Merthur

The Elixer

Merlin was in his small home again, advancing to a cupboard that was fixed in the mud wall. He opened the wooden hatch and pulled out a brown book. He ran a finger over the latches, whispering some incoherent words. The latches unlocked and fell back, allowing him access to the book Gaius gave him all those years ago. He flipped through the book, reaching a small section about magical potions and elixers. One in particular caught his eye. He scanned it quickly.

The Elixer of Eternal Life and Bringing Back the Dead

The elixer of life and bringing back the dead allows a single person to come back from the dead and is welcomed with eternal life and youth. It is prepared and sprinkled around the spot where the person was buried, burned, or any other method of death ceremonies. Then, the words indunthèhecolentûuntherg ibensef must be recited, exactly right or the potion might backfire and take your life, and the potion will glow. The next day, return to the spot and your person of choice will be standing near their death ceremony place.

Merlin blinked, reading the passage again to make sure he knew what to do when he found the ingredients listed just below the instructions. The note about their death ceremony made Merlin think back to when Arthur was dying and what he did.

"Just hold me, please." Arthur choked, both boys panting and laying in the shore of the lake. Merlin was crying. He started to sing. (Author's Note: Beware, this made me cry just thinking about it!!!)

"You are my sunshine . . . " Merlin managed to sing. "My only sunshine . . . " Merlin's voice cracked on the word sunshine. "You make me happy . . . " He was barely able to breathe the words, but he sang for Arthur. "When skies are gray," He was sniffling in between almost every word. "You'll never know, dear," His voice broke on the high (ish) note.

Another, weaker, lower voice joined Merlin's to sing the last part. "How much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away . . . " Merlin looked down at Arthur's heaving chest.

"I mean it Arthur. You are my sunshine." Merlin glanced away and blinked as a constant stream of tears spilled over his cheeks. Arthur reached up and stroked Merlin's cheek to say something, but his muscles relaxed and his eyes rolled up in his head slightly. Merlin checked if he was alive, still in denial, when he turned to the sky and opened his mouth to let out the loudest roar ever to be uttered from a human.

Merlin shook his head, his eyes brimming with tears. He looked back down at the book to see the ingrediants, fluttering his eyes crazily to keep the tears from flowing out.

You will need:

The petal of the Leunin flower

The saliva of a sick wolf

A drop of your blood

The bark of the Carika tree

Enchant the bark of the Carika tree to activate its powers. Break it into tiny slivers and drop in a boiling caudrin of water. Now add the saliva and wait a day for the two to mix. Next, take the petal of the Leunin flower and say these words. Aunin shelo. Drop it in once it begins to glow purple. Immidiately add your blood, one drop only, and stir twice. Then let this mixture set for three days. On the third day, say lequil aruin compelia and put in a container. Go to the place of the death cerimony and place tiny dropets around the entire perimeter. Come back in a day and your person will be living.

Merlin scribbled down the ingrediants and rolled up the parchment, placing it in a small brown carrier bag that was lying open on the bed. He also placed three containers in the bag. Then, he took a fourth container from a small shelf in the dirt wall and spoke a few words. His eyes flashed orange and a drop of his blood slipped from his finger, shining and sparkling like dew as it fell to the bottom of the glass container. Merlin then put a cap on the small container and put it in the bag. He was ready to go. He slung the bag over his shoulder and set a quick pace as he walked out of his house.

Merlin soon accelerated to a jog and crunched along the forest floor, searching for the herd. He reached the clearing and found them, all panting and scraping the ground. He wondered which horse had the most endurence. He went along, feeling each horse's flank gently. Then, he realized that there was a new horse. It was reddish brown with a white nose and stockings that faded from the color of his coat to white and then to black. He was the most breathtaking horse of them all. Merlin sensed a lot of energy and endurence from him, so he decided if the horse let him that he would ride him on his journey.

Merlin patted every horse and gave the smokey mare an apple. Then, he put one leg over the horse's back and heaved himself up, sitting stiffly and waiting for the reaction. The horse was calm and seemed ready to go. Merlin brushed his flanks with his heels and the horse set off, not as fast as Merlin's mare but still at a nice gait. Merlin knew the only place to find the Leunin flower was in The Valley Of Broken Souls. Even there, the flower was extremely hard to locate due to its rareness and the fact that it only grows on a specific type of rock that has a certain level of sodium that helps it grow.

Merlin accelerated as they broke through the cover of trees and raced away from his home.