A Warrior At Heart (Arthur Pendragon x oc)

3

Merlin was extremely apprehensive while he was packing his stuff to take home to Ealdor, not having any idea what was going to happen. Gwen was beside him packing him some chainmail when she pulled out a sword that her father, the blacksmith, made.

"Here, tell me how it feels" she said, passing the sword to merlin.

Merlin grabbed the sword and started swinging it around, trying to look like he knows what he's doing but only further proving that he's clueless with the blade.

"Yeah, yeah, that feels really good. It's very uh.. you know, swordy." He rambled.

"I've packed some armour for you" Gwen told him, giving him the bag she just packed, making Merlin's jaw hit the floor.

"I won't be able to carry all that" he said as morgana walked in, dressed in trousers and a tunic, looking like she's ready for a journey.

"You won't have to; we're coming with you"

"what do you mean?" he asked sceptically, looking at both of the women.

"You're going to need all the help you can get; I can mend armour and sharpen swords." Gwen said.

"And I know how to fight" morgana added.

"B-but you can't. I mean, why would you? Merlin asked, eyes wide in bewilderment.

"Because if it was the other way round, you'd help us. You already have, you saved my life."

"And you helped me get the druid boy out of Camelot. We owe it to you, both of us. We also want to meet this sister of yours that you've never mentioned until today, we even packed an extra sword for her." Morgana said with a smirk.

Merlin looked between the two women in shock, the gratefulness showing all over his face as he started to smile.

"if you give her a sword, she'll love you forever. I fear you three will get along quite well" he said laughing along with them.

After saying his goodbyes to Gaius, Merlin, Morgana, and Gwen set off to Ealdor.

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As the group set up camp for the night, Merlin and Hunith sat together to talk while the others were sleeping.

"They shouldn't be here, especially the Lady Morgana. Isn't she the kings ward?"

"Not that you'd know it. She's the only person I know who isn't frightened of him"

"It won't make any difference to Kanen that they're women" Hunith said, thinking of her daughter.

"I know, but I couldn't talk them out of coming. I'm going to make him pay for whatever he did to Adira. I know you've been hiding something and considering you've hardly mentioned her since you arrived its obviously about her; it must be bad if you won't tell me" Merlin rambled worriedly.

Hunith sighed, knowing she would have to tell him something despite not wanting to think about the memory of what happened to Adira ever again; it was the hardest thing she's ever had to watch.

"Adira refused to stand there doing nothing while he was threatening the village. She attacked Kanen with one of the wooden poles she uses for her training. Safe to say she was outnumbered, and he wasn't too pleased with being hurt by anyone, let alone a young woman. He hurt her, a lot. She has been able to lessen the pain of it since then, but we know it's going to scar. She says she's okay though." As she was talking she could see merlin growing in anger. She lifted her hand up to his cheek saying,

"get some rest"

Later on that night, merlin woke up hearing sounds nearby. After getting up and looking around he found Arthur who decided to join them, knowing Merlin needed as much help as he could get.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just as they said, a week after they first arrived, Kanen and his men came bake to Ealdor. And just like last time they ransacked the whole village looking for anything the villagers hid from them.

Adira has healed a lot in the last week, the visible wounds are still there but the pain is gone and she's back to being able to do her day-to-day activities without excessive pain, all thanks to her healing magic.

She had been helping Matthew find good places to hide the food all morning and she's fairly confident that at least some of it will remain hidden. She was stood to the side with Matthew when Kanen's men were doing their search. Kanen keeping a close watch on Adira especially, almost as if he knew she would try something.

"Kanen!" one of his men shouted, getting his attention, holding up a couple of the bags they'd just found. Matthew and Adira were obviously disappointed about them being found but still optimistic about the other hiding places they found.

Kanen turned to look at the two of them, a scowl on his face, wondering what they had to say for themselves.

"Please, we have to eat and resow the fields for next year." Matthew pleaded.

"We only kept the bare minimum, everything else you can take." Adira added.

"That sounds fair" Kanen replied, momentarily raising their spirits, until he struck Matthew in the stomach with the hilt of the axe he was holding, Matthew doubling over in pain. Before Adira could even react Kanen hid him again on the spine, making him collapse on to the floor. While checking if he was okay, Adira noticed Kanen raising his axe over his head. As she attempted to pull Matthew out of the way, a sword came flying through the air between them and Kanen, lodging itself into a fence post.

She turned to look in the direction the sword came from and saw a blonde knight leading a group heading towards them, not able to see the people behind very clearly yet.

As she saw the knight jump off his horse and start battling kanen's men, she snapped back to reality, taking the lodged sword for herself and charged toward Kanen, desperate to pay him back for what he did to her last week.

Her full focus was on the fight between her and Kanen, not risking getting distracted, studying his fighting style. She noticed him relying completely on his strength rather than using his brain or speed; so, she used that to her advantage, manoeuvring around him and forcing him to the ground using the hilt of her sword. But before she could deliver the final blow, another of his men intercepted the fight, moving her away from Kanen while he recovered. She kept striking down opponents until Kanen who was now on the other side of the field, called for his men to retreat,

"You'll pay for this with your lives, all of you!" he yelled from his horse before he rode away quickly.

Once she got her bearings and got over her shock of winning that battle, she looked toward the new arrivals for the first proper time, almost instantly noticing the mop of black hair and bright blue eyed that belong to her brother. Still with the sword in her hand, not wanting to let go of it so soon after the power high she felt while fighting with it, she sprinted toward her brother and jumped in his arms, being careful to not accidentally hit him with the sword.

She wasn't ashamed to admit that a couple of tears slid down her cheek as she hugged him tight, not daring to let him go just yet. These past months without him have been the hardest of her life, knowing he was in Camelot where he would be instantly killed if he made one wrong move with his magic, and it being the longest she has ever been without merlin; as much as he can be the most annoying person she has ever known, she missed him more than she even thought was possible, only now allowing herself to cry about it, feeling overwhelmed by the relief flooding through her knowing that he's safe.