The Secret Memory

Eight

Arthur did not say a word as he removed the dead man's rings or as he walked out of the underground corridors. The only words he spoke were instructions to the knights once they were in the main hall again where his men were rounding up the defeated henchmen. Arthur did not even meet Merlin's eyes as the latter trailed him.

When they stood before the king in Camelot's great hall, Merlin's nerves kicked in. What if Arthur kept quiet to collect his thoughts and would reveal the truth here, to the king? Merlin swallowed, standing next to Gaius. What if this was the moment his days of keeping his magic a secret ended?

'We have collected a number of objects from the manor, including rings from the sorcerer's person,' Arthur stated. 'They will be examined shortly to determine if any of them are magical artefacts.'

Uther gave a nod at the bags in front of his dais, a haughty smile. He stood as the knights carried them away and walked up to his son. 'You have earned back your position.' He placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder briefly before walking away.

Arthur gave a mechanical nod, a bleak shadow on his face.

***

'When are you going to tell Uther?' Merlin strode up to Arthur's table where several items confiscated from Ulrich were lined up.

Arthur, still in his chainmail, sat examining a ring he held up. He paused in turning it in his hand. 'Tell my father what?'

'About...' Merlin's voice caught, 'my magic.'

Arthur held his eyes in a challenge, before going back to examining the ring. It had a black square stone, inlaid in a dark gold frame. 'I'm not going to.'

Merlin curled his fingers into a fist at his sides. He bent over the table, furious that he was being treated as if he was invisible. 'What do you want me to do? Confess?'

Arthur finally put down the ring. 'I want you to keep doing exactly what you're doing.'

'Which is what?'

'Keep your powers a secret.'

Merlin swallowed, his lips apart but unable to settle on the right words. 'You will... You will keep my secret?'

Arthur sighed. 'Don't use it in front of me. It's clear you're been good at,' Arthur gestured at Merlin, 'hiding your powers. And that...it's helped us.' Saved his life more than once, he guessed, but didn't say. 'If I don't know about something, I don't have to keep it a secret.' He resumed examining the objects.

'Arthur, you don't know what this means to me-'

'And we are not talking about this anymore. Now, we need to figure out which was the ring he used on his uncle.' Arthur ran his gloved thumb over the black stone. 'This seems to be a clasp.' He quickly pulled off his gloves and scratched the gold metalwork on which the stone was set. The clasp lifted with a push of his thumbnail.

Merlin came around to stand next to Arthur's chair. 'Looks like a message,' he said, peering at the tiny scroll wedged into the space between the hollow underside of the stone and the base on which it sat when clasped down.

Arthur took it out and unrolled the single line of cursive writing. 'Perhaps it's a code.'

Merlin read the words in his head. He didn't understand their meaning but their sounds were eerily familiar. 'It's a spell.'