Summary: Strange sounds in one of the vaults result in an unexpected journey for Merlin, Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon.
Author's note: This story follows The Royal Crest of Camelot. However, it can easily be read as a stand-alone. There are only three things you need to know: 1) Gwaine knows Merlin's secret, 2) Merlin has learned some new spells, and 3) Arthur has been told that there is a sorcerer named Emrys who is his protector, living in secret in Camelot.
I don't own Merlin.
In the Vaults of Camelot
Chapter 1 – Vault
"The eastern vault, it, ah, it growls, Sire."
Prince Arthur raised a haughty blonde eyebrow and stared in elegant disbelief at the young guardsman standing before him in the summer sunlight. Merlin, standing nearby holding the prince's shield, suppressed a chuckle. He looked away from the current sparring match between Gwaine and Leon and drifted closer so that he could hear better over the shouts and metallic crashes of knights and soldiers at drill. The breeze ruffled his hair and caused the pennants along the entrance to the training yard to ripple softly as the guardsman began again, clearly having realized that he had better improve his report to the prince.
"Sire, a few days ago, we began to hear faint noises from inside the vaults. When we entered the vaults to investigate, there was nothing there; we didn't report it at that point. However, the sounds have become slowly louder and more distinct over the last two days, and are quite clear this morning: the growls of a large animal. The sounds seem to be coming periodically from the section of the eastern wall with all the old carvings. Captain Davissen sent me to inform you of the matter, and to ask if you would be able to meet him in the vaults. At your convenience, of course, Sire."
Though the original statement had sounded somewhat comical, this clearer description was causing a chill to run up Merlin's spine in spite of the almost-too-warm morning. Merlin knew better than to mention it to the prince; Arthur's opinions about Merlin's 'bad feelings' were never complimentary. As Arthur gestured to the young guardsman to wait and began firing orders, Merlin reached down to pick up the water skin slumped against the fence post. The medical kit lay next to it, set there by Gaius who knew the kinds of lumps and slashes the knights collected routinely during drill and sparring. Acting on impulse, Merlin slung the kit over his shoulder before lifting the water skin to his lips to drink.
Arthur ordered Leon to accompany him, delegated supervision of the drill to another knight, and bade everyone else to return to their duties. Merlin, of course, followed Arthur as he strode off toward the keep. Gwaine winked at Merlin and did the same. Merlin couldn't hear Arthur's sigh, but saw it in the movement of his shoulders. Evidently Arthur had chosen not to object, which was perhaps just as well. Gwaine rarely did as he was told anyway.
-o-o-o-o-o-
A pair of guards stood at the entrance to the stone stairway leading down to the lower levels of the keep. They hastily snapped to attention as Arthur swept through. Merlin nodded a greeting to them as he passed. He could feel his palms growing damp as they descended the stairs into the cool dimness of the lower levels of the castle. That feeling was back with a vengeance; Merlin was sure something bad was about to happen.
When Arthur and his party reached the vaults, they found Captain Davissen deep in consultation with Geoffrey of Monmouth, the venerable keeper of records. They seemed to be discussing the carvings on the wall, comparing them to a thick yellowed tome Monmouth had open in his arms. They turned and bowed to Arthur as he entered the room and then both began talking at once.
"My apologies, Sire, for -"
"Sire, these markings-"
They were interrupted by a sound that made Merlin's hair stand on end. It was indeed a growl, but a growl so deep that Merlin could feel it in his bones as much as hear it. It seemed to be coming directly from the wall.
Monmouth and Davissen took an involuntary step back from the wall. Arthur's sword was suddenly in his hand. A solid clank from the hallway suggested that one of the guards had started so violently that he'd crashed into the wall.
For several seconds, nobody moved. Then Arthur slid his sword back into its sheath and turned to regard Monmouth and Davissen, who were still staring at the wall.
From where he stood, Merlin studied the wall. There was a large circle of symbols carved deeply into it, skirting the floor at its base and arcing up well above Merlin's head. Though Merlin could not translate any of them, he believed he'd seen these symbols, or at least something very like them, in one of Gaius' books: a book Gaius made sure was put away unless the door was locked.
"Sire," Monmouth tried again, stroking his gray beard anxiously while balancing the book against his chest. "I've been attempting to translate these markings – without success, I'm afraid – but I have identified the script. It's an ancient mode of writing sometimes seen at shrines of the old religion. Quite odd to find it here in Camelot."
Arthur pulled off a glove and stepped up to the wall, reaching up to brush one of the symbols with his fingertips. "Odd indeed-" he had started to say when the circle of script carved in the wall began to glow brightly, starting where Arthur had touched and spreading quickly in both directions until the full circle was illuminated. The stone of the vault wall inside the ring of symbols disappeared, leaving a gaping darkness in its place. Then the glow of the carvings seemed to leap off the wall. It whirled around Arthur, who braced himself against an apparent pull in the direction of the hole.
Time seemed to slow down. Merlin felt as though he were moving through honey as he lunged forward, hoping to grab Arthur and drag the prince away. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Leon trying to do the same. As soon as Merlin's hand came in contact with Arthur's arm, however, it was as if a huge wind arose behind him, shoving him toward the emptiness inside the circle. Struggle as he might, he too was being inexorably pushed into that maw. A heavy body hit Merlin at an angle just as the wind seemed to pick him up and fling him sprawling through the circle. Then the wind was gone.
Merlin wriggled out from under what turned out to be Gwaine's weight and stood up. For a dizzying moment the stone wall with its ring of carvings seemed to stand in front of him, though he was sure it should be behind him. Then as his gaze completed an arc around him, he understood. This was not the vault. He was on the other side of the wall, looking at another circle of script in a solid stone wall. Merlin put his ear to the wall, careful not to touch the carvings, but could hear nothing of the men in the vault on the other side. The wall must be incredibly thick. Merlin quickly checked the contents of the medical kit which had taken quite a jolt. All was intact, even the heavy glass jar of Gaius' precious healing salve infused with herbs to combat infection.
Merlin looked around at the rest of the group. Gwaine was climbing to his feet, apparently unharmed. The prince was pulling Leon upright and inspecting their surroundings. They seemed to be in an underground chamber hewn roughly from the rock. There was light, much to Merlin's astonishment, coming from a pair of torches set in brackets on either side of the circle through which they had just come. Tunnels led out of the chamber into darkness in two directions. As his gaze returned to the circle of script, something caught Merlin's attention. Stepping forward to look more closely, he could see that the characters were marred by fine parallel scratches.
"Sire," came Leon's voice from the other side of the room, "you should see this."
Leon was kneeling near the wall opposite the circle looking at the floor. When Merlin approached with Arthur and Gwaine he noticed for the first time that the floor was covered with a thick layer of fine dust. Near the circle, it was thoroughly scuffed with the imprints of fallen bodies and many footprints. In other places, it was completely undisturbed. Leon pointed at a path in the dust that traveled between the two tunnels.
"There's a path, Sire. And look here."
Merlin looked. There was a paw print in the dust. It was easily as big as Merlin's hand with fingers outspread.
Gwaine and Leon and Arthur looked at one another.
"Somebody's hound got fed too much?" suggested Gwaine.
"Dog? Maybe. Or wolf," amended Leon. "The path is very consistent. Dog tracks tend to wander more. And look, the toes are all the same length. Probably wolf."
Arthur crouched down and measured the print with his hand, then stood back up. "Based on the size…" He looked at Leon. "Perhaps six feet at the shoulder?"
"At least, Sire. Possibly even a bit larger."
Merlin looked around at the walls. The only scratches were the ones he had already found on the circle. Another chill went through him. He eyed the yawning black passages suspiciously, then turned to the prince.
"Arthur," said Merlin. "There are scratches on the wall where we came through, but nowhere else. Why would a wolf scratch only the section of the wall with writing on it?"
Arthur shook his head but said nothing in response as he walked over to look where Merlin indicated. Leon joined them. "The spacing is right," he said. "But Merlin is correct – a wolf wouldn't normally scratch the wall like this."
Arthur seemed to be about to comment when suddenly the shadows around them leapt wildly. Merlin nearly jumped out of his skin. He whirled to face the threat, expecting huge teeth in his face, only to discover that Gwaine had pulled one of the torches out of its bracket and was waving it around.
Gwaine chortled at their startled expressions as Merlin tried to get his heart to stop racing. "Look," he said, and put his hand directly into the flame of the torch. "It's magic. It's got to be – it's not even warm." He pulled his hand out of the flame and wiggled his fingers to demonstrate that they were in fact unharmed.
Arthur stalked over to the young man and snatched the torch out of his hand with an icy glare. "Play with the torch later, Gwaine. Let's work on getting back through that wall. Leon, keep watch please." He jammed the torch back into its bracket and returned to his perusal of the wall. Stripping off his glove, he looked over at Merlin. His face, under its usual calm expression, suggested an internal debate.
"Merlin, do you know anything about these symbols? Can you read them?"
Merlin shook his head. "Gaius might be able to, but…" He shrugged.
"Hmm. We could explore the tunnels. Possibly there is an opening. But doing so in the presence of a six foot wolf may not be simple. Or…" he paused, took a quiet deep breath. "Or we could try to trigger the magic again."
Gwaine and Merlin exchanged glances. The prince had learned to accept healing magic as a force for good. A bouquet of enchanted flowers still sat on his desk, courtesy of a certain little girl for whom magic was as natural as breathing. This was different. It was the magic of an unknown person, long ago, for an unknown purpose.
"Arthur," said Merlin quietly, "let me try. I think you triggered it when you touched it – let me."
"No. I'll do it." He called Leon back, gestured to Gwaine to approach, and spoke to all of them. "I am going to do what I did before. Hopefully it will reopen the wall. Each of you stay close and make contact in whatever way you did earlier."
Gwaine grinned. "You mean tackle Merlin again?"
"I'm sure tackling isn't necessary." Merlin jabbed Gwaine in the arm with his elbow.
Arthur rolled his eyes at the two of them and then raised his hand. "Ready?"
At their nods, he braced himself and touched a symbol.
The symbol flared to life, and light spread around the circle until it reached a particularly deep scratch mark.
The glow died.
Arthur tried again.
The result was the same.
"Well." Arthur's tone was even. "That answers that question. Gentlemen, shall we go explore the tunnels?"
-o-o-o-o-o-
After a brief discussion, the prince had decided to explore the tunnel to the left, following the path of the wolf. So they set off, bringing the two torches for light. Arthur took the lead with a torch in one hand and his sword in the other. Leon paced slightly behind him. Gwaine ushered Merlin in front of him, and appointed himself rear guard. Gwaine had been right – Merlin could feel magic emanating from the torch in his hand. Merlin was very grateful for those torches. Without them, he would have almost certainly had to reveal himself, for they could not have explored the tunnels without a light source, and being trapped in pitch black tunnels with a six foot wolf did not bear thinking about.
Travelling through tunnels lit only by the dancing light of the torches, with no daylight to judge by, Merlin quickly lost all sense of time. Arthur was leading them very methodically through the tunnels, always turning to the left when presented with a choice. Bit by bit, they explored, leaving the wolf's path and returning to it. The tunnels twisted and turned, but remained open enough for two to walk abreast. They all seemed the same to Merlin, but Leon apparently had a head for direction that was nothing short of magical. Every so often, Leon would draw in the dust for them the area they had explored so far.
"At this point," Leon said during one of those stops, "we must be well outside the boundaries of the keep itself. We're probably somewhere under the lower town."
"How long have we been walking anyway?" asked Gwaine. "My feet seem to think we've gone a couple of miles. And I'm getting hungry."
At the mention of food, there was a quiet moment. It had been almost lunch time up in the castle when they were pulled through the wall. Merlin pulled the water skin off his shoulder and handed it to Gwaine. "No food, sorry, Gwaine. But we should drink. Gaius says the best vessel for carrying water is the body."
Gwaine drank and handed the water skin to Leon, who passed it directly to Arthur without partaking. Arthur took a few swallows and handed it back to Leon with the order, "Drink." When Leon was done they continued on.
The passage seemed to wind on and on. Merlin's thoughts were beginning to do the same. Where was the wolf? Why did it scratch the carvings on the wall? Why was it here in this empty place? For that matter, why was the circle here?
He was deep in his thoughts, simply following the others, when the passage opened up into a very familiar chamber. The scratched circle stared at him, with its empty torch brackets on either side. Merlin halted in confusion.
Behind him Merlin heard Gwaine's voice saying in a tone of utter outrage, "Wait a minute! We're back here? Why are we back here?"
Merlin had been wondering the same thing. Was this some kind of magical trap? A loop from which there was no escape?
Leon spoke soothingly but with a note of suppressed amusement in his voice. "We've discovered that the wolf travels in a loop, and explored all the passages on the outside of the loop. Now we explore the inner passages. We're not lost, Gwaine. Calm down."
While Leon used another drawing in the dust to explain matters to the frustrated Gwaine, Merlin watched Arthur. The prince was used to maintaining a stoic demeanor, and now was no exception, but Merlin had gotten very good at reading him. Arthur was worried. He was watching the passages subtly. Merlin was sure he knew what the prince was thinking. Where was the wolf?
-o-o-o-o-o-
They began again, this time following the right side of the passage. The back of Merlin's neck kept prickling. Each time it did, he turned, expecting to see the wolf slinking silently through the dimness behind them. Yet, each time, he saw only Gwaine and an empty passageway. Where was the wolf? Desperation made him decide to use magic. Turning away from Arthur so that only Gwaine could see his eyes, he spoke the spell as quietly as possible and sent his sight out into the darkness behind them.
The effect wasn't quite what he had hoped. First, as soon as his sight moved beyond the range of the light cast by the torches, he simply couldn't see anything. He pushed out further, blundering like a blind man in his attempts to follow the winding corridors in the dark. Suddenly he realized that the passageways were not a limitation. He let his sight spread out in all directions, feeling rather than seeing.
Then, at the very edge of his range, he touched…something. He couldn't see it, but contact with it was painful and startling. It snapped the thread of his magic, slamming him back into his own body with a force that staggered him. He physically stumbled, and would have fallen without the support of the wiry arm flung across his chest.
"Whoa," said Gwaine, steadying him. "Easy. You okay?" He clearly wanted to ask what had happened, but evidently opted not to with Arthur nearby.
Ahead, Arthur and Leon had stopped and turned to watch. Merlin took a deep breath to steady himself, and keeping a light tone, replied, "I'm fine. I just tripped." He saw Arthur shake his head and turn to continue on. Gwaine looked at him quizzically, then tentatively released him. "Tried to check the passages," Merlin whispered to Gwaine. "There's something in here with us. Need to keep moving."
They continued on, Gwaine and Merlin keeping an anxious watch. After checking many more passages to the right, they discovered a tunnel that was very different from the others. It turned off to the right, but after several winding yards began sloping steeply upwards. Soon Merlin's thighs were aching with the uphill climb. Just when he thought his legs were simply going to fall off, the passage leveled out, came around a hairpin turn, and opened into a dimly day-lit chamber. In the center of the chamber, rising to its feet with a familiar bone-shuddering growl, was the wolf.
Hope you are enjoying the story so far - please let me know what you think! Comments, questions and constructive criticism are very welcome!