"You're only and idiot if you give up boy," a voice said startling Merlin.
"Who are you?" Merlin asked peering into the darkness. An old man hobbled up.
"A lowly prisoner like yourself. But together we can be more!" The old man said hobbling closer to Merlin and Aithusa.
"I'm listening." Merlin said.
"There is a cave, a cave of wonders filled with treasures beyond your wildest dreams!" He said showing them a few rubies that glittered despite the low, almost nonexistent, lighting. "Enough to impress your princess I'll wager."
"But the law says she can only marry a prince."
"Haven't your heard of the golden rule? The person with the gold makes all the rules!"
"Why would you share all this treasure with me?"
"I'm old and I need someone to go in after it for me."
"One problem," Merlin said. "It's out there and we're stuck in here."
The old man tsked at Merlin. "Things aren't what they seem boy." He said pushing aside what looked like solid wall to reveal a way out. "Do we have a deal?"
Merlin walked the man's horse as he was directed. They came to a cave with a huge boulder in front of it and the boulder rolled aside.
"Who dares disturb my slumber?" a voice asked.
"I am Merlin."
"Proceed," the voice said, touch nothing but the lamp."
"Remember, I want only the lamp, bring it to me and the rest is yours!" the old man said. Merlin walked down the many steps. He walked through a grand archway and saw the room was filled almost to the top with gold.
"A few handfuls of this and I'd be richer than the king," Merlin said. Aithusa dove for some of the gold. "Aithusa! The voice said we were only to grab the lamp. Come on and let's find it." Aithusa started getting nervous and it came to a head when she tackled Merlin and made him look at something. There was another dragon. I medium-sized golden-brown dragon, about the size of a very large dog (A/N: Improvising). "Another dragon!" Merlin exclaimed. It was hiding and looked a bit curious as to what they were. "Come on. We won't hurt you." The dragon inched closer. Aithusa growled angrily and the other, although larger, dragon walked away.
"Wait don't go!" Merlin said. "Maybe you can help us?" The dragon ran forward and sat in front of Merlin. "Well, we're trying to find this lamp-" But the dragon had taken off. "I think he knows the way." Merlin ran after him through many rooms until they came to a cave type structure. "Wait here." Merlin commanded and started to climb down toward the pillar of stone. Merlin hooped to each stone that led to the stairs up to the top of the pillar. He climbed an immeasurable amount of steps until he came to the top. At the top stood, veiled in moonlight, a lamp. An ordinary looking lamp but still a lamp. He picked it up and looked at it. "This is it?"
Merlin heard the voice yell, "INIFIDELS! You have touched the forbidden treasure! You will never see daylight again!" The pedestal the lamp had been sitting on erupted into flame and the water turned into hot lava. The stairs turned into a slide and Merlin couldn't control where he was going. He was going to land in the lava but the gold dragon caught him and flew away with him. They flew toward the entrance quickly. Merlin landed on an overhand right by the opening of the cave but he slipped and had to hold on.
The old man appeared and shouted. "Give me the lamp, toss it up!"
"I can't hold on! Give me your hand!"
"Toss up the lamp first!" Merlin dug around in his pocket for the lamp and handed it to the old man. The man took it and when Aithu began to help he kicked her out of the way and grabbed Merlin's hand. He pulled out a dagger. "Now let me give you your reward!" Merlin's eyes widened and Aithu recovered from her kick and bit the old man. He threw the little dragon and trod on Merlin's finger making him fall. The golden dragon caught both of them and Merlin heard the boulder roll back into place in front of the cave's mouth.
…
Uther walked into Ariana's room where she sat petting Lancelot sadly. "Child what's wrong?"
"Agravaine has done something terrible."
"There, there. Now, we'll set it right. Tell me everything."
…
Merlin lay face-down at the bottom of the cave. Aithusa sniffed him and gave him a little nudge. He sat up with a little help from the two dragons. "Ow, my head," he said looking up to where the mouth of the cave was supposed to be. "We're trapped, that two-faced…" Merlin said trailing off. "Well it doesn't matter now. Whoever he is he must be far from here with the lamp." Aithusa pulled the lamp out from behind a large stone.
"Heh, you little thief." Merlin took the lamp and examined it carefully. "It looks like a piece of junk to me. Wait!" He exclaimed. It think there's some writing here, but I can't quite make it out." Merlin rubbed the lamp vigorously.
The lamp glowed a deep purple and began to shake, light purple mist coming out of it. A being began to take shape as Merlin stared wide-eyed. The figure grew almost as tall as to the ceiling.
"Oi!" She, for it was a she, said rubbing her neck. "Ten thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck!" She was a dark-skinned girl with dark brown curly hair and big brown eyes. She was dressed in a rich red-purple outfit (A/N: Like what she, hopefully you know who it is, wore in 'The Hunter's Heart'). "Man does it feel good to be out of that lamp! So," she said turning to Merlin. "What's your name?"
"M-merlin."
"Well Merlin, that's a strange name."
"I think I hit my head harder than I thought," Merlin said.
"Hey Kilgharrah!" this girl said! "Haven't seen you in a millennia! Give me some claw!" She gave the golden dragon a high five. She turned back to Merlin. "You are a lot smaller than my last master."
"Wait!" Merlin said. "I'm your master?"
"That's right!" she said hitting him on the head, a graduation cap and diploma appearing there, "He can be taught! Now what do you wish of me: the ever impressive, the long contained, often imitated but never duplicated," A few more of her appeared and parroted what she said. "Guinevere, the Genie of the Lamp!" she said and her doppelgangers clapped. "Right here from the lamp for your wish fulfillment."'
"Whoa, wish fulfillment?" Merlin asked.
"Three wishes to be exact," she said holding up three fingers. "and ixnay on the wishing for more wishes! That's it three. Uno, dos, tres. No substitutions, exchanges or refunds. Oh and by the way, there are three rules you must know. Rule number one! I can't kill anybody. Rule number two! I can't make anyone fall in love with you! Rule number three! I can't bring anyone back from the dead, it's gross!" She squealed.
"Now I know I'm dreaming," Merlin said.
"Now master, I don't think you realize what you've got here, so ruminate, with whilst I illuminate the possibilities."
(A/N: Go see the video for Never Had a Friend Like Me, I can't write it all down.)
She sat satisfied with herself at her grand display of power. "So tell me what you wish for!"
"Provisions and limitations!" Merlin said glancing at Aithusa. "some all-powerful genie!" She glared at him. "Can't even bring back the dead. I bet he can't even get us out of this cave, guess we're on our own Aithusa."
"Excuse me," she said pushing him to sit down. "Are you looking at me? Did you rub my lamp? Did you wake me up? Did you bring me here? And all of the sudden you're walking out on me? I don't think so! Not right now, you're getting those wishes!" She picked him up and deposited him down on Kilgharrah and sat down herself.
"In case of an emergency the exits are here, here, here, here, here, anywhere!" She said pointing in all directions. "Keep your hands and arms inside the dragon at all times and we're…." She said and they flew out of the cave "… outta here!"