Merlin's Gold

Merlin's Gold - Chapter 16 - Into the Dragon's Lair

"Why did you betray Grayle?"

"I didn't betray Grayle, I trained him to the highest standard I could, certainly to a higher standard than you or anyone else ever could."

"You betrayed his friendship, and now he intends to fight you tomorrow."

"Then it will be a good fight, no-one should ever go down without a good fight."

"Well, that is something perhaps we do agree on," said Percival sadly. "Until tomorrow then. Get some rest, you will need it."

~

Grayle glanced across at Merlin as the two of them were lowered into the hole on a wide Bosun's chair. The triangle of supporting ropes intersected each corner of the plank, tied in turn to the single fragile looking hemp rope that twisted above them up to the crane above their heads.

"Why did you choose me to come with you?" asked Grayle as the men above them lowered them into the open shaft.

"Because it felt right," said Merlin. "Much of what I do is based on intuition, knowledge, and my beliefs, with an occasional bit of guesswork and good luck thrown in for good measure."

Catching the look of utter disbelief on Grayle's face, Merlin laughed softly in the deepening gloom as they descended.

As the light decreased, Merlin continued, his voice echoing oddly into the Pit. "What people call magic is very seldom what it seems. Wisdom is something people tend to assign to old age. The ability to divine or sense things other people can't is seen as magic, but that's only because other people are not able to do it themselves. So when people come across something they don't understand, or cannot explain it gets called magic. Magic is something unobtainable, something out of their reach, therefore they are justified in their own heads in allowing themselves to be awed by it, frightened by it, or controlled by it."

Grayle was silent for several minutes. He looked up at the small circle of light receding above their heads, and then back at the vague outline of Merlin's bearded face.

"So there is no magic?" he said finally.

"I never said that now, did I?" replied Merlin and lifted his hand.

A small light bloomed in his palm. The pale blue light was there for a few brief moments, but it showed Merlin's face in stark angular relief, indigo-edged shadows dancing in eldritch glee to paint a goblin mask of light and shade on the old man's face. A twisted smile hovered on Merlin's lips as the light faded to leave them once more in the dark.

Grayle looked up and away from the memory of Merlin's face, his heart pounding in the sudden darkness. Another light detached from the circle above and the warming welcome light of a candle in its lantern was lowered down to them on a rope from the miners above. He caught the lantern by its handle as it descended, and looked cautiously at the old man seated next to him.

"I didn't mean to scare you boy, I'm sorry," said Merlin softly. "I am the last of my kind, the last true druid of my faith. I can feel my doom coming, and the shadows of the netherworld lengthen to envelop me. I am old and tired, yet I am also Merlin the legend; immortal, immovable, immutable."

He paused. "Impatient," he added quietly and started to chuckle, the rasping laugh echoing in the confines of the shaft. "You're a good man Grayle, that is why I brought you down here. Maybe I just needed to talk to someone who would listen. Maybe I was just showing off: old men like to do that sometimes. There is always more to life than what you can see. My own thirst for knowledge has driven me all over the world, and I can see some of that thirst for learning in you. Is what I just showed you magic or merely something you don't know that can be engineered by anyone who has the knowledge? I'll let you decide that one, although I suspect both answers might be right. You asked me earlier why I wanted you to come with me. It does feel right, but maybe I just wanted you to see this first, to share some of that hard-won knowledge with someone I know who would appreciate it as fully as I do. But for now, we have arrived."