Camelot

Twenty-Two - Inheritance

We had left our gowns, jewels and fears back at the castle. Leathers, armours and swords now replaced them. Determination was set on our faces, as we scanned the clearing for any sign of the knight's arrival. We had become warriors.

I knew the knights had arrived in the clearing by the moonlight reflecting off their shining armour. From where we were they looked so small and frail in such a large space and would look even smaller when the dragon arrived.

As I scanned the knights on horseback for Arthur and Leith, I noticed a brown jacket standing out from the armour. Merlin had joined the knights in their battle. I was not surprised to see him at Arthur's side, though I did notice a change in his demeanour. Even with a fair amount of distance between us, it looked as though he was grieving. Perhaps he was just as saddened as I was about the fate of Kilgharrah.

All of a sudden, everything happened at once. The dragon flew fiercely into the clearing at full speed and let out an earth shaking roar. Arthur and Merlin's horses reared in one direction, while Leith and the rest of the knights went in another.

Madeline jumped up in alarm and I grabbed her arm to pull her back into the shadows. She shook my arm off angrily and continued staring out into the clearing and watching Leith's every move.

Leith and the rest of the knights were separated only moments later, when the dragon sent a wall of flames at them. Half of the group perished right then and there, while Leith and few other knights narrowly escaped the flames.

"We're too far away," Madeline fretted, finally sinking back into the shadows and turning to face me. "If he had been in the path of those flames there wouldn't have been anything I could have done to stop it. I'm useless back here. I need to get -,"

A fierce roar shook the ground once more, silencing Madeline's words. The two of turned to see the flash of the dragons tail through the air and Leith and the remaining soldiers were airborne moments later. Leith hit the ground hard and ceased moving immediately.

I turned back to Madeline, expecting to see where she was only moments before completely empty and her running full speed into the clearing to battle the dragon with her bare hands. Instead, she remained where she was and did the complete opposite.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before pressing her palms into the dirt beneath us. She rested them there for only a moment before letting out a sigh of relief while I looked at her in disbelief.

"He's alive," she whispered. "I can feel his energy through the earth."

"How can you know that?" I asked in awe.

"It's old, old magic," Jensen smiled, looking just as awed as I was.

"Emalia, if you hadn't have spent so much time practicing incantations and searching relentlessly for the Old Religion, you would have found it quite easily," she explained. "It lived all around us and all we have to do is close our minds and listen."

I realised instantly what she meant. During our training I had spent my time putting all my energy into become stronger and perfecting incantations, while she had often sat alone in meditation. To this day, she was probably a much more dangerous weapon than I was and I admired her.

The three of us turned back to the clearing, watching as the dragon turned to battle the only two left standing in the clearing – Arthur and Merlin.

Neither of them were on horseback and Arthur stood only feet away from the dragon, armed with a spear whilst Merlin looked on from a distance. I noticed he usually acted this way when Arthur was in danger. He was far enough away to keep out of the way, yet close enough to keep Arthur from danger.