She trusted him and told him everything. There was no love in lies. She held no secrets from him. She told him all about Avalon, but for someone with no claim to magic, it was impossible to enter Avalon without the help of the obsidian stone and blade. To get to Avalon, the person had to not only find the small stone, but had to possess the strength to pull the small black blade out of the stone. Only Avalon’s leader, Merlin, knew the exact location of the stone. In the heat of passion, she had also told him that the person who captures both the stone and the blade could change fate.
Arthur came up to her and gave her a big embrace, “I have missed you. I didn’t think you would make it.”
She felt her face smile really big, “I did it.”
He sat her down and looked into her eyes for a moment before speaking, “Did what?”
She cupped his stubbly scarred cheeks with both of her palms, “I walked away for you. I gave it all up.”
He pushed her hands away, “You did what?”
Still naïve to his true intentions, she said, “It’s done. We can be together now. I gave up Avalon to be with you.”
He backed up. His eyes no longer held softness. They matched the hard scars on his face. For the first time, she felt scared in his presence. “That’s not going to work for me. How am I going to get in now? You were supposed to get me that stone. This is how we are going to play this now. You are going to go with my knights, while I figure out how to un-suck this situation.” She looked around the stone circle and noticed strange, large men circling her. These men were dirty and had more scars than Arthur. These men had no room for softness in their eyes.
She took off running, and was tackled to the ground from one of the men. The man proceeded to tie her up and throw her over his shoulders, like she weighed no more than a child. She did not have time to tell Arthur that she would have her full magic soon, even though she couldn’t step foot in Avalon again. He could have had more power than any person in this world. She would have given him everything. It didn’t matter, though. Arthur kept walking away, throwing her choices back in her face. If she had her magic, she could use it against all of them. She could destroy them all. But she was not in the stone circle and it would still be a few more days before she was at full capacity again. She just had to survive a few days. Damn the elders for taking her magic from her. She had nothing and could do nothing against these men. For once in her existence, she felt regret. She should have listened to Merlin.
“Merlin…help…” Merlin heard her whimper and flashed to his room.
He was expecting her to be in battle somehow. He thought that perhaps Arthur had found them. Instead, she was curled up in his bed dreaming. There were tears streaming down her face.
Merlin had never been good at comforting. The last person he had allowed himself to get even remotely close enough to comfort was Viviane, and that was an epic disaster. He grabbed some tissues and patted her face dry. Up close, he noticed differences between her and Viviane. Her hair had a deeper brown tone than Viviane’s. Anne had a splatter of freckles across her nose that would have never be on the face of someone raised in Avalon. The more Merlin thought about it, the more he could spot the differences. Anne’s body was thinner, yet harder than Viviane’s. This was probably due to harder work in life than what was expected for females in the kingdom. Viviane’s voice was soft, never above a child-like tone. Anne’s was deeper and commanded authority with schooled intelligence. They resembled each other, but were opposite in many ways.
He had moved away to throw the tissue in the trash bin, when he heard movement on the bed.
Anne had sat up, and with her watery green eyes she looked at him and pointed, “I have dreamt about you my whole life.”
Merlin, who was rarely at lost for words, remained quiet. He wasn’t exactly sure where this conversation was going, so he just let her get out what she wanted to say.
“Do you know how much counseling I had to do as a child for the dreams to stop?” She dropped her pointed hand and curled her knees up in front of her chest. Anne rested her head on top of her knees. “I kept having that same dream over and over again. It was you and me, except it wasn’t me. I was in a blue dress and running from you, but I was happy. The land was green, and the sky was so blue. You told the dream me not to go, but I told you all about love.” Anne smiled and picked her head up to look at him.
Merlin interrupted her, “Why are you having Viviane’s memories?”
Anne nodded her head up and down, “Yeah, that was her name.” She laid back down under the covers, “The minute she stepped into the circle, the circle that looked like Stonehenge, she was so happy. For a split second, I felt her happiness. But Arthur turned on her. I felt her fear. I felt her heart break…her heart hurt so much. I have felt that pain since I was a child.” She closed her eyes and very quickly started to softly snore.
Merlin had an idea, so he flashed to his library. After some research, he felt no closer to figuring out exactly what Viviane had actually done to the stone. He did, however, have some insight to what Anne meant to this entire equation. He heard her moving around in his room and suspecting that she might be hungry, Merlin went to the kitchen and prepared her a sandwich.
The smell of the melting cheese must have drawn her out, because it took her no time to find the kitchen. Merlin felt his heart speed up. Anne walked into the kitchen wearing a pair of his boxers and a white undershirt.
“Nice clothes,” he nodded his head in her direction.
She smiled sexy big, like she’d been caught doing something naughty, “I don’t have any clothes, except for what I came in. This was the only thing that even remotely fit me.”
Anne grabbed a sandwich and sat down at the table, eating her sandwich in one gulp. She was starting to walk away when his voice stopped her, “The timeline wasn’t right.”
“What?” She turned back around and asked him.
“The timing wasn’t right. I figured some of you out. You are Viviane. Or a portion of you is. I think she twisted a spell at the end of her life and spread her essence to all of her descendants. You are the last one left. You have all of her essence. The fact that you look like her might be a twist of fate, but you have the strongest part of her. You don’t have to share what’s left of her with any of your relatives. That’s why you have her memories. You possibly have all of her magic, if you can figure out how to tap into it.”
She looked at him for a few moments. She was different the females from Avalon. They knew how the world truly existed by the whim of magic, yet they were naïve. They lived their whole lives in a protective boundary, so that even though they possessed amazing powers, they would have no idea how to live without those powers. Viviane had had a taste of what it was like with no powers because of her obsessive need to be loved, yet it was that need that had gotten her killed. Anne was different, though. Merlin was throwing some life-changing and possibly life-ending theories at her, and she was not balking. She was doing just the opposite, in fact. Merlin could see that she was digesting the information and making a well-thought-out decision before taking action. He admired that in her.
“If what you say is true, then what is my role in all of this? I know nothing about where this stone is located, what it looks like, or what to do with it if I found it.” She moved to sit back down at the table.
Merlin sat down in front of her, eating his sandwich. Trying to buy himself some time to formulate a good answer to her question, Merlin remained silent until he finished eating. That didn’t help, as he really had no solid answer for her. She stood up and straightened up the kitchen. She realized as she was putting up the dishes that she wasn’t upset anymore. Maybe it was the dream, and she felt bad for him. She really didn’t know, but what she did figure out was that she would help him in any way she knew how. After wiping down the counter, Anne sat back down in front of him. “I have to figure this out what my role in this is. You don’t understand my lifelong obsession with everything on
Arthurian history. Heck…” her use of non-cussing made Merlin smile, “…I made a career as an expert on it. If what you say is true, then they will not stop until we have a solution.” She shuddered like she was cold.
She took a deep breath and grabbed his hands resting on the table, “Start from the beginning…”
Chapter 4
Merlin nodded, “How far at the beginning do you want me to start?”
Anne didn’t know how to answer his question, so she answered as honestly as she could think, “I don’t know. Tell me about Avalon.”
“Do you know who the Druids are…”
“Were, you mean?” Anne interrupted Merlin. He didn’t look like he minded. His eyes reminded Anne of a kindergarten teacher with all the patience in the world.
“No, are. They are still alive and in Avalon. When they were at their strongest, they were the protectors of the all entrances to Avalon. Don’t think of Avalon falling, because that is far from the truth. As science and other religions became more relevant in your world, there was less of a need for the citizens of Avalon to travel back and forth. Near the end of closing the entrances, it was actually dangerous for our citizens to travel to your world for fear of persecution. All the citizens of Avalon agreed to shut it all down except for that one entrance at Stonehenge.”
Merlin remained quiet for a few breaths, which allowed Anne to digest what he was saying. He only started talking again when Anne released his hands on the table. He didn’t make eye contact with her. Merlin’s eyes stayed on her hands across the table, “The druids who had the most knowledge of your world became our elders. They held the most respect in Avalon as a whole, especially so in the kingdom of Camelot. When the Druids shifted their responsibilities primarily to the kingdom, the land of Avalon still needed one person to watch the remaining entrance to your world. This is where I entered into the picture.”
Anne tilted her head to the side in confusion, “I don’t understand how you as one person, can be responsible for a gate that a multitude of well-trained men watched.”
He smiled, reached over the table, and patted her hands. On the last pat, his hands stayed on Anne, neither gripping nor moving, like he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He only spoke when he moved his hands back to his side of the table, “Although the land of Avalon has the kingdom of Camelot, it has just one watcher over all the world. One being that control bits of every kind of magic that Avalon has to offer. One ultimate, land-chosen king…me.”
Anne gulped as Merlin finally looked up and made eye contact. For the first time, she noticed the gold flakes in his blue eyes. The gold flakes remained constantly in motion. “Why are you here and not there, ruling your people?”
Anne dropped her gaze to Merlin’s smile. She processed the way his tongue moved as he was talking, “As a watcher of the entrance, I am not allowed to interfere with your world. I am only allowed to watch and make sure that my entrance is protected. I met Viviane when she was sneaking in and out of the gate. She held an incredible amount of raw magic, so much so that it didn’t weaken her to visit your world. She would disappear for years at a time. One time I followed her and found out that she had, at some point, made families throughout your world. She would leave to either find a new love or she would check on her descendants of her past loves. She loved her families with everything she was. The elders knew the moment I left Avalon and followed me. They found out what Viviane had done and bound her powers for a few hundred years. She was close to getting her powers back when she found Arthur. But Viviane being Viviane, kept sneaking out. I put a spell on her that made her tell me everything she had done when she returned to Avalon. That is how I found out about Arthur.”
Merlin once again reached across the table. He grabbed Anne’s chin, forcing her to look into his eyes, “Arthur is the definition of evil. I read his soul. I know what he wants. Viviane had no clue. But I was bound by Avalon to not interfere. The moment I did, I would be punished by the law of the elders. In the end, I did interfere. I did what I thought was best to save Viviane’s life. I screwed myself and I screwed her. The elders bound me to life here until I right my wrong and rid the world of Arthur and his men.”
Anne stood up and walked over to Merlin. He was so tall that even sitting, he was still eye level. His story struck a note in Anne. He had been stuck here in her world with nobody, trying to get back home. From the sound of it, he didn’t really have anybody back at home, either. He was bound to that place that rejected him all because he was magically chosen and had a soft heart. She felt bad for him. There was still a part of his story she couldn’t comprehend. She swallowed her hesitation, cupped his cheeks, and asked, “What did you do that was so wrong?”
Merlin leaned into her palm, and clasped both of her hands under his so that she was forced to continue touching his cheeks and couldn’t move. “I will show you…” he whispered.
Merlin hadn’t been physically touched since Viviane. He had barricaded himself in his house only going out to watch Arthur and try to figure out what exactly Viviane did. Granted, he kept up with technology of the world, but he didn’t go out other than fulfilling his mission. He didn’t think he was missing anything until the contact was made. Her hand on his face sent chills down his body and felt amazing. In reality, he could show Anne exactly what happened across the table. Merlin did not want to lose her touch. To avoid her moving away, he did what he felt was the next best thing, he held onto Anne’s hand hard enough that she couldn’t let go.
Releasing one of her hands, he grabbed the back of her neck. He guided her head closer to him, so close that their foreheads touched. She kept her balance by placing her free hand on his chest. All he could see was the deep green in her eyes. There was small space separating their lips. Merlin took a deep breath, memorizing Anne’s essence. He closed his eyes and forced the memories into Anne’s head.
“MERLIN…” Viviane’s scream jolted Merlin awake.
He felt her. Her powers were back. She was in the stones, and she was in pain. Merlin flashed to the Stone entrance, but used his powers to remain invisible. He approached Viviane, who was covered in blood from what looked like multiple stab marks throughout her body. He looked around him and saw Arthur and his men surrounding Viviane. She was at full power, but she was weak.
Merlin pushed some of his healing power into Viviane, and her body shuddered with relief. Her heart rate slowed down.
“He’s here,” a woman with extremely long dark hair in a working gown said, moving around Arthur. She picked up a few obsidian stones and put them in a circle around both Merlin and Viviane. Merlin felt the shield go up. The woman thought she had him trapped in a circle, but Merlin knew he could escape.
“That’s enough, Guinevere.” Arthur pushed her back to the largest man of his group. The large man smiled down at her with rotten black teeth and kissed her on the cheek. She, a grown woman, gave a child-like giggle.
“Merlin, I know you are here. You might as well as show yourself, or you will put poor Viviane through more pain. Is that what you want?” Arthur sounded convincing, his tone twisting the situation like it would be all Merlin’s fault if Viviane got hurt.
“Merlin…” Viviane whispered, “Don’t do it. Whatever he asks…don’t do it. Let me die.”
A knife was thrown through the air and landed onto Viviane’s thigh. Even though her faced grimaced in pain, she didn’t make a sound. Her green eyes were glassy. Her body was in pain and trembling. Her mind, however, was slowly moving on.
“She’s not healing, because the talented Guinevere has kept Viviane’s power at bay.” The maniacal giggle started up again. “Isn’t she lovely?” Arthur asked as if he were presenting the most wonderful person in the world. The large man in the group pushed the woman further from view. Arthur started his own laugh, “Don’t worry, Lancelot, she’s all yours. At one word, I can release Viviane’s power. She doesn’t have to die. All you have to do is show me the blade in the stone. Show me how to master it. Th
at’s it. That’s all I ask.”
Viviane was grasping for breath. Fluid was filling her chest, making that tale-tell rattle that indicated a drowning death in her lungs. That sound alone made Merlin feel for Viviane. She was his friend, and he would do anything for her. He didn’t want her die a slow and painful death.
Viviane managed to wheeze out, “Don’t do it. I have accepted my punishment. Don’t be punished because of me.”
Merlin pushed all his healing powers into Viviane. Her body trembled, shuddering with relief, but as soon as her wounds healed, blood seeped back out even worse.
“You are making it worse for her. Just show me the stone, and I will heal her.” Merlin turned back around to Arthur. Even though he knew that Arthur couldn’t see him, Arthur was looking in the right direction. Arthur had some kind of working knowledge of where Merlin was located. Another blade flew through the air, and Merlin didn’t have time to stop it before it landed in Viviane’s other thigh.
Because Merlin has been trying to heal her, Viviane was more mentally present. This time, Viviane felt the pain from the knife and couldn’t hold back in the sound. She howled out in pain. Merlin couldn’t take his childhood friend in this much pain. For the first time in his history, Merlin was going to interfere. But it was going to be on his terms. Merlin produced the small obsidian stone and blade. However, he materialized it in Guinevere’s circle. Even though Merlin could get out, no one else could walk through without disrupting the circle. No one could get to the blade.
Arthur walked the lines of the boundary. He might as well as been salivating like an animal for how intensely he was focused on the shiny black stone and blade. Merlin grimaced at the possibility of something with this much power in the hands of someone as evil as Arthur.
“Let me die…” Viviane begged again behind him.
Viviane yelled in pain, and Merlin turned around to find that an arrow is now protruding out of her chest. She was covered completely in blood. The fact that she was even still conscious was a miracle.
Promise Forever: Fairy Tales with a Modern Twist Page 57
