A/N: Right, so it's 1:37 A.M. and I am fine. I am totally sane. I am fine, completely fine. Merlin is ending. There I said it, let's just get that out in the open, shall we? I cried. When I found out I was literally crying in the fetal position.
Although I would like to blame that for my lack of updates to anything ever, it would be false. I have been suffering from a serious mental disease called writer's block. This is no laughing matter. There is no known treatment for this affliction. I am one of the lucky few who get over it without therapy.
Anyway, I saw the Hobbit and it was AMAZING! This chapter kind of has a Gollum like character in it considering Riddles in the Dark is my favorite chapter and was my favorite part of the movie. I would definitely recommend the movie. Anyway, here is the chapter and I hope you enjoy it! Please tell me if you would like for me to continue doing filler chapters to kind of make the transition from series two to series three more smooth. I enjoy writing these so tell me what you think!
Just a Normal Day
Part One
Not long had passed since the events with the dragon and Camelot was still trying to rebuild. Uther wasn't helping the process either. He was too concerned with finding Morgana. He would send men out daily and had Arthur and Merlin searching the Darkling woods for her. I was worried about Arthur. He had lost someone who was affectively his sister. Also, the Darkling woods were a dangerous place.
Camelot did prove to be boring without the once and future king and Emrys. Aleya and I mostly sat around, which would make Arthur feel as though he was right in saying, girls just sit around and brush their hair. Sometimes he really made me want to punch him.
"Is it yellow?" Aleya asked. She was hanging upside down from the bed while I was sprawled out in a chair. We had taken to playing I spy.
"No." I said. Aleya never was very good at this game when we were children. She was anxiously looking about the room.
"Is it a chair?" she said shaking her head. She had obviously lost interest in trying to guess.
"It's the vase." I said.
"Of course it is." She said.
"When do you think Arthur and Merlin will get back?" I asked.
"When they decide to." She said sarcastically.
"You really aren't in a helpful mood today, are you?" I asked. In fairness, she was a bit grumpy.
"Not really." She said. "It doesn't help that we've been sitting in here all day."
"What do you want to do?" I asked.
"I don't know." She said.
"Want to go for a walk?" I asked.
"Because that always ends well." She said.
"Better idea?" I asked.
"Let's go." She said. She tried to stand up but ended up awkwardly falling off of the bed. I laughed at her as she slowly scrambled off of the floor.
Boredom was a dangerous thing. Especially when it involved Aleya and I. We walked out of the lower town and to the edge of the forest. It was warm now. Spring had sent life into everything. I discovered that Camelot was beautiful no matter what time of year it was.
"I still don't fully understand what happened while I was asleep." I said to her. She looked down at the ground obviously trying to build up the courage to say what happened.
"It was just a sleeping spell. Morgana was the center of it and to end it we had to….we had to kill her…Then Morgause saved her so she's fine…." She said trailing off. It was obviously a hard subject. I was sure I was having the same thoughts as she was about Morgana. If she was to become the Morgan Le Fay of the legends then she would have to have an influence. What better than the evil sorceress Morgause? I knew that Aleya had hoped to steer her right and prevent this. Her and Merlin both had magic but were afraid to tell her. It made sense considering she was Uther's ward. The entire time that she was in Camelot I was weary of her. I knew that some of the legends were false, but there was something about her that made me think they would reign true for her.
"I see." I said. "I know a shortcut." I said turning off of the path.
"I'm sure that this is a great idea." Aleya snapped at me.
"Again, it's getting dark and that's when all of the bloodthirsty animals come out." I said. We walked in silence for a moment before I began to lose track of where I was.
"We're lost aren't we?" She said.
"Not lost, merely not where we need to be." I said. "This way." I said pointing to the left. Aleya rolled her eyes and followed me. The sun was setting and it was becoming more and more difficult to see. I stepped forward and the ground gave way beneath me. Out of instinct I reached back trying to grab something. The something I grabbed was Aleya, I pulled her down with me. We fell screaming. I waited for the inevitable impact. It hurt initially but I soon fell unconscious. The last thing I recalled was Aleya calling out in pain.
oOo
Down in a hole. I sat up to find a pain in my side prevented me moving much. I looked down at the side I had landed on and debated with myself whether I should prod at it. In the end I decided I needed to know what the damage was so I took my hand and slowly built up the courage to poke my ribs. It was an eerie feeling really, the feeling of one of your bones moving freely within you. It almost made my stomach churn. I diagnosed myself with two broken ribs on my right side. I looked around and the only light was dim. Too dim to see much. I held out my hand ready to shed light on the cavern when I began to cough. I looked down at my hand and saw blood. That certainly was not a good sign. Regardless I needed to check on Samantha, and judging by the fact that she had not called out in pain I assumed that she was hurt.
"Leoht." I said and the familiar feeling of magic flowed through me. I had gotten rather good with small spells since the dragon had attacked. Although Merlin had not been around, I had been able to figure some out on my own. I could now maintain the orb without thinking about it. I could also make it float freely wherever I needed it. I turned and saw Samantha lying on the ground. She had a gash in her head.
"Head wound…what do I do about head wounds?" I asked the air.
"Head wounds…..precious, humanses has head wounds." A raspy voice echoed through the cavern. I stood up slowly looking around.
"Who's there?" I asked. As if the creature would call out, yeah, I'm just over here making a sandwich. There was no response so I played it off to my ears playing tricks on me. I turned around to treat Samantha's wound and I saw him. It was Gollum. I don't know why, I don't know how, but before me was the creature that I had felt sympathy for in the Lord of the Rings.
"Humanses are scared, precious…..humanses want to be freed." He said.
"Gollum." I managed to whimper out.
"Who is Gollum humanses….precious, never heard of Gollum." He said.
"M-my friend sh-she's hurt, I need to get out and return her to Camelot." I said. The creature tilted his head.
"I can show humanses the way out." he said growing rather excited. He bound up onto a rock. "But I will not let humanses leave….we will not let them leave precious."
"I'll make a deal with you." I said. "We'll play a game. If I win you show me the way out, if you win, you will let my friend out and I will stay."
"Precious likes games…What then if I let the humanses friend leave? What then, precious? Well, then we kill humanses." He said.
"A game of riddles." I said.
"Precious likes riddles! Precious goes first." He said.
"Alright." I said. Suddenly, I felt exactly the same as Bilbo did when he was confronted by Gollum. For the life of me I could not remember how the confrontation ended. I knew Bilbo survived the story so it must have gone alright. Right?
"Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still." He said. First one and already I am having trouble. The knights of Camelot? No that would be too literal. Red hill, red hill. Teeth!
"Teeth." I said.
"Humanses is right, precious." He said. I had to make my riddle a good one.
"What goes up but never goes down?" I asked. I was confident in this one.
"Age." He said without a second thought.
"That's right." I said. I was dead. At least Samantha would survive. The thought of never seeing Merlin again ran through my head and I felt tears welling in my eyes. I had to stay focused. If Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit of the Shire, could do it, then so could I!
"This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down." He said. I remembered this one. Gollum was pressuring Bilbo and he yelled for time, that of course is the answer.
"Time." I said smiling. "I have no lungs to breath,
No legs to dance,
And no life to live or die,
Yet I do all three,
What am I?" I said. He paused for a moment. "What is it?" I persisted in an attempt to wear him down.
"Gives us times humanses….gives us times." He said. "Fire." He said. I nodded and watched as he thought up his riddle. "Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouth less mutters." He said.
"Wind." I said. It wasn't exactly a hard one. "What flies when it's born,
Lies when it's alive,
And runs when it's dead?" I asked confidently.
"Snowflake! Snowflake!" he said. Maybe riddles was not the best way to go. I suddenly began to find difficulty in every breath. My broken rib was moving about freely, great. "What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?" he said. I had no idea. The look of fear in my eyes must have been apparent because his lips curved into an insidious smile.
"What, did we fall down a mountain?" Samantha said sitting up and rubbing her head. "I think I broke my wrist." She said.
"A mountain!" I yelled putting it together in my head.
"Is that Gollum?" Samantha asked.
"Shh, I'm living the Hobbit. Don't bother me." I said.
oOo
My head throbbed. My wrist ached. We were in a cave with Gollum and Aleya was playing a riddle game with him. Yep, just an ordinary day in the life of us.
"It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter." Aleya said. The creature looked puzzled for a moment and then smiled as though he had pulled one over on her.
"Death." He said.
"No! It's dark!" she said. She was rather excited so I wondered what exactly she had staked on this game.
"No! Humanses beats us, precious…Humanses beats us!" he said.
"You made a deal, show us the way out." she said.
"You betted our lives against a riddle game?" I asked.
"Yes, because you were providing so much help there napping!" she said before beginning to cough, she cringed each time.
"Humanses cannot leave…humanses cannot!" he yelled. "I kill the humanses, precious, I kill them!"
"That's a good moment to start running." I said standing up. I immediately felt light headed but I fought through it and dragged Aleya with me through the cave.
"Humanses cannot get out that way!" The creature said happily. "Humanses are running to dead end, precious!" We kept running.
"Wait." Aleya said. She stopped and turned. The creature stared at her and smiled.
"Humanses will not escape." He said. Aleya was focusing on the ground.
"Ally, we need to go!" I said.
"Ferburne lucan ingringnot!" she yelled and a wall of fires separated us from the creature. It was in that moment that I realized how powerful my friend had become. "Now we run." She said turning to me. We kept on down the cave trying and hoping for a way out.
oOo
I had to hide it. Samantha was dealing with a possible concussion and a broken wrist and she was running at it fine. My side ached and begged me to stop. I fought the coughing as much as I could. Every time I did the pain nearly struck me down. We finally saw light at the end of the tunnel. When we made it out the fresh air was a mercy and the sunlight felt wonderful on my skin.
"That was fun." I said. "How's your wrist?" I asked looking at Samantha who looked horrid. Her forehead had blood running down it and a nasty looking head wound and she was pale.
"I'll live." She said. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"Never been better." I said. There was no need to concern her.
oOo
She was lying. I knew Aleya's face when she lied. Assumed she wasn't stupid enough to hide something life threatening from me so I shrugged it off.
"Next step is figuring out where we are." I said. I looked around.
"Let me have your wrist." Aleya said pulling two evenly sized sticks off of the ground and tearing a bit of her dress off of the bottom. I held out my hand weakly and nearly lost my lunch upon seeing the state of it. My entire wrist was a mixture of red, purple, and blue. Aleya gently placed the sticks on either side and wrapped the cloth around my hand. "There."
"Thank you Doctor Aleya." I said.
"Shut up." She said. "We're lucky it wasn't worse, I can't believe you pulled me down with you!" she sounded a bit hurt in her voice.
"I was reaching for anything that would stop me falling, it's not my fault that you are clumsy enough to come with me down." I said.
"Listen, it's dark and we have no idea where we are. And my brain hurts from the riddles in the dark!" she said. I looked around. We were definitely lost.
"Maybe we should camp out until morning?" I asked. "We may get even more lost if we try to get home."
"Look over there." Aleya said staring over a ridge. There was a campfire clearly visible through the trees.
"What if it's bandits?" I asked.
"It's Arthur and Merlin." She said.
"How could you possibly even know that?" I asked.
"I can feel Merlin's magic, okay?" she said defensively.
"Haha, you can feel Merlin? That's possibly the most romantic thing ever." I said laughing.
"Shut up." She said before laughing only to cringe and begin coughing.
"I want to know what's wrong with you. Now." I said.
"I'm fi-" she began.
"No, I will vulcan nerve pinch you if you don't tell me." I said.
"I'm getting a cold." She said. "Really, I don't understand your need to poke and prod at every aspect of my life!" she said, she began walking towards the campfire.
"Fine, be that way. I was just concerned as to whether you were dying or not!" I yelled at her. I followed at what I deemed was a safe distance behind her.
"I'm sorry I yelled." She said.
"You're fine." I said.
"I'm just worried." She said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because, Merlin's magic isn't as strong as it normally is." She said. "Something's happened."
"Then we best hurry." I said picking up my pace. I knew how protective Aleya was over Merlin and I shared her worries for Arthur. If Merlin was hurt, then Arthur was in danger.
Neptune19: As always, thank you for reading! It makes me happy to think that someone likes what I am writing! DFTBA!
dream lighting: Sorry that I completely ignored your request, please forgive me! I do not have an excuse, (Actually I have been crocheting like a mad woman trying to get Christmas presents done) But I will update more frequently!
SacredHearts: To you as well, I am sorry. I am a basket case no days so please forgive me! Thank you for your continued readership and I hope you continue to enjoy the story! (I have also been stalking your profile and I see you like Lord of the Rings, I hope that I am not disgracing J.R.R. Tolkien too much by putting a Gollum like character in this! Tell me what you think of it!)
