Alaia Skyhawk: And here's part two! The proof copy of my book arrived this morning, and I've got my mum checking it over for errors. One grammar mistake she's found so far had us both in stitches with the way it made the sentence read XD

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

Music: Campfire (Tangled OST clip, 1:18-2:26)

"Whom History Won't Remember" Episode: N/A

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Chapter 71: Support ~Part 2~

The door creaked slightly as it was opened, the young man who entered yawning as he did so. Merlin looked over to where Gaius sat at one of the tables, surrounded by stacks of books.

The physician looked up from his reading, noting his ward's arrival.

"Ah, Merlin. There you are."

The warlock headed over to him, pushing back another yawn.

"Did you find anything about where I can put that stone?"

Gaius nodded.

"Well there is one possible place fairly close to here. Remember the abandoned library?"

"Yeah, I remember." Merlin grimaced a little. "But Gaius, it's too far away. There's no way we can go off for two days, not right now. Everyone's still tense, and it would look really suspicious."

His mentor sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"Well it's the only place that comes to mind that I would recommend. The other places within similar distance are either too risky to approach, or their exact locations are unknown. And it's not just the travel time to consider, you'd need to invoke the inherent magics of any of those places, to seal the Mage Stone away. Otherwise anyone could just stumble across it and pick it up."

Merlin started to pace, getting a bit frustrated.

"But I can't leave the city right now, not for as long as it would take to go to the library and back. I've had too many absences, been late for work too many times the past few weeks. Today I had an excuse, I was helping Gwen this afternoon, but Arthur's going to start asking questions if I ask for time off so soon. Even if it's you asking to borrow me. It wasn't that long ago that you sent me out for herbs, and even an idiot like Arthur is going to figure out you wouldn't need anything I can gather for you, this soon."

Gaius looked at the array of books in front of him, resigned.

"In that case your only option then would be to create a place of your own."

Merlin ceased his pacing, turning to stare at him.

"Create my own? Is that even possible?"

The physician got his his feet.

"Theoretically, yes. But it would require a place with a convergence of at least two ley lines, and an inordinate amount of preparation. Merlin, I don't think this is an idea you can pursue. It would be a lot of work, even if you knew of somewhere close by where you could put it."

Merlin folded his arms across his chest, looking a little smug with himself.

"But I do know a place. Ever since I learnt how to sense the web of the Old Magic, I've been able to reach out and sense all the nearby ley lines as well. There's a place less than an hour's walk from the city, where three ley lines meet. Two of them are only small, but then the stone is small too. I don't need a big place to hide it."

Gaius began to look concerned at how lightly his ward was taking this.

"Merlin, it could take days, even weeks."

The young warlock sighed, shoulders slumping.

"Look, at least let me try. If I fail, then we'll have waited long enough for things to calm down, and we can go off on a 'herb hunting' trip and take the stone to the library. But to be honest, I think I'd prefer it this way. The stone was lost for ages, and I think it should become lost again. Its power is too easy to abuse, even by a weak sorcerer. If I make my own place to hide it, then I'll be the only person who knows where it is. And when the time comes that I'm gone, it'll never be found again."

Gaius went quiet, speaking after a long moment.

"Fine. I'll see about gathering some of the tools and materials you'll need."

"Then I'll go look up the spell I need in my book."

He headed for his room, only for Gaius' next words to stop him.

"That book can't help you, Merlin. This is very advanced magic you will be attempting, and of the oldest kind. I know from historical texts the basic things you will need, but for the rest you're just going to have to work it out yourself with some research."

Merlin turned to look back at him.

"You're joking, right?"

Gaius slowly shook his head.

"Are you sure you still want to try?"

Merlin's expression became one both serious and stubborn.

"Yeah... I've got some thinking to do. Leave any of those books that might help me, in my room. I'll look at them tomorrow after I do my chores."

Seeing his mentor nod in agreement to that, Merlin altered his direction and headed for the pot of something hanging near the hearth. If this was going to take research, then it really could wait until tomorrow. But now, right now supper was a much more appealing idea.

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Seated at the small table, fighting the urge to beat his head off the aforementioned piece of furniture, Merlin added another tiny scrap of information to his list of possibly useful things. This was his fourth day, sat in here all afternoon, having once again cheated with his chores in order to buy time for this. He'd lost count of the number of books he'd read, and lost count of the number of different theories he'd looked at. Gaius had not been kidding when he'd said this would be a lot of work.

Merlin let out a long-suffering sigh, finishing the last of the archaic letters he was writing in. It was an obscure alphabet used in many of the older and less legal examples from Gaius' book collection, and writing in the same was easiest. Not only did it avoid the annoyance of translating it, but it meant that other than the physician, and possibly Geoffrey of Monmouth, no one else in the city could read his notes. A wise precaution, if he happened to want to keep his head.

The young warlock found another reference to a rune, one he'd seen mentioned several times already in other books, and pulled out a small tally sheet from beneath one of the tomes on the table. He hadn't drawn the runes on them, he wasn't stupid enough to risk it, but he did put their names down and add marks for how often each one came up. So far it looked like he was going to need three runes specifically, and a varying selection of at least four others... all depending on what stones and crystals he decided to use for the ritual. And then he was finding that some runes would only work with certain numbers of ley lines, at least for what he wanted to do, and the whole thing was gradually becoming a mind-churning, tangled mess that he was going to have to make some kind of sense out of.

That was it, his head thumped down onto the table's surface and he closed his eyes. If he was going to continue squinting at these books for the remainder of the afternoon, then at the least he could rest his eyes for a moment.

He was still in that position when he heard the door of the main chamber open, and he sat up again while pushing his tally back beneath one of the books. Like he knew, he, Gaius, and possible Geoffrey were the only ones in the castle who could read these things, and the master of the Hall of Records wasn't like to be coming up here. Other than his out-of-place tally, there was nothing he needed to hide. He continued his reading, just turning a pace when his door opened and a familiar woman peered in.

Gwen frowned a little, seeming a bit exasperated, and she came in with a sigh.

"What are you doing in here? I've been looking all over the place for you."

Merlin shrugged, acting as casual as he could.

"I've finished all but my evening chores, so I'm doing some research for Gaius. It's not all that interesting."

She regarded him, curious, and came over for a closer look. One glance at the baffling script on the pages, and at the sheets of parchment covered with more of the same clearly written by him, he regarded them with surprise.

"You can read these?"

A bit put out by the obvious implication of that question, Merlin shook his head.

"I swear, everyone in this castle except Gaius assumes I'm an idiot. Would I be sat here going through them if I couldn't?"

Gwen took a step back, a bit embarrassed at offending him.

"Sorry, it just I..."

"Never expected me to be reading ancient books and researching things for Gaius." He smiled, leaning his elbow on the table. "Who do you think helps him with his research when something weird starts happening around here, or something magical attacks? I may be Arthur's manservant, but that doesn't mean I'm not also Gaius' ward. My education hasn't really been something I had a choice about. My guardian can be very insistent."

Gwen smiled at his bemused tone and expression.

"So what are you researching for him?"

Merlin glanced at his notes, notes about runes and crystals and magical theory.

"Ah, just some obscure remedies. He's got a few he currently uses, that he thinks he might be able to improve by comparing them to old ones that do the same. I'm just noting down the ingredients and methods of making them for him. Like I said, it's not that interesting. In fact, it's really boring."

She chuckled at that, handing over a slip of paper she held.

"Well then, I'd best leave you to it. This is how much the clothing for Arthur will cost. I'll use his name to order the cloth from the merchant, and pay for it when it's ready. It'll be a few days at least, so there's no rush. Some of it will have to come from Ulwin, so it will be the end of the week before I can start on them."

Merlin accepted it, nodding.

"I'll let him know."

Awkward silence fell, and after a moment she headed for the door.

"I'll see you around, Merlin."

He watched her go, breathing a sigh of relief once she was gone. He then went back to his research, muttering under his breath as he read the passage he'd been working on when she came in.

"'The priest stood upon the focus of the runes, the heart of the ley descending beneath him and closing. Here upon he declared the isle a sanctuary, and that the altar be built upon his work. That only those who touch life and death may place items of worth within the ley, and only they would be able to take them'... So, I need to turn the place where the ley lines touch, into a pocket?"

Frowning in concentration, he added another line to his notes. With any luck, another couple of days and he'd be able to attempt it. Or at least, so he hoped, otherwise the Mage Stone was going to drive him out of his mind with its random resonating waking him in the middle of the night.

The thought was enough to make him plant his forehead on the table again, remaining their until with a groan he lifted his head up and went back to reading. This was going to be another long afternoon.

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Alaia Skyhawk: Hehe, I added a hint about a location near the end there. I just felt like slipping it in hehehehe. Happy reading :)