Defeating the Darkness (A Merlin Fanfiction)

Chapter 13

Merlin had the de industria petram, and he could feel it taking his energy from his body; he quickly turned his thoughts to pushing the energy towards hurting Morgana.

Merlin felt someone touching his hand. Looking up, as if in a daze, he saw Arthur, grabbing the rock on top of him.

No, Merlin screamed. Or maybe he thought it; at this point, it was too hard to tell, the lack of energy was screwing up his brain.

Merlin needed to get Arthur disconnected from the rock but he also needed to keep forcing his energy towards Morgana. It was hard to multitask, but Merlin sleepily tried to yank the rock away from Arthur while imagining Morgana being hurt in any way.

Merlin felt his energy being taken from him much too quickly; he focused and successfully limited the amount the rock was taking from him. Arthur had closed his eyes and was falling to the ground, pulling Merlin with him. Merlin had to get Arthur disconnected before the rock hurt him; he couldn't stop his energy flow like Merlin could.

Merlin felt a burst of energy leave him. It was almost gone; he would have to disconnect soon. But what would happen to Arthur?

Suddenly, an idea came to Merlin. It was extremely risky, but it was his only idea for saving the king.

Focusing a burst of energy, Merlin redirected the target from Morgana to Arthur.

All of a sudden, the king was thrown back twenty feet, his hand yanked from the rock. Merlin had a brief moment of panic; had he used too much energy on Arthur, who was already drained? He felt himself getting dizzy and mustered up his magic, roughly disconnecting himself from the rock.

Merlin fell to the ground and saw the de industria petram thump down beside him, now glowing more brightly than ever. He lazily saw the knights gather around Arthur's unconscious body before his eyesight got fuzzy.... he was so tired...

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"...we go back?"

"We have to, it's his only chance..."

"...get him to Gaius quickly..."

Merlin heard voices muttering around him, but couldn't pinpoint who was talking or where he was. He was extremely tired, and after mustering up some strength, managed to pry open his eyelids.

Focusing his eyes took some time, but Merlin soon saw the knights were all standing up, and they all looked nervous. A pair of brown boots were on the ground, sticking out from behing where Leon was standing. Merlin slowly got to his feet, slightly shaking, and looked around the knight to see Arthur on the ground, evidently out cold.

"Merlin!" Gwaine noticed him standing up and rushed forward, but Merlin was already moving towards the king.

"No, is he.. no, I didn't mean for this... it wasn't supposed to...." Merlin's heart was beating fast as he looked at Arthur's pale, motionless body.

"Merlin, it's okay, he's not dead..." Elyan looked nervous, "but he's barely alive."

"What happened?" Leon was looking inquiringly at Merlin.

"I... the rock was taking too much of his energy... he would have died if I hadn't stopped it," Merlin was talking fast and Gwaine put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. "What did you do?"

"I redirected the energy I was aiming at Morgana to Arthur, and it did what I wanted, it disconnected him from the rock by blowing him back, but..." Merlin inhaled deeply. "I think it did more damage than I meant it to...."

"How come you could disconnect from the de industria petram but the king couldn't?" Elyan questioned.

"I... I dunno, maybe..." Merlin briefly locked eyes with Percival who seemed like he understood.

Gwaine interrupted. "It doesn't matter, we just need to get back to Camelot before it's too late; Gaius is our last hope... Merlin, has Gaius told you anything that can help Arthur?"

Merlin racked his brain but nothing came up. "No, this rock hasn't been found in ages, nothing has come up like this before. But we should try to give him food and water."

As Elyan and Percival tried to pour water into Arthur's mouth, Merlin and the rest of the knights packed up their camp as fast as possible. Once bags of their remaining materials were secured to the horses, Merlin walked back to the king.

Leon was sliding his arms under Arthur's nearly lifeless body and lifting him up. Merlin helped the knights fasten him to the saddle of his horse with rope and once he was secure, they each got onto their own horses.

The knights set off as fast as possible, their horses trotting quickly through the trees. Merlin guided Arthur's horse, whose passenger still showed no sign of waking. Merlin kicked his own steed and it sped up. He knew it would take a couple of days to get back to Camelot even at a faster speed, and hoped it would be enough to get Arthur to Gaius on time.

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Hey guys, please don't kill me for not updating in over a week (blame my government teacher who seems to think two essays in one week is not enough work for us). Hope you like it, let me know in the comments ;D