Merlin: Dawn of the Dragonlord

Chapter 3: The Cave

Author’s note:

Return from flashback.  Gwaine, Lancelot, Ellyan, Percival, Arthur and Merlin are riding as fast as possible to find Gaius who has been kidnapped by Morgause.

The story continues…    

Chapter 3: The Cave

When they arrived at the beginning of the caves, they were bruised and battered.  They had been attacked two additional times.  Their skin was scratched from riding among the trees.  Their limbs were sore.  The usual chatter and remarks about how well-trained they were compared to Morgause’s men had died out, leaving room for a silence filled only by the labored breathing of the knights.  After Arthur’s mare was killed by a guard that Gwaine had spotted a second too late, they had left the horses behind and continued on foot.  The forest was too dense now in any case.  Percival was the tallest and heaviest so he found it harder to keep up.  Merlin was so tired that he kept tripping over his own feet, but Lancelot was watching so closely that he was always there to pick him up.  

On the whole, they were lucky that none of them had been killed yet.

“Two more guards,” said Gwaine as they were crouching behind trees and rock to avoid being seen.  “We must be getting close.”

“Why is this landscape familiar?” asked Merlin wearily.

Arthur glanced back at him and replied in a whisper.

“These are the caves in which we found Balinor.  Remember?”

Merlin could only reply with a wide smile.

The name seemed to give him hope.  Balinor, his father, owed a debt of honor to Gaius.  Perhaps he would make sure that it was properly repaid.  After all, Freya had managed to come back from the dead to give him the sword, had she not?  He knew enough about magic to be able to make that kind of assumption.       

Arthur Pendragon, however, wasn’t waiting around for a miracle.  He had positioned the knights around the guards and now they were moving in.  Percival quickly took down the first guard.  Ellyan slit the other’s throat almost simultaneously.  The way to the first cave was clear.  It wasn’t the one in which Balinor had lived; in fact, it was but an opening on higher grounds, partly concealed by thick trees, and accessible only after a sharp climb on grey rocks.

“Stay here,” said Arthur close to Merlin’s ear.  “Wait until the coast is clear.”

Arthur left, sword in hand, and Lancelot followed him.  Merlin could see the knights make their way slowly towards the entrance of the cave.  He wasn’t going to wait, of course; he would never give Arthur the satisfaction.  However, as he was getting up, a whisper in his mind caught his attention.  It was a powerful magic and it shook his entire body, forcing him to close his eyes to regain his balance.  Sister, you are me now.  Do this for me.  Kill them all!

Morgause, thought Merlin immediately.

So she had survived.  They had not found Morgause’s or Morgana’s bodies so they had just assumed that both of them were still alive; assumed, not known for sure.  But this whispering was something else.  It was a wave of magic deeper then anything he had ever felt before.  Morgause and Morgana.  Sister, you are me now.  Was there a kind of magic that could combine their powers?  If so, then they were in worst trouble then they thought, and Gaius wasn’t just kidnapped; he was in mortal peril.