The Lost King—Chapter 4
"Huh." Addy huffed blandly. "So this is Avalon?" They were standing on the banks of a muddy-colored lake. Dense, cold fog had settled over most of it and only a small strip of water could be seen. It was scummy and brown, with small bits of debris relaxing among the reeds. Behind them, a small, desperate-looking village butted right up next to the water, as if it wished to fling itself over the rocky shore and have done with it. "Kinda unimpressive."
Merlin crossed his arms and sighed. His eyes were distant, caught up again in memories of the past. "At one time, this place was beautiful. Sacred. But that was so long ago. Now its faded, like everything else."
Addy studied him. She was worried about him. He had been overjoyed in the car at first, but the closer she got to Avalon, the more subdued he became. Normally, he seemed like anyone else; jeans, a tee, a fluffy pullover. All topped off with a shaggy mess of black hair and cool, blue eyes. But not now. Now, standing before the foggy lake, he looked like the all-power warlock he truly was. His body was stiff and rigid, head held high. And the power inside him radiated around him like an aura.
He took a deep, long breath, and turned to her, back to normal. "There. Do you see it? Off towards the middle of the lake." He pointed into the cloud bank.
"What am I supposed to be looking for? All I see is fog."
"An island. Wait, here..." He waved his hand in from of him and the clouds parted, leaving a corridor of unobstructed view far out over the water. At last, a tiny spot of an island came into view. "That's where I left him, after he..." He trailed off sadly.
Addy butted up next to him and slipped her arm through his. "Well, then, let's go get him back."
-(0)—(0)—(0)-
What they needed was a boat. Fortunately, they weren't far from some. Several were lined up in the quay. Most were rusted fishing vessels, but there was also a couple small pleasure crafts, and a few dinghies that would probably sink the moment they were out of sight of land.
Up ahead, two men were sitting on the dock, mending a fishing net. Merlin approached them and offered them a friendly wave. Neither man waved back, but they did stop mending their nets to stare at the strangers. One of the men, a rather portly one, turned to the other and said something rude sounding in Welsh. The other, an older man with thick, curly hair that covered his entire head, nodded and withdrew a battered pipe from his belt.
Merlin addressed the men, and greeted them in perfect Welsh. "Helo, foneddigion. Beth sydd i fyny? Roeddwn yn rhyfeddu pe gallai yo helpu ni allan. Mae angen i rentu cwch. Ydych chi'n gwybod ble y gallem ddod o hyd i un? O, a chlywais yr hyn a ddywedasoch am fy nghariad." (Basically: Hi guys! What's up? We need to rent a boat. Do you have one? Oh, and I heard what you said about my girlfriend.) He then leaned back on his heals and smirked.
Addy's mouth hung open. Where the hell had that come from? I had no idea he could speak a different language. Maybe there's a lot more stuff about his past I should know about, after all.
Meanwhile, Gareth, the fat one, shifted around nervously in his seat, and returned to mending as if his life depended on it.
The pipe wavered in in the air. It was the only sign that Big Tom was impressed. "Yer after a boat?"
Switching back to English, Merlin answered. "Ya. See, we think a friend of ours may have gotten himself in a bit of trouble. It was his birthday and he always over indulges himself, if you know what I mean. I mean, the guy totally can't hold his liquor. Anyway, he was mooning on and on about going sailing and we think he came out here and got himself marooned out there, on that island." He pointed across the now clear lake.
The two men exchanged a quick, suspicious glance. "Your mate was pissed, you say? And you think ee's ou' there?" Gareth asked with much interest.
Addy, picking up on Merlin's story, put on her most charming smile and cooed, "Yes. Could you please help us out." She clasped her hands together. The bearded one was immobile, but the other fell right into her trap.
"Oh, him. We picked 'em up 'bout a week ago." Merlin shot Addy an anxious glance. A week ago? Gareth continued, "Mmm. Cracked 'ee was, too. Right Big Tom?"
The beardy one grunted a response. "Not right, that one." He tapped his head. "Claimed to be from Camelot. And King Arthur 'emself! Kept going on 'bout who was rowing my boat. When we got 'em to shore, 'ee started whooping and yelling and throwing things. PC Davies finally had to take 'em off, him waving his tackle all over the place 'n all."
Addy choked. "Tackle? You mean, he was naked?" She said in absolute horror.
"Mm. Aye. Naked as the day 'ee was born."
She turned to look at Merlin. She only got a glimpse of a rapidly spreading smile on his face before he turned away, covering his mouth.
"You okay?" Addy asked.
He held up a hand to her, as he was racked with violent tremors. "Em...I'll be...fffine...in a...sec.." He coughed several times. When he turned around his face was a fiery shade of red and his eyes were the size of saucers. "So...em...he was jjjust... waving it around, ttthen...?" He couldn't contain himself any longer and burst into peals of laughter, nearly falling to the ground.
She stomped her foot, and elbowed him hard. "That's awful! What's wrong with you? I thought he was your friend, what with the way you've been pining over him." Actually, she had wanted to laugh, too, but she had remembered how jarring it had been finding herself in a different time.
"He...is.." he sputtered, between chuckles. "But you didn't know him. H-he could be such a...p-prat!"
While Merlin once again fell laughing to the ground, Addy was left on her own with the two fishermen. They were busy giving Merlin evil looks, so she interrrupted. "So, you said he was arrested?"
The surly one, Big Tom, nodded. "They took 'em away. Had to send of for a spec'list. One of them brainshrinkers. From Cardiff."
Oh no. This was bad. This was really, really bad. She thanked the men abruptly and rushed off to catch up with Merlin, whose face had gone from red to purple. But when she told them what the men had said, he immediately stopped laughing. His smile melted into a worried frown.
"What are we going to do, Merlin? They sectioned him!"
He looked at her intently, with a completely straight face, so much like the old Merlin she had known in Camelot, yet so different. Straightening up, he emphatically stated, "We're going to bust King Arthur out of the looney-bin!"
Author's note-
Okay, with that I must leave you for a few days...:( But don't worry, I'll give you a taste of what to expect in the next few chapters:
-The Afanc is back and he is pissed!
-Merlin and Addy make some fake ID's
-Arthur meets Napoleon and Abraham Lincoln.
-A BIG reunion!
Hope you keep reading and keep sending me your reviews!