A Herald of a New Age

Chapter sixteen. A familiar face.

|an| Finally an engineer came to sort out our wifi, which has been down since last Tuesday.. That's.. Lemme check...that'll be the 31st of October and it's now Nov 8th.

So the wifi is on off now. No idea why, but I'm sure the wifi people are going to be really helpful, just like they've been all week. Note the sarcasm.

Okay I'll actually start now. Sorry.

-+++-

Well that was the Authors note from two months ago ahehehehhehehhe... Sorry. |an|

The journey was silent enough, there was so much to talk about but very little was describable in words. Shock and sadness and a little glimmer of hope followed the party all the way to the hills rimming a small valley. A few sheds, a couple of cows and the first plumes of smoke appearing amongst simple homes as the evening set in. The sun sinking peacefully behind them, Merlin lead the group down through the outlying woodland towards Ealdor.

He was home again, he would see his mother again and even if he had tried he wouldn't have been able to push the well of happiness that rooted inside him as soon as he set eyes on the little place. He had as many sad memories here and he did happy ones, but his mother far outweighed the bad, her sweet, kind nature and fierce disposition when she needed it, Merlin couldn't help but think she would be just what they needed. But what would she say about Merlins magic being in the open? A scolding probably, but Hunnith would realise, once she saw- and believed- it all, just as Merlin himself had, that this was the best time for it to all spill out.

And yet it had still not been enough. He still held back secrets, maybe he would for the rest of his life, he still held back himself. And it was because of this constant ingrained hesitation that they had lost Elyan. Merlin had cursed and cursed, searched the woods after the fight, kicked things. No one had worked up the courage to pluck him from his angry little bubble until Leon's sensibility could hold off no longer and the older Knight had reasoned with them all that they needed to distance themselves from the place in case Morgana was still nearby.

It had all gone drily from there.

Oh mother I feel as if I've failed you, Merlin thought with a pained expression. He could now make out people moving about between the houses below them. He felt as though his decent into Ealdor was his decent into his well of guilt. The feelings swirled up to meet him and happily clamped over his head as they reached the last parts of the slope. Noises were muffled and Merlin could have sworn he was actually drowning. Glancing behind him at Arthur and his companions he realised they all bore the same looks of shame, even Medan and Nai.

Derec had told him to protect Medan. He had a duty to the boy now. He felt as though he had been neglecting it, wether Medan had needed him or not the past few days he should have been there.

They were at the bottom of the valley now, Merlin gulped, nervous for what was ahead. Yet he couldn't wait to get home and tell his mother the miracle of his magic reveal, taste Hunniths incredible soup and just rest at last.

As they reached the first of the vegetable patches a farmer glanced up from his cart where he was moving the last of the hay from outside into the goat shed. Merlin remembered being small enough to scrambled behind the barrels with Will and jump out at the poor old soul when he came in. Will...

The farmer blinked in surprise, as if to check what he'd seen really was true, then with a quick nod he scrambled off between the houses.

Merlin called for everyone to wait while the man wheezed his way round a corner. The route to Hunniths house.

Not more than a minute later a short woman in a mismatched tunic and with her streaked grey hair held back by a headband, came rushing round the corner of the goat shed. She was more slowly followed by the exhausted farmer.