𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 | A. Pendragon

Chapter 33 - Destiny is a Fickle Thing

The Fires of Idirsholas

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"Merlin," I call over my bench of potion for Lady Percival.

"Yeah?"

"I need to talk to you." I turn off the burner under the potion and turn to him.

Immediately, a concerned look comes across his face. "What's wrong?"

"Nick's going to Hogwarts," I state bluntly.

A grin comes over Merlin's face. "That's amazing! He's going off to a school that's made for people like him!" A look of sadness etches itself on his face. "I only wish I knew of it. Then I could've been surrounded by my people growing up, where I could've learned how to properly use my gift and not be afraid for my life. Do you know why I never got a letter?"

"Maybe it was because your magic is different – you don't need a wand, a flash of your eyes and things start to float." I shrug my shoulders. "Maybe it just wasn't your destiny to attend there. I don't know, Merlin."

He shakes his head, probably shaking his thoughts away of what could have been. "Well, back to Nick, it's a good thing he got his letter, right?"

"Normally yes, it is very good when a magical child gets a letter, but history has always said that Nicolas Flamel went to Beauxbatons, not Hogwarts."

"So what's the problem?"

I sigh in frustration. "Because Nick is going to Hogwarts, that means me being here, in this time, is already changing history."

"Yeah, so if you're already changing history, what's keeping you back from changing it even more?"

I pause my nail biting to look up at Merlin quizzically. "What do you mean?"

He shrugs. "I mean, then if you're already changing it, might as well tell Arthur how you feel," he says.

I immediately start to shake my head. "No. No, we've already been over this. You know I can't."

"Why not? It's clear to everyone – a blind man could see it clear as day."

"Merlin, don't you get it?" I breathe out, staring at him with fear on my face. "Nicholas is going to the wrong school; that could lead to chaos in the future and that would be all my fault. If I tell Arthur how I feel, then that would mess things up even more than they already are." I groan and bury my face in my hands. "I don't know what to do, Merlin."

"Well," he starts, "you don't have to tell Arthur anyth—"

"Merlin, that is not what I'm worried about."

He sighs. "Nick will be fine at Hogwarts, I'm sure of it. For the whole changing history thing, I think everything will be work out in the end. Like you said to me the other day about the Crystal: the future isn't set in stone. So, Nick is going to Hogwarts, but I'm sure that he will achieve all he did in history, it just might take longer or be different." He takes my hands away from my face, and smiles at me. "Everything will be fine."

I take a shaky breath before launching myself at him, encasing him in a hug. "Thank you," I whisper into his neck. "I needed to hear that." I release him from my deathly grip, a smile on my face. "Everything will be fine."

"Everything will be fine," he repeats.

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Everything was not fine.

"I'm a herder from the northern plains, Sire," a man tells the council. He's someone from the outer towns of Camelot, a sack over his shoulder. I can tell he's tired by the bags under his eyes and the look of pure exhaustion in his body language. "Three nights back, we were camped beneath the walls of Idirsholas."

I look at Gaius, silently asking where that is. He nods at me, telling me he would explain later.

"I'm not sure I would've chosen such a place," King Uther says with a grimace.

"Good pasture is scares at this time of year, Sire," the man explains.

"And what is it you have to tell me?" Uther says it like he is bored with this small thing. Like this man had to come and simply bother him with his worries.

"While we were there, we-we saw smoke rising from the citadel."

Uther looked over at Gaius. "And did you see anything else?" the physician asks besides Merlin and I.

"No." He shakes his head.

"Did you go inside?" questions Uther.

"No. Nobody has stepped over that threshold for 300 years! You must know the legend, Sire." The man's tone is that of fear. That makes me intrigued. What could this place be?

"'When the fires of Idirsholas burn, the Knights of Medhir will ride again'," Gaius repeats ominously.

"See to it this man is fed and has a bed for the night." A guard comes up and takes the man away. Looking towards his son, Uther orders, "Take a ride out there."

"Why?" Arthur looks puzzled at the order.

"So we can put the people's minds at rest," is all that he says.

"Surely this is superstitious nonsense?"

"Take Elizabeth, too. Gather the guard and do as I say." Uther looks at Gaius and I before walking off.

The second we all get back into the physician chambers, Merlin asks: "Why is everyone so worried?"

Gaius closes the door behind him before answering, "Because the Knights of Medhir are a force to be reckoned with."

"Do you believe the story as well?" Merlin grabs his back and tosses me mine.

"It's more than a story, Merlin. Some 300 years ago, seven of Camelot's knights were seduced by a sorcerer's call. One by one, they succumbed to her power. At her command, they became a terrifying and brutal force that rode through the lands leaving death and destruction in their wake."

I shake my head slowly. "I've never heard of this tale before."

"Perhaps they were defeated by the time you were born," Gaius suggests.

"What happened?" asks Merlin.

"It was only after the sorcerer herself was killed that the Knights of Medhir finally grew still. Merlin, Elizabeth, if what Joseph says is true, then something has awoken them, and I fear for each and every one of us."

Merlin and I look at each other, already knowing that some new problem will arise.

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