The Mark of Nimueh

"You almost had him this morning."
Arthurs head bounced up and he glared at me. "Just, when I could get the feeling it is over, there you are."
I grinned and came closer. "You almost had him this morning", I repeated.
"I had who?"
"Merlin. You were searching all of Camelot for the sorcerer, remember?"
Arthurs face hardened. "Are you telling me Merlin is behind this? This sickness that kills my people?"
"No! No, no, no that wasn`t what I wanted to say at all!" I was shocked by the thought of it, although I could see how he would understand my words like that. "You listen to me. Merlin will never, ever, be a threat to you or to Camelot. Not when he is free of his actions."
Arthur looked a bit sceptical before raising his voice. "You know something again."
I was tempted to deny that but he got up before I could make a sound.
"You know that someday in the future, Merlin will not be free of his actions and then he will try to... do what?"
I sighed. "That is nothing you have to worry about know. You have different problems." I looked around and giggled.

"There is a lethal sickness out there and suddenly your mind takes the form of your physicians room. You have to admit it is a bit funny."
He looked like I was a crazy person. Well, maybe I am. "How come that you instantly know where we are? You were never in my chambers and I am pretty sure you weren't with Gaius either. So how do you know?"
"I watch you. All of you. Not always, actually most of the time I don't but I can watch your past, present and future. I was right next to you when Helen attacked. I was right next to you when you fought Valiant. And I was right next to you this morning, when you overlooked the old book about sorcery in Merlins room." That statement freaked him out, I could see. For him I guess it wasn't like an angel watching over you, more like a demon waiting to make him fall. But he would come around. Eventually.
"There was what this morning in Merlins room?"
I laughed. Of course he would focus on that part. "You can go in and look."
He hesitated to turn his back on me but headed up to Merlins room. I followed him through the door, leaning against the cupboard.
"It is displayed exactly how you have seen it last."
He looked around, getting frustrated. "And where is that book supposed to be?"
I grinned and suddenly we could see a second Arthur and a Merlin, a bit translucent, standing with us in that room.

"I found a place where you can put things. It's called a cupboard." Arthur closed the door and Merlin forced a smile. He continued to look around and Merlin saw the old book on the floor, right in the open. While Arthur turned his back to look elsewhere Merlins eyes flashed golden for a second and a shirt of his fell of the bed right on the book. Arthur overlooked it while looking under the bed, then he ends his search and leaves. Merlin followed him out, relieved.

"That sneaky little bastard." I couldn't tell if Arthur was serious or not. He shook his head, went around me and grabbed the book from beneath the shirts.
"The funny thing is, that you must have seen it for a split second, probably while coming in, or you couldn't see it right now."
He shook his head again, disbelieving and opened the book. It was blank, every page. "What is this? Do you have to have magic to read this?"
I grinned. "Interesting thought, but no. You can't read it because you have never actually seen the pages. Your mind can't just have knowledge, it must come from the outside. For me, a few pages I have seen are filled. But you can't see those."
"Then how could I see what Merlin has done during the tournament? I am most certain I haven't seen that."

I pointed at me. "That's where I come in. When we were looking in the bowl or the pond, we weren't watching the past. We were watching my memories. We saw this scenes how I saw it."
He stared at me. "I do not know what to make of this", he said finally, throwing the empty book on Merlins bed and heading out.
I followed. "Then don't. Let us focus on why I am here again."
He turned around quickly. "You said you could see the future. You know how this sickness is spreading and you know who's behind it!"
"Yes."
"Tell me!" He wanted to grab my arms and I actually let him. He did not notice at the time, but he would.
"What good would that do? You won't remember."
"There are fifty dead bodies outside at my courtyard! You better tell me right now!" His grip got tighter and I took a step back, watching his hands go through my body in the process. He looked extremely annoyed, clenching his fists.
"You will have to work on that", I told him. "If you will get angry at me every time I could tell or do something, this bond between us will be a real pain in the ass."

"It already is." He folded his arms and I sighed.
"I need for you to see the bigger picture. Everything that has to come is only foreplay. There will be incidents way worse than this disease and fifty dead. But I can't interfere until a very, very specific time and place. If I would, the future would change, more or less. And I would not be able to see it anymore! I would not be able to change your destiny and Merlins too! It would be a disaster! I have to set priorities!"
His face hardened during my speech. "How can you sleep at night, sentencing people to death like that."
I stared at him. "The same way Uther can, the same way you can once you are king. Because these are exactly the kind of choices you will have to make."
He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. I ran a hand over my face.
"Let's call it a night here. Your choice, jump out of the window or let me throw water at you."
He didn't say anything so I made the choice and threw the water. It was really convenient that I could make a cup of it appear in my hand as soon as needed.

We weren't in Gaius' chambers anymore but in his own. They looked.. nasty.
"Two days later and everything is over."
"And 85 people are dead."
"Yes. It is a pity."
He examined me, as I was leaning against his wardrobe. "My father said something to me. About hard decisions I will have to make."
I nodded. "I didn't remember him saying that but it was very convenient to prove my point. But that doesn't mean his decision was right. What you were saying is quite accurate. He hears magic and stops thinking straight."
"Magic hurt him. Very much", said Arthur, like he was trying to defend him.
I pulled a face. "I know how much and especially why he has suffered. And believe me, he was acting then like he was acting today. Blaming the magic and the person behind it, rather than questioning himself and what he thinks is right. He developed a pattern back then and he will stick to it even beyond his death."
He studied my face and I was trying to shake the bitterness and the anger that comes up whenever I saw, heard or talked about Uther Pendragon. Instead I used a different topic to amuse myself.
"I have never seen what happened to this coat."
Arthur is wearing his simple clothes, just boots, trousers and a linen shirt. I grabbed the long brown coat he used to wear during his daily duties. "What do you mean?"

I put it on and had to laugh. It was about two sizes too big. The sleeves were way to long and the hem was gliding across the floor when I walked. "When I was a child, I would steal my father's bathrobe and walk in it. I guess that looked pretty similar." I laughed again.
Arthur didn't laugh but he didn't stare at me like he wanted to get rid of me as soon as possible, like he usually did. "You are in a pretty good mood", he commented, almost sounding amused. Almost.
I shrugged and smiled. "Yeah, why not? You beat the creature, Gwen didn't have to burn and you were rescuing Merlin from her fate although he directly admitted he's a sorcerer."
"He healed Gwen's father."
"Yes he did." "Why did he do that? He must have seen how stupid that was! A whole town is dying from a disease and only one person miraculously survives. It was obvious we would investigate!"
"Yeah, for people like you and me. Merlin is different. He knew he could heal her father and he couldn't bear watching her suffer. So he took actions without truly thinking about it."

I took off the coat and sat on his bed, legs crossed. Arthur was standing before me, looking down, almost threatening. Any outsider seeing us in his room would never have guessed that I was the person in power. Arthur seemed to notice that, he snorted under his breath and pulled a chair to him to sit down. I smiled softly.
"One day, you will know that I am not your enemy. And you will be glad to see me after I didn't came for a while and you will hug me when an incident turns out okay, simply because you can, knowing no one is here to judge you."
He raised an eyebrow, very disbelieving. "Have you seen that? In my future?"
I shook my head. "No. I can't see anything that involves my own. But I am truly wishing for that to happen. That you can consider me a good friend one day, a person who you can talk about anything with, being sure that I would and could never spill it out."
"Why?"
I shrugged. "Because I have started this. And it will continue to happen, for several years at last. And if you think of me as the enemy the whole entire time-" I had to stop and took a deep breath, trying very hard to keep my voice steady. "Then the next few years will be very hard for me. Mentally and emotionally. I am only human." I shrugged again, keeping the tears out of my eyes. More or less.

Arthur seemed completely overwhelmed, he almost goggled at me. I wiped the tears out of my eyes. "So, do you want to see how Merlin saved you this time?" I was nodding towards the bowl that appeared next to Arthur on the table.
To my big surprise, he shook his head. "No... I already know. He summoned the wind that carried the flame of my torch to the creature."
I smiled approvingly. "The creature was called an Afanc. It was made by a sorceress out of clay and water-"
"So he used wind and fire to destroy it", he combined and I nodded again, satisfied.
"That is correct."
"What sorceress did this? Who is she?"
I stood up and he mirrored me. "You will actually meet her pretty soon. But you better not look forward to it. It is the sorceress your father thought he got wronged by."
"I hate when you make allusions like that. It is very discomforting."
I grinned. "Well, then you can actually be thankful for not remembering."
He wanted to answer but I grabbed his hands and took a large step backwards. I was falling onto the bed and Arthur right on top of me. Well, he would have fallen there but I dissolved into smoke and giggled while he was hitting the bed.