Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin
Part 21
Fortress of Ismere. Albion.
Now that I had Balinor staying in my fortress I needed to upgrade my internal security somewhat so that the dragonlord didn't mess with the wrong thing and hurt himself, or damage one of my projects. Which required me to ensure that certain parts of this place were near as to impossible to enter as I could manage.
This didn't take long as Cortana could oversee the defences of this place no matter where on this planet I was thanks to the new moon base and extended satellite network. So really I had to do was install some locks, and make sure that the bots stayed out of man's way.
He'd already brought the new dragon into the world, not wanting to wait incase the already centuries old egg was somehow damaged. I would have preferred to wait until we had a chamber ready for the dragon, but I trusted that the dragonlord knew what he was doing.
Besides the man had spent years living in a cave so the few rooms he had access to within the fortress must seem like a palace when compared, and I'd already shown him the replicators so he knew how to get anything he needed. I'd made sure that the replicator couldn't supply weapons, but if Balinor wanted to harm me he'd use magic not a knife.
Not that I thought he would try to hurt me as my fortress was in the middle of a frozen wasteland, as such he had nowhere to go, and he had a very young dragon to care for. Still I felt it wise to give the man some space and time before asking him to teach me anything.
"Okay show me his DNA" I said to Cortana.
Currently I was in my lab, which was behind closed doors, so that I could examine the DNA sample that I'd been able to acquire form Balinor's cave once he had vacacted the area. On the screen it was displayed next to Merlin's DNA and very quickly it became clear that they were related.
"There's nothing in this DNA to explain how dragonlord powers can be inherited" the AI soon told me.
My own inspection of the DNA confirmed this.
"He has the Mystical Sensitivity Gene" I noted.
Which made sense as it seemed to be a gene that a person inherited from a parent. Merlin had to have gotten it from somewhere as his mother was a normal human as far as I knew. I should at some point check out her DNA just to be certain.
"Shame that I can't just splice a dragonlord gene into myself" I went to say "But no matter".
Given that the power was inherited, passed down from father to son, it would seem to be genetic, but the son would only gain the power when the father died, so clearly there was more to being a dragonlord that just having the right father. There was some sort of mystical process involved, perhaps the work of a higher power.
I got a feeling that how the powers of a dragonlord worked would be one of those things that I would never figure out, and that was okay with me as there were plenty of other mysteries for me to go and figure out. Besides dragonlord powers wouldn't be that useful as there were only two dragons left in this world, as far as I knew, and I didn't intend to interact with any dragons unless I had no choice.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
Gwen was setting laundry on the clothesline when her father suddenly poked his head over the line.
"Boo!" he called out "Did I surprise you?"
"You certainly did!" Gwen agreed, with a smile on her face.
Tom then handed her a small object that was wrapped in cloth.
"I've got another surprise for you" he said.
Gwen unwrapped the gift to find a silver button with an embossed star on it
"It's lovely" she told her father.
"Well, in case you ever need a spare…for this" he said next.
Tom the blacksmith then held up a purple-and-red dress with buttons that matched the one in Gwen's hand.
"It's beautiful!" Gwen said with a gasp.
"Well, you're a beautiful girl, Gwen, you deserve beautiful things," Tom told her with a smile.
His daughter didn't share his joy for long.
"But how?" Gwen asked worriedly. "I mean…it must have been expensive".
Indeed it had been.
"Oh, very," Tom agreed. "But we're on the up now. Things are going to be different".
Gwen narrowed her eyes, she was now worried. Sure the new spinning wheels had sold well, but her father had only made a few parts for the device.
"What's going on?" she asked.
Perhaps some new project had her father all excited.
"It'll be alright, trust me" Tom assured as he leaned over to kiss his daughter on the cheek. "I won't be back for supper, don't wait up".
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
According to rumour the notorious sorcerer Tauren had been spotted in Camelot, and the prince had been sent to investigate, and he in turn had called upon me to aid him, which served my plans well as I desire the mage stone that Tauren kept on his person.
Also this presence here should led to Morgana falling out with her guardian, assuming things went as I expected, and that point I would make my offer to her, inviting her to leave Camelot with me. I would tempt her with offers to learn magic and to be free of those who hunt magic users. But right now I needed to focus on acquiring the stone.
It was late, it was cold this night, despite it having been rather pleasant earlier, and I could tell that the prince as well as the guards with us would rather be in bed, but Uther wanted Tauren found as soon as possible, as did I, just for different reasons. I wanted the stone were as the king wanted Tauren dead, as the magic user had sworn to kill the king.
The prince and the guards followed me as I led them to Tom's forge. Even if I hadn't felt a great amount of magic being used I would have known were to look. We'd been wandering around the town rather aimlessly until now, and I was eager to end this night's duty.
Arthur kicked in the door and we found that Tom was in the forge with Tauren. He whirled around to look at us, and I saw that he was holding a lump of gold in his hand. Tauren immediately made a break for it, knocking over a table, as well as some other objects, in order to slow pursuit.
"Seize him!" Arthur called out.
The guards followed Tauren, but I'd knew that he be long gone by the time they made their way through the mess the magic user had made on his way out. Meanwhile Arthur reluctantly turned to Tom, and snatched the gold out of the blacksmith's hand.
"Highness…please…" Tom said nervously.
"You're under arrest," Arthur replied
As the guards attempted to chase Tauren and the prince was focused on the blacksmith I went for the mage stone and slipped into my pocket when no one was watching.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
"Treason?" I heard Morgana ask incredulously.
She was currently standing with her guardian and unknown her half-brother, as well as myself as they discussed Tom's arrest. I would have joined in with the discussion, but I had nothing to say. I had no intention of letting the blacksmith die I would beam him out of the cell and make it look as if he'd escaped. I couldn't simply bring him back from the dead unlike the knights in case he was burned at the stake or beheaded, instead of simply getting hanged, which I could easily fix.
"Yes, Morgana, treason," King Uther replied "The blacksmith was consorting with a known enemy".
"Enemy?" Morgana repeated in a disbelieving tone "What enemy?"
"Tauren," Prince Arthur explained. "The leader of a band of renegade sorcerers who are sworn to bring down the kingdom".
Although clearly they weren't much of a threat as they'd failed to Camelot any harm for as long as I could remember, and my memories went back much further than I'd actually been here.
"And where is this Tauren now?" Morgana wondered.
"He escaped," Arthur admitted.
Morgana glared at him.
"Well then how can you be sure it was even him?" she asked.
I could be certain because I'd sensed the stone being used and I was sure that it would take a true sorcerer to be able to use such a powerful item.
"Because Arthur saw him with his own eyes," Uther informed her.
The king then took a drink from his goblet of wine.
"Even if the man is who you say he is, you can't sentence Tom to death just for being seen with him!" Morgana protested.
I agreed with that, but I kept my mouth shut as I wanted her ladyship and the king to have a falling out over this.
"We have reason to believe he was forging weapons for Tauren," Uther told his ward.
"Rubbish. He would never do such a thing," Morgana declared
To be fair I wouldn't have thought so either. I didn't know Tom well, but he'd been reasonable during our business dealings, and didn't strike me as a man who supply weapons to dangerous men.
"He was paid, in gold," Arthur said, holding up the lump he had confiscated from Tom. "Whatever he was doing, I don't think he was shoeing Tauren's horse".
Not even I tipped that well.
"This is madness!" Morgana cried out "You condemn a man with no proof!"
Uther turned away.
"I have enough proof" he muttered.
Morgana turned to me a pleading look in her eyes.
"Sir Gothic, have you nothing to say?" she asked me.
Thinking fast I came up with a way that might further endear me to Morgana without actually changing things to much.
"Sire, the blacksmith committed a crime, but we don't know for certain he meant treason," I said. "Tauren may have threatened Tom into whatever it was they were doing, or fooled him somehow. Please allow me some time to investigate what happened while the other knights search for the renagends. Then when I've discovered the truth of Tom's involvement I can present the evidence at a trail, and then you can decide his guilt or innocence".
I knew that my words would fall on deaf ears, when it came to matters of magic the king was never reasonable.
"He's right, Father," Arthur agreed. "We must give the blacksmith a fair trial, and that we need evidence".
If the prince had been king he certainly would have let me handle a proper investigation before passing judgement.
"He'll get a fair trial," Uther told us "And he'll be found guilty, because that's what he is. We already have all the facts we need".
We really didn't. For example I would very much like to know if Tauran had given the blacksmith exact order for the amount of molten lead he'd needed for the transfiguration. However once I had the stone I'd be able to experiment with it and find out for myself.
"If you execute Gwen's father, I will never forgive you," Morgana warned her guardian.
Uther turned back to his son, ignoring this ward's words.
"Tauren slept somewhere. He fed somewhere" the monarch of this land was now saying "Find anyone who helped him in any way. They must be punished. The people must see that the laws of Camelot are not to be trifled with."
With that he walked out of the room, as soon as he was gone the prince turned to me.
"The blacksmith may know something about Tauren was up to" said Arthur "If you think you can get some answers then do so".
With that I turned to leave.
"But don't harm him" the prince ordered.
I had no need to torture people, it was an ineffective way of getting information, I had better methods.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
Not for the first time the Lady Morgana came into my room without so much as a knock.
"Why did you even go to Tom's forge last night?" Morgana asked me "If you knew a sorcerer was there why would you led Arthur too him".
I didn't care at all about Tauren's fate, he meant nothing to me. Thankfully Morgana kept talking so I didn't actually have to answer that question,
"You know this is a mistake" she was now saying "Gwen talked to her father, she says he had no idea Tauren was a sorcerer".
I'd spoken to him as well. According to Tom the man known as Tauren had been paying him well for purified lead, but it was only last night that the blacksmith found out what the sorcerer had been doing with the metal. I didn't know if Tauren was using lead for any special reason, but even if the stone could only turn lead into gold, which was useless to me, it still had other features.
"Have you seen Gwen?" I asked.
The maid and future queen also meant little to me, but right now it suited me if Morgana focused on her friend rather than on Tauren.
"She's resting. Gaius is watching over her" I was told.
Morgana began to pace the length room.
"This is not right" she said "Tom is one of the most decent men I've ever met. But as soon as he was seen with Tauren, his fate was sealed, and we all know it. I'm just the only one with the courage to stand up to Uther and tell him that he is wrong. All the knights here who swore to defend the people, and not one of them has the strength to stand up to Uthur, to do what is right".
I knew where she was going with this, she was trying to goad me into action, and it worked. I'd take action, if only to make her stop talking.
"Fine I'll save the blacksmith" I promised "Just don't ask me how".
She didn't. Instead she decided to use her mouth for kissing.
(Line Break)
Fortress of Ismere. Albion.
I held the stone in my hands and moved it over the small lump of pure lead, which I had replicated for this experiment. I was using only a small amount as I didn't know how much of the work the stone would be doing, it might draw power from me for the transformation of matter and I didn't have a great deal of magical power as I still had so much to learn.
Ferian æt gylden. Ic búgan þéos. Ferian æt gylden
Once the spell was done I saw that I had indeed turned lead into gold, which wasn't very impressive as I could just as easily have replicated some gold. I scanned the gold with my omni-tool and let Cortana go over the data.
"Pure gold" she told me "But it masses less than the lead it was made from".
Interesting, I wasn't sure what it meant, but I did find it interesting.
"So some of the mass was lost in the transformation" I said "My Matter Furnace works a little like that, to get a rare element I have to throw a lot of common elements in".
Perhaps in the case of the mage stone some of the mass was turned into energy and used to fuel the transformation, that would explain why lead was used despite iron being more easier to come buy. Lead was dense and the mage stone might have a volume limit.
Mass is the amount of matter an object contains, while volume was how much space it takes. The weight of what was getting transformed might be important as well as the size of it. Gold was a lightweight metal so a lot of mass could be lost in the transformation form lead to gold, so if iron was used the process might not create enough gold for it to be worthwhile if the stone required time to recharge.
I would like to find out more, such as if could turn lead into naquadah or mithril, but Tom the blacksmith would be waking up soon and I was sure that he would have many questions to ask me, and I couldn't be gone from Camelot for too long as I didn't know when Morgana would anger Uther enough to have her locked up.
For now I would put the mage stone away, and focus on Morgana, I had plenty of time to experiment, and I might need to talk to my dragonlord guest, he may have sensed what I was just doing, and might have something to say on the subject.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
I'd had Tom beamed to my fortress in the middle of the night, and it had taken some time to calm him down, as well as to test out the Mage stone, so as soon as I got back to the citadel it was morning and I was summoned to the council chambers were I found the prince, Morgana and the king.
At some point I'd become Arthur's trusted right hand man, which made some sense I was considered to be near his equal in fighting ability, and we'd spent time together hunting so I guess we were as close to friends as we could be given his social position. That could play in my favour when it came time to return to Camelot, but I could concern myself about that after I'd left.
"The blacksmith has broken out of the dungeons," Uther announced. "He's just proven his guilt. You will kill him on sight".
Well I wouldn't be obeying that order, if nothing else the guest quarters I'd given to Tom for his stay in my fortress had nice new carpets and while I could replicate new ones I'd rather not get blood on the existing carpets. It would be all messy.
"But the trial, Father!" Arthur protested.
"The trial is a formality, now," Uther said, clearly unconcerned with matters such as justice "I want him dead and an end to it".
With that Arthur and I began to walk out of the council chambers, but Morgana decided that this was the time to speak out in protest so we ended up going back in again.
"I remind you that you are speaking to your king" I heard Uther say.
While I'd missed the start of this argument I was going to get to hear its end.
"I remind you that a king is wise and just? Morgana retorted. "You are neither. You rule only with hate and fear".
While Uther was an evil git, he wasn't totally heartless, and I could tell that hearing that from his daughter had hurt his feelings.
"You know nothing of what it means to be king" Uther replied.
He walked over to a table and picked up a jug of wine before filling a goblet, like most parents he was driven to drinking by his children.
"The fate of Camelot rests in my hands" he reminded his ward "It's my responsibility to protect the people of this land from its enemies".
That was true, but Tom was an enemy of the land, then no one was safe.
"Then the kingdom is doomed, for one by one you make enemies of us all," Morgana said, having been thinking along the same lines as me.
Uther took a sip from a goblet of wine.
"You speak treason, Morgana" he warned.
She didn't back off.
"Only a madman hears the truth as treason" she said.
Uther turned to look at her.
"Take care, child, or I'll have you restrained" the king threatened.
Which he ended up having to do. I was surprised that Arthur allowed it. The only reason I did was because I wanted Morgana to see what Uther was really like so that she'd want to come away with me.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
Morgana struggled valiantly, but the guards hauled her into a cell and locked her wrists in heavy manacles while Uther watched from the doorway.
"And you will remain here, until you learn your lesson" said the king.
Morgana glared at him defiantly.
"Then release me, because I have learned it already" she replied "I know that you care not for me, nor anyone but yourself. That you have been driven mad with power. That you're a tyrant"
Uther turned away, apparently unfazed by her rant. A guard closed and locked the door. Morgana tried to run to the door, but her chains were only a few feet long. After a few moments, it sank in. Uther truly meant to leave her here.
Thankfully she wouldn't be in here for long.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
"I'm sorry Sir Gothic, the king won't allow anyone...".
Cameron shot the guard before he could even finished the sentence. However since I did not approve of needless bloodshed the weapon she was using was set on stun. With the guards dealt with I looked around to make sure that it was clear to anyone who looked that the guards just hadn't fallen asleep on the job, and then I used my near-ascended powers to break open the lock.
I could have just beamed Morgana out of the cell, but I didn't think whisking away without her consent was such a good idea when her life wasn't actually in any danger. I wanted her as a companion and as a lover so it was important that she consent to leaving with me.
"Sir Gothic!" Morgana called out as I entered the cell.
I turned to Cameron.
"Wipe their memories and watch for more guards" I ordered her.
While I hadn't learned how to mess with memories using my powers, be they magical or not, the Stargate verse had a frankly ridiculous amount of technology that was used affect people's memories in some fashion. As such it wasn't hard to come up a device that could be placed and someone's head for a few seconds in order to erase very recent memories.
I turned back to Morgana, and with a wave of my hand I undid her restraints while wondering what sort of man would go so far as to chain his own child up in a dungeon. Confining her to her chambers would have been enough.
Part of me wanted to go up to the throne room and use my powers to end Uther's regin in a very painful way, and had this been an earlier Jump I would have done just that, but I was older and wiser than I used to be. I knew that Killing the king would end any chance of me ever being welcomed back to Camelot. And even though Morgana was mad with her father right now, if I killed him and she later found out that he was her father that could make things awkward for us. Besides I didn't want to make an enemy of Arthur.
"Won't you be discovered?" Morgana asked.
I liked that she thought of my safety over her own, she had a generous soul.
"No need to worry about that" I assured her ladyship "I'm leaving Camelot and I want to come with me".
I noticed that she was rubbing her wrists.
"Come here" I instructed.
Before she could say anything I used my powers to heal the bruises the manacles had given her while again feeling sorely tempted to go murder the king.
"Where could we go?" Morgana asked me.
Lucky for her I had sorted such things out well in advance.
"I have a place up north" I told her "Its isolated and safe".
Morgana rubbed her newly healed wrists.
"What about Tom?" she asked.
I smiled.
"He's long gone from here" I told her "I can explain more once we've left".
I was about to order Cortana to beam us out when Morgana spoke again.
"What about Gwen?" she asked "If I disappear along with her father then Uther will place the blame on her".
Using a girl as a scapegoat did sound like something the eldest Pendragon would do. I'd not intended to do anything to Gwen because she was suppose to be the future queen and I didn't want to mess that up. On the other hand Morgana would still need a maid, and if Uther killed Gwen that would really mess up the future, however if she was alive at the fortress she could one day return and still become queen.
"We can bring her along too" I decided "I'll have Cameron fetch her".
Morgana needed only a moment to think.
"I'll leave with you" she said.
Hearing that made me smile and before another moment passed I had my AI beam us both to the fortress.