Merlin and the Lightning Thief - Part 1
Title: Merlin and the Lightning Thief
Author: dianadisaster
Movie Prompt: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur, Gwen/Morgana, and vaguely implied Arthur/Gwen and Arthur/Gwen/Merlin in the epilogue.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: approx. 20k
Spoilers: Spoilers for Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, definitely The Lightning Thief and Battle of the Labyrinth, and the movie version of The Lightning Thief.
Warnings: Character death.
Author's Notes: Written for reel_merlin Round 3. I took Merlin canon, book canon, and movie canon and stuck them in a big ol' blender. Takes place is Ye Olde Camelot, but in Percy!verse.
Gwen in this fic was inspired and influenced a great deal by this beautiful fanart of steampunk Gwen.
Huge and massive thanks to eraticschematic, who beta'd this, and it would never have been finished without her. Any remaining mistakes are my own, feel free to point them out in a PM or a comment.
Header also by eraticschematic, because she is awesome and she loves me. :D
Summary: Merlin finds out that his absent father is really Zeus, and must embark on a quest to find the lightning thief and retrieve Zeus' most powerful weapon, the Master Bolt.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
As a young child, Merlin longed to know of his father, whom he had never known. His mother would only divulge the vaguest of details, like "He was strong," said with an airy quality more of dream than of memory, all mixed with a healthy dose of sadness. Merlin didn't want to see his mother sad, so he didn't ask very much, but the same expression appeared on her face sometimes when she saw him using his powers.
Merlin had been able to move objects with his mind for as long as he could remember. His mother had told him he'd been doing it before he could even talk, but she warned him that it must be kept a secret. His power was not a normal ability, that people would not understand. Ealdor was a very small village, and even a small slip up would soon find everyone knowing of his strange abilities. In fact, she stressed to him, it would be better if he didn't think on it much at all.
But Merlin couldn't ignore his power, at times he didn't even use it consciously. When he wanted an item it would race through the air to get to him, the wind and space around him bending to his every thought. It wasn't until his best friend Will caught him at it, much later, that he learned his eyes turned gold when the air moved for him.
Will and Merlin were walking through the woods on one of their lesser used paths one day when a groan began to vibrate through the woods. Merlin was scanning the forest to determine the source when he saw Will dash off in another direction out of the corner of his eye, much faster than he had ever suspected Will of being able to move. Panic was beginning to prickle around the edges of his vision as he screamed after him, "Will!"
Merlin took off at a run after him, hearing "Merlin, stay back!" just as the noise crescendo-ed into an impossible crash. He broke through the next bit of brush to see Will crouching down and clutching the trunk of a tree that had just fallen down, examining it closely and making soothing whispering sounds into the bark.
"Will, what are you doing?"
"This poor tree...so young..." Will was barely audible, still intensely focused on the tree.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Merlin was getting a little annoyed as he finally reached where his friend was squatted down.
Will gasped one last shaky breath and stood up resolutely. "There's no way this tree should have just fallen out of nowhere like that. It was way too young, too strong. Something is wrong."
Merlin could sense the fear radiating from Will's rigid body, causing Merlin to tense up as well. They scanned the forest around them again, moving their heads as slowly and as little as possible. As their gazes moved up above their eye line, Merlin heard Will gasp and curse.
Circling above the trees something was slowly circling in the air. Merlin could tell it was a hideous creature, despite the distance from them, which also meant it was BIG. It started to descend toward them, and Merlin's hypothesis was correct and then some, it was beyond hideous. An ugly head of an old woman sat atop a giant black bird body. The feathers were matted and unkempt, scruffy, and the face was impossibly wrinkled, with stringy grey hair piled on top of its lumpy head, and tiny eyes peering out at them with hunger. But the mouth, the mouth was the worst part. It was partly open in a snarl, filled with pointy teeth and emitting a disgusting rotten smell. Whatever it had eaten, wherever that mouth had been, Merlin definitely did not want to find out.
"Shit, lets get out of here!" He heard Will yelling somewhere behind him, but Merlin had trouble getting his feet to move. He began stumbling backward, unable to turn his back on the crazy bird-woman-demon he was faced with. Even under perfectly ordinary circumstances Merlin was always a little too gangly to be very graceful, and clumsy came to him easily. Even more easily, it turned out, when he was not looking where he was going. Merlin's ankle caught a stone and he went down, fast. Still shimmying with his elbows on his back, he glanced at the rock and felt a surge of power, he knew that the monster creature was seeing his eyes turn gold, right before it saw that very same rock that had felled her prey catapulting directly into her face. She was knocked down, giving Merlin enough time to find his footing as Will was running back toward him, with a reed pipe in his hand.
Will only paused for a second, panting, before taking a giant gasp of air and putting the pipes to his lips. Merlin stared at him dumbfounded as the pipes emitted a screechy quick tune, with a bit more discord than he was comfortable with. He was about to tell Will something along the lines of how much that sucked, or ask him why now was a good time to be playing the pipes anyway, when a branch above them snapped away from its tree with a deafening CRACK, falling and then immediately impaling the hideous bird creature. Well, where the bird creature was, because now all that remained was a branch laying in a pile of dust where the woman had been, and a long oil-black feather.
"Not even worth it." Will said in contempt at the feather, and then looking back at Merlin, sighed and said "We need to talk. Let's go back to your mum's."
Merlin stood gaping at the scene, only snapping out of it when Will called out again "MERLIN!" as he was already walking away.
"No, wait, what the hell, Will?" Merlin nearly screamed. He was afraid and confused, and it felt like a sick parody of when he finally had to tell Will about his powers, but this time he was the one in the dark and Will was keeping the secret. But somehow he thought maybe he had only ever been the one in the dark after all.
"Merlin, I promise, I will tell you everything, but its not safe right now." Will insisted. "That was not the only monster that will be after you, and apparently now they can sniff you out."
"Sniff me out? How? Why me?" Merlin asked, still in shock. "Is this...this has to do with the magic, doesn't it?" it dawned on him.
"Come on, your mum will help explain, but we need to get out of here." Will moved forward to grab Merlin's hand and drag him, but Merlin pulled it away.
"You knew about my magic already, didn't you? Before I told you? Before you caught me?"
Will hesitates for a moment and looks away. "Yes. I'm sorry Merlin, I wanted to tell you so much sooner, but it was safer for you if you didn't know. It's the self-awareness, see? It makes your scent stronger to the monsters."
"My mother, is she...is she safe?"
"We'll make sure she is, mate, don't worry."
Merlin was still shaking slightly, and Will walked back over to him and wraped him in a tight hug before giving him a slight shove in the direction of Ealdor.
Hunith knew something was wrong when she saw Merlin and Will walk in the house.
"There was an attack. A Kindly One came after Merlin and me in the forest just now." Will blurted out almost as soon as the door had shut.
Hunith walked quickly and directly to Merlin, glancing up and down his person before pulling him into her embrace. "You're okay?" She asked redundantly, "Both of you?" Both boys nodded and Merlin carefully disentangled himself from his mothers arms, looking at her and then Will.
"Tell me what's happening," she said.
Will and Hunith glanced at each other before Will began. "The ancient gods aren't just myth, Merlin, they're real. All the myths, the gods, monsters, heroes..."
"Merlin, your father..." Hunith began.
"My father?" Merlin felt impossibly hopeful and sad at the same time. As much as he wanted to know this, he was afraid of what they might say now, after all that had already happened today.
Will cut in again when it was obvious Hunith was having trouble with her confession. "Merlin, you are a son of Zeus. He is your father."
Merlin nearly choked. "Zeus?! My...father?!"
"You are a demigod, half human and half god. Your powers are a product of that, it's why you can move things through the air, Zeus' domain is the sky," Will explained.
"I named you for a bird because I knew that's where you belonged, somehow" Hunith said softly.
Merlin took her hands in his. "You are my mother and I will always belong with you," he said to her, squeezing her fingers in reassurance.
"Well, that's sweet and all, but we can't stay here, at least not right now - you need to train," Will told him.
Hunith cut in, "And as a child of two worlds, don't you think its time to see the other one?"
"Do you mean... Olympus?"
"The very one!" Will replied happily. "We'll be staying at Camp Half Blood, in none other than Camelot!"
"Really? Camelot? Do we all go?"
"Well, you and I will go together. Your mum can't come with us, mortals can't enter the camp."
"Wait, Will, do you have a...a god for a parent?"
"Me? A half-blood? No, no, no, I'll just show you." Will began to unfasten his trousers.
"WILL! What are you doing?" Merlin shouted.
"Oh, come on, don't pretend like you never wanted a peek! Anyway, its not what you think." He pulled the trousers down revealing...fur. Furry legs with hooves. "I'm a satyr! I'm assigned to protect you and watch out for you until its time to bring you to camp!" he explained, grinning.
"Well then, what are we waiting for?"
The journey to Camelot wasn't nearly as bad as Merlin expected, having Will with him helped the time go quickly, and Merlin could almost pretend that he was just out for a walk with his mate, instead of on a journey to an entirely new land. Now that Will was out of the goat pen, he had no qualms about putting his unique satyr talents to use in front of Merlin. They could stop and ask the dryads (and once a squirrel) for directions, and could find all manner of edible plants for them to eat. Will had also brought along some scraps of fabric to snack on, scowling at Merlin's dried meat that his mother had sent with him. When Merlin suggested they hunt a rabbit or two after they had made camp that night, Will blanched and told Merlin off quite spectacularly.
"Merlin, I can't believe you just said that to a satyr! I don't eat my fellow woodland creatures, it would be like you snacking on your cousins."
"This coming from the one who eats cloth."
"I'm half-goat! You're just jealous of my superior satyr digestion." Will said smugly.
Merlin muttered "Yeah, jealous."
When they finally crested the hill and saw that first white tower of Camelot, Merlin felt his weariness ebb away to be replaced with growing excitement. As the castle rose above the hill, Merlin marveled at the beauty and magnificence of it. Such a building was well beyond his normal experience, and he was awed by the reality that men could build something so large and so grand. Once inside the city itself, Merlin was again awed at the sheer mass of people who lived within it. Ealdor was a very small town, and Merlin had never known that more surely than he did seeing the crowds out just doing their daily activities, his eyes darting all around him to try and absorb all the sights and activity. Will had to tug him along once or twice when Merlin slowed or stopped to try to look at everything around him.
In a far section of town, obviously a lesser frequented area, Will stopped them in front of an old house that was in a state of disrepair. It seemed almost identical to every other house they had passed on that street, but above the door frame were strange words carved, almost faded away. As Merlin studied them, even though he couldn't read the language, he suddenly knew what the words said.
"Camp Half-Blood?" He looked at Will inquiringly. Merlin was not very impressed. He expected something more obvious, or to even be able to tell that they were there when they arrived. Instead, it was almost completely non-distinct, in fact, most people probably walked by it quite frequently without being aware of its existence at all.
Will looked back with a wide grin on his face. "Home sweet home!"
"Will, my mother taught me to read a little bit, but that is not any language I've ever learned."
"No, it wouldn't be. It's Ancient Greek." Merlin's eyebrows climbed higher on his forehead as Will continued, "As a demigod, your brain sort of already knows how to read it."
"My...huh?" Merlin asked, but Will ignored him in favor of pushing him toward the doorway.
"Come on, let's go!"
Once through the doorway of the dingy house, Camp Half-Blood couldn't be any different. The space immediately opened up as though there weren't a crowded village just on the other side of the door. Or houses next door, for that matter. Straight ahead across the field there were several buildings in an arc. Will lead them to one in the center, with columns in front. "This is Zeus' cabin, well for Zeus' children, anyway. You're the only one at camp right now, so you'll have it to yourself. In fact, the only child of the Big Three that there has been in a while."
"Big Three?" Merlin asked weakly, already getting tired of all the new terms Will was throwing at him.
"Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, the three brothers and most powerful of gods. Their children are more powerful than average half-bloods, too, so they are kind of a big deal. Hades doesn't have a cabin here, he sticks to the Underworld, but each cabin is for one of the twelve major gods. In the center here are Zeus and Hera, and on either side are Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes, Dionysus, Athena, Demeter, Artemis, and Aphrodite. Children who don't know their godly parent, or are children of a minor god stay in Hermes' cabin because he is the god of travelers."
"Will, this is really a lot to take in," Merlin said, rubbing his hands over his eyes and forehead.
"Its a lot to know in the first place. But you're right, lets move on with the tour."
They walked past the Big House, where there was a large pavilion dining area, and then made their way over to the archery practice area.
Suddenly they heard someone shriek "Will!" and saw a dark skinned girl with wild curly hair and a giant grin on her face running toward them after dropping something to the ground. Another girl hung back, setting down a bow and arrow before heading toward them as well. She was tall and pale, long dark hair pulled back from her face.
"Gwen!" Will replied just as Gwen barreled into him and threw her arms around him in a hug. "I wondered when we would get to see you again!"
"Yep, I have returned! Merlin, this is Gwen, Gwen, this is Merlin." Will paused for a moment, and as an afterthought added "Um, son of Zeus."
Gwen's eyes nearly bugged out of her head as she stared at Merlin. He shifted uneasily, glancing at Will who was stifling a giggle at Gwen's reaction, and settling his gaze upon the other girl who approached them. Once she was closer, Merlin could see that she looked tired and weary, dark circles under her eyes and skin that was dull and flat. As she reached them Will began his introductions again, "Ah, and this is Morgana, Morgana, this is Merlin..."
"...son of Zeus." She finished along with him. "I know, its about time you showed up." And then she smiled a smile at Merlin that was both wicked and warm, lighting up her face and erasing her exhaustion, and Merlin found himself smiling along with her. "I'm a daughter of Apollo, I've seen your arrival in my dreams. I'm glad you're finally here."
With Morgana's introduction Gwen finally snapped out of her stupor. "Apollo, he's the god of prophecy, well, and you know, poetry and music, and archery, oh and the sun! But also prophecy, as I said, and Morgana's dreams are usually visions," she elaborated.
Morgana laughed as she placed her arm around Gwen's shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. "And my girlfriend Gwen here is a daughter of Hephaestus, God of the forge. She's brilliant at inventions and blacksmithing, She takes after both of her fathers that way." Morgana continued to smile affectionately at her.
Merlin startled. "Both fathers?" his voice pitched high as he shot Will a look of What kind of place have you brought me?
Gwen looked embarrassed now, but quickly explained, "Well, my mortal father is a blacksmith in town, and Hephaestus admired his skill. And they were in love, and, um, had me?" She finished awkwardly.
Will cut in, "Godly reproduction doesn't always follow the mortal rules. I mean, you know how Athena was born, right? Jumped full grown out of Zeus' forehead! That's how all her kids are born, too, so they say."
Obviously eager to find a new topic Gwen cut him off, speaking louder to try and drown out Will's babbling. "So, Merlin, you must have some powers then? Being a son of Zeus?" Gwen asked awkwardly, twisting a bit of her skirt in her fingers.
Merlin smiled shyly before glancing back at Will, who laughed and said "Well, go on then, show them your stuff!"
Merlin raised his hand and knew his eyes must have flashed gold as he gently lifted Morgana's bow and Gwen's strange device and floated them to their owners. Morgana laughed and gave a slow clap, and Gwen whistled appreciatively. "Gwen, what is that thing?" Merlin asked her as she plucked the contraption from the air.
"Well, I may not be able to float things around, but I can make a mean exploding powder projectile launcher." She grinned wickedly as she held it up and pointed it toward one of the targets she and Morgana had been using earlier. Her finger touched a small trigger device, and then Will screamed and fell over as there was a loud bang and a burnt smell. Gwen's...whatever it was called was smoking slightly and there was a tiny neat hole in the target, but no arrow. "Morgana insists that I start calling it a gun."
Merlin looked back over at Will who was crouched on the ground with his eyes squeezed shut and his hands over his ears. Gwen noticed as well, "Ok, Will, its fine, its really very controlled, I promise!"
"I hate you." was his reply as he opened his eyes again and stood up again, trying to regain his composure.
Merlin and Will spent a little more time with the girls shooting arrows (or floating them) and insisting that there was no reason for Gwen to shoot the gun any more.
"All right, now what?" Merlin asked brightly as they finally left the girls. Laughing with them had put him in a good mood, and he felt like all these changes wouldn't be so bad after all as long as he had friends with him, and he was definitely going to be friends with Gwen and Morgana.
"We should go see Gaius. He's one of the camp advisors, along with Kilgarrah. He's um, a dragon." Merlin's eyes bugged as Will continued on. "But he keeps to himself a lot. Anyway, Gaius will want to meet you, but usually he's up in the castle. He's the court physician, but he's also a son of Asclepius, god of medicine and healing. A minor god, so the King doesn't mind him too much, plus he's probably treated the royal family for generations. The King, he uh...he's not too fond of half-bloods, Merlin, so you need to be careful."
"Oh you know me, Will, always careful," Merlin laughed, while Will simply rolled his eyes.
They made their way back out of camp and through the village again, heading for the castle.
They passed several knights doing some drills and Merlin paused to admire them, their perfectly synchronized movements and the flash of the sun off of their clothes and armor as they lunged and moved. Merlin looked at the man leading the drills, with blond hair and strong chiseled features. Merlin possibly, maybe, had stopped walking altogether to stare at this man, but he was snapped out of his daydreaming when he caught a glance of some movement in the distance. No one else seemed to notice anything, too preoccupied in completing their drills, but as he stared longer he began to get a bad feeling, and adrenaline began to flood his body.
It was another bird-woman like the one from the forest. Merlin barely had time to think about running before he realized that it wasn't after him this time. It was headed for the blond man, and the knights had their back to the creature. Merlin wondered where Will was, but a glance told him that he hadn't waited for Merlin to dawdle, and was much farther away now. Merlin started running at the blond man just as some of the knights had realized that something was wrong, but there was no time for them to react as Merlin slammed into the man, knocking him out of the path of the creature. They tumbled and rolled across the stones, the man's bulk ending up on top of Merlin. He jumped up and reached for his sword as he turned toward the creature again but faltered when he realized that the sword was still laying on the ground where he had dropped it from Merlin's impact. Merlin saw this as he sat up and reacted instinctually, flinging the sword back into Arthur's hands just as the creature made another pass, and with his weapon back Arthur quickly sidestepped the creature and lunged, stabbing it its side. It exploded into dust just like the other bird woman that Merlin and Will had encountered in the forest, leaving another grungy feather.
The man walked back to Merlin and offered him his hand, pulling him up when Merlin grasped it. "I am Prince Arthur Pendragon, and you just saved my life."
"Merlin!" Merlin squeaked as he pulled his hand out of Arthur's and ran back toward Will.
When they reached Gaius' chambers Will barged in without knocking, calling "Gaius I'm back! I know you missed me!"
"Oh, William," Merlin heard coming from in the room. He stepped inside the room and saw Will talking to an elderly man. The room was filled with bottles and jars, and books just about everywhere, creating a cozy atmosphere. The man, Gaius, smiled warmly at Merlin. "Hello my boy, you must be new to Camp."
He approached Merlin and shook his hand with both of his own as Merlin introduced himself, "I'm Merlin, of Ealdor."
"Hunith's son?" Gaius asked. At Merlin's agreement he continued, "Hunith is my cousin! Come, sit, sit," Gaius urged the boys as he cleared some space at the table.
"I remember you from when you were quite small, Merlin. Your mother and I, we knew you'd come to Camp Half-Blood eventually, your father being who he is, but she wanted to keep you with her as long as she could. All the same, I promised your mother I would look after you as my own when the day came that you joined us in Camelot."
Merlin felt strange at the idea that yet another person seemed to understand his circumstances better than he did, but Gaius put him at ease. When Gaius asked, "Perhaps you would like to take on the role of my assistant as Court Physician?" Merlin instantly agreed.
Will and Merlin told Gaius a little more about their journey and their time in Ealdor, but when the light began to color with sunset, Gaius shooed them out.
"You had better head back to camp for dinner," he reminded them, and their grumbling stomachs agreed.
At dinner Merlin expected Will to sit with him to eat, but Will explained that the satyrs didn't usually eat with the other campers, something about menu disagreements. Merlin laughed, remembering their argument on the road, which seemed like years ago now even though it was no more than a couple days. Will left him with one last nonsense piece of advice about burnt offerings, which Merlin didn't fully understand, before trotting away into the forest.
Once Merlin entered the dining hall, he just tried to follow what everyone else did. He saw other campers queuing in front of a large fire pit with their plates of food. When each one reached the fire they scraped a small portion of their meal into the flames while saying a small thanks or prayer to the gods, sometimes their parent god specifically if he was guessing correctly. Merlin did the same and then looked around for a table. He saw Gwen sitting and laughing with a lot of similarly dark-skinned children, many of whom had obviously been working in the forges that day, Merlin surmised that they must be Gwen's siblings, the other children of Hephaestus. He didn't want to interrupt her so he sat at an empty table toward the back where it was less crowded. He didn't know anyone, and some of the campers were occasionally glancing toward him and whispering to their friends. I guess word about the new guy is going around. he thought to himself.
Just as he began to lament sitting alone amongst the stares, Morgana came over to Merlin's table with her plate of food and sat next to him. "So I heard you had a run-in with Arthur?" she asked, a wry smile on her face.
Merlin blushed at the mention of Arthur's name and at the memory of the encounter. "Arthur? I mean, yes, I met the Prince. I...well I saved his life actually."
Morgana's laugh was sharp. "Normally you'd think the princes were in charge of all the saving, wouldn't you?" She eyed Merlin more closely and then her face shifted into surprise. "Not you, too? But I suppose he always did have many admirers." Her lips quirked back into a half-smile, but her eyes were very far away.
"What? No! No, you've got it wrong! I don't, well, like him or anything, he was a bit of a prat!" Merlin sputtered.
Morgana's attention was fully back on Merlin now, eyeing him suspicously. For a moment Merlin was afraid that Morgana could read every thought in his head.
"Do you know him very well?" Merlin asked, trying to sound casual to mask his fascination with the prince.
Morgana became quiet. "We grew up together." She said softly, looking down at her hands now folded in her lap. "He was like a brother to me."
"In the castle?" Merlin asked, disbelieving. Morgana nodded. "With Arthur?"
Morgana began to smile in amusement at Merlin's reaction. "Yes."
"And Uther?"
"Yes." Her smile hardened a bit. "As his ward."
"What happened?" he asked quietly, but as soon as it came out of his mouth he knew he had crossed a line.
Morgana replied curtly but politely, "I'm sorry, Merlin, it was a pleasure to eat with you, but if you'll excuse me I feel I must take my leave now." Before he could protest, she picked up her dishes and scraped her half-eaten dinner into the fire before exiting the dining area.
Merlin waited until he had finished eating and most of the Hephaestus kids had left before walking over to where Gwen was sitting. When she saw him approaching she smiled and waved for him to come sit with her. "Merlin! How has it been today?"
"It's been going well. I'll be working with Gaius in the castle, and I, erm, met Arth-, uh, Prince Arthur."
Gwen laughed warmly, put Merlin at ease. "Yes, Will might have mentioned it to Morgana and I."
"That's the thing, Morgana seemed really...weird about Arthur." Lowering his voice, he leaned towards her to add, "She told me she was Uther's ward!"
Gwen bit her lip and glanced around them quickly. "We shouldn't talk about it here, come with me."
Merlin got up and followed Gwen as she put her dishes away and led him out into the night. They wandered toward an area that Will hadn't shown him on their tour earlier that day. There was a large stone building where Merlin realized must be the forges. He could feel the heat coming from the structure long before they reached it. Once inside, they got a few nods from some students working the fires, but no one bothered them as they walked through. Merlin could see why Gwen had brought them there, and suspected this was not the first time she'd used this place to impart some gossip. The forge offered a lot of privacy, the roar of the fires and the hammering of metal made it easy to speak without fear of being overheard, and even the low light made them hard to see in the shadows, which danced and jumped around them. They went into a back office, giving a little distance from the noise of work. Even so, Gwen kept her voice low, and Merlin had to lean in to listen to her.
"Morgana was raised by Uther when her parents died. He promised Morgana's father Gorlois that he would raise her as his own, unaware that Gorlois wasn't her real father at all. Apollo was. A few years ago Morgana learned the truth, and Apollo claimed her in court, in front of Uther and Arthur and a few other noblemen. Monster attacks became more frequent once she was aware of who she was, and Uther told her she had to leave, live at the camp. See, Uther had never told anyone, but Arthur is a half-blood, too." Merlin gasped. "He doesn't know, but Uther told Morgana that she was putting him in danger. That Arthur had to be kept safe as heir to the throne." Gwen's face hardened. "He threw her out when he promised to take care of her. Now we're the only ones that she has."
"And Arthur didn't think anything was wrong?"
"I don't know what he thought. Morgana hasn't seen him since, she hasn't even left the camp boundaries."
"That's....horrible." Merlin thought of his mother, and of Will, and what it would be like if he never saw them again. He swore to himself that he would be there for Morgana, too, and Gwen. That they all had to look out for each other, an odd sort of kin that they were.
Merlin began to get used to his routine in Camelot, helping Gaius in the mornings before heading back to camp for training in the afternoons. He usually saw Will before or after training, and ate dinner with Gwen and Morgana.
About a week after Merlin's arrival in Camelot, he was walking through the marketplace on his way to Camelot when he had his second encounter with Prince Arthur. Arthur was laughing and showing off with a group of knights. Merlin's breath caught as he noticed the Prince again, but now a simmering anger stirred within him with the new knowledge of his history with Morgana. Didn't he care?
Merlin didn't realize that he must have been scowling openly at the Prince of Camelot until Arthur was standing directly in front of him. He smirked at Merlin, "I assure you that I am quite safe today, as the Prince and the target of many attacks, I am well guarded." He vaguely gestured back to the knights standing a short distance away, laughing at Merlin.
Merlin frowned before schooling his features and grumbling out a "Sire." He felt both flattered and insulted by the prince's strange attentions, and decided to leave before he did something rash. "I'm late to meet Gaius, excuse me."
As he turned away Arthur said "There's something about you, Merlin. I just can't quite put my finger on it."
One evening after Gaius delivered one of Morgana's sleeping droughts, he sought Merlin out looking quite frantic.
"Gaius, what are you doing here?" Merlin asked as Gaius knocked at his cabin.
"Merlin, something has happened which I think you need to be aware of. Hermes payed a visit to Uther's court today."
"Really? Does he normally come to court?" Merlin was confused, and nervous about why Gaius seemed so anxious.
"Indeed not, he was there in his capacity as messenger of the gods. He has only made an appearance to Uther a handful of times that I can remember. The gods do not need a physical presence in Uther's court to keep current on what goes on there, instead Hermes is only sent when the gods with to communicate something to the King, and only then for very serious matters. This visit was very serious indeed." Gaius paused and motioned for Merlin to sit, which he did, sitting on his bed. Gaius sat next to him before he continued.
"Something has been stolen from the gods, right from Olympus. The gods believe King Uther is behind it, and Hermes came to issue a final warning for it to be returned by the summer solstice, an ultimatum. Uther still denies anything to do with it, and in retaliation he threatened to renounce the gods and end all tributes if they did not make an apology by the same summer solstice deadline. If there is no resolution, I'm afraid Camelot will fall. As the seat of Western Civilization, it is my theory that Olympus would fall with it."
"Merlin, I fear that you may be caught up in this without much choice. The missing item is the most important weapon that belongs to your father." Gaius paused, his hand coming to rest heavily on Merlin's shoulder. "Someone has stolen the Master Bolt, from which all lightning is modeled."
Merlin's heart beat sped as he felt overwhelming dread. "What? How can someone just steal that?"
"I do not know, for no mere mortal can pass Olympus' threshold. But... very few know of this, it would be most wise to keep to yourself: Prince Arthur is a half-blood. His mother was Athena, and he is very skilled in strategy."
"You're not suggesting it was Arthur? He doesn't even know that he's a half-blood!" Merlin felt very indignant on Arthur's behalf, and barely wondered why he was so quick to defend him.
"No no, my dear boy, but that doesn't mean that no one else thinks he is involved, or that Uther is somehow using him against his will."
"Why would Uther want to steal the bolt, anyway?" Merlin still couldn't believe what he was hearing, it sounded so preposterous.
"There is a prophecy, Merlin, a very ancient prophecy by the oracle of the Delphi, that says that two powerful half-bloods, one who is a child of the Big Three, will destroy Camelot as we know it, change it for all time. Uther fears this greatly, and as such he is wary of all half-bloods, and what will happen to his kingdom. This colors his decisions, of course, but Uther ultimately wants what is best for his people. Such a move against Olympus wouldn't make sense. No, I have other suspicions. There are those out there who would want to see Olympus destroyed, or take its place. Those who care little for any people other than themselves."
"Who?"
"I have suspicions only, without more solid proof I best not say more. We must just remember to be careful."
Merlin's mind boggled trying to process all the information at once as Gaius patted his shoulder affectionately before leaving Merlin's cabin.
Hours later Merlin was still laying awake in bed, unable to find any peace or sleep.
Suddenly Merlin heard a noise, a faint wing-beat. He sat up cautiously, looking around the room. There was a tall man standing across from his bed. He had black hair and a black beard, and bright blue eyes, clear and luminous like the sky on a sunny day. He wore a simple robe, but none would doubt its finery. He looked more regal than the king himself, and then he smiled and at once Merlin felt his spirits lift.
"Merlin, my boy. You've grown."
"...Father? Er, Zeus? Sir?"
"Yes, it is I."
A swarm of emotions threatened to overwhelm Merlin at those words, his chest exploding with something he could not name. "I...you're here. My whole life I've wanted to know you, wished I could see you..." he choked out.
"I know it must be hard, Merlin, but things will never be the same for you and I as they are for a mortal father and son. I can't interfere in mortal lives. But I am proud of the man you are becoming."
Merlin jumped up and ran to Zeus throwing his arms around the man he had only just met. His father pulled away sooner than Merlin would have liked, but his face carried a serious expression now. "Merlin, I came because I need you. Uther has challenged us, and that we can't ignore, but neither can we let Camelot and Olympus destroy each other. I need you to find the Master Bolt. I will protect you as much as I can, but I can't do it directly. That's where you come in." Merlin just nodded solemnly, unable to get words out. "I believe in you, you just have to believe in yourself. Don't worry about the future, things aren't always as they seem."
"I will, father, I'll help you. I'll do whatever you need."
"Thank you."
Zeus paused for a moment and stared at Merlin, hand raised as though to touch him, but unsure where or how. He settled for ruffling Merlin's hair and then walked out the front door. He disappeared with the sound of wing-beats. As Merlin lay back down in bed, his only thought before he fell into a deep sleep was this: My father needs me.
When Merlin awoke the next morning, something was wrong. He could hear people shouting outside and a lot more activity than what he had begun to think of as normal. A thread of worry worked its way to the bottom of his stomach, after Zeus had visited him the night before he feared what it could be. Merlin splashed some water on his face and struggled to pull his clothes back on, anxious to find out what had happened. When he opened the door he saw tons of people bustling around, hauling buckets of water and grains toward the camp entrance, all with the same worried expressions on their faces. Merlin ran forward toward the crowds, looking frantically for his friends or anyone who could tell him what was going on.
Gwen found him first. "It's the village, its started!" she cried hysterically.
"Gwen, what? What's happened? What's started?" Seeing Gwen so upset magnified Merlin's fear tenfold, it was impossible not to feel the need to act when Gwen was crying.
"The...the gods, the famine! The villagers, the crops are failing, the food is running scarce. My father lives in town!"
Suddenly Merlin understood all too clearly, but Gwen continued "The camp isn't affected, of course, but we're trying to help get supplies to the rest of the people. The satyrs are doing what they can for the crops out there, and Gawain and Galahad, Dionysus' sons, have been out there since before the sun even rose."
Merlin felt a hand clap on his shoulder and turned, Will was standing there looking hollow and exhausted. "Oh my god, Will!" The you look terrible went unsaid, but Will scowled at him briefly as if he had heard it anyway.
Then his face split open into an approximation of his usual manic grin, "Nothing a cheeky dryad couldn't fix." Merlin faltered a bit at that, knowing the dryads and other nymphs were probably trying to fix it, just not in the way Will was alluding. Still, he was glad that Will hadn't lost his sense of humor, because if he was still making jokes, Will hadn't given up yet.
It was short-lived though, Will went right back to serious as he told Merlin, "Kilgarrah and Gaius want everyone to meet back here after midday, but you can help me in the meantime."
A few hours later Merlin found himself in the village. Merlin made note of the houses of the elderly or with small children, so that the others could bring them some supplies directly. Suddenly he was pulled into a small alley by a man in a blue cloak, hood pulled low over his face. "Merlin!" the man hissed.
"Ow!" he yelped, and then leaning forward in an attempt to look up into the stranger's hood, he asked "Erm, yes?"
"Its me, Prince Arthur." The man said exasperatedly, pulling his hood back roughly to reveal his face.
"What are you doing, you prat!" Merlin exclaimed, rubbing his arm where Arthur had grabbed him. When he realized what he had just said and who he said it to he clapped his hand over his mouth.
Arthur just rolled his eyes. "Are you part of the group distributing food?"
Merlin narrowed his eyes at Arthur. "Yes..."
Arthur paused a moment or two, appearing to be having trouble deciding exactly what to say next. "Thank you, for your help" he finally settled on. "I tried to ask some of the others but they fled when I asked them about it. I suppose demigods don't really want to have a chat with the Prince of Camelot."
"Not most of us, no" Merlin smirked as he replied. They gazed at each other for a few seconds longer than necessary, Merlin's thoughts getting lost in the prince's fair eyelashes and the way his lips were chapped a bit.
Arthur seemed to realize how long they had been staring as he looked down and cleared his throat. "Yes, so thank you again, on behalf of the people of Camelot, for your help in this time of need," he said stiffly.
"Well, we'll do what we can, of course, our supplies seem to be holding out well within the camp. I suppose we'll find out more at the meeting today, which I probably ought to get back to..."
"Meeting? At your camp?"
"Um, yeah, Kilgarrah wants to talk to us, I guess..."
Arthur leaned closer to Merlin, very serious now. In a low voice he asked "Merlin, could you take me with you? To this meeting?"
"Could I...what?"
"Merlin....please." Arthur gritted out. "I would do anything for my people, if I could just go and listen, I'll keep my hood up, I just need to hear that help won't run out. Or I could talk to them, make a plea, or a bargain..."
"Arthur!" Merlin tried to interrupt, but Arthur cut back in again, more determined to be heard.
"Listen, Merlin, I know that the Bolt thingy was stolen, but I had nothing to do with it, and if your...Kilgerrer...thinks that it was my father's fault and lets my people suffer for it, I just can't let that happen." Arthur's voice cracked a little when he said "can't".
"Yes, fine, I'll bring you, but I don't think it will come to that. Something else is going on, we just don't know what. You can come and listen, but you better put your hood back up."
When they got to the gate Merlin briefly wonders if Arthur knows much about the camp, and that mortals can't get in. Merlin knew that Arthur would be able to enter, but suddenly he feared that Arthur was going to find out a lot more than he bargained for before they even reached the meeting spot. Once they were through the barrier, Arthur gasped and Merlin cringed, but Arthur just said wonderingly, "It's bigger on the inside!"
They made their way quickly over to where most of the camp has already gathered, no one payed much attention to Merlin and his hooded friend. They are all turned to watch Gaius and Kilgarrah approaching, along with the Cloven Elders, leaders of the satyrs. Merlin spotted Will in the crowd and made his way toward him. He saw Morgana and Gwen a bit further away, and sensed Arthur stiffening as he saw Morgana as well. Merlin silently cursed himself for forgetting the history between Arthur and Morgana and bringing him along. "Just...stay hidden." he whispered, trying to sound as general as possible. He tried to turn and look at Arthur's face to see some of what he might be feeling, but Arthur just pulled the hood down lower.
Merlin knew Arthur must have been staring after Morgana quite a while because he didn't even notice Kilgarrah until he was speaking. Arthur turned toward the voice and startled, hissing in Merlin's ear "A dragon?!"
Kilgarrah explained about the Master Bolt being stolen, and King Uther's reaction, the potential for war. Arthur put his hand on Merlin's shoulder when Kilgarrah explained that they would continue helping the villagers however they could, and they would not let Camelot fall. Arthur tightened his grip as the dragon told them they would not only be reacting to the events to come, but would be taking action. "The oracle has a quest to bestow, which one of you must accept. If you succeed, you will prevent the fall of Camelot and Olympus, and fulfill your destiny."
There was a murmur throughout the crowd as Kilgarrah stepped to the side, revealing the oracle. Her eyes were glowing green, in a trance of some kind. Merlin could hear some of the Aries kids whispering, all wanting to volunteer for the quest. But instead of stopping next to the dragon in front of the crowd, she began to walk deeper into it. People moved out of her way as she was headed in Merlin's direction. He stepped aside pulling Arthur out of her path with him as she approached them, but instead of continuing past deeper into the crowd, she turned and came face to face with Merlin. She spoke into his mind.
Go you must, to the blessed isle,
the half-blood prince, the mighty bird.
Along your journey you will face a trial,
one of brawn and one of word.
What you seek hidden in plain sight,
by one you trust, the betraying friend.
A powerful one won't last the night,
Disaster averted in the end.
Suddenly her body went lax, and she collapsed just as Arthur grabbed her as she fainted. He stared at the now unconscious woman and back at Merlin, who was standing shock still. "Merlin!" he hissed, lowering her gently to the ground.
"A quest has been given." Kilgarrah's voice boomed over the crowd. "Merlin, do you accept this quest?" Merlin nodded dumbly. "You must choose your companions."
Arthur stood up, threw his hood back and declared, "I will go with you."
The crowd burst into uproar as people recognized the prince, and in shock at his declaration. Merlin looked at Arthur and slowly smiled. Merlin's apparent approval improved Arthur's confidence as well, because he turned toward Kilgarrah and continued, "I am a skilled fighter, and I will do whatever it takes to help and protect the people of Camelot. All the people," he added, glancing at the rest of the campers. "I owe Merlin my life, and I am honor bound to repay him, I can protect him and ensure his success on this quest."
"Young Pendragon," Kilgarrah replied "it is your right as a demigod to accompany Merlin on this quest, and your right as Prince of Camelot to protect the kingdom."
Arthur looked relieved for a moment until the full meaning behind the dragon's words caught up with him. "Wait, what? No, I'm not a demigod."
"That your mother was Athena is but the truth." Kilgarrah said in what was probably an attempt to be gentle, but for a dragon it came out only slightly less imposing.
"My...mother...?" Arthur muttered weakly. Merlin saw him look back at Morgana. The regret and fear, longing and grief in Arthur's eyes were all plainly written on his face, but Morgana's gaze remained cold, her eyes narrowed in something like contempt.
Kilgarrah seemed oblivious to the personal trauma that Arthur and Morgana were experiencing and continued on, "Merlin, you may choose one other companion on your quest."
Merlin turned to Will, but he was shaking his head. "I can't, mate, not this time. I can do more good here, helping the crops with the other satyrs." Merlin bit his lip and nodded, feeling a little helpless as he looked out at all the faces of the crowd.
He looked at Gwen and Morgana again. Morgana was looking at Gwen with tears in her eyes. Gwen however, hugged Morgana quickly and ran to Merlin. "Gwen." Merlin said with relief.
Gaius broke the moment by shouting to everyone, "Alright, you all know what you should be doing, lets get back to work!" More softly, he said to Merlin, Gwen and Arthur, now standing together, "You three better come with me," and motioned for them to follow.
Kilgarrah had shrunk himself back down to a human size so that he could meet with Gaius and the three demigods in the Big House. Arthur was quietly repeating "oh gods, oh gods" to himself while Gwen awkwardly rubbed his back with one hand, shooting Merlin a look of What do we do now?
Gaius asked Merlin to repeat the prophecy the Oracle had told him, which he did. "The Isle of the Blessed..." Kilgarrah mused, interpreting the first line.
"It seems you have a bit of a journey ahead of you." Gaius mused. "The precise location of the Isle has been unknown for some time now, but there is a way to find it. You must go to the Depths of Sagacity, an underground cave system far to the North. I don't know what you will encounter there, but I'm afraid it probably won't be easy, on any of you, and you don't have much time. You'd better prepare to leave as soon as possible."
"You are but one side of a coin, Arthur is the other." Kilgarrah said before leaving them to get ready. It almost seemed as though he was laughing as he walked away with Gaius trailing behind.
Gwen hovered for a moment before dashing off as well, saying something about packing her weapons. Merlin turned to Arthur and grasped his shoulder. Arthur looked up, anguish still on his face, but finally looking Merlin in the eyes. "Arthur, I know this is a lot, but hold it together. I know you are strong, and we're gonna succeed, not just for us, but for Camelot, and for Olympus."
"For Camelot. For my people." Arthur parroted.
"Right. Now go get your things together and meet me and Gwen back at the camp entrance in an hour."
Arthur nodded and left, leaving Merlin to try and get his thoughts together so he could pack and wonder just how they were going to pull this off.
Onto Part 2
Author: dianadisaster
Movie Prompt: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur, Gwen/Morgana, and vaguely implied Arthur/Gwen and Arthur/Gwen/Merlin in the epilogue.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: approx. 20k
Spoilers: Spoilers for Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, definitely The Lightning Thief and Battle of the Labyrinth, and the movie version of The Lightning Thief.
Warnings: Character death.
Author's Notes: Written for reel_merlin Round 3. I took Merlin canon, book canon, and movie canon and stuck them in a big ol' blender. Takes place is Ye Olde Camelot, but in Percy!verse.
Gwen in this fic was inspired and influenced a great deal by this beautiful fanart of steampunk Gwen.
Huge and massive thanks to eraticschematic, who beta'd this, and it would never have been finished without her. Any remaining mistakes are my own, feel free to point them out in a PM or a comment.
Header also by eraticschematic, because she is awesome and she loves me. :D
Summary: Merlin finds out that his absent father is really Zeus, and must embark on a quest to find the lightning thief and retrieve Zeus' most powerful weapon, the Master Bolt.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
As a young child, Merlin longed to know of his father, whom he had never known. His mother would only divulge the vaguest of details, like "He was strong," said with an airy quality more of dream than of memory, all mixed with a healthy dose of sadness. Merlin didn't want to see his mother sad, so he didn't ask very much, but the same expression appeared on her face sometimes when she saw him using his powers.
Merlin had been able to move objects with his mind for as long as he could remember. His mother had told him he'd been doing it before he could even talk, but she warned him that it must be kept a secret. His power was not a normal ability, that people would not understand. Ealdor was a very small village, and even a small slip up would soon find everyone knowing of his strange abilities. In fact, she stressed to him, it would be better if he didn't think on it much at all.
But Merlin couldn't ignore his power, at times he didn't even use it consciously. When he wanted an item it would race through the air to get to him, the wind and space around him bending to his every thought. It wasn't until his best friend Will caught him at it, much later, that he learned his eyes turned gold when the air moved for him.
Will and Merlin were walking through the woods on one of their lesser used paths one day when a groan began to vibrate through the woods. Merlin was scanning the forest to determine the source when he saw Will dash off in another direction out of the corner of his eye, much faster than he had ever suspected Will of being able to move. Panic was beginning to prickle around the edges of his vision as he screamed after him, "Will!"
Merlin took off at a run after him, hearing "Merlin, stay back!" just as the noise crescendo-ed into an impossible crash. He broke through the next bit of brush to see Will crouching down and clutching the trunk of a tree that had just fallen down, examining it closely and making soothing whispering sounds into the bark.
"Will, what are you doing?"
"This poor tree...so young..." Will was barely audible, still intensely focused on the tree.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Merlin was getting a little annoyed as he finally reached where his friend was squatted down.
Will gasped one last shaky breath and stood up resolutely. "There's no way this tree should have just fallen out of nowhere like that. It was way too young, too strong. Something is wrong."
Merlin could sense the fear radiating from Will's rigid body, causing Merlin to tense up as well. They scanned the forest around them again, moving their heads as slowly and as little as possible. As their gazes moved up above their eye line, Merlin heard Will gasp and curse.
Circling above the trees something was slowly circling in the air. Merlin could tell it was a hideous creature, despite the distance from them, which also meant it was BIG. It started to descend toward them, and Merlin's hypothesis was correct and then some, it was beyond hideous. An ugly head of an old woman sat atop a giant black bird body. The feathers were matted and unkempt, scruffy, and the face was impossibly wrinkled, with stringy grey hair piled on top of its lumpy head, and tiny eyes peering out at them with hunger. But the mouth, the mouth was the worst part. It was partly open in a snarl, filled with pointy teeth and emitting a disgusting rotten smell. Whatever it had eaten, wherever that mouth had been, Merlin definitely did not want to find out.
"Shit, lets get out of here!" He heard Will yelling somewhere behind him, but Merlin had trouble getting his feet to move. He began stumbling backward, unable to turn his back on the crazy bird-woman-demon he was faced with. Even under perfectly ordinary circumstances Merlin was always a little too gangly to be very graceful, and clumsy came to him easily. Even more easily, it turned out, when he was not looking where he was going. Merlin's ankle caught a stone and he went down, fast. Still shimmying with his elbows on his back, he glanced at the rock and felt a surge of power, he knew that the monster creature was seeing his eyes turn gold, right before it saw that very same rock that had felled her prey catapulting directly into her face. She was knocked down, giving Merlin enough time to find his footing as Will was running back toward him, with a reed pipe in his hand.
Will only paused for a second, panting, before taking a giant gasp of air and putting the pipes to his lips. Merlin stared at him dumbfounded as the pipes emitted a screechy quick tune, with a bit more discord than he was comfortable with. He was about to tell Will something along the lines of how much that sucked, or ask him why now was a good time to be playing the pipes anyway, when a branch above them snapped away from its tree with a deafening CRACK, falling and then immediately impaling the hideous bird creature. Well, where the bird creature was, because now all that remained was a branch laying in a pile of dust where the woman had been, and a long oil-black feather.
"Not even worth it." Will said in contempt at the feather, and then looking back at Merlin, sighed and said "We need to talk. Let's go back to your mum's."
Merlin stood gaping at the scene, only snapping out of it when Will called out again "MERLIN!" as he was already walking away.
"No, wait, what the hell, Will?" Merlin nearly screamed. He was afraid and confused, and it felt like a sick parody of when he finally had to tell Will about his powers, but this time he was the one in the dark and Will was keeping the secret. But somehow he thought maybe he had only ever been the one in the dark after all.
"Merlin, I promise, I will tell you everything, but its not safe right now." Will insisted. "That was not the only monster that will be after you, and apparently now they can sniff you out."
"Sniff me out? How? Why me?" Merlin asked, still in shock. "Is this...this has to do with the magic, doesn't it?" it dawned on him.
"Come on, your mum will help explain, but we need to get out of here." Will moved forward to grab Merlin's hand and drag him, but Merlin pulled it away.
"You knew about my magic already, didn't you? Before I told you? Before you caught me?"
Will hesitates for a moment and looks away. "Yes. I'm sorry Merlin, I wanted to tell you so much sooner, but it was safer for you if you didn't know. It's the self-awareness, see? It makes your scent stronger to the monsters."
"My mother, is she...is she safe?"
"We'll make sure she is, mate, don't worry."
Merlin was still shaking slightly, and Will walked back over to him and wraped him in a tight hug before giving him a slight shove in the direction of Ealdor.
Hunith knew something was wrong when she saw Merlin and Will walk in the house.
"There was an attack. A Kindly One came after Merlin and me in the forest just now." Will blurted out almost as soon as the door had shut.
Hunith walked quickly and directly to Merlin, glancing up and down his person before pulling him into her embrace. "You're okay?" She asked redundantly, "Both of you?" Both boys nodded and Merlin carefully disentangled himself from his mothers arms, looking at her and then Will.
"Tell me what's happening," she said.
Will and Hunith glanced at each other before Will began. "The ancient gods aren't just myth, Merlin, they're real. All the myths, the gods, monsters, heroes..."
"Merlin, your father..." Hunith began.
"My father?" Merlin felt impossibly hopeful and sad at the same time. As much as he wanted to know this, he was afraid of what they might say now, after all that had already happened today.
Will cut in again when it was obvious Hunith was having trouble with her confession. "Merlin, you are a son of Zeus. He is your father."
Merlin nearly choked. "Zeus?! My...father?!"
"You are a demigod, half human and half god. Your powers are a product of that, it's why you can move things through the air, Zeus' domain is the sky," Will explained.
"I named you for a bird because I knew that's where you belonged, somehow" Hunith said softly.
Merlin took her hands in his. "You are my mother and I will always belong with you," he said to her, squeezing her fingers in reassurance.
"Well, that's sweet and all, but we can't stay here, at least not right now - you need to train," Will told him.
Hunith cut in, "And as a child of two worlds, don't you think its time to see the other one?"
"Do you mean... Olympus?"
"The very one!" Will replied happily. "We'll be staying at Camp Half Blood, in none other than Camelot!"
"Really? Camelot? Do we all go?"
"Well, you and I will go together. Your mum can't come with us, mortals can't enter the camp."
"Wait, Will, do you have a...a god for a parent?"
"Me? A half-blood? No, no, no, I'll just show you." Will began to unfasten his trousers.
"WILL! What are you doing?" Merlin shouted.
"Oh, come on, don't pretend like you never wanted a peek! Anyway, its not what you think." He pulled the trousers down revealing...fur. Furry legs with hooves. "I'm a satyr! I'm assigned to protect you and watch out for you until its time to bring you to camp!" he explained, grinning.
"Well then, what are we waiting for?"
The journey to Camelot wasn't nearly as bad as Merlin expected, having Will with him helped the time go quickly, and Merlin could almost pretend that he was just out for a walk with his mate, instead of on a journey to an entirely new land. Now that Will was out of the goat pen, he had no qualms about putting his unique satyr talents to use in front of Merlin. They could stop and ask the dryads (and once a squirrel) for directions, and could find all manner of edible plants for them to eat. Will had also brought along some scraps of fabric to snack on, scowling at Merlin's dried meat that his mother had sent with him. When Merlin suggested they hunt a rabbit or two after they had made camp that night, Will blanched and told Merlin off quite spectacularly.
"Merlin, I can't believe you just said that to a satyr! I don't eat my fellow woodland creatures, it would be like you snacking on your cousins."
"This coming from the one who eats cloth."
"I'm half-goat! You're just jealous of my superior satyr digestion." Will said smugly.
Merlin muttered "Yeah, jealous."
When they finally crested the hill and saw that first white tower of Camelot, Merlin felt his weariness ebb away to be replaced with growing excitement. As the castle rose above the hill, Merlin marveled at the beauty and magnificence of it. Such a building was well beyond his normal experience, and he was awed by the reality that men could build something so large and so grand. Once inside the city itself, Merlin was again awed at the sheer mass of people who lived within it. Ealdor was a very small town, and Merlin had never known that more surely than he did seeing the crowds out just doing their daily activities, his eyes darting all around him to try and absorb all the sights and activity. Will had to tug him along once or twice when Merlin slowed or stopped to try to look at everything around him.
In a far section of town, obviously a lesser frequented area, Will stopped them in front of an old house that was in a state of disrepair. It seemed almost identical to every other house they had passed on that street, but above the door frame were strange words carved, almost faded away. As Merlin studied them, even though he couldn't read the language, he suddenly knew what the words said.
"Camp Half-Blood?" He looked at Will inquiringly. Merlin was not very impressed. He expected something more obvious, or to even be able to tell that they were there when they arrived. Instead, it was almost completely non-distinct, in fact, most people probably walked by it quite frequently without being aware of its existence at all.
Will looked back with a wide grin on his face. "Home sweet home!"
"Will, my mother taught me to read a little bit, but that is not any language I've ever learned."
"No, it wouldn't be. It's Ancient Greek." Merlin's eyebrows climbed higher on his forehead as Will continued, "As a demigod, your brain sort of already knows how to read it."
"My...huh?" Merlin asked, but Will ignored him in favor of pushing him toward the doorway.
"Come on, let's go!"
Once through the doorway of the dingy house, Camp Half-Blood couldn't be any different. The space immediately opened up as though there weren't a crowded village just on the other side of the door. Or houses next door, for that matter. Straight ahead across the field there were several buildings in an arc. Will lead them to one in the center, with columns in front. "This is Zeus' cabin, well for Zeus' children, anyway. You're the only one at camp right now, so you'll have it to yourself. In fact, the only child of the Big Three that there has been in a while."
"Big Three?" Merlin asked weakly, already getting tired of all the new terms Will was throwing at him.
"Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, the three brothers and most powerful of gods. Their children are more powerful than average half-bloods, too, so they are kind of a big deal. Hades doesn't have a cabin here, he sticks to the Underworld, but each cabin is for one of the twelve major gods. In the center here are Zeus and Hera, and on either side are Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes, Dionysus, Athena, Demeter, Artemis, and Aphrodite. Children who don't know their godly parent, or are children of a minor god stay in Hermes' cabin because he is the god of travelers."
"Will, this is really a lot to take in," Merlin said, rubbing his hands over his eyes and forehead.
"Its a lot to know in the first place. But you're right, lets move on with the tour."
They walked past the Big House, where there was a large pavilion dining area, and then made their way over to the archery practice area.
Suddenly they heard someone shriek "Will!" and saw a dark skinned girl with wild curly hair and a giant grin on her face running toward them after dropping something to the ground. Another girl hung back, setting down a bow and arrow before heading toward them as well. She was tall and pale, long dark hair pulled back from her face.
"Gwen!" Will replied just as Gwen barreled into him and threw her arms around him in a hug. "I wondered when we would get to see you again!"
"Yep, I have returned! Merlin, this is Gwen, Gwen, this is Merlin." Will paused for a moment, and as an afterthought added "Um, son of Zeus."
Gwen's eyes nearly bugged out of her head as she stared at Merlin. He shifted uneasily, glancing at Will who was stifling a giggle at Gwen's reaction, and settling his gaze upon the other girl who approached them. Once she was closer, Merlin could see that she looked tired and weary, dark circles under her eyes and skin that was dull and flat. As she reached them Will began his introductions again, "Ah, and this is Morgana, Morgana, this is Merlin..."
"...son of Zeus." She finished along with him. "I know, its about time you showed up." And then she smiled a smile at Merlin that was both wicked and warm, lighting up her face and erasing her exhaustion, and Merlin found himself smiling along with her. "I'm a daughter of Apollo, I've seen your arrival in my dreams. I'm glad you're finally here."
With Morgana's introduction Gwen finally snapped out of her stupor. "Apollo, he's the god of prophecy, well, and you know, poetry and music, and archery, oh and the sun! But also prophecy, as I said, and Morgana's dreams are usually visions," she elaborated.
Morgana laughed as she placed her arm around Gwen's shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. "And my girlfriend Gwen here is a daughter of Hephaestus, God of the forge. She's brilliant at inventions and blacksmithing, She takes after both of her fathers that way." Morgana continued to smile affectionately at her.
Merlin startled. "Both fathers?" his voice pitched high as he shot Will a look of What kind of place have you brought me?
Gwen looked embarrassed now, but quickly explained, "Well, my mortal father is a blacksmith in town, and Hephaestus admired his skill. And they were in love, and, um, had me?" She finished awkwardly.
Will cut in, "Godly reproduction doesn't always follow the mortal rules. I mean, you know how Athena was born, right? Jumped full grown out of Zeus' forehead! That's how all her kids are born, too, so they say."
Obviously eager to find a new topic Gwen cut him off, speaking louder to try and drown out Will's babbling. "So, Merlin, you must have some powers then? Being a son of Zeus?" Gwen asked awkwardly, twisting a bit of her skirt in her fingers.
Merlin smiled shyly before glancing back at Will, who laughed and said "Well, go on then, show them your stuff!"
Merlin raised his hand and knew his eyes must have flashed gold as he gently lifted Morgana's bow and Gwen's strange device and floated them to their owners. Morgana laughed and gave a slow clap, and Gwen whistled appreciatively. "Gwen, what is that thing?" Merlin asked her as she plucked the contraption from the air.
"Well, I may not be able to float things around, but I can make a mean exploding powder projectile launcher." She grinned wickedly as she held it up and pointed it toward one of the targets she and Morgana had been using earlier. Her finger touched a small trigger device, and then Will screamed and fell over as there was a loud bang and a burnt smell. Gwen's...whatever it was called was smoking slightly and there was a tiny neat hole in the target, but no arrow. "Morgana insists that I start calling it a gun."
Merlin looked back over at Will who was crouched on the ground with his eyes squeezed shut and his hands over his ears. Gwen noticed as well, "Ok, Will, its fine, its really very controlled, I promise!"
"I hate you." was his reply as he opened his eyes again and stood up again, trying to regain his composure.
Merlin and Will spent a little more time with the girls shooting arrows (or floating them) and insisting that there was no reason for Gwen to shoot the gun any more.
"All right, now what?" Merlin asked brightly as they finally left the girls. Laughing with them had put him in a good mood, and he felt like all these changes wouldn't be so bad after all as long as he had friends with him, and he was definitely going to be friends with Gwen and Morgana.
"We should go see Gaius. He's one of the camp advisors, along with Kilgarrah. He's um, a dragon." Merlin's eyes bugged as Will continued on. "But he keeps to himself a lot. Anyway, Gaius will want to meet you, but usually he's up in the castle. He's the court physician, but he's also a son of Asclepius, god of medicine and healing. A minor god, so the King doesn't mind him too much, plus he's probably treated the royal family for generations. The King, he uh...he's not too fond of half-bloods, Merlin, so you need to be careful."
"Oh you know me, Will, always careful," Merlin laughed, while Will simply rolled his eyes.
They made their way back out of camp and through the village again, heading for the castle.
They passed several knights doing some drills and Merlin paused to admire them, their perfectly synchronized movements and the flash of the sun off of their clothes and armor as they lunged and moved. Merlin looked at the man leading the drills, with blond hair and strong chiseled features. Merlin possibly, maybe, had stopped walking altogether to stare at this man, but he was snapped out of his daydreaming when he caught a glance of some movement in the distance. No one else seemed to notice anything, too preoccupied in completing their drills, but as he stared longer he began to get a bad feeling, and adrenaline began to flood his body.
It was another bird-woman like the one from the forest. Merlin barely had time to think about running before he realized that it wasn't after him this time. It was headed for the blond man, and the knights had their back to the creature. Merlin wondered where Will was, but a glance told him that he hadn't waited for Merlin to dawdle, and was much farther away now. Merlin started running at the blond man just as some of the knights had realized that something was wrong, but there was no time for them to react as Merlin slammed into the man, knocking him out of the path of the creature. They tumbled and rolled across the stones, the man's bulk ending up on top of Merlin. He jumped up and reached for his sword as he turned toward the creature again but faltered when he realized that the sword was still laying on the ground where he had dropped it from Merlin's impact. Merlin saw this as he sat up and reacted instinctually, flinging the sword back into Arthur's hands just as the creature made another pass, and with his weapon back Arthur quickly sidestepped the creature and lunged, stabbing it its side. It exploded into dust just like the other bird woman that Merlin and Will had encountered in the forest, leaving another grungy feather.
The man walked back to Merlin and offered him his hand, pulling him up when Merlin grasped it. "I am Prince Arthur Pendragon, and you just saved my life."
"Merlin!" Merlin squeaked as he pulled his hand out of Arthur's and ran back toward Will.
When they reached Gaius' chambers Will barged in without knocking, calling "Gaius I'm back! I know you missed me!"
"Oh, William," Merlin heard coming from in the room. He stepped inside the room and saw Will talking to an elderly man. The room was filled with bottles and jars, and books just about everywhere, creating a cozy atmosphere. The man, Gaius, smiled warmly at Merlin. "Hello my boy, you must be new to Camp."
He approached Merlin and shook his hand with both of his own as Merlin introduced himself, "I'm Merlin, of Ealdor."
"Hunith's son?" Gaius asked. At Merlin's agreement he continued, "Hunith is my cousin! Come, sit, sit," Gaius urged the boys as he cleared some space at the table.
"I remember you from when you were quite small, Merlin. Your mother and I, we knew you'd come to Camp Half-Blood eventually, your father being who he is, but she wanted to keep you with her as long as she could. All the same, I promised your mother I would look after you as my own when the day came that you joined us in Camelot."
Merlin felt strange at the idea that yet another person seemed to understand his circumstances better than he did, but Gaius put him at ease. When Gaius asked, "Perhaps you would like to take on the role of my assistant as Court Physician?" Merlin instantly agreed.
Will and Merlin told Gaius a little more about their journey and their time in Ealdor, but when the light began to color with sunset, Gaius shooed them out.
"You had better head back to camp for dinner," he reminded them, and their grumbling stomachs agreed.
At dinner Merlin expected Will to sit with him to eat, but Will explained that the satyrs didn't usually eat with the other campers, something about menu disagreements. Merlin laughed, remembering their argument on the road, which seemed like years ago now even though it was no more than a couple days. Will left him with one last nonsense piece of advice about burnt offerings, which Merlin didn't fully understand, before trotting away into the forest.
Once Merlin entered the dining hall, he just tried to follow what everyone else did. He saw other campers queuing in front of a large fire pit with their plates of food. When each one reached the fire they scraped a small portion of their meal into the flames while saying a small thanks or prayer to the gods, sometimes their parent god specifically if he was guessing correctly. Merlin did the same and then looked around for a table. He saw Gwen sitting and laughing with a lot of similarly dark-skinned children, many of whom had obviously been working in the forges that day, Merlin surmised that they must be Gwen's siblings, the other children of Hephaestus. He didn't want to interrupt her so he sat at an empty table toward the back where it was less crowded. He didn't know anyone, and some of the campers were occasionally glancing toward him and whispering to their friends. I guess word about the new guy is going around. he thought to himself.
Just as he began to lament sitting alone amongst the stares, Morgana came over to Merlin's table with her plate of food and sat next to him. "So I heard you had a run-in with Arthur?" she asked, a wry smile on her face.
Merlin blushed at the mention of Arthur's name and at the memory of the encounter. "Arthur? I mean, yes, I met the Prince. I...well I saved his life actually."
Morgana's laugh was sharp. "Normally you'd think the princes were in charge of all the saving, wouldn't you?" She eyed Merlin more closely and then her face shifted into surprise. "Not you, too? But I suppose he always did have many admirers." Her lips quirked back into a half-smile, but her eyes were very far away.
"What? No! No, you've got it wrong! I don't, well, like him or anything, he was a bit of a prat!" Merlin sputtered.
Morgana's attention was fully back on Merlin now, eyeing him suspicously. For a moment Merlin was afraid that Morgana could read every thought in his head.
"Do you know him very well?" Merlin asked, trying to sound casual to mask his fascination with the prince.
Morgana became quiet. "We grew up together." She said softly, looking down at her hands now folded in her lap. "He was like a brother to me."
"In the castle?" Merlin asked, disbelieving. Morgana nodded. "With Arthur?"
Morgana began to smile in amusement at Merlin's reaction. "Yes."
"And Uther?"
"Yes." Her smile hardened a bit. "As his ward."
"What happened?" he asked quietly, but as soon as it came out of his mouth he knew he had crossed a line.
Morgana replied curtly but politely, "I'm sorry, Merlin, it was a pleasure to eat with you, but if you'll excuse me I feel I must take my leave now." Before he could protest, she picked up her dishes and scraped her half-eaten dinner into the fire before exiting the dining area.
Merlin waited until he had finished eating and most of the Hephaestus kids had left before walking over to where Gwen was sitting. When she saw him approaching she smiled and waved for him to come sit with her. "Merlin! How has it been today?"
"It's been going well. I'll be working with Gaius in the castle, and I, erm, met Arth-, uh, Prince Arthur."
Gwen laughed warmly, put Merlin at ease. "Yes, Will might have mentioned it to Morgana and I."
"That's the thing, Morgana seemed really...weird about Arthur." Lowering his voice, he leaned towards her to add, "She told me she was Uther's ward!"
Gwen bit her lip and glanced around them quickly. "We shouldn't talk about it here, come with me."
Merlin got up and followed Gwen as she put her dishes away and led him out into the night. They wandered toward an area that Will hadn't shown him on their tour earlier that day. There was a large stone building where Merlin realized must be the forges. He could feel the heat coming from the structure long before they reached it. Once inside, they got a few nods from some students working the fires, but no one bothered them as they walked through. Merlin could see why Gwen had brought them there, and suspected this was not the first time she'd used this place to impart some gossip. The forge offered a lot of privacy, the roar of the fires and the hammering of metal made it easy to speak without fear of being overheard, and even the low light made them hard to see in the shadows, which danced and jumped around them. They went into a back office, giving a little distance from the noise of work. Even so, Gwen kept her voice low, and Merlin had to lean in to listen to her.
"Morgana was raised by Uther when her parents died. He promised Morgana's father Gorlois that he would raise her as his own, unaware that Gorlois wasn't her real father at all. Apollo was. A few years ago Morgana learned the truth, and Apollo claimed her in court, in front of Uther and Arthur and a few other noblemen. Monster attacks became more frequent once she was aware of who she was, and Uther told her she had to leave, live at the camp. See, Uther had never told anyone, but Arthur is a half-blood, too." Merlin gasped. "He doesn't know, but Uther told Morgana that she was putting him in danger. That Arthur had to be kept safe as heir to the throne." Gwen's face hardened. "He threw her out when he promised to take care of her. Now we're the only ones that she has."
"And Arthur didn't think anything was wrong?"
"I don't know what he thought. Morgana hasn't seen him since, she hasn't even left the camp boundaries."
"That's....horrible." Merlin thought of his mother, and of Will, and what it would be like if he never saw them again. He swore to himself that he would be there for Morgana, too, and Gwen. That they all had to look out for each other, an odd sort of kin that they were.
Merlin began to get used to his routine in Camelot, helping Gaius in the mornings before heading back to camp for training in the afternoons. He usually saw Will before or after training, and ate dinner with Gwen and Morgana.
About a week after Merlin's arrival in Camelot, he was walking through the marketplace on his way to Camelot when he had his second encounter with Prince Arthur. Arthur was laughing and showing off with a group of knights. Merlin's breath caught as he noticed the Prince again, but now a simmering anger stirred within him with the new knowledge of his history with Morgana. Didn't he care?
Merlin didn't realize that he must have been scowling openly at the Prince of Camelot until Arthur was standing directly in front of him. He smirked at Merlin, "I assure you that I am quite safe today, as the Prince and the target of many attacks, I am well guarded." He vaguely gestured back to the knights standing a short distance away, laughing at Merlin.
Merlin frowned before schooling his features and grumbling out a "Sire." He felt both flattered and insulted by the prince's strange attentions, and decided to leave before he did something rash. "I'm late to meet Gaius, excuse me."
As he turned away Arthur said "There's something about you, Merlin. I just can't quite put my finger on it."
One evening after Gaius delivered one of Morgana's sleeping droughts, he sought Merlin out looking quite frantic.
"Gaius, what are you doing here?" Merlin asked as Gaius knocked at his cabin.
"Merlin, something has happened which I think you need to be aware of. Hermes payed a visit to Uther's court today."
"Really? Does he normally come to court?" Merlin was confused, and nervous about why Gaius seemed so anxious.
"Indeed not, he was there in his capacity as messenger of the gods. He has only made an appearance to Uther a handful of times that I can remember. The gods do not need a physical presence in Uther's court to keep current on what goes on there, instead Hermes is only sent when the gods with to communicate something to the King, and only then for very serious matters. This visit was very serious indeed." Gaius paused and motioned for Merlin to sit, which he did, sitting on his bed. Gaius sat next to him before he continued.
"Something has been stolen from the gods, right from Olympus. The gods believe King Uther is behind it, and Hermes came to issue a final warning for it to be returned by the summer solstice, an ultimatum. Uther still denies anything to do with it, and in retaliation he threatened to renounce the gods and end all tributes if they did not make an apology by the same summer solstice deadline. If there is no resolution, I'm afraid Camelot will fall. As the seat of Western Civilization, it is my theory that Olympus would fall with it."
"Merlin, I fear that you may be caught up in this without much choice. The missing item is the most important weapon that belongs to your father." Gaius paused, his hand coming to rest heavily on Merlin's shoulder. "Someone has stolen the Master Bolt, from which all lightning is modeled."
Merlin's heart beat sped as he felt overwhelming dread. "What? How can someone just steal that?"
"I do not know, for no mere mortal can pass Olympus' threshold. But... very few know of this, it would be most wise to keep to yourself: Prince Arthur is a half-blood. His mother was Athena, and he is very skilled in strategy."
"You're not suggesting it was Arthur? He doesn't even know that he's a half-blood!" Merlin felt very indignant on Arthur's behalf, and barely wondered why he was so quick to defend him.
"No no, my dear boy, but that doesn't mean that no one else thinks he is involved, or that Uther is somehow using him against his will."
"Why would Uther want to steal the bolt, anyway?" Merlin still couldn't believe what he was hearing, it sounded so preposterous.
"There is a prophecy, Merlin, a very ancient prophecy by the oracle of the Delphi, that says that two powerful half-bloods, one who is a child of the Big Three, will destroy Camelot as we know it, change it for all time. Uther fears this greatly, and as such he is wary of all half-bloods, and what will happen to his kingdom. This colors his decisions, of course, but Uther ultimately wants what is best for his people. Such a move against Olympus wouldn't make sense. No, I have other suspicions. There are those out there who would want to see Olympus destroyed, or take its place. Those who care little for any people other than themselves."
"Who?"
"I have suspicions only, without more solid proof I best not say more. We must just remember to be careful."
Merlin's mind boggled trying to process all the information at once as Gaius patted his shoulder affectionately before leaving Merlin's cabin.
Hours later Merlin was still laying awake in bed, unable to find any peace or sleep.
Suddenly Merlin heard a noise, a faint wing-beat. He sat up cautiously, looking around the room. There was a tall man standing across from his bed. He had black hair and a black beard, and bright blue eyes, clear and luminous like the sky on a sunny day. He wore a simple robe, but none would doubt its finery. He looked more regal than the king himself, and then he smiled and at once Merlin felt his spirits lift.
"Merlin, my boy. You've grown."
"...Father? Er, Zeus? Sir?"
"Yes, it is I."
A swarm of emotions threatened to overwhelm Merlin at those words, his chest exploding with something he could not name. "I...you're here. My whole life I've wanted to know you, wished I could see you..." he choked out.
"I know it must be hard, Merlin, but things will never be the same for you and I as they are for a mortal father and son. I can't interfere in mortal lives. But I am proud of the man you are becoming."
Merlin jumped up and ran to Zeus throwing his arms around the man he had only just met. His father pulled away sooner than Merlin would have liked, but his face carried a serious expression now. "Merlin, I came because I need you. Uther has challenged us, and that we can't ignore, but neither can we let Camelot and Olympus destroy each other. I need you to find the Master Bolt. I will protect you as much as I can, but I can't do it directly. That's where you come in." Merlin just nodded solemnly, unable to get words out. "I believe in you, you just have to believe in yourself. Don't worry about the future, things aren't always as they seem."
"I will, father, I'll help you. I'll do whatever you need."
"Thank you."
Zeus paused for a moment and stared at Merlin, hand raised as though to touch him, but unsure where or how. He settled for ruffling Merlin's hair and then walked out the front door. He disappeared with the sound of wing-beats. As Merlin lay back down in bed, his only thought before he fell into a deep sleep was this: My father needs me.
When Merlin awoke the next morning, something was wrong. He could hear people shouting outside and a lot more activity than what he had begun to think of as normal. A thread of worry worked its way to the bottom of his stomach, after Zeus had visited him the night before he feared what it could be. Merlin splashed some water on his face and struggled to pull his clothes back on, anxious to find out what had happened. When he opened the door he saw tons of people bustling around, hauling buckets of water and grains toward the camp entrance, all with the same worried expressions on their faces. Merlin ran forward toward the crowds, looking frantically for his friends or anyone who could tell him what was going on.
Gwen found him first. "It's the village, its started!" she cried hysterically.
"Gwen, what? What's happened? What's started?" Seeing Gwen so upset magnified Merlin's fear tenfold, it was impossible not to feel the need to act when Gwen was crying.
"The...the gods, the famine! The villagers, the crops are failing, the food is running scarce. My father lives in town!"
Suddenly Merlin understood all too clearly, but Gwen continued "The camp isn't affected, of course, but we're trying to help get supplies to the rest of the people. The satyrs are doing what they can for the crops out there, and Gawain and Galahad, Dionysus' sons, have been out there since before the sun even rose."
Merlin felt a hand clap on his shoulder and turned, Will was standing there looking hollow and exhausted. "Oh my god, Will!" The you look terrible went unsaid, but Will scowled at him briefly as if he had heard it anyway.
Then his face split open into an approximation of his usual manic grin, "Nothing a cheeky dryad couldn't fix." Merlin faltered a bit at that, knowing the dryads and other nymphs were probably trying to fix it, just not in the way Will was alluding. Still, he was glad that Will hadn't lost his sense of humor, because if he was still making jokes, Will hadn't given up yet.
It was short-lived though, Will went right back to serious as he told Merlin, "Kilgarrah and Gaius want everyone to meet back here after midday, but you can help me in the meantime."
A few hours later Merlin found himself in the village. Merlin made note of the houses of the elderly or with small children, so that the others could bring them some supplies directly. Suddenly he was pulled into a small alley by a man in a blue cloak, hood pulled low over his face. "Merlin!" the man hissed.
"Ow!" he yelped, and then leaning forward in an attempt to look up into the stranger's hood, he asked "Erm, yes?"
"Its me, Prince Arthur." The man said exasperatedly, pulling his hood back roughly to reveal his face.
"What are you doing, you prat!" Merlin exclaimed, rubbing his arm where Arthur had grabbed him. When he realized what he had just said and who he said it to he clapped his hand over his mouth.
Arthur just rolled his eyes. "Are you part of the group distributing food?"
Merlin narrowed his eyes at Arthur. "Yes..."
Arthur paused a moment or two, appearing to be having trouble deciding exactly what to say next. "Thank you, for your help" he finally settled on. "I tried to ask some of the others but they fled when I asked them about it. I suppose demigods don't really want to have a chat with the Prince of Camelot."
"Not most of us, no" Merlin smirked as he replied. They gazed at each other for a few seconds longer than necessary, Merlin's thoughts getting lost in the prince's fair eyelashes and the way his lips were chapped a bit.
Arthur seemed to realize how long they had been staring as he looked down and cleared his throat. "Yes, so thank you again, on behalf of the people of Camelot, for your help in this time of need," he said stiffly.
"Well, we'll do what we can, of course, our supplies seem to be holding out well within the camp. I suppose we'll find out more at the meeting today, which I probably ought to get back to..."
"Meeting? At your camp?"
"Um, yeah, Kilgarrah wants to talk to us, I guess..."
Arthur leaned closer to Merlin, very serious now. In a low voice he asked "Merlin, could you take me with you? To this meeting?"
"Could I...what?"
"Merlin....please." Arthur gritted out. "I would do anything for my people, if I could just go and listen, I'll keep my hood up, I just need to hear that help won't run out. Or I could talk to them, make a plea, or a bargain..."
"Arthur!" Merlin tried to interrupt, but Arthur cut back in again, more determined to be heard.
"Listen, Merlin, I know that the Bolt thingy was stolen, but I had nothing to do with it, and if your...Kilgerrer...thinks that it was my father's fault and lets my people suffer for it, I just can't let that happen." Arthur's voice cracked a little when he said "can't".
"Yes, fine, I'll bring you, but I don't think it will come to that. Something else is going on, we just don't know what. You can come and listen, but you better put your hood back up."
When they got to the gate Merlin briefly wonders if Arthur knows much about the camp, and that mortals can't get in. Merlin knew that Arthur would be able to enter, but suddenly he feared that Arthur was going to find out a lot more than he bargained for before they even reached the meeting spot. Once they were through the barrier, Arthur gasped and Merlin cringed, but Arthur just said wonderingly, "It's bigger on the inside!"
They made their way quickly over to where most of the camp has already gathered, no one payed much attention to Merlin and his hooded friend. They are all turned to watch Gaius and Kilgarrah approaching, along with the Cloven Elders, leaders of the satyrs. Merlin spotted Will in the crowd and made his way toward him. He saw Morgana and Gwen a bit further away, and sensed Arthur stiffening as he saw Morgana as well. Merlin silently cursed himself for forgetting the history between Arthur and Morgana and bringing him along. "Just...stay hidden." he whispered, trying to sound as general as possible. He tried to turn and look at Arthur's face to see some of what he might be feeling, but Arthur just pulled the hood down lower.
Merlin knew Arthur must have been staring after Morgana quite a while because he didn't even notice Kilgarrah until he was speaking. Arthur turned toward the voice and startled, hissing in Merlin's ear "A dragon?!"
Kilgarrah explained about the Master Bolt being stolen, and King Uther's reaction, the potential for war. Arthur put his hand on Merlin's shoulder when Kilgarrah explained that they would continue helping the villagers however they could, and they would not let Camelot fall. Arthur tightened his grip as the dragon told them they would not only be reacting to the events to come, but would be taking action. "The oracle has a quest to bestow, which one of you must accept. If you succeed, you will prevent the fall of Camelot and Olympus, and fulfill your destiny."
There was a murmur throughout the crowd as Kilgarrah stepped to the side, revealing the oracle. Her eyes were glowing green, in a trance of some kind. Merlin could hear some of the Aries kids whispering, all wanting to volunteer for the quest. But instead of stopping next to the dragon in front of the crowd, she began to walk deeper into it. People moved out of her way as she was headed in Merlin's direction. He stepped aside pulling Arthur out of her path with him as she approached them, but instead of continuing past deeper into the crowd, she turned and came face to face with Merlin. She spoke into his mind.
Go you must, to the blessed isle,
the half-blood prince, the mighty bird.
Along your journey you will face a trial,
one of brawn and one of word.
What you seek hidden in plain sight,
by one you trust, the betraying friend.
A powerful one won't last the night,
Disaster averted in the end.
Suddenly her body went lax, and she collapsed just as Arthur grabbed her as she fainted. He stared at the now unconscious woman and back at Merlin, who was standing shock still. "Merlin!" he hissed, lowering her gently to the ground.
"A quest has been given." Kilgarrah's voice boomed over the crowd. "Merlin, do you accept this quest?" Merlin nodded dumbly. "You must choose your companions."
Arthur stood up, threw his hood back and declared, "I will go with you."
The crowd burst into uproar as people recognized the prince, and in shock at his declaration. Merlin looked at Arthur and slowly smiled. Merlin's apparent approval improved Arthur's confidence as well, because he turned toward Kilgarrah and continued, "I am a skilled fighter, and I will do whatever it takes to help and protect the people of Camelot. All the people," he added, glancing at the rest of the campers. "I owe Merlin my life, and I am honor bound to repay him, I can protect him and ensure his success on this quest."
"Young Pendragon," Kilgarrah replied "it is your right as a demigod to accompany Merlin on this quest, and your right as Prince of Camelot to protect the kingdom."
Arthur looked relieved for a moment until the full meaning behind the dragon's words caught up with him. "Wait, what? No, I'm not a demigod."
"That your mother was Athena is but the truth." Kilgarrah said in what was probably an attempt to be gentle, but for a dragon it came out only slightly less imposing.
"My...mother...?" Arthur muttered weakly. Merlin saw him look back at Morgana. The regret and fear, longing and grief in Arthur's eyes were all plainly written on his face, but Morgana's gaze remained cold, her eyes narrowed in something like contempt.
Kilgarrah seemed oblivious to the personal trauma that Arthur and Morgana were experiencing and continued on, "Merlin, you may choose one other companion on your quest."
Merlin turned to Will, but he was shaking his head. "I can't, mate, not this time. I can do more good here, helping the crops with the other satyrs." Merlin bit his lip and nodded, feeling a little helpless as he looked out at all the faces of the crowd.
He looked at Gwen and Morgana again. Morgana was looking at Gwen with tears in her eyes. Gwen however, hugged Morgana quickly and ran to Merlin. "Gwen." Merlin said with relief.
Gaius broke the moment by shouting to everyone, "Alright, you all know what you should be doing, lets get back to work!" More softly, he said to Merlin, Gwen and Arthur, now standing together, "You three better come with me," and motioned for them to follow.
Kilgarrah had shrunk himself back down to a human size so that he could meet with Gaius and the three demigods in the Big House. Arthur was quietly repeating "oh gods, oh gods" to himself while Gwen awkwardly rubbed his back with one hand, shooting Merlin a look of What do we do now?
Gaius asked Merlin to repeat the prophecy the Oracle had told him, which he did. "The Isle of the Blessed..." Kilgarrah mused, interpreting the first line.
"It seems you have a bit of a journey ahead of you." Gaius mused. "The precise location of the Isle has been unknown for some time now, but there is a way to find it. You must go to the Depths of Sagacity, an underground cave system far to the North. I don't know what you will encounter there, but I'm afraid it probably won't be easy, on any of you, and you don't have much time. You'd better prepare to leave as soon as possible."
"You are but one side of a coin, Arthur is the other." Kilgarrah said before leaving them to get ready. It almost seemed as though he was laughing as he walked away with Gaius trailing behind.
Gwen hovered for a moment before dashing off as well, saying something about packing her weapons. Merlin turned to Arthur and grasped his shoulder. Arthur looked up, anguish still on his face, but finally looking Merlin in the eyes. "Arthur, I know this is a lot, but hold it together. I know you are strong, and we're gonna succeed, not just for us, but for Camelot, and for Olympus."
"For Camelot. For my people." Arthur parroted.
"Right. Now go get your things together and meet me and Gwen back at the camp entrance in an hour."
Arthur nodded and left, leaving Merlin to try and get his thoughts together so he could pack and wonder just how they were going to pull this off.
Onto Part 2