"Leon! Lancelot!" Merlin called as he rushed down the steps of the castle, the two men turning to him.
"How's Arthur?" asked Leon. Merlin shook his head.
"Not good, Nimueh, Gaius and Alice are doing what they can" he said. Leon nodded in understanding.
"What do you need?" asked Lancelot, breaking in. Merlin looked at him, then back at Leon.
"We're going on a little trip" he said. The two knights looked at each other, then nodded.
They rode through most of the night, the hooves of the horses kicking up dirt as they travelled, pushing their steeds hard, only stopping once to allow the horses to drink from a small brook. Merlin himself moved to the brook, splashing water on his face, as much to make the cold keep him awake as anything. Now the adrenalin had worn off, the nights toll was beginning to take on him. A fact not unnoticed by Leon or Lancelot.
"Sire, you need to rest, if just for an hour" said Lancelet approaching him as he knelt by the brook. Merlin looked up at him.
"We can't afford to" Merlin said. "Nimueh is doing what she can, but I don't know how much that is" he stated.
"Merlin" Lancelot said with a sigh. "Running yourself into the ground isn't going to do Arthur or you any favours" he said softly. "all I'm asking in one hour" he said. Merlin looked from him to Leon who nodded.
"We're all worried sire, but Lancelot speaks true" he stated. Merlin blinked, then looked back at the water.
"We go if you say so, but we advise you to rest at least" Lancelot said. Merlin nodded slowly.
"an hour, no more" he said, not looking up at them.
"Father?"
Uther looked over from where he was sitting with Vivienne, Glorious was standing with Morgana at the end of the room, keeping out of everyone's way, but unwilling to leave.
"Arthur?" Uther said moving forwards taking his sons hand. Arthur was trembling, he'd never done that before.
"I'm here" Uther said softly.
"I'm sorry" Arthur said.
"you have nothing to be sorry for" Uther told him. Arthur took a shuddering breath, coughing as he did so.
"I never meant to be a disappointment to you" he whispered. Uther frowned, what was Arthur talking about?
"you never have been" Uther assured him. "you are my son, and I love you more than anything" he said.
"We must let him rest" Nimueh said softly beside Uther. He looked at her, slowly nodding.
"Where's Merlin?" Arthur whispered. Uther held his sons hand tightly.
"He's out there, looking for the antidote" said Uther. Arthur seemed to smile.
"He's a prat"
"He's your brother" Uther said.
"I know" Arthur replied. Nimueh slowly took Arthur's hand from Uther, holding it gently, her hands glowed briefly, And Arthur fell into a deep sleep.
"I will not leave his side" Nimueh promised Uther. Uther smiled at her and nodded.
"I know" he told her, slowly he moved away to sit back next to Vivienne, taking her hand.
The great Dragon flew low over the trees searching out his prey. The orders were simple, find Merlin and kill him. Nothing too difficult in that. The difficulty was in finding the blasted prince of Camelot. Yes he was a Dragon, that didn't mean he could see in the dark.
Merlin woke suddenly, feeling Leon's hand on his shoulder. He sat up, looking around.
"Leon?" he asked.
"We have to go, now" Leon whispered. Merlin was about to ask why when suddenly the moon was blotted out above them as the great Dragon flew overhead.
"Balinor" Merlin muttered as he got to his feet, running to his horse. Lancelot was already mounted on his own horse, looking up at the sky as the Dragon flew back over. Merlin and Leon quickly mounted their steeds, then together they began to run from their impromptu campsite. Above them the dragon turned, looking down.
"Finally!" Kilgharrah roared as she swooped down even closer to the ground. The Prince and two knights not daring to look back to see how close the Dragon was to catching them.
"Over there!" said Lancelot, heading for a dense clump of trees. The others didn't question him, but followed into them, behind them, Kilgharrah was forced to move higher.
"You will die young prince, and believe me I will kill you even if I have to burn this entire forest!" Kilgharrah roared from above, then as if to emphasize the point, he breathed a gout of flame downwards, the trees catching fire.
The three men heard the whoosh behind them as the trees began to burn.
"Move!" Merlin yelled, taking his horse to a gallop.
"Yeah, real good idea that was" Said Leon as he rode next to Lancelot.
"Like I thought he'd actually set fire to the bloody forest" Lancelot snarled.
Above them Kilgharrah roared again, circling the forest, watching for his prey.
"Come out come out where ever you are" the Dragon hissed. Then it's eyes brightened as the three men exited the trees. With a roar of triumph he soared towards them. It took a great heaving breath then spewed flames towards them, the ground behind them exploding upwards, the three men and their horses sent flying. They landed in a heap, the horses scattering into the forest. With a thud Kilgharrah landed in front of them slowly advancing.
"No!" Yelled Nimueh suddenly sitting up and closing her eyes.
"What is it? What's happening?" asked Morgana.
"The dragon" she said. Uther stood up, Vivienne still clenching his hand.
"Merlin?" he asked, concerned. Nimueh didn't reply, instead she began to chant, quickly.
"I must admit, I'm rather disappointed, I had hoped you'd prove more of a challenge" Kilgharrah said.
"Glad to disappoint you" Merlin spat back. The Dragon chuckled then, rearing back.
"Goodbye young prince" it said, Merlin closed his eyes, even as across from him Lancelot and Leon both called out in terror. The Dragon spewed its fire, Merlin opening his eyes a moment later to see the fire being deflected harmlessly away. Kilgharrah was more surprised than anyone.
"What?" he roared, then the roar became one of pain as behind him, a heavy oak fell, crashing across his tail.
"Run!" yelled Merlin, Leon and Percival not complaining about the plan. Kilgharrah roared again, breathing flame but the three men were already past him.
Nimueh sank back, breathing deeply.
"Nimueh?" Vivienne said softly. The sorcerer opened her eyes and smiled.
"They're fine, they made it" she said. Uther looked at the ceiling, thanking the gods, while Vivienne let out a deep breath.
"Urghhh!" Balinor roared as he, Hunith and Morgause watched what had just happened.
"That damned witch!" he roared.
"Calm yourself Balinor!" Hunith told him. "There will be ample opportunity to kill him" she stated.
"Then what do you suggest?" he asked, spinning to her. Hunith smiled and looked at Morgause.
"Dragon's aren't the only magical creatures in the kingdom" Morgause said, running her hand over the scrying font. The scene shifted from the trapped dragon to something else entirely. Balinor frowned, then slowly smiled.
"Do it" he ordered, turning and walking away.
"We lost the horses" stated Lancelot rather uselessly.
"We can still do this" Merlin said to him.
"We're about a day and a half from the border" said Leon. "And we don't know when that Dragon will be back either" he added.
"We can do this" Merlin repeated more sharply, glancing at the two men. They looked away properly chastised, Merlin nodded and turned away, setting a brisk pace for the others to follow.
"You think Balinor has any other tricks up his sleeve?" asked Lancelot after a few minutes of silence.
"More than likely" Merlin replied, not looking back.
"He will send more, in fact he is already preparing to do so" said a voice from behind them. The three turned, an old man was standing there, clutching an ornate staff. The two knights grabbed the hilts of their swords, the man gesturing to them, and suddenly, tug as they might, the swords would not come free.
"You need not fear me" the man said stepping forwards.
"Who are you?" asked Merlin, wearily.
"Who I am is not important young prince, what you will become, that is" he replied. Merlin stepped forwards, towards him.
"Don't give me riddles" Merlin sneered at him.
"What is life except for one giant riddle? The answer only showing itself at the moment of death" the man replied.
"Look, I don't care who you are, just tell us what you want" Lancelot said. The man looked over at him.
"You, to be quiet for one thing" he replied, then turned back to Merlin. "And believe it or not, I am here to help you" he said.
"Then say what you need to and be done with it" Merlin said. The man raised his eyebrows at him, stepping forwards.
"Patients is a virtue young prince, and you would do well to remember that" he replied, then he stepped away.
"The cave you seek lies due west, but you will not reach it unaided" he said. "But, when you do reach the cave, you must know this. Only one may enter, it matters not who, but for more than one to go is inviting death" he said.
"Is that a threat?" asked Leon, eyes narrowed.
"It is a warning. The cavern where the Morteaus grows is both wonderful and deadly" he said.
"More cryptic answers" muttered Merlin. The man smiled at him.
"You will learn what I mean in time" he said. Then he thudded his staff on the ground. "Now I believe time is of the essence, and you must reach the cave before Balinor's plot comes to pass" he said. Merlin was about to reply, then is eyes went wide as three Unicorn's trotted out from the darkness. Merlin suddenly fell to his knee, the two knights watching, confused.
"You're Anhora" Merlin said. The man smiled.
"I am, and I do not covert such displays of humility" he replied. Merlin slowly stood. Anhora gestured to the Unicorns.
"My gift to you. They will take you where you need to go" he announced. Merlin looked at the man, smiling his thanks.
"I'll be sure to release them once we're back in Camelot" he promised. Anhora smiled and shook his head.
"My gift to you, and Arthur and Morgana" he said. "You will need them over the coming weeks" he said. The three looked over at the unicorn's then back at Anhora, but the man was gone. Slowly Merlin moved forwards, putting his hand out to the unicorn. It snorted, then placed its head onto his hand. Merlin smiled and looked at the others.
"Let's do this" he said, mounting the unicorn. Lancelot and Leon doing the same.
Nimueh was tired, more tired than she had felt in many years, the toll of keeping Arthur alive, and protecting Merlin as best she could was draining to say the least. Around her, people slept quietly. Except for Uther and Alice. So when Alice handed her a hot drink, she took it gratefully, Uther doing the same. Outside the sun was rising, but it didn't really register to anyone. Uther's thoughts kept going between his two sons, both as dear to him as life itself. One of them, fighting off death here, in Camelot, the other, out there somewhere, fighting to save his brother's life. Never had he known such dedication between two men, even if they were brothers. He looked up as Nimueh smiled over at him, as if she could read his thoughts. Maybe she could, who could tell.
"How is he?" Uther whispered. Nimueh looked back at Arthur.
"Resting, as good as can be expected" she replied.
"And Merlin?" he asked. Nimueh closed her eyes, reaching out, then smiling.
"determined" she replied. "And feeling more confident than before" she said. "ahh" she breathed, her smile widening.
"What? What is it?" asked Vivienne, waking up from where she'd been slumbering. Nimueh smiled.
"It seems Merlin found another ally" Nimueh said. "Anhora is aiding him" she explained.
"I thought he was a legend" said Alice, softly. Nimueh shook her head.
"No, he's real, but very selective about who he interacts with. It speaks a lot for Merlin that he has not only appeared to him, but has aided him" she replied. Uther smiled and nodded.
"Then all is not yet lost" he said. Nimueh shook her head.
"No" she agreed. "but Balinor still hunts him, I can feel it" she said. She looked up softly. "The Dragon was only the beginning" she finished.
The three of them rode on the backs of the unicorns, feeling hope for the first time since they had encountered the Dragon. Unlike the horses, the Unicorns were eating the ground at a tremendous speed.
"I love these things!" shouted Leon, with a laugh. At the front of the group, Merlin too laughed, even as he patted the Unicorn's mane. Above them the sky was becoming lighter as the sun rose. The time lost escaping the Dragon and talking with Anhora had quickly been made up by the speed of the beasts, but even so, Merlin did slowly the group slightly as they passed the border of Camelot, entering Oden's territory. Although open warfare had never been declared, Oden harboured a total distrust for the Pendragons and magic as well. So one could imagine what would go through his mind should one of the princes of Camelot be caught riding through his kingdom on a Unicorn. Actually, Merlin thought, it might make Odin so scared he'd beg for peace. Merlin thought aout it then shook his head. Who was he kidding. Odin would slaughter the Unicorns, enslave Leon and Lancelot and more than likely send Merlin's head back to Uther with a thanks for stopping by note pinned to his ear. Thankfully, however, the Unicorns were heading not towards Odin's castle, but towards the western border, meaning the castle would be several days away.
Eventually however the Unicorn's slowed, eventually coming to a stop at the mouth of a large dark cave. The three men dismounted their steeds and slowly approached the entrance.
"you two stay here" said Merlin.
"Like we're going to let you go in by yourself" snorted Lancelot, Leon nodding in agreement.
"You heard what Anhora said, if more than one goes it's inviting death" Merlin reminded them.
"Then I say bring it on" Lancelot said.
"No" Merlin stated firmly. "This is for me to do, and me to do alone" he said.
"But-" Leon began.
"My mind is made up. Don't make me order you" Merlin said looking at him. Leon still looked like he was about to protest, but finally nodded his head. Merlin clasped his arm firmly, then with a nod at Lancelot, turned and picked up a long thick branch, before quickly lighting it and entering the cavern.
Shadows flickered across the dampness of the walls, making them appear like lakes pressed onto the walls. The floor, though uneven was firm, but twice Merlin had to duck through narrow openings and hit his head once when he misjudged the height of the chamber he was entering. Slowly he stepped forwards, feeling the ground beneath him becoming sticky. Slowly he looked down, seeing the whiteness of cobwebs veining across the floor. From somewhere ahead he heard a faint skittering noise and he slowly drew his sword, looking into the shadows. If something was there, it didn't present itself to him. Still, he moved forwards slowly, torch ahead of him, sword held out behind him. He jumped twice when pebbled bounced down the walls, clattering as they did so. Merlin was many things, one thing he wasn't, was stupid. The cave, thus far appeared empty, but he could feel the eyes of the things that inhabited the cave watching him as he made his way slowly forwards.
"He's at the cave" Nimueh suddenly said, looking up. Vivienne gripped Uther's hand again, while Morgana and Glorious moved to stand with them.
"Is he okay?" asked Morgana softly.
"for the moment, but he's not alone there" she announced.
"Balinor" Uther muttered, but Nimueh shook her head.
"No, not Balinor" she said.
Merlin moved slowly forwards, waving the torch in front of him as he did so, once, catching sight of something moving away from him.
"I hate this" he said in a little sing song voice, just so he could hear something over than the skittering noises or oppressive silence. He jumped when something touched his leg, and spun around, he wasn't imagining it, something had brushed his leg. He looked around, the torch not providing enough light to reach into all the shadows. There was another skittering noise, close to him. And he turned back the way he'd been going.
"Bugger this" he muttered, breaking into a run. Behind him he heard the skittering become a clacking noise as whatever called these caves home sped after him.
He emerged onto a small platform jutting outwards from the opening he'd just ran through. He sped to a halt, looking down into the darkness far below. Across from him there was a narrow ledge, which was situated at the face of a cliff wall, sunlight beaming down from above. Then he grinned, across from him, next to the ledge was the prize he'd been seeking, the Morteaus Leaf. Then his eyes went wide as he realised he'd need to jump across to reach it. The choice was taken from him a moment later as behind him from the other room he heard the clattering again. Stepping back, Merlin dropped the torch to the ground, then backed up again and ran for all he was worth, leaping at the edge of the platform grabbing the narrow ledge for all he was worth, behind him the edge of the platform crumbled away, he glanced at it, then down into the darkness, before pulling himself up, turning so he was looking away from the wall, towards the entrance to the other cavern, his eyes going wide as the thing that had been chasing him slowly moved out onto the platform, knocking the torch off the edge. Merlin watched the torch as it fell, banging end over end until it went out of sight, before he slowly turned his gaze back to the Black Widow Matriarch as it stepped forwards. He felt his resolve starting to leave him. Spiders he could handle. But when you were in a dark cave with a Matriarch, you were in trouble. And in this case, mother looked pissed. Merlin slowly reached out and grabbed a handful of leaves from the left where he was standing, even as the Spider gave a loud hiss. Below him, in the darkness, thousands of pairs of red eyes began to glow. Merlin cursed as he turned, realising that the Matriarch was no longer on the platform, instead she was climbing the wall, quickly, moving around the sides so she herself could reach him.
"Get out… get out!" Yelled Nimueh, her eyes closed, her fists clenched.
"What is it?" Morgana asked, her voice rising in panic as she gripped her father.
"Widows, thousands of them. He's not in a cavern he's in their nest!" Nimueh said, her eyes still closed.
"Do something!" Uther yelled. Nimueh ignored him, instead holding out her hand. She muttered a few words in the old language, a blue orb appearing in her hand.
Merlin still had his sword, that was something, but there was no way to get out. If he was going to die here, then he'd damn well was going to take a lot of them with him. The Matriarch was almost at him now, hissing at him as it approached, scurrying along the wall towards him. Merlin roared at it and hacked out, the creature reared back, its fangs glistening in the light from above. Merlin struck out again, this time he connected, the Matriarch screeched, then fell sideways, Merlin's sword embedded in its body. That still didn't stop the young ones from advancing though. Slowly he closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry Arthur" he muttered, then opened his eyes to see a blue orb in front of him.
"Merlin, you must follow me" Nimueh's voice. He broke into a laugh, turning and gripping hold of the wall behind him. The blue orb began to float up, quickly.
"Quicker, you must get to the surface!"
"I'm coming!" he said as he climbed up the footholds Nimueh was highlighting for him. He looked down briefly, kicking the nearest spider off the wall and into the darkness below, it fell, catching several of its offspring as it did so and knocked them loose as well. Merlin turned back to see the light about three feet above him. He quickly set off, aware of how slippery his grip was becoming through the sweat on his hands, but he was close, he could feel the sun on his face. And a moment later he was free, heaving himself up through the opening where he rolled over, away from the hole. Fortunately the Widow's it seemed did not like the light, as none of them followed him to the surface. Panting he got to his knees then stood, grinning.
"I've got it!" yelled Merlin raising the leaf into the air. Suddenly he was gripped from behind.
"And I have you" Balinor whispered, pushing him forwards. Merlin stumbled down the embankment, where he saw Leon and Lancelot tied up, the Unicorns near to them, also tied to trees. Merlin got to his feet and turned, reaching for his sword, remembering he did not possess one. Balinor looked down at him, then held up the leaf.
"all that for this" Balinor said examining it. "You know, Merlin, I'm almost tempted to let you take this and go, seeing as you went through all that trouble" he said. Then he shook his head, crushing the leaf in his hands"
"NOOOOO!" Screamed Merlin, as Balinor dropped the crushed remains to the ground.
"Almost but not quite" Balinor admitted.
"I'll kill you. I swear I will kill you!" Merlin roared at him.
"Uther spent the better part of his life trying to get rid of me, how successful do you think you'll be?" Balinor taunted him. "look at you, prince of Camelot, on your knees sobbing like a lost child. I had planned on just killing you, but with Arthur so near death, Uther will become more than a broken man when both his son's die on the same day" he muttered. Then he clicked his fingers. There was a rustling in the trees behind him and to the sides. A moment later the scorpion like creatures known as Serket's moved out towards the group. Merlin looked at them, then back at Balinor.
"I told you before, and I'll tell you again" Balinor began. "Have a nice death Pendragon" he sneered, then turned and walked away. Merlin moved back over to Leon and Lancelot as around them the Serket's advanced.