AN: Once again "*" denotes the borrowed transcript dialogue from SG-1 episode 920
Proofread by Nance, Flow by IcarusLSU
Thank you for the reviews! Nance, GoldenFishFire, FeedtheFlames!
The first three parts are complete and available for download to ereaders and mobile devices on AO3 Just a couple more chapters for part 4!
He didn't mind taking orders. In some way or form, whether it was from his father, or his teachers, or simply from the mantle of kingship, Arthur had always followed orders. The thing that was bugging him, was trying to stay in the background as Antonius, the village historian they had been introduced to, spoke of Arthur's life.
"Welcome to Camelot. Past and future home of King Arthur and his Round Table."* Antonius had greeted enthusiastically.
"Sorry, future home?"* Colonel Carter asked.
What followed was a shortened version of Arthur's history. Although, according to Meurik, Arthur wasn't wounded at Camlann, but instead left the planet with his knights shortly after, in search of the Sangraal.
Antonius concluded his tale. "That was long ago, but we know in our hearts that one day, he will return to us."*
Glancing around the tavern, it wasn't a bad little town, Arthur thought. There was something about it, and the other villages they had passed through, that made his skin crawl. It was wrong. It was all too planned. Nothing seemed to have evolved naturally.
Merlin stood stoically off to the side, while the others sat around the table.
Daniel glanced over at him, and turned back to the village elders. "Um, what happened to Merlin when he left?"*
Meurik became suddenly flustered and bid them all a good day hastily, before standing up and leaving the tavern.
"Did I offend him?*" Daniel's eyes widened in confusion.
"Not at all. It's just that…" Antonius lowered his voice and leaned in. "Merlin's name is rarely mentioned in public. Many believe he was a wizard of darkness. He may have tried to do good, but there was always potential for great mischief in his heart. Thankfully, he has neither been seen nor heard of since Arthur's departure. The library where he practiced his strange arts remains sealed to this day."*
"We'd like to see this library." Arthur announced, tired of taking a back seat.
Antonius blinked in surprise. "I'm afraid that's impossible. The library is protected by a powerful curse. It is said that all those who enter Merlin's sanctuary forfeit their lives to its guardian...the Black Knight."*
"Okay. So, best case scenario: this Curse of the Black Knight is a story Ancient Merlin made up to scare off the locals...Worst case scenario: he's got another holographic knight protecting his goods like he did back in England."*
Daniel squinted and glanced around the square. "The point is, the last time it was a test designed to measure a challenger's worth. This time, it sounds more like a defense mechanism set up to protect Ancient Merlin's research, which means it could be a lot tougher, and the same rules might not apply."*
"Oh, come on! You mean you don't want me to get my ass beat by another holographic knight? I've had practice since then; personal training from one of the real Knights of the Round Table." Mitchell exclaimed sarcastically to Daniel, as they stood in front of the sword and stone, just outside the tavern.
Arthur grinned and clapped his hands together. "Good thing you brought a real swordsman this time, then." He began to move forward, and was stopped by Mitchell's hand on his chest.
"Hold up there, your Majesty. No one's touching it, just yet." Mitchell eyed the stone thoughtfully.
Glowering at Mitchell, Arthur took a step back. He was a man of action, and all this beating around the bush had become annoying.
"I think we should split up and look around."* Carter suggested.
"Surrender, Mordred!"* A young girl of nearly fourteen, called out. She had mousy, brown hair that stuck out from under her hat. Even in the long skirts, she was nimble as she ran past.
"Never!"* A boy, perhaps two or three years younger, cried in response. The sound of their wooden swords clashing, echoed through the streets. Suddenly, the girl had her sword at the boy's throat, demanding that he yield. With a crestfallen expression, he did. "I yield, but next time, I want to be Arthur."*
Arthur looked on, in stunned fascination. He'd never thought to see children...re-enacting his last battle...or what this world's version of it might have been. Deep in his chest, he felt a ghost of pain shoot through him. The light of the moon above, and the torches scattered on the ground, came back to him. Lightning bolts flashed down from the top of the escarpment, and dragon fire engulfed corpses of friend and foe. He smelled the air, and tasted the metallic particles on his tongue from the blood that surrounded him.
He looked into the blue eyes of the young man in front of him. They were hard and cold; no sign left of the promising knight. He was caught completely unaware as the sword pierced just below his rib cage. In a last desperate bid for victory, he felt his own sword bite into the young man's flesh. The steel of his opponent's eyes softened, and Mordred actually smiled. Arthur could never fathom why. Was it because his vengeance had been taken, or was he thanking Arthur for a release from his own emotional pain?
The next voice he heard was that of the old man, so familiar and comforting. 'Arthur...'
"Arthur?"
Daniel Jackson's voice pulled him out of the trance. He blinked and found his breath was coming in ragged gasps.
"Arthur, are you alright?"
He waved the archaeologist away. "Fine." He looked over at the children. They were just kids, playing at a war they only knew about from their history lessons.
Mitchell was giving them a sword lesson. Arthur couldn't help but admire how much, despite the teasing earlier, the man had improved since their first battle. If Mitchell had been around back in the days of his Camelot, he would have considered knighting the man.
Arthur and Daniel approached, as Mitchell finished. The Colonel was talking to the kids, asking them if they knew where to find Merlin's library.
The girl seemed nervous at first, but soon relented and led the three men to an alleyway, not far from the square. They stood before a rather nondescript doorway, that obviously hadn't seen anyone pass through in quite a while.
Daniel reached for the handle. He pulled away with a start; shocked by an invisible force shield.
"The door is magicked." The girl then explained, "There is a key, but no one dares use it."*
Nursing the electrical burn on his hand, Daniel asked, "Where would we find this key?"*
"It is kept in the village archives."*
"We don't need the key." Merlin was bored, listening to the others debate. Daniel had left, just moments before the rain started, to find Antonius to see if he had the key that would unlock the door of the library. Arthur and Mitchell were plotting out strategies, in case there were defense measures in place. Meanwhile Carter was offering her technical expertise on possibly disabling any device they might run across in their search.
The warlock had a feeling, based on all he had heard throughout the day, that his magic would get them through the door just as easily as any key, and they wouldn't have to involve any of the townsfolk. True to form though, Arthur had teamed up with someone he unconsciously deemed his equal, in order to make battle plans for the coming night. It seemed that after all they had come through, Arthur still proved to be the royal prat he'd always been.
With a shake of his head, Merlin decided not to push the issue. "Going out for a walk!" He announced. The other three barely acknowledged his departure.
He pulled the brim of his hat over his eyes, and stepped out into the rain. The others could wait for the key if they wanted to, but Merlin always had a bit of trouble being a team player, in certain situations. If they had needed some sort of aircraft built or repaired, he wouldn't have hesitated to step up. When it came to using his magic, however, he still kept mostly to the shadows around people he wasn't completely familiar with. The members of SG-1 were good people, but he didn't know them well enough to call them friends.
They didn't exactly believe in his magic either, calling it, instead, 'innate abilities linked to evolutionary divergences'...or something of the sort. He'd known it as 'magic' for too many centuries to call it anything else. Lya had been gracious enough to acknowledge that it was partially just a difference in semantics, but also that there was something more to it than the others could ever begin to discover.
Thanks to Dr. Lam, there was now a specific genetic marker that could possibly explain what gave him his unique abilities, but that was a long way off from the 'why and how.' The Nox had been able to help fill in some of the history of who he was, and where the dragons had come from, but there was still the question of how the dragons gained their abilities in the first place.
Merlin paused underneath an overhang. The rain fell lightly around him. The street he was on, was mostly deserted. Many of the town's inhabitants were either in the market, or staying dry inside their houses.
He waited for a young couple to pass, and the street he was on to be empty, before he moved into an adjoining alleyway. Merlin hadn't actually seen the door to the library, but he felt reasonably assured that he would be able to find the place, based on the others' descriptions.
Smirking as he made his way quietly down the muddy path, he realized he wouldn't have needed their directions. He felt the door as he neared it. Whether it was advanced technology or magic, the energy signature was similar. Holding his hand out toward the door, he pushed lightly against the shield with his magic. Just as he suspected, it granted him entrance without any issue.
Glancing around once more to be certain he wasn't seen, he slipped inside. He didn't even consider pulling the flashlight out. Holding his palm open, he summoned a light and began evaluating the room. Bookshelves were along every wall, covered in dust and cobwebs that had lain undisturbed for generations. Merlin hadn't a clue on where to start.
For a moment, he felt a sense of helplessness, but he soon discarded it and pushed it to the back of his mind, recognizing it as a manifestation of his dying bond to Aithusa. He drew on the mental training he had gained throughout his life. It had become more difficult lately to focus his mind. Years ago, he had been able to spend days in silent meditation. Now, it was hard to concentrate at that level for more than an hour or two at a time.
"Think, Merlin." He said out loud to himself. "If this was my library, where would I hide something special?"
His eyes immediately fell onto a set of shelves above the rest, in an alcove. He smiled and walked directly over to it. The books seemed carelessly placed on the shelves, unlike the rest of the room. His fingers traced the air just millimeters from the bindings of most of the books, sensing for the hidden key he knew to be there. Blue eyes sparkled as his gaze landed on one book that appeared no different from the rest, except that it was stuck out slightly further on the shelf.
Behind it, he could sense the trigger. He gave it a gentle mental nudge, and the entire bookshelf swung open, revealing stairs leading down.
His feet barely touched the floor at the bottom of the descent, when braziers along the walls flared to life; illuminating a large empty room.
In the center stood a pedestal, maybe eight feet long and four feet wide, and just as tall. Stepping up to it, he noticed the top surface was made of separate tiles, each one approximately a foot square. Engraved on each was writing Merlin had recently discovered was the language of the Alterans. It was obviously some sort of control panel.
He pulled a notebook and pencil out of his pack, and begin to work on deciphering the symbols.
He was so engrossed in translating, that he failed to notice the passage of time. The call through his radio caused him to jump.
"Emrys. Report in." Mitchell's disembodied voice ordered.
Fumbling for the button, Merlin keyed the radio. "Yes, Colonel Mitchell. What can I do for you?"
"Where the hell are you?"
"The library. I found a..."
"How the hell can you be in there? Never mind...probably used your magic voodoo powers or something, right?"
"Well, actually..."
"Listen we're outside with Antonius. He's got the key, and we've been looking for you."
Merlin scowled at the radio. "I tried to tell you we didn't need it...and that I was stepping out."
Arthur's impatient voice was the next one he heard. "Next time...TRY HARDER!"
Merlin responded with a roll of his eyes. Turning off the radio, he tossed it on top of his pack. He went back to his work.
It was a few hours later, when the others finally found their way down into the secret room. Merlin didn't even look up to see them. "Took you long enough."
"Maybe we would have had better luck, if someone hadn't turned off their radio." Mitchell's sarcasm cut through the room.
"An Ancient control device!" Daniel actually sounded shocked to see it.
Mitchell appeared slightly disappointed. "So, not a puzzle then. Any idea what it controls?"
"Not a clue." The archaeologist admitted.
Merlin sighed and held out his notes. "I've managed to get a bit of it." A large yawn escaped him.
"Merlin, get some rest." Arthur said in a voice that left no room for argument.
The warlock shrugged and moved away from the device. He was feeling the strain of the magic he had used. The look from Arthur told him that his friend was able to see it. If it weren't for the members of SG-1 with them, Merlin was sure the former king would have had a few choice words to say about it.
No sooner than he had just begun to settle down against a wall to relax, when a scream from somewhere up in the town broke through the quiet.
They all raced up the stairs and out into the street. Nearby, at another house, men of the village were gathering.
Pushing past the townsmen, Carter reached the object of their concern. Antonius' body laid on the floor, a large gash across his chest. Carter searched for a pulse. "He's dead." She told them all quietly.
The mood of the village was subdued the next morning. In the tavern, some of the townsfolk had gathered. They kept a wide berth around the table closest to the door, where the five people from Earth sat, treating the visitors with suspicion and hatred.
Meurik came barging through the door. His face was filled with barely controlled rage. Slamming a book down on the table, he glared at each one of them. "How do you explain this? Antonius had it with him when he was killed."
Carter tried to offer an apologetic explanation, while Meurik continued to rant about them being responsible for waking Merlin's Curse, and killing Antonius.
"Look, it wasn't supposed to go down like that. We figured if the knight was going to appear, it would be in the chamber, and he wouldn't go after anybody but us." Mitchell said, attempting to get Meurik to see their point of view.
Daniel rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "The Black Knight is not part of any curse. He isn't magical and he isn't unbeatable."
Glancing at Merlin, Arthur received a nod of encouragement. It was obvious that the idea of technology went far above the heads of the simple villagers, much like it had initially for Arthur.
"I know how you feel, Meurik. I too, have lost many people I have cared about to the evils of magic. Where I am from, all magic was banned, punishable by death." He drew strength from seeing that the governor's attention was fully on him. "However, awakening the curse was not our intention. There is an enemy, greater than any magic I have known, called the Ori. They are out there now, among the stars, and they seek to destroy any who refuse to bow down in submission before them." Arthur caught a glimpse of Merlin's eyes, filled with pride and silently supporting him.
"We learned that a long time ago, Merlin was working on a weapon that could be used against them...and the key to finding that weapon is inside that library."* Daniel explained to the enraptured villagers, who had gathered around while Arthur was speaking.
Meurik fumbled for a moment, before he found the strength to argue, "I have never seen nor heard of these Ori, but we have witnessed the power of the Black Knight. Leave this village. Take the Curse with you."*
The governor exited the tavern before the persuasive blond man could open his mouth again.
Daniel slouched onto the table. "Well, we can't just give up."*
Carter put a hand on his arm. "Daniel, we're not exactly welcome here anymore."*
"Don't you see, this is exactly what Merlin wanted."* He shook off her hand as he stood up, and began pacing in small circles. "Why do you think he designed the Black Knight to attack in the village, and not the chamber? To incite terror. If he just killed whoever was inside the chamber, then there'd be no great public incentive to keep people out. You'd go in at your own risk, and there'd always be someone foolish enough to give it a try."*
"I disagree." The others turned to Merlin. He motioned to the book Meurik left on the table. "Antonius brought it upon himself, when he took the book out of the library."
"Are you saying, if we return it, the Black Knight will shut off?" Mitchell asked warily.
"Doubtful."
"Whatever the reason, the point is that Ancient Merlin designed it that way, because he was worried that someone might stumble onto the solution. Which means: there is a solution, and it's inside that chamber."*
"Well, that's great..."* Mitchell rolled his eyes. "...But how does it help us now?"*
Daniel shook his head. "I don't know. Just, give me a little time to talk to these people. If I can get some of them on our side, we might be able to get Meurik to reconsider."*
"Only he who is pure of heart, and true of spirit, can pull the sword from the stone. It is said, Arthur will not return from his quest, until one among us succeeds in removing it."* Valencia, the girl Mitchell had sparred with on their first day in the village, said when she approached the Air Force Colonel.
"You ever try it?"* Mitchell asked. He had been pacing around the stone, looking for clues to shutting 'the curse' off. Merlin sat nearby on a crate, going over his notes about the device, while they waited for the other three to talk sense into Meurik.
Valencia giggled, "Of course not. It is for the young men preparing to be knights to test themselves with the sword. When Arthur does come back, he will need knights to join him on his next crusade. The men of this village will be ready to serve him."*
Merlin snorted as he eavesdropped on the conversation. "If they only knew." He muttered softly. His eyes lifted and he hopped off the crate. Meurik and the others were heading their way.
"Valencia, leave us."* He told the girl. She scurried off, fearful of finding herself in trouble. "You abuse my tolerant nature, Colonel."*
"I take it, it didn't go so well."* Mitchell assumed out loud.
"Not really."* Daniel confirmed.
Arthur was seething. They were being forced to leave the village. He had suggested to Daniel, on their way to talk sense into Meurik, that he should tell the governor who he really was. As a last resort, the archaeologist had agreed. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the last straw for the governor. He accused them of blasphemy. It appeared that their ideal version of King Arthur was more of an elder religious figure, than a real life man, barely into his thirties.
"These men will escort you to the Great Ring, and ensure that you leave as requested."* He stated at the village gates.
Daniel tried one last time to explain the situation. "Look, you're making a mistake. There is no curse. Now, the Black Knight is a scientific feature, created by Merlin through the use of science and advanced technology. There is no magic involved..."*
A large beam of white light suddenly engulfed SG-1, and when it faded, the villagers, including Meurik, were left in stunned silence. They clung to each other in fear, and stared frightfully at the spot where the visitors had been standing, just seconds before.