Merlin: The Light of Eriador

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Merlin woke up with a start.  It was like having a bell ringing inside his head. The voice was strong and commanding.  He had never heard anything like it.

Merlin.  

Suddenly sitting up straight in his bed, Merlin pressed both hands over his hears and suppressed a groan of pain as the voice repeated his name more forcefully.

I’m waiting for you, Merlin.  Get up!

He didn’t want to follow, but he wanted the pain to stop.  Before he even realized it, he was out of his bed and walking, or rather, he was stumbling forward through Gaius’ chambers.  Cold sweat was running down his back.  He had a vague memory of cleaning Gaius’ chambers with magic, and then falling asleep in his dirty clothes after completely failing at making Uther’s tonic.  But that was hours ago.  Now it was night.  Only a few candles were burning.  There was not a sound in the castle, except the voice in Merlin’s head.

Do not stop! I’m waiting.  Now, Merlin!  

As he heard the deep voice again, Merlin felt a will other than his own take hold of his body.  He plummeted forward, falling hopelessly over a stool and sending a few plates and glass phials unto the stone floor with a clattering noise.  He immediately thought of Gaius, but as he glanced around the room, he saw no sign of the old physician and his bed was empty.  He was alone.

Merlin looked down at his hands and they were shaking against the stone floor.

The voice rang again.  Merlin!

He knew that he had to resist it, but his mind was being pulled by an invisible force.

“Gaius, help me!” he cried out.  

He knew it was useless.  Even if he came, what could Gaius do against such a strong magic?

Give up now, Merlin.  Come to me.

“No!” said Merlin between gritted teeth.  

You cannot win this.

He felt darkness overcome him.  As much as he wanted to keep resisting the commanding voice, his body was shutting down.  He was pinned to the ground, frozen on all fours, unable to go further or even to get up.  It was a battle of wills and he was loosing it.

A drop of sweat fell to the ground and landed between his hands.  And suddenly, it wasn’t a stone floor anymore.  It was grass.  He felt the cold night wind ruffle his hair, and somehow, the hold on his body seemed to lessen.  The new awareness of his surroundings made him straighten up.  As he glanced around, he saw that he was no longer in Gaius’ chambers; instead, he was standing on a field just outside of Camelot.  Behind him, he could see the outline of the city walls, but in front of him, it was utterly black.

And he hated the fact that he had no memory of even getting up or leaving the castle.

“Show yourself!” he shouted, anger boiling inside him.

There was movement in front of him; someone was hiding under the cover of darkness.  Merlin heard the distinct sound of approaching footsteps.

“What do you want with me?” he asked bitterly.  White smoke was coming out of his mouth and he was shivering with cold.

The person in front of him stepped into the moonlight.  The imposing figure seemed somewhat familiar, but the man kept his hood up, covering all of his face.

“Who are you?”

“I don’t remember ever being that young.”

The voice wasn’t in his head this time, but he still felt as though he was being compelled to stay where he was.

“You got me this far.  Why won’t you answer my question?”

A cold wind blew around them.  Or was it magic?  Merlin could feel power radiating from the man as though they were both standing in the same circle.

“I’m sorry, Merlin.”  The man’s voice was bitter, strained.  “You’ve got to be stopped.”

Then the hooded man whispered some words and Merlin felt rooted on the spot.  He could not move.  He tried not to think, aware that his intentions might be revealed to the other sorcerer.   With a loud crack, he forced a branch of a nearby tree to brake and fall, hoping that it would knock down is attacker.  But his efforts were fruitless.  His opponent waved his hand and the branch twirled and landed somewhere out of sight.

“You cannot fight me, Merlin.”

“You don’t know me!” he shouted.

As he spoke, he used his thundering voice to gather some magic around him, but the man was quick to counter his efforts.  He spoke again, and this time Merlin felt a pressure on his chest.  Pain was building up inside of him, making it hard to move, hard to breathe, hard to think. The other sorcerer was doing something to him, and he didn’t know what to do.

“What do you want from me?” he cried out, but his voice did not carry very far.  He felt powerless and out of breath.  His vision was beginning to blur.  He fell to his knees.

“I wish it hadn’t come to this, Merlin.”

If only he could reach deep inside to find the voice of the Dragonlord within him…

“The Great Dragon will not help you.  I told him to stay out of this and he seemed happy to.”

The sorcerer was standing close to him now.  Merlin could see the outline of his worn out brown boots and the rim of his dirty cloak floating in the wind.

“You came a long way just to finish me off,” he scolded between two intakes of breath.

“For what it’s worth, it’s going to hurt me too… I think.  I can’t be sure…”

Not wanting to waste what might be his last opportunity, Merlin raised his shaking fingers and, summoning all of the magic that he could in his weakened condition, he pushed a wave of energy that knocked the other sorcerer backwards.  The efforts knocked all the winds out of his lungs and he fell, gaping for air, with his face in the grass.

It only took a few seconds for Merlin to realize that his efforts had been wasted.  The strong man walked back to him in less time than it took Merlin to catch his breath.

“I know it’s hard to understand especially right now, but I’m doing this for your own good.”

Cold and powerless, Merlin was only able to grumble the words ‘no you’re not’, and then his vision blackened and he knew no more.