Hello. Today I bring Chapter 22. This one I must say I love it. In the end, you could see also some scary parts that I love (for me are scary, me that I get scared easily). Well, you will see. I have planned this chapter a long time ago, so I hope you like it.

I'm not own from Merlin.

When they ended the conversation with Hilda (or rather that secured Merlin), she, Arthur, and Gwen left, not knowing what to do. They were supposed to be going to Ealdor, but instead, they had been, not exactly wasting their time, but listening to stories of an old woman and her life. It is true that Morgana had been interested, as well as knowing that the dragon that now was attacking Camelot had been before where they were now, burning the Cursed Town. But she didn't understand how this could have anything to do with the man they were looking for. The sooner they were supposed to get to Engerd, the longer they would have to ask about Balinor. But no, they were here in the Cursed Town, waiting for Merlin to leave to continue the journey.

As he had said, he would be talking something of importance to Hilda, although he did not comment on the matter.

And that's how they had stayed out of the house, on the streets of Wirgen, not knowing what to do. Morgana gave the idea of going to the main street to buy supplies for the way back. And since there was no other option, they had gone there.

The people, bitter and bored as she had seen well when they arrived, did not seem to replicate anything this time as they had done to Merlin when looking for Hilda. They were kind of methodical and salty, but it was not like they did anything wrong.

The main street, while rowdy and crowded, had not a miserable laugh and no one seemed to raise their voices much. It just didn't look like the market street.

There was something like a few minutes when Morgana saw it. Merlin, stumbling and pushing through the crowd, was running straight to the back of the town. Seeing that Morgana didn't know what to think. What was Merlin doing there? Wasn't he supposed to be talking to Hilda? This smelled of something suspicious, weed, so Morgana, unannounced to Arthur or Gwen, who were very attentive to flowers that according to the prince looked great on Gwen's hair, went where Merlin had gone.

It took several minutes to cross the entire street until he reached the back of the village, where the rubble of black stones of an ancient temple which, she had understood from Hilda, was built by the Wodrem who previously lived in the village. She didn't see Merlin anywhere. That was weird. Where had he gone? Morgana was afraid for a second, and she didn't know why until she realized someone was looking behind her.

She turned in some fear, thinking of seeing one of those monsters Hilda had commented on, but luckily it was just a poor old woman with a hump and a walking stick in her hand as support. But what was characteristic of that woman were those blue eyes, that for a moment she imagined them similar to Merlin's, but she set aside that idea by seeing how fulminant and threatening they seemed.

Morgana turned to her thinking she might be able to help, as there was nothing to lose to.

"Excuse me. Have you seen a tall, black-haired young boy come through here?"

The old woman looked at her carefully, and in those seconds, she could see the wrinkles on her face intensifying. After that, she nodded leisurely

"Where?" asked Morgana.

The older woman pointed her index finger at the temple. Morgana turned and, when she thought the woman was making a bad joke to her, she saw Merlin going out from the temple, leaping in bounds, and in a hurry never seen in him. His movements did not seem clumsy; on the contrary, they seemed determined.

Morgana was going to turn around to thank the old woman when she arrived earlier and grabbed her wrist with unusual strength for her age.

"Be careful, the time has come. This is only the beginning."

Morgana, dazed and stunned, simply nodded, not knowing exactly what she meant. Morgana turned and, without saying anything else, headed where Merlin was headed: to the stone wall.

At the time, she realized that the last thing the old woman had commented on was the same thing she had told Merlin a year ago. Could it be...?

Morgana turned to face the old lady. But there was no one there.

Morgana shook her head, telling herself that her imagination was playing a bad trick on her. She wanted to make sure she wasn't really there, but when she turned around, she had to put up with a squeal when she saw that the old lady was still there as she had seen it, blue eyes stuck in her.

And this time yes, Morgana literally ran through the dried grass to the place where she saw Merlin, with the intention of protecting her from that macabre village. But when she wanted to realize, Merlin had disappeared by an almost invisible crack in the wall. Morgana stood up, thinking about her options and possibilities. She could go and warn Arthur and Gwen, or she'd mess with Merlin, see what the boy was doing. She decided without a doubt the second. She'd rather be in danger with Merlin. After all, Merlin seemed braver than Artur commented. Who in his right mind would get into the caves that Hilda said had been inhabited by beings from fire and darkness? Merlin. Just Merlin.

So, she came in without fear, knowing that Merlin was waiting behind that gap. And so it was, only Merlin, with a torch in hand, had not repaired in her presence and continued with a determined passage through the stone tunnel. His shadow was trimmed on the stone ghostly, and for a moment Morgana wondered if she was actually following Merlin, the Merlin who would not hurt a fly.

Morgana lost his figure, leaving only the sound of footsteps of Merlin muffled by the rock and the dripping of something falling on the top of the stone. The cave smelled of moisture and... burned? Why would it smell burned? The answer awaited her to a turn of the tunnel where the cave opened in a wide cavernous underground, where the sound of dripping water sounded everywhere like a thousand tears of watered glass. There seemed to be no end, for darkness covered the cavern like a black blanket. Could it be this place…? Oh, no. Morgana knew what place this was. This was the cavern Hilda commented in her story. The cavern where the dragon was.

For a moment, Morgana thought she had lost sight of Merlin, but turning her head to the left, where a kind of walk down a few steps awaited her eagerly, she could find Merlin's silhouette framed by the light of the torch... Wait, did she say torch? No, that wasn't a torch, that was more like... a red stone? She had mistaken it for a torch, but she was not ashamed of it, for it really seemed that the vehement and fiery light was fire.

All this was closed in one question: what was Merlin looking for in the depths of the Cursed Town, coming from the black temple and going with a stone of fire in hand? That was going to know in a few minutes, following Merlin without him repairing her (which for now was going as planned).

She saw Merlin advancing down those moldy, threadbare, and not very convincing stairs without any fear of falling through the void that resulted in a right step where he was. Luckily, he had a wall to his left that served as a support.

He came down moments later than him so that his footsteps would not be heard and followed him. From there he could see how really big that looked. In fact, if you looked well, below you could see more and more entrances to caves and tunnels. Morgana swallowed. That did give vertigo. And fear, for who knew who or what could live there.

She thought she saw large metal handcuffs hanging from a stone platform a few feet from her. Was that what she was thinking? Could it be…? Morgana turned her head and continued as if she had seen nothing.

She followed Merlin into the distance, who entered a crevice in the rock to his left. And so the adventure continued, Morgana following the young Merlin without knowing why or what Merlin was really looking for. And it was at a crossroads of small caves that Morgana lost track of Merlin. She could only appreciate a dim red light of Merlin's stone through some caves, not knowing exactly where. At that moment, she felt a shiver, as if the icy north wind had blown her, and the red light went out.

A voice carrying the wind whispered to him:

"Morgana."

She turned quickly, noticing that cold wind behind her, although nothing at that moment sounded more than her heart beating with force, as if it wanted to leave her chest so it did not have to feel that fear that frightened Morgana.

And it was at that moment that she saw two red dots in the distance in the most absolute darkness.

*Swallowing* Uff. I don't want to make spoilers, but don't despair, Merlin is not who you think. All will be related and closed, also with the Cursed Town... You will. The next chapters will have more action, I'm planning. You will see it.

Well, I really hope you liked it that much as I liked writing it (it was really funny). Tell me what you think.

Thank you!

Next Chapter: Hilda's perspective. The tempting envelope...

LegolasHV