Chapter 10: Revelations

Merlin raced down the last of the steps that led to the great cavern, straining his ears over the sound of his own footsteps. He could have sworn that he had heard voices a few moments ago… but that was absurd.

Skidding to a halt on the edge of the precipice ledge, Merlin held his torch aloft and panted heavily, staring across the gaping void at the towering form of the Dragon. The ancient reptile appeared to taste the air as it sat perched upon its platform of rock, eyes darting quickly back and forth.

Merlin passed his hand across his mouth, finally regaining enough breath to speak, "I need your help!" he shouted.

The Dragon made no reply to this plea, nor even gave an indication that he acknowledged Merlin's presence; he simply continued to flick his tongue out into the air and sniff the cool cavernous space tentatively.

"What are you doing?" the young apprentice questioned.

"There was a bad smell in the air," the Dragon replied matter-of-factly, turning at last to face him, "But it is no matter young Warlock, it has gone now."

With that the great beast heaved himself up and with an almighty rattling of chains, unfurled his majestic wings and made to fly off into the depths of darkness.

"Wait!" cried Merlin in alarm as if his very voice could reach out and pull the Dragon back to him, "You can't leave, I need your help!"

"Yes, yes, yes…" sighed the Dragon, lowering his wings but not turning around again, "There is always some dire emergency that requires my help… and yet… you have given me nothing in return."

"What is it you want?" he asked in exasperation, staring around the bare rock walls of the catacomb in bewilderment. Then his eyes suddenly lit up as a thought struck him, "What about food? I could bring you some…wait…" he paused, taking a second look around the cavern, "What do you eat down here?"

A wry smile spread across the Dragon's reptilian features, revealing two rows of razor sharp teeth as he began to chuckle loudly, "I believe, child, that it would greatly harm your… susceptibilities if I answered that question. Never fear, Uther provides more than moderately for my needs."

"…Then what DO you want?" Merlin asked in frustration, eager to obtain any information he could and chafing at this unnecessary delay.

"What I desire from you cannot be bought or sold, or even held in your hand," he replied in a sombre tone.

A look of confusion passed across Merlin's face, "What is it?"

"It is something of great value to me and yet will cost you nothing," he replied, the insidiousness of his voice going unnoticed by Merlin.

"What? Tell me; what is it you want!"

The Dragon paused for a moment and lowered himself until his eyes were level with those of the young warlock before him, "What I require from you is your word that in helping you now, you will repay me in the future in a manner that I see fit."

"Of course!" cried Merlin without hesitation, "I will do anything I can for you, now please – you must help me!"

Unable to hide the smug tone in his voice, the Great Kilgharrah sighed contentedly and lowered himself once more onto his haunches, "Very well young Warlock, I suppose that the Lady Morgana will not sleep all day."

"You know of her wounds?" asked Merlin, his eyes widening in surprise.

"It seems the walls have ears does it not."

"Then you know of the creature that I saw hiding in the shadows? I believe that they have used magic somehow to incriminate Morgana," he blurted out in a rush, "I must find out who they are and their motives and clear Morgana before it's too late!"

"Merlin… you must remember that with magic, things are often not as they seem. But in this case… things may be exactly as they seem."

"What are you saying… that Morgana's guilty?"

"Simply that the Witch is not to be trusted, her loyalties are… divided."

Merlin raised his torch above his head and pointed it accusingly at the oversized reptile, shaking his head emphatically, "I don't believe you!"

The Dragon let out a resigned sigh and fixed Merlin in a hard glare, "Very well, you may ignore my warnings… but it will be at your own peril."

Merlin shook his head once more as if to force these words out of his ears, "So will you help me?"

The Dragon smiled sardonically at Merlin's impatience, "The people you speak of are an ancient race called the Scáthan. Many moons ago, eons before this realm was formed and the Pendragon dynasty began; these people studied the very essence of their physical makeup."

"The study of anatomy is outlawed!" Merlin protested automatically.

"Their investigations were nothing remotely similar to that most rudimentary of studies," scoffed the Dragon, "The Scáthan were able to use their magic to literally pull apart their physical components into essential elements without breaking that connective spark."

"Wouldn't that have killed them?

The Dragon gave a low chuckle at the boy's naivety, "It is not something learned overnight, it was a study that took generations to master until finally, they were able to shed their physical bodies and slip into what they call 'The Realm of Shadows'."

"I had no idea such creatures even existed!" breather Merlin in awe.

"That is simply because the Scáthan people have been all but wiped out… the 'Mighty' Uther Pendragon saw to that!" said the Dragon in contempt, his long spiked tail whipping back and forth angrily.

"Uther… of course," the young wizard sighed, raising his eyes to the roof of the cavern in despair at Uther's hatred of magic.

"The Scáthan had been allied with Camelot for countless generations; its King's using the Scáthan forces as their eyes and ears…"

Merlin's head snapped back to face the Dragon at this, his jaw hanging open, "They were allies!" he exclaimed in shock.

A knowing smile played upon Kilgharrah's scaly lips, "You are surprised at the depths Uther would sink to in order to rid his precious Kingdom of magic?"

Merlin stood motionless for a moment, contemplating the Dragon's words. For Uther to condemn to death sorcerers and druids intent on harming his Kingdom was one thing. To slaughter his own allies… that was quite another.

"Well, I guess we have a motive," he said at last, "Is there any way to expose them? I must clear Morgana's name!"

The great beast contemplated Merlin for a few moments longer before making up his mind and leaning forward once more, "It takes much concentration for the Scáthan to negotiate between our two worlds. To reveal them you must dull their senses."

"How is that possible?"

"Uther lured the entire Scáthan collective into a staged feast in their honour and fed them wine laced with an opiate to confuse the mind…" The Dragon's voice trailed away as he left the implications of this statement hanging in the air, images of a bloody massacre flashing instantly through Merlin's head. He could almost hear the screams and the panic of a helpless people unable to escape, "But as this course of action would be impossible for you," the Dragon continued, "You must choke their senses instead."

"How so?" asked Merlin in a small voice, almost regretting having to expose the creature at all, if it weren't for Morgana's sake.

Kilgharrah smiled mischievously, "You aren't going to like it…"

Merlin cursed the Dragon for the fifth time, as he waded ankle deep into the filth of the royal equestrian dung heap. He had removed his boots and rolled his breaches up to his knees in an attempt to keep relatively clean but was now regretting that as the feel of rotting manure and pigswill oozed between his toes.

Struggling to the back of the compound and around the full height of the stinking muck beside him, Merlin finally saw what he was looking for; a deep furrow in the ground running along beside the dung heap, filled to the brim with a dark and sinister looking liquid. Crouching down over this misshapen trough, he gagged violently as the stench of ammonia hit his nostrils… the stale and acrid smell of decomposing Urine.

Shaking his head in disbelief at the things he was forced to do in the name of friendship and destiny, Merlin rolled back his left sleeve and gingerly sunk his hand into the fowl waters. Reaching into the deepest pits of the urine, among the straw and detritus, his fingers closed over hard, miniature crystals. Drawing out his hand, Merlin inspected the tiny opaque chunks that lay on his palm, before carefully dropping them into a small drawstring pouch and repeating the process until a sizeable amount sat heavy in the bag.

Fighting his way back out of the mire and retrieving his shoes, Merlin hurried back towards Gaius' work room. The Dragon's instructions had been clear; ordinary dampened wood fire would not smoke quickly enough to entrap the Scáthan woman. Instead he had given him a strange new potion to mix that when lit would smoke rapidly and take her by surprise.

First, he must gather a substance that he had called 'sal petræ' or stone salt, produced in Urine left to fester among straw for many months. Merlin had thought the Dragon to be playing some form of cruel joke on him until he had seen the crytals with his own eyes.

Lost as he was in his own thoughts and focused on his task in hand, Merlin didn't notice the Prince appraoching until he was almost on top of him.

"Merlin!" Aurther shouted impatiently, "Where have you been? I sent men to the Archives to check on your progress and they said you were not there and Godfrey had not even seen you th-… argh!" Arther gagged and recoiled in horror as the fowl odour that surrounded Merlin hit him full in the face, "You stink!"

"Why thank you sire," replied his manservant with a mischevious grin.

"What on Earth happened to you!" Arther exclaimed incredulously.

"Uh… long story."

"Summarise," replied Arthur flatly.

"Um… ok… I found a recipe in the archives that will cause an explosion of smoke and trap the woman I saw so that she cannot escape again… but it called for some quite… unusual ingredients."

"Excrement?!"

"No… Urine crystals," Merlin replied innocently.

"Urine crystals," Arthur repeated in disbelief, "And tell me Merlin, how did you find this recipe if you haven't actually been to the archives?"

"Oh I've been there, I must have just missed Godfrey, you know how he is these days," said Merlin quickly, rolling his eyes in an exaggerated gesture, "He's always nodding off."

"Is he?" said Arthur sceptically, "Well regardless of that… how are you so certain that this smoke mixture will work?"

Merlin thought quickly, "There was a passage logged next the recipe text… it ah… it spoke of unusual creatures that hide in the shadows… this mixture was used to capture them."

Arthur still looked unconvinced as he took another step back and held his arm over his face in revulsion, "Well Merlin, you had better be right. The day is almost spent and my Father will be asking for a report soon. Do whatever you must to make this smoking concoction of yours and meet me back in Morgana's chambers. My Knights and I are still questioning the court officials."

"Yes sire, I'll need to change Morgana's dressings soon anyway," agreed Merlin thankfully, anxious to complete his mission.

"Oh and Merlin… have a bath!"

"Yes sire," he said again, grinning openly now as he hurried down the concourse, his bare feet slipping on the cobbled stones. He ran the recipe through in his head once more and grimly watched the sun as it began to sink behind the battlement walls. There was still much to be done and time was running out.

*****