A Handful Of Coins
-About A Girl
***Two months later***
She was stunning, even dressed as she was, in a ragged shift that had to be freezing. Her sleeves were torn at the shoulder, revealing an intricate black and red symbol inked into the skin of her upper arm. She had dirty blonde hair that fell to her shoulders and remarkably expressive gray eyes. Currently, they burned with emotion, shame and anger marking her striking features with the hard lines of a scowl. But even dirty and unkempt, she looked like royalty, with high cheekbones giving her face a sense of elegance and dignity that many queens could only dream of. Her hands were shackled to the side of the cage she was in, holding her in what must have been a horribly uncomfortable position, yet she stayed, legs crossed beneath her, back ramrod straight and head held high.
She had magic - any passerby could tell by the brand seared into the side of the horse pulling her cage. 'Rion', it said, accompanied by the infamous symbol for 'bounty hunter'. Rion specialized in magical beings and everybody knew it; if it was in the cage, it was magic. Her observer's forehead creased in sympathy, then pain as he recalled another girl who had once occupied the same cage as the girl who did now...
'Merlin!' The man in question turned, grateful for the interruption for stopping that train of thought before it got too out of hand; collapsing onto the flagstones of the town square and bawling his eyes out with no explanation to give would be a Very Bad Thing.
'Yes, Arthur?' Arthur glared at him.
'You haven't been listening to me, have you?' Merlin forced himself to grin and say cheerfully,
'Not a word, sire.' Arthur opened his mouth, presumably to say something rude, seeing as that was usually the kind of thing he said to Merlin, but then shut it with a snap and said,
'I...I have nothing to say to that.' He sounded astonished. Then he shook himself,
'Listen, Merlin, and I mean it this time; me, Sir Leon, Sir Bayard and Sir Edmund are going hunting - don't give me that look, you don't have to come, in fact, I'd rather you didn't; you take all the fun out hunting. Anyway, we're going with the rookies to give them some experience. We're leaving tomorrow and we'll be gone for a week. For that time, I expect you to keep my room clean and have my armour repaired; it's still got that dent in it from the fight last week. Other than that, you will be helping Gaius with...whatever he needs help with. Are we clear?' Merlin nodded, following his master through the crowded square.
'Of course.' But Arthur had already moved on, pushing through the shoppers and waved his hand at Merlin, dismissing him. Wherever he was going, it didn't require Merlin's attendance, something the manservant was fine with; he wanted to see that girl again.
No, he needed to see that girl again.
He turned around and started back the way he had come, slipping through the crowd without too much difficulty; being so thin had its advantages. He saw the top of the cage over someone's head and his legs moved faster almost involuntarily as he got closer to her. Then suddenly, he was standing on the edge of the crowd, which were all moving past the cage but leaving a wide gap between the girl and themselves, creating an empty space around her. Yet she still sat there, apparently oblivious but obviously completely aware of everything around her, like the eye of a storm, the centre of the trouble but the only calm thing.
Merlin stared at her. Her tattoo caught his eye again and he recognized the Druid symbol for 'fire kin', which basically meant 'wielder of fire'. So the girl was a Druid then, he thought.
She still hadn't moved. If she hadn't been blinking (albeit less often than the average person) he might've taken her for dead. Then she moved. It was only a tiny movement, and very slow. She turned her head ever so slightly, and looked at him. Through him. He felt bare.
He was vaguely aware that he had frozen, as though petrified by her gaze. Then she looked away and Merlin nearly stumbled, feeling like she had been holding him up and then let him drop. His knees felt weak and his palms were sweating. He forced his eyes away from her, wiping his hands on his trousers and forcing himself to take shaky breaths. He took a step backwards, away from the girl, who had resumed her frankly unnerving observation of the shoppers, and moved into the crowd, letting it sweep him away from her.
***Later that day...***
Merlin tried not to roll his eyes as Lady Eveleigh swooned dramatically, allowing her head to fall back on the pillow. She had just finished regaling Gaius and himself with a long list of terrible symptoms (such as being hungry) and begging the aged physician to help her. Gaius sighed internally; the woman was simply ridiculous. Eating more was a natural part of being with child. Shaking himself, he said,
'I shall prepare you a tonic to ease your...strain, but other than that I can only suggest that you allow yourself to eat more than a few bites of your meals, milady; you are, after all, eating for two.' Lady Eveleigh's eyes fluttered open and, reaching for the physician's hand, she whispered breathily,
'Thank you, good man...you are, truly...so kind...' Then she let her hand fall weakly to the bed and her eyes shut. Her husband, a knight of the realm, stood up and moved around the bed from where he'd been sitting at his wife's side. He gestured towards the door and the three men slipped out of the room. As soon as he'd shut the door behind them he said quietly,
'Thank you Gaius, I know she's being...well, the same way she always is. Funny how it was so much more attractive before the wedding. After that, it is much harder to be the romantic star crossed lovers who meet so rarely that they can be totally in love but hardly know their "other half".' He looked at Merlin in the manner of a grandfather giving a youngster some of their worldly knowledge and clapped him on the shoulder almost hard enough to make his knees buckle.
'Be careful of that, son. There's always more to a woman than a pretty face, so I suggest you admire character before looks. Now, I'd best run while I can or she'll keep me in that room 'till the birth.' Gaius nodded and the man hastened down the corridor and away from his bed-ridden wife. Merlin waited until the man was out of earshot before asking,
'So...what did you think of the Lady Eveleigh's latest "crisis"?' Gaius looked at him sharply, as if to reprimand him for being disrespectful of a lady, then he gave him a small smile and said,
'She could have made it into an opera.' Merlin snorted, turning down the corridor to Arthur's bedroom.
'I know. I was half expecting her to start warbling on about how cruel the world was to take her from her love, who should try to live as best he could without her once she had 'departed this life'.' They stopped outside Arthur's room.
'Indeed. Once you've prepared Arthur for his hunting expedition, I need you to take Lady Eveleigh's prescription to her.'
'What are you going to give her?' Merlin asked curiously. Gaius gave him a conspiratorial half-smile and said simply,
'Water.' Merlin laughed, then watched as Gaius continued down the hallway. He pushed the door open and stepped inside. Arthur glared at him from where he stood in the middle of the room.
'Didn't anyone ever teach you to knock?' Arthur snapped irritably.
'No, sire.' The Prince sighed and shook his head.
'How did Hunith put with you for so long?'
'No idea, sire.' Merlin replied with a shrug.
'Well, however she did it, I wish she'd teach me.'
'Unlikely, sire; she doesn't associate with prats.' Arthur tried very hard not to strangle him...and had to admit that he was more than a little surprised when he succeeded.
'Is the call of the stocks so hard to resist?' Arthur asked, eyebrow raised.
'Seems to be, sire.' Then Merlin sniggered. Arthur looked affronted.
'What's wrong with you?'
'You looked like Gaius.' Arthur just stared at him, mouth slightly open, then he spluttered,
'I look nothing like Gaius, thank you very much!'
'I meant the eyebrow thing...'
'What eyebrow thing?'
'Never mind...'
'Merlin!'
'Leaving now...' Merlin said, hurrying towards the door, Arthur's hunting expedition forgotten.
'Oh no you're not. You are going to get my things together.' Arthur said, folding his arms across his chest and smirking evilly. Merlin glared at him. Arthur nodded his head towards his wardrobe.
'Go on then. Get on with it.' The Prince held Merlin's gaze evenly. Merlin narrowed his eyes...Then his shoulders slumped and Arthur felt a rush of triumph at Merlin's submission as he said,
'Fine.' Arthur smirked again,
'Good.'
'Good.'
'Good.'
'Fine.'
'Fine.'
'Fine.'
'Shut up, Merlin.'
'Fine.'
'Merlin...'
'Fine.' The urge to strangle his manservant rose again and Arthur fought it down, chanting, 'breathe in, breathe out, don't kill him, breathe in, breathe out, you'd regret it if you never got to badger him again, breathe in, breathe out...' in his head. A self-satisfied smirk adorned Merlin's face as he moved towards Arthur's wardrobe, humming cheerfully. Arthur groaned.
***Later that night...***
It was either very late, or painfully early, Merlin thought, as he slipped down the corridor, his soft leather boots sounding muted in the quiet. He shivered, turning a corner and making his way down another narrow hallway. Reaching the end of the corridor, he pressed his thin body flat against the wall and listened hard. Nothing. Good, no idiot out for a midnight stroll. That'll make this easier, he thought, picking up speed as he hurried down the staircase.
He stumbled off the last step (catching himself at the last second) and righted himself, yanked a flaming torch of the wall and headed down the last passageway. It was really more of a roughly hewn tunnel actually, Merlin reflected, stepping out onto the ledge and calling out.
'Dragon!' His voice echoed in the cavernous lair and he pushed down the feeling of inferiority.
'Dragon!' He called again. This time, the dragon responded, seeming almost to fall out of the sky (or rather, upper cave) before letting his wings slow his fall in time to land gracefully on the rocks beneath him.
'Yes, young warlock? What is it that brings you down here at such an hour this time?' The dragon said, not quite managing to sound interested. Merlin gave him a look, pressing his lips together irritably.
'I need your help.' He started.
'I'd gathered that by your presence here. You never do call on me for tea and biscuits anymore...' The dragon interrupted.
'Yes, well, I've been busy cleaning up after the other side of my bloody coin,' Merlin blustered defensively, 'And you don't even drink tea anyway! But this isn't about him, this is about the Druid girl-'
'Oh dear Lord, not another one...'
'The Druid girl, who, as I was saying,' Merlin bit out angrily; it was two hours past midnight and he was stuck chatting to a deliberately unhelpful dragon so he felt perfectly justified in his rudeness, 'is currently residing in Rion's cage in the town.' The dragon merely stared at him for a minute as if to say 'well what do you want me to do about it?'. Merlin was sure that he would've raised an eyebrow if he'd had an eyebrow to raise and he felt strangely like he was being subjected to one of Gaius's infamous stares. He gestured impatiently,
'Well?'
'Well...done. I'm prodigiously proud of you; you've managed to spend five minutes stating the obvious.' The dragon deadpanned. It was toying with him, Merlin realized in annoyance.
'What do I do?' He said slowly.
'I think we both know that you'll run along and rescue the girl no matter what I say so I really don't know why you bothered to ask for my counsel.' He said, yawning - if dragons could yawn. Merlin was wondering why he'd come too; the dragon clearly had no intention of actually helping him.
'But I just-' He paused and forced himself to take a breath, 'If I help the Druid girl, how will it affect Arthur?' The dragon shrugged his massive shoulders, then said rather amusedly,
'As you have stated so many times, young one: the world does not revolve around Arthur.' Stupid dragon...Merlin thought, glaring at him angrily.
'As disturbing as it is, my world does, so what will happen if I help her?' The dragon looked at him thoughtfully.
'You're right,' the dragon started. Merlin's shoulders sagged in relief; finally, he would get an actual answer, 'That is rather disturbing.' Merlin suddenly wished that he was about ten times bigger and more powerful so that he could just strangle the stupid thing and go back to bed. The dragon seemed to know what he was thinking and Merlin could've sworn it smirked.
'Now now, Merlin. Murder is discouraged in Camelot.'
'So is magic - hasn't stopped me yet, you bloody- irritating- insufferable- dragon.' Merlin half growled, surprising himself. The dragon laughed,
'Relax, young warlock; you look as if you're about to have a stroke and then who'd keep your other half out of trouble? And you couldn't kill me even if you really wanted to.' Merlin's blood boiled,
'He is not my other half!' The dragon laughed some more.
'He is and we both know it.'
'Well, yes, but you make it sound different than how it is!'
'It is not wrong or right or anything else, it simply is.' The dragon stated with an air of finality. Merlin fumed.
'I cannot believe you! Why won't you help me? You're impossible! This is your future too! I'm the only one who can bring magic back to Camelot and you know that so why don't you care? Would it kill you to give me a straight answer? Just once! Once! No riddles, no games, no tricks, no double meanings, no-'
'Enough.' Merlin shut up. 'Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps I do not know everything?' The dragon's voice was cool. Merlin swallowed,
'Are you saying you can't help me?' The dragon was quick to contradict him.
'I did not say that. I said that maybe I don't know everything. I never said that I didn't know this.'
'What's "this"?' The dragon seemed to smirk.
'That the Druid girl will be the catalyst of a new dawn and that dawn will be stained red,' the dragon leaned forward, 'with your blood.' Merlin froze, his mouth suddenly dry. He swallowed.
'What do you mean?' He demanded, hoping that the dragon hadn't heard his voice crack. The dragon leaned in closer,
'Exactly what I said, young warlock: Your blood will run when the sun rises on betrayal.' The dragon pulled back from him and unfurled his wings.
'Could you get any more confusing? Or is that as mysterious and roundabout as you get?' Merlin yelled as the dragon beat his wings down and took off, rock crunching as he retracted his claws.
His loud, bellowing laughter echoed through the tunnel as Merlin turned on his heel and stormed back the way he'd come. Well, the dragon may have given him about as much help as Uther would if he discovered his magic, but Merlin had made his decision. He was going to save that girl, and no amount of riddles from the The-Great-Scaly-Thing-That-Lives-Under-Uther's-Dungeons was going to stop him. First though, he thought, he was going to bed.
A/N: What do we think? Me thinks you should click that button just there, the one with 'Review Chapter' on it. Yes, that's the one. Go on. Push it. You know you want to. It's calling you. Can you hear it? Begging you to push it. Oh yeah, and the title of this chapter is a play on 'About A Boy', if you didn't get it. Anyway, whether you love it, hate it or just want to say hi - push the button, Igor! *Awkward silence* Okay, I'm sorry - that was just bad. Really bad. Well, you get the point: I make bad jokes and reviews make me happy so if you feel like making my day, drop me a line! Evanlyn Pendragon
