Swan Song

The Lady of The Lake

"Are we there yet?" Arthur asked for the hundredth time. The little king had never walked such a long distance before, and was extremely tired.

"No, your highness," Merlin replied patiently. "I'm afraid it will be a few days."

Lock rolled his eyes, just wanting the brat to shut up. "Why didn't we take horses, again?"

"They aren't overly fond of Morgan's power. She has a way of controlling beasts, that one, so all animals are naturally repulsed by her. They would go mad when we got close."

"We could have just left them on their own at the halfway point."

"We would not have been able to reach the halfway point on horseback." They were currently walking through a forest. No, not the fairy forest, but a regular one instead.

"The mountains?" Lock guessed, and the old man nodded.

"It's either that or the parts of the forest where fairies live. I'd much rather avoid any further contact with Oberon." They were using that name in front of Arthur, who had yet to be told of the true danger their enemy posed.

"Why am I coming along?" the boy king asked. "I'm not really good at anything."

"You're worth more than you know," Merlin assured him. Though Lock didn't trust the old man, he did like him, and couldn't help but see the similarities between his mentor's relationship with the king and his own relationship with his brother.

Lock, noticing a herd of deer, pointed toward them. "Look!" he said, faking excitement. Immediately, Arthur's eyes widened, and he ran toward them. "Careful not to scare them!"

Once the king was gone, Merlin sighed. "It's just bad karma to lie to your king at every turn."

"I'll give him the truth once he's ready to handle it. It's your job to prepare him for that."

"It won't be for long."

Lock raised an eyebrow, clearly confused.

"Don't tell me you were expecting me to live much longer, boy? I am very, very old. If not for my magic, I wouldn't even be able to walk anymore. It will be your duty to guide Arthur once I'm gone."

Lock's own wishes didn't follow those lines at all, but he wasn't about to reveal that. "Can the mirror be used to communicate with realms other than Alpia?"

Merlin nodded. "There is one such mirror in every single realm. You would need something from said realm to actually establish a communication, however. I can only assume Titania had already had some such item before she got the mirror, allowing her to use the mirror. I'm afraid I don't know any such item, either."

Lock glanced at Arthur, who was, without meaning to, chasing away every deer he looked at, then apologizing to it. "Would you be able to find someone from Pandora if they were in this world?"

"Perhaps," the old man answered. "Is that what you want to use the mirror for - spying on your friends?"

"And enemies. My best friend is in one of the realms, as are three other kids my age. As far as our enemies go, there are two sleepers, their leader, who happens to be my best friend's brother, and two other Pandorians. Those are just the servants of Vanitas, mind you. Plenty other Pandorians who might be my enemies now, my parents included."

"You really think about the future a lot, don't you?"

His expression hardening, Lock replied, "I can't protect the ones I love from threats I don't see coming."