The Rise of Arthur Pendragon

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Abruptly, Merlin stood up and raced around the physicians quarters. A few seconds later, he was back carrying a pile of old, very worn books. He dropped it onto a table and stated flipping though it's pages, muttering to himself. Arthur watched him anxiously until Gwen, who had up until then been sitting where Gaius had ordered her to and staring off into space, spoke up; "Would someone please tell me what on earth is going on!", she cried angrily. Everyone stared at her in amazement, as if they had forgotten about her presence. Even Arthur, who still had one arm around her, jumped when she spoke."Oh! Yes umm sorry Gwen. So as you may know..." And with that Merlin explained the whole story to an increasingly agitated Gwen. When he had told her every last detail she sat in silence for a while, with the other three watching her with furrowed brows and worried eyes. Then, with a calm voice, she spoke; "Alright then. We'd better get started. I'm not sure about you three but personally, I don't fancy hosting a deadly beast in my body any longer than necessary." With that she stood up and walked over to Merlin. "So Merlin, tell us what to do." Merlin just stared at her, with his mouth hanging open. Gwen crossed her arms in front of her chest and waited. Realising what he was doing the young warlock found his voice again and muttered; "But you're the Queen! And Arthur is King! Yet you're asking me what to do?" "Yes Merlin I am. Now tell us what we need to do." Giving Arthur a quick smirk (this, once again, earned him a very annoyed eye-roll from the King) Merlin turned back to his book, his brown leather jacket whipping around has he did, and said rather loudly; "Right. The beast's power is being held within Gwen and we need to find a way to force it out without hurting you before time runs out." Merlin was flipping through the pages with tremendous speed and his two friends got the impression he was talking more to himself than to them. Muttering a string of incomprehensible things, he searched for ages. The King and the Queen watched him, both becoming increasingly more worried with every passing minuet.

After what seemed like hours and about 100 different spell books Merlin looked up with a hopeless expression on his young face. "Nothing.", he murmured shaking his head sadly. "There's nothing." He wished he could consult Gaius, but the physician had been called away while Merlin was tearing through the books. Suddenly he straightened, turned on his heal and raced into his tiny room beyond Gaius' area. When he returned he was clutching yet another book to his chest looking as determined as ever. The young sorcerer slammed the large, brown book down on top of the others and stared turning the pages with incredible speed. Gwen and Arthur continued to watch him with baited breath. Abruptly, Merlin straightened, shot the pair a strange look, and turned back to his book as if nothing had happened. "What is it Merlin? If you've found something you must tell us immediately." The King stepped forward to try and decipher the magic book but soon gave up. "Merlin tell us. Now.", he told Merlin, his tone making it clear that the warlock was not to mess with him. "Arthur you would never agree to it. But... it's the only thing I found that stood a chance to save Gwen." Merlin glanced nervously at the Queen. Slowly Arthur took a few steps towards his manservant so that his face was so close to Merlins he could feel every breath the King took. "Tell me Merlin.", he said in a low, menacing voice. With a resigned sigh the young sorcerer stared to explain his plan. With every word the look of horror on the Kings face grew, while his Queen stood quietly listening, her expression calm and serious. "Alright. I've checked every single book in mine and Gaius' possession and I found nothing. Nothing that could force then spirit out without doing Gwen any harm. But there was one thing I found. A difficult spell, one that needs a large amount of power but I'm confident I can manage it." At that he looked at Arthur, his expression serious and determined, and Arthur knew that no harm would come to his Queen while Merlin was with them. "So what does this spell do, Merlin", asked Gwen, as calm and poised as ever. "Well it, it... it can turn the dead, back into the living."