Freed

War is Upon Us

Merlin had the pleasure of enjoying a long restless night of sleep again. If he thought he had been suffering from nightmares before, then they were certainly a lot worse now. These ones felt real. So many different scenarios of him running into Edith and somehow being overtaken. Many of these scenarios involved him losing control of his magic again and being used to destroy Camelot.

The realest one started with him being out in the woods, leaning against a tree. Next thing he knew Edith appeared out of nowhere. She was speaking to him, but he couldn't quite understand what she was saying. He tried to run or use his magic but he couldn't move; he couldn't even speak. Then she poured some vile potion down his throat, and that was it. He awoke in a cold sweat. After the many many nightmares and hours of staring at the ceiling, he decided to get up.

When he walked out of his bedroom, he found that Gaius was already up making breakfast. As usual, there were books strewn everywhere and potion bottles that needed to be mixed up. Gaius looked up from what he was doing and saw Merlin's shaky, pale form entering the room. He was obviously in a cold sweat and there were bags under his eyes.

"My boy, what happened?" Gaius rushed over.

"I didn't sleep well," Merlin muttered.

"Well, I can see that. But whatever is going on goes far past loss of sleep. You look like you've seen a ghost."

Merlin scoffed.
"Possibly a vision, but I don't really know. A long night of nightmares paired with what we found out last night."

"Last night? What did you find out last night?" Gaius got up to take the food off the stove.

"Iseldir stayed late and told us that Druids have started going missing. Hundreds of them, assumedly by their own will. He believes that someone is building an army."

"An army of sorcerers? Do you think they mean to march against Camelot?"

"After all the warnings we received, that would make sense. There's more. He heard word that there was a new High Priestess. It's Edith. I know it is."

Gaius brought out two bowls of porridge and sat across from Merlin.

"Even if Edith is putting together an army, and even if she's a high priestess, she is still no match for you. Between you and Morgana, I believe it would be hard for anyone to touch the walls of Camelot."

"I know. I just have a bad feeling about this. On top of all of that I'm supposed to be finding my 'full potential.' I don't know what that means or how I'm meant to find it."

Gaius looked down, contemplating. How and where could this full potential be reached? Surely an answer could be found somewhere. Then he shook his head, snapping himself out of it.

"Well," he started, "we should not dwell on these things now. Now you should eat your breakfast and prepare yourself for the day ahead; especially due to your lack of sleep."

They proceeded to eat their breakfast is relative silence. Both were lost in thought. Merlin couldn't get the thought of a looming war out of his head, and Gaius couldn't help but wonder about what Iseldir said. Gaius always knew there was more to Merlin's magic than met the eye. Maybe there was a place that held the answers...

"Gaius! Merlin!" Lancelot barged in the room looking frantic considering his usual calmness.

"What is it? Is everything alright?" Merlin questioned.

"Arthur has requested that you two come to the council chamber immediately."

"What happened?"

"King Alined's army has disappeared," Lancelot looked toward Merlin sympathetically.
"He fears that war is upon us."