A crow left its place on the rock where it had been watching the seagulls. The village of Tre war Venydh, which was at the foot of the fort Dun Tagell, lay silently in the morning mist. Not a sound was to be heard. Merlin led Sir Rupert through the small settlement seeing not a soul. As they were passing a few cottages they approached the graveyard. There they finally saw some of the villagers. Deep holes had been dug. And several dead people were brought to their graves by their fellow villagers. Crows were circling above them. Merlin wondered, what had happened here. One old man watched them distrustfully from the yard.
Merlin decided to find a tavern or a grange where they could stay a day or two. The wind had gotten colder again and he knew the next nights wouldn't be good to sleep under the free sky. It was better to find some decent shelter, because Mab was trembling below her blanket, and he felt that she needed rest. She had not spoken to him since the last night. He didn't know if that was good or bad, for he himself was at a loss for words. But what had he expected?
He guided the horse through the village of long houses made from granite stone until they passed a farmstead, where an old hag was sitting in front on an old bench.
"Good day to you, madam!", he called. But the old one just snorted.
"May I ask you for a place where I can feed my horse, and where I and my … my… my… hmm… wife could rest?", he asked instantly biting his own tongue for this expression.
The old woman watched them suspiciously;
"What is it with the lady? Will you both now bring the plague also into my house?"
Now it dawned on him what it was they had seen before on the graveyard. The people had died from a disease, now the hag thought his fellow rider was ill too.
"No, no, of course not.", he hastily answered, "I promise you, she isn't sick. She is just exhausted from our long journey."
Still not quite convinced, she looked directly at Mab. The Queen of the Old ways felt anger rising inside her. How could this old woman dare to accuse her of being ill like a mortal?
She already wanted to protest, when she felt Merlin's grip tighten around her.
Instead she answered, "he is right, we have been on the roads for weeks now, I'm fine."
"Hmmpf, ok you can make yourself a bed in my barn.", the woman replied, "But if you want food, I hope you can pay... or work."
Merlin was relieved, he nodded gratefully and followed the old one in her instructions.
Later that day he and Mab sat together on their makeshift bad of hay. Their hostess had given them warm stock to eat. Mab again had tried to resist Merlins feeding attempts. But then he had threatened her he would call the old hag to do it for him, cause he knew Mab actually had no strength to defend herself against anything.
Unwillingly she ate. Swearing to herself she would repay him every single bitter food Merlin forced her to eat. Merlin however seemed amused by her old stubbornness. Gladly he thought; some things never change.
Silently he smiled to himself.
"What makes you think this is funny?", Mab enquired.
"Well, you will get used to this I guess.", he said.
"Pftt how could I? This is disgusting.", she answered enraged, "I hate this stuff, I hate this laying around, I hate riding with you, and I AM NOT YOUR WIFE!"
That was harsh and uncalled for. Merlin felt quite shorttaken.
"Woa, ok… first: you have to eat or you will always stay this weak laying around; second: in this state you have not a better choice than riding with me, and for the last... well ok, sorry for that, but we needed an accommodation.", Merlin replied aghast. "These people aren't very open to strangers."
It hurt him a little bit, even if he wouldn't admit it. He really tried his best to care for her and all she could do was complaining about his methods.
"You know, what?", he asked, "you will sleep now, I'll check on you later, now I'm going to take a closer look on that village and its problems."
He instantly got up and left the room.
"How dare you to boss me around?", he heard her call after him, but he didn't want to bother himself with her obstinacy any further.
On his way through the settlement, he barely saw a soul. But he wanted to know, what it was that plagued the people. And he wanted to know, what had happened with the castle of Dun Tagell. He could see one of its towers from where he stood. The mist had gone by now and the sun stood brightly and high. Admittedly it was a beautiful late summer's day, but the silence made him freeze.
"Strangers are not welcome these days!", a husky voice said. Merlin turned around. There before him stood the old man, who had watched their approach by the burial ground this morning. Merlin had no idea what to reply.
"I keep my point of view, you should take your little missy and travel on.", the guy stated.
"Because of the plague that is raging your village?", Merlin inquired.
The old man just snorted. Merlin guessed this habit of being grumpy was common to those inhabitants.
But the old one explained: "These are serious times. There have died five in the last few days, and nine more are ill."
Merlin furrowed a brow. "And your Lord, what does he do? Who is at command in Dun Tagell?"
"Our master is kept busy with the Gwyddel, coming from over the sea."
Merlin seemed quite irritated by this news.
As if the old one could read Merlin's thoughts, he explained, "After the Battle of Camlann, when Mordred fell, the castle was without leader for a while. These plunderers from abroad took the chance. They call themselves Muintir na hÉireann. They come at night with their ships and they steal our cattle and our corn reserves. They have been attacking our coast for a while now, but at least we have a leader again, that protects us. King Marc is doing his best, but they won't stop."
"These are indeed some news.", Merlin stated, "perhaps I should talk to your Lord about this plague that is ailing your village."
"If you please, I don't think there is much he can do, we have incurred the wrath of God; all we can do now is pray."
Then he simply walked away leaving Merlin where he was.
Always these irrational beliefs, Merlin thought.
He decided to postpone his visit in the castle and its master to the next day.
Mab was sleeping, but not peacefully.
Images were blurring through her mind. She was running in her dream,
She ran and ran and ran. Mocking voices were haunting her. Thorns were surrounding her, scratching her in her flight. A never felt fear pushed her heart to pace like a thousand drums. Then there was fire. First it was in front of her, then on her sides. Burning walls with thorns were closing in on her. Closer and closer. When she tried to turn and flee there was no way out left. The flames were encircling her totally. She could feel their heat. The smoke was biting into her nose, filled her lungs until she could not breathe anymore. She lost control of her body thrashing violently…she tried to free herself.
Someone pushed her down and tried to hold her in place until she stopped her thrashing. It was Merlin who gently shook her until she awoke from her dream. Feverish and exhausted she regained her consciousness. Clutching herself to him, she was wrapping her arms around the astonished wizard. Sobbing she buried her head on his chest. Again Merlin noticed how heartwarming it felt to him, when he had to comfort her. He was just holding her tight, patted her back calming her down.
He wondered why he had never done this with Nimue.
She had not let him close to her after the incident with the dragon.
If I could have been holding her like that, she wouldn't have left me, he thought.
But who had left whom? He had left the cave. He had thought meddling with Arthur and Mordred to be more important at that moment.
But she hadn't told him anything about the conditions. Of course he could have guessed them, but she had done nothing to hold him back. He still remembered how the walls had closed in front of him.
Oh how he had cried her name. And how he had tried to open the cave with his magic. But this spell had been too strong, all that he had been able to do, had been riding to Camlann.
But what had he found there?
Mab crying over a dying Mordred, and on the other side a battered Arthur lying in his own pool of blood. The pain still lingred inside his heart. But he remembered, what Morgan once had said to him: Yes you have to think of the future, Merlin, because the past is too painful.
There she had been right. So he tried to banish his mournful thoughts, returning his attention to Mab.
She had stopped her sobbing eventually. She seemed confused. And she couldn't explain to herself, what it was that made her this vulnerable and attached to him.
But this dream had been so real. She actually had felt the heat scorching her flesh. It had been nearly unbearable until he finally had saved her from it.
Now that he held her, she felt embarrassed. "I… I don't know what got into me. I … am sorry… Merlin, but that… that dream.", she stuttered. "This fire. It hurt so much, what does this mean?" Merlin sighed. He also could recall the events of that day. And he hated the memory of it. But he told her;
"The day Arthur and Mordred died, we fought in Camelot. Then there was a fire and you have been seriously hurt by it." He gulped. "That is, why you had to be nursed for the last months and why you are so weak."
She couldn't remember it. The last thing she knew, was how Mordred had died in her arms. A tear was rolling down over her cheek. She suddenly felt very alone. Back then she had only sought revenge, but now she felt all alone and done for.
"But why did you keep me?", she asked. Merlin shrugged his shoulders. He had asked himself this question for at least a hundred timesby now.
"I don't know.", he shook his head, "I cannot explain." Then he pulled her closer, reaching for the blanket and covering them he said; "Come on let us rest now." She tried to resist for a brief moment. But peculiarly she felt safer in his arms, than she would admit. Therefore she tried to ignore the insubordinate persisting voice inside her and tried to fall asleep again.
The nightmares returned that night for three or four times. And every time Merlin felt her tensioning again in sleep, he pulled her out of those dreams. But it didn't bother him. Somehow he was quite satisfied with the fact, that she was still alive and that she needed him. He never used to feel lonely before, but since the loss of Nimue and Arthur he craved the company of other souls. And her company was probably better than no company at all. For once he had hope. He would not waste this opportunity and lose another important person in his life. Calmed and finally more relaxed than ever he let his thoughts wander. They had popped into a nasty situation with a village plagued by a disease. He had to tread carefully if he didn't want to endanger that fragile status of happiness he just had reached. He couldn't risk to endanger Mab, but he also couldn't leave those poor people to their fate. So he pondered over this dilemma until sleep eventually took over.