Chapter 3: God of the Sea
King Arthur brushed mist from his face as he stepped further on the ledge to stand beside his friend and servant. They were on top of a tower overlooking the sea. The broken and crumbling stones seemed to indicate that the tower was no longer being used, being now both too dangerous and too open to prying eyes. Yet Arthur could imagine quite well that it had once been the scene of many battles. A fortress surrounded by high cliffs on one side and the sea on the other would have been impregnable. The fact that Borden had chosen such a hideout for the dragon egg could only mean one thing: he was expecting trouble.
What kind of trouble? The answer to that was easy: Merlin.
The incantation took a long time to say, longer than Merlin's usual spells. Through his low sorcerer's voice, he seemed to be commanding to the sea itself. By the time he was finished the water had swirled up into a small storm. The waves were now swelling up almost to the top of the tower. Like a gigantic hand, the water seemed to reach up, grab the stone wall, fall back and then reach up again, each time with a more height.
"Is it supposed to be coming up this high?" said Elyan behind Arthur's back. The wonder in the knight's voice was unmistakable.
And then, with a final whoosh, the wave that had been going up and down stopped. It stopped as thought it had been frozen into place. A giant nose began to stretch out of the water, and a chin, and a sizable mouth that could have easily devoured a horse; and then streams of hair with moving shadows trapped inside the many twists and twirls. Fish. It was a giant face made of moving water, with hundreds of fish swimming through its hair and beard.
And it was now starring directly at the sorcerer.
"Emrys," said the creature in a thunderous voice. "It has been long foretold that you and I should meet."
"Llyr, lord of the sea," said Old Merlin, bowing slightly. "I am honoured that you chose to answer my call in a moment of need."
The giant eyes seemed to be looking not at Merlin but through him.
"I see layers and layers of secrets surrounding you, but you cannot hide your true self from me."
Merlin stared at his hands, as though he was just remembering that he was still eighty-years-old.
"I do not wish to hide from you, great Lord of the Sea. This disguise is necessary. As it turns out, getting old is easy. But becoming young again is a straining process and I'm always drained afterwards. And I needed to keep my strength up to summon you, my Lord."
The giant eyes seemed to shift. The streams of hair became more agitated. "Your mortal form is but a shell. Surely you must know that by now."
"Broken bones do tend to lessen my abilities," said the old man with a smirk. Arthur was actually surprised not to hear Old Merlin snap some witty retort.
"Then let me lift your burden, for I see that it is greatly troubling you."
The sentence was not even finished that the twirling streams of hair had begun their work. The watery limbs were whipping around Merlin's thin eighty-years-old frame. His white hair faded away, revealing a dark-haired young man whose traits Arthur knew by heart.
Merlin quickly took off Gaius's red robe and folded it hastily into his arms.
"Thank you," breathed the sorcerer with a sigh of relief.
The giant nose came closer to the sorcerer's. "Could it really be? By Dagda… you don't even know who you are!"
"What do you mean, great Lord?" Arthur asked, stepping forward.
The giant face blinked and its water shifted again. "The Once and Future King," thundered the deep voice. "Two great destinies united. One will change the fate of mankind and the other will be a bridge between worlds. It is said that the strength of King Arthur shall not be in combat but in courage and brotherhood. But you, Emrys, are both the peaceful stream and the storm. Great battles await you. What kind of rule you shall have over the other worlds, it is still unclear. What is clear is that you can no longer fail to see the path before you."
Arthur looked sideways at Merlin, expecting to see shock on his face, but he saw was worst, much worst. Merlin looked scared.
"I'm already a sorcerer and a dragonlord, isn't that enough? What more do the spirits want from me?"
The giant face seemed to swell before their eyes. "Do not ignore this, Emrys!" said the booming voice. "Even now, dark forces are working against you. You must shed this false shell to become what you truly are."
"But what is he exactly?" Arthur aimed his question directly at the giant face. "Can't you at least tell him that?"
The Lord of the Sea suddenly shifted his giant eyes to peer into Arthur's. "You were born with one name and one destiny, Arthur Pendragon. Emrys has many names and many destinies."
They were interrupted by the sound of swords being drawn.
"If we don't get out of here soon, none of us is going to fulfil any destiny," said Gwaine. "We're all going to be dead before dawn."
It did not take long to Arthur to realise why Gwaine had such a concerned face. The small lights of many torches could be seen moving at the bottom of the tower and towards the woods.
"They're searching the woods," said Percival. "They'll find the horses for sure."
Merlin took a step forward. "I must get the egg back now," he said commandingly to the Lord of the Sea.
Without any further comment, the giant face opened its mouth out wide and out of it came floating a great bubble of foam. Gently, it glided towards Merlin and the young sorcerer caught it delicately in his arms, laying it down gently on top of Gaius's robe. With a faint pop, the bubble melted away to reveal the bluish, tear-shaped dragon egg.
There was something else with the egg as well. An old bit of parchment lay folded on top of the egg. It fell like a falling leaf at Merlin's feet.
"What's this?" Arthur asked as he picked up the old and blackened sheet.
"Just… something I found," said Merlin uneasily. "I think it may have something to do with Morgause."
"Morgause," repeated the young king, absorbing this new information with some difficulty.
"Do not be fooled, Emrys," the giant said in a fading voice. "You did not find the map. It found you."
With a great roar, the Lord of the Sea's watery eyes and moving streams of hair changed back into swirling waves. Where the giant head had been only a splash of water remained.
Arthur sought Merlin's eyes, but his friend was avoiding his gaze. He was too busy carefully wrapping the last dragon egg into Gaius's robe. The old map still lay by his feet, its presence more like a stain compared to the other treasure. Seeing how Merlin was reluctant to pick up the old parchment, Arthur hastily took it and placed it under his shirt.
"Come on, you two!" Gwaine said commandingly. "Time to go!"
The knights were already moving towards the narrow stairway, no doubt making sure it was clear for their king. Yet Arthur could not shake the idea – the rapidly growing idea – that the most important person on the tower with them, the person whose life was more precious than any other's, was not the king's life: it was his servant's.