Epilogue

Beta: Still looking for one for my other story "A Twisted Word" that I'll finish next

Words: 1071

I don't own Merlin

The first sign of a red dawn slowly crept across the horizon. The first servant were already up and about in the courtyard , quietly gathering fresh water or firewood for their masters, but up on the battlement only the occasional patrol of soldiers disturbed the silence of the early morning.

Snow had come for real sometime that night, and now a thick layer covered the city. When Merlin laid his hands on the battlement he could feel it melting underneath his numb fingers. Miley gave a long sigh as he leaned beside him, and a small white cloud of warm breath escaped into the greying sky. It would become a cold, but clear day to travel in. If they were lucky, they might even be able to avoid any snow storms before they could find shelter.

It was a few days after the last battle, and Merlin had finally recovered enough to walk around without collapsing in exhaustion. At least he would have Aethelfled to keep him company and support on his trip. Which reminded him.

"Where will you go?" He asked the former knight of Essetir.

It was in moment like these that Merlin realised how little he knew of the man, even though they had spend much time together in the last year. Did he even have a home now that Cenred's army was near destroyed?

The King of Essetir himself had been stopped when he tried to flee the throneroom after the final battle. Morgana and Gwen had held him at a sword-point until a surprised Sir Leon had found them and ordered the usurper's arrest. He was set to be released later this day, but only because he had finally signed an agreement that not only paid for any damage done on Camelot, but would also leave Essetir in such a huge debt that rebuilding their army would be neigh impossible.

Merlin wondered how long the King would last, and what this would mean for him and his mother. Maybe it would be best if he tried to convince her to leave with him, even though it would mean selling their small farm house. Later though, maybe when spring arrived.

"I think it is time that I return to my wife. I doubt Cenred would be foolish to ask either mine, or my uncles help again. Maybe it is time our family found some new allies." The former knight kept his gaze on the horizon.

Merlin turned to him in surprise. "You have a wife?"

The man smiled sadly. "Her name is Deorwynn. I have daughter too, Ninemía, though I had to leave before she was born. She has to be around five now."

"I'm sorry," Merlin said, but didn't know how he should continue. He didn't know this man's family, though he was apparently his family as well, and he had no idea how to help him, if Miley even wanted his help at all.

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

They latched into silence once more as they watched to sky lighten. Finally, after several long minutes Miley shifted again and dusted a bit of snow of his long fur-coat. "We should get going," he said, and Merlin nodded in agreement. They needed to have crossed the border before nightfall and travel through the snow would be slow even with the help of horses.

In the end they had been lucky that Uther was still recovering from his time stuck in the dungeons and Arthur therefore had taken temporarily command while the newly reappointed King of Camelot rested in his chambers. It had taken a lot of convincing, but in the end Arthur had agreed to release Miley from the dungeons despite his involvement with the attack. Instead they had both been banished for spying on the crown, a rather mild sentence when the usual was execution. The reason being their help in the last battle, though he never officially held any trial, so Merlin was sure the council wouldn't have agreed with his reasoning. Merlin didn't complain through; he was glad this mess was nearly over with and he craved to be able to start over somewhere else.

Gwen and Morgana he had avoided, not willing to try to explain his role in all what had happened, but Merlin had briefly talked with Gaius the night before, who after a stern scolding and a raised eyebrow had muttered something about 'youths' and then proceeded, much to Merlin's embarrassment, to get the old book on magic book that Merlin had used so long ago, because as Gaius said, 'it seemed like he would need it more than him with all that trouble he got himself into.' Of course the old man knew about his magic. How he even thought that he could have kept it hidden, he had no idea; that man had practically eyes at the back of his neck and a nose that could smell trouble a mile away.

Now with the book safely in his leather satchel and Aethelfled waiting for him in the stables, Merlin felt ready to travel back across the border, where he had come to infiltrate a foreign kingdom nearly half a year beforehand.

Miley had promised to help him get his mother back unscathed before the King of Essetir could get the time to hurt her, though Merlin had no idea how yet. Afterwards Miley had gotten him to promise to visit his father, though he had made no promise to stay with him. Merlin still felt nervous about meeting Balinor, but maybe it would be good for him to know a bit more of his heritage.

It was, after all, what had gotten him stuck in all this mess in the first place.

"So, ever think we'll be back here again?" He asked with a smile as they walked down the narrow stairs leading up to the battlement.

Miley laughed softly. "I would like to say no, but knowing our family, we will find a way back regardless. Somehow, it seems like our destiny is interwoven with Camelot and the Pendragons." He had a knowing look in his eyes, and Merlin waguly remembered his meeting with the dragon under the castle telling him something similar, yet decided not to ask.

He was certain destiny would find him, even without him looking, and right now the only thing he really wanted was to go home.

Names:

Deorwynn: dear delight

Ninemía: windless calm

This scene has been stuck in my head since halfway through the story, and I really think it ties up the storyline, while still giving it the slightly open ending I was aiming for.

So, I started writing the first chapter of this story back in December 2012, and was both my first, and later longest story I've ever written. It has taught me a lot, mostly what not to do, and though I'll probably never like it, I'm really happy to have finished it.

On another note: I'll start writing the next chapter of A Twisted World now, so I'll hopefully update that one soon as well.