Chapter Two

Merlin watched as Arthur curled up and went to sleep; he studied the sleeping form on his lap with interest. Prince Arthur of Camelot had turned into a snake and was now sleeping on him. Merlin smiled at the purest absurdity of the idea, yet it was very real. Merlin didn't know what to do about it either. Only three things he was absolutely certain were: One, however this had happened, it had started in the forest. Two, his magic alone wasn't going to solve this. And finally, that Uther must never find out about this.

He was about to drift off himself when Gaius came into the room, carrying a large book.

"Is he asleep?" Gaius enquired.

"Yeeah," Merlin replied softly; he was feeling sleepy, and had resorted to stroking the snake who was snoozing blissfully.

"I've found out what this curse is: it's a relation of animagi. It's starts with a wizard or witch who has transformed into an animal; unfortunately they cannot turn back for whatever reason. They may only be restored if they pass on the curse to somebody else. It carries on like this for generations because the newly transformed can't pass on the curse unless they have magic."

"Then how are we supposed to turn him back?" Merlin cried out, but lowered his voice when Arthur stirred. "He can't stay like this! Camelot can't have a snake for a king!"

"There is a way," Gaius replied but looked reluctant to say it. "The only way is for the curse to be swapped, by which I mean the original instigator must be caught and persuaded to take back their curse. The problem is, if they take it back, they will be stuck like that forever. Can you imagine someone wanting to do that?"

"Can't they pass it on to somebody else I mean, like direct from Arthur?" Merlin asked, feeling downhearted.

"No, it must be them," Gaius said bluntly. "I have no choice but to tell the king; he needs to know," he turned to leave.

"Wait!" Merlin called out. "Is it possible to find out who it is that had the curse first?"

"Well, there is a way. You have to look at the markings on Arthur and find a match with your memory, then you can trace the person who gave Arthur the curse."

"How do I find a match?" Merlin asked eagerly. He knew the chances were slim, but they were chances all the same.

"Merlin, it's complicated, you shouldn't attempt it, and it might not lead to anything at any rate!" Gaius tried to reason, but Merlin was persistent.

"Please just tell me what it is I have to do!"

Gaius sighed.

"You have to use your magic to search Arthur's memories and find out where and when it happened. Once you know that, you can match Arthur's pattern to the snake that caused this. If we know what snake we are looking for, then we can trace it to the sorcerer in question."

"Well, I know when and where it happened, Gaius. It was yesterday when we were hunting. Arthur sat down under a tree and went all quiet and still. When I tried to move him, he wouldn't budge, like he was frozen. When he did move, he complained he had a headache, so we came back. Arthur came to me this morning and he was like this," Merlin stroked Arthur slowly, enjoying the dry but slippery feel to the prince's scales against his skin.

"But did you see the snake that did this?" Gaius asked.

"No," Merlin admitted.

"Then that is why you would have to search his memory. But I wouldn't recommend it and you shouldn't try it either."

"But it's our only chance," Merlin cried out. "I've got to save him, Gaius. He's not meant to be like this."

"And what happens if he remembers you searching his memory? He'll put two and two together. No, Merlin, you can't risk it," Gaius was all but pleading, but knew it was pointless; once his nephew got a mind to do something he did it. "Why can't he show the same enthusiasm with his chores?" the physician often pondered.

Merlin looked at Gaius, knowing he was just trying to protect him, but he had a destiny to fulfil.

"Please, Gaius, don't tell the king yet. Just trust me, let me try."

"I do trust you, Merlin. Just don't get caught…please," Gaius said, resigned, then turned and said, "I won't alert the king yet, but you must be quick; he'll notice something's wrong soon."

Though it was hard, Merlin managed to shift the sleeping prince off his leg. Arthur had curled into every spot and was tightly encased. He crept off his bed, and, spared a last quick glance to check Arthur was asleep, before crossing the room and withdrawing the magic book out from under the floorboards. Flicking through and keeping a cautious eye on Arthur, Merlin found the spell he was looking for and memorised it. Then, praying Arthur didn't remember this, he placed his hands across the snake's head and began to chant.

"Svelt glicimin von colt memoir Arthur Pendragon."

He felt his vision began to cloud over. Suddenly, he was in what appeared to be a massive library. Merlin smiled.

"Oh, great. Arthur really is as confusing as I thought."

The library was a mess of books, strewn all over the place. It didn't take a genius to realise that each book was a memory, but with no order, finding the right memory was going to be hard. Merlin guessed that as it was a recent memory, the book would be new and un-dusty. Well, that narrowed it down to half the mess.

Oh this isn't good, Merlin thought.

He needed a way to tell which book was the right one, but reminded himself that this wasn't his memory and he had no right to mess up Arthur's affairs or private thoughts, no matter how tempting.

Merlin looked around exasperatedly. Suddenly, an idea hit him. It was a short fall, but he'd got the idea off Geoffrey, the librarian at Camelot: an order, a list of some kind, detailing which were the newest books and the oldest. Looking amongst the mess, Merlin saw a loose sheet of parchment on the floor and picked it up; it was the order all right.

As he unfurled the parchment, the sheet turned out to be a very large scroll. Merlin guessed that the one nearest the top would be today's memories, so the one beneath that was yesterday. He looked at it and, by magic, which had Merlin worried, the book appeared, floating in front of him. He hoped that it wasn't his doing, but took hold of the book cautiously and opened it nevertheless. It was full of pictures of the day in standstills. There was breakfast, lunch, going to see Merlin, hunting and sitting down to rest. Merlin touched the picture as if expecting it to do something, and it did. It replayed the memory, which was fuzzy due to Arthur's now prominent memory lapse. He saw himself being analysed and then saw the snake slither onto Arthur's arm. The snake looked identical to what was Arthur now. Merlin saw its eyes flash at Arthur and felt the prince's confusion and fear, and also his irritation when Merlin moved and he felt a pang of sympathy for his friend. He took a close up look at the snake and memorised how it looked and the colour of its eyes, before the memory stopped and Merlin felt the book snap shut.

Taking the information he needed, Merlin smiled and broke contact with Arthur, severing the mental connection. He opened his eyes and was startled to see Arthur's open eyes staring at him with annoyance.

Uh, oh, Merlin thought.