Hello my dear readers!
Yes, this is an update! I know, once more it has been a very long time... I am truly sorry. Really. But, for once, I have good excuses!
First, I accidentally dropped water on my good old computer and, therefore, it died after 7 years *cries*. So I had to buy a new one and then I hadn't Microsoft Words.
Second, I fell really ill. Spent one week and a half at home. (but this is also a good new because I despairingly needed distractions from the stuff happening to me so I wrote).
And third, and not the least, I received the correction of "A Universe Inside A Tear" by my Beta. This means that I had to correct the original file and, without Words... It was a long a tedious work. But I finally got dear old Words back and TADAM ! So, I can announce that over the next few days I will update this story with the new corrected version ! Yaaaay ! The first 10 chapters are already done ! So if you want to go back and re-read the original story now it will be far better (or so I hope)!
I could add a fourth that would said that I offered myself the three Star Trek TOS boxsets and I am catching up... Sooooo...
But, enough talk, here comes the 19th chapter! And I do hope you will like it!
Chapter 19:
Two months later, Alice felt as if she had settled back into Camelot nicely. Over that time, more and more people had gradually come to her in times of need and she was glad for that. It showed that people trusted her, despite her known use of magic, and she was enjoying having the work.
Through whispers and rumours, she also gained more and more insight into what had happened during the time she'd been away and what had changed. A lot had.
However, there was one thing that she was not quite used to again and that was being woken in the middle of the night by people knocking at her door.
She pushed herself up with a wince at her creaking old bones and joints while she reached for her dressing grown before going to open the door.
She came face to face with Sir Percival supporting a clearly very drunk Sir Gwaine.
"I'm sorry to disturb you Alice." The burly man said, a guilty look on his face. "I would have woken Merlin but he spent the day on patrol with the king and they only got home a few hours ago…"
"It's okay Sir Percival, do come in." She interrupted. She knew that he wouldn't have come here for nothing. "What is the matter with Sir Gwaine?"
"It's nothing…" The long-haired man slurred almost incomprehensively. "He's just being a mo… A mother-hen!"
"He spent the night at the tavern, started a fight and sliced his arm open with a shard of broken wood" Percival looked tired of his friend's antics as he helped the drunken man sit on the patient bed.
"Guy deserved it… Insulted Merlin."
"I know Gwaine. I was there you know."
Alice nodded distractedly at the story as she went about the room collecting the different items she needed. If there was one thing she had learnt, it was that Sir Gwaine was fiercely protective of the young court advisor. Even more so when he was drunk and his self-control loosened. She went back to sit in front of the knight and began to clean his wound.
"Well, I'm afraid this will need stitching up and will get you off practice for at least a week."
Gwaine grinned a happy drunken grin while Percival shook his head.
"Oh please Percy, don't look so… Blah." The hurt knight exclaimed, speech still hardly understandable. "At least I didn't turn any dragons human."
"Gwaine." Percival hissed sharply.
But it was too late, Alice had frozen.
"What… Was he talking about?" She asked the larger man as Gwaine looked down, clearly chastised.
"Nothing, it's just the mead talking." The man looked flustered.
"Please, my lord, I may be old but I am not senile." She said, despite knowing that it wasn't her place to demand answers.
The knight looked around himself, searching for a way out. Without success. He let out a defeated sigh.
"Well… Last time he went to the tavern and ended up drunk, he woke up in the forest with a man that was a dragon turned into a human."
"That's impossible." Alice answered as she resumed her work on the injured limb even if her mind went back to rumours heard many years ago. When the mighty race still existed.
"It happened. Was awesome… Kind of freaky also... Guy was pissed at M…" Gwaine piped in, clearly remembering the adventure as the alcohol loosened his tongue.
"Gwaine! Shut up!" Percival interrupted sharply.
Alice observed the two. And then it dawned on her. The different stories she heard. About a manservant always following his master, even into the more dangerous situations. Going on quests, fighting beasts, never asking to stay back. A manservant raised to royal advisor. Gaius' unique protectiveness and love.
"Oh. I really should have known." She said softly. "Merlin has magic, hasn't he? And he turned a dragon into a human?"
Percival glared accurately at Gwaine who suddenly seemed to realize what he had done.
"What? No! No! Of course no!" he scrambled to say, sounding far less drunk and adding an awkward false laugh at the end for good measure. "Percival, you didn't believe that story, right? I was drunk and hallucinating."
Alice was not fooled.
She had had suspicions for a while already but this was the proof she needed. And not only did Merlin have magic, but it seemed that he was far more powerful than she could have ever imagined.
"Please. Like I said. Not senile."
The two knights looked worriedly at each other, obviously wondering what they could do to save the situation.
"Don't look so worried. I won't tell anyone." Alice said after a moment.
"It's not that we don't trust you Alice…" Percival tried to justify. "It's just that…"
"It's a well-guarded secret that you didn't wish to divulge. I understand. Really. I do." She completed.
Silence fell as Alice concentrated on closing and binding the knight's arm.
"Like I said. No training for a week and I want you here in two days so I can check the scarring. And here, take this potion, it will help with the hangover."
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Now off you go."
Gwaine stood up but swayed dangerously before Percival caught him.
"Good night Alice."
The two knights left and Alice found herself sitting down in front of the fire, too awake to go back to sleep immediately. She felt wired up by the newfound confirmation of Merlin's magic and found herself revising everything she had heard and thought about the young man.
Since her first encounter with him she had sensed that something was different with him. But at the time she had obviously been too preoccupied with other things and hadn't thought to ask Gaius about it. Not that he would have answered, as she knew him.
And after that…. There indeed always seemed to be something more to Merlin but she hadn't wanted to look into it too much. Mainly because she didn't want to disturb the tentative trust they were building.
What should she do? Should she go and talk to him? Tell him she knew and supported him? That he could trust her to not reveal his secret and even help him if needed?
Would he even accept that? They may have been collaborating and eating together once a week but she knew that the past couldn't be erased so easily. And if he was still hiding, even in his new position and without the ban of magic, then he obviously had good reason to.
It suddenly dawned on her that he probably was the reason for Arthur's change of heart concerning the Old Ways. She didn't want to imagine what it had taken to achieve that.
She sighed. Merlin was definitely full of unexpected surprises. She just hoped he wasn't going to be too upset that she now knew one of them.
Finally, her eyes began drooping again and she went back to lie in her bed again. The sheets had cooled down so her muscles and joints took a long time to warm and stop aching but her mind relaxed finally.
Thoughts came and went in her head, old conversations and overheard snippets echoed in her ears. Talks about dragons and ancient rituals. It felt like her mind was trying to tell her something but she was already half asleep and couldn't comprehend it. She finally let go and fell asleep again.
Sorry for the glitch at first publication...
What do you think?
And don't forget that you can go back to the newly polished version of A Universe Is Trapped Inside A Tear :D