Merlin: The Light of Eriador

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Merlin felt elated.  The curse that had been blocking his magic was gone and now his head was spinning.  It was as though he was an overflowing river.  He had never felt power surging through him so intensely.  Gaius had said that he should try to feel his magic as opposed to simply using it.  Now he was realising just how close his magic was to life itself.  Without it, he had been physically getting weaker; in short, slowly dying.  But life had returned to him now, he was swimming in it and he couldn’t help grinning.

Or perhaps it was Arthur alive at his side that was making him so overjoyed.

“All right, you can stop with the smiling.  It’s getting on my nerves,” let out Arthur.

“Admit it,” said Merlin happily.  “You thought that was smart, what I did to the guards.”

Arthur’s answer was to grab Merlin by the shirt and drag him sharply behind a boulder.

“We’re trying not to be seen, Merlin.”

But nothing could dampen the sorcerer’s spirits.  “It’s easy you know.  It’s just a few words.  Why can’t you just admit it?  All right, that was smart, Merlin,” he said in his best imitation of Arthur’s patronizing tone.

“Smart mouth,” snorted the prince, and then he jumped behind another boulder and continued on his course.  

They were making their way among the trees and rocky hillside, making as much good use as they could of the lingering darkness.  It was a few hours to dawn.  They had heard no alarm of any kind, which was miraculous but also disturbing.  Their target was a cliff at the bottom of which there was a small cave.  Arthur was certain that the knights had been taken there.  Merlin was still hanging on to the rusty short sword and the prince had picked up a long weapon from a fallen guard.

“You’re still smiling like an idiot, Merlin,” said Arthur impatiently.

“Is that a smart idiot?” replied the sorcerer.

“Oh, shut up.”

The second later, Arthur was grabbing him by the shirt again and this time he brought them both forward on the ground since there was no boulder to hide behind.  The sound of many feet and clanging swords passed them by.  They saw the light of torches on their far right, but at least there was some distance between them and the Druids of the Black Leaf.

As he was lying with his chin on the grass, Merlin looked up at the dark forest before him and he realised with a shock that he could see clearly in the dark.  It was as though the trees themselves were casting their own greenish light and even showing him a path.  A soft breeze blew around him, ruffling his hair, and in the sound that it made with the leaves there was a kind of moaning.

“Did you hear that?” he whispered to Arthur.  

When he looked around, he saw that the prince was standing with his hands on his hips.  He seemed to be thinking and he was peering in the same direction as his manservant.

“You can get up now,” said Arthur while rolling his eyes up.

As he got up, eyes fixed on the mysterious path, Merlin unconsciously leaned against a tree and he immediately felt a wave of magic surging through him.  It was so powerful, and coming from the trees. A whispering tree.  He pressed his palm harder against the trunk, but the effect had only been momentary.  In front of him, the green light showing him the path was getting clearer, as though the trees were showing him the way, and at the end of the path there was that cliff that Arthur was looking for.