Chapter 5: Talking of (With) Dragons
Disclaimer: Merlin and its characters do not belong to me
This time the strange voice woke Merlin during the night. Deciding he'd had enough, the dark-haired youth climbed out of bed and set off to find the owner of the voice once and for all, and tell it to leave. Him. Alone. Honestly, waking good, hard-working folk up at random times should be illegal, he wondered half-heartedly how long it would take the King to pass a proclamation?
Stepping out of his room, Merlin was greeted by Gaius' snores. Quickly concluding that he would be stopped if Gaius was aware he was heading out, Merlin hurried towards the door. Unfortunately, as he tossed his jacket on, he managed to catch a brass goblet sitting on the table, sending it clanging on the stone floor.
Merlin froze, certain that the noise would wake Gaius, who simply rolled over onto his side, blanket falling down. Not wanting him to catch cold, Merlin's eyes flashed, and the blanket slowly crept back up over the older man. Satisfied, Merlin headed out.
Reaching the courtyard, Merlin followed the voice across, keeping to the shadows to avoid the guards. Eventually, he was lead down to a spiral staircase, heading further down, possibly to the level of the dungeons, at the bottom of which sat a couple of guards at a table, playing dice. It was the work of a moment, using his magic to snatch the dice off the table, causing the guards to look at each other in confusion, before simply following the dice into a storage area.
The moment they were out of sight, Merlin hurried the rest of the way down the staircase and slipped past into another corridor, grabbing a torch on his way past and laughing internally. If that was all it took to distract the guards, it was a wonder there wasn't a spate of crimes in the city, although it was possible that those stationed outside and in the town were more attentive.
It turned out, it wasn't another corridor. Instead the dark entrance gave way to a wide stone staircase, bracketed in on either-side with thick stone walls, leading further down into the very bowels of the Castle. Merlin wasn't sure how much further down it was possible to go, although it now made sense how the voice came from below the dungeons. As he moved down, the voice got louder and more demanding.
About halfway down, his breath started to fog, giving testament to the cold, as they were currently in the midst of the Summer. Finally, at the bottom of the stairs, the passageway turned right, opening out into a giant cavern. The path he'd been following ended on a broad ledge, with what could have once been a narrow stone staircase off to one side.
Across the chasm, sat a large, tall rock, which could have been a fallen stalactite. There was obviously another entrance, as a small amount of moonlight filtered through, not enough to properly see by, mind, and a faint breeze, strong enough to affect his torch, but not enough to put it out.
As he stepped out onto the ledge for a better look, the strange voice started chuckling. Startled, Merlin looked around, trying to spot the voice's owner. But there was no-one.
"Where are you?" he called, hiding his nerves.
With a roar, a great, scaled beast flew down from behind an outcrop, it's gold scales appearing dull from the lack of light. Startled, Merlin stumbled back into the wall, almost dropping his torch in the process.
"I'm here," the dragon (for that was what the beast appeared to be, now that it was closer) proclaimed as he landed on the large rock.
Entranced, Merlin tried to get a better look, as the dragon settled, although it quickly became clear he was also getting sized up, as the dragon spoke again.
"How small you are, for such a great destiny."
"Why, what do you mean?" Merlin asked, desperate for answers, was this dragon the 'person' Gaius was talking about? "What destiny?"
The dragon finished getting comfortable on his rock, crossing his front legs, before answering.
"Your gift, Merlin, was given to you for a reason."
"So, there is a reason?" Merlin asked hopefully.
"Arthur is the Once and Future King, who will Unite the Land of Albion," the dragon explained, causing Merlin to frown, confused.
"Right..."
"But he faces many threats, from friend, and foe, alike." the dragon continued.
"I don't see what this has to do with me." Merlin retorted.
"Everything." The dragon declared with finality. "Without you, Arthur will never succeed. Without you, there will be no Albion," the dragon finished.
"No." Merlin shook his head. "No, you've got this wrong."
"There is no Right, or Wrong. Only what Is, and what Isn't."
"But I'm serious, if anyone wants to go and kill him, they can go ahead. In fact, I'll give them a hand." Merlin stated, his anger and confusion blending together dangerously.
The dragon laughed.
"None of us can choose our destiny, Merlin. And none of us can escape it."
"No, no way. No, no, no there must be another Arthur, cause this one's an idiot." Merlin denied.
"Perhaps it is your destiny to change that." The dragon chuckled, as if he knew a secret Merlin didn't, before shifting, raising his great wings while bowing his head, and taking flight, the heavy, cold-iron chain rattling with each wingbeat.
"Wait!" Merlin called desperately. "Wait, please, stop! I need to know more!"
But the dragon ignored him, flying back to wherever he had been before Merlin arrived, leaving him with more questions than answers.
Merlin was woken up by Gaius tutting about the state of his room the next morning – at daybreak.
"Hoy! Have you seen the state of this room?" he asked, tossing yesterday's shirt at him.
Barely awake from his late-night excursion, Merlin struggled to think of a reply.
"It just happens," he settled on, raising his hands helplessly, not really wanting yet another argument with the man.
"By magic?" Gaius frowned.
"Yeah."
Gaius frowned at the mess, slightly concerned if the boy did magic in his sleep.
"Well, you can clear it up, without magic. And, then I want you to get me some herbs, henbane, wormwood, and sorrel. And deliver this to Morgana. Poor girl's suffering from nightmares." Gaius handed over a glass bottle nestled in a leather pouch. Before he left Merlin to get dressed, however, Gaius couldn't resist chucking another shirt at the boy.
Merlin sighed, watching Gaius leave.
"I know the feeling." He muttered, before making short work getting dressed.
Once again, Gaius had a sandwich waiting for him, along with a basket to collect the various herbs. Although, he needed to run the deliveries to the Lady Morgana and Lady Percival first, as it wouldn't do to keep them waiting.
Lady Percival was easy, as he almost ran into Julia, again, who was happy to take the small pouch of dried hollyhock off him, and point him in the right direction of the Lady Morgana's chambers. Thanking her, Merlin raced off, not particularly wanting to waste the daylight, especially as he wasn't too sure of where to find the requested herbs in this area.
Finding the correct door open, Merlin paused, before knocking loudly. The room's only occupant, a gorgeous brunet with clear, pale skin wearing a dark-blue silk dress, turned at the noise.
"Hello?" she asked, eyeing him curiously.
"Hi, umm, Gaius asked me to, er, deliver this," he awkwardly held out the pouched flask. "It's for the nightmares." He added, hoping he hadn't managed to get the wrong room despite Julia's help.
His fears turned out to be wrong, however, as the Lady smiled.
"Ah, of course, thank you. And, you are...?" she prompted.
"Oh! Sorry, I'm Merlin, Gaius' new assistant." He smiled, before glancing back at the door. "Um, I should, um, I should get going, um, nice meeting you!: He called over his shoulder as he hurried off.
Merlin wasted no time in retrieving the wicker basket and heading off into the forest. The quiet and calm of the trees was a welcome respite from the bustle of castle life, for all he had been there three days.
Sorrel was his first find, a whole clearing full, surrounded by tall ash trees. He happily spent the rest of the morning there. Luckily, there was also a section of wormwood growing in the north of said clearing.
Finding the required henbane, however, took a lot longer. Eventually, he found a relatively small crop, enclosed with several other herbs, by a low stone wall, which could have been a small garden, once upon a time.