Arthur and Merlin had been in Nottingham for almost two weeks and at times it seemed to them that they had lived there all their lives.
"We'll never see Camelot again, will we?" Arthur asked his friend. They were on their way back from disturbing food to the needy.
"We will," Merlin, ever the optimist, replied, "you'll see."
"Do you think Morgana has taken over?"
"Unless she killed all the knights," Merlin replied, "otherwise I'm sure they're fighting against her."
"I should never have had Guinevere banished," Arthur said. Merlin knew what was coming next; the young king would become depressed and not talk for hours. Luckily Arthur rarely had time for sulking; outwitting the sheriff and Gisborne and trying to stay alive gave him other things to think about.
000
"That wasn't supposed to happen," Much said ducking as an arrow shot past him, "no one said anything about poisoned arrows."
Robin and his men were standing in the middle of the Sheriff's new strong room. They had heard about it when the men who had commissioned to build it had died from mysterious circumstances leaving only a blind man, whom the sheriff's men had thought dead.
Robin and his men intended to take all the money from the strong room to interfere with Prince John's plans to take over England in the absence of King Richard. Getting into the strong room hadn't been hard, however they had discovered only too late that it had been a trap and that there was no money in the room. The sheriff had removed if for the evening; no doubt he'd been tipped off that Robin intended to raid his strong room that evening.
"What do we do?" Much asked.
The men looked at each other and then Robin said, "we run." Luckily for them the arrows had stopped shooting but they heard something worse.
"Dogs," Will said. "They've let out the dogs." The sound of barking filled the air and they could hear Gisborne's voice in the background urging his men to move faster.
"That was a narrow escape," Alan said, when they were safely out of Nottingham on their way back to the camp. "How did you know about the sheriff's new strong room, anyway?"
Robin didn't reply. Marianne was his spy in the castle and although he knew that he could trust these men - even Arthur and Merlin with his life, he couldn't risk Gisborne and the sheriff finding out about Marianne.
The next day Robin and Marianne met at their agreed place in the market. "You failed yesterday," Marianne told him, furious.
"It was a trap, and there was no money."
"Well, the sheriff is furious, and he's making some changes to the strong room," Marianne told him.
"Really?"
"Apparently he's receiving a visitor, a rich count who'll double or even triple the contents of the strong room," Marianne told Robin.
"When?"
"The count's arriving today, which is why I'm here buying a new dress to distract him, and he's staying only two nights."
"That doesn't give us much time," Robin said.
"You only have tomorrow night," Marianne said, "after that it will be too late."
000
Robin, Much, Arthur, Merlin, John, Alan and Will practiced again and again, making allowances for the poisoned arrows, the shifting floor and also how to get the money out of the room without the guards hearing a thing. They had already bought the meat for the dogs and Merlin had mixed some herbs that would make them fall asleep. The only thing remaining was how to get everyone into the castle unnoticed but Robin and Arthur were working on that.
000
Count Wells stood with Marianne in the shadows. He had followed Marianne out of the game room when she had feigned a headache and now they were hiding behind the curtains in the sheriff's room.
"You had better make sure Marianne plays her part well," the sheriff told Gisborne.
"She knows what's at stake," Gisborne replied, "and we all know how much she loves her father."
"And as for that stupid Count," the sheriff continued, "he has to lose everything."
"The dice is loaded in the favour of the house," Gisborne, "we'll get everything."
After Gisborne and the sheriff left Count Wells wanted to pack up and leave immediately but Marianne was able to convince to stay and help Robin. The next morning the Count convinced the sheriff to allow Marianne to ride out with him unaccompanied and they went and met Robin.
"You're not from around here, are you?" Wells asked Arthur.
"What makes you think that?"
"You have the look of a man out of his time," Wells replied.
Marianne had been able to get Merlin employed as one of the workers in the game room and at his signal the Count would start to lose ensuring that all his money ended up in the strong room where Robin and his men would able to get it from with all the sheriff's money.
The plan went off without a hitch. The Count lost all his money and Robin and his men emptied the entire contents of the strong room. The Count would meet Robin the next morning to get his money on his way back home.
000
Count Wells stood in his room in the castle and looked out at the dark night. He took his pocket watch out of his pocket but he didn't look at it. It had probably been a mistake to come to Nottingham but he had had no choice, not when Arthur and Merlin had ended up here as well.
He hadn't been surprised to see them coping with the situation which is why Arthur was going to be the greatest king the kingdom would ever know. He looked at his pocket watch; they still had a little time but not much.
If Arthur and Merlin didn't get back to Camelot tomorrow then all would be lost.
000
Count Wells thanked Robin and Marianne and gave them his money as a gift to help in the fight against the sheriff and Prince John.
Robin and Marianne went off to a quiet corner to talk; she had a little time before she would be missed. Alan, Will, Much and John carried the money to the camp.
"Do you think everything will ever be alright in England?" Merlin asked.
"Robin will keep fighting until it is," Arthur replied, "or until he dies in the attempt."
"At least today was a good day," Merlin said, laughing, "no one was kidnapped or killed."
"Do you suppose we'll ever go back?"
"I'm sure you will." Merlin and Arthur turned to look at Count Wells whom they hadn't heard walking towards them. "In fact you're going back today."
"Who are you?" Arthur asked him.
"I haven't been exactly truthful with you," Wells told them, "my name is in fact H. G. Wells. It doesn't mean much to you I know, but I'm from the future and I invited the time machine."
"What?"
"A machine that can take you from one time to another," Wells told them. "Anyway there I was in 2011 minding my own business when one of my … students used the machine to get to Camelot. He inadvertently opened a wormhole which brought you here. I didn't discover it immediately, the silly boy tried to cover it up but when I did, I immediately set off to come and find you. You must return today or Morgana will take over Camelot and change everything."
Arthur and Merlin had been staring at the man in shock, he took a small bottle from his pocket and sprayed it into their faces and they both fell to the ground. Wells smiled to himself and looked around, Robin and his men were nowhere to be seen. As he struggled under the weight of Arthur and Merlin he silently agreed that he probably hadn't thought out that part very well.
Finally both young men were in the carriage and Wells calibrated the time machine and they set off for Camelot.
000
"You go ahead," Elyan said to Arthur and Merlin. "I'll keep them busy."
Arthur looked back at Camelot; he couldn't believe he had trusted the wrong person. Again. He had honestly thought that Agravaine was on his side.
"We have to go," Merlin said.
"No." This time Arthur wasn't going to leave Camelot without a fight, besides he had Merlin by his side and that was definitely an advantage.
"What?" Merlin couldn't believe his spell had worn off already. Arthur was in no state to fight; in fact he wasn't even supposed to be in a state to think clearly.
"Merlin, you're the greatest warlock in the land. Surely you're more than a match for Morgana."
H. G. Wells, who was hiding behind a tree nearby, looked at his watch and shook his head. Things weren't supposed to happen like this. Arthur wasn't supposed to know Merlin's secret yet.
"Arthur," Merlin said, laughing nervously. "The wound must be making you delirious."
H. G. Wells stepped out into the open and when Arthur saw him he said, "That's H. G. Wells, he invented the time machine, he knows everything he was with us in Sherwood Forest." Merlin was still in shock over the fact that Arthur seemed to know his secret that he didn't even look at Wells.
"And I think I put you in the wrong time," Wells said. "If you would be so kind." He beckoned to them. When Arthur moved nearer pulling Merlin with him, Wells knocked sprayed the young men in the face again.
He would get it right this time.
000
Arthur woke up and looked at the clothes he was wearing; he looked around and saw Merlin sleeping under a tree. Kicking Merlin, he asked, "what am I wearing Merlin, you'd better have a good explanation for this."
"Shh," Merlin told him, "these people think you're a simple minded fool."
"Who are these people and why would they think me a fool?"
Tristan walked up to Merlin and said, "We're setting off in a few minutes," and then looking at Arthur like he couldn't possibly have understood his words, added, "Explain that to the fool."
000
So many unexplained things happened in the battle for Camelot and once or twice Arthur found himself thinking that maybe the dream had been true, maybe he and Merlin had gone to the future, maybe Merlin had magic but he only had to watch Merlin trip over his feet and knock over things as they cleared the castle after Morgana had escaped to make him shake his head and tell himself that it was only a dream.
000
H. G. Wells closed his pocket watch and straightened his bowtie. All was well in Camelot for now. He debated with himself and then decided that he had time to attend the wedding. After all a few more days won't hurt anyone and he had always wanted to attend Arthur and Guinevere's wedding.
000\the end/000
Thanks for reading and reviewing.
The character H. G. Wells is from the series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, which I absolutely love.