The poisoned chalice
„How is Merlin doing?" We were in the woods. A horse was standing nearby and a little fire flickered beneath a tree. Arthur stood up from the fireplace. I had to hide a grin, because it looked quite funny how he was standing and sitting at the same time. It also looked a little creepy.
"Dammit. I must've fallen asleep."
I nodded. "Yes. But I will wake you up as soon as we are done. Don't worry."
He looked very stressed out. "How could I not worry? Sorcerer or not, Merlin willingly drank from that goblet knowing it was poisoned! I never would have guessed Bayard would try something like this."
"It wasn't Bayard. He is just a pawn in somebody else's game."
Arthur looked down to think and finally noticed his strange position. "What is going on?" He took a step back and tried to touch his other self. His hands turned to dust just like mine when he tries to touch me. He stared at them.
"The place you most want to be right now is exactly here. That doesn't happen a lot, but sometimes it will. It is different than when we are in your chambers because someone's personal space is often a default setting for their mind. That is why your body is not visible then but it is now."
He looked a bit confused for a moment but got straight back to the topic.
"If it wasn't Bayard, who was?"
I was pleased to notice, that he didn't seem to question my words anymore. "The sorceress I warned you about last time. Her name is Nimueh."
"But why would she want to kill me? Why now?"
I tilted my head. "Think was she really trying to kill you?"
Arthur frowned. "It was my cup. If Merlin hadn't intervened-"
"But why did he intervene?", I interrupted him.
"Because he knew it was poisoned."
"And what did Uther do?"
He began to realize. "You said this sorceress knew my father. So she would know he would make Merlin drink... she was trying to kill Merlin!"
I smiled. "Very good."
"But why?"
"While I am showing you my memories in here, she is far more powerful. In her layer, she can see anything at any time. She saw how Merlin saved you, how he thwarted her plans with the sickness. She wants him out of her way." Arthur nodded, very slowly.
"You should hurry", I said, "Gaius found out that she manipulated the poison with magic, making it even more lethal."
Arthur looked at me a bit sceptical. "And yet you don't seem worried at all."
I shrugged. "I will always have to keep a straight face. And I can never be sure with what I have seen. My involvement could change everything, that is why I am so precautious with what I let you know. And I can never do more than give you more sleep or wake you up. And even that could already change things."
He still seemed a bit unhappy but dropped the topic. "How will you wake me up?"
I came closer to him. "That is a bit more complicated and I couldn't do it, if your body wasn't here. You have to sit just like him, and close your eyes."
He obeyed, obviously unwillingly, but obeyed nevertheless. Once he sat down in kneeled beside him, laying my palms against his face. I closed my eyes and searched for the strong connection we shared right know. And abruptly cut through it. I jumped up from my bed, as would he, miles and miles away.
"You were successful."
He was sitting in Gaius' bed staring at the one Merlin was lying in, outside of this dream. "Barely. She lured me into a trap."
I sat down next to him studying his face. "But she didn't kill you."
"She said it wasn't my destiny to die at her hand."
I sighed. "She was right. But she almost found a loophole."
"I am pissed that everyone seems to know my destiny, what I am suppose to do or to be. It sucks."
I was surprised by his language but then I smiled. Seemed like he finally realized that nobody could judge him here. "I can only imagine. Mine is clouded. Not many people know it. Actually I can only think of one, and he does not count as people."
He gazed at me. "Who?"
"Kilgharrah, the Great Dragon. He knows my fate is intertwined with yours and Merlin and I only know which part I want to play, but I can't be sure."
"Why not? You can see my future? And Merlins too."
I sighed. "Yes... but I am only a marionette of someone else, you see? An entity, I know exists, but she hasn't made up her mind yet."
Arthur stared at me, completely taken by surprise. "She?"
I smiled, a bit sadly. "Yes, it is a she who decides my fate. She made me after her own wishes and uses me to do what she can't."
"Why? If she can create you... why would she be limited?"
"Because she lives in a very different realm than us. And to interfere here, she had to create someone she could send her to do her bidding."
"So you are also not free?"
My smile became very thin. "I am actually way more trapped than you, believe me." We shared some silence, before I got back to my... let's call it job. "Do you want to see?" I didn't need to specify what I meant, he already knew. Arthur hesitated, before nodding slowly. I grabbed a mirror standing next to me and placed it on the ground before us.
"Who are you?", screamed Arthur while hanging on the cliff.
The one next to me tensed up.
"Arthur... It's too dark", moaned Merlin, laying in Gaius chambers, agitated. "Too dark."
"He could see me?", Arthur asked and I nodded.
Merlin began to mumble some words in the language of magic, repeating them. Gaius was a bit startled. "Merlin...", he said before pulling a bit of his blanket aside, exposing Merlins open palm with a blue-white shimmering sphere in it. "What are you doing?", asked Gaius to himself.
"Gaius knows. He is not at least surprised."
I smiled. "Merlin caught him with his magic the very first moment they meet. Gaius gave him the book. He is watching over him."
Arthur snorted, but didn't say anything.
We could see Arthur again, as the sphere approached him. "Come on then! What are you waiting for? Finish me off!"
The sphere hovered around him and he finally managed to pull himself up. He put the sword away, gazing at the glowing bowl that continued to rise up, showing him a way to climb the wall. Arthur hesitated and turned his head to look at the flowers he came for.
"You leave them, Arthur", Merlin moaned.
The hiss of the spiders split the silence and Arthur could see them, crawling up the wall.
"Go. Save yourself. Follow the light!"
Arthur began to climb the wall, heading towards the flower. The light floated above him. Arthur reached for the flower but couldn't get to it. Moaning with exertion he corrected his stand and finally got one and put it in his belt. The spiders closed in. Arthur tried to continue his climb but didn't get forward until he took of his gloves with his teeth.
"Faster, go faster. Follow the light!" Merlin was getting more agitated, watching Arthur. Gaius had to hold him down a bit, gazing at the sphere.
Arthur obeyed that silent order, getting faster in his moves.
"Move! Climb!"
The spiders were right on his tail, dozens of them closing in. The light showed him the last passage out, before vanishing in the night. Arthur lost time looking back down, but eventually he crawled out of the hole, immediately drawing his sword. He waited for a moment then began to run back to his horse. Merlin calmed down and the sphere disappeared, allowing Gaius to cool him down again.
"I had no idea who it was.", Arthur said after the mirror only showed us and the ceiling.
"I was so surprised. The light was obviously magical, I didn't understand who would sent it."
"Now you know."
"Yes... now I know."
"I would have came to you, but you were riding through the night. Good call, Merlin wouldn't have made it."
"He still could have died if it wasn't for Gwen. I had no idea my father could be so... indifferent. Letting someone die in pain, only to teach me a lesson. It is cruel."
"Uther has always been cruel", I said bitterly.
Arthur looked at me, a bit curious but I stayed silent. "You said we would see this how you saw it, right?"
That question threw me off, but I nodded.
"How come you could see me and him at the same time? Overlaying the events like that? You couldn't have been at two places at the same time."
I was surprised. "I thought you already figured out that with 'How I saw it' did not mean, I saw it with my eyes because I was there. It is she, who sends me that pictures. I do not get them in a dream or see them in a pond. They are just in my head, like they have always been there. And all I have to do is recall them, remembering every detail. The more closer and incident comes, the more clearer the fitting images are in my head. I already have most of your future, but it is blurred, fuzzy, only main events, no details at all."
"But enough to tell me my destiny, if you wanted too."
"Yes", I agreed.
He studied my face and sighed. "So, Gaius knows?"
I smiled. I really liked the old physician. "Yes. He has a little magic of his own. He used it to cure Merlin."
Arthur was very surprised. "Gaius has magic? Does my father know?"
"Yes and yes. Gaius was the only one to survive Uthers actions, it is a bit... unclear to me how and why. But the does remember the old ways. And when necessary, just like now, he uses them for good."
"Father always says that all magic is evil..."
I shook my head. "No magic is truly evil. Everything can be used for good and bad. It is the intention of the warlock that matters. Not more. A sword can be used to protect or to hurt. And only because its wielder chose to kill with it, the sword is not considered evil, right?"
He stared at the ground, deep in his own thoughts. I smiled. I was on the right way.
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