The Death Song of Uther Pendragon

Uther's Bane

I don’t own Merlin. I wish I did ;). This is dedicated to Sanjana because she is awesome and I love her!

“Father!”

“Arthur! Wait! I have something to tell you!”

“I don’t care father! I don’t care that you don’t like the way I do things but, I think you should know that this is the way that I want to rule MY country!”

“No Arthur! Wait! You must know! Merlin has magic!”

Arthur paused. He looked at Merlin. Merlin was wearing a very guilty and sad look on his face.

“No. This isn’t true.” Arthur said slowly. Uther smiled and used his new found power to throw a weapon at Merlin. Merlin saw it just in time to stop it only a couple of centimetres away from his face. It hovered for a while and then dropped it by his feet. Arthur stared disbelieving at Merlin but regardless while his father was distracted he blew the horn and Uther was sent back to Afterlife, where he truly belonged.

After he was gone, Arthur finally looked up at Merlin. Merlin opened his mouth in an attempt to explain his current position. Arthur interrupted his by putting his hand up to signal that he didn’t want to hear anything. Merlin stopped and but his lip nervously. They both stood like this for a while until Arthur left the room sighing and running his hair and looking tired and worn out. Merlin stood there for a while longer thinking about what he wanted to do next.

*In Arthur’s chambers

Arthur walked into his room. Gwen was in bed. She had received a sleeping draught and been left to calm down and heal after her terrible experiences with Uther. Arthur smiled but the smile soon faded as he thought of Merlin and what he must do now.

*In Gaius’ chambers

Gaius was looking over the wound of Percival after his encounter with Uther’s ghost. He was worried about how deep the wound was but had given him painkillers to help with the pain that Percival could suffer from such a deep wound. He let out a sigh. He really hoped that Merlin and Arthur had managed to get rid of the ghost of Uther. He was also worried about the great amount of power that Uther had obtained, coming back from the dead. He was worried about whether Merlin would be able to resist his powers under such great pressure.

The door opened.

Merlin walked in.

Gaius’ face lit up but before he could ask about the fight and Uther’s ghost’s current position, Merlin said;

“He knows, Gaius.” Merlin looked at the floor. Gaius could tell that Merlin felt to blame for allowing himself to use his magic with Arthur so close by. Gaius walked towards Merlin,

“Where is Uther?”

“Where, he belongs.” Gaius smiled. He was proud. He lifted up Merlin’s chin to end his guilty staring at the floor. Merlin looked at Gaius.

“I am proud of you. You need to know that.” Gaius said slowly.

“But Gaius, he knows, he’ll want me dead by morning!”

“I think you know well enough, how much Arthur relies on you.” Merlin went back to staring at the floor.

“I mean come on Merlin. Who else is going to run the place?”  Merlin smiled. He hugged Gaius.

“Thank you Gaius. You’ve always been like a father to me.” Tears formed in Merlin’s eyes as he remembered all the times, he and Gaius had shared. All the times he had got Merlin out of trouble for the stupid things that he would do. All the times he had told Merlin to be careful with his magic. Gaius pulled back to see Merlin’s tears. To Merlin’s surprise, Gaius’ eyes had managed to form their own tears. Merlin was crying now, he felt as if he would never be able to lead a normal life again anywhere that wasn’t Camelot. Suddenly, Gaius wiped his tears and smiled.

“He’ll never want you to leave Merlin. You’ve become to close and we all know Arthur prides himself on his loyalty above anything else. That’s why he’s a good king for Camelot but you and I both know he can never defeat the evil that tries to penetrate Camelot without you. This is your destiny. No man can deny his destiny Merlin. Now, go and take some food up for Arthur, I suspect he will be tired and hungry.”

Merlin merely nodded and walked out to visit the kitchen before his dreaded encounter with Arthur. After he went however, Gaius couldn’t hold the tears any longer as the nervousness settled in.

Merlin picked up some fruit, bread and wine for Arthur and then headed for Arthur’s chambers. When he arrived, he saw Arthur staring into the fire as he often did when he was confused or worried about a situation at hand. This made Merlin more nervous as he placed the food on the table and hovered aimlessly.

“You know the penalty for the use of magic, Merlin?” Arthur said slowly and unexpectedly as Merlin jumped.

“Yes, sire” Merlin said feebly.

“What is it, Merlin?”

“Death.” Merlin said taking deep breathes and controlling the tears determined to fall.

“Exactly.”

A deathly silence fell.

“However, I know that you meant well, Merlin.” Merlin’s face lit up.

“But that doesn’t mean I can continue to permit you to magic in my presence or in Camelot for that matter. I have always thought of you as a brave and truly inspiring man, even if my way of expressing that was not always clear.” Merlin smiled at the sarcastic tone, “So, I have decided to let you leave.” Merlin looked up, shocked. “There is a horse waiting for you outside, take all the time you need.” Merlin’s eyes filled with tears as Arthur began to look away. He ran out of the room and towards Gaius’ chambers. When he arrived he saw Gaius’ state and automatically began to cry harder. Gaius walked over to Merlin to comfort the poor, weeping boy. They bonded our the sadness for quite a while until Merlin jolted up and ran to his room, shutting the door behind him. Leaving Gaius with a confused look on his sad, worn face.

Half an hour later, Merlin ran through the door again this time with a bag and the magic book Gaius had given a couple of years back. He walked past Gaius and out the door. Gaius followed almost running to keep up with Merlin. They reached the stables and sure enough, there was a black horse that Merlin had seen Arthur ride many times when he was prince. He mounted the horse and began to get ready to leave.

“Merlin, you can’t leave!” Gaius said worrying about the mental health of the pale and skinny boy.

“Don’t worry Gaius, I’ll be back. When Camelot needs me the most, I’ll be back.”

Tadah! What do you think please review it means a lot to me! I want to thank Sanjana again for the fabulous summary she did. Thanks guys