Chapter 3: Escape

"You don't mean the queen of England who fell in love with Lancelot and had an affair?" Harry asked as he turned to the woman in his arms. She did have fair skin as the legend suggests and long dark auburn hair. However, she did not seem like the type of woman who needed rescuing or betray others.

Merlin scoffed at Harry's question. "Queen of England; yes. Fell in love with Lancelot; yes. Had and affair; no. That bastard Arthur's just like his father. Arthur stole Guinevere from Lancelot forcing Lancelot to fight for him. When Guinevere refused to bear his children, Arthur set her away. I would have never guessed he sent her to the Romans!"

The woman tore free from Harry's arms and drew her sword at Merlin. Several sentences were exchanged. The only word Harry understood was "kill". The argument was cut short when Roman soldiers charged down the corridor. "Go!" Harry shouted to Merlin. "I can hold them off for a few minutes!" Merlin stunned Guinevere and two wizards dragged her out of the corridor as he turned towards the soldiers and waved his staff. The ceiling above the soldiers suddenly collapsed crushing some while blocking the path so they could escape. "Good idea!" Harry said as he dashed past Merlin.

"I would have expected that you would be able to cast that same spell," Merlin stated as he followed closely behind the boy.

"Dark Arts is a banned subject at school," Harry responded as they reached an empty field. "I'll tell you about it later."

"Good idea," Merlin agreed as he pulled out a large blue orb. "Grab on!" he commanded as every placed a hand on the orb. In a moment, they were up in the air and the world was spinning around them. Several children were crying, but Harry gave them a confident smile. Portkeys were pretty scary to the normal people.

"I don't suppose you can help them land..." Harry called out to Merlin who just nodded. Harry then let go when he saw some of the wizards let go and the world stopped spinning. Again, Harry let his magic swirl around him to regain balance before landing. He looked over and saw Merlin levitating all the women and children down to the ground.

"You know, Harry Potter, I've been wonder if you knew any of their names," Merlin asked pointing to the women and children.

"Nope. Can't understand Latin," Harry responded with a disgruntled look.

"We'll have to rectify that." Merlin waved his staff and for a moment, Harry felt dizzy. When the world stopped spinning, he found himself understanding the words the children spoke. "A handy spell to allow a person to understand all languages. You can learn all the languages the person you're speaking to knows. In this case, you learned all the languages I know. Earlier I was able to learn English and Parseltongue from you. And you just learned a long list of languages."

Harry turned back to the women and children who were thanking him for helping them escape. Harry smiled and began, "You are welcome, but I am afraid I cannot go with you on the journey to find a home. I must fulfill a promise I made to the man who saved us. However, this is not to say we won't meet again! We are not bound together by blood, but during those two years we spent in that cell, we became a family. Let's not let the brand on our backs remind us of our slavery, but of our bond as a family!"

As Harry and the women and children parted ways, he gave them a wave as the other wizards conjured horses and wagons to lead them to a village. Merlin clasped an arm around Harry's shoulder and said, "A well spoken speech. I'm sure someday you will see them again."

They both turned to face Guinevere as she moaned. She sat up suddenly when she realized she was lying on the ground. Then she took up her invisible sword and pointed it at Merlin. "Why am I back in England! Are you taking me back to his side?"

Merlin just waved his wand and the sword was knocked out of her hands. "In a sense, I am taking you back to Arthur, but you do not have to return to him. I am only going to Camelot to break Lancelot from his bind to Arthur."

"Lancelot?" Guinevere nearly broke to tears upon hearing the name. "How fares Lancelot?" she cried out nearly begging Merlin to answer the question.

"He is well for the time being," Merlin quickly responded to calm Guinevere. "Lancelot carries a heavy heart because he is torn between killing the man who took you away from him and his oath to serve the king. Arthur threatened to kill you if Lancelot did not obey his every command."

"Arthur really seems like a bad guy. How he became a hero in English legend is a mystery to me." Harry had not realized he had spoken in Latin until he saw Guinevere's deadly glare.

"You think Arthur's a hero?" she shouted as she picked up her sword.

But Merlin intervened stating, "Wait, Guinevere. Before you kill the boy, you should know that this is the person I've chosen to slay Arthur." Guinevere looked at the great wizard baffled by his response. "There will be many things you will not understand about this boy, but he does not understand this world as we do yet. He has not chosen to help, but he has not declined."

The warrior queen sheathed her sword and accepted Harry for the time being. It made him wonder if he would live much longer if he declined to help Merlin. "I think I should at least tell everything I know about Arthurian legends."

Harry spent several hours of telling every version of the tales of King Arthur and found there was really no truth in the legends surrounding Merlin and King Arthur. It seems Merlin's lineage from a demon was nothing more than a reference to his half-blood lineage. His father was a wizard who courted a Celtic princess. They were banished from the lands and his father brought Merlin and his mother to England to escape persecution. Uther had not been under a magical disguise but rather killed Gorlois secretly and took Gorlois's face to bed Igraine. And the quest for the Holy Grail was nothing more than a facade to pillage the land.

They had spent an equal amount of hours on horseback before the three arrived at a small village near a port. "Keep your cloaks on and heads down," Merlin ordered his two companions. "This is the center of the thief's guild. And I must press that you use neither mine or Guinevere's name when calling us, Blaz." They had agreed to call Harry Blaz since Harry Potter was not a common name.

"What should I refer you as?" Harry asked, wondering if there were any titles Merlin or Guinevere would prefer.

"The more creative, the better!" Merlin said with a twinkle in his eyes. It reminded Harry of the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore. They both held themselves in high regard and treated others the way they wished others would treat themselves. But they were also cautious and never let their guards down. Harry guessed that both Albus and Merlin had been betrayed before for the lack of a better word.

"Alright, old man."

Merlin glared at Harry and said, "I'm not old! I'm merely in my early thirties and that's hardly considered old for someone like me!" Harry knew Merlin was referring to the fact that he was a wizard. It was best to keep the fact that they were wizards from the muggles. They tend to become violent.

"You're old in the legends and you said to be creative!" Harry retorted with a gleeful laugh.

"Bah!" Merlin spat in return as he stalked off into town.

Harry turned to Guinevere who glared and said, "Just call me 'champion' if you must." Then she stalked off following Merlin.

"I was just going to call you 'champ'," Harry said to himself before tying down the horses and running after his companions.

When Harry entered the tavern, he saw mostly dark hooded figures who had one hand beneath the table. No doubt they all had a hand on their weapons. Harry had warn his twin daggers openly, but his steel cable was well wrapped in the pouch hanging on the back of his belt. He also had plenty of hidden throwing knives packed all over his body. You never know when one will be useful.

Harry found Guinevere and Merlin sitting up a table near the counter and made his way to one of the empty seats. Along the away, he made sure to avoid coming within arms reach of the people in the tavern. He had never seen such a shady place in his life. "So, old man, what are we doing here?" He whispered to Merlin as he sat down.

"Waiting for an old friend." Suddenly, Harry heard the clanking of heavy armor and looked towards the tavern doors. In came a man clad in worn iron full plate armor. He removed his helmet revealing a handsome but tired face with loose brown locks dangling across his face. Harry watched as the man walked over, never knowing that the items he carried with him were being taken. "I would like you to meet, Sir Galahad," Merlin said to Harry in English.