Lost in Phantasm (Merlin Fanfiction)

Part 15: "Remember, Always"

Lily offered her hand to Merlin.

"You did it!" she gushed.

Merlin shook his head and sat down in Lily's palm. "I could not have done it without the help of everyone else!"

The giantess giggled as she joined her brother. "That's just what Arthur said!" 

The king! Merlin whirled around frantically until he saw Arthur laying, bloodied and still, in Caleb's hand. He ran across to his friend's side.

"Arthur!" he cried, "Arthur, are you all right?"

Arthur groaned, "I will be after a week's rest, considering the mess you got me into!" he smiled, showing that the blood was not his, and punched Merlin playfully in the shoulder.

Merlin feigned offense, "My mess? If you had protected the gyth instead of trading it away, we could have been back home by now!"

The one word had a profound effect on both men. They forgot fighting and trading punches in the light of a new problem.

"How do we get home?" Merlin asked Lily.

She smiled, "Bandiras can send you, now that everything is put to rights."

"Almost everything," Caleb corrected his sister. He reached down with his free hand, and when he stood again, he held Pierson by the collar between his fingers. The man dangled floppily, since most of his body was paralyzed by the wounds from the goblin rapier. "What do we do with him?"

Arthur grunted as he staggered to his feet on the uneven surface of the giant's palm. "Why not give him to the trolls?" he suggested to the giant. "I hear they really appreciate having humans along in their caravans."

Caleb grinned and permitted the two humans to make their way onto his sister's hand, as Pierson begged for his life with much weeping and bargaining. No one paid him any mind, of course, and soon Caleb's long strides bore the wailing man far away to the troll camp.

Lily set the two friends on the ground. Bandiras stood twenty paces away, evidently waiting to escort them back to Camelot.

"Thank you for everything, Lily," Merlin said.

"It was good to meet you two humans. I'll never forget you," she promised.

"Ah, that reminds me," Merlin said. "When Pierson caught me in his castle, he tried to drown me in a tank full of merfolk. The Chain revived them, but they are still trapped."

Lily nodded, "I will bring them back to the Lake," she said.

"Thank you, my friend," Merlin said.

Together, Merlin and Arthur approached Bandiras.

"We are ready," Merlin said.

Arthur felt a tickling sensation around his ears. When he batted the air beside his head, winged and glittering creatures buzzed away like so many brilliant beetles. The next voice he heard was a grand, warm, horsey sort of voice.

"Thank you, humans, for returning the Phantasmagyth to its rightful place, and for helping us defeat a terrible enemy. In return I, Bandiras, Guardian of Phantasm and the Phantasmagyth, will help you return to your own world."

Arthur could not believe he was actually hearing the unicorn speak, after he had treated it like a dumb animal so shortly before. Merlin, on the other hand, did not seem fazed.

"I told you," he said in response to Arthur's slack-jawed expression, "It's the fairy dust."

For the first time, Arthur noticed the dancing pricks of light, and distinguished tiny humanlike forms among them. He watched the fairies bustle to and fro and said not a word.