Live With What You Have

The Mark of Nimueh: Part 2

The Mark of Nimueh: Part 2

That night at dinner the trio sat in silence. Perhaps the cause was from the lingering conversation they had before. Or maybe it was due to the excess of dead bodies that seemed to be accumulating in their chambers. Silverware scraping against plates was the only sound that echoed through the room. As the sunlight outside died the group retreated to their respective beds.

As Adrielle slumbered a strange scratching sound pierced through her unconsciousness. As she lied in bed and listened to the sounds she originally thought she heard rats scurrying in the shadows. As she grew closer to consciousness she realized the sound she was hearing was of pages being flipped through. Old, wrinkly pages.

Adrielle rolled over in her bed and spotted the top of Merlin's shaggy head peeking over his bed. Before she could think to question him about what he was doing Merlin stood up quietly and snuck out of the room.

Adrielle rolled back over and stared at the ceiling as Merlin crept quietly out of their room and out into the night. Eventually the only sounds distinguishable to her were the crickets outside, the occasional shuffle of guards on duty, and the ever reverberating snores from Gaius.

The sound of claws against the hard floor echoed throughout the room as they drew closer to Adrielle. They stopped when they reached the foot of Adrielle's bed. There was a moment of silence and then a heavy object came jumping up onto the foot of her bed. Adrielle sighed as Beacon circled on top of her legs before settling down and lying there.

After they had turned the stone statue into a real dog and were able to bring Valiant's snakes to life they were still faced with a problem. The snakes had been vanquished but that still left Merlin and Adrielle with the once stone Rottweiler. Merlin had suggested reversing the animation spell, turning it back into a statue, but Gaius thought otherwise. Merlin's plan would require magic - learning and mastering yet another spell. Even though his was a completely appropriate excuse to use magic, Gaius would rather sell the dog or set him free. Apparently Gaius thought their magic needed an excuse to be used and even then the best excuses, in Adrielle's mind, weren't good enough. But Adrielle's idea had been the winner. She had just batted her eyelashes, flashed some convincing puppy dog eyes, and smooth talked her way into keeping the dog for themselves.

'Having a dog will help keep us out of trouble'.

'It'll distract us from using our magic when we shouldn't.'

'You let us keep Merlin.'

Adrielle had drifted back off to sleep before Merlin could slink back into their room and divulge all his successes or of his shortcomings. When Adrielle woke next it was to Beacon's warm breath on her face and his tongue scraping her cheek.

"Okay, okay, boy. I'm waking up," she cooed groggily. She scratched the top of his head affectionately as she pulled herself out of bed. She was somewhat surprised to find Merlin's bed sloppily made. She frowned, hoping it was due to him oversleeping and being late yet again to serve Arthur and not due to something much worse. Perhaps Merlin had failed and ran away during the night, the guilt being too much for him to bear. Or that he had been caught and dragged back to the dungeons.

Adrielle shook those thoughts from her mind and dressed herself for the day ahead. Gaius didn't look too alarmed or distressed as he served her her porridge.

"Good morning," Adrielle greeted. The nagging part of her brain was oddly paranoid that something had happened to Merlin. She was sure though that if anything had she would have been alerted to it almost immediately. Unless he had run away. If Gwen's father was well again, if Merlin had succeeded, then he must just be off tending to the Prince.