Day two of the tournament episode with the snakes arrived. I don't really see the point in telling what had happened since there was nothing of interest to talk about on that day at least.
I walked with Merlin to the armoury. At least I thought it was the armoury. I don't know castle room names very well. We approached a table where Arthur's armour was kept when we heard a snake hissing.
Immediately, we turned to where the sound had come from. "Hello?" Merlin called as he began to walk towards the sound. "Is there someone there?"
"Don't go towards it," I warned in a small voice barely above a whisper. "That sounded like a snake!"
The boy stopped with Sir Valiant's shield at his feet. The hissing sound came again. I fought the urge not to run my fingers through my hair as he bent over. I made my way towards him to pull him back when I saw the right snake on his shield close its eyelid.
A startled gasp escaped my lips as I stepped backwards away from it. Merlin only stared at it some more before he outstretched his hand to touch it only to have the owner's sword aimed at his chest. Slowly, he stood on his feet and turned to Valiant. I could see his fear stuttering out of his lips with an icy breathe as he stared at the man.
"Can I help you with something, boy?" he asked.
"Nope," Merlin managed. "I'm good. I…I was just," he began to back away to the table. "I was um…" he turned to the piece of furniture. "Gathering my master's armour."
Sir Valiant raised his sword to the boy. "Then you best be on your way," he said.
"Right yeah," Merlin turned and fumbled around with the armour, picking up everything as Valiant and I watched. I followed the boy out, picking up several shields that he knocked over as we made our way out.
I kept my head down as we made our way to Arthur's chambers. "You saw that snake's blink or wink, didn't you?" I asked him.
"I saw it," he replied. "You don't think that they're real do you?"
"Just have to wait and see," I told him.
The tournament once again had the crowd roaring and cheering as the men came into the arena and began to battle one another. Merlin and I watched, now with Gaius around the same corner as we had last time. When sir Valiant came to fight, he seemed to be fighting to kill his opponent instead of simply knock them over or out. It made it seem somewhat intense.
We watched him fighting with a knight dressed in purple (Sir Ewan?). Valiant knocked him to the ground with his shield. The knight's helmet falling off in the process. Sir Valiant barged his shield against his, pressing against it until he stood up once again and delivered a blow with the handle of his shield to knock him out. The purple knight didn't get up as Sir Valiant reigned victorious.
Later that evening, Merlin and I entered Gaius' chambers to find him overlooking the Sir Ewan on a wooden table. The boy set the armour down while I closed the door before we proceeded to approach.
"How is he?" Merlin asked.
"It's most odd," Gaius replied. "Look at this," we bent over to look at Ewan's neck to find two puncture marks, "See these two small wounds? Looks like a snake bite."
"How could he have been bitten by a snake? He was injured in the sword fight."
"The symptoms are consistent with poisoning. Slow pulse, fever, paralysis."
"Well then he wasn't bitten by a snake then."
The two men turned to me. "Snake bites increase your pulse rate," I explained.
"This is TV," the voice in my head reminded me. "When someone is poisoned they have a slow pulse. Use your modern common sense next time you say something."
I nearly slapped myself when I realised this. "Well…" I tried to think of something to counteract what I had just said. "That's the case with snakes where I come from. I guess it's different here."
Merlin turned back to Gaius. "Can you heal him?" he asked.
"Well if it is a snake bite, I'll have to extract venom from the snake that bit him to make an antidote," Gaius went to the table opposite us to get some bandages.
"What happens if he doesn't get the antidote?"
"Then I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do for him. He's going to die."
I looked up at Merlin, knowing that he had realised something. "He was fighting knight Valiant."
"What's that?"
"Nothing."
Merlin and I made our way out of the room. The two of us made our way through the castle stopping behind a pillar leading into a room which looked like it had a giant black chess piece in the middle. We watched Valiant march past it and into another hallway. After waiting a moment, we entered the same hallway. Merlin's shoes made little noise as we went along towards his room. We stopped at double doors that were not properly closed. Lucky for us the door didn't creak as Merlin silently pushed it open a little. He pulled back and I crouched onto my knees when we saw Valiant appear, placing a cage onto the table.
The sound of a mouse squeaking made my eyes widen. I knew where this was going and I had always hated that scene when I saw it. I shuddered and started running my fingers through my hair when we saw Valiant holding a poor, squirming mouse by its tail. "Dinnertime," he told it making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. When I saw that I stood up, behind Merlin so I could only see Valiant who started to bob the poor rodent over the sound of snakes hissing. I grabbed Merlin's arm when I heard the sound of a snake feasting. The boy turned away with a disgusted gasp, accidently pushing open the door a little further. We both started to run back down the hallway towards the room with the giant chess piece.
I could hear Valiant's angry footsteps echoing through the hallways as we hid behind the same pillar as before. I started playing with my hands as he walked past the structure and looked around. When he couldn't see anyone else, he turned away and went back the way he came.
"That was horrible," I declared in a shaky voice, letting go of Merlin's arm which I hadn't let go of. "Sorry if I hurt you."
"It's fine. We have to tell Gaius what we saw."
I shook my head. "I didn't see a great deal so I don't think I'll be very useful. I'll see you tomorrow." I then walked away.
The next day I once again I joined Merlin at the stone wall to spectate before joining him in Gaius' chambers. I watched the boy silently sitting in a chair in front of Ewan, thinking. We looked up when Gaius entered, forgetting to close the door behind him.
"Merlin. Like what I said yesterday. Look, Uther wouldn't really listen to you or me. But you are right." The boy looked up when he said this. "We can't let Valiant get away with this."
"But we don't have any proof."
"If we could cure Ewan he could tell the king that he was using magic. The king would believe another knight. But how we get the antidote…well that's another matter."
"The knights would be feasting together this evening," I said. "I know which room it's in. I can show you."
After hearing this, Merlin immediately got up. I followed him as he made his way out of the room. I led him towards the dining hall. We peek around the corner to see Uther talking to Valiant about tomorrow. After a minute of eavesdropping we were back in that room with the giant chess piece and down the hallway to the double doors where we found the room bolted from the inside.
"How is it bolted from the inside when no one's in here?" I asked Merlin.
He gave me a quick shrug before casting a spell. I heard the bolt slide across unlocking it and allowing us to go inside. The door squeaked as we entered. I bolted the door behind us. Merlin seized Valiant's sword which stood close to the door before approaching the shield that stood in front of us. We bent over to properly examine it.
"How are we going to make them come out?" I asked him in a low voice.
Before he could answer we heard the sound of someone trying to open the door. We immediately turned around and stood up. I remained where I was as Merlin approached the door. After a brief moment of struggling with the door there was the sound of footsteps growing fainter as whoever was trying to enter walked away. The boy turned to me before the door once again. He didn't go back, like a dog waiting at a hole for a rabbit to pop out. I looked back at the shield and slowly drew closer to it.
My heart missed a beat when I saw the snake at the bottom of the shield emerge from the shield. My eyes widened and I couldn't breathe properly. The snake stared at me for a moment, rearing up its head in an S-bend and hissing at me. Merlin turned around before it suddenly lunged.
In defence I immediately raised my right arm up to defend myself. I let out a startled gasp as it sunk its fangs into my sleeve, piercing my clothes and injecting venom.
Merlin stepped forward to help. "It's fine. It's fine," I assured him through gritted teeth. I seized the snake's head and pulled it back. I forced it to sink its fangs into my arm three more times before releasing it and crawling backwards to the boy.
The snake's head followed me, this time turning on Merlin. The boy swung his sword decapitating it. Its body was sucked back into the shield. Its discard head lay on the ground with its tongue hanging out. The other two snakes came out to attack us. Merlin bent over, grabbing the head before we ran as fast as we could go back down the hall to Gaius' chambers.
"Are you alright?" Merlin panted when we stopped at the staircase leading to the chambers.
"I don't want to ever try that again."
"You should tell Gaius that you were bitten."
"Don't tell him. I'm fine."
Merlin and I silently watched as Gaius buried the snake's teeth into a rag tied to the neck of a glass. Clear liquid dripped into the glass. "I'll get started preparing the antidote," he declared when he was finished.
"I'm going to tell Arthur," Merlin said, preparing to leave.
"You'll need this," he was handed the head. "And Merlin. What you and Jackie did was very brave."
Merlin looked at me for a moment, waiting for me to come. I shook my head. He nodded, thinking that he understood why I was staying and left. Gaius seemed a little surprised that I was staying.
"I thought you'd be going with Merlin."
"May I please have a look at that glass with the venom?"
"I'm afraid that I need it to make the antidote."
"Please may I take a look at it," I insisted. "There's something that you missed."
"What is it?" Gaius held it closer to his eye. "What did I miss?"
I outstretched my hand. "I'll show you."
Hesitantly, he outstretched the glass to me. When he was placing it in my hand I let go and watched it fall onto the floor smashing into pieces.
"How could you be so clumsy?" Gaius exclaimed, infuriated by my actions.
"That was intentional," I explained. "That stuff wasn't venom. You can't get venom from a snake unless they bite something."
"Well how am I supposed to make the antidote now, you silly boy?"
I silently placed my left arm down my right sleeve and unravelled venom soaked bandages that I had thickly tied where I had been bitten earlier. I might not remember very well but I still recalled Merlin decapitating a snake's head for venom and Gaius milking it.
"There's your venom," I carefully handed it to him. "Give it a ring out and you'll get venom out of it. Don't let that go to waste because I am never going to do that again."
I then turned away and left.
Kilgharrah and I were towards the top of the cave in one of the caverns which the dragon seemed to like being inside. He was sitting comfortably on his stomach while I had my back against the rocky wall near his head.
"Why would you risk your life to help someone that you don't know?" he asked me once I had told him what had happened.
"Because I can," I answered.
"That is not an answer."
"Well I don't have any other reason. I guess it's the same reason why you like giving people riddles instead of actual answers."
I didn't have to look at him to know that he was glaring at me. "So how is the young warlock?" he asked me instead.
I started peeling an apple with a dagger. "I think he's starting to warm up to his destiny," I explained.
"Then you must make sure that he…"
I pointed my dagger at him. "I'm not your servant!" I stated defensively. In reality that was more of a reflex. I was bossed around a lot because I was very shy in my old life and by that time I didn't really tolerate it. That and my pride also wouldn't have it that way either.
"Do not point that at me," he warned, raising his head to tower above me.
I went back to peeling. "I'm sorry," I told him. "I just really hate it when I'm told what to do."
Kilgharrah remained silent. "I suppose I could forgive you if you do not do that again," he concluded.
I stopped once again and looked up at him. "Why would I pointing something sharp at you anger you so much?" I asked. "If I hated you then I wouldn't spend time with you willingly. And I doubt it would have harmed you anyway so why does that bother you?"
"Because I do not wish to kill you, mistaking it for an attack."
I simply nodded before I turned back to what I was doing.
We then heard the sound of someone entering the cave. "Where are you?" Merlin's voice echoed through the cave walls. I opened my mouth to call back before Kilgharrah quickly glanced at me to remain silent. "Just came to tell you; whatever you think my destiny is, whatever it is you think I'm supposed to do – you've got the wrong person!"
He stood up and made his way to the ledge of the cavern. I stood up as well. The dragon stared at me, silently asking if I was going to go down as well. I nodded. He lifted up one of his talons allowing me to sit on it. His claws curled slightly, securing me in place. He didn't fly down at first.
"That's it," the boy concluded. "Goodbye," he called after a pause.
"If only it were so easy to escape one's destiny," Kilgharrah told him as he flew downwards. My arms were wrapped around his as we came down. He allowed me to slide off onto the rocks in front of him before he landed onto the rocky platform.
"How can it be my destiny to protect someone who hates me?" Merlin demanded..
"A half cannot truly hate what makes it whole," he set himself down. "Very soon you shall learn that."
"Oh great. Just what I needed. Another riddle."
Ignoring that statement he continued, "that your and Arthur's path lies together is but the truth."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You know young warlock, this is not the end - it is the beginning."
Knowing that I probably was not going to come along, the dragon stood on his back legs and took off deeper into the caves.
"Just give me a straight answer!' Merlin called out to him before leaving, angry that he didn't get what he came there for.
Quickly, I leapt across the platform to the cave's entrance and ran up the stairs to the boy. "I know the answer to that riddle," I revealed. "But you're probably not going to like it."
"What did he mean?" he asked in a bitter tone.
"You're going to help Arthur whether you like it or not."
He let out a sigh. "Great."
"I said you probably wouldn't like it. So what happened?"
"Sir Ewan's dead. I humiliated Arthur in front of everybody and he sacked me," he paused and stared at me. "Are you okay?"
The moment I heard that Ewan was dead I could feel my temper slowly rising. My breathing was heavy and deep and I think my face was going red. "Well I had a snake bite me earlier in order for me to get its venom on a bandage I had hidden under my sleeve. I dealt with the paranoia of the snake missing or its fangs being too long. But aside from that I feel as great as you feel." I started massaging my temples. "Do you want to go for a walk?"
"Sure."
We both only managed to make it into the courtyard where Merlin's self-pity had him going towards the steps and sitting down on the steps with his arms over his knees. I was tempted to sit next to him but chose to stand by a statue, eating the apple that I had peeled until Gwen came along.
"Hello Merlin."
"Alright," he mumbled before she sat next to him.
"Is it true what you said about Valiant using magic?" she asked after a moment. He only gave her a nod before another pause. "What are you going to do?"
"Why does everyone think it's down to me to do something about it?"
"Because it is. Isn't it? You have to show everyone that you were right and they were wrong.
"Hmm," he nodded. "And how do I do that?"
Gwen didn't say anything as she thought. "I don't know."
By that time I had finished my apple and threw its core over them and towards a statue of a dog holding onto a shield. It missed and splat itself against the wall beside its head. Merlin heard it and turned to see the block of stone. A smile appeared on my face when Merlin approached the dog, followed my Gwen, and tried to move it. He asked her about a wheelbarrow and I approached when she had run off to get one.
"You have an idea?" I eagerly asked him.
He nodded with a smile. "I've got one."
Once Gwen had come back with the wheelbarrow and I introduced myself to her, all three of us moved the dog before Merlin and I hurried back to his place. The warlock used magic to carry it up the stairs and I helped keep the dog in place as we burst in.
"What are you doing with that?" Gaius questioned as we passed him.
"Going to let everyone see the snakes for themselves," he replied, smiling at him before we disappeared into his room.
"So you know that there's a spell in your book for this?" I asked him sitting on his table as he removed the spell book he had been given from its hiding place under the floorboards and sit on the bed, flicking through the pages as he searched.
"Bobe adothe resam quickem."
For the next few hours I heard nothing but Merlin say those words and his frustration. He moved around the room constantly and said the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
"I give up," he said finally. "I'm going to try and persuade Arthur to not go."
When he said that I was resting my head on my hand about ready to pass out from boredom. "I'll be right here waiting," I managed.
The rest of the night was a mere blur of Merlin leaving, then coming back, sitting by the statue and saying the same words over and over again until a rooster crowed. By that time I was sitting on the bed with my shoes off, watching the night become day. The boy started bobbing his head when light poured into the room and I shook his shoulder.
"Keep going," I said. "You'll get it right soon."
He murmured those words once again before I looked up to see what I thought was a Doberman sitting on its back legs, growling at us. A smile appeared on my face. The dog then barked, grabbing Merlin's attention. He slowly turned his head as it barked again.
A smile spread across his face. "I did it!" He started laughing before the dog lunged at him. Immediately I grabbed my shoes and leapt off the bed. I took Merlin's hand, helping him to his feet before we raced out of the room, closing the door behind us. We stopped for a moment allowing us to catch our breath and me to put my shoes on. We passed Gaius as he came inside.
"Arthur's fighting Valiant."
"I know," Merlin said. "I'm on my way," I left the room and waited when he stopped again. "Whatever you do, don't go into my room," he warned the old man. "I'll deal with it later."
"I'm so glad you got it right," I told him as we ran to the tournament. "Sorry I fell asleep last night."
"It's fine. You don't snore."
"That's reassuring."
We stopped once again at that corner, watching Arthur and Valiant dueling. The crowd were becoming more and more excited as the two knights battled it out. The only sound I could hear over the roaring were swords and shields clashing. Everyone flinched or gasped when the fighting started getting really intense and the two men were fighting without headgear. Even I was getting into it and I knew that Valiant was going to be exposed and Arthur would be victorious. We watched the two get closer to us and start to wrestle. The prince was slammed into a large crate that was there for some reason. Arthur pushed Valiant away and the two brought themselves back into the center.
I briskly looked around. "No one's watching," I said in a low voice.
Merlin pointed his hand at Valiant's shield and uttered those words which were never going to leave my head after that.
"Bobe adothe resam quickem."
The two snakes emerged from his shield. Everyone fell silent and stood up, not expecting to see serpents bobbing their heads and hissing at the prince.
"What are you doing?" Valiant demanded. "I didn't summon you!"
"And now they see you for what you really are," Arthur declared.
Valiant smiled. The two snakes escaped from the piece of metal and onto the ground. "Kill him!' their master ordered. Obediently, they turned to Arthur and lunged at him. The prince backed away towards the grandstand. Morgana threw a sword at him allowing him to decapitate them and stab Valiant, with a sword that was unable to turn red despite going through someone's flesh.
The moment that Valiant collapsed onto his knees, the crowd stood up, cheering at his victory. Merlin and I smiled at the sight. Arthur stood around his defeated foes, taking in the glory and catching his breath before he trudged away. He slapped Merlin on the shoulder as he passed us.
"You did it again," I said in a low voice before throwing my arms around his neck again. This time, he took me by the waist and spun me around before setting me down. The fangirl in me had a heart attack as a result of it. "Know what, Merlin?"
"What?"
"I think you deserve a little reward for your valiant effort."
We laughed at my little joke. "What is it?"
I thought about it for a moment. "I'll buy you a drink and say that it's from Arthur."
I deeply apologise that I didn't correctly spell the spells Merlin casts. I just wrote them the way that they sounded to me.
Fun fact: Everything that Jackie had said about snakes is true. That's why I had that scene where she had to collect the venom herself and break that glass. It would not have been possible for Gaius to collect venom with just a snake's head.
I know that there were some scenes that I skipped or I didn't do a very good description on but some of them were difficult for me to interpret (particularly fighting scenes). Also I don't see much of a point of Jackie being in every single scene. I'm sure that we've all seen the series. Plus it just makes her seem like deadweight. But let me know when it gets a little irritating.
With that being said, review and wait for updates.
