Irony of Secrets
Galaya
Previous chapter: To Ebycul it Is
HI. It's the sixth chapter this time. It's BBC's Merlin, not mine. Verin and Keiyva are mine, though.
Chapter 6: Preparations and Warnings
Verin, Arthur's temporary servant, was just finishing putting the last article of clothing in the king's saddle bags when said royal burst in.
"Sire," he said, bowing after a moment of surprise. "Your bags and horse are ready, my lord."
"Thank you, Verin. I expect that you are…Never mind. I've known Merlin for too long."
"I am yours to command."
The servant smiled slightly, in a not-so-pleasant way. This oddity earned him a suspicious look from Arthur. After all, no one knew where he had come from or when he had been hired.
Walking out the door with Verin on his heels, Arthur resolved to keep an eye on this servant.
(Switching to Merlin's point of view)
In Merlin's dream, he was again in the strange room. But this time, there was a young woman standing over a basin of water.
"Emrys," she said, turning to him. "Your king is in danger."
"What kind of danger?"
"Those spies were not all killed."
"What do you mean, 'spies'? Don't you mean assassins?"
The sorceress shook her head, long red hair swishing.
"That attack was the result of Camelot's guards discovering them. One of them, Verin, the sorcerer, is traveling to Ebycul, planning to kill Arthur Pendragon along the way. If he succeeds the king will be dead, but also, both kingdoms will fall. You must prevent this!"
"There are two problems; Arthur, if I go help him, will find out about me. And, I'm injured!"
"I could heal you," the sorceress offered.
"When Arthur returns, that'd be a dead give-away!" Merlin reasoned. "Though, if I do go, my injury shall be the same. Perhaps I could take an enchanted object with me to temporarily heal it!"
"It sounds as if you've made your decision."
"I shall neither let Arthur die nor Camelot fall! But, I have to ask: who are you? Why are you helping Arthur? How do you know all this?"
"Come, look."
Merlin walked over to peer into the basin.
"Dangos i Ni y gorffennol, datgelwch y presennol, rhagweld y dyfodol," she whispered.
He was able to see her left eye turn to gold, but not her right. It was then that the warlock realized she only had one eye. At the same time, the water in the basin began to swirl golden.
The assassins (spies, Merlin had to remind himself) were crouched in such a place that they had a clear view of the entire council room. One of them seemed half-asleep. As Merlin realized from the actions of the council, the meeting was over. The council was quick to depart.
One of the still-awake spies nudged their sleeping companion, jolting the latter into awareness.
"Huh? What…?" the bleary-eyed spy began.
"Come on, you fool," his awakener hissed. "The council's over."
"Ohhh… Can you just let me…?" the first trailed off in question, already falling back to sleep.
The second pushed his companion out of their hiding place, unfortunately for them, alerting Camelot's guards of their presence.
The scene distorted, and then shifted, the water turning golden.
Arthur and his company were setting up camp in the Darkling Woods. Nothing seemed wrong except one of the servants.
Merlin was sure he had never seen this person…Or had he?
The more he looked, the more it became clear that this was one of the spies. In fact, he was the one that had woken up his sleeping friend!
It didn't look as if Arthur was in danger at the moment, but if the sorceress's words were anything to go by, he would be soon.
Again, the image changed. This time to a forest Merlin had never seen before. The trees were too short and were all evergreens. The land was basically made of hills. Here and there, there were leafy trees with white trunks and black markings. These trees Merlin could not even begin to identify.
"This is Smoke Mountain in Ebycul. Those white-trunked trees are aspens. The powder on their bark is good to use when you're working outside in the sun for a long time; it helps keep your skin from getting burned," the sorceress explained.
The servant/spy was attacking Arthur with magic. Arthur was trying to defend himself, but failing. The sorcerer was about to kill Merlin's friend…
Then the water swirled and went back to normal.
"You have seen what you needed to; I shall let you rest now. In the morning, I advise you to follow your friend and aid him."
With that, the sorceress spun around and began to stride away from Merlin and the water basin.
"Wait, you haven't told me who you are!"
The sorceress turned to look at him again. Her holly-green eye warmed with amusement.
"I am Keiyva."
Yea! My longest chapter! It's almost 800 words long (789, to be exact.) Please review! There's a big surprise coming soon! (And no, I'm not going to reveal it yet. It's something you'd never guess is all I shall say on the subject.)\
Next chapter: Tracking