'The Pendant of Jebrah', story, prompt images #3 & #85
Part II
In Gaius’s chambers, the court physician hunted through his books for information on Jebrah. He hadn’t bothered looking up the Lycaeides Ygraineus butterflies, for aside from their flickering appearance, he had another good reason to suspect magic was involved.
“Jebrah was not only an explorer, but also a sorcerer,” Gaius confided in Merlin.
The boy’s interest was further piqued. He leaned forward on the table, eagerly watching Gaius flick through the pages.
“But not a malevolent one, though,” Gaius continued. “I knew him.” He became somewhat wistful. “As far as I know, he escaped the Great Purge, but where he is now I have no idea. Ah-hah!” He triumphantly tapped the book’s page. “Here we are, this describes a number of magical trinkets Jebrah made...” He briefly ran through them until coming to a crucial object. “...a butterfly pendant.” He quirked an eyebrow at Merlin.
“Well, that can’t be a coincidence, surely?” The boy grinned excitedly.
There was a brief knock at the door and then Arthur stepped inside. Gaius closed and pushed aside his book as subtly as possible.
“Have you found out anything?” the prince demanded.
“It is magic,” Merlin told him.
“It’s highly likely that it is magic,” Gaius corrected. “There was a magical pendant made in the image of a Lycaeides Ygraineus butterfly.”
Arthur inexplicably paled and looked terrified, as if Gaius had just presented him with his worst fear.
“Arthur?” Merlin stared in concern, as the prince lowered himself onto a stool.
“Merlin, earlier I...” Arthur cleared his throat, trying to regain some strength to his voice. “That missing box, you might have been right about it being connected to the beasts...” The prince took a deep breath. “It contained a pendant, which was a gift to my mother from Jebrah, and a letter telling her he’d discovered the rare butterflies.”
“Was the pendant a gold chain with a gold butterfly embedded with blue and yellow gems?” Gaius asked.
“Yes.” Arthur sighed. “It looked just like the giant butterflies.”
“Did you know Jebrah was a sorcerer?” Gaius asked, carefully.
Arthur sighed again. “I was beginning to suspect. You know what the pendant is, don’t you?”
Gaius nodded. “It’s magical.” He eyed the prince warily. “Sire, how did you come to have the butterfly pendant? What exactly is this missing box and where did it come from?”
“That’s not important,” Arthur declared, standing up. “How do I stop these magical beasts?”
“They’re not really beasts,” Gaius explained. “The butterfly pendant was supposed to emit conjured images of Lycaeides Ygraineus butterflies - small, harmless images with a limited range. The pendant is merely a toy. Something must have gone wrong, it’s damaged somehow, maybe because the spell was cast so long ago or someone has tampered with it.”
“Intended or not, the thing is causing harm and needs to be destroyed,” Arthur pointed out.
“The pendant can be turned off,” Gaius told him.
“How?”
“There’s a switch,” Gaius replied, surprisingly them with the mundaneness of it.
“But that still means I need to find the pendant.”
“We need to find the person who took your box,” Merlin spoke up.
Arthur stilled. “Hmm, the box.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “The King must not find out that I had this butterfly pendant, or the box.” The prince glared sternly at Gaius. “In fact,” he winced, “it’s probably best that Uther doesn’t know about the connection to my mother at all.”
Gaius frowned, but didn’t protest.
“Gaius, you are to tell my father not to worry, that I’m dealing with the beasts. It’s all in hand.”
The elder man looked at Arthur with curiosity and concern, but said nothing, merely nodding in obedience.
“Merlin, come with me.” The prince headed for the door.
Gaius caught Merlin’s arm, holding him back for a moment, as Arthur left the room. “You must find out what else was in the box and how Arthur came by it,” he whispered, urgently.
Merlin frowned, feeling defensive of Arthur’s privacy.
“It may be gravely important, Merlin,” Gaius pressed.
“Merlin, hurry up and stop dawdling!” the prince’s voice called impatiently from down the corridor.
Merlin bit his lip, hurriedly reading Gaius’s earnest expression. “I’ll try, but I won’t promise anything.”
Satisfied, Gaius released his arm and Merlin rushed to catch up with Arthur.
Part III
“I’ve spoken to the guard and they saw a man running away from the castle this morning,” Arthur told Merlin, as they crossed the castle square. “We’ll start at The Rising Sun. The inn’s a common dwelling for thieves and swindlers.” The prince frowned. “But what I can’t work out is how someone knew to look, let alone where to look for the pendant. No one knew about the box.”
“Even I didn’t know about it,” Merlin said, more pointedly than he’d intended.
Arthur was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to pay much attention.
“Jebrah made a magical looking glass to keep track of his magical trinkets,” Merlin told him. “He was always losing things, according to Gaius.”
Arthur glared indignantly. “Gaius knows a lot of things...” He had not liked the court physician’s interest in the box. It had nothing to do with him, and as an old friend to the King, his loyalty lay with Uther when it came to any secrets the prince may have.
Merlin looked uneasy, and Arthur eyed him critically for a moment. He knew the court physician had taken the boy under his wing, becoming a kind of father figure, and Merlin shared a more open friendship with him than he did with Arthur. But the prince did not like to think that Merlin would tattle on him to Gaius. Merlin was ultimately faithful to him over Gaius, wasn’t he? Regardless of how they behaved on a daily basis, when something serious happened, when push came to shove, they always had the other’s back. It wasn’t something they ever discussed, but they had both shown themselves to be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for each other. That had to count, right? But then again, he suspected Merlin might do the same for Gaius.
“Then the thief must have Jebrah’s mirror,” Arthur said finally.
“Yup,” Merlin agreed.
A stir ran through The Rising Sun when the crown prince entered with his manservant, a murmur spreading the news of their arrival. Almost immediately a figure ran for the backdoor.
Arthur made chase, pushing his way through the inn. Merlin followed close behind.
Just outside the backdoor, the prince grabbed the tunic of the fleeing man and flung him against the outer wall of the inn. He pinned him there with a strong arm across his throat. The man was a short, spindly fellow dressed as a peasant but a heavy moneybag bulged at his hip.
“And where might you be going in such a hurry?” Arthur growled into the man’s face.
“I-I didn’t mean for them to get loose, I didn’t think they’d be s-so big,” the thief stuttered fearfully, “but I can’t turn it off.”
“Where’s the pendant? Where’s the box?” Arthur demanded.
“T-the pendant’s here. A-and Lady Ygraine’s box is upstairs in my room.”
Arthur lessened his hold and the thief revealed the butterfly pendant in his trembling hand.
Suddenly a huge shadow passed over them and huge blue and yellow wings flapped in the sky above. The thief shrieked, scrabbling away from Arthur’s hold as they all ducked. The pendant fell to the ground.
The giant butterfly fluttered erratically, knocking into the town’s buildings. Merlin grabbed for the pendant, Arthur ushering him behind him, sword glinting in the sunlight as the butterfly started to make another ungainly approach. It hit a tree and fell into a tailspin, heading right for them.
Merlin turned his attention to the pendant.
“Oncierre,” he commanded, his irises flashing gold.
The giant butterfly disappeared into thin air.
Arthur turned to Merlin, mystified, to find his servant holding up the pendant triumphantly.
“Did you do that?” Arthur asked, incredulously.
“I turned it off,” Merlin replied, grinning smugly. He waggled the butterfly pendant’s tiny switch. “It’s completely dead now, though. Look. Completely safe.”
Arthur tentatively reached for it. “Are you sure?” He turned the pendant over in his hand, preciously.
“Yes. The magic has gone from it.”
Arthur seemed happy enough to believe him and headed for the inn door. Merlin followed him up to the thief’s room. He helped the prince search, although somewhat less desperately than Arthur.
A gleeful cry announced Arthur’s discovery of the box inside a drawer. As he hastily pulled it out, a handheld mirror fell to the floor. The prince looked at it for a moment before, very intentionally, standing on it, cracking the glass.
Arthur moved off, peering inside the box to check if any of the contents were missing. Merlin stared at the broken magical mirror, unable to completely suppress his disappointment.
Merlin dragged his gaze back up to Arthur. “What about the thief?”
“Oh, he’s not a concern. He’s no real risk, and charging him with the theft would entail my father finding out. And that is something best avoided.” Arthur’s eyes bored darkly into Merlin.
“Wouldn’t your father like to know you’ve got your mother’s possessions back safely?” Merlin asked, innocently.
“No.” Arthur scowled. “He doesn’t know I had the box. I’m not sure he even knows it exists.”
Merlin looked curious, but was quiet.
Arthur suddenly sighed, wearily. He sank down onto the edge on the bed, resting the box on his knees. He rubbed his thumb over the brass plaque on the wooden box’s lid. Merlin could just make out the engraved name - Ygraine de Bois.
“My father would be angry if he knew I had it,” the prince confided, quietly.
Merlin moved to sit beside his friend. “But why? Surely he’d want you to have something of your mother’s.”
Arthur found himself continuing to talk, despite his earlier concerns about Merlin leaking information to Gaius, who might in turn tell Uther. There was something about Merlin. Arthur couldn’t stop himself from liking him, couldn’t help himself from daring to trust him.
“I’ve had ten years to either put it back or confess to him that I stole it from the locked room that belonged to the Queen. He would not welcome the deception.” Arthur looked away. “Besides, I learnt at a young age not to bring up my mother in his presence.”
Merlin didn’t know what to say, so merely sat with Arthur for a while. The prince opened the box again and rifled through the letters and trinkets within, touching each with great care and love. Merlin soon realised that it was a secret place for personal treasures, which Ygraine had used into adulthood in indulgence of childish fancy. He didn’t see how Arthur having it could do any harm. In the unlikely event of the box going missing again, he felt sure Arthur would tell him immediately now that he knew all about it. Merlin could understand what the box must mean to the motherless Arthur, and there was no way he would ever rat him out to Uther about anything. He’d tell Gaius not to worry about it, there was no need to get so gravely serious. Arthur merely had some toys and letters.
Arthur didn’t say anything else and it wasn’t long before he closed the box again and stood up. They started to head back to the castle. The prince had regained his usual confident air, but remained quiet and thoughtful.
As they neared the castle gates, Arthur paused and turned to Merlin. “There’s something I don’t understand...my mother was friends with a sorcerer.”
Fin