The Dark Tower

Chapter 23 - Tunnels and Tubes

When we were eventually able to understand what had happened, it seemed that Merlin’s outfit had suddenly turned from the tunic and neckerchief ensemble he normally wore to a silvery feathery outfit, and he’d rushed from the main living quarters down the stairs, into the basement, and then had simply disappeared.

‘He didn’t say goodbye or anything,’ Katy sniffed tearfully. ‘Just said the one word “Ariel”.’

‘Ariel? As in the washing powder?’

Katy shrugged and sniffed again. ‘I thought it must be the name of someone.’

I sat down on the nearest branch and thought. Ariel. Ah! The Tempest. Colin Morgan was appearing in The Tempest at the Globe Theatre this summer. But did that mean he could be summoned from a different world? Why couldn’t he just exist in both like Boromir and Ned Stark? I felt the beginnings of panic. Perhaps this was the beginning of the worlds starting to separate like the Doctor had said. Perhaps Merlin couldn’t be here and in London at the same time. But what could we do? What happened if he was there while we were here?

‘I think it must be what the Doctor said. About the world’s separating.’

‘In what way?’ Katy asked.

I explained to Katy and Mab about The Tempest. Hearing that Ariel was a magical spirit pleased Mab and she clapped her hands.

‘But Merlin has to be here!’ Katy protested.

‘You could always join him in the old world,’ I suggested.

‘No! That’s not where he’s Merlin! And that’s not where I want to be! I want to be here. With Merlin. And Mordred. And he has to be here. With me. And Aithusa. He can’t abandon her again.’

That was the clincher. ‘We have to go and get him,’ I said. ‘Now.’

‘But . . . how?’ Katy asked.

‘The same way Merlin left. The portal in the basement of the Dark Tower.’

‘But what if we can’t get back?’

‘Then it wasn’t meant for us to be here.’ I was conveniently ignoring the fact that I’d promised Gwaine I wouldn’t go back. But Aithusa needed Merlin.

‘My ladies I will come with you, this Ariel to see

And give my aid to bring him home to where he should truly be.’

I was about to protest but changed my mind. Mab could be useful. I hurriedly wrote a note that I hoped would never have to be delivered to Gwaine and we immediately set off back towards the Dark Tower, the firefly fairies lighting our way across the Desolate Plain until the sun rose, and it was noon before we finally reached the tower.

We called our return to Mordred who was trying to soothe a distraught Aithusa and made him promise to stay with her as, of course, he wanted to come with us.

‘No,’ I said firmly. ‘It’s not your world. It’ll be too difficult to look after you as well.’

‘But Mab’s going!’

‘We can hide Mab. We can’t hide a gown man. And we’re going into Central London.’ He flinched. I knew he’d spoken to Gwaine and Aragorn about their visit to The Great Unknown, and it must have scared him enough that he stopped arguing. ‘Anyway, we need you to keep this place safe,’ I added. ‘If it falls to enemies because it’s empty, then we may never be able to get back.’

He saw the sense in this and nodded his agreement to stay. I picked up the only item I thought might be of use. One of the self-writing maps. As I opened it, it revealed three sets of footprints, two normal size, one tiny, inside the Dark Tower, but absolutely nothing else - the rest of the paper was completely blank and totally unhelpful.

We descended the steps into the basement and started to look for clues to the portal.

‘Where was Sorvad held?’ I asked.

‘Through there,’ Katy said, and we began to search the area.

It was Katy who found the trapdoor half hidden in the corner. We opened it to find steps sinking into the ground. And then paused as we looked at each other.

‘Mab, you must be certain as you may not return here

Katy and I, it was our world, the place it holds no fear.’

Mab looked entirely serious.

‘Ladies, your quest is mine today, Merlin’s fate is in our hands

It is my choice, I do know that, my offer of help, it stands.’

‘Katy, do you have any pounds?’ I asked. All my old world stuff was in Camelot.

‘Good point.’ She ran back to her room and returned with a purse and three lit candles in holders. She led the way down the steps and along the tunnel. And then stopped.

‘Which way?’ she asked.

The path divided into three with no obvious differences. I checked the map. Nothing.

‘We split up and look for clues?’ I suggested, Scooby Doo style, and we each took a tunnel.

It was Mab who found the right one, calling us and holding up a single silvery feather that must have fallen off Ariel’s costume. I was glad. I didn’t want to risk opening doors onto any of the others. We continued down some steps and then along to the end of the tunnel to find a wooden door. Carefully Katy turned the handle and we opened the door and found ourselves stepping out of a familiar blue police phone box, standing by itself in what must be some kind of props store as there was lots of laden shelving. But even more odd was that Mab was now full sized. She towered above both Katy and myself, topping 6 foot, her clothes looking both ridiculous and entirely in keeping with her hair and queenly demeanour. We followed the fire exit signs to the nearest exit and carefully opened it, leaving it wedged slightly ajar so we could return, and exited out of what was the BBC Television Centre.

I checked the map, the three pairs of footprints now a similar size, and it confirmed my thoughts as to our destination. We took the tube to The Globe with Mab clinging onto us for the relatively short journey and discovered another fortunate side effect of our old world, she was no longer speaking in rhyme. Walking into the sunshine at London Bridge station and heading towards the theatre, we encountered the noticeboards saying, “The Tempest – Sunday 18th August - last performance – Sold Out”.

I was confused. Time had always run slower in my world than in Camelot’s, but this was the day of the last performance. And the day we had to get Merlin back to Cemelot. By midnight. But even if the play hadn’t been sold out, we still didn’t have a plan. What were we going to do? Kidnap Colin? Try to reason with him that he was needed in another world? I could see myself being checked in on the local mental health ward after THAT conversation. In fact, it was very tempting to do it right now, under the current circumstances! “I think I’ve found a portal to Camelot, Yes, THAT Camelot, off the television. Except there’s some Lord of the Rings in there as well And Game of Thrones. And Doctor Who. But it’s all OK because I’m in love with Sir Gwaine with the swishy hair.” Actually, that last bit was probably the only bit that would make me sound sane. Anyway, no time for that, we had to rescue Merlin.

Given we had no tickets, and nor could we find any to buy, we decided to cover all exits and doorstep Colin as he left the theatre. Mab and I positioned ourselves at the stage door while Katy covered the front in case he left that way. An hour after the performance, the other stage door jonnies had given up hope, but we had no other plan, so stayed where we were, Mab flitting elegantly between Katy and me to keep us updated on the non-progress. It was a very long wait punctuated only by the occasional person leaving, and one of them did confirm that Colin was still in the theatre.

At shortly after ten, we heard a group of male voices approaching and my heart began to beat loudly in my chest. Three men approached, one very tall with a buzz cut, the others shorter, one with a mass of dark curls, the other with a lilting Irish accent and a most familiar swish of hair.

‘Get Katy now,’ I hissed at Mab, but Katy had already seen them and was following them at a cautious distance, joining us as we waited in the shadows opposite the stage door.

‘It’s them, isn’t it?’ she whispered. ‘Now what do we do?’