Flame (Merlin Fanfiction)

Chapter 25

Our first obstacle was the magpie troll. We had our necklaces at the ready, placed in our pockets carefully, as we walked up to the vast iron gates. I made sure my hair was out of sight before we approached the gates, to see the troll itself. it was medium size, grey and gruff only wearing a dirty pilllowcase half for clothing. he snivelled and wheezed in unusual ways as he fidgeted with silver and shiny jewels, rings, and chains. I coughed lightly as he turned around. his face was misshaped and ugly, as if he had run into a pane glass window. his teeth stuck out at odd angles, his nose bulbous and grotesque. He hastily buried his treasures and half shuffled-half crawled over to us. He cocked his head to the side, still fidgeting with his fingers slightly. he sniffed at us and grunted distastfully. "Royals." He spat in a disgusted tone. "You're a bit far North, aren't you? Ah well, not that I care. You got any jewwels?" He cut straight to the point as we displayed our prizes warily. He snatched them from our hands and bit on them each, checking if they were real. He snarled at us one last time, only to produce a large iron key, from his little hole of treasures, and unlocked the gate, to preoccupied to realise Arthur swing his sword through his neck. 

The trolls head lay off to the right, his body to the left. Arthur dug up the dirt that had covered the jewles and gems, and uncovered something that was more valuble than the king of Camelot himself. "Diamond." Merlin breathed. That it was. Three small stones of diamond, all equally the same size. Arthur held them to the light in turn, examining it. When he had went through the proccess with all three, he handed Merlin and I one each and pocketed one himself. "A momentum." He smiled. I wrapped mine up in some deer hide and his it at teh bottom of a pocket to the right of my bag, and we walked on. 

I seemed to be an age before we seen any sign that we were heading the right way. 

We were seriously considering going back the way we came and starting at the gates again, when Merlin noticed strange lights billowing above the treetops, coming from somewhere far below. We gained a second wind as we paced throught the foresty, getting closer and closer.

We soon came across a temple. Not a normal, boring, ruin of a temple. An old stone temple, with ivy wovem between the stone and vines hanging here and there. we neared a gap in the wall and i waved Merlin and Arthur down, my heart racing as I peered wearily into the hole. 

The sight was unnerving. It was Morganna, stood over a golden basin, filled with blue, swirling mist. She held a dagger flat against her heart. as she muttered incantations and words, I couldn't begin to comprehend. The thing was, even though she still wore her dress, and her hair was the same, (Apart from teh fact she looked battered and bruised) You could still tell it wasn't Morganna. Her eyes were a very pale gold, A startling contrast to her beautiful blue ones. The gold had a cold stinge to them, and she stared into thin air, with a dead edge. I gasped lightly at the sight. She looked so, unlike her. It was unbeleivable. "How on Earth are we going to get that staff without her knowing?" Arthur said drastically. Merlin looked thoughtful. "Leave it to me. Go and get it when the coast is clear. " He said, before sprinting off in the opposite direction. Arthur opened his mouth to say something but closed it again, as Morganna was still in the middle of the Temple, aparrently enchanting the dagger.

We had been waiting fro a while, and nothing had happened. I nearly got up to look for Merlin at one point, wondering if he had been mauled to death or something, but Arthur stopped me as a rock supposedly thrown itself across the ground. Morganna paused and stared at it, unmoving as if it had never happened. She then took up the incantation again, before another rock did the same. Morganna had the same reaction, and looked around her before returning to the enchantment. And that's when the extrordinary thing happened. Merlin had obviously transformed into Emris, and hobbled off, very obvioulsly into the woods. That's when Morganna Lost it. "EMRIS!" Her voice was high and uneven as if in sheer terror. She scrreamed before sprinting off after ihm.

Arhtur was dumbfounded by this random old man making his way onto the scene, but I wasted no time in sprinting to the middle of the ruin, grabbing the staff, and sprinting back. When I got back, Merlin was there. He had obviously lied to Arthur, twisting up a story, but signalled that we had to go. As we ran, he told me that he had led Morgana off, but she would probably head back to the ruin and figure out that someone had her staff. We had enough time to kill the twelve trolls though, because Merlin had led her so far. We were at least two miles away, and we sat down. I studied the staff. It was made of old oak wood and encrusted with twelve gems, all representing a troll from a different biome. "Right," I said standing up again. "Merlin, you release the trolls, you know how right?" I asked, as he nodded. "Giaus told me before I left." I sighed in relief. "Good. Arthur and I will fight." There was a moment's sinlence. "Okay," Arthur said. "Let's kill some trolls."