Fic: The Heart of King Arthur (5/?)
Masterpost: Here
“You took good care of it,” Arthur told him, for lack of anything better to say.
“Thanks,” he said, smiling genuinely at him.
“So, what did you find out about where the Dragon is? Do you have a lead?”
“Sort of. Morgana told me you believed Mordred is involved.”
“I did,” Arthur acknowledged.
“You were right,” Merlin confirmed.
“I’m jumping for joy,” Arthur said drily.
Merlin gave him a small smile. “It should be all right for now. I think he and his…accomplices will not harm the dragon until we get there. They are using Kilgharrah as a hostage.”
“Do you know who Mordred is working with then?” Arthur asked him.
Merlin was about to answer when a blonde woman with dark blue eyes appeared in the room. She was donned in a deep red dress.
“Oh, I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said a little too sweetly.
Merlin looked at her, a bit of a sour look on his face. “You won’t leave me alone, will you?”
“Who the hell is she, Merlin?” Arthur demanded to know, standing up.
“Don’t let her near you, Arthur,” Merlin warned him. “And you, no sudden moves,” he directed at the woman.
“I’m not getting paid enough to do anything to him,” the blonde woman informed him.
“You didn’t hear me then, did you?” she asked Arthur with only vague interest.
“What do you mean, hear you?” Arthur asked, feeling a little lost. He sat back down.
The woman looked to Merlin. “Exactly how paranoid are you?” she inquired. She chuckled softly.
“Merlin, can you please tell me what is going on? Who is this woman?” Arthur asked him again, impatience seeping into his words.
The blonde woman looked amused at Arthur’s confusion.
Merlin sighed. “This is my daughter, Morgause. She’s the first child I ever had. Long before I was with Nimue.”
“What?” Arthur uttered. “Why didn’t I know? Is she immortal?”
Morgause laughed. “You would love to hear the whole story, wouldn’t you? But Father will not tell. Won’t you, Father?”
“What do you want, Morgause?” Merlin asked her.
She shrugged. “Mordred pays me in coins like I am a common whore. I do not want money. If you give me what I want, then I will take you and your friend to the dragon.”
“I will not forgive you for aiding him to steal Kilgharrah from right under my nose,” Merlin said fiercely.
“Yes, yes, we’ve gone over this. I didn’t see the point to it, but I have to say, the dragon is quite talkative when he’s bored.”
“Merlin, did you know she was a part of this?” Arthur asked him.
“She’s a frustrating blight in my past,” Merlin muttered bitterly.
He pulled out a deep blue pouch from his pants pocket. Arthur was beginning to suspect that the pants had pockets that were bigger on the inside.
Merlin removed the crystal that was inside the pouch and placed it on the edge of the table. “There. That’s what you want, right?”
Morgause stared at him and then at the crystal. She looked uneasy now, almost afraid, Arthur could say.
Why was she afraid?
“Take it. I’m giving it to you freely,” Merlin encouraged her.
Arthur watched the staring match between Merlin and Morgause. While Merlin gave her a cool look, Morgause had a more calculating gaze as if she were trying to figure out her father’s next move.
With a quick hand, Merlin’s daughter grabbed the crystal off the table.
“Thank you,” she said to him as an afterthought. She soon peered at the crystal, enthralled by the clear white stone.
Arthur half-expected her to say, “My precious” like the creature Gollum from the Lord of the Rings.
Morgause conjured a black padded chair to sit on a few feet away from the table. She was clearly seeing something of interest within the crystal’s depths as she proceeded to ignore them.
“Is that a Seeing crystal?” Arthur asked Merlin.
He remembered Merlin having such crystals in his possession in his former life. To anyone of magic, it showed them the past, present and future if they knew how to use it properly.
Merlin nodded. “Yes, it is. I always have a few on my person. Only a select few have access to the Crystal Caves. Morgause does not.”
“And whose fault is that?” Morgause snapped at him, looking up momentarily from her perusal of the crystal.
Merlin glared at her, but didn’t answer her directly.
Arthur couldn’t deny that this relationship between father and daughter was dysfunctional, to put it lightly. He wished he could find out why though. Witnessing the tension between Merlin and his daughter, Arthur was grateful that he never knew his father, at least in this life. His mother had told him that his father left the family before Arthur was even born. Considering how close-minded and unpleasant his father in his past life, Arthur wasn’t too saddened by the loss.
Arthur asked Merlin. “So is she immortal? If it’s genetic, then she should be, right?”
“It’s a peculiar thing…immortality, with those of my blood, doesn’t manifest right away,” Merlin began thoughtfully. “Morgause fell ill as a child--”
Arthur could hear Morgause mutter something under her breath, but he couldn’t quite catch her words.
“-she was only five, and too young for her immortality to manifest,” Merlin continued on smoothly, “She died. Her mother resurrected her and she grew up from what Morgause has told me. Her mother was a nymph, so Morgause must have gained her immortality through her.”
“I went through the nymph ritual for immortality,” Morgause put in. “And then I made a little trip to this dismal time a year ago. I’ve not been impressed,” she finished airily.
“And you didn’t know any of this? That she was here?” Arthur asked Merlin incredulously.
Merlin shrugged. “Sometimes, I miss things. It happens.”
“She’s working with Mordred, Merlin! For crissakes! And you just missed this little detail…” Arthur said, raising his brow.
Instead of answering Arthur, Merlin turned to his daughter. “Are you working with Mordred?” he asked her.
“Not at the moment, no. I could care less what that brat is doing. His pay is abysmal and I’d get more money through other means. And he is so annoying! Honestly, I can’t stand Mordred. He’ll probably be mad at me for helping you, but I believe I’m done with him.”
“Then why did you help him in taking the dragon?” Arthur demanded.
Morgause shrugged. “I was bored at the time. It was a bit of a challenge, but I am not lacking in power thanks to my parentage.”
She looked at Merlin pointedly.
Arthur sighed heavily. “That’s just great,” he muttered.
“So are we going or not?” Morgause asked, stowing the crystal away in a black purse she had conjured.
Arthur and Merlin put away their breakfast things, and less than fifteen minutes later, they were ready.
Merlin warned Arthur not to trust Morgause, but Arthur had deduced that much. He could also not shake the feeling that Merlin was still keeping something from him. And a part of it had to do with Morgause, he was sure of it.
They departed from the house through magical means. Arthur hoped that Merlin would be able to suspect any foul play. Because if Morgause botched this magical teleportation…intentionally leaving Arthur’s head in one place and the rest of his body somewhere else, then well he’d be dead and not too thrilled with Morgause if he ever was reborn again. Merlin may have been immortal, but Arthur was not.
~ * ~
Arthur’s head was still attached to his body when they arrived at their location. It appeared to a large, empty warehouse. There were runes all over the whitewashed walls.
Arthur couldn’t see the dragon anywhere. There was only one door behind them, and Arthur could only assume it was the door leading outside. It didn’t look like there were any separate rooms - it was just one big vacant building. He wouldn’t be hard-pressed to conclude that the ‘warehouse’ was built magically because something just felt unreal about it. Like it was never used before except for housing the dragon.
Merlin had conjured dark blue robes to wear over his outfit and had forcibly taken Morgause by the arm.
The blonde woman had looked affronted at that, but Arthur detected a flicker of fear in her eyes.
“Tell me where Kilgharrah is,” Merlin said in a low voice, but the tone was unmistakably threatening.
“The dragon has been made invisible to those who we don’t wish to see him. I could lift the spell for you.”
“Then do it.”
“You can’t order me around,” she said, annoyed.
Merlin’s eyes flashed. “I know you’d like to try, so try.”
Arthur was beginning to realize something…Morgause wasn’t just magic, there was something more to her.
“I’m not getting paid enough to do anything to him,” Morgause had said…
“Don’t let her near you, Arthur,” Merlin warned him. “And you, no sudden moves,” Merlin had told Morgause…
Hadn’t he repeatedly been told how Kahlan could be a danger to him? That he should be careful around her? He felt it in his gut that Morgause had something in common with his daughter, and it didn’t set Arthur at ease at all.
And then it was confirmed: Morgause wrapped her fingers around Merlin’s neck.
Arthur swore.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he breathed out, more to himself than to anyone else.
Morgause was a Confessor, she had to be. And it couldn’t be a coincidence that Kahlan, who was Morgause’s half-niece if only by blood, was a Confessor too. Arthur had thought it was a curse, but what if it was more straightforward than that? Curses were simply explanations for things people couldn’t explain, right?
He was training to be a doctor, cardiologist really, but the point remained - he was supposed to depend on science as the guide to follow. He couldn’t continue to believe that his daughter’s ‘curse’ was the product of an old wives’ tale brought to life. He should know better than that in his current life. It was 2010 and science had made leaps and bounds since the days of Camelot. Arthur had to rethink the situation. There was no question about that decision.
And if Morgause was Merlin’s daughter…then Morgana, Morgana…and Merlin was keeping something from him. He was missing a key detail, but it all fell back on genetics, didn’t it? What one had in their DNA, their blood…
“Merlin, what are you doing? Are you mad?” Arthur voiced out loud. Why was Merlin just letting her have her way? And it looked like Merlin was well-aware of what his daughter was…
“Stay out of this, Arthur,” Merlin said sharply, his darkened gaze still set on Morgause.
“Go on,” he urged his daughter. “Why don’t you go ahead?”
“The things I could do, the power under my command,” Morgause mused, looking overwhelmed with the possibilities.
“Because that’s what you really want, right? Revenge? That’s why you helped Mordred take Kilgharrah, to get me to come to you. But you couldn’t wait that long, couldn’t you? As soon as I was out of Avalon, you had your chance,” he said, peering at her significantly.
Morgause looked perfectly unaffected by what Merlin was saying. Merlin pursued the point further, “And it must have been so tempting for you to travel to the future. To a time where people have long forgotten that magic is real and where you can pass unnoticed without the whispers. Without others knowing how dangerous you are.”
“It’s all thanks to you,” Morgause said softly, her hand still around his neck.
“Then show me,” Merlin goaded her.
“Merlin, what the hell?!” Arthur exclaimed. He sincerely hoped the Dragonlord wasn’t really going to allow Morgause to Confess him.
Morgause laughed mirthlessly. “Guess what?” She said casually.
But Merlin was prevented from responding when Morgause pulled his head toward her and kissed him deeply, and not a little viciously, on the mouth.
She pulled away then and smiled serenely. “I don’t do used goods, Father,” Morgause told him, smirking at him.
Arthur couldn’t believe he had just seen what he’d seen. Putting aside the inherent wrongness of the moment, he couldn’t help but wonder what Morgause had meant by used goods.
“How lucky for me,” Merlin said harshly. “Show us to the dragon now, Morgause.”
Morgause shrugged, acting quite like nothing big had happened. Like she hadn’t just been on the verge of Confessing her father. She started walking toward the other end of the empty space. They followed her, Merlin staring darkly at her back.
“Merlin, what did Morgause mean by ‘used goods’?” Arthur wanted to know.
Merlin turned to Arthur. “I haven’t the faintest idea,” he told him. Arthur didn’t sense the honesty in his words. Something was off.
“Really, Merlin, what is going on between you and her? What were you talking about when you said Morgause wanted revenge? Revenge for what?”
Merlin sighed, rubbing his brow. “I understand you have a lot of questions, Arthur, but I can’t answer them for you.”
“Can’t or won’t? Because from where I’m standing, it’s looking like ‘won’t’ now. I am not a child, Merlin. I can handle the truth.”
“No, I don’t think you can. Sorry,” Merlin told him in apology. He gave him a small smile. “I just want to get Kilgharrah back, all right?”
Arthur was reluctant to let the matter go, but he knew this wasn’t the ideal time to force the issue.
Morgause had the dragon appear several feet away from them. Kilgharrah was inside a large, sturdy cage. He was sleeping inside the enclosure. Merlin rushed to check on the dragon.
“He’s fine,” Morgause insisted, “If we had hurt him, you’d know,” she said, looking at Arthur.
“Why wait? Why didn’t you just kill him without us here?” Arthur wanted to know.
Morgause shrugged. “Mordred wanted to make absolute certain it worked. And that of course required that you come here.”
She continued on then, “But I don’t agree with Mordred’s plan. It’s rather pointless, you know? What good will it do? And it’s a crime to kill a dragon. There are not many left in this world.”
“You chose to work with him,” Arthur snapped at her.
Morgause accepted the accusation with a shrug. “Well, yes, but I had my own reasons. And now, I have what I want. I don’t need to work with Mordred any longer.”
“Wait, but you know something, don’t you? If you’re a Confessor…my daughter is one too.”
Morgause just gave him a look. “Oh?” She said in mild interest.
Arthur raised his hands in frustration. He looked over to where Merlin was still by the dragon. The creature was now glowing a bright golden light though the Dragonlord could not breach the bars of the cage. Kilgharrah had not woken up, and whether that was due to an enchanted sleep or he was pretending to sleep, Arthur could not tell. It would be just like the dragon to fake sleep just to avoid conversation.
Arthur saw that Merlin, his back to them, had stilled, one hand wrapped around a bar and the other hand in a tight fist by his side. Arthur was certain that he was listening to his talk with Morgause.
“Merlin, right? It’s Merlin, isn’t it? If you’re his daughter, and then Kahlan is his granddaughter… only women can be Confessors, right? Going by the trend…” Arthur noted.
“I do love deductions,” Morgause said. She looked amused.
Arthur tried not to snap at her because of her smarmy attitude. He needed to find this out, and she was his best option now. “You know the truth, don’t you? You have to if Merlin’s not too thrilled with you being here. You must know something he doesn’t want me to know,” Arthur concluded.
Merlin was by them before Morgause could answer him. But she appeared too preoccupied with looking at her blood-red painted nails to bother providing Arthur with a speedy reply.
“It doesn’t matter, Arthur,” Merlin said firmly. “This isn’t the time to dwell on it. We have to get Kilgharrah out of here.”
Arthur shook his head. “No, this is important to me. Morgause is your daughter, Merlin, and Kahlan is mine. And she’s your granddaughter as well. As Kahlan’s father, I want to know the truth, all right? Just tell me.”
“No,” Merlin shut down Arthur with one word.
“My paternal grandmother was a pure Confessor,” Morgause supplied, to which Merlin glared at her.
“What do you mean, ‘pure’?” Arthur questioned.
Merlin sighed and he rubbed his brow. “I grew up in a time during which a lot of Confessors existed. They were all pure Confessors meaning that their sole active magical power was to Confess others. That’s what they were known for, the fear they created, but Confessors including my mother were good people. They had the natural ability to judge others and settle arguments wisely and fairly. They could look you in the eye and know whether you were telling the truth or not. Unfortunately, the good they could do was not,” he choked on his words, a haunted look in his blue eyes. “--it wasn’t wholly embraced.”
“So, it’s because of you, because of your mother, that Kahlan is who she is? It wasn’t a curse,” Arthur reiterated.
Merlin looked unhappy. “You see why I couldn’t tell you, Arthur? I rather carry the burden than have you accuse me for the rest of your life… that’s why I asked Nimue, who knew all this of course, to provide a false reason for Kahlan’s condition.”
“I’m not mad at you, Merlin,” Arthur said, sighing. True, Merlin shouldn’t have omitted that fact about his parentage but it was beyond Merlin’s control as to who gave birth to him. “None of us can choose who our parents are. I just wish you had told me the truth. Does Morgana even know?”
Merlin shook his head. “I couldn’t. I just couldn’t tell her. Kahlan doesn’t know either.”
“So you’re a carrier then…but only women can inherit the power? Did you know Kahlan would have it?”
“No, Arthur, I swear I didn’t. As a carrier, I have the potential of producing a Confessor, but it is a 50/50 chance. I can not predict whether any daughter of mine will be a Confessor. Morgana and Viviane were lucky as they remained carriers like me and did not test positive for being Confessors. But they still had the half chance of giving birth to a Confessor daughter, as was the case with Kahlan.”
“And if Morgana had been a Confessor?” Arthur prompted.
“Then I assure you that I would not have allowed her to come to Camelot. I wouldn’t have done anything to endanger you, Arthur. Accidents can happen. Believe me, I was perfectly certain that Morgana was not a Confessor before I let her stay in Camelot and spend time with you,” Merlin was earnest in pleading his case.
“Before…” Arthur paused, the magnitude of the revelation hitting him. If Morgana had been…and if they had had Kahlan then. “Shit,” he breathed out.
Morgause smirked, wiggling her fingers in a somewhat threatening gesture. “Nasty business, Confessing. But it’s a nice feeling to know that I could disable either of you in moments.”
Arthur wished he had Excalibur on hand at that very moment so that he could wipe off that smirk from her face.
“Why are you here, Morgause? What do you want with me?” Merlin asked her tiredly.
The Confessor went up to him and Arthur hissed at Merlin, “The point is to make her stay away from you.”
Merlin gave him an absent smile. “It’s truly all right, Arthur. She’s no threat to me. Morgause is afraid of me, aren’t you?”
Morgause looked indignant. “I am not,” she denied. Then she smiled wickedly at Arthur. “But I would love to see the look on your friend’s face if I do go ahead with it. What do you think, Arthur?”
“Don’t you dare,” Arthur said fiercely, moving in front of Merlin. “I’ll kill you and end it.”
She laughed mirthlessly. “But you have no weapon.”
Merlin looked honestly amused at Morgause’s remark. “Do you really think I’d leave the Once and the Future King unprotected?”
“But…there were whispers…that won’t be years, centuries…” she said in disbelief. “The Fae Queen said so.”
Merlin smiled thinly at her. “Let me show you then.”
And he moved forward and pressed his fingers to her temples.
Arthur was growing more confused by the second. What were they talking about? The Once and Future King was him, yes, he knew that, but other than that, he was clueless.
Morgause looked shocked and overwhelmed after Merlin removed his hands from her forehead. “…that’s too much,” she uttered, too overcome to say anymore.
“It isn’t just in the future, Morgause. It’s for always even now. Take heed,” Merlin warned her.
“Merlin, what is this about?” Arthur demanded. He wanted to abate his confusion and he needed to know, especially if this involved him.
Merlin smiled at him, squeezing his shoulder. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he told him.
Famous last words, Arthur thought to himself.
“Merlin, seriously,” Arthur argued, “You can’t keep this from me.”
“You’ll find out when it’s the right time, I promise,” Merlin informed him.
Arthur was not appeased in the slightest. “All right. One more secret, great. Who is the Fae Queen then? Could you tell me that?”
“She’s the one who granted me immortality, effectively chaining me to this Earth until I fulfilled a prophecy.”
Morgause laughed then.
“You mentioned a prophecy to me once… that it was meant to ruin your life. Did you fulfill it then?”
Merlin looked tense. “So to speak…I was permanently immortal, you see, until I fulfilled the prophecy. But since I have now fulfilled it, I am now able to give up my immortality if I so desired.”
“…and do you want to do that?”
Merlin just looked at him, but he didn’t give an answer.
“What was the prophecy?”
“You should have heard what he said to the Fae Queen! Mother was there with the other nymphs and dryads. It was all a good laugh.”
“Oh, shut up, Morgause,” Merlin grumbled.
“What did you say, Merlin?”
“It was a long, long time ago. I’ve forgotten already.”
But Morgause was eager to talk about it. “He said something to the effect of, “I can not bloody believe you’re making me immortal because you need me to mentor some brat! Because, I swear to you, he will be a brat if he’ll be the son--” but she was stopped from speaking further by a silencing spell Merlin placed on her.
“That’s enough, Morgause,” he said, frustrated. He looked to Arthur. “I was a different man back then…”
Arthur raised his brow. “Was I the brat then?”
“No, no…” Merlin denied, but then his shoulders sunk in defeat, “maybe yes, but that was years before I met you.”
“And did you still think of me as a brat when you first met me?”
“No, no…no, of course not. I just - you have to understand--”
But before Merlin could say what Arthur had to understand, the Dragonlord collapsed in front of him.
“Merlin?” Arthur said, concerned. He rushed to him before his head could hit the ground. Arthur let Merlin use his lap as a pillow. He noticed that Merlin now had a wide silver bracelet on each wrist.
“My magic. The bracelets are blocking it from me,” Merlin moaned.
Then Arthur saw the cause of Merlin’s distress. Mordred had appeared.
“Well, well, well,” Mordred said, smiling viciously. “What do we have here?”
“Release Merlin right now!” Arthur demanded.
He glared at Mordred. Arthur found it highly insulting that Mordred had the appearance of a boy of fifteen, maybe sixteen years of age. He hoped that Mordred wasn’t immortal like Morgana had assured Arthur. If anyone had to die, Mordred deserved to die at least a hundred times over.
“Why it’s King Arthur,” Mordred smirked. “Don’t look like much of a king now, do you? And why I would give you back the only ally you have now? That would be counterproductive for me.”
“I killed you once, I can kill you again,” Arthur threatened. But he grew increasingly worried as he felt Merlin still against him, his breathing shallow and weak. Merlin’s skin was even paler than normal, which shouldn’t have been possible, but apparently it was. But Merlin couldn’t die though, right? He would survive this, Arthur tried to assure himself.
Mordred smiled mirthlessly. “Soon Merlin will be begging to give up his immortality. He could only live so long without being connected to his magic.”
Arthur felt a pressure on his hand, and he looked down to see Merlin gripping his hand. Merlin whispered to him, his words firm, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
And then Merlin closed his eyes and his grip slackened.
“Merlin? Merlin? Don’t you dare--” Arthur stopped. It was no use. Merlin had passed out.
Meanwhile, Mordred had lifted the silencing spell Merlin had placed on Morgause.
“Morgause, I appreciate you bringing them to me,” Mordred said to her, “Now we can really get started.”
Arthur shifted Merlin so that his head rested on the floor. He was startled to find a soft pillow, appearing as if out of thin air, and he moved it behind the Dragonlord’s head.
He looked up and caught Morgause’s gaze. Arthur wasn’t sure whether her words were true, that she wasn’t working with Mordred anymore. Merlin had said not to trust her, and Arthur had to admit his natural inclination was to put his faith in Merlin rather than Morgause. He had just met her and who knew what her true agenda was. She was probably working for herself now, doing whatever suited her purposes the best.
“I want you to Confess him,” Mordred pointed to Arthur, looking at Morgause.
Arthur stood up quickly and backed away. “No, that’s not going to happen.”
Morgause didn’t make a move toward Arthur and Mordred looked miffed. “Morgause, did you not hear what I said?”
She looked to Mordred. “Why yes, Mordred, I would love to Confess the Once and Future King and have all of Avalon coming after me,” Morgause said sarcastically. “I’d much rather be attacked by a pack of rabid dogs.”
“Whatever your father told you is a lie!” Mordred shouted fiercely.
She glared at him. “Don’t yell at me, Mordred. I could just as well Confess you, so watch your tongue.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, I would. Why, just last week I Confessed a man, made him kill himself by slashing his own throat. It was the highlight of my week,” Morgause said with a smirk. “Would you prefer that? Or burning yourself alive? The fire is always nice to look at.”
Arthur thought he was going to be sick. Morgause was definitely mad. He didn’t know if he’d want her to be on his side at the moment.
“You agreed to work with me and now you’re not? That wasn’t the agreement!” Mordred said indignantly, his eyes flashing molten gold.
She shrugged. “I changed my mind.”
Mordred looked furious.
He saw Mordred shout a few words, his arm outstretched, and Arthur fell to the ground, blacking out.
~ * ~
Arthur woke up, his head throbbing, and he groaned when he saw that he was restrained to a heavy, wooden chair. His forearms were roped tight along the chairs’ arms and he discovered it was frustratingly difficult to free himself of the rope. He noticed that Kilgharrah was further away from them, still caged and still in perpetual rest or whatever it was. Arthur had concluded that they must have been moved away from the dragon instead of the other way around. The dragon looked to be in the same location he had been at when he’d first appeared.
A few feet away from him, Arthur was surprised to see Morgause kneeling before Merlin, who was likewise in a chair, but the only restraints on him were those blasted bracelets.
Morgause was talking quietly to him. Then she paused and nodded. She kissed him on the cheek and she stood up.
“What’s going on?” Arthur asked, trying to garner their attention. He was feeling particularly annoyed at the moment because everyone appeared to be in on a secret that Arthur had been denied from knowing.
Merlin gave Arthur a tired smile. The Dragonlord was looking a little better. Some color was returning to his cheeks, but he still looked drained, exhausted.
“I was talking to Morgause and we have reached an agreement.”
“Well, not exactly...” Morgause refuted and then spoke to Arthur, “but you’ll find out soon enough.”
“Right, so you’re with us? Not that I’m particularly happy about that - do you know what she told Mordred, Merlin? She said she Confessed a man and told him to kill himself.”
“By slashing his throat,” Morgause added, looking pointedly at Merlin.
Arthur saw Merlin visibly flinch and he wouldn’t meet Arthur’s eyes.
“Morgause is going to help us for better or for worse. She removed the bracelets from me and replaced them with fake ones to fool Mordred. It may take a while for me to recover, but I should be fine.”
“Then can you untie me? The sooner we leave, the better.”
“I’m sorry, Arthur, but we need to stay. There are some things that you need to know. And I must tell you all of it now or I’ll lose my nerve.”
“But this isn’t really the best place, Merlin. If you could just return Kilgharrah back to Avalon, and--”
“No, I can’t wait any longer. And I’m sorry, Arthur, I’m really sorry…” But Merlin couldn’t speak any further. He covered his face in his hands.
“Where’s Mordred?” Arthur wondered when Merlin fell silent.
Morgause shrugged. “I scared him off, said I’d Confess him if he didn’t go. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mordred’ll return soon. Glutton for punishment, perhaps.”
~ * ~
Mordred did return much to Arthur’s chagrin.
When he started in on Merlin being a murderer, Arthur refused to listen to him. Instead Arthur focused on Merlin who was making a point of not paying attention to what Mordred was saying.
“Of course he has killed. I saw him on the battlefield,” Arthur countered though the retort was weak. He knew that killing amidst battle was far different than murdering someone in a non-battle situation. But surely Merlin would never do such a thing if he didn’t have a good reason for it.
Mordred looked amused. “Merlin can’t even claim defense as a reason. It was cold-blooded murder, pure and simple.”
“Merlin?” Arthur asked him, wanting his former mentor to provide an explanation.
The Dragonlord’s head was down and he wouldn’t say a word.
“My father isn’t going to answer you,” Morgause stated the obvious.
She was standing behind Merlin’s chair, her hand resting on top of the chair’s back. Arthur felt like there was a barrier between him and them. It was frustrating.
“What, you’re speaking for him now?” Arthur shot at her, annoyed.
Morgause gave him a piercing look, her blue eyes nearly black. Then she turned sharply to face Mordred.
“You’re a silly child,” she told Mordred.
Mordred’s eyes narrowed at her insult.
Suddenly, a gun appeared in Morgause’s hand and she moved quickly, directing the gun at Mordred.
Mordred gave her an incredulous look, half-surprised, half-unimpressed. “Have you forgotten I have magic, Morgause?” He said smugly.
She gave him a wane smile.
Merlin caught Arthur’s eye. Arthur could safely say that an invisible burden was on Merlin’s shoulders, with the way he slumped in his seat. He looked miserable and defeated, but quietly determined despite that.
“Whatever you do, Arthur, whatever you do, do not interfere,” Merlin spoke silently within Arthur’s mind.
Arthur really didn’t like the sound of that, but Merlin had a pleading look about him, and Arthur found it hard to demand from him what he meant or refuse Merlin’s orders. He had a feeling that he would very much want to interfere if Merlin was so desperately insistent that Arthur stay out of it.
Arthur nodded unhappily, acknowledging Merlin’s words. Merlin gave him a small smile and took a deep breath, released it, and then relaxed in his chair.
Morgause pulled the trigger on the gun and the bullet shot toward Mordred.
Of course, Mordred intercepted the bullet, slowing it down with his magic, and then making it change direction so that it would hit Arthur.
Arthur couldn’t move, and he hated to think that this was how his second life would end - tied to a chair and hit by a bullet. It was leagues away from his death at the Battle of Camlann, honourably as the King of all Albion.
“Idiot,” Morgause muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes at Mordred.
But then someone appeared in front of Arthur, her red leather-gloved hand blocking the bullet from hitting him.
Arthur recognized the blonde woman clad in red leather, armed with Agiels, as Cara. She was an Elite warrior of Avalon, and he recalled her visiting Camelot sometimes with Kahlan and Richard. Considering Cara was Kahlan’s bodyguard, Arthur wasn’t too surprised that the Elite had been granted immortality so that she could best serve his immortal daughter. He still felt reasonably irritated that he was seeing everyone again, immortal and in their twenties -- ageless, while he was reincarnated yet still aged. Maybe that made him sound ungrateful, but Arthur really wanted to know who decided that he could only be reincarnated, not be given immortality. Why did it have to be that way? If only he knew who to ask…
“Kahlan,” Cara spoke to her urgently.
Kahlan had appeared closer to Merlin. She was wearing her familiar white dress, her dark hair loose down her back and a similar bird necklace to Morgana’s hugged her neck. Her golden wedding band shone brightly on her ring finger.
Arthur’s daughter turned away from Mordred, who she had been glaring at, and she nodded at Cara. She raised her hand and Cara sent the bullet in her direction. Kahlan slowed the offending item down and then formed a small red fireball in her hands, which she then shot at the bullet, disintegrating it.
Kahlan moved fast toward Mordred, a threat clear on her face.
“No, don’t!” Mordred said in an uncharacteristically frightened voice.
“Oh, you wish the worst would be Confession for you, but don’t worry, it isn't,” Kahlan promised him viciously.
Mordred backed away from her, his eyes trained on her hands, watching carefully for any sudden movement.
“It appears that my father was speaking the truth. How unfortunate for you, Mordred,” Morgause said, smiling unsympathetically at him.
Kahlan whipped her head around, looking questioningly at Morgause. Cara stationed herself near Mordred, a wicked smile on her face. Cara had her Agiels, short red leather-covered sticks that, upon contact, were extremely painful to anyone the sticks were used against. She pressed an Agiel at Mordred’s side and he cried out at the sudden pain.
“Don’t even think of using magic, I can repel it. My friend Denna loves to break people. You’ll love her,” Cara told him with a smirk.
Mordred glowered at her, but didn’t make any threatening movement as Cara looked quite ready to apply her Agiels on him again.
“Who are you?” Kahlan asked curiously.
“I’m Morgause, your half-aunt,” Morgause informed her easily.
Merlin spoke up, “She’s my daughter, Kahlan. Before I was with Nimue… she’s no threat,” he finished off as an afterthought.
“Oh,” Kahlan said, and then she stared at Morgause as if she were trying to decipher a puzzle. “All right.”
“Well, this is a little awkward,” Cara remarked.
“A bit yeah,” Kahlan said to her. Then she nodded to Morgause. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Morgause smiled lightly. “Well, I’m going to go,” she announced. “I can only imagine how even more awkward it’ll be if I stayed…” she noted.
Then Morgause was gone.
Kahlan turned toward her father and smiled. “Oh, it is good to see you again,” she said.
She went to Arthur and took out a dagger to cut him loose from the rope bonds.
Arthur saw the word, “Quicksilver” in a small brand toward the hilt end of the dagger.
Arthur was glad to see his daughter again, looking well centuries after Camelot. “I wasn’t expecting to see you… Morgana met with me.”
Kahlan nodded, working the dagger on the rope, where a thick black smoke appeared above it as the dagger tried to cut it. The weapon itself glowed golden, forcing the black smoke to shy away from the glow and allow the dagger access to the rope.
“How could I not come? Mother said you could be in danger, and luckily Cara and I came at just the right time. Thanks to Grandfather’s message,” Kahlan told him, and she turned to look at Merlin.
Merlin gave her a weak smile. “Thank you for coming, my dear.”
Arthur thought there was an ominous hint in Merlin’s tone of voice…like he was going to finish it off with, “…and now I’m going to kill you.”
He shook himself - honestly, he hadn’t even watched any horror movies lately. But well, there was that one Sherlock Holmes novel he finished barely a week ago… Still, it didn’t justify his thoughts running away from him like this.
“Magically-enforced rope?” Arthur inquired, seeing the smoke become wispy and insignificant after the dagger attacked it.
Kahlan nodded. “Nothing this dagger can’t handle,” she assured him.
And a few brief moments later, the rope binding Arthur was cut by the blade and he was free.
Kahlan put her arms around him, embracing her father warmly. Arthur returned the hug.
“I’m so sorry that I didn’t see you sooner,” she started after she pulled away from him, “I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” Kahlan told him sincerely.
Arthur was quick to reassure her at the sight of his daughter’s forlorn expression. “No, no, it’s all right.”
Kahlan gave him a soft smile. “I still plan to do something about it. Mother told me you had requested it.”
Arthur shrugged, focused on massaging his rope-chafed wrists. “Yes, well, that’s true. I would appreciate it,” he admitted.
Kahlan nodded at him. “I’m glad,” she said cheerfully.
Then she looked to Cara. “You can knock Mordred out if you’d like. His face is putting me off.”
Cara looked amused.
Mordred stared at Kahlan incredulously. “My face? My face? You’re not even looking at me!”
Kahlan gave Mordred a pointed look. “…doesn’t matter, it’s still putting me off. And actually, I’ve been feeling a bit skittish lately. Perhaps you’d like me to Confess you?”
“I bloody hate you, all of you,” Mordred muttered.
Cara pressed an Agiel over his abdomen, and he bit his tongue to keep from sounding off in response to the pain.
“Hand slipped,” Cara said, not sounding sorry at all.
“You killed my father. That’s unforgivable,” Kahlan said, glaring at him.
“He’s alive now. What’s the problem? Honestly,” Mordred said with slight smirk, “Yes, I want to kill him again. It’s an addiction, I can’t help it. He stole Morgana from me.”
Arthur spoke up, “She was your bloody half-sister, Mordred, for crissakes! Whatever I had with her was mutual.”
Mordred was undeterred. “You’re only saying that because your daughter’s here,” he remarked then he pointed out to Kahlan, “And actually, Arthur got to me first, I wounded him in self-defense.”
“It’s a true pity you didn’t stay dead,” Kahlan retorted, playing intently with her dagger.
Merlin sighed loudly. “Cara, just take him out already. Mordred has nothing useful to say.”
“I don’t see why you want to keep Arthur alive anyway…he’s just going to be reborn again like a cockroach. Who cares how long he lives in this life?” Mordred said.
“I care,” Cara said firmly and she stuck an Agiel to the side of his head.
A moment later, Mordred fell to the ground, knocked out and unconscious.
Merlin stood up and he gestured to Kahlan. “I need to speak with you in private,” he finished off the last words with a meaningful look toward Arthur.
“You know, I’ve just about lost my patience with this secret business,” Arthur remarked, his elbow on the chair arm and his hand over his cheek. He was frustrated and he was sure that he looked it too. “I just bloody remembered who I am yesterday and now you’re keeping me in the dark, Merlin? You can’t expect me to…well,” Arthur waved his hand, “--to just go along with it.”
“All will be revealed soon, very soon, I promise you,” Merlin reassured him earnestly.
Arthur wasn’t appeased in the slightest, but there was little he could do about it at the moment. He had no idea where he was exactly, so it wasn’t like he could leave this place, wherever this warehouse was. Resignedly, Arthur had a good feeling that the only option of returning home was through magical transportation. And magic was one thing he certainly didn’t have. All he could do now was sit and see what happened next...
Part 6
“You took good care of it,” Arthur told him, for lack of anything better to say.
“Thanks,” he said, smiling genuinely at him.
“So, what did you find out about where the Dragon is? Do you have a lead?”
“Sort of. Morgana told me you believed Mordred is involved.”
“I did,” Arthur acknowledged.
“You were right,” Merlin confirmed.
“I’m jumping for joy,” Arthur said drily.
Merlin gave him a small smile. “It should be all right for now. I think he and his…accomplices will not harm the dragon until we get there. They are using Kilgharrah as a hostage.”
“Do you know who Mordred is working with then?” Arthur asked him.
Merlin was about to answer when a blonde woman with dark blue eyes appeared in the room. She was donned in a deep red dress.
“Oh, I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said a little too sweetly.
Merlin looked at her, a bit of a sour look on his face. “You won’t leave me alone, will you?”
“Who the hell is she, Merlin?” Arthur demanded to know, standing up.
“Don’t let her near you, Arthur,” Merlin warned him. “And you, no sudden moves,” he directed at the woman.
“I’m not getting paid enough to do anything to him,” the blonde woman informed him.
“You didn’t hear me then, did you?” she asked Arthur with only vague interest.
“What do you mean, hear you?” Arthur asked, feeling a little lost. He sat back down.
The woman looked to Merlin. “Exactly how paranoid are you?” she inquired. She chuckled softly.
“Merlin, can you please tell me what is going on? Who is this woman?” Arthur asked him again, impatience seeping into his words.
The blonde woman looked amused at Arthur’s confusion.
Merlin sighed. “This is my daughter, Morgause. She’s the first child I ever had. Long before I was with Nimue.”
“What?” Arthur uttered. “Why didn’t I know? Is she immortal?”
Morgause laughed. “You would love to hear the whole story, wouldn’t you? But Father will not tell. Won’t you, Father?”
“What do you want, Morgause?” Merlin asked her.
She shrugged. “Mordred pays me in coins like I am a common whore. I do not want money. If you give me what I want, then I will take you and your friend to the dragon.”
“I will not forgive you for aiding him to steal Kilgharrah from right under my nose,” Merlin said fiercely.
“Yes, yes, we’ve gone over this. I didn’t see the point to it, but I have to say, the dragon is quite talkative when he’s bored.”
“Merlin, did you know she was a part of this?” Arthur asked him.
“She’s a frustrating blight in my past,” Merlin muttered bitterly.
He pulled out a deep blue pouch from his pants pocket. Arthur was beginning to suspect that the pants had pockets that were bigger on the inside.
Merlin removed the crystal that was inside the pouch and placed it on the edge of the table. “There. That’s what you want, right?”
Morgause stared at him and then at the crystal. She looked uneasy now, almost afraid, Arthur could say.
Why was she afraid?
“Take it. I’m giving it to you freely,” Merlin encouraged her.
Arthur watched the staring match between Merlin and Morgause. While Merlin gave her a cool look, Morgause had a more calculating gaze as if she were trying to figure out her father’s next move.
With a quick hand, Merlin’s daughter grabbed the crystal off the table.
“Thank you,” she said to him as an afterthought. She soon peered at the crystal, enthralled by the clear white stone.
Arthur half-expected her to say, “My precious” like the creature Gollum from the Lord of the Rings.
Morgause conjured a black padded chair to sit on a few feet away from the table. She was clearly seeing something of interest within the crystal’s depths as she proceeded to ignore them.
“Is that a Seeing crystal?” Arthur asked Merlin.
He remembered Merlin having such crystals in his possession in his former life. To anyone of magic, it showed them the past, present and future if they knew how to use it properly.
Merlin nodded. “Yes, it is. I always have a few on my person. Only a select few have access to the Crystal Caves. Morgause does not.”
“And whose fault is that?” Morgause snapped at him, looking up momentarily from her perusal of the crystal.
Merlin glared at her, but didn’t answer her directly.
Arthur couldn’t deny that this relationship between father and daughter was dysfunctional, to put it lightly. He wished he could find out why though. Witnessing the tension between Merlin and his daughter, Arthur was grateful that he never knew his father, at least in this life. His mother had told him that his father left the family before Arthur was even born. Considering how close-minded and unpleasant his father in his past life, Arthur wasn’t too saddened by the loss.
Arthur asked Merlin. “So is she immortal? If it’s genetic, then she should be, right?”
“It’s a peculiar thing…immortality, with those of my blood, doesn’t manifest right away,” Merlin began thoughtfully. “Morgause fell ill as a child--”
Arthur could hear Morgause mutter something under her breath, but he couldn’t quite catch her words.
“-she was only five, and too young for her immortality to manifest,” Merlin continued on smoothly, “She died. Her mother resurrected her and she grew up from what Morgause has told me. Her mother was a nymph, so Morgause must have gained her immortality through her.”
“I went through the nymph ritual for immortality,” Morgause put in. “And then I made a little trip to this dismal time a year ago. I’ve not been impressed,” she finished airily.
“And you didn’t know any of this? That she was here?” Arthur asked Merlin incredulously.
Merlin shrugged. “Sometimes, I miss things. It happens.”
“She’s working with Mordred, Merlin! For crissakes! And you just missed this little detail…” Arthur said, raising his brow.
Instead of answering Arthur, Merlin turned to his daughter. “Are you working with Mordred?” he asked her.
“Not at the moment, no. I could care less what that brat is doing. His pay is abysmal and I’d get more money through other means. And he is so annoying! Honestly, I can’t stand Mordred. He’ll probably be mad at me for helping you, but I believe I’m done with him.”
“Then why did you help him in taking the dragon?” Arthur demanded.
Morgause shrugged. “I was bored at the time. It was a bit of a challenge, but I am not lacking in power thanks to my parentage.”
She looked at Merlin pointedly.
Arthur sighed heavily. “That’s just great,” he muttered.
“So are we going or not?” Morgause asked, stowing the crystal away in a black purse she had conjured.
Arthur and Merlin put away their breakfast things, and less than fifteen minutes later, they were ready.
Merlin warned Arthur not to trust Morgause, but Arthur had deduced that much. He could also not shake the feeling that Merlin was still keeping something from him. And a part of it had to do with Morgause, he was sure of it.
They departed from the house through magical means. Arthur hoped that Merlin would be able to suspect any foul play. Because if Morgause botched this magical teleportation…intentionally leaving Arthur’s head in one place and the rest of his body somewhere else, then well he’d be dead and not too thrilled with Morgause if he ever was reborn again. Merlin may have been immortal, but Arthur was not.
~ * ~
Arthur’s head was still attached to his body when they arrived at their location. It appeared to a large, empty warehouse. There were runes all over the whitewashed walls.
Arthur couldn’t see the dragon anywhere. There was only one door behind them, and Arthur could only assume it was the door leading outside. It didn’t look like there were any separate rooms - it was just one big vacant building. He wouldn’t be hard-pressed to conclude that the ‘warehouse’ was built magically because something just felt unreal about it. Like it was never used before except for housing the dragon.
Merlin had conjured dark blue robes to wear over his outfit and had forcibly taken Morgause by the arm.
The blonde woman had looked affronted at that, but Arthur detected a flicker of fear in her eyes.
“Tell me where Kilgharrah is,” Merlin said in a low voice, but the tone was unmistakably threatening.
“The dragon has been made invisible to those who we don’t wish to see him. I could lift the spell for you.”
“Then do it.”
“You can’t order me around,” she said, annoyed.
Merlin’s eyes flashed. “I know you’d like to try, so try.”
Arthur was beginning to realize something…Morgause wasn’t just magic, there was something more to her.
“I’m not getting paid enough to do anything to him,” Morgause had said…
“Don’t let her near you, Arthur,” Merlin warned him. “And you, no sudden moves,” Merlin had told Morgause…
Hadn’t he repeatedly been told how Kahlan could be a danger to him? That he should be careful around her? He felt it in his gut that Morgause had something in common with his daughter, and it didn’t set Arthur at ease at all.
And then it was confirmed: Morgause wrapped her fingers around Merlin’s neck.
Arthur swore.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he breathed out, more to himself than to anyone else.
Morgause was a Confessor, she had to be. And it couldn’t be a coincidence that Kahlan, who was Morgause’s half-niece if only by blood, was a Confessor too. Arthur had thought it was a curse, but what if it was more straightforward than that? Curses were simply explanations for things people couldn’t explain, right?
He was training to be a doctor, cardiologist really, but the point remained - he was supposed to depend on science as the guide to follow. He couldn’t continue to believe that his daughter’s ‘curse’ was the product of an old wives’ tale brought to life. He should know better than that in his current life. It was 2010 and science had made leaps and bounds since the days of Camelot. Arthur had to rethink the situation. There was no question about that decision.
And if Morgause was Merlin’s daughter…then Morgana, Morgana…and Merlin was keeping something from him. He was missing a key detail, but it all fell back on genetics, didn’t it? What one had in their DNA, their blood…
“Merlin, what are you doing? Are you mad?” Arthur voiced out loud. Why was Merlin just letting her have her way? And it looked like Merlin was well-aware of what his daughter was…
“Stay out of this, Arthur,” Merlin said sharply, his darkened gaze still set on Morgause.
“Go on,” he urged his daughter. “Why don’t you go ahead?”
“The things I could do, the power under my command,” Morgause mused, looking overwhelmed with the possibilities.
“Because that’s what you really want, right? Revenge? That’s why you helped Mordred take Kilgharrah, to get me to come to you. But you couldn’t wait that long, couldn’t you? As soon as I was out of Avalon, you had your chance,” he said, peering at her significantly.
Morgause looked perfectly unaffected by what Merlin was saying. Merlin pursued the point further, “And it must have been so tempting for you to travel to the future. To a time where people have long forgotten that magic is real and where you can pass unnoticed without the whispers. Without others knowing how dangerous you are.”
“It’s all thanks to you,” Morgause said softly, her hand still around his neck.
“Then show me,” Merlin goaded her.
“Merlin, what the hell?!” Arthur exclaimed. He sincerely hoped the Dragonlord wasn’t really going to allow Morgause to Confess him.
Morgause laughed mirthlessly. “Guess what?” She said casually.
But Merlin was prevented from responding when Morgause pulled his head toward her and kissed him deeply, and not a little viciously, on the mouth.
She pulled away then and smiled serenely. “I don’t do used goods, Father,” Morgause told him, smirking at him.
Arthur couldn’t believe he had just seen what he’d seen. Putting aside the inherent wrongness of the moment, he couldn’t help but wonder what Morgause had meant by used goods.
“How lucky for me,” Merlin said harshly. “Show us to the dragon now, Morgause.”
Morgause shrugged, acting quite like nothing big had happened. Like she hadn’t just been on the verge of Confessing her father. She started walking toward the other end of the empty space. They followed her, Merlin staring darkly at her back.
“Merlin, what did Morgause mean by ‘used goods’?” Arthur wanted to know.
Merlin turned to Arthur. “I haven’t the faintest idea,” he told him. Arthur didn’t sense the honesty in his words. Something was off.
“Really, Merlin, what is going on between you and her? What were you talking about when you said Morgause wanted revenge? Revenge for what?”
Merlin sighed, rubbing his brow. “I understand you have a lot of questions, Arthur, but I can’t answer them for you.”
“Can’t or won’t? Because from where I’m standing, it’s looking like ‘won’t’ now. I am not a child, Merlin. I can handle the truth.”
“No, I don’t think you can. Sorry,” Merlin told him in apology. He gave him a small smile. “I just want to get Kilgharrah back, all right?”
Arthur was reluctant to let the matter go, but he knew this wasn’t the ideal time to force the issue.
Morgause had the dragon appear several feet away from them. Kilgharrah was inside a large, sturdy cage. He was sleeping inside the enclosure. Merlin rushed to check on the dragon.
“He’s fine,” Morgause insisted, “If we had hurt him, you’d know,” she said, looking at Arthur.
“Why wait? Why didn’t you just kill him without us here?” Arthur wanted to know.
Morgause shrugged. “Mordred wanted to make absolute certain it worked. And that of course required that you come here.”
She continued on then, “But I don’t agree with Mordred’s plan. It’s rather pointless, you know? What good will it do? And it’s a crime to kill a dragon. There are not many left in this world.”
“You chose to work with him,” Arthur snapped at her.
Morgause accepted the accusation with a shrug. “Well, yes, but I had my own reasons. And now, I have what I want. I don’t need to work with Mordred any longer.”
“Wait, but you know something, don’t you? If you’re a Confessor…my daughter is one too.”
Morgause just gave him a look. “Oh?” She said in mild interest.
Arthur raised his hands in frustration. He looked over to where Merlin was still by the dragon. The creature was now glowing a bright golden light though the Dragonlord could not breach the bars of the cage. Kilgharrah had not woken up, and whether that was due to an enchanted sleep or he was pretending to sleep, Arthur could not tell. It would be just like the dragon to fake sleep just to avoid conversation.
Arthur saw that Merlin, his back to them, had stilled, one hand wrapped around a bar and the other hand in a tight fist by his side. Arthur was certain that he was listening to his talk with Morgause.
“Merlin, right? It’s Merlin, isn’t it? If you’re his daughter, and then Kahlan is his granddaughter… only women can be Confessors, right? Going by the trend…” Arthur noted.
“I do love deductions,” Morgause said. She looked amused.
Arthur tried not to snap at her because of her smarmy attitude. He needed to find this out, and she was his best option now. “You know the truth, don’t you? You have to if Merlin’s not too thrilled with you being here. You must know something he doesn’t want me to know,” Arthur concluded.
Merlin was by them before Morgause could answer him. But she appeared too preoccupied with looking at her blood-red painted nails to bother providing Arthur with a speedy reply.
“It doesn’t matter, Arthur,” Merlin said firmly. “This isn’t the time to dwell on it. We have to get Kilgharrah out of here.”
Arthur shook his head. “No, this is important to me. Morgause is your daughter, Merlin, and Kahlan is mine. And she’s your granddaughter as well. As Kahlan’s father, I want to know the truth, all right? Just tell me.”
“No,” Merlin shut down Arthur with one word.
“My paternal grandmother was a pure Confessor,” Morgause supplied, to which Merlin glared at her.
“What do you mean, ‘pure’?” Arthur questioned.
Merlin sighed and he rubbed his brow. “I grew up in a time during which a lot of Confessors existed. They were all pure Confessors meaning that their sole active magical power was to Confess others. That’s what they were known for, the fear they created, but Confessors including my mother were good people. They had the natural ability to judge others and settle arguments wisely and fairly. They could look you in the eye and know whether you were telling the truth or not. Unfortunately, the good they could do was not,” he choked on his words, a haunted look in his blue eyes. “--it wasn’t wholly embraced.”
“So, it’s because of you, because of your mother, that Kahlan is who she is? It wasn’t a curse,” Arthur reiterated.
Merlin looked unhappy. “You see why I couldn’t tell you, Arthur? I rather carry the burden than have you accuse me for the rest of your life… that’s why I asked Nimue, who knew all this of course, to provide a false reason for Kahlan’s condition.”
“I’m not mad at you, Merlin,” Arthur said, sighing. True, Merlin shouldn’t have omitted that fact about his parentage but it was beyond Merlin’s control as to who gave birth to him. “None of us can choose who our parents are. I just wish you had told me the truth. Does Morgana even know?”
Merlin shook his head. “I couldn’t. I just couldn’t tell her. Kahlan doesn’t know either.”
“So you’re a carrier then…but only women can inherit the power? Did you know Kahlan would have it?”
“No, Arthur, I swear I didn’t. As a carrier, I have the potential of producing a Confessor, but it is a 50/50 chance. I can not predict whether any daughter of mine will be a Confessor. Morgana and Viviane were lucky as they remained carriers like me and did not test positive for being Confessors. But they still had the half chance of giving birth to a Confessor daughter, as was the case with Kahlan.”
“And if Morgana had been a Confessor?” Arthur prompted.
“Then I assure you that I would not have allowed her to come to Camelot. I wouldn’t have done anything to endanger you, Arthur. Accidents can happen. Believe me, I was perfectly certain that Morgana was not a Confessor before I let her stay in Camelot and spend time with you,” Merlin was earnest in pleading his case.
“Before…” Arthur paused, the magnitude of the revelation hitting him. If Morgana had been…and if they had had Kahlan then. “Shit,” he breathed out.
Morgause smirked, wiggling her fingers in a somewhat threatening gesture. “Nasty business, Confessing. But it’s a nice feeling to know that I could disable either of you in moments.”
Arthur wished he had Excalibur on hand at that very moment so that he could wipe off that smirk from her face.
“Why are you here, Morgause? What do you want with me?” Merlin asked her tiredly.
The Confessor went up to him and Arthur hissed at Merlin, “The point is to make her stay away from you.”
Merlin gave him an absent smile. “It’s truly all right, Arthur. She’s no threat to me. Morgause is afraid of me, aren’t you?”
Morgause looked indignant. “I am not,” she denied. Then she smiled wickedly at Arthur. “But I would love to see the look on your friend’s face if I do go ahead with it. What do you think, Arthur?”
“Don’t you dare,” Arthur said fiercely, moving in front of Merlin. “I’ll kill you and end it.”
She laughed mirthlessly. “But you have no weapon.”
Merlin looked honestly amused at Morgause’s remark. “Do you really think I’d leave the Once and the Future King unprotected?”
“But…there were whispers…that won’t be years, centuries…” she said in disbelief. “The Fae Queen said so.”
Merlin smiled thinly at her. “Let me show you then.”
And he moved forward and pressed his fingers to her temples.
Arthur was growing more confused by the second. What were they talking about? The Once and Future King was him, yes, he knew that, but other than that, he was clueless.
Morgause looked shocked and overwhelmed after Merlin removed his hands from her forehead. “…that’s too much,” she uttered, too overcome to say anymore.
“It isn’t just in the future, Morgause. It’s for always even now. Take heed,” Merlin warned her.
“Merlin, what is this about?” Arthur demanded. He wanted to abate his confusion and he needed to know, especially if this involved him.
Merlin smiled at him, squeezing his shoulder. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he told him.
Famous last words, Arthur thought to himself.
“Merlin, seriously,” Arthur argued, “You can’t keep this from me.”
“You’ll find out when it’s the right time, I promise,” Merlin informed him.
Arthur was not appeased in the slightest. “All right. One more secret, great. Who is the Fae Queen then? Could you tell me that?”
“She’s the one who granted me immortality, effectively chaining me to this Earth until I fulfilled a prophecy.”
Morgause laughed then.
“You mentioned a prophecy to me once… that it was meant to ruin your life. Did you fulfill it then?”
Merlin looked tense. “So to speak…I was permanently immortal, you see, until I fulfilled the prophecy. But since I have now fulfilled it, I am now able to give up my immortality if I so desired.”
“…and do you want to do that?”
Merlin just looked at him, but he didn’t give an answer.
“What was the prophecy?”
“You should have heard what he said to the Fae Queen! Mother was there with the other nymphs and dryads. It was all a good laugh.”
“Oh, shut up, Morgause,” Merlin grumbled.
“What did you say, Merlin?”
“It was a long, long time ago. I’ve forgotten already.”
But Morgause was eager to talk about it. “He said something to the effect of, “I can not bloody believe you’re making me immortal because you need me to mentor some brat! Because, I swear to you, he will be a brat if he’ll be the son--” but she was stopped from speaking further by a silencing spell Merlin placed on her.
“That’s enough, Morgause,” he said, frustrated. He looked to Arthur. “I was a different man back then…”
Arthur raised his brow. “Was I the brat then?”
“No, no…” Merlin denied, but then his shoulders sunk in defeat, “maybe yes, but that was years before I met you.”
“And did you still think of me as a brat when you first met me?”
“No, no…no, of course not. I just - you have to understand--”
But before Merlin could say what Arthur had to understand, the Dragonlord collapsed in front of him.
“Merlin?” Arthur said, concerned. He rushed to him before his head could hit the ground. Arthur let Merlin use his lap as a pillow. He noticed that Merlin now had a wide silver bracelet on each wrist.
“My magic. The bracelets are blocking it from me,” Merlin moaned.
Then Arthur saw the cause of Merlin’s distress. Mordred had appeared.
“Well, well, well,” Mordred said, smiling viciously. “What do we have here?”
“Release Merlin right now!” Arthur demanded.
He glared at Mordred. Arthur found it highly insulting that Mordred had the appearance of a boy of fifteen, maybe sixteen years of age. He hoped that Mordred wasn’t immortal like Morgana had assured Arthur. If anyone had to die, Mordred deserved to die at least a hundred times over.
“Why it’s King Arthur,” Mordred smirked. “Don’t look like much of a king now, do you? And why I would give you back the only ally you have now? That would be counterproductive for me.”
“I killed you once, I can kill you again,” Arthur threatened. But he grew increasingly worried as he felt Merlin still against him, his breathing shallow and weak. Merlin’s skin was even paler than normal, which shouldn’t have been possible, but apparently it was. But Merlin couldn’t die though, right? He would survive this, Arthur tried to assure himself.
Mordred smiled mirthlessly. “Soon Merlin will be begging to give up his immortality. He could only live so long without being connected to his magic.”
Arthur felt a pressure on his hand, and he looked down to see Merlin gripping his hand. Merlin whispered to him, his words firm, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
And then Merlin closed his eyes and his grip slackened.
“Merlin? Merlin? Don’t you dare--” Arthur stopped. It was no use. Merlin had passed out.
Meanwhile, Mordred had lifted the silencing spell Merlin had placed on Morgause.
“Morgause, I appreciate you bringing them to me,” Mordred said to her, “Now we can really get started.”
Arthur shifted Merlin so that his head rested on the floor. He was startled to find a soft pillow, appearing as if out of thin air, and he moved it behind the Dragonlord’s head.
He looked up and caught Morgause’s gaze. Arthur wasn’t sure whether her words were true, that she wasn’t working with Mordred anymore. Merlin had said not to trust her, and Arthur had to admit his natural inclination was to put his faith in Merlin rather than Morgause. He had just met her and who knew what her true agenda was. She was probably working for herself now, doing whatever suited her purposes the best.
“I want you to Confess him,” Mordred pointed to Arthur, looking at Morgause.
Arthur stood up quickly and backed away. “No, that’s not going to happen.”
Morgause didn’t make a move toward Arthur and Mordred looked miffed. “Morgause, did you not hear what I said?”
She looked to Mordred. “Why yes, Mordred, I would love to Confess the Once and Future King and have all of Avalon coming after me,” Morgause said sarcastically. “I’d much rather be attacked by a pack of rabid dogs.”
“Whatever your father told you is a lie!” Mordred shouted fiercely.
She glared at him. “Don’t yell at me, Mordred. I could just as well Confess you, so watch your tongue.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, I would. Why, just last week I Confessed a man, made him kill himself by slashing his own throat. It was the highlight of my week,” Morgause said with a smirk. “Would you prefer that? Or burning yourself alive? The fire is always nice to look at.”
Arthur thought he was going to be sick. Morgause was definitely mad. He didn’t know if he’d want her to be on his side at the moment.
“You agreed to work with me and now you’re not? That wasn’t the agreement!” Mordred said indignantly, his eyes flashing molten gold.
She shrugged. “I changed my mind.”
Mordred looked furious.
He saw Mordred shout a few words, his arm outstretched, and Arthur fell to the ground, blacking out.
~ * ~
Arthur woke up, his head throbbing, and he groaned when he saw that he was restrained to a heavy, wooden chair. His forearms were roped tight along the chairs’ arms and he discovered it was frustratingly difficult to free himself of the rope. He noticed that Kilgharrah was further away from them, still caged and still in perpetual rest or whatever it was. Arthur had concluded that they must have been moved away from the dragon instead of the other way around. The dragon looked to be in the same location he had been at when he’d first appeared.
A few feet away from him, Arthur was surprised to see Morgause kneeling before Merlin, who was likewise in a chair, but the only restraints on him were those blasted bracelets.
Morgause was talking quietly to him. Then she paused and nodded. She kissed him on the cheek and she stood up.
“What’s going on?” Arthur asked, trying to garner their attention. He was feeling particularly annoyed at the moment because everyone appeared to be in on a secret that Arthur had been denied from knowing.
Merlin gave Arthur a tired smile. The Dragonlord was looking a little better. Some color was returning to his cheeks, but he still looked drained, exhausted.
“I was talking to Morgause and we have reached an agreement.”
“Well, not exactly...” Morgause refuted and then spoke to Arthur, “but you’ll find out soon enough.”
“Right, so you’re with us? Not that I’m particularly happy about that - do you know what she told Mordred, Merlin? She said she Confessed a man and told him to kill himself.”
“By slashing his throat,” Morgause added, looking pointedly at Merlin.
Arthur saw Merlin visibly flinch and he wouldn’t meet Arthur’s eyes.
“Morgause is going to help us for better or for worse. She removed the bracelets from me and replaced them with fake ones to fool Mordred. It may take a while for me to recover, but I should be fine.”
“Then can you untie me? The sooner we leave, the better.”
“I’m sorry, Arthur, but we need to stay. There are some things that you need to know. And I must tell you all of it now or I’ll lose my nerve.”
“But this isn’t really the best place, Merlin. If you could just return Kilgharrah back to Avalon, and--”
“No, I can’t wait any longer. And I’m sorry, Arthur, I’m really sorry…” But Merlin couldn’t speak any further. He covered his face in his hands.
“Where’s Mordred?” Arthur wondered when Merlin fell silent.
Morgause shrugged. “I scared him off, said I’d Confess him if he didn’t go. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mordred’ll return soon. Glutton for punishment, perhaps.”
~ * ~
Mordred did return much to Arthur’s chagrin.
When he started in on Merlin being a murderer, Arthur refused to listen to him. Instead Arthur focused on Merlin who was making a point of not paying attention to what Mordred was saying.
“Of course he has killed. I saw him on the battlefield,” Arthur countered though the retort was weak. He knew that killing amidst battle was far different than murdering someone in a non-battle situation. But surely Merlin would never do such a thing if he didn’t have a good reason for it.
Mordred looked amused. “Merlin can’t even claim defense as a reason. It was cold-blooded murder, pure and simple.”
“Merlin?” Arthur asked him, wanting his former mentor to provide an explanation.
The Dragonlord’s head was down and he wouldn’t say a word.
“My father isn’t going to answer you,” Morgause stated the obvious.
She was standing behind Merlin’s chair, her hand resting on top of the chair’s back. Arthur felt like there was a barrier between him and them. It was frustrating.
“What, you’re speaking for him now?” Arthur shot at her, annoyed.
Morgause gave him a piercing look, her blue eyes nearly black. Then she turned sharply to face Mordred.
“You’re a silly child,” she told Mordred.
Mordred’s eyes narrowed at her insult.
Suddenly, a gun appeared in Morgause’s hand and she moved quickly, directing the gun at Mordred.
Mordred gave her an incredulous look, half-surprised, half-unimpressed. “Have you forgotten I have magic, Morgause?” He said smugly.
She gave him a wane smile.
Merlin caught Arthur’s eye. Arthur could safely say that an invisible burden was on Merlin’s shoulders, with the way he slumped in his seat. He looked miserable and defeated, but quietly determined despite that.
“Whatever you do, Arthur, whatever you do, do not interfere,” Merlin spoke silently within Arthur’s mind.
Arthur really didn’t like the sound of that, but Merlin had a pleading look about him, and Arthur found it hard to demand from him what he meant or refuse Merlin’s orders. He had a feeling that he would very much want to interfere if Merlin was so desperately insistent that Arthur stay out of it.
Arthur nodded unhappily, acknowledging Merlin’s words. Merlin gave him a small smile and took a deep breath, released it, and then relaxed in his chair.
Morgause pulled the trigger on the gun and the bullet shot toward Mordred.
Of course, Mordred intercepted the bullet, slowing it down with his magic, and then making it change direction so that it would hit Arthur.
Arthur couldn’t move, and he hated to think that this was how his second life would end - tied to a chair and hit by a bullet. It was leagues away from his death at the Battle of Camlann, honourably as the King of all Albion.
“Idiot,” Morgause muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes at Mordred.
But then someone appeared in front of Arthur, her red leather-gloved hand blocking the bullet from hitting him.
Arthur recognized the blonde woman clad in red leather, armed with Agiels, as Cara. She was an Elite warrior of Avalon, and he recalled her visiting Camelot sometimes with Kahlan and Richard. Considering Cara was Kahlan’s bodyguard, Arthur wasn’t too surprised that the Elite had been granted immortality so that she could best serve his immortal daughter. He still felt reasonably irritated that he was seeing everyone again, immortal and in their twenties -- ageless, while he was reincarnated yet still aged. Maybe that made him sound ungrateful, but Arthur really wanted to know who decided that he could only be reincarnated, not be given immortality. Why did it have to be that way? If only he knew who to ask…
“Kahlan,” Cara spoke to her urgently.
Kahlan had appeared closer to Merlin. She was wearing her familiar white dress, her dark hair loose down her back and a similar bird necklace to Morgana’s hugged her neck. Her golden wedding band shone brightly on her ring finger.
Arthur’s daughter turned away from Mordred, who she had been glaring at, and she nodded at Cara. She raised her hand and Cara sent the bullet in her direction. Kahlan slowed the offending item down and then formed a small red fireball in her hands, which she then shot at the bullet, disintegrating it.
Kahlan moved fast toward Mordred, a threat clear on her face.
“No, don’t!” Mordred said in an uncharacteristically frightened voice.
“Oh, you wish the worst would be Confession for you, but don’t worry, it isn't,” Kahlan promised him viciously.
Mordred backed away from her, his eyes trained on her hands, watching carefully for any sudden movement.
“It appears that my father was speaking the truth. How unfortunate for you, Mordred,” Morgause said, smiling unsympathetically at him.
Kahlan whipped her head around, looking questioningly at Morgause. Cara stationed herself near Mordred, a wicked smile on her face. Cara had her Agiels, short red leather-covered sticks that, upon contact, were extremely painful to anyone the sticks were used against. She pressed an Agiel at Mordred’s side and he cried out at the sudden pain.
“Don’t even think of using magic, I can repel it. My friend Denna loves to break people. You’ll love her,” Cara told him with a smirk.
Mordred glowered at her, but didn’t make any threatening movement as Cara looked quite ready to apply her Agiels on him again.
“Who are you?” Kahlan asked curiously.
“I’m Morgause, your half-aunt,” Morgause informed her easily.
Merlin spoke up, “She’s my daughter, Kahlan. Before I was with Nimue… she’s no threat,” he finished off as an afterthought.
“Oh,” Kahlan said, and then she stared at Morgause as if she were trying to decipher a puzzle. “All right.”
“Well, this is a little awkward,” Cara remarked.
“A bit yeah,” Kahlan said to her. Then she nodded to Morgause. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Morgause smiled lightly. “Well, I’m going to go,” she announced. “I can only imagine how even more awkward it’ll be if I stayed…” she noted.
Then Morgause was gone.
Kahlan turned toward her father and smiled. “Oh, it is good to see you again,” she said.
She went to Arthur and took out a dagger to cut him loose from the rope bonds.
Arthur saw the word, “Quicksilver” in a small brand toward the hilt end of the dagger.
Arthur was glad to see his daughter again, looking well centuries after Camelot. “I wasn’t expecting to see you… Morgana met with me.”
Kahlan nodded, working the dagger on the rope, where a thick black smoke appeared above it as the dagger tried to cut it. The weapon itself glowed golden, forcing the black smoke to shy away from the glow and allow the dagger access to the rope.
“How could I not come? Mother said you could be in danger, and luckily Cara and I came at just the right time. Thanks to Grandfather’s message,” Kahlan told him, and she turned to look at Merlin.
Merlin gave her a weak smile. “Thank you for coming, my dear.”
Arthur thought there was an ominous hint in Merlin’s tone of voice…like he was going to finish it off with, “…and now I’m going to kill you.”
He shook himself - honestly, he hadn’t even watched any horror movies lately. But well, there was that one Sherlock Holmes novel he finished barely a week ago… Still, it didn’t justify his thoughts running away from him like this.
“Magically-enforced rope?” Arthur inquired, seeing the smoke become wispy and insignificant after the dagger attacked it.
Kahlan nodded. “Nothing this dagger can’t handle,” she assured him.
And a few brief moments later, the rope binding Arthur was cut by the blade and he was free.
Kahlan put her arms around him, embracing her father warmly. Arthur returned the hug.
“I’m so sorry that I didn’t see you sooner,” she started after she pulled away from him, “I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” Kahlan told him sincerely.
Arthur was quick to reassure her at the sight of his daughter’s forlorn expression. “No, no, it’s all right.”
Kahlan gave him a soft smile. “I still plan to do something about it. Mother told me you had requested it.”
Arthur shrugged, focused on massaging his rope-chafed wrists. “Yes, well, that’s true. I would appreciate it,” he admitted.
Kahlan nodded at him. “I’m glad,” she said cheerfully.
Then she looked to Cara. “You can knock Mordred out if you’d like. His face is putting me off.”
Cara looked amused.
Mordred stared at Kahlan incredulously. “My face? My face? You’re not even looking at me!”
Kahlan gave Mordred a pointed look. “…doesn’t matter, it’s still putting me off. And actually, I’ve been feeling a bit skittish lately. Perhaps you’d like me to Confess you?”
“I bloody hate you, all of you,” Mordred muttered.
Cara pressed an Agiel over his abdomen, and he bit his tongue to keep from sounding off in response to the pain.
“Hand slipped,” Cara said, not sounding sorry at all.
“You killed my father. That’s unforgivable,” Kahlan said, glaring at him.
“He’s alive now. What’s the problem? Honestly,” Mordred said with slight smirk, “Yes, I want to kill him again. It’s an addiction, I can’t help it. He stole Morgana from me.”
Arthur spoke up, “She was your bloody half-sister, Mordred, for crissakes! Whatever I had with her was mutual.”
Mordred was undeterred. “You’re only saying that because your daughter’s here,” he remarked then he pointed out to Kahlan, “And actually, Arthur got to me first, I wounded him in self-defense.”
“It’s a true pity you didn’t stay dead,” Kahlan retorted, playing intently with her dagger.
Merlin sighed loudly. “Cara, just take him out already. Mordred has nothing useful to say.”
“I don’t see why you want to keep Arthur alive anyway…he’s just going to be reborn again like a cockroach. Who cares how long he lives in this life?” Mordred said.
“I care,” Cara said firmly and she stuck an Agiel to the side of his head.
A moment later, Mordred fell to the ground, knocked out and unconscious.
Merlin stood up and he gestured to Kahlan. “I need to speak with you in private,” he finished off the last words with a meaningful look toward Arthur.
“You know, I’ve just about lost my patience with this secret business,” Arthur remarked, his elbow on the chair arm and his hand over his cheek. He was frustrated and he was sure that he looked it too. “I just bloody remembered who I am yesterday and now you’re keeping me in the dark, Merlin? You can’t expect me to…well,” Arthur waved his hand, “--to just go along with it.”
“All will be revealed soon, very soon, I promise you,” Merlin reassured him earnestly.
Arthur wasn’t appeased in the slightest, but there was little he could do about it at the moment. He had no idea where he was exactly, so it wasn’t like he could leave this place, wherever this warehouse was. Resignedly, Arthur had a good feeling that the only option of returning home was through magical transportation. And magic was one thing he certainly didn’t have. All he could do now was sit and see what happened next...
Part 6