TALK TO THE DRAGON

by ardavenport

- - - Part 1

Gaius got Merlin up early to go to the market. While Merlin washed, Gaius glanced back into his room, making sure the boy hadn't fallen asleep over his book of magic and left it out. He had only done that once, but the possible consequences from such carelessness were so dire that Gaius made a habit of checking anyway. He knew that Merlin stayed up late studying magic, but he didn't comment about where all the candle stubs were going to.

After they had their morning porridge, he handed Merlin a basket and they were out of the castle just after sunup. New traders from the south had arrived in the town at sundown and Gaius wanted to see what they had.

"Come along, Merlin," he admonished as they made their way down the packed earth lane. Farmers were still arriving with their vegetables, roots, berries. Some had grapes and early apples. Only half the sellers had their stalls open. The newcomers were easy to spot at the end of the lane where the traders had set up a white and red tent. The morning air was scented with the usual morning cook fires, straw and animal excrement.

"Merlin!"

His young assistant had stopped to talk to a girl from the castle kitchen and a goat herd. Nudging goats out of his way, Merlin hurried to him with his basket. Gaius turned his attention to the new trader's wares.

Frowning, he supposed that Lady Morgana or some other court ladies might be happy with the colorful foreign cloths and trims and shiny buttons. There were some very fine needles, good for sewing up wounds, but the trader was asking far too much for them and they were not any better than the ones he already had. He did not see any herbs that he didn't already have in adequate quantities as well. Goldenseal, coriander, calendula, chamomilla. He sighed, shaking his head. Merlin looked a little interested, but he was young. There was nothing really new here. Gaius straightened and turned around to go. . . .

. . . . and almost bounced off of an enormous woman's bosom. He hastily backed up into Merlin who dropped the basket and yelped in protest.

"Ow!"

Gaius stared back at the equally surprised woman. Blue dress and white under-dress puffed out over her prominent bosom, hair gone white with age, but her round face was lined with few wrinkles. He squinted at it; he knew that face . . . .

"Myrna?"

"Gaius?"

He could not believe it. What was she doing in Camelot? Her eyes darted to either side.

"Gaius!"

She grabbed him, pinning his arms with her ample body pressed into him.

"Aaaah!" He tried to pull away, but she had him.

"Ow!" Merlin yelped again.

She pulled back.

"Gaius!"

She grabbed the sides of his head and pressed her lips onto mouth. He kept his lips shut tight as she tried to suckle them. Then she ecstatically pulled back, her eyes lit up with apparent happiness.

"Gaius!"

She grabbed him again in another tight hug that he could not escape. Her hair smelt strongly of rose-scented soap.

"Myrna! Myrna! Get off of me!"

She let him go and stepped back, admiring.

"Oooooh, Gaius, you always did like to play hard to get."

He couldn't believe it. He did not play games like that. And certainly not with Witch Myrna. He sneered in digust. But something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Merlin was grinning, his eyes on Myrna's ample cleavage.

"Merlin!"

He startled and stumbled backward, hopping and hitting his shin on a tent pole.

"Ow!"

"What's wrong with you, Merlin?" he demanded, annoyed.

"Oh nothing; I think you only put half your weight on my feet when you stepped on them. I wasn't planning on using them today, anyway." He sounded a bit cross, but then he went back to grinning. Gaius hastily batted away Myrna's hand as it darted under his chin.

"Stop that!"

She replied with a high pitched giggle, her hands fluttering. "My, my, it is so good to see you. We can catch up on old times," she gushed.

Merlin still grinned, but before Gaius could chastise him again, he started backing away.

"Um, I'm sure you'll want to catch up. And . . . I've got to get to Arthur's room, he'll be getting up and I have to take him his breakfast . . . ." He backed away with a little bit of a limp and then made his escape down the lane with Gaius scowling after him. He turned back to Myrna.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed.

On their left, the trader with the over-priced needles conspicuously dusted off his merchandise within easy listening distance of them. He grabbed the basket, her arm and dragged her away down the lane. As soon as they were away from other people, she dropped her flirtatious attitude, tugged her arm back and picked up her skirts as they stepped around the horse droppings on the road.

"What are you doing in Camelot?" he demanded.

"Believe me, I wouldn't be here if it weren't absolutely necessary." She grimaced and shook her head.

"Well?"

She sighed as they moved to the side of the road while a cart and rider went by. "Oh, Gaius, I really didn't want you to see me. I just wanted to come, do what I needed to do and get out."

"Really? You certainly have a funny way of not being seen."

"Well, when you recognized me, I had to think of some reason you knew me, other than maybe . . . . we did some 'magic' together when we were both a bit younger and spryer." She did not actually speak the word 'magic', just mouthed it emphatically.

"We did not . . . " Gaius warily looked around for any passersby ". . . do anything of the sort. With you or any of that coven you are part of. We only exchanged information on a very few occasions."

"Not so much a part of these days. Oh, the old gang is still around. We've moved apart a bit, but we still get together on the solstices. That's actually one of the reasons why I'm here," she finished with a grumble.

"And what would that be?"

She eyed him, obviously considering what she would tell him. And she quickly scanned the area, but there was no one near enough to hear, either on the road or around any of the nearby buildings.

"I have to talk to the dragon."

Gaius stopped, turned and stared. "You want to talk to the dragon?"

"No, I have to talk to the dragon."

"Why? Surely you know you can't trust a dragon."

"I think I can get a straight answer about one thing."

"What?"

Myrna's shoulders dropped and she pushed her white hair back from her face. "It's a long story, you don't really want to hear this, do you?"

Gaius just stared at her.

"Right. Well, Lethann wants to kill Belocc. But only after making her suffer a great deal first. Because Lethann thinks that Belocc killed her son."

"Why would she think that?" Gaius asked; he didn't know who Lethann was, but he was pretty sure that Belocc was one of the women from her coven.

"Because Belocc told Lethann that she did it."

"I suppose that would be a good reason."

"Except that Belocc didn't do it."

"Well, then why would she say that she did?"

"Because Belocc didn't like Lethann's son. And she's not that enamored of Lethann either."

"What does this have to do with the dragon?"

"Because I think the dragon did it."

"Why?"

"Oooooh, so many reasons. He was an idiot. He used his magic to create a 'dragon saddle'. And then he tried to use it. And his body was a smoking charcoal corpse when they found it in the ruins of Boann."

"There were no survivors. That village was completely destroyed."

"Except for the dragon who burned it down."

"Oh. You have a point there," Gaius conceded with a nod. "But how is talking to the dragon going to settle this? And why is this coming up now? That happened ages ago."

"Because Lethann has been stuck in the Misty Lands all this time and just got herself back. Those places are like that." Myrna sighed. Anyway now she's back, found her son is dead and she's out for revenge."

"Well, what will talking to the dragon do? You can't very well take it back with you."

Myrna dug into a pouch hanging from a belt around her waist and brought out a golden amulet on a leather cord. "If I get the dragon to breath on this, I can use a spell on Cordin's corpse to prove that he died by dragon fire."

Gaius eyed the amulet as she stuffed it back into the pouch. "Well, then won't Lethann just want revenge on the dragon for killing her son?"

"Lethann isn't crazy enough to go after a dragon. And certainly not one that is chained up under the castle with the crazy king in it," she finished angrily through gritted teeth. "Ban magic does he? How does Uther ban magic? How does anyone ban magic? Might as well tell the wind not to blow or the seasons not the change." She lowered her voice and didn't say anymore until a a young man leading a horse and cart were well past them. "It's in the land, it's part of the world. Who does he think he is, banning magic?"

"He's the king. And the king can ban whatever he likes."

Myrna eyed him suspiciously. "You're not going to turn me in, Gaius?"

He kept his tongue for a few seconds, just long enough to make her worry. "No, of course not," he finally reassured her. "But it's not safe for you to be here. For any reason. I would strongly advise that you figure out some other way to settle this witch feud of yours."

"I just need a moment with the dragon. I'm just going to go in and out as quick as I can and then I'll be off. But . . . " her lips curled in a slow smile and she stepped closer, " . . . I could be a mite quicker if I had a little help getting in the castle. From someone on the inside."

Back stiffening, Gaius drew away from her. "Absolutely not. That would be treason." He held up a warning finger. "I may not be willing to turn you in, but I absolutely cannot help you if you get caught. And anyone using magic in this kingdom is burned at the stake."

Her face puckered in dismay. "I know that. I lost a few friends to Uther's purges. But he can't burn me if I'm not using any magic to get in and out of his castle."

"And how are you going to do that?" he asked, puzzled. He didn't know that Myrna did anything without magic.

She straightened, tugging her dress into place and thrusting out her ample bosom. "I have my own womanly ways. There's more than one way to get in and out of a castle. Castles are full of nothing but men and men have plenty of weaknesses."

Gaius flinched. Yes, there were a few things that Myrna did without magic. She was a bit older, but still full in the body. "I'm not going to ask. But I might remind you that they do still throw people in the dungeons for certain uses of 'womanly ways'."

"Well, I'm not going to tell you." She bobbed her head for emphasis. "And if you're not going to help, Gaius, the less you know, the better." She turned and strode away.

"Wait - - "

"It's been lovely chatting with you, Gaius, but I've got quite a lot to do today."

He held up a hand, his mouth open to object, but he stopped. There really wasn't any more to say. She continued down the road to the trader tents and was soon lost in the crowd.

- - - End Part 1