Ides of the May (Children of the May 2 - updates weekly)

Chapter Forty: The Cave of the Dragon (part one)

'L-L-L-Let me go b-b-back!' I shouted at Merlin when I realised that the use of my mouth and limbs had returned to me. I grabbed hold of his staff. 'Send m-m-m-me b-back!' I needed to get back to Tintagel to help my friends. I knew I'd been wrong to step away from them, no matter what Mordred might have been trying to tell me with his silent look. I was Alisander's best chance of survival – I could perhaps save Queen Melody and any others who had been injured as the two armies forced open Tintagel's gates.

'Not before we've seen your lovely sister and your nephew, Lord of the Lake,' said the sorcerer. 'You, after all, are the head of your house, and I need your permission if the Lady Neave is to be mine.'

'I-I-I-I-I'm not the h-h-head –'

– 'By any reasonable measure, you are,' said Merlin. 'We have been foolish to allow Lady Nemue to remain regent over you, her son, for so long. It has not been proper of us. Don't you agree, Arthur?'

'Of course, Merlin,' said the king, sullen because the wizard had taken him from the battle.

Merlin breathed deeply, sucking the mist so hard that it formed two streams snaking into his nostrils. 'It is good to be back. Do you know, lord of the lake, I have not been here since the time of which you were told, when I paid a visit to the dragon with the king's half-sisters.'

'You brought Morgan and Morgawse here?' said Arthur.

'Aye, aye, this is where I made the mistake of showing Morgan how to take the power she later used against you.'

This mention of his sisters seemed to upset the king. 'And now they're both dead. Poor pretty Morgan; poor pretty Morgawse. All my family are gone.'

'Come now, Arthur. Both girls would have had your life if they could.'

'That's n-n-not true,' I broke in. 'I-I-I-I mean, that your f-f-f-family are gone. M-M-M-Mordred of Erin: he's your s-s-s-son. W-W-We can save him if we g-g-g-go back to T-T-Tintagel.'

Arthur frowned. 'Nonsense. I have no children. I have never got one on Guinevere or any of the others.'

'Y-Y-You did. You h-have. That t-t-t-time M-Morgan le Fay put you in Morgawse's b-b-b-bed in the guise of her h-h-husband. When you raped your sister. Mordred is y-y-y-your son from that n-n-night.'

Theking's hand went to Excalibur. 'Take that back!' he said, his voice shrill. 'I am not a raper. Morgawse simply needed persuasion. Merlin, my friend, tell him it's not true.'

I saw myself reflected in Merlin's oily eyes. 'The boy has gone to the bad, Arthur, just like your sisters.' He denied nothing of what I'd said, though Arthur did not seem to notice. 'The king Eternal hardly requires heirs.'

'No, no, I suppose I don't.' He was thoughtful for a moment, then spoke again, his voice trembling and uncertain: 'I'm, I'm not a bad man, am I Merlin?'

The wizard smiled gently, revealing his sharp yellow teeth. He reached out a long arm and drew Arthur into the folds of his beggar's robes. 'Arthur, my boy,' he cooed. 'The standards of ordinary men do not apply to as great a king as you, my boy. Have I not always told you the same?'

Arthur sniffed, and wiped a tear from his eye. He looked up at Merlin. 'You have, my friend, you always have.'

The head of the ram's skull turned to me. 'And this,' said Merlin, 'this is exactly why the May-children must be destroyed. They sow doubt in your mind. Things will be easier when I have taught the whole world to love you unconditionally, as is your right.'

'Yes, yes,' said Arthur, regaining his confidence. 'There, boy; there you have the truth.'

Merlin took Arthur by the arm, and the two of them walked towards the cave. I spotted a shifting in the damp grey rocks above the entrance. Arthur asked Merlin where we were, and the wizard explained in much the same terms as I had learned from Epicene's Egyptian scroll – that the cave was six places in one, and the source of all magic in the world.

'W-W-Wait.'

The king and the creature stopped and turned to me. As they did so, Brunor dropped silently from above the cave mouth to the ground, his ill-fitting coat flowing around him, his sword drawn. I tried to focus on Merlin and Arthur, so that the movement of my eyes did not alert them to the Moor's quiet approach.

'I-I-I-I-If that's the c-c-c-case, that Merlin w-w-w-wanted to d-d-destroy us for you, why are w-w-w-we still alive? Ask him that.'

Arthur did not say anything. Brunor was covering the ground quickly. He raised his sword, ready to destroy both of them with a single blow.

'I-I-I-I-I'll tell you. He c-c-c-could have destroyed your ship the m-m-moment it set sail from C-C-C-Caerleon with us on it. But he didn't. He w-w-w-wanted to use us to w-w-w-win the p-p-power of Avalon for himself. You're his p-p-puppet, Arthur. A m-m-means to Merlin's end. When he has n-no use for you he'll take the crown for h-himself.'

Brunor was almost on them. He swung his sword at the king's neck.

Without looking, Merlin jabbed his staff behind him. It struck Brunor a swift blow in the centre of his chest. The Moor froze, his sword an inch from Arthur's unguarded flesh. The king jumped when he saw how close Brunor had come to him. He had not heard a thing. The king retreated behind his sorcerer.

'Drift?' said Brunor.

The spot Merlin's staff had touched turned a dull yellow, which slowly spread down Brunor's body to his legs, up to his neck, across his shoulders and down his arms, all the way to the tip of his sword. In moments, his whole body had turned the same bland colour, from the ends of his hair to the hems of his ill-fitting coat. He held like that for a moment, in a statuesque representation of his last pose, and then crumbled away into a pile of sand.

Merlin shook his head. 'Really, lord of the lake,' he said in the tones of a disappointed schoolmaster. 'You see how they try to trick us, Arthur? A quite pathetic ruse.'

My heart pounded. I prayed that Brunor was not dead, but had, like Sir lamorak, been transported elsewhere. But then I put him out of my mind – Brunor had been sent to guard Neave and Christian from intruders. If he was still here, then they were too, and Neave's cleansing of the Spear of longius was not yet complete. I had to warn them.

Though my legs were shaking, I ran, waiting for Merlin to drag me back.

'Stop there!' Arthur cried after me.

'Fear not, young king,' said Merlin. 'He can do no harm. He merely announces your arrival to the Lady of the Lake.'