One Prison is much like another - part 44
Author: archaeologist_d
Title: One Prison is much like another - part 44
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/s: none
Character/s: Merlin, Leon
Summary: Dragons are a handful, whether they be days old or centuries. Arthur wasn’t having any of it.
Warnings: none
Word Count:1319
Camelot Drabble Prompt #628: Gratification
Author’s notes: Arthur is regent in all but name. AU and all.
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He didn’t yelp, although it was a near thing. Staring up at Leon, thinking that maybe the man might either help him up or shove that hard steel he was holding into Merlin’s throat, Merlin finally croaked out, “I… I’m not. Just… umm… what are you doing here?”
Then wincing because it was obvious.
Leon just scowled at him. “You going back for another try at her?”
“I… umm maybe?” Merlin’s brain was already scrambled with the last few hours but it sounded almost as if Leon had overheard his confrontation with Morgana. “She wants Arthur’s crown.”
“I heard. I heard a lot of things, including that you’re a dragonlord.” Surprisingly Leon didn’t sound all that upset. But then it had been a day since the attack so maybe Leon had thought it through, unlike Merlin who had to think on his feet and sometimes that didn’t end well. “Does Arthur know?”
When Merlin nodded, trying not to remember the hatred in those loved eyes or the fury in Arthur’s voice, Leon just grunted.
Sitting down next to him, Leon put his sword aside, near enough to grab it quickly-after all, Morgana’s army was too close for comfort and it didn’t hurt to be careful- and scrubbed through his dishevelled hair. At least he hadn’t tried to tie Merlin up or even restrain him in some way, just stared at him as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Merlin hated the silence, the judgement, the way Leon squinted at him.
“I’ve been a dragonlord for a while now. Since my… my father died. I’ve only used my powers for good, to help Arthur survive attacks that he didn’t even know about. Always at his side. You know, the way the branches would always hit the bandits, how their swords would grow hot or bend oddly. And Arthur would pass it off as nothing.” Merlin shrugged. After all, if Leon didn’t know, then Arthur hadn’t told him anything.
It could have been because Arthur was too furious with Merlin to even mention his name again or maybe too ashamed that he’d been lied to by a sorcerer. It certainly wasn’t to protect Merlin, was it?
Leon just stared at him, then nodded as if finally figuring it all out. Still, he continued to scowl at Merlin, but he didn’t move away, either, or pick up the sword.
Instead, sounding like he couldn’t believe that Merlin would be so stupid as to stay in Camelot, he muttered, “You are talking about magic. It’s illegal. You could be executed for it.”
“Yes, I could have. Uther certainly would have killed me without a second thought. And being a dragonlord, well, double the trouble, double the danger, double the hope that Arthur would be a better man than his father,” Merlin said, brushing at his ragged breeches, not wanting to see the pity in Leon’s eyes. Finally he looked up, letting out a long, pained sigh. “Arthur didn’t kill me, if that’s what you are saying. He could have and in some ways, I did die the day Arthur found out. Because he threw me away. And yet here I am, trying to help a man who despises me. A man who swore that he’d execute me if I ever came back. Stupid, huh? To even hope for something better.”
For a while, Leon didn’t say anything, just sat there, sometimes looking at Merlin, sometimes just staring off into the distance, as if listening to the flight of birds or the movement of armies, or maybe just contemplating the foolishness of warlocks.
“Can you defeat her?”
Merlin didn’t answer right away. He’d thought about it for days but he needed to be certain and there were too many factors. Still, Leon had asked and Merlin desperately needed a partner in this. “I hope so. She doesn’t know I have magic which is an advantage. She does know about the dragons but Aithusa, the white dragon, might be hers but my commands overrule any of hers. But I can’t overwhelm her entire army. Not by myself. She’s recruited sorcerers so I’d be fighting on multiple fronts. I would need cover to go after her.” Grimacing a little, Merlin nodded toward where her forces might lay. “Otherwise… well, she’s very strong in magic and devious. I think if I were caught unaware, she could win.”
“But she also has a spiteful streak. She might want to hurt you for a while first, just because she could,” Leon muttered, looked down at his feet. “She wasn’t like that as a child. Headstrong, yes, intent on getting her way, yes, but she also had a kind heart for the less fortunate. The difference between the young and older Morgana seems almost unfathomable. Is it because of her magic? Did she go mad with it?”
Merlin didn’t want to admit his part in all this but she’d already started down the dark path with Morgause months before he poisoned her. “I think she felt betrayed, by magic, by the people surrounding her, by Uther refusing to acknowledge her parentage.
I should have done something. I should have tried to teach her how to control her gifts and been her support when things would go wrong but Uther was there and I feared for my life, too. And I made terrible mistakes because of it.” Merlin grimaced, glancing at Leon and then away again. “I’m not perfect. Even I admit that. And Arthur is sometimes right. I am an idiot. I’d do what I thought was the right thing but it all turned so wrong at times.”
“Is this another thing gone wrong? Is Morgana the way she is because of you?” Leon said, his voice hard.
“Morgana made her own choices but I’m not blameless. If I had to do it over again, I’d have done so much more for her.” Merlin gulped, trying to keep his throat from closing in grief. “I think I focused too much on keeping Arthur safe and not enough on the bigger picture. But then, he got into trouble so often, it was hard to keep up.”
“So what do you think we should do?” Leon asked, looking like he actually wanted to know.
“You asking the village idiot or the warlock?” Merlin snapped back.
“Both.” Leon nodded toward him. “Sometimes even an idiot has good ideas.”
“If Arthur were talking to me, I’d tell him of the army positions. I’d remind him that I actually can control dragons including Aithusa. The young ones are really too young to be effective at attacking the army but they could cause chaos especially if they came at them from different angles.” Merlin wasn’t going to mention Kilgharrah at all because that was a whole other kettle of fish and he doubted Leon would listen once he knew. He wasn’t above commanding the great dragon if it came down to it, but at the moment, it was just too complicated.
Instead Merlin said, “And I have pretty powerful magic, enough against a head-on battle with Morgana. But it would take strategy and Arthur accepting my help and I doubt he’d ever want to see me again.”
“Well, we’ll see, won’t we?” Leon replied, standing up, then grabbing his sword, he nodded toward a path away from Morgana’s army. “Let’s go.”
“Leon, he’s made it quite clear I wasn’t to return.” Merlin scrambled up, shoving aside any hope that Arthur might welcome him back.
Apparently, Leon wasn’t above finding out. “Times change, needs must. Arthur might be unhappy but I think in the end, he’d be glad of the help.”
Merlin just nodded. He wasn’t so sure but his heart never listened to his head, anyway.
So he followed Leon into the woods and away from Morgana’s army and tried not to think about whether Arthur would gut him or welcome him back.
Title: One Prison is much like another - part 44
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/s: none
Character/s: Merlin, Leon
Summary: Dragons are a handful, whether they be days old or centuries. Arthur wasn’t having any of it.
Warnings: none
Word Count:1319
Camelot Drabble Prompt #628: Gratification
Author’s notes: Arthur is regent in all but name. AU and all.
-------
He didn’t yelp, although it was a near thing. Staring up at Leon, thinking that maybe the man might either help him up or shove that hard steel he was holding into Merlin’s throat, Merlin finally croaked out, “I… I’m not. Just… umm… what are you doing here?”
Then wincing because it was obvious.
Leon just scowled at him. “You going back for another try at her?”
“I… umm maybe?” Merlin’s brain was already scrambled with the last few hours but it sounded almost as if Leon had overheard his confrontation with Morgana. “She wants Arthur’s crown.”
“I heard. I heard a lot of things, including that you’re a dragonlord.” Surprisingly Leon didn’t sound all that upset. But then it had been a day since the attack so maybe Leon had thought it through, unlike Merlin who had to think on his feet and sometimes that didn’t end well. “Does Arthur know?”
When Merlin nodded, trying not to remember the hatred in those loved eyes or the fury in Arthur’s voice, Leon just grunted.
Sitting down next to him, Leon put his sword aside, near enough to grab it quickly-after all, Morgana’s army was too close for comfort and it didn’t hurt to be careful- and scrubbed through his dishevelled hair. At least he hadn’t tried to tie Merlin up or even restrain him in some way, just stared at him as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Merlin hated the silence, the judgement, the way Leon squinted at him.
“I’ve been a dragonlord for a while now. Since my… my father died. I’ve only used my powers for good, to help Arthur survive attacks that he didn’t even know about. Always at his side. You know, the way the branches would always hit the bandits, how their swords would grow hot or bend oddly. And Arthur would pass it off as nothing.” Merlin shrugged. After all, if Leon didn’t know, then Arthur hadn’t told him anything.
It could have been because Arthur was too furious with Merlin to even mention his name again or maybe too ashamed that he’d been lied to by a sorcerer. It certainly wasn’t to protect Merlin, was it?
Leon just stared at him, then nodded as if finally figuring it all out. Still, he continued to scowl at Merlin, but he didn’t move away, either, or pick up the sword.
Instead, sounding like he couldn’t believe that Merlin would be so stupid as to stay in Camelot, he muttered, “You are talking about magic. It’s illegal. You could be executed for it.”
“Yes, I could have. Uther certainly would have killed me without a second thought. And being a dragonlord, well, double the trouble, double the danger, double the hope that Arthur would be a better man than his father,” Merlin said, brushing at his ragged breeches, not wanting to see the pity in Leon’s eyes. Finally he looked up, letting out a long, pained sigh. “Arthur didn’t kill me, if that’s what you are saying. He could have and in some ways, I did die the day Arthur found out. Because he threw me away. And yet here I am, trying to help a man who despises me. A man who swore that he’d execute me if I ever came back. Stupid, huh? To even hope for something better.”
For a while, Leon didn’t say anything, just sat there, sometimes looking at Merlin, sometimes just staring off into the distance, as if listening to the flight of birds or the movement of armies, or maybe just contemplating the foolishness of warlocks.
“Can you defeat her?”
Merlin didn’t answer right away. He’d thought about it for days but he needed to be certain and there were too many factors. Still, Leon had asked and Merlin desperately needed a partner in this. “I hope so. She doesn’t know I have magic which is an advantage. She does know about the dragons but Aithusa, the white dragon, might be hers but my commands overrule any of hers. But I can’t overwhelm her entire army. Not by myself. She’s recruited sorcerers so I’d be fighting on multiple fronts. I would need cover to go after her.” Grimacing a little, Merlin nodded toward where her forces might lay. “Otherwise… well, she’s very strong in magic and devious. I think if I were caught unaware, she could win.”
“But she also has a spiteful streak. She might want to hurt you for a while first, just because she could,” Leon muttered, looked down at his feet. “She wasn’t like that as a child. Headstrong, yes, intent on getting her way, yes, but she also had a kind heart for the less fortunate. The difference between the young and older Morgana seems almost unfathomable. Is it because of her magic? Did she go mad with it?”
Merlin didn’t want to admit his part in all this but she’d already started down the dark path with Morgause months before he poisoned her. “I think she felt betrayed, by magic, by the people surrounding her, by Uther refusing to acknowledge her parentage.
I should have done something. I should have tried to teach her how to control her gifts and been her support when things would go wrong but Uther was there and I feared for my life, too. And I made terrible mistakes because of it.” Merlin grimaced, glancing at Leon and then away again. “I’m not perfect. Even I admit that. And Arthur is sometimes right. I am an idiot. I’d do what I thought was the right thing but it all turned so wrong at times.”
“Is this another thing gone wrong? Is Morgana the way she is because of you?” Leon said, his voice hard.
“Morgana made her own choices but I’m not blameless. If I had to do it over again, I’d have done so much more for her.” Merlin gulped, trying to keep his throat from closing in grief. “I think I focused too much on keeping Arthur safe and not enough on the bigger picture. But then, he got into trouble so often, it was hard to keep up.”
“So what do you think we should do?” Leon asked, looking like he actually wanted to know.
“You asking the village idiot or the warlock?” Merlin snapped back.
“Both.” Leon nodded toward him. “Sometimes even an idiot has good ideas.”
“If Arthur were talking to me, I’d tell him of the army positions. I’d remind him that I actually can control dragons including Aithusa. The young ones are really too young to be effective at attacking the army but they could cause chaos especially if they came at them from different angles.” Merlin wasn’t going to mention Kilgharrah at all because that was a whole other kettle of fish and he doubted Leon would listen once he knew. He wasn’t above commanding the great dragon if it came down to it, but at the moment, it was just too complicated.
Instead Merlin said, “And I have pretty powerful magic, enough against a head-on battle with Morgana. But it would take strategy and Arthur accepting my help and I doubt he’d ever want to see me again.”
“Well, we’ll see, won’t we?” Leon replied, standing up, then grabbing his sword, he nodded toward a path away from Morgana’s army. “Let’s go.”
“Leon, he’s made it quite clear I wasn’t to return.” Merlin scrambled up, shoving aside any hope that Arthur might welcome him back.
Apparently, Leon wasn’t above finding out. “Times change, needs must. Arthur might be unhappy but I think in the end, he’d be glad of the help.”
Merlin just nodded. He wasn’t so sure but his heart never listened to his head, anyway.
So he followed Leon into the woods and away from Morgana’s army and tried not to think about whether Arthur would gut him or welcome him back.