The police visited the next morning they not only had a murder to investigate but the body had disappeared from the morgue in the night. The police had taken lots of photographs of the body but were puzzled as to why it had disappeared. All three men said they had no idea and had all been at home all night. And as a gated estate there was CITV footage to show they hadn't left the house.
Merlin was questioned once more as he had been one of the first at the scene. The police asked why he had visited and he told them he was a close friend of the deceased. Luckily he had, with Arthur's help made sure that the CITV footage was corrupted for two hours before Kilgarrah was found. Otherwise there might be questions as to how Merlin had left the estate. As Merlin was the sole beneficiary of Kilgarrah's will no questions were asked for the reason of his visit. The housekeeper had been the first on the scene and she had confirmed that Merlin had arrived after her and had had no blood on his clothing when he arrived. The coroner had briefly looked at the body before he went off duty and had come to the conclusion the old man had been attacked by some sort of animal, as the marks appeared to have been caused by claws and teeth.
Merlin arranged for the housekeeper to keep her cottage at the end of Kilgarrah's he told her she would be given her cottage for the years of service she had given John Kilgarrah. In return she promised to keep an eye on the place until Merlin had had time to think what to do with it. He did visit as soon as the police had finished at the scene. Arthur, Gwaine, Percy and Eylan went with him. They had a good look around, Merlin wanted to find 'unlikely place' that Killi had mentioned in his letter for the help he promised. They had no luck and in the end decided to leave it for a few days once things had settled down. Merlin was feeling very guilty as he felt he had let Killi down, although he had strong wards on the man he had still been killed. Alright he had sensed the attack on Kilgarrah but that had been no use in saving him.
Later Merlin got together with Gaius to learn as much as he could about Cornelius Sigan. What Merlin heard astounded him.
"Cornelius Sigan is said to be great warlock who centuries ago managed to make his soul immortal. Kilgarrah believed he had been resurrected when the jewel his soul was being kept in was broken during an archaeological dig. His appearance is much like an archaeologist that disappeared at the time Sigan appeared back on the scene five years ago. Kilgarrah told me that Morgause and Morgana had been trying to get him to join them but he appeared to be playing his own game." Gaius told Merlin.
"So he can't be killed?" Merlin asked.
"John thought that the years had weakened the soul which is why Sigan had kept so quiet. He thought that once Sigan was confronted by very powerful magic it might be possible to finally destroy him. He had after all been in the jewel for fifteen hundred years as far as Kilgarrah could tell; he himself had been around for most of that time and had never sensed him until recently." Gaius looked at Merlin and said sadly "You know he felt that he would die at Sigan's hand. Evidently he liked to turn Gargoyles' into the means of death. He was able to make stone come alive."
"He was right, I saw them fly back up to the top of the house and their mouths and claws were covered in blood. Why didn't Killi remove the gargoyles from his house?" Merlin asked.
"Because he liked them, they reminded him of other times. He also said that if Sigan wanted him dead he would find a way. John Kilgarrah was as stubborn, as a man, as I expect he was as a dragon." Gaius told Merlin. "He knew his time was coming, he was getting old even for a dragon."
"I will avenge him; all I need now is to find Sigan." Merlin was determined.
"I was to give you this" Gaius handed Merlin an old leather bound book. "It is very old, but I know you can read the old tongue. It was something I found years ago and Kilgarrah asked me to give it to you when the time came. I think now is that time. It once belonged to your distant relative, the original Merlin."
Merlin took the book with great care and putting it on a desk opened it carefully. Looking at it in wonder he said "Thank you, I don't know what to say."
"I hope it gives you the answers you need, the first Merlin was the last person to put Sigan's soul back into the jewel. The answer may well be in the book. I have read what I can, but I'm no warlock." Gaius looked at Merlin "Take care boy. I am about if you need me, Kilgarrah thought a lot of you, he might not have been an easy person to know, and overly fond on cryptic comments, but you were the most important thing in his life and made his last years bearable."
Merlin spent every spare moment over the next few days reading the book, by the end of which he had an idea of what to do. He was busy with Arthur during the day as business was hectic. He was learning lots of new and interesting things and it helped him cope with his grief. But on the third evening he decided he had enough to try to confront Cornelius Sigan, saying nothing to Arthur, he left the house after supper and headed for Kilgarrah's house on one of the bicycles from the shed. He had been seen leaving by his mother who told Gwaine. Gwaine was staying for a couple of days before leaving to go to Sussex; Gwaine decided to follow Merlin, just to keep an eye on him he took one of the motorbikes so he could catch up with Merlin. He made sure to keep a good distance between them, but it was soon obvious where Merlin was headed.
Once at Kilgarrah's Merlin went in and walked through to Kilgarrah's office and picked up photograph of Killi and him together, it had been taken on a trip to the coast several years previously. Merlin then went back outside and placed the photograph on the ground where Kilgarrah had been found after the attack. Merlin then took a piece of chalk from his pocket and drew a large circle on the ground around the area. Then taking a piece of paper from his pocket he copied some runes spacing them carefully round the circle. Once that was done Merlin took some power from his pocket and sprinkled it over the photo.
Gwaine was watching Merlin from some distance away and beginning to wonder whether he should interfere. Deciding he might need some back up he rang Arthur. Arthur was unaware that either of the men had left, and much to his disgust, so was his security team for that evening, neither of whom where Percy or Eylan. The outside men had seen the two men leave but thought nothing of it, being more interested in keeping people out. Arthur went and with one of the protection officers drove to Kilgarrah's. Once there he left the protection officer with the car and walked to join Gwaine.
By now Merlin was well into whatever he was doing and both men could hear Merlin shouting out something. After awhile there was a flash and a man appeared in the circle. It was a tallish man, who seemed to be wearing a coat made of black feathers. Neither Gwaine nor Arthur could make out much more than that. So they decided to move closer.
Merlin meanwhile was pleased with the success of his spell when he saw the man appear. "Corneous Sigan I assume," he spoke his voice devoid of emotion.
"You must be Merlin, the old boys friend" Cornelius said "You did well to summon me, but you would do well to work with me rather than fight me"
"Join you! you killed the last dragon! He was my friend." Merlin hissed his grief and anger coming out as he looked on the man that had murdered his beloved Killi. "I am going to stop you now"
"YOU stop me? You don't have the power to stop me." Cornelius scoffed.
"But I do, my ancestor put you back before and I am now, only this time you won't get out again!" Merlin said angrily. He was determined to avenge Killi.
Cornelius went to walk towards Merlin, but found he couldn't walk out of the circle. Instead he looked up at the gargoyles he had used before "Swa baet ic maeg min faehb awan!" he shouted.
Up on the roof the gargoyles started to move and come to life. Arthur and Gwaine were horrified to see them fly down toward Merlin and both started to run towards him.
Merlin meanwhile held his hands up and said "Edcierra be baecern ond stedeas" with that the gargoyles flew back and turned to stone. Merlin held out a crystal and before Cornelius had chance to react Merlin incanted "Ic thin sawol her beluce thaet ic the alyse"
A blue mist come from Cornelius mouth and went towards the crystal in Merlin's hand as Cornelius tried to speak, he fell to his knees clutching his throat, a horrified expression on his face, as the mist continued to enter the crystal. The mist stopped just as Arthur and Gwaine reached their friend. They both stopped and stared at the crystal in Merlin hand it was pulsing like a heartbeat. The man in the circle had disappeared, as indeed had the circle, leaving just the photo behind.
Merlin looked at the crystal before looking at his friends "What are you doing here?" he asked them.
"Keeping an eye on you, you fool, why didn't you tell us what you were doing?" Gwaine roared.
"I was avenging Killi, and now I must finish the job." Merlin put the crystal on the ground and again taking the chalk drew a circle round the crystal and drew more runes around it, then this hands went out once more "abraedede op earaon windgeardas strang landsocna" he said in a deep voice, with that the crystal exploded into thousands of pieces and drifted off into the breeze.
Merlin picked up the photo and looking at his friend said "Rest in peace you have been avenged" he then turned to the two men at his side tears in his eyes "That was the man who killed Killi, I summoned him, he tried the same thing with me, but I was ready for him. He was an immortal soul as old as Killi but evil; I trapped his soul and dispersed it to the four winds never to settle. He was getting weak so it was easier than I thought."
Merlin turned back to Gwaine and Arthur once more, as what he had done caught up with him his face paled "I killed again!" he paused "But this time I have no regrets. I failed to protect Killi my wards weren't strong enough…am I a monster?"
Gwaine stepped forward and put his arms around Merlin and looked straight into his eyes "No Merlin, he was an evil man who killed Kilgarrah in a cruel and brutal way. I suspect it wasn't the first time either. You didn't fail anyone, never think that." He hugged Merlin, who then pulled away enough to look at Arthur.
"I agree Merlin, but please don't take risks like that again you idiot, remember what Kilgarrah told you, we should act together." then he to hugged Merlin. "Come on I'm getting you home I'll have the bike picked up in the morning."
Merlin continued to hold on to Gwaine and then seemed to lose the strength in his legs and sagged down. Gwaine quickly put his arm behind Merlin's knees and picked him up bridal style as the young man's eyes closed. "I think we can collect the motorbike in the morning as well. I'll go with you." Gwaine informed Arthur unwilling to let Merlin go.
Arthur looked at Merlin then at Gwaine "OK I'll lock the house, and the bike and join you in the car. Then we can get sleeping beauty here to bed, unless of course you intend to wake him with a kiss that is?" he grinned.
"Don't give me ideas Princess." Gwaine turned and started to walked back towards the car.
In France two women were waiting for Cornelius to return, they had been surprised when he had disappeared from in front of them. Although Morgana was worried that she already knew what had happened, she had had a vision the night before and although it was incomplete it was enough to make her concerned.