The Author

The revelation

...Three days ago...At the Dark One Castle...

As soon as Henry and Merlin arrived at the front steps of the castle, Henry immediately let go of the old man's shoulders. With the sun high in the sky, Henry finally turned to get a better look at his ungrateful companion. Merlin's long white beard flowed down to his chest which was covered by a brown wool shirt. Henry couldn't tell if the garment was originally brown or if it was years of dirt saturated into the material, but his pants seemed most uncomfortable being that they appeared to have been made of burlap. The last striking quality about Merlin's attire that Henry noticed was the old wizard's feet. As if Merlin wasn't strange enough already, the old man wasn't wearing any shoes. What was this powerful wizard doing not wearing any shoes? It begged questioning, but Henry had more pertinent questions that demanded answering.

Merlin turned to see his rescuer and squinted from all the sunlight. The sunlight felt good on both of their skins again and upon soaking up the sun's rays, Merlin smiled. Merlin got what he wanted. Light.

"You got what you wanted, so what do we do..." said Henry as he trailed off. The moment Merlin's eyes opened, Henry recognized something very familiar. Perhaps it was the shape of Merlin's face or the combination of the two. He couldn't put his finger on it. Before Henry could speculate on what it was, Merlin interrupted his thought.

"...now?" said the old wizard, finishing Henry's sentence. "We go in!"

Affronted Henry said, "Not even a thank you, huh?"

"Thanks," said Merlin shortly as if Henry saving him was an inconvenience.

Henry shook his head indignantly as Merlin proceeded towards the castle on his own. They walked into the castle's foyer and were about to enter the main room when Henry suddenly remembered Rumplestiltskin's booby-trap and ran in front of the old man to stop him.

"Wait! Let me. The doors are trapped," insisted Henry as he placed his body between the old man and the door. Merlin ignored Henry, pushing him to the side as he pressed forward. It was strange seeing how confident and comfortable Merlin was entering the Dark One's castle. It almost appeared as if he knew every inch of it. He even knew of the front doors that burst into flames if you tried to open it with your bare hands. When Henry first visited the castle he used magic to open them, but Merlin knew of a different trick. He approached the giant oak doors slowly and grabbed the doorknobs using the cloth of his wool shirt. With great success and little effort on his end, he opened the doors. Henry was amazed, "How did you know...?"

"My dear boy, there's a lot more to this old codfish than what meets the eye."

Henry followed after Merlin until they made it into the Great Hall. As if knowing exactly where to go Merlin ventured over to the grandiose glass case up against the wall and started searching for something.

"What are you looking for? Perhaps I can help you find it," Henry asked, looking on at Merlin curiously.

"The Grail."

The Grail? The idea stopped Henry short in his tracks. He looked around the room and began searching for the majestic goblet he thought he had seen before. He walked over to the cup which was placed on its own special pedestal in the far off corner of the room.

"Is this it?" Henry said while grabbing the cup, brandishing it toward the wizard. Merlin laughed uncontrollably at the sight of the ridiculously gemmed goblet.

"That old thing! Ha! No. That is, what we like to call in the magic business, misdirection. An illusion. A guise. A farce! A glorified paper weight," joked Merlin as he laughed in Henry's face making him feel foolish.