I wracked my brain to try and find a way to tie this and the holidays together. I really can't because Christmas is a Christian holiday and Merlin, Marlin, Isis, and company are not Christians for the obvious reason this is about 2000 years before the first Christmas. I could probably tie this better to Easter because Christ was resurrected after three days. For Merlin it might take a bit longer--or did it? Hurm.
Even someone as powerful as Merlin
can’t recover from an epic battle like that in a day. After waiting months for his return, I finally concede to myself
that my master has died. He had given
his life to stop Isis.
On the first anniversary of his
death, I’m sitting out in the hut Merlin and I shared for a short time. It seems appropriate. Beaux offered to come with me, as did Artr,
but I refused. This is a day I should
remember on my own.
As I roast a squirrel over the
fire, there’s a flash of white light.
“Master?”
“I’m afraid not,” a girl’s voice
says. It’s the same girl who visited us
before, Anybl. She invites herself to
sit by the fire.
“To what do I owe this honor?” I
ask.
“I wanted you to know, we’ve
searched everywhere for him. There’s no
sign of Merlin.”
I nod to the girl. “Thank you.”
She clears her throat and then
adds, “There’s no sign of Isis either.
Or the Demon. He did it. He killed her.”
A shiver runs through me, though
it’s not cold by the fire. “No, I don’t
think he killed her,” I say. “Maybe I’m
just paranoid in my old age, but I don’t think we’ve seen the last of her. She is a god, after all.”
“Then what are we to do?”
“What he would want us to do. We remain vigilant. We snuff out the darkness wherever we find
it. We spread the light.”
She nods. “I’ll tell my sisters.
What of the boy?”
“I’ll keep an eye on him.” I motion to the squirrel on its spit. “Now that we’ve settled that, would you care
for a bite?”
“No, thank you.”
But before she vanishes, she turns
the squirrel into a plump chicken, just as he did the first time he visited
me. Show-off.
***
Nine more years go by. Under my tutelage, Artr is a good and decent
chieftain. The boy even takes a wife
named Gwniver. She’s not the brightest
girl in the village, but she makes a rabbit stew to die for.
At this point you might wonder if
she is faithful to him. From what Beaux
tells me, she is. They are fairly
close; they go out into the forest to hunt rabbits together, leaving Artr and I
to train for the Demon’s return, or any other dark threats to the village.
Beaux and Gwniver are out hunting
rabbits one day when an old man walks into the village. I’m the first to see him as Artr and I work
on his spearcraft on the tournament grounds.
The man limps towards us, leaning on a gnarled stick.
“Ho there, friends,” the old man
says. “May a weary traveler partake of
your hospitality?”
“Of course. I am Artr, chief of this village. You are welcome to stay the night with me
and my wife.”
“That’s very generous of you, my
lord. Thank you.”
Artr shows the man into the
village. He doesn’t suspect
anything. Neither do I until the old
man turns to me and winks. Then I know
my master has returned at last.
It’s tempting to run over and
embrace him. I manage to restrain
myself. If the master wants Artr and
the rest of the village to know he is here, he would have said so.
I keep his secret the rest of the
day. To the other villagers he’s just
an old man who’s wandered into our village.
Most don’t pay attention to him.
Artr is courteous, as he is to anyone who shows up in the village in
need of lodging and a meal.
After a dinner of rabbit stew, the
old man gets up. “Thank you for such a
wonderful meal, my lady,” he says. “If
you will forgive this old man for leaving so abruptly, I have business to
attend to.”
He hobbles off, presumably to
piss. I wait a few minutes before I
excuse myself as well. I find Merlin
out on the tournament grounds. He’s no
longer wearing the old man disguise; he looks just as he did the first time we
met.
This time I do embrace him. “You’re back! I had feared—”
“I did not die, but I’m afraid I
can’t stay here long.”
“Why not? You know the village would be honored to have you here,
especially Artr and I.”
“I know you would, my friend, but
I’m afraid the time has come for me to leave this world.”
“You came here to kill
yourself? Master—”
“No, my friend. I am not going to kill myself. But I must leave this world for
another. It’s not safe here.” He explains to me about the battle with Isis
and the destruction left in its wake.
“It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know—”
“Regardless, I have always sought
the light. I have sought to protect
people, not destroy them. Yet this
power of mine makes me a danger to this world.
That’s why I must go.”
“But what are we supposed to do
without you?”
“As you’ve been doing: you, Artr, Anybl, and her sisters. You must continue to carry on in my stead.”
“What if we can’t? What if Isis returns?”
He closes his eyes. “There will be a final reckoning to
come. On that day, when the darkness is
too strong for any others, then I will return.
In the meantime, I will leave this place and slumber until needed.”
“No, you can’t. You can’t abandon us!”
“I’m sorry, my friend. I wish things could be different, but the
danger is too great.” He pats my
shoulder. “Fear not. You’ll see me again. When it’s your time to leave this place,
we’ll meet again.”
With that, he disappears. I do see him again, much sooner than I’d
have liked. But that’s another story.
THE END
Of course if you want more, you can always buy Volume 1! Or if you're a lucky commenter you can get it for free!
At some point I'll probably collect this into eBook form. In the meantime, you can always click the link on the right that says "Volume 0" or go to the Special Features tab. A lot of what you read in this series is a spoiler for Volumes 3 and 8 of the Tales of the Scarlet Knight series, so just pretend to be surprised whenever those are released and you can read them.
At some point I'll probably collect this into eBook form. In the meantime, you can always click the link on the right that says "Volume 0" or go to the Special Features tab. A lot of what you read in this series is a spoiler for Volumes 3 and 8 of the Tales of the Scarlet Knight series, so just pretend to be surprised whenever those are released and you can read them.
Monday we get back to normal with an out of this world Phony Photos...
6 comments:
Blogathon of boom? That sounds fantastic! Excellent conclusion to your story, too. Good sense of loss at the end. :)
Yes, excellent writing, Patrick. I love how all the ends get neatly wrapped up.
Did Tolkien ever explain where all the Elves go when they leave Middle Earth? Perhaps Merlin visits them?
This was a great story. I especially liked, although it's a minor detail, how you spelled the names, old-school style. It gave it more atmosphere than if you'd gone with "Arthur," etc.
Thanks for taking part in the Blogathon of Doom!
Wait, did I miss something somewhere with the time setting? This is 2000BC or so? I guess I was just assuming that it was set roughly in other Arthurian time frames. >goes to digging back through the parts to figure out what he missed<
I've enjoyed reading this story and I'm sorry to see it come to an end. But then it really hasn't...has it?
Post a Comment