MMMMMM
Merlin, quite frankly, was not surprised. When had they gone on a trip through the woods and not run into either bandits or mercenaries? He couldn't remember a single time. Well, there were times where it was slave traders instead. Merlin shook his head. This was not helping the battle that was about to occur.
All of the former knights and their companions leapt off their horses (which, by the way, why would they do that? When on their horses they had a clear advantage) and jumped into the fray. Merlin rolled his eyes and sighed. Then he saw Arthur fighting three men at once. He took one out and just managed to block the second when the third swung his sword at the king's unprotected side. There was no thought. It was completely instinctual when Merlin threw his hand out, sending the third man flying into the trees. Arthur finished off his last opponent and looked back at Merlin, eyes wide and disbelieving. Merlin looked away.
The young warlock took in the scene in front of him in between opponents. He (like a smart person) was fighting from the back of his horse with his spatha, a Roman cavalry sword. He noticed that there were too many enemy fighters. They would never win this battle with swords alone. Merlin sighed again (he seemed to be doing a lot of that lately), closed his eyes and whispered a spell, "æþrýtnes á hwa gewill æt ege mín gesiþþe áwierdnes ondforþringanhíe."
He watched with magic filled eyes as his spell took hold. All of the bandits were lifted into the air, flailing and struggling. Their eyes widened in terror and they started to scream as they rose ever higher. Their breathing quickened and their struggles grew stronger as whatever was holding onto them grew tighter. And then suddenly, they disappeared. Just like that. One minute there were hordes of bandits flailing in the air and then there was nothing but the clear blue sky. Everyone turned as one to stare at Merlin. He simply raised an eyebrow at them.
Arthur stalked menacingly towards him and Merlin quickly changed his spatha back into a sword. He held it loosely with the tip pointed to the ground in a show of surrender. His former best friend growled, "What did you do to them?"
Merlin tipped his head back and looked to the sky. He regained his cool and then looked back down at Arthur, "What do you mean? Would you rather that they were here fighting you? Because you would have lost! There were too many of them. Would you have preferred to die and let your people suffer under Morgana's reign?"
The young warlock noticed Percival, Gaius, and Lancelot come up next to him, some pulling their swords out to defend him. Arthur must have noticed it too because he stopped moving forward and simply said, defeated, "You still didn't have to kill them like that, where they didn't have a chance to fight back. I know that you have magic and the impulse to do evil comes first, but you didn't have to."
Merlin, in an equally defeated voice, said, "I didn't kill them, Arthur. The impulse to do evil never even comes to me, let alone coming first. I simply sent them somewhere else. I really have no idea where. That's for the magic to decide. If it pleases your highness, I could show you where they are right now. I could find them with my magic." He added on the sarcastic title because he was really starting to get annoyed with Arthur about now.
He just didn't understand how Arthur could be that obtuse! Arthur had killed more people this day than he had! The clotpole had seen Merlin defending him. Merlin could have let everyone but himself and the three standing behind him die and he could have disappeared, living happily off the land and taking his friends to the places he'd been. But he didn't. He chose to save them all and this was the thanks that he got! Merlin quickly got his anger in check when he noticed the wind start to pick up and clouds start to form on the horizon.
Arthur's anger had noticeably deflated, but he didn't say anything to apologize for it. He clenched his jaw and stalked away, helping Gwen onto her horse before climbing onto his. Merlin just shook his head scornfully and waited for his friends to get onto their horses before following what used to be his king.
AAAAAA
Arthur was... well, he was embarrassed. He had accused Merlin of murdering all of those bandits when he had just put them somewhere else. Then it occurred to him that he had just accepted Merlin's word as law. How did he even know that the sorcerer was telling the truth? He could be lying through his teeth! The traitor would have known that Arthur wouldn't have questioned his word. Agh! This was all becoming too complicated for Arthur. He was just going to stick to his plan and work his way forward from there. He wouldn't think about anything else. Just stick to the plan.
He called for the group to halt and set up camp for the night. To his surprise (and relief), Merlin didn't use any magic to set it up. He simply did what he had done every other time they had set up camp together. It was... bittersweet. Arthur wondered suddenly about how long Merlin had had magic. He was obviously lying about being born with it because you can't be born with magic. Maybe he started in Ealdor. There wasn't a lot to do around there and Merlin wasn't exactly the best person for farming. Maybe he started magic just for something to do that made him feel worth something.
Arthur ignored the fact that he might have started while in Camelot. He already felt betrayed by the man; he didn't think he could take anything else.
The former king noticed that the party separated into two distinct groups. They sat on opposite sides of the fire. On one side were Merlin, Gaius, Lancelot, Percival and Gwaine. Arthur wondered idly when Gwaine chosen Merlin's side and was more than a little miffed that he did in the first place. On the other side were Arthur, Gwen, Elyan, Leon, and Mordred.
The two groups talked amongst themselves while Gwen made dinner (Arthur didn't trust Merlin to not poison it or something equally diabolical). After dinner was passed out, silence reined. When that was done, Merlin spoke up, "Do we have any sort of plan, or are we just going to burst in there randomly like we do most times?" Arthur could hear the sarcastic lilt in his tone.
Through gritted teeth, Arthur asked, "Did you have anything in mind?"
"Yes, actually, I did," the warlock answered, "I cannot go in there like I am because Morgana will know that I am Emrys by now. I can-,"
He was interrupted by Arthur saying, "Why is it bad that Morgana knows that you're supposedly Emrys?"
Arthur noticed him close his eyes for a second, evidently regaining his calm, and then he said, "There are more players in this destiny than just you and I. You are the Once and Future King. I am Emrys. Gwen is the Once and Future Queen. Gwaine is the Green Knight. Lancelot is the Bravest and Most Noble of Them All. Elyan is the White Knight. Morgana is the Witch. Mor... I don't know the other's titles, but you all play a part in this destiny. Morgana is the – don't you dare scoff Arthur Pendragon – she's the evil to my good." Merlin paused for a moment before continuing in a softer voice, "At least, she was when I still took part in the destiny. Not anymore."
Leon frowned and said, "You were going to say Mordred's role in the prophecies, but you didn't. Why not?"
Merlin pursed his lips and glanced momentarily at Mordred who tilted his head at the older magic user. Merlin answered, "It is not always wise to learn of the future. Horrible things can come of it."
He seemed so heartbroken at whatever memory he had that had given the traitor that bit of wisdom. For a second, Arthur felt bad for him, but then he stopped himself. He could not let the sorcerer soften his heart to him. He would go through with the plan. Speaking of plans, "Alright, what's the rest of the plan then?"
The traitor turned his molten gaze up to Arthur and said, "I am going to disguise myself as some trouble-making vagrant sorcerer that you all found wandering through the woods, shouting my hatred of Morgana. I'm assuming that Morgana thinks that Mordred escaped alongside you all, but we could play it that he saw you running whichever direction you ran to escape and he went after you. He finally caught you and he caught me while he was at it and he brought us back to his Queen to get in her good graces once again. That way, Morgana will bring us all to the throne room so she can humiliate you all and kill Arthur, possibly returning Mordred's magic beforehand. Um, we obviously don't need to be tied together until we're closer to the castle. We'll release the horses a little ways outside the city."
Lancelot asked, "What'll happen when we're in the throne room?"
Merlin scowled good naturedly at him and said, "I haven't gotten that far yet. I'll call Kilgharrah a little later and ask him about it."
Gwaine frowned, "Who's Kilgharrah?"
The traitor adopted a slightly guilty expression and said timidly, "He's a dragon."
Arthur's mouth dropped open and he practically shouted, "A dragon! There are no dragons left. I killed that last living one and the egg was destroyed in the collapse of the building."
Merlin winced and Percival shook his head, "What did you do this time Merlin?"
The still-stick-thin sorcerer spoke to the ground saying, "Well, the dragon that attacked Camelot, Arthur really didn't kill him. No one did. That's Kilgharrah, the great dragon. I told him to go away and never come back. I said that if he did come back, I'd kill him. And then for the egg, well, that didn't die in the collapse. I got it out and hid it in my saddlebag and then hatched her when we got back to Camelot. Her name's Aithusa and she joined Morgana."
Arthur stared at him, shell-shocked, "Morgana has a dragon?!"
"Yes." Merlin began, and then quickly amended, "But it's a small dragon. She's really just a little bit bigger than a horse and she can't fly that well or even talk."
Elyan frowned, "No dragons can talk."
Anger flared in Merlin's eyes (Arthur noticed that that had been happening a lot lately. He wondered if Merlin always got this angry and just hid it before) and he snapped at Elyan, "Dragons are majestic creatures, creatures of sentience and power and knowledge like no other. They are wiser and stronger and smarter than any of you could hope to be. They can talk and think and feel love and pain like you and I. Everything about them is raw human emotion and knowledge and they do not deserve your slanders upon them."
Even his group was staring at him open-mouthed. He was rather passionate about dragons. That's when Arthur clued in on something else Merlin had said, "You told a dragon to leave and he did it? Just like that? I thought only dragonlords can do that."
"That's true." Merlin answered evenly, suddenly calm again.
"So you're a dragonlord?" Arthur waited for Merlin to nod yes before continuing, "Then why wouldn't you have just ordered the dragon away before? Why did you let so many people get killed, including that other dragonlord?"
This time it was Percival who got angry, asking, "Do you even know how a dragonlord acquires their powers?" He didn't wait for Arthur to answer before continuing, "The powers are passed on from father to son in death."
Gwen gasped from next to Arthur, "Balinor was your father?" Merlin nodded solemnly.
Without thinking, Arthur said his next thought aloud, "You cried when he died and I told you that no man was worth your tears. I told you not to cry about your own father's death and then cried when my father... passed away."
Merlin sent him a terse smile and said quietly, "You didn't know."
Gaius suddenly grinned at the two of them and said, "It seems as if the two of you can be somewhat civil towards each other. I was starting to get concerned for a moment." Merlin playfully pushed Gaius' shoulder.
LLLLLL
There were several moments of silence until Leon broke them by saying idly, "I'm exhausted."
He regretted the comment instantly when Merlin's gaze swept over to him. He wasn't quite sure what to think about Merlin. On the one hand, he would never go against his vows and leave the side of his king like some of the other knights had done; but on the other hand, he truly believed that Arthur was in the wrong about this one. There was no way to convince the young ex-king of this, though, so Leon wouldn't try.
Merlin frowned at him and Leon leaned back a little. Then the former manservant said, "I think we should wait on this plan."
Leon winced inwardly as he saw Arthur's head snap up to glare at Merlin. Arthur growled at him, "And why should we do that?"
Merlin sighed and bit out, "We should do that because you are all extremely weak from your imprisonment. I expect that all of you will start feeling exhausted sometime tonight as you finally come down from your incredibly long adrenaline high. I will try to heal you as much as I can, but you will also have to train for a while to regain some of your muscle mass. Otherwise, it would be unlikely that you would even make it the castle, let alone fight any guards that you'd need to."
The first knight could tell that Arthur wanted to argue with Merlin just to make the sorcerer wrong, but then the king must have realized that Merlin truly was in the right because he sagged and ground out, "Fine."
Merlin sneered back, "Fine."
Leon sighed to himself. This was going to be a long night.
GGGGGG
The next morning shone bright and Gwaine stretched out noticing that most everyone else was asleep. The only other person who was awake was Merlin, who seemed to be making breakfast. Gwaine sniffed the air and realized that yes, he was making breakfast. Awesome! Gwaine had totally missed his friend's cooking skills and was more than ready for whatever he was making. The knight sniffed again and tried to discern what on earth the boy was making. It smelled good.
Then the drunkard heard the sounds of the others waking, most likely woken by the aromas coming from the pan held over the fire. Lance groggily sat up and groaned, muttering loudly, "What is that wonderful smell?"
Merlin grinned at them and Gwaine was pleased to note that it was closer to his usual grin. The warlock answered, "That, my friend, is the smell of waffles. They are flawless! It's basically a batter mix that's similar to pancakes – but then you don't know what pancakes are. Anyway, it's like cake, but fluffier and lighter. Then you can put spices into the batter, like vanilla or chocolate. I personally prefer cinnamon, which is what is in these. You put stuff on top, like sauces or even fruits. I warmed up an apple and sugar mix to put on top. It's amazing, really." Merlin continued to prattle on about the making of waffles and Gwaine grinned at him.
That's when the drunkard noticed Lancelot staring at him with a clear message in his gaze: come with me. Gwaine nodded to him and then stood up, announcing loudly, "I've gotta go take care of business if you know what I mean." Gwen blushed prettily at his obviously lewd comment.
Lancelot rolled his eyes and commented lightly, "I might as well come with you."
They walked a ways away from the camp, which was already being taken apart. Arthur had commented on knowing a place with a rather large clearing where they would be able to train in peace and they would be there by about noon that same day.
After a few more seconds of walking, Lance finally turned to Gwaine, asking coldly, "What do you think you're playing at, Gwaine?"
Gwaine frowned at him and stopped walking, "What do you mean? I haven't done anything wrong. If anything, I did well by realizing how wrong I was about magic. I mean, only Merlin could have really shown us the truth about magic."
"That's just it," the noble knight started, "You changed just like that where before you were almost as bad as Arthur when it came to the morals of magic. I just want to make sure that you aren't going to do something to hurt Merlin. He has given up everything for us and he has had a horrible life. All for us. He's excited that he's changing people's hearts, though he wouldn't admit it. Merlin still is as selfless as he always was even though it doesn't seem that way. You know he saw the Round Table meeting where Arthur told us what happened. Just... please don't hurt him anymore."
The drunkard looked at Lance with more appreciation, realizing just how much he cared about the goofy raven haired man. He looked him right in the eye and said, "I will not ever willingly hurt Merlin and will stand by him forever. I will never make the mistake of doubting him again. You can take my word for it." Lance nodded and smiled at him, nodding again before heading back to the camp.
When they got there, there were two waffles left, waiting out with the apples spread over them. Gwaine dug in eagerly, finishing half of his waffle before even sitting down. He noticed that everyone was staring at him, mostly in amazement at his eating speed. Two faces, however, stood out. Merlin was watching him with guarded hope, obviously hoping that he would like that waffles. Lancelot was watching him with suspicion, knowing that this was the moment where he could prove his new commitment to Merlin. Gwaine grinned easily around his waffle and said truthfully, "This is awesome. I could eat these every day for the rest of my life and never get sick of them. Where did you learn how to make these?"
Merlin grinned back, "France, actually. France was fun. There were a lot of fun things to do there, but they don't think much of magic. I mean, the king thinks magic is amazing, but has to pretend otherwise for his people. Most of his trusted advisors, of which I was one, are magic users."
As Merlin continued to talk about France, guided by questions from both his and Arthur's groups, Gwaine realized that maybe they could work this all out. He realized that destiny had its own plans and would not allow these two spectacular men drift apart. Ever.