The Five Fold Symbol

Chapter 5: The Once and Future Dollop-head

    Merlin stumbled grumpily through the forest. Arthur had quickly run out of armor, and fewer sword marks peppered the trees. This was just ridiculous. However, of all the things Arthur had forced him to do, this wasn’t the worst. Not that he was forcing Merlin to do any of this. Well, it wouldn’t be acceptable to let someone like Arthur run around without some sort of guidance. Whenever left alone, Arthur seemed to manage to attract all sorts of mischief, good and bad.

    Arthur, ironically enough, was just thinking the same thing. He was actually no longer in the middle of the forest. He was on the outskirts of some strange village. Being entirely unaware of his survival, he figured this was some sort of after-death experience.

    He frowned and halted his slow progress. For the middle of the forest, it was quite noisy. Not with normal sounds, though. Nearly drowning out the sound of the world he was familiar with were sounds he had never heard before. Occasionally a siren would sound off in the distance, grow is volume, and suddenly diminish. He hoped that it was simply a strange kind of bird and not some hideous creature.

    He’d discarded his armor, which was soaked. By then it was probably ready to rust and fall apart. He would have to have Merlin jump on fixing it up. If he ever found his servant.

    He resumed his walking, completely unaware of the dangers he was moving ever closer towards. Finally, after a full night of walking, he was going to find civilization. He reached what he thought was a break in the forest that should put him on the path back to Camelot. What he actually found was something far more disconcerting.

    He didn’t know how long he had been asleep. He just knew that the time must be right. But the city he saw before him filled him with a silent rage. What he had stumbled upon could not have been anything other than magic. He moved back into the cover of the trees and peered around at the shining wonderland.

    His first assumption was that after his death, magic had run rampant in his kingdom, after he and his father had worked so hard to purge the realm. The wizards and witches and druids had seen their chance and jumped at it. They had to have overthrown his reign and sent the kingdom spiraling into chaos.

    No.

    Guinevere was more stubborn than that.

    Arthur smiled fondly to himself. Gwen would never have let anyone push her around like that. And his knights would never have failed her. Still, he couldn’t help his suspicions as he continued to watch the sparkling city of metal and glass. Something had clearly gone wrong.

    Instead of tempting fate (for once) he turned on his heel and marched backwards into the forest. He didn’t go far. Just back enough that he wouldn’t need to worry about anyone spotting him. The last thing he needed was a sorcerer hunting him down.

    A frown slowly made its way onto his face where it stuck for a good long while. Merlin... Merlin was a sorcerer. He had lied to Arthur for as long as they had known each other. He had kept his identity hidden for years. To think he had trusted the little wart...

    Although, Arthur did have to hand it to him. Merlin was never the brightest in Camelot, and yet he had led a more successfully hidden life than any person he had ever encountered. He hadn’t even believed Merlin’s claims until he demonstrated his magic.

    He certainly felt like a dollop-head then. Gwen had been accused of sorcery and Merlin had rushed in, claiming to be the cause of the magic in her place. Arthur had never even entertained the idea that perhaps it was true. Gwen was certainly no sorceress, but what did they know of Merlin? He and Merlin hadn’t been entirely civil towards one another at that point in their relationship. Arthur had just simply assumed that Merlin had loved Gwen. It wasn’t really all that far-fetched an idea. For a while, Guinevere would have gladly reciprocated those feelings.