Second to last chapter people!

Enjoy.

Merlin and Lancelot stared as everyone downed their drinks.

Too late, were the only two words that were going through Merlin's mind at that moment. Panting for air, the two could only watch. One by one, people finished their drink. Within seconds of the cup being drawn away from their lips, the colour drained from their face, turning a ghostly white. Their lips, turned an icy blue, veins showing clearly on their necks. People dropped their goblets, the pewter making a shattering noise as it hit the ground. The last goblet was dropped and no one reached to the sound. Row after row of people, all standing motionless starting into space. Merlin noticed Gaius in one of the rows and felt a hint of anger, but mainly guilt for not being quick enough to stop him from drinking the wine. Merlin and Lancelot stood there for a moment, unsure of what they should be doing.

"You again!" a sharp voice cried. Maris stepped out from the crowd, his face a fiery red. Lancelot heard Merlin gulp beside him. Maris's eyes suddenly sharpened. "Why is there blood on your top?" he questioned. Merlin looked down to see a spray of blood on him. He wasn't wounded, so it must have been Maris's grandmother's... He was not going to take that news well.

"I –"

"You killed her didn't you?" he snarled. He was quite quick with guessing what happened. "Where's the Sphere?" he asked impatiently and immediately.

"What, this?" Lancelot asked, holding up a round metal ball the size of a football.

"How long of you been holding that?" Merlin questioned, confused as to where it had come from.

"Since you killed the old lady. It was in my bag."

"What bag?" Merlin said, suddenly seeing the bag that Lancelot was wearing. Merlin hit has palm on his forehead. He really needed to pay more attention to these things.

"So you did kill her!" Maris looked even madder, making Merlin look terrified. Maris drew his sword and charged at Merlin. Lancelot drew his and blocked Maris's path. Merlin stumbled backwards and fell into a table. He looked up and saw Maris beating Lancelot at a sword fight. Without warning, Lancelot threw the Sphere at Merlin. He caught it with both hands.

The Sphere was quite heavy, but easy for Merlin to hold it. Its shiny surface was good enough to be a mirror. As Merlin held the Sphere with loving care, he felt the great, powerful magic that caged inside, waiting to burst free, waiting to be used. Even though it had no voice, Merlin could hear it calling out to him, calling to be set free.

Lancelot was thrown to the ground, his sword slid across the stone floor out of his hand. Maris held his sword high, ready for the kill. Suddenly, glass smashed over Maris's head. The mad man turned sharply to face Dennis.

"Dennis!" Merlin said in joy.

"I heard ya Merlin when you burst in, I heard ya," he said smiling. His smile was wiped off his face as Maris cut his sword across Dennis's arm then barged into him. Dennis skidded across the floor, leaving a small, smudged trail of blood behind him. Panicking, Merlin grabbed a goblet off the floor and threw it at the back of Maris's head. Maris stopped, dead, in his tracks. He turned sharply on his heels and faced Merlin.

"Run Merlin!" Dennis called. Merlin didn't need to be told twice, he was running for the door as soon as Dennis finished say 'run', picking up Lancelot's sword as he went. Maris's gave chase straight away, trying to leave as little of a gap between them as possible.

Dennis really was right; Merlin was the best at running away from scary things.

Moreover, Maris was a terrifying thing.

Merlin ran down the corridor with sword and Sphere in hands. It wasn't easy to run whilst holding both objects, but Merlin was running for his life, he didn't care. He didn't need to look back to know that Maris was close. The man was the bird and he was the worm...

The bird always eats the worm...

Merlin suddenly came to a crossroad in the castle. Maris suddenly turned the corner and Merlin randomly picked one. He ran right, clutching the Sphere tightly to his chest, making it slightly easier for him to run. After running for a couple more minutes, Merlin realised that his feet where taking him towards the battlements of the castle.

Bursting through the door and then slamming it shut behind him, Merlin scanned the area for somewhere to hide. Maris banged on the door, screaming and shouting, demanding for the door to be let open. Unable to hold the door any longer, Merlin ran forward - in the darkness of the night – along the battlements. The door bust off its hinges, just missing Merlin as he ran. Maris ran straight for Merlin with no hesitation. Maris gained his speed quickly and as the man raised his sword to strike, there was only one thing for Merlin to do. He rolled the Sphere on the floor and turned round, both men's swords clashing together. Merlin knew that Maris was the better swordsman out of the two of them, but something inside of him dared to challenge Maris.

Merlin forced Maris to step backwards and make a space between them. Maris charged at Merlin and Merlin blocked his attack then went to slash his sword against his leg, only to be blocked as expected. Maris went to take a swipe at cutting Merlin's head off, but the young warlock ducked down then went to drive his sword into the man's gut. His move was blocked as expected. Maris moved quickly and bashed his sword against Merlin's, forcing the young man to take steps backwards. Merlin locked their swords and ended up leaning over a battlement.

Merlin kicked Maris's shin and then pushed him backwards. Maris stumbled and nearly fell over backwards. The full moon in the night sky rained its light down on them. The last thing Merlin saw of Maris was the outline of the rage on his face. The man ran forward, sword pointed straight at Merlin. The young Warlock jumped out of the way and Maris was unable to stop himself in time. He went towering over the battlements, and fell to his cold death. Merlin paused before he looked over the battlements to see his deformed body flattened onto the steps by the doors bellow.

Just a few second after Maris's body hit the ground, Lancelot and Dennis came rushing out of the doors, stopping dead at the sight of the man's body. Lancelot looked up to see Merlin looking down; Dennis stayed looking at the body.

"Looks like birdie couldn't fly," Dennis said, holding his wounded arm. He looked up and Merlin.

Merlin looked down at Maris's body and at his two friends. Out of all the deaths he had seen, this one would haunt him the most. Merlin walked over to the Sphere. He picked it up and heard its power. Whispers of voices floated into his head. He walked over to the edge with the Sphere. Without thinking if what he was doing was right or wrong, Merlin threw the Sphere over the battlements.

It flew through the air helplessly until it hit the ground. It was a metal ball, but smashed like glass, the whole thing suddenly turning into a fragile crystal. Parts of it slid over the different parts of the courtyard like ice. Unknown to Merlin and the others at the time, the spell on the people who had drunken the wine, was broken. Looking down at Maris's body, a wave of relief had somehow flooded over him, as a small threat toward Camelot had been dealt with. Was he going to get any thanks for it? Not likely.

Merlin turned and started to walk towards the door to go see if everyone else was okay, and get Gaius to tend to Dennis. The Games Of All were almost over, and then Merlin could go back to his simple life of saving Camelot and running around after Arthur and Gaius, not being given a second thought too by many. Merlin liked it like that. Just him, being the simple idiot that he is...

The bird always eats the worm...

Nevertheless, the worm can turn...

I worked very hard on this chapter. I had big time writers bloke on it, so I hope it was okay.

You know what to do…

…Review please!