How to become king Arthur

Chapter 12 Black Death

The house was very well kept, thick straw roof, large vegetable garden, all arranged neatly. It was definitely the house where a knight's wife and child would live. The surrounding woods were thick but healthy, and the path leading up to the house was neat and packed down. Merlin reined back his horse and looked me in the eyes.

"You must listen to me carefully Ara, if you want to do anything with what is left of your life," Merlin said bluntly, "You are to ride, unseen, around to the side of the cottage. There is an extension off the back, once you see me enter, you are to come in through the window. No one can know that you are there." I licked my lips and fought the urge to ask questions before nodding.

"Yes, I can do that," I vowed.

"Dismount and let the horse go, it will make its way back home," he ordered. I dismounted, tied the reins in place and then smacked its hind end. It took off, never to be seen again. "Very good, do as you are told and you will do well." Then he clicked his horse forward and I began to move off to the side through the woods.

I watched as he dismounted at the door and knocked, using his cane. After a few moments a women with hard and strict features opened the door. I kept moving, as silently and efficiently as possible. I kept half an eye on the duo at the door, they appeared to be grave and I could see that as hard as the women tried to hide it, she was nervous about something. After a few minutes Merlin entered. I quickly rounded the house and crouched in to peer through the window. Someone was already sitting there and I quickly ducked down with my back pressed up under the sill.

"What are you doing in here?" Merlin snapped, "Have you any idea how dangerous this is? Get up, get out!"

"Will he be alright?" came a sad female voice.

"Even if he is," Merlin said slowly, "he will not be the same. Now go, you shouldn't be here." I waited until the figure was gone before gently popping out the pane of the window and lithely jumping in. Merlin glanced up at me before gently beckoning for me to come over. I pushed in the pane and then carefully moved towards the bed.

"Who is he?" I asked as I covered my mouth. Merlin glanced from me to the face of the boy lying on the bed.

"This is Arthur, squire of Kay, bastard son of Sir Ector," Merlin began, "The boy who you are now to become." I jerked my eyes from the sweaty visage, contorted in pain to Merlin's troubled one.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"He has caught himself Black Death," Merlin sighed, "There is nothing left to be done for him. You will take his place as Kay's squire. I will take him somewhere peaceful to die and be buried." Merlin let out a long sigh, "A troubled soul will finally be at rest."

I looked from the boy to me. He appeared to be my age, had nearly the same body formation and I supposed we looked slightly similar, but we were by no means doppelgangers. He twisted in his sleep and a blanket fell to reveal black eating away at various parts of his body. I gagged slightly and averted my gaze.

"This will never work, I look nothing like him," I protested.

"There are some things you would know if you grew up here. For example, everyone believes I am a wizard," Merlin began to explain as he pulled off the other Arthur's clothes. For some reason this did not surprise me, how else would an old man who was not in the upper class or clergy be so well thought of?

"If you are a wizard, why not heal him?" I asked.

"A wizard can do many things, but cheating death is a risky business that I will not tamper with. I have told the women who will raise you, the owner of this cottage that I will attempt to heal him but if he gets better, he will not be the same. I told her that taking someone an inch from death changes them, and morphs them so that even though they are the same person, they are completely different. She is expecting a different face, a different boy, and you are that boy," Merlin explained.

"We're cheating them?" I asked.

"We're affecting their perception of reality, that is not cheating. Besides, we are giving them what they are loosing, a son and a promising knight," Merlin said as he tossed me the shirt and then began to work on the dying man's pants.

I stared at the shirt, it felt sick, wrong but I didn't have many other options and turned around to put it on. It smelled of sweat, sickness and lingering death. Next thing I knew I was helping Merlin roll Arthur off the bed. His skin was sticky and guilt rose along with the bile in my throat. Merlin assisted me in popping the window out and setting him against the wall. My hands shook but as I lowered him, I heard him sigh. Maybe it was that sigh of final content, maybe it was just that I finally saw there was no hope for him, perhaps it was that it was my only hope, but for some reason I allowed Merlin to rub charcoal on my neck and arms, I allowed him to pour water on my face and cut my hair identical to the other Arthur's. I allowed myself to become the poor dying boy outside the window.

"Are you sure this will work Merlin?" I asked nervously as he headed for the door, "I don't know anything about this boy. I hardly know what a squire does, I don't know what he likes, his values, how he lives."

"All you need to know is that he was destined for great things, just as you are," Merlin said.

"But he's caught death itself and is about to be buried somewhere in the woods to be replaced and forgotten," I protested, "How is that great things?"

"Destiny has different plans for all of us," Merlin replied quietly, "You don't know what he did when he was still with us, you don't know what his existence will lead to. Have faith in your future Ara, for you must know that you do have control over it. You chose to defy your families wishes, you chose to kill a king, you chose to lie in that bed. Now take up the path that has opened before you and take the life that you chose to live."