To Break a Curse

Chapter 3

...It all started twelve years ago when an evil wizard kidnapped the two-year-old heir to the throne of Camelot, the son of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, and transported him away through the time door in the stone circle.

'Wait,' Tom interrupted. 'There's nothing in the stories about them having kids.'

There was a pause whilst Merlin looked confused and narrowed his eyes.

'Never mind,' said Tom, very quickly.

It was widely believed that the wizard's aim was to ruin the Kingdom of Camelot because overnight the king and queen changed from just and true rulers to tyrannical ones. Merlin had detected an enchantment hanging over them, causing their change in attitude to power, but had been banished from the Kingdom by the king for mentioning it to him a year ago. That was why he now hid in the forest – far away enough to stay out of trouble, but close enough to watch the stone circle and be on hand if the Kingdom came under attack. His friends, the court physician, Gaius, and his great niece and nephew, who gave him food, look after him and keep him informed about the goings on in the castle.

Two days after the kidnapping, a guard who had been patrolling the forest at the time, had gone to the king and queen to say he had seen a man with a baby enter the stone circle and disappear in front of his eyes.

Merlin stopped talking and fell into deep thought, leaving Tom, Will, Rose and Oliver to take in what they had all just been told.

Merlin spoke again, 'I think some good must still lie in the heart of Camelot because the words appeared on the stones a few days after. No one was seen carving them there – the circle had been constantly guarded after what had happened.' He sighed and stood up, motioning the others to stay seated.

'I'm going to go and let Gaius know you're here so we can make a plan of how to get you into the castle to break the curse.' He was turning to leave when Oliver suddenly spoke:

'Hang on, if you're a wizard, why can't you lift the enchantment or break the curse or whatever?'

Even Will had to admit that was a good point.

Merlin bit his lip, 'I wish I knew, but my magic just won't work on anything to do with it. When I first found out about the enchantment hanging over the king and queen, I tried to remove it but nothing happened. I think it's something to do with the nature of the curse and the laws of magic.' He shrugged, 'but you're here now, so soon it should all be over.' He turned and made his way out of the stone circle, 'stay there and I'll be back in a bit!'

As soon as Merlin had disappeared through the trees, Oliver threw himself back on the grass, saying, 'if we can't even work out what that poem means, how are we going to break the spell. I mean,' he sat up and looked at them all, 'I can't do magic, can you?'

'I wish,' said Tom fervently.

'Maybe it will become clearer once we're inside the castle?' suggested Rose.

'Maybe,' Will was looking at Tom who was suddenly grinning. 'What?'

'We're in Camelot, going to see King Arthur and Queen Guinevere; we've just met Merlin... Am I the only one who's quite excited about this?'

Rose laughed, 'you're right, it's cool.'

Oliver and Will joined in laughing at the sheer incredulity of it and agreed.

'What are you lot doing here?' The gruff voice from behind made them scramble to their feet.

About twelve knights, at least, Tom assumed they were knights, stood before them.

'What do we do?' he hissed.

Will was silent, trying to think, this didn't look good.

'We're not doing anything,' said Rose, attempting to look truthful. 'We got a little lost but we think we know where we are now so we'll just be off.' She turned to go, beckoning the others to follow.

They got about three steps before the knight shouted at them to stop. This they did, slowly turning around.

'We're under orders to arrest anyone who goes near the stone circle.' The knights moved forwards as one. Oliver wondered if the knight had always had his hand resting on his sword or if it was his imagination. When the knights drew their swords, he decided it wasn't.

'Do we run?' he whispered.

Will calculated the distance between them and the knights and made a decision: 'now!'