Part 10

A small, intimate memorial has held for the sorcerer who'd been killed in Albion. He had been a tall, muscled sorcerer that Merlin and Ellie didn't know well, but had known by name and who had always greeted them kindly if they ever ran into him. His wife, Emelda was taking her grief in the form of bitter anger; she was absolutely ready to kill these sorcerer hunters in the upcoming battle. She trained alongside the others under Arthur and her anger seemed to seethe from her every pore. Sometimes she became a little too aggressive in training and had to be calmed down or removed for a short time. No one blamed her for it, though. Everyone's tensions were high in the wake of this fight with the sorcerer hunters.

When the sorcerers weren't being taught combat techniques by Arthur, they were being taught healing techniques by Ellie. Everyone knew that Ellie's healing powers were exceptional and it was decided that everyone should attempt to learn more powerful healing techniques in case any of their own became gravely injured. Sorcerers were a small community as it was and they did not want to see their population wane.

Merlin had always planned to face this on his own, or at least with only those mentioned in the prophecy. He never wanted the other sorcerers in his community to risk their lives in this way. However, he was glad that they were willing to fight. It gave them a much better chance of actually defeating the sorcerer hunters. Since all their time now was dedicated to battle preparations, Arthur's schooling and acclimating was being put on hold. Ellie would continue teaching him after all this was over. If they survived this battle, that was.

"The resurrection spell is almost complete," Ellie stated one evening as she, Merlin, and Arthur had returned to the flat after a day of training.

"How will it work?" Arthur asked.

"I've followed the instructions to create this potion," Ellie explained, "and in the creation of the potion, the words of the spell reveal themselves to me. That way I know what magic words I need to use in order to induce the spell."

"Sounds...complicated," Arthur said.

"It is," Merlin confirmed, "if the words are misspoken, it could ruin the spell."

"Wait--," Ellie spoke, concerned, "it's bubbling."

The three of them peered into the mortar. The potion suddenly turned a deep purple and bulbous bubbles rose to the surface and popped.

"Does that mean...?" Arthur started.

"It's time," Ellie said.

The three of them hastily made their way to the lake, where Gwaine had been put to rest in a long wooden boat after his death.

Ellie stood on the bank of the lake breathing deeply to center herself and summon her concentration. Merlin and Arthur hung close behind her, quiet.

Very clearly, she spoke the magic words, her eyes flashing gold. Each time she completed a word, a strange sensation filled her mind. It was as though her mind forgot what she'd just said after she said it. This was a part of the spell, since it could only be spoken once and never used again. At first, she had thought Merlin should perform the spell, after all he was the most powerful sorcerer to walk the earth. He was magic itself. But they had discovered in their studying that resurrection, though extremely rare, could only ever be performed by a healer. Merlin being as powerful as he was could certainly act as a healer, but Ellie had always had a natural inclination to magical healing. Merlin had insisted she perform the spell. She was thrilled that Merlin believed in her, and to be truthful she had faith in herself as well, but she was still scared. There would be no margin for error and she absolutely could not mess this up.

She continued to speak the words, her energy flowing through them. This would certainly be the most powerful spell she had ever attempted. As the words left her, she felt her body becoming tired and her mind becoming drained. She spoke the final words of the incantation and stumbled to the ground on her knees. Merlin and Arthur rushed to her aid, placing comforting hands on her.

"Are you okay?" Arthur asked frantically.

She sputtered, unable to speak yet, cradling her head in her hands.

"The spell's just taken a lot out of her," Merlin assured as he rubbed Ellie's back, "It's drained some of her energy. She'll be okay once she rests."

Suddenly the sound of splashing water brought all their attention to the lake. All at once, Gwaine came striding out of the water. As he reached the bank he stumbled, but quickly recovered as if nothing had happened. He moseyed right over to the trio, who could do nothing but stare at his nonchalance.

"Merlin! Arthur!" he said cheerfully. "How's it going?"

Merlin and Arthur stood up, staring at Gwaine.

"Uh," Arthur said, "are you feeling alright, Gwaine?"

"Of course I am!" he smiled, "I've been sleeping for forever waiting on you lot. It was quite strange—I just knew somehow that I was waiting for the two of you. It was like I was in some sort of..."

"Inbetween place?" Arthur guessed.

"Yes!" Gwaine answered. Then, he looked at Merlin and Arthur very seriously. "It's...wonderful to see you two again," he said as he scooped the both of them into a big hug.

They both smiled and hugged Gwaine back. "Great to see you too, old friend," Arthur said.

"Hey, how long has it been anyway?" Gwaine asked.

Merlin and Arthur exchanged a glance.

"A thousand years," Merlin answered.

"Whoa. Okay," Gwaine responded, nonplussed. Then, he spotted Ellie who was still recuperating on the ground.

"Well," he said in debonair voice as he approached her, "hello there, beautiful lady."

He knelt down on the ground so that he was eye-level with her. Her eyes met his and suddenly Ellie wondered why Merlin had never mentioned how insanely attractive Gwaine was. She couldn't find a coherent thought in her brain. Wow, was what came to mind.

Gwaine took her hand and helped her to her feet.

"What is your name?" Gwaine asked, never taking his eyes from hers.

"Ellie," she managed to answer.

"Ellie," he said huskily, tasting her name on his tongue, "it was you who summoned me back, wasn't it?"

"Yes," she answered, "how did you know?"

"I could hear your voice," he said. She smiled.

* * *

Once they were back at the flat, they explained to Gwaine the entirety of the situation, and of course, he took it all in stride.

"Merlin a sorcerer, eh?" he said as he bit into an apple, "In hindsight we probably just have guessed that."

Arthur cast his eyes downward, "You're right. Out of everyone, I should have been the one that realized. I was closest to him."

"Arthur," Merlin said tenderly and placed a hand on Arthur's knee, "please don't dwell on it. It's okay now."

Arthur looked away from Merlin, still ashamed.

"Arthur, look at me," Merlin said softly. Arthur slowly lifted his chin and found Merlin's incredible eyes. "All is forgiven," Merlin stated.

Arthur smiled and took Merlin's hand. "Honestly, Arthur, don't be such a dollophead," Merlin said playfully.

Arthur laughed and pulled Merlin's hand up to his mouth and kissed it.

Gwaine squinted. "I knew it," he said. "I wish the guys were here to see this!"

"Excuse me?" Arthur inquired.

"Oh, well, we had our suspicions you see," Gwaine grinned, "The guys and I, we speculated all the time that the two of you were in love with each other. I mean, it seemed really obvious to me. Leon wasn't totally convinced until he said he caught the two of you gallivanting around the castle one night and you said you were doing 'poetry'. Ever since then we used that as the code word for the two of you shagging. Like 'Where are Arthur and Merlin? They must be doing poetry'."

"We never..." Arthur started defensively.

"Oh, Arthur, really, you don't need to explain. In fact, please don't," Gwaine grinned slyly.