The Rise of Arthur Pendragon

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

The heavy doors to the throne room were flung open and about six hooded sorcerers and sorceresses strode in. Merlin, who had been sat on the floor trying, without success, any and every spell he could think of to get them out, shot to his feet. As Arthur, who had been pacing the room muttering to himself, snapped to attention as well. In the middle of this cluster of magicians strutted a man, his face also shrouded by a large, black cloak. Behind him, something was floating in midair but neither of the pair could see what it was. "Lord Aragon I presume.", Arthur began calmly, "We meet at last." The hooded figure let out a harsh bark of laughter. "Yes, I suppose we do." Merlin's ears pricked up. He knew that voice from somewhere he was certain of it, but he couldn't place it. "What do you want? The kingdom? My throne?", the King spat. "Ah yes I see how that would make sense but no actually. What I want, is revenge." This confused both Arthur and Merlin. "Revenge?", Arthur asked, "Why? I've never met you before. What could I possibly have done to you?" Once again, the dark warlock chuckled. "Now you see, Arthur, that's where you're wrong." Then, the man lifted his hands to his throat, unclasped his cloak threw it off. Arthur's jaw dropped and Merlin was so shocked that he misspoke the spell he had been mumbling under his breath and accidentally set fire to the thrones then quickly put them out. "Surprise.", Mordred gave his old 'friends' a wicked grin, a triumphant glint in his eyes.

"No.", Arthur looked like he was seeing a ghost, which was exactly what it felt like, "That's not possible. You're dead. I killed you!", he was screaming now, "I saw you die!" Mordred put his hands behind his back and chortled; "Well as you can clearly see, I'm perfectly alive." He gave Arthur a disdainful look. "After you stabbed me, I blacked out yes but a few minutes later I awoke again. I managed to drag myself to the nearest tent where I found healing supplies. With the little bit of healing knowledge that I possessed, I treated my wound and was able to survive until I was strong enough to use my magic to heal me properly. Then, when I found out that you had killed Morgana too, I had had enough. I swore vengeance. But later when the news reached me that you were dead as well I thought I'd just take the Albion instead. But of course you had to ruin things by returning from the dead." Merlin saw the hatred burning hot within the young man's eyes. Never before had he seen Mordred, who had once been that helpless, hurt little Druid boy, so angry. Not even after he had turned his back on his friends in order to join Morgana. All the humanity seemed to have evaporated from his soul.

"You've changed Mordred.", Merlin said quietly, "What happened to you?" For a split second, Mordred's face went slack and Merlin thought he saw a flicker of regret pass across his sunken expression. Quickly regaining himself, the warlock spoke softly; "I saw what the old religion has to offer Emrys." "Enough!", Arthur roared, "What do you want Mordred?" The Druid turned slowly to face the King. "What I want Arthur Pendragon, what I want more than anything is to make you suffer like you made me suffer. I want you to have to endure everything I did.", he took a few steps towards the King, halting as he reached the magical barrier, "You took everything away from me. You hurt me Arthur. And now I'm going to hurt you."

"Leave him alone Mordred. It's me you want, remember? It was all my fault not his. If you want to hurt someone, hurt me." The dark sorcerer's cold eyes turned and fixed upon Merlin. "True.", he said cooly, "So I decided I'd do something to hurt you both at once." He gave the two men a sickening grin. "Mordred what have you done?", Arthur asked, his voice so low it was barely audible. Without taking his eyes off Merlin, Mordred said; "I have something you want." And with that, the thing that was floating in the air behind the magicians began to glide forward. It was covered in rags and looked so small and frail. Then it dropped out of the air onto the ground like an apple would drop off a tree, landing directly outside of the barrier, out of the pair's reach. Mordred flicked a hand at the sorcerers and they retreated out the door, leaving the three men alone. "What-", Merlin began until he saw what it was. "No." Arthur saw it too and they both raced towards it until they had slammed into the barrier. So close yet unable to get to her, it was all Merlin and Arthur could do to stare at Alia's limp form, lying in a heap on the ground.

A/N: So here's the next chapter :) I really hope you enjoy it! Please let me know what you think and share if you like it! :)