Chapter 19: Double Agent
It was cold when Leo entered the second floor girl's lavatory. The door creaked hart-stoppingly open and Leo squeezed through it, sucking his belly in so as to not have to open the door yet another few centimetres.
Inside, taps dripped to the rhythm of his feet on cobbled floor, giving the room an eerie, uneasy air, as if something was just about to jump out at him.
Leo sent a ball of light rolling above him, which settled by his left ear as he waited with bated breath for…
"YOU!" The high pitched squeak of Moaning Myrtle rose above the silence and she bobbed into view about a meter before him. "What are you doing here? GET OUT! I don't like you! I know what you and that woman did to Harry and his friends and I won't let you touch them again!" she squealed; crossing her arms and placing herself between Leo and the snake entwined tap, as if trying to block his way.
"No offence Myrtle, but what exactly can you do to stop me?" Leo queried, but straight away wished he hadn't.
"Oh that's right! Everybody laugh at Myrtle because she useless! Good for nothing, miserable, moping, moaning Myrtle!" Myrtle sulked, her top lip wobbling.
"Alright, alright!" Leo exclaimed. "If you have to know I'm helping them get out of there!" Leo clarified.
"After helping put them in there! Do you think I'm stupid?" Myrtle spat. "Well, I'm not!" she wailed without waiting for an answer.
"Whatever," Leo sighed, dodging her and pacing towards the sink just in front of him, and, blocking out the sounds of Myrtles wails, he whispered the words Morgana had taught him, stepping back as the chamber grinded open.
He lowered himself into the tunnel and looking back at Myrtle asked: "One thing; could you not tell Professor Pollywood I was here?" And then he was gone, just about catching the start of a 'Why should I?' as he whizzed down the slide that felt like sand paper on his back.
Leo was spat out of the other end of the drainage system at some speed; he landed, sprawled on the floor, the cracking of bones making him cringe… they weren't his though, the cracking had come from beneath him; from the animal bones that littered the floor.
He got up, and, dragging his feet, he made his way through the serpentine pipes to the heavy, circler door which required him again, to whisper the words of that unfamiliar language before he could take that long, deep, guilt ridden breath before he stepped forward, jumping onto the moss coloured stone floor that belonged to Salazars's chamber.
As he walked, though, he didn't notice the door swinging ever so slowly shut behind him, didn't notice the tiptoeing of feet as they made their way after him. He wasn't aware of the person or persons following him into the chamber, until they revealed themselves just minutes later.
Leo paused for a second, as he reached the centre of the halls, but taking a deep breath, he stepped into the circle of light cast by 30 or so candles.
Five faces turned. Five faces looked at him; there expressions mingled with confusion and apprehension.
"What do you want?" Leo's breath caught in his throat. For the first time in a thousand years he could see the warlock clearly, and he had not changed a bit. Still the same high cheek bones and large ears; still the same dark brown, verging on black, hair; still the look of distrust that he had worn so many times before in Mordred's presence.
"I… I want to help" Leo gulped.
"Okay…" Merlin answered "and what exa…"
"I don't want anything," Leo interrupted "I just want to help you, truly I do…. I got you into this mess, and I'm gonna get you out." He looked at Merlin, lip quivering, the man was still fixing him with an untrusting stare, and with a wavering one himself, Leo managed to keep hold of the wizard's eye line. "I thought Morgana was doing the right thing… well" Leo paused, a thought entering his head "Maybe I didn't, maybe I was just being selfish… she said she'd make my life a living hell if I didn't help her, and I'm scared… scared that I might not be doing the right thing, just scared, all the time, but the last time something like this happened innocent people died. Our people." He gestured toward Merlin and then back to himself, as he said the words. "And that was all down to a Pendragon… I just want to make sure that it won't happen again." Leo sighed, a weight lifting from his soldiers.
Merlin frowned "And you thought Morgana wouldn't kill innocent people?"
"I…" Leo stuttered.
"What exactly did she say she wanted to do?"
"She said we were protecting wizards... from Arthur." Leo muttered, and Merlin turned to the rest of the group. Leo caught him roll his eyes slightly as he did so and a sudden anger welled up inside him.
He grabbed merlin's sleeve jolting the warlock round to face him. "If we're gonna do this, you're going to have to trust me."
Merlin snorted a slight laugh at that and Leo let go, stepping backward. "Okay, okay, I understand that in this situation that isn't exactly a rationally thing to ask… but you never once gave me a chance before and look where that got you!" He gestured to the dripping chamber around him.
"Well, I had my reasons." Merlin growled.
"Really? What were they exactly?"
"Prophecies… tales… which, I might add, turned out to be true in the end."
"Yeah okay," Leo sighed, a tear welling up in his eye "but maybe they wouldn't have done if you hadn't made me feel so cast out." He had caught Merlin's attention with that. Brushing the tear away, he demanded "Do you trust me or not?"
Merlin sighed, biting his lip, a faraway look entering his eyes; thinking.
Suddenly, a footstep echoed from down the hall, it was followed by another, and another and just before their owner came into view a voice emitted from the darkness. "Well I trust him." It said. "I don't think, somehow, that you trust me though." Leo turned, and his companions behind him stared, calculating what to do next.