Magik: The Son of Fire

Chapter Nine

The beginning of our journey went surprisingly well. We spent the first few days camping along river banks and forest clearings. It was strange, the last couple of weeks had brought the four of us closer as friends. I had barely known them for a month, and yet we got along like life-long friends. Even Tarra was warming up to us, which was probably the most surprising thing that had happened.

Tarra was particularly skilled in hand-to-hand combat and was giving me lots of tips in sword fighting. Granted, her tips ended with a lot of bruises and concussions. She and Danni had a lot of incredible knowledge and were both willing and ready to share that with us. Lincoln had even learned new ways of controlling his lightning Magik. He could even do a lot of minor spells without his amulet, which was incredible.

I also learned quite a bit from Danni. She was a water mage, so a lot of her Magik involved keeping your mind clear and calm. Given my history of anger issues, this wasn't easy. What I didn't realize at the time was Danni's lessons were helping me grieve the loss of my mother. My response to my problems has always included rage, but learning to control my emotions was the key to avenging her. Danni reminded me of that every day, and I couldn't help but be blown away by her.

Unfortunately, since we were heading to the heart of England, we couldn't fly all the way to Camelot. We were forced to hike most of the way, to avoid detection. Luckily, this gave us ample time to discuss Lincoln's heritage. One night, Lincoln decided he was ready to tell us everything.

Danni eventually asked a question we were all thinking about. "So what about Guenivere? Wasn't that King Arthur's wife?" Lincoln shifted awkwardly. This question was surely one he was avoiding.

"She was. My mother made it clear to me that she regretted ever getting between the two of them. But the adultery gave her a son, something she never knew she wanted. So I guess it was worth it, right?" Lincoln replied. He was attempting to justify his mother's misdeed, but none of us were judging Morgana. We just wanted answers.

"I mean, that would explain why Morgana was depicted as a villain in all of the human fairytales," Tarra said. "They must've been written by Guenivere."

I hadn't thought about that. I was curious as to why Morgana seemed like such an amazing person, despite the stories about her. Now it makes sense. What I still didn't understand was how Arthur was still alive.

"So what about Arthur? He should be centuries old, and yet we are going to save him? What is that about?" I asked

"Well, when Merlin shared his discovery of dragons with Arthur, the king wanted to protect them. To protect us. Merlin just wanted to study and conquer." Danni replied. "Merlin exposed the dragons to the Knights of the Round Table, and some of them defected and began to worship him. They tracked the dragons back to the Arctic, and found the original location of Dracolis."

"Yep. Fortunately for us, Arthur had been working with my mom and grandparents and followed him there. Arthur helped defeat Merlin and then trapped him in the Lady's lake. Mom wasn't very clear on this part, but from what I gathered, the Lady gifted King Arthur with immortality and strength. But soon after, Arthur went missing along with the rest of the Knights of the Round Table." Lincoln's explanation helped a lot, but it did raise some more questions.

I asked him about his grandparents, but he didn't have much to say. The Lady of the Lake was a mystery, even Morgana didn't know. Morgana's father was a dragon, but not much was known about him either. I had a feeling we were going to find out at some point though. I mean, Lincoln didn't even know his father was Arthur until recently. Who knew what was coming next?

The Council of Dracolis told us that Lincoln would be able to find Camelot by sensing Excalibur, but that wasn't enough for Tarra. She was continuously getting frustrated with him because Lincoln didn't really seem to have an idea of where he was going. Sometimes he would just come out of his tent and say things like "We're heading east," or "If you see mountains ahead, we need to turn a few degrees to the west." His directions apparently came from dreams.