"David," Horvath said pseudo-warmly. "Nice hat."
"Thanks…" Dave muttered, resisting the urge to fiddle with the hat. Behind and around them, people continued to chatter and dance and get tipsy. No one noticed the two oddly dressed men talking with one another by the door. In fact, this was probably the only day of the year were two oddly dressed men could talk with one another by the door. "So… any particular reason you've pushed yourself out of the woodwork?"
"Oh yes," Horvath replied easily. "A very good, very important reason. I'm surprised you decided to face me alone. How are you to know I'm not about to kill you? It's not as if I haven't tried, after all?"
"If you wanted to kill me, you would have." Dave said, crossing his arms to hide the fact that he was shaking. "It's not as if you've cared about collateral damage before. And even if you were trying to kidnap me or something, you could have attacked and knocked me out." Horvath nodded.
"Thought out well enough, I suppose. Tell me though… Is Balthazar here?"
"No, he's not." Dave answered, feeling his heartbeat jump at the admission. Horvath nodded again with a smile.
"Excellent. No doubt he will be soon, of course, which is fine. But don't take me for a fool, David. I saw your lady's face when she left." Dave swallowed. "Unless your relationship has taken a decidedly nasty turn in the last few months…"
"Of course not!" Dave snapped. The portly villain nodded.
"Excellent. I thought not. Well then, young man. Let us talk outside."
"Why outside?" The younger man asked tensely. The sorcerer chuckled.
"Because, young man, I would rather discuss the future of our world without someone running into me and getting… liquor on my shoes." His lip curled disdainfully. "I'm sure it will take no great leap of intellect for Balthazar to find you when he gets here." Without another word, Horvath went outside, Dave following with some hesitation.
The party hadn't overflowed to the lawn yet, so it was relatively quiet and refreshingly cool. The moon covered the grass with a pale, dim light, and the enormous tree in the center of the yard sent thin, almost lacy shadows across the ground. A man leaned against the trunk of the tree, the sharp light of a cigarette piercing through the dimness. A smaller figure in pilgrim clothing stood nearby.
"David, you remember Drake? And I don't think you've met Abigail?" Horvath said cheerfully. Drake Stone nodded drily.
"Cheers, mate," he muttered. "Nice hat." He breathed out a plume of cigarette smoke as Abigail smiled.
"So this is the Prime Merlinian?" She asked, her voice eerily young. "Taller than I expected. And so well-dressed." Dave was getting the distinct impression that they were making fun of him.
"David, don't be rude." Horvath chided. "Say hello." Dave cleared his throat.
"Hey, nice to meet you," he said awkwardly. A beat. "I'd just like to point out that I didn't actually kill either of you."
"Oh, now now, David." Horvath said sharply. "Don't bring up that old, awful business."
"Horvath is right," Abigail said sweetly, clasping her hands in what seemed to Dave like a rather forced show of sweetness and innocence. "No hard feelings. There are more important things than grudges." She paused. "Which is what we're here to talk to you abou-"
"How are you two even alive?" Dave asked. "Horvath-"
"Dave." Horvath said dangerously. Dave decided to shut up.
"When you beat Morgana, our magic and life force came back." Drake said, putting out his cigarette on the tree trunk. "No big deal." Dave raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Okay, it hurt like hell. But we're all better now." He smirked "See?" He flicked his wrist, and a heavy wave of energy crashed like tidal wave into the shield Dave barely managed to bring up in time. As the makings of a plasma bolt flickered around Dave's fingertips, Horvath sighed and slammed the end of his walking stick to the ground. Twin waves of dirt crashed down on Dave and Drake, pinning them. Abigail stood by passively, smirking.
"Both of you, knock it off." Horvath snapped. Dave struggled to breathe as the earth settled on his back and trickled up to hold down his arms. "Drake, that was rude."
"Sorry." The professional magician croaked. "My bad."
"Now," Horvath continued smoothly. "Until you both prove you can behave like reasonable adults, I'm afraid we'll have to continue this discussion this way-"
"Horvath!" Dave looked up to see Balthazar, Veronica and Becky running up.
"Goodness…" Horvath muttered. "That was fast."
"We were on our way," Balthazar said coldly. He glanced down at Dave. "Is that my hat?"
"It's a very nice hat," Dave managed to gasp. "Didn't even fall off when this wave of dirt came along and tried to kill me."
"Oh. The dirt isn't going to kill you, David." Horvath said irritably.
"I'd like to disagree there, Horvath," Drake wheezed. "This is a bit heavy."
"That's my hat!" Balthazar snapped, refusing to be taken off course. "I bought that hat from an Irish immigrant in the 1800s!"
"Oh, you bought it at a pawnshop in the seventies!" Horvath said angrily. As Dave tried rather hard to breathe, the two former best friends glared across the lawn at each other, and things were clearly about to get messy. Flame was starting to snake about Balthazar's fingers, and while the only visible indication of anger on Horvath's part was his grip tightening on his cane, the dirt shifted and pressed down on Dave and started to pool around his face. Dave got the terrifying suspicion that he was about to be buried alive and struggled desperately. He tried to fling the dirt off of himself, but his mind refused to clear as the earth that had originally only pressed as far up as his shoulders began to press on his neck. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Drake flailing about in a similar fashion. He heard Becky shriek…
"Balthazar!" Veronica said finally, her face white. "Maxim! Please stop this!" The dirt faltered in its determined quest to bury him. Dave looked up at Horvath. The man had an odd, unreadable expression on his face as he looked from Veronica to Balthazar to the two half-buried apprentices. He sighed and lowered his cane. The dirt receded, allowing Dave to struggle to his knees and breathe. His heart wasn't going to stop doing gymnastics for a while though…
"You took my coat too?" Balthazar said, but his tone was markedly gentler as he helped Dave to his feet and beat the dirt off of him as if the younger man was a rug. Dave shrugged out of the leather duster and gave it back, his eyes never leaving Horvath. "My hat," the older man muttered as he snatched the thing off of Dave's head. Becky rushed over.
"Are you alright?" She asked, and he nodded mechanically, a motion that was somewhat difficult to stop.
"Now that that's settled," Horvath said, clearly trying to regain some measure of control over himself and the situation. "We need to talk. It's good that you to are here-"
"There's nothing to talk about." Balthazar snapped, gripping Dave's arm and half-dragging him and Becky back towards the party. "Get out of here, Horvath. I'm not going to tell you twice."
"As terrifying as that sounds," the Morganian snarled. "We do, in fact, have something to discuss."
"Balthazar-" Veronica started, but Balthazar talked over her in his anger.
"Such as?" He challenged.
Horvath glanced back at his fellow Morganians, and then said in a surprisingly quiet voice, "The Cauldron of Ceridwen."
Balthazar and Veronica froze. The grip on Dave's arm tightened to the point of pain before releasing him, and Balthazar turned.
"What about the Cauldron?" He asked, and Dave was mildly horrified to detect an undercurrent of carefully controlled fear in Balthazar's voice. Horvath nodded, satisfied that he'd caught his contemporary's attention.
"We need somewhere safe and quiet to talk. This isn't a discussion for an open field." Dave found himself sharing a confused look with Drake and Abigail, neither of whom seemed to have a clue what was going on, which was… strange.
"Mr. Horvath," Abigail said slowly. "You said nothing of a Cauldron-"
"I will, dear, when we have somewhere more suitable to discuss it." Horvath snapped. He glanced up at the sky, then down at the ground. "Perhaps it's just superstition-"
"No, it's not." Balthazar said. "You're right. We need to go somewhere else."
"My lab?" Dave supplied. He still wasn't sure what was going on, but if Balthazar was willing to talk to Horvath, it was big and required secrecy without doubt. Balthazar looked at him like he was an idiot. "What? It's not like they don't know where it is."
"Point." Balthazar admitted after some hesitation. "Fine. Dave's lab. You recall where it is?"
"Of course," Horvath snorted. "I haven't survived this long by forgetting things like that."
(*)(*)(*)
Ten minutes later, they were settled around the training circle in Dave's lab, Abigail peering at both the circle and the lab with a certain amount of awe.
"We had a meadow in the forest," she explained. "Nothing like this. And no circle either."
Had any of Dave's professors (or, perhaps, Bennet) walked in, they would have found a very odd scene. A little girl dressed as a pilgrim, a celebrity magician that'd been missing for several months, a drop-dead gorgeous woman in a sundress, a scraggly man of average height and build in clothing that seemed outdated, a gangly college student dressed identically to the scraggly man, an impeccably dressed gentleman, and another college student dressed as a Renaissance princess, all sitting around a decidedly arcane circle in a secret lab that few people knew about. On Halloween.
It would definitely raise some eyebrows.
"So, Horvath," Drake said loudly, killing the silence before it grew. "What's this Cauldron? Never said anything about a Cauldron." Horvath stood and strode easily into the circle, causing the edges to burst into green flame. Becky jumped and squeaked, gripping Dave's arm on reflex before straightening awkwardly. Horvath stared at her.
"What are you even doing here?" He asked, though the tone made one wonder whether he expected to be answered. After a moment, he sighed and continued, "Someone other than Balthazar and Veronica tell me that they know what the Cauldron of Ceridwen is?" Dave hesitated, then decided to just go for it.
"Well, Ceridwen is the Celtic goddess of rebirth," he said. The older people in the room stared at him. "R-right?"
"Yes, that's right." Horvath said, sounding almost insultingly impressed. "Ceridwen is the goddess of rebirth, among other things. Her Cauldron was said to create life or, perhaps, grant youth and life to those who no longer had it." He smiled dreamily, a decidedly odd expression on his face. "El Aqua de Vide. The Water of Life. The Cauldron is the beginning of the rumors of the Fountain of Youth. King Arthur himself sailed across the sea on the Prydwen to find its resting place, the fabled Caer Sidi."
"Wasn't he looking for the Grail?" Drake asked skeptically. At Horvath's surprised look, he shrugged again, this time more sheepishly. "Monty Python."
"Of course," Horvath sneered. "Yes, Arthur is said to have searched for the Holy Grail, but he searched for the Cauldron after the Grail was lost."
"Were you there?" Becky asked curiously. The three former apprentices shared looks.
"The three of us were alive when His Majesty sailed for Caer Sidi," Veronica said slowly. "But only one of us went with him on the Prydwen. Merlin suggested that King Arthur take Balthazar with him so that Merlin could remain as an advisor to the King's wife, Queen Guinevere, who ruled while he was away."
"Why is this important?" Dave asked. "I mean, it's great to hear more about the ye olden days, but-"
"I'm getting there." Horvath said coldly. For the second time that night, Dave decided to shut up. "A legion was sent across the sea with King Arthur to find the Cauldron. Seven returned, the king and Balthazar among them. What they told the courtiers was that seeking out the Cauldron was a fool's errand. What they told Merlin…" He glanced at Balthazar.
"The Cauldron is real," Balthazar said. "If I recall correctly, it'd be around here, quite possibly under New York right now. It was in a cavern, and the natives of the place were definitely Native American."
"So, what was the problem?" Becky asked. "It wasn't a fountain of youth?"
"Far from it," Balthazar said darkly. "The natives tried to warn us, in retrospect. The Cauldron is cursed. Back then, it would send out pulses every seven years and bring back the dead, and not in a good way. In a zombie apocalypse sort of way. We had to get down to the Cauldron and seal it away."
"That's what happened to all the people?" Abigail asked. "They died fighting their way down to the Cauldron?" Balthazar nodded sadly.
"Good men all. And many died sailing there as well."
"So you sealed away the Cauldron?" Dave asked, awed. "All by yourself? I mean, that must have needed magic and you were the only sorcerer." Horvath and Veronica both nodded, but Balthazar looked uncomfortable.
"There… was another sorcerer there, as it turned out." He said. Horvath and Veronica both looked startled at this.
"You never mentioned a second sorcerer to Merlin!" Horvath said sharply. "Who?" Balthazar looked uncomfortable.
"A Morganian," he admitted. "A man named Will. He was sent by Morgana to search for the Cauldron. I didn't know until he'd saved my life times over, and when you're several miles underground, being attacked on all sides by corpses and skeletons, you're not about to be picky about who has your back."
"Why didn't you tell Merlin?" Veronica asked breathlessly. Balthazar, for all his flashy magic and tendency for impatient leadership, seemed to be growing more and more self-conscious under the stunned gaze of every person in the room.
"He made me promise. I owed him." Balthazar muttered. Veronica shook her head. Horvath stared at Balthazar, as if his opinion on the man was shifting, though whether it was for good or ill, Dave couldn't tell.
"Okay…" Drake said abruptly. "So a Merlinian and a Morganian walk into a big dungeon- I'm assuming it's a dungeon; it's always a dungeon- filled with bad things due to a bad medieval cooking implement. And they seal it together so the aforementioned bad cooking implement doesn't do bad things on the surface?" He looked at Balthazar. "Sound about right, mate?"
The older sorcerer stared at the magician with thinly veiled distaste. "Dave," he said quietly. "Have I ever mentioned how grateful I am that you're the Prime Merlinian and my apprentice?"
"No." Dave replied, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice.
"Well, I am."
"Can we please focus?" Horvath asked irritably. "I feel as though I'm working with a group of children. No offense intended, Abigail."
"None taken," she replied easily, rolling her eyes. Drake huffed and crossed his arms, refusing to look at any of them. "But seriously. So you and this Morganian sealed away the Cauldron?"
"Yes. The seals were supposed to last a very long time. A millennia at least," Balthazar said, getting up and going over to his desk to rifle through papers. "I was actually thinking about it recently, so I was trying to figure out where it was. We drew maps, of course, but it was Arthurian measurements; not exactly comparable to anything today…" He trailed off. "I need a map of all of New York City and its surrounding lands. Dave?" He looked at the young man expectantly.
"What, right now?" Dave groaned. Balthazar scowled. "Alright, alright…" He got up and stretched. "I guess this is the precursor to a daring quest into a deep and indescribably dangerous cavern full of undead and various other magical things who want to kill us? Yes? No? Yes. Awesome. I'll call my teachers and tell them my grandmother died." As he headed for the door, Drake got up and followed him.
"What do you think you're doing?" Balthazar demanded. Drake smirked at him.
"Feeling a wee bit protective, are we?" He asked. "I'm going with him. Better to go out in twos, and I want to get to know the ever-so-magical Prime Merlinian." He turned to Becky and winked. "You coming too, gorgeous?"
"She's with me." Dave called waspishly. Drake snorted in disbelief.
"Really? I've clearly underestimated you." He stuck his hands in his pockets and headed for the door. "Come on, Davey. Let's go get a drink."
Originally had a totally different, far more action-y ending, but then I decided I wanted Dave and Drake to try and be Vitriolic Buds and get a drink together. Guys, you're supposed to be getting maps, not getting drunk.
EDIT: Fail. It's not Caer Sidhe, it's Caer Sidi. Sidhe are part of Scottish and Irish mythology, similar to elves or fae. Caer Sidi is the fortress of the Otherworld.