Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Morgana stood in the courtyard of Cenred's castle as he assembled his army.

"You will become the mightiest force in all of the five kingdoms!" the king was declaring to his men. "You will be unstoppable."

Morgana let him have his moment. She needed him to rally the troops and encourage them to submit to the power of the Cup. Many of them looked uncertain, but one man gamely stepped forward. Morgana's lips ticked upward.

"Gegadre anne here fram þisse bune ond heora blod. Swa þæt hie ne abygð ond ne swilteaþ naht, ac leofaaþ a on ecnesse," she intoned, then held the golden chalice out.

The man drew a dagger and rolled up his sleeve to slice his forearm, then held it over the Cup for the blood to dribble into. Immediately, he sucked in a ragged gasp as power flooded through his body. His veins and eyes glowed gold for a brief moment, infusing him with immortality. Morgana arched a brow at Cenred, who drew his sword and plunged it through the man without warning. The soldier jerked in shock, but then blinked at the weapon sticking out of his gut. Cenred pulled the blade out, and nothing happened. The man started laughing, and he turned to shake his fists at the others with a raucous cheer.

After that, they eagerly lined up to add their blood to the Cup, granting each of them the power of invincibility.

Cenred was practically vibrating with excitement. "First Camelot, then Caerleon, and all of the five kingdoms will be mine!"

Morgana was unimpressed with his ambitions. She only cared about Camelot, which was hers by right.

Once all the men had been made immortal and the Cup nearly full to the brim, she turned to Cenred with a disingenuous moue. "Thank you for your usefulness, but I no longer have need of you."

The cocky king stared back at her in confusion. "We have an alliance."

"It has come to its conclusion."

His face puffed puce with rage. "Who do you think you are?" he demanded, then waved at his men to seize her.

Morgana grinned and uttered the incantation, "Ic bebiede þe ðine cyning cwellan!"

All the immortal men suddenly went rigid, magic glowing in their eyes before reducing them to black emptiness, mindless puppets now wholly under her control.

"Your men belong to me now," Morgana said. Her eyes glowed like fire. "Kill him."

Cenred backed up, eyes wide as his own men advanced on him. He raised the sword still in his hand. "No, no! You can't do this!"

He swung at the advancing soldiers, but his blows meant nothing to them. One walked into Cenred's sword, thereby divesting him of it. Three more closed in on him.

Cenred whirled back toward Morgana. "Please," he begged. "Please."

She rolled her eyes at his pathetic pleas and turned away as his own men cut him down. Raising her voice to project to the rest of the army, she said,

"Now we march on Camelot!"

"Prince Arthur!" a knight came barreling into the room without knocking.

Arthur surged to his feet at the man's urgency.

"Messengers have reported an army sweeping across Camelot. They will be here by nightfall."

"From where?" he asked, stunned to hear that any of the neighboring kingdoms would declare war on them out of the blue.

"They carried no banners that aligned with any of the lands," Sir Bedevere replied. "But they are coming from Cenred's kingdom."

Arthur's mouth turned down as he followed Sir Bedevere out of the room and downstairs. Camelot and Cenred had long been enemies, each side executing trespassers, but never had either of them crossed an army into the other's territory.

People were already scurrying about, preparing for battle. There would be no time to muster Camelot's own army to meet Cenred's on the field; they would have to make their stand here in defense of the city. Uther was giving orders in the council chambers as Arthur entered.

"Cenred will not succeed," Uther scowled.

Arthur had the brief thought of calling Merlin for help, but this wasn't a magical beast problem, so he shoved the stray idea aside and focused on his knowledge of battle tactics. Camelot's knights were the best of the best; they would defend this city.

The lower town was evacuated into the citadel as a precaution. The invading army would like destroy the homes in their path, but it was collateral damage they would have to accept, as the keep was a much more defensible position.

The sun sank ever lower, and soon on the horizon Arthur could see a swath of black, like a sea of insects. Cenred's army.

Camelot was prepared, though. They would not be moved.

And then the soldiers arrived. They swept through the city toward the gate where they were met with a volley of arrows. And yet not a single enemy fell. They simply stood back up, plucked the arrows from their bodies, and resumed their charge.

Arthur stared dumbfounded at the incomprehensible sight below. Magic was the only explanation. And then the sea of soldiers parted, and a woman with dark tresses strode forward. Her eyes blazed gold in the night, and the gate exploded inward, rocking the ramparts and blasting back three lines of knights directly inside. The army of invincible men poured in.

Arthur drew his sword and led the charge from the ramparts down into the courtyard. The strident screech of steel grated like claws on stone. The knights of Camelot fought with all valor and skill, and yet their foes could seemingly not be killed. The invincible army cut through Camelot's defenses, slaughtering knights and guards left and right. Still, they fought with all they had.

Arthur thrust and parried, delivering mortal blows that had no effect on his enemy. It was no use. "Retreat!" he yelled, hoping to fortify the castle behind the doors.

But his men were overwhelmed, and the army barged inside the castle.

Arthur spun to keep fighting, right into a blade that sliced between his arm and torso, cutting the insides of both. He gasped and staggered back, fiery pain searing through him. Then Leon was there, grabbing him by the shoulders and ushering him away from the battle. Arthur could barely catch his breath as they staggered through the castle halls, the echoes of dying men sounding behind them. They burst into the court physician's chambers.

Alice looked over from the window in alarm. "What is happening?"

"The castle is taken," Leon said, depositing Arthur in a chair. "He's wounded."

Alice hurried over to examine the injury, but Arthur shoved her hands away.

"I have to go back out there."

"Arthur," Leon protested. "It's impossible. We cannot defeat an army that can't be killed."

"What?" Alice gasped.

Leon shook his head. "I don't know what they are, but no matter what we threw at them, they refused to die. A sorceress was leading them."

"Not Cenred?"

"Not that I saw." Leon turned back to Arthur. "We need to get you out of Camelot, regroup, plan a counter attack. Maybe- maybe we can go to the Sanctuary."

Every bone in Arthur's body wanted to argue, to stay and defend his kingdom. But he knew his first knight was right; they couldn't hope to defeat an immortal army.

"Alright," he relented. "But we need to get my father out of here as well."

He started to stand, only for Alice to push him back down.

"At least let me pack these wounds so you don't bleed out before you can rescue the king."

His jaw tightened, but he endured the brief respite as Alice packed the inside of his armor with bandages.

"That will hold temporarily," she warned.

He hefted his sword up and stood. "That's all we need. Let's go." He gestured for Alice to follow them out, and the three of them crept carefully through the halls. The sounds of battle had died down, declaring a victor. Arthur had a good idea who it was.

Sure enough, enemy soldiers were marching freely through the castle corridors, and the three escapees had to duck into dark alcoves several times to avoid being caught. Arthur headed toward the throne room, hoping to find his father there. The main room was overrun, of course, so Arthur took the stairs up to the balcony above and crept to the railing, staying low as he looked down. Leon and Alice crouched beside him. The sorceress was standing at the foot of the dais, looking outward as Uther was dragged into the hall and forced to his knees.

"Morgana," he spat.

"Hello, brother," she replied with a sneer. "My, how you've aged."

Arthur's jaw dropped in utter shock. Brother?

"Witch!" Uther snarled, struggling against the men restraining him. "You have no right."

"I have every right," she snapped. "I am Constantine's daughter, after all. Not that he ever had the decency to tell me."

Arthur couldn't breathe under the shock of these revelations.

"He took you in as his ward," Uther argued vehemently. "Gave you everything!"

"After he had my father killed," Morgana raged back. "The father that raised me, that loved me. All because Constantine couldn't stomach another man being with my mother." She lifted her chin. "But now I will have what's rightfully mine." She took the crown from Uther's head and placed it on her own.

Leon tugged on Arthur's sleeve, pulling him from his stupor. He cocked his head urgently that they needed to leave. Arthur hated to abandon his father, but there was no way to get to him, so he reluctantly backed away from the balcony edge and hurried out a side door.

"Isn't Morgana the name of the sorceress Merlin warned you about?" Leon whispered.

Arthur nodded numbly. He couldn't believe this was happening.

They slipped out of the castle and down to a small gate. But then a shout went up. They'd been spotted, and men were running after them, weapons raised.

Leon drew his sword and turned to face them. "Go," he urged over his shoulder. "I'll hold them off."

"Leon," Arthur hissed, but his friend was already striding back to engage the immortal soldiers. Alice grabbed his arm and pulled him away to keep going.

As the clatter of steel rang throughout the night, Arthur's heart fractured into so many pieces he could barely keep his feet as they fled into the darkness.

Merlin was tossing berries into the air for Aithusa to catch as she flitted around when a stranger's voice called out from the Sanctuary entrance.

"Help! Is anyone here?"

Merlin bolted to his feet and into a run. No one should just come stumbling in here like that. But then he recognized Alice, and she was struggling to prop up a barely conscious Arthur as they lumbered down the path.

"Gaius!" Merlin shouted as he sprinted to meet them. "What happened?" he exclaimed, catching Arthur as he pitched forward.

"Hel- help," Arthur wheezed before collapsing.

Merlin adjusted his hold, only to remove his hand as it came into contact with something wet and tacky. Blood. "He's injured?" he asked Alice urgently.

She nodded, expression pinched with worry. "I tried to force him to stop so I could tend it, but he refused to slow down for long. We were fleeing for our lives and he was determined to reach this place."

Percival and Gwaine arrived, and together they hefted Arthur up onto their shoulders and carried him down to Gaius's hut where the others were gathering to see what the commotion was.

"He was cut below the armor," Alice informed him.

Gaius nodded. "Help me get it off," he instructed the hunters.

Alice looked like she wanted to help, but Merlin pulled her back.

"What happened?" he asked again.

"An army attacked Camelot. I don't know who they were, but they were being led by a woman, a sorceress. I overheard Uther call her Morgana." Alice let out a shaky breath. "The soldiers…they couldn't be killed. They swept through the castle and overtook it in a matter of minutes."

Merlin stiffened. He immediately knew an immortal army such as that had been created with the Cup of Life.

Arthur moaned as he started coming around.

"Easy, princess," Gwaine said. "Don't come up swinging."

Arthur blinked at him blearily, then around the room. "Merlin! Camelot's been attacked."

"We know," he said. "Alice just told us."

"Hold still," Gaius said sternly as he began to clean the lacerations on Arthur's chest and upper arm. He'd been lucky the blow had only shallowly cut both sides of him instead of amputating his arm or stabbing him through the lung or heart.

Arthur gritted his teeth, fighting to keep his composure. "We can't stand against an army that can't be killed," he ground out. "Please, can you help us?" Arthur turned desperate eyes to Merlin. "I have to save my father. And Leon…" His voice broke. "Leon sacrificed himself so we could escape. I can't let that be in vain."

Elyan and Gwen shared grieved looks at the news.

"I don't think even we have the ability to fight against an army that can't be killed," Gwaine pointed out.

"There are a couple ways," Merlin responded. "First and foremost is the only way to completely defeat an immortal army is to empty the Cup that created them."

"Cup?" Arthur repeated. "Wait, as in the Cup of Life?"

Merlin grimaced. "Yeah, the sorceress Morgana managed to steal it from us. It's a long story. But that's how I know how she created this army."

Arthur's expression grew haunted and he lowered his voice. "Morgana is my aunt."

That earned a stunned silence from everyone. Even Gaius had paused in his bandaging.

"Excuse me?" Gwaine blurted.

"That's what I overheard between her and my father," Arthur went on in a deadened tone.

Alice looked to Gaius. "You think it was that Morgana?" she asked in surprise.

He nodded, then addressed the others, "We knew Constantine had a ward, and that she had turned to sorcery. But neither of us knew she was his daughter."

"Sounds like no one did," Lancelot put in.

"That might be what started the Purge," Gaius said soberly.

Arthur looked at Merlin again. "I know my father doesn't deserve your help after everything he's done, but please. There are innocent people in Camelot too."

Merlin nodded. "I know. And we will help."

Chapter Text

While getting to the Cup of Life was their main goal, they needed some way to fight against the immortal soldiers Morgana had created. For that, Merlin had everyone gather outside with their swords. But before he shared his plan, he pulled Freya aside.

"You don't have to face Morgana if you don't want to," he said quietly. "No one would think less of you."

"I can't live in fear," she replied. "Of anyone, including myself."

Merlin smiled proudly, and the two of them went to join the others.

"You going to enchant our blades?" Gwaine asked.

"Not me. Aithusa!" he called.

The dragon glided over and landed on the ground at his feet, cocking her head in curiosity.

"Dragon's breath imbues weapons with tremendous power," Merlin explained. "Even the power to kill the living dead." He crouched down to Aithusa's eye level. "Willing to give it a try?"

The young dragon chirruped enthusiastically, and Merlin stood up and stepped back, gesturing for Freya to hold her sword out. Aithusa inhaled deeply and then spewed a stream of fire up and down the blade. When she was done, the sword looked completely normal, but Merlin could see the subtle sheen of magic within the alloy.

One by one, the hunters and Arthur stepped forward to have Aithusa burnish their blades. The little dragon was getting pretty tuckered out near the end, but she doggedly kept spewing fire until the final sword had been enchanted. Then she collapsed into a white dragon puddle and wheezed out a puff of smoke.

Gwen picked her up to cradle in her arms. "You did amazing," she said, and Aithusa lifted her head enough to give a lazy grin, tongue lolling out the side of her mouth. "But you are to stay here this time and not follow after us," Gwen added firmly.

Aithusa deflated—both figuratively and literally—and Gwen carried her off to the Vilia's pool for her to rest, then rejoined the rest of them. They would all be setting off on this mission, even Gaius and Alice. The physicians and Gwen would hide somewhere safe outside the city, ready to help the wounded once the hunters had succeeded in defeating Morgana and her army.

When they arrived at Camelot, Merlin was struck by the heavy silence that permeated the city, which was normally bustling with activity and life. Now it was as quiet as a graveyard.

"This way," Arthur said, leading the way to the entrance to the tunnels beneath the castle.

They easily snuck in without being detected, but once they were within the castle, their task became harder. Where would Morgana keep the source of her power? Close by, no doubt. So that meant they had to locate her.

Arthur pulled up short as they started down a corridor. "I have to find my father," he whispered.

Merlin wanted to argue that the Cup was the priority, for once they found that, they could dispatch the immortal army. But he knew how important Arthur's father was to him. Besides, Arthur was injured, and it might be better to keep him out of the initial fight.

"All right," he conceded. "Percival, Elyan, go with him. Check the dungeons first and free any knights still alive who can help fight. Gwaine and Freya, take out the warning bell to buy us more time. Lancelot and I will search for the Cup."

They shared a round of stout nods and then split up.

Arthur led the way down to the dungeons. There were no guards there. Morgana was overconfident in her victory. But then, Arthur supposed she had reason to be. When they reached the cells, he quickened his pace, frantically searching each space for his father. There were several knights locked up, and they called Arthur's name in hushed excitement. He gave clipped nods as he passed, while Elyan set to work picking the locks on the cell doors.

"Prince Arthur!" Sir Bedevere hissed. "These men are—"

"Here to help," Arthur said sternly. "And they are under my pardon."

The knights exchanged looks at that, but Arthur didn't take the time to reassure them. He needed to find his father.

He passed a cell with one occupant lying on the floor, though the figure's curly hair clearly didn't belong to Uther. Arthur pulled up short, though, and gripped the bars. "Leon?"

The battered knight slowly turned his head, revealing a bloodied and bruised face, but it was Leon, alive.

"Elyan! Unlock this one," Arthur called urgently.

Elyan jogged over and knelt on one knee to work the lock. He paused as he looked inside, eyes widening. "Leon!"

Arthur patted Elyan's shoulder insistently to get him going again, and the man made swift work of the lock. They both rushed inside and dropped down beside their friend.

"I thought you were dead," Arthur breathed, clasping the side of Leon's face.

He grimaced. "I thought I was too."

Elyan reached out to roll him onto his back a little more, and Leon's face scrunched up at the movement. "Shit," Elyan uttered.

Arthur looked down and saw a deep gash in Leon's side. So he wasn't dead yet, but with that wound he was still in danger of dying. They needed to get him out of here and to Alice and Gaius.

Arthur slipped an arm under his friend's shoulders. "Come on."

Leon grabbed his arm, his grip firm albeit weak. "Arthur, the king was taken upstairs a while ago. I don't know what's become of him."

Arthur's heart leaped into his throat. "Get Leon out of here," he told Elyan and jumped to his feet.

"Wait!" Elyan hissed. "Merlin and Lancelot need to find the Cup first!"

"My father could be dead by then!" he rejoined and made a dash for the stairs.

Gwaine and Freya made it to the warning bell tower without running into anyone, and with a quick slice of the center rope, disabled it.

"Well," he commented. "That's a bit of a letdown." He was hoping for a fight, but if they were just going to stand guard on an unguarded bell…

The thudding of boots heralded the arrival of some guards.

Freya raised her sword. "You just had to say it."

Gwaine grinned. Now this was more like it.

The soldiers charged, and Gwaine ducked under the first one's swing and sliced at the man right behind him. The so-called immortal soldier exploded into embers and completely disintegrated.

"Whoa," Gwaine uttered in surprise, looking in awe at his sword burnished by dragon fire. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

He spun and stabbed at the enemy coming at him from behind, exploding him into dust too. To his right, Freya moved with poise like the wind, parrying and striking with beautiful skill, like a dancer. Her lithe form gave her better agility over the hulking soldiers, and her own enchanted sword reduced them to embers with one fatal blow. The two of them slew a whole onslaught of immortal soldiers.

Gwaine bounced on his toes between bouts, grinning madly. "Oh yes, no one's getting past us."

An axe came flying out from the hall, shooting past Gwaine's head and striking the bell with a loud, resounding bong that seemed to echo forever. He grimaced. Their element of surprise was gone. He and Freya turned to meet more soldiers that came charging in.

Merlin and Lancelot skidded to a stop as they heard the gong of the bell, not quite ringing at its full capacity that typically sounded a warning throughout the citadel, but it was definitely loud enough to draw attention. Merlin's heart twinged with worry for Freya, but he couldn't let himself be distracted. He and Lancelot quickened their pace down the hall.

A shout went up behind them, and they turned to see a group of guards had rounded the corner and spotted them. They brandished their swords in defense, dispatching the immortal soldiers within a few exchanged blows. Merlin swung his blade and stumbled, but Lancelot leaped in and finished off the last foe.

"You're getting rusty," he remarked. "Not practicing enough drills."

Merlin huffed. "I don't usually need to rely on a sword."

"Mm-hmm. Looks like we'll be putting you through your paces when we're done here," Lancelot replied.

Merlin rolled his eyes and continued down the corridor.

They came out on the balcony above the throne room and quickly dropped low to the floor. Morgana was down there, along with a chained Uther on his knees in front of her. She had a nathair in her hand. Merlin flinched as she held the snake to Uther's head and the serpent bit his ear. Even a shallow bite such as that would still be excruciating, and Uther did scream, long and guttural.

Morgana grinned, pacing around the king and picking out other parts of his body for the snake to bite. She was keeping to the peripheral, obviously choosing to torture him slowly.

"Merlin," Lancelot whispered, tapping his shoulder and pointing.

Behind Morgana and up on the dais next to the throne was a pedestal and the Cup of Life sitting on top of it. From this vantage point, Merlin could see the dark red, viscous fluid within the chalice.

"Can you make that shot?" he whispered back.

Lancelot quietly set his sword down and reached for the crossbow on his back. He tried to slowly unfold it without making too much noise, but the joints did click when they snapped into place. Fortunately, or not so fortunately, Lancelot timed it during one of Uther's screams, and Morgana didn't notice. Laying on his stomach, Lancelot lined up the arrow through the railing's balustrades. Uther's next scream echoed through the great hall. Merlin tuned it out, waiting as Lancelot lined up his shot.

Then the doors down below burst open, slamming against the walls, and Arthur came storming in. A handful of immortal soldiers immediately went for him, but he carved a furious path right through them, striding over their still floating ashes. Before he could reach Morgana, though, she used magic to throw him back against the wall and wrenched his sword out of his hand. It skittered across the floor to stop at her feet, and she bent down to pick it up. Her eyes flashed as she examined it.

"Where did you get this?" she demanded.

Arthur grunted as he was held pinned to the wall, legs dangling. "The- armory," he gritted out.

"It's been touched by dragon's breath. And since the Great Dragon would never deign to help a Pendragon, I can only conclude you're a friend of the warlock, Merlin. Is he here?"

Arthur didn't answer.

Morgana's expression hardened. "Perhaps I will just kill you right here in front of your father. That will cause him great pain."

"No, please," Uther begged.

"Damn it," Merlin cursed under his breath. "Take the shot as soon as you have it," he told Lancelot as he backed away from the edge and darted for the side door, making his way down to the throne room.

"Morgana, don't!" he yelled as he burst inside.

She raised her brows at him. "Well, you are full of surprises." She cast a look at Arthur's sword again, then back to him. "That dragon was supposed to be mine."

"Life is full of disappointments," he rejoined. "Also, I've got an entire army of my own armed with swords like that. They're currently cutting down your immortal army as we speak."

Morgana narrowed her eyes sharply at him, and Merlin tried to keep his expression neutral and unbothered as he silently pleaded for Lancelot to take the shot.

Chapter Text

It took all of Lancelot's willpower not to let himself be distracted by what Merlin was doing down below, presenting himself to Morgana like that. He knew Merlin was just trying to buy time for him and Arthur, so he focused on lining up the shot. It wasn't an easy one, not from this distance and elevation, though the elevation would help. He just had to angle the trajectory just right…

An immortal soldier came barreling in from the corridor before he could squeeze the trigger. Lancelot flipped over and threw the crossbow up to catch the edge of a sword before it could slice through his neck. He kicked out the guard's leg and bludgeoned him with the crossbow as he fell down to Lancelot's level, but of course that was barely going to slow him down. Lancelot reached for his sword and rolled again, thrusting his blade out just as the soldier lunged at him, thereby impaling himself. He exploded into a shower of orange slivers.

More were pouring in, though, and there was no way he could attempt shooting at the Cup before he was cut down. But even with an enchanted sword capable of decimating immortal soldiers, he was severely outnumbered. He parried a blow and twisted to drive his sword into the man's back, which left his own exposed. He felt the bite of a blade come down on his back, cutting through his armor into his shoulder. Swallowing a cry, he gripped the hilt of his weapon with both hands and swung back, blocking a second strike and managing to slice his foe across the abdomen, thereby dissipating him. But there were still many more, and Lancelot struggled to hold his own against them.

Merlin jerked his attention to the balcony at the sound of commotion, and his heart lurched as Lancelot was attacked before he could shoot the Cup of Life off the altar. He immediately spun back and blasted Morgana with magic, but she erected a shield at the last second. He fired again, and so did she, their two spells crashing against each other with equal power, the opposing forces pushing and building in intensity. Merlin had beaten her once before, and he would again. He poured every ounce of strength into overpowering her. But just as her eyes began to flicker with fear, more immortal soldiers came barging into the room, forcing Merlin to break away before he could be run through by one of them. Which, of course, meant Morgana's spell surged forward and blasted everyone on that side of the room. Merlin was thrown several feet and slid across the floor a few more before coming to a painful stop.

He knew he had to get up, and he fought against blurring vision to push himself upright. There were immortal soldiers everywhere. But then there were swatches of red cloaks in the mix. Percival, Elyan, and the freed knights of Camelot had arrived. The knights fought bravely, even though they didn't possess swords that could slay an immortal soldier.

Arthur darted through the melee to reach his father, and then began to pull him out of the heart of the battle.

Merlin twisted to look up at the balcony for Lancelot, and to his relief, he spotted Gwaine and Freya coming to his aid. With his friends backing each other up, Merlin staggered to his feet and jumped back into a duel with Morgana. Their exchanged spells popped and fizzled throughout the hall, sometimes coming too close to taking down one of the good guys. And not even their deadly magic affected the immortal soldiers, of which there were still far too many. They needed to end this once and for all.

Merlin threw up a shield to buy himself a second to sweep his gaze around for something, anything, to use. He spotted the knotted ropes on the far wall that held up the grand chandeliers. Morgana wasn't standing directly beneath one—unfortunately—but she was close enough.

Merlin dropped his shield and sent a fireball up to burn right through one of the anchor ropes. It snapped, and the chandelier dropped, crashing to the floor with a raucous clamor and sending splinters of wood and candles everywhere. Morgana jerked away from it in surprise, though it didn't touch her. Merlin took the moment of distraction and made a run for the Cup. Morgana whipped back toward him.

"No!" she shrieked.

He dove forward, feeling the edge of a spell skim past behind him. His arm struck the Cup and knocked it off the altar, its dark contents spilling across the floor. Morgana screeched in rage as her army suddenly exploded into dust and embers all at once. All sounds of fighting stopped as numerous swords clattered to the floor, their wielders having been decimated.

Merlin struggled to his feet, but before he could gather himself, Morgana magically threw him against the wall and pinned him there, then squeezed his throat with an invisible pressure. He hated that move. He jerked and writhed, unable to move or cast a retaliatory spell as his lungs burned and his vision darkened around the edges.

Then Arthur rose up behind her with his sword and stabbed her through the back and out the chest. She gasped and went rigid, eyes blown wide in shock. Then the glow faded and she fell dead. Her magic snapped free, and Merlin dropped to the floor with a painful thump, coughing and choking for air.

Arthur yanked his sword out of Morgana's body and stared at her for a long moment before turning and hurrying over to Merlin. "You all right?"

He nodded as he rubbed at his bruised throat. Arthur reached down to give him a hand up. Merlin met his eyes with a look of thanks, which Arthur returned. Merlin then swept his gaze around for his friends and saw they were all in once piece, more or less. And Camelot was saved.

Now that the battle was won, there was much to do. Many were wounded, and Merlin used his ring to send for Alice, Gaius, and Gwen now that the castle was secure. Arthur gave out a few orders before returning to his father's side. Uther was pale and shaking slightly. He had several bite marks that were purplish and painful looking. But despite his injuries, his gaze was sharply fixed on Merlin as the warlock moved through the hall, helping to take stock of things. At least he wasn't in a raging fit. Arthur would take that as a win for now.

When Alice arrived, he had a pair of knights take the king up to his chambers where the court physician could tend him first. Meanwhile, Gaius was already beginning to triage the wounded being brought in from all over the castle.

Arthur made his way over to Elyan. "Leon?" he asked anxiously.

"With Gwen," the young man replied. "She's taking him to Alice's chambers."

Arthur nodded. That was good. He'd have Alice tend him as soon as she was done with the king.

Gaius was examining Lancelot's shoulder and said something about needing sutures, so Arthur told him to use Alice's supplies; she wouldn't mind. The two of them headed off to the court physician's chambers.

Arthur spotted the Cup lying on the floor in the corner and went to pick it up. How could something bring both life and death?

It depended on the wielder, just as with any weapon or tool.

He brought the Cup over to Merlin and handed it to him. "Thank you again for your help."

Merlin nodded. "Any time."

Arthur glanced at Morgana's body. "Do you really think all of this war and hatred started because my grandfather kept a secret daughter who turned out to have magic and wanted the throne?" he asked quietly.

Merlin shrugged. "Is there ever a good reason for war and hate?"

Arthur supposed there wasn't.

There was a lot of cleanup to do, and the hunters stayed to help a bit, but Arthur knew they couldn't remain. It wouldn't be too long before his father regained his wits and ordered them all arrested and executed, despite Arthur's proclamation of having pardoned them. Merlin at least took the time to incinerate Morgana's body, reducing her to ash and embers just like her army.

Finally, Arthur bid farewell to them all and thanked them again.

"Tell Leon we'll keep in touch," Gwen said.

Arthur nodded. His first knight had been patched up and was resting. Arthur wanted to spend more time sitting vigil by his friend, but as prince of Camelot and with his father incapacitated, he had too many responsibilities to see to.

Merlin and the hunters departed, and Arthur returned to his duties. The dead were gathered and prepared for burial. Morgana's army had ransacked much of the city, so there were repairs and cleanup to be done for that. When Arthur finally had a free moment, he went to see his convalescing father.

Uther's expression was like granite as Arthur entered his chambers. "Where is the sorcerer Merlin?" he immediately asked.

Arthur braced himself for how this conversation was going to go. "Gone."

His father's cheeks puffed puce.

"They did just save our kingdom," Arthur pointed out. "From your sister," he added pointedly.

"Half sister," Uther growled, expression livid.

"Do you even care that she's dead?" he asked.

"She was evil and a threat."

Arthur scoffed. "I wonder what made her that way," he muttered sarcastically.

Uther narrowed his eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I know all about her parentage," he replied. "How Grandfather kept her as his ward without ever telling her who she was." Arthur shook his head. "All the hatred and fear of magic this family has held, you started it yourselves."

"You know nothing of these matters," Uther snapped.

Arthur just looked at his father with pity. He'd given up on ever convincing him of anything. "Well, she's not a threat any longer."

"And where is the golden chalice? The one that created her immortal army?"

"That's gone too."

Uther's nostrils flared. "Do you have any idea what you've done? That thing is dangerous!"

"Yes, it is," Arthur replied. "And it's in the safest place it can be."

He had no trouble imagining his father using the Cup to make his own invincible army to hunt down even more magic users, never mind he'd be using magic himself. It made Arthur sick.

So he turned his back on his father and left him to rest, focusing instead on the things he could influence, such as repairing his kingdom.