Defeating the Darkness (A Merlin Fanfiction)

Chapter 15

Merlin stared ahead, opening his eyes wide to see if it was just the fatigue getting to him.

The kingdom couldn't be destroyed.

Yet, there it was; a clear view to the castle with no houses or village roofs blocking Merlin's vision.

The knights were speechless as well; Gwaine had dropped down from his horse and was scanning the rubble.

"What happened... is everybody burned?" Elyan's face was no longer strong and guarded, but weak and broken. He looked up at the castle; Merlin presumed because his sister was in there.

Or, she was; the last time he had seen her.

"No."

Gwaine stood up and faced the rest. "There are no scorch marks on any of this stuff," he said, motioning to the collapsed cottages. "It's like they were all just blown down."

Merlin knitted his eyebrows together, confused. "What, like a storm?"

Leon shook his head. "No, that doesn't make sense either. Only the villages are damaged; the forest right behind them is untouched."

That was right; the trees Merlin had just emerged from didn't look remotely shaken; yet here was a straight path of Camelot destroyed, right up to the castle.

Merlin suddenly remembered the king's critical condition and cleared his throat. "Let's just get to the castle. Hopefully not everybody there..." He didn't finish his sentence, but the knights knew what Merlin was getting at and followed him through the rubble. Arthur bounced along unconsciously on his white steed as Merlin guided it, his face pale as ever.

Since they didn't have to maneuver through busy villages and streets, it was creepily easy to go straight to the castle. Some sturdily built houses were still standing, but most of the kingdom, as far as Merlin could see, was lifeless and in bad condition.

An hour later, the group of downcast knights, a servant, and a nearly-dead king reached the center of Camelot: the castle. The first thing Merlin realized was that people were talking; and it took a huge load of his chest. It meant that not everyone had died, maybe the people in the castle had withstood whatever happened outside.

With a new burst of energy, Merlin rode up to the gates, knights at his heels, and peered through.

"Hello?" Merlin called. "Uh, it's the Knights of Camelot. And Merlin. And... King Arthur."

"They're back!"

The rusty metal gates swung open and the group rode into the square.

It was filled with people.

And not just the usual royal guests and guards that met the knights when they returned from a journey.

Commoners, children, and just normal Camelot citizens were bustling around, and it was packed.

Thoughts flew through Merlin's head; did this mean everyone had escaped and was now taking refuge within the castle walls? Who had died? What was going on?

Merlin was snapped out of his thoughts to people screaming. He looked up and saw people staring at him, horrified. He shot a look at Gwaine, mentally asking what he had done.

Then, Merlin realized. They weren't looking at him. They were looking at their king, who, as far as anyone else knew, was as good as dead.

"Go. Go, Merlin, get him inside," Leon said forcefully.

Merlin and the rest of the knights grabbed Arthur and pulled him off the horse, doing their best to drag him up the castle steps without being mobbed by screaming pedestrians while Leon stayed back and tried to calm the crowd by explaining that the king wasn't dead.

As they reached the castle entrance, the doors swung open to reveal Gaius, looking stern. "Get him in here," the old man said, and held the door open for them.

It took a few minutes, but with the knights' help, Merlin and Gaius were able to get Arthur on a cot inside Gaius' chamber.

Merlin started spitting out the story of the journey, and how Arthur got hurt. By the end, Gaius had to lay a hand on his shoulder, because Merlin was breathing heavily and felt overwhelmed with everything that had been going on. "It's not your fault."

Merlin made eye contact with the floor.

"Can you help him?" Gwaine looked up from where he was sitting on the floorboards, miserable.

"I can. I have just the tonic that should quicken Arthur's energy buildup, although it may take a few weeks to restore his full strength." Gaius walked over to his table and started picking through various jars and vials of liquid as the rest of the man sighed in relief that their king was going to be okay.

"Gaius... what happened out there?"

He was silent for a moment. "I believe it was Morgana."

Percival stared incredulously at him. "Morgana? Did all that?"

"Gaius, Morgana is strong, but that was nearly the whole kingdom destroyed out there..." Gwaine stood up.

"The whole kingdom? No, you only saw the north side; the other half of the kingdom is in quite perfect condition. Anyhow, yes, I believe Morgana is behind the north side's destruction."

"Gaius, how many died?"

The old man sighed and swirled a vial of deep purple around in his hand. "A thousand or so. The remaining, as you saw, are taking refuge within the castle walls." He looked at Merlin. "You say you used the de industria petram two days ago? You returned awfully quickly."

"Yes, funny how time flies when your king is nearly dead on a horse," Gwaine said dryly.

Merlin said impatiently, "Gaius, that's not relevant. What makes you think Morgana did this? What even happened? Was it a fire, or storm, or—"

"Nobody saw anything, this morning everything was just all destroyed. I don't..." Gaius' head shot up and he stared at Merlin.

"What did you do with the de industria petram after you disconnected?"

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Helloooo readers. So I have a question. I haven't mentioned Gwen in this yet and I haven't established whether she's a servant still or queen, or her relationship with Arthur. So if you guys could comment and tell me if you would want Gwen to be queen in this fic that would really help me to decide a few bc I know some people really like her and some don't.

Okay that is all. Thank you for like 450 reads bc thats pretty cool ;D