Chapter Text
"Arthur?" Merlin asked the king.
"I just don't understand it," Arthur ranted. "It's not like I did anything wrong."
"Arthur?" the serving boy repeated with a bit more urgency.
"I mean, the man was a traitor. And it's not like I didn't show him mercy when he-"
"Arthur!" Merlin shouted in exasperation.
"What is it, Merlin?" the king asked, finally pulling himself from his rant, frustrated at the interruption.
"Haven't you noticed that we are definitely not in Camelot anymore?"
"What?" Arthur looked up, suddenly noticing that this was true. They were no longer strolling through the paths around Camelot. Rather the two boys were standing on a dock suspended over the ocean. The scenery around them was drastically different. They were surrounded by tall buildings of a kind of stone Merlin had never seen before. The road, or at least it looked like a road to Merlin even though the black stone it was paved with was incredibly unfamiliar, had many strange metal objects riding along them. They didn't appear to be alive or threatening. The shapes actually reminded Merlin of-
The sorcerer was suddenly thrown off his train of thought by the sound of a sword being drawn. He whirled on his friend to see what was the matter, "Arthur! What are you doing?"
The king didn't asnwer, instead brandishing the sword at the metal objects, whizzing past them at incredible speeds. Merlin grabbed his arms, stopping his friend from charging out into the street. "Arthur wait! I think they might be carriages of some sort."
Arthur eyes the objects skeptically. "Carriages?"
"Yes," Merlin affirmed. "Well, I think so. They sort of remind me of carriages. And look," he pointed at one of the objects. "There are people inside of them."
Arthur squinted. "But how are the moving? I don't see any horses . . ."
Merlin shrugged, at a loss. "I don't know. Magic I guess. But that would take a ridiculous amount of magic."
Arthur shook his head, dismissing the mystery of the self moving carriages. Deciding, in agreement with his friend, that they were not particularly threatening. "So, how did we get here?"
Merlin shrugged and Arthur rolled his eyes at his servants helpfulness. "A spell, probably," Merlin mentioned as he tried to get his bearings in the unfamiliar town. "Morgana, maybe? She might have the power to do something like this . . . Whatever this is."
Less than a second later, Arthur was sent flying into a nearby tree and Merlin leapt back in surprise. Morgana stood on the dock, looking
amused at catching them by surprise, but over all irritated. "If only, darling," she sneered, though Merlin noticed even she looked a bit frightened. "This is far beyond me. So, would either of you boys care to tell me what I'm doing here?"
"Wait. You didn't send us here?" Arthur asked, holding his head in his hand as he picked himself up off the ground.
"Of course not, you idiot!" she snapped, furious.
Merlin and Arthur shared a confused look, clearly not buying the sorceress's story.
She shrugged, and rolled her neck back in a stretch "Well, since we're all here together, then-" She looked back toward them and a dangerous smile danced across her lips.
The next bolt caught them completely by surprise, knocking Arthur back against the tree.
Arthur reached around frantically, feeling for his sword "Morgana, please! We don't need to fight, just stop. Just stop this. We can figure it out!"
She gave him a look, both terrifying and sad. "It doesn't work like that, brother." Another bolt from her fingers flicked Merlin to the side and sent the dazed servant sprawling across the dock. She took another step to stand directly above Arthur and the king looked into the sorceress's eyes, thinking that perhaps through this cruel twist of fate he was finally about to meet his death at her hands. Her eyes flashed with magic and she took another step so she stood just inches from him. "It doesn't work like that" she repeated, and this time her expression was definitely sad, mournful even, beneath the anger.
"And I'm sorry."
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Sir Leon had been running around the castle frantically searching for Gaius. Of course the healer was nowhere to be found right as their king and his servent fell ill, seriously ill. Finally, after searching for nearly an hour, he found Gaius and Gwen talking in one of the many rooms in the castle.
"Pardon the interruption," Leon said, panting to catch his breath "But the king-" he paused and gulped in air.
Catching the tone in his voice Gwen rose to her feet. "What about him?"
"He's . . . him and Merlin . . . knocked out," he said between breaths. At this Gaius stood too, and after taking another gulp of air Leon continued. "Couldn't wake them . . . don't know . . . what happened."
"Where?" Gwen snapped.
Unable to find the air for words, Leon pointed toward the hall he had just sprinted.
Gaius started to move as quickly as he could down the hall, and Gwen was right behind him, walking quickly next to the still panting Leon. "How sick is he?" she asked. Leon paused, using the excuse of trying to catch his breath to avoid answering for a moment. Gwen's voice hardened. "Be honest with me, Leon."
Leon shut his eyes, thinking of how he found the two, slumped on the floor as if they had simply fallen, pallid and burning with fever. "It is not good, mi'lady."
The queen nodded gravely and increased her pace.
After Gaius gathered the last of his supplies, he, Gwen, and Leon quickly went to Arthur's chambers. There, Arthur was lying on his bed, his forehead sticky with fever. Merlin lay on a pile of blankets just below Arthur and Gwen's bed.
"Oh . . ." Gwen muttered as she ran to her husband's side. "Arthur?" she whispered, hoping to get a reaction. Of course it didn't work, and Gwen's face sank with worry as she looked to Gaius for help. She pressed her forehead against her husband's wrist and flinched at the heat of it. "Come on," she muttered, "come on Arthur, please just be alright."
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Morgana stared down at Arthur and prepared herself for the killing blow. She hesitated only for a moment. She had grown up with this boy, played beside him. He was her brother. But times had changed, as times often do, and this needed to be done. Her lips were just beginning to form the spell when she was knocked back by a blow coming from the dock. She whirled, turning to face the new threat, and found Merlin pulling himself shakily to his feet.
She stared at him, eyes wide with shock "Y-you . . . You have magic."
Merlin nodded, currently much more focused on staying conscious and upright and conserving his energy for the next attack.
Morgana smiled coldly, getting over her shock. "Well that's a twist isn't it? It won't help you, though. I mean, look at you." She motioned towards him, laughing slightly, "You're hardly standing. You should have killed me when you had the chance Merlin."
"As I recall, I tried," he replied, trying to sound brave, but coming out frightened. His situation was bad. He didn't know if he had enough power in him for even one more big spell, he had hit his head hard on the dock and was losing consciousness. Fast. Arthur was passed out, or if he was conscious he wasn't going to be of any help. Morgana had tossed Arthur into the tree so hard that Merlin was surprised that the king wasn't dead.
Morgana sent another bolt of power at him and the black spots converged in front of his eyes again as he was thrown against the dock once more. With Merlin out of the way, the sorceress turned on Arthur and had just begun to resume the spell when something suddenly slammed into the back of her head and rendered her unconscious.
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"Audrey!" the voice echoed from the depths of the police station and pulled her gaze from where the man in the cell had finally fallen
asleep.
"What is it, Nathan?" she asked as her partner appeared from around the corner.
He brandished the phone he had in his hand. "It's Duke," he said. "He found some more of . . ." Nathan trailed off, not exactly sure what to call what they were dealing with, and just gestured at the man in the cell, "them."
"Well, we'd better get moving, then," Audrey replied. Nathan gave Audrey the directions, and together they got into the car and headed
towards the outskirts of town. Audrey had Nathan park a few feet away so they could walk up to the scene, resting her hand on her gun, just in case.
"Duke!" Audrey exclaimed once he came into view. Her eyes then went to the three bodies on the ground, which Duke had pulled over from their various locations. "You didn't . . ."
"They're not dead, they're just unconscious. Those two were fighting," he said motioning to the dark haired girl and boy. "And it was some really strange fight at that. And he," he flicked his hand at the blonde boy, "was already out when I got here."
Audrey and Nathan loaded the unconscious beings into Nathan's truck and they headed back to the station.
"Audrey?" Nathan asked once they were on the road again.
"Hmm?" she replied while simultaneously looking through her phone.
"Is it just me, or do you get the feeling that this might be-"
"A trouble?" Audrey interrupted. Nathan nodded back at her. "Yes I think so. But I have no idea what kind it could be."
Nathan nodded as he started to pull the unconscious people into the back of the police car. He contemplated his handcuffs for a moment, but decided that the girl didn't seem all that much of a threat. He turned his attention back to Audrey and continued, "I know. It's strange. One troubled person would have been one thing, but now we have three. Troubles don't usually crop up all at once.
Audrey bit her lip in confusion. "Maybe something's . . . triggering all of them. I mean, we know the barn is coming and everything." Nathan flinched at the mention of this particular sore subject. "Maybe this is part of it. We could ask Vince and Dave."
Nathan agreed and together they finished loading the unconscious people into the car.
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Kili awoke to see two men staring at his sleeping form. "Hey, he's awake," the dark haired boy said.
"Took him long enough," the other commented before helping Kili to his feet. "Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot. And this is Merlin."
Kili waited for his brother to introduce himself, as Fili was always the first since he was the eldest. But then Kili realized that his brother wasn't there. "Kili. A-at your service," he said with a bow.
Merlin was about to ask Kili where he came from when a sound from the corner caught his attention. "Morgana," he said in a hateful whisper. Arthur whipped his head around to see the high priestess sleeping fitfully in the dark corner. He was about to draw his sword to end his sister's life once and for all, when he felt a hand come to stop him.
"Wait," Merlin said. "She might know how to get us back."
"She said she didn't."
"This is Morgana. Lying is like breathing for her."
Kili approached the sleeping lady while the two men argued amongst themselves and shook her gently in attempt to wake her up. Quick as lightning, Morgana lashed out with her hand, scratching the dwarf's face hard enough to draw blood. Kili backed against the wall, looking at Arthur and Merlin in confusion.
"You," Morgana said, looking at Merlin with the utmost of hatred. "Well, this certainly explains some things." A wild laugh escaped her lips "And to think. Things could have been so different."
Merlin gave her a sad look "Could they really have?"
She ignored his question, looking at the servant with a hatred that was shocking even for her "You . . . you . . . TRAITOR!" she screamed the last word and shoved Merlin back against the wall. Arthur stared at the sorceress in confusion, instinctively moving to block her from Merlin as she advanced. Her eyes met his and she laughed again, sounding madder every moment "And you . . . You're a fool Arthur, more of a fool than I ever could have thought. Always been too quick to trust haven't you?" she laughed, as if at some hilarious joke that Arthur was missing the punchline of. She shoved Arthur out of the way and took another step toward Merlin "Look at you . . ." her voice grew softer and almost sickeningly sweet, she raised a hand to the servant's cheek and then brought it back in a slap. "You aren't even going to fight are you? Too worried about your precious Arthur, are you? Go on then, show him, wouldn't want your friend to miss the joke."
Merlin didn't move, but stared into Morgana's eyes, hoping that something would happen quickly. Arthur was picking himself up off the ground, and though he looked utterly bewildered, he was drawing his sword to come up on the sorceress. However it wasn't Arthur, but the man they had just met, Kili, who stepped between the wizard and the sorceress.
He drew his sword and put himself stubbornly between the two. He had no intention of killing the young woman, but he was not about to watch a murder in front of his eyes, even if this was just a dream.
Morgana had finally had it with this meddlesome dwarf. Why couldn't he just mind his own business and let her kill Merlin in peace? So, while Merlin was occupied in fighting off the poisonous snakes she just sent at him, Morgana sent a bolt of power at the unsuspecting dwarf, rendering him unconscious.