The Merlin Chronicles: Box Set (All Three Novels)

by Daniel Diehl

  The hill gave him a clear view of the enclosure except for a dozen or so yards immediately inside the front wall. The main building stood on the right side of a large open space, with its southern-most wall built directly into the exterior fortification wall. Near the northeast corner stood another building, longer and lower than the main structure. Here, soldiers and people dressed in white were entering and leaving; some carrying packages and bundles as they left. Outside of this building, a row of eight vans and trucks were parked along the wall. There were a few more vehicles scattered at random in front of the main building. Elsewhere, the only sign of life were the guards on the wall and one other guard who kept wandering in and out of the main gate to retrieve small boxes from one of the vehicles parked along the road.

  Momentarily, Merlin considered taking one of the vehicles outside the fort and using it to crash through the gate, but the massive wooden doors appeared solid enough to withstand a considerable impact. Even if the main gate could be breached, the noise of the crash would eliminate any element of surprise he and Jason might have on their side. Another, closer survey of the assortment of cars and trucks told him that while most of the vehicles were old and dilapidated, one of those parked outside the front entrance appeared to be a nearly new Jeep; sleek, black and rugged looking. If it was still there when they came out it would certainly offer the best chance for a speedy retreat without alerting anyone except the wall guards. The most pressing need was to ensure that as few of the vehicles as possible would be able to follow them.

  Merlin tried to remember how an automobile worked, attempting to recall odd bits of information he had picked up. He understood that cars were powered by internal combustion engines. This was information he could work with; combustible liquids could be advantageous even in Arthur’s time. All he had to do now was get back inside the stronghold.

  Looking up at the sky, Merlin judged it was already past noon. There were no more than three or four hours of light left. Pulling himself off the frozen ground, the old man dusted himself off and walked the half-mile to the Land Rover. There, he retrieved a length of stout rope from the behind the front seat, slung it over his arm and began walking casually toward the fortress. It took nearly half an hour to get to the front gate and for at least a third of that time he was in full view of the guards, but he was in no danger of being seen. Stepping past the vehicles parked outside the wall, he took time to peer appreciatively through the window of the big, black Jeep before wandering to the massive gate. There he waited until the guard came out to make yet another trip to the truck. As soon as the man stepped through the portal, Merlin slipped unseen into the open space beyond.

  Once inside he began a careful inventory of cars and trucks, noting with satisfaction that no additional vehicles were parked inside the front wall - the only area invisible from the hill. He counted four cars in front of the main building and near the low building were another seven. It was imperative that he put as many as possible out of commission.

  The trucks and vans near the low building were aligned in a neat row, their front ends nearly touching the wall behind them. Merlin crawled on his back beneath the nearest vehicle to examine its underside. It was filthy, covered with oil and packed with metal bars, rods, tubes and lengths of wire that meant nothing to him. But near the rear end was what appeared to be the bottom of a large holding tank. From the tank a small tube ran toward the front of the van. Tentatively, he touched the small tube; the metal was soft and flexible. Gripping the tube with both hands, he bent it first one way and then the other; back and forth, until cracks began to appear in the pink metal. Two more twists and the tube cracked, allowing a small stream of vile smelling fluid to flow onto the ground. Feeling extraordinarily pleased with himself, he crab-crawled to the next vehicle and repeated the process, doing the same with each one until he reached the end of the row. Dragging himself off the ground, he headed back to the main building, making a careful survey of its exterior. He was looking for a small window mounted high on the wall. Where the corner of the main building and the exterior fortification wall joined, he discovered an offset, as though an addition had been constructed at some time in the past. This tiny corner offered a perfect hiding place from which to launch their escape.

  “Wake up.” Merlin’s voice was no more than a gritty whisper in Jason’s ear.

  “Mmmm?”

  “Wake up Jason.”

  “What?” Jason’s startled voice sounded loud and hollow in the confines of the cell.

  “Shh. Be quiet.”

  Jason opened his eyes to stare into an aged face only inches from the edge of his bunk. There was grass and bits of dirt caught in Merlin’s beard and the index finger of one hand was raised to his lips in a gesture demanding silence.

  “How did you get in here?”

  “I’m not here. I just came to talk to you.”

  Pulling himself up on one elbow, Jason realized Merlin’s head and hand were the only parts visible, hovering near the bed, eighteen inches above the floor. Jason should have been used to such weird manifestations by now, but the sight of a floating head trailing a long beard and white hair made him cringe.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m just on the other side of this wall.”

  “How did you get inside the fort? The guards are looking everywhere for you.”

  “They can’t see me.”

  “Oh, right. Got ‘cha.” Jason pondered this for a second before adding “Why didn’t you make us both invisible in the tunnel?”

  “I can only do one thing at a time. I can project an image or prevent people from seeing me. I can’t do both at once.”

  “You mean you’re visible right now?”

  “Yes, but I am well hidden. Now we’re going to get you out of this place.”

  “Oh, God, yes. As soon as you can. Morgana was here a little while ago and she is really out for your blood. Mine too.”

  “Not surprising. I’m almost ready. I just have to prepare a few surprises for Morgana and her goons before I open a door for you.”

  “A door?”

  “You’ll know it when you see it. Just be ready. This shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes, half an hour at the most. I just want to be sure the sun has gone down so we have some cover.”

  “I’ll be ready. I am ready.” Jason could feel relief and anticipation flood him with adrenaline.

  “Now listen closely. When you come out, follow the outside wall to your right until you come to a blind spot near the corner of the building. We’re going to have to scale the outer wall and then lower ourselves down the outside. Can you manage that?”

  “I’ll be fine. What about you? That wall is pretty high.”

  “Don’t worry about me. Once we get outside follow the wall to the front of the compound where there are three vehicles. We’re going to take the black one named Jeep.”

  “We’ll need a key to start the Jeep. I don’t know how to hot-wire a car.”

  “Leave that to me. I have to go now, but you stay ready.”

  “Don’t worry.”

  Back outside, Merlin again obscured the vision of the guards and walked to a pile of tools stacked along the outside wall. He picked his way through tools, materials and debris. Finally, he found what he was looking for; a piece of heavy pipe nearly four feet in length. Taking the pipe back to the alcove he tied one end of the rope around the pipe. Satisfied, he crouched down in the corner where the two walls joined and concentrated until beads of sweat formed on his brow.

  Inside the cell Jason sat nervously on the edge of his cot, terrified that at any moment the guard might come back to check on him. After what seemed like hours he heard a small sighing sound, like water washing against a beach. He looked for the source of the noise, but could see nothing. Then it came again, this time louder and longer. He followed the noise to the outside wall. Near the floor the stone blocks had begun to glow with a faint incandescence. In amazement he watched the light grow and ex
panded, reaching out to scribe a perfect circle nearly two feet in diameter. A moment more and the inner surface of the stone began to slough away and fall to the floor.

  His anxieties forgotten, Jason dropped to his knees and started scooping the sand away from the opening. It was so hot it nearly burnt his hands but he continued to scoop and dig as the stone dissolved before his eyes. The wall was more than three feet thick and it took fully fifteen minutes to deteriorate sufficiently for the first glimmer of twilight to filter through the hole. Scrabbling like a terrier digging a rat out of its burrow, another minute saw Jason poke his head into the wintry air. Seconds later he dragged himself into the night. “Merlin. Merlin?” Jason’s voice was no more than a rasping whisper in the darkening compound.

  “Over here. To your right. Keep your head down and come toward the outside wall.”

  “Right. On my way.”

  Jason scrambled through the dirt commando style, making sure to keep his bottom as near to the ground as possible. On reaching the hidden corner he found Merlin squatting on his haunches, staring across the open space toward a long, narrow building across the compound. Without averting his eyes, he motioned toward a coil of rope and an iron bar lying behind him. “Do you think you can throw that rod over the wall so it catches between the battlements like a grappling hook?”

  Jason craned his head back, sizing up the twelve foot wall. Across the width of the wall walk only the top few inches of the battlements were visible against the silvery pink evening sky. “Yeah, I can do that. But aren’t you afraid someone will hear us?”

  “I have a little entertainment arranged to keep them occupied. When I tell you, throw the rope, climb up to the wall walk and wait for me. Now come here and I’ll show you something.”

  Jason crouched next to Merlin as the wizard reached out his hands and laid them flat on the ground. An electric blue incandescence appeared on the tips of his fingers, shedding tiny lightning bolts of energy that danced off into the sandy soil. As they leapt from his fingers the tiny glowing forms gave off a crackling sound like crumpling cellophane. Like frantic worms, the light hopped across the courtyard, first a few dozen, then hundreds, then thousands of them. Like an army of ants caught in some insane dancing mania, the sparks crawled, row upon row, toward the building in the distance.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You see that line of vehicles over there? I drained their gas tanks onto the ground and, with luck, this energy will be enough to ignite it.”

  Jason’s eyes grew huge. “Jesus, Merlin, the tanks are still full of fumes. When they ignite the whole place will go up like the Fourth of July!”

  “Go where like what?”

  “They’ll explode!”

  “Really?” A slow smile played across his lips. “I hadn’t expected such large scale success.”

  Seconds later the cavorting specks reached their destination. First, a quick blue-orange flame rose with a gigantic whumping sound before engulfing the entire row of trucks. An instant later, the first van, rear end uppermost, soared half its own length into the air before crashing nose-down, against its nearest neighbor. The third in line, a military truck with a canvass top, lurched skyward, crashed against the building, tore a hole in the roof and wall, spilling flames and metal into the opium processing plant. The rest of the vehicles all exploded at once, and even before the last one crashed into a pile of twisted wreckage, men were streaming into the area from all over the compound. Some raced out of the main building, while others ran in confused terror from the low building, one entire wall of which was now burning furiously, flames crackling and jumping into the night sky. Some of those trying to escape the inferno were already wreathed in fire, their white, paper overalls a sheet of flame.

  “Now. Up the wall.”

  Jumping up, Jason grabbed the metal bar, stood back as far as the tiny alcove would allow, and swung once before letting the rod fly. Sailing into the air, it clattered against the top of a battlement before dropping on the outside of the wall. It had not, however, landed between two of the raised blocks of stone, but squarely on top of one of them. Jerking the rope to the left, Jason was sweating with excitement, his ears filled with the roar of the fire and the shouts and screams behind him. Finally, the rope dropped between two battlements and lodged there. Hand over hand, using his legs to give him as much leverage as possible, Jason pulled himself painfully up the wall. It was the longest twelve feet in history. Finally, after what seemed like hours of pain so intense it threatened to pull his wounded arm out of its socket, one hand reached beyond the rope to the top of the wall and he hauled himself, panting, onto the wall walk. Behind him, Merlin was still squatting in the dirt, his gaze riveted on the havoc two hundred feet away.

  “Come on. Your turn. Let’s get out of here.”

  Rising from the ground with maddening composure, Merlin dusted off his hands before raising his face toward Jason.

  “Pull the rope tight so the bar doesn’t fall down the wall.”

  “Your weight will pull it tight. Now come on.” Jason was motioning furiously.

  “Please, just pull the rope tight.”

  In exasperation, Jason did as he was told, applying sufficient pressure on the rope to hold the iron bar against the outside of the battlements. Apparently satisfied, Merlin picked up the loose end of the rope and, to Jason’s utter amazement, floated upward as though the law of gravity had suddenly been repealed. Like a feather riding weightlessly on a breeze, he rose higher and higher, hauling the rope after him like a limp tail. When he reached the point where his hips were level with the wall walk, he halted his assent, rolling onto the platform to lie facing Jason - their heads only inches apart.

  “Where the hell did you learn to do that?” Jason nearly had to shout to be heard over the shouting and roar of the fire in the near distance. Somewhere among the frantic cacophony of voices he could hear Morgana le Fay screaming orders.

  “I’ve been practicing. I think it must be a bit like riding a bicycle; once you know how, you never really forget.”

  “You can ride a bicycle?” Keeping low to the floor of the parapet, Jason craned his head and cocked one eyebrow in wonder.

  Ignoring the question, Merlin smiled and said, “Come on, we have to get down before anyone sees us. Once you’re on the ground, head toward the front corner of the wall and check to see no one has come out through the front gate. Then...”

  An ear shattering roar, a sucking sound and a blast of searing hot wind interrupted Merlin’s instructions. In the opium processing plant, thousands of gallons of chemicals used to transform opium resin into heroin had exploded. The blast ripped the building, the shattered remains of the vehicles, and dozens of frantic bystanders to shreds, sending a burgeoning mushroom shaped cloud hundreds of feet into the night sky. Even before the cloud reached its full height, the compound was plunged into inky darkness. Above the roar, Jason called out to Merlin.

  “I think the generator must have been in that building.”

  “What’s a generator?”

  “Never mind. Who goes first, me or you?”

  “You. I’ll follow.”

  Having learned not to argue, Jason pulled the bar over the parapet, lodged it against the inner face of the wall, and stepped onto the battlement before slinging the rope beneath his rump and rappelling down the wall. He only paused long enough to be certain the thickness of his parka was tucked beneath the rope to keep it from burning through the seat of his jeans. When he reached the ground, he called up to the top of the wall. A moment later, Merlin casually stepped into thin air. Floating down as easily as if he were riding an escalator, the long skirts of his coat and robe fluttered gently in the cold evening breeze. When he was within a few inches of the earth, the descent halted and he took a single step onto the ground. “What are you waiting for? Get to the front. And be careful.”

  Recovering from Merlin’s latest exhibition of the paranormal, Jason dashed forward, slipping and sliding in the san
dy soil, to peek cautiously around the corner where three vehicles stood not more than a hundred-and-fifty feet away. The big Jeep Cherokee was at the near end of the line. As far as he could see, the main gate remained closed and there was no sign of anyone moving around in the darkness. When he looked back, Merlin was already standing at his shoulder.

  “Safe?”

  “Safe.”

  “Go.”

  Jason shot out from the safety of the wall in a mad dash toward the cars, staying as low as he could while keeping the line of vehicles between himself and the gate. Reaching the Jeep, Jason jerked open the driver’s door and lurched inside. Seconds later, Merlin pulled open the passenger door and threw himself across the seat, nearly landing in Jason’s lap.

  “Good work, Merlin. How did you know it wasn’t locked?”

  “Locked?” The old man craned his neck up from the seat cushions.

  “Oh, God.” Jason banged his forehead against the steering wheel. “Never mind. Look, I need a key to start the engine.” His voice was shaking with anxiety.

  “Where does the key go?”

  Jason pointed to a spot on the steering column. “Here.”

  “Guide my hand to the slot.”

  Depressing the clutch and brake, he disengaged the hand brake and threw the gearshift into neutral while Merlin rolled onto his side and planted his elbow between Jason’s thighs. Without a word passing between them, Merlin held up his index finger, Jason seized the proffered hand and lifted the extended finger toward the switch. When flesh came into contact with metal a spark arched across the switch and the engine roared to life. Jason fluttered the throttle as Merlin pulled himself to an upright position.

  “Nice work” said Jason, easing the Jeep into gear. A quick survey of the dashboard told him the gas tank was nearly full. He considered turning on the lights, but decided against it until they were well beyond sight of anyone who might have remained on the wall.