Camelot
Chapter 18: Camelot
It was a gruesome sight, despite the nature of the kill being fairly wholesome, the only visible source of blood appearing to be the wound in the hand of the unfortunate victim. The head of Housekeeping, whose name Merlin learned, was Bertram, a fitting name for a man who preferred his things shiny and new much like his namesake, the raven, had been essentially pinned to his bedside table. The tearing around the wound showed Merlin exactly how scared the man had been before he had died.
It seemed odd though, that the struggle for his life should have ended so quickly then. Bertram had enough time to struggle just once against his attacker, before seemingly dying of no prominently evident cause.
"Sire, I would hazard to say that Gwaine's right. Of everyone in the castle, there's not much benefit to kill Master Bertram, we would notice his absence and no one could easily replace him. This was very clearly meant to be some sort of execution." Leon said, putting his hand out to test the wall that should technically have held Bertram's door. A loud sniffle suddenly brought the attention back to the woman who had been found hysterical outside of the room, and whose screams had lead them to the chambers in the first place.
Almost simultaneously everyone turned to look at the diminutive child that Gwenivere had ensconced in her arms. Lancelot, closest to her, knelt next to them and asked her in as gentle a voice as he could muster.
"I'm sorry young lady, but I must ask, why was it that you were approaching the chambers of a grown man alone at this time of night?" The question only served to make the child curl in on herself and start sobbing a new, clearly distraught. Merlin found it hard to look at her. This was a look he well recognized, even if he didn't know why she wore it. It was the look of a woman at her wits end, whose options had run out. As he averted his gaze, Merlin's gaze landed on something glinting, embedded in the woodwork of the bed frame. He pried it out and examined it, seeing that to his best guess, it was some type of scale, though belonging to what, he couldn't be sure. It glittered strangely in the light of the candles in the room, a deep obsidian black. The girl's sniffles got louder and Merlin pocketed it, figuring he would study it later.
"She was here because that bastard told her to come to him." A harsh voice cut through the group and Arthur turned to find Penelope, to him an unnamed servant, walking towards them, gently taking over the care of Clarine from Gwenivere, who still hovered maternally around the young girl. The King raised an eyebrow at her, and she seemed to remember who it was that she was speaking to, since she dropped into a curtsey at the gesture from the man.
"Apologies, sire. My name is Penelope, I am one of Queen Gwenivere's scullery maid's." She paused for a moment. "Well, I'm her lady in waiting's scullery maid." Arthur looked over at Gwenivere who nodded, vaguely remembering the girl as arriving to work in the castle mere months before she had been made Queen.
"Very well then, Penelope. I'm sure the Knight's, as well as myself would like to know why you're referring to the head of my castle's upkeep as a 'bastard'?" The look of expectation leveled at her from the King was enough to have made a younger version of Penelope turn tail and run. But now, she was older, wiser, and she had a goal. She would expose this man for who he was. If she couldn't trust her King and Queen with the truth, then who, in the end, would be left to trust?
"Begging your pardon sire, but I say that because it is the only polite way within which to address the man." She upturned her nose in distaste, at seeing his corpse laid out on the bed, frozen in terror. "He was notorious for taking young women who had just started work here, and using them to satisfy his own perverse lust." Gwaine seemed to go a bit green at the gills there, while Leon looked outraged, though Merlin couldn't be sure whether it was in the man's defense or in horror.
"It's for that reason that Clarine was told to come here tonight. She accidentally stained his robes today," she indicated to his robes, hanging untouched on a hook in the open wardrobe and when Elyan gingerly walked over the rubble in the room to confirm the clothes were indeed stained. "He told her that he would consider not turning her out, if she came to his chambers tonight, to work off her affront to his precious body." The girl's expression made it quite clear what she thought of that particular transaction.
There were a series of unreadable looks that transversed between Arthur and his knight's and after a few terse moments of thought, it seemed Arthur had decided to believe her. Merlin himself was unsure of the happenings since this man had become Head after he'd left, so he had no idea of whether she was telling the truth, though she certainly seemed to be. In the end, a sentry guard was sent to escort the two girls back to their quarters and Arthur was conversing with another pair of knights, arranging for Bertram's body to be transported down to Gaius, in the hopes of perhaps finding a cause of death or at least a clue to the nature of the beast who'd killed him.
He then cordoned the area, instructing it's guards to let absolutely no one in. When that was done, he found his knight's looking weary as well as Gwenivere, given the late hour, but saw that Elladora was wide awake and deep in thought.
"Come, Mistress, let us escort you back to your rooms, and you can tell me what has so throughly grabbed your attention." Merlin scowled at the King, hearing the slight taunt in the words, but chose to bite his tongue. He nodded his acquiescence to the escort, knowing it wasn't really a request. They walked in group back down to the west wing, Arthur, Gwen and Merlin in front, the Knights trailing behind.
There was a prolonged portion of silence that stretched as they walked, Arthur studying Merlin as Merlin thought.
"Well?" Merlin locked eyes with the King, to find him waiting expectantly for Merlin to say something.
"Sorry, what?" Was all Merlin could say to respond. The King rolled his eyes.
"I'm asking what you made of this? Someone has killed a man, in my castle, right under my nose, and I heard not a whisper of it." There was a hint of worry in his voice and Merlin realized that this posed another problem entirely. Whatever had killed Madalen was in the castle, and that meant, that it had help. Whatever it was had gone through his wards, was more powerful than his wards.
"I don't have much input, I'm afraid. It is certain for sure, that it’s the work of the same beast, but I'm no closer to figuring out it's nature. I'll need to consult with my own texts first." Gwaine exchanged a look between himself and Percival.
"Your texts? You've brought them with you?" Merlin graced him with a sly smile, remembering his magick bag.
"Something like that, yes."
"Well, here we are, Mistress." Merlin sighed. He knew, when he placed his hand on the door jamb that there was no way he was sleeping tonight. At least not for long, he needed to find out what was picking people off in Camelot. He flashed Arthur and then Gwen beside him a small smile.
"Thank you for coming with me, although I didn't need the protection, you know." Arthur flushed, his intentions revealed. He squared his shoulders and gave Merlin a look that dripped with sarcasm.
"Yes, well. Seeing as something is trying to kill people I'd rather not have to be worried about you turning into a corpse on my watch."
"Charming." Merlin responded wryly. What happened to the always diplomatic Arthur that he'd seen over the course of his manservant days? Why was it that no matter which gender he was he elicited the same response from the man? Merlin could have laughed from the absurdness. So he gave a half hearted wave, and pushed the handle to door open.
Just in time to see the washtub run past the door on four dog legs to his side of the room.
Merlin shut the door and blinked. Arthur and Gwenivere hadn't seen it as far as he could tell. He cracked it open again and saw the washtub sprint past again in the other direction, water sloshing over the edge as Godric and Rowena made a diving grab for the magicked tub. He slammed it closed, knocking his head on the door, groaning. He'd been gone for an hour, at most. He should have known they weren't asleep when he left, he hadn't heard Godric snore. I'm going to give those trolls a lesson they won't soon forget.
"Uh, Elladora, are you alright? Don’t you want to go in?" Arthur asked, slightly suspicious. Right after I figure out how to get rid of this procession behind me. Merlin turned around, one hand firmly on the door jamb behind him, and gave the monarchs a strained grin. Just because Arthur knew they could do magic didn't mean he was alright with the idea of them performing it right under his royal nose.
Now he understood how Gaius must have felt whenever he'd done something like this, brought them just that much closer to being flambed on the pyre out in the castle courtyard. He was equal parts exasperated and a little bit amused at their antics. He heard Salazar curse and Helga yelp as they presumably missed the opportunity to grab it again, the tub banging against the door, jostling it. He settled for scratching his temple whilst he tried to figure out a way to stall for time. The looks he was getting from Percival, usually the calmest of the bunch, were turning from placid to mildly concerned at the jostling of the door.
From inside Merlin could hear muffled yelling as they tried to spell the situation under control. He heard Godric yell "Inverso!" At percisely the same moment that Helga yelled "Canis novis!"
It backfired immediately. The door behind Merlin seemed to swell with magic, though only Merlin could feel it. He prayed to any deity that was listening to spare him the disaster that was coming his way. Of course, no one answered and he was left lurching forward, propelled by the door jerking out of its hinges, the door having suddenly sprouted canine legs and hurtled down the corridor in a desperate bid to escape.
Gwaine and Lancelot jumped back, the long haired Knight letting out a girlish shriek as the slab of wood zoomed past, clutching Elyan's shoulder. There was a moment in the next few seconds, where the King stared from between Merlin and his children, half of whom were still trying to catch the basin while the others had realized now they had an audience.
Merlin wanted to curl up and disappear, but the banging and crashing of the door reminded him that he could die of mortification later, there was a runaway door he needed apprehend first. He flashed the baffled King a smile and held up one finger.
"Just give me a minute."
With that, Merlin grabbed as much of his skirts as he could and took off, tearing down the hallway after the door, which was running surprisingly fast for a slab of wood with four disproportionate legs attached to its bottom half, the legs starting from a foot off the bottom of the door. Behind him, he could vaguely hear the sounds of two of the knights coming after him, most likely Percival and Elyan by the sound of the huffing and puffing that followed him.
As he careened towards the door, it quickly became apparent that Merlin wasn't going to be able to catch up to it in time to un-enchant the door, so he did the only thing he could, and used a spell, in full view of the King and his Queen. Throwing out a hand, he skidded to a stop and barely stopped himself from toppling over as Percival and Elyan collided into his back.
"Bombarda!" The spell had been in one of the books that he used to read when he'd lived here. It tended to be useful to get rid of experiments that had gone mysteriously awry. The door glowed a bright gold for a moment before exploding into a thousand tiny sparkling pieces. He had barely had time to catch his breath before he heard Rowena yell
"Watch out, Mistress!" Merlin, who was bent over, bracing his hands on his knees, glanced over to see that this time the wash tub seemed to want to make a break for it as well. It was a bizarre sight, that was certain. This washtub coming at them, in full force, the water sloshing around inside, now reduced to such a small volume that it could no longer spill over the sides. Then, down the corridor, Helga managed throw herself out into the hallway, tripping over her nightgown, and stumbling in front of Arthur, who grabbed her upper arm instinctively, supporting her efforts to stand back up.
Helga held out a hand and yelled as loud as she could. Merlin could have laughed – if he'd had the spare breath to – at how Elyan and Percival clutched each other as the strange thing approached.
"Inverso!"
Suddenly, in mid canter, the wash tub's legs disappeared and the whole thing slammed back down on to the floor, the base cracking and flooding the floor with the remainder of the water in the tub.
Helga was breathing heavily, seeing that the spell had worked, she slumped to the floor, exhausted. Godric, Salazar and Rowena following her example. Seeing the shocked looks on everyone's faces, their first run in with non-life threatening – relatively so – magic, something inside Merlin snapped.
He toppled over backwards, landing on his bottom on the hard stone floor, and began to laugh in earnest. The sound of it echoed through the hallway, with Arthur, Gwenivere, and his men staring open mouthed at him, believing maybe he'd finally cracked. Then Gwenivere's shoulders began to shake, and soon she could no longer hold back, peals of laughter escaping her, the sound of it similar to tinkling bells.
In a matter of moments, the entire hallway was engulfed in breathless guffaws, until tears streamed down their faces. It took a fair amount of time to calm down but when they did, everyone was slumped on the floor, tired from the events of the day. It was by now quite past midnight Merlin would guess. Arthur and Gwenivere shakily stood, supporting each other, followed by their Knights. Merlin got up as well, making his way over to his still collapsed children. This time he knocked each of them in the head.
"Ouch!" The audible protest earned them another whack.
"Ouch? Ouch? You think you four have the right to complain? What exactly were you trying to do? I was gone for an hour at most! Come on, quickly, what were you trying to do?" He looked back at the curious stares behind him and leaned close to the four, holding up a hand to shield his mouth as he whispered to them. "Have you forgotten whose castle we're in? After only one day?." He rapped Godric in the forehead with his knuckles. "This castle belongs to King Arthur."
Godric stammered, unable to find the words to articulate what he was feeling, glancing fearfully between the King and Merlin.
"I'm sorry, we were just practicing the transfiguration spells you taught us. I was trying to make a dog out of the wash basin." He shuffled his feet.
"I can see that." Merlin replied dryly, he held his cheek in one hand as he looked at the rest of them. "SO whose idea was it to enchant the door as well?" Helga meekly held up a hand.
"I'm sorry Mistress. I thought maybe if we hit it with the same spell again, it might turn back."
Merlin sighed. He remembered his own wrangling with this particular spell and the multiple times it had gone wrong.
"Well, at least no one got hurt." He stood up and dusted off his dress, eyes landing on the busted fragments of the wooden door at the other end. "Well, almost no one."
"What were you thinking?" Merlin turned to find Arthur pinning him with a fairly judgemental look in his eyes.
"How could you teach them.." He paused, wondering if he should say the word, but ultimately decided against it. "How could you teach them that while you're here?" Merlin shrugged.
"Where else? If I don't, then it's going to be a free for all in here."
He waved his hand, and watched with amusement as they observed open mouthed, the door come back to life, slowly reconstructed itself from the broken pieces on the floor, adhering itself to the wall in Merlin's doorway.
"I think it's time for the children to get some real rest."
He ushered the children, who looked truly knackered after a long day. He knew from experience how draining using magic could be on the body of a young child. He held one hand on the door, leaning half out, as he thought of something he hadn’t before.
"You know, you laughed just now." Gwenivere choked on her own breath, desperately suppressing the laughter at Merlin's comment and Arthur's scowl. He glared at his wife and then leveled it at Merlin.
"What? What are you talking about?" He pointed down the hallway and then poked him in the chest.
"You. You laughed. You had fun. With magic." Arthur's face darkened comically and Gwen muffled her smile in her sleeve.
"You -!"
Merlin quickly slammed the door shut, leaving the King sputtering outside his door, with the Knights wondering if the Mistress liked laughing in the face of death.
. . . . . . . . .
That night, after making sure that they were indeed asleep, Merlin crept out of the castle, intending to go towards the forest. It was a long walk to the clearing, giving him ample time to sort through the nights events. Whatever was hunting within Camelot, was not doing so by accident. It was there by the design of someone and that didn't body well for things. For whatever reason, his wards had failed to keep it out of Camelot and it became very clear to him that he was going to have to go after the source of the magic to figure this out. There was no previous case to which to refer. Neither he nor Gaius had ever seen the type of creature that was killing people and yet it was obvious that it was some kind of beast. Something that was able to kill without physically touching the victim.
He was pulled out of his musing thoughts as he entered the field that he was looking for. It was time. Tonight, he sought an audience with an ancient being.
When he reached the clearing, Merlin took a deep breath and roared, in that guttural tone that he'd learned to affect to call Kilgrrah to him.
Within scant moments of his call, the tell tale flapping of wings alerted him to the arrival of his primeval guest.
The dragon bent his head and huffed a breath over Merlin's form as greeting.
"I see you've yet to shed your female skin young warlock." Merlin colored slightly at the taunt. Bloody dragon thinks it's funny.
"Shut up. I'm working on it." He sat down heavily, letting his head flop back, and rolling his shoulders.
"Language, Emrys. I've eons on your mere two decades." Merlin waved away the dragon's affronted tone.
"I've had a hard day. I don't understand, Kilgrrah. Why can't I get them to control their magic? Whenever they try to perform magic, it always spirals out of control."
Kilgrrah, lowered his head, resting it on his forelegs, wings wrapped neatly at his sides.
"You speak of the four young sorcerer's you've taken on." He nodded. The dragon was silent for sometime, before it spoke again.
"Water without a pathway is nothing but a flood, Merlin. It often does more harm than good." The midnight blue dragon cocked his head to the side, observing Merlin with his great big eyes. "But water with a path, is a river, is a stream. It is useful and at times, even beautiful."
When Merlin gave him nothing but a confused look, the great beast sighed.
"Perhaps if you found some tool with which to direct the flow of their magic, they might have better luck."
Merlin mulled over the thought, fiddling with the scale in his hands absent mindedly. Kilgrrah sniffed the air suddenly, head coming up, alert.
"What is that, Merlin?" Merlin looked up at him, stopping mid-fumble, barely catching the scale before it hit the ground. He held it up to him.
"What? This? I found it today, in the room of a murdered man, in Arthur's castle. Why do you know what it’s from?"
It was the first time Merlin had ever seen the dragon affect the expression he currently wore. It was grim, and foreboding.
"It is the scale of a basilisk, Merlin Emrys. And it means nothing but doom for Camelot."