Reviews
Joe Lawyer
I do have some fun ideas for things the Jumper can encounter in this world, I have ten years to cover so I can fit in a lot of crazy stuff.
Gothic will have new companions in this story.
Selias
Well there are a plenty of anti-magical materials in fiction. One will serve I'm sure.
Charles Ceaser
Poor Merlin, he really is a punching bag.
Jump Chain 5 - Merlin
Part 10
Training Grounds. Camelot.
"Have you ever tried using a quarterstaff?" I asked Merlin
For reasons I couldn't fully understand the prince seemed to bent on either turning his manservant into a warrior or publicly humiliating him every chance that he got. I suspected it was the later, but really it could be a mixture of the two. Arthur had his good qualities, but at times he was also a prick, worse he was a royal prick so you couldn't just call him out on it.
Of course it didn't help that he was actually smarter than he looked, braver than any sane man should be, and the best swordsmen in Camelot. Plus he had this habit of willingly putting himself in danger in order to protect the people he cared about, even if it wasn't suppose to care about them.
Perhaps I was a better fighter, but I'd been genetically engineered and altered by Jump Chain's bodymods it wasn't really fair to compare me to a baseline human. If Arthur could even be considered a normal human given his magical origins.
"I think I've had enough of weapons for today" the young warlock replied.
Rather than try to convince him I went over to a rack and took two staffs, one of which I passed to the sorcerer. He caught it easily enough.
"Trust me" I said, while spinning the staff "You don't need a sword to fight a in battle, and you don't need to kill people to be a fighter. Besides if you're going to following Arthur into danger then you need to know how to protect yourself".
Merlin tried to spin the staff, however he lost his grip and dropped the length of wood. He was a little clumsy, lanky too, he didn't really have the physical build for a weapon like a sword or an axe, you need muscle for that, but what mattered most was the willingness to kill.
I'd never enjoyed killing, and sometimes knowing that I'd left a trail of bodies scattered across several universes did keep up at night, but I accepted that I had blood on my hands, and overall I'd far more good than harm.
Merlin was no killer, so the quarterstaff would serve him well as a weapon as it could be used to put an enemy down without requiring him to use lethal force. Plus what was a wizard without his staff?
"Hold it like this" I instructed.
I showed him the correct way to hold the quarterstaff, and how to grip it right so that it couldn't be easily knocked out of his hands.
"As with any fighting technique, your initial stance is of fundamental importance, with the right footing you'll be successful in your attempts to either attack an enemy or defend yourself" I told Merlin while checking out his stance "Your feet should be a little wider apart with one foot in front of the other. You should be facing your opponent with your dominant foot closer to him and your other foot behind you in support".
By now some of the knights had gathered around to watch.
"Ignore them and focus on me" I instructed "Now the most common attack with a quarterstaff is the downward strike. So the best place to start is learning to defend yourself against the downward strike".
Right a way I figured that teaching this young man any fighting skills would take some time, but time I had in excess.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
The King of Camelot sat on his throne while facing the entrance to the large chamber, as people began to enter the massive room, which was often used for feasting and other social functions. In this view the past few days had been tiring, but still productive.
The treaty, like all others of its kind, had not been that difficult to create as the actual documents were handled by skilled scribes, though it took long, arduous hours of negotiations before anything could be agreed upon and then written down.
There had been the usual arguments over plots of land, the wording of old treaties and such nonsense, mostly the rehashing of debates that should have ended years ago, however the king had with his normally more limited patience, been able to bring things to a satisfactory ending.
Uther watched as his son and his ward, who was actually his daughter, enter the hall and started mingling with the other nobles. He was pleased to see that both of his children were behaving themselves this evening. Morgana was using her winning smile and kind words to flatter some foreign nobles while Arthur stood with his knights, who were a not so subtle reminder the Camelot had the finest warriors in the land to defend the kingdom, and to carry out the king's will.
As he had predicted, Bayard insisted on a speech before they could actually begin the banquet. Uther had to fight not to roll his eyes or show any other outward sign of his boredom. After the last couple of days the king could barely stand to hear the man talk and would be glad when the man was gone.
Bayard gestured to one his advisors, Lord someone of somewhere, who promptly handed over an ornate wooden box. Uthur's interest was finally peaked. Bayard wasn't known for his generosity.
"For this momentous occasion, I commissioned these chalices," Bayard said, lifting a beautifully crafted, silver cup out of the box. "To commemorate the start of a strong friendship between our two nations"
He handed Uther and Arthur both a chalice, and the king had to admit, at least to himself that they were well made, he had a moment to inspect the cups as servants rushed forward to fill them with wine.
"To friendship," Bayard said, while holding up his own cup, "and a new alliance."
Everyone in the hall held up their cup in a toast, and repeated the toast, the king was about to take a sip of wine when someone shouted.
"Stop!"
Uther turned to see his son's idiotic manservant, the boy Merlin charge into the room.
"Merlin, you fool, what do you think you're doing?" Arthur asked.
"Your highness, don't drink, it's poisoned," Merlin warned,
The wine came from his personal cellar, this the king was sure of, and they were all drinking it, so why only warn his son? This made no sense.
"Preposterous!" Bayard protested, while glaring fiercely at the servant.
Most of the people here didn't know how to react.
"What are you on about, you buffoon?" Arthur said anger in his voice "Have you been at the cider again?".
"My lords, please, the cup is poisoned!" Merlin loudly declared.
That gave the king pause. The boy seemed so sure, and the Prince now seemed to be concerned rather than embarrassed.
"Uther, do you let your servants speak to nobility like this?" Bayard demanded.
The king got up and took the cup from his son.
"Are you certain?" the ruler of Camelot asked.
"I am absolutely certain the cup is poisoned" he said
The servant was now looking more confident than a mere boy ever should.
"If the boy is so certain, maybe he should drink?" Uther said to Bayard "If he's right then I'll have the pleasure of killing you myself".
Arthur protested, but he was ignored.
"What if there is no poison?" Bayard asked, holding his head high.
Uther wasn't overly concerned about the fate of a manservant.
"Then you may do with the boy as you please" the king said.
Merlin drank, and at first nothing seemed to happen. Then just when the crowd began to relax the lad began to choke.
"Guards!" Uther shouted. "Seize them all!"
While the king oversaw the arrests of Bayard and his men, Arthur paid no mind to the chaos around them, having run to Merlin's side almost before he'd hit the ground. A moment later Gaius kneeled next to them.
"Get him to my chambers!" the healer ordered "And someone grab that cup!".
With Merlin in his arms Arthur ran towards the physician's chambers. He got there in record time and was told by Gaius to put the young man on the cot.
"He's struggling to breathe," the physician said.
Morgana's handmaiden had followed, no doubt deeply concerned for her friend.
"Gwen, fetch me some water and a towel. Arthur, I need the cup" the healer said.
Both of the young people raced out of the room which gave Gaius enough time to try a bit of healing magic, but his power's weren't great enough to help the young warlock.
When Gwen rejoined them she used a towel and water to cool Merlin's face. The lad was sweating as if he had a fever.
"You can cure him, can't you, Gaius?" she asked anxiously.
This was when the prince re-entered the room.
"Not until I identify the poison," the old man replied as he got up to inspect the goblet.
Soon Gaius mentioned a flower stuck on the inside of the goblet, so Arthur went over to look, while the healer sought out information on the plant.
"It's the petal of the morteus flower," Gaius said as he peered at one of his books.
Apparently, whoever got poisoned by that flower could only be cured with a leaf from the same plant. Which, incidentally, only grew in the forest of Balor, on the roots of a morteus tree.
Arthur was about to volunteer to go after it, when his father strode in.
"Gaius, what's his condition?" he asked without preamble.
Uther couldn't allow himself to care about the boy, but the fates of two kingdoms were at stake here, the king had to have all the facts.
"It doesn't look good, sire. He needs the leaf of a very rare plant, that only grows in the forest of Balor" the healer replied.
Uther was not pleased to hear. After all he didn't wish the boy to die as he'd again saved the life of the prince, but he wasn't willing to risk the lives of his kingdom's defenders on a dangerous quest, not when they might soon be at war.
"That place is crawling with dangerous creatures, not to mention the difficult terrain," he said.
Arthur stepped forward.
"I'll go and retrieve the plant, father," he volunteered.
"No," his father said, in a tone that should have allowed no protest. "I'll not have you endanger your life, Arthur".
The two Pendragons began to argue.
"No, and that's final!" the king shouted as the heated debated died down "you're staying here!"
And with that he swept out of the room. Everything was silent in the physician's chambers for all of a heartbeat.
"How long does she have?" Arthur asked.
The healer consulted the book once again.
"The morteus flower induces a slow and painful death" the old man answered "If he doesn't receive the antidote, he may hold out for three or four days, but… after that, he'll die".
Arthur didn't care what his father said, he would not let Merlin die.
"I'll be back soon," he whispered, before striding out of the room.
(Line Break)
Wilderness. Albion.
"Head into the cave, your highness" I said to the prince "I'll stay with the woman".
I'd decided to accompany this royal pain in this ass on his quest to get some plant that would cure Merlin. I might have been able to cure the young warlock with my near-ascended powers, however that would be hard to hide, and I had no idea if I could counter the magic involved.
As soon as Arthur was gone Nimueh's changed her demeanor very quickly, now she no longer looked like some poor woman who had been attack, she instead looked liked the dangerous bitch that she actually was.
"You're protecting him" my teacher said.
To me it didn't sound as if she was upset. If anything she seemed amused by my actions.
"He's a twat at times, but a decent one" I said "He just wants to save his friend".
Which he would find much easier without Nimueh sabotaging his efforts. Hopefully I could get her to leave and then go help him. It would be good if we had more than one of the plants as if I remembered correctly Uther would try to prevent his son from curing Merlin in order to teach some sort of lesson. Not that it would make a difference, but there was no sense letting the young warlock suffer if all I had to do was go into the cave and grab some flower.
"His friend wasn't my target" Nimueh told me.
Despite the fact that she'd never tried to destroy Camelot through disease in this time line she'd still come to Camelot with the intention of ruining the peace talks. She was obsessed with avenging all those Uther had killed, but she sucked at it. Her plots only harmed the innocent, and made Uther even more vigilant in efforts to stamp out magic.
"If you want to hurt the king, then hurt him" I said "Take him captive and torture or something like that, but don't bring the rest of Camelot into it".
Well I knew that my words would almost certainly fall on deaf ears I had to try.
"Uther didn't act alone when he began the Purge" Nimueh said "He couldn't have".
True the king had been supported by the nobles when he began hunting down all things magical. He'd needed their troops and their wealth to fund the campaign. None of the knights I worked and trained with, including Arthur, were old enough to have taken part in the Great Purge, but the High Priestess clearly didn't care about that.
"If you ever want magic to have a place in Camelot then you can't keep using it to harm innocent people" I argued "You'll only drive Uther to cruller acts and worse you'll make Arthur hate magic too. If you want things to change then you have to consider the bigger picture".
So many otherwise intelligent people seemed incapable of understanding that their actions could have long consequences that would not benefit anyone. However this time someone was at least considering my words. Which was a nice change.
"Very well I'll depart" she decided "But remember my student that I did you this favour".
She muttered a few words, and there was a gust of wind which surrounded the witch. It seemed to turn her into air as well before carrying her off. It took like a very strange way to teleport I'd stick to Asgard beaming tech.
(Line Break)
Cave. Albion.
He had to hang on. It was too dark to see any handholds, and Arthur had a feeling that the creepy spider he'd seen earlier creature had some friends around here, but there was nothing he could do about that. He just had to hang on.
Just when he thought he was either going to hang there until he lost all strength in his arms, or until he was eaten by those creatures, something lit up behind him. It was a bluish light, and far too steady to be a torch.
"Sir Gothic!" he called out.
Arthur risked a quick glance over his shoulder and saw something unexpected. An orb of blue light floated there, almost serenely, and he couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful is was.
"Climb," a voice whispered.
"What? Who's there?" he shouted.
"Climb. Quick," the voice whispered.
It tugged at something in the back of his mind, like he should recognise it, but he couldn't place it. Not that it mattered he didn't have much choice except to follow it's command. Arthur thought that he could hear the scuttling of those spider creatures somewhere beneath him, and he had no desire to get any closer to them.
Looking up, he saw the small yellow flower he needed. He reached for it, but couldn't quite make it.
"Leave it," the voice pleaded.
He could not Arthur had made a promise to himself that he would get that flower and take it back to Camelot, and he wasn't about to give up now. Scooting over slightly, he reached for it again, and this time, managed to grab it.
"Quickly," the voice urged, as Arthur put the plant in a pouch at his belt.
The light floated closer, and light showed him parts of the rockface that he could be used as handholds, and Arthur set to work. It took quite a while to reach the top, and the silence was only broken by the sound of the creatures and the urges of the orb.
After what felt like hours to his tired arms there was some light instead of sheer darkness, and Arthur knew he was almost out of there. With some luck, those creatures didn't like the outside too much. They didn't seem the sunshine type to the prince.
Arthur crawled out of the cave, and into the light of a setting sun. He didn't want to move anymore, but there was a scuttering sound, and the prince figured that the spider creatures would leave their home if it was dark enough.
"Go," the Orb whispered.
Once more, Arthur had the feeling that he knew that voice, and that he could trust it. He just didn't understand why. Regardless, he did have to get up and find Sir Gothic, as well as the horses, he really didn't want to walk back even if time wasn't a concern.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
"Merlin has recovered" Cameron told me as she entered my chambers.
I put down the book that I'd not been able to focus on and rubbed my tired eyes. The last few days had been filled with bad feelings. I'd managed to get the prince home with the plant he'd needed, and to get to to court healer guy without the king seeing, but Arthur had been locked up. Worse than the the people were worried that we would soon be at war.
"Good" I then said "He's a nice lad he deserves better than to die because of some plot".
Cameron's face now looked thoughtful.
"Few people get what they deserve" she said.
That was true, and perhaps I could help Merlin have a better life. It wouldn't cost me much to bring a little happiness his way.
"I'll send himself some sweet to eat" I decided.
Charity was knightly virtue so sending someone who'd been on death's door something to help make them feel better wouldn't seem wrong. Besides both Merlin and I had magic so might not be such a bad idea for us to become friends, or at least we should avoid becoming enemies.
I would later talk to my cyborg protector about Nimueh, when we were inside the warehouse, about how she seemed to think that I owed her something. She was going to ask me for a favour soon I could sense it, and somehow I didn't think that it would be something as simply as me giving her a foot rub or pick up her dry cleaning.
"Any news about the war?" I asked.
Bayard and his men had been locked up by Uther, and while I'd explained to the prince about the woman we'd encountered having magical powers, and I was sure that Gaius would tell the king that magic was involved in the poisoning, that might not be enough to divert war. It depended if Uther could do something to allow Bayard to save face, or maybe the king could compensate the visitor somehow.
"It seems have to worked out for the best" Cameron told me "According to the gossip down in the kitchens".
The gossip was normally right, and here like anywhere else in the universe it seemed to spread faster than any virus.
"Well let's keep our fingers crossed" I said "And hopefully we won't be at war next week".
I'd seen enough of war to know that there no real glory it, and that it should be avoided when at all possible. Alas other people just didn't seem to grasp that.