A.N.://
Not gonna lie....
Nothing within this chapter was planned. But god damn it, I've connected so many missing dots in this one. I hadn't even known I could DO that. XD
So... have a filler episode about Katie and her relationship with Arthur.
it's kinda rushed, but honestly, I think given the fact that time is running out for everyone.... it kinda fits, doesn't it?
Also funfact: we have now passed 130 pages on open office. :)
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Memories.
Katie was nine when she met this strange blond man. A man who seemed to stumble over every easy task ever handed to him.
He lived just up the street. He had blond hair, and strange nice clothes. Sure, some time later, he exchanged his finer clothes with normal ones.
But until then, he was like a beautiful canary. Colorful in his appearance.
However, his eyes were unseeing, uncertain and worried.
When Katie first ran upon him, she had stolen one of the pans of bread he was carrying from the market. With magic.
Katie knew that many people were scared of magic. But she had never seen a grown man look so utterly and completely terrified.
In fact, she broke into heavy laughter, as the man stumbled backwards into the next pile of horse dung.
That happened a week after the ban on magic had been lifted.
The man had almost quivered in fear from her. Armed only with a broom that stood mindlessly at the next to the gates of the closest stables.
The next time she saw him, she stole some of his boots. Later she stole an apple he was trying to eat. She let it float in the air and the blond basically jumped at the sight and ran away.
It was truly funny at first.
But then again, he wasn't the only one who was afraid of her.
Her classmates were too. If you could call them classmates. They didn't exactly have school in their small village in Brieldier. But a nice old lady down the street was offering them some reading lessons. She was blind on one eye. And Katie already had a lot of trouble reading words correctly.
Somehow, the letters just swam before her eyes, each time she tried reading them.
They didn't make sense to her.
And her friends already called her dumb and useless. When she was finally allowed to use magic however, other insults came in.
They called her a "freak". A "monster". Someone who couldn't control their magic. Who would hurt people for no actual reason.
With time... Katie grew uncertain of her abilities. And scared of her power.
That was when she saw the weird blond again. He was sitting on top of a roof, trying to fix something with tools that are usually NOT used to fix a roof top.
The only reason why she watched him was that she was shaking her head at his idiocy. But she didn't feel up to messing with him again.
The poor man couldn't even remember his own name, town gossip said. Katie felt a little guilty about messing with him. He seemed to have enough trouble as it was.
And then she saw him struggle to keep his balance.
He hadn't fallen yet, when Katie could already see him crashing to the ground, breaking his head open and dying from the shock alone.
She shook her head and yelled at him to take care. But it was too late.
The blond was already yelling and slipping, before he could get a grip on himself. And then, Katie's magic caught him.
Slowly, gently, like a feather, his body sank to the floor.
And when he reached the ground unharmed and on both his feet, the first thing was to check himself up with his hands. Then he turned around to meet Katie's eyes.
In that very moment, he seemed to recognize her.
Not that they knew each other, or that he had forgotten her. But he recognized her as the magic user who liked to mess with him.
Who also happened to have just saved his life.
He opened his mouth in shock, then he shook his head.
He stepped backwards, uncertain whether or not to be scared. Katie shrunk into herself. She had helped him and yet he was scared of her.
She frightened an adult man!
She was already about to leave, when the man called out to her: "Thank you.", he said.
It was the first time Katie had heard his voice, ever since he moved here with his landlady and her boyfriend.
"No problem.", Katie just muttered and turned away. Not after offering a small sad smile at him.
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Katie sat inside the stables, trying to read another nasty page of the spell book she had gotten from a passing druid. It weren't many spells in there.
Just basic ones that created little spheres of light or methods to scry. There were some spells to change the colors of almost anything. Potions that could attract rats and spiders and the likes.
There was also one spell that could help you steal things.
However, she only knew what it was about, because the druid had told her that that was what was inside.
She couldn't read a word. Instead she just stared at the few inked pictures and decorated first letters of every chapter.
"Are you going to stare at that all day? Because the horses are hungry and you're kind of sitting in their hey. I don't want to impale you."
Katie looked up and found the face of the blond man she saved just a few days prior.
The man stepped closer. It was funny how his boots were the most expensive part of his whole outfit and yet they were also the dirtiest ones.
Katie didn't respond.
The man hesitated, then he walked over to sit down next to her. "You seem upset.", he stated.
Katie rolled her eyes. "I'm trying to read.", she said and hoped he understood the implication.
He should leave her alone.
"Is that a spell book?", the man leaned over to read the first few words, but he flinched away as soon as he realized what it was.
Katie clapped the book closed. "Does it matter?", she hissed and hugged it close to her chest protectively.
"Where did you get that book from?"
"I found it, when the druids visited.", she said and shrugged. It was a lie. One of the druids had given it to her. She hadn't found it.
But the man seemed to accept this harmless small lie. She couldn't exactly tell him the truth now, could she?
"The druids? You mean that old man who was spreading rumors about that prince Arthur guy? The court physician? Gaius?"
Katie nodded. Yes. It was that guy.
The old man was a refugee of the kingdom just as much as Arthur had been. But the man had claimed that there must be a prince to the crown of Camelot.
Because his name reappeared in his personal journal. Gaius had made it his vision to visit the villages of Camelot and spread the stories he had read in his little book.
In hopes of finding the man his past self claimed to know.
Because apparently that man was a hero.
And the only man who could safe Camelot.
"I liked his storied about this prince.", Katie said. "It gives you hope, doesn't it?", she said quietly.
Arthur stared at her for a minute, before returning his gaze to his hands.
"I don't know what that's supposed to mean. Hope for what?"
"That one day people will live in peace together. With magic and all. And nobody would be called a monster ever again.", Katie said to herself. She knew the man was listening. She also knew that he still despised magic. She could sense it, the way he shifted next to her and kept an unreasonably assumed safety distance.
"You think you're a monster?", the man asked surprised.
"It's what they call me.", Katie responded.
"Why?", the man shot back. "You saved my life. You can't be a monster."
Katie didn't answer for a second.
Then she shook her head. "People think magic is evil. So do you. I can see that you're trembling. Even now. Don't pretend like you're not afraid of me. Everyone is."
Strangely enough, the man relaxed.
"You're right, I'm sorry.", the man sighed and forced himself to relax. Then he smiled at Katie.
"I admit it, I'm scared. I don't even know why. I don't remember much. I don't know if you've heard, but I lost my memories. I think I might have had some really bad encounters with sorcerers.
So I'm wary of everything that's magic.
But you DID save my life. And you used magic to do it. Surely not all magic can be bad, right?", the man asked.
The small girl looked up at him. "But I also stole from you!", she argued. And it was stupid really. Why would she incriminate herself now?
The man laughed. It was a nice, welcoming laugh. Full of honesty and actual amusement. Not the mean laughter Katie was used to hear. Not the pitying kind that her parents had reserved for her.
"You stole bread, a shoe and an apple. Those are harmless pranks. I've done worse at your age.", the man frowned suddenly. "At least I think so."
He tilted his head, as though there was a vision in his head. Too blurry to fully grasp. But it was there and he could see just a little of something.
Katie looked at him. And yes, he was still obviously scared. But he also seemed open minded. Like he was listening to her. Like he was actually, seriously considering her words. Weighing them.
Not just hearing them.
"That doesn't make you evil.", the man said and send Katie a small smile.
Katie hesitated, but she managed to smile back.
"Thank you.", she found herself saying.
And then, she felt a small wind passing by her and it felt like the magic of the sky was trying to comfort them both.
A warm light shone through the windows and the doors and made the man's hair glow golden in the sun light.
This wasn't anything Katie had manipulated to happen.
But she could feel the magic around her reacting to his words. It wasn't HER magic.
It was the magic of the sky that was reaching out to him. That seemed to like him.
Katie was merely a witness of this.
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The next time magic seemed to react to Arthur, was when they were on the fields with the other villagers. And some of the children who were pestering Katie.
The adults mostly kept to themselves, ignoring Katie's inner conflict. They too, didn't like that Katie had magic. They still despised it.
Maybe worse than ever, since their new king had apparently overthrown the old king and now magic was legal.
And yet rumors about a shadow who was magic itself had begun to spread. Murders and attacks committed solely by magic alone.
Katie could feel some of it, actually. She could hear magic crying out to her.
Whoever the shadow was... he didn't seem to like being a monster.
"Hey, Freak! Can't you use magic to do all the farm work? Or are you still too stupid to read your spells!"
The children snickered among themselves. Katie shrunk away under their heavy gazes. The adults all turned away.
That's obviously, when the strange man stepped in again.
"You're the one's telling her not to use magic! She's just respecting how scared you are of her. Now leave her alone and do something useful!"
The children – clearly not impressed by his words – but by his height and age, stomped away.
The other adults however, send a surprised look at Katie, as if they couldn't believe that she was actually holding herself back for them.
Even if she could do the entire farm work by herself, if she knew the spells for it.
"Are you okay?", Arthur asked and leaned down to Katie.
"Yes, thank you.", Katie nodded and send him a calm smile.
And that's when she felt the magic around her acting up. Surprised, she shot around, watching, as the plants seemed to grow into Arthur's direction. Like he was their sun. Their nutrition. Their life source.
Arthur smiled at her, only slightly cracking an eyebrow at her strange behavior, before laughing and resuming to his farm work.
It was like the plants started to bloom under his touch.
(A.N.:// omfg I did not see this coming. No seriously, I had not planned to explain Arthur's green thumb in any way whatsoever. I just made a random headcanon. Now it has purpose, I'm so done with my brain lmao.)
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"Is it true that you can't read?", the man just found Katie at the lake. She was reading. Or rather trying to. It was the spell book again.
She had asked her mother, and she tried to explain to Katie that this page showed you how to catch a fairy.
Katie still only saw the pictures. She had trouble untangling the words, even though she knew the letters.
Katie looked down, trying not to seem too frustrated.
"I could help you, if you want? I mean – I don't think I've ever taught before. But if you'd let me try... I have more than enough time. Maybe I'd even recognize something."
"It's a spell book.", Katie explained.
The man stood quiet for another few moments, then he sighed and sat down next to Katie at the shore.
"Do you want to learn magic?", the man asked quietly, only huffing slightly, as his bottom hit the ground.
"Would you teach me if I did?" It was quiet for a second, because Katie went to elaborate.
"Because my mother said she wouldn't."
Arthur glanced at her apologetically. "I'm sorry about that."
"I mean, my parents would never allow me to learn magic. I think they are glad I can't read."
Arthur blinked.
Katie shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'd love to... but. I don't want you to get in trouble."
Once more, silence settled between them.
"How about we make a deal.", the man finally said and turned to Katie with a smile. Katie looked at him uncertainly.
"What kind of deal?"
"I teach you to read, and you teach me about magic. I help you learn your spells and you give me a name."
Katie stared at him. And this time, there was no mistaking it, as the waves clashed against the shore. It seemed to draw in to the man. And the magic of the sea sang to him.
Katie's eyes widened.
Of course. This man -
She knew who he was. He was the man that magic itself loved. He was the man that would bring peace to magic and the world. His name – magic was saying his name again and again. Reaching out and searching for him. For it's purpose.
"Deal.", Katie said and held out her hand for the man – this legend - to shake. "Arthur.", she said.
The blond's head snapped to her, eyes wide. "Arthur?", he asked, perplexed.
She smiled.
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When Katie saw the army of knights approaching, she had been ready to defend the entire village by herself. She knew she wasn't strong. But she was strong enough to hold of a few knights.
After all, adults had feared her for a long time.
And that man in front of her, the small one with the big ears and the tired eyes looked weak enough.
But then she called for a ball of fire that disappeared as soon as the man waved his hand at her.
Then the mysterious man knelt down before her and reached out his hands.
For only a moment, Katie felt scared. It was the first time that her magic did absolutely nothing against another human being.
And then she saw him perform magic in front of her. "Blosdme.", he said and then magic surrounded them.
Shortly, only noticeable for Katie herself, because she was the only one with magic here. But she felt the magic being drawn from everything around them. The earth, the sea, the sky.
The flower he created glowed with longing, with desperation. With feeling.
This man was magic.
This man was Emrys.
Katie grabbed the blue glowing flower in surprise and wonder. It wasn't made for her. It wasn't reaching for her.
It was reaching for -
"You shouldn't be out here, milady.", Emrys said in a soft voice.
He ruffled her hair. "I think your father is worried about you.", he said and mistakenly nodded in Arthur's direction, where he stood panting just a few meters away from them. Ready to fight the entire army for Katie.
The magic was reaching out to him.
Katie could see how Arthur's mind was basically stopping. As though he somehow recognized this man.
This man who called upon the magic of the world just to make a flower for Katie.
But he was tied by something. Something that was blocking him from sensing Arthur.
Katie could see it. Could see the wall clearly.
She had to give Arthur the flower. Maybe it would help him – guide him somehow. To find the memories that Katie couldn't give back to him, no matter how much she had been searching for the cure in her spell book.
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Arthur and Emrys had been gone for a whole year. Katie did get their letters, of course. But it seemed that Emrys and him both didn't really understand their own personal connection.
Katie sighed, as she skipped through her spell book once again.
Could she scry a memory? Was that possible? After all ... memories weren't bound to places... or where they?
Places in your head, maybe?
Katie shrugged. It was worth a try, wasn't it?
So she sneaked out at night, towards the lake, where the full moon shone upon her. And she used the spell, a few herbs and a feather of Dave and began chanting.
It was like the moon itself responded to her. Glittering moon dust swirled around her and formed a figure. Then another. And then another.
And they began moving. Talking, swirling. She couldn't hear, she could only see.
There was a man. He was old, but not as old as the wandering druid from two years ago.
This man looked mean, as he talked to a much much younger one. And in his hand glowed a book.
He was pointing at something.
Katie blinked at the sight. As she saw the man putting the book somewhere else.
This was strange. Katie had chanted to find the source of his memory loss.
Katie blinked a couple of times, as it hit her. Of course! This was another spell book! She smiled to herself, as she skipped a few pages of her own small spell book.
And then she began to chant the stealing spell. She didn't know if it was enough to get the book all across the land to her.
But she knew that all the spell required was the knowledge of where the desired object was and then it would appear right in front of you.
It was worth a try, wasn't it?
And of course... she was right.
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The book contained lots of spells. So many more that Katie had never seen before.
But nothing was more terrifying to her then the potion that bound your soul to another person's life. It was a completely one sided spell.
Forcing one person to completely obey and protect the other. It was blood magic.
One of the most terrible kinds Katie had ever seen.
Not that she had seen many before now.
There are only two ways to break the spell, it said. But Katie knew, the one of them was impossible, the other was downright terrifying.
However, she had found a few other spells that she found helpful in regards to this one.
One particular spell said:
"If the manipulated subject is ordered to forget a certain memory, but the memory is triggered to return, this spell is perfect to help against memory infused headaches."
It was ridiculous how many spells were written here to help the nasty side effects that this blood binding magic could have.
Katie shook her head.
There must be other ways to break the spell. But other than the headache spell (which is the only spell that can help against the headaches, since it's not a normal headache), she found nothing useful inside the book.
Helplessly she stared at the pages.
It would be impossible to make this person who held Merlin prisoner release him from the chains by giving him permission to free himself.
No... By all what Katie had heard, the advisor what was his name would just make Merlin kill everyone who ever tried to get through to them.
The only other way to free him would be to kill Merlin himself. Only his death could free him from the chains.
She truly hoped it would never come to this.
One year later, when Katie returned home after her fallout with Arthur, she knew something was wrong. It was in the way the magic around her shivered, as bandits and villagers were yet again killed by the shadow.
Only for one single moment, everything seemed to change for the better, as flowers around her started to bloom with magic. And she too, knelt over to remember that once upon a time, they had a king.
To remember that she was right and the Arthur she met was actually Arthur Pendragon himself.
But when the flowers stopped glowing and Dave fell unconscious from her shoulder... he was still breathing, but barely so...
Katie knew she had to leave for Camelot immediately.
Arthur may be a royal prat, but this was bigger than her own feud with him.
She needed to help him. Him and Merlin. Them both.
She was the only person who had even the tiniest idea of what to do.
So she grabbed the stolen magic book and the one Gaius had once gifted to her, and then she marched past her protesting parents towards the war zone.