I had no idea how right I had been with that statement as my lungs began to fill with the harsh smoke and heat began to burn my bare feet.
Would he ever know what he had done? Would Morgana ever release him from her thrall? For his sake I hoped not. The guilt would eat Arthur alive if he knew.
“I love you,” I whispered through the smoke. To Arthur, to Gawain, to Bedivere, to Lancelot, and even to Merlin who I had yet to explore my connection with in the way I wanted to.
If I was going to die, I wanted to utter it out loud one time and mean it for all of them.
Inhaling the smoke was starting to make me dizzy, like I was about to pass out from it before I could truly feel the heat of the flames. For that, I was almost grateful as I let my head fall forward, too weak to hold it up any longer.
I was just about to let the darkness take me when I felt it.
Wind.
It whipped around us, clearing the smoke from my vision and snuffing the flames out just in time as a familiar face came into my line of vision.
“Merlin!” I gasped weakly as the wizard offered me a worried smile, his hands already moving to where my hands were tied to the post.
“Sorry for being so late,” he whispered as I fell into his arms, weighing the man down as he pulled me from the pyre. “We were gathering some reinforcements.”
“For Camelot! For Queen Guinevere!” the familiar voice of King Leodegrance boomed over the sudden confusion.
Men in Cameliard’s bright blue livery filled the courtyard and began to fight with the castle folk who brandished whatever was nearby.
“Do not kill them!” Bedivere shouted from behind us as he and Gawain worked to pull Lancelot who seemed to have passed out again down from the post. “They know not what they do!”
“I’m so glad to see you,” I sobbed, my arms wrapping around Merlin’s neck.
“And I you,” Merlin said, his voice soft. “I nearly surrendered myself to the fate the gods set before me, but thensomeonesent a savior after me before I could do so at great cost to herself.”
“I wonder who that was,” I croaked, my voice rough from the smoke.
Merlin grinned at me. “Yes, I wonder.”
Behind him, I watched as Arthur stood from his seat and pulledExcaliburfrom its sheath.
“Uh, angry brainwashed king at twelve o’clock,” I told Merlin and pointed with a shaky finger. We had been saved, but the battle was far from over.
But Merlin did not seem concerned by the approaching threat, instead his thumbs continued to brush ash from my face.
“Merlin?” I prodded, my eyes glancing over at Arthur who began to twirl the sword around his hand in a way that could only be described as menacing.
“Do you remember what I told you about our magic together?” Merlin asked, his voice soft as he stared at me with glowing pale green eyes.
“Are we having a lesson right at this moment?”
“Just answer the question, Gwen,” Merlin chastised, his face impassive despite the approaching threat.
“You said that I act like a conductor of sorts for you, amplifying your magic,” I finally supplied, my fingers tighteningon Merlin’s neck as his words finally started to make sense. “Are you saying you can disrupt Morgana’s magic if I help you?”
“I am uncertain,” Merlin said with a half-smile. “Though I am eager to find out.”
Merlin’s lips dropped to mine, not seeming to care that I was covered in soot and probably smelled like shit after not being able to bathe for two-days.
The collar around my neck dropped away and magic surged through me again and right into Merlin.
A wave of magic burst from us, knocking people off their feet as the magical thrall that Morgana had cast on our people was obliterated in a moment by our combined magic.
People who had previously been fighting with Leodegrance’s men stopped and began to look around in confusion, dropping whatever weapon they were carrying and holding up their hands.
