Chapter One
In the time of the Old World, there was a kingdom. It was not your ordinary kingdom, however. It was a kingdom ruled by a just and gracious king. A king, who in the time of the New World, would only be known as a legend, a fairytale, a myth. Yet it is not the duty of this work to relate the life of this great monarch, Arthur Pendragon, for his story is one that is already well known. No, I turn instead to the life of another great man, one who helped Arthur to become the king of legend. A warlock of great power, Merlin.
What one must understand is that during the reign of Arthur, the land was full of warlocks, witches and sorcerers. It was so even before Arthur became king of Camelot, during the reign of his father, Uther Pendragon and even so before his reign. Magic was the basis of the world, for the earth has a delicate balance, and that balance must be kept. These warlocks were the keepers of that balance, yet they all were different from Merlin. They had to learn magic, whereas he had natural gifts. No one is quite sure why he was born with these gifts, but many had their suspicions that he was destined for great things…
Lily Crest set aside the book she was reading and rubbed her tired eyes. College was killing her, well not literally. She had recently taken an interest in the legend of Camelot when the subject came up in her literature class. Her professor, noticing her interest, had loaned Lily a book titled, The Magic of Camelot: The Myths of Merlin. It talked about the one thing Lily was more interested in than any other subject she had studied…Magic.
Lily glanced at the clock on her table next to her tiny, standard dorm room size bed and bolted out of her desk chair. It couldn't be eleven-thirty already, because if it was then she was running late for the ceremony. She scrambled around the room searching for her medieval style, full length white dress and brown leather boots, letting her mind wander to the unanswered questions about her life. She had grown up in an orphanage, where she stayed briefly with many foster families, but had not actually found a family that had wanted her until she met the Crests. They understood her where others did not, and they taught her that the things she caused to happen accidentally, which is the reason the other families had not kept her long, was actually a result of her magical abilities.
Colin and Jade Crest taught Lily how to control her magic and use it for helping others secretly. They had also put her through school and when she enrolled in college, her brilliant adoptive parents had taught her how to tell the difference between those in her classes who were fellow witches and those that were not. That is how Lily had come to be a part of the Courtier Coven. It was a secret coven that met in the basement of the British university that they all attended. Only women were allowed to join, and Lily had had a rough time trying to get them to trust her enough to let her be inducted into their midst. But once they had seen her use magic without incantations or spells, they immediately took her under their wing, and seeing as the Coven Mother graduated from the university the previous year, and Lily was a senior, the covenants had voted her to take over. That was what the meeting was about tonight, the Ceremony of the Oaths, her coronation as Coven Mother.
Lily pushed aside her renewed feeling of nervousness as she dug under her bed and pulled out her boots. She shoved them onto her feet and rushed from her dorm, stopping briefly to check her reflection in the mirror. She ran across the campus lawns as lightning flashed in the sky and thunder rolled among the clouds, trying to make it to the main building before it started raining. She reached the stairs that led to the outside entrance of the basement just as the first drizzle began to fall, and quickly opened the door and ran inside as it started to rain harder. What a perfect night for my coronation, she thought sarcastically to herself as she trod quietly down the damp, murky hallway that led to the coven's quarters. The lights flickered for a moment before going out completely, stopping Lily in her tracks. "Damn," she whispered, "Ignis lavitana palmaras." A glowing ball of red light appeared in her hand and cast eerie shadows along the walls and floor of the hall as it grew brighter to show her the way.
She reached the door to the basement and heard chanting on the other side of it. As she opened the door, the chanting grew faster and became slightly less clear as if the speaker were hurrying to finish the spell before being seen. Upon entering the room, she noticed it was empty. No one was there, not a single covenant was to be seen. This worried Lily. It wasn't like the covenants to miss something as important as this or to not be on time. She was the only one who ever had any trouble showing up on time, but then she didn't have to practice any spells like they did. She knew a whole different language of spells that they didn't, which is why they wanted her as Coven Mother. And now they don't show up for my coronation! I can't do the Ceremony of Oaths alone! She thought this as she absentmindedly walked about the room and then stood in the center of the circle. This circle brings to mind King Arthur's round table, she began reciting to herself the speech she had prepared for the end of the coronation. Everyone who sits here is an equal to each other. None of us are any more important than the others. We protect each other and help each other. We do not betray one another, for the penalty of betrayal would be worse than death. No one is to know about us; we must live in secret to protect what we do here. People are afraid of magic, because it is the unknown, so we should keep it as unknown to them as possible. As your chosen Coven Mother, I will protect you; help you to the best of my ability. I will never betray you, and I will keep the secret of what we do from all outsiders. You have my oath to do as I have spoken. Will you accept me as your leader, your friend, your Coven Mother?
It was always customary for the Coven Mother to give some sort of speech, and Lily thought that none of the members had ever heard the likes of the one she had planned for them, but none of them were ever to hear it. Unbeknownst to her, all of her covenants had been placed under an enchantment. They were all in their respective dorms fast asleep so as to miss the Ceremony of Oaths. She stood a few moments longer in the center of the circle that had been carved into the wooden floor of the room years ago, probably when the first members of the coven met for the first time. The history of the coven had always been somewhat vague, as no one was sure who the first covenants were or why they decided to start the coven in the first place. Lily dropped to the floor where she had been standing in the center of the circle and then lay down with each limb pointing to one of the four corners. North, South, East and West, she thought. Earth, Air, Fire and Water.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a female voice singing quietly, and wanting to know who it was before they burst in on her, still lying down in the circle, she whispered a quick spell using the common language of the other covenants. "Quiet words from far away, by the gods I do say, become clear and let me hear." She gasped as she heard the words as clear as if the person were standing next to her. It was in the Old Language and the words terrified her as she mentally translated them to English.
The Lost Child I seek,
Who knows not the prophecy.
In the circle she shall stay,
Till the dawning of the day.
Where transported she shall be,
Back to her home, sent to me.
From her time where she is Sworn,
Bring her back to where she was born.
Lily heard the woman laugh maniacally before there was no sound in the room at all. The singing had stopped just as abruptly as it had started. She tried to sit up and realized that she couldn't move at all. It was as if she had lain down in super glue and let it dry, pinning her down to the spot. Then realization dawned on her. The woman's song was about her. She glanced at the window trying to see the position of the moon. Ok, she thought, it's about five-thirty in the morning now and the song said till the dawning of the day which would be six because the sun begins to rise then. So I have to wait a half hour before I can move.
As she was planning her escape, another voice echoed on the air singing a different song, still in the Old Language, yet with urgency as if the person were trying to beat the sunrise.
Release the child from her bonds,
And send her to those, of her, shall be fond.
To the summoner, send her not,
Protect her instead in Camelot.
Send her there without delay,
Before the dawning of the day.
The voice stopped, and Lily realizing she could move again, got onto her feet. No longer than two seconds after she stood, she felt a shudder under her, and she realized the floor was breaking apart. The walls of the room began to shake as well and looked as though they might fall in on her. She tried to keep her footing and run. She wanted to run from it all; she didn't want to go wherever these people wanted her to, although she figured that if they tried it once, they would try it again. And the second woman talked of protection, and she released the hold that other woman placed on me. The floor in the very center of the circle gave way and she fell, screaming, down the hole that had appeared where her precious circle used to be. Pieces of debris fell with her, and she watched as it went past her. She stopped screaming long enough to listen intently to hear if any of it hit the bottom. None did, and she started screaming again.
It wasn't long after she started screaming again, that her momentum from falling lessened and she almost felt as if she were a feather floating down from the air. That was until she hit the tree and went straight through all of the branches, which caught on her dress and hair, leaving the cloth tattered and the strands of fiery, red hair matted and tangled. Lily cried out as she saw the ground coming ever closer, and shut her eyes, preparing herself for the impact. It never came. She gingerly opened one eye and then the other. She was floating about a foot from the ground. But I didn't cast a spell, she thought, mesmerized at the fact she hadn't been squashed to a pulp on the ground. Suddenly, the barrier that had kept her from hitting the moss covered earth disappeared, and she fell onto it with a loud "Ouch!"
"Are you okay?" Lily looked up to see who had spoken, and a man around her age with messy black hair and startling blue eyes appeared from behind a tree. Lily's mind went blank when she saw what he was wearing. He donned brown leather pants, a blue tunic, a brown jacket, and a red neckerchief, complete with brown leather boots. It seemed to her that she had just stepped out of the real world and onto the page of one of the books she read so much about the Arthurian Age. Then something else dawned on her.
"You…you saved…my life..."
"Yeah, I guess I did." He looked genuinely concerned for her well-being as he studied the cuts on her face and arms. "Looks like you have a few minor cuts, but nothing major. I'm Merlin, by the way."
"Merlin?!" She didn't mean to blurt it out like that, but the shock of hearing the very name she had read about only a few hours before was too much. He stared at her for a moment, seemingly trying to assess the woman in front of him. She seemed familiar to him in a way.
"Yes, erm…you seem familiar to me. Have we met before?"
"No, I don't think we have. So you're the all powerful warlock then? I imagined you to be older. It's how all the stories and books portray you, well the ones where I'm from do. I dunno about the ones here." This caught Merlin off his guard.
"How do you know what I am?" His eyes flashed gold for a brief second, as he became angry with this woman. How does she know who I am when I haven't told anyone but Gaius and Morgana about my gift?
"It's not hard to spot a fellow sorcerer, you know. Besides, the stopping me from falling a foot from the ground didn't make it any harder to spot." Merlin softened at these words. She too was a magic user, and he had saved her life. Gaius was not going to be pleased that he was bringing home yet another stray. The last one had been Lancelot, and that situation hadn't gone exactly according to plan. The girl stood and swayed. Merlin steadied her with his arm behind her back.
"Do you think you can walk? Camelot is not far from here. I'll take you to the Court Physician, Gaius. He will make sure you are not suffering from anything worse than those cuts."
"I think I can manage a walk. Thank you, Merlin, for all your help. I really appreciate this."
"It's no problem at all, erm…"
"Lily. Lily Crest. Sorry I guess I could have mentioned that before."
"It's alright," he replied, and as he did, she fainted. He caught her, and picked her up. He would just have to carry her to Gaius' place. It wasn't so bad, though. The girl felt as if she didn't weigh much more than a feather.