Greetings thy reader! How art thou today… or tonight? Lovely, I hope. I think the sorcerer may have something up his sleeve, but Merlin is clever and can outsmart his enemies. Definitely. Maybe. Hopefully.
Disclaimer: Thy BBC Merlin shan't ever be owned by yours truly. Yours truly may own such a franchise if there is an alternate universe.
Merlin scanned through the blue book Soul Arthur gave him, but he had his suspicions. Why would the sorcerer let them do all this? This was his castle, his library, his everything. If the captor could perform powerful dark magic, then why make everything so easy for them? The warlock could think of one person who might have some insight into the whole situation.
"Morgana!" The telepathic connection clicked.
Morgana said, "Merlin? I thought telepathy was a thing between you and Mordred. It has been two days! Did you find Arthur? Who kidnapped him?"
"Not exactly and I don't actually know who. I'll explain later. Right now, I got a problem: how do you piece a soul back together?"
"…Let me guess, my idiotic brother got his soul ripped apart. Wait till I tell Morgause."
Merlin sighed inwardly. "Morgana, stay focused." Soul Arthur glanced at Merlin confusedly because he had not flipped the page for some time now. Smiling reassuringly, Merlin tried to multi-task as efficiently as he could. He didn't want to explain to Soul Arthur that he was asking for information from his sister. It wasn't that Merlin didn't trust him, but what if Soul Arthur was being played as well?
"Fine, fine." Morgana huffed in his mind, "But I'm going to need time to do some research. I'm no expert in this soul business."
"You need to do research? Don't you know this kind of stuff?"
"What do I look like to you, a magical history book?"
"I thought you are the High Priestess of the Old Religion."
"And I thought you are the greatest sorcerer to have ever walked the Earth."
"Just… go find me the answer. Please. I was told that splitting souls was the only solution to putting another back, but this quest is too straightforward." Merlin could hear Morgana's smirk.
"Shouldn't you be happy that at least something is easy about this whole fiasco? As for the dark magic, an eye for an eye, a soul for a soul. Sounds about right to me. Alright, Emrys, I'll help you. But don't do anything stupid like falling into traps." Then the connection broke.
Merlin glanced at Soul Arthur and he gave the warlock a rueful smile.
The book contained a detailed explanation about splitting souls. It did not really require a spell, a few simple words, but it did need the rawest magic of a sorcerer's inner being. Splitting and mending souls wasted energy so only the strongest magic could perform the spell. What scared Merlin the most was that the spell, once casted, it could penetrate any shield and wall that surrounded the intended victim.
According to the book, it was just like Soul Arthur said: only breaking the sorcerer's soul would repair Arthur's.
"It's your choice, Merlin."
As the warlock steadily gazed back at his king's silver eyes, he had to admit that he wanted to get Arthur – the complete Arthur – back home as soon as possible. Besides, Morgana needed to some research and he was not the kind of person to sit around and watch his king suffer. The captor needed to be found even if there was an alternate solution. However, on the other hand, this could all be a trap.
Nonetheless, he would find the other souls, Arthur's shell of a body, and the knights. Most of all, he would have to be more careful so to not be played by the twisted manipulation. He would do whatever it took to save his friend. Come hell or high water.
"Where do you think the sorcerer is hiding, Sire?"
Eyes glowing, Soul Arthur gave him a rueful smile, then his expression faltered, "I… honestly don't know."
Then a gut-wrenching scream tore through the air. Then another voice joined in. Then another and another. Until it was a blur of bone-chilling cries. A group of people screaming… Merlin's blood froze. Please don't let it be the knights, he thought frantically.
Off topic but I've always loved the saying "Come hell or high water" and I finally included it in here. It is speculation time: Hmmm, I did say that there won't be any torture in this story. Why is there screaming? Oh no! Is it the knights?