Die, Die Again [4/9]
Fandom: BBC Merlin
Characters & Pairings: Uther/Catrina, Morgause, Morgana, Arthur, Merlin, Kilgharrah, Gwen, Gaius
Genres: Drama, Humor
Rating: T
Warnings: Violence and character death. So very many character deaths. Also asphyxiation, terminal illness, and mind-wipe.
Spoilers: Through 3x05, “The Crystal Cave”
Words: ~19,000
Beta: talesofyesac
Chapter 4: Hearts and Minds
Nimueh and Morgause stood across from each other among the ancient stones of the Isle of the Blessed. It had rained recently, and mist rose up from the ground with the fresh scent of renewal.
"Midsummer," Nimueh murmured thoughtfully. She dipped her hand into a still pool of water, watching concentric circles ripple out from her touch. "What is the significance of that, I wonder?"
Morgause tried to keep the weariness out of her voice. "It could be anything. An event. A person. A life. A death. An arrival. A departure."
"How many times have you already explained this to me?" Nimueh asked.
"Five."
"It is the first time from my perspective," Nimueh pointed out, a note of bitterness in her voice.
"I realize you see it as a cosmic insult that Uther Pendragon transcends time and you do not. He got in the way of my spell, nothing more."
Morgause did not add that Nimueh, who remembered nothing when time reset itself, had in some ways gotten the better part of the bargain.
"Then -"
"I don't know why Morgana remembers nothing. Perhaps because she was unconscious when the spell was cast."
"Why -"
"Last time, you suggested that time resets when events stray too far from Destiny's path."
"That -"
"Isn't very specific, no."
"Will you stop that!" Sparks arced between Nimueh's fingers.
"Maybe next time I shall write it down and send it by carrier pigeon," said Morgause icily. "This is a long journey to make again and again."
"If you have come here to make some request, speak. Otherwise leave me."
"Stop trying to kill Uther Pendragon."
Nimueh laughed at that, as she had before. Morgause waited unsmilingly for her to finish.
"Every time he dies, we are all thrust again into the past," Morgause explained. "My death functions likewise. Fool though he is, Uther has stopped sending knights after me. It is a declaration of armistice until time resumes as normal." Of course, it was only a truce in the narrow sense that they wouldn't be killing each other. Other tactics were still on the table.
"And when will that be?"
"I suppose our best chance to restore the natural timeline will be at the point where it first spun out of joint, two years from now."
Nimueh looked sullen, as if that was a long time. What were two years to a sorceress who had passed a century?
"It's for the best," Morgause assured her. "Think. Uther needs only discover one of your plans. Once he knows where you'll be and when, he will make it a point to execute you. And you won't even remember why."
Morgause hopped off her stone and made to leave. She didn't need to look back to know that Nimueh would do as she said.#
Humbling though it was, Uther had to admit that there were some forces against which even he could not stand. The Great Dragon. Morgana. Bloody time itself. All of these forces pushed him in a single direction, which made him want to dig in his heels and push right back. Nonetheless, it seemed he would be stuck forever if he resisted, lacking even the solace of death as an option.
Therefore, Uther resigned himself to certain realities. Firstly, that Merlin must be Arthur's servant. Regarding that matter, he did not know what the dragon's endgame was. Since it clearly wasn't to assassinate either himself or Arthur, the most obvious plot was for Merlin to gain Arthur's trust and thereby win him over to the side of sorcery. In that case, Uther's best move was to watch and allow Merlin's true nature to reveal itself. If - when! - Merlin showed himself false, Arthur would have nothing more to do with him.
Secondly, if Uther did not find some way to placate Morgana, he would lose her to the forces of evil forever. He should have realized sooner that she would never stop pursuing her version of justice, however wrongheaded. She needed to see for herself why the wisdom and judgement of his law was better than the vigilantism he had replaced.
For his first demonstration, he allowed Mary Collins to get close to Lady Helen of Mora before having her arrested for attempted murder. He had never bothered doing that before; he had previously executed Mary alongside her son with no explanation. Morgana was a bit unsettled, but far less than she had been before. So far, so good. Valiant was banished. Edwin Muir burned, with irrefutable evidence of witchcraft. Sophia and Aulfric of Tír-Mòr he simply sent away, and they did not return.
With Merlin back in Camelot, Lancelot again presented a falsified seal. Again, Uther had Geoffrey check its veracity, and again he and Arthur rowed over the First Code. Arthur eventually fell into line, though, as Uther knew he would. He always did.
# Mordred #The Druid boy Mordred made his appearance in Camelot right on schedule. Uther had been attempting for weeks to send Morgana to see Lord Godwin's daughter Elena - or anywhere, really, besides Camelot - but he had been magnificently unsuccessful in that endeavor. Perhaps it was the invisible hand of Destiny, but Morgana didn't want to leave, the horses contracted some sort of horse illness, and storms raged for days where Uther was certain they had previously had clear blue skies.
When Mordred and his father arrived in Camelot and were subsequently captured, Uther sentenced them to death as he had before. And again, Arthur argued passionately, if not eloquently, that the Druids were peaceful. Uther very much wanted to correct him on that point, but he stopped himself. He had kicked this dandelion countless times, and only succeeded in spreading the seeds. No more. And if it didn't work out, he supposed he could push Merlin off the battlements and start over.
Telling Arthur that he would give the matter more thought, Uther went to see Morgana. At the last moment, he decided against knocking and instead opened her door silently, following Morgana's voice to her bedside. She had the canopies pulled shut and was speaking in the song-song cadence of a bedtime story; Uther supposed the boy was in there.
When night fell, Pepin's father was no longer his father. He transformed into a dreadful beast and slaughtered their entire family while Pepin ran for his life. When he stopped running, he found himself in a part of the forest he didn't recognize. He didn't know what to do, for his family was gone and there was no one in the wide world to look after him. Night fell, and the little boy grew cold and hungry. And then, glimmering in the moonlight, he saw a knight upon a white steed.
"I am Sir Umphrey," said the knight. "I live by honor, and I help those in need."
"I live by bread," said Pepin. "I don't suppose you have any of that?"
Sir Umphrey did, and they ate together near a little pond where ducks slept with their beaks tucked under their wings. Pepin told Sir Umphrey what had happened to his family. When he finished, Sir Umphrey said, "I do not belong to any king, but only swear allegiance to what is good and right. It so happens that I've been traveling alone these many years, and I could use a companion to assist me." And so the orphan boy became Squire Pepin, and the two had many great adventures.
Mordred said nothing, but Morgana responded as if he had spoken. "The rest will have to wait," she said warmly. "You need to sleep."
Morgana jumped when she emerged from the canopy to find Uther waiting for her. He motioned for her to sit with him.
"Explain," he said.
"He's just a boy. Please, the soldiers injured him and he's done nothing wrong." She cast her eyes downward. "You can't help the way you're born."
Uther said nothing, waiting to see if she would admit her secret. After a few minutes, he had to accept that she was not going to do so. Disappointing.
"I will spare their lives. However, they will be banished and are not to set foot in Camelot again. No one is to know that you and Arthur aided them. Is that understood?"
Morgana nodded.
"Then let it never be said that I cannot be merciful," he said, savoring her gratitude. He enjoyed playing the knight in shining armor, and he didn't often get a chance nowadays.
A flicker of annoyance crossed her face, but did not linger.#As the town bells chimed midnight, Morgause saw her sister's red cloak appear out of the forest gloom.
"If you keep calling me out here I'll never get any sleep, no matter how many bracelets you give me," Morgana teased her.
"What happened with the Druid boy?"
"I batted my eyes and Uther agreed to banish him instead of beheading him."
Morgause tried to keep the condescension off her face. "Banished? Why should he leave, when he'd done nothing wrong?"
Morgana frowned. "If it weren't for me, Mordred would be dead. The king listens to me. He did as I asked."
"No doubt he saw some political advantage in doing so."
"No doubt," Morgana agreed, but Morgause could see they were talking about two different things. There was little of the old venom in Morgana. At this rate, Pendragon would win. And Morgause would not accept that.
# Tom the Blacksmith #Gwen was sewing when it all began. She recognized the even, rhythmic footsteps of the king's chief retainer coming down the corridor even before he poked his head around the doorframe.
"Miss Guinevere. His Majesty King Uther desires tarts for today's tea. Please bake a tray and deliver it to him in his chamber."
Ethan inclined his head, as he always did when he finished addressing his female peers. Gwen hastily spit out the pins she was holding in her mouth.
"Wait - why me? Why not one of the actual cooks?"
"I couldn't say."
"Can't or won't?" Gwen frowned at him. She knew he must hear a lot of things that he'd do better not to repeat, but sometimes she thought he was evasive merely out of habit.
"I do not know why His Majesty requested you specifically. He also requested that I do the tasting."
"Oh," said Gwen brightly, "I'll leave out the poison, then, shall I?"
Ethan gave her a faintly scandalized look and tick-tocked back down the corridor.
Gwen folded up her sewing, thinking. Custard tarts were her only dessert recipe, and people did say she made the best in the kingdom (her secret was garnishing them with brandied pears). The king made a point of not knowing anything about the cogs that kept his castle running, yet he had requested Gwen specifically, and her signature dessert besides. What could it mean?
When Gwen entered the king's chamber with her tray of tarts, she found Uther glaring at her from across a table. Arthur was there too, posture and expression neutral. Ethan stood between them. Her hands shook a little as she set the tray down.
Ethan served himself one of the tarts and a swallow of tea. As he tasted it, Gwen thought she saw a shadow of a smile pass his lips. Then he bowed low to Uther and Arthur, nodded to Gwen, and took his leave.
"Sit," said Uther, gesturing.
Gwen sat.
Arthur bit into a tart and smiled at her. That was encouraging, she supposed. Maybe she should have used more brandy.
"Guinevere, is it?" said Uther. "You may or may not be aware that your father is contemplating doing business with one of Camelot's sworn enemies, a sorcerer called Tauren."
Gwen turned to Arthur. His eyes spoke for him. They said he was sympathetic, but he was still the hand of the king and would do as commanded. Steeling herself, she turned back to the king, who hadn't taken his eyes off her.
"Please, Your Majesty, there must be some mistake. My father would never do such a thing."
"It is a crime to knowingly harbor a sorcerer. Your father would be punished severely, regardless of his intents."
The king took a tart and chewed slowly, leaving Gwen to imagine all the terrible things that could happen if he was telling the truth. Her father, imprisoned. Her father, on trial. Her father - she couldn't bear to continue that line of thought. Her words came quickly, tumbling over each other.
"Then, if it please my lord, allow me to talk this matter over with him. My father is a good man. He would not participate in treason."
"I have a better idea," said the king. "Let him strike his bargain, whatever it is. You will then tell Arthur when Tauren is set to return. For his cooperation, your father will be cleared of any wrongdoing in this matter."
Gwen kneaded her hands together. It didn't seem as if she had a choice. Uther dismissed her and she left, nearly running into the doorframe on the way out.
"Gwen, wait." Arthur caught up to her in the corridor. "Are you all right?"
"Why…why is he asking this of us?" Gwen's eyes fluttered, trying desperately to hold back tears.
"I've been tracking Tauren for some time. He conspires to assassinate the king. If I had found him with your father, I would have had no choice but to arrest them both. This is far better, believe me."
"Won't it be dangerous?" She couldn't seem to stop shaking.
"Not at all. My knights and I will lay the trap. You and your father will spend the night elsewhere, perfectly safe."
He rested his hands on her shoulders, squeezing gently. She relaxed a bit at Arthur's touch, allowing herself to trust his reassurances. He was a good man at heart, and he must have a difficult job balancing Uther's demands with those of the people he was sworn to protect. Besides which he had eyes you could fall into and swim about, and why am I thinking about that now, of all times?
"One other thing," said Arthur, "I wanted to tell you…your tarts were delicious."
"Thank you," she said, smiling in spite of herself.
That evening at dinner, Tom sat thunderstruck as Gwen related her story. When she finished, his first words were, "How in the five kingdoms did he know?"
"Then it's true! Father, what on earth were you thinking?"
"I meant no harm by it. I thought it was an opportunity. To give you the kind of life you deserve."
"Do you mean the life of an orphan?" Gwen said sharply. She knew she had hit her mark when Tom slumped and avoided her glare. She let him think on it for a few minutes, then moved over to embrace him. "You know I wouldn't trade you for all the gold in Camelot. Not even if they crowned me queen."#Arthur's trap went as expected, and Tauren was captured. Morgana thought the evidence against him was weak, until Uther took an orange stone from Tauren and told Gaius to demonstrate its use. Gaius used it to turn a lead candlestick into gold, and that was that. Tom was left well alone, as promised.
The next day, Gwen heard the sound of the execution through Morgana's open window. She imagined her father on that chopping block, and shivered. It had been too close. Although she was busy as always, she took a moment to close her eyes and pray that her father had learned his lesson.
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