How Merlin Should Have Ended

The Tower

"We are going in a circle," Merlin said as he pulled back out of the magic. "Up ahead is the place where Gwaine tore his cape."

Frustrated, Arthur thrust his sword point first into the ground. "We are wasting too much time!" he exclaimed.

"You stay here," Merlin said. "I'm going to figure out what went wrong." And to his great surprise, Arthur obeyed. With a nod Merlin was dismissed and quickly moved away from the group.

Using his forward looking magic, Merlin tried the path in every direction possible from where he stood. None seemed to lead out of the forest. He didn't understand it.

It was then that he caught sight of something disturbing the plants along the ground. He followed it and soon found himself face to face with a small human looking creature who knew his name.

"Welcome to my realm, Emrys," the creature said.

He asked her who she was and she introduced herself as Queen Mab, the spirit of this place. She presented him with a riddle to solve the bewildering puzzle of this forest.

"Left is right and right is left," Mab said. "The way behind is the way ahead."

Then she warned him of far greater challenges ahead, but she did so in only riddles. When he asked her to stop, Mab switched to talking in rhyme.

"There is still much to fret, for all that's saved shall become a threat."

"What do you mean?" Merlin asked but Mab just laughed and disappeared.

At least he now knew how to escape the forest. Merlin quickly returned to the others. He had to use magic to navigate even that must in his impossible forest.

"We have to go back the way we came," Merlin explained once he arrived back at the others.

"That will take us to the wrong side of the forest," Arthur argured. "We are trying to get to the tower, not back to Camelot."

"Trust me," Merlin replied.

"We really don't have any other options," Gwaine reminded Arthur.

"If you could magically navigate this whole time, why did you wait until now?" Arthur snapped.

"I couldn't figure it out before," Merlin said. "The spirit of this place revealed herself to me and from her riddles I was able to understand the way this forest works. Left is right, right is left and forward is backward."

"There is no need to make stuff up Merlin," Arthur groaned. "You've already got us following you."

Merlin didn't reply, but he had to wonder what it would take for Arthur to start taking him seriously. He supposed his lack of ability to burn or break a path through his wood had maybe lessened Arthur's opinion of Merlin's power, but still he had hoped for slightly more faith in him from the King after everything they'd been through. Then again, maybe this was all just him worrying about Guinevere.

Using magic to see the path ahead, Merlin guided them through the forest. When they came upon Percival's broken sword the knights were impressed though Merlin didn't see such an expression on Arthur's face until they reached the other side of the forest.

Now they stood looking at the tower with nothing but flat ground between them and their goal. At once they all began moving, making much better time now than they had through the vines. Within an hour the blistering heat became a problem. Merlin was glad to be in soft fabric instead of clad in armour like the knights. He had to bet they were cooking in those things. Still none of them complained, even as their feet blistered.