A/N: Thanks to those who read, followed, liked and, especially, reviewed chapter one! Getting feedback always make me excited to sit down and write some more! So, to those of you who took the time to write for me, I found the time to write for you too! WOOT! I almost thought I was going to fall asleep at the end there, I'm so tired! Hope you enjoy nonetheless!
Chapter Two:
Leon pulled a book from the shelf and flipped the cover and a few hundred pages onto the table, laying it open randomly. He scanned the page and frowned. "Well that's … disappointing," he said. "I can't read a word of it."
Merlin spun on the bench, bringing his legs up and over until he was seated properly and cast his gaze onto the open page. "That's the Old Tongue," he said. "You opened up to a page on mending rent metal. Instead of taking it to a blacksmith to melt down and re-tool, a sorceror can repair the piece with this spell."
The knight smiled. "Handy," he said. "It would make fixing mail and splintered swords a lot easier on the road." A little more cautiously, he added, "Can you cast it, do you think?"
For a moment, Merlin looked like he would refuse. And part of him was tempted to do just that. He wasn't sure what had been staying his hand since the knights, Arthur and Gwen had learned of his magic, but he had been oddly subdued.
If you had asked him a month ago how he would have acted after the big reveal, he'd have said: With bursts of jubilant magic every other second. But now that the magic was out of the wardrobe, he held back. And it wasn't even particularly hard to do.
He couldn't put his finger on why he was doing it, though.
Leon fingered a hole in his chainmail and frowned. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to press," he said finally. "I guess I'm just curious. I've been curious ever since the Druids healed me with the Cup of Life. Magic used to unnerve me, but now? I can't help but wonder what it can do besides destroy."
That caught Merlin's attention. "Oh, lot's of things," the warlock said, pulling the book toward him now, seemingly snapping out of a daze. "I know you guys haven't seen a lot of magic that wasn't flinging people about or flowery showers of sparks, but magic is so much more. It can heal, and mend, and create. Here … watch."
He took a moment to read the spell over a few times until he was certain he knew the words. Then he reached for Leon's chainmail, hesitating until he received a nod from the knight, who was now sitting on the bench beside him.
Merlin twisted, putting Leon in front of him, straddling the bench as he did so. With a firm utterance of the incantation on the page, his eyes took on their magical hue and a soft golden glow enveloped the chainmail under Merlin's palm.
Leon tried to watch the links beneath, but the glow was too bright and he had to avert his eyes. When he turned them back, the chainmail was unblemished and the links connected perfectly. He reached down and prodded the metal, expecting it to be hot. It wasn't. It was as if it hadn't been damaged in the first place.
"Huh, handy all right," said Percival, who had come over on hearing Merlin's agreement to give a little show of magic. He tugged on the mail himself, testing the strength. "It seems to be as good as new."
"At least he got that right, then."
Merlin didn't bother to turn. He just smacked his head against the workbench. "See? Never going to live this down," he muttered into the table.
Arthur chuckled from the doorway and Gaius huffed. "Only you Merlin, would get yourself stuck in a room. Despite being an incredibly powerful warlock, you are still clumsy."
The knights in the room chuckled lightly and Merlin lifted his head. "In my defense, sire, the Rune was filthy. Maybe if your castle wasn't so dirty I wouldn't be stuck in here."
"Well, isn't cleaning your job?" Arthur retorted.
The warlock frowned. "Yes, it is, but not down here." But while he spoke the words, they also gave him an idea. "But, maybe that isn't such a bad idea. Maybe the answer to getting out of here is another Rune." He looked to Gaius for guidance.
The older man nodded. "It is probable," the court physician said.
Merlin nodded and gestured for Leon and Percival to draw closer to him. Then he incanted a spell and cast both hands to his sides. A gust of heavy wind began to carry around the room, lifting the dust from the ground and surfaces of the room, but leaving everything else in place. It didn't even ruffle the men's hair.
The dust coalesced into a funnel and then settled into a tidy pile in the center of the room, where Merlin's right hand had directed it to gather. When the others were able to tear their eyes away from that spectacle of magic, they took in the newly revealed Runes all over the stone floor.
Arthur whistled. "It's a wonder you didn't set off any others, Merlin," the King said quietly, all mocking tone now gone from his voice. "There are so many of them." He turned to the court physician. "Gaius? Do you see one that would allow Merlin to drop the barrier and leave the room?"
Gaius was busily studying the Runes he could see from the doorway. He shook his head finally. "I don't," he said. "But I can't see the ones on the other side of the room." Arthur frowned, stepping to the barrier and lifting a hand slowly toward it.
"Don't ..." Merlin began, but Arthur paid him no heed and pressed his hand through the barrier.
When it appeared nothing was happening, the King stepped forward and his whole body passed unharmed through the red haze into the room with Leon, Percival and Merlin. He turned around and studied the barrier again for a moment. "I take it you can't enter, Gaius?"
The older man shook his head in the negative. "No, sire, no one with magic can pass that barrier without physical harm."
Arthur walked over to Merlin and unceremoniously smacked him upside the head. "You just had to go get yourself stuck in a room. What am I going to do with you!?"
Merlin rubbed his head indignantly. "Hey, it's not my fault. It's not like I knew the Rune was there. I had no idea what this room was. I mean, this is Camelot, who would have thought a room of magic was under the castle and untouched after your father all but obliterated the Old Religion!?" He stood and moved swiftly across the room, deftly avoiding the Runes on the ground, much to Arthur's surprise. "Instead of berating me, why don't we find something to draw with so we can show Gaius the other Runes and get me out of here?"
Arthur crossed the room and started rifling through the desk beside his friend with a frown. Something was bothering Merlin. "OK, what did I say? Was it the smack, because I always smack you, Merlin. That's nothing new."
The warlock didn't slow in his search for a writing utensil. "It's nothing," he said. "I'm fine."
The King huffed. "No you aren't, you're sulking."
"Am not."
Gaius cleared his throat and drew the attention of his ward and his sovereign. "Merlin, why not just use that spell you learned to copy items. It should work to transfer the designs on the floor to a sheet of parchment."
"Why didn't I think of that?" Merlin muttered, grabbing the pile of parchment on the desk and moving to the nearest Rune out of Gaius' line of sight. He crouched, held the paper over the Rune with his right hand and held his left hand over the paper. "Ic us bisen hræð tán hwanon," he said, and the Rune slowly materialized on the paper.
He handed the paper to Arthur, who walked it over to Gaius while Merlin moved onto the next Rune and copied the procedure. Soon, all the Runes in the room had been reproduced on paper and Gaius was rooting through the pile to hopefully find one that would let his ward leave the room.
Meanwhile, Merlin had moved on to examine those diaries, the ones that had drawn his attention earlier. He had wanted time to stay before – looks like he was going to get it, one way or another. Pulling the first from the shelf, he flipped it open to the inside cover.
"Marsden Ambrosius," he muttered. "Oie, what a mouthful." He flipped ahead a few months and read. His eyes widened. He snapped the book shut. Had he really just read that? Slowly, he reopened the book, not fully comprehending he had an audience peering over his right shoulder. Yes, he had just read that!
"My father was best friends with a sorceror?!"
Arthur's voice echoed loudly through the chamber and Merlin dropped the book, the binding quaking dangerously as it was sorely tested to hold the old pages in place. The young warlock twisted in place to find Arthur a foot behind him. He had seen the same thing.
"Mid-winter, the harvest in some storage bins has grown toxic. Uther and I have traveled to some of the outlying villages at the King's behest to see if there is anything to be done for them. I've tried many a spell to revive the grain, but none thus far have worked. Tomorrow, the two of us shall research some more in the library. I can only hope we find something soon or many people will suffer and go hungry."
Arthur was itching to snatch the book from Merlin's hands. To read more about his father's friend, this sorceror. Obviously the man had been in this room, and if that were the case, his father must have known about it. So why was it here, untouched? Merlin must have thought the same, because in seconds he had picked up the book and was flipping even further forward through it, searching for that time period when the Purge would have taken place.
He soon found it.
The two friends swallowed and an unspoken apology swam from Arthur's eyes to Merlin. The latter inclined his head, somehow knowing what his liege was conveying. Then they cast their gazes back to the pages in Merlin's hands.
"My old friend, I can't believe it's come to this. That so great is your grief you would condemn an entire sub-section of people, simply to assuage your own guilt. You are not the man I thought you were, Uther. I know my time is short. But my enchantment on this room is strong and whilst in here, you'll not find me. So I have time enough for this – one day, when you are gone, Camelot will again thrive, with magic at her heart and a Pendragon and a sorceror at her helm. It's destiny, and while you can derail it, you can't change it. I know you'll never see this, Uther, because you'll never find this room, I've enchanted it against all who would do harm to those with magic, but I feel I must get this off my chest nonetheless. I forgive you, old friend. No matter what you do to me when I leave here. May you one day find your peace."
There were no more entries and Merlin's heart ached in his chest. He knew, without being told, that Marsden Ambrosius had been killed shortly after this had been written. Murdered by his once-best friend, for nothing more than possessing magic.
Arthur rested a hand on Merlin's shoulder gently. "He was right," the King said quietly. "He foresaw what we're going to do, Merlin. Why don't you put that down, I think Gaius might have found something, he's gesturing."
And he was, though it was obvious he was loathe to interrupt the moment Arthur and Merlin were so obviously having.
"Here," Gaius said, thrusting the parchment at Arthur's hand, which was sticking out the barrier. "Step over this one and the barrier should release," the man said.
Merlin looked at the Rune on the paper and then scanned the room. He soon found it near the bookshelf and stepped toward it. With a deep breath, he crossed it. With a flash, the barrier fell and disappeared into the ground and the blue blazing flames on the ceiling died out.
In the light of the torches, Arthur gripped Merlin's arm. Normally, he would have tossed out a joke of some sort right about now, but after reading that diary entry, he didn't feel it would be appropriate.
"Let's go," he said. "We can discuss what to do about this room later. Right now, I think we could all use a hot meal and some rest."
Merlin was the last to leave the room. As he did, he felt compelled to turn around and speak into the empty space. "I'm sorry you didn't live to see the day magic returns to Camelot," he whispered. "So many died not having seen it. But it's coming. It's coming soon. I can feel it." And he shut the door with a soft click.
A/N: Please let me know what you think! And I have one suggestion for a future scene, some with magic pledging allegiance ... that's a distinct possibility. Any others suggestions?