Can This Be True (Merlin BBC)(Book One)

Chapter 1 - Nixie Saves A Life

Ducking in under an archway leading off the marketplace, Nixie found herself facing two impassive palace guards. She hoped there was a chance they would help her find Gaius's chambers.
"Excuse me, do you know the way to the court physician?" She politely asked.
The one nearest Nixie jerked his thumb towards the stairs that rose behind him. "Up there".

Nixie thanked to guards and took the steps to at a time, eager no to reach Gaius's rooms. She hoped they wouldn't be too far from the main palace - he thought the court physician would probably be within reach of his most important patients.

At the top of the stairs, Nixie followed a short passage which ended with a wooden door labelled Court Physician. As she reached out to knock on the door, Nixie felt both excited and nervous. She knocked the door and watched it slowly creak ajar.
There was no answer. She peered round the gap.

'Hello?' She called. There was no reply. Not sure what else to do, Nixie glanced left and right along the passage, before gently pushing the door open and stepping inside. No signs of life. She looked around the room, but still couldn't see any movement.

There was, however, a bewildering assortment of glass flasks, instruments of brass and copper on every bench top. And lots of books: volumes large and small, open on tables, stacked on the floor or crammed into shelves lining the walls. Dust spiraled in the afternoon sunlight, swirling in the air before settling on the jumble of objects before her.

Suddenly to her left Nixie heard a creak - she turned and looked up towards a balcony to see a figure balanced on a rickety ladder that was propped against some shelves. The figure was leaning precariously, with one arm stretched out trying to reach a book from a shelf high up among the rafters. Nixie had never met Gaius, but assumed this must be the court physician. Not sure how to attracted his attention, Nixie coughed, "Eh-hmm?"

Startled, the man spun round and toppled from his perch. There was no time for thought, just for action. Nixie concentrated all her energy on the falling figure and as a familiar heat rose through her body, suddenly Nixie's eyes glowed with a golden light. Magic flowed from her fingers out towards the falling man, instantly slowing his descent so that he seemed to hang suspended in the air momentarily.

At the same time Nixie focused on the bed in the corner, causing it to slide across the room to where it was needed. As soon as the bed was in place, Nixie's fire subsided and time raced on. The old man landed on the mattress, sending up clouds of dust. He lay there, a mess of brown robes and silver hair, stunned or physically winding for a moment, before rolling over abd fixing Nixie with a hawk-like stare.

"How the devil...!" the old man exclaimed, glancing at the corner where the bed had been. He struggled to his feet and then turned to stare at Nixie. "What did you just do?"

Nixie took a step back. "Uh ... Well em..."

"Tell me."

"I - don't know."

The old fellow shook his head and pointed at the young witch. "If anyone had seen that ..."

Nixie didn't need to be told what happen if someone loyal to Arthur had seen what she'd just done: unbidden, and image of an executioner's axe blade flashed into her mind.

"It was nothing to do with me," she protested. "It was..." he racked her brains searching desperately for some reasonable explanation.

"I know what it was," insisted the old man. "I want to know where learned how to do it."

Nixie shrugged. Why couldn't he just let it go? "Nowhere."

"Then how is it you know magic?"

Hearing the word said out loud almost threw Nixie off-guard. Almost. "I didn't, no that wasn't me... em.. I.. em," she muttered.

"Where did you study?... Answer me."

Now Nixie really felt a guilty in cheeks. It felt so wrong to be lying to this man: the light in those old eyes may be stern, but it was honest. "I've never studied magic or ..."

The man advanced. "You're lying to me, girl."

"What am I supposed to say?"

"The truth!" Gaius hurled the words at Nixie. Clearly there was no hiding it from him. Nixie would just have to own up and face the music. Nixie knew he'd been right to save the old man and now She knew there was no concealing the truth - the old physician had see what happened with his own eyes. He hoped Gaius would show her some understanding.

"I was born like this. It's been with me since-"

"Impossible!" Then the man seemed to pounce on another thought," "who are you?"

"I'm Nixie,"

A moment's pause and then the old eyes softened. "Gaheris's Daughter?"

"Yes"

Gaius Frowned. "But what are you doing here,"

"Just visit my uncle, as i have never been this far north,"

Gaius looked puzzled at her, she was born in the wall of Camelot but had to be smuggled out as she was a threat to the country years ago.

"Just be careful, you were taken out the kingdom for a reason," Gaius explained.

Nixie turned around to walk out of the door, but walked into a shadowed figure. She looked up to see that a young man was standing in her way.

"Hello, I am Merlin," the young man greeted with a big cheesy grin.
"Oh, Hello I'm Nixie," She smiled up at Merlin and walked off...

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