Reviews
skelly4128
Crop rotation already existed in medieval times, but if I remember my history it wasn't fully developed until the late middle ages so Jumper Gothic should be able to drop a few hints to the farmers. Maybe they'll listen.
Keeping better records could also be useful, but I think such ideas would be better received by Arthur who can be befriend, rather than Uther, and Arthur won't be king until the 3rd season. Then he can suggest a number of things. Better sewage system for starters.
Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin
Part 3
Camelot. Albion.
Underground, below the castle, something stirred, it was Kilgharrah, better known as The Great Dragon. He was a mighty and ancient dragon who's been imprisoned and chained in a cave beneath Camelot by Uther Pendragon at the end of the Great Purge, and here he had been left for over 20 years.
For much of his captivity Kilgharrah had done nothing other than sleep. Now he was stirring, something he had sensed was getting his attention. The Great Dragon had been expecting someone important to arrive soon, but what he was feeling was not the the warlock who would soon arrive, rather than this was something else, something alien.
Still despite the oddness of this presence Kilgharrah was a creature of great power, and had mystical abilities that could only be matched by the most powerful of magic users, and with his awesome talents he was able to learn at least some of the nature, as well as the name, of the strange presence he felt.
Kilgharrah wanted to find out more, much more, however he happened to be chained up and therefore stuck down here, so whomever he was sensing out there would have to come to him. The magical creature would call out with his mind to this newcomer and draw him underground.
The Great Dragon would wait, he could still sense much of what was going on above, which told him that the castle was active, but night would come and then he could call out. Only those most sensitive to magic would hear his call, thus ensuring only that the stranger, who was sensitive to magic, would hear him.
If this alien stranger turned out to be a threat to the future Kilgharrah wished to bring about then the Great Dragon would destroy him, which he could do if the newcomer was lured close enough. Kilgharrah might be chained up, however he could still breathe fear fire if needs be.
Hopefully the alien stranger would heed his call, and there was a chance that this unknown person could be a friend and ally to creatures of magic. Kilgharrah could sense that the newcomer had magical power as well as abilities unknown to even him.
Either way soon the matter would be dealt with, and until nightfall all the Great Dragon could do was rest, while planning out what he might say. Also should he need to destroy this stranger he would need all of his strength, as such a little more sleep wouldn't hurt.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
While it was only my second day within this swords and sorcery setting, so far I was enjoying myself and things seemed to be going well. Everyone accepted my background, and while during training I'd exposed myself as a better than average knight, my sudden improvement wasn't drawing much suspicion. This was helped by Arthur, who'd claimed that sparring against him was what had allowed me to show my true talent.
Aside from training I didn't really have that much to do. As a minor noble I owned some land as all knights in Camelot did, but the very small part of the kingdom that was mine was wilderness and as such I had no tenants to care for. I could be sent out on patrol, or on a mission, but things were peaceful right now.
That wouldn't last of course. This time period was filled with many dangers, which came from more than just magic users. Magical creatures, such as griffons, cockatrices and even dragons, as well as bandits and other kinds of raiders would endanger this realm. Greater dangers of the human sort were to come as well.
At the beginning of the fifth century, the Romans left Britain for the final time, an event which seemed to have happened some decades ago in this version of Albion, the records weren't clear. Their withdrawal caused a lot of chaos, and it allowed the locals to carve Albion into kingdoms which warred with each other, and this left them vulnerable to outsiders.
Later in the century, the Saxons tried to invade Britain and they succeeded. In the Merlin show the Saxons invaded and allied themselves with Morgana. They were tribes that came not just to raid, but to take England's green and pleasant lands for themselves.
Which fitted in with the legends, as in them the Saxons were known as enemies of King Arthur and invaded Britain. The white dragon also stood for the Saxons, while the red dragon (which was on the Welsh flag) stood against the invasion, and presumably for Camelot. In the show Morgana's dragon was white and the red dragon was Kilgharrah, who wasn't actually red, came to the battle for Camelot.
This meant that the people who lived in these lands right now were Celts, Celtic Britons to be precise, my ancestors in a sense, and this was confirmed by many of the traditions in this kingdom, which I knew about. These were falling out of favour as Christianity took its hold in these lands.
As of yet there were no Churches, or any kind of temple for that matter, within the walls of Camelot. I knew that at this time people were divided between the Old Religion, which was as a form of Paganism, and the New Religion, which was an early form of Christianity.
In the legends Arthur's religion varies. Some retellings describe King Arthur as a pagan king, other versions had him as a Christian, who may have been very tolerant towards differing religions as Merlin is often referred to as being a druid. Given the time period it was likely that Arthur would also have both pagans and Christians as his subjects, and in his army.
This kingdom seemed between the old and the new. Yet as far as I could tell this wasn't causing any trouble. Uther might hate magic, but he wasn't forcing people to give up everything to do with the old ways even if he a distaste for pagan beliefs. It was hard for people in these parts to forget about pagan beliefs totally because magic was a real thing, and stuff like dragons actually existed.
While Cameron dusted my chambers, still playing the role of humble serving girl, I was reading through a book called the Chronicles of Beltane. Which I'd gotten from Geoffrey of Monmouth who was the court genealogist and keeper of the royal library here in Camelot.
He'd been happy to lend me the book, more than likely a little shocked that one of the knights would bother to read, and since it was a record of adventures undertaken by possibly fictional knights, it would not seem odd that I had an interest in such things. I was sure that once Monmouth got used to the sight of me in his library he wouldn't mind me taking out books on a variety of subjects.
I desired to better understand this kingdom and how it differed from what history I had been taught about this time period. Legend wasn't just true here, it was happening all around me, I was living it, so understanding more about other fables was important as they might actually have happened.
Also this text mention a sword just like mine. I wished to know more about this kind of weapon because while the setup for this Jump had told me that this sword could kill anything up to a minor god I really didn't know much more about it other than it seemed to enhance the fighting skills of its wielder.
Which might explain in part why my fighting skills had proven to be superior to what I'd expected. I hadn't used the sword while training these last two days, the Knights trained everyday when possible, but perhaps simply owning the blade was enough. No source of information I had about the dragon forged blades were clear on what exactly they could do.
However I knew that the weapon did not guarantee victory against superior swordsmen, as during Arthur's second liberation of Camelot, he was overpowered by a man called Helios during their duel, although it should be noted that Arthur had been injured and was not at his fighting peak. The Prince had also disarmed me during practice, before I'd been to start holding my own.
Hopefully I would learn more about the sword in time, but I did know its name, which was Caliburn. This was odd because Caliburn was an early name for Excalibur, perhaps it had been called this because it had been created before Arthur's sword. Or maybe the legends were wrong and Caliburn was a different magical weapon.
Whatever its origins the sword was powerful, perhaps too powerful, if it fell into the wrong hands no one other than the greatest gods of this world, assuming there were any, would be safe. Because of this I would keep the blade close by always.
The weapon was also too powerful given that it was just a sword some dragon had breathed fire on. Sure dragons were mighty creatures, with great magical powers and their fire clearly had special properties, but I didn't understand how that fire could turn a mortal weapon into something so dangerous.
"The Great Sword begotten in the dragon's breath" I muttered to myself once I'd finished that page.
Reading that passage had not helped at all. The book was full of deeds of knights, monsters they'd slain, maidens they'd saved as well as other brave, and possibly fictional achievements, but it was very much lacking in useful information.
With my omni-tool, which I kept hidden from view, I scanned each page from the book one I'd read it as even a little information could be useful. Cortana didn't really have emotions, at least not in the way a human being did, but she did seem to have a desire for knowledge, which had led to me having to upgrade the devices memory capacity a few times.
Cortana was annoyed (and this made me think that she really did have feeling on of some sort) by the lack of information we had about this setting. While uploading information this way was slow my personal AI didn't suffer from boredom, or if she did she hid it very well and didn't complain about the lack of activity. Besides even if she did she wouldn't have to remain bored for too much longer. The ship, it was a boat really, shouldn't take too long to build even if we could only work at night.
There was knocking at the door.
"Enter" I said.
When I saw that it was Prince Arthur I got up as it would be rude for me to sit when in the same room as a member of the royal family was standing in.
"Highness can I help you with something?" I asked.
I doubted that the matter which had brought him to my chambers was an important one as if it had been it would either be handled by Arthur in private after he had summoned me to his chambers, or if it was something that affected the kingdom then the king would be involved, perhaps the whole of the court.
"Yes" said Arthur "I wish to invite you on a hunt".
None of my new fake memories involved hunting with Arthur, although my memories of knightly training did include hunting skills. Arthur had never paid me much attention until now, nor had invited me to anything. Of course we'd not met until yesterday even if remembered me from before.
My guess was that my recent improvement on the training fields had led to the prince taking note of me, and developing an interest. If he was suspicious of my new skills, at least new for him, then it was unlikely that he'd ask for me to join him in the woods for a hunt were there were few witnesses and plenty of chances for something to go wrong.
More likely this was his way of rewarding and encouraging me. Which made sense as the training of the knights was in responsibility, and as such the more skilled we were the better it reflected upon on Arthur. Who was a vain git. Thankfully he'd mature.
"I'd be delighted to join you" I lied.
Truthfully I had no taste for hunting. I understood that some people needed to hunt for food or to remove threats, that was fine, but stalking and slaying some poor animal for sport had never sat well with me. Still this was a primitive society, so I would have to hunt at some point, and it would rude to refuse the prince without a valid reason for not coming along.
"We'll be leaving early in the morning" the prince told me "Be ready and in the courtyard two hours after dawn".
With that the prince left, and I turned to Cameron.
"I guess I'll need my horse" I said to her.
She nodded.
"Please be careful, Master" she urged "It wouldn't be socially acceptable for me to go on this hunt with you, so I won't be able to protect you while you're away from the castle".
Well I was hardly helpless without her. I'd gotten through the Mass Effect verse while lacking a bodyguard, and I was much more powerful now.
"I'll be careful" I promised her.
While using my powers would be very risky I would if I was in danger as I didn't want this Jump Chain to end. Besides even if I was caught there wasn't much anyone could do if I decided to escape this kingdom. Once the boat was in place and the satellite was in the sky I'd be able to beam away any witnesses and erase their memories of any event thanks to the technology I'd obtained during the last Jump.
"You also need someone to clean out the stable your horse lives in" Cameron told me "Apparently that is a chore I'm not allowed to do on account of looking like a female human".
Apparently in this world you needed a penis in order to use a shovel.
"Find me someone who can take care of the horse" I instructed my cyborg bodyguard "I can pay some boy to keep the horse clean and fed".
On the subject of feeding I was getting hungry.
"Think I'll dine soon" I said as I noticed that it was starting to get dark.
Since candles and fires were the only source of light once the sun went down that meant people weren't so active after dark as they could be in my time. As such it should be safe for me to access the Cosmic Warehouse so I could get the boat finished.
I could launch the satellite first, but without somewhere to teleport to it would only be good for warnings, and right now I wasn't in any danger. That would change once Merlin arrived, of that I was sure, but I wasn't going to stress myself over it just yet. After all a big part of why I'd come here was to relax.
"Yes, Master" said Cameron "And you should go to bed early tonight if you'll be hunting. We can work for a while in the Cosmic Warehouse, then I'll help you relax".
By that of course she meant that she'd be pleasuring me sexually in order to help me get to sleep. Which was always fun.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
The hour was late, and while the guards finding me out of my chamber would have been a concern, I didn't have to worry about that as I still had access to phase cloaking technology. Which meant I could sneak around and find out who was telepathically calling to me.
Despite the fact that I was out of phase I could still hear my name, it was a whisper in my mind, human and yet not that foreign. It was the voice of someone or something filled with wisdom and power, without seeming to be threatening in any way.
Since I sensed no danger, and because I was capable of looking after myself, I'd not fetched Cameron before coming down to the lower levels of the castle. Which led to me wondered if there was some sort of magical compulsion involved in the telepathic message.
As I went down some tunnels I figured out who and what was calling me. It had to be Kilgharrah, otherwise known as the Great Dragon. The voice was clearly male, even though had not come from a man, and there was something in the calling of my name, something that told me that the source was ancient. My magical sensitivity Perk must be what was telling me that.
The closer I got to the dragon the more I could sense him, this made sense as Kilgharrah was tremendously powerful. He could very well be the single strongest magical creature in the series, with the possible exceptions of Merlin, who despite being human counted as magical creature.
By now I could hear the rattling of the chains that held the Great Dragon and an increase in warmness which reminded me like all members of his kind, Kilgharrah could breathe fire, usually using this ability as an attack, but on one occasion he used his fire to enhance the power of a weapon forged for Arthur.
If the dragon was calling me down here for a nice chat this was a chance to strike up a friendship with someone who knew a lot about magic, I could seek him out for advice and knowledge from time to time, and he would give it because he didn't really have anything better to do.
Still while I didn't think he'd want to make me an enemy since I was one of the few people he could talk to, that didn't mean he wouldn't be inclined to roast me alive, and since dragon's fire was highly magical it might be able to harm me even when I was out of phase, and even my environmental shield, that came from my life support belt, was unlikely to help.
I really didn't want to find out so I kept my weapon out of my hand. I doubted that it would do much to such a large and powerful creature in any case. Which made me think, and not for the first time, that I should just back, but I had no idea how to block the dragon's voice and he might drive me crazy if he kept calling out my name right into my head.
From what I recalled seeing in the show Kilgharrah also appeared to be immune to the powers of even a powerful sorcerer such as Merlin, not even flinching when Merlin hurled an enchanted spear at him; the weapon simply bounced off his scales, as such I didn't my near-ascended powers would help me much either.
I also recalled the Kilgharrah was very graceful for such a massive creature and he was far more agile than he appeared. He was easily able to evade numerous arrows while attacking Camelot even when they were fired at him by many trained knights.
Additionally he was able to defeat a whole group of knights, including Arthur, when they rode out against him, with very little effort, though Arthur managed to inflict a wound on the Dragon before being knocked unconscious, so he wasn't unkillable. Heavy weapons, which I had, should be able to do some damage.
However Merlin was able to defend himself against dragon flame, and I did know how to use my near-ascended powers to create protective barriers, so I wouldn't be totally helpless when facing the creature.
In addition to being virtually unbeatable in combat, at least when going up against normal humans with primitive weapons, Kilgharrah could not only transmit his thoughts into the minds of others via telepathy he could also impart knowledge, which he used to provide Merlin with a way of defeating Cornelius Sigan, who nothing more than a spirit inhabiting someone else's body and therefore already dead.
Kilgharrah was immune to the powerful sleeping spell that Morgause placed on Camelot. As if that wasn't impressive enough Kilgharrah had healing powers, which he used to save Merlin's life when the warlock was stung by a Serket, which was a kind of giant scorpion.
The Great Dragon was unable to free himself when he was a prisoner of Uther, which meant that his chains must be magical, to be strong enough to hold him and not melt under the heat of dragon's flame. This was yet more evidence of Uther's hypocrisy
However he was able to give Merlin specific instructions on how to free him meaning that Kilgharrah had a great knowledge of all things magical, not just spells, he knew all about enchantments. Not that surprising given his a thousand years of experience.
Aside from all that Kilgharrah was capable of foreseeing the future, he in the show he frequently spoke to Merlin about the destiny he and Arthur shared, as well as foreseeing that Morgana would turn evil and that Mordred would put Arthur in mortal danger.
Yet he was unable to see his own capture and the betrayal of Uther, which suggested that he couldn't see his own fate, and that his ability to predict other people's futures was somewhat flawed. This made sense to me as I knew that the future was not fixed no matter how many visions you had. Seers only ever saw likely futures, and even the best seers didn't get visions much in the way of context.
Despite his many powers, Kilgharrah was, like all dragons, powerless to resist the call of a Dragonlord. He was required to obey all orders he receives from a Dragonlord regardless of his own opinions or desires, although he could still disagree with a Dragonlord's command, which meant his free will couldn't totally be suppressed.
"Welcome stranger" said the dragon.
This time the voice was not in my head, well it was, but it got there via the ears as it was suppose to. However what really got my attention was the fact that I was still out of phase. The Great Dragon could see me, and perhaps even hear me even though I wasn't in the same plane of existence as the dragon.
I could only assume that Kilgharrah had some sort of magical vision, an idea which was supported by the fact that his eyes were somewhere between yellow and gold, as well as faintly glowing, like those of a magic user when they casted spells.
"Hi" I replied.
A rather lame introduction, but it was the best I could do given that I was standing before a magical and massive fire breathing creature. It was fear as much as it was caution, my feet were ready to get running if needs be.
When out of phase the world around me looked a little odd. The colours of my surroundings seemed off somehow. Because of this I came out of phase, and this allowed me to see Kilgharrah in all his glory. He was very impressive, he'd almost rendered me totally speechless, and I was a man who'd seen both the wonders and horrors of several universes.
"I have summoned you here because I have questions" said the Great Dragon.
With my advanced mind it was easy for me to figure out what Kilgharrah wanted to know. The dragon knew as well as I did that events which took place here in the years to come would have a massive impact on everything for centuries to come.
I also knew that the Great Dragon was unlikely to attack me outright, not when we might be of use to each other. I had no intention of freeing the dragon, that was Merlin's business, but the dragon had an agenda of its own, one I might be able to help with.
"You want to know my intentions" I guessed.
The dragon nodded its head, and I'd been around enough non-humans to know that body language wasn't always limited to humanoids, so I knew he was agreeing with what I just said despite the lack of words.
"You are not from this land" stated the dragon "Nor this world I would wager".
Well he wasn't wrong.
"I'm a visitor to your world" I admitted to Kilgharrah.
There was little point lying. I was sure that he'd sense it even if I did lie, and he seemed to have guessed the important stuff already. That shouldn't surprise me as the Great Dragon was more than man or beast, he had powers and wisdom beyond even my own. Which was to be expected since he was a thousands years old if I remembered correctly.
"And why have you chosen this land to visit?" I was asked.
I decided to tell the truth, not the whole truth as even this wise creature would have trouble understanding it all, in fact I didn't understand it all myself, but the Great Dragon got the jist of things. I'd been sent here by a powerful entity, one that could destroy both of us with ease, for its amusement and that I hadn't been sent to interfere with what fate had planned, rather I was here to play a role.
"Very well" said the Great Dragon "If you intend no harm then I will not make you an enemy, but I warn you stranger that the events that will unfold in the years to come have a power of their own, you may find yourself swept up in the currents of history".
That was a danger, but I had perks that helped me deal with fate. I wasn't bound by it, and I could defy history if I so chose, I'd proven that in past Jumps. I'd gotten Voyager home a couple of years sooner than expected, and I'd majorly derailed what should have happened in the Stargate verse, more than once actually, and in more than few alternate realities.
Still that didn't mean I had any intentions of derailing the plot of this story, but I got the sense that the events to come were somewhat flexible even if the overall story was not. Arthur must become king and unite the realm, but when that happened and how were flexible.
"I give you my word that I won't harm Arthur" I promised the dragon.
That seemed to appease Kilgharrah, at least for now.