Disclaimer - I do not own Merlin
3rd POV
Ten years ago in the kingdom of Tregor, just north of Camelot, there was a young prince; his name was Merlin Ambrosius. It was a winter's day, and darkness was just beginning to seep into the evening sky. Merlin had just finished training with his knights and had promptly retired to his chambers and collapsed onto his bed. His father, King Balinor had insisted that he start training early to master the skills of the sword before he attempted to control his magic. Whilst most other princes his age would be attending banquets and watching tournaments, he was swinging around a sword and taking down knights twice his size. He was sure that any day now his father would allow him to finally start his magical training. After all, their kingdom was centred around that ancient force. In fact, it was the very reason that their alliance with Camelot was so strained. It hadn't always been that way. Before Uther's wife had died, their kingdoms were close and stronger because of it, but because of the role magic had played in her death, Uther had become suspicious of them and their way of life. Communication between the two kingdoms had almost died out, and it had been years since the Pendragon's had visited Tregor; it had been so long that Uther's son, Arthur, had never even met Merlin. So, when the warning bells awoke the Ambrosius family in the dead of the night, and an army led by one of Balinor's closest knights invaded the kingdom, the news would never have reached Camelot in time. Elrich had been loyal to King Balinor for just over three decades, leading patrols and joining the king on his hunts; his betrayal was so sudden and unexpected, the house of Ambrosius stood no chance.
Merlin was jolted out of his sleep, the deafening clanging of swords, the strangled yells of his knights, and the ringing of the warning bells filling his ears in a dreadful cacophony. Immediately swinging out of bed and grabbing his sword, the young prince ran out of his chambers, and down the corridor. He dashed out into the courtyard and was met with the sight of blood and fire, a battle that raged all around him. From across the courtyard, he locked eyes with one of his knights, one of his closest friends, Finnian. There was blood running down from his temple and the fire glinted off of his golden hair. He ran towards Merlin, dodging attacks from enemy soldiers.
"Sire, you have to get out of here!" he yelled over the noise.
"I can't leave, this is my kingdom, these are my people!" Merlin ignored the protests of his friend and darted into the battle, bringing up his sword and launching himself into battle. Finnian pulled him back, away from the fight and dragged him through the corridors of the castle, until they found themselves in the throne room. There stood his mother, Queen Hunith with his older sister Catrina. They were frightened and shivering, unarmed and therefore unable to defend themselves in this invasion. His sister had a rare bone disease that caused her pain to walk, and now it seemed to be weighing her down. If the invaders got in here, Merlin doubted that she would be able to escape. At this realisation, fear jolted through him. He turned to Finnian, who recognised the unspoken order in his eyes: call on Atlas and Cassian, and keep his family safe. Atlas and Cassian were knights around the same age as Merlin and Finnian, the four of them had practically grown up together, but that night they would be joined together in battle rather than friendship. As Finnian sprinted out of the room to find the others, Merlin ran to his mother and sister, determined to make sure they were safe before he left to find his father. He took a dagger out of the sheath around his waist and handed it to his sister, telling her to stay where she was and to keep quiet. Then, he hugged his mother and raced back out of the room. Joining the fight once again, it took all he had not to break down as he pushed through, searching for his father. After all these years of peace and prosperity, he had never expected a conflict of this scale. A scream shattered the air and Merlin spun around, horrified. He recognised that voice, that scream. He charged back to the throne room, bounding over the threshold, but too late. There stood Elrich over the body of his sister, the dagger he had given to her plunged into her stomach. He cried out in anguish and anger, hurtling towards the traitor with his sword brandished. His mother had fallen into the corner of the room, bruises forming over her eyes. She watched horrified as her son bolted head first into danger. It was then that his knights returned. Cassian, who was the oldest and most experienced of the three knights, threw Elrich back with his magic, whilst the other two pulled Merlin back away from him. Cassian helped Hunith up, signalling for her to follow him, as he and the other knights took her and Merlin out of the throne room. Merlin struggled against Atlas and Finnian, anger clouding his judgement. They tore down the hallways, and down the stairs towards the dungeons. Atlas stopped hauling the kicking and floundering Merlin to reach forward and open a secret passageway to the left of the last cell on the right. Cassian pushed Hunith in first, then Finnian dragged Merlin over.
"Sire! Sire, you must calm down. I know this is hard, but when it is safe, we will come back for you and your mother." Atlas urged. Then he turned towards his queen, bowing his head in respect. "Your highness. There is a village on the outskirts of Camelot where I was born. It is called Ealdor. The people there are kind and will help you, but you must not reveal your identity as a queen, or I fear they will be afraid. Wait there and we will send for you when it is safe for you and Merlin to return. Now, you must go." With that, he slammed the entrance shut and he and the others ran back up to the courtyard, determined to find their king and fight alongside him, to bring down the intruders.
The battle raged on for many days. Merlin and Hunith made it to Ealdor, where they settled down awaiting their knights' call. They never came. After several months of silence from their kingdom, Hunith realised that Tregor must have fallen, and her husband, Balinor with it. What she and Merlin didn't know was that before Tregor had fallen, Balinor had escaped with a few of his surviving knights, including the young friends of the prince, who would one day return to retake their kingdom.
Well. This has taken me years of procrastination to actually write. I kinda forgot that I had published that first chapter, so sorry for anyone who was actually waiting to find out where I was going with this. As with all my fanfiction ideas, I've had to research every detail, rewatch the whole series, find names that would be used at the time it is set, etc.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and I will try to update more often in the future. If you did like this, please vote for this chapter, or leave a little comment, I would love to see some feedback.
-GazelleRLG
P.S. This is set between season 4 and 5, so there may be spoilers for seasons 1 through 4.
