Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin

Part 20

Helva. Albion.

Cylferth was an old warlock who ran a small business here in the city of Helva, this was one of the few places in Albion were magic was practised freely, yet it didn't seem to be prospering because of it. Either the magic users here lacked imagination when it came to figuring out what to do with their powers, or they were so weak in terms of magic there wasn't much they could do with it.

For me all that really mattered was that Helva became the place to visit if I wanted to buy anything magical, and that was my purpose here today. I'd made a list, I'd checked it twice, and now I was coming to town for some shopping.

While I'd been worried about the wraith ruining my black knight persona I'd decided to reuse it anyway for this visit as I had worked hard on that outfit, and it would be shame if it got so little use. Beside I hadn't been able to decide on a newly knightly persona just yet. Although I was leaning towards becoming the silver knight, I could even wear contact lenses that would alter my eye colour to silver.

I found Cylferth as one might expect, in his place of business, which was nothing to write home about and therefore more proof that selling magical items wasn't a way to get rich in these parts. Which made me glad I didn't need to make money.

Once I had the man's attention I inquired about Blood Crystals which were magical artefacts that allowed wearers to take on the physical appearance of anyone whose blood the crystal touches. Which was more useful than it might sound.

Thanks to my Mystical Sensitivity Perk I could sense that the crystals were magical and not just lumps of pretty looking rocks. I didn't feel the need to test them as it would be a simple matter for me to return and punish the old warlock if he was playing me for a fool.

I was sure that he other items for sale that may be of use to me, however I was working off a list and I didn't want to mess about with things I knew nothing about while I was still so new to magic. The last thing I needed to do was to accidently banish myself into another reality or get thrown through time.

"Here" I said.

I tossed a small bag of gemstones on the counter. They were easily replicated as were gold coins so I could afford to throw around small fortunes for no reason. Not the stones were guaranteed to be a fortune as I had no idea what they were worth.

"Most generous milord" said the warlock.

Rather than say anything I just turned around and left. Something about that old man was creeping me out.

(Line Break)

Moonbase. Sol System.

With a flash of light and the movement of metal rings I appeared within the newly built moonbase. Truth be told it wasn't much of a base, it was more of a large bunker which had been dug out by construction bots. I had great plans for the bots in the future so it was good to know that they could perform the tasks that I required of them, as such a big part of why I'd sent them up her was just to see if they could build what I wanted.

The base was only accessible via transportation rings, which were also called ring transporters, transport rings or simply rings. They were a form of transportation used by a number of species in the Stargate verse, but they were originally designed and built by the Ancients long before the invention of beam transporters by the Asgard.

Transportation rings were similar in function to Stargates, in the sense they were made from naquadah and were for transporting people, but they moved matter across much shorter distances and didn't do so via wormholes. My advanced version of this technology had a greater range than the rings used by the Goa'uld, as such I was able to travel from my fortress in Albion to this moonbase without concern.

When activated, a number of rings would rise from the floor or drop from the ceiling, surrounding the object or persons within the rings. The matter stream was then transmitted to a similar set of rings elsewhere. The matter at the destination is swapped with the matter at the departure point in order to prevent accidents. Which was good as without that feature the matter that made up both objects and living tissue could end up fusing together in a horrible way.

This feature also made possible a method of covert escape as if a person was within a set rings as they come down, they would be transported out while an enemy happens to be transporting in. Meaning that you could end up aiding your enemy's escape while sending in people to capture them.

The rings, unlike Stargates, made no distinction between whole objects and only part of the object so matter is transported regardless of whether or not the entire object is within the confines of the rings. An example of this was seen in the original movie when one of Ra's guards was killed when he was pinned beneath an active set of rings, and parts of his body were not within the rings.

When the rings were used transported matter passed between two sets of rings in a matter stream that could be detected by a ship's sensors. As such it was possible to intercept a matter stream by interposing a set of rings (like those in a Goa'uld shuttlecraft) between the sending rings and the planned receiving rings.

However, such an intercept requires that the entire matter stream be captured by the intercepting rings otherwise, the transported people will not be able to fully reintegrate and would die. As such only a highly skilled pilot would attempt such a thing. Not that this was a concern as only I had that technology and none of my ships could be flown in this reality.

"That spot outside the window is the Apollo landing site" Cortana informed me "But the base will be cloaked when Neil Armstrong walks here".

Looking out of the window, which was made of a transparent metal rather than glass, I saw the barren surface of the moon. The view wasn't that great really. Still I was amused by the fact that I was on the moon many centuries before anyone else. But that wasn't why I'd had this place built. There were dangerous things in this universe that I didn't want in my fortress, but could be safely stored here.

I highly doubted that any sorcerer or sorceress on Earth, no matter how powerful would be able to track me if I was up on the moon. That was a thought which made me smile.

(Line Break)

Camelot. Albion.

The wooden blade of the training sword met the quarterstaff which was being held by Merlin with a satisfying thunk noise. I'd put some strength behind that blow yet the young warlock had held his ground, and he even went on counter attacked, in an attempt to knock the wooden sword out of my hand, as I'd taught him to.

His move didn't work, as I'd been prepared for it, but it was clear to me that the manservant was not longer simply reacting to my attacks, he was becoming confident enough to go on the offensive during our infrequent training session.

Merlin was no warrior, he was a gentle soul and with his magical powers he didn't need a staff in order to kill people, but if he was going to go into danger with the prince then he would need to be able to defend himself. In the show he got on alright, but this wasn't a TV show. All it would take to kill Merlin was one decent blow as he didn't even wear any armour.

"You're doing good" I said to the young man "Remember don't just protect yourself, try to disarm me".

Suddenly the magic user went on the offensive. He didn't have the raw strength to batter down my defences. So he tried to get past them by striking my body in unexpected ways. He mostly going for my arms, knowing as well as I did that if I dropped my sword I'd be wide open for a finishing move.

"Come on Merlin!" I heard someone yell.

I paid no attention to the person who was shouting out encouragement for the magic user. I was too focused on blocking the blows of the young man who still was trying to hit me with his staff. The warlock didn't have much strength, as he was a skinny bloke, but he had a lot of energy to call upon. He must do to put up with his employer's demands.

Merlin was now attacking me at an even faster pace, he was quick on his feet, and unlike me he wasn't wearing a load of chainmail. Not that this slowed me down much, but the young warlock seemed to have realised that sheer speed was his only advantage.

However since I'd taught him all his moves it was easy enough for me to predict how he would attack, and therefore it was also easy for me to figure out a defence. I could have spent the entire training session letting him try to disarm me without breaking a sweat. Not that sweating was much of a concern given how cold it was.

Since I had to hide just how good I really was at fighting, I had to hold back, and I decided to let Merlin strike my arm, so that my sword dropped to the ground. He didn't go for a finishing blow, he just stood there smirking as if he'd accomplished something great.

"Okay that's enough you two" Arthur called out "Time for some real training".

In my view the prince really needed to get a hobby, or develop a proper interest in girls, because he spent far too much time training.

(Line Break)

Camelot. Albion.

I looked out of the window at the snow which was gently falling to the ground all across the town, perhaps across the whole kingdom. It had been snowing on and off for days now. Winter was here. As the Starks had warned.

"Master, you'll catch a cold" Cameron said.

With that she closed the shutters, blocking my view of the snow covered town. Which was a shame as it had been a pleasant sight. Like something you might see on a Christmas card

"I'm genetically engineered for hostile environments" I reminded the Terminator "A little cold weather isn't going to do me any harm".

Alliance soldiers were gene modded so as to be able to fight on alien planets, as such I could withstand the cold better than unmodified humans, but such modifications didn't make me immune to the elements.

"You can still get sick" my Terminator said "You should stay near the fire. I'll get you some cider".

At times I couldn't tell if Cameron was just following her programming or if she really enjoyed getting to take care of me. For most of the time I'd know her there was normally more of my harem around, but now they were all in stasis so she had me all to herself.

Not that we'd ever spent much time apart since she'd first been given to me, it was just that until this Jump I'd been able to spend lots of time with her alone. Granted we'd hanged a lot when we'd been on Voyager, however back then Cameron had been lacking in personality to put it nicely. Not that this had prevented me from having some fun with her.

Moving away from the window I went and sat down by the fire, while my bodyguard/companion poured me a drink. I wasn't sure how I felt about hot alcoholic drinks, something about it seemed wrong, but it was chilly and the cider tasted good.

"I never knew how dull winter could be in a medieval setting" I said to Cameron as she stood next to me "I should have predicted it".

To be fair I didn't exactly have a lot of experience when it came to living in a world that lacked the advanced technology I was used to. Even during my first life, which had been rather primitive when compared to what I'd known later, I'd had the ability to binge watch television shows, play on my games consoles, and my view my extensive DVD collection.

Once I'd started Jump Chain a lot of my time had been spent actually doing stuff, but I'd still been able to enjoy some of luxuries of those times. 2D visual entertainment was available in a number of universes, and there was always plenty for me to read.

Alas since this world hadn't even invented the printing press yet it lacked escapist fiction for me to read. Although I could just go into the Cosmic Warehouse and grab a data padd if I really wanted something to read. Of course I hadn't come to this world for the books.

I'd come here to relax, as much as it was possible to chill out while doing Jump Chain. With that in mind I put my feet up on the table, drank my hot cider, and watched the fire as the flames danced. While doing that I spent some time musing about ways to amuse myself. There had to be some fun I could have around here.

My thoughts were on going to see if the tavern was open despite the weather when there was knock at my door. Cameron went to open it and to my surprise Sir Leon entered my chambers.

While I knew Sir Leon somewhat as an adult I knew very little about about Leon's early life, only that Gwen's mother was once a maid in his family's household and that he was from a family of noble blood, and at some point had joined the Knights of Camelot.

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

The man seemed nervous so I poured some cider, which he drank plenty of before taking a seat. I'd never seen Leon act this way, but we'd never spent much time together.

"I've come to ask your permission to court the Lady Maeve" he said.

Well this was unexpected. Leon was a very high ranking knight and he came from a respected noble family.

"Really?" I found myself asked "My cousin".

I couldn't imagine what he saw in her, perhaps it was good that I didn't.

"Yes" Leon confirmed "My father wants me to marry, he expects grandchildren before he dies, and I've been able to avoid fulfilling his wish because of my duties, and because of the lack of a suitable woman to marry here in court. But your cousin told me how your father wishes her to be married and soon. Maeve is at least someone I can talk to, and she's not bad company. We can please our families by marrying".

I found her annoying, however to each their own, and while my 21st century upbringing told me that people should marry for love I understand the sound reasoning behind Leon's thinking. He needed a suitable wife, and Maeve needed someone who support her, a knight of Camelot could do that nicely.

"You have my blessing" I told Sir Leon.

He smiled raised his goblet, and we made a toast. Finally someone could take her off my hands.

(Line Break)

Camelot. Albion.

While I'd always known the Christmas had started off as a pagan festival I'd not really understood just how little this holiday had changed over the centuries.

Sure there was no mention of Jesus, so either his birthday hadn't been moved to that date by the early Church just yet, or the change in tradition hadn't spread this far yet. Also Santa Claus didn't exist at this point, which was no surprise as Saint Nick was a Christian figure and Paganism was still going strong here despite how many people had converted to the new faith. Yet the festival was still very recognisable to me.

Evergreen trees had cut down and decorated, although not too many thankfully as that could have caused some problems. Mistletoe had been gathered and hung about. Yule logs were being burnt, and gifts would soon be exchanged.

Dinner on the night of Midwinter Eve, which had been last night, had been hearty, but otherwise modest, consisting of different kinds of bread and salted fish, the latter had been served grilled, roasted, boiled, with sauced or just plain, with wine and ale. Also there had been a dessert, made from almonds.

However tonight was the feast of Midwinter's Day, and the tables in the castle dining hall literally groaned beneath the weight of vast quantities of food. At times like this I was so glad that I had chosen the metavore perk as otherwise I'd put on some serious weight from this feast.

Currently a huge boar, which could have been mistaken for a bear given its sheer size, was being carried into the hall by festively-garbed servants and had been preceded by musicians. I'd never seen so much fuss made over a dish before, but the boar was worth it.

Other dishes, including entire swans (something I noticed that Morgana grimaced upon seeing), capons, geese and ducks, as well as haunch of venison, were borne into the hall in similar fashion requiring many of the servants to put some real effort into the carrying of dishes. Also there were many pork filled sausages. And that was just the main course.

All of this was washed down with a frightening amount of spiced wine, and as time passed the meal concluded with plum puddings, apples and pears, gingerbread confections, cheeses, and an enormous mincemeat pie. As well a few dishes I didn't even recognize.

While we ate we were entertained by singers who were accompanied by lutes and pipes, whose music drowned out the sounds of clattering spoons and poorly disguised belches. There were jugglers too, and dancers who were dressed in very colourful fabrics. There were even some actors, do some silly show that involved people getting kicked in the bum and hit with stuff. It was a little low brow for my tastes, but it went down well with the crowd as a whole.

Since I'd been moved up to the head table I noted that the crown prince refilled his plate several times and even the Lady Morgana, who often merely picked at her food, had more than one helping of mincemeat pie. I hadn't even know that mince pies existed at this point in time.

During the feasting the serving girl Guinevere stood behind her mistress, anticipating her needs, just as Merlin stood behind Prince Arthur's chair. Cameron was behind mine, but she was chatting away with some serving girl, doing a good job of blending in, as she was suppose to.

From here I could see my cousin and Sir Leon, who'd gotten married very quickly, to appease their elders no doubt, and they seemed to be getting on well enough so I considered my involvement in Maeve's life to be an end. Giving myself a proper background in this world may have been necessary, but it had also been a pain in my ass.

"Sir Gothic" Morgana said as she leaned over to speak to me "Didn't you promise us some entertainment".

Indeed I had, and thanks to my Tapestry of Life Perk I'd chosen for the Voyager Jump I had list of talent and interests that seemed to expand when convenient. Most of these talents had no practical use, and while I'd not kept track of them I was sure that some had changed for no reason whatsoever, as such I ignored them, but this time things were different. I wanted to show off a little.

Plus I'd worked on this act for a while, and I had an idea for working in an actual magic spell between all the slight of hand stuff. To perform actual magic in front of the whole court and have the king cheer for it would be greatly amusing to me.

With that I got up, moved around the table and began to perform my act.

(Line Break)

Camelot. Albion.

While that whole thing with the unicorn and the famine hadn't happened yet, winter was progressing and I felt that soon it would be time for Morgana and I to leave this place. I didn't have precognitive abilities so I could only assume that my trip to the Crystal Cave had somehow imparted this information to me in some indirect way. There still so much that I didn't understand about magic that I couldn't be sure.

I'd given the recruitment of the Seer a great deal of thought and I had decided that things were going well enough that I would tell her that I was a magic user and get her to accept the truth about herself. The fact that her nightmares had stopped after I'd sent her a special stone must have clued her ladyship that I was not a magic hater.

After taking a deep breathe I knocked on the door to Morgana's bedroom. I'd already scanned around so I knew that the King's Ward was alone. Her maid must have gone home for the night.

"Good evening, my lady" I said once she had opened the door.

Without meaning to I checked out her outfit, which was nightgown that like her dresses pushed up her bosom. Which couldn't be that comfortable to sleep in I imagined, but for some reason pretty much every young woman who lived in and armour the Citadel showed off their bosoms.

"Such a late hour to be visiting a woman who is alone, should I be worried?" Morgana teased

While I did like to see her smile, it was a serious matter that I had come to discuss with her. Plus I didn't want anyone to walk down the hallway and see me flirting with the king's ward. That could cause problems.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

She didn't even take a moment to think about it. Hopefully she didn't make a habit of letting men into her room in the middle of the night.

"You may" she said.

She stepped aside to let him in. Then she closed the door.

"There is something I want to tell you," I told her.

I was nervous about this. A lot was at stake, but it felt right.

"What is it?" Morgana asked.

Clearly she was intrigued.

"I know the truth about you" I said.

Morgana stared at me, and I could see worry in her eyes. Which meant that she already suspected that she had magical powers, perhaps she had for many years.

"I know you can do magic and that you are a Seer," I said.

Now that I'd spoke those words I wouldn't be able to take them back.

"That's outlandish. Do you expect me to…"

Knowing that denial wouldn't help her I didn't let her finish.

"I won't tell anyone," I assured her.

"Why would you think I have magic?" Morgana asked.

By now she'd turned away with her back facing me.

"Because I too have magic," I admitted.

Morgana turned to face him.

"What?" was all she was able to say.

Since seeing was believing I showed her exactly what I meant.

Hoppaþ nu swilce swá lieg fleogan

The flames of the candles around us floated off their wicks and moved around before gently gently returning to their proper place. That had not been one of the many fire spells I'd learned not from my teacher, but from one of the books I'd picked up.

"You must not tell no one about this" I urged.

Morgana had been captivated by the sight, but she recovered quickly enough once the spell had ended.

"You mean Uther." Morgana said with a roll of her eyes. "He would be the last person I would ever say anything too. He hears the word magic and loses what little compassion and sense he has".

She was silent for a little while.

"I can see the future at times" she admitted "In my dreams".

This was not news to me.

"I know" I told her "That's why I sent you that stone, to protect you from your nightmares. I've seen some of the future as well".

That news excited her. No doubt she'd suspected that the adder stone had been given to her by me to protect her from the nightmares.

"I went to a special place" I told her ladyship "and had visions about the future".

When she was ready I would take her to that cave.

"Then what did you see? Did you see anything about my fate?" Morgana asked.

I didn't want to tell her the whole truth as her future was no a nice one.

"The future is always in motion" I told her "But I have seen us together".

It wasn't wise to overwhelm her so I would tell her more later on.

"Just remember that while you have to hide your magic that your powers aren't something evil" I assured her ladyship "I can help you learn more about magic, but we have to be careful".

Despite the fact that we ended up kissing, before long I left Morgana's room, knowing that she would need time to think over what we had just spoken about. Plus I had an errand to run this very night.

(Line Break)

Cave. Albion.

I'd dressed as a traveller, and had entered Cedric's kingdom via the use of beaming tech, this part of Albion was a hostile neighbour of the kingdom of Camelot on very important business. I didn't make a habit of entering dangerous lands and looking about in caves as that was a good way to get bitten by something nasty.

The man I sought here was called Balinor, he was a warlock and a dragonlord, thought to be the last of his kind, however I knew this wasn't true as he had fathered a son, Merlin, who had inherited his gift of magic. Balinor was forced to go into hiding during Uther Pendragon's Great Purge, which saw the end of many creatures of magic and human spellcasters

After Gaius helped him escape, Balinor stayed for a time at the village of Ealdor where he met Hunith (Merlin's mother) with whom he fell in love. When Uther discovered his whereabouts, Balinor was forced to flee again, leaving Hunith behind, not knowing that she was carrying his child.

The snow was still falling in this part of the country, but that hadn't stopped my probes from locating Balinor. After all this island had a limited amount of caves, and few of them could block life sign scans.

Balinor had lived as a hermit for nineteen years, becoming very distant from mankind, so much so that I wasn't at all surprised when he tried to throw me out of his cave. Of course his efforts were for naught and when I displayed my magical powers he calmed down somewhat.

"I have something to show you" I told the dragonlord.

Using my omni-tool I displayed a hologram of the dragon's egg I'd recently acquired. My probes had located the tower it had been stored in and the traps protecting the egg had meant nothing to me as I'd just beamed the priceless object out of the tower.

"I don't understand" said the dragonlord "Why are you showing me this illusion".

That he thought the image was an illusion created by magic did not surprise me. He wouldn't be capable of seeing it as anything else.

"The image is of a very real dragon's egg" I assured the man "But I don't have the power to awaken the dragon within, and even if I did have that kind of power I wouldn't be able to raise the creature".

Balinor was a cautious man, and I could tell that internally he was struggling with his desire to see this dragon born into the world, and his concerns over me, a stranger he did not understand.

"How do I know your intentions are honest?" I was asked.

A fair question.

"If I meant the dragon any harm I could have smashed the egg" I pointed out.

Balinor stroked his beard.

"I won't use the dragon to harm people for you" he stated.

That wasn't a concern as I didn't need a dragon as a weapon. I could destroy this whole planet if I wished simply by overloading one of the ZPMs I had in storage. Or if I wanted to take out a city I could use a naquadah enhanced nuclear weapon. Of course Balinor had no way of knowing that, and in a setting such as this a dragon was a pretty much a WMD with wings.

"Once you see my fortress you'll understand" I promised.

The man considered my words.

"What do you get out of this?" Balinor asked me.

A good question.

"I have magic" I admitted "But I don't understand it very well. I need a teacher, someone who can give me not only knowledge of magic, but also has wisdom to pass on".

While I had plans to travel the world to learn from other users of magic, given my transporters I could do that and also live in the fortress, as such it would serve me well if I had a magical teacher at the fortress. Plus while there he could raise the white dragon in safety. In time we could discuss freeing of the Great Dragon, but that would take some planning and some trust between us.

"I'll give you some time to think things over" I said to the dragon lord "I'll return this time tomorrow".

With that I left the cave and when I was sure that no one was looking I had Cortana beam me away.