Chapter 16: In which Bellroc and Skrael change tactics

The Bringer of the North Wind hovered above the upper battlements of the Arcane Order's fortress, face upturned, lids shut and hands extended while diamondlike shards of ice drifted in complicated swirling patterns around him. Bellroc stood some paces back, giving him room so that her heat would not interfere. All at once the movement ceased, ice splintering into snow as his eyes snapped open.

"Gone."

"All of them?" his sister asked, fists tightening on her staff as the feathers of her cloak seemed to flare out with barely-controlled anger.

"Not even one mephit left. You know what this means."

"He failed," Bellroc snarled.

Skrael had transferred the bonding of his shadow mephits to the doppelgänger's onyx armor in order to give him more time, more strength. With them all dead, that meant the armor had entirely disintegrated or he had been defeated.

"Merlin may have passed beyond the veil, but the foreign wizard was meant to be our champion—to go where we cannot and kill when we are forbidden," the red-haired witch seethed, the second, deeper voice adding a threatening savagery to her words. "Without him this was all worthless!"

The pale, black-cloaked figure beside her kept his own fury under tight rein even though he felt the loss far greater than she did, his magic being mostly sacrificed in this venture. "We must be patient, Bellroc. There is still time."

"I've been patient!"

"You know as well as I do that a frontal assault is too risky… but with the Seals in our hands everything changes." His thin voice gave way to a smirking chuckle. "Now that Merlin is dead, there is no longer anyone powerful enough to cloud our vision."

His sister's expression had grown thoughtful. "We would be vulnerable, so the primordial Heartstone is too unsafe. The slumbering chamber is the only place secluded enough."

"My thoughts precisely."

Douxie drifted along the dark streets, paying no attention to where his feet led. Dusk had already settled over the town and he'd lost track of how long he'd been wandering the streets, lost in thought. When his tennis shoes bumped against a set of stairs he finally looked up to find himself at the apartment complex on Brocktree Lane. Instinctively his eyes sought out the dark shape of Zoe's door on the second floor, but his jaw stiffened and he turned away.

The wizard was just beginning to head back toward the street when he caught sight of Zoe's identifiable pink hair between a set of hedges near the apartment's underwhelming attempt to provide residents with a nice place to swim whenever the mood struck them. She sat there on the cobbled cement, hugging her knees.

Suddenly concerned, he made his way over. Small, round lights along the base and sides of the pool had come on, bathing the area in minty light that shifted slightly with each movement of the water.

"Zoe?"

She twitched but didn't turn or answer. If anything, she tightened her grip and tucked her head even more. Now truly worried, Douxie pushed open the gate, its rusty screech of protest making him wince.

"Zoe, are you alright?"

She didn't look at him. A lump formed in her throat and she tried to swallow it down unsuccessfully. When he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, it was too much and she jerked the opposite direction.

"Go away!"

But it came out in a squeak that begged for him to stay rather than driving him off. He dropped to one knee, everything else forgotten.

"No. Not this time, Zoe. I'm staying right here until you tell me what's wrong," Douxie said, voice firm. "It's written all over your face. I'm not going to let you windsprint out of here or mute me."

"I can't!" she burst out, suddenly dissolving into sobs. "I'll never be able to again! It's gone."

"Gone?"

She turned to him for the first time, tears pouring down her cheeks. "I saw the blood and the sword and—and I knew you were going to die! In the vision he said something that hurt you. I had to keep it from happening. I had to muffle him, but I was too far away." Zoe's face lowered again as though in shame. "So I threw everything I had. All of it."

The mysterious silence during the fight against the Green Knight suddenly made sense, but Douxie's mind still whirled, almost trying to deny what she was telling him.

"All? You mean… you're burnt out?"

Her head jerked in a wretched nod. Douxie felt only numb. The idea of losing all connection to his magic was a nightmare he couldn't even imagine. And she'd done it voluntarily.

The former witch continued to cry, forehead resting heavily against her knees. After a few minutes she pulled herself together and took a few bracing breaths before steeling herself to speak with him again.

But he was gone.

Zoe scrambled to her feet, stunned. The pool gate stood open and there was no sign of Douxie anywhere. Humiliation sent her face aflame and she automatically responded to it with anger.

Of course he would reject her. No wizard ever wanted anything to do with those who had been drained dry of magic. Even among hedge wizards such a thing was only spoken of in whispers, with derision and revulsion, the unfortunates occasionally disowned by their families. To a real wizard she might as well not exist anymore.

Storming upstairs and slamming the apartment door behind her, Zoe stalked to her room. Her phone lay on the bed where she'd tossed it earlier, not wanting to speak with anyone. Now as she flipped it open, she could see all the missed calls from her coworkers. They'd also sent her numerous texts and she flipped through them with only half her attention, coming to a complete stop when she saw one from Claire.

"Merlin is dead."

At the Lakes' kitchen table everyone gathered around to analyze the tome Merlin had left behind after his death. Only the very final page had been written in anything they could read, the rest being some mysterious language even Blinky couldn't identify. They were so preoccupied that no one noticed the front door open and a rather svelte figure then slip past into the basement.

Douxie descended the stairs and approached the far wall before kneeling down to touch the pile of gray ash. He couldn't make himself move for several minutes, but the growing nearness of his familiar pulled him back to the present. His bracer glowed and cerulean light gathered up all that was left of Merlin. A few shards of the shattered emerald pieced around the ashes, enclosing them in a curved vessel.

As the wizard carefully hid it in his hoodie's pocket, he turned away from the underground entrance at the very moment two figures arrived. Hours ago when he'd shot awake, realizing his master was gone, he left the shop without even looking at them. Archie had tried to follow but he'd thrown up a block—a restraining command impossible for a familiar to disobey until it was relaxed.

Now as he stood there, Douxie could feel simmering anger radiating off the dragon. He had only experimented with a block once when they were much younger, which made Archie so furious that he refused to even speak until Douxie promised he wouldn't do it again.

But at the moment he could care less. Archie could go soak his head if—!

A small pair of arms reached around his waist as Nari hugged him. The hollowness that had been slowly growing inside shrank. Calm and comfort trickled through that contact, and instinctively he turned and knelt so that he could hug her back.

"You have seen so much death in your life, but rarely has it been so close, true?"

Taking a few breaths, he finally answered, "I know I could have helped him if only I'd known the right spell. And now someone else lost her magic because of me."

"Yes. I sensed the air witch's magic had been severed," Nari sighed with compassion. "But she did so willingly rather than forced, which makes the amputation a much softer one."

"That doesn't change the fact that Zoe is suffering and it's my fault. Just like everything else!"

The small, harmless-looking woman pulled back and gazed into his eyes even as he avoided hers. But she didn't speak and Douxie got the distinct impression his words grieved her. Another few seconds and she stepped away.

Archie sidled up to him then, rearing up to place his forepaws on Douxie's chest so that he could rub his head up underneath his best friend's chin. The wizard looked down, startled at the mismatch of the cat's actions and his boiling emotions.

"I thought you were mad at me for blocking you," he said, blinking in confusion.

"Oh, I'm most certainly going to deal with that, though now is not the time. You're still an idiot, but I understand," he said, giving the loose drawstrings on Douxie's hoodie an irritated swipe before leaping down and sauntering toward the stairway. "Now come on. Best thing to do at the moment is make an appearance and find out what the youngsters are scheming."

Upstairs Krel stood fully engaged with the hologram emitting from a device on the table, deftly making adjustments that responded to all four hands as he crafted a 3-D version of the sketch in Merlin's book.

When three people came up from the basement, the group turned and recognized them only to begin shifting a little anxiously as though not sure what to say. No one wanted to bring up Merlin or express their condolences because Douxie looked so deadpan, which wasn't like him at all. So the issue was sidestepped.

"Krel, these are Douxie, Archie and Nari," Toby introduced near-casually, and the alien threw a distracted wave at them as he continued working. "I think Douxie was supposed to recruit you a few weeks ago but you were nowhere to be found. Definitely would have been nice to have your help at Camelot."

"Yes, I was busy," he muttered, squinting as he carefully shaped the inner workings of the holographic picture. "I took it upon myself to ensure nothing dangerous was left over from the Omens as well as some Akiridion ships that crashed during the battle against General Morando. It was a time-consuming enterprise, though necessary. Area 49-B was not happy when I confiscated much of their salvage, but when you have the might of an entire planet's fleet behind you, they tend to take your requests more seriously and are surprisingly polite about it."

For the first time Douxie noticed Jim wasn't wearing his armor. In fact… he looked rather out-of-place in a baggy T-shirt and sweatpants. The Amulet lay on the table, almost conspicuous as it sat there glowing red and no sign of corrupted onyx. The wizard got the sudden feeling no one had even brought it up yet.

Stepping back with a sigh, Krel set his hologram in a slow spin that rotated it for everyone to admire.

"It's a rough concept at best," he admitted, "but it could potentially work if this actuator can coordinate two completely different energy wavelengths without short-circuiting. Your Mar-lin's designs did not have the clearest explanation for the purpose behind these inner gears, but for the time being I will leave them as they are to preserve the integrity of the original plans."

"We don't want to hurt Nari," Claire put in, "so whatever her part is in this, we have to make sure the machine works right before putting her at risk."

"There's no guarantee it won't damage the Amulet either," her boyfriend added, reaching out to nudge it. "Merlin told me he didn't even understand how it works, but how does that make sense? He made it, so how could he not know?"

Blinky rapidly flipped to an earlier page of the book in front of them. "I know the text is indecipherable by any means I currently possess, but these designs here indicate nothing out of the ordinary in its construction. If worse comes to worst and the Amulet is regretfully ravaged in our attempt to utilize it for the greater good, then perhaps it would not be so difficult to replace if we had the correct parts."

This appeared to cast a wave of relief over the others, but then Douxie spoke. "You think it can just be swapped out with another? None of you know what Merlin had to sacrifice in order to make it. The Amulet is a combination of flesh from one of the strongest wizards in the world, dragontooth iron—"

"From the very fangs of the first dragon to walk the earth," Archie specified with some pride.

"—and stone from one of this world's great seats of power, imbued with unblemished light and united by his own magic and will. Merlin may have directed its purpose into creating the Trollhunters, but there has always been more to it than even he fully understood. It's the culmination of thousands of years of research and toil and you blokes think it's that easy to slap another one together?"

Douxie's words just barely skirted rudeness, but no one faulted him for it considering what had just happened a few hours ago. The group exchanged uneasy looks, beginning to see there was a very real danger of losing their greatest weapon in this venture.

"I broke it before," Jim said, cutting into the silence that followed the wizard's statement, "but that was just physical force. What we're considering now is a magical amplifier beyond anything we can imagine. The Amulet may not survive, but if it really does manage to fix the world like Merlin thought… I'd say it's worth the sacrifice."

"How long would construction take?" the six-eyed troll wondered, directing the question to their resident alien.

"Construction is nothing. It's testing I'm worried about. That and…" Krel paused to fold both pairs of arms and consider the hologram again. "To achieve the output you're asking we need a power source like nothing I've seen on this planet. Nothing native, that is, and that's imperative. If we use an Akiridion power source it could potentially permeate energy-based atoms into the very cellular structure of your planet's inhabitants. I assume you don't want that."

For the space of a few breaths everyone was silent. If the Heartstone deep below their feet was anything more than a dead crystal, the problem would be easily solved.

"Wait, what about the Heart of Avalon?" Jim put in. "Merlin said touching it could be fatal because it was so powerful. Would it do the job?"

Nari's copper-colored eyes lit with the optimism of one who understands the possibilities quite well. "Even broken, it still carries much magic."

"I can get us there," Claire volunteered immediately. "I locked onto Camelot earlier today, but couldn't completely open the shadow portal. I think I'm rested enough to give it another shot, though."

Tobias shoved a friendly elbow into the glowing alien's ribs. "Ready to see your future home? Guaranteed to be Stuart-free, I might add."

Far from quenching her fire, the water that enveloped Bellroc sent out a bubbling hiss that set it boiling like it would around an undersea volcano. She gave it as little attention as she did the open air, flicking one hand imperiously to open the great jaws of their now-flooded fortress as they settled onto a pinnacle of rock in the ocean. Skrael drifted in her steaming wake, at home in this element since it was close kin to his own. Even Nari hadn't been bothered by trips such as these in past millennia, enjoying any water either salt or fresh.

They followed the curve of the undersea mountain they'd perched on, making their way to an opening carved with the three symbols of their power. On stepping through, they entered a dry space seemingly hollowed out from a single mineral. It glowed primarily a milky blue, but was occasionally dappled with pockets of green or soft red light.

A conspicuous gap in the very center of the floor marred the perfectly smooth surface, as though someone had broken and stolen a piece. Habitually Skrael cast it a sour look as he passed.

Though blind, Bellroc proceeded with confidence to the space she slept every millennium and leaned back into the alcove. The Bringer of the North Wind paused as though about to speak, then thought better of it and took his own place. There was no point in bringing up the fact that this attempt could very well waste the precious time they had left before they would be trapped in this place once more.

Depending on how strong Merlin's residual spell around the Genesis Seals was, they might locate it in a matter of hours or days.

Moonlight ought to have softened the sight, but all it did was intensify the shadows and emphasize the lopsided towers that sagged dejectedly with numerous pieces missing. The look on Krel's face could easily be described as stunned as he took in what remained of Camelot Castle.

"When you said it needed to be fixed up 'a bit' I was expecting something less demolished."

Toby fidgeted somewhat guiltily. "Yeah… Well, maybe I downplayed exactly how bad it was. Honestly I didn't know what to expect either since I wasn't here when it crashed. They really did a number on it."

The group hadn't seen it at first thanks to the aversion spell that still clung to the ruins and kept it from becoming a spectacle on the local news, but once they'd gotten close enough, the extent of the damage brought them to a standstill.

Archie leaped atop a twisted metal gear, adjusting his glasses with one paw. "It's hard to say how long Merlin's spell will keep this place from sight. Could be a month. Probably less, though. We'll have to restore it."

He cast a look at his companion but Douxie didn't say a word. The wizard was too busy staring at the Heart of Avalon and remembering his instinctive attack on the stone itself in the mad rush to save Merlin. In his hands he clutched the book his master had written. No one had denied his right to take it when they left Jim's house. While the others approached the shattered bits of jade green crystal to salvage what they could for their project, Douxie wandered away closely followed by his familiar.

Toby hefted a piece as large as his head and nearly fell over, only for Aaarrrgghh to delicately take it from him with two fingers and add it to the pile they were collecting. "I'm sure it'll be fine, Krel. Just a bit of elbow grease and I'm sure we'll have this place liveable in no time."

"A bit," the alien repeated as he set down his own piece of crystal. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

While helping search for any leftover fragments, Jim paused to stare at the remains of what had been Camelot. Though he'd only stayed there for three months, it was a disheartening sight all the same.

"I feel bad about this," he admitted. "This castle survived for centuries, and then I come along…"

Krel tapped his chin as he came up beside the half-troll. "Well, it won't be as hard as you might expect to get this rubble airborne again."

"How long do you think it will take?"

"Let's see…" He scanned the area and all the assorted piles of debris with a measuring gaze. "I made records of your Mar-lin's original designs from his manual, which I recognize now included this place. If I complete the restorative blueprints we'll need tonight, it will only take a few horvaths to receive the parts from Akiridion. After that it's a matter of installation and basic programming, so… three or four delsons."

While everyone else stared in confusion, Toby (who was the only one familiar with Akiridion lingo present) gawked. "Just a few days?! You're not serious!"

That response seemed to baffle Krel. "I see nothing funny about it, so yes, I am being quite serious. But there is still a question of priorities. Which do you want me to focus on first: restoring this fortress or completing your actuator?"

While they continued debating, a little green-clad figure deftly separated from the group. Nari found Douxie using his magic to lift up a section of wall that had come down, revealing Merlin's staff underneath. Scattering the bricks carelessly, he reached down and retrieved it.

Its green crystal had dimmed. No longer a steadfast pillar of strength and power without its master, the staff itself almost looked lost.

"The Arcane Order did not always consider Merlin our enemy," Nari spoke up behind him. "For many millennia we were allies—perhaps even friends—working side-by-side toward the same goal to protect the world and all those in it. But ten cycles ago the magical imbalance was more than noticeable. When we determined to begin killing off humans and other non-magic creatures, Merlin set himself in opposition to us."

Douxie glanced back at her antlered figure, using the staff to help him regain his feet, then he leaned against it heavily as though it was the only thing keeping him upright. Archie pressed against his friend's ankle to give a sense of closeness, if not comfort.

"He insisted we were wrong, that there was some other source leeching magic away. We were angry that he chose humans over magic-kind. It seemed to us the worst of betrayals. The three of us went to great lengths to influence countless wars against humanity, many times resorting to the darkest of magicks… but nothing worked. Decay only seemed to increase. Then two cycles ago we created the virulent darkness inside the heartstone that ultimately bore Gunmar. We were so certain…" She paused and there was a regretful silence. "If only we had not broken with Merlin…"

"What's done is done," the younger wizard mumbled, fingers tightening on the grimoire he pressed close to his chest. "I'm going away for a little while."

"You are not ready to be around others. That is understandable," the Forest Child nodded slowly.

"I'm not abandoning them, but I'd just rather be apart for a while. Archie told me the writing in this book is in Ancient Draconic. I don't know why Merlin would use that since the only known translator who could possibly help us is—"

"The dragon line of Sikandar in the great northern mountains," Nari supplied, having had enough experience with dragons to know immediately who he meant. "Great scholars, one and all, and dedicated to preserving the past. There are not many left."

Douxie closed his eyes to concentrate, bracer glowing blue, then a tiny circular object came flying out of an upper tower in the ruins. It came closer until it grew obvious it was a glass ball with the miniature airship inside. As soon as it landed in the wizard's hand, he smashed it and the full-sized ship reappeared.

"Tell the others I don't know when I'll be back," he called as he leaped onboard with his familiar flapping up to join him, then moments later they were soaring into the sky.

"The nearest gateway to Charlemagne's lair is about four hundred miles from here," Archie said, perching on the airship's railing and pointing the general direction. "He actually lives in Scandinavia but he opened a few portals that connect him to different continents."

"I can't believe we're actually going to see… Charlemagne the Devourer," Douxie shuddered, thinking of all the horrifying tales Archie had shared with him over the years.

"Well…" There was a guilty color to his tone. "Maybe he's not exactly as… ah… bloodthirsty as I led you to believe."

Douxie turned, questioning suspicion in his eyes. "Care to elaborate?"

"Don't get me wrong, he's killed plenty of would-be thieves—he hates thieves with a burning passion—but… he's not usually like that." Archie cleared his throat self-consciously. "You remember those trips I take every forty years or so?"

"Yes… You told me you always spend a few months with a lady-friend." His eyes narrowed. "Why would you be going to see the dreaded Charlemagne and keeping it secret from me?"

Archie shifted, wings twitching in nervous shivers and he automatically switched to his feline form.

"Arch, I'm not in the mood for games. What aren't you telling me?"

"Fine!" he burst out, edging away from his friend with a bristling chagrin that only cats can achieve. "Charlemagne is my father. Happy?"

A/N: First of all, the giant delay here was due to serious morning sickness (my hubby tells me it's been this bad before but I simply can't recall anything like this) as well as Christmas and some illness in the family along with an ice storm that knocked out our power for days. When it rains, it pours.

Anyway, let me just be frank about how I feel concerning the useless, needless destruction of the Amulet—pure stupidity. And in the movie to then spit out a new one like that… Did people really expect it to be that simple? I wanted Douxie to point out the hubris and absolute idiocy in the idea that such an artifact can be so easily replaced, especially if all they needed was a special green gem to make it work right. Why not another wizard arm too? To me, it's so unique that there can't be another like it. A new amulet will likely not behave the way they expect and probably be far less powerful.

I tried to make it somewhat obvious that the stone Merlin used for Jim's Amulet was taken from the place Bellroc, Skrael and Nari sleep once their year and a day of freedom is up, but it's surprisingly hard to describe the exact coloring. I looked at the bare stone we're shown in both "Killahead Part 1" and the Trollhunters episode "The Oath" to double-check and was surprised when the only other colors it had in its blue-white surface were green and pink. That by itself is a bit odd if you think about it. Makes me wonder if even back before Gunmar bit the dust the writers were planting seeds to eventually make a connection to the wizardly trio, but lost the chance to do anything with it when a new director took over.

Once again my natural nitpicking took over in the episode after Merlin died and I have several bones to pick with the writers. The fact that it took our main wizard and his dragon all day to find Charlemagne but Archie didn't even give a hint that there was nothing to be afraid of bothers me. Douxie was so terrified he was going to die that I expected him to start throwing out spells wildly when he found himself alone beneath the gaze of a giant man-eating dragon. Makes Archie look like a real jerk for keeping it to himself.