The Thief

21

Reading a different language was new for me, but I was a fast learner. Eve has been giving me lessons for about a month now and I'm already more than half way through the Welsh language. To see if I understand what she's been teaching me, Eve had spent a whole week speaking nothing but welsh to me, and now she has asked me to write a story for her in welsh.

"Sut mae'r stori'n dod yn ei blaen?(1)" Eve asked me. I'd been tapping my pen on the table for about a minute wondering what the word for 'magic' was. I looked up at Eve.

"Beth yw'r gair am... 'Magic'(2)?" I questioned. She gave me a nervous look.

"Hud," she replied.

"Dwi'n ysgrifennu am ddyn nobl sy'n achub y Deyrnas gyda'i hud. Nid yw pawb yn ei hoffi, ond byddant yn newid eu barn yn y pen draw,(3)" I told her since she looked confused. She smiled at me before nodding her head.

"Are you that noble man, Myrddin?" She asked as she turned back to the soup over the fire. I scrunched up my nose.

"I wish, but I'm not," I replied.

"You can be whoever you want to be. If you want that noble man to be you, than you become that noble man. No matter what anyone else thinks, you can," Eve winked at me. I smiled at her before returning to my story. She took the soup off the fire and poured it into a bowl. She placed it in front of me saying, "eat up, little man. You'll need your strength for the days to come."

She took my story from me as I started to eat. I felt her watching me, but I didn't say anything.

"Aren't you going to eat, too?" I asked her. She shook her head and told me not to worry so much about her. I soon finished my supper and turned back to Eve. "Can I finish my story now, please?" She traded me my bowl for my papers. I spent the rest of the night writing. Eve would occasionally look up from what she'd been doing and watch me, but I never questioned it.

I was laying on a bed of flowers when I woke up. Elizabeth was fast asleep in front of me, and Leon was leaning on a tree, keeping watch. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"What happened?" I asked Leon. I caught him jump in mid air when I spoke. His hand was on his chest in a heartbeat. "I'm sorry."

"My word, Merlin. You scared the devil out of me," he chuckled. "You fell unconscious when we walked out of the forest. So, we decided to stay until you woke up. You've only been out for half the day." Half the day? How could I have been unconscious for half the day? I'd felt fine up until the moment we walked out.

"We're still a days way from the city," I mentioned. "We'll pick up again in the morning."

"Merlin, what if we stayed here for a couple days? That way we can all rest from the long journey. Then, we'll be back on our way. You sure as hell need it. We can't have you passing out again. What if we come across his army and you're unwell?" Leon suggested. I shook my head.

"Morgana will continue pushing the spell further along. I'll get worse if we stay put any longer than we need to," I told him.

"Maybe a little rest is what up you need, Merlin, so you can figure out what the plan is. Maybe you can figure out how to slow the spell down. You just need to slow down. Maybe you'd find that you'd been going about the situation all wrong," he reasoned.

I thought over his suggestion. I looked to Elizabeth and then to Leon. They were both tired. They shouldn't have come with, but they're both very stubborn. I realized that Elizabeth most likely doesn't even know how to handle a dagger. And there was Leon. He's a knight and has had training, but up against Caerleon and his men, Leon wouldn't stand a chance. Fighting the men near Camelot's border was only a play fight compared to what's in the city. Maybe the next few days would do some good after all.

"Alright, we'll stay for a few days, but after that, we're on our way again."
—
(1)- "How is the story coming along?"
(2)- "What is the word for... 'Magic'?"
(3)- "I'm writing about a noble man who saves the kingdom with his magic. Not everyone likes it, but they will change their views eventually."