Merlia

Stories from the past

     Amelia and her new friends were having so much fun. They were talking and laughing.
"So when I entered the kitchen the next day," said Alex, "there he was, lying on the floor, snoring." Everyone laughed. "I do not snore," protested Tom. "Yes you do." "Well, then I must've been tired."
He tried to hide the fact that he snores but he couldn't. "Are you embarrassed because of Amy?" Joked Bianca. "I'm not embarrassed of anyone," he said. "Oh, you're blushing," laughed Amelia and everyone else with her.
"Yeah, yeah," he said, "laugh at old Tom and never mind his feelings." They apologized but still were giggling.
     "Hello everyone," a girl entered.
When she saw them laughing she said, "Don't tell me you're laughing at Tom? Has he been sleeping in the kitchen again?" Everyone bursted out in laughter.
"Not you too," groaned Tom. "Hello," the girl greeted Amelia. "Are you new here?" "Yes, I am," she answered. "I arrived a few days ago. I'm Amelia, but you can call me Amy." "I'm Josephine. Everyone calls me Josey. Wait," she said, staring hardly at Amelia. "Is it just me, or you really look like Merlin?" Everyone was surprised. Amelia herself was surprised.
     "Well, how come we didn't notice it?" Exclaimed Alex. "They really do look alike!" However, Amelia thought it must've been a coincidence. "Well, if we look alike, it doesn't mean we're related, does it?" She later thought: what if it wasn't a coincidence? What if it was something else?

Arthur was in the forest. He was hunting. He found a deer and pointed his arrow quietly toward it.
He was about to let go of it when Merlin came running from behind him, making a jingling noise with the items he was carrying. "What is it?" He asked the prince and the deer ran away.
The prince got angry and shouted at him, "You really are an idiot, aren't you Merlin?" "Sorry," he apologized. The prince shook his head and left.
     When they arrived at the castle, they headed to the king. "Arthur," said the king. "How was your hunting trip?" "Unfortunately," said the prince glaring at Merlin, "not fruitful."
     The king had a letter which after reading, he sighed in relief. "What is it, father?" Asked Arthur. "Remember when I sent messengers to Lord Bayard, asking him to make peace with us? Well, he agreed and says that he will visit Camelot within a week."
Arthur was pleased. Finally, friendships with other kingdoms meant less wars.
     "Then we will welcome them with open arms," Arthur cheered, then left to his room. At evening, when it was supper time, the king, the prince and the lady sat together and had a nice talk.
"I heard that Mercia agreed to make peace with Camelot," said Morgana. "That's right," replied Arthur. "And all that wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for father's convincing methods. In good ways, of course." "You're absolutely right," she agreed.
     The king was drinking and when he finished, he said, "oh, come on you two, enough with the compliments." He liked it though. "It was not because of my methods they have agreed, it was because they wanted to. They are probably tired of wars as we are. Besides, who would resist peace?" That was true. Who would resist peace?

Merlin went to the kitchen to see Amelia. She was the only one left and was cleaning the kitchen.
She closed the windows and when she turned around, "Boo!" Merlin scared her. She almost fell back but he grabbed her hand. "Merlin," she said. "You scared me to death." He was laughing at her. "You find that very funny, huh? Alright, it might've been a little funny," and she started laughing with him.
     "What are you doing here?" She wondered. "Well," he said, "I was thinking maybe I could walk you home. A young lady isn't supposed to go home alone when it's dark. Many things could happen, you know."
Amelia giggled. "Things like what?" "Well, scary creatures might attack," he said. "Really, Merlin?" She asked as if scared. "What kind of creatures?" He got closer to her and whispered, "Giant, hideous, vicious beasts." "And when they attack," she whispered back, "you'll be the one protecting me?"
He looked at her and nodded. "Of course." She then got closer to him and said, "then I fear for my life," and started laughing.
"Seriously?" He asked in surprise. "Why does everyone underestimate my abilities?" "Sorry, sorry. Okay, I'll stop laughing. But I'll let you walk me home anyway. And to make it up to you, I'll invite you for some tea and biscuits. How's that?"
He showed her that he was upset. But when she offered tea and biscuits, he stared at her and said, "fair enough."
     As they were walking, Amelia noticed that his mind was somewhere else, so she broke the silence. "Have you reached the moon?" He looked at the moon and said, "yes, I have. It says Hi." They both giggled.
     They reached her house and Amelia told Merlin to sit down until she made some tea.
She served him the tea and biscuits. "So," he said, "we didn't get the chance to know each other well, but now is the perfect opportunity."
"What do you wish to know?" He took a sip of his tea then said, "Well, for starters, where are you from? Your hometown, your family."
She looked down for a moment before saying, "I'm from Essetir. Well, the forests of Essetir."
He looked at her in amazement. "For real?" "Yes. Why?" He let out a giggle and said, "I'm from Essetir, too. Ealdor. How strange we never met before."
She agreed with him. "It was a nice place, where I lived. Green trees surrounding you. Nice weather—not always, though. As for the family, never had better. But, unfortunately, I may not be able to see them again."
     He was surprised. "Why?" She looked at him and then said, "let's just say that I did a terrible thing. And it almost cost everyone their lives."
Merlin was wondering: what could that terrible thing be? He also looked at her incredulously for reasons no one knew but him.
     They ate some biscuits and Amelia asked him a question. "What about you?"
He lifted his head and stared at her. "I used to live with my mother, in Ealdor. It was a nice and quiet village. Everyone cared about everyone else. But the place wasn't right for me, so my mother sent me to Camelot. Gave me a letter for Gaius. He is an old friend of hers so she trusted him to look after me."
"One more question," she smiled, and Merlin felt like he knew what it was. "How did you become Arthur's servant?" He laughed and asked, "why would you ask that?" "I don't know. I feel like it is a funny story. And I love funny stories. C'mon, tell me."
He couldn't refuse her demand, so he told her.
"The second day of my arrival in Camelot," he began, "I was delivering medicine for one of Gaius' patients. When I was going back, I saw some boys—a little older than me—bullying at another boy. They made him hold a round wood as a target and run with it. 'Don't stop,' said one of them. 'Come on, run. This is a moving target practice.' He ran back and forth until the target fell from him and rolled to my feet.
     " 'Hey,' I said nicely, 'come on, that's enough.' The bully looked surprised. 'What?' He asked. 'You had your fun, my friend,' I told him. He came to me. 'Do I know you?' He asked. 'Um, I'm Merlin,' I introduced myself and raised my hand to shake his. 'So I don't know you.' I started to find him annoying. 'No,' I said. 'And yet you called me friend,' he said. 'That was my mistake,' I admitted. 'Yes, I think so,' he said. 'Yeah. I'd never have a friend who could be such an ass,' I told him and walked away. Yeah I know, that was rude. But he deserved it.
     " 'Or I one who could be so stupid,' he said. 'Tell me Merlin, do you know how to walk on your knees?' I don't know what's that had to do with anything that was going on, but I suppose he wanted to make fun of me. 'No,' I replied. 'Would you like me to help you?' He asked with a smirk on his face. 'I wouldn't if I were you,' I said in a threatening tone. He snickered. 'Why? What're gonna do to me?' He teased. 'You have no idea.' I felt I was a gangster, threatening people not to mess with me. He chuckled and stepped closer. 'Be my guest,' he exclaimed. 'Come on, come on. Come ooonnn!'
     "I was going to punch him in the face but he grabbed my arm and twisted it. 'I'm gonna throw you in jail for that,' he threatened. 'Who do you think you are, the king?' I shouldn't have asked him that, you know, because his answer was, 'No, I'm his son, Arthur.' Yeah, laugh as loud as you can. And so, he put me in jail but Gaius got me out, and thank god he did. It stinks in there.
"The next day we fought again, of course, but it was his fault. I was ignoring him because I didn't want any trouble with the royalties on my third day, but he seemed like in a mood for another fight. So we fought. I would've won if it wasn't for Gaius, who distracted me and the prince got me.
     "At night, it was the feast. Everyone was enjoying their time. There had been a singer, too. When she started singing, the most strangest thing happened. Everyone in the hall fell asleep and spider webs started appearing on them. I knew immediately it was a work of magic—dark magic. I covered my ears so I wouldn't listen to her song. I knew for sure that she was disguised as the singer. She stopped singing and took a dagger and magically faced it toward Arthur to kill him.
"Why? Well, on my first day, Uther had her son executed for using magic, although he didn't hurt anyone. So she promised that she'd kill his son for taking away hers.
     "Everyone started waking up and they realized what was happening. The dagger was about to penetrate his heart when I pulled him away. I don't know how, but the chandelier fell on her, revealing her true self and killed her.
"As a reward for saving the prince's life, the king made me his servant. How is that a reward, I have no idea. Since then, my life has been a living hell. And that's how I became prince Arthur's servant."
     "Wow," Amelia said. "What a story. It's like a bedtime story, really."
She couldn't get the part where the sorcerer was executed out of her mind.
"Unfortunately for Uther," she sighed, "that he had witnessed the dark side of magic." Merlin stared at her. "What d'you mean?" "I mean," she said, "magic can be used for good. Most people do use it for good. But Uther doesn't see that. Even if he does, he would be blinded by the evil doings of sorcery. I just wish people would see the good side of magic, the bright side of it. Not everyone has dark desires, you know."
     Merlin smiled slightly. He was astonished by her thought.
     "You really think that?" She stared at him and said, "I know that. But who are we talking to anyways. It's not like we could change his mind, right?"
"So you're saying, that if you had magic, you'd use it for good?" "Of course I would," she answered immediately. "That is... if I had magic."
"Right. If you found out that one of your friends has magic, what would you do? Would you go to Uther and tell him, or would you keep it a secret?"
She glared at him for a moment then said, "Well, I would keep it a secret, of course. I mean, no one deserves to be killed for something they didn't choose, right? Even if it wasn't my friend. From my point of view, magic isn't a curse. It is you who decide how to use it."
He was amused by what she said. He was glad that there is someone who thinks like him about magic. At least, one day, he could tell her about his true self: that he's a warlock.
     There has been a moment's silence before Merlin broke it and said, "It's getting late, I probably should be going. I don't want Gaius to worry about me. Thanks for the invitation. I had fun. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."
     She wished him good night and went to bed.