Chapter 4: The Darkness and The Light, Part II
Merlin and Arthur quickly made their way down to the dining hall, upon their arrival they were greeted by a growing crowd; all of whom where muttering incredulously to each other, pushing through they were met with the sight of Gaius examining a noblemen's ear. The man was older, like the other victims, and appeared to be extremely shaken up by what he had encountered. Many of the knights are pushing the crowd back, but they too seem to be extremely startled by what had occurred. Arthur pushed his way through the crowd, Merlin following closely behind him. When they were close enough Arthur knelt beside the noblemen, quietly asking about his well being, Merlin took this moment to look around the hall. They were towards the back of the room, close to the back wall, and upon inspection nothing seemed out of place. At a lose Merlin began talking to the surrounding people, hoping to get an accurate account of what happened.
"It was horrifying, my Lord; Lord Hardy was fine one minute, then next he's screaming, yelling for them the stop," said one of the female courtiers, from the crowd.
"Them? Who? Did you see who attacked him?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, he was talking to her for an extremely long time; we only took notice because it seemed a very intimate conversation for a married man to be having in public. Well anyway, she appeared to be cajoling him to do something, he must have refused when..." The Lady trailed off.
"When..." Merlin prompted.
"Well... she appeared to morph into a grotesque creature. Then Lord Hardy began to yell out, but no one else could hear anything." She continued, quickly Merlin thanked her and moved over to Arthur who was still talking to Lord Hardy.
"Arthur, Gaius, I think I know what's going on." Merlin said after he was close enough, both Men turn to him.
"What is it then?" Arthur asked, Merlin held a finger up before turning to Lord Hardy.
"Lord Hardy, are you acquainted with the courtesan named Ryia?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, my Lord, have been for a few weeks now." He said, a little louder than necessary.
"Thank you, my Lord, now get some rest," Merlin said, before turning to leave gesturing for Arthur and Gaius to follow him.
The door to Merlin's study bursts open, as the young Warlock quickly enters the room and moves swiftly toward his desk. Gaius and Arthur enter moments later, giving Merlin looks of both confusion and intrigue. Merlin scans through a book before settling on the page he needs, opening it out, he turns it towards Arthur and Gaius.
"We up against a Banshee." Merlin said, Arthur and Gaius move closer and begin reading the page Merlin opened.
"They're creatures of the Old Religion; they disguise themselves as attractive ladies, then transform into a being that produce a sound so high pitched, that their victims die in agony. The only upside is that only those who have been targeted can hear them, which is why no one else is dead." Merlin explains.
"So we have to find out why someone would want to target the three victims." Arthur said; Merlin nodded there was a moment of silence between the three men whilst they all thought of a reason anyone would want to harm the three noblemen.
"I can't think of anything that would link these three men. I mean, each of them are involved in completely different trades; Lord Anthony traded with cotton, Lord Ulric traded in spices and Lord Hardy traded grain... Gaius, can you think of anything?" Arthur said; Gaius had his arms folded, one of his hands rubbed his chin and he appeared to be deep in thought.
"There may be one thing, but I'll need to check something to be sure." He said cryptically before exiting the room. Merlin and Arthur shared a look of confusion, then quickly followed Gaius out the door.
Gaius lead them to his chambers, where the bodies of Lord Anthony and Lord Ulric still lay; moving over to the corpses Gaius moved the sheet of cloth, which was covering Lord Ulric, ever so slightly. Merlin and Arthur moved closer to inspect the dead man's arm. On his bicep, there was a tattoo; it was slightly faded, but you could still see it clearly. Merlin moved closer to inspect it, whilst Arthur moved towards Lord Anthony to see if he shares the same mark.
"What does it mean? Is it a rune?" asked Merlin, looking towards Gaius.
"Lord Anthony has it too. Do you know what they mean, Gaius?" Arthur said. Gaius moved over to the table and sat on a stool next to it.
"Yes, I know what they mean." Gaius said, after a moment's pause; Merlin and Arthur sat down as well, waiting for Gaius' explanation. "Back before Uther ordered the Great Purge, he tried to eradicate those with magic without drawing to much attention; so he recruited the help of five noblemen, there was nothing that could link them with each other, but they were all great fighters. Their job was to travel to the homes of known sorcerers and kill them, but it was quickly discovered that sorcerers where being made faster that they were being destroyed. So Uther abolished the group and started the Purge."
"How many people did these men kill?" Arthur asked.
"Couldn't have been more than twenty," Gaius replied.
"And these people, they had families?" Merlin said.
"Most likely." said Gaius.
"What about the other lords, what happened to them?" Arthur asked
"They died, a long time ago," said Gaius, Merlin stood up and began to pace
"So, one of these family members, someone who also has magic; finds out about the five lords, or sees them kill their loved one, conjures the banshee to take revenge. But if that's the case, what would have stopped them from doing it before now? Why didn't they get revenge straight away? Why allow these men make a life for themselves only to take it away a few more years down the line. It makes no sense." Merlin said.
"I'm not sure either Merlin, but now is not the time to answer these questions. Right now we need to find a way to destroy the Banshee." Gaius said. "In your book, does it have anything on how we can kill it?" Merlin moved over to his book, opening it on the page about the banshee, he scanned the writing looking for anything on its weaknesses.
"It says here, 'After a banshee has completed its task, if the sorcerer who conjured it does not expel it, it will continue to kill. The only other way to expel the banshee is for it to be stabbed with a bewitched silver blade.'" Merlin reads, after he has finished he looks up to Gaius and Arthur to see them deep in thought. "Do you know where any silver blades are, Arthur?"
"I don't know whether there is one. The only blades the royal forge makes are steel." Arthur says.
"What about in your study? Do you think there could be one in there?" Gaius asks.
"There could be... I'll go look, you two need to figure out a way for us to lure the banshee." Merlin said.
"I've already thought of that, meet us in the throne room if you find the blade." Arthur said.
"What if I don't?" Merlin asked.
"I don't know, Merlin, you're a sorcerer; use your magic." Arthur said, Merlin stared at Arthur for a minute before walking out the room.
"So, what is this plan, Sire?"
Lord Hardy sat in the middle of the throne room, Arthur and Gaius stood before him. They had told him everything; the banshee, why it was after him, and his part in their plan.
"So you want me, to sit here and wait for that thing to come and kill me?" Lord Hardy said incredulously.
"It's not going to kill you; the court sorcerer should join us soon with a weapon to destroy this creature." Arthur said, hoping to reassure the man, Lord Hardy shook his head.
"With all due respect, Sire, you are putting my life in the hands of a boy who was, up until three months ago, was a serving boy." Lord Hardy says.
"Lord Merlin, is the reason we are no longer at war, he is the reason why I am standing here today. It'll do you well to remember that, and show a little more respect." Arthur said dangerously, Lord Hardy looked down quickly, feeling reprimanded. From behind them the doors to the throne room opened, Arthur turned to see Merlin walking into the room holding some cloth. Moving over to him Arthur looked expectantly at him, Merlin held up the cloth.
"It was in the bottom of a chest," Merlin said, removing the cloth, he revealed a silver dagger; holding it up showing the runes embedded in it.
"Are you sure this will kill it?" Arthur asks.
"Well... there's only one way to find out." Merlin said then moved towards Lord Anthony.
"Okay, this is what is going to happen, Lord Hardy is going to sit here and, hopefully, draw the creature to us; then when it's here Merlin or I will attack." Arthur explained to the three men, they all nodded, albeit Lord Hardy was slightly hesitant. Arthur, Gaius and Merlin moved over to the wall, where Arthur moved a tapestry to reveal a secret passage.
"How many of these does Camelot have?" Merlin said.
"This castle took decades to build. These passageways are what link the old parts to the new. Though they are redundant now, they do have some use." Arthur said. The three men fell into silence as they waited.
Time past slowly, Merlin slid to the floor as Arthur lent against the wall, keeping a firm eye on Lord Hardy.
"This is ridiculous, how do we know the creature is coming, it could sense that we're here; it could be just waiting for us to leave." Merlin said.
"We can't go back now." Arthur said without turning from is spot.
"But-," Merlin began.
"Shhhh..." Arthur suddenly stood up right, he looked down at Merlin, "The dagger, Merlin, give me the dagger." Merlin stood and looked behind the tapestry. A woman had entered the room; her skin was extremely pale, her hair was dark and her eyes glowed red. She was making her way towards Lord Hardy, who was frozen in fear.
"Now! Merlin!" Arthur whispered harshly. Merlin scrambled to his feet, handing the dagger to Arthur; who, without delay, sprang forward and impaled the banshee in her side. The creature let out a wail, which had all the men clutching their ears in pain, before crumbling away as though she was made of dust.
"So... it worked then." Merlin said simply, causing Arthur to roll his eyes.
Merlin stood on the battlements, looking over Camelot, deep in thought. Arthur came up behind him and clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"Okay when I said outside, this isn't what I meant." Arthur said lightly.
"I am outside though." Merlin said.
"What's up? You don't look like someone who's just defeated a screaming banshee." Arthur said.
"It's never going to end is it? People are always going to use magic for evil. Even now when magic has been made legal. Am I a fool for thinking they wouldn't?" Merlin said.
"No, you're not a fool for thinking that, it means you have hope. But it's like you said, we can't have light without darkness; but I know one thing, darkness makes the light shine brighter." Arthur said.
"But light also makes the darkness darker," Merlin pointed out.
"For heaven's sake, can you just be happy for once," Arthur exclaimed, Merlin laughed and Arthur bumped shoulders with him.
"Come on, let's go and see if you can beat Gwaine in a fight." Arthur said.
"Can I use magic?" asked Merlin.
"Of course."