The Golden Effect

The Dragon's call

BEING EDITED.

CHAPTER 2 - THE DRAGON'S CALL

The guards escorted her down into the dungeons where she would rest in a cell until Arthur deemed her ready to leave - she knew that people could be killed for treacherous acts against royalty, so she hoped that he was a little forgiving. As she was forced into her dank, dirty cell which smelled of urine and moldy hay, she found herself on the floor, knees tugged up against her chest and tears in her eyes. Her head slammed against the stone wall behind her; she had hoped that the pain would knock her unconscious, but it only left her a little dizzy. Merlynn bit her lip tight and tried to get to sleep so she wouldn't have to be aware of her environment for much longer.

The next morning, her body was frozen from the inside out with a thin layer of ice covering the hay around her. She was shaking violently - the hay hadn't given her much warmth, and whatever heat her body had sustained from the sun had long since run out. Merlynn was colder than she had ever been before; and she had survived winters with only a couple of thin blankets. This was absolutely freezing.

Merlynn, the voice from the day before called. However, while it was still a faint echo, it was closer, as though she was, indeed, closer to the source.

Merlynn sat up, her sore muscles and icy body protesting, and she searched for the voice - it was starting to turn her insane. "I'm seriously going insane," she muttered, now frustrated at both herself and the whole situation. She had only been in Camelot for two and a half days and things were already going terrible for her.

Merlynn.

"Seriously?" she shouted up at the heavens. There was no one there, but there was that voice; it was unlike anyone she had ever heard of, and it was starting to annoy her. Maybe it was all in her head? May -

"Merlynn?" Now, she knew this voice. The harsh sound of the wrought iron cell door open irritated her ears and then Gaius came into view behind the guards. He then sighed at her. "The one thing you were supposed to do was keep your head down and stay out of trouble, and what do you do instead? You behave like an idiot. You injured the prince and insulted him? Merlynn, you are lucky he didn't get you beheaded!"

"He provoked me!" she defended. Merlynn had to use the wall for support to get to her feet. Gaius noticed how thin and frail she was - her face was odd, like an elf or another mystical creature, but it was evident she did not eat as much as she should've. Which he couldn't blame her; many villagers didn't eat often, and some reacted physicially to it. Even with her baggy clothes he could see how painfully thin she was.

"And you provoked him," he reminded her, breaking out of his thoughts.

Merlynn lowered her gaze to the ground. Her actions were certainly uncouth but her stubborn mind reasoned with her that the prince deserved the treatment he had gotten - he had shown such disrespect toward Morris, and everyone in general, and it was not something that she could just simply brush off. But, to punch the future king of Camelot? Not good. "I'm... sorry."

Gaius sighed, "You are very lucky I was able to pull a few strings to get you released."

She grinned and ran over to hug him tight. "Oh, thank you," she breathed. "Thank you!" He gently pried the girl away from him disapprovingly, then began to lead her up the staircase into the courtyard. "I won't forget this - I'll be good and respectful and I'll keep my head down, I promise. I was so afraid, you know? That I'd be spending my days in this freezing prison and have rats eat me from the inside out."

He grimaced at the image it created in his head. "While that is an, er, lovely thing to picture, there is but a small price to pay," he said and, as she glanced at him to see if he would tell her what the 'price' was, she noticed a hint of mirth in his eyes which made her a bit terrified.