Chapter One: Dragon Calling
It was dark out, and I was freezing. Kilgharrah was supposed to be here an hour ago. At least, that's what I thought he told me before our connection was dropped. I sighed. Cryptic dragons.
The beat of wings called me from my thoughts as wind danced through my hair.
"It took you long enough," I called through the roaring air.
"Young Warlock, I said I would be here and here I am," the dragon said, irritated. "And, you could at least say 'Hello' or 'Thank you for coming'."
"I'm sorry, Kilgharrah. You're right. I am thankful that you came. I'm only worried about Morgana's new plan."
"Don't worry, young one. There will be enough of that in the days to come. Now tell me, why did you call me?"
I sighed. The events of the last few days were wearing me thin. Arthur was in a frenzy, Gaius was becoming distant and started to stock up herbs with a sense of threat in the air, and even Uther was becoming weary. All this combined made for a stressed Warlock.
"There have been some strange sightings," I started.
"Strange sightings?"
"Yes, like a transparent other city. There have been reports of massive buildings and metal birds."
"I have not sensed any of this."
"That's what worries me, Kilgharrah. Neither have I. Wouldn't this take strong magic?"
"From what I know, yes."
"What do you mean 'from what I know'?"
"There are things that are above my knowledge, Young Warlock."
Kilgharrah chuckled at this—which annoyed me to an escalated extent.
"I appreciate that you have such faith in me, however, this is something that I have never experienced in my long life," he continued. "If you desire, I will continue to investigate?"
"Yes, please," I said.
"Then I will bid you goodnight, Young Warlock."
"Goodnight, Kilgharrah. May your wings be lifted up by faithful wind."
"And the sun and moon always light your path."
With a bow, Kilgharrah lifted his wings and flew off into the night, leaving me alone once more.
"Sherlock!"
"Yes, John," I call from the coach.
"You might want to come see this!"
I sigh as I got up from my comfortable position and walked over to where John was gaping at the wall in his bedroom. At first I scoffed, and was about to go back to my mind palace … but then something caught my eye. That something was an image of a castle with people walking around in the picture. And it wasn't still walking. No. This image obviously wasn't painted on John wall. I would have known. This image was just there. How … I don't know. But, I was going to find out.
"Do you see this," John asked panicked.
"Yes, John," I sighed—feigning boredom. "It's not that hard to miss."
"What do you think it is?"
I had to pause here. Should I admit the truth or make a guess?
"I … don't know," I said, aggravated at the fact. "Do you know how it got here?"
"It just … appeared," John said. "Do you think it's dangerous?"
"I don't know… For all we know it could be."
"Should we call Lestrade?"
"Humph! If I don't know what it is, he definitely won't! But …. We could call Mycroft."
"Who's Mycroft, Freak," Sally asked walking in with Lestrade.
"Why would you want to know," I questioned back.
"Come on, Sher," Lestrade said. "If you're going to call him about these new developments, we would like to know who he is."
"He's—"
"I'm his brother," Mycroft answered for me.
"Hello, brother."
"Sherlock."
"Is anyone else going to randomly walk into my room," John asked, irately.
"There's another one," Sally asked.
"Yes, and that one practically controls the British government," I said with a smirk.
"I wouldn't say 'control'….," Mycroft said.
"Then what would you call your tyranny?"
"Helpful pushes in the right direction."
"And these 'helpful' pushes help how?"
"Boys, shouldn't we be discussing what these things are," Lestrade said, gesturing towards the images as he said 'things'.
"Merlin," Arthur yelled as I walked into the room. "What is that?"
"Oh no," I groaned. "Not here too!"
It's been a week since these images have appeared and I've been tasked to monitor them.
"What do you mean 'not here too'," Arthur asked.
"The villagers have been flocking to Gaius' because these 'things' have been popping up all over the lower town. This is actually the first of them that's appeared in the castle."
"Perfect. But, why have my father or I heard not about this?"
"The villagers are scared that your father will order a witch hunt, Sire. Gaius said he's not sure that magic is doing it. The images seem harmless enough, and they haven't done anything but appear and disappear from place to place. Last night we even saw four man and a women stand in front of us talking about the window—that's what I think it is."
"A window?"
I nodded and gave him my best lopsided grin.
"Yes," I agreed. "A window! I think it might be a window to another time or even another world!"
"That's crazy."
"Maybe. But, it would explain some things."
Arthur laughed like I just told him the funniest thing in the world.
"Oh yeah, like what," he asked.
"Well," I said and puckered my lips in thought. "Why they pop up in certain spots."
"How does your theory explain that?"
"Okay. Think of the earth as a ball of energy will you?"
Arthur nodded in agreement.
"Now think of time and space as energy also."
Arthur nodded again.
"Okay. If time and space are energy, that means that time doesn't follow a direct line. It can bend and twist. Do you understand?"
"How is that relevant, Merlin," Arthur said, exasperated.
"I'm getting to that," I snapped. "Okay. If time can bend and twist that means that the energy of time and the earth could bleed together at certain points. Thus creating the windows."
"Okay. I get that. But how isn't it magic?"
"It is … in a sense. It's natural, raw magic. It's the very fabric of the earth that's doing it."
"Can it be reversed?"
"I think it'll do it on its own in time."
Arthur nodded. Then something strange happened. A bright light appeared and out stepped two men. One was blonde with blue eyes. The other was tall and lanky, but had piercing grey eyes that betrayed his intelligence.
"I think we have the wrong room …"