Thanks to Glittery-excuse-for-a Fae, Ikchen, Siany-T, xXStephRheaXx and Lady Clark-Weasley of Books. Love getting your reviews. It makes it all worthwhile. X
Merlin scrutinised the mirror. He was certain it had something to do with Arthur's disappearance. If he could not work out how it had something to do with it, however, then the search could progress no further. He shouldn't have been foolish enough to think that just by touching it everything would be revealed – that was childish and naïve.
The warlock's eyes traced the details on the frame, following the winding paths and branches of the golden engravings. Once again he tried to look passed the superficial outside of the frame – ignoring the dazzling jewels and gems – to focus purely on the material they were studded into. It was then he noticed. Had you not been looking very closely like he was (his nose almost touching the surface) then you would not have seen the tiny inscriptions carved delicately into the frame encircling the sapphires and diamonds. To a normal person – even on closer inspection – they would look like a scrawling pattern but Merlin knew exactly what they said. They were incantations.
His heart quickening with excitement Merlin began to read, his voice soft and rasping as his lips twisted round the syllables. He completely forgot who was in the room with him, concentrating purely on the spell. And then the mirror rippled. A tremor slithered across the surface like a wave of water. Merlin grinned.
"What did you do? What did you say?" An awed squeak came from behind him – there was an undertone of fear in the voice however.
"I-nothing, I didn't do anything!" Merlin denied everything as usual but this time knowing it truly was fruitless.
"The mirror….it's changed. You made it do that!" Bedivere stepped closer to magician and the mirror. Merlin was surprised, he'd always thought that if anyone found out about him they would scream and run away or at the very least step back from him.
"I…" the young man tried again but was interrupted.
"There's a room! On the other side of the mirror there is a room!" The boy was pointing now, running towards the object with eager eyes. Merlin shifted in front of him, halting his trajectory before he could career straight into the mirror.
"Don't touch it!" The sorcerer grabbed Bedivere's outstretched hand and pulled it away. He couldn't explain why he didn't want the tradesman's son to touch it but he just knew.
"I wasn't going to," Bedi lied, grabbing his arm back. Merlin raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Instead he turned to the front of the mirror once more and saw what Bedivere had meant.
The mirror was now a window and Bedivere had been right to some extent, there was another place on the other side that was certainly not the hall they were in, but it wasn't a room it was a cave. The cave was lit with flickering torches; they cast grotesque shadows on the dark walls. It was very difficult to see anything else but from what Merlin could make out there was a strange looking altar in the centre. Merlin was sure that in that cave was where he would find Arthur, Fabien and, most likely, Nimueh.
"Merlin," Bedivere sounded unsure of himself, "Did you do magic? Did you make that cave appear? If you did I won't tell, I promise!" The boy was earnest in his promise. Merlin stared at him for a second, pondering his sincerity. This was the child related to the man who had most likely abducted Prince Arthur, but that wasn't his fault and he'd been nothing but helpful so far.
"It may have been," the warlock shrugged, noncommittally. He reached out and touched the glass but this time he felt his fingers sink through the surface as if parting water. It was a portal.
"Merlin!" Bedivere raised his voice, his voice tinged with surprise.
"Look, it's not what you think…it's not bad. I don't do evil…"
"No, Merlin, I don't care about that, look." The manservant followed Bedivere's gaze. In the high window at the edge of the hall there was a bird. This was not any old bird though, this was a falcon.
"Elsu!" the warlock breathed as the merlin fluttered down from his perch by the open window and landed elegantly on the top of the mirror, completely unperturbed by anything magical or dangerous about it. Elsu watched him expectantly, cooing gently in the back of his throat.
That was then the idea struck him. It was so reckless that he wasn't sure it was worth it at first but it would certainly give him the element of surprise and maybe help his plight in the long run. Without thinking it through any further Merlin turned to Bedivere with adrenaline fuelled eyes and offer him a grim smile.
"This is going to sound odd but first….do you trust me?"
"With my life," the boy answered immediately with such complete seriousness it shocked Merlin. How could this Bedi trust him so implicitly already?
"Okay then, um…well anyway," the magician moved on swiftly, "I can do magic as you saw but there's this other thing I can do, its hard to explain. It involves Elsu and well…" The young man paused, thinking about his wording carefully. "I sort of move my mind into his body and travel with him. That sounds absurd I know. My actual body stays behind though, unconscious. I'm going to transfer into Elsu before going in there and I want you to stay here and protect my body. Barricade the door so no one comes in."
"What? How am I supposed to explain myself if I'm caught?" Bedivere asked, skipping straight over the fact Merlin had admitted he was a warlock and could transform into animals, and moving to practicalities.
"You'll think of something, I'm sure." And with that Merlin collapsed.
Bedivere had not expected the plan to go into action quite so suddenly and jumped in surprise, diving to the fallen man's aid. It was only then he remembered what Merlin had said about unconsciousness. This was meant to be happening. He looked for Elsu and saw the blue and black tail feathers of the falcon disappearing through the mirror. The bird was gone and Merlin with him.
Hurrying to drag the body to one side, Bedivere dumped the manservant behind the colonnades and set about blocking up the great double doors which were the entrance to the hall. He used chairs – the king's own throne even – and a table which took a lot of heaving. Fortunately a lot of his father's wares had been left behind and they were very useful. Once he was sure the door was secure the boy settled down to wait.
Elsu's wings were inaudible to human ears as they swept him through the passage that led from cavern. He dodged the stalactites and stalagmites that jutted out like jagged teeth waiting to impale his soft vulnerable body. His eyesight was so impeccable that it was barely a challenge for him. Nevertheless, the boy trapped inside of him was less than calm. At every close shave with an obstacle his metaphorical heart leapt and his blood raced. It was terrifying. There was nothing he could really do to stop the sickening rollercoaster either. The falcon was in control for now, this was his domain. When things slowed down Merlin would try and regain a bit of control and channel his thoughts into Elsu's so the bird did what he wanted.
After awhile they reached an opening, as the narrow corridor opened into a large cavern, not dissimilar to the one that house the dragon at the castle. The place was vast and echoing. Inside the falcon Merlin felt ridiculously puny; especially when he caught sight of the cloaked figure standing across the space from him. It had its back to him, crouching over what seemed to be another form slumped against the wall. A flaming torch illuminated the body's head suddenly, revealing a flash of gold. It was Arthur.
Merlin desperately wanted to lurch forward and save him but knew that would be pointless. He'd come here as Elsu to act as a scout, to get his bearings and find out what exactly was going on. Instead of flying towards the cloaked figure Elsu retreated higher up into the ceiling of the cave to find a safe perch on which to watch.
"Hungry? Thirsty? Want to die yet?" The voice was malicious – and masculine.
"Leave me alone." Merlin hadn't realised Arthur was conscious but by the sound of his strong voice he was. "Why don't you just get it over with and kill me?"
"Because that would defeat the object of this exercise."
"What exercise?! I don't understand you!" Arthur sounded exasperated. "Why have you abducted me if you don't actually want me?"
"Oh we want you, Arthur, but you are just the lure; the trap to bait a much larger fish." Once again the prince's face was lit up by a torch and it was twisted with frustration and confusion.
"What fish?"
"A fish that is more important than you, Prince Arthur of Camelot. Does that shock you?" This voice was different, definitely feminine. It echoed through the entire chamber so Merlin had no idea where it was coming from. The words seemed to come from everywhere. Nimueh had come.
"I don't…" Arthur was frowning now, disconcerted.
"Understand? Of course you don't. There's really only one person who can explain it properly to you and you know what? He's here with us right now. Isn't that right, Merlin?!" The last word came out as a menacing hiss and Merlin jerked as Nimueh appeared in the base of the cave her intense blue eyes fixed on him. Her mouth moved quickly and the magician knew she was casting a spell. Before he could do anything to retaliate Merlin felt a searing pain envelop Elsu's body. Everything went cold. He felt the falcon writhing around him, spasms ripped through his wings. Around the bird's body a glowing green light danced. It weaved and wound through the air creating a mesh – a cage - Merlin realised too late.
Within the cage Elsu was lifted up and floated down towards the Nimueh – he still thrashed in pain. The shimmering ball came to halt midair between Nimueh and Arthur. The other person was Fabien, his lips twisted in a sadistic smile.
"Merlin, how nice of you to drop by and in such a clever way." The sorceress reached out with a pale slender arm and passed her hand through the cage to stroke the shuddering bird. "It wasn't clever enough to trick me though, was it? And don't think you can escape; my spell has bound you together. You are trapped there."
Arthur had watched the evil witch summon the falcon out of the dark abyss above him and had immediately recognised the distinctive colourings of Elsu. He could not understand how the bird had ended up in the cave but that hardly mattered. What was more perplexing was the fact that Nimueh was talking to the animal as if it could comprehend her speech, as if it were human. That made no sense. And why on earth was she calling him merlin? That may be his species but Arthur didn't go round calling people 'human' so why should she?
"His name's Elsu," the prince spoke out, his tone fierce and annoyed.
"Oh…" the sorceress turned an amused gaze on him, "I don't think so."
There was a violent rapping on the door, it was getting louder and so were the shouts. Bedivere could feel his pulse quicken and his blood rushed in his ears, deafening him. He felt physically sick with fear. When Merlin had said think of something he really hadn't thought it through. The King would surely kill him for this. There was nothing he could do to explain the situation without mentioning magic after all.
As the pile of furniture barricading the door quaked ominously, the boy backed further to the other end of the hall, his eyes trained on the entrance, waiting for it to burst open. There was only one thing he could do really. With one last glance to make sure Merlin's body was safely stowed away, Bedivere turned and stepped into the mirror.