Chapter Ten: The Curse of the Sun
It was very late when King Arthur, Merlin and everyone else who had been witness to the dramatic events of the day finally settled down for supper. The cook (who had always had a bit of a crush on Sir Leon and was so emotionally charged that she had not stopped crying for several hours) ordered three chickens to be slaughtered for the king and his companions so that they may have roast chicken and potatoes that night. Unfortunately, due to her current unhinged state, she forgot to actually give the order for the wood-burning stove to switch on; as a result, when dinner time came around, several butchered raw chickens lay sprawled in the stove, large and sumptuous but, sadly, quite inedible. This only added to the cook's manic distress and she retreated to her chambers at the insistence of the queen, who advised her to relax and get some rest. Sobbing at the thought of poor Sir Leon and mortified by her ineptitude that evening, the cook was ushered away by several kitchen-maids, who handed her a tissue which she blew on loudly. Guinevere herself prepared a simple meal of bread, ham and cheese and the royal couple, plus their companions, settled themselves with this instead.
It was a grave party that sat around the table during supper. Nobody spoke much; after the initial euphoria of Leon's dynamic recovery, everyone realized just how serious the attacks from Morgana's allies were becoming. But Merlin had a piece of information that he had still not shared with the king … one that he dreaded too, in fact …
"Leon has explained what happened," Arthur said, breaking into the silence. Everyone halted in the act of raising a flagon of mead to their lips or reaching for a slice of ham; Gaius swallowed his bread in great haste. Attention was fully on the king.
"After the attack by the sorceress on Merlin, Sir Leon – who had ordered his knights to scatter and search the city – was on his way to the castle to inform me what had happened. But he was distracted by the sight of that very same sorceress hiding by the blacksmith's. She started to flee when he caught her eye, but Sir Leon chased her, all the way out of the city and into the forest. He told me it should have occurred to him there and then that it was a trap … Why would the sorceress keep herself in sight just enough so he could follow her, when he had witnessed with his own eyes how she had disappeared in a whirl of dust? Leon advanced deeper into the forest … and then she disappeared. But it wasn't long before she reappeared again and she was not alone; two more cloaked figures had joined her. It was then that the sorceress revealed herself."
Arthur paused, his eyes glancing downwards. Everyone stared.
"Who was she?" said Merlin.
"Sefa. You remember her, I trust?"
All eyes around the table widened in disbelief. Of course they remembered Sefa, the queen's maid who had betrayed them, whose actions resulted in the deaths of good men; Guinevere in particular looked greatly unperturbed by this information, for it had been she who had ordered the execution of the maid; yet only with the intent of trapping her father, Ruadan, the dangerous sorcerer that was allied with Morgana. Many times since those dark days had Guinevere questioned her judgement on her own actions … Had she approached the situation in a different way, would Sefa not have switched sides completely, perhaps convincing her father to go along with her? There had been genuine remorse in the girl's eyes, genuine distress when she had been informed of the deaths of the men … Now Arthur was saying that Sefa had turned to the dark side, that she was a sorceress who had attacked Merlin and almost killed Sir Leon, perhaps fuelled by anger due to the murder of her father at the hands of Sir Elyan, the queen's deceased brother. Was she responsible for Sefa's actions? Guinevere felt an uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu race through her; it was like Morgana all over again …
"This makes absolutely no sense," said Merlin, breaking into her thoughts, his expression deeply puzzled. "Sefa is not a witch – she had no magic when she resided in Camelot. How is it possible she has managed to acquire such powerful sorcery in the space of a year?"
"Ruadan was a sorcerer – it may link to him somehow. Either way, I don't have the answer to that question and neither does Leon. When they surrounded him … Well, you all saw the wounds they inflicted. They left him with just enough life in him to return to Camelot … and pass on the message."
"What message was that?" said Sir Percival, who had remained by Sir Leon's side for most of the day and only just consented to relieve himself of the duty by joining them for supper.
Arthur hesitated.
"The sorcerers want us to know that they will not rest until the House of Pendragon has fallen," he said finally. Merlin eyed Arthur beadily; there was something about the way the king was shifting his gaze from one person to the next in that fast, flitting manner which told him something was not quite right …
"And of course we will not allow this to happen," continued Arthur, his voice becoming strong and firm. "We will find a way to seek out these sorcerers and destroy them before they attempt anything like this again. I will not lose another knight or a citizen to those who are so blinded by hatred that they fail to see the peace we wish to bring to this land."
Everyone finished their meals and there was a great clattering of spoons and forks once they were done; Gaius wished them a pleasant evening and excused himself, saying he was tired (in actual fact he wanted to check on Aithusa, whom he had left sleeping in his study; he had unexpectedly grown rather fond of the little dragon and secretly wanted to stop off in the kitchens to bring her some leftover scraps of meat). Sir Percival bid them goodnight and hurried back to where Sir Leon still lay in recovery. Guinevere stared after him, a sympathetic look on her face.
"Poor Percival," she said, shaking her head. "After losing Gawain I fear it would be too much for him to have lost Leon aswell."
"As we all feel, my love," said Arthur. He dabbed at his mouth with a handkerchief.
"Guinevere, why don't you make your way up to bed? I will join you in a moment … Just want to tell Merlin about a couple of things I need doing tomorrow …"
The queen nodded, stood up and kissed Arthur, informing him she would wait up for him.
"Oh, and Merlin? Thank you so much for delivering my gifts to Arthur today. I was particularly impressed with that one rose …"
She winked at him and smiled slyly at her husband; Arthur coughed, abashed, and Merlin grinned.
"Goodnight, Gwen."
She left the room, closing the door behind her. As soon as the door creaked shut, Arthur turned to Merlin, his expression urgent.
"There is something I need to tell you."
"Is this about the message Leon told you?"
Arthur looked at him in surprise.
"Yes – how did you know?"
"Arthur, this is me you're talking to. What is it?"
Though there was no one in the room but them and the crackling flames in the fireplace by the window, the king lowered his voice.
"I did not mention it at the table because the last thing we need is for everyone to fly into a panic … and of course I will tell Guinevere, but only when the moment is right … Gaius has an inkling … Well, of course, he would have to, for it was he who I'd consulted on Leon's condition … I needed to confirm what Leon had said after the dragon healed him, who better to ask than Gaius …?"
"You're losing me, Arthur."
The king inhaled deeply.
"For now, Merlin, this stays between you and I, understood?"
"Understood. As it stands, I've got something to tell you too. But you first."
"When the dragon healed Leon … Merlin, she didn't just heal him. She resurrected him."
Merlin stared.
"You mean … Leon was dead?"
"Yes. He told me he had died – only for mere seconds. He said he was petrified when he returned and that he couldn't understand what was going on, that to make that transition from life to death in such a short space of time was … Well, it was too much for one man to handle. I asked Gaius to find a way to confirm this for me; it took him several hours but he told me, yes, officially Leon had been dead for almost three minutes."
"How did Gaius know this?" said Merlin, amazed.
"I don't know – how does Gaius know what he knows? Something about studying his palpitations, measuring his heart rate; I believed he used a bit of sorcery of his own. But yes, Gaius discovered that Leon's spirit had left his body, if only for a short time. Merlin … the dragon is able to resurrect people from the dead. Did you know this?"
Merlin had known this. Dragons could not actually resurrect the dead (Kilgarrah certainly couldn't) but the white dragon was different. This was the essence of the white dragon and the true meaning of the 'Light of the Sun': the gift of life. And Merlin only knew this because of the information Aithusa had given him the night Kilgarrah had brought her to him, the same information that he knew he must finally tell the king.
Merlin nodded slowly, choosing his words carefully.
"There is information that Aithusa had given me … As I told you earlier, when she was tortured by Sarrum and his men inside the pit, three of these men were sorcerers. They absorbed some of her own magic into themselves … It must have taken very dark magic to achieve this and it partly explains why Aithusa is so stunted and cannot speak. One of these sorcerers was Ruadan, who had been allied with Sarrum before he joined Morgana … When you said earlier that Sefa had been the sorceress who attacked me in the square, I thought about it and realized that somehow Ruadan's powers must have been transferred to Sefa. One of the powers they stole from Aithusa was her ability to resurrect … However, no mere sorcerer can carry that amount of magic in their body and resurrect someone on their own, no matter how powerful they are. It would take the three of them combined to do it. This is what Aithusa suspects. She also knows of their plans because … because they found her and told her what they wanted to do, they said they needed to find a resting place before it became too late, for every resurrection needs a body … but she escaped and found the Great Dragon. Arthur –" Merlin's stomach lurched, for he was about to ask a question that would either confirm his fears or decapitate them, "– what was it that the sorcerers told Leon to tell you?"
Arthur stared at him for a long time before replying.
"He said, 'Tell your king that the once and future queen will rise again.' "
For as long as Merlin had known him, Arthur Pendragon had been the bravest man he had ever known; fearless in the face of danger, resilient in the face of evil. Few could compare to the king when it came to standing strong, especially in times of hardship. But as Arthur and Merlin stared at one another, a mutual horror gradually grew inside them; a fear that Merlin had only caught a handful of times in Arthur's eyes rose to the surface in that moment; Merlin's insides twisted like a writhing snake, his trepidation confirmed. Both the king and the sorcerer had reached the same conclusion, the one they feared above all others.
Arthur spoke with some difficulty.
"You said that when Sefa attacked you, she told you Morgana's work will be finished soon enough?"
"Yes …" Merlin's hands were balled into tight fists.
"Arthur … they're going to –"
"I know, Merlin." Arthur swallowed, his eyes glinting in the firelight.
"I know. They're going to bring her back. They're going to resurrect Morgana."