When Merlin regained consciousness, the midday sun spilled it's light through the trees over him, and he could not move a muscle. He could feel, all right. His mouth burned as if he had just consumed the hottest spices in existence. There were several cuts about his limbs which stung almost unbearably. He was not sore; it only felt like he did not have the physical capacity to move. He wondered how Arthur fared.
"Arthur?" Merlin called. He half-expected the young king to be on his feet still, waiting just outside Merlin's line of sight, shaking with silent laughter at the pathetic predicament.
"Arthur, are you there?" When several minutes passed in complete silence, Merlin began to wish Arthur was there to laugh at his embarrassment, if it only confirmed he was there and alive.
"Arthur!"
The only response was the shriek of an eagle; or was it an eagle? This place had goblins and fairies, why would it not have a magical creature with an eagle's head—like a gryphon?
The cry sounded closer, but there was nothing Merlin could do. If he could have moved, he would have been trembling. He recalled only too well the gryphon that had attacked Camelot. There was no Lancelot to save him now. He barely glimpsed the form of the lion-sized creature as it landed near him. Merlin lay very still and hoped that the beast couldn't see him (or Arthur, but the young king could have been long gone by now).
The gryphon crept closer. Now Merlin could see its eagle's head. The gryphon suddenly turned its head from side to side, fixing Merlin with each of its eyes. It did not charge forward angrily and hungrily like the other gryphon had. Merlin could do no more than wince as the gryphon stood over him and brought its beak down to rest on his chest. The pair stared into each others' eyes.
Abruptly, the gryphon's head jerked up, and without warning, it pounced! Its claws dug into Merlin's shoulders, and as it secured its grip, Merlin guessed what it intended to do.
"Oh, no, no, no!" he begged, but to no avail. The gryphon reared on its haunches with Merlin firmly suspended from its fore-claws, and launched itself into the air. Merlin groaned in pain as the only things between him and a free-fall to certain death were the sharp claws digging into his shoulder. Yet his body still would not move. Was he somehow permanently paralyzed?
The gryphon flew over the edge of a mountain range and into a craggy valley. Merlin saw several caves equipped with outcroppings. The gryphon landed on one of these. Merlin almost wished that he was numb as well as paralyzed when the gryphon released him suddenly, sending the young man thudding in more or less a sitting position against the wall of the cave. The gryphon regarded him with each eye once more, then stalked toward the back of the cave, where there stood a large nest. The minute its head cleared the edge of the nest, Merlin heard raspy, grunting, peeping sounds. Great; so if he wasn't going to be supper for the great beast, he would be fodder for its babies.
The gryphon dipped into the nest and drew out several young gryflets. If the situation was not so perilous, Merlin might have laughed at their bulging eyes and wild, downy feathers sticking out in every direction from their scrawny heads. The gryflets stumbled and flopped their way over to this new creature their mother had brought back. They emitted pathetic growls and snapped their soft beaks at him. One little challenger clawed at his clothes, ripping Merlin's jacket.
Something metallic clinked against the stone floor. Instantly, the mother gryphon stood over him, tipping her head back and forth, but Merlin did not warrant her attention. She bent down and picked up a long golden chain. Merlin watched it glimmer as it dangled from her beak. That was the other object the thief had carried! He must have slipped it into Merlin's pocket before he uttered the spell that brought them here. Now the gryphon carefully laid it over Merlin's head, and it dropped around his neck.
A jolt like a spearhead shot down the length of Merlin's spine, and the brood of gryflets tumbled off with surprised squeaks when Merlin finally stirred and sat upright. His head spun, but at least he could move again.
One gryflet managed to stay in his lap, and now it fixed its round eyes on him and growled, snapping its beak at him. Merlin chuckled and—taking care to move slowly—he reached out and gently stroked the gryflet's silky back. The youngling couldn't quite reach Merlin's hand with its beak, and as it felt the soothing movement, its head ever so slightly began to droop. Merlin kept stroking; the fur on the gryflet's back was softer than anything he had ever felt. As the small creature began to curl into a ball, Merlin felt a small, steady movement he realized was the gryflet's purr. The eyes closed, and soon the gryflet was fast asleep in Merlin's lap.
He glanced across at the mother gryphon, who crouched silently nearby, regarding him with a mixture of gratification and awe. Gently, Merlin cradled the gryflet in his arms and stood. The nest was almost as tall as he was, and several gryflets played, but Merlin set the sleeping one off to the side where he would not be disturbed. When he turned, the gryphon still watched him. She stalked closer, her lion's tail waving in apprehension. Merlin waited patiently for her. The gryphon came close enough to brush her head along his hand. She nudged against it, inviting him. Merlin almost held his breath as he slowly reached toward the gentle creature. She leaned into his palm, croaking softly with pleasure.
"Kharrah?" A feminine voice called. "Where are you?"
Kharrah the gryphon bounded toward the front of the cave. Merlin started to follow her, but just then, a giant face loomed over the mouth of the cave. Enormous eyes blinked at him, and Merlin instinctively sought to cower in the shadows and hide from the terrible face.
"What in the world—" the giant muttered, and the face pulled away, only to be replaced by a huge hand! Merlin dove for the cover of the nest, but two of the giant's fingers caught his boot, hauling him out by one foot.
"Eww!" the giantess shrieked, and Merlin felt himself hurtling through the air toward the ground. An enormous face grimaced at him. "It's squishy! And... oh, gross! It's moving! Kharrah, what is it?"
Merlin could only ease himself onto his back and groan. His whole body felt made of bruises. The giantess watched him with a strange gleam in her eye, similar to the way he looked at a large spider. He tried to raise his hands over his head for protection.
"Don't squash me!" He begged, "I mean you no harm!"
The giantess clapped a hand to her mouth, "It talks!" Very slowly, she reached out and pinched Merlin's body between two fingers. Merlin threw his arms around her thumb for balance as she lifted him high in the air before her face and dropped him into her other palm. "But you're so much bigger than a dwarf!" she remarked.
Merlin's head swam as he found himself huddled among fingers as big as his entire body. He struggled to get his balance among them.
The giantess, meanwhile, was becoming more accustomed to his presence. "Shh, it's okay," she assured him gently, "I won't hurt you. See? I'm a friend." She opened her hand, and Merlin slid into her palm. The giant regarded him like a strange-looking insect. "What are you?" she asked.
"I'm—" Merlin almost said "a servant," but just in time he realized she most likely meant species, not occupation. "I'm a human," he answered.
The giant furrowed her brow in confusion. The wrinkles stood out deeply in her face.
"Humans? There haven't been any humans here for—ever!" she eyed Merlin suspiciously. "I didn't think they existed."
Merlin shook his head and laughed. This giant truly was a friend. "Where I come from," he remarked, "humans exist but giants like you don't."
"Hmm," The giant propped her elbow on a grassy knoll on top of the cave to hold the hand supporting Merlin steady. "And what world is that?"
Merlin found himself beginning to trust the young giant. At any rate, she seemed interested, and perhaps the more she knew about him, the more she would be inclined to protect and maybe even aid him.
"It's called Earth," he explained, "I live in a country called Albion, in the royal city of Camelot."
"Camelot," the giantess sounded out the name.
Merlin couldn't help grinning as he said, "Yes, that's it." He worked his way onto his feet now, standing on the soft, uneven surface of her hand. He walked to the edge—but not too close—and seated himself with his feet dangling over the side. "My name is Merlin," he said. "What's yours?"
The giantess smiled and tucked a lock of her brown hair behind her ear. "It's Lilianabriellamaria."
He could not deny that it sounded beautiful coming from her mouth, but— "Can I just call you Lily?" he asked.
The look she gave him said she could not fathom why anyone would need to. "I suppose," she conceded. "But tell me, Merlin, what brings you to Phantasm?"
Merlin blinked. "To where, now?" he asked, not recognizing the foreign word.
"Phantasm," Lily repeated, "That's what this world is called."
A wave of dizziness washed over Merlin as he stared out over the horizon. So the magic of the thief had not just transported Merlin and his master to a different realm or kingdom; somehow they ended up in a different world altogether! Merlin shivered and tucked his knees against his chest.
"Lily," he said, "Let me tell you how we came to be here."
"We?" asked Lily.