Well, here's a brand new story. (Oh, I hope I did this show justice. I've never written for it before.) Anyway, as stated in the summery, this is set in present day Britain with Merlin and his two young apprentices. They become curious about Merlin's long past and decide to ask him about it. This isn't a one shot. I'm going to keep this going. I don't know for how long, though. I guess that all depends on the amount of support it gets.
Alright, here's the breakdown. Regular text is present day occurrences. Anything in italics is part of the past. I did this so the story would flow better. I know this chapter is a bit dull, but it's just the opening. Each chapter will feature a story and a lesson the children take away from it.
I guess that's enough rambling. I don't own Merlin and never will. Please enjoy it.
Merlin walked along the road as a giant truck passed by, blowing his long hair and beard away from his face. In his hand he held a sack of groceries for making dinner that night. He felt a rush of memories when he passed the familiar lake by his small cottage home. His lips turned up in a sad smile before he turned away and walked to the small structure he now dwelled in.
As the sorcerer muttered the spell to unlock the door, he heard two shouts from a short distance down the road. "Mr. Merlin!" "Mr. Merlin!"
He looked over to see the familiar faces of his two apprentices running down the road. He smiled genuinely to see the two young magic users. He hadn't been able to see them in at least two weeks for they had gone on holiday.
"Samuel and Marisa!" he called, waving with one hand. "It's good to see you again."
The twins ran straight up to their teacher with bright smiles on their young faces. They were both eleven years old and had just began showing magical abilities. Confused and scared by the mysterious powers, they kept it secret from their families. Merlin had found them trying to practice in the small field behind his house. There, he had revealed to them his true identity and offered to teach them the ways of magic. They had gladly accepted.
"Mr. Merlin, I practiced the spell you taught me and I actually made my pen float. Then, I started trying it on bigger things and eventually made the whole table float for like a minute." Marisa said excitedly.
"That's nothing!" Samuel butted in, puffing his chest out proudly. "I managed to heal a cut on my arm. All by myself."
Marisa huffed, put out at being outdone in her bragging. "Too bad there's nobody good enough to fix the damage in your brain."
Merlin laughed silencing the two. He handed his groceries to Samuel saying, "Here, great wizard. Take these inside to the kitchen." Then, he followed the young twins inside, shutting the door behind him. When they had all gathered in his small front room, Merlin sat in his large, worn out chair and the twins hopped onto the couch. "I would love to hear more about what you've worked on since you've been away." he said with a smile.
"Well, I tried to make something float, too!" Samuel shouted, gaining the old man's attention.
"And how did that go?" Merlin questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh…" Samuel flushed, sheepishly. "It didn't turn out so well, actually."
"See, you both have strengths and weaknesses." Merlin said, turning his gaze on Marisa. "You, dear girl, are strong in controlling objects, Samuel is gaining ground in healing and potions. And there is nothing wrong with that. You're both still very young and have much to learn."
The twins both beamed at their teacher, happy to be praised in such a way. Even these two young ones respected Merlin greatly. He held an air of wisdom around him that demanded it. It might have had to do with the countless years he had lived.
Samuel and Marisa were very curious about their master's past after he left Camelot but were always too shy to ask him. They only saw him for lessons usually, so they never really had the chance to stop in the middle and question him without cutting into their learning time. And the old sorcerer never volunteered any information about it.
After a few moment of silence, Marisa brought up the courage to ask him. In her eyes, this was as good a time as any. "Mr. Merlin. I was wondering, would you be willing to tell us the stories of your past. You must have a lot of them. You've told us about Arthur and Camelot, but what about after that? Please, we would really like to know more about you."
Merlin paused, surprised at her sudden question. He looked over toward Samuel, who had the same curious look on his face. He had no clue that the two would want to know about his life. It was true, the great wizard had lived many years in which he had roamed the earth waiting for his king's return.
"That's a very long list of stories, children." he said. "But I don't see why I couldn't tell a few."
Both of the twins' eyes lit up with happiness. They hadn't been completely sure their master would open up about his past, but now he seemed willing enough. "Will you tell us a story right now?" Samuel asked.
Merlin thought for a second and smiled a bit. "I don't know. It is rather late. Shouldn't your parents be expecting you?"
"No!" the children cried. "They know we're with you, Mr. Merlin." they both said together.
He laughed, the skin around his eyes crinkling even more. "Alright, alright…" The wizard slipped into thought, trying to conjure up one of his more exciting tales to tell his young apprentices. "Well, there was a time when I had to save an entire ship full of people. Let's see, how I should begin this? I think I'll begin on that cold night in February of 1734…"
Merlin was still a fairly young looking man, even having lived for centuries already. He was currently on the ship headed to the 'new world' that had fascinated all of Europe. Having nothing tying him to England, and not seeing Arthur's return in the near future, (seeing as England was in a golden age of exploration and conquest) he had decided to travel to this mysterious new land. He had a shred of hope that he might even find another magic user like himself. Besides the Druids in England, he hadn't managed to find many in the last few decades. It was almost as if as the world progressed, magic was being forgotten.
This greatly saddened the wizard, as he wanted nothing more than to use his powers to help his country and friends. But with people being burned at the stake every day for their powers, some even innocent of possessing a trace of magic, Merlin couldn't risk himself. He had to be here when the once and future king returned.
Maybe the situation would be better in the new world. At least he hoped it would. So far, the people on the ship weren't showing themselves as generally accepting people. Already, he'd seen a man thrown overboard to be food for the sharks, for simply challenging the captain's route he'd chosen to take.
Merlin was now standing on the deck under the stars, a scruffy beard growing on his face. He looked up at the stars, trying to feel some sort of connection with the world. He suddenly felt a pang in his chest for the forest surrounding Camelot. He missed the deep veins that ran through the English soil that seemingly pumped magic into the very air that he breathed. He only hoped he could find the same feeling in this mysterious new land.
As he was pondering these thoughts, a yell from the crow's nest pulled him from his thoughts. He looked up as the man continued to yell above the sound of the wind, "There's ice ahead! There's ice dead ahead! We have to avert our course! Hurry! We're going to crash!"
Merlin looked over the side again, his eyes straining to see into the darkness. Men started running around the deck, the captain positioning himself at the helm to turn the ship. They tried pulling the sails down, as the wind was blowing them straight into the deadly ice.
Merlin looked around, knowing full well there was no way the massive vessel could avoid the impending danger. He was suddenly pushed into the crowd to help with work. He pulled on a rope with another man to turn the sails, but his heart wasn't in it. Nor was his mind. He was desperately thinking of a way to save the ship and men on it.
Merlin paused in his story telling to smile at the children whose eyes were wide and they're mouths agape. "Maybe I should stop for now. You seem to be upset by the tale." His eyes crinkled at their horrified expressions caused by his teasing.
"No, Mr. Merlin!" Marisa said, clearly upset by the threat. "We want to know what happened!"
"Yeah! Don't stop on us now! Did you save the ship!? Did everyone die!? What happened!?" Samuel said, loudly.
"Alright, children." the great wizard said with a chuckle. "Calm down and I will continue. Now, where was I…"
As the man's mind kicked into hyper drive to find some way to save the men and keep his magic concealed, a sickening crack was heard and the whole ship lurched to the side. Merlin fell onto his side, cracking his shoulder painfully against the wood. He looked up and watched horrified as the man fell from the crow's nest into the dark ocean below.
"The ship's crashed! What do we do!? We're all doomed!"
Merlin listened to the shouts for a minute before quickly getting to his feet and looking around. The people were in panic, no one would notice if he just used a bit of magic to repair the ship and…
"You, man!" the captain suddenly yelled at him, catching his attention. "Stop standing there uselessly and assist in lowering the rowboats!"
Merlin unwillingly did as he was told, helping another man tie up a rowboat and load it with men. As they started lowering the boat, an idea struck the wizard. He reached over and grabbed the man behind him and handed him the rope before running to the other side.
Looking down over the side, he peered down at the damage. It surprisingly, wasn't as bad as he was expecting. It looked as if the ice had merely stopped the ship and dented the wood. He could repair it fairly simply. But first he had to get the ship away from the ice.
His eyes suddenly took on a powerful golden light and a spell was muttered under his breath. The ship almost shook with the power of the magic pushing on it before it magically moved off the ice. Merlin quickly muttered another spell and the wooden ship seemingly repaired itself.
As he turned, satisfied with his work, he was met by the stares of all the crew, including the captain. They were all glaring even, looking at him with half angry, half terrified expressions. He backed against the side a surge of terror rushing through him. Uther Pendragon had placed a fear in him that would never completely disappear. And now his worst fear had come true. They knew. He could see it on each and every one of their faces. He had been too careless. Now, he didn't know what he was going to do. He didn't know if they could kill him or not, but he certainly didn't want to find out.
"It's witchcraft!" one man cried, pointing an accusatory finger at the wizard.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" he yelled back.
"We all saw it! You did something to the ship! Ships don't move off of ice themselves! What did you do!?" the same man bombarded him questions. "Did you wreck us in the first place!?"
"No! Why would I do that!?"
The captain held out his hand to silence the two. "Peace," he commanded, and they both fell silent. "What did you do? Well, speak up man. Don't try to deny anything either. We all saw something."
Merlin looked down, his shoulders sagging. "I pushed the ship away from the ice and fixed the damage. I didn't crash the ship. If I had, I wouldn't have saved it in the first place. I don't deserve death for using the power I was born with to save you men. I have never used my magic for evil. Nor did I ever make a compact with your devils for them. They were born inside me. They're natural."
As he explained himself, he could feel the rage rising up from the crowd of men. When he finished his monologue, a cry went out to destroy the witch. Hands seized him and dragged him into the midst of the angry crowd of ruff seaman.
Merlin sighed, stopping his story once again. He looked down at his old, wrinkled hands, remembering the cold day. For a minute, silence fell in his small house. Until, finally, Samuel broke it with his question, burning in both of the twins' minds.
"What happened after they found out, Mr. Merlin?"
"They put me in a rowboat and sent me adrift so that God could deal with me in the way He saw fit." Merlin let out a humorless chuckle. "I don't really tell you children often enough, but you're very lucky to be living today. People might not know about magic as they did back in the 'glory days', but at least you'll never be threatened or killed for possessing it."
The twins fell into solemn silence, taking in the wise wizard's words. He had lived so long under the threat of being found. They didn't know if they're master was truly immortal or just lucky, but the tale did give them a whole new respect for him.
Merlin glanced out the window, where the moon was just showing itself in the sky. "It's already dark out. You two need to make your way home."
Both children let out a series of complaints which Merlin silenced and led them out of the house. He waved to them and watched them go as they ran off into the night. He truly loved the children and enjoyed the liveliness they brought back to him. He only wished that they would be around for the rising of the Once and Future King.
The old man turned to go back inside, his aged muscles aching a bit. He used a spell to make him tea and then to start a fire. Then, he sat down and enjoyed the flames licking at the wood, while drinking his British beverage. The house was silent except for the cracking of the fire.
Merlin thought on what he told the children, and the effect he'd seen it'd had on them. He decided then to open up more to them, whenever they asked. There was much more to learn from the great wizard's past, and he felt it time to pass on his wisdom.
And that's the end of the first chapter. Leave a review and tell me what you thought. Reviews are awesome. I like criticism, as long as it's constructive. And if you have any advice on how I can depict Merlin better, please tell me. Bye, for now.