Merlyn's Fate

The Lady of the Lake P3

Merlyn had almost finished packing, buckling her bag as she looked around the room. She thought fondly of the many nights she'd spent pouring over the hundreds of books stacked upon the shelves, hoping to find something to save Camelot, Morgana, Arthur... She was trying not to think about him.

A part of her felt like she was failing her destiny, but she didn't think she could live like this any longer. It was too much, the threat of her constant impending doom, living knowing that one wrong move would see her burnt on a stake. She felt a little guilty about leaving Morgana, but she hoped that the ward would find her own way, just as she had done after her father's demise. It wasn't that she wanted to leave her friends, no, her family, but the life she could have with Freya was simply far to tempting to ignore. She could find peace, practise magic without a thought to who could overhear her chants, see her eyes flicker gold. A life with her druid sounded much easier, more comfortable. Maybe in another life she could be brave, maybe one day she could return, but for now, she needed to be selfish.

Of course, Gaius chose this moment to walk in, his wary expression betraying his worry.

"Gaius, I was just-"

"Merlyn, sit down. I want to talk to you." Gaius interrupted; his tone left no room for arguement. She did as she was told, but glanced up at the physician, fairly concerned.

"Is everything alright? You look worried." she asked, certain that something was wrong. She'd heard about the attacks on the townspeople, and felt a little guilty that she had ignored them, presuming that Arthur had it under his control. Clearly she'd been mistaken.

Gaius sighed deeply, sitting beside the witch on the bench. "The beast struck again last night. There's been two more deaths in the lower town."

"Do you know what it is yet?" she questioned, feeling an odd tug at her heartstrings as she realised that she'd miss this in a weird way, the plotting against those who'd do Camelot harm. Spending time with the physician as he poured over the woes of the nobles, the threats to the kingdom.

"Once again there were no tracks by the bodies, but human footprints were leading away from them." Gaius stated morbidly, shuddering a little at the memory of the corpses.

"Right." Merlyn nodded, again feeling a sort of regret at failing to help the physician research what could be killing the people in the lower town.

Gaius carried on as if he hadn't been interrupted. "It doesn't seem to add up. The footprints indicate that a human is responsible, but the wounds inflicted are definitely the work of a beast."

"Strange." the witch remarked, overcome by foreboding. She had a feeling that she knew where this conversation was headed, and she didn't like it one bit.

"Yes." Gaius agreed. "Until I remembered what Halig said about the druid girl. That she's cursed."

Freya had said such a thing about herself when Merlyn had first met her, but she'd presumed that the druid had been talking about her magic. Now, it appeared to be something much more sinister.

"Do you think that the girl is that monster?" Merlyn needed to know, but was careful to keep her face blank.

Gaius didn't answer her question directly. "The ancient chronicles speak of a heinous curse. It dooms its victim to turn, at the stroke of midnight, into a vicious and bloodthirsty beast. The writers of old called this creature a Bastet, a monster of nightmare that inhabits the twilight world between the living and the dead."

Merlyn gulped, trying to take all this in. She'd known that Freya hadn't told her everything about herself, that there were many secrets between them, but this was something far bigger than she'd expected. Before she had time to comprehend her thoughts, Gaius spoke again.