Merlyn - Arthur x Female Merlin [1]

Chapter Sixty: For Ealdor!

All the men had gathered in the great communal hut where Arthur was speaking through strategies. The only way they were going to beat Kanen was if they worked to a plan, if they were able to switch the advantage to themselves. Arthur was addressing the group whilst Merlyn and Galahad stood behind him listening just as intently as those in the group before them.

"We're not going to be able to defend Ealdor with sword and sinew alone. We're going to need a plan. We need to find some way of limiting their mobility and drawing them into a trap. If we fight them on their terms, then-"

"Argh!" a female scream echoed from outside. Arthur and Merlyn glanced at one another before they darted outside, following the noise. Racing outside the pair found a horse running through the village with a man over its back. Merlyn gasped as she spotted the arrow protruding out of the man's back. Quickly Merlyn ran forward and caught the horse's reigns gently pulling the horse to a stop allowing Leon and Arthur to lift the body off the back of the horse. Everyone gasped in horror. It was Matthew ... he was dead!

Arthur bent down beside Matthew and noticed that the arrow was holding a letter to the man's back. Reaching down Arthur ripped it away and read the note, his expression dropped while his eyes ran across the paper. Merlyn noticed and immediately made her way to his side. She placed her hand on his back as she knelt down beside him and took the note off him. Merlyn paled as she read the note.

"What does it say?" Leon asked from in front of the crowd.

"Make the most of this day, it will be your last" Arthur replied. Merlyn looked at Arthur with sorrow in her eyes. She was so upset and so was Arthur. Everyone was silent around them. Matthew was dead; he was the first casualty to this fight. Suddenly, Matthew's fiancé came screaming over to her the dead body.

"Matthew! No! No! No!"

Arthur and Merlyn stood up and backed away from the grieving woman. It was right at that moment that someone else came charging through the crowd hollering his opinions out to the world.

"You did this! Look what you've done! You've killed him!" Will shouted as Hunith moved forward and gently held onto the finance's shoulders as she cried over Matthew.

"It wasn't his fault" Merlyn snapped back.

"If he hadn't been strutting around, treating us like his own personal army, this would never have happened!" Will argued back. No one agreed but no one denied Will's words either.

"These men are brave enough to fight for what they believe in, even if you aren't!" Arthur argued back, however, Merlyn could hear the doubt in his voice.

"You're sending them to their graves!" Arthur's gaze flickered down to Matthew's lifeless body that was being cradled by his fiancé. Merlyn could see the doubt in Arthur's eyes. He blamed himself for Matthew's death and Merlyn could see that from a mile off. "You killed one man. How many more need to die before you realise this is a battle that can't be won?"

"Shut it Will!" Merlyn said standing in front of Arthur as if she could protect Arthur from Will's words. But of course the stubborn, ungrateful boy argued back.

"When Kanen comes, you haven't got a chance" Will spat before he began walking off, "You're gonna be slaughtered."

~8~

Will's words echoed through Arthur's mind. He was right, many people would die and it would be his fault. At that moment Arthur was sat outside Hunith's home sharpening his sword with a whet stone. Amongst the likelihood of them losing a battle Arthur felt the guilt wash over him for forcing the village into a fight they couldn't win, for disappointing Merlyn and being unable to save her village. As if thinking about her brought her to him, Arthur looked up to find Merlyn walking towards him with a small smile on her face. She quickly took a seat beside him.