Arthur's Sons (Book 2)

The Witchfinder (Part 3)

Merlyn had rushed back to the Physician's chambers once the Witchfinder had left and shown them the strange flow petals. Gaius's had immediately pulled out a large tome on flowers and they flipped through the book taking care to inspect each image that looked even remotely similar.

"This is hopeless!" Gwen cried as they came closer to the end of the book.

"Keep looking." Arthur ordered tensely as he paced like a caged animal.

"We don't even know if this flower means anything." Gwen pointed out causing all present to frown.

"No, we don't, but it's all we've got." Merlyn said firmly as she continued to turn the pages. Finally, she found a perfect match to the flower petal and her face lit up. "Here. Belladonna!" She cried excitedly and Gwen leant over her shoulder to read the passage.

"For the alleviation of ulcers, allergies, and muscular inflammation..." This is hopeless, Merlyn." Gwen sighed sitting back.

Merlyn quickly scanned the entry and grinned before reading out loud. "No, wait. Listen, "Under certain conditions, a tincture of the flower can produce hallucinations."

"So?" Gwen asked curiously.

Arthur thought for a moment before scoffing in disbelief. "Aredian's witnesses. It wasn't magic they were seeing, it was visions." He replied astonished by the cunning of the Witchfinder.

"It makes sense if he's faking the evidence. But how can we prove it?" Gwen asked, hope shining in her eyes.

Merlyn frowned and paced as she spoke her thoughts. "No, Aredian's too clever to have given the tincture to them directly. The witnesses, they must've got it from someone else."

"They could've been getting it from anyone." Arthur sighed running a hand over his weary face.

"Is there anything, anything at all that these people had in common?" Merlyn muttered out loud as she continued to pace off her nervous energy.

"They were all women?" Gwen supplied.

Arthur sighed and shook his head. "No, that doesn't tell us anything."

Merlyn paused and looked to Arthur before a wide grin broke out on her face."Yes, it does. What's the one thing only women would buy?" Merlyn asked and while Arthur looked confused, Gwen happily chipped in.

"Things to make them look beautiful." She said finishing Merlyn's thought. Merlyn high-fived Gwen while Arthur watched them sceptically before both women grabbed him and dragged him along with them to where ever they were going.

They were about to enter the courtyard when a cool breeze blew through the hall and with it a song.

High in the halls of the kings who are gone
Jenny would dance with her ghosts...

Merlyn froze as she recognized the voice of her eldest drifting through the halls like the whispers of the damned.

Arthur put a hand on her shoulder with a questioning look. "Merlyn, what is that?" He asked softly almost afraid to speak any louder.

Merlyn smiled faintly with tears in her eyes before grabbing Arthur's hand pulling him along towards the dungeons with Gwen trailing along curiously. They quietly made their way down the stairs into the dungeon's where they spotted the guards surrounding the twin's cell joining in the tragic song that was echoing ominously down the stone halls. Merlyn sat on the stairs and listened with Arthur sat beside her, it was a song of sorrow and lament that send a chill down their spines but was also somehow comforting.

The last emotional notes of the song echoed followed by quiet applause by the guards who promptly moved back to their stations while Merlyn stared in horror at the state of her children, magic and rage seethed in her veins. Arthur must have noticed the change in the air as her magic began to crackle as he grabbed her and dragged her practically kicking and screaming out of the dungeons.