Thaumaturgy

Chapter 11

Time passed in Ealdor and the summer came into boing with a feroicious vengence - a burning sun scorched the earth, and raged storms drenched and fertilised it again. Merlin and Dirk - or, Arthur, as now Merlin called him in the privacy of their home in the forge - has settled into a usual routine: bickering like a old marriod couple through the long summer evenings they both felt timeless, slipping into hazy contentment and pleasure at villiage life.

But slowly, day by day, a creeping worry snuck into Merlin's thoughts. As balances as he was with Arthur, he started to feel an unbalance running through the air, in the space between atoms where magic belonged: in around and part of the world. It unnevered him.

It was a bright Sunday when things came to ahead. The balcksmithing business being closed for the day, the pair had decided to take a picnic to the nearby lake and in the sunshine and the lake's crystal waters. Arthur lay, hands behind his blonde hair in a pillow, legs a kimbo, on the grassy lake bank in the sun. He stared happily into the sky, watching a dragonfly idolly weave its way through the air - it flew like a drunk man walks, swooping in an out and circling around.

"Arthur!" Merlin called in the distancne. Arthur didn't move.

"Mm?" He grunted, still watching the graceful pass of the dragonfly and the clouds that floated across the sky without a care in the worlf.

"Arthur!!" MErlin shouted again, still just as far away as before. Arthur huffed and sat up, looking around, his blonde hair ruffled.

"What?" he called in the direction of the warlock's voice.

"Come see!" With a sigh the blonde man got up, smiling to himself and brushing the dirt off his trousers, and followed the sound of Merlin's voice into the tree line that surrounded the lake.

"What it is - oh." As he rounded a large tree he saw Merlin, face aglow with wonder, and a gigantic hole. Not a hole in the ground or anything else, but in the air in front of him. I glowed with a golden light, and it struck Arthur that it was the same light as Merlin's magc when he had performed the soulmates spell, glowing the sunilight and casting its light over his face. Arthur was stunned.

"What is it?!" He whispered in amazemnt. Merlin shock his head, a grin of childish delight splitting his face.

"I have no idea! It's magic" H reached out a curious hand, long fingers stretched out, the golden light of mgic twining around them familiarly.

"Merlin I don't think-" There was a flash, the magic lept out, and Merlin was gone.

"MERLIN!!" Arthur screamed, reching out without a thought to the space where his soul mate had stood seconds before, and in a flash he to disappeared from the leafy forest.

----

With a crash and an undiginified "oooomph", Arthur landed on the ground. The very boney, pointy ground.

"Arthur, not that I don't like you on top of me, but get off" Came Merlin muffled voice from beneathe him, and he scrambled to stand. He looked around, they were in a small wooden struture, like a pigsty, but it was empty. The hay on the ground was old, and it was abandoned wiht a damp musty smell permiating the dusty air. Arthur could hear rain dops tinkling a foreboding melacholly tune on the roof of the building.

Arthur offered Merlin his hand, and pulled the slight man to his feet, not mussing the way he looked around the room they stood in now. His soul mate was plotting, by the sparkling in his blue eye.

"Where are we?!" asked Artur dumblingly.

"No idea, sweethear" Merlin replied, with a grin.

"Why are you smiling? Ho did we get here? Merlin what happened? Why did you touch that golden thing? Where-" Arthur said lookng around, questions running one into another in a long line of qery. Merlin held up his hands in mock surrendered and laughed.

"Woah there cowboy!" said Merlin, to stop Arthur from talking. Arths fell silent and looked at him in expectation with his eyebrwos raised and his hands held out. Merlin sighed and rolled his eye dramantically.

"It was a magical portal" he said, in answer to all of the secret prince's questions, in a tone that suggested it were the most obivious thing in all the worlds, and even thought he didn't say it, he might as well have said 'duh!'

"A magical portal?" Arthur repeated. It was not the most obivious thing in all the worlds.

"Well, then, why isn't there anoher one here?" he questioned, waving his hands at the abundance of dark air in the barn and spinning slightly for emphasis.

"I don't know. It closed?" responded Merlin, quite casually, with a shrug.

"Then how will we get back?!" Arthur hissed, and Merlin relented in his teasing.

"I don't know my love" he reached out and rested a hand on the blonde man's cheek. He felt the sutble scratch of his stubble on his palm. He gazed into his eyes and sw the first stirrings of panic sooth away with his touch.

"Where are we?" Arthur asked in a quiet whisper of fear. Merlin shook his head, his dark hair rustling.

"I don't know. We'll have to go and look" He gave an encouraging smile and went and pulled the door open. It scraped slightily on the floor.

"It's so dark" MErlin observed.

"And cold also." added Arthur, gosepimples on his arms. They were dressed for the summer sun and this place had none of the warmth: wherever they are. The pair of them walked out of the barn as the rain splittered down around them from the dark sky, although therer was no sight of the sun, Merlin's magic, connected to the earht and nature as it was, told him that it was still daytime. He frowned.

"Something feels...bad" he said. Arthur looked at his quickly in concern.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I don't know...my magic it feels...wrong" he said: it was hard to explain, most people didn't have this sixth sense that felt in ways no one else could know.

"It's probably nothing" he said shaking him head at himself. He'd felt his magic off before, and it had just been other magic users in the arrea, rivalliing his own, and hadn't been anything bad. Arthur nodded at him, still forwning in concern, but didn't push him.

They walked on, throuh the dirty streets of the town they foundn themselves in.

"Where ever we are it's not good" The blonde murmered to Merlin, casting his eyes over the scenes before him. The streets were filthy, and women and men werre at every corner, some begging, some sick, some soliciting lewedly, all starving and with a hollow look in there eyes as they watched the two men pass jealousy. As they rounded a corner, they norrowly avoided a parade of guards: six men in chain mail armour wuth black tunics showing a red dragon on them. It was familiar to both of them, but they didn't know how. Then Merlin gasped and pulled Arthur into a nerby abandoned building.

"Camelot! it's Camelot! We're im CAMELOT!!" He screamed in s whisper.