Defeating the Darkness (A Merlin Fanfiction)

Chapter 16

Gwaine looked up at Merlin. Percival stopped pacing the chambers and knotted his eyebrows together in thought; the rest of the knights had similar expressions on their faces.

Merlin's heart rate started to increase and pound through his chest as he considered Gaius' question. What had he done with the rock after he had used it?

"Okay, okay, let me, uh, run through what happened, " Merlin muttered. "I used the rock, Arthur connected, I pushed him off, and then I disconnected, and then..." 

He looked up desperately to the knights for information.

Leon spoke up. :"Well, you passed out, and we..."

"We focused on Arthur, because he was, well, he's the king-" Elyan continued.

Merlin interrupted. "Yes, alright. But then I woke up, and we just put Arthur on his horse, trying to get him back as quickly as possible..." He ran his hands through his hair helplessly, trying to find any memory of the de industria petram from after he had woken up. 

"Did any of you take the de industria petram while I was passed out or before we left?" Merlin looked at the knights, who looked equally appalled at the memory and didn't respond.

"You left it." Gaius looked down at Merlin, who had despondently sunk onto a stool.

"And then Morgana got to it. And destroyed half of the kingdom. Because I DIDN'T TAKE THE DAMN ROCK WITH ME!" Merlin loudly cursed and kicked his stool over.

"Merlin, don't beat yourself up about it, we were all stupid." But Percival's attempt at cheering Merlin up didn't work, and he stood, seething, facing the wall.

"It doesn't make sense, though," Elyan said. "Merlin and Arthur had already used the rock on Morgana; wouldn't she be too hurt to use all that energy to destroy Camelot? I mean, two people's energy forced at her, that couldn't leave her in good enough condition to put forth much energy towards Camelot-"

"Yes, that's because Daniel did it." Merlin turned around, eyes flaring. 

"Daniel?" Gaius questioned.

Merlin explained how he had seen the servant boy running from him in the woods, and about his dream that led him to believe in Daniel's alliance with Morgana.

"It does seem likely that Daniel was the one who picked up the de industria petram," Gaius said. However, he couldn't have destroyed half of Camelot on his own; no, that would require much more energy than is contained in a young boy, I believe that the damage was caused by a small army of some sort that Morgana has control over, combining their energy; much like you and Arthur did, Merlin."

"Great. Now we've given Morgana a weapon for her army to destroy us with. Just perfect." Merlin yelled. 

Nobody spoke for a moment.

"Gaius, if the army used the rock on Camelot and did so much damage, are they in a state like Arthur is right now? Drained of energy after using it?" Leon asked.

"Well, yes, I suppose so, but not as bad, since Arthur's injuries are mainly a result of..." Gaius stopped when he saw Merlin's miserable face.

"But they are probably weak? Vulnerable?" Leon pressed.

"Yes."

"Well. This is our chance, then," Leon said, addressing Merlin and the knights. 

"What, you mean attack Morgana and her supposed small army?" Percival asked, incredulous.

Merlin nodded. "No, Leon's right. We need to stop Morgana from causing any more harm to Camelot, even if that means just stealing the rock while they can't properly attack us back. If not, she will recover and destroy more of the kingdom." He looked around at the knights. "It's our best shot."

"But without Arthur? He is in no condition to join you," Gaius said.

Gwaine grinned. "Well, this is what we were trained for, isn't it?"

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Merlin ran through the corridors, steps echoing off the stone walls. He dashed out an exit and through the citadel, hoping that he wasn't attracting the attention of any people that were still awake and taking refuge inside the castle walls.

He ran out to the clearing, past the castle's gates, and looked up at the sky. 

"O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!"

A cold silence engulfed the night as Merlin waited for the familiar flap of Kilgarrah's powerful wings, and the image of a full sized dragon soaring down to his aid, like had happened so many times in the past. He needed the dragon's wisdom and guidance on what to do; for seeking out Morgana and her army, even in their weak state- and especially without Arthur- was taking a great risk.

But as Merlin stood there, his tunic ruffled by the occasional breeze, no wings flapped in the sky and no dragon came into view.

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Hello!! Sorry for not updating in like two weeks and the shortness of this chapter but school is done now so I should have time to update more frequently. Also thanks for over 600 reads!