Chapter Six:
When Merlin woke up, his head was throbbing. It must be the dark magic. What did it do though?
Merlin got out of bed, eager to help Gaius today. Even if it was his day off, he wanted to help the physician, and maybe impress him with his new knowledge. Either way, it's not like Gaius would let him lounge around and do nothing all day. He liked to make Merlin work for him on his rare days off.
"Morning, Gaius!" he chirped.
"Morning? The sun's almost at its peak for the day! Just because you've got a day off, it doesn't mean you can be so lazy!"
Okay. Something was very wrong. Sure, Merlin got up a little later than usual, but only by an hour or so. The tenth bell hasn't even rung yet!
Looking his guardian in the eye, he inquired, "Gaius, what's wrong? Are you feeling alright?"
Gaius looked at Merlin as if he had grown another head.
"What's wrong? You! I give you food and a home, but you can't even try to help me in my work?" he snapped.
Instead of taking the bait, Merlin walked out of the door, wondering what came over his mentor. He wasn't paying too much attention to where he was going, and nearly walked right into Percival.
"Sorry, Percival. I wasn't watching where I was going," he said, sheepishly.
"Honestly, Merlin! Is it so hard to actually look ahead when you walk?" Percival grumbled.
Percival isn't acting like usual. He would never snap at someone for something so simple... Just like Gaius... Could this be connected?
Merlin needed to test out his theory, even if it wouldn't feel too great. Having people be angry with you never does, after all. He walked to the market. If people really were getting irritable because of magic, he would be able to see it happening there.
Going up to the nearest stall, Merlin asked for an apple. The owner of the stall, a nice middle-aged man with a balding head, seemed to have been affected as well.
"Which one?" he interrogated. "A small one or a large one? A medium sized one? A red one or a green one? Well come on boy! I don't have all day!"
Pointing to a random apple, he answered, "Just that one would be good. Thanks"
Huffing, the man gave Merlin the apple before turning to another customer. He was also irritable towards them. In fact, everybody in the market was acting strangely aggressive and irritable. Some fights were breaking out, and no alcohol was being served at this time of day.
Definitely something weird here.
Merlin went back to his room, and even though Gaius wasn't there anymore, he locked his door. Better safe than sorry. He stalked over to the loose floorboard, and pulled it off, revealing an assortment of magical items. Grabbing his grimoire, he replaced the floorboard, hurriedly skimming through the pages. He was sure that he had seen something about this in the book. Finally, his eyes landed on the page he was looking for.
'The Irritability Spell causes people to become extremely irritable and slightly aggressive. The longer the spell lasts, the stronger it becomes. This spell causes the people being affected by it to become weak, as it steals their energy. On the sixth day after the spell is cast, people will start to collapse and die, though many will do so before even the fourth day. It is pertinent that the spell is removed quickly, but it can only be done so when the spell casters are killed. There needs to be seven different spell casters in order for the spell to work properly. Each spell caster becomes a vessel for the spell, similar to the Sleeping Sickness Spell, except for the fact that the vessels have to do the spell themselves.
This spell can only be cast at night, on a full moon, with no clouds covering it. In order to cast it, each caster uses a shared knife that was just in a fire, to cut themselves and let a single drop of blood enter the bucket of water in front of them. The water must be boiling atop a fire for this. If the fire stops, or the bucket is spilled, the spell will weaken considerably, but will not stop.
The spell is spoken by all seven, and they must name where they want it to affect. The spell is very energy draining for both the victims and the spell casters. Spell casters usually collapse after the first two days, but wake up. If the spell goes on for longer than a week, the casters usually die. Again, the only way to stop the spell, is to kill all the spell casters.'
Of course. It always has to be evil sorcerers, doesn't it? Never mind that, he had to figure out where this spell was being cast from. He could always follow the magic trail, on foot, but that could lead him into a trap. No, he would have to use the magic tracking spell.
"ðurhl¯ædan me toward wægn drýcræft râd sê hagorûn râd êaðbylgnes!" he incanted.
Suddenly, an image formed in his mind. A cave surrounded by trees. A fire with a bucket of red water. Seven people. Seven people and someone approaching them. A lady. Lady Morgana. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could guess what was happening. The casters were working for Morgana, and would probably die with the spell.
Merlin focused hard. Since he wasn't really there, he was able to move around, like a ghost. He tried fly up, in order to figure out where he was. Succeeding, he realised that it was deep in the Darkling Woods. It would take at least a day to get there. Knowing what he had to do, Merlin pulled himself out of the trance and began to pack.
His magical staff was a difficult decision. Should he take it or not? He definitely had enough power and control to use magic without it, but it was useful to have something to channel your power with. In the end, he realised that the staff would be suspicious and burdening, so he left it.
It was evening by the time he was done packing. After eating a dinner of porridge, Merlin scribbled a quick note to Gaius, who had extra work to do because of all the fights, saying he was out and that he would be back soon. Then, he left.
A/N: I know this chapter is short, but I wanted to have the journey and fight to be a separate chapter. When Merlin says "ðurhl¯ædan me toward wægn drýcræft râd sê hagorûn râd êaðbylgnes!" it was supposed to be Old English for something like "Lead me to the magic of the spell of irritability!" I'm not entirely sure if it is accurate, but let's just pretend it is. Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are always appreciated.