A/N Ok, so as I wrote this chapter I was actually quite ill. It wasn't covid or anything but I have just felt pretty shitty this week so I apologise now if this chapter isn't as good.
If there was ever going to be a being alive that knew of what we should do, it was going to be the Great Dragon that laid impatiently under the castle. From what I had heard and seen from Merlin over the last couple of weeks, the Dragon was getting restless, waiting to break out from his cell, his chains. Not that I blamed him, anyone would want to be free of that especially if they had been there for something like twenty years.
So with a lit flame in our hand, Merlin and I ran down the length of stairs to his cave, hoping, praying that he would have the answer on how to end Camelot's misery and suffering. But on our arrival, the dragon appeared to be asleep, his tail curled around himself and his eyes fastened shut.
"Please don't tell me he's also been affected," I groaned, running a hand of frustration through my hair.
"No, he isn't," Merlin assured me before he turned to the dragon himself. "What's going on? Why is everyone asleep?" Merlin's questions, the dragon let out a few loud snores.
"Are you sure he isn't actually asleep?" I asked Merlin, peering closely at the "sleeping" creature.
"Please, we need your help. What are we going to do?" Merlin spoke to the dragon. He hesitated for a moment, listening carefully to the dragon before he narrowed his eyes at him. "Don't pretend. I know you're listening to me."
With an almighty yawn, the dragon sat up and looked down at us with his piercing gaze, stretching out his great wings as he did so.
"I don't need to listen to you, Merlin. You always say the same thing, 'Help me!' And yet you refuse to give me anything in return," Kilgharrah responded. "Now you will face the consequences of that decision. Camelot's end is nigh and there's nothing you nor your princess can do about it."
"I know I promised to free you. And I will," Merlin assured him, but Kilgharrah just burst out laughing. "I will I promise."
"I no longer trust your promises," Kilgharrah admitted. I noticed Merlin glance over at me and the hand that was clutched around one of his.
"I swear on Chelsea's life," Merlin swore, making me feel torn between rolling my eyes and giving him a big smile.
"You're really making a habit of that, aren't you?" I asked. Merlin only responded with an apologetic smile.
"Careful what you say," Kilgharrah warned him, making us both look over at the dragon, wondering if there was a hidden meaning behind his warning. Unease settled in my stomach, as I looked at the dragon with desperation in my eyes.
"You have to help us, please," I requested. "I can't let my city fall and the innocent people die."
Kilgharrah was silent for a moment before he looked at Merlin then back at me before back to Merlin.
"Her life matter more to you than you own?" Kilgharrah asked, though he wasn't waiting for any answer from either of us. "This is an oath I believe you will honour."
"I will," Merlin confirmed.
Nodding his great head to himself, Kilgharrah looked down at us with a different expression on his face, an expression that I couldn't quite place.
"It is one thing to cast a spell that puts everyone to sleep, the power to maintain it is a very different matter. It will need more than just words to break this enchantment," Kilgharrah explained.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You must eradicate the source," Kilgharrah answered.
"Great! What is that?" Merlin inquired, excitement evident in his voice.
"Not 'what', but who," Kilgharrah corrected, causing my eyes to widen. Eradicate the source? Who were we gonna have to kill? Such spells need a vessel. A constant living presence to give them strength. The source of this pestilence is the witch, the Lady Morgana."
Feeling my though this were a nightmare, my legs felt weak, making me hold onto Merlin's hand tighter, staring at the dragon as though he had just spouted three more heads.
"It can't be," I shook my head.
"I have warned Merlin about her in the past, but you both failed to take heed. She is dangerous," Kilgharrah said.
"No," Merlin sighed in sadness, pulling me into his side and wrapping an arm around me.
"And now she has chosen to turn her back on her own," Kilgharrah said.
We were both silent for a few moments before Merlin looked back up at the dragon.
"How do I stop her?" Merlin asked. Part of me wondered if he meant to only say 'I' on purpose and if he did, I knew why. He thought that I wouldn't be able to stop the person that I had believed to be like a sister to me, the person I thought would never hurt me, the person that had always understood me. And he was right.
"That is easy, young warlock," Kilgharrah responded. "You must kill her."
"No," Merlin shook his head, and I could feel the arm around me starting to shake.
"The spell is woven with magic of such power that not even the two of you are immune. You must act now before it is too late. If you do not, then Camelot will fall and Arthur will die," Kilgharrah elaborated. I was going to have to chose between saving Morgana or saving my brother! The worst bit was, as soon as he had said it, I had made up my mind. I was always going to have to choose Arthur. He's my twin, my other half. I couldn't let him die. "The future you were all destined to share will die with you."
Sharing a final look with the dragon, Merlin held onto my hand and pulled me out of the dungeons. Not questioning where we were going, I let Merlin lead me to whether it was we were going. My mindless wonder was answered when we entered Gaius's room to see the man himself still laying on the floor like a swatted fly. Seeing Gaius, the person who had practically raised me as a child laying there so vulnerable, heightened my resolve to end this. It couldn't continue.
Noticing my transfixed gaze, Merlin led me so Gaius was out of my eyesight and over to the other bench.
"Stay here," Merlin requested, stroking my hair back from my face.
He planted a kiss on my forehead before he rushed over to the laundry bin and started picking out some clothing.
"We have to kill her," I muttered under my breath. "They can't all die. I can't let them."
Glancing subtly around the room, I don't know what I was looking for until I found it. Hemlock. With shaking legs and trembling hands, I got to my feet and walked over to the bottle of hemlock, picking it up and holding it in my hands.
"What've you got there?" Merlin asked, making me slowly turn to face him. His eyes fell down to the bottle and realisation and pity filled his eyes as he placed the laundry onto the table and slowly walked over to me. "You don't have to do this."
"Yes, I do," I whispered, my voice breaking as I clutched the poison in my hands. "I can't let Arthur die. He's my brother and—and the people of Camelot cannot be ruled by someone who abuses their power just like my father has, I won't let them suffer anymore."
"Give me the poison, Chelsea," Merlin requested, but I just shook my head, the tears gathering in my eyes starting to pour down my cheeks.
"I have to do this," I cried, holding onto the glass tighter.
"No, you don't," Merlin replied, placing his hands over me. "I will do it. You are not doing this to... I won't let you do it to..."
"We're doing this to Morgana," I finished for him. I looked up into his eyes to see that they were also filling with tears as he looked at me. "Why did she do this, Merlin? How could she betray me and Arthur? We're family." Hands loosening on the bottle, I let Merlin relieve me of it before I collapsed to the ground, my shoulders shaking from the tears. "She's my best friend! I can't do this, Merlin. I don't want to do this."
"You don't have to," Merlin assured me, his voice breaking as he lowered himself onto the floor beside me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. "Everything is going to be okay. I promise you."
"How can you promise that when Morgana's about to—when she's about to—" I cut myself off from finishing that sentence because maybe if I didn't say it out loud, it wouldn't be true.
"We have to save Arthur, okay? We have to save Gaius, Gwen, little Leo, and Aria. We have to save Camelot," Merlin whispered against my hair.
"But we can't save Morgana," I murmured, holding onto his hand, trying to force the tears to stop.
"No. No, we can't," Merlin answered.
As much as I tried, I couldn't stop the tears but I knew I needed to. Arthur would know something was wrong if I went back with red, puffy eyes. Merlin seemed to understand this as well because as he solely raised himself to his feet, holding me close to him in the process, he gently kissed my cheeks, kissing the tears away.
Once we were outside in the cool air, I forced myself to take deep breaths, wiping away the last stray tears. I was stronger than this, I could do this. I had to do this. Looking over at Merlin, I peered in the bag over his shoulder and saw the bottle of hemlock sat in there.
Pushing the thoughts from my head, I grabbed onto Merlin's hand and ran with him away from the courtyard and towards Arthur's room. But as we were running down the corridor, a sudden tug on my arm sent both me and Merlin into a nearby corridor. Acting on instinct, I grabbed the dagger attached to my thigh and raised it at the attacker's neck, only to be surprised when I saw the dagger was pinned against none other than Arthur.
"What took you so long?" Arthur asked.
"We didn't know Uther's size," Merlin answered.
Arthur stared at Merlin as if to say, 'are you kidding me?' but his gaze was then diverted as he looked over at me.
"Have you been crying?" Arthur asked.
"No, it's just the sickness," I told him, and though he nodded his head in response, he didn't look like he believed me.
But once again, Arthur was distracted when the sound of heavy footsteps grabbed our attention. Being careful to not be caught, we peered around the corner of the corridor to see the seven Knights of Medhir walking towards us but they were also joined by someone else, someone unmasked, someone familiar. Morgause.
Pulling us after him, Arthur (who was now raging with fury at the person behind the curse) dragged us a little down the corridor before he instructed us back to his room where father and... and Morgana were waiting for us. He would be looking for a safer place to hide father for the time being. As Merlin shut the door behind us, I had to turn away from Morgana to stop myself from bursting into tears again at the sight of her. She looked so harmless, like she wouldn't even hurt a fly but I knew it was all a front and I wondered how I could've been so blind to it before.
"I was worried about you," Morgana said, walking over to my side, a look of relief on her face as she looked at me. Not trusting myself to speak, I forced a small smile and a nod.
"They're here. They're inside the castle," Merlin broke the silence as he rushed over to my father's side.
"Where's Arthur?" Morgana asked.
"He's going to find somewhere safe to move to," Merlin answered, as he began to move the pillows from father's head.
"Thank you both for not saying anything to him," Morgana said. She was really making this even more difficult, wasn't she?
"That's all right," I muttered.
"You've both been really good friends to me," Morgana told us, and that was enough to make me walk to the open window and breath in some of the cooler air. "Are you alright?"
"It's just the sickness," I answered.
Morgana nodded in response just as the door burst open to reveal Arthur.
"We have to move father before Morgause gets here," Arthur announced.
"Morgause?" Morgana repeated.
"Come on, let's go," Arthur instructed.
We all burst into action and despite the thin layer of sweat that had spread across mine, Arthur's, and Merlin's faces from the sickness, we all tried to lift the king off the floor and towards safety.
"You're not surprised?" Merlin asked Morgana as we tried to lift the body.
"No, I am," Morgana replied.
From the effort of dragging my father's weight around the castle again, no one said anything more until we reached the servant's quarters and dropped, I mean placed our father onto the bed. But all the movement had exhausted us, Morgana as an exception, greatly so I collapsed back into a chair, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand.
Sitting on the chair by myself, I couldn't help but stare over at Morgana who was just standing there like there was nothing wrong in the world. She was staring at the window, glancing back at us all every now and then.
"Must be the potion Gaius gave her," Arthur commented, noticing my fixed gaze.
"Yeah, must be the potion," I muttered.
"We can't keep this up for much longer," Arthur said.
"I know," Merlin agreed, and I noticed that his hand was rested on the bag with the poison in it. "Wait, we're in a servant's quarters. If we leave him, they'll think he's a servant."
"Not if Morgause sees him. We need to get him out of Camelot," Arthur shook his head.
"When we arrived, there was a cart in the main square. Remember?" Merlin reminded us.
"You are full of good ideas today, Merlin," Arthur complimented, making Merlin smile over at me. "You go and look." The smile fell from Merlin's face as he got to his feet and ran out of the room.
After a few minutes had passed without any return of Merlin, I began to get nervous. And when I got nervous, there was only one thing that I could do.
Pace.
And pace a lot.
Arthur tried to get me to help him make a carrier that we could use to carry father around but as I tried to help, my hands were shaking so much that I just couldn't tie it into a knot. Seeing this, Arthur sent me to go back to my pacing while he made the hammock instead.
But eventually the doors opened again to reveal Merlin, but it was a sweaty Merlin.
"They're closing in, we won't get to the cart carrying Uther," Merlin told us.
"That's why I made this. We're going to pull him," Arthur explained, tying up one last knot on the hammock.
Arthur went to go and check that the coast was clear while the rest of us got a hand on the hammock, ready to pull father from out of here. But just like everything in Camelot, it wasn't going to be that easy as Arthur soon returned from his lookout, gesturing for us to be quiet and to hide. I chucked a piece of blanket over father's face to hide his identity before I ducked behind one of the beds, waiting with bated breath.
The sound of the door opening grabbed my attention so I crouched down even lower, my hand returning to the cool metal of the dagger on my thigh. I couldn't see the knight but the sound of metal clashing on metal alerted us that Arthur was now, very stupidly, fighting the knight.
"Protect the King, get him out of here!" Arthur ordered us.
I went to go help Morgana and Merlin but seeing Arthur struggling with the knight, I pushed the others out of the room before returning to Arthur. Jumping onto the back of the knight, I wrapped my arm around his neck, squeezing it as tightly as I could.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Arthur exclaimed, picking up his dropped sword from the ground.
"Saving your life," I answered with a small smile.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Arthur swung his sword around and sliced through the stomach of the knight. Though we knew it wouldn't kill him, he was knocked down long enough for us to both run out of the room and after Merlin and Morgana.
But on our journey, we found Morgana curled up against the wall while Merlin was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is Merlin?" I asked, fear rising in my voice.
Morgana didn't reply but she did look down the corridor in the only other direction Merlin could've gone. Running faster than I had done in a long time, Arthur and I arrived just in time to see Merlin fighting back against another knight. Could he have handled it along? I honestly didn't know but when Arthur and I, each throwing our own hits at the knight we managed to knock the knight down to give us some more time to get freedom.
But as we shut the door of the great hall I realised; we weren't free. We were trapped.
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