Chapter 9

Steely talons ripped through thatch as the seven wyverns began their assault on the town. The townspeople ran from their homes only to be met with a sea of destruction.

"SHOOT!" came the cry from the battlements and the wyverns scattered as arrows showered down on them, but none were harmed. There was a whooshing sound followed by a thud from below and one of the soldiers peered down to investigate. He was greeted violently as teeth ripped though flesh. One of the wyverns had latched itself onto the castle walls with razor-like hooks on each of its wings. The rest of the men rained down all manner of projectiles upon the beast. They were all of them useless.

"MOVE TO THE TOWN," Arthur ordered and the knights rushed out the main gate. Some of the guards were there, attempting to fend the creatures away from people's homes and several already lay savaged in the dirt.

"Move!" He shouted to the last remaining knights, the ones who had taken Sir Algar and Sir Leon inside and were returning to the fight after passing the dead and wounded men onto the servants. They charged out and the prince made to follow, but the beating of wings above him made Arthur glance up. A wyvern was bearing down on him and Merlin like a hawk with its sight fixed firmly on its prey. Separated from the rest of the men, they dived backwards for the nearest cover, a small cart parked in the square. The wyvern swept down , skimming the ground with its talons. It ploughed through the cart with an almighty crash and Merlin and Arthur were thrown forwards in a shower of splintered wood. Arthur felt a stinging as a shard flew passed his cheek before he landed hard. With a shriek of fury at losing it's quarry the wyvern pulled up before it hit the castle walls and went to rejoin the others in the lower town where the women and children would make easier pickings.

Arthur pushed himself up onto his knees.

"Merlin!" he gasped in horror.

"It's okay, I'm fine."

"You are not fine." A sharp fragment of wood had embedded itself into the side of Merlin's neck just above his right shoulder. Blood was seeping from the wound far too quickly for Arthur's liking and yet Merlin was completely unfazed.

"It's just a graze," Merlin said, rubbing the elbow he had fallen on.

"Not that. Stop being an idiot and let me take a look."

"What are you doing? Get off me!"

"Merlin, you have a spike in your neck."

"Don't be…," ridiculous, Merlin was about to say, but as he twisted his head he could just see the end of said spike protruding from him. "Ow!" he yelped, although he wasn't in any pain. In fact he was disturbed by the fact he couldn't feel a thing, but 'Ow!' seemed the natural reaction. "Where did that come from?"

"Never mind where it's come from," exclaimed Arthur in a complete state of disbelief at Merlin's condition and his apparent obliviousness to it. "It's where it's gone."

"I'm telling you I'm fine." Merlin stood up quickly and reached up to remove the piece of wood from his neck.

Arthur held up a hand in protest. "For goodness sake Merlin, stop. We need to get you to Gaius, right now."

Merlin continued regardless and wincing from the thought, withdrew the large splinter. It's end glistened red in the sunlight.

Arthur cringed at the sight of the hole left behind, still trickling blood. He was familiar with seeing wounds of battle but usually the victim was not walking about as if nothing had happened. He was almost afraid of his servant.

"What is going on?" he said. Merlin didn't answer. "You've been stabbed through the neck and you're acting like nothing has happened? What's wrong with you?" He had wandered over to the cart and was examining it strangely. "Merlin, are you even listening to me?" Merlin was moving his hands in mid air in roughly the place where the sides would have been if they were not lying in pieces at their feet.

"None of this is real," he murmured to himself.

"Merlin stop mucking about."

"The cart isn't damaged."

"You're worrying about a cart? Aren't you in pain?"

"Not particularly. Come see, it isn't."

"Of course it is. Now come on."

"I'm telling you."

"You're not well."

Arthur was taken aback when Merlin grabbed him roughly by the elbow. If it had been anyone else they would have found themselves on the ground with their arms pinned behind them before you could say 'Don't mess with a Pendragon'. However, taken completely off-guard by Merlin's abnormally abnormal behaviour, he allowed himself to be dragged forwards towards the cart. Merlin brought his hand sweeping down through thin air. Except it wasn't thin air. His hand met with something solid, but invisible, where he would have expected there to be a wooden crosspiece. He rubbed his palms along the upper edge of the invisible planks in disbelief.

"How did you….?"

"It's an illusion," Merlin explained.

Arthur kicked one of the broken wood fragments. It clattered realistically on the floor as it landed."

"Someone made an illusion of a broken cart?"

"Not just that. It's the wyverns, all of it. The cart, and these injuries," he indicated his own shoulder and Arthur's cheek, "It's all just for effect."

"You can't convince me that those things, those monsters are not really there."

"It's true."

"So Sir Leon just mauled himself did he."

"You saw the state he was in. He should be dead, but he isn't, because it did really happen. We just all think it did, Sir Leon included."

Arthur looked at Merlin, at the cart and out towards the town where the battle was raging in his absence. "No," he shook his head. "I refuse to believe that this is all just a figment of our imagination." The sound of screaming could be heard from the city. Wyverns screeched and there was the ring of steel upon steel. "Can you hear that?" he asked Merlin. "That is the sound of people dying. I don't know why I'm even standing here listening to this nonsense."

Merlin looked up at the circling wyverns overhead. He could now see them as they really were – spread thinly onto the fabric of reality and not completely there. Merlin wasn't really sure what the situation was. Two men were dead, not as a result of attack by the illusions, but definitely as a direct consequence of their presence. Merlin's insides recoiled at the thought that the number could be much higher by now. Whether these apparitions were physically there or not, they were a very real and deadly threat. He knew how Arthur must be feeling; things were completely out of his control and he was powerless to help his people. He would take it as an insult to himself and a sign of weakness that he could be defeated by something that did not exist, though Merlin knew that strength wasn't an issue. Arthur was completely denying illusions could be a possibility because it was easy. Merlin knew the only way to get Arthur to accept the truth was to show him. He wasn't sure what effect that would have. Arthur must already be suspicious of him. If Arthur saw the illusions too, would this augment or allay those suspicions? There was little choice.

"Up there!" Merlin suddenly shouted, pointing.

"What is it?" Arthur looked up at a wyvern in flight.

Merlin turned round while Arthur was focused elsewhere. "Unwréon," he whispered, praying it would work.

"Did you see that?" Arthur shouted and Merlin smiled.

"See what?"

"The wyvern. It just sort of flickered. Like it was there one second and gone the next and now it's back again."

"That's what it was like with me and the cart only backwards," Merlin lied. With the cart it had been constant. He could see both the intact vehicle and the fake pieces of wreckage. Merlin had known his magic wasn't powerful enough to overcome all this, but hopefully that brief moment had helped.

"Then it is all an illusion." said Arthur slowly.

Merlin opened his mouth to speak.

"Don't you dare say I told you so," Arthur interrupted him.

"I wasn't going to."

"Yes you were."

Painful shouting echoed up from the streets. Arthur twirled his sword in his hand, preparing to rejoin the fight. He turned to Merlin. He was still unnerved by his gaping wound but he reassured himself that it was all just a trick. It was odd that he wasn't feeling anything when his own scratch, though only minor , still twinged.

"You do realise we can't do anything?" Merlin said.

"But I don't suppose if I told you to stay here, you'd listen."

"You know me, I never listen."

Arthur laughed.

"Wait a minute, you haven't got a sword," he suddenly realised.

"Oh, yeah. I must have forgotten it."

"You'll forget your own head next, although that might be an improvement." Arthur turned back and ran over to fetch Sir Algar's sword which had been left on the ground when his body was removed. "You do remember which end to hold?" He called across the coutyard. Arthur pivoted round and stopped. A male civilian was fleeing the carnage brandishing an axe to defend himself. He had a crazed, fearful look in his eye and seemed to be trapped in his own terrifying world. Arthur was looking at Merlin who was looking back at him and Arthur was filled with dread. When the strange man saw Merlin he raised his axe above his head and in a frenzy brought it swooshing down towards him.

"MERLIN!"