I'll be going up to Cardiff for a couple of days this week, to visit Cardiff University (my first University I've looked at so far, so it's both scary and exciting at the same time!) In which case writing and therefore posting may be delayed for a few days, so sorry about that.
Apologies also for a bit of a short chapter, it's not a very interesting chapter either, but you've got to have one of those every now and then, I hope it's OK!
Anyway, please review (only two reviews for the last chapter again ): ) and wish me luck in Cardiff! :D
Chapter 7 - Earthquakes
Merlin arrived back at Uther's chamber, and found that everything was exactly as it was when he left it. The corridor was still empty of life, and the door was still firmly shut.
He wondered what was happening on the other side of the door. Little did Merlin know that Uther was still crouching on the floor, wide eyed, and had been in shock since the ground had shaken and that Gaius had been pacing up and down impatiently for the past ten minutes. Uther's current state worried Gaius, no one had really known the state of Uther's mind, apart from the fact that he was slowly getting more paranoid, but he was now starting to worry Gaius even more. He told himself that a reaction like that in this sort of situation was normal, or rather, he hoped.
Gaius stopped pacing immediately when he heard the pounding footsteps of his nephew.
"Gaius!" Merlin called through the trapped door, alerting his uncle to his presence, and hoping he was still safe.
"Merlin," Gaius had never felt so relieved to hear Merlin's voice so many times in one day. "Did you manage to get down to the library and find the book?" He asked.
Merlin looked down at the book clutched in his hand, cold droplets of water trickling down his hand, he hoped the ink hadn't run. "Yes, and I got the right book," he assured Gaius.
"And Geoffrey?" Gaius asked hopefully.
Merlin tried to hold back a sigh, how was he going to tell Gaius? "I…he wasn't there Gaius, I couldn't find him, he must have gone somewhere else, I'm sorry."
There was silence on the other side of the door. Merlin could imagine the sadness now etched across Gaius' face. Him and Geoffrey had must been friends for a very long time, and Gaius knew that you could hardly find Geoffrey anywhere else other than the library. Merlin's apology seemed to confirm his worried thoughts.
"So what is the book going to tell us?" Merlin asked, hating the dreaded silence that had been created.
Gaius tried to steer his thoughts towards the book, not to Geoffrey. "There should be a chapter in there called 'Earth Quakes'." He told Merlin.
There was a pause as Merlin opened up the book and began flipping through the slightly soggy pages. Finally he came to a page with the words 'Earth Quakes' written in flowing, black ink, and had only been a little smudged by the water.
"Is this what you think has happened to us?" Asked Merlin, glancing over the words scrawled across the page, and the one drawing of a huge crack running through what looked like a dirt road.
"I'm not sure, read it aloud and we might find out," Gaius said, a little grimly. He couldn't be sure, he hadn't read it for a while, it was one of the books Uther had discouraged from reading, as he believed it was about magic. But Gaius did have a feeling this book would give them the answers they needed.
Merlin rested the book on his chest and read aloud:
Every one hundred years, one of the strangest myths of the earth occurs. The ground starts to shake and the earth erupts beneath a man's feet.
Reports have been made and stories passed down through the generations have told tales of huge cracks scarring the earth, buildings collapsing and rivers flooding. People become trapped beneath the buildings that tumble to the ground, and all is due to the sudden and dramatic movement of the earth shaking the world. The movement in the earth can be felt for miles around, but may only last a few seconds. Over the years, it has come to be known as an Earth Quake.
An Earth Quake can be very damaging at first, and leave much destruction behind it. Sometimes the ground frequently starts shaking again for a few hours afterwards.
Many believe that such a thing as an Earth Quake occurs when the Gods are angry. Some believe that the earth is actually moving under their feet, and this has caused the ground to shake. Others say that it is conjured by magic.
It is very hard to predict when an Earth Quake might happen again. It has no link to bad weather or harvests. However animals can sometimes sense an Earth Quake before one occurs, as if the magic can be felt in the air before the damage actually occurs. The last report of an Earth Quake was ninety years ago, if the predictions of every hundred years are true, another one will soon strike Camelot again and the lands around it. People need to prepare themselves before the ground starts shaking again.
Whatever the Earth Quake may be, only one thing is certain; death is sure to follow it.
Merlin turned over the page, expecting to learn more, but he found nothing but blank pages. He looked up from it the book to the sealed door,
"That's it," Merlin told Gaius in an apologetic tone. "There's not much there."
Although, thinking about it, this was enough of information they needed, plenty even, Merlin thought. It explained what had happened, or had given a name to it anyway. It had made sense as well, the earth did quake, cracks had appeared and corridors in the Castle alone had collapsed. The dogs had been keeping Merlin awake the night before (although the adrenaline had made any ounce of tiredness still left in his system vanish) did the dogs know what was going to happen? And death was sure to follow this particular earthquake.
"That book was written over a hundred years ago," Gaius said suddenly.
His voice pulled Merlin out of his thoughts, "what?"
"If the Earth Quake happened every a hundred years, the book would have reported it after it happened in the next ten years, but they didn't, it never happened. We have been overdue one for about two hundred years," Gaius explained solemnly. "That is why it's been so dangerous this time."
This made sense to Merlin, but there was something else that bothered him about this news. "But…doesn't the book say it happens again shortly afterwards?" He asked, flipping back to the page about the earthquakes.
Gaius took a deep breath, "I'm afraid so," he confessed. "Not as strong as the first Earth Quake, but there will be more to come."
"So what to we do?" Merlin demanded.
"Wait it out," was all Gaius said.
"Is that it!" Merlin snapped, his usual passion and exuberance bubbling up in his voice suddenly. "There must be something I can do!"
Merlin wanted to get Gaius out of the chamber more than ever now, Gaius would surely know what to do more than he did. But what about Arthur? And Aldwin? And the other people trapped in the Great Hall? Were there other people trapped in other places within the Castle? What about people outside the Castle? If it hadn't just occurred within the walls of the Castle, the whole of the City or even the whole Kingdom could have felt the blows to the earthquake.
Merlin felt like his head was going to explode. There were so many things to do and yet the use of magic was still restraining him. He wasn't sure what he should do first; he wanted to split himself into several different people so he could do several different things at once. He still hadn't heard if Morgana had made it out safely. The only thing Merlin felt that he could do, was wait to hear Gaius' response, he would know what to do first.
There was a short pause; "help Arthur find survivors." Gaius told him.
