A New Adventure
Chapter 24: A New Adventure
Lianora was quickly realizing she had a bigger mouth than she had a brain. For all of her confident talk, she didn't actually know how she was going to get rid of the soldiers that were stationed around the castle, especially since the large group that was in the courtyard.
For the moment, she and the children were crouched behind the gate on the far right of the main door in the castle. From where they stood, Rowena could spy at least 400 men, not including the ones that were actively patrolling inside.
"What do you suppose we do? None of us is trained in combat and even if we were, it would be impossible to take them all on." Godric whispered quietly, his back plastered to the wall. Helga bit her lip nervously beside him. She'd never liked fighting and here she was smack in the thick of it. Percival coughed and Godric rolled his eyes. "Okay, no one except Sir Percival."
"Well, we did say we would take of them. If we don't do it before Morgana wakes them up, then we're done for."
Lianora thought back to the men that she'd knocked out in the throne room.
"Okay, well lets' try the throne room first, and see what we can figure out about the men that we took out. Clearly the witch is controlling them somehow, so if find out how to get rid of whatever it is that she's using to bewitch them, we can do this much faster." The knight raised an eyebrow but nodded at her suggestion.
She put a finger to her lips and motioned for them to follow her, using the cloak to walk undetected down to the Great Hall.It was a tight fit, despite the cloak's magical ability to resize, particularly because of Percival's bulky figure pressed behind her. Once inside and safe – relatively – Lianora spotted by the servants' exit next to the Thrones, the man she'd punched down just a while ago, somehow still unconscious. Salazar glanced around, seeing the coast was clear, he ducked out from the cloak against the whispered warnings of the others.
"Salazar, get back here. You have to check if it's safe to come out first!" Godric whispered. Salazar waved his worry away, instead motioning them over. He'd pushed the hair on the man's forehead away, only to discover a symbol of a circle with horizontal line cutting through the upper third of it drawn onto him.
"What's that?" Helga said, crouching next to the blonde haired boy. Lianora kept watch, on edge while the children examined the mark. Percival, ever the silent man, stood watching behind them, ready for an attack.
"I've seen this before!" Rowena suddenly snapped her fingers, her eyes bright with understanding. There was nothing the knowledgeable girl loved more than finding out that the spells she'd painstakingly memorized were of some help.
"You have?" Lianora asked her, "well, what is it? Quickly, we don’t have much time!"
"If I'm remembering it correctly, I think we're looking at evidence of a blood bond."
"A blood bond?" Percival echoed. Rowena nodded, confirming her guess.
"Yes, using blood to tie someone into doing your bidding through a spell of compulsion. I believe she must have used blood from someone else to cast it though. You need a certain kind of blood."
"Did you ever read how to break it?" Here she nodded again.
"Using the same method to compel them into their own will. Like a reversal spell." Lianora raised an eyebrow.
"You're telling me she painted these poor sods with her own blood?" Rowena wrinkled her nose in disgust, her voice dropping to a whisper at the distant sound of metal clanking on stone and the distant thundering of what Lianora assumed was Merlin and Morgana going at it.
"Hardly. She's painted them with someone else's blood. For a blood bond to work, the blood used has to be pure. As in, the blood of a pure maiden, someone who has never fallen in love, someone who's never experienced romance."
Godric blanched at the frightful thought that just crossed his mind.
"There's a full army walking these halls. Whoever she used for blood has got to be dead. You can't drain this much blood and still be alive." Helga shivered, but fought to keep calm under the mounting panic from that night's events which were finally coming to the surface. Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder and Helga looked over to see Salazar giving her a reassuring squeeze without looking at her. She sighed a little and tried to steady her erratic heartbeat.
Lianora rubbed her hands together, gesturing for the children to gather around her, expression thoughtful. Percival edged closer as well, unwittingly bumping into LIanora, who elbowed him in the stomach.
"Okay, so we need the blood of a pure maiden to combat this spell. So how would this work?"
"We would need to mix the blood with water, and use it to wash the marks away. But doing that to this many soldiers would take too long." Rowena flexed her fingers open and closed. Periodically stopping to listen for the sounds of soldiers approaching. The light streaming into the castle was bright and golden now, refracting all along the inside of the hall in zig zag patterns and illuminating it.
"Okay, well. I can't give you any blood, I'm far from pure at my age." Salazar made a face as they all tried not to think about it. There was another large boom from down the hallway causing them to jump. Lianora grasped both Helga and Rowena by the shoulders.
"So, at the very least we have the two of you young maidens to give blood." Helga's eyes grew huge and Rowena colored a very deep red.
"IcantdothatbecauseI'mnotpure." The words came out in a mumble. Lianora and Percival looked at each other and then back down at the young girl.
"What?" Godric said, confusion marring his face. "Speak up, we haven't got time for muttering Ro!" The ebony haired girl huffed, her complexion taking on the color of cherries.
" I said I can't give blood because I'm not pure." If it had been any other situation, Lianora would have laughed at the comical gasps from Godric and Salazar.
"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It's not theory of Magic, Godric, it's not that hard to understand. I'm not pure either. And there's nothing wrong with it." Rowena said haughtily, though she seemed embarrassed that they knew now.
"Nothing wrong? I've never seen you go within 2 feet of a man!" Rowena remained silent, refusing to answer that line of questioning while Lianora groaned in annoyance. Percival started at the sound of swords, swinging his own up reflexively.
"Why is nothing ever simple with you lot? Alright, now isn't the time to deal with this. Helga is all we've got for now. So we've got to move fast. Rowena how much blood do we need exactly?"
"At least a couple drops." She didn't miss the blatant look of relief on Helga's face, and grinned. "Fortunately, the reverse spell is a lot easier than the casting of the original."
"Are we agreed then? Percival, go find water with Salazar and bring it back here, Rowena and I will prepare Helga for the bloodletting."
"Blood-letting?!"
"Oh hush child, it's nothing as frightening as it sounds."
"Arthur!"
Arthur heard Gwaine and Lancelot scream his name behind him as he leapt from the ledge of the tower, landing painfully and frankly very unsteadily on his broom. For a moment he hovered in the air, uncertain if the blasted thing would continue to float or if he was going to plummet to his death on the rocky foundation below.
He heard a blast up ahead, and looked up, trying to pinpoint the noise. Then, like a small bird, he spied Merlin's form darting in and out of the trees. The bird he was chasing would periodically turn into Morgana, who seemed to screaming things at him and attacking him in intervals.
He tucked his legs in and imagined he was riding on a horse, leaning forward and almost immediately, the broomstick responded, zooming ahead at breakneck speed. He would later deny that the shrill high pitched scream that escaped him was his at all.
"You have no right to your name! Emrys is a champion for those with magic! How dare you sully with your loyalty to the Pendragons!" Morgana briefly changed back into herself, perching on a treetop to yell at him before transforming again and flying off.
Merlin fought the urge to roll his eyes, mainly because he was worried that if he took his eyes off flying for even a moment, he would end up sprawled face first on the ground.
"Whether or not you like it, Morgana. I am loyal to Arthur and I always will be. His injustices stem from ignorance and prejudice, unlike yours which carry nothing but a thirst for revenge!" Merlin yelled back, fed up with her one sided arguments. All of a sudden, Morgana reverted to her human form, startling him enough for him to try and fail to stop the broom he was riding. He gave a yelp and fell in an ungainly lump a few feet from the Dark Sorceress. Merlin scrambled to his feet, keeping eye contact with the clearly offended woman.
"The revenge that you turn your nose at boy, is retribution for the scores of men, women and children who have died and lived lives worse than death as a result of Uther's rule!" Her eyes were taking on that glassy quality that Merlin was so concerned with. "If I ruled, not only would our kind be liberated but we would make them see, make them all see what it is to fear for your life. They will blame Arthur for their misfortunes. They will loathe the Pendragon name for eons to come!" Morgana ripped her cloak off and stalked towards Merlin who backed up a couple steps in response.
"You constantly berate me for swearing loyalty to a Pendragon and yet you use the same identity to legitimize youre so-called claim to the throne. Why don't you just admit it, no matter what you do, even if you kill Arthur, even if you kill me, it will never be enough. Revenge is a living thing and it will devour you."
Morgana's face went an apoplectic purple, and with a garbled yell of fury, she swung her hand in his direction and Merlin leapt out of the way just in time for the tree behind him to splinter into tiny fragments. Immediately, without leaving Morgana time to try something again, Merlin lashed back at her.
He stomped on the ground with his foot, the dirt underneath them rolling and roiling, undulating in waves. The Dark Sorceress fell to the ground, disbalanced, with a shriek as Merlin clenched his hand into a fist and brought it down on his other flat hand. Morgana screamed in pain and in response clawed at the ground, the dirt gathering under her nails. Her eyes flashed and Merlin went flying into the large stone behind him, his back colliding painfully with its pointed top. He let out a strangled scream that broke his concentration on the spell he was holding Morgana down with. As soon as she was able to, Morgana staggered to her feet. Her hair had fallen from its coif, tangled around her face, her dress was torn in various places and there was a sizable amount of blood dripping from her mouth. She wiped her lips with the back of her hand, smearing it along her cheek instead, her face contorted into an expression of hatred so strong that Merlin was hard pressed to say when he'd last seen someone so angry with him.
Merlin slid down the side of the boulder after hitting it, he couldn't stand, and his shoulders were in agony every time he tried to move. Morgana approached him with the look of a wildcat approaching its prey. She raised her hand, lips twisting into a snarl, the warlock heard loud cracking from above and looked up in time to see a large pointed branch break off from the tree and come charging towards him., with him reflexively shutting his eyes. It was scant seconds before Merlin felt it pierce his left side, just above the hip, his injured shoulders making it difficult to raise his hands above his stomach in time to deflect with a spell.
"You will die here, you disgrace. I'm disgusted that the druids thought to revere your traitorous blood." She hiss in his face, coming closer to him, her maniac gaze telling Merlin that she was absolutely going to make sure he died here. He breathed heavily, using one arm holding the branch in place. He was bleeding profusely, if the pooling of blood beneath him was any indication. Morgana grinned seeing this and used her fist to drive the branch deeper into his abdomen, reveling in Merlin's gasps of pain.
"Merlin!" Merlin heard Arthur shout his name, and Morgana's head whipped around to look at his rapidly approaching figure. The warlock took advantage of the distraction, he lifted a finger with difficulty and with a grunt, pulled the branch out of his side, lurching to his feet, and driving the makeshift stake, coated in his blood, through her stomach.
Morgana howled in pain, eyes wide in shock as the branch buried itself in her body, her entire being assaulted by the foreign blood. She stumbled back, as she saw the King of Camelot flying to Merlin's aid.
"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS EMRYS. I WILL MAKE SURE YOU DIE A LONG AND PAINFUL DEATH, TRAITOR!" With those wheezed words, Morgana stumbled back, turning once again into an eagle, the branch dropping from her but the wound remaining, and soaring off into the sky. Merlin raised an arm in a waving gesture.
"You -" Merlin coughed, feeling blood come up his throat, coating his teeth. "You do that, Morgana. I'll be -" He coughed again, the viscous liquid seeping from his mouth now. "-right here."
"Merlin!" Arthur was flying toward him and suddenly vaulted off, rolling a few feet on the ground before coming to a stop a small distance from the black haired man. Merlin grinned at Arthur, a look that from Arthur's expression, had him more concerned than reassured of Merlin's wits.
"Are you alright?"
"You came here riding on a broom." Merlin laughed, wincing from the blood now flowing freely from the puncture wound. Arthur shot him a dirty look, as he ran over, his face turning ashen as he took in Merlin's injury. He scrabbled down next to him, placing his hands over Merlin's and pressing down hard in an effort to staunch the blood, causing Merlin to yelp in pain. Arthur tried not to think about how he could see Merlin's insides clearly gaping through the hole in his side and hear the obscene squelching his blood made against his flesh.
"Gods Merlin. What – how – there's so much blood." Merlin smiled at him, the sight of the crimon liquid staining the warlock's teeth red making his blood run cold.
"I -" Merlin sucked in a deep breath, gritting his teeth against the pain. "I am sorry you know. For letting Morgana get away – no let me finish -" Merlin staved off Arthur's protests. "For not telling you." His head thunked back against the rock. "For –ah! - not telling you I had magic. Not telling you I was Elladora. You were so -" Merlin paused, biting his lip so hard it bled. "-so angry. I was too afraid to see you look at me like you did before. Like you wanted to kill me."
There were tears mingling in with the blood now. Arthur swallowed hard, the guilt crashing over him waves. Merlin lay back heavily, growing more pallid looking by the second. The implications of it terrified the young King, who forced himself to speak and look directly at Merlin's face – no where else.
"I never meant to do that. I just – I was afraid too, you twit. The man I thought I knew, turning out to be nothing like I thought he was. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." Merlin gave Arthur another disturbing smile, looking bizarre in combination with the tears steadily coming down.
"Two apologies in one day? Are you going to confess to me next Arthur? I don't think I could handle that, honestly." Arthur gave him a half hearted glare.
"What have I said about trying to be funny? Don't make me have to hit an injured person because I will do it. Now, if you're done mouthing off, we need to figure how to get you back to Camelot to get Gaius to fix you up, because I don't think I can get you back on the broom." They both glanced at the broom, now lying on the forest floor, devoid of Magic.
"Cover your ears." Merlin grinned wickedly at him, despite his waxen pallor. Arthur stared at him quizzically, before complying. He was momentarily distracted by the bloody state of his fingers before a pointed clearing of his throat had Arthur clapping his palms over his ears.
Merlin tilted his head back, and began to speak in a roaring voice, in a language that the King had never heard before, one that echoed in the forest. It raised goosebumps along his flesh and sent shivers down his spine. The speech was guttural and beastly and yet elegant. It took only a moment, but as soon as he finished, it was clear that it had taken all of his strength to do it, since he promptly passed out, his hands going limp over the gash and allowing blood to spurt out. Arthur clambered to cover it, concentrating on the action until he heard the sound of wings flapping and an answering roar to Merlin's earlier one.
He blinked against the sudden swirl of wind in the forest and saw to his shock, a dragon land in front of them, splintering trees around them like twigs. He gaped as the creature lowered its head, getting an eyeful of the two men. Arthur's mind wrestled with his options. He needed to defend them, but without removing his hands from Merlin, since the warlock would surely die from the blood loss.
"Peace, King. I haven't come to harm you." The voice was gravelly and ancient and it took Arthur a moment to realize the dragon was speaking to him. The shock must have shown on his face, because it laughed, a low snuffling sound.
"You have many questions, and I shall answer them, Arthur. But first, we must get Merlin back to Camelot." When dragon lowered a wing, Arthur realized that it meant for him to drag Merlin up on to his back. There was a huff of impatience, and a small plume of smoke.
"We haven't time for dallying!"
Wordlessly, the King dragged his unconscious manservant to the waiting dragon, praying for them both to whatever entity was listening.
Gwaine and Lancelot paced nervously in the fore lobby of the castle. Whatever Lianora and the small warlock children had done, had effectively released the soldiers from the enchantment, but it left a lot of confused men wandering Camelot's upper village, despite not exactly being the city type. It had taken them all to drive them out of the city, while constantly worried about their missing King and Merlin. Gaius had also finally found his way out of his chambers, with the coast finally clear.
In that time, Elyan and Leon had returned with Gwenivere, looking muddy but otherwise alright. The Queen looked around, not seeing Merlin or Arthur.
"Where's Arthur? Merlin?" None of the Knights responded, the silence terse. Lianora took it on herself to take Gwen aside, with the other two.
"We're not exactly sure, Your Highness. Last we saw, they headed off in the forest towards the Valley of the Kings, chasing after the loony witch." Gwen's expression grew scared, grabbing the taverness's hand painfully tight.
"Chasing -" She was cut off as an unearthly noise permeated the air. Looking up, they saw something that at first looked like an oddly shaped bird. But as it grew closer, they realized it was a dragon.
"It's the dragon!" Leon was aghast. "I thought we killed that thing!"
"No! It's Kilgrraah!" Helga cried, leaping up from her seat on the stone steps at the castle entrance. True enough, as the dragon landed, it was indeed Kilgrraah.
"But what is he -" Elyan never finished his sentence as the dragon unfurled his wing to reveal Merlin and Arthur, who slid down the flattened appendage until they landed softly on the ground. Merlin lay with his head in Arthur's lap, his face pale and white and his breathing labored.
"MERLIN!" Gwaine voice was rife with fear, running towards the two with Lancelot not far behind. He slid to his knees, stopping in front of Merlin, cupping his face and gasping at how cold he was.
"What happened?" They looked anxiously at Arthur, who still had his hands pressed to Merlin's side. Gaius came sprinting towards them, muttering and sighing alternatively.
"Oh my poor boy." He flinched, catching sight of the raw wound. "I've never seen anyone survive an injury like that." Gwenivere put a horrified hand to her mouth, while Lianora hugged the children close, seeing how terrified they were at the possibility of losing another guardian.
"You mean he's going to die?" Elyan asked, trying not to feel sickened by the sight of Merlin's insides spilling from sides.
"Humans are such hysterical creatures." Kilgrrah spoke for the first time, startling all who stood before him.
"What?" Leon said, still wary of the beast.
"Merlin is not going to die. The fates made very sure of that. The boy is immortal."
"Immortal? With a great big gash like that?" Gaius addressed the dragon calmly, a thing the beast seemed to appreciate.
Kilgrraah seemed to find amusement in Merlin's predicament.
"Yes, immortal, Gaius. Oh the injury will hurt. But it will heal like any broken bone or scraped knee. He will be bedridden for quite sometime without help, but I am told that the younglings are well versed in the art of healing." Kilgrraah crossed his forearms and lay his head over them, closing his eyes.
"Now someone must appropriate the boy to proper quarters where he may heal unhindered, and I shall wait right here for news of his recovery." With that, Kilgrraah closed his eyes, and promptly fell deep asleep. The rest of them looked quizzically at each other then shrugged.
Gaius sighed and then dusted his hands off, looking ready to get to work.
"Leon, Elyan, please fetch the stretcher so that we may bring him to his chambers. Children, I will have need of you as well, if you are as skilled in your craft as Merlin and Kilgrraah has said.
Arthur wordlessly stepped back as Gaius took over, using a fresh cloth to stop the bleeding and the other Knights helped lift Merlin up and carry him off. He hadn't realized it until Gwenivere grabbed one of his bloody hands, but he was trembling all over.
"We almost lost him, Gwenivere." Arthur whispered.
"Except we didn't, Arthur."
It took two days and two nights of constant vigilance to bring Merlin's raging fever down to a manageable level. The entire time, Gwaine sat by the warlock's side. Wiping the sweat from his alabaster skin, wetting his parched lips with cool water, and bathing him daily with a wet cloth and basin of water.
The Knights came by daily, Elyan, Leon, Percival, and Lancelot. The King came as often as he could, stocking the physician's chambers with everything they could possibly need to hurry the healing process along. Gwenivere came every morning and every night, to put fresh flowers in his room and to bring them food.
His children bustled around constantly, changing the bandages every hour and taking turns chanting spells of healing over him. Now, on nightfall of the second day, Gwaine was alone in Merlin's chambers, sitting in the dim candle light and watching the man moan unconsciously in pain, sweat beading on his upper lip.
He could just see the moon rising over the horizon, hovering over the Kingdom, as leaned forward to clasp both of Merlin's hands in his, resting his head against them.
"I have so much to say, Merlin. So much to tell you." Gwaine whispered, his quiet voice sounding abnormally loud in the silence. "I wanted to tell you how sorry I was, sorry for not saying anything the day we found out, sorry for not coming find you. For not recognizing you as Elladora." He stopped, swallowing against the feelings that welled up inside.
"It's going to be my biggest regret, seeing you run away like that and knowing that I didn't run after you. That I was too confused myself in that time to help you. I wish, I wished a thousand times, in that moment, to run away with you, to make Arthur see you. For the man you've always been to him, regardless of your abilities." He sighed, closing his eyes, pressing his lips to the warlock's hands, doing it again and again.
"You have no idea what you've meant to me, Merlin. For the longest time, I saw no worth in myself, I drank myself into oblivion, stealing and fighting like a lowlife. You were the only one to show me what I could be. Who I was. You made me who I am today. A loyal Knight of Camelot. Loyal to Arthur."
Gwaine fought the tears of regret, of time lost.
"Loyal to you."
That was it, Gwaine couldn't hold the tears any longer, the moisture spilling down his cheeks, his shoulders heaving.
"You're completely mad."
The wry, weak voice made Gwaine's head snap up to see Merlin smiling weakly at him, tears in his own eyes.
"Merlin?"
"You have the entirety of Camelot and beyond, you have your pick of women or men and you choose me?" He laughed quietly, the action quickly turning to a cough. Gwaine quickly helped him drink a sip of water.
"Why? Why me?" He said softly, the words coming out as a groan as he settled back on his pillow.
Gwaine thought for a while and settled on one answer.
"Because you're Merlin."
Outside the room, Percival and Lancelot stood still, knowing that now wasn’t the time to enter. They turned around, careful not to wake Gaius, and exited the physician's chambers, closing the doors softly. Lancelot was uncharacteristically silent on their walk back to the Knights' barrack's. When Percival hazarded a glance in his direction, and was surprised to the man's lip pulled taut, and his eyes suspiciously wet.
The larger man looked quietly away, knowing the look of heartbreak when he saw it.
10 days after he woke up, Merlin healed significantly faster. Though he had to move around with the help of Gwaine. He spent the most of his time in his own rooms at first, playing cards with Gwaine, teaching the children more magic or watching Gaius teach them about regular healing.
Every so often Gwenivere would come by, waggling her eyebrows naughtily at Gwaine and Merlin, causing him to blush uncontrollably and sending his Queen into riotous laughter. The one time Lianora visited, she spent the entirety of the time telling the most vulgar jokes which sent Gwaine roaring with laughter and Merlin going red in the face from both laughing and embarrassment.
By the time he was well enough to walk, he was able to go around the castle, assisted of course, and see how things had changed since he'd left. Arthur often had him come into his chambers so they could talk about everything that was left between them. Merlin explained his circumstances when he'd come to Camelot and the events leading up to the Griffin attack.
Some of his stories, well mostly his failures in magic, were the most entertaining to him and Merlin often retaliated by pulling an errant lace or something similar with magic as revenge. Slowly they all grew used to Merlin's magical antics, even asking him for favors. In one such instance, Elyan asked Merlin to enchant a necklace to glow prettily in the daylight, a gift he was hoping to use to woo a young woman with.
Now, in a feat of victory in and of itself, Merlin found himself up on the castle balcony, the one where he'd once stood, telling Arthur he had to leave to go see his mother. Instead now, he stood with his King, watching the Knights of the Round Table train the new recruits. They were not going even slightly easy on the new ones, yelling instructions in quick succession. Merlin leaned against the stone railing, sighing contentedly as the wind blew across the Kingdom and through his hair.
"So," Arthur came up behind him, looking out over the training field.
"So," Merlin waited for Arthur to continue his line of thought as they both watched Lancelot run a group of men into the ground.
"I'm glad you're back." The King said simply, nudging the warlock with a shoulder. The motion told Merlin everything he needed to know. There was no longer hesitation between the two. Everything was out, in the open, and there were no more secrets.
"I'm happy to be back."
"What will you do now?" Arthur asked him, his blonde hair ruffling in the wind.
"I have four kids. I expect I won't be bored, that's for sure. "
"And Morgana's still out there."
"True."
At that moment, Gwaine looked up from the training field, locking eyes with Merlin, the wind blowing through his hair, and his eyes twinkling up at the sorcerer, making him flush red.
"Still, maybe there's time now, for a different kind of adventure." Merlin waved fingers, forming a butterfly glittered brilliantly in the sun. He sent it flying down to Gwaine, where it fluttered around himself, invisible to everyone else but himself. He laughed delightedly at the enchantment, following it with his eyes as he sat down on the grass.
"A different adventure." Merlin echoed.
fin