Gold
Chapter Eleven
Deep in the cavern of the spring, Arthur, Excalibur firm in his hand, walked cautiously around the tunnels. He wanted desperately to run to find Merlin, but he was aware that he'd fallen through a trapdoor and he definitely didn't want that to happen to him again. He was on the lookout for the hideous spectre of a man as well. The tunnels that he travelled down were far less ornate than he had seen so far, but the stone was still well-carved from the rock and was very smooth and the sconces on the wall were actually carved out of the rock and while simple, they were elegantly done. Arthur noticed all of this as he searched high and low for any obvious traps.
As he walked, he felt his right foot press down on something that felt like a little pebble. He moved his foot and looked down, bending to see what it was. A small sound, like someone sighing gently, and a 'thwack' on the opposite wall caught his attention and he looked up from where he was crouching. An arrow with a green phosphorescence had shot out of the wall that he'd been next to at chest height and had hit the wall opposite instead of him. Arthur's eyes opened wide, and still crouched, he ran as fast as he could in that position around the next corner straight through a localised cloud of grey smoke. Arthur stopped just after he'd run through it and brought his left hand up to his nose to protect him from whatever noxious fumes he'd just run through when the smoke called his name.
"Arthur," a woman's voice called him. He whirled to look at it- no, her, he realised. A pale outline of grey showed him a woman with flowing hair and a long court dress with a crown. He dropped his hand to his side.
"You're Queen Alianor?" he asked, though without the intonation of a question in his voice.
He saw the ghost of a smile on her face even though he could barely see her.
"Yes," she said.
"You're a ghost," he said bluntly.
"I am an essence of a spirit," she corrected him. "I never died. I was..." she thought about it for a moment, "... exiled."
"By the sorcerer and the rogue?" Arthur asked.
"Yes," she said. "I am gratified that my legend has survived all this time."
"You are aware of time then?" He asked her.
She merely smiled, not answering his question. "We have only so much time Arthur, Merlin needs your help, and I can't answer all of your questions before you've helped him."
Arthur's eyes widened. "What do I have to do? Take me to him," he ordered her, his princely tone coming out, but without any arrogance.
Alianor turned and started to glide down the tunnels. Arthur followed her without question around tunnels, up steps and down slopes, the artistry of the tunnels and catacombs was becoming more and more brilliant.
After several quick turns and corners, Arthur came to a small chamber with several tunnels going off from it and he thought he'd lost her. "Alianor!" he shouted, his voice echoing cruelly back to him. "Alianor! Where are you!?"
She appeared then, much to Arthur's relief from one of the central tunnel entrances.
"Quickly Arthur!" she motioned to him. She was still only a vague ghostlike image to him, but he could hear her voice clearly and he followed. She led him through a great room filled with gold and treasure.
As they entered the room, Arthur stopped in his tracks, his jaw dropping open at the insane amount of wealth in this room alone. The further the Queen went into the room, the torches on the wall nearest to her lit up showing Arthur more of the treasure within. This was clearly what the treasure hunters over the centuries had been after but had never found. The room fairly glowed with the golden walls alone and the vaulted ceilings with great buttresses and pillars holding it up. Gold was everywhere in all forms- cups and chalices, plates and cutlery, suits of armour and coin. There were jewels in mounds and wooden furniture in the most exotic styles clearly from other ancient lands around the world. Bolts of silk and never-before-seen materials were protected with see-through materials, but many were displayed on the walls with beautiful embroidery and paintings on them and there were shelves upon shelves of scrolls and ancient manuscripts. And that was only what Arthur could see at that particular moment from his small viewpoint at the entrance. It was more than a sight to behold- it was a once-in-a-lifetime sight, and he was transfixed, his mind having gone blank.
"Arthur!" The Queen was ahead of him, but he soon came to his senses and caught up with her as she'd stopped by a plinth containing a few objects within a glass box. Clearly they were by far more important than everything else in the room, though they didn't look any grander. Although it must be near impossible to get any more grand than what is already here, Arthur thought to himself.
"That goblet in the middle," the Queen said.
"What of it?" Arthur asked, looking at it. He reached in and took it out, hefting it in his hand. It didn't look to be made of gold, but it was exquisite in it's construction with delicate filigree all around the outside of it. It had been well-loved too, as it was worn in places.
"It is a cup that can heal a person who is mortally wounded," she told him. Arthur dropped it as if it had burned him and instinctively took a step back, his lip curling downwards.
"I've heard of these cups- these cups of life- they require balance," Arthur spat the word out. He knew of the bargain that had to be made with these. "What do I need this for anyway?" He left it lying where it was, so innocuous on the dusty ground.
He unconsciously wiped his hand on his breastplate, feeling tainted by touching the goblet.
"This is not a cup of that crudity," the Queen assured him. "This grail gives life without taking it. It required no balance, it seeks only to right a wrong- a life that should never have been taken."
"Whose life has been taken?" Arthur asked, and then his breath suddenly got stuck in his throat. "Merlin," he whispered out. "What's happened to him?!" he roared. "He had only been wounded by smoke when he fell- I saw it!"
"The traps are magical and they are all lethal," the Queen pointed out, calmly, but sadly. "Merlin is hanging on to life, but only barely. He needs the restorative magic that only this goblet can bring. You must fill it from the spring which flows through Arosslegne like life blood, and get him to drink it."
At her words, Arthur shot down and snatched up the goblet, and ran after the Queen who had seen his heart and his intentions and had already set off in the right direction for him to follow.
Something Arthur had noticed as he'd gone through the catacombs was that the water supply was channelled all throughout, even down the most nondescript tunnel, there was always a water channel in the floor. Alianor wasn't wrong when she described it as Arosslegne's life blood. And then it occurred to him that he was indeed standing within that ancient and mythical city and that it was as real as he was. If he hadn't been so hell-bent on finding Merlin, he would have felt in awe of where he was. He wondered just for a moment when it had become known just as Rosslyn.
But that's not important, he reminded himself as he followed the Queen. She had tipped him off several times when there was a trap ahead of him and he'd done exactly as she'd told him to do, although a few of them had just required him running for his life which after all these years, he was getting good at. As was Merlin. Usually. "Hold on Merlin," he whispered as he ran, "I'm coming," and he ran faster, following the spirit up ahead.
They came to another small chamber that split up into several tunnels. "This place really is a maze," he commented as they ran down the furthermost left tunnel.
He thought he heard a small laugh from the Queen. "With treasure like you've seen, are you really amazed at it?"
He saw her point of view.
They were down a dim tunnel of just plain stone again, the torches few and far between, but just enough to shed light ahead of Arthur. Suddenly, the dim grey ghost in front of him disappeared. Arthur was about to yell out for Alianor when he saw a lump on the ground. He ran towards it and dropped.
"Merlin!" Arthur's heart fell as he saw who it was.
Merlin was on his front, head tilted awkwardly to his side and he was unconscious. Arthur put the goblet on the floor and grabbed Merlin by the shoulders, rolling him over and bracing his head which felt feverishly hot against Arthur's knee. Arthur realised that Merlin's left shoulder was burning hotter than his head was. He moved his hand and saw that the shoulder was glowing dimly like a fire about to go out. He put his face close to Merlin's to check his breathing. It was there, but only just, and even in the dim light, with his face that close to Merlin's, Arthur could see the wisps of smoke coming from his mouth.
Arthur leaned over to grab the cup and then found the small channel of water where floor met wall and filled it with a few mouthfuls of water. He brought the goblet to Merlin's lips and managed to get some inside him, though a lot of it fell down his face in rivulets instead. Arthur stroked Merlin's throat, trying to encourage him to swallow the water and he saw that that at least had worked. Merlin swallowed a few drops.
And then Arthur waited, putting the goblet back on the floor and stroked Merlin's hair, trying to comfort the younger man while he waited.
And waited.
"Come one Merlin," he begged his friend quietly.
In the darkness, Arthur wasn't sure how long he waited, but it seemed too long. He went to pick up the goblet again- maybe he hadn't given Merlin enough water. Maybe the Queen had been wrong.
"Arthur?" the whisper was quiet- far too quiet for his intolerably loud manservant, but it was enough to make Arthur smile.
"I'm here," he said, the ache he'd felt when he'd seen Merlin there on the floor made it too difficult just then to say anything else.
"My throat feels disgusting," Merlin whispered.
Arthur retrieved the goblet and leant over to the water channel again and filled the cup. He brought it up to Merlin's lips and tilted it to try and get more in Merlin's mouth this time, and less on his face.
"Thanks," he whispered.
Arthur and Merlin stayed where they were until Arthur could hear Merlin's breathing getting closer to normal. "Think you can sit up now?" Arthur asked him, "only your fat head is making my leg go to sleep."
Merlin laughed, although it came out more as a dry wheezing. "If anyone is getting fat around here, it's you, your Royal Pratness," he retorted as he, with Arthur's help, managed to sit leaning against the wall. Arthur sat next to him, also leaning against the wall.
"I'm not fat!" Arthur said, giving Merlin the refilled goblet so that he could have another drink.
Merlin's mouth was too dry to make another comeback, so he had no choice but to take the water from Arthur and merely raise an eyebrow instead which actually had more of an effect on Arthur than a comment might have done. "I'm not!" he protested.
Merlin refilled the goblet and had another drink. His throat felt like it was on fire and like it would never be back to normal again. But the fact that he was alive and with Arthur was enough for him just then. Merlin looked down at his shoulder. Any trace of the glow had disappeared, and the burning had gone, as had the gunk in his throat and the feeling of suffocation. It was bliss. He looked around at the tunnel. "How did you find me?" he asked.
Arthur looked a little uncomfortable, realising what he was about to say and how it might make him look. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Um... Queen Alianor. I saw her ghost," he admitted. "Well, spirit," he corrected himself.
Merlin smiled. "Me too," he said. Arthur immediately looked relieved.
"You did?" he asked.
"Yes," Merlin said. "She was showing me where to go when I... collapsed."
"Wait a minute," Arthur said, frowning. "How did you get down here?"
"Another trapdoor apparently, or so Queen Alianor told me." He had another drink. "She said you had a good landing from your trapdoor experience."
Arthur snorted. "I fell into a lake," he said flatly, unimpressed. His wet hair was still dripping down his neck. Then he shrugged, "but given how far I fell, it was just as well. The Queen appeared to me after I set a trap off and showed me how to get to you."
Merlin sat up straight, alarmed. "You set a trap off? Are you alright?" He peered at Arthur who rolled his eyes.
"Yes Merlin, I'm fine- she's been showing me where they all are and how to dodge them."
They sat there for a moment longer. "Can you get up now?" Arthur asked him, not wanting to push his friend, but also not wanting to sit there any longer. They'd taken up quite enough time with not doing anything.
Merlin thought for a second and then nodded. He braced himself against the wall and stood up, feeling much better than he had done last time he'd tried doing that. The room had stopped spinning too. Arthur was at his side then, looking at him, clearly checking up on him, concern in his eyes.
"I'm fine Arthur," Merlin reassured him.
The Queen appeared then.
"Come, both of you, the sorcerer's guardian spirit is approaching!" And with that announcement, she set off at speed back the way Arthur had come, the two men following her.
"Who is this man?" Arthur asked, slightly out of breath as they ran.
"He is one of the magical guardians that the sorcerer left behind to deter anyone who might come here, along with all of the traps, magical and otherwise which you've already come across," she told them.
"And where are you taking us now?"
"To my prison," she said. "I need your help." They ran through the chamber with the many tunnels leading off it into one that Arthur hadn't been into before, and she was gaining speed. Arthur ran with Merlin to make sure that he was still able to breathe and keep up. He seemed to be doing fine and Arthur spared a moment's glance at the goblet in Merlin's hand. "I have been imprisoned in the ether for centuries," Alianor told them, her voice just about reaching them from where she was ahead, "unable to return to my body and unable to wander even around these catacombs. When a ruthless band of thieves started to look for the wealth of Arosslegne, they started to set off the curses that had been put in place here so long ago and they woke me up, as it were, just as I was supposed to- I was supposed to be able to tell the sorcerer who did this to me what was happening so that he could stop them as he wanted everything for himself. In ghostly form, I was also apparently another one of his traps to scare people away. But this was a long time ago," her voice sounded tired now, even though the speed at which they were running was having no effect on her. "The thieves disturbed the magic and the curses as they were getting perilously close to the catacombs and so I sought out a brilliant magical mind to help me."
"I'm sorry that there aren't many of those left," Arthur lamented for her, a guilt flowing through his soul.
She stopped then, suddenly. If she'd been a real person with a body, both Merlin and Arthur would have run into her back, but they managed to stop quickly anyway. She turned to them and pointed to the end of the tunnel. This tunnel had many small flagstones on the floor.
"You must be careful where you step here," she told them. "Many of these small flagstones are sensitive to pressure and if you step on them, you'll join the dead kings down here in Avalon. You should go one at a time so that I can guide you individually through the maze."
"I'll go first," Merlin said without hesitation.
"Merlin, no!" Arthur protested, but before he could stop him, Merlin had taken a step forwards and the Queen was helping him. Arthur didn't dare take a step further, just in case he stepped on something and endangered Merlin. Instead, he contented himself with throwing insults at his manservant's back. "Merlin, you're such an idiot!" he threw his arms up in the air. "What sort of fool does that?" he dropped his arms with a slap back to his sides. "To deliberately go against the order of your King! I should put you in the stocks for this!"
"Arthur!" Merlin's distracted voice echoed at him from a few steps away that he'd taken. "I'm trying to concentrate!"
Arthur snorted and then huffed, going to fold his arms sulkily, and then remembering that he still held Excalibur. He wasn't really annoyed, just concerned for his friend who had only recently recovered from his bout with death.
Arthur anxiously watched Merlin's progress until he got to the end and the chamber that was beyond. The Queen had clearly told Merlin that he was safe from there on in as Merlin turned and smiled at Arthur as he took a step into the chamber.
A massive stone slab suddenly fell from the ceiling where Merlin had stood a moment before and descended into the doorway cutting Arthur off from Merlin and Merlin from him.
"Merlin!" Arthur yelled. "MERLIN!"