For the Ones We Love (Merlin Fan Fiction)

Chapter Twenty-Three

By the time we’d made it to the outskirts of the city, it was dark and windy and it had been raining for quite a while. The bad weather had lengthened our commute by three quarters of an hour and none of us were extremely happy.

We were, however, soaking wet.

I asked Stella to stop. You need to stay here, I told her as I slipped off her back.

Stella just tossed her head.

Stella, please, I pleaded.

I’m not leaving you alone again. I’m staying with you.

“What are you doing?” Merlin yelled over the sound of the rain falling. He’d realized we weren’t with him and circled back around to us.

They can’t see her, I thought at Merlin. Don’t you think they’d find a shape-changing horse a little odd? She needs to stay out here, but she doesn’t want to.

They don’t have to know about her. She can change into a… mouse and they’ll never have to see her.

I looked from Merlin to Stella. I wasn’t sure if Stella knew that Merlin was on her side. Honestly, there was a lot I still didn’t know about reading thoughts.

Both of them watched me with a, can we please get going glint in their eyes.

I sighed and pulled the saddlebags off Stella’s back. Turn into a mouse, I instructed her. You can hide in my pocket. It’s dry.

From there, both Merlin and I walked. Merlin, leading the carrying holding both his and my bags and me hiding Stella in the pocket of my trousers.

It wasn’t a long walk, but it didn’t stop raining. The streets were wet and vacant. Every ditch carried rivers of runoff downhill while no eyes watched warily as I walked by behind Merlin.

It was very unlike my first arrival in Camelot. Though, I was positive once people realized I was there, I would be treated with the same untrusting attitude I had been treated with last time. It might even be worse this time. They had every reason to believe I had magic.

“Cleo!”

I heard her voice over the sound of rain. It was so familiar; so comforting.

Gwen ran out to meet Merlin and I. She didn’t seem to notice the heavy drops of water falling from the sky. As she approached, she spread her arms wide. “It’s good to see you, Cleo,” she said, hugging me. She then hugged Merlin and said the same to him. “Well, come inside before you catch your death!”

Merlin shook his head. “Oh, no. Arthur’s probably out of his mind by now. He needs me, you know.” He laughed and smiled at Gwen. Then he looked at me. “I’ll see you in the morning?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Good.” He pulled my bags off his horse and handed them to me. Without another word, he turned and led his horse toward the castle.

Gwen smiled at me again and we walked to her cottage.

I stopped just inside the threshold and turned to watch Merlin go. I was surprised when I turned, to find Merlin paused and looking back at me. Even through the rain I could see his blue eyes shining.

He smiled and waved.

I smiled and waved back.

“Are you hungry? I’ve made some dinner if you are. You can eat after you change out of those wet clothes.”

Stella, shift into a dove.

I felt her transform in my pocket before flying out and to the rafters of the small cottage. Gwen wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at the fire she was tending, so she didn’t see it.

“There’s a dress for you on the bed,” Gwen told me, still looking at the fire.

I walked to it, picked it up, and looked at it. “This is mine, isn’t it?”

Gwen finally looked up from what she was doing and let her eyes fall on the light green dress I was holding up. She nodded. “I hope it still fits.”

I looked down at the fabric feeling sad yet nostalgic. This was the dress Sir William had bought for me. I felt a pang of regret. He’d given me his heart and I practically stomped on it.

As I changed, a million questions ran through my mind. But all I said was, “You don’t seem surprised to see me.”

“Merlin told me what he was doing when he left. He told me when to expect you.”

“There’s no way he could’ve told you when to expect me. He didn’t even know if I was going to come back with him.”

I couldn’t see Gwen. The privacy screen was between us. “Well, he seemed quite positive you’d be coming back with him today,” Gwen informed me.

I frowned. How bizarre.

“What do you plan on doing?” Gwen asked, “here in Camelot.”

“I’ll try to find work, I suppose. Do you think there’s anywhere that might need another pair of hands?” Finished, I walked out from behind the screen and sat down at the table. Just as I did so, Gwen set down a plate of chicken and potatoes in front of me.

“I’m sure there’s somewhere to work. Maybe back in the kitchens at the castle?”

I nodded. “Maybe.”

Despite the amazing feeling of being dry and warm and out of the wind, I couldn’t help feeling anxious. I was here in a place where no one trusted me because they suspected I might have been born with a quality that made me different from them and somehow scary. When I had just spent two years with people who had the same quality and were praised for it, I felt like I had just walked out into the cold.

I remembered Talon.

Maybe it was good they didn’t trust me. Maybe that meant I wouldn’t grow attached to anyone else.

I sighed. Was everyone’s life this difficult?