Chapter Ten: Room on Fire

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Merlin was alone, the room would have been dark if not for the fire boarder around the checkered floor which the boy stood on. The red curtains which covered no window had been set alight and now were a constant blaze but no matter how long the flame engulfed the material they did not burn. Above him was a grand chandelier, well it would have been grand if it to was not on fire. The orange flames surrounded the warlock, there was no means of escape, even if the fire was not there there were no windows or doors; he was completely trapped.

Frantically looking around the boy began to panic, trying to use his magic to quieten the overgrowing flames but to no avail, his magic wouldn't respond - he was powerless. Growling in frustration the boy began to walk to the other side of the room but as he was about to cross the halfway mark of the cubed room a streak of flames came running diagonally across the room causing Merlin to jump back in order to avoid being burnt. The boy stumbled to the floor sitting up looking into the fire which now halved the size of the room. It was then when he saw a dark figure through the flames. The warlock's eyes widened in fear as the faceless hooded figure slowly raised its hand and pointed at the boy, before Merlin could even think about what to do the fire between them burst higher into a roaring flame, and broke free from the boarders in which it had be contained in. The fire now moved closer to the boy before completely consuming him. The heat was unbearable, agonising even, but the flames which touched his skin was worse, he could feel it burning away at his flesh, the boy began to scream helplessly wishing somebody would save him.

The boy jumped up still screaming, his eyes unblinking as he stared into the distance, Merlin's breath was laboured and shallow, he looked at his surroundings and relaxed as realised he was in his own bed, and just like it was before the boy was drenched in sweat. But perhaps the most unusual thing was all the objects which were floating in the air: Arthur's chainmail and sword, books and scraps of paper levitating as if by magic, even the servant's chair was avoiding the laws of gravity. The candle by the side of his bed had a roaring flame, the size of it unnatural to the size of the wick, It wasn't till Merlin saw the candle when he realised that his wardrobe too was alight, it was shaking as though it was alive.

"snus ut lyset" Merlin chanted the spell quickly to stop the strange happenings in the room, suddenly all the objects fell to the floor with a crash, the candle size decreased to that of a normal flame and the wardrobe fire died. The wooden wardrobe itself was still intact but it now had scorch marks lining up and down the dark oak, the boy stood from his bed, still feeling weak and stumbled to the cupboard looking at its new markings before shutting the doors which had some how opened in the flames. Leaning against the cupboard, the warlock turned to look out his window, it was still dark outside and at least a couple hours till dawn, sighing the boy began to pick up the books and paper which had fallen to the floor and placed them on his desk, then he turned to to pick up his chair but as he was doing so he heard a crash coming from the physicians main chambers.

Merlin cautiously opened his door to see a drunken Gaius stumbling into his bed, well that explains why his mentor hadn't come to see him when he was screaming, he had probably been with Geoffrey in the library arguing over some literature the ward thought to himself. Smiling at the old mans snores Merlin closed his door and went over to Arthur's armour picking it up and taking it over to his chair where he sat and polished for the rest of the night.

Polishing the kings things took a lot less time than expected, in fact it was still dark when the servant had finished, he was still exhausted but didn't want to sleep out of fear that he would have the nightmare again and because whatever had happened in his dream had caused his magic to work involuntarily, which considering magic was still banned in Camelot was probably not the best idea. And so the warlock decided to make use of this time. Gaius would most definitely have a bad head in the morning, so he took it upon himself to fulfil the physician's daily duties.

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