Sorry this one's such a short one! And it's late by a day! I promise Monday's update will have more (and more original) content.
Impossibility || Merlin
"Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect."
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
"Well?" Uther asked. Gaius had finished his examination of Leon after his miraculous return. It had been over a week since Merlin had first seen Elsa's magic, and it had been a week of great progress. Elsa now had more control than ever. She and Merlin, sometimes accompanied by Kristoff, regularly returned to the clearing so that she could practice, and by this point, it was obvious that practice was just what she needed. Merlin hoped that she had gone to practice today, even though he had been stuck with chores. It had only been less than a day since Sir Leon had returned alive from a battle that had been thought fatal, and both Arthur and Gaius had wanted Merlin to be nearby.
"It's remarkable, Sire. He bears no sign of any kind of wound," Gaisu said. "He's in perfect health."
"And the cup he spoke of?" Uther probed.
"From his description, I would say it was the Cup of LIfe."
Merlin looked at Gaius with surprise. Wouldn't the cup have been destroyed, or left on the Isle?
"You are aware of its power, Gaius," Uther reminded the physician.
"I am indeed, Sire," Gaius said. "But the druids are peaceful people. They would only ever use the Cup for good. Sir Leon is surely proof of that.
"Be that as it may, according to Sir Leon's description, the druids' cave lies within Cenred's kingdom. It is imperative that we get to the Cup before he does."
Gaius eyed the king warily. "My Lord, druids are secretive by nature. They will have the Cup well hidden. Might it not be wise to leave it where it is?"
Merlin already knew the answer. Nothing involving magic would ever be worth that risk to Uther. It was a threat until is was destroyed, or put "safely" into Camelot's vaults.
"I'm not prepared to take that risk," was indeed Uther's predictable answer.
0o0o0o0o0
"I thought the Cup was destroyed with Nimueh when I defeated her on the Isle of the Blessed," Merlin confessed to Gaius once they had reached their rooms.
Gaius shook his head. "The Cup cannot be destroyed. Its magic is eternal, unbound by time or place.
"But why does Uther fear it so much?" A life could only be saved if another was taken, so it wasn't as if anyone would benefit from raising soldiers to life. Unless they did so by killing the enemies soldiers. There was Leon as well. Whose life had been given for his? There were obviously loopholes in the system.
"Because the Cup can be used for evil as well as good."
"I don't understand." Or he didn't want to understand. It didn't quite make sense yet.
"Many centuries ago, it fell into the possession of a great warlord," Gaius began. "One night, he gathered his army before him. He took a drop of blood from each and every man and collected it in the Cup. Such was the vessel's power that the soldiers were made immortal where they stood."
"So they could not be killed."
Gaius nodded. "The carnage they wrought was beyond all imagining. The King's no fool. He knows that the forces of the Old Religion are rising against him once more. Heaven forbid that the Cup should fall into the hands of Morgause."
"Or Morgana," Merlin added.
"With Such a weapon at their disposal, Camelot would be all but lost."
0o0o0o0
"You will be ready by sunrise, won't you Merlin?" Arthur asked. Merlin figured he should have expected something to happen, what with everything going on. Everything had been peaceful in Camelot for far too long.
"If I don't know where we're going, how do I know what to pack? Will it be hot? Will it be cold? Will it be wet? Will it be dry?"
"Don't be such a girl, Merlin. We're not going on holiday."
"Holiday? What's a holiday?" Merlin couldn't remember the last time he'd heard that word, which meant his last holiday had been… had he ever taken a holiday since working for Arthur? Merlin grabbed one of Arthur's capes in order to pack it when Arthur rejected that, too.
"Not that. Nothing bearing the crest of Camelot. We're going undercover."
"This is ridiculous. Are you going to tell me where we're going or not?" It would definitely be a not, but it couldn't hurt to ask.
"Well, I can tell you it will be dangerous," Arthur said.
"Great." Nothing out of the ordinary there.
"And I can tell you we will be travelling through bandit infested lands."
What lands weren't infested with bandits was the question. "Terrific. Then where?" Merlin asked aloud.
"I can't tell you that, Arthur said.
"You don't know where we're going."
"No, Merlin. I know where we're going. It's just, I can't tell you, that's all."
"Right, 'cause if you do, you'll have to kill me, I suppose."
"Immediately and without hesitation."
"Great. It'll be a surprise. I love surprises. Who doesn't love a good surprise?"
0o0o0o0
"We're going to Cenred's kingdom, aren't we?"
Arthur continued riding at a steady pace and didn't pause to look at Merlin. "What makes you say that?"
"Er, we're in the Forest of Essetir and we're not stopping."
"You can think what you like, Merlin."
"Oh, come on. You might as well tell me." He already knew. It wasn't even that difficult a guess.
"Then I'd have to kill you, I told you that."
"Go ahead. I mean, I'm probably going to die anyway. Look at what happened to the patrol that came here! Dead, the lot of them!"
"Sir Leon survived."
"Right, so that gives me, what? A one in forty chance of making it?"
"Rather less, actually. There are only two of us."
"So I'm not probably going to die, I'm definitely going to die."
"Always the pessimist, Merlin. Who knows, maybe, just this once, we'll have no trouble." Merlin wasn't looking at the prince when it happened. If he had, maybe he would have been able to stop the dart that stuck in Arthur's neck.
Instead, he responded with words. "Maybe you're right. If past experience is anything to go by."
Then Merlin slipped sideways as a tranquiliser hit him as well.