Merlin ran to find Arthur on the training ground. He has spent two hours in the library and only found one small book about the stone. It was the smallest book he had ever seen with very small writing and even some notes scrawled over the pages. He had the impression that someone had written it on the move, a sort of travel journal. He had not read all of it but wondered if they should read it on their journey. There were quite a few landmarks mentioned and they could make their own journey to them reading as they went. 'That would keep Arthur occupied' thought Merlin. As for the prophecy he could find none. Perhaps that was the bit Gaius exaggerated to get them to take the bait. He knew such little deception was not outside the realms of possibility. He had no illusions about Gaius. Look how he had deceived Morgana all these years. 'Yes' thought Merlin. 'Gaius wants us to go and I wouldn't put it past him to manoeuvre things a little.'
Arthur was training with Sir Rupert, one of the older knights, the most skilled with the sword and a favourite of the Prince. Rupert was getting the best of Arthur.
"Rupert just go for it will you, I can tell you are holding back." Yelled Arthur.
"Not at all Sire." said Rupert." Who nevertheless stepped up his game.
Rupert had trained Arthur in swordsmanship and knew every move the young Prince would make. He was having no trouble putting Arthur through his paces. Despite his age, perhaps because of it Rupert was at the top of his game. What he lacked in speed he made up for in cunning.
Rupert feigned a blow and wrong-footed Arthur who paid the price with a tumble but Arthur quickly rolled out of it as Rupert's sword came down towards his chest. Rupert lifted his sword up sharply to avoid an accident.
"A dangerous manoeuvre Sire." He said firmly.
Arthur nodded, more than a little out of breath as Rupert offered his hand. "Yes, sorry." He added. "Foolish of me."
Rupert made a low bow. And stood to look Arthur in the eye. " You would have put me off balance had it been for real though Sire, I would call it daring that paid off"
Arthur shook his hand and smiled his thanks. Rupert turned and dismissed the men.
" Yes Merlin? Said Arthur eagerly. "You have something for me."
" Oh yes." said Merlin, beginning to help Arthur with his armour.
On the walk back to Arthur's chambers the story was quickly recounted.
"All sounds a bit fanciful to me Merlin." Said Arthur once he had fully grasped the story. Why would anyone kill himself over that? War and killing are just part of the life of a King. I don't think much of this Éadbald.
Arthur ran his hand over the cover of the book. Merlin read his face; despite his statements Arthur had a gleam in his eye.
"Can't deny it's got something though." he said with a grin.
"So we'll go?" Queried Merlin brightly.
"Why not? I'll tell the King I have got wind of something big, a new beast or something or better still a sorcerer."
Merlin looked sceptical. "Don't you think that is wearing a bit thin. How about telling him you're going after a weapon to protect the Kingdom. He'll go for that."
"Why Merlin, I thought you were hopeless at deception." Said Arthur his eyes narrowing.
"Well" said Merlin with a slight blush. "You are such a good teacher."
Arthur who still had the book in his hand aimed a blow at Merlin who dodged it with a swift duck of his head. The book fell to the floor and a few pages flew out. They both looked down.
"I haven't sent those before." Said Merlin stooping to pick them up.
The pages were covered in drawings surrounded by scrawl. The figures in the drawing were knights horribly maimed and dying. Arthur took the pages out of Merlin's hand with a look of deep unease. Unmistakably amongst the fallen was Sir Rupert. If it wasn't him then some identical ancestor of his and there, there was Pelinor and Palomides, Gawain, Leon, all the knights of Camelot and yes, even Arthur, most of them were wounded or dying with no sign of an opponent. Arthur inspected it closer and could not help shuddering. The knights were fighting each other. He handed it to Merlin with a grim look.
"Read it Merlin." he said.
Merlin took a sidelong look at Arthur who he could swear looked pale. He scanned the images and looked up incredulously. Arthur nodded to him to read.
'This is a prophecy of the fifth Kingdom when the stone shall reappear and men will again feel the keen pain of hunger. They shall turn one on another and the cost will be dear. Friend will fight friend and their hearts will grow hard. Thus the pestilence of the Twiefeld Stone will spread like a contaigion and the land will be waste. To carrion Crow and scavenging wolf will the land belong for all the days of men.'
Merlin smiled weakly at Arthur. A bit over the top isn't it? He asked quietly.
Arthur was deep in thought. " Do you notice anything Merlin?" Asked Arthur, speaking through the fist he had against his mouth.
Merlin looked closely at the drawings, they were wonderfully drawn, the bodies of the men were mere sketches but the faces were perfect. He noticed Rupert's face etched with agony, at Gareth lying dead at Arthur's feet and then Arthur himself standing in the thick of the battle, Arthur who was no longer a prince but wore the crown and battle dress of a King.
"It is my future." Arthur breathed with a heavy heart.
"No Arthur." said Merlin as he walked across to his friend. "It is a future, only one possible future. You can change it Arthur!"
Arthur looked up at Merlin with a slight quizzical look. How are you always so positive Merlin? You always say the right thing. The prince paused in thought. He shifted and squared himself up, not in resignation but with a new energy as though Merlin's words has seeped into him and driven away his anxiety. " Yes I must go. I am yet a Prince and so the prophecy is well ahead of me."
Arthur's voice now took on an urgency, just as it always did when he got fired up. There was excitement and resolve growing in him. Arthur was rising to the challenge.
When he next looked at Merlin his eyes shone. "I must go and find the stone and destroy it."
"And I shall help you," said Merlin eagerly.
Arthur looked at Merlin, took in his slender frame and recalled just how hopeless he was with a sword, and then, hard on that thought was the memory of Anhora's test at the Labyrinth of Gedref and Merlin's quick mind.
"I wouldn't dream of attempting it without you." Said Arthur. " Now let's get things together. We'll leave tomorrow. Maybe we should talk to Gaius first, see what he thinks of this.
Merlin and Arthur sat opposite each other at Gaius' table. Arthur had never sat down before in the physicians chambers. He had paced, barged in and been his overbearing royal self, he had even lain unconscious on this very table but he had never just sat. Gaius had fussed a little at first, not quite knowing how to react. He was always very formal with Uther and Arthur, he could be rude, familiar and brutally honest but always with due deference to their station. He settled for the peculiar manner associated with a parent whose son has brought his best friend home for tea for the first time. But once Merlin produced the book all thought of discomfort fled and Gaius again became the scientific observer.
"I really haven't seen anything quite like it, he mused examining the book for the third time " someone very skilled has produced this, did you notice how the drawings are hidden here…?" Gaius handed the open book to Merlin and Arthur, they peered at it trying to work out how the extra pages could have fitted. Gaius interrupted, took the drawings and slipped them back inside so quickly that all Arthur saw was a blur of fingers and paper. Merlin however with his sorcerer's eyes saw far more; he saw just how the covers of the book flicked open and swallowed the pages in a split second.
"And these drawings," said Gaius "are extraordinary." Gaius fetched his glass and scrutinised the drawings. "Did you see this?" He said beckoning them closer.
It almost pained Arthur to look at the faces of his ruined men again. But he followed Gaius finger to a point just above the action. To a landscape he had not even noticed before; a line of distant mountains on the horizon, the broken turrets of a ruined city.
"I know that place!" Merlin announced.
Arthur did not respond or look at him, he knew the place too, it was Camelot.
None of them wanted to put a name to their thoughts, indeed nothing needed to be said. It was Camelot and what is more a Camelot as dead as the knights of the drawing, as ruined as they were.
Arthur spoke into the uneasy silence, his voice analytical and his words precise.
"If we fight here in Camelot," said Arthur "then the stone must one day come here. Someone brings it here."
Arthur looked first at Gaius and then at Merlin. An unwelcome thought clouded his face. Gaius noticed it but Merlin spoke.
"What is it Arthur? He queried. " What are you thinking?"
"Perhaps" Arthur shook his head as though he were trying to dislodge the idea that had just come to him.
"Perhaps I bring it here? I could get seduced by this thing as many have before me."
Merlin was about to protest but hesitated, he remembered all the times that Arthur's pride had got in the way. How he had failed the test in the forest and was prepared to kill a man because he insulted him. Yes Arthur had weaknesses, everyone had. But surely Arthur had learned his lesson. Gaius, aware of Merlin's hesitation, stepped in.
"Well Sire," he began, though he had no idea what he was going to say next. "You know enough about it to be prepared."
As he spoke, and idea came into Gaius head, clear and certain, he wondered that he had not seen it before. Arthur was looking at him waiting for the next word.
"And I believe Sire," said Gaius carefully, " you must fight your greatest enemy to overcome the powers of the stone."
"And that is?" Asked Arthur with a hint of Uther's irritation at the old man and his pedantic ways.
"Yourself." Stated Gaius simply and lowered his head giving Arthur one of his steady stares. Arthur discarded his royal persona and smiled.
"Point taken Gaius,…… I need patience for a start."
Arthur fell into a silent contemplation, rubbing his thumbs over the cover of the book. Gaius and Merlin cast a concerned look at each other.
Merlin was at a loss, Arthur seemed to be taking this badly. He was behaving just as he had during the famine that had struck Camelot after the death of the unicorn. Arthur had finally accepted that he was the cause of their suffering but when had failed in lifting the curse he turned inward and a deep sorrow took hold of him. Back then Gaius had told Merlin to make sure Athur didn't do anything rash. But Merlin had not understood what Gaius meant until now; despite his dismissal of Eadbald's fate, Arthur was every bit as likely to lose the will to live if he caused the end of his beloved Camelot.
Gaius certainly had not expected such a reaction to the legend, the notebook was a remarkable find. And despite his earlier ascertion that there was no magic to the Stone, Gaius now had his doubts. Something was working away at Arthur, the drawings for start could have only been drawn for him.
Arthur raised his head and looked at Gaius as though he were about to make a confession. "Something tells me Gaius, that I should pay attention to this. I have never felt so certain of anything."
"One must always follow these strong….." Gaius searched for the word, he most wanted to say 'premonition,' but that was too close to magic for comfort. Merlin, noticing his discomfort took over. He leaned across the table to get Arthur's full attention am that same urgent kindness crept into his voice.
"You have always had good instincts Arthur, if something is telling you how to tackle this then listen to it!
Arthur looked at him gratefully. "We have to go alone Merlin. just you and I….. I had thought to take at least two knights, Rupert and probably Gawain, we would be a formidable team. But I know now it has be us."
Why just us Arthur?
"Because you are the only one of my men who is not in the picture Merlin"
Merlin grew a couple more inches at the words 'my men'. "If you go with me then the prophecy cannot come to pass. you are the man who is least likely to fall under the Stone's power. Don't you agree Gaius?"
"Seems a reasonable conclusion." said Gaius guardedly.
This seemed to be a final and positive statement by the Prince who stood and nodded his thanks to Gaius. He turned to Merlin. "I'll expect you at my chambers at dawn with all the necessary provisions" He slapped Merlin hard on his back.
"Not if you carry on abusing me you won't." Replied Merlin.