by Rain Oxford
“Of course not.”
“Then she needs to wait out here.”
Kalyn laughed, but I was the one who explained. “Kalyn isn’t Nimue. She’s not a witch, a child, or a delicate flower. She can protect herself. Besides that, I’m not leaving her behind to get kidnapped or hurt. We’re stronger together, whether we’re walking into danger or not.”
“I don’t want to get killed, so can I wait out here?” Arrow asked. When we all looked at him, he shrugged. “I’m only joking?” he said. He didn’t sound sure, though.
“Yours is an important role, but that’s a lot of pressure to put on someone we barely know.”
He looked up at the castle with a worried frown. “I’ve run away a lot in my life, and it never worked out for me.” He pulled out his teapot and caressed it. “If I want to turn things around, I need to start somewhere. I’ll do it.”
Kalyn made a motion with her hand and I felt magic fall over us. “Now you can make us invisible and it’ll look like we’re still here.”
I made us invisible and transported us to Nimue’s room. This was a lot of work, especially with how much of Gmork there was to hide and transport, so I had to take a short rest once we got there. Fortunately, Kalyn had thought ahead and brought some bread, since food was a good way to recover my energy.
Nimue’s room wasn’t as lavish as the rooms at Magnus’s castle, but that was a good thing. It had a huge bed, laden with satin sheets, rich blue blankets, and more puffy pillows than any bed needed. There was an elegant, white armoire with gold knobs and jewels accenting the doors, and a matching vanity, covered with jewelry and perfumes. On the floor was a black fur rug.
“What’s your story?” Kalyn asked Arrow while I was resting.
“Not as interesting as yours, I’m afraid. I found a wonderful woman who loved me for me, but then I tried to solve our problems with magic and ended up losing everything.”
Surprisingly, Gmork had blocked off the only secret passageway to Nimue’s room out of respect. Then I pointed out that he could have told her about it instead in case she needed to escape. He wasn’t pleased with my advice.
We snuck down the hallway to another room. This was an unused bedroom. “Move the bed,” Gmork said.
I did, and found a wooden trap door. When I opened it, there was a set of steps leading into the darkness. We descended the steps and closed it behind us, then I magically moved the bed back into place. I illuminated the crystal of my staff and saw that we were in a maze of narrow hallways. There were several doors, but they were thin like window panels.
“This will get us to anywhere on the first floor of the castle,” Gmork explained. “It goes between the rooms.” He led the way through most of it, but we had to take several detours because he was too large to fit through some of the hallways. Eventually, however, he stopped at a door. “Open this, but turn out your light first or we will be seen.”
I did as he said and was surprised when we opened it. We were looking through the back of a painting, but it was designed so that we could see through it. With us in the dark, we wouldn’t be seen in return.
The painting was in the throne room, where Merlin and Erica were talking. At Merlin’s feet was the fancy, blood-locked chest. “I’m here,” I said in Merlin’s mind.
“I know,” he responded.
“Give me the heart,” Erica said.
“Not until you free Nimue.”
Nimue appeared next to Erica, her wrists bound together by a glowing red band. The same thing bound her ankles. A third one was around her neck, but instead of restraining her, it was on the verge of choking her.
“Merlin, run,” she said.
Erica laughed. “He won’t run. Give me the heart or she dies.” Merlin stepped back from it. Erica motioned with her hand and the box slid across the room to stop at her feet.
“Now release her.”
“Did you really expect me to let her go?”
“Why not? What do you want with her?”
“She’s a wonderful weapon to use against both you and Gmork. I had nothing against Gmork at first, but he’s so much fun to kick. You know this blood lock won’t stop me.”
A guard walked up behind him and used a knife to cut Merlin on the back. He whimpered, but he didn’t protest. The guard then went to the chest and dripped blood from the knife onto it. The box popped open.
Erica picked up the heart in one hand, studied it, and then crushed it. “You really thought you could fool me with a fake heart?”
“I was hoping so.” Nimue cried in pain as Erica clenched her fists and the bands tightened. “Wait!” Merlin shouted. “I have the real heart, and you will never get it if you hurt her.”
She sneered, but Nimue could breathe again. “Why shouldn’t I just take it from you and kill all of you?”
While she was talking, I pulled the real heart out of my bag. It was in a smaller, plain box that no one would think such a powerful object would be found in. We made the switch hoping that Erica hadn’t inherited her father’s seer abilities. We had only put the real heart in the decorative chest in the first place to help Merlin be convincing, because he could honestly say that he put it in the decorative chest.
I felt the light magic flowing in it. Although it wasn’t a galaxy stone, it was plenty powerful. It might have been the greatest weapon against dragons that ever existed, but it was created out of love. Just as I did with my galaxy stone, I focused my mind on wanting Erica to be peaceful.
Nothing happened.
“What’s wrong?” Gmork asked.
“It’s not bonded to me.”
“What?”
I pointed to my crystal. “My galaxy stone originally looked very different from this, but it changed as it bonded to me.”
“How did you make it bond?”
“I used magic through it. I don’t know how to do that with this.” I wanted to use my galaxy stone on her, but Merlin had warned me not to unless it was an emergency, because it was only a shard. I didn’t like the idea that it wasn’t powerful enough. It worked on real dragons, so I thought it should have worked on Erica. After all, it had worked on Merlin a few times.
“We have to do something,” Kalyn said.
“You are being too loud,” Merlin warned in my mind.
I motioned to the others to be quiet, which wasn’t very effective in the dark.
“You planned to kill all of us once you got the heart,” Merlin said. “Why keep her alive if you were going to kill her anyway?”
“To watch the misery on your face as I kill her. Of course, it just wouldn’t be as fun without seeing Gmork’s face when I kill her, too.” With that, she gestured to the painting, which blew off the wall. Her magic wrapped around Gmork, Kalyn, and me, and we were suddenly being levitated out of the hiding spot. At that point, I realized Arrow wasn’t with us.
In a last ditch effort, I tried to make her peaceful with my galaxy stone. Unlike the pure heart, my dragon’s eye responded and magic shot into her, but it was ineffective. We landed in a heap. I held the heart in the crook of my arm to protect it.
“You don’t ever learn, do you?” Erica asked me as I climbed to my feet. “You can’t defeat me.”
“We can and will,” I argued. I just didn’t know how. Nevertheless, when she was talking, she wasn’t killing, so I would keep her talking and gloating until a plan came to mind.
“Is that so?” Kalyn gasped as she was picked up magically and pulled to Erica. Kalyn didn’t fight Erica as she squeezed Kalyn’s throat.
I aimed my staff at her and tried to do magic, but nothing happened. The amulet was too powerful. “Let her go!”
“Or what?”
“Please let her go.”
“Leave him and Kalyn out of this,” Merlin said. “You already have Nimue at your mercy.”
She scowled and ignored Merlin. “What would you do to save her?”
I didn’t answer. It was against a sorcerer’s nature to beg or surrender, b
ut I wasn’t just a sorcerer.
“Drop your staff.”
I did without hesitation.
“Now give me the real heart.”
I held it out and it flew into her hands. On contact, I felt her dark magic increase. She hadn’t even done anything yet and it was already making her more powerful.
“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“Release Kalyn.”
Erica scoffed. “The dumb girl isn’t fighting back.” She sneered in Kalyn’s face. “It won’t even be fun to kill you. I’m still going to, though.”
“No!” I shouted as she squeezed harder. I heard a bone snap and then Kalyn crumpled to the ground. I ran to her, ignoring Erica as she stepped over Kalyn’s body. Erica turned her full attention to Merlin and Gmork, not considering me a threat.
I only had a moment to grieve however. The horror didn’t fully sink in before Kalyn opened her eyes and shoved the amulet into my hand. It was the first time I had seen the amulet up close. It was gold, the width of my palm, and shaped like a tiny shield with dozens of magic symbols across it. I gaped with shock just as Erica shouted with fury.
“How did you get it?” I asked.
She winked and magic swirled around her. Suddenly, she was gone and Arrow was in her place. “I told you I was a good thief.”
“I don’t understand.”
At that point, Kalyn stepped out of the hiding spot in the wall. “I’m sorry I didn’t signal,” she said. “A moment before Erica exposed us, I disguised Arrow as me and made myself invisible. I couldn’t have stolen the amulet.”
“And I can’t be killed,” Arrow said. He rubbed his neck. “I can be hurt really badly, though. I’m going to need a mage.”
“Why didn’t the amulet stop you?”
He shrugged. “I wasn’t doing any magic. Kalyn was, and she was out of range.”
When Erica made a grab for it, I rolled out of the way. Before I could put it on and try to use it, Gmork snatched it out of my hand. I had enough time to worry that he was on her side all along and would give it to her…
Before he crushed it in his jaws and spit out the pieces on the ground. Erica shouted with even more fury. “Now you will never get it back,” Gmork said.
“You fool! I still have magic!”
“But now, so do we,” Merlin said. “Svíða!” His magic lashed out and struck her.
Erica dropped to her knees with a scream of pain. Unfortunately, she could still do magic, and it wasn’t Merlin or Gmork she aimed her curse at but Nimue. “Dauðr!”
“No!” Merlin and Gmork both screamed.
It was too late, though. Nimue fell. I had seen the spell before and knew Nimue only had a moment before death. Gmork ran to her and tried to help her. Merlin took a different approach. Shaking with fury, his fur started receding. He grew larger and just like when he was shifting into a man, his bones broke and reshaped. He wasn’t turning into a person though.
Instead, thick, powerful black wings sprouted from his back and grew as he did. His paws thinned and lengthened, and his claws grew into wickedly sharp talons. Black scales formed over his skin like growing armor. His fluffy wolf tail changed into a thick, long, black tail. He developed a row of spikes that ran from his neck, down his spine, to stop halfway down is tail.
The change happened so fast that it was impossible to take in each individual detail. It was much faster than the change from wolf to man. Then my best friend was standing there as a massive dragon that barely fit in the room. He looked just like Baltezore did in his dragon form, except his eyes were the same gold as always.
He roared and smoke billowed out of his mouth. Erica had recovered from her pain and realized how much trouble she was in. She ran for the door. Although Merlin didn’t remember who he was or what happened, he must have realized she was the enemy, because he slammed his paw down on her. The heart rolled out of her arms. Fortunately, it didn’t look damaged.
She screamed. He hadn’t killed her, but she wasn’t getting out of his grasp by force. Erica used several dragon curses on him and even tried to burn him. If it had any effect on him, he didn’t show it. I turned my attention to Nimue and Gmork. Gmork had reverted to his person form and was crying over Nimue’s body.
I went to him. “I couldn’t stop it,” he said. “Dragon magic is more powerful than necromancy.”
“You can’t… bring her back?”
“Her soul is still in her. I can feel it. I can hold it here, but there is nothing to bring her back to. The body is dead.”
I wondered if it felt for her how the sleeping curse was to me. “It explains why you’re a man again.” Then I saw that most of his chest was frozen white. I hadn’t seen it when he was hunched over Nimue. “I guess that only broke one of them, though.”
“I don’t care about the curse. I would rather be a wolf and her be alive. Even if I can never see her again, I want her to live. I would rather the ice curse kill me and Merlin make her happy.”
“Maybe we need a healer.” It was at that point that I realized Merlin’s head was over me, and I jumped out of the way.
Merlin didn’t attack, though; he was studying Nimue. Slowly, he reached out and nudged her with his paw. He clearly still cared about her even as a dragon, but he was confused. Gmork ignored him and pulled her further into his arms. He wouldn’t deny Merlin the chance to say goodbye.
Merlin growled and swept his gaze around the room, searching for the culprit. I looked around for Erica and didn’t see her. Kalyn and Arrow were staying out of the way, not able to help and not wanting to draw the dragon’s attention. “You already got the one who did this,” I said. I pulled out a mirror from my pocket. “I know you don’t understand or remember me, but I need you to look at this.” I held it up for him to see himself, but he looked at Erica instead. “Merlin, you’ll understand if you look at the mirror. Just a glance.”
He turned away and nudged Nimue again.
“Stop it, Merlin.” Gmork said. “That won’t help anything. She is dead. It’s too late to do anything, even necromancy.”
When he fell silent again, and even his tears were quiet, it felt wrong to break the silence by speaking. Then I couldn’t speak at all as Merlin reached into his own chest and pulled out his heart. There wasn’t blood or gore. It was more like magic drew it out. The organ was red and hard like a crystal, yet it was glowing and pulsing.
He pressed it against Nimue’s chest and it glowed so brightly that I had to close my eyes. I opened them again just in time to see the glow die. Nimue suddenly opened her eyes and gasped for breath.
Gmork hugged her, crying with relief now, and she hugged him back. I half expected him to turn back into the wolf, but there was no sign of a change. Then she saw Merlin and her eyes widened with shock.
“Don’t be afraid,” I said. “He saved you. He’s---”
“Merlin,” she said. She reached out and touched his snout. “No matter what form you are in, your eyes are the same. Thank you for saving me.”
Merlin turned away, uncomfortable with what he felt, and I used the opportunity to show him the mirror. I instantly saw recognition in his eyes before he started to shrink back into his wolf form. The change was slower and looked painful. When it was over, he was too exhausted to stand.
Nimue hadn’t seen Merlin’s shift, however, because she was too busy kissing Gmork. When she let him go, the ice on his chest faded. She gasped when she saw it and Gmork kissed her again.
She loved him.
Meanwhile, Merlin slumped to the floor. That got Nimue’s attention and she broke away from Gmork to go to Merlin. She hugged him, but I felt like it was a “goodbye” hug.
“I guess you won’t be going with us now that Gmork’s curse is broken and he doesn’t need you?” I asked. She was a perfectly nice woman, but I didn’t like the heartache she was causing Merlin.
She slowly shook her head. When Merlin backed away from her, she grabbed his head in her hands. “I love you, Merlin. I
always will. You are an amazing and loving person. I know you love me and it kills me to not be able to give you what you need…” She glanced at Gmork. “But I also love him. I can’t help it. He needs me and he’s where I belong. If I left with you, he would never recover, and you would eventually meet a woman much more suited to you. You will find someone better than me if I’m not in your way. I would be preventing both of you from being with your soul mates.”
I expected Merlin to argue or struggle to get away from her. “I know,” he said instead.
“You know?”
“I knew from our first kiss that we would never last. It did not stop me from loving you. It did not stop me from fighting to protect you.”
“But you said you wanted to marry me.”
“I was in denial, and that was my mortality showing itself. If we were to die tomorrow, I would marry you this instant. If we had a year, or two, or ten. It might take a hundred years, but eventually, we would fall apart. I will love you forever, but I can see that your heart belongs to him.”
“Can I just point out that you gave your heart to Nimue and it’s how she’s alive right now?” I asked. “I kind of thought that would change things.”
“Dragons have two hearts and can live on one,” Merlin said. “I did not give it to her to bind her to me.”
“Is she going to die if she stays with me?” Gmork asked.
Merlin looked at Nimue. “No. She is free to follow her heart.”
Nimue went to Gmork and hugged him again.
“I really don’t like how this turned out,” I said.
“We won the battle,” Merlin said. “This was the price I chose for my magic.”
I wanted him to explain more, but I felt like he needed time to think first. “What did you do with Erica?”
He grimaced. “I am not sure.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was a bit of a blur. I remember that I defeated her and put her somewhere she can never hurt anyone again… but I cannot remember where.”
“Oh well. I’m sure she’ll turn up again. It’s not fair that her momentary death broke the curse on Gmork, and not on you. We will keep trying to break your curse.”
