Lost in Phantasm (Merlin Fanfiction)

Part 11: "Friends In The Water"

Merlin fought to keep from inhaling water when he saw the thing holding him. It was not quite a fish, having arms, legs, and bright violet hair; yet the eyes and the blue skin and the webbed hands, the dorsal fins, and the flippers bespoke a creature designed for aquatic life. Merlin ascertained that from the top of its head to the tip of its long foot-flippers, it was certainly taller than the tallest human-he guessed nine or ten feet, perhaps.

It blinked at him, and then—wonder upon wonder—it spoke.

"What are you doing here? I know you are a human; you are of the same race as the one who imprisoned my brothers and sisters and I in this terrible place so far from the waters of our home. Why have you entered our prison? Speak! I command you!"

Merlin tried to sign that he could not speak underwater if he wanted to, and that he was now out of breath, thanks to this mermaid-creature.

She still trapped him with one long arm, while with the other she plucked a leaf from the seaweed plant. She smeared Merlin's mouth and nose with it, leaving them coated with the goo.

Merlin's mouth jerked open in spite of himself, and he took a rushing gasp of fresh air—but no water! The goo somehow let air in, but kept water out, no matter how much Merlin stretched his jaw and tested the membrane's capacity. He prodded it with his fingers. "What is this stuff?"

"It is called uandino. Surface-breathers use it when they swim, and merfolk use it when we surface." The mermaid's expression hardened after a moment, and she shoved him against the wall again. "Enough of this! Tell me who you are!"

Merlin tried to remain calm in this bizarre situation. "My name is Merlin, and my friend and I were transported here to this world from ours, in pursuit of the troll who stole the Phantasmagyth. I have one piece, and he has the other, but we were separated and he was captured. I followed him here—"

"And you thought you could rescue him all on your own, little Merlin?" the mermaid mocked. "How do I know you're not after one of us for some other kind of treasure? The wizard is your kinsman after all; don't all humans want the same thing?"

Merlin shook his head, not an easy feat when one has a long, lanky arm pressed firmly against one's neck. "No we don't. The wizard may want the Phantasmagyth, but my friend and I just want to return to our own world."

"Why did the wizard place you in the tanks?"

Merlin remembered the wizard's words about something he would be "dying to give him." "I think he wants to kill me," Merlin concluded. "Please," he begged the mermaid, "I must rescue my friend. Will you help me?"

The mermaid released him. "I will help on one condition: you must defeat the wizard and allow us to return to the Lake from whence we came."

Merlin sighed; did he always have to be the one to save everyone? Yet perhaps setting everything right was the only way to be able to return safely. If a portal still remained from Phantasm to Camelot, who knew what the wizard could do if he still had the power? Merlin didn't even know what sort of power the wizard had now, except to subdue everyone in Phantasm and to make objects like the black thing speak.

"Very well," Merlin sighed, "help me stop the wizard, and I will help you return to your home."

The mermaid nodded judiciously. "My name is Nika. Come with me." She swam with him to another tank, where a huge merman floated, half again as tall as Nika. His deep-red hair was cut short and uneven, with a single long lock wrapped continuously around his head like a turban.

"This is Timor," she said. "You must wake him. He knows where the wizard may have taken your friend, and how to get there."

Merlin hovered in front of the gigantic creature. There seemed to be a hazy film over his eyes. He did not move, and seemed to stare without seeing. "What's the matter with him?" Merlin asked.

"He is asleep," Nika said, "an enchantment wrought by the wizard. You must wake him."

Merlin shook his head. "I have no magic here! I cannot undo any spells, nor can I cast spells of my own."

Nika frowned. "On the contrary, it may be said that you are the only one who can. You woke me when I swam against you."

"I what?" Merlin did not know how this could be possible. Lily had said that only Phantasmian magic would work on Phantasm, and Merlin didn't know any—

The Chain! Merlin felt it's cold metallic touch, and recalled how it had released him from the enchantment that immobilized him after the goblin battle, how Lily had said that the Chain was the most powerful magic in Phantasm. The Chain gave him the ability to undo the wicked wizard's work! Merlin reached out and touched Timor's shoulder.

The film over his eyes disappeared, and the merman rolled his head and stretched his muscular arms. Timor's reach far exceeded the length of Merlin's body. The young warlock stared in awe as the magnificent creature eyed him solemnly.

Nika embraced the large merman. "Timor, this is the human Merlin. He has come to end the wizard's reign and return us to the Lake!"

Timor reminded Merlin of Sir Percival: large, strong, and not given to much speech. Timor reached out and cupped his hand around Merlin's back in a grateful gesture. The span of his fingers encompassed the length of Merlin's back.

"Merlin is trying to escape the tanks. The wizard has captured his friend and holds the gyth."

Timor scowled.

Merlin asked him, "Nika said you know where the wizard might be holding my friend. Can you take me there?"

"There is a secret room," Timor rumbled, "The tanks are all around, but they do not see into this secret room. There is a place where the tanks open, that leads right to the secret room. I will bring you there."

Nika produced a length of seaweed, which she fastened around Timor's chest. "Hold on to this, Merlin," she instructed as Timor presented his back. "Timor will swim with you on his back."

Merlin wrapped his arms through the harness.

"Here we go!" Timor roared, and pushed off the rock and down the tunnel.

Merlin watched Timor's powerful arms sweep through the water, combing the water behind him like deep-water oars. Combined with the propulsion of his foot-flippers, the merman moved through the water faster than anything Merlin had ever observed. The water rushing against his face made it difficult for him to keep his eyes open, but the uandino over his mouth held. 

In a very short time, Timor slowed and smoothly kicked straight upward. Merlin saw a round hatch of some sort at the top of the tank. Timor swam up to this, tested it briefly with his webbed fingers, and then drove his fist into the cover. Merlin untangled himself from the seaweed harness, and Timor assisted him out of the tank. 

Merlin escaped the water for the first time in nearly an hour, and he sat on the top of the tank and scraped the uandino-goo from his face, grateful to be free once again. He pulled his feet out of the water and tucked his knees to his chest as his wet clothes seemed to pick up even the slightest breeze, to say nothing of the persistent gusts wafting through the room. 

The area seemed to be a gigantic steel box around the tanks, the only light coming from the tanks themselves and small windows along the sides. One looked like a duct of some sort. Timor, from within the tank, gestured toward it.

"That one leads to the room outside the secret room," he explained. "May you find your friend." Timor reached out of the tank and covered Merlin's knees with his hand.

"I won't forget my promise," Merlin assured him. He reached into his collar and pulled out the Chain. Tugging hard and fast, he separated a single link from it, and the broken Chain mended itself. He handed the link to Timor.

"Give this to Nika. She'll know what to do."

Timor nodded and tied the link securely in his turban as he swam away. Merlin stood on the water tank to reach the open duct.

"All right, wizard," he muttered as he pulled himself by his elbows through the narrow, winding space, "It's time to finish this."

As he crawled over the openings into other rooms, he ignored them until he heard one vent whinnying.