The Rise of Arthur Pendragon

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Merlin knew what he had to do. His first aim was to find the King. With a determined look on his pale face, Merlin hurried out of his room and towards the dungeons. By now the alarm had been raised and the knights were everywhere, preparing for battle. "Gaius? Gaius!?",Merlin called as he ran, hoping to find the old man and bring him to safety. But there was no reply. Merlin knew he couldn't risk stopping to find his friend so he continued on his way. Soon he had reached to entrance to the secrets tunnels that lead out of the Castle and had conjured up a ball of light to guide his way. Then he ran. He ran and ran through the dark corridors and around corners, brushing off spiderwebs as he went. After a few minutes of constant running, Merlin burst through the gate into the cold night air, gasping for breath. He had reached the edge of the forest. Merlin allowed himself a second to catch his breath before mumbling; "Fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme. Fromum feohgiftum.",and the glowing orb that he had created shot off into the woods. Merlin was sure that when it reached it's target, Arthur would know to follow it just had he had done all those years ago. Then the young sorcerer bolted off into the forest.

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Arthur was riding at breakneck speed down the hill towards the city when he spotted something flying towards him. Abruptly he pulled on the reigns and the horse whinnied in protest but stopped short. The glowing thing was pelting towards Arthur and for a second he thought it was another spirit, like the one they had saved Gwen from. But as it drew nearer Arthur recognised it and breathed a sigh of relief. So Merlin was still alive. The orb had reached him by now and had already begun to turn around and float away again. Quickly Arthur yanked on the reigns and galloped off after the ball of light.

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By now, Merlin had reached his destination. The same hilltop that Alia and Arthur had stoop upon just minutes before. But Alia had gone. Merlin stared down towards the floods of people, men, women and children, trying to get out of the city. They were running in all directions, all away from Camelot. Then something caught his eyes. A single figure was moving against the tide, pushing further and further towards the centre of the citadel. She was dressed in rags and covered in dirt and her dark hair was streaming out behind her. "No.",Merlin thought, "No!" Then he yelled, "Alia no! Come back!",even though he knew she would never be able to hear him. But to his surprise the young girl stopped in her tracks and turned in his direction. He could just about make out her lips moving and then a voice spoke in his head. "I'm sorry Merlin. For everything." Then Alia's mouth turned up into that goofy smile they shared and she whipped around and sprinted deeper into the chaos.