Two armies faced each other on the field of battle. Merlin could hear the screaming in his ears, smell the fresh blood splattering. He wanted to throw up, to break down, to start crying, but couldn’t. All he could do was stand there, away from the heart of the fighting and supplying magical aid whenever he could, in the form of more weapons or fire.

Uther stood beside him, grinning ear to ear with a sadistic glint in his eyes. Aurelius had insisted he stay toward the edges of the battle and near Merlin, which Uther had at first protested to until he seemed to remember how big of a target the wizard would be once the enemy realized what was going on. Merlin figured Aurelius was registering this fact right about now while he was in the middle of leading the troops.

A spray of blood coated Merlin’s cloak as Uther hacked another man to death, another would-be killer of his wizard. The demented smile looked almost carved into his face as he went after another hapless soldier. Merlin tried his best to ignore the screams while still defending himself and Uther from barrages of arrows and magical attacks.

“How’re you doing?” Uther asked, beaming as he pulled a sword out of an enemy soldier with a little twirl.

“F- fine,” Merlin affirmed. “Not too tired yet.” Deeply traumatized, but not tired.

“That’s good,” Uther patted Merlin’s shoulder comfortingly with a hand drenched in blood. “Let me know if you need a rest, I don’t want you collapsing from exhaustion.”

“Thank you.” Merlin took a deep breath to collect himself. A hand grabbed him and yanked him out of the way of a blade slicing inches from his neck. The person immediately thrust out a sword at the enemy assassin in question, killing them instantly.

“You should be more alert,” a deep voice rumbled. Merlin twisted his head to see who had saved him and saw a knight, a few inches shorter than himself behind him. Uther’s eyes lit up.

“Ulfius! Did my brother send you over?” Uther asked, whirling around and slashing another enemy who had gotten too close.

“Let’s see… his exact words were, ‘Damn it, Uther! Ulfius, can you go just…’ and I extrapolated from there,” the knight, Ulfius, replied.

Uther gave him a look. “You better not give me a lecture about recklessness.”

With an uncaring shrug, Ulfius replied, “Unlike what your brother believes, I don’t think it would help. You’ll just do whatever irregardless of what anyone says.”

“And?”

Ulfius rolled his eyes. “I’m not saying I disagree with it, just that I know you’re not able to be controlled.”

Uther picked up a downed enemy’s nearby spear and hurled it at a soldier running at them, striking him in the chest tip first. He was a much better aim with a spear than a bow, Merlin noted. As the man choked on his own blood, Uther smiled sweetly at Ulfius. “This is why I like you.”

“You surround yourself with people who enable you,” Ulfius deadpanned, glancing over at Merlin as he said it. “Although, that does mean I have pretty good job security, even considering I’m probably fighting for the losing side.”

“You don’t think we’ll win?” Merlin asked, surprised.

Ulfius shook his head. “If I wasn’t involved and had to place a bet, the only reason I’d put money on Aurelius is if the odds were so low that I’d be set for life if I won.” He twisted around and slammed his shield into the face of a soldier who had managed to sneak up on them. “I’m loyal to Aurelius just because can’t stand supporting that traitor or standing idly by. Am I almost certainly going to be killed or executed? Yeah. Will I regret it? Not in the slightest.”

Behind them, Uther laughed, a little maniacally because he was engaged in combat with another knight. “You’ll get used to his cynicism!” He beamed as he decapitated the knight, even though the man had been wearing chainmail. In a sick way, Merlin was impressed. “Hey, rain down some fire over there, will you? They’re gathering a little too defensively for my liking.”

“Like actual rain or—” Merlin asked.

“Just throw massive fireballs or lightning bolts, I don’t care!” Uther scoffed and rolled his eyes. Merlin nodded and closed his eyes, letting the magic flow. He opened his eyes just enough to aim, then let lightning fly from his hands. It slammed into a few soldiers then jumped from soldier to soldier until they had all fallen down, dead. Uther laughed as he watched the spectacle, while Merlin looked away and covered his eyes. How long until this was all over?

He felt a hand grab his and pull it away from his eyes. He glanced over at Uther, who was holding his hand with a grin on his face and manic lights dancing in his eyes. “Come on, throw some lightning into their midsts! That’ll cause some confusion in the ranks!”

Merlin took a deep breath and nodded. He summoned the beginnings of the spell in his hands, trying to quell their shaking. A quick glance over at Uther was all it took to convince him to cast it. Vortigern was a monster, who needed to be stopped. If this was what it took, then that was what he would do. He just wanted to make things a little better, and Aurelius would be a far better ruler. All he had to do was ignore the dying screams.