21 Final confrontations

As Merlin had predicted Llanfair died at sunset of the following day in the very second Antek opened his eyes. Backed up by Badagere, who immediately took command, Merco used the opportunity to sedate the young Count for another night, to rush through the old wolf's funeral with appalling haste and lack of ceremony.

As soon as Antek came to he was told the sad news that his father had been killed by a Pendragon blade and that the prisoners had escaped. At a loss for another explanation Merco declared Antek's recovery to be a miracle and the young Count, although he doubted the theory very much, left it at that. Antek felt ashamed at the relief his father's death and Arthur's safe escape gave him, but the feeling was only a fleeting one.

He detached a messenger to Camelot at once, to wait for the Pendragon's return. The sooner Uther got back the ransom together with a most humble apology of the new Count of Llanfair the sooner negotiations on the border countries' future could begin. Arthur with his pragmatic sense for necessities would see to it.

Together with Merco, who was beside himself with joy at his beloved lord's accession to the earldom, Antek visited Lucius' grave. It was horrible that his mad father in his last ravings should have killed the man who had taught Antek his first tricks with a sword. Reluctantly Antek asked Badagere to accompany him to his father's burial site but the knight didn't find it too difficult to persuade his young master to postpone the visit.

Thoroughly exhausted after his first full working day in his new capacity Antek went to his rooms. He undressed and washed alone, as was his habit, thinking all the time about an acceptable solution for his negotiations with Camelot. He turned towards his bed and froze. A young, dark haired foreigner with blue eyes pointed a sword at him.

"How on earth…?" the stunned noble stammered.

"I came through the door. But don't get your hopes up; your guards didn't see me. And if I were you, I'd spare my breath. Scream as much as you like, they won't hear you either."

Antek looked at his sword and knife which lay on a table a few steps from where he stood.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" The stranger seemed quite comfortable with the situation.

"But you aren't me!" Antek jumped for his sword and cried out when the simmering hot hilt burned his hand.

"I told you!"

The young Count turned towards his opponent. "Who the devil are you?"

"A magician with a special mission to fulfil and you are going to help me."

Only now Antek noticed the Pendragon crest on the young man's sword. He held it somewhat awkwardly but with his obvious magic abilities it was only decoration anyway. Wait a moment…. A young sorcerer, dark hair, blue eyes and with a Pendragon sword….?

"Merlin!" the young Count cried. "You must be Merlin! Arthur told me a lot about you."

"Oh he did, didn't he?" Merlin snorted derisively. "And if he had refused to share his private life with you what would you have done? Put him in the stocks or beaten him senseless? After all, if one has a Crown Prince for a slave, one has to keep up discipline."

Antek was aghast. "It wasn't like that" he said. "Arthur is my friend."

"Yes, and I bet he could build a temple on your friendship. It must have been a sound feeling if it allowed you to see him kept prisoner for so many months."

The Count gave up for now. "Anyway, he isn't here anymore. He escaped together with King Uther the night my father died."

The warlock shook his head. "I wouldn't be so sure about all that. Frankly, I am here to make sure that Arthur has escaped for good and that your father stays dead. Now take me to his burial site. After that you can go wherever you want but I would strongly advise you to leave the castle at once, along with everybody else."

"Like hell I will" Antek began but then he felt his throat constrict until he couldn't speak any more. With rising panic he struggled for air.

"Let's go" Merlin ordered and the young noble obediently led him out of the room towards the castle vaults. Antek and his captor could have been made of thin air for all the notice the servants or soldiers they encountered took of them.

The nearer they came to the old Count's tomb the more Merlin felt his power dwindle. He cursed himself for not anticipating this. More than once the monster had used the bond between the young warlock and his Prince to fend off Merlin's attacks. Finally he felt that he couldn't go further. He let go of his sword. "Go away, Antek. Leave the castle. Now!"

As soon as the aristocrat was free of the magical grip on his throat he turned and ran. Merlin hardly noticed it. Whatever happened he knew that no sword would kill him now. "It's between the two of us, you monster" he whispered while he got down on his knees in the corridor which led to the old Count's grave. "Nobody's going to disturb us; I'll make sure of that."

He concentrated his strength and let his power flow free, albeit not towards the grave or its occupant. The very foundations of the castle began to shake violently. Rifts appeared in the walls and widened. Outside people screamed in terror and fled the buildings as more and more of the weaker inner walls collapsed. The two tallest towers came down immediately after the last soldier had left the magazines they harboured. The battlements trembled as if they were shaken by a giant hand when Antek reached the main yard. He saw even bigger rifts appear in the battlements' foundations as well as in the load-bearing walls of the castle itself and he knew that the stronghold was doomed.

"Out" he shouted as loud as he could. "Leave the castle. Don't take anything, just run!" Some of the soldiers heard and recognized him. For a short time something like order came into the havoc and the guards ushered all people they could get hold of through the main gates. As if by a miracle the passage from the back yards to the main gates was free of debris. It was accessible until the outer wall itself tumbled in.

More frightened than he had ever been before, Antek supported Merco whom he had pulled out of his bed in the very last second. "What is it, what's happening?" The healer was terrified out of his wits.

"I don't know" Antek said. "I have no idea whatsoever!" but in the back of his mind he remembered his father's words. "If Pendragon's hatchling ever goes free no stone of Llanfair will be left standing!"

"My Lord, all are accounted for except Sir Badagere but the people are frightened and don't know what to do."

"I'm coming" Antek said and Merco followed him. After all, neither explanations nor speculations would help .the wounded.

In the Druids' forest camp some other people were also at a loss of what to do. Arthur's temperature rose and he had lost consciousness some hours ago. Gaius watched helplessly. Uther had told him the truth when the physician's despair had overcome his apprehension to speak to his old healer friend.

The King cradled his son in his arms while Arenboarth was at his side, in deep concentration which so far seemed to be completely useless. Gaius, Gwen and Leon sat on the other side of the makeshift shelter. Mirella held Gwen's hand but she doubted that she even felt it.

Uther flinched when he felt his son stir. It took a few more minutes but then Arthur opened his eyes and smiled at his father. Uther smiled back and brushed the sweaty blond hair out of the face. "My boy, thank heaven….." Something happened in Arthur's face. Uther heard him murmur something and bent down to listen.

"You ….will….not ….. have…….the …..better…of ..me, Pendragon. This pathetic …little wizard of yours can't …harm me now. If I am to die…. I will take your son… with me!"

With an outcry Uther let go of the body that no longer belonged to Arthur Pendragon. It was all lost then. He stared down at the foreign smile in the familiar face and tried to pull himself together. His blood was loud in his ears and his heart hammered as he unsheathed his dagger, bent down again and searched for his son's neck pulse. Not a second longer would he allow the beast to misuse this body.

Gwen stopped his hand in the very moment Arenboarth shouted "No!"

The Lord Druid held Uther's hand in a tight grip. "It's much too early for that. He's playing with you, believe me. If Merlin fails, I'll know it! It'll be more than ample time to end it then, before Llanfair can tighten his hold completely!" He turned Uther's face towards his son. "Look at him, he's unconscious again. Llanfair hasn't defeated Merlin yet."

"I can't stand this waiting anymore" Uther yelled.

"Then pass the knife to me if you aren't man enough to protect your son" the Druid yelled back.

It brought the King back to his senses. Silently he settled down on the ground once more and they all began to wait. Again.

Merlin was oblivious to the havoc he had created outside the vault. The only thing he knew was that nobody would come down here. He concentrated his power on his adversary now. As soon as his mind entered the burial chamber he felt the Count fight back. As clearly as if he stood by the barrow he saw the body covered in hastily snatched sheets and the clothes Llanfair had worn the evening he had died. He felt the man's mind struggle against Merlin's attempts to regain control of his limbs and to physically enter the chamber.

The warlock saw the scars and injuries the toying with dark magic that wasn't his own had caused in the old Count's soul. His inability to love someone, his brutality, even his insanity itself – he had paid a high price for his limited access to power. Merlin found glimpses of old memories. A young girl, smiling. Boys playing with their wooden swords. Antek's birth. But they were all marred, like pictures which had been smeared with pitch.

Merlin gritted his teeth when he touched the live bond between the sick soul and Arthur. Briefly his friend's emotions, so far an undercurrent in his mind, threatened to overwhelm him before he found a way to shut off the strongest parts of them. "Hang on, Arthur, just a little bit longer."

The sorcerer renewed his attempts to circumvent Llanfair's blockade. He even found some strength he hadn't thrown into the fight until now. He upheld his concentration until sweat covered his whole body. Still the other mind didn't give way. Draining strength directly from his captive Llanfair actually managed to form words in Merlin's mind. "Whatever you do, you will not prevent your friend's death! I will show it to you."

Slowly but surely Merlin felt his strength fail and his concentration slip. Beginning panic weakened his attack further. Once more Llanfair breached through his defences to show him that he had begun his attempt to use the Di'inshara bond to create a bridge between him and Arthur, just like Merlin had done between the Count and Antek.

"No!" Merlin shouted in his mind. "I won't let you do this."

He was far too deep in his trance to feel someone pass him by and enter the burial chamber.

Badagere looked down at the corpse. "There is no peace from you" he muttered. "Whom you once had in your claws you must and will destroy. It's in your nature. I knew it when we were friends back on the Blessed Isle. I knew it when I stole this cursed book for you from Arenboarth's forbidden library. I knew it when you destroyed my life, step by step, until I was a puppet in your hand."

Slowly, very slowly the dead man's head seemed to turn towards the knight until the unnaturally gleaming eyes looked at Badagere.

The knight stepped nearer to the body and returned the intent stare without blinking. ""Do you remember my sister?" he continued his monologue. "Or my wife? You should, my friend! They are on your conscience as much as they are on mine. How flattered I was when you married my sister after Igraine had ditched you. I believed in this riding accident as much as you believed in my wife's fall from the stairs the day after you had told me that she cuckold me. Now you have dug your claws into young Pendragon and whatever this little sorcerer outside thinks he's doing, it won't help in the end. But you have forgotten one important thing, you monster. I've read the book too."

Out of the folds of his light blue coat he produced the same knife Llanfair had used during the Di'inshara. "You gave it to me with your own hands, after you had finished tormenting the boy. It was a stupid thing to do." He lifted the knife and rammed it into Llanfair's heart with all his power. An unearthly howl echoed through the chamber and Llanfair's hand grabbed Badagere's throat when the knight retrieved the blade. Badagere stabbed into the heart a second time and withdrew the blade once more with both hands. His eyes bulged out and his hands began to shake. Llanfair's hand squeezed harder. Cartilage and bones broke. Dying the knight toppled over and the dead weight of his heavy body drove the knife home a third time. Llanfair's body twisted on the barrow. The hands scratched on the wood in a futile attempt to hold on to something. After that, silence filled the burial chamber. The final silence of death.

Outside Merlin struggled to come to his feet. He stumbled blindly through the vaults, then through the debris of the destroyed castle before his legs gave in underneath him and he fell down.

"Uther, look." Gaius' voice startled the King. "It's over. Dear Gods, it's really over. Merlin must have won." After one furtive look at his son Pendragon jumped to his feet. Arenboarth laid his hand on Arthur's forehead and exhaled sharply. He nodded. "It's true! I no longer sense Llanfair's presence. The Di'inshara has been broken. Arthur is free!" He had to repeat it three or four times before the message sank in.

While the others showed their joy and relief rather openly, Uther only stared at his son's now peaceful face. "If it's over, why doesn't he wake up?"

"Yes, My Lord and why doesn't he begin to train some new knights this afternoon or wins a tournament." Gaius rolled his eyes skywards. "He's had fever. He has to sleep it off." After a look at their grey, haggard faces he continued. "And so have we. Out now everybody. My patient and I need absolute quiet and rest."

Uther, still not completely back from another world, protested when he saw that Gwen stayed inside the shelter. "Why does she...? he asked bewildered.

"I'll explain these things to you when you are grown up. Now go and sleep until your senses have come back to you." Gaius pushed him out.

Outside the King racked his tired brain for something very important he had forgotten. Then it came to him. Merlin! He should be there when Arthur came to, just in case that….. Well, in any case.

On his arrival at the horses' stand Uther ran once more into Gaius. Both men didn't say a word when they mounted and rode off together.

"Oh, my goodness!" Uther reined in his horse sharply as soon as he reached the forest edge

It was unbelievable. The devastation was horrible. Blackrock castle had virtually crumbled. People and animals wandered around while others tried to build some preliminary shelters. Uther saw a young man among the soldiers who shouted orders to bring the chaos under control. Thinking of Antek's presumable mood and state of mind the King thought it better to postpone his first personal encounter with the new Count Llanfair to a later, more befitting occasion.

Grateful for their unobtrusive clothing the two men sought their way towards the field of debris in search of the young magician. Both hoped that Merlin wasn't in the makeshift camp Antek was erecting. Somehow they both knew that this devastation had been caused by the sorcerer and that the young Count wouldn't harbour very friendly feelings for him.

"Over there!" Gaius shouted it and Uther saw what the physician had seen. Something brown and red between the grey dusty debris in what once had been Blackrock's main yard. Stumbling and jumping they made their way towards the body that lay motionless on the ground. Uther reached him first.

"Is he dead?" Gaius panted

Uther felt for the young man's pulse. "He's alive, Gaius, his pulse is steady."

The physician knelt down beside him with a more than angry frown. "Since when do you know anything about such things? Go out of my way." However a short examination of his nephew confirmed Uther's diagnosis. Merlin was totally exhausted but otherwise he seemed to be all right. Like his princely friend he suffered from nothing that couldn't be cured by a few days' rest. Grumbling the old healer tried to lift the young man.

After a few futile attempts Uther couldn't stand the pitiful sight any more. "Oh for heaven's sake, leave him alone before you break his neck" he said impatiently, lifted the magician with both arms and carried him to his horse. They made it back to the Druids undetected by Antek's men.

The first one to greet them back was a very alarmed and worried Prince. "Merlin!" Arthur caught his friend when he slipped off the horse, clumsier than ever.

"Hi, Arthur, nice to see you" Merlin mumbled before his eyes closed again and he fell asleep where he stood – or rather hung – in the Prince's arms.

"Gaius, what ails him?" Arthur was far too anxious to realize that someone else was also standing at his side.

"Nothing, Sire. He's fine. He just needs rest, that's all." The physician saw a storm brewing up. A Pendragon storm. "Maybe I should bring him to my tent now."

"Let me do that" Arthur made no bones about it and carried Merlin to Gaius' tent. With an apologizing look to Uther the physician bustled after him.

Uther watched his son's back disappearing between the tents and swallowed hard. "Looks as if I am dismissed from His Highnesses' presence." He had only whispered it to himself but Arenbaorth had heard it nonetheless.

"If I were in your boots, Uther, I'd follow him and have a real long talk with him, right now. Let the odds be in your son's favour for once. He's rested and you are almost sleeping on your feet. I promise, I'll only interfere if there's bloodshed."

The King glared at him but then he became thoughtful. It couldn't go on like that and now was as good a time as any. Besides, this wretched woman for once was nowhere to be seen, Gaius was busy and Merlin was asleep. Optimal conditions for Uther having a chance to be actually noticed by his only son. He tossed the bridles of his horse to Arenboarth and followed Arthur.

As the conversation between father and son took place in a place without solid walls it was a notable occasion for everyone present. Not only did the Druids get some very enlightening insights into the intricacies of Camelot's high politics but also into some rather private details of family history and the Pendragon version of inter-generational conflict. Luckily Leon had lured Guinivere away as soon as he had guessed what was afoot.

In the end, Arthur gave in and it somehow ended as it always ended between these two; with a heart-felt reconciliation that gave Uther the feeling that he had won while Arthur got the satisfaction to be the wiser part of the Pendragon duet. Again, as always, every possible topic had been mentioned in the stormy conversation but nothing had been solved.

Leon's – let alone Arthur's – marriage plans, the best way to convince Camelot that the lifting of the ban of magic wasn't a sign of Uther being senile, the future of the border territories, how to deal with Antek, how to explain Merlin's and Gaius' return (again without using the King's senility as an excuse), the money, the army, the people – nothing was clearer after the storm than it had been before. However both Pendragons thought that they had organised it all rather nicely and that absolutely nothing hindered them and their friends to return home in glory.

In the years to come Merlin would never forgive himself that he had slept through it all. Guinivere would be allowed to stay in a blissful state of ignorance of Uther's first opinion of her. Fortunately for him, Leon, who returned after he had left her with Mirella, had a thick skin and a short memory.

The evening before they would all start their journey home, Arenboarth and Gaius walked through the forest for the last time.

"I don't think we'll ever meet again, old friend" the Lord Druid said. "I trust Uther that he will end the persecution of the Druids and of the old religion but I don't think he would like to see us roam his city. It was…… satisfying to see someone from the old healers' temple once more."

"It was good for me too" Gaius replied. "But I hope you understand that I will return to Camelot with the others. This life with you was a beautiful experience but it was also an exile. Besides, there is still this prophecy that Merlin and the Pendragons belong together."

The Lord Druid sighed. "After what he did to Llanfair and the destruction of the stronghold Merlin wouldn't be welcomed here anyhow. It was against all our traditions, against everything we hold sacred. I hate to see him go but he has made his decision. His magic will be what he himself is – friend of a King and of a warrior. Arthur seems kind and warm-hearted enough for someone of his station in life but I wouldn't allow him or his attitude to contaminate my people."

Gaius shrugged. "Forgive me My Lord Druid, but I can't see that your attitude did the Blessed Isle much good or that it helped to protect your people so far. And if you will kindly remember, it was Arthur who did most of the suffering that brought you into the comfortable position you are in now. You can demand of Uther whatever you like."

Arenboarth cocked his brow. "Spoken like a true Pendragon" he said sarcastically. "Please do singe us poor mortals with Dragon's breath from a Dragon's heart."

Gaius took his leave with a silent bow. He left the Lord Druid and he didn't look back.

--- FINIS -