Part 4
Merlin literally felt eyes on him all day. Usually he wouldn’t mind if Arthur glanced over at him or watched him clean constantly, but he was in a certain mood and it was scary knowing that something was bothering him and that he couldn’t figure out what it was. Normally his master was going around shouting at his soldiers, but today he just stood near a tree and watched Merlin as he went about setting up a fire for their lunch. It was just so unnerving that a slight chill went down his spine as he turned his head back to focus on the fire.
“I don’t like the mood he is in,” mentioned Sir Leon as he whittled away at a stick. “He only gets like this when his father threatens to cast him away to another Kingdom or marry him off to Elena.”
“You can’t blame him when Oliver visited him earlier,” muttered Merlin, finally getting the fire started and sat back to watch it burn.
“That would explain it wouldn’t it? Never liked that Oliver. Always sneaking around when Arthur wasn’t looking.”
“What do you mean sneaking around?”
“I mean he was always poking his nose in other people’s business and it was not friendly. He once asked me what the deal between you and Arthur was and when I told him he got this twinkle in his eyes. If I were you, Merlin, I would watch him at all costs.”
“I intend on it.”
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For the rest of the evening, Merlin was constantly watching Arthur and Oliver. On those rare occasions when he saw them together, he would strain to listen to their conversations. Nothing. That was what he heard between them. It was almost like Oliver was speaking in a different language and Arthur just nodded or blinked in response. That sent off warning bells in his head. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do about it. And by the time it was lights out, Arthur still hadn’t talked to anyone and Merlin hadn’t gotten any further in his investigation. Something was up. He could tell.
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“Merlin…”
His eyes snapped open at the sound of his own name in his head. Blinking around his tent, he saw nothing but pitch black and shook his head. Maybe he was going crazy after the day he had. There was nothing in his tent and, nothing that he could see outside so he must have imagined it.
“Merlin….”
Hearing it once more, he got off the cot and tiptoed his way to the flap of his tent, sticking his head and big ears out of it. Seeing nothing he shook his head again. He was clearly becoming paranoid over something because who would be calling his name?
“Merlin…come into the forest.”
The beast. It had to be because nothing else made sense as to what was calling him.
Sneaking out of the area of tents was easier than he thought because he had been sure that Arthur would have set one of them up to watch him. Unless it was Oliver. Then he would gladly let him out into the forest. But still he went, curious to see the beast once more.
The thing was in the clearing, waiting for him almost like they met there every night to talk about their days. It was almost too casual of a scene. “What do you want?”
“Only to warn you.”
“Warn me? I know who brought you here…I know what he’s doing to Arthur, what else do you want me to do?”
“You need to be careful around the others. When you get a free moment to yourself….Oliver has the answer.”
“What does that even mean?”
“You know who sent me here, you don’t know why, but you can find out. If you go now…no one will stop you.”
Merlin tilted an eyebrow up when the beast suggested he just waltz himself into Oliver’s tent and help himself around. Not while the knight was sleeping, his head would surely get cut off if he happened to get caught.
“You won’t get caught. He is nowhere to be found.”
“How do you know?”
“He and I are connected, remember? Whatever he does, I know about. We are one and the same.”
Merlin took this into consideration for a moment before turning on his heels and making his way towards Oliver’s tent. He was pleasantly surprised to find the tent void of anyone inside of it. No Oliver or anyone else to whack him over the head and kill him for trespassing. What exactly he was doing he was unsure of because the beast never did explain why he had sent him there.
“Why do I listen to things that aren’t even real? I’m a bloody fool.”
He took his time going through the tent, surprised to find barely any possessions in it. The only thing that really didn’t belong was a chest that looked old and had symbols he didn’t recognize around the edges. Just like a boy in a candy store, he stooped in front of it in fascination and reached his sticky hands out to push open the lid. Only to find it wouldn’t budge. Fingering the symbols around the edges, he tried to distinguished if he had ever seen these before. Of course his mind came up blank.
“You saw them once upon a time, Merlin. When you were a young lad of eight summers old. Your mum…think back.”
Not knowing where that memory came from, he blinked blankly at the box, trying to remember, trying to figure out what his mother had told him about the symbols. There was nothing coming to him, almost like something was blocking his memory from actually being set free. All he could think of was his mum and how she told him tales about her jewelry box when he was just a lad. Then…it hit him.
Merlin was sitting on her lap, opening the music box and closing it repeatedly, giggling as he found it to be a sort of game. His mum’s music box was like magic, something he had never seen before. Not even Will’s mum had this sort of box that played soft melodies upon opening the lid. It was truly magical to own a possession such as this.
“Merlin, what are you doing with that?”
“Playing the song, mum.”
“You should know better then to open and close it like that. You might break it. It was a present from your father.”
“I know, mum. I just like the song that plays. Where did dad find such a box that sings?”
Seeing his mum smile, he handed the box over to her so she could tell the story once more of how he handed it to her after fighting a dragon and ripping it out of his body. A tale told to an eight year old boy who had a wild imagination.
“It all happened on a day where the sun was high in the sky, a day that symbolized how wonderful it was to be in love. Your dad and I were simply walking along the forest path when we heard a noise coming from the cave up above us. It was a scary sound, something that sounded angry and almost like it wanted something from us.”
“What was it, mum?”
With a gentle smile, she sat down next to her son, ruffled his hair once and continued on. “It was none other than a dragon: back when there were lots of them about, your father used to be the one - the only one - to stop them. Well, this dragon was big, taller than I have ever seen before in my life and it came out of the cave from up above, giving off a ferocious growl.”
“Were you scared, mum?”
“Very. But your father saved me by slashing the dragon up into tiny pieces and ripping its heart out. What came of the dragon’s heart was this music box. The song is about overcoming your fears.”
Merlin stared at the box in front of his face and smiled, reaching out to touch the symbols around it. “What do these mean, mum?”
“The symbols?” With a nod from her son, she patted him on the head, not sure if he was ready for this story, but knew she couldn’t keep much from her son. “It’s a spell. One that is only to be said at a time of need.”
His eyes were huge at this point, always loving a new fact about the story his mother told him, and always hanging on every word that came out of her mouth. “Did you or dad ever use it?”
With a shake of her head, she placed the box on the table near the bed. “No. We had no use. And when your father left…I didn’t use it then either. Now it’s time for bed, Merlin.”
“Aww, mum, do I have to? I want to hear more about the words….what do they mean?”
“I will tell you another time, my son.”
Merlin remembered that day time and time again because it was the one day that his mother added new information to the story. Unfortunately she hadn’t told him exactly what the symbols said, but he got the gist of it when he had become curious and looked it up. The words were a protection spell on that box and now he knew why his mum never used it. She would rather be in pain over his father and remember him than to not remember him at all.
Glancing down at the chest before him, he ran his fingers over the symbols, trying to remember what each symbol meant.
“To kill the beast….you must….must what?”
“Patience, Merlin….you will figure it out.”
Snapping to the flap of the tent blowing in the wind, he knew then what it meant. He had to kill the host that was the beast and the host was… “Oliver.”
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“I have to kill Oliver in order to kill the beast…but how?” Merlin was generally against all killing. He knew that he was more of a lover than a fighter so picking up a blade was harder to do than one expected. And he couldn’t really go to anyone else about this little fact because who was going to believe him? No one was going to want to come with him and kill Oliver. It would be off with their heads if they were found to kill a knight.
So there he was, pacing back and forth, trying to come up with something that would make the most sense, the best way to kill Oliver without actually laying a hand on him. But the truth of the matter was that Oliver wasn’t a real person. He was a beast, that’s how it was able to go about during the day. Everything magical had to have a host somehow and the body it was inhabiting right now was already dead because the soul was taken up by this thing that was walking around killing people at night.
Maybe if there was a duel of some sort he wouldn’t feel so bad having to kill the monster. Then there was the fact that he could just run the monster through with a sword and be done with it. It was clear that Oliver couldn’t read people’s minds in human form so it could work to his advantage.
Plopping down on his bed made him sigh in frustration. How was he going to go about this without actually having people around to see? There had to be a way in order to just kill without having witnesses. He hoped that the answer would come to him in the morning.
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Waking up didn’t supply him with the answer that he was looking for. He wasn’t even sure what was more frustrating, Arthur being a pain in his arse once more today or the fact that Oliver was nowhere to be seen. When he asked Arthur where he was, he got snapped at with ’it’s none of your business‘. The day just wasn’t going as planned and already he felt a sinking suspicion that things were not going to go the way that he had hoped. Especially with the fact that Oliver, the one person he was looking for, was nowhere to be found. He could just bang his head against a tree trunk or something hard to possibly render himself unconscious and end this day.
There seemed to be nothing that he could do that would kill this beast. The brief memory of that music box didn’t give him any type of brilliant moment that made him stand up and exclaim ‘aha’. Instead it just made his head hurt with trying to think of an idea of how to kill the bloody thing. Nothing. That’s all his head was screaming at him. There was just something wrong with this music box matching the chest thing and he couldn’t figure out what that thing was. Merlin knew that there was a piece missing to this whole puzzle.
“Merlin, get your bloody arse out here!”
He gulped, knowing that tone perfectly well. For some reason, Arthur was still in a foul mood carried over from yesterday. Shuffling his feet, he made his way out of his tent and came to stand in front of Arthur who was clearly upset.
“Didn’t I tell you to collect firewood for supper?”
“Yes and I was just about to gather it up, Sir.”
“I told you this fifteen minutes ago and you have been standing in that tent of yours.”
“I am sorry, Sir.”
“Get along, Merlin.”
Merlin double glanced when he heard the soft tone in Arthur’s voice, but recovered quickly enough to hurry up and shuffle away before he got yelled at once more and that tender moment passed. The moment that he was in the forest, he quickly forgot about the mood Arthur was in and began worrying about the task at hand. Not that picking up twigs or sticks was hard to do, and it didn’t require much thinking what so ever, it was just pleasant to get his mind off of everything that was bothering him. When Arthur had volunteered him for this job he had jumped at it quickly, glad to be away from the horrible campsite. A break would probably do him well enough in the solving of killing the beast.
As he picked up sticks good enough for the fire, he thought over everything that had happened with Morgana before things got rough around Camelot. He knew that as soon as his feet landed on the other side of the door, he was going to confront her and tell her about why she was having dreams. How he was going to approach the whole situation he wasn’t quite sure, he just knew that someone was going to have to tell her the truth. Merlin hadn’t quite understood at first why Gaius hadn’t told her that she had magic, but then he did. Uther was protective of everyone behind the doors of Camelot against those who used magic. It didn’t matter to Uther that some of those people used magic for good.
Of course it didn’t really matter that those people out there like Merlin who used magic for good were wholesome and pure. Granted he did tend to dabble in the darker stuff, but he had to if he wanted to save people. No way was he going to stick to just the basics and the good magic if he wanted Arthur to live. He felt like he needed to protect the prince at all cost. Why? He had no idea.
Suddenly the sound of a snapping twig took his mind off of magic and Uther and everything else. Snapping his head in the direction of the sound, he saw movement, something ducking behind a tree. Merlin dropped his armload full of sticks and walked over to the shadow he had seen and was shocked when that shadow turned out to be stronger than him. It had him up against a tree. The shadow though wasn’t just a black smudge, it was an actual person. Oliver was standing right in front of him.
“Snooping around again are we, Merlin?”
“I’m collecting sticks for the fire.”
“Oh really? I know you were in my tent yesterday. The beast tells all.”
“It tells me plenty of things as well.”
“Yes, it tends to do that to those using magic. How would Arthur feel if he found out you were keeping a secret from him?”
“He wouldn’t believe you.”
“But wouldn’t he?”
Merlin studied the man in front of him, knowing with certainty why Arthur was the way he was. Oliver was a magic user as well and was influencing Arthur. It was sad to know that the future king wasn’t as strong minded as he was willed.
“So you are the one controlling the beast.”
“Of course I am. And everything would have gone along as planned if you hadn’t gotten in the middle of this.”
“What did you plan on doing? Set the beast loose in Camelot so the King would have a reason to go out and find out who was behind it? That would have been much worse than me stumbling upon it.”
“You don’t know anything. Maybe you would understand if you used that head of yours.”
“I have been trying to use my head. Nothing is coming up for why you would be doing something like this.”
“I remember that little village of yours before coming here hoping to be better off than a lowly peasant.”
Merlin was clearly confused. Oliver obviously had his own agenda and he couldn’t figure out what it was that he had gotten in the middle of. And that beast that he had happened upon the past two nights seemed new to him and yet this man standing in front of him was telling him something completely different. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Ah, you are so naïve. But then you were just a lad back then, barely… ten summers?”
“Eight.”
“Ah, yes, eight. You were there with your mum when the beast attacked. Remember that, Merlin? You were walking along the town with her when it appeared out of nowhere. Instead of it killing you and her like I was hoping it would do, you did something to kill it off.”
“You were the one behind that attack?”
“Of course I was, you ignorant boy.”
“I remember how I killed it…now.”
“Which means I will have to kill you.”
Oliver was in the midst of drawing his sword when he felt a tap on the shoulder. Turning around he was face to face with Arthur. “Your Highness….”
“What may I ask are you doing with Merlin? He was supposed to come back with that pile of sticks minutes ago.”
“We were simply talking, Sire.”
“I wish you would hurry along then and bring it back to the tents. My soldiers are hungry.”
“As you wish, Sir.”
Oliver glared over at Merlin giving him a look that clearly read ‘later’. As much as he was afraid of the other man, he knew that he could now defeat not only one, but both of them and he was going to be the one they praised back behind those gates. That was silly though because Arthur was the one that would get all the credit. It left a bitter taste on his tongue.
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Merlin couldn’t fall asleep. No matter what he did, he just laid there wide awake. There was just so much going on right now and it was praying on his mind. A part of him thought that this was all just a nightmare and he was never going to wake up from it. Another part of him knew that something was going to happen, something that he was not going to like. The only way that he could possibly conceive to kill this beast was with magic and he was just not ready to reveal that to the world yet. But there was of course the fact that the beast was going to continue to kill people unless he was stopped.
With a sigh, he rubbed his temples, willing the headache that crept up on him to go away. The time that he just stopped thinking would surely be the end of the world.
“Merlin”
“Not tonight…”
“Merlin.”
Merlin knew that he was going to have to go out and face the beast. Even if he wanted to sleep, he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to with the beast out there calling his name every few seconds.
“What do you want?,” he asked, popping his head out of his tent.
“It’s time, Merlin.”
“Time for what exactly?”
“For murder.”
“I can’t kill you…it’s too troublesome. I can’t let my magic be known.”
“There are other ways.”
“No there is not. I can’t possibly do what I have to do without blowing you up.”
The beast didn’t say anything after that, just sat down with a flourish and stared at Merlin, unblinking.
“Listen,” he started, stepping fully out of the tent, knowing he was going to need to get this over with. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t just kill you because it will kill Oliver. I scared you off last time, I can’t….blow you up.”
“It is your choice.”
That stopped him from saying anything further, knowing that it was true. No one was making him do anything. He had a choice laid out in front of him and he was barely toeing the line right now. The beast was just sitting there, staring at him, not saying anything but a purring noise coming from him every so often.
“If there is another way…would you be willing to tell me what it is?”
“I’m simply a capsule, not a messenger.”
“Well, what’s the use of you talking to me then if I can’t do anything?”
Merlin was very troubled at all of this. It was upsetting that he was going to have to kill something that was willing to die, even egging him on slightly. Very infuriating.
“You need to free me, Merlin. You are the only one who can.”
He paused at that, wondering why this beast who destroyed ordinary people wanted to die. Unless it was all a trick and then things would be turned upside down. There was already a lot going on if he didn’t kill this beast. It would reflect badly on Arthur to his own father, King Uther, if he did not stop this horrible thing from killing the villagers. Merlin was just so confused. He wasn’t sure how to approach this situation at all. It felt like a horrible, horrible trap that was sure to have him end up face first in the dirt.
With a sigh, he eyed the beast wearily, wondering if magic was the only way to slay a beast like this. He couldn’t even remember the proper name for the beast, just wanted to call it ‘Oliver’ after the horrible “knight” who had popped up out of nowhere a fortnight ago. But if his memories served him correctly, the beast could only be killed by magic. Magic seemed to be both his downfall and the key to pretty much everything in his life. He just couldn’t win.
“Fine…but this better not be a trick.”
The beast just nodded its head and Merlin could have sworn he saw a smile pop up on the thing’s face, but surely he was mistaken. After all the thing didn’t appear to have a mouth that would make it easy for it to smile.
“Do I get any help or are you going to make this hard on me?”
“Do you know how to kill me?”
Merlin simply nodded, knowing exactly how he was going to kill this foul beast. There was a stick right alongside the beast that he had put a spell on earlier in the day when Arthur had commanded he collect firewood again that day. Thankfully he could see it even in the dark, but he couldn’t let the beast know anything about this because he was sure that the thing could read his mind. Considering that the thing could speak to him in his mind, it made sense that it could possibly also read it. He wasn’t going to take any chances.
“Very well…get on with it.”
It did come as a surprise that the thing was still standing there, as if wanting to play a game with him. Merlin took one step forward, testing the grounds. And when the beast still just stood there, he gave a little smile and said a few words to get the stick to hover in the air. When satisfied that he had control over the stick, he turned to face…open space. “Bloody hell!”
The stick dropped to the ground with a thud, making him rush over and pick it up. “I thought you weren’t going to play bloody games!”
“He wasn’t going to….but I am,” came a voice from a tree near his left. Oliver appeared out of the wooded area of the forest with a wide grin on his face. “You may be wondering where he is. Well….he’s here, in my heart.”
“So you two are one in the same. Does that mean you can read my thoughts, too?”
“Of course not. I’m human.”
Merlin was almost positive that he was going to have to kill the human host in order to kill the actual beast. He could do this. He was certain that he wold be able to kill this body in order to kill the beast. He had to anyway if he wanted to save Camelot and that was what he was supposed to do.
“Are you sure you’ll be able to kill me, Merlin? I can tell you’re already second guess yourself. It happens every single time that something out of your control occurs.”
“You haven’t been here that long, Oliver…have you been spying on this kingdom for a long time?”
“That is my little secret,” he mentioned with a smirk.
Merlin really wanted to wipe that smirk off of Oliver’s face, but he couldn’t throw the first punch because then his plan would not work. He had it all in his head where Oliver would throw the first punch or whip out his sword and they would fight. Fight until Merlin had a chance to conjure the stick and jam it into Oliver’s heart.
Before he could respond to Oliver, he was being pushed to the ground, his head hitting a rock, making him just a little dazed. He had no idea what had just happened there, but he knew that he couldn’t just lie there and take a beating of the lifetime. Especially if he wanted to be a man who can take care of himself in Arthur’s eyes. So, he stood up and looked around, finding there to be no one around.
“Lovely,” he muttered, keeping his eyes and ears out for Oliver. Merlin wasn’t quite sure what form Oliver would be in, but he knew that he was going to need to be ready for this fight: stick and all. He gripped his stick even tighter, making sure it was still held tightly in his hand, needing to feel the solidness of it to get him through this fight.
Instead of standing still, he began to slowly walk around, making sure to stay clear of anything that would make a loud noise for the beast to hear him. Even though he was generally light on his feet, he knew better then to go around snapping twigs while around a mystical being. Especially one who was currently in human form who could do anything in a matter of seconds.
His eyes flickered back and forth, his ears straining to hear a sound, any sound. There was nothing at all around him making any sort of noise, which screamed warning bells in his head. He ignored the warning in his head and kept creeping around in the woods, wondering where all the owls and night animals were and why he couldn’t hear Arthur snoring in his tent just a few hundred feet away. It was odd and he had a feeling that the beast was a lot closer then he thought. Animals just didn’t stop making natural noises for no reason unless they were afraid. He had been told many stories about that when he was younger. It freaked him out then and it freaked him out even more so now.
Merlin stopped upon hearing the snap of a twig behind him. Whirling around, he was face to face with nothing but thin air. His hand was now gripping the stick tight enough that his knuckles were turning white. The tension in the air was driving him just a little insane, making him wonder when the beast was going to attack. He could feel it almost like a storm was rolling in and at any minute the clouds would burst open and spill the rain everywhere.
He couldn’t take it anymore. “Come out and fight like whatever it is that you are.”
At first nothing happened. The air was coiled with enough tension that Merlin could cut it with the stick in his hand.
Before he could speak once more, the beast jumped out in front of him, a growl escaping its lips, saliva dripping between its teeth. “You have summoned me….here I am.”
Merlin stood there at first, staring at the beast almost like he was in a trance. He was just so shocked that he almost forgot that he had his own magical weapon to help him kill a beast like this. It was when the beast jumped right in front of him that he remembered about the magical stick clutched in his tight grip. When his mind flickered for the right words to say, the beast was already on him, charging at him the last remaining feet, its intention entirely clear. He didn’t even stop to let his mind run through the possibilities of the could be’s. Instead he mumbled the words of the spell, the stick hovering in the air until the beast was just a pounce away and then it stabbed the thing right through the chest, the beast shattering into dust right in front of his very eyes.
“I don’t like the mood he is in,” mentioned Sir Leon as he whittled away at a stick. “He only gets like this when his father threatens to cast him away to another Kingdom or marry him off to Elena.”
“You can’t blame him when Oliver visited him earlier,” muttered Merlin, finally getting the fire started and sat back to watch it burn.
“That would explain it wouldn’t it? Never liked that Oliver. Always sneaking around when Arthur wasn’t looking.”
“What do you mean sneaking around?”
“I mean he was always poking his nose in other people’s business and it was not friendly. He once asked me what the deal between you and Arthur was and when I told him he got this twinkle in his eyes. If I were you, Merlin, I would watch him at all costs.”
“I intend on it.”
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For the rest of the evening, Merlin was constantly watching Arthur and Oliver. On those rare occasions when he saw them together, he would strain to listen to their conversations. Nothing. That was what he heard between them. It was almost like Oliver was speaking in a different language and Arthur just nodded or blinked in response. That sent off warning bells in his head. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do about it. And by the time it was lights out, Arthur still hadn’t talked to anyone and Merlin hadn’t gotten any further in his investigation. Something was up. He could tell.
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“Merlin…”
His eyes snapped open at the sound of his own name in his head. Blinking around his tent, he saw nothing but pitch black and shook his head. Maybe he was going crazy after the day he had. There was nothing in his tent and, nothing that he could see outside so he must have imagined it.
“Merlin….”
Hearing it once more, he got off the cot and tiptoed his way to the flap of his tent, sticking his head and big ears out of it. Seeing nothing he shook his head again. He was clearly becoming paranoid over something because who would be calling his name?
“Merlin…come into the forest.”
The beast. It had to be because nothing else made sense as to what was calling him.
Sneaking out of the area of tents was easier than he thought because he had been sure that Arthur would have set one of them up to watch him. Unless it was Oliver. Then he would gladly let him out into the forest. But still he went, curious to see the beast once more.
The thing was in the clearing, waiting for him almost like they met there every night to talk about their days. It was almost too casual of a scene. “What do you want?”
“Only to warn you.”
“Warn me? I know who brought you here…I know what he’s doing to Arthur, what else do you want me to do?”
“You need to be careful around the others. When you get a free moment to yourself….Oliver has the answer.”
“What does that even mean?”
“You know who sent me here, you don’t know why, but you can find out. If you go now…no one will stop you.”
Merlin tilted an eyebrow up when the beast suggested he just waltz himself into Oliver’s tent and help himself around. Not while the knight was sleeping, his head would surely get cut off if he happened to get caught.
“You won’t get caught. He is nowhere to be found.”
“How do you know?”
“He and I are connected, remember? Whatever he does, I know about. We are one and the same.”
Merlin took this into consideration for a moment before turning on his heels and making his way towards Oliver’s tent. He was pleasantly surprised to find the tent void of anyone inside of it. No Oliver or anyone else to whack him over the head and kill him for trespassing. What exactly he was doing he was unsure of because the beast never did explain why he had sent him there.
“Why do I listen to things that aren’t even real? I’m a bloody fool.”
He took his time going through the tent, surprised to find barely any possessions in it. The only thing that really didn’t belong was a chest that looked old and had symbols he didn’t recognize around the edges. Just like a boy in a candy store, he stooped in front of it in fascination and reached his sticky hands out to push open the lid. Only to find it wouldn’t budge. Fingering the symbols around the edges, he tried to distinguished if he had ever seen these before. Of course his mind came up blank.
“You saw them once upon a time, Merlin. When you were a young lad of eight summers old. Your mum…think back.”
Not knowing where that memory came from, he blinked blankly at the box, trying to remember, trying to figure out what his mother had told him about the symbols. There was nothing coming to him, almost like something was blocking his memory from actually being set free. All he could think of was his mum and how she told him tales about her jewelry box when he was just a lad. Then…it hit him.
Merlin was sitting on her lap, opening the music box and closing it repeatedly, giggling as he found it to be a sort of game. His mum’s music box was like magic, something he had never seen before. Not even Will’s mum had this sort of box that played soft melodies upon opening the lid. It was truly magical to own a possession such as this.
“Merlin, what are you doing with that?”
“Playing the song, mum.”
“You should know better then to open and close it like that. You might break it. It was a present from your father.”
“I know, mum. I just like the song that plays. Where did dad find such a box that sings?”
Seeing his mum smile, he handed the box over to her so she could tell the story once more of how he handed it to her after fighting a dragon and ripping it out of his body. A tale told to an eight year old boy who had a wild imagination.
“It all happened on a day where the sun was high in the sky, a day that symbolized how wonderful it was to be in love. Your dad and I were simply walking along the forest path when we heard a noise coming from the cave up above us. It was a scary sound, something that sounded angry and almost like it wanted something from us.”
“What was it, mum?”
With a gentle smile, she sat down next to her son, ruffled his hair once and continued on. “It was none other than a dragon: back when there were lots of them about, your father used to be the one - the only one - to stop them. Well, this dragon was big, taller than I have ever seen before in my life and it came out of the cave from up above, giving off a ferocious growl.”
“Were you scared, mum?”
“Very. But your father saved me by slashing the dragon up into tiny pieces and ripping its heart out. What came of the dragon’s heart was this music box. The song is about overcoming your fears.”
Merlin stared at the box in front of his face and smiled, reaching out to touch the symbols around it. “What do these mean, mum?”
“The symbols?” With a nod from her son, she patted him on the head, not sure if he was ready for this story, but knew she couldn’t keep much from her son. “It’s a spell. One that is only to be said at a time of need.”
His eyes were huge at this point, always loving a new fact about the story his mother told him, and always hanging on every word that came out of her mouth. “Did you or dad ever use it?”
With a shake of her head, she placed the box on the table near the bed. “No. We had no use. And when your father left…I didn’t use it then either. Now it’s time for bed, Merlin.”
“Aww, mum, do I have to? I want to hear more about the words….what do they mean?”
“I will tell you another time, my son.”
Merlin remembered that day time and time again because it was the one day that his mother added new information to the story. Unfortunately she hadn’t told him exactly what the symbols said, but he got the gist of it when he had become curious and looked it up. The words were a protection spell on that box and now he knew why his mum never used it. She would rather be in pain over his father and remember him than to not remember him at all.
Glancing down at the chest before him, he ran his fingers over the symbols, trying to remember what each symbol meant.
“To kill the beast….you must….must what?”
“Patience, Merlin….you will figure it out.”
Snapping to the flap of the tent blowing in the wind, he knew then what it meant. He had to kill the host that was the beast and the host was… “Oliver.”
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“I have to kill Oliver in order to kill the beast…but how?” Merlin was generally against all killing. He knew that he was more of a lover than a fighter so picking up a blade was harder to do than one expected. And he couldn’t really go to anyone else about this little fact because who was going to believe him? No one was going to want to come with him and kill Oliver. It would be off with their heads if they were found to kill a knight.
So there he was, pacing back and forth, trying to come up with something that would make the most sense, the best way to kill Oliver without actually laying a hand on him. But the truth of the matter was that Oliver wasn’t a real person. He was a beast, that’s how it was able to go about during the day. Everything magical had to have a host somehow and the body it was inhabiting right now was already dead because the soul was taken up by this thing that was walking around killing people at night.
Maybe if there was a duel of some sort he wouldn’t feel so bad having to kill the monster. Then there was the fact that he could just run the monster through with a sword and be done with it. It was clear that Oliver couldn’t read people’s minds in human form so it could work to his advantage.
Plopping down on his bed made him sigh in frustration. How was he going to go about this without actually having people around to see? There had to be a way in order to just kill without having witnesses. He hoped that the answer would come to him in the morning.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Waking up didn’t supply him with the answer that he was looking for. He wasn’t even sure what was more frustrating, Arthur being a pain in his arse once more today or the fact that Oliver was nowhere to be seen. When he asked Arthur where he was, he got snapped at with ’it’s none of your business‘. The day just wasn’t going as planned and already he felt a sinking suspicion that things were not going to go the way that he had hoped. Especially with the fact that Oliver, the one person he was looking for, was nowhere to be found. He could just bang his head against a tree trunk or something hard to possibly render himself unconscious and end this day.
There seemed to be nothing that he could do that would kill this beast. The brief memory of that music box didn’t give him any type of brilliant moment that made him stand up and exclaim ‘aha’. Instead it just made his head hurt with trying to think of an idea of how to kill the bloody thing. Nothing. That’s all his head was screaming at him. There was just something wrong with this music box matching the chest thing and he couldn’t figure out what that thing was. Merlin knew that there was a piece missing to this whole puzzle.
“Merlin, get your bloody arse out here!”
He gulped, knowing that tone perfectly well. For some reason, Arthur was still in a foul mood carried over from yesterday. Shuffling his feet, he made his way out of his tent and came to stand in front of Arthur who was clearly upset.
“Didn’t I tell you to collect firewood for supper?”
“Yes and I was just about to gather it up, Sir.”
“I told you this fifteen minutes ago and you have been standing in that tent of yours.”
“I am sorry, Sir.”
“Get along, Merlin.”
Merlin double glanced when he heard the soft tone in Arthur’s voice, but recovered quickly enough to hurry up and shuffle away before he got yelled at once more and that tender moment passed. The moment that he was in the forest, he quickly forgot about the mood Arthur was in and began worrying about the task at hand. Not that picking up twigs or sticks was hard to do, and it didn’t require much thinking what so ever, it was just pleasant to get his mind off of everything that was bothering him. When Arthur had volunteered him for this job he had jumped at it quickly, glad to be away from the horrible campsite. A break would probably do him well enough in the solving of killing the beast.
As he picked up sticks good enough for the fire, he thought over everything that had happened with Morgana before things got rough around Camelot. He knew that as soon as his feet landed on the other side of the door, he was going to confront her and tell her about why she was having dreams. How he was going to approach the whole situation he wasn’t quite sure, he just knew that someone was going to have to tell her the truth. Merlin hadn’t quite understood at first why Gaius hadn’t told her that she had magic, but then he did. Uther was protective of everyone behind the doors of Camelot against those who used magic. It didn’t matter to Uther that some of those people used magic for good.
Of course it didn’t really matter that those people out there like Merlin who used magic for good were wholesome and pure. Granted he did tend to dabble in the darker stuff, but he had to if he wanted to save people. No way was he going to stick to just the basics and the good magic if he wanted Arthur to live. He felt like he needed to protect the prince at all cost. Why? He had no idea.
Suddenly the sound of a snapping twig took his mind off of magic and Uther and everything else. Snapping his head in the direction of the sound, he saw movement, something ducking behind a tree. Merlin dropped his armload full of sticks and walked over to the shadow he had seen and was shocked when that shadow turned out to be stronger than him. It had him up against a tree. The shadow though wasn’t just a black smudge, it was an actual person. Oliver was standing right in front of him.
“Snooping around again are we, Merlin?”
“I’m collecting sticks for the fire.”
“Oh really? I know you were in my tent yesterday. The beast tells all.”
“It tells me plenty of things as well.”
“Yes, it tends to do that to those using magic. How would Arthur feel if he found out you were keeping a secret from him?”
“He wouldn’t believe you.”
“But wouldn’t he?”
Merlin studied the man in front of him, knowing with certainty why Arthur was the way he was. Oliver was a magic user as well and was influencing Arthur. It was sad to know that the future king wasn’t as strong minded as he was willed.
“So you are the one controlling the beast.”
“Of course I am. And everything would have gone along as planned if you hadn’t gotten in the middle of this.”
“What did you plan on doing? Set the beast loose in Camelot so the King would have a reason to go out and find out who was behind it? That would have been much worse than me stumbling upon it.”
“You don’t know anything. Maybe you would understand if you used that head of yours.”
“I have been trying to use my head. Nothing is coming up for why you would be doing something like this.”
“I remember that little village of yours before coming here hoping to be better off than a lowly peasant.”
Merlin was clearly confused. Oliver obviously had his own agenda and he couldn’t figure out what it was that he had gotten in the middle of. And that beast that he had happened upon the past two nights seemed new to him and yet this man standing in front of him was telling him something completely different. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Ah, you are so naïve. But then you were just a lad back then, barely… ten summers?”
“Eight.”
“Ah, yes, eight. You were there with your mum when the beast attacked. Remember that, Merlin? You were walking along the town with her when it appeared out of nowhere. Instead of it killing you and her like I was hoping it would do, you did something to kill it off.”
“You were the one behind that attack?”
“Of course I was, you ignorant boy.”
“I remember how I killed it…now.”
“Which means I will have to kill you.”
Oliver was in the midst of drawing his sword when he felt a tap on the shoulder. Turning around he was face to face with Arthur. “Your Highness….”
“What may I ask are you doing with Merlin? He was supposed to come back with that pile of sticks minutes ago.”
“We were simply talking, Sire.”
“I wish you would hurry along then and bring it back to the tents. My soldiers are hungry.”
“As you wish, Sir.”
Oliver glared over at Merlin giving him a look that clearly read ‘later’. As much as he was afraid of the other man, he knew that he could now defeat not only one, but both of them and he was going to be the one they praised back behind those gates. That was silly though because Arthur was the one that would get all the credit. It left a bitter taste on his tongue.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Merlin couldn’t fall asleep. No matter what he did, he just laid there wide awake. There was just so much going on right now and it was praying on his mind. A part of him thought that this was all just a nightmare and he was never going to wake up from it. Another part of him knew that something was going to happen, something that he was not going to like. The only way that he could possibly conceive to kill this beast was with magic and he was just not ready to reveal that to the world yet. But there was of course the fact that the beast was going to continue to kill people unless he was stopped.
With a sigh, he rubbed his temples, willing the headache that crept up on him to go away. The time that he just stopped thinking would surely be the end of the world.
“Merlin”
“Not tonight…”
“Merlin.”
Merlin knew that he was going to have to go out and face the beast. Even if he wanted to sleep, he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to with the beast out there calling his name every few seconds.
“What do you want?,” he asked, popping his head out of his tent.
“It’s time, Merlin.”
“Time for what exactly?”
“For murder.”
“I can’t kill you…it’s too troublesome. I can’t let my magic be known.”
“There are other ways.”
“No there is not. I can’t possibly do what I have to do without blowing you up.”
The beast didn’t say anything after that, just sat down with a flourish and stared at Merlin, unblinking.
“Listen,” he started, stepping fully out of the tent, knowing he was going to need to get this over with. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t just kill you because it will kill Oliver. I scared you off last time, I can’t….blow you up.”
“It is your choice.”
That stopped him from saying anything further, knowing that it was true. No one was making him do anything. He had a choice laid out in front of him and he was barely toeing the line right now. The beast was just sitting there, staring at him, not saying anything but a purring noise coming from him every so often.
“If there is another way…would you be willing to tell me what it is?”
“I’m simply a capsule, not a messenger.”
“Well, what’s the use of you talking to me then if I can’t do anything?”
Merlin was very troubled at all of this. It was upsetting that he was going to have to kill something that was willing to die, even egging him on slightly. Very infuriating.
“You need to free me, Merlin. You are the only one who can.”
He paused at that, wondering why this beast who destroyed ordinary people wanted to die. Unless it was all a trick and then things would be turned upside down. There was already a lot going on if he didn’t kill this beast. It would reflect badly on Arthur to his own father, King Uther, if he did not stop this horrible thing from killing the villagers. Merlin was just so confused. He wasn’t sure how to approach this situation at all. It felt like a horrible, horrible trap that was sure to have him end up face first in the dirt.
With a sigh, he eyed the beast wearily, wondering if magic was the only way to slay a beast like this. He couldn’t even remember the proper name for the beast, just wanted to call it ‘Oliver’ after the horrible “knight” who had popped up out of nowhere a fortnight ago. But if his memories served him correctly, the beast could only be killed by magic. Magic seemed to be both his downfall and the key to pretty much everything in his life. He just couldn’t win.
“Fine…but this better not be a trick.”
The beast just nodded its head and Merlin could have sworn he saw a smile pop up on the thing’s face, but surely he was mistaken. After all the thing didn’t appear to have a mouth that would make it easy for it to smile.
“Do I get any help or are you going to make this hard on me?”
“Do you know how to kill me?”
Merlin simply nodded, knowing exactly how he was going to kill this foul beast. There was a stick right alongside the beast that he had put a spell on earlier in the day when Arthur had commanded he collect firewood again that day. Thankfully he could see it even in the dark, but he couldn’t let the beast know anything about this because he was sure that the thing could read his mind. Considering that the thing could speak to him in his mind, it made sense that it could possibly also read it. He wasn’t going to take any chances.
“Very well…get on with it.”
It did come as a surprise that the thing was still standing there, as if wanting to play a game with him. Merlin took one step forward, testing the grounds. And when the beast still just stood there, he gave a little smile and said a few words to get the stick to hover in the air. When satisfied that he had control over the stick, he turned to face…open space. “Bloody hell!”
The stick dropped to the ground with a thud, making him rush over and pick it up. “I thought you weren’t going to play bloody games!”
“He wasn’t going to….but I am,” came a voice from a tree near his left. Oliver appeared out of the wooded area of the forest with a wide grin on his face. “You may be wondering where he is. Well….he’s here, in my heart.”
“So you two are one in the same. Does that mean you can read my thoughts, too?”
“Of course not. I’m human.”
Merlin was almost positive that he was going to have to kill the human host in order to kill the actual beast. He could do this. He was certain that he wold be able to kill this body in order to kill the beast. He had to anyway if he wanted to save Camelot and that was what he was supposed to do.
“Are you sure you’ll be able to kill me, Merlin? I can tell you’re already second guess yourself. It happens every single time that something out of your control occurs.”
“You haven’t been here that long, Oliver…have you been spying on this kingdom for a long time?”
“That is my little secret,” he mentioned with a smirk.
Merlin really wanted to wipe that smirk off of Oliver’s face, but he couldn’t throw the first punch because then his plan would not work. He had it all in his head where Oliver would throw the first punch or whip out his sword and they would fight. Fight until Merlin had a chance to conjure the stick and jam it into Oliver’s heart.
Before he could respond to Oliver, he was being pushed to the ground, his head hitting a rock, making him just a little dazed. He had no idea what had just happened there, but he knew that he couldn’t just lie there and take a beating of the lifetime. Especially if he wanted to be a man who can take care of himself in Arthur’s eyes. So, he stood up and looked around, finding there to be no one around.
“Lovely,” he muttered, keeping his eyes and ears out for Oliver. Merlin wasn’t quite sure what form Oliver would be in, but he knew that he was going to need to be ready for this fight: stick and all. He gripped his stick even tighter, making sure it was still held tightly in his hand, needing to feel the solidness of it to get him through this fight.
Instead of standing still, he began to slowly walk around, making sure to stay clear of anything that would make a loud noise for the beast to hear him. Even though he was generally light on his feet, he knew better then to go around snapping twigs while around a mystical being. Especially one who was currently in human form who could do anything in a matter of seconds.
His eyes flickered back and forth, his ears straining to hear a sound, any sound. There was nothing at all around him making any sort of noise, which screamed warning bells in his head. He ignored the warning in his head and kept creeping around in the woods, wondering where all the owls and night animals were and why he couldn’t hear Arthur snoring in his tent just a few hundred feet away. It was odd and he had a feeling that the beast was a lot closer then he thought. Animals just didn’t stop making natural noises for no reason unless they were afraid. He had been told many stories about that when he was younger. It freaked him out then and it freaked him out even more so now.
Merlin stopped upon hearing the snap of a twig behind him. Whirling around, he was face to face with nothing but thin air. His hand was now gripping the stick tight enough that his knuckles were turning white. The tension in the air was driving him just a little insane, making him wonder when the beast was going to attack. He could feel it almost like a storm was rolling in and at any minute the clouds would burst open and spill the rain everywhere.
He couldn’t take it anymore. “Come out and fight like whatever it is that you are.”
At first nothing happened. The air was coiled with enough tension that Merlin could cut it with the stick in his hand.
Before he could speak once more, the beast jumped out in front of him, a growl escaping its lips, saliva dripping between its teeth. “You have summoned me….here I am.”
Merlin stood there at first, staring at the beast almost like he was in a trance. He was just so shocked that he almost forgot that he had his own magical weapon to help him kill a beast like this. It was when the beast jumped right in front of him that he remembered about the magical stick clutched in his tight grip. When his mind flickered for the right words to say, the beast was already on him, charging at him the last remaining feet, its intention entirely clear. He didn’t even stop to let his mind run through the possibilities of the could be’s. Instead he mumbled the words of the spell, the stick hovering in the air until the beast was just a pounce away and then it stabbed the thing right through the chest, the beast shattering into dust right in front of his very eyes.