Chapter 15
Blood For Ink
It didn't feel like long before Merlin woke. A string calloused hand shook his shoulder.
"Merlin. Merlin, wake up." Merlin moaned.
"Gaius?" He asked groggily.
"No, it is me, Cedric." Merlin stirred more but didn't wake up. "Merlin. Open your eyes. Get up." Cedric snapped with urgency.
Merlin peeled his eyes open. Cedric hovered over him, inside his cage, with a torch in his left hand, and a folded parchment in his hand.
"What time is it?"
"Just before dawn." He said gruffly as he knelt by Merlin's side. "Here. I got parchment and a feather. It was the best I could do. I couldn't grab any ink. I tried to find some but the only left was in the lady Morgana's room and I feared it would have been missed. We're low on a lot of supplies right now."
"Why so low?" Merlin asked. His curiosity peaked. He sat up and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands.
"This war. That's why Morgana is hosting the Culling. She plans to sell the ones who survive the arena to the highest bidder, well, all except Emrys. I fear what she has planned for the warlock, should he be discovered."
"Yes, well, I doubt she could contain him even if she wanted to." Merlin chuckled mockingly.
She could, and has. The only way she was able to do what she did to Merlin was because he allowed it, at least that's what he told himself. He may be the most powerful Warlock but he wasn't invulnerable. He grimaced. The torture alone was ruff, but being cuffed and collared wasn't exactly expected. Still, he was here, determined to play a game he didn't have any chance of winning.
"Do you believe in him that much?" Cedric asked. If he was Emrys, and had that much faith in himself, why did he stay in this cell, cuffed and collared.
Did Merlin believe in himself that much? He had faith that he had destiny to fulfill. Merlin was Morgana's doom, not the other way around.
"No, but I believe him to be a loyal ally and a formidable enemy. If I were Morgana, I would be wary, is all I'm saying." Merlin assured. sitting back against the wall. He yawned. "You said you got the parchment?" Merlin reached out. Cedric handed him both the paper and feather. "Thanks." Merlin Mumbled.
"What are you going to do? You have no ink?" Cedric asked, confused.
"I didn't ask you to get it because I don't need it." Merlin said around another yawn. "Do you have a dagger on you?" Merlin asked absently.
Merlin scanned the blank paper in his hands. He tried to formulate what he wanted to say but he was so tired. Hesitantly, Cedric handed over the dagger. Cedric didn't fully trust Merlin not to jam the blade into his chest and make a run for it. Merlin rolled his eyes.
"Oh, please," Merlin scoffed, offended. He snatched the dagger from his grasp and waved it at him. "I'm not going to kill you. There is a child in the room listening to everything we do." Merlin explained. He directed the words more to the peeping ears than to Cedric.
William shifted and looked up at him shyly. "What are you going to do?"
"Something important. Now go back to bed, we don't know when we will get the chance to rest again." Merlin smiled warmly at him. William nodded obediently and shut his eyes to go back to sleep.
Merlin took the dagger and pressed it to the palm of his left hand and made a small cut. The blood pooled in his cupped hand. Once he had collected enough, he dipped the quill into it and began to write.
At first he didn't know what to say. Didn't know what he wanted to tell Arthur. So he just told him the truth. Merlin was losing the battle. The darkness and torment of the past few weeks has made him weak and he wasn't sure how much longer he could fight. He would anyway, until he could no longer, just to keep Arthur safe. But he was fading and who he once was became difficult to remember.
He sat up and set aside the feather. he watched his blood ink sink into the cleaned his hand on the bloody neckerchief and grabbed the letter. He refolded it with care, tried, and failed, not to smear his red tinted fingerprints all over it.
He handed it to Cedric, who pulled out a small piece of wax and a small candle. Merlin watched as he wiped the blood on his already soaked neckerchief. He watched Cedric light the candle and melted the gold wax onto the letter. Merlin stopped him before he could press down on the wax with the crest of the deformed white dragon.
He grabbed the necklace around his neck and lifted it over his head. The very pendant Arthur had given him before Merlin was taken. He was surprised Morgana let him keep it. When she held it in the baths he for sure thought she was going to rip it from his neck, but instead she just looked at it with frustration and sadness. He pressed it into the wax. He put the pendant back on.
"Deliver this as soon as you can." Merlin said. He handed him the soiled neckerchief. "Put this next to the letter."
Cedric hesitantly took the bloody garment, the letter and nodded. Cedric got up and left in a flurry of dark cloaks and fading light.