CHAPTER FOUR

With one strong push, the door swung open and nearly fell off its hinges. Immediately Gaius looked up from his dusty book and slowly tilted his head forward in order to reveal his old cautious eyes which were hidden behind his glasses. From the doorway Merlin strolled towards him with his eyes fixed on his and fists clenching and unclenching.

Gaius slammed his book shut and dropped it onto the desk at the sight of him.

'I know Arthur and I are not imagining her,' was the first Merlin said. 'He's been seeing her for weeks and now I've seen her.'

'So is she evil or not?' Gaius asked.

'I don't think so... all they do is cuddle and kiss and all that. She just wants to see him.'

'I have to admit, part of me is quite surprised. Arthur executed her but still she wants to be with him?'

'True love conquers all.'

Gaius raised a curious eyebrow.

'And you would know?' He asked while smirking.

'Yeah w-w-well,' Merlin found himself stuttering and the old man could only smile.

'Guinevere may know this or she may not, but she is stopping Arthur from focusing on ruling and protecting his kingdom. She needs to stop and cross over.'

Merlin agreed by hanging his head past his shoulders.

'How do I stop her, then?' He finally asked and Gaius gave him a stern look.

'Oh you'll figure something out, you're Merlin,' he replied with a smile. At first the young warlock shot a surprised look at him, and then he remembered that he had magic. With that he went away and helped himself to a couple of books scattered across the shelves.

Hours past by and Merlin found nothing about making a ghost cross over in his books. His eyes were a little red and he let out a sigh.

Suddenly his eyes came across a spell, a spell which could make a spirit appear in front of you. Maybe if he could come face to face with Gwen, he could get her to leave him alone. Merlin's finger ran over the spell printed in the book. His eyes narrowed and he pursed his lips. All he had to do was to add a couple herbs to boiling water, then say the spell and add one of Guinevere's possessions.

At these words Merlin let out a groan and crashed his head onto the wooden table in front of him. How on earth was he going to get one of Guinevere's possessions? She was dead and she never told Merlin about her most loved possessions. Apart from Arthur... but Merlin couldn't exactly boil him in water and herbs without getting caught.

The next idea which entered Merlin's mind was that he could search her house for belongings. But Arthur had them removed from her house and had the house sold. Never would he had burned them or sold them. They were probably kept somewhere safe where only the King could find them. There was only one thing Merlin could do.

'Arthur?' He asked with a childish voice as he entered the King's chambers after knocking on the door. Arthur looked up from his papers and his quill was just about being balanced in his pale hand.

'What is it now, Merlin?' He moaned as he went back to his papers.

'I want to ask you something.'

'Yes...?'

'Where are Guinevere's possessions?'

Arthur hesitated before looking up at his servant like he was a bigger fool than he thought he was.

'Why?' He finally asked and Merlin began to open and close his mouth like a goldfish. There was no point of lying to him.

'I wanted to take one,' Merlin spat out.

'Over my dead body,' hissed Arthur before jumping to his feet furiously.

'Dangerous words.'

The two young men exchanged looks, and then Merlin thought what on earth was he on about?

'You would kill me for these possessions?' Arthur questioned as he began to slowly approach him.

'If necessary,' Merlin lied as he forced himself back against the door. Arthur drew his sword and brought the blade to eye level.

'Not literally,' added the young warlock nervously as his eyes met the glistening blade.

'Good, off you go then,' replied Arthur calmly after he had returned his sword to its scabbard. Merlin tilted his head to the left in confusion.

'Is that it?' He asked.

'I'd hate to kill a servant.'

'I just threatened to kill you and...'

'Where is this going, Merlin?'

Merlin allowed himself to shut up, he was right: where was this going? He hadn't come to Arthur to kill him, he had come for Guinevere's possessions.

'Oh, please!' He implored as he took quick steps towards his master.

'Why?' Arthur asked again as he sat back down onto his chair.

'I only want small one, just to remember her. Guinevere was like a sister to me- I want something to hold, knowing that she held it too.'

Merlin bowed his head and buried it in his hands, hoping to fool Arthur into thinking that he was crying. But the young king only laughed at him.

'You'll make a fine actor,' he commented as his laughter died down. 'But you can have one small thing, I suppose she would have allowed it.'

With that he bent over and opened a drawer of his desk. He took out some items before finding what he was looking for. In his hands was a beautiful hair slide, the one she had been wearing when she was executed. Merlin instantly recognised it, she wore it every day ever since he had first met her. No one knew where she got it from; but all knew that she loved it. Who could not? The crystal flower attached to the top of it was beautiful and unique. If she didn't love it so much, she would have sold it and would have received a lot of money.

'You have seen Guinevere wearing this,' Arthur expected with his eyes fixed on Merlin. The servant nodded twice and stepped forward to collect it.

'Take good care of it,' Arthur added with a scowl.

'It's for a good cause,' Merlin replied and what he said was true. He had just lied about wanting something to remember Guinevere by. He remembered her in his heart and cherished the times they had together.

Hastily Arthur handed the hair slide to Merlin and Merlin took it gracefully. He thanked him before leaving the chambers as fast as he could. On his way to the Gaius, he looked down at the beautiful object in his hands. If he boiled it with the other herbs, he would never get it back. He knew how much she loved this hair slide. It could have been from someone close who was no more.

Merlin let out a sigh. He couldn't lose this, it was too precious. He'd have to find something else... but how?

Merlin returned to Gaius and found him preparing dinner like he always did in the evenings.

'Good spell,' Gaius said when he was greeted by the presence of the young warlock. Merlin narrowed his brow in confusion, but then saw Gaius signal to the open magic spell book on the wooden table with his wooden spoon.

'I know,' agreed Merlin as he sat down at the wooden table. He slammed the book shut before running his fingers over the hard back cover.

'There's only one problem,' he added.

'What is that?' Gaius questioned and Merlin let out a sigh before pulling out the beautiful hair slide from his pocket. Gaius immediately recognised it and he sat down at the table with his eyes glued to it. The old man found himself quivering.

'Merlin, you can't boil that!' He exclaimed, 'it's too precious.'

'I know,' Merlin moaned as he rested his head on the book. 'What am I going to do?'

It took a couple of moments for Gaius to come up with a reasonable suggestion.'

'Search the prison cell she was held in the night before she died for anything she might have left behind there,' he decided and Merlin agreed.

'I'll go right away,' he said before standing up and running out through the doorway.

When he arrived in the prisons, he noticed two guards sat at a wooden table talking and drinking. From the top of the staircase, he looked down at them while thinking of something to do. Suddenly a brilliant idea entered his head and he grabbed a bucket and cloth from nearby. Then he casually walked down the steps, hoping to be seen or heard by the guards.

Thankfully he was heard and the two guards turned to look at him. Immediately they jumped to his feet and unsheathed their swords. They realised it was only Arthur's servant and they lowered their blades.

'What do you want, boy?' One of them hissed.

'Err Arthur sent me to clear out the prison cells,' Merlin lied nervously.

'Did he now?' One of them ventured towards the young warlock with intentions to scare him. But Merlin couldn't be frightened so easily.

'Yes, unless you want to do it.' Merlin's lips curved into a cheeky smile and he held out the bucket and cloth to the guard. The guard gave him an annoyed look before allowing him to pass.

Merlin walked by while feeling quite proud of himself. He opened the cell where he remembered seeing Guinevere being thrown into. Stepping in there brought back so many painful memories. Guinevere's screams and cries bouncing off the hard stone walls. Merlin imagined her curled up in the corner. Tears rolling down her face as she cried out Arthur's name again and again.

Merlin looked away from the terrible thought and began searching the small piles of hay for anything which belonged to her. His eyes came across something circular and covered in dust. He reached forward and grabbed it. He wiped the dust off it with the back of his hand. It looked like a plain silver bracelet. Merlin had seen Guinevere wearing it, Lancelot had given it to her when he returned. He had given them all presents... apart from Merlin surprisingly. But then it wasn't the real Lancelot.

Merlin slipped it into his pocket and pretended to clean for a little longer so the guards wouldn't get suspicious before leaving. He returned to Gaius as quickly as he could with the bracelet in his grasp.

'I've found one!' He cried as he entered the room.

'Let me see,' was Gaius' response and he traipsed over to Merlin. He looked down at the peculiar item and narrowed his eyes.

'What on earth is that?' He finally asked and Merlin shrugged.

'I don't know, but it belonged to Guinevere- I saw her wearing it,' he replied and Gaius nodded.

Gaius opened up a wooden box and took out the herbs needed for the spell to work.

'I already got these for you, fresh from the woods,' he explained as he handed them to Merlin. Merlin thanked him and Gaius only half smiled.

'The quicker Guinevere crosses over, the better Arthur will become,' he added as Merlin was gathering the objects that were needed to perform the spell.

Once the water was boiling in the cauldron, he added the herbs and the bracelet. The bracelet immediately sank to the bottom and couldn't be seen. Merlin glanced at Gaius who nodded before saying the spell. He had memorized the words earlier and spoke them directly to the cauldron.

Suddenly, the water began to boil rapidly. Was it working? Merlin and Gaius didn't dare to venture forward and take a look.

'Come on,' whispered Merlin through his gritted teeth.

With a roar a mixture of mushy herbs and water spilled out of the cauldron and onto the floor. Merlin and Gaius jumped back in order to not get wet. They waited for a while to see if anything was happening... but nothing did. Confused, Merlin strolled over to the cauldron and looked inside.

There was the silver bracelet, it was a cheap metal and it could have been destroyed easily by that boiling water. As he closed his eyes, he reached out his hand and touched the skin of the bracelet, expecting to scream like a girl and rush around because of the heat of it. Instead he wavered because it was so cold.

'What is this?' Merlin gasped as he picked it up and brought it over to Gaius. Gaius examined it and he noticed some symbols printed on the side of the bracelet. They must have appeared there recently because Merlin hadn't noticed them earlier.

'What are they?' Merlin questioned Gaius, and Gaius suddenly looked troubled.

'These are symbols of the old religion,' he began to explain, 'Morgana's work.'