Chapter 2

At the same moment, they woke up, gasping like they had been held underwater. Arthur gripped his chest.

"Arthur!" Merlin said. "You are find. Okay, you are find."

It took him a second to respond. "Yes, yes I know."

"Did you just have a dream where we were being attacked by the guy that tried to kidnap you?" Merlin asked.

"How did you know?" Arthur asked.

"Because I had the same dream." Merlin answered.

Before they had a chance to further their discussion, Arthur noticed Emma walking by them. Her expression was one of anger and sorrow. She was pulling another woman by her arm. This woman had black hair and a concerned look on her face. Emma pulled her into a closet. Merlin also saw that there were nurses hurrying up and down the hallway. Realizing that something was wrong, Merlin went to talk to the nurses while Arthur spoke with Emma.

Merlin followed the nurses to find Henry laying on a bed. His eyes were shut, his skin was pale and his breathing was shallow. This was quite a shock to Merlin. Since the moment Merlin met the boy, he had like him. The child seemed fine the day before. What could have happened?

"Is he alright?" Merlin asked.

"No." One of the nurses replied. "He is dying."

Without hesitation, Merlin placed his hand on Henry's forehead and tried to use his magic to heal him. However, it did not work. Instead, Merlin's hand was burned. Using a great deal of willpower, Merlin did not scream. From his injury, he was able to deduce that whatever was killing Henry was of a magic origin. He went to find Arthur.

Emma, Arthur, and the dark haired woman from before were all headed out the main entrance.

"Arthur!" Merlin said. "Henry, he's-"

"I know." Arthur said. "He has been put under a sleeping curse."

"How do you know?" Merlin asked.

"Emma told me." Arthur replied. "Well, technically I overheard her. Also, I have explained who we are and that we want to help."

"Yes and now we are wasting time here, playing catch-up." The dark haired woman said. "Now, com on."

The four of them drove to a place called "The Gold Pawn shop". On the way, Arthur explained all the missing details to Merlin. Apparently, the dark haired woman was named Regina. She was Henry's adoptive mother and the one who cast the curse that Henry spoke of. When Emma was brought into town by Henry, Regina spent every waking moment trying to get rid of her. She feared that Emma would take Henry away from her. Her most recent attempt was accidentally inflicted on Henry. Now he was under an unstable sleeping curse.

As soon as they entered the Pawn shop, Merlin suddenly felt dizzy. Somehow, he could sense all the dormant magic within the store's walls. He had always had this sort of sixth sense for magic. Right now, he could feel the magic just waiting to be awakened.

The shop itself was littered with strange items. Glass cases with tea sets inside them and piles of books on top of them. There were antiques and paintings too.

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is that the look of a true believer?" A man said.

This man wore a black suit and a purple tie. He had long brown hair, brown eyes, and a golden tooth. On the table in front of him was a wooden box. The man had a grin on his face. Honestly, Merlin's skin crawled just from looking at him.

"I believe now, okay." Emma said. "And Henry is dying."

"Can you help us, Gold?!" Regina asked.

"Who are they?" Gold said, referring to Merlin and Arthur.

"Just some travelers from another realm." Arthur replied.

"Well, I would love to hear your story." Gold said.

"They'll tell you as soon as we save Henry." Emma said. "Now what do we do?!"

"Well, fortunately for you, I have something that can serve as an antidote to the poison." Gold said. "A potion made from true love. More specifically, one hair from each of your parents."

"But the curse would have drained the magic from it." Regina said.

"Yes, but I made sure it was protected." Gold said. "Tell me, Your Majesty, is our friend still beneath the library?"

"You sick little demon," Regina said. "You hid it with her!"

"Inside her, actually." Gold replied.

"What are you two talking about?" Merlin said.

"A friend of ours." Gold said. "A sorceress trapped under the town library. Before the curse, I had Charming place the potion inside of her."

"Whose Charming?" Arthur asked.

"A heroic prince, like you." Merlin answered. "Also, Emma's father. I found out from the book."

"Is this sorceress dangerous." Arthur asked.

"Definitely." Gold chuckled. "Which is why you are going to need this."

He opened the wooden box, and revealed a fine-looking sword.

"What is that?" Emma asked.

"Why, your father's sword, of course." He replied.

"Do you have another one?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, but why are you helping?" Gold asked.

"Because it is the right thing to do." Arthur said.

"Very well." Gold said.

Then he got another sword that had been on display. This one was different from the one he had given Emma. It was thinner and had a single edge. There were what seemed to be letters or words carved into the blade. Arthur could not read these carvings.

"Will your friend be needing a sword as well?" Gold asked.

"Actually-"

"I'm no good with a sword." Merlin said. "Better I use a bow and arrows."

"Alright," Gold replied. "I believe I have a set in the back."

After Gold went to get the weapons, Arthur gave Merlin a curious look. He returned that expression with one saying that he did not trust Gold. So, it did not seem like a good idea to tell him about Merlin's magic.

In a minute, Gold emerged from the back of the store with a bow and arrows. He handed them to Merlin.

"Prepare yourselves." Gold said. "This will not be easy."

Soon after, they went to the town library. The library was about twice the size of a normal house. Its windows were boarded and there was a tower attached to it. On this tower were Roman numbers in a circle with two long pointed things that were slowly rotating in a circle.

"What is that?" Merlin pointed at the tower.

"A clocktower." Emma replied. "A device for telling time."

Merlin wondered why someone would need something to measure time. Though he quickly realized that being able to tell time would be helpful for scheduling purposes.

Inside the library, there were many books of all sorts. Also, it seemed better organized than the archives in back in Camelot. In one corner, there was a strange-looking red door with a lever on the wall beside it.

Regina walked straight over to the door and pulled the lever. The door slide open and the other three entered a small room.

"What now?" Arthur asked.

"This is an elevator." Emma said. "It moves up and down."

"And you're all going down." Regina said. "I need to stay up here to work the elevator."

"Fine." Emma said.

"Could you atleast tell us what to expect?" Merlin asked.

"Anything and everything." Regina replied as the door closed.

"Well, that as clear as mud." Merlin murmured.

As they traveled down in the elevator, Merlin heard a voice singing a song about dancing in rain. It was strange, yet soothing. When he asked Emma about it, she said that most elevators had an attachment that played certain music whenever the elevator was moving. That seemed rather weird to Merlin. Before he could inquire about it, the door opened. Outside the elevator was complete darkness.

"Damn, I should have brought a flashlight." Emma said.

While Merlin did not know what a "flashlight" was, he knew she wanted some light. Luckily, he remembered the perfect spell for this situation. With a single incantation, he created a floating orb that illuminated the cave with a white light.

"Handy." Emma said.

The cave was vast. Merlin believed the width of the cave to be about fifty feet and its height between that and a hundred feet. Nearby, Merlin saw a pit about thirty feet in front of them. At the exact moment they left the elevator, there was a gust of wind. It originated from the pit.

"What was that?" Emma asked.

"The sorceress telling us she knows we're here." Arthur said.

"Indeed I do." A woman's voice spoke.

Suddenly, a woman appeared from a cloud of black smoke. This woman had curly-blonde hair and red lipstick. She wore a black, silky dress and her nails were painted black. In her right hand, she held a staff that looked like a thorny rose.

"My, my." She said with amusement in her voice. "Finally, something to play with."

"Okay, how are we going to get the potion out of her?" Arthur asked.

"Do you, by chance, mean this?" The woman said as she revealed a glass vial in her left hand.

The liquid in it glowed purple.

"That charming little prince made me swallow this." She said.

"Please hand it over." Merlin said. "A young boy's life depends on it."

"You can have it, if you can get to it." The woman replied with a wicked smile.

Suddenly, the potion was on the ground, thirty feet away. The woman moved between them and the potion. It seemed clear that she wanted them to fight past her to get the potion.

"Look lady, you don't want to do this." Emma said.

"Oh, I think you have things the otherway around." She snorted.

Once she had finished her sentence, a white cloud of smoke covered her body. The smoke quickly expanded. Soon, it became a large cloud. When the smoke cleared, the woman had become a dragon. This dragon had black scales, green eyes, a tail, and two sets of razor sharp claws. There were horns growing out of the back of its head.

"Did not expect that." Merlin said.

Then the dragon spit a ball of fire the size of a car, from its mouth. Emma and Merlin dodged by jumping to the right and Arthur did the same, but to the left. Merlin quickly aimed his first arrow, while Emma dropped her sword and pulled out a metal object. The object made a loud, piercing sound that nearly made Merlin drop his bow. Whatever it did, the dragon now looked annoyed. Just as the beast was about to spit another fireball, it shrieked with pain. Arthur had cut the end of the dragon's tail off. Now its attention was turned toward him.

At that moment, Merlin had an idea.

"Cover your eyes!" He shouted.

Seconds later, Merlin throw the light orb at the dragons head. When the two collided, there was a burst of blinding light. The dragon shrieked and thrust its head against the wall. Meanwhile, Emma ran and grabbed the potion. The three of them ran back to the elevator as the the dragon regained its sight and spat another fireball at them. If the elevator doors had been even a second slower, the would be charcoal.

"Nice thinking." Arthur said to Merlin.

"Ya, now lets get out of here." She said as she pushed a button to let Regina know they were ready to come up.