Defeating the Darkness (A Merlin Fanfiction)

Chapter 22

No one moved. 

Then, in a flurry of motion, Arthur was bombarded in hugs as he stood in the doorway to Kilgharrah's holding cell, his figure illuminated by dull torchlight. 

"Arthur!"

"Why--"

"How did--"

"Are you--"

"Shut up!"

The knights were silenced as Arthur feigned annoyance. "I'll tell you what happened."

"Arthur, you're supposed to be in bed right now, barely strong enough to be able to walk on your own," Merlin said as the king moved back towards the entrance to the huge chamber and shut the doors as quietly as he could. "How did you even get here?"

"Well, Merlin, funny that you asked," Arthur replied, walking back to the group. "You, see, there are these things called horses, and when you want to go somewhere, you just hop on top of--"

"Arthur, I'm serious."

"Oh, and did you know humans have legs? Funny story, actually, if you want to move, you just--"

"Arthur!"

"Alright, fine." The king lowered himself onto the ground and sat with his knees bent. "So, soon after you all left-- without me. To kill Morgana." Arthur glared at the men sitting around him. "Without me."

"Yes, okay, we went without you!" Merlin popped in before any of the knights could respond.

"Sorry, mate, but you were kind of... well..." Gwaine looked around for support.

"Weak. And unconscious," finished Elyan hesitantly. 

"Whatever," Arthur grumbled. "Anyway, yes, when you all left, I woke up. And I was still 'weak,' as you put it, but not so much that I was incapable of speech. So I talked to Gaius, and asked if there was any way--"

"Arthur! If you made Gaius drag you on a horse all the way here-- I mean, he's just an old man--"

"Merlin, shut up and listen. I asked Gaius if there was any way I could regain strength quick enough to accompany you all here, and well, he wouldn't tell me any, so I asked him to use magic."

"MAG-"

"Are you s-"

"Did Gaius real-"

"MAGIC?"

"Yes, magic," Arthur said patiently.

"But, Arthur," Merlin protested, "I thought you hated magic! I mean, especially after your father died, for goodness' sake, you vowed never to--"

"Yes, I know," Arthur said. "But I wasn't going to get that old man sorcerer again. No, I needed something quick; magic so readily accessible that I could be on my feet soon enough to catch up with you all and help defeat Morgana."

Everyone was staring incredulously at their king.

"So what did you do?" asked Merlin, almost afraid of the answer.

"I asked Gaius to use magic on me."

There was another outcry of questions, but Arthur soon hushed them. "Gaius used to be sorcerer; I knew that much, and I also knew that I trusted him more than anyone else to do this." 

The knights and Merlin stared back at him. "You wanted to come with us that much?" Leon said.

"Yeah, I'm not letting you bring down the reigning dark sorceress on your own," Arthur replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But Gaius hasn't practiced magic in years," Merlin put in. "Even if he did find an incantation that could replenish one's energy--"

"Well, he did, and it worked," said Arthur. "After a few tries." He looked nervous as to how the men would take his explanation. "And then I got on a horse and left. I followed your tracks; wasn't too far behind, but not close enough to catch up for a while."

Gwaine sighed loudly. "Well. We're all here now."

"Yeah-- speaking of which, how did you come to the conclusion that Morgana is in Cenred's castle?"

"It was all Merlin's idea. Brilliant, really," said Percival.

Arthur cast a questioning glance in his servant's direction. "Well, it was simple, actually," Merlin said, clearing his throat. "I knew that David was in league with Morgana, and he had run off in the direction of Cenred's land that time when we had just gotten out of the desert, so we put two and two together." He shrugged.

Arthur stared at him, shaking his head slowly. "Sometimes I wonder how you can be intelligent enough to scout out Morgana's hiding place, yet be barely self sufficient when we're back in Camelot..." Merlin halfheartedly slapped him in the shoulder, but it didn't really do anything due to the layers of armor Arthur was clad in.

"Hey, what happened to your nose?" Arthur asked.

"Ah, you only now recognize my bloodied face and broken nose. Thanks," Merlin said, jokingly turning away angrily.

Arthur grinned. "Sorry."

"I ran into a wall."

The king burst out laughing, and the knights tried their hardest not to chuckle.

"Classic Merlin," Arthur breathed, regaining his composure. "What happened to you, Elyan?" He was peering at a dark red slash on the knight's arm that seemed to have broken through his chainmail.

"Oh, yeah. Gwaine stabbed me." Elyan took the chance to shoot another glare over to his companion

"I said I was sorry!" Gwaine growled.

"Jesus," Arthur was laughing again. "The second I'm not with you all, you end up running into walls and stabbing each other. Good thing I came, right?"

"Yeah, we're all overjoyed..." Merlin said.

Arthur hit him over the head. "Hey. You're glad I'm here."

"Fine." Merlin grinned at him.

Arthur looked around at the group and cleared his throat. "Okay. So what's our battle plan?"

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Holy shit guys. You got me to 1K. 

I don't even know how this happened. Thank you sooo much!!! :D