Merlyn's Last Dream

The Sorcerer's Shadow P2

Merlyn and Gaius had been summoned to one of the corridor near the armoury. Well, Gaius had been summoned. Merlyn had just sort of tagged along.

The alarm bells were still ringing when they arrived, a signal for the foreboding uneasiness in the pit of the servant's stomach. Uther was waiting for them, tracing a burn mark on the wooden door to a storage cupboard with the tip of his gloved fingers.

"Sorcery. It's the only explanation." he murmured, staring at the burn as if it had personally offended him. Merlyn was inclined to agree, obviously not out loud, but she could feel something in the air. There was a spark of magic around them, something new. The burn itself seemed fairly inconspicuous, but the servant knew that something was afoot.

"We mustn't jump to conclusions, sire." Gaius responded, clearly hoping to diffuse the situation. Merlyn wondered if he could feel it too, the old magic glinting at her fingertips.

Uther turned to his advisor with fiery eyes, his passionate bloodthirst radiating from his glare. "What other explanation could there be? The guards report seeing a-an unnaturally bright light, its heat so intense they could feel it at the end of the corridor. These scorch marks seem to support their story."

Uther began to pace, moving away from the door so that Gaius could examine the burns. Merlyn stayed silent, a vague frown plastered across her face as the physician turned to the king with lacking in concern.

"However, they appear to have been there for some time." he lied boldly, moving away from the burns. "Did the guards get a good look at this man?"

Uther shook his head, staring blankly at the wall. "No: it was too dark."

"Unfortunate." Gaius sighed, although he didn't sound particularly disheartened. "I can see no evidence of magic."

"There's a strange odor. How do you explain that?" the king questioned, evidently not in the mood to let the matter rest. Maybe the tournament was feeding into his paranoia.

"It's coming from the grain store up there." Gaius shrugged, pointing in the vague direction of the supply. "It's, uh, alecost for the tavern. They use it in their brewing."

"Brewing?"

When Merlyn turned back, she saw that Gaius had moved from her side, standing behind the king. She did her best to hide her grin, impressed by his misdirection.

"Indeed, sire. It imparts a... special flavour."

If Gaius put half the amount of effort into his lies to Arthur as he did to Uther, Merlyn wouldn't spend so much time mucking out his horses.

"Very well." Uther nodded slowly, sweeping his dark cloak as he stormed away, not even bothering to thank the physician.

~

Merlyn followed Gaius back to their chambers, shutting the door firmly behind her before her mentor started talking. For someone who lectured so passionately about secrecy, he didn't seem to quite comprehend the fact that the guards could hear their rather traitorous conversations if he didn't bother to create a barrier between him and them. Privately, Merlyn reckoned that the only reason she and the physician were still alive was due to some kind of bet between the guards, but she hadn't pushed her luck so far as to inquire about it. Perhaps they were all just deaf. Really, really deaf.

"It must've been Gilli; judging by the scorch marks and the odor, it was an old healing spell. It's crude, but it works." Gaius stated, handing over a familiar ring to the witch. He continued to explain how exactly the magic worked, but by this point, she wasn't listening, far too interested in the runes enscrived into the surface of the dull band.