Something Old, Something New

7

Merlin looked at Johnson and Iris, making sure they were ready, and then cleared his mind and began to chant.

"Dico super te,
dea,
ad adjuvandum me aliquem.
Aithusa,
albus draco squamis et ardens ignis.
Invenient eam.
Invenient eam.
Invenient eam."

Merlin opened his eyes and they glowed a vibrant golden color. The ink from the map raised off of the paper and into the air and began to twist, forming crazy shapes as Iris looked in wonder and Johnson in concentration. Merlin read it too, just to make sure Johnson was truthful when he reached an assessment about where the spell was pointing them. The ink kept twisting until it was made into the shape of a globe, a glowing ball of golden light in the center. Finally, the ink settled, and the golden ball stopped glowing except for one pinpoint of light shining through a small portion of the ink.

"It's pointing us toward, hang on." Johnson fished his phone out of his pocket and pulled up a regular map. Merlin was reminded that he lived in America and didn't know what things were called.

"Coleford, but not quite there. A little bit outside of it."

"The Forest of Dean?" Iris asked. Johnson shook his head.

"Yes, but it looks smaller than that." Merlin and Iris locked eyes, his gold against her gray.

"Puzzlewood," they said at the same time. Merlin let the spell cease and the ink slowly trickled back onto the now blank paper on the counter. It slowly went back to it's regular shape as a map of the world as his eyes went back to their normal green.

"What's puzzlewood?" Johnson asked.

"It's a huge tourist attraction, but it's full of really old trees and hidden caves," Iris responded, the familiar light of the chase shining in her eyes.

"Aithusa said she thought she was underground," Merlin said. "She might have been in a cave."

"But a tourist attraction?" Johnson questioned. "Isn't that a little bit crowded? Why would she take a dragon there?" Merlin fought to keep his face neutral. He hadn't told Johnson that the murderer was a she, or that Aithusa was a dragon. He briefly made eye contact with Iris, who was doing less of a good job of keeping her shock and anger hidden. She schooled her features into a neutral expression at his look.

"The caves are all over the place. I'm sure there are plenty that the tourists haven't discovered yet. The forest is also filled to the brim with magic. It's very ancient, older than me," Merlin said, already shrugging on his jacket. "I can't ask the two of you to come with me," he said when he was ready, although he knew what their answers would be.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," Iris said at the same time as Johnson's reply.

"I'm coming."

Merlin smiled at them gratefully, although the smile was rather fixed when he looked at Johnson. Johnson didn't know him well enough to tell. They all went down and crammed themselves into Merlin's car. Johnson ended up in the back, which Iris looked ecstatic about. Merlin wished she would hide her reactions a little bit more carefully.

Merlin's mind was racing, thoughts completely consumed by Aithusa, and whether she was okay. He knew that this could very well be a trap. Aithusa could have still been under the witch's influence when she contacted him the second time, but it didn't matter. He couldn't lose her, and if that meant running into a trap then he would do it without any hesitation. 

Iris knew that Merlin didn't like silence, and so she kept up a steady stream of conversation going with Johnson. Johnson understood what she was doing immediately and didn't hesitate to help. Neither of them tried to engage Merlin in the conversation. They were just providing background noise. He suddenly felt immensely grateful for them, even Johnson, who was probably going to betray them in a couple hours.

He drove, and drove, and drove, and with each passing moment, he got more and more apprehensive. He recognized the nerves as the same ones that always plagued him before a battle, for that was surely how this would end up. His thoughts also turned to what the witch was trying to do. She was trying to bring Arthur back. Merlin was supposed to stop her, but what if he just...didn't. He wanted Arthur back more than he could even express in words. It was a powerful ache in his heart that had never fully gone away. He could let the witch bring him back. He thought he knew what she was doing, and only one more person would have to die. He could reconcile that with himself. He would have Arthur back, and whatever issues arose from it, they would deal with it together. 

Before Merlin even knew what was happening, he was pulling into the tourist parking lot by the Forest of Dean. He got out of the car, the others following suit. If they were regular tourists, they would go into the little shop by the parking lot and buy a ticket, but they weren't regular tourists.

"Invisibilis," he muttered, eyes glowing gold for a moment. He didn't feel any different, but that's just the way the spell worked. He knew that he, and Iris and Johnson, were all invisible to the normal mortal eye now. Iris and Johnson didn't question the fact that tourists now looked right through them. 

They entered the woods, and everything grew quiet, as if the entire world was holding it's breath. There weren't even any sounds of wildlife, but Merlin could feel that they were there, trying to figure out who these new people were who had decided to enter their homeland. This place had always reminded him of the woods by Camelot, although they weren't. The Camelot woods had long since been cut down. The Forest of Dean was beautiful, but Puzzlewood was something else entirely. The entire forest buzzed with magic, but it wasn't like the magic that hung over the forest that he often met Aithusa in. That magic was quiet. This was loud, as if it were clamoring to be heard, and Merlin responded to it. He let his own magic reach out and brush against that of the forest, saying a gentle hello, and he felt the forest rejoice at finally being noticed for something other than big trees and dark caves. 

He smiled, even though what they were about to do was dangerous, even though he still had a choice to make, because he always felt most at home surrounded by magic like this. He was home.

I know, this one is much shorter. Sorry. I probably could have made it longer, but it just felt like the right place to stop because after this chapter things get intense. Hope you're enjoying.

xoxo

-Sierra <3