Chapter 2 - Monsters in the Sky
Merlin woke slowly with a blinding headache. He groaned and lifted a hand to cover his eyes.
"What happened?" he mumbled.
"You were knocked out," he heard a familiar voice said, "I'd say you're lucky to be alive."
Merlin blinked a couple of times and tried to sit up but immediately flopped back down again as his head exploded in pain.
Slowly his vision became sharper and he saw three people standing above him. One was the Doctor, the one with the blue box and the other two were the red haired girl and the man in armor.
Merlin blinked and tried to remember what had happened. All at once it came flooding back and he sat bolt upright to look at the gold metal monster that was protruding from behind a rack of swords. It looked different and the black antennae-like thing, which had been a bright clear blue was now a smoky black and looked melted and disfigured.
"Wh-what is it?" Merlin asked, his voice shaking slightly as he began to get to his feet.
"That was a Dalek," the Doctor replied as Rory helped Merlin into a chair.
"Was?" Merlin asked.
The Doctor smiled and bent down to pick up Excalibur which had fallen a little way away.
"The sword of King Arthur," he said, more to himself than Merlin, "a thing of legend... able to defeat a Dalek."
He laughed and passed the sword to Merlin.
"The Dalek tried to shoot you, but Excalibur blocked the laser and it ricocheted back. In a sense, it killed itself," he explained.
"But why did I go unconscious?" Merlin asked, looking at the sword with pride. Forged in a dragon's breath...
"There was an incredible amount of force in that laser, most people would have died even if Excalibur blocked it. You were very lucky," said the red haired girl.
"I've never seen anything like it before," Merlin said, getting up and walking round the Dalek, looking at it in wonder.
"Of course you haven't," the Doctor said briskly, "you're living in a medieval world filled with knights and dragons."
"Did you just say dragons?" asked the man in armor.
Merlin blinked. How did these people know about dragons. To most people they were an extinct species and yet these strange people knew about them.
"Yes, of course, now come on Ponds, help me get this Dalek into the T.A.R.D.I.S. and we can restore Camelot to its usual peace."
Merlin stood back as the three slowly moved the Dalek into the blue box. As he turned to watch he was astounded to see the inside of the box.
It was bigger on the inside.
"That... that must b-be sorcery," he stammered, gaping at the size.
He followed the trio in and looked around in awe.
"Don't worry," said the red haired girl, "everyone's like that."
"Science!" the Doctor laughed jumping around and pulling levers. The Dalek was left in the corner by the door.
"Hang on a minute Doctor," the man in armor said, "are we leaving?"
"Of course we're leaving," the Doctor replied firmly.
"But Doctor! This is Camelot, as in the Camelot. King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, Merlin and his magic-"
Merlin missed the rest of what he was saying and quickly backed out of the T.A.R.D.I.S. How did they know?
"Rory," the Doctor said, tilting his head out the door at Merlin. "Really the best thing to say?"
"But everyone knows that Merlin's a wizard," Amy pointed out, "don't they?"
She jumped down the steps and came to the door. "People do know?" she asked.
Merlin shook his head. "Magic is outlawed, by penalty of death."
Amy frowned then turned back to the Doctor.
"Please Doctor. Five minutes?" she begged.
The Doctor sighed and jumped down the steps after her.
"Very well then," he grinned, "come along Ponds!"
Merlin stepped back as the trio walked past him.
"But you can't just go wandering around Camelot!" he objected. The Ponds and the Doctor paused.
"Of course, we need a guide! You can show us around!" the Doctor responded.
Amy smiled and the armored man shrugged his shoulders.
"But what about this T.A.R.D.I.S.? And the Dalek?" Merlin asked, the words sounding odd and unusual to his ears.
"They'll be fine," the Doctor replied, pulling something out of his pocket and with a buzzing sound and a glare of green light, the doors to the T.A.R.D.I.S. shut and it promptly vanished.
Merlin blinked but then decided that so much had surprised him today that he was just going to go with it now. He collected up Arthur's armor and Excalibur and lead the way out of the armory.
"I'll take you to Gaius's chambers and we'll sort out what's going on," he said as they made their way down the stone corridors.
Back down in the armory, inside the now invisible T.A.R.D.I.S. the Dalek, who's antennae had been black and smoking, suddenly flickered back into life.
"We have won," it declared in its loud mechanical tones. "We have the T.A.R.D.I.S.!"
It rose from where Rory had left it until it was sat next to the console. Its sucker like projection extended and attached itself to the console.
Amy paused slightly as they crossed the courtyard in the bright sunlight. She looked up at the clear blue sky, frowning slightly.
"Doctor!" she said suddenly, "what's that?"
High up in the sky, a dark speck had appeared, it grew into a thick dark line which suddenly split and opened up a chasm through which Amy could see stars and darkness. The next moment, the golden bodies of Daleks began to pour through the gap.
People in the courtyard were screaming and the palace guards were shouting.
"Oh that is not good," the Doctor said, looking up at the sky. "That is extremely very not good."
Note: Thank you for reading and please review! Just a smiley face will encourage me to keep writing!