Fic: Amulet of Shinnok
Title: Amulet of Shinnok
Author: ella_rose88
Rating: G
Word Count: 4, 261
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Gwen, Merlin, Gaius and OC
Spoilers: None really. Future fic.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters at all (though I wish I did!). Information on the Amulet of Shinnok I go from here
Summary: Merlin encounters a mysterious small child.
Author’s notes: Based on a little ficket I did for one of the prompts over ag_fics Mini Challenge 1, which I have extended and re-named. This fic is set between episode 10 and episode 12.Thanks to mustbethursday3, rainbow_connec & sophielou21 for holding my hand throughout this process. Thanks also to mydoctortennant for beta’ing this for me and for inspiring me to actually start writing my own fics.
But most of all I want to say a huge thank you to all the people who write such amazing fics, arts and videos that I have seen, read and watched over the past two years. You have all inspired me so much! This is for you guys!
Comments are ♥!
It all starts when Merlin accidentally knocks over a table, sending all of the objects on top flying onto the floor.
Rats Merlin says to himself grumpy and then he goes down to pick up all of the objects that he sent flying everywhere. Arthur. This is all his fault. Arthur is supposed to be in a council meeting, since nobody has seen him so Uther sent Merlin on an errand to find his son.
Finally he bends down lazily to pick up the final object that had ended up going behind the pillar, it looks like a necklace. However, when he picks it up it is a rather beautiful golden amulet on a chain. It has an emerald stone in the middle with many different symbols inscribed on it. He tries to bring the object close to his face to further examine it when he suddenly feels a hot sensation going down his neck and a little tingling in his fingers.
This is not a good sign,he thinks to himself. Merlin knows this feeling. There have been many occasions in the past where he has felt like this. It tends to always happen whenever he is near anything or anyone magical.
After a few moments, Merlin decides that, whatever this object is, he better get it to Gauis so he can determine what it is. He goes to place it back into his pocket for safekeeping when he sees that the emerald stone starts to glow green.
Suddenly, the whole room starts spinning and whooshing around him. He closes his eyes before he gets dizzy. Finally it stops and Merlin opens his eyes. Nothing looks any different at first. He is standing in the same spot as before. He takes a little step forward when he notices a door that he hasn’t seen before. Interested in what the door could lend to, he goes to the door, grabs the door knob, hesitates a little,then opens it and walks in.
It is a large chamber, Merlin thinks to himself, while he curiously looks around the room. There are millions of children’s toys - wooden swords, figures of people, knights, puzzles scattered across the room. It almost reminds him of Arthur’s chambers before he cleans it. Arthur. I wonder if Prince Prat is in here
Merlin slowly walks around the chamber studying every object when, in the corner of his eye, he notices the most beautiful crafted tapestry with the Pendragon symbol. Just as he tries to get a closer look at it, he suddenly hears tiny footsteps coming from behind him.
Tip toe tip toe
Slightly frightened and intrigued, Merlin slowly turns around.
“Put your hands up, Uncle Merlin, you’re under arrest!” a boy with brownish-blond, curly hair and blue eyes shouts, aiming his sword at Merlin’s neck.
“Who...are you?” Merlin mutters slowly, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Could it be possible?
“I’m Prince Amhar Pendragon and you’re meant to put your hands up cause you’re under arrest!” Amhar replies with such authority it reminds Merlin of Arthur, so he does as he is bid and puts his hands up in the air.
Amhar quickly grabs Merlin’s hands, ties them with a rope and forces him to sit in a chair. He is about to ask Amhar why he is being arrested when Gwen suddenly walks into the chamber, wearing a turquoise gown with a golden bodice and velvety Pendragon red cloak. She looks every inch a Queen.
It is with this thought that realises that Merlin must have somehow been transported into the future. Or he is having a dream, brought on by stress of being Prince Arthur’s servant and protector.
“Amhar, why have you restrained Merlin to the chair?”
“Cause he’s under arrest for stealing Excalibur.”
“How could Merlin steal Excalibur when your father has it with him all the time? Release him now, Amhar.”
“No not till someone pays for his release.”
“Amhar,” Gwen warns him. It reminds Merlin of the time when that goblin put a spell on Arthur giving him donkey ears and Gwen had given him the exact same look when he had laughed at the thought of it.
“Buuuut Mummm, it’s part of the game. You’re supposed to give me ten chocolate cakes to pay for his release,” Amhar pleads then pulls a sad-puppy-dog face.
”How about a parlé?” Gwen suggests. “If you release Merlin now, you can run along to the kitchens and ask Cook for twelve cakes.”
“Fine,” Amhar slowly concedes then shouts excitedly “Yay!” and quickly runs out of the room heading for the kitchens.
Gwen slowly bends down at her waist, slowly untying the knot bound around Merlin’s hands that is keeping him secure to the chair with a small golden dagger that has many dragons on the handle. The sunlight from the window glows and Merlin can see the many colours in Gwen’s soft curls- brown, pink and white, from the many roses threaded in her hair. He feels a moment of nostalgia surge through him to when he first met Gwen and it feels good to know that while many things have appeared to have changed. Gwen is still the same girl, the same Gwen who loves wearing flowers in her hair. This thought makes him grin.
“I have no idea how one child can make so much mess,” Gwen sighs and swipes her hand across her forehead.
Eventually, Gwen manages to get Merlin free and he is glad to be able to finally stand up. He begins rubbing at his sides hoping to get the blood to follow through him after being tied for what felt like ages. The kid sure knows how to tie his knots tight. No doubt his father taught him how. Merlin thinks darkly.
Merlin then turns around and Gwen looks at Merlin intently, studying him and notices that he isn’t wearing his usual attire, but an outfit that he used to wear when he was still Prince Arthur’s servant. Is it me or does he look younger too? But before she can question Merlin about it, he quickly laughs as if he knows what she was going to say and says, “Like father like son.”
Gwen begins to gently stroke her stomach and it suddenly makes Merlin observe how she is absolutely glowing. He thought it was just the sunlight, now he realises that it’s something else entirely.
“You’re glowing Gwen…”
Gwen blushes then she responds slyly, “Well, Merlin, let’s just say that in several months time Amhar will have a playmate and won’t be kidnapping or arresting you all the time,” she sighs again and continues “You know yesterday I had to untie two guards, a maid, Percival and Elyan from the same fate. I honestly don’t know how one small child can cause so much upheaval in day; let alone in a few minutes!”
“What are two gossiping about? Don’t tell me you’re gossiping about me...”
Arthur appears from the doorway where he had his elbow leaning against.
“You may be a Prin- I mean King, but that doesn’t mean that the world revolve around you!” Merlin says sarcastically, before giving Gwen a cheeky look.
Ignoring Merlin’s teasing remark; Arthur walks over to his beautiful wife and gives her a kiss.
At first it makes him feel very happy to see the two lovers (his best friends) completely besotted with each other, kissing each other with such love, adoration and passion. But then the kiss never ends and Merlin feels like Arthur and Gwen have completely forgotten that he is still in the room. Deciding that this would be the prefect moment to leave the two lovers alone, Merlin quietly walks out of the chambers and into the corridor.
*
Consumed in his thoughts on how he was going to get back home, Merlin nearly doesn’t notice his future self walking from the other direction. Although he is awestruck by seeing himself in the future, Merlin manages to quickly hide behind a pillar. He has no idea what will happen if his future self saw his past self but he assumes it might something bad.
From the view behind the pillar, Merlin is able to see himself. He is wearing a much finer robe (certainly much finer than his current outfit); similar to the one he wore when he aged himself in order to save Gwen from being burnt at the stake. This robe, however, is a deep emerald colour which seems to bring out his eyes.
I look quite good, Merlin says to himself. Although, I wonder what happened to my neck scarf? I have a feeling that Arthur or Gwaine had something to do with it.
After waiting a few moments, future Merlin’s footsteps die down, allowing Merlin to vacate his hiding spot from behind the pillar. He is about to walk back along the corridor to work out how the hell he can get back to his time, when Amhar knocks into him. He is carrying a bunch of chocolate cakes he managed to get from the cook in the kitchens and looks quite pleased with himself.
“Hey buddy, where you are going? You nearly knocked me right over.”
“Sorry Uncle Merlin,” Amhar says apologetically before adding, “Where’s ma and pa?”
Merlin tries to keep a neutral face. He doesn’t want Amhar to interrupt his parents while they doing what Merlin is pretty sure they are doing.
“They’re ummm… busy. Why don’t we play a game?”
“Yeah, let’s play hide and seek!” Amhar shouts excitedly.
“Ok. I’ll count to 50. You go and hide and then I’ll come to find you.”
“You won’t be able to find me, Uncle Merlin!” Amhar points out then he places his cakes into his pocket and runs off to go and hide.
Merlin closes his eyes and starts counting to fifty in his head. Once he gets there, he begins searching for Amhar.
*
Arthur knows that he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t be hiding in an alcove waiting for his beloved Guinevere to walk past. He should be at the council meeting doing his duties. But it has been three days, ten minutes and five seconds since he last saw her and he just needed to look into her beautiful brown eyes and kiss her.
A few weeks ago, Gwen had nearly been put to death because Uther believed that she has enchanted Arthur to fall in love with her. Since then they agreed that it would be best that they are careful whenever they are around each other. Arthur didn’t want any harm to come to her ever again. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if anything happened to her.
Finally, he hears some footsteps; Arthur glances out briefly to see whether it is Gwen. Arthur feels slightly disappointed to only discover that it is guard walking the opposite way and not her. Feeling a tad stupid, he quickly steps back behind the pillar; only he trips and knocks over a table. Feeling a little dizzy, he decides that getting up too quickly wouldn’t be wise so he stays where he is. After a few minutes he feels a little better and is determined that, no matter how dizzy he feels, he has to see Gwen. He goes to stand up when he notices a something in the corner of his eye. So he goes to reach for the object and realises that it is an amulet. Intrigued by it, he picks up the amulet with his hand when it the stone in the middle starts to glow…
The next minute everything is swooshing and swirling around him, making him feel a tad queasy so he shuts his eyes and drops the amulet. After the dizziness fades, Arthur opens his eyes and continues on his journey down the corridor. He knows that if he’s another minute late to the meeting his father will send Merlin to go looking for him. He will have to try another time to meet Gwen.
He reaches the end of the corridor, when suddenly out of nowhere a hand grabs his arm pulls in him into an alcove and kisses him. For a few seconds Arthur is completely distracted by her hands in his hair before he realises that it is Gwen who is kissing him. He can feel his heart pounding in his chest like drum and wishes that Gwen would do that more often. But before he can actually deepen the kiss and add his tongue (like he has wanted to do since that day when they were interrupted by his father and Morgana), Gwen slowly pulls away then says, “While I would love to keep doing this, I’m late for a meeting with the Royal Blacksmith.” She then walks away, looking smug, leaving Arthur behind.
He doesn’t know what to do, apart from standing there with his mouth slightly open looking quite stunned.
*
While walking along the corridor, Merlin noticed tiny little cake crumbs on the ground. Amhar has obviously accidentally dropped them whilst running to hide. Knowing that it would be an unfair advantage to follow the trail straight away, Merlin decides to “try” looking in another spot. However, he then notices that Amhar’s trail leads to the table. He sees something else glittering on the floor so he bends down to see what it is.
Oh no. Don’t tell me…
Merlin begins to panic. He picks up the golden chain with the amulet swinging freely from it.
Amhar must have touched the amulet and been transported somewhere else.
Knowing that would be bad, very bad indeed if Amhar turns up in the past. Merlin knows what to do. So he waits for the amulet to glow.
Suddenly Merlin feels a whoosh, and the corridor and all the furniture become blurred as the room is spinning. He quickly closes his eyes as he doesn’t want to feel dizzy once again. Finally all the whooshing and swirling stops. Merlin opens his eyes and is relieved to be back in familiar surroundings.
Now all I have to do is: find Amhar without anyone noticing him, convince him to come with me and get him back to where he belongs. Simple.
How wrong he was.
*
Twenty minutes later, Merlin has yet to find Amhar and realises that there is one place he hasn’t checked yet: The kitchens. He realises that is probably the first place he should have looked as Amhar is very much his father’s son when it comes to food.
Sure enough, Merlin finds Amhar hiding in one of the wheat barrels. He manages to lift Amhar out of the barrel though he seems to weight a lot for a 5 year old and says “I gotcha!”
“Yeah, but it took you ages, Uncle Merlin!” Amhar sticks out his tongue at Merlin, then continues excitedly, “My turn. You have to hide now and I’m gonna find you.”
“Umm… while I would love and go hide Amhar, I can’t at the moment as umm...” Merlin pauses for a moment trying to think of a way to convince Amhar to stop playing hide and seek and go with him back to the portal, but nothing comes to him.
“But whhhhy?” Amhar whines and gives Merlin a look like he is about to start having a mini tantrum.
“Umm because we have to get back to your mother before she starts to worry,” Merlin answers, thinking that this is a pretty good response that would make Amhar see reason and return with him. Also, he has a feeling that Gwen is probably very worried too, so it’s not really a lie.
However, it seems to have the opposite effect than Merlin anticipated.
“But you said that we were gonna play hide and seek and I haven’t gotten to find you yet.”
“Well that’s life Amhar. Sometimes you don’t get what you want. So let’s go and find your mum now,” which Merlin hopes will make Amhar go with him finally. But once again, he is wrong.
After another 5 minutes of arguing, Merlin manages to convince Amhar to walk with him back to the portal by agreeing to play hide and seek with him for the next three days. Parts one and two of mission completed. Now all I have to do is make sure I get him back before anyone notices… Should be easy now that I’ve managed to convince him to come with me.
It turns out that getting Amhar back to where he belongs isn’t as easy as he first thought. Every time Merlin and Amhar were walking through the castle past all the guards, nobles and servants, Amhar would elbow him in the arm and asking him eagerly, “Who are those people?”
At one point, Amhar even started to jump up and down excitedly when he sees Gwaine.
“Oh it’s Uncle Gwaine. Maybe he will play hide and seek with me,” he teases, then he starts to run towards him. Quickly Merlin grabs Amhar by his tunic and warns Amhar “While I’m sure Gwaine would love to play with you, he looks busy.”
But Amhar isn’t fooled by this and complains “But he was gonna teach me how to do that move I saw yesterday.”
Eventually, after what feels like a lifetime Merlin manages to convince Amhar to go back to where all this drama started. So he picks up the amulet, but nothing happens. Oh no. Please work you stupid amulet. You have no idea how much I’ve been through today already.
So he tries again, hoping that this time the amulet will glow and it will take them back to the future so he can return Arthur and Gwen’s child.
But once again, Merlin is wrong.
“Gauis”, Merlin mutters out loud, “he will know what to do.”
Amhar looks at Merlin intently and then tugs his shirt and asks “Gaius, isn’t he dead? Dad said he died a few days before I was born.”
Merlin tries to compose himself. He can’t imagine Gaius being dead, he was always there for him to help and guide him. He considered Gaius to be a sort of father figure in his life, since he didn’t really know his father till he met him over a year ago.
“Well, Amhar this is not the same person,” Merlin stops, then struggles to come up with an explanation that makes sense, but continues “This is a friend of Gaius. His name just happens to be the same as Gauis’s. Would you like to meet him?”
Amhar nods his head and Merlin grabs his hand and they walk to Gaius’s chambers.
*
A door opens.
“Finally Merlin, you are here. Where have you been? Uther is looking for….” Gaius is about to continue his sentence, when he turns around and sees that Merlin is holding a child’s hand. It is a boy of no more than 6 or 7 and looks very much like Arthur did when he was little, except for brownish, blonde curly hair.
“Merlin, who is this child?” Gaius asks Merlin, surprised that he manages to get it out.
“This Gauis, is Amhar Pendragon,” Merlin gives Gaius a little look hoping that it will let Gaius know not to say much in front of Amhar, “Son of Arthur and Guinevere Pendragon.”
“Oh, hello Amhar,” Gauis says as he smiles at Amhar and shakes his small hand.
“Hello Gaius.” Amhar then gets distracted by all potion bottles and instruments on the table and shelves.
“You like my chambers, Amhar. Why don’t you go and look around?” Gaius suggests to him. Ahmar shouts gleefully then he goes to the table and begins looks into each potion.
Merlin sighs and then whispers to Gaius “Good thinking,” but Gaius raises his eyebrows which he does whenever he is not amused. Merlin stops talking.
“What the hell has happened? How is it that Amhar is here?” Gaius looks at Merlin. So he starts telling him everything, right from the beginning. He tells him about the amulet and meeting Amhar and Gwen.
After Merlin has told Gaius his story, he begins asking him many questions about the amulet: what does amulet look like, what were the symbols, what happened when it glowed?
Merlin could tell that Gaius didn’t have a clue about the amulet, other than it possessed the power of teleportation. So they did all they could think of and began searching through all of Gaius’s books, looking for anything that might give them more information on the amulet and what it can do.
*
Merlin slowly opens his eyes, and begins to rub them. He stretches his back and moves his arms in the air. Both of them had spent hours looking through every book, but didn’t find anything that was useful. Amhar is fast asleep, curled up on the floor.
Gaius suddenly snores; Merlin giggles and then hears an “A-ummm….”
Merlin turns his head around, still sitting on the bench, and is shocked. There standing right in front of him is him. Well rather his future self. He is also holding an unconscious Arthur.
For a few moments there is absolute silence, finally Merlin speaks, “Hhhhhow did you get here? And why are you holding Arthur?”
His Future incarnation places Arthur gently onto the bench and then looks him in his eyes. Gaius then begins to stir, and starts to raise his arms to stretch them when he notices future Merlin standing before him and Arthur unconscious on the bench.
Gaius isn’t quite sure what to say, either is Merlin. After a few more moments Merlin’s future self breaks to break the silence.
“I know you two are probably wondering how I turned up here with Arthur,” both Gaius and Merlin nod. It feels strange to both of them seeing how different, confident this future version of Merlin is.
He then holds up the amulet, “This is the Amulet of Shinnok.”
“The Amulet of Shinnok?” both Gaius and Merlin burst out at the same time.
“Yes, a powerful sorcerer, Shinnok, made the amulet and etched within it all the elemental forces: fire, wind, earth and water in order to control all of the realms-”
“By using the power of Teleportation” Gaius interjects.
“Yes,” he nods his head and then continues, “however, another powerful sorcerer found out that teleportation wasn’t its only power. It also made who ever possessed the amulet immortal. So one day, he pursed Shinnok and challenged him into a duel. Shinnok was killed and the sorcerer took the amulet from him.”
“But how did it end up in Camelot?” Merlin asks.
“This is something that I do not know. I’ve tried to find out many times. There is one thing that I do know: Morgana and Morgause must never know about this amulet.”
Both Merlin and Gaius nod their heads at this as they both know that Morgana would love to have such an amulet in her possession. The chaos and power she would have over Uther, Arthur and the rest of Camelot would be dangerous.
A few minutes pass and then Merlin slowly asks, “But how is it that when I tried to teleport back here, the amulet would not work?”
“Because I planted a fake amulet in its place.”
“Why?”
“Because, while you were looking for Arthur, Morgana was watching you,” Merlin tries to talk, but nothing comes out, he’s in too much shock. So his future self continues explaining, “She saw you teleport back and forward. She saw Ahmar as well. She tried to steal the amulet, to use it for her self no doubt. However, what she didn’t know is that some of the amulet’s power transferred to me, allowing me to teleport back quickly and grab the amulet and swamp them.”
It takes a few minutes for Gaius and Merlin to disguss everything that future Merlin has told them. After a while, future!Merlin goes over to the sleeping Amhar, gently bends down, places his arms underneath his arms and legs and picks him up.
“It’s been a pleasure seeing both of you,” Merlin gives them a little grin.
“Yes, it’s been quite strange,” Merlin laughs, then adds, “Just a small question: does Arthur ever start taking me seriously?”
His future self giggles, then says “Spoilers.”
Suddenly, both Amhar and his future self disappear.
*
“Man, how the hell did I end up here?” Arthur says quite groggily rubbing his head. It feels quite sore like he got hit in the back of the head with a mallet.
Both Gaius and Merlin struggle to not laugh, then Merlin explains: “You tripped over and I found you and brought you back here. But now isn’t the time to be explaining such things. You’re late for your council meeting”
“Umm Merlin?”
“Yes sire?”
“I’m the one meant to be giving the orders,” Arthur snaps.
“Well, then stop pouting and get a move on.”
*
Later on, Arthur is in the council room trying to listen to Sir Edward talk about the latest news from Cenred’s territory, but he is too distracted. He remembers that earlier when he was kissing Gwen, she looked different. She was wearing a much finer gown to the one she was wearing now. Suddenly, he looks up to see Gwen looking at him intently, so he returns her looks with a little grin on his face.
Meanwhile, Merlin watches the whole exchange between the two lovers, grins to himself and thinks dreams really do come true.
_______
I've just created a fan work community for all of my stuff at m_in_wonderland, so feel free to comment there too. Tell me what you think of the layout and that too. I'm quite impressed with it myself!
Author: ella_rose88
Rating: G
Word Count: 4, 261
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Gwen, Merlin, Gaius and OC
Spoilers: None really. Future fic.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters at all (though I wish I did!). Information on the Amulet of Shinnok I go from here
Summary: Merlin encounters a mysterious small child.
Author’s notes: Based on a little ficket I did for one of the prompts over ag_fics Mini Challenge 1, which I have extended and re-named. This fic is set between episode 10 and episode 12.Thanks to mustbethursday3, rainbow_connec & sophielou21 for holding my hand throughout this process. Thanks also to mydoctortennant for beta’ing this for me and for inspiring me to actually start writing my own fics.
But most of all I want to say a huge thank you to all the people who write such amazing fics, arts and videos that I have seen, read and watched over the past two years. You have all inspired me so much! This is for you guys!
Comments are ♥!
It all starts when Merlin accidentally knocks over a table, sending all of the objects on top flying onto the floor.
Rats Merlin says to himself grumpy and then he goes down to pick up all of the objects that he sent flying everywhere. Arthur. This is all his fault. Arthur is supposed to be in a council meeting, since nobody has seen him so Uther sent Merlin on an errand to find his son.
Finally he bends down lazily to pick up the final object that had ended up going behind the pillar, it looks like a necklace. However, when he picks it up it is a rather beautiful golden amulet on a chain. It has an emerald stone in the middle with many different symbols inscribed on it. He tries to bring the object close to his face to further examine it when he suddenly feels a hot sensation going down his neck and a little tingling in his fingers.
This is not a good sign,he thinks to himself. Merlin knows this feeling. There have been many occasions in the past where he has felt like this. It tends to always happen whenever he is near anything or anyone magical.
After a few moments, Merlin decides that, whatever this object is, he better get it to Gauis so he can determine what it is. He goes to place it back into his pocket for safekeeping when he sees that the emerald stone starts to glow green.
Suddenly, the whole room starts spinning and whooshing around him. He closes his eyes before he gets dizzy. Finally it stops and Merlin opens his eyes. Nothing looks any different at first. He is standing in the same spot as before. He takes a little step forward when he notices a door that he hasn’t seen before. Interested in what the door could lend to, he goes to the door, grabs the door knob, hesitates a little,then opens it and walks in.
It is a large chamber, Merlin thinks to himself, while he curiously looks around the room. There are millions of children’s toys - wooden swords, figures of people, knights, puzzles scattered across the room. It almost reminds him of Arthur’s chambers before he cleans it. Arthur. I wonder if Prince Prat is in here
Merlin slowly walks around the chamber studying every object when, in the corner of his eye, he notices the most beautiful crafted tapestry with the Pendragon symbol. Just as he tries to get a closer look at it, he suddenly hears tiny footsteps coming from behind him.
Tip toe tip toe
Slightly frightened and intrigued, Merlin slowly turns around.
“Put your hands up, Uncle Merlin, you’re under arrest!” a boy with brownish-blond, curly hair and blue eyes shouts, aiming his sword at Merlin’s neck.
“Who...are you?” Merlin mutters slowly, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Could it be possible?
“I’m Prince Amhar Pendragon and you’re meant to put your hands up cause you’re under arrest!” Amhar replies with such authority it reminds Merlin of Arthur, so he does as he is bid and puts his hands up in the air.
Amhar quickly grabs Merlin’s hands, ties them with a rope and forces him to sit in a chair. He is about to ask Amhar why he is being arrested when Gwen suddenly walks into the chamber, wearing a turquoise gown with a golden bodice and velvety Pendragon red cloak. She looks every inch a Queen.
It is with this thought that realises that Merlin must have somehow been transported into the future. Or he is having a dream, brought on by stress of being Prince Arthur’s servant and protector.
“Amhar, why have you restrained Merlin to the chair?”
“Cause he’s under arrest for stealing Excalibur.”
“How could Merlin steal Excalibur when your father has it with him all the time? Release him now, Amhar.”
“No not till someone pays for his release.”
“Amhar,” Gwen warns him. It reminds Merlin of the time when that goblin put a spell on Arthur giving him donkey ears and Gwen had given him the exact same look when he had laughed at the thought of it.
“Buuuut Mummm, it’s part of the game. You’re supposed to give me ten chocolate cakes to pay for his release,” Amhar pleads then pulls a sad-puppy-dog face.
”How about a parlé?” Gwen suggests. “If you release Merlin now, you can run along to the kitchens and ask Cook for twelve cakes.”
“Fine,” Amhar slowly concedes then shouts excitedly “Yay!” and quickly runs out of the room heading for the kitchens.
Gwen slowly bends down at her waist, slowly untying the knot bound around Merlin’s hands that is keeping him secure to the chair with a small golden dagger that has many dragons on the handle. The sunlight from the window glows and Merlin can see the many colours in Gwen’s soft curls- brown, pink and white, from the many roses threaded in her hair. He feels a moment of nostalgia surge through him to when he first met Gwen and it feels good to know that while many things have appeared to have changed. Gwen is still the same girl, the same Gwen who loves wearing flowers in her hair. This thought makes him grin.
“I have no idea how one child can make so much mess,” Gwen sighs and swipes her hand across her forehead.
Eventually, Gwen manages to get Merlin free and he is glad to be able to finally stand up. He begins rubbing at his sides hoping to get the blood to follow through him after being tied for what felt like ages. The kid sure knows how to tie his knots tight. No doubt his father taught him how. Merlin thinks darkly.
Merlin then turns around and Gwen looks at Merlin intently, studying him and notices that he isn’t wearing his usual attire, but an outfit that he used to wear when he was still Prince Arthur’s servant. Is it me or does he look younger too? But before she can question Merlin about it, he quickly laughs as if he knows what she was going to say and says, “Like father like son.”
Gwen begins to gently stroke her stomach and it suddenly makes Merlin observe how she is absolutely glowing. He thought it was just the sunlight, now he realises that it’s something else entirely.
“You’re glowing Gwen…”
Gwen blushes then she responds slyly, “Well, Merlin, let’s just say that in several months time Amhar will have a playmate and won’t be kidnapping or arresting you all the time,” she sighs again and continues “You know yesterday I had to untie two guards, a maid, Percival and Elyan from the same fate. I honestly don’t know how one small child can cause so much upheaval in day; let alone in a few minutes!”
“What are two gossiping about? Don’t tell me you’re gossiping about me...”
Arthur appears from the doorway where he had his elbow leaning against.
“You may be a Prin- I mean King, but that doesn’t mean that the world revolve around you!” Merlin says sarcastically, before giving Gwen a cheeky look.
Ignoring Merlin’s teasing remark; Arthur walks over to his beautiful wife and gives her a kiss.
At first it makes him feel very happy to see the two lovers (his best friends) completely besotted with each other, kissing each other with such love, adoration and passion. But then the kiss never ends and Merlin feels like Arthur and Gwen have completely forgotten that he is still in the room. Deciding that this would be the prefect moment to leave the two lovers alone, Merlin quietly walks out of the chambers and into the corridor.
*
Consumed in his thoughts on how he was going to get back home, Merlin nearly doesn’t notice his future self walking from the other direction. Although he is awestruck by seeing himself in the future, Merlin manages to quickly hide behind a pillar. He has no idea what will happen if his future self saw his past self but he assumes it might something bad.
From the view behind the pillar, Merlin is able to see himself. He is wearing a much finer robe (certainly much finer than his current outfit); similar to the one he wore when he aged himself in order to save Gwen from being burnt at the stake. This robe, however, is a deep emerald colour which seems to bring out his eyes.
I look quite good, Merlin says to himself. Although, I wonder what happened to my neck scarf? I have a feeling that Arthur or Gwaine had something to do with it.
After waiting a few moments, future Merlin’s footsteps die down, allowing Merlin to vacate his hiding spot from behind the pillar. He is about to walk back along the corridor to work out how the hell he can get back to his time, when Amhar knocks into him. He is carrying a bunch of chocolate cakes he managed to get from the cook in the kitchens and looks quite pleased with himself.
“Hey buddy, where you are going? You nearly knocked me right over.”
“Sorry Uncle Merlin,” Amhar says apologetically before adding, “Where’s ma and pa?”
Merlin tries to keep a neutral face. He doesn’t want Amhar to interrupt his parents while they doing what Merlin is pretty sure they are doing.
“They’re ummm… busy. Why don’t we play a game?”
“Yeah, let’s play hide and seek!” Amhar shouts excitedly.
“Ok. I’ll count to 50. You go and hide and then I’ll come to find you.”
“You won’t be able to find me, Uncle Merlin!” Amhar points out then he places his cakes into his pocket and runs off to go and hide.
Merlin closes his eyes and starts counting to fifty in his head. Once he gets there, he begins searching for Amhar.
*
Arthur knows that he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t be hiding in an alcove waiting for his beloved Guinevere to walk past. He should be at the council meeting doing his duties. But it has been three days, ten minutes and five seconds since he last saw her and he just needed to look into her beautiful brown eyes and kiss her.
A few weeks ago, Gwen had nearly been put to death because Uther believed that she has enchanted Arthur to fall in love with her. Since then they agreed that it would be best that they are careful whenever they are around each other. Arthur didn’t want any harm to come to her ever again. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if anything happened to her.
Finally, he hears some footsteps; Arthur glances out briefly to see whether it is Gwen. Arthur feels slightly disappointed to only discover that it is guard walking the opposite way and not her. Feeling a tad stupid, he quickly steps back behind the pillar; only he trips and knocks over a table. Feeling a little dizzy, he decides that getting up too quickly wouldn’t be wise so he stays where he is. After a few minutes he feels a little better and is determined that, no matter how dizzy he feels, he has to see Gwen. He goes to stand up when he notices a something in the corner of his eye. So he goes to reach for the object and realises that it is an amulet. Intrigued by it, he picks up the amulet with his hand when it the stone in the middle starts to glow…
The next minute everything is swooshing and swirling around him, making him feel a tad queasy so he shuts his eyes and drops the amulet. After the dizziness fades, Arthur opens his eyes and continues on his journey down the corridor. He knows that if he’s another minute late to the meeting his father will send Merlin to go looking for him. He will have to try another time to meet Gwen.
He reaches the end of the corridor, when suddenly out of nowhere a hand grabs his arm pulls in him into an alcove and kisses him. For a few seconds Arthur is completely distracted by her hands in his hair before he realises that it is Gwen who is kissing him. He can feel his heart pounding in his chest like drum and wishes that Gwen would do that more often. But before he can actually deepen the kiss and add his tongue (like he has wanted to do since that day when they were interrupted by his father and Morgana), Gwen slowly pulls away then says, “While I would love to keep doing this, I’m late for a meeting with the Royal Blacksmith.” She then walks away, looking smug, leaving Arthur behind.
He doesn’t know what to do, apart from standing there with his mouth slightly open looking quite stunned.
*
While walking along the corridor, Merlin noticed tiny little cake crumbs on the ground. Amhar has obviously accidentally dropped them whilst running to hide. Knowing that it would be an unfair advantage to follow the trail straight away, Merlin decides to “try” looking in another spot. However, he then notices that Amhar’s trail leads to the table. He sees something else glittering on the floor so he bends down to see what it is.
Oh no. Don’t tell me…
Merlin begins to panic. He picks up the golden chain with the amulet swinging freely from it.
Amhar must have touched the amulet and been transported somewhere else.
Knowing that would be bad, very bad indeed if Amhar turns up in the past. Merlin knows what to do. So he waits for the amulet to glow.
Suddenly Merlin feels a whoosh, and the corridor and all the furniture become blurred as the room is spinning. He quickly closes his eyes as he doesn’t want to feel dizzy once again. Finally all the whooshing and swirling stops. Merlin opens his eyes and is relieved to be back in familiar surroundings.
Now all I have to do is: find Amhar without anyone noticing him, convince him to come with me and get him back to where he belongs. Simple.
How wrong he was.
*
Twenty minutes later, Merlin has yet to find Amhar and realises that there is one place he hasn’t checked yet: The kitchens. He realises that is probably the first place he should have looked as Amhar is very much his father’s son when it comes to food.
Sure enough, Merlin finds Amhar hiding in one of the wheat barrels. He manages to lift Amhar out of the barrel though he seems to weight a lot for a 5 year old and says “I gotcha!”
“Yeah, but it took you ages, Uncle Merlin!” Amhar sticks out his tongue at Merlin, then continues excitedly, “My turn. You have to hide now and I’m gonna find you.”
“Umm… while I would love and go hide Amhar, I can’t at the moment as umm...” Merlin pauses for a moment trying to think of a way to convince Amhar to stop playing hide and seek and go with him back to the portal, but nothing comes to him.
“But whhhhy?” Amhar whines and gives Merlin a look like he is about to start having a mini tantrum.
“Umm because we have to get back to your mother before she starts to worry,” Merlin answers, thinking that this is a pretty good response that would make Amhar see reason and return with him. Also, he has a feeling that Gwen is probably very worried too, so it’s not really a lie.
However, it seems to have the opposite effect than Merlin anticipated.
“But you said that we were gonna play hide and seek and I haven’t gotten to find you yet.”
“Well that’s life Amhar. Sometimes you don’t get what you want. So let’s go and find your mum now,” which Merlin hopes will make Amhar go with him finally. But once again, he is wrong.
After another 5 minutes of arguing, Merlin manages to convince Amhar to walk with him back to the portal by agreeing to play hide and seek with him for the next three days. Parts one and two of mission completed. Now all I have to do is make sure I get him back before anyone notices… Should be easy now that I’ve managed to convince him to come with me.
It turns out that getting Amhar back to where he belongs isn’t as easy as he first thought. Every time Merlin and Amhar were walking through the castle past all the guards, nobles and servants, Amhar would elbow him in the arm and asking him eagerly, “Who are those people?”
At one point, Amhar even started to jump up and down excitedly when he sees Gwaine.
“Oh it’s Uncle Gwaine. Maybe he will play hide and seek with me,” he teases, then he starts to run towards him. Quickly Merlin grabs Amhar by his tunic and warns Amhar “While I’m sure Gwaine would love to play with you, he looks busy.”
But Amhar isn’t fooled by this and complains “But he was gonna teach me how to do that move I saw yesterday.”
Eventually, after what feels like a lifetime Merlin manages to convince Amhar to go back to where all this drama started. So he picks up the amulet, but nothing happens. Oh no. Please work you stupid amulet. You have no idea how much I’ve been through today already.
So he tries again, hoping that this time the amulet will glow and it will take them back to the future so he can return Arthur and Gwen’s child.
But once again, Merlin is wrong.
“Gauis”, Merlin mutters out loud, “he will know what to do.”
Amhar looks at Merlin intently and then tugs his shirt and asks “Gaius, isn’t he dead? Dad said he died a few days before I was born.”
Merlin tries to compose himself. He can’t imagine Gaius being dead, he was always there for him to help and guide him. He considered Gaius to be a sort of father figure in his life, since he didn’t really know his father till he met him over a year ago.
“Well, Amhar this is not the same person,” Merlin stops, then struggles to come up with an explanation that makes sense, but continues “This is a friend of Gaius. His name just happens to be the same as Gauis’s. Would you like to meet him?”
Amhar nods his head and Merlin grabs his hand and they walk to Gaius’s chambers.
*
A door opens.
“Finally Merlin, you are here. Where have you been? Uther is looking for….” Gaius is about to continue his sentence, when he turns around and sees that Merlin is holding a child’s hand. It is a boy of no more than 6 or 7 and looks very much like Arthur did when he was little, except for brownish, blonde curly hair.
“Merlin, who is this child?” Gaius asks Merlin, surprised that he manages to get it out.
“This Gauis, is Amhar Pendragon,” Merlin gives Gaius a little look hoping that it will let Gaius know not to say much in front of Amhar, “Son of Arthur and Guinevere Pendragon.”
“Oh, hello Amhar,” Gauis says as he smiles at Amhar and shakes his small hand.
“Hello Gaius.” Amhar then gets distracted by all potion bottles and instruments on the table and shelves.
“You like my chambers, Amhar. Why don’t you go and look around?” Gaius suggests to him. Ahmar shouts gleefully then he goes to the table and begins looks into each potion.
Merlin sighs and then whispers to Gaius “Good thinking,” but Gaius raises his eyebrows which he does whenever he is not amused. Merlin stops talking.
“What the hell has happened? How is it that Amhar is here?” Gaius looks at Merlin. So he starts telling him everything, right from the beginning. He tells him about the amulet and meeting Amhar and Gwen.
After Merlin has told Gaius his story, he begins asking him many questions about the amulet: what does amulet look like, what were the symbols, what happened when it glowed?
Merlin could tell that Gaius didn’t have a clue about the amulet, other than it possessed the power of teleportation. So they did all they could think of and began searching through all of Gaius’s books, looking for anything that might give them more information on the amulet and what it can do.
*
Merlin slowly opens his eyes, and begins to rub them. He stretches his back and moves his arms in the air. Both of them had spent hours looking through every book, but didn’t find anything that was useful. Amhar is fast asleep, curled up on the floor.
Gaius suddenly snores; Merlin giggles and then hears an “A-ummm….”
Merlin turns his head around, still sitting on the bench, and is shocked. There standing right in front of him is him. Well rather his future self. He is also holding an unconscious Arthur.
For a few moments there is absolute silence, finally Merlin speaks, “Hhhhhow did you get here? And why are you holding Arthur?”
His Future incarnation places Arthur gently onto the bench and then looks him in his eyes. Gaius then begins to stir, and starts to raise his arms to stretch them when he notices future Merlin standing before him and Arthur unconscious on the bench.
Gaius isn’t quite sure what to say, either is Merlin. After a few more moments Merlin’s future self breaks to break the silence.
“I know you two are probably wondering how I turned up here with Arthur,” both Gaius and Merlin nod. It feels strange to both of them seeing how different, confident this future version of Merlin is.
He then holds up the amulet, “This is the Amulet of Shinnok.”
“The Amulet of Shinnok?” both Gaius and Merlin burst out at the same time.
“Yes, a powerful sorcerer, Shinnok, made the amulet and etched within it all the elemental forces: fire, wind, earth and water in order to control all of the realms-”
“By using the power of Teleportation” Gaius interjects.
“Yes,” he nods his head and then continues, “however, another powerful sorcerer found out that teleportation wasn’t its only power. It also made who ever possessed the amulet immortal. So one day, he pursed Shinnok and challenged him into a duel. Shinnok was killed and the sorcerer took the amulet from him.”
“But how did it end up in Camelot?” Merlin asks.
“This is something that I do not know. I’ve tried to find out many times. There is one thing that I do know: Morgana and Morgause must never know about this amulet.”
Both Merlin and Gaius nod their heads at this as they both know that Morgana would love to have such an amulet in her possession. The chaos and power she would have over Uther, Arthur and the rest of Camelot would be dangerous.
A few minutes pass and then Merlin slowly asks, “But how is it that when I tried to teleport back here, the amulet would not work?”
“Because I planted a fake amulet in its place.”
“Why?”
“Because, while you were looking for Arthur, Morgana was watching you,” Merlin tries to talk, but nothing comes out, he’s in too much shock. So his future self continues explaining, “She saw you teleport back and forward. She saw Ahmar as well. She tried to steal the amulet, to use it for her self no doubt. However, what she didn’t know is that some of the amulet’s power transferred to me, allowing me to teleport back quickly and grab the amulet and swamp them.”
It takes a few minutes for Gaius and Merlin to disguss everything that future Merlin has told them. After a while, future!Merlin goes over to the sleeping Amhar, gently bends down, places his arms underneath his arms and legs and picks him up.
“It’s been a pleasure seeing both of you,” Merlin gives them a little grin.
“Yes, it’s been quite strange,” Merlin laughs, then adds, “Just a small question: does Arthur ever start taking me seriously?”
His future self giggles, then says “Spoilers.”
Suddenly, both Amhar and his future self disappear.
*
“Man, how the hell did I end up here?” Arthur says quite groggily rubbing his head. It feels quite sore like he got hit in the back of the head with a mallet.
Both Gaius and Merlin struggle to not laugh, then Merlin explains: “You tripped over and I found you and brought you back here. But now isn’t the time to be explaining such things. You’re late for your council meeting”
“Umm Merlin?”
“Yes sire?”
“I’m the one meant to be giving the orders,” Arthur snaps.
“Well, then stop pouting and get a move on.”
*
Later on, Arthur is in the council room trying to listen to Sir Edward talk about the latest news from Cenred’s territory, but he is too distracted. He remembers that earlier when he was kissing Gwen, she looked different. She was wearing a much finer gown to the one she was wearing now. Suddenly, he looks up to see Gwen looking at him intently, so he returns her looks with a little grin on his face.
Meanwhile, Merlin watches the whole exchange between the two lovers, grins to himself and thinks dreams really do come true.
_______
I've just created a fan work community for all of my stuff at m_in_wonderland, so feel free to comment there too. Tell me what you think of the layout and that too. I'm quite impressed with it myself!