A/N:
Hello! As promised another chapter. Thanks again to everyone that's reviewed so far, always makes me smile.
Enjoy!
Ilandrae
Disclaimer: Surprisingly enough… I still don't own Merlin. Would you look at that.
CHAPTER 20 – DEVOURER OF MAGIC
Camelot Castle
Art hadn't even seen it. One second it was screams of terror and the next Merlin was in front of him collapsing to his knees with a grunt of pain.
Instinctively Art grabbed Merlin's shoulder as he swayed but the warlock gave him a pained but reassuring smile.
The next thing he knew Sir Leon was shoving him back inside the castle, Percival escorting his mother and Sir Bedivere carrying Merlin for some reason.
Carried by the crowd Art recognised the route to the physician's chambers and he wondered why they were headed there, he wasn't hurt.
It was then he saw the blood trail left behind Sir Bedivere and the spreading dark stain on Merlins lower back.
Suddenly Merlin started squirming, "Put me down, a physician won't help me."
Bedivere put him down instantly but Gwen was impatient, "Merlin you've been stabbed you need to see-"
"A bloody ordinary healer's no use. There was magic on-" he stopped as pain seemed to wrack his body, "Tri-spelled" he muttered and leant against the wall as the tremors ceased, "It didn't stop when Bed- when Bed" he groaned as the pain seemed to return and he collapsed to the floor.
When he recovered, he groped behind him, "and get the bloody thing out the curse is spreading."
"Curse?" Gwen exclaimed, "Merlin! What are you-"
Merlin yanked the dagger from his back, causing a new crimson river to flow. Bedivere rushed forwards already tearing strips from his cloak to try and slow the bleed.
"Art" Merlin muttered and started to fumble at his neck.
Art rushed over and knelt next to him, taking the amulet the warlock offered he recognised the tree and the cup of the council summoning amulet.
"Alice. Art you need to call her" Merlin said.
"H-how?" Art stammered and realised his hands were shaking.
"Alice ðu aron níedþearfa that's the spell, she'll hear. She'll know."
"But that's limited magic, the words. I can't do it, why can't you?" Art was freaking out. He sucked at limited magic what if he couldn't do it?
"The curse that was on the knife, Eter… etere-" Merlin hissed as another tremor passed through him, "My magic's unstable Art, I could destroy everything. You're the only one that can call her."
"B-but I c-" Art continued to stammer but Merlin'ts eyes started to flutter shut.
"Do it Art. Now. I don't particularly feel like dying today" even as he passed out his breathing became more rapid. Already he was coated in a sheen of sweat and by just being near him Art could feel the heat emanating from his skin.
As Bedivere finished with his makeshift bandaging, Percival scooped Merlin up once more and they continued their race to the physician.
But Art was left standing there holding amulet, nobody realising in the rush that he hadn't followed. It was only when Sir Bedivere paused before turning the next corner to look back at him that Art realised Merlin had spoken so softly, they had been the only two to hear him.
"My Lord" Bedivere said solemnly, "From what I've seen, Merlin does not place his trust lightly. He's been through too much for him to trust easily. If he says you can do it. You'd better do it, because right now he needs you. Prove that he hasn't misplaced his faith in you." He then continued around the corner.
Art looked to the amulet in his hand, a new resolve filling him at Bedivere's words. He could do magic. Hells he did magic when he wasn't even trying.
It was then that he realised what he'd been doing wrong, he'd been trying too hard. It's more like chaos, Merlin had said. Art had been trying to force the magic to do as he wished, trying to shove it into the box of his own design.
But he finally understood that that wasn't going to work. He had to let the power flow. Sure he had to guide and shape it, but he couldn't force it.
He rubbed the amulet remembering the words Merlin had said, "Alice ðu aron níedþearfa".
He felt the warmth flow through him, the power that echoed across space and sought the sorceress he had called. He felt how the words he spoke created a path for the magic to flow, so that it called that one person and one person only.
It was only when he heard a surprised voice say, "Art?" that he opened his eyes.
Indescribable excitement filled him as he saw Alice standing in front of him. Her long grey hair plaited over one shoulder and her green eyes confused. He'd done it!
"Art why do you ha-"
He interrupted her as he remembered what was happening, "It's Merlin! There was a knife-"
"Where?" she realised the severity of the situation in an instant.
"He's unconscious they were taking him to the physician."
"Show me" they hurried down the corridor, Art leading the way and explaining what had happened.
"Did Merlin say anything about the knife before he passed out? About what magic it was?"
Art wracked his brain trying to remember what Merlin had said "I- I don't… wait! He said something about it being tri-spelled?"
Alice only increased her pace.
The Physicians Chambers
When Alice barged through the door to the physicians chambers, she ignored the three swords being pointed at her by Percival, Leon and a knight she did not recognise. Instead he hurried to the bed upon which Merlin lay. She also ignored the young man with a motor and pestle who was spluttering at her entrance "What! Who are-"
She could only assume that this was the new court physician, who let's be honest was next to useless right now, now if it had been Gaius it would have been another matter altogether. But one look at Merlin was all it took to see that he'd been right about the cursed blade.
"The knife where is it?" she assumed that while she'd been analysing Merlin who she was had been explained as the knights were no longer pointing swords at her and the physician had stopped spluttering.
As Sir Leon handed her the bronze blade even more people ran into the room. She recognised Sir Lancelot and her heart broke a little as Mel saw Merlin and burst into tears.
So soon after losing her father and seeing Merlin like this… She turned her attention back to her patient and vaguely saw Mel escape Lancelot's grasp, but the girl was caught by Art who held her back with a comforting hand.
"What's wrong with him Alice" Mel said quietly.
"Tri-spelled blade" Alice looked over the knife in her hand with a magical eye, "Three spells woven together and increasing their strength. It is advanced magic, not easy for anyone other than Merlin to combine disciplines in such a way. There was a concealment charm…"
"I didn't even see it until Merlin cast a spell" said the knight which Alice didn't recognise.
Things began clicking into place as she identified the second spell, remembering what Art had said happened, that Merlin had been in front of him when he got hit, "It went for Merlin first?"
The unknown knight nodded, "I deflected it, but it kept flying…"
Alice clarified his confusion of only being able to deflect the knife, "There's a seeking spell on it. It was never going to stop until it hit someone with strong magical abilities" she let that sink in.
Merlin had saved Art's life.
She turned her attention back to figuring out the third spell, berating her idiotic self for being so stupid when she realised what it was.
The signs were all there! Tremors of pain, unstable magic, extreme fever and slight glow of the skin.
Alice snatched her healing wand from her sleeve and started barking orders for various herbs "I need a bowl of cool water too" she added at the end, anything to get all these onlookers away so she could actually work.
As people rushed to her bidding, even the no longer spluttering physician, Alice heard Mel say quietly from where she stood with Art, "What's the final spell?"
Alice started running through the cleansing spell in her head as she answered, "It's a dark curse called Etere be drýcræft. Or Devourer of Magic. It's a blood curse, dark magic, his magic is destroying itself. If it is not cleansed, he will be consumed from the inside by his own corrupted magic"
Everyone came back with her supposedly needed supplies just in time for Mel's next sentence, "But I thought he was immortal?"
"Merlin is what!" Leon nearly dropped the container of herbs he was holding.
"Merlin may not age Mel" Alice clarified ignoring the knights once again "But he can still be killed. It's difficult, but this is the kind of thing that could do it if left untreated."
"Then how do we treat it?" Art's voice left no room for even the possibility of failure.
Alice's eyes snapped to his and she saw the absolute determination that the boys gaze held.
"I need to purge the corrupted magic from him with clean magic. But his own damn power supply is corrupted now, destroying itself, and it's going to take a lot of magic to fully purge it. For an ordinary sorcerer I could use my own because it's all drawn from the earth anyway. But Merlin's magic is different. Because it's created by his own life force it's a different breed of magic that I simply don't have access to. We need to get him to the Valley of the Fallen Kings or somewhere similar which has that kind of pure natural magic."
"Then let's go!" Mel was ready to rush out the door along with the accompanying knights.
"There's not going to be enough time for that. This curse is acting a lot faster than it should be."
Alice had never felt so useless. She was the damn Master of Healing magic, but she didn't know what to do. Despite their initial rocky introduction all those years ago with the manticore, over the past years Merlin had become a friend. She remembered when he'd stumbled into a Council meeting for the first time and simply said that he wanted to learn. He'd struggled with all healing magic, mainly because it was near impossible for him to put his emotions aside which was essential for all healing spells, but he remembered his perseverance. It had taken a while, but he was a decent healer now. But now he was lying here, burning up and his own corrupted magic flowing through his veins and she couldn't do a damn thing to help.
Art had gone unnaturally silent, "So you're saying that because Merlin's a warlock you can't use your magic to save him because you don't use the same magic."
"Yes, and Camelot's natural magic won't be enough."
"Could you use another warlock's magic then?"
"Well yes. But warlocks are few and far between-"
"I'm a warlock use mine."
Alice froze, "You're a what?"
She didn't waste another second with the questions that had filled her mind. She yanked Art to the head of Merlin's bed.
"What do I need to do?" Art asked.
"Put your hands on either side of his head" Alice was already running the words through her head, shaping and crafting the spell she'd need to do what she wished, "Other than that, all you need to do is open your mind. Let your magic flow through you and into Merlin, any fear or worry is only going to hinder it. I'm going to do the rest, but you need to give your power to Merlin, I won't be able to take it."
Before five minutes ago Alice hadn't even know Art had magic, much less that he was a warlock. She had no idea how it came to be or how experienced he was. She off topically wondered if he even recognised that while she was going to be doing a limited spell, he was going to have to instinctually give his power to Merlin.
She saw Art close his eyes, his hands on Merlin's head. After he'd taken a few deep breaths and settled she placed one hand on his shoulder and the other on Merlin's chest.
As soon as she touched the boy, she felt it. The inferno of magic that was welling from him. She had believed him earlier, but now she felt it. Art was a warlock.
Nowhere near the power that Merlin held, but the boy was no hedgemage.
Alice started the spell she'd been crafting, careful with every word.
Etere be drýcræft
Ic clænsian þín bÆl
Fram cneht æt mann, anfeald ðrymfæst stig
Fram galdorcræft æt galdorcræft, lácnung hine dæghwæðerlic
Gelicnes mid gelicnes, nánuht má
gyfylness á sy swá beforan.
She didn't know if her explanation had helped, or if he'd had training, but Art was more than succeeding at giving his magic to Merlin. The second the final words left her lips and her spell started; Art's magic was rushing into him.
She felt its fire course through the other warlock, burning away the curse and every bit of corrupted magic. The spring she felt inside Merlin went from malicious and toxic to clear bright goldfire, just as it had once been.
As the magic faded away Art's hands slipped from Merlin's head and he slumped back in his chair, "That was weird."
Alice rushed to examine Merlin once more, relief flooding through her as she saw that his tremors had ceased. The glow had faded from his skin and fire she had felt emanating from beneath his skin had cooled.
"It worked" she smiled at Art who looked as relieved as she felt.
As she saw the boy stand she warned, "I wouldn't, giving all that magic would have exhausted your body as well as your magic."
Art seemed to agree. As soon as he stood his face paled and he heavily sat back in his chair. All the knights who'd been standing around rushed over.
"I think I'll just stay here for a bit."
"Is he ok?" Leon eyed the boy with concern.
"He just severely depleted his magic reserves. I'll make him something to speed up his regeneration after I've finished checking over Merlin."
But before she could return to the sick warlock's side someone beat her to it.
"So, he's going to be ok?" Mel was looking Merlin up and down with worried eyes.
"Yes" Alice smiled, "He's going to be fine."
A/N:
Thanks and until next time (hopefully not in four months).
I ;)
Spells:
Alice ðu aron níedþearfa – Alice you are needed
Etere be drýcræft – Devourer of Witchcraft
Alice's Spell-
Etere be drýcræft
Ic clænsian þín bÆl
Fram cneht æt mann, anfeald ðrymfæst stig
Fram galdorcræft æt galdorcræft, lácnung hine dæghwæðerlic
Gelicnes mid gelicnes, nánuht má
gyfylness á sy swá beforan
Devour of Witchcraft;
I purge thou fire;
From boy to man, only one way;
From magic to magic, heal him today;
Like with like, nothing more;
Until all is as before.