How Merlin Should Have Ended

The End

"You go with them," Arthur ordered Merlin.

"My place is at your side," Merlin stated firmly. Leaving felt like dooming Arthur to death. Merlin knew he had to stay.

"Morgana has already gotten a jump on us," Arthur replied in a hurry. "All our traps are in the wrong place. Those men turning to face the enemy at our flank need you more than I do. Now GO!" He barked the last few words out like an order.

Merlin could see in his friend's eyes how important it was to him that Merlin help the poor souls heading right into Morgana's ambush. Maybe there was a way he could both obey Arthur and save him. The only person destined to harm Arthur at this battle was Mordred. Once Merlin turned and saw that Mordred was among the knights being asked to turn and fight Morgana's ambush, Merlin obeyed Arthur's command. Everything would be fine. All Merlin had to do was not take his eyes off Mordred.

By the time Merlin and the knights reached Morgana's sneak attack, they were already well out of whatever secret passage they'd used to get into the valley. The Saxons were going for the tents, burning and trampling everything in their path.

Reaching out his hand, Merlin whispered a basic incantation and about a half dozen of the Saxons were thrown back, but that didn't stop the rest from moving forward. There were just too many of them for his usual methods.

"I have an idea," Merlin told Percival, who was on his left. "Cover me. I need to get to higher ground."

"Yes sir," Percival replied. Merlin didn't really have time to be weirded out that Percival was calling him sir. Instead, he focused on getting to higher ground. He had to deal with this quickly and return to Arthur.

Climbing up on top of some rocks near the edge of the camp, Merlin took a look around. Mordred was still among the knights fighting near Percival. That was good. Merlin turned his focus back to the matter at hand. He'd brought the sidhe staff to this fight, and now was the time to try it. Merlin had created bolts of magic lightning with it before, but never before had he attempted anything on this scale. Merlin just hoped it would work; otherwise he'd be reduced to his usual magic tricks, which were so far proving rather ineffective against so many.

Lifting and pointing the staff, Merlin imagined the magic flowing through him and out the end of the staff like he had before when shooting bolts from it. It worked, but only like it had done before. A single Saxon went down. Merlin was going to have to think bigger. He tried again, this time trying to imagine many rivers of flowing magic traveling through his arm and into the staff. This time, three bolts hit the Saxons.

Merlin kept going, getting better and better at hitting multiple targets at once the more he tried. Between his support and the knights' swords, it was working. The Saxons were being driven back.

Just then, he caught Percival looking at him. The knight was still fighting nearby, covering Merlin while he was vulnerable. Percival didn't say anything, but by his expression, Merlin could tell he was impressed. Merlin had to admit, he was pretty happy about it himself. Holding out the staff again, he knocked down ten more Saxons. He was even getting good at this!

It wasn't until they'd defeated the ambush that Merlin noticed the problem. He couldn't see Mordred anywhere. Turning his head in every direction, Merlin searched the area, frantically looking for the druid. Finally, he got down from the rocks and turned to the first familiar face to ask where Mordred had gone.

"When things started turning in our favour here, Mordred said he was going to go help Arthur," Percival replied easily, as if this was no big deal.

Merlin's heart sank. He should have been paying more attention! He'd checked on Mordred once, but after that, he'd been so focused on the magic and defending the knights, he'd completely forgotten to keep track of him!