Chapter 12
Merlin...
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Merlin and D'Artagnan followed the tracks for hours until the footprints stopped in mid-step. The trail just disappeared. "I don't understand. How can tracks just stop?" Merlin asked. Frustration and worry all over him.
"Magic." D'Artagnan replied.
"What if something happens to her? What if they force her more Hydrin's blood? She could be sick or hurt... or worse. I'd never forgive myself if..." His voice broke.
"Don't worry, Merlin we 'will' find her." He reassured him. They kept on searching. The searched for hours. Hours turned into a day. It was the night of the second day of searching. It was dark. The beds were made up and the fire was going out. Merlin kept thinking about her. He was so worried. D'Artagnan had caught a large hair for dinner but Merlin didn't eat. He wasn't hungry.
"You should at least sleep. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow. You're very cranky when you're tired."
"What?" What did he mean by that? Merlin asked but D'Artagnan was already laying in his bed. He didn't want to admit it but he was very tired. He finally drifted to sleep.
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7 hours later...
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"Merlin..." He heard her voice. Angela calling to him, her voice desperate. His eyes flew open. 'It was just a dream.' He thought.
After everything was packed up, they began their search again. It felt like an eternity had passed. Every minute seemed to drip like sap from a tree. Merlin was getting desperate for any sign of...something. "D'Artagnan, look, this could be footprints...D'Artagnan?" He looked behind him but he was far behind him.
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D'Artagnan
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As he was searching, he heard a familiar voice speaking to him in his mind. D'Artagnan stopped. "I found her." the voice said
"Where is she? What happened?" D'Artagnan replied in his mind.
" She was sick from Hydrin's blood poison. Her body was very weak from exhaustion too. But what's strange is... she should be dead. She ingested a dangerous amount of the Hydrin's blood. She shouldn't have survived. Anyways I healed most of the fever. Merlin should be able to do the rest easily."
"How did you find her?" He asked
"She called for Merlin, projecting it through her mind. I followed it."
D'Artagnan smiled."Thank you, Old friend." The voice was gone and he jogged forward to catch up with Merlin. "Do you hear a stream up ahead?" D'Artagnan asked his companion.
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Angela
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I heard the sound of birds singing and a stream of water nearby. I wasn't fully awake. I felt much better. I didn't feel any pain and I could breath properly. I groaned as I felt my headache though. A wet cloth was placed on my forehead. I squinted my eyes open but the sun was very bright.
I saw him. "Merlin..." I barely whispered out, my voice sounded horse. I swore it was Merlin but it wasn't his voice. It was much lower. I was delirious. He something like "I am a friend of D'Artagnan." I was seeing double. I tried to ask what happened, it only came out as a mumble.
"Shh rest now." his voice was soothing.
I didn't want to rest. I was so restless, I wanted to get up, but it was like trying to get up while your sleeping, like there was a heavy blanket holding you down. "Ic thæo onswéfné" I heard him say in a softer voice. 'It sounded so familiar' I thought as I fell reluctantly back to sleep.
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It felt like no time had passed at all. I was dreaming of Merlin. I unconsciously said his name out loud, "Merlin" Someone stroked my forehead. Was I still dreaming?
"I'm here." This time it sounded just like him. I blinked open my eyes and saw his face smiling like an idiot down at me. I smiled "Merlin!"
"I'm right here." He said He stroked me cheek. It felt so comforting and soothing. I closed my eyes to rest again but fell asleep 'again'. I didn't have dreams, only flashes.
"Get out of here!" I tossed in my sleep. "I'm not leaving you!" I felt my heart rate speed up. "DAD!"
I woke up with a sudden jolt. I sat up. I was confused at what was going on. I was in a forest. I could hear a stream nearby. It was about mid-day. "You gave us quite a scare." I looked to my right and D'Artagnan was looking at me while fixing a fading fire.
"What happened?" I asked him.
"You were captured. Whoever took you, they must have brought you to their hideout. You were tortured but you clearly escaped. You must have collapsed from exhaustion because we found you here unconscious." He stated. "Do you remember anything after you escaped?" He asked 'very' nonchalantly.
"I remember someone, although it could've been a dream. It was a man, he was... caring for me... I think. Yes, I remember, he said he was a friend of yours?" I looked at him questioningly. I couldn't read his face.
He looked towards the stream. Merlin was walking back from the stream. "Don't tell Merlin about this." It was strange because he was completely serious.
I wanted to ask why but I heard footsteps. Merlin jogged towards us. "Angela. You're awake."
"And fully recovered." D'Artagnan responded a little too quickly.
"I'm guessing I have you to thank you for that?" I asked Merlin as he sat down next to me.
"I'm just glad we found you and that you're alright now." He replied. My thoughts went back to what had happened. "You were gone for three days." He added.
"Only three days? It felt like weeks." I said staring into space trying not to think about it. I shut my eyes for a second. But every time I did, I saw flashes of my vision. "Time and relative dimensions in space" … "DAD!" It didn't make sense. I didn't have a dad. I hated this. My mind went crazy trying to figure out what all this meant.
I opened my eyes to escape the flashes. Merlin was saying something to D'Artagnan. "...back in Camelot in four days."
"Camelot!" I just remembered what I over-heard. "Merlin! Someone is planning to destroy Camelot!"
"What? Who?"
"The man who kidnapped me." I said. "I heard him talking about it when I was in the dungeon. He said he needed to get you out of the way." I looked at Merlin. "But what I don't understand is why would someone need to get you out of the way, you aren't a threat. Unless... they knew you had magic..." I was beginning to talk to myself concluding answers. "...and it's not like you go around telling people. Who else would know about your magic?"
"I don't know." Merlin responded.
"There's more..." I hesitated. "Morgana is apart of it. They said they couldn't complete their plans until Morgana did her part." I said everything slow. "I'm sorry. I know she was your friend."
"Morgana turned her back on Camelot a long time ago. I'm just surprised she hasn't tried anything sooner." Merlin said with a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Do you know when these plans are going to take place?"
"No, he didn't say."
"We have to get back to Camelot now!" Merlin. D'Artagnan nodded in agreement.
"Do you know anything about the 'Knowledge of the Ancients'?" I didn't think about what I said, sort of just blurted it out.
"What? Where did you hear that?" D'Artagnan asked. Was that fear in his eyes? Panic?
"That's why they took me. They were looking for it. The man said it belonged to him. He kept saying that I hid it. That I stole it from him. I didn't even know what he was talking about. He kept yelling at me like I knew where it was."
"What did this man look like?" D'Artagnan asked.
"I don't know. I couldn't really see." I looked down. "My eyes were..." I rubbed the stitched up cut above left eye with a shaking hand. I closed my eyes and saw him hitting me. "Where is it?" I held back the rising emotion.
"Angela..."I looked up at him. "Do you remember anything else?" D'Artagnan asked me.
I rubbed my temples then folded my hand together in front of my face. I could talk about what happened fine, it was just keeping my emotions in check that I was worried about. I took a deep breath and spoke. "I woke up in some sort of dungeon or cell. Some men brought to the man in charge. He began to interrogate me, asking where the I hid this... Knowledge of the Ancients thing. He gave up when I wouldn't tell him. Then they forced me to swallow.." What was it called? Oh yeah. "...He called it Hydrin's blood." I saw looks of fear spread across both their faces. "It made me see things. I never felt more pain in my entire life. The things I saw, they felt so real. They weren't dreams, they were... memories..." I shook my head. "I woke back up in the dungeon once or twice, I felt a lot better." I was studying their faces, most D'Artagnan's. His eyebrows were pulled together like he was confused about something. I looked at Merlin and continued. "That's when I heard his plans. I knew I had to warn you so I somehow managed to escape. I ran as far away as I could until I couldn't go any longer." I remembered what D'Artagnan said about not telling Merlin about the person who helped me in the forest. "That's the last thing I remember." I don't know why I didn't tell Merlin. D'Artagnan looked slightly relieved.
"So they called it 'The Knowledge of the Ancients'. I've never heard of it before. Maybe it's knowledge about old magic or defenses." Merlin guessed. He was really interested to know. D'Artagnan was avoiding eye-contact with me. I saw a flicker of emotion play across his face...Something that looked like horror. He knew something that we didn't. I don't know if Merlin saw it but he didn't say anything if he did. I had a gut feeling telling me D'Artagnan knew a lot more about this whole thing than he was saying and that he was more connected in all of this than I or Merlin realized.
And I was going to find out what it was.
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We were packing up to leave when D'Artagnan came up to me. "Is it safe?" I just looked at him confused. "Your necklace?" He repeated. My eyes widened as hand immediately went to my chest. I felt the metal pendant through my shirt. I couldn't believe I forgot about it. I nodded. "It's a good thing that m...man didn't get his hands on it. Who knows what would've happened." He stated. I was going to ask him how he knew about my pocket watch but he interrupted me.
"What did you see?" He asked me with soft words.
"What?" I replied. What was he talking about?
"Your visions, what did you see when you were captured?" Did he know about my visions?
"I...I saw memories... of another life. I was with a man in a room with flashing lights. I had to hide something from someone. I saw my necklace and a symbol of circles. And a sentence that is repeated over and over. "Time and relative dimension in space" I don't know what it means. And then...I called out for my Dad. I don't have a dad. Why would I hear MY voice calling out for my dad?"
"I don't know." He said then walked off towards his horse.
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And so we made our way back to Camelot. My thoughts stayed on my pocket watch for most of the journey back. D'Artagnan ignored Merlin's warnings about Uther's hatred towards magic. "If you were caught..." Merlin told him. But he didn't listen and came back with us anyways. It didn't take us long to reach Camelot's borders. The sun was just disappearing behind the horizon when we could see the castle towers.
All three of us rode back through the main gates. A servant ran up to Merlin. "You must come quickly there's been a... situation with the Prince. He needs your assistance immediately." Merlin didn't like the way he said 'situation' "What do you mean 'situation'?"
"You must come at once." He replied.
"I guess I have to attend to his royal pratness." D'Artagnan chuckled. "I'll see you later." Merlin told me then followed the other servant down the street and disappeared around the corner.
D'Artagnan and I ended up walking through the streets of the Camelot together. Heading towards the castle. This would be my chance to find out what he's been hiding from me. "So have you been to Camelot before? I could give you a tour." He just laughed. "What's so funny?" I asked. He smiled.
"That man who helped me? Who was he?" I questioned.
"Just a friend." He said nonchalantly. That just made him sound more suspicious.
"How did you know about my pocket...I mean necklace?"
"I... saw it." D'Artagnan replied
"It was under my dress the whole time." I was getting annoyed with him.
"Well..."
"Well what?" I interrupted. I was angry now. "You pop up out of no where saying you can help us. And that a 'friend' of yours made up a myth about a mystical well years ago just so you could meet us."
"I..." He tried to answer but I kept going.
"You know an awful lot about Merlin, a strange man who apparently is another friend of yours helps me but you tell me not to say anything to Merlin about it." My heart rate began to sped up. I felt a tingling from my necklace. "You knew about my necklace and You say all these things that don't make sense. I know you know more than you're telling me. You're hiding something from me and I want to know what it is! What's going ON? WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?" My head was hurting by the time I finished my rant. I pressed my palm against my forehead. I didn't even think about what was going to happen next.
"I..." Was all he could get out before I felt a massive pain explode through my head. I couldn't hold back the scream that escaped my lips. I clutched my head as my knees buckled and everything around me faded into white nothingness.
My necklace was calling to me.."Angela! Angela!" "Aenean Tichiedunt" "Time and relative dimension in space"
I saw Arthur and Merlin talking, they looked so old. Their voices were echoing."What are we gonna do?" Merlin said. "We use D'Artagnan." …. "No" … "We have to do something"..."It's not right, He's dead!"
"Medicus"... "Dominus Tempus"... "Medicus! MEDICUS!"
My dreamed changed. It flashed and blinked into something different like it was interrupted. I saw a man being attacked by a griffen. He was running away from the monster. It was getting closer. The man screamed as the griffen swiped his razor sharp claws at him. I could see three small gashes on his back. I felt the pain of each cut burn as if I received it myself.
I heard a voice, an old powerful voice... "The end is near! Time has run out! Dominus Tempus will BE NO MORE!"
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Merlin
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The servant led Merlin along different streets. He heard a lot of commotion going on up ahead. The servant stopped at "The Rising Sun". A local tavern. Merlin was getting quite an uneasy feeling. He heard laughter and singing inside. Merlin walked inside to see none other than Arthur and Gwaine singing like drunken idiots. "Oh...My.." Arthur was in a tavern...DRUNK! "Gwaine!" Merlin tried to get his attention.
"Merlin, my friend! Where avyou been?" He hiccuped. "You missed a great party!" He said while laughing. He looked at Merlin then fell face down on the floor.
"One down, one to go." Merlin said to himself begrudgingly. "This should be interesting."
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Angela
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I woke up with a gasp. I was on the floor, head still pounding. 'Man I wish I had some aspirin.' My shoulder was hurting. D'Artagnan's voice faded into a more audible muffled voice. "Angela... Angela? Are you ok? Speak to me!"
I took in a deep breath and tried to focus on one of the two D'Artagnan's moving around. "What happened?"
"You...collapsed." He said. "Are you alright?"
I replied while trying to stand up. "Yeah I'm fine now." 'on the outside.' My mind was reeling around the vision I just had. It didn't make sense. What was going on? What was happening to me? I still felt disorienting.
"We should get you back to Gauis." He said as he put an arm around my waist. I don't remember mentioning Gauis to him. How did he know about him? 'Merlin could've told him I guess'
When we walked in the door I introduced him to Gauis. D'Artagnan shook his hand with a smile from ear to ear like he'd just won a million dollars. "It's so very nice to meet you, Gauis." He said to Gauis. He looked to happy when he shook his hand. "Pleasure's mine." Gauis replied. I didn't explain how Merlin and I met him. Only cause D'Aragnan told me it was better if I didn't say anything. Although I don't know why. I told him Merlin had to tend to Prince Arthur. It was late so Gauis made a bed for D'Artagnan.
When he was finished, he turned his attention back to me. "What happened?" Gauis questioned.
"Nothing." I replied.
"She collapsed." D'Artagnan replied.
"I'm fine. Really!" I didn't want Gauis looking over me. "I'm quite tired. I'll be going up to my room to rest now. I really am fine." I walked away before anyone could argue further.
I entered my room and locked the door. I rubbed my shoulder where it had hurt. I went over to the mirror and pulled down my dress to look at my back. What I saw was the reason I didn't want Gauis looking at me.
Three long gashes stretched across the back of my left shoulder. Injuries that were identical to the man in my vision.
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So what did you think? COMMENTS, REVIEWS?