ever been able to go a week before it felt as if it would explode out of him if he didn't do at least something small so he could release the pressure building inside of him. And unlike Hadrian, Merlin hadn't gotten erratic when he had tried. He hadn't gotten angry. He had gotten sick. So sick that it felt as if he was crawling onto his deathbed, which was actually something Merlin knew the feeling of quite well, after his little stint with trying to position himself. Using magic had been the only way to relieve that, allowing him to function like normal. It didn't have to be anything big. But doing smaller things allowed the excess energy to come out more frequently, giving it some kind of outlet. Merlin didn't understand even a fraction of his magic or why it reacted differently than other people's did, but he at least knew that much. He just knew the tricky part was not to get caught. But the risk was worth it when one considered the outburst of energy that would explode once he started to pop.

"And don't ask me how Hermione managed to figure it out. She had only been a maid here for a couple of years so I suppose she knew me quite reasonably enough to know my behavior wasn't normal. But nobody really knows how her brain works or how she was able to connect the dots to something like magic. But she did, and she cornered me one afternoon with a few parchments that had a few basic spells on them for me to practice on. Apparently she was able to find them folded up amongst the pages of another book in the library, which was just luck on her part. Every book on magic had been taken out and turned over to the king to be burned when the Great Purge started, so I figure one of the sorcerers who lived during that time must have been trying to preserve at least some of the magic that once lived amongst these walls. Maybe he died during the attacks that happened here against Riddle, or maybe he died during the purge, I don't know. But nobody except Hermione really uses the library at all these days, so it probably could have sat there for decades before anybody found it. I'm sure you can imagine my surprise though, when I realized that she knew about me and what I was going through. I'm sure you can imagine how it was more shocking than anything when I stopped panicking and denying what I was for long enough to realize she was simply trying to help me get back into a normal functional being."

Hadrian shook his head, with this fond smile appearing on his lips as he spoke about the girl who had risked everything to help him. And it didn't matter if she was a sorceress or not… the kind of risk she must have taken to help Hadrian had been enormous. She would have been burned right alongside him if they'd been caught, Merlin realized with his eyes growing wide. It always did surprise Merlin when he heard about somebody normal, somebody who had no reason to get involved with the dangerous life of a sorcerer and every reason to keep aa far away from them as humanly possible, trying to help their kind. It would be safer for Hermione—for his friend back home, Will—to keep their head low and avoid them if they'd didn't want to outright turn them in. Not everybody in the world had the stomach for sending somebody to the execution's platform. But to actually get involved… to find things like spells that would only aid with a sorcerer's magical growth… was practically unheard of to Merlin. Though the consort was sure Will probably would have done the same for him if they had a library or the resources to find something like that for him. Merlin hadn't had a single spell of his own to work with until he came to his uncle's doorstep so he could eventually gift him with the one magic book he managed to keep hidden during the start of the purge. But considering the instinctive way that his own brand of magic was when compared to others, he hadn't needed the spells to use it. Though the spells he had now were definitely a key factor in keeping his focus and concentration on what he actually wanted to happen. Not everybody was as lucky as the two of them were, Merlin supposed, ironically.

"But of course, we weren't as discreet as we thought we were being, and only a few weeks later did Ronald start following us around. Even back then, he had a keen eye for things, but jumped to conclusions faster than he had the actual facts. Considering the short temper I had and Hermione's lower status, he had this insane notion that I was hurting her or have been conning her to do things for me that weren't exactly in her job description and he wanted to catch me in the act. And of course when he tried asking Hermione about it, she would start lying to try covering for me. The one thing you need to know about Hermione though, is that she is an awful liar. Truly one of the worst that I have ever met in my life, and that's saying something. Which of course, only seemed to make him more convinced than ever that I was hurting her. With how much he kept watching us, it wasn't any surprise when he finally realized what was going on. What was surprising is when he kept quiet about it, and even decided he could go one further by throwing others off our track. Laying down these false trails for people who got too close to coming up with explanations that were able to explain away what they thought they had seen, or even making that person out to be insane if they did actually catch on so nobody would believe them. But I suppose all that is because Ronald sympathized with us on some level; he has magic in his blood too, his entire family has ancestors that practiced the craft quite frequently. Although the magic in their blood has died out so they cannot actually do anything with it. But I suppose my plight sparked something inside Ronald, considering how easily him or any one of his brothers or sister may've inherited 'the spark.' It did earn me my best mate though."

Merlin boggled his eyes at this newfound information, trying so hard to try and imagine Ronald as a… as a sorcerer. The man seemed to be as stiff as any man who wore the robes of a knight that Merlin's met; humorless, almost, though it could just be because he was tense with all of the new people roaming around and having to protect his own people. It almost felt as if Merlin had actually did something insane and stumbled upon an actual coven. Witch covens didn't exist these days. It was far too dangerous to have so many magic users in one place, and so by necessity, sorcerers started sticking to themselves when the days of the great purge wore on and made them all weary. They've become as close to solitary creatures as they could be, often not even trusting their own kind to not turn them in. And yet, here were six people who were either magic, or had magic running in their families, or were allies. Merlin had to go through that one more time to make sure he had it right… Draconis and Hadrian were magic users, and Luna was definitely something magical. And Ronald had the magic running in his blood, which meant his sister Ginevra did as well, and so even though they didn't have magic, there was no reason their future children couldn't inherit the spark. And Hermione seemed to be the only non-magical in the group, but considering how smart she was, she was probably the only one that kept them all from actually being caught… for the most part. All this was enough to make his head spin. It felt as if Merlin had entered a whole new world that he hadn't known existed, but was thriving right here in arguably one of the worse countries to be in if you were a magic user. How could they risk it when they were so close to the capital. Isolated they might be, it was only one single day away… but Merlin supposed it was safer than what he's been doing this whole time. Performing spells often right beneath the nose of Camelot's very royal family when necessary.

"Anyway, things were pretty calm for the next two or so years. The three of us worked it out pretty well and learned how to use each other's skills as a means of keeping the secret. After a certain point you know, they were in too deep to risk being caught themselves. But over those two years, we got pretty good at keeping it quiet. Hermione was often the distraction, you know. Because of her position as head maid, she was able to get attention by pretending there were problems or issues that needed to be dealt with to keep people away from this area of the estate. She purposely kept the other maids from cleaning it up and gave them so many duties that it was impossible to find time to come up here, so they wouldn't discover anything. And Ronald became my eyes. He's the first to realize if somebody was getting too close or was starting to look at me a bit longer than they usually did, as if they were starting to get suspicious. He was often the one that was able to wave off any suspicions by causing a scene with me to make it seem like everything was normal. Nobody would think I could be anything other than me if I was getting into scuffles in the front yard whenever I could use 'magic' to end it.' Which often left me with the freedom to come up here every few days and practice a few of the spells we had. Moving things to the other side of the room, or throwing daggers at the wall without needing to touch them. Make a few balls of light so that it wouldn't be so dark up here… a few simple things that helped me to relieve the pressure from becoming more than I could handle."

Hadrian lifted up his hands at that point, holding them with just a single foot of space between them, before he whispered an incantation that was far too low for Merlin to memorize so that he could try it later. It seemed as if the group of three were actually committed to revealing themselves to him, because there's no hesitation as the green of Hadrian's eyes flickered to a golden hue that was only a slightly different color from when Merlin's would shift. Before a little ball of yellowish light flickered between his hands before becoming a little bit more steady and brighter. Merlin sucked in a breath, leaning in to study the glowing ball of light. It was quite different from when Merlin made a ball of light. When Merlin did the light spell, his always came out in a sliver hue that was so bright it could rival the light of the moon, with little sparks bouncing around the edge of it to make it all the more brighter. But Hadrian must've had a different spell, or perhaps one's magical strength affected the way the spell came out, as the ball was much smaller and only lit up a small amount of the room. But it could still steal away Merlin's breath. Just being able to see Magic being used, and seeing it being used in a way that wasn't something inherently dark or evil like magic users were assumed to be was… it was something else. Merlin was in awe as he watched the little ball of light leave Hadrian's hands and drift up to the ceiling. But as soon as the little ball made contact with the wood up above their heads, it seemed to shatter, raining a thousand or so little sparks of light down on them. Lights that didn't hurt or burn even as Merlin reached out and tried catching a couple of them in the palm of his hands like he would if he was trying to catch fireflies.

It was… the magic was beautiful even when it was weak and small, pulsing just enough so that Merlin knew it had been there at all. It was almost a shame for it be something that had to be locked up and hidden away… it was only a ball of light. It did the exact same function that a torch did, only Hadrian would not need to worry about finding wood dry enough to light, and then getting the fire to erupt on the end of it. And yet, it was that very small ball of light that would have him executed if he was caught doing it. It didn't make sense, considering a torch was inherently more dangerous than this was. A torch had the power to burn down an entire forest if you allowed the fire to get away from you. And all this ball could do… all it could do was light your way. Merlin's lips went thin as he thought about the unfairness of that. A knight who lost his torch and set an entire forest of fire would only get a slap on the wrist, while the sorcerers light source was enough to cause them eternal damnation. That was something that needed to be fixed… something that needed to be corrected among the courts of Camelot. Merlin would love to hear the council try to explain why this ball of light was so dangerous, that the caster needed to be damned. But… it's not as if anybody was going to listen to Merlin if he started asking questions or trying to push buttons. The only thing he would be doing is putting his own secret at risk if he tried pushing too hard.

"But of course, things started to change sometime after I reached the summer I turned seventeen. Now this was only a few years ago, so it'd be hard to find a single person who was there that's willing to talk about it. But around that time frame… people were starting to go missing. Nobody around here, but we would hear about a few servants from other estates had wandered into the trees and never returned. Or knights who would leave on a mission and would miss their checkin or days would pass and then weeks and still no sign of them. It never became a mass casualty event that caught everybody's attention. It was only ever a few at a time here and there, spread around the many estates that can be found on this side of the country. And it's never strange to hear about a few maids deciding to run off and make a better life for themselves in the city, and it wasn't strange for knights to be killed if something went wrong on a mission. So the disappearances were always something that could be explained away at some level. But they were wrong… they were so wrong about what was about to happen. The disappearances had only been signs eluding to something that was much worse. War was on our horizon, and nobody even knew it was about to come."

Hadrian shook his head, this haunting and eerie quality on his face that could have only came from somebody who had seen real battle. From someone who had fought for his life many times over and somehow managed to tell the tale of what happened. It caused an unsettled chill to roil down Merlin's spine and goosebumps to erupt across his forearms. He had known that this story was heading somewhere, it had to be if they were telling him about it, but hearing of a war between the estates… it was disconcerting. And at the center of this whole thing seemed to be Hadrian. A boy who was skilled with a sword simply because he had to be, and whose magical prowess lacked any true strength to aid him in a war. Had Hadrian been able to use his magic at all during this fight they were talking about? Had it been able to aide him? Or had Hadrian decided it was better to suffer and deal with using whatever other skills he may've had at his disposal. Merlin knew somebody's skills with a sword was nothing to be scoffed at… he could grudgingly admit that from the many times he had seen Arthur fighting with it. But considering Merlin was a sorcerer… it almost felt as if he would have been going into a fight with one arm tied around his back if he couldn't use it. There was a pang somewhere in Merlin's chest that caused him to grimace at the thought. There was an entire world Merlin hardly knew about and it felt as if some form of combat magic would have been a major asset if it really got as bad as Hadrian said it was. But with Uther's laws… those sorts of spells were practically lost to history and time and even Merlin's magical book only had a few semi-protection spells that were more for defensive magic then it was offensive.

"Well, one normal day, we were called by the former lord and lady of the manor who said there was some unrest happening a few days ride from here but was still close enough that we were the nearest estate and it was our duty to check it out. And after some thought, we asked to have a servant accompany us as it would keep us gone for almost a week. Naturally, we wanted Hermione to aide us. The former lord and lady agreed because they thought we would need her to cook our meals during our travels and such, since it never occurred to them that Hermione was the smartest person in this entire building. She got us out of so many jams before, that we figured what we was happening, she would be able to figure out an actual solution better than we could. But… the unrest was worse than we feared. I… there are details that I don't want to get into, things that you don't need to know simply because of how horrible it is. But when we were preparing to return home to report the… devastation of the village we've come across, we got attacked. Not by the people that were the ones that were responsible for what happened to the village, but by stragglers that were only there to make their own reports about any survivors that might've lived after it was demolished. Ronald and I tried to fight them off, and even Hermione got a few knocks in with her fists, but… they were using magic. Firing spells that I've never heard of. It was only three of them, boys no older than we were, but they were so much more powerful than what I've seen before. And considering the only thing we could use between us were the two swords we had… I suppose it is no real surprise that they won the battle. Though I still think that it was quite a cheap shot considering one of them grabbed onto Hermione and put a blade beneath her throat in order to get us to comply."

Merlin bit back a gasp of surprise when he heard the scary turn that the story had taken. Hearing that Hermione had gotten taken hostage… Merlin thought about the brown haired girl who must've been several floors beneath them at the moment, who might even be already in bed considering the late hour. The same girl that had saved Hadrian's life by finding him those spells before the other knights found out what he was. Who spent her days hiding and lying just to make sure Hadrian would go undiscovered. Who probably worried herself of all the ways that things could go wrong, and probably wondered how long they would be able to continue their illusion of normality before somebody who was not as invested in their personal safety as Merlin was discovered them. And he was, Merlin realized, as he thought about the fear that girl must've felt as she was being held hostage in front of her friends. He was invested in the safety of this ragtag coven. He was only getting the bare pieces of the story, but all that Merlin was hearing only made him wish that he could… do something. Though it was quite clear that Merlin couldn't do anything about this war thing, since it was obviously long over by this point, but surely there was something that he's able to do. Something that would stop serving girls from being attacked before being used as pawns. Something to stop a knight from watching his friend get taken away from him. Something to aide a sorcerer in being able to fight back like a true sorcerer instead of just a simple knight… not like Merlin knew much of anything in the way of combat spells himself. But he just had this itch under his skin. Something that told him… this couldn't be all that there was. Where it was better to watch your friend get attacked rather than revealing the truth of what you are in order to save them. But this world was fucked up, and hiding is really the only thing any of them could do.

"They demanded for us to surrender and to come peacefully and as long as we did, they weren't going to hurt us. But we all knew that was a lie. The man who said this wasn't the man that was holding Hermione, but he was more sadistic than the others. Crab, I believe his family name was, though they have all died out by now. Crab was the last of them, and he died in a fire a few weeks after it all happened. But at this time, he was our enemy, and… we all knew that none of us would be returning if we didn't do something. Ronald had gotten injured during the battle, his shoulder was bleeding something fierce and he couldn't handle his sword like usually. So I… did what I had to do. I couldn't take them all out on my own, and my magic had aided me the last time I ended up having a fight with another sorcerer, so why wouldn't it again? I tried to do a blasting charm Hermione was telling me she heard mention of a few weeks earlier, but considering how untrained I was. It sort of… blasted me back in the face. Let's just say I knocked myself unconscious. And the last thing I saw had to be the most… pretentious pair of riding boots walking up to me, and this very familiar sort of voice scolding me for doing something recklessly stupid."

It took Merlin perhaps a few minutes too long to realize what Hadrian had been getting at and it was only when he saw the dry look the dark haired knight was sending to his blonde haired boyfriend did he finally understand. Merlin's jaw dropped open, his eyes darting back and forth between the two in this state of wordless shock. What? …WHAT?! If Merlin was hearing this right, then Hadrian had just claimed that… that Draconis had been one of the men who had taken them hostage, perhaps he was even the man that had been holding the blade to Hermione's throat. But… but how… Merlin thought as he took this time to try and look at Draconis more intently. How did Draconis go from being a sorcerer who was apparently very pretentious about his footwear, to working under the flag of Camelot in the capacity of a knight. It just wasn't something that looked as if it was going to connect in his mind. If Hadrian's story was based on facts, then that meant… it meant that Draconis had been the enemy at some point! It meant that Draconis had been the one to attack Hadrian and his friends, and it meant he had done who knows what else during that timeframe. But then how did Draconis and Hadrian become romantically involved? What did they begin to court each other and fall in love and start looking at each other as if they're the only ones in the entire world that actually existed. Merlin didn't understand how… how Hadrian could smirk and grin as if it was a fond annotate on the love story that they had, when Draconis very well could have been sent there to kill them. If it had been Arthur and Merlin in that position, well… Merlin was pretty sure that one of them would not be returning to Camelot after all.

"I suppose to make an extremely long story much shorter than how I've been saying it… the three of us woke up in the dungeons at an old manor that rests many miles from where we are now. And though we didn't realize it until much later, that manor belonged to the family of Draconis. Who apparently, even if it had been three years since our brief encounter, recognized who I was as soon as I tried to ballast them apart. Ironically, it's the only reason that they took us as hostages instead of killing us outright. I suppose even then, Draconis here had a little soft spot for me, and wanted to help the poor lost sorcerer find his way in the world. Needless to say, when I realized Riddle had taken his place at their manor and all but turned it over, I was a lot less interested in all the dark side of things he was wanting to teach me. I wasn't so interested in holding on to the hand that wanted to control me and my magic like some kind of pet. He was just wanting to make me another foot soldier in the war Riddle was trying to start. I think I stunned him when I told him to stick his offer of safety for me and my friends as long as I work for them up his arse."

Though the story was very solemn and spoke of hard times that could've quite possibly crippled a nation if it'd been allowed to fester any longer than it had, Merlin had a hard time not snorting at Hadrian's response. Draconis happened to be wearing a very disgruntled expression at the moment, giving Hadrian this look that only had the dark haired knight smirking. Merlin found it all too easy to imagine Draconis wearing the exact same expression when Hadrian told him off like that. Merlin didn't really know how Draconis ended up here if that was how his story begun, but he knew the blonde haired man must've turned over a new leaf if he was here and sharing a life with Hadrian. There was probably going to be much that Merlin wasn't going to understand about how Draconis got from Point A to Point B. But it didn't sound as if the two knights have had the easiest love story in the world. If they were on opposing sides of this little magic mini-war happening right in Camelot's backyard, then there had to have been a thousand and one problems they had needed to work out before they'd gotten to where they were now. Merlin could understand that. It was a strange thought… how the two almost mirrored him and Arthur in a way. Two boys who were standing on opposite sides, and were as different as they could possible be, though still bonded together in one way or another. The only different that Merlin could see was, well… Merlin would sooner stab Arthur in the chest with a bloody quill if that was all he had on hand before allowing that horrid man to put his lips anywhere in Merlin's vicinity.

"I was trying to recruit you so that you wouldn't end up dead! Having just a bit of safe passage was the most that anybody could ask for in those days. And at least I knew Riddle was growing mad with his power, and wouldn't think twice about killing you if you had said that to his face instead." Draconis said, clearly wrinkling his nose as he thought about the past actions he had taken. Leaving Merlin out of the loop as he talked sorely to Hadrian. "I suppose I happened to see something in you that I didn't want to see dead. I was… curious to see how the little boy who tried to take out a full grown wizard when he had little to no actual experience fighting magically, had grown into a man. I suppose I may've been suitably impressed considering I turned my back on everyone that I knew in order to bust you out and help you take down Riddle once and for all."

Merlin darted his eyes between Hadrian and Draconis, taking in everything the two were revealing amongst themselves, though he didn't know if the two had done it on purpose to fill in some of the gaps Merlin had, or if they'd gone and forgotten he was actually there and still listening to each and every… somehow romantic word that was being said. It shouldn't really be romantic, since Merlin was sure it was far more terrifying than anything else if Draconis happened to be being honest about 'turning his back on everything he knew.' Merlin knew it wasn't easy doing something like that, and he had personal experience with all of that. For quite some time, Merlin himself had needed to turn his back on his home and how he had been raised and how his heritage had shaped him so he could somewhere in this new royal life of his. Obviously though, Merlin ended up going a different way and trying to embrace where he came from instead of forsaking it. But the difference between Merlin and Draconis was also clear… it was obvious that Draconis had decided to leave wherever he had come from. It was different for Merlin, who had been stolen right from his home in the dead of night. But perhaps despite that difference, both he and Draconis had their own crosses to bear, the consort thought as the blonde haired knight turned back to him.

"Unlike Hadrian here, I don't feel like getting into the nitty gritty moments that was my past. I don't know you enough to share details of what happened back then to me in-particular. The only thing that you need to know is that my family raised me in the lap of luxury. I had everything I ever wanted growing up, and I know they took pride in me as I grew. I was even allowed to practice my magic to my heart's content and put in the open… as long as I was at my estate. My parents were powerful sorcerers who taught me everything that they knew, but they did keep to themselves which was how they managed to go undiscovered during the days of the Great Purge. But my parents were also greatly involved in the dark arts… a lot of rituals and blood magic and sacrifices at the alter and all that. It was perfectly normal to me, since I've been seeing it all my life. But it was when Riddle, who was apparently an old friend of my grandfather, went ahead and decided to move himself in so that he could use our home to be his main base of operations, I realized that he was even darker than anything I've ever been told. The man was a lunatic who would strike somebody down if he didn't like the look of them. But he made sweet promises about how he would make Magic great again and once he knocked the Pendragon's down, he could share that greatness with the world. Make it so Magic was on top and the ones that would condemn us now would be our slaves in turn. He didn't want to just rule the country. I found out almost far too late that he wanted to had an utter and complete dictatorship, with only himself as the ruler above everyone else who would have helped him get to that position. He didn't care for anybody so your best bet for survival was to keep your head down. But of course, I learned later on that Hadrian is practically incapable of doing such a thing and I ended up getting caught in his little rebellion to end Riddle where he stood."

Draconis sent a scowl in Hadrian's direction, as if blaming the other man over how their future ended up playing, but Merlin was pretty sure the blond knight was not as angry as he portrayed himself to be. He had… he seemed to have a really good and strong life right here at this manor, and it had to be a far better life than what he had just described to him. Dark magic? Merlin's stomach felt as if it was going tight at the thought. Merlin had never thought twice about all the different sections of magic. The only spells Merlin knew or had read about in his book were very normal spells… different versions of unlocking locks and protection spells and manipulating the elements. Those were all spells Merlin figured were on the lighter aspect of magic. But the darker side… those spells were often the type that needed blood to work. Probably enough blood that a man would have to be bled dry to make it work. He had heard stories of those who sacrificed animals under the full moon and would then bathe around in its blood while dancing naked in the moonlight. Horrific and disgusting spells that he wasn't even sure were real spells, as it was far more likely that doing things like that would get you nowhere. Merlin was still learning and was really only a beginner, as he was still working on the basics, but dancing naked with blood from an animal smeared across your skin and face and genitalia did not sound like any spell he had learned. But perhaps darker magic did require something that was a bit more… potent than the simply incarnations that Merlin's learned over the last few months. He could just imagine the horror Draconis must have grown up with if he saw even a fraction of what Merlin was thinking, though it was also a marvel itself. Imagining somebody—anybody—actually being able to grow up seeing magic and being taught magic and flourishing with everything they had that was so easily denied to others.

"Let's just say there was a major battle at that estate that practically left it in a ruin, and there was much bloodshed on both sides when we finally managed to talk Draconis into helping us escape after we were held prisoner for far longer than I cared to remember. It's not a time in my life that I think about with much fondness, even if it did bring me somebody important." Hadrian picked up the story where Draconis had left off, giving Merlin only the bare details, but… the consort could understand that. Even if he wanted to ask a million questions to understand how Hadrian had won the battle, and whether or not Draconis had managed to smuggle anything magical with him when he moved to this estate officially. He was sure this magical battle that had happened right underneath the nose of the king had caused whatever magical tomes or spell books that'd survived the beginning of the Great Purge had perished as well. Even if it was a dark magic tome, Merlin could feel his insides festering to read. Those were not the kind of spells Merlin was interested in learning, but… Magic was magic and he wouldn't be opposed to seeing what could be possible. But Merlin kept silent… he knew the sounds of trauma when he heard it. Merlin might've been fascinated with hearing details on a magic battle, but he wasn't the one who's lived it. He wasn't there watching people die or fighting for his life or watching a beautiful home smashing in on itself when the chaos became too much even for it. Merlin had gone through his own trauma, and he knew he never wanted to really talk about it when he didn't have to. "There were many people who'd been locked in the cells, other people who had refused to participate in Riddle or his fight. A boy named Neville was there… I really liked him. Strong soldier I could see becoming something great, if he ever gets over his clumsiness. And there was also this lady Tonks… strange name, but she was a master whenever it came to disguise spells. Was able to get herself in places the rest of us were unable to because they thought she was somewhere else. Most of the people scattered about after everything was said and done. Either returning to where they were taken from or deciding to travel the road for fear of Uther realizing what went on during that time and trying to round us all up. But Luna was also a prisoner there… that's how we met her. She didn't have anywhere to go since her father died when they first took her prisoner, so she decided to come with us back here. She was probably just happy we weren't interested in using her like Riddle was trying to use her."

Merlin perked his head up as soon as heard Luna's name… he hasn't forgotten about the young girl that had scared him half to death down in the gardens the day before. But he was most interested in knowing what the knights knew that he didn't. Luna was… a mysterious being that radiated power but could easily mask it to make herself more vulnerable. Merlin didn't know if she did that just to make sure others wouldn't discover what she was, or if it was some version of a trap to make others not notice the threat she wielded until she struck. But that was probably Merlin's own paranoia spiking up with him being confronted by the unknown. The unknown had never treated Merlin very well, considering the experience he's had in Camelot. If Merlin wasn't a Magic user himself, then it was quite possible that he never would've noticed the… inner power that she had festering away inside of her. But… there had been many things that Luna's said to him that made Merlin believe she wasn't an ordinary witch. She'd spoke to him as if she… knew things about him. Things that were impossible for even Merlin to have known. She had warned him, said he was… favored by the gods. And that right there was terrifying. Stories that involved the gods never looked as if they ended very well. Just look at Hercules, who had been abandoned on earth to be raised by humans and then needed to prove himself as a hero just so he could return to his rightful home amongst them! Only to die in the harsh heat of battle, which led to his father Zeus creating his image in the stars so it was a battle that would go unforgotten. Merlin didn't want to fight in his battle with Arthur and get nothing more than his vague likeness imprinted among the stars! He wanted to… he wanted to… to do more than survive the fight.

He wanted to win the war.

And then he wanted to live his life.

"Luna… is there anything that you can tell me about her? I only ask because… I know she's not normal, okay. There's something… off about her, and it doesn't have anything to do with her out-there personality. She… I saw her earlier and she told me things. She… she warned me about things I needed to look out for and things to be cautious about. She…" Merlin paused, taking a moment here to gather his thoughts back in order. It was probably the first time he spoke up since Hadrian had started explaining themselves and their story, so he wanted to make sure he didn't say anything that made them withdraw. But…Luna was an enigma that just couldn't seem to be explained. She was the only reason he knew that Arthur was behind the statue and was trying to kill him. He was now forewarned and able to prepare himself now that he knew the dark road Arthur had once again decided to travel down. Without Luna there to tell him that 'all is not like it seems,' then Merlin very well could have walked straight into some kind of trap set by Arthur that would have… beheaded him! Or something that was as horrible as that sounded. And considering Merlin might be a bit… more than a bit… scared to approach Luna without knowing what he was going to be walking into, this might be his only chance to know anything. "She behaved so strangely but not the sort of strange I would expect if she was… if she was like you lot. It makes sense that she's magical, but I think there's more to her than simply having magic. She… she knew stuff that I was unaware of. So she was either spying on my group of men long before we were introduced, or there is something else there."

Merlin paused in what he was saying, not entirely sure if he wanted to bring up exactly what she had told him. Those things were private, and Merlin's already working on his own solutions to get out from under what she had said. He still didn't know if discovering one of Arthur's secrets was going to be the answer, or if more… drastic measures were going to be needed if Arthur didn't give him any other choice. He didn't even want to think about that again, feeling as if he was growing ice in his veins at doing something that was so… permanent. And something he wouldn't be able to walk away from or pretend never happened… Merlin shook his head. No, he hadn't even told his uncle or even his own guard Lancelot what was going on. He wasn't going to put Luna to them, and he was not going to tell them what he discovered about Arthur's plans to end him. But he still needed to KNOW how Luna knew the things she did. Merlin sure didn't know things unless he discovered them himself, so what made her powers act differently than his? What creature was she if she could see things that others had not… Merlin paused as he saw Draconis, Hadrian and Ronald start to look at each other. It seemed as if each of them had been left terribly surprised but that only made the tingles of alarm go through Merlin's spine.

"What?"

Merlin asked the question without thought, his eyes darting between the three boys surrounding him as if he would know what they were thinking if he simply looked hard enough. But try as he might, knowledge was not one of the many abilities Merlin was able to work with. Though it didn't seem to be the same for the three knights. Ronald and Draconis and Hadrian looked as if they may have been having a conversation entirely their own. It only lasted for a few seconds, but… yeah… Merlin could see how these three had fought in a battle and made it home unscathed, for the most part, if they were that good at communicating to each other with only their eyes. That wasn't exactly a skill that Merlin's ever had with somebody else before. It wasn't something that just happened. It was a skill that was taught amongst people who… knew each other. People whose fought for each other and bled for each other and knew each other right down to the core, sometimes even better than they knew themselves. Merlin's been through his own shit, but he's never been through an actual war… not unless it counted with whatever was going on between him and Arthur. One that Merlin was bound and determined to win… but that was beside the point, he thought as he straightened up when Hadrian turned back to him.

"She actually told you something? I mean, not the normal everyday stuff that a regular person might tell you. But… Luna actually sat down with you and spoke to you about… stuff she couldn't possibly know. Stuff that even you knew none about?" Hadrian asked him, basically repeating what Merlin had said just to be sure that he had heard the consort right. And Merlin's brows furrowed towards the center of his forehead, before nodding. It had sounded as if Hadrian hadn't expected Luna to talk to him at all. But… why would that be? Despite the weird way she spoke about warning him of things to come, and the way she had this power that fluctuated around her… she seemed nice enough. Merlin could not say he was about to invite her somewhere to hang out with him, but definitely nice enough. And perhaps somebody Merlin wouldn't mind hanging out with… if she didn't spend her entire day predicting his doom and gloom. But Hadrian shook his head, astonishment creeping across his features as he raised a hand up to rub against his chin. "Wow, that's um… wow. Luna usually hangs around by herself unless she actually has something to say. Which isn't often, but if it does happen, then you best listen. Because Luna's warnings are… they always come true. There might be room for interpretation or misunderstandings since she never actually says what she means so that you can understand it properly but she's never wrong either. She usually doesn't speak about it unless there's some great tragedy heading your way. That's why Riddle wanted her. So she'd be able to see if one of their plans was going to go sideways so that they may try to change it. But of course, they underestimate her… what she sees will be what comes to past… thing she's got going on."

Merlin's back went just a little bit straighter when he saw Hadrian looking more firmly at him now, something dark and understanding in his eyes. It caused the consort to press his lips together in a fight and thin line… Hadrian knew. Merlin hadn't said anything about what Luna had warned him about, and there was no reason to speak about it at all. Hadrian didn't 'need' to know what Luna'd told him… he already knew it was something dark and disturbing. Because that was the kind of thing Luna… could see? Merlin swallowed hard and averted his eyes down to the floor. If what Hadrian said was really true, then… whatever Luna's been seeing was going to come to pass. It meant… it meant that she had seen Arthur actually trying to kill him with that damn statue. It meant that she might even see the prince try to kill him once again. Merlin hadn't already known the prince was dead-set on ending his life, but there was just something about the new information, about Luna's sight never being wrong, that made it all sound so… official and final. Merlin was going to have to go on the defensive should he wish to make it past the deadline for them to leave. And then once Arthur's left with the rest of the men… Merlin was going to have to deep dive into what he could do to protect himself. Arthur might be gone, but for all Merlin knew of his determination, he might end up sending a bloody assassin to do away with him while he was miles and miles away at the castle. Merlin wasn't going to be safe even if he did stay behind at the estate… the palms of Merlin's hands felt as if they were slick with sweat. Death and destruction seemed to follow him a lot, no matter where he went or what he did to avoid it. If this was all true, then …Merlin might need to invest in some kind of weapon. Something that wouldn't reveal his magic unless he had no other choice… perhaps a dagger that was so small it would fit into the side of his boot. Something Arthur wouldn't notice if he decided he wanted his attack on Merlin's person to be more… personal than if somebody else did it.

"Right, yeah… alright then. I suppose you want to know what Luna is now. As she actually went ahead and talked to you, I'm assuming that means she may actually like you a bit. Probably a fair bit more than she liked Riddle and any of his goons considering Draconis was the only one she ever talked to. But even she didn't give him insight into any of her visions." Hadrian said, brushing past everything with a rough clearing of his throat as he moved them along. It made Merlin exhale a breath of relief that he hadn't even known he'd been holding in until right now. Hadrian must've seen how tense Merlin was about everything that was going on, and he must've decided not to push on the matter to know what had Merlin so tied up in knots. So unlike Arthur, who would've pushed at him until Merlin spewed everything he could just to get him to shut the bloody hell up and leave him alone. Merlin might want these guys to like him and just maybe he wanted to be somebody who wasn't… the outside man looking in on them, but considering he neglected to tell them about his own magic… he was not very trusting of them. Just because they didn't like the Pendragon's as he didn't like them, didn't mean they wouldn't feel bound to… warn Arthur if they thought Merlin had an actual concrete plan on doing away with him. "Basically …Luna's not a witch. I mean, not in the strictest sense is she a magic user like me or Draconis, but she's also more… in touch with the mystical side than the others are. She can't actually cast spells and do magical potions or anything of that nature, trust me, we tried when she first decided to come live out here and Luna only humored us because she was glad to have friends. Her… special gifts don't really leave her much opportunity to open up to people, I guess. But she inherited her abilities from her mother, who was very gifted in seeing what is yet to come. But from what I've seen and heard… Luna's got far more power than even her mother did, able to see years into the future upon her very first meeting with someone. But only the bad stuff. Able to see what tragedies that will cause your downfall. Heaven knows why that is, but Luna can see all of the death and destruction and absolute… horror that should only exist in your own nightmares… have you ever heard of what a seer is?"

Merlin sucked in a breath as he heard Hadrian's question, his eyes going wider and wider as the knight explained to him what Luna was capable of. Of course he had heard of what a seer was. Merlin didn't really know much about those who lived on the magical aspect of the world, since griffins and monsters that were made out of clay were completely foreign to him. But seers were actually …almost like Merlin. Seers were completely human, just as he was. Only there was some kind of… innate ability inside of them that allowed them to see what was to come in the future. Merlin was surprised that he hadn't thought about that before! He supposes he had been a little bit occupied by the whole… had to watch his back because his husband was planning to stab him in it… but he should have considered the fact that she might be a seer. Though… this didn't seem as if it would be the funnest gift in the world, not the way Merlin thought it would have been. He would love to get a peak into his future and see if there was a proper life for him waiting, if he was going to be happy instead of all this …working on healing so he could be happy business that he's done during the last few months. Or if Arthur was going to succeed and end up cutting his life short like he wanted to. But the things that Luna had to have seen, especially if she was held captive during this little mini-war for who knows how long… there was much certainly in Merlin. He didn't think he would want her gift. Not if the drawback was… death and destruction and chaos, knowing that people would be doomed and there was nothing he could do to help other than passing on a warning that they may or may not listen to. And let's be real, how many people out there actually ended up dying old and grey and happy in their bed as they were surrounded by a dozen or so grandchildren. Luna must have seen just… so much bloodshed and terror everytime she met somebody. How she could skip around and smile to herself as if she wasn't living in a nightmare each and every day was… something that Merlin couldn't fathom.

"Well, whatever you think you know about seers, I would toss that straight out of your mind since Luna isn't exactly a seer. She's something else entirely but I suppose a seer is the closest word one could use if they were trying to put on a label to what she is. There are differences between her and a normal, regular old seer. For one, seers usually start off by seeing things in their dreams, their visions come to them like nightmares and it's up to them to interpret what they see. Now, if a seer is particularly strong, they can develop the gift until they're able to see things when they are in the waking world as well, some are capable of even summoning their visions to them if their holding onto something that is linked to the vision in some way. Luna, on the other hand, has always saw what she sees, both in the waking world and from birth. Seers usually don't develop their sight until they are well into their adolescents, or some even later should they be late bloomers. Another difference is seers being able to use magic like a sorcerer can, while as I said before, Luna's incapable of it. Another drawback to her gift being as powerful as it is. But seers… another difference is that the normal seer is able to change the outcome of their vision, or perhaps they may even cause it if they meddle depending on the vision. It's subject to change as the people in it makes a different choice, so they can't always be relied upon if somebody decides to… go right instead of left, you know. Luna's are more… on point and more precise. She doesn't see what might happen. She sees already what that person is going to do, and the outcome of what follows. And another main difference… seers are usually an inherited power. So if you do happen to find a seer, then you can bet that they've got that power from somewhere. So a parent or even grandparent if it slipped a generation, which could very likely happen. Not everybody in the bloodline can be gifted with the spark, you know that. But Luna… she inherited her powers from her mother like I told you. But it is so much more… potent and more powerful… more dangerous… than any that her mother could do. We've met with the druids a couple of times since Riddle was stopped, and one of them said… they said Luna was chosen by the triple goddesses themselves in order to spread their truth on earth."

Merlin almost felt his heart stopping in his chest as each new fact made a line that drew seers and… whatever Luna was apart. He couldn't say he really knew what the… triple goddesses were. He vaguely recalled seeing an annotation in his spell book that mentioned something about them, but he couldn't say that it offered much in the way of detail. Only that they were old… almost as old as the earth itself was. And that they were powerful. But it had also sounded like …a kids story, what little he had managed to make out from the smudged bits of parchment. Like a sorcerer's version of a fairytale. Of great witches who are known to have been watching the earth since the dawn of time. Merlin hadn't thought that they could have been real figures in history. Spirits, they sounded like. And Merlin even wondered if that was what they really were… spirits who were watching as the magic was slowing being drained from the earth. Merlin didn't exactly know what it must have meant to be 'chosen by them to spread their truth.' Being a chosen anything scared Merlin down straight to the bottom of his core. If that was him… he would have hot pulses of cold fear shaking him down until he was nothing more than a puddle of goop. How Luna could stand when she had something like 'that' on her shoulders was… amazing, truly. And Merlin thought being a consort was a burden… at least he had been chosen by Uther by complete accident or luck of the draw. It didn't sound as if that's how it went for Luna. But… at least Merlin could say he wasn't completely confused by what all this meant. He at least knew what druids were! They were tribes of peaceful people who practiced magic freely, but lived in encampments among the woods because they weren't allowed within the borders of the city unless they wanted to be taken to the execution's platform like any other magic user that had been caught. They could usually be identified by the tattoos that they decorated their skin with… odd symbols that Merlin's never seen in person but had heard about in passing once or twice. Merlin has always wanted to be able to see one of these enchantments. A place where people didn't need to hide what magic they could wield… it had sounded like the greatest place on earth when Merlin was a kid. He was sure that the reality would not live up to how he had imagined it as a boy, but there was still a bit of boyhood curiosity shining in him.

"Now… do you have any more questions about Luna?"

Did he… did he have any questions about Luna, Merlin thought wildly when he met Hadrian's calming green eyes. He had only about a thousand questions or so that he could probably ask right now, and still not run out of things that he might think of later. Like… what did it mean for Luna if she really was chosen by the triple goddess? Did she have to do anything special for them, or is she simply living her life while trying to help out when she can whenever her gifts make her see something? Was there truly no way to stop her visions, or was it doom to come true no matter what Merlin might do to try changing something specific? Did Luna always speak in riddles, and wouldn't it be much easier for her to just… explain what she saw so you can be prepared? Were they actually in contact with the druids, or is it just a group that they come across whenever they were traveling sometimes? Could they put Merlin in contact with them… it would be for purely educations purposes, of course. To see how people would live when they could do nothing more than use their magic to live off the land that they claimed as theirs. Had they managed to grow strawberries while they used their magic? Merlin's tried that once or twice, a simple spell that included growing something out of nothing, but all Merlin's managed to do was make a half-wilted rose. There was something about the size and the shape being so insanely similar to one another that caused his magical wires to get crossed in creating. But… there were too many questions he wanted answers to, and they would be here all night if he asked even a fraction of what he wanted to. So he simply said…

"No."