Merlin: Dawn of the Dragonlord

Chapter 20: The Shadow

Chapter 20: The Shadow

The water hit him like knifes.  He immediately felt the weight of his chain mail dragging him down.  It was utterly dark.  He couldn’t even tell up from down.

Some of it wasn’t bad.  He was seeing the faces of the people he loved.  

His mother.  Gaius.  Arthur.  Freya.  Gwen.  Lancelot.  Gwaine.  Kilgarrah.  Morgana with her dark hair flowing around her face, all traces of that horrible evil smirk gone.  Arthur laughing at him and nudging him on the shoulder.  Gaius giving him the book of magic.  Arthur inviting him to sit beside him at the Round Table.  Freya’s smile and her fragile hands reaching out to find his…  

Wait.  Freya?  Was he dreaming that?

Suddenly, he was pulled upwards.  Someone was holding him up, keeping his face above the water so that he could breathe, but he kept falling over, splashing and spluttering helplessly.  He felt so weak, exhausted, and cold.  He wanted nothing more than to rest his head a little to make the throbbing stop.

“Merlin!” cried out a panicked voice.  “Come on!  I need you to come around now!”

Arthur’s voice rang like a bell in his head.  He felt so heavy with the chain mail on.  How could Arthur possibly be able to hold him up?  Arthur! Merlin thought as panic gripped him.   Arthur couldn’t be in the lake.  It was too dangerous!

“Go!” he managed to say.  “Get out of the water!  You’ll… you’ll die!  Leave me!”

“Merlin!” said Arthur more forcefully.  “Stop struggling!  It’s not deep, you idiot!”

“What?”

Arthur held him strongly by the shoulders, pulling him up as though he weighted nothing at all, and then his feet touched the bottom.

“Oh.  Bottom,” he muttered.

But even as he stood there, water dripping from his hair into his face, he knew that he was not safe.  The evil of the lake was at work; his strength was leaving him.

“Hey, come on!  Don’t pass out!” cried out Arthur.

“The lake… It’s evil,” whispered Merlin.  He didn’t have enough strength to put in more words.

“I feel it too.”

Merlin managed to open his eyes enough to see that Arthur had turned pale.  His hand was on his forehead.  He was about to tip over and fall head first into the water.  And then he heard splashing.

“Lancelot, you pull Arthur.  I’ll take care of Merlin,” commanded a strong and familiar voice.

“Gwaine…”

He allowed the knight to hoist him up under the armpits.  He was just too weak to struggle.  He knew he should be telling them all to leave, but they would never accept that and he was too exhausted to have an argument.  He had no idea how far he was into the lake; not much, he supposed since it was not deep, but the way back towards the shore seemed to take forever.  Everything around him was hazy.  He could only hear his own raspy breathing.

When Gwaine laid him on the beach, he turned his head around and his gaze met Arthur’s.  They were both lying in the sand on their backs with their heads turned towards the other, the water of the lake barely touching their feet.  And at that moment, staring into the prince’s eyes, Merlin saw the same stubbornness, the same determination, and the same convictions.  It was like looking into a mirror and seeing his soul laid out before him, clear and bright.  Arthur and him; they were more than just connected.  They were the same, and Arthur knew it.  Why else would he be here?

He didn’t have time to find an answer.  The ground began to shake beneath him and a noise like thunder filled the air.  Arthur sprang to his feet, Lancelot at his side.  Merlin struggled to his feet with his remaining strength, but Gwaine was supporting him.  

What he saw erupt from the water before him made his heart stop.

The creature was one of nightmare.  It had the shape of a dragon, but Merlin knew at once that it was not.  It was a Shadow, a monster born of hatred and darkness and the embodiment of the curse that was poisoning the lake.  The monster was dark and imposing, as high as the walls of the keep, with hideous fangs and black smoke coming out of its nostrils.  The water behind the Shadow had risen like a wall and it was following the creature’s movement.  If the horrible mouth of the monster did not devour them, then the water would crush them like bugs.

Dragonlords! A voice screeched inside Merlin’s head.  It was so loud and full of rage that it hurt.  Merlin glanced rapidly at Arthur and saw that the prince was bending over in pain as well.  

Betrayers!  You allowed the dragons to suffer and perish at Uther’s hand while you should have protected them with your lives. You have misused the sacred gift for selfish family feuds.  The bond between dragons and men is broken.  And now you shall die!

Merlin’s mind was working in slow motion. All that he could think of was that Arthur was going to die and he couldn’t accept that.  

And so, without any thought for himself, Merlin raced forward.  He didn’t stop when he heard his name being shouted.  His plan was only to run and plant his feet in front of the Shadow, which he did in a flash.  Then, raising both of his hands, he summoned a shield of magic in front of him.  The words spoken by the Great Dragon months ago echoed in the back of his mind.  No spell or enchantment can help you.  You have to find the will within yourself.  And so he did to the terrible Shadow what he had done once to Morgana.  He called up the image of a pure white light in his mind and he pushed it toward the monster.  The light seemed to burst out of him so much that he had to look away.  The world around him faded and for a moment he was not a man anymore; he was a creature of magic whose purpose was to obliterate darkness.

And then, from the corner of his eye, he saw a streak of silver and gold.  Someone had thrown an object at the Shadow: his grandfather’s sword.

The scream that followed might have belonged to the monster or it might have belonged to him.  What he could tell for sure was that the battle was over and the evil was fading away.

He fell to his knees and then head first in the sand.  His body was aching all over but there was only one thing on his mind now.  Arthur.  I’m going to kill you.