Chapter Ten: The End of the Road
Mordrid and Morgana stood before the alters of a great shrine. Great windows looked out into the darkness of space and there, among them, a great chasm was visible. The Meddling Monk stood before the shrine working dials and controls.
"There, that is it. The Veil of Avalon, a chasm to the world where the magic here is born from. Go there and you will have all the power in the universe at your fingertips. Go and become the legendary Morgaine, destroyer of worlds."
"I…I don't" Morgana sputtered," don't want to be a destroyer or worlds, I just wish to stop Uther."
"Then take the power and stop Uther Pendragon and his reign." Mortimus twisted around and looked at her, and then to the teenaged Mordrid. His blue eyes seemed to glow pressing in on Morgana and even Mordrid, hidden behind his dark long hair, he seemed to be sucked into Mortimus' plan.
The renaissance fair was reeling as the fictional jousting contest turned real. Arthur and Merlin both appeared content as the final competitor fell from his horse and clambered off unwilling to fight. The King and Queen waved to Arthur as he trotted to them.
"Dear knight, your prowess is formidable; we grant you knighthood of our realm. Tell us, what is your real name, it is apparent Arthur Pendragon is your realm name."
"Realm name," Arthur said, "what in Camelot is a realm name?"
"Come now," said the king, "your acting prowess is even greater than your combat skill, but tell use where you do come from? London perhaps?"
"I have no clue what you're on about. I'm Arthur Pendragon, son of Uther Pendragon, prince and heir to the throne of Camelot and dragon slayer." Arthur's words dripped with arrogance and Merlin had to smile. "Arthur, do remember we're in nineteen hundred and seventy-one. Maybe Camelot doesn't exist anymore."
"Don't be daft, Merlin, of course Camelot still exists. She is the greatest kingdom of our time."
"Yes, Our time…"
The king and queen looked to each other in disbelief as the conversation continued, and in similar instance Captain Jack Harkness appeared.
"I see you boys have made a bit of a statement. We should be heading back the Doctor is almost done."
"Right, right..fine…" Arthur just there took off his armor dropping it where he stood. "Merlin wash that up and put it back in the tent."
"Gah…come on…it's their armor and I don't have any…"
"Don't worry about it," said Jack, "just leave it and get back in the van."
It was another long frightful drive back to the Torchwood headquarters where the Doctor met up with three of them. He was waiting for them by the TARDIS which was parked in the driveway of the large mansion. His long brown coat was covered in a slick looking goo and his hair was ruffled from it's usual faux hawk.
"Doctor, find out what was wrong?" said Jack, "these two made a right state of the renaissance fair here."
"I'm sure they did. Get in, all of you…no not you Jack." The Doctor pointed at the Captain and gave him the 'I'm older than you do as I say' look, even though Jack was a few thousand years older than the Doctor now.
"Come On Doctor…I'm stuck in the Seventies…look at the style…the technology, I need some fifty first century now how…"
"Well we're going to the eleventh century, not much help to you." The Doctor winked and closed the doors behind him. With a whir the TARDIS was gone.
"Damn it Doctor…" Jack folded his armed and walked into Torchwood.
Several miles south of Camelot the TARDIS appeared in the wake of a massive assault upon the outlaying farms and homes. Several houses were destroyed, others over grown by vines, and a path of cleared debris, dirt, rock, and hillside made a straight shot to the gates of Camelot. Long in the distance the haze of smoke could be seen.
The Doctor, Merlin, and Arthur stepped out into the dugout lane.
"Okay kiddies, here's the deal, those plants are just a distraction. Mortimus is on to something bigger, deadlier, and if we're not careful history altering. If I had to guess it has something to do with the anti-magic policies of your father and the uprising of magic users that was supposed to occur this year." The Doctor was pacing back and forth, his hands to his head pulling at his hair.
"Doctor, I think there is something wrong with Arthur." Merlin was holding his now doubled over friend who was oozing green goo from his afflicted left arm.
"Yes, I know, he was infected like you were…the question is why hasn't the flu affecting you yet."
The Doctor came eye to eye with Merlin scanning over him with the sonic screwdriver. "It has to be something to do with the magical energy that is embedded here. Think….think think….oh it's there…come on!"
"Could I be immune because of the magic?"
"Part of it…okay basics, King Arthur…grail…giant…GIANT…he defeated a giant…the giant who killed his father…Merlin guided him after making the elixir of life…Elixir, that's it…a Tharaform cure….but we need a Vesparform queen…"
"A vespa-what?" Merlin sputtered as he pulled Arthur upright. His face was green and ill, a downtrodden tired aura emanated from him.
"Quick, we need a large queen bee or just a normal worker bee." The Doctor ran into the woods before waiting for an answer.
"What For…" Merlin yelled out to him.
The Doctor stormed into the brush and several hundred feet in he found what he was looking for. A bee's hive was situated along the V of a tree trunk. The bees were much larger than the bumblebees and wasps normally found and the head of a much larger insect seemed to be propped up and outside the hive.
The hum of the bees changed as he approached and the mandibles of the queen bee clamped shut as it turned its multi-lens eyes focused on the Doctor.
"Children, protect me, an intruder has come…"
"Wait…wait wait…hold on, I'm not an enemy of the Vesparforms."
The Queen's head twisted to one side and chomped it's mandibles.
"I'm the Doctor and I'm in need of some of your jelly, life and death situation, sort of an emergency…"
"The Doctor…there are legends of you told in my home world. What is a time lord doing on this planet?"
"I could ask the same of a Vesparform queen, but I have neither the time nor the patience at this moment to answer you. Please give me some jelly, my friend is Dying…"
"Bah…time lords…always demanding…lofty creatures you are…remember this Doctor, I trade you this for a future favor."
"I don't suppose you've seen a movie called The Godfather?"
"Moo-bee….hahaha….never heard of such a thing. Come time lord take the honey you have asked for." A small bulge appeared and then popped in the side of the hive where a small gush of honey slowly ran down the side. The Doctor rushed forward and with a small handkerchief collected a moderate amount of thick brown honey.
"Remember the deal Doctor…"
"I will, thank you." The Doctor returned to Merlin who was moving his hands up and down Arthur whispering words of magic to stem the metamorphosis.
"Merlin, spread this over his arms and place a small amount in his mouth. We need to act quickly and change the honey into a metastasis poultice while it's on him. Once it's changed it will enter the blood stream and destroy the mutagen that has invaded his body."
Minutes later the honey was spread over the infected areas and fed to the now unconscious Arthur. The Doctor looked at Merlin and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Merlin, to save him we need to make this work fast, the sonic screwdriver can amplify the affects but not enough, I need you to make the sound that comes out of it as loud as possible, can you do that?"
"I…I can try."
"Good," the Doctor started waving the sonic screwdriver over Arthur's arms and then on his face, "okay start amplifying it."
Merlin nodded brought his hands together over Arthur and said, "Gwna hon blymio 'n drwm." The sound amplified by tenfold making a high pitched screech. The green ooze subsided and Arthur's face began to deflate and return to normal.