A message from Hannah:
Hello everyone.
Just to say thank you for reading The Warlock's Calling so far and I hope you are enjoying it. Please keep reviewing as it is much appreciated. To all who are liking this, there is a sequel that I'm completing, so keep an eye out after all of twc has been posted as MerlinStar will post it for me.
Thanks again,
Hannah
Chapter 9
Arthur, armed with his sword and dagger, sprinted towards the edge of the city, where the beast had apparently landed. The Knights and a small army of soldiers were following.
"If anyone gets the chance to strike, do it," he shouted to his men. "We can't take any chances."
Once outside the castle gates, Arthur could see the huge dragon crouched there, its tail trailing into the trees. It appeared to have been waiting for them.
All of a sudden, the dragon opened its massive mouth and a ball of dark fire began to form. Arthur recognised what the beast was doing.
"Move!" he bellowed, ducking out of the way as the jet of fire blasted towards them. Only half of the soldiers survived the blast. The others were burnt to cinders.
A brave soldier crept over to the dragon, which didn't notice, and attempted to stab it. The dragon gave him a fleeting look before crushing the soldier with one of its feet. It then swiped at a couple of angered soldiers. They smacked against the wall and moved no more.
Arthur was now beginning to worry. They had only been facing the dragon for at least a minute and it had already decimated half of his men. The prince, though thinking himself mad, began to pray for a miracle.
"Merlin! Merlin wake up! Come on, fight the tonic and get up!"
Una was shaking Merlin by the arm, her face full of panic.
"Get up Merlin or Arthur will die! We need to do something!"
The warlock stirred and opened his eyes, blearily.
"Yes, come on, wake up properly. Merlin, Arthur needs your help so come on."
"What happened?" Merlin croaked.
"Oh thank God," Una breathed.
"Did Gaius drug me?" Merlin asked.
"Yes he did but that's not the most important problem at the moment. The dragon is here and Arthur's taken some men to try and kill it. He'll fail. I just saw half of them get killed in one blow. I've heard stories and it's practically impossible to kill a dragon. We need to help them."
Merlin staggered to his feet.
"No, you need to stay here. I'm going to help. You need to tell Gaius and Gwen what is happening."
"Merlin you can't. Aren't you still... well ill?"
"That doesn't matter. I need to save Arthur."
"And how do you plan to do that by yourself?"
But the warlock didn't answer. He ran out of the physician's room and began to head for the castle grounds.
"Merlin!" Una cried and ran after him. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Arthur was now thinking of any way possible for them to at least drive the dragon away. By now there were only around thirty men left and the numbers were tumbling quickly down to zero.
The dragon let loose another torrent of fire, which incinerated half a dozen soldiers, leaving a scorch mark on the castle wall.
Arthur hadn't realised that he himself was right next to the wall but he did when the dragon turned on him and backed him into a corner, using its tail to block any means of escape, knocking over four knights in the process.
The prince stared into the bottomless sapphire eyes of the dragon. If it was even possible, the dragon's expression was one of deepest loathing. It snarled dangerously. Arthur knew that there was no escape.
Then, suddenly, the dragon gave a roar of pain and turned around. Arthur nearly collapsed with shock when he saw who had distracted it.
Merlin, pale as anything, was standing there. In his hands was a long spear, which he was pointing at the beast.
"Merlin, you idiot! RUN!" Arthur bellowed.
Merlin's eyes looked into his own and he shook his head.
"MERLIN!"
The dragon's attention was now focused on Merlin. Whenever a soldier or one of the Knights tried to attack, it swiped at the person or turned them to ash with a fiery breath. It eyes rarely left the warlock.
Arthur tried to aid his friend but one of the remaining Knights held him back.
"If it decides to kill the boy then you'll die to," the Knight grunted. Arthur however tried to break free but another soldier came over to prevent Arthur from saving Merlin.
Arthur was frantic. Despite Merlin's determined face, he could see that his servant was shaking slightly from fear.
"Merlin!" he shouted again.
The dragon then took action. It raised one of its huge forelegs and extended its claws. The claws came slashing down and hit Merlin square in the chest. The warlock was sent hurtling into the trees. Arthur heard him hit the floor.
"NO!"
He finally broke free of the men's grip and ran. Whilst the remaining men distracted the dragon, Arthur ran to the trees. He stopped when he saw that he was facing a thick thorn bush.
"Merlin?" he called.
Merlin didn't reply. Arthur decided to find him, so he drew his sword and cut through the thorns, which were the size of daggers. They appeared to be just as sharp.
After a minute, Arthur saw Merlin's boots.
"Merlin!"
Cutting through more thorns, the prince met a horrible sight.
Merlin was shaking, breathing heavily. It appeared that a couple of thorns had cut his cheek, blood trickling over his face. But that wasn't the worst part. Merlin's chest had been cut by the dragon's claws. The wound looked deep and was bleeding heavily.
"Oh no," Arthur muttered. "Merlin, can you hear me?"
He went over to Merlin and drew him awkwardly into his arms. He then half carried, half dragged Merlin out of the thorn bush.
Once at the edge of the clearing, Arthur laid Merlin on the ground.
"You idiot," Arthur muttered. "You are such an idiot. Why did you do that?"
Merlin just spluttered and tried to press the blood back into the wounds. All it did was cover his hands in blood.
"Merlin, I'm going to get you to Gaius and you're going to be fine. I just need you to stay with me."
The warlock opened his mouth and Arthur thought that he was going to try and speak. A strangled noise left Merlin's mouth and he choked. He grabbed at Arthur's chainmail, his eyes boring into Arthur's. His expression was forgiving but Arthur also thought that Merlin was trying to beg Arthur to forgive him.
"NO!" someone shrieked from across the clearing.
Arthur looked up from Merlin to see Una running towards them. But the dragon recognised her scent.
Una seemed to be aware that the dragon had turned its attention onto her. She faced it, ignoring the shouts of the remaining men telling her to get away from there.
"You have no idea who I am, do you dragon? I am not afraid of you. It is you who should be afraid of me," she shouted at the advancing beast.
When the dragon was practically in front of her, Una flung her hand into the air. Everybody there, apart from Merlin, who wasn't looking, was horrified. A fireball hurtled out of Una's hand and shot at the dragon. Apparently shocked, the dragon took to the air and once more disappeared in a swirl of black smoke.
Una continued to run towards Arthur and Merlin. Arthur drew Merlin protectively towards him. Merlin was still unaware of what had just happened, staring at Arthur's face.
"Get away from him," Una snarled, flinging her hand out once more.
Arthur felt himself fly away from Merlin, back towards the castle. He landed a few feet away from where he had just been. He watched Una gather Merlin in her arms.
"Oh God, what have I done? Merlin keep looking at me. Merlin it's me," she whispered.
Arthur then watched, horror-struck, as Una's appearance began to change. Her hair began to lengthen and turn from straw-blonde to deep red. Her eyes darkened in colour until they turned into a deep, warm brown. Her body seemed to lengthen. Within seconds, Arthur recognised the woman as Ma'ab. Ma'ab had been pretending to be a different person. Nobody had seen that coming.
Merlin was staring up at Ma'ab and had gone into shock. Arthur tried to approach as his friend began to shake violently and his body sagged even more. But before Arthur could reach Merlin it became apparent that Ma'ab had other ideas.
Muttering a spell, the sky overhead darkened and a bolt of lightning hit where Ma'ab and Merlin were. When it had struck, both disappeared.
Arthur looked at the remaining men.
"Alert the king. Ma'ab has kidnapped someone. Then tell Gaius about what happened," he ordered. The men left. Arthur stood in the same spot, gazing at the place where Merlin had vanished.
Ma'ab, with the aid of the strange lights, managed to lift Merlin onto the stone altar. He was still shaking from shock. Ma'ab used magic to rip off the boy's jacket and shirt, undoing the neckerchief herself.
"Help him," she told the lights, walking over to the tree.
Touching the bark, she closed her eyes, reaching out into the heart of the tree with her magic. Once her spell was completed, the lights had retreated and Merlin seemed to be aware of where he was.
Ma'ab walked over to him and began to stroke his forehead. The boy's breathing sounded painful. The wound on his chest was bleeding rather badly. His head lolled onto one side, the bloody wound pressing against the stone. Ma'ab felt her heart lurch with sympathy as Merlin whimpered.
Ma'ab lifted his injured cheek off the stone, her fingers well away from the wound that the thorns had created. She then ran her hand through his hair. Merlin then attempted to speak but the sorceress placed a finger over his mouth, still stroking his hair, sometimes rubbing the cheek that had not been injured. After a while, Merlin's breathing began to ease. Whenever he tried to speak, she just shook her head, her finger still on his mouth.
"I'm so sorry Merlin," she whispered, feeling a single tear rolling down her face. She felt the magic swell inside her and the roots of the tree began to slither across the floor. Once they reached the stone altar the climbed up the stone and over Merlin. The warlock started to panic and he began to breathe heavily again. The roots snaked over Merlin, holding him in place, climbing towards his head. All the while the warlock didn't look away from her.
Ma'ab tried to comfort him but he still gave a meek cry of fright. She felt more tears form in her eyes as she ran her hand through his hair. She watched as the roots snaked into his mouth. He cried out again but it only left his mouth as a gurgling noise.
The sorceress began to mutter to Merlin.
"It's alright Merlin. This is going to save you, I promise. I'm so sorry... I'm so so sorry."
The boy's eyes began to flutter close as the magic took hold. Ma'ab kissed him on the head, her hand briefly touching the bruises from when Merlin had fallen off the chair in Arthur's chambers.
The lights muttered in a mournful tone.
"Let's just thank the Old Religion for letting us save him," she replied. "Now we have to wait."
Ma'ab walked away from the unconscious boy and towards the tree, where her mirror swirled in the looped branch.
Gaius was sitting in a chair, next to the bed where Merlin had been lying only about an hour ago. Gwen was standing next to him, watching the physician's sombre expression. They were alone, the guards, who had told them about what had happened to Merlin, had already left.
Minutes later they heard footsteps and Arthur walked in, looking as if he had watched someone die.
"The king has been informed but I'm not sure he will take action to find Merlin," he explained.
He looked at Gaius.
"I'm so sorry. I should have made sure that he had been completely drugged. Then maybe..."
Arthur didn't want to finish.
"If Ma'ab was left alone with him then she would have been able to wake him," Gaius said.
"I still can't believe that Una was actually Ma'ab," Arthur growled. "Merlin trusted her. So did I for that matter."
"But if she'd wanted to hurt anyone then she would have. She had plenty of opportunities to do so, so why did she do nothing?" Gwen wondered.
"Maybe she was getting grips with what the enemy territory was like," Arthur suggested.
"That doesn't explain why she took Merlin though," Gwen said.
"There may be one explanation," Gaius muttered.
"What?" Gwen and Arthur said in unison.
"Well, Ma'ab knew Balinor-"
"And Balinor knew Merlin's father," Arthur interrupted. "Did Merlin's father ever meet Ma'ab?"
"Quite a few times, now that you mention it," Gaius said.
"So do you think that Ma'ab may want Merlin because of his father?" Gwen queried.
"It's possible but..." Gaius then seemed to remember something. "Oh no."
"Gaius?"
"The goblet. It burnt Arthur but Merlin never touched it, so..." Gaius slapped a hand to his head. "How could I forget, even for a couple of days? She needs him."
"What does Ma'ab need Merlin for?" Arthur asked, seriously.
"I can't tell you Arthur but it is essential that we find Merlin before something happens."
"Gaius, is she going to use Merlin for some sort of ritual that could result in losing Merlin and the destruction of Camelot?" Arthur asked, becoming impatient.
From the look that Gaius gave him, Arthur knew what the answer was. More than likely.
"But why Merlin of all people?" Gwen muttered. "She could have taken anybody, so why Merlin?"
"That is something I can't answer Gwen," Gaius said, lying through his teeth.
Arthur had walked to the window and was staring out at the countryside.
"This is just great. Morgana was kidnapped by Morgause and now Ma'ab has Merlin. Who next?"
Gwen looked at him.
"Nobody will be next," Arthur said, answering himself. "I'm going to find Merlin and take care of Ma'ab as well."
"Arthur," Gaius said, cautiously. "Don't forget that Ma'ab is the Queen of the Old Religion."
Arthur rubbed his forehead.
"I'm still going to find him Gaius. The only thing is I'd need a miracle to figure out where she's taken Merlin."
If it was even possible, Arthur was staring at himself asleep in his bed in Camelot. He was so shocked that he thought that he was dead. But instead of going black, his vision moved from his body on the bed to the window.
He then saw Camelot speed past underneath him. The forest flew behind him and he passed many villages that he recognised. He then reached a range of mountains that Arthur knew were on the edge of the kingdom. There was another forest at the foot of the mountains near the end of the forest he reached a cliff with a ruined castle on the edge, next to a waterfall. He was following the waterfall back inland until he saw a tributary in the river and the small stream entered the castle as Arthur did.
Plants covered almost every inch of the walls, floor and what was left of the ceiling. The pillars were hidden by lengths of vines. In a large expanse of space, a tree stuck out of the ground, ancient but still strong. By its shadow was a stone altar and on the altar was...
Arthur felt a wave of shock flow through him. Merlin was lying, unconscious, on the stone. He was held down by a number of roots. The boy was so still and pale.
Suddenly, Merlin's eyes flew open. They weren't blue. Instead they were a golden colour.
Arthur woke, sitting up in bed. Looking around, he realised he was in his room. It had only been a dream.
Or had it? It had seemed so real that, when he thought about it, Arthur was certain that it was. How he had dreamt something like that, Arthur wasn't sure. He did know that it wasn't something to be ignored.