Friends to Be Feared

Chapter 11: Answers

"I am not going to hurt you young knight. After all, you stood by my young warlock and for that I am grateful." He lifted his head so he was looking at both Morgana and I.

"Who has done this to him?" I forced myself not to take another step back at the hidden anger in the dragons voice.

"It was my brother. It was Arthur." Morgana was starting to sound impatient. I was silently begging her not to do something stupid like yell at him again. I would like to keep my life thank you very much.

"I see." He was silent.

"Is that all you have to say dragon?!? Merlin is dying!" I haven't known Morgana for long, I've barely interacted with her enough to say that I know her in any form but one thing was clear. This girl was very impatient and I wondered how it hadn't killed her already. I glanced down at Merlin to see if the noise disturbed him at all. He hadn't moved.

"How dare you...!" The dragon looked about ready to stomp on her or something equally life-ending so I decided to intervene.

"Please! Please, Merlin is dying. Can you help him?" The dragon shifted its eyes towards me. No, not towards me.

He gestured for Merlin to be set down and I hesitated. His tail flicked in impatience which caused the ground to give a soft rumble and I gently set Merlin the the dry grass.

The dragon lowered his head and gently nudged Merlin's small body. He didn't react.

"He is very near death." He paused, raising his head to look at us.

"The Nothing has taken him." There were too many emotions in that statement to decipher. I had almost forgotten about the mysterious white dragon until it squeaked and glided over to Merlin. It wrapped itself around Merlin's arm, whimpering.

"What do you mean, the nothing?" Thankfully Morgana made sure to keep her voice at least mediocrely respectful.

The dragon sighed. "The Nothing is what those manacles invite to staunch the flow of magic. It's not the runes that stop the magic but a creature. It's name is never spoken lest they hear. Every creature and magic user fears their power even if they are unaware of their existence. They feed on magic. See, they don't actually block the magic but consume it, which is fatal to one such as Merlin." There was definitely sadness in the dragons voice. Not for the first time I wondered what I had gotten myself into.

"How do we get rid of it?" I was glad Morgana was taking charge as I've never enjoyed speaking all that much and I was currently still attempting to process all that happened these past few hours.

"We, do not do anything." His emotion was hard to place this time. I'm usually good at reading emotions but this was different. It was...grudging.

"What do you mean? You summoned us, how can you tell us he's going to die?" I stared at Morgana. As I've understood she's wanted nothing more than to see Merlin dead, some say even more than her brother. I again wondered why she would want to help him. Her mask has completely disappeared, there was no malice or hate. Only desperation... and pain.

"I did not say he would die." He seemed amused which was what finally got me angry. He was playing with us.

"Could you stop being so cryptic and just help us?" The words came out before I could stop them. The dragon huffed.

"I said that we could not do anything young Knight. But she can." His gaze was fixed on Morgana.

"Me? No, I've tried all that I could. He won't wake! Besides, I'm his enemy, I've tried to kill countless times!" Now that emotion I could read but I didn't understand it. Morgana was scared.

"Merlin has lost the will to fight. He has been betrayed one too many times. My young warlock has always given himself to his destiny, losing most of what he loves along the way. Now that destiny has left him to rot and he sees no reason to continue on. He will not wake unless he's given a reason to, unless he's given hope. My young warlock is broken and I regret to say that I have played a large part in his destruction." He lowered his head till it was resting beside Merlin's.

"He's always loved you Morgana. As I know you have always loved him." Morgana seemed speechless. I was still trying to decide whether or not to be surprised by this latest development. I felt out of my depth. I wasn't sure what I was doing here. I was a knight of the magic-hating Camelot standing next to a dragons and a witch and aiding in the healing of a warlock.

"You must remind him that there is still good Morgana. You must show him the light." It was the first time he called her by name instead of witch.

"I can't! Don't you understand? I am not light. I've killed people, innocent people. I accepted that long ago." I noticed she wasn't denying her feelings for Merlin.

"I suspect that Merlin would say the same about himself. You are more alike than you think. And you need each other more than you know." His deep voice softened. "Just try young witch." She stared at Merlin, a conflicted expression on her face. I felt everything still.

Her face hardened.

"What do I have to do?"

Authors Note: So, chapter 11! It's amazing how many people love this story! I'm updating as fast as I can and I promise not to make you all wait too much. So, what did you think? Next chapter will finally be Arther in Camelot. So with that to look forward too I hope you all have a Lovely time! :~)