literature

Out of Control, Chapter 2

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Merlin felt himself shaken awake and looked up to see Arthur looking down at him.
"Arthur? What are you…" Merlin realised that it was dark outside, and stifled a yawn. "I told Gaius to wake me up if I fell asleep…"
"Merlin, you have been up for nearly two days straight. I told Gaius to let you sleep. You needed it." He grinned, "And anyway, Gaius found an old spell in one of his books that might be useful…"

Merlin jumped to his feet, and Arthur had to grab him to stop him from tripping over.
"Steady… Honestly Merlin, you really should…" he realised he was speaking to thin air and sighed, running after Merlin. He caught up to him in Gaius' rooms, and he had to control the urge to snap out a remark as he saw Merlin's expression, as he stared at Archie. No matter what anybody said, Merlin seemed to think that it was his fault, though how he could have come to that conclusion, Arthur had no idea. He made his way over to were Gaius was explaining to Merlin about the spell he had found.
"… and it seems to have been used a lot to either destroy or nullify a great deal of curses. The problem is that some of the pages in this particular book have been burned, so I don't know what the cost of the spell would be… I could try to find it in another volume but…" Merlin took the book from Gaius and read what it said aloud.
"'In the case of a dark curse, this incantation will render its power ineffective. However, the enactor of this spell should consider deeply the cost of such an action, as the consequences are'…" Merlin frowned, "Some of it has been burned away… Hang on, here's more…  'truly enable one person to be free of the effects of a curse, the said curse would have to be moved to…'" Merlin frowned again, "moved to… to…" he threw the book onto the table with frustrated exclamation. "Well, that's all I can make out." Gaius picked the book up.
"Well… the incantation is in here, but without knowing the cost of a spell like this, I don't think we should…"
"Gaius, I have had to keep Archie asleep for nearly two days. We can't afford to wait for much longer."
Arthur spoke up.
"He's right Gaius. Arch will have to be woken soon for food and water if nothing else. He can't go without them for much longer."
"I know, sire. But until we know what the spell will do to Merlin…"
"I don't care Gaius. We have the spell. Let me use it. We can deal with the consequences later…"
"But Merlin…"
"No Gaius. I have to. I promised I'd look after him…"

Arthur realised that that was the reason he had been feeling guilty.
"Merlin… Gaius is right… Give him a chance to try and find the spell in another book…"
Merlin growled in frustration but slumped onto the bench.
"Okay. But if we haven't found it by the morning, I'm doing that spell." He pulled a pile of books towards him and started flipping through them. Arthur sighed and grasped is shoulder.
"He will be okay Merlin…" Arthur felt him trembling under his hand and pulled away, heading for the door.
"I have to go. Send for me if… when you find something…" he walked out though the door and shut it behind him. Silently, Gaius sat next to Merlin and started leafing through more books.


Morning sunlight streamed through the window and Merlin opened his eyes, immediately mad at himself for falling asleep. He noticed that Gaius was no-where to be seen and stretched, walking over to where Archie lay, sleeping. Turning back towards the table, he caught sight of the book with the spell in and made a decision. Picking it up, he flicked through until he found the right page and sat down, preparing to cast the spell.

Gaius knocked on the door of the throne room, and, getting a 'come in', he opened the door. Arthur Gwaine, Bedivere, Percival, Leon and Gwen sat at the round table, discussing the possibility of an enemy sorcerer in Camelot.  Arthur stood at the sight of him, but his face fell at the expression on Gaius' face.
"Gaius? You found something?"
"Yes sire. But there is a problem." Arthur motioned for him to sit and he seated himself next to Gwen before continuing.
"As far as I can tell, the spell we found is the only one that can deal with a curse such as the one that has affected Archie. Any other means of destroying it would take days or weeks to prepare, and we don't have the time…" He paused before continuing. "The problem with that is that the sorcerer who does the spell has a high chance of taking the curse into himself, as it attaches itself to the nearest human from the one which it has just vacated."

Everyone was silent for a few minutes as they digested this, then Leon spoke up.
"Could we not make the curse go into someone who has no magic? That way it would not be so dangerous…?"
"No, I'm afraid not. I the curse enters the body of a normal human, it would burn them up from the inside, both mind and soul." Gwen spoke up.
"Have you told Merlin this?"
"No. He was asleep when I left and I did not want to wake him." Arthur jumped to his feet.
"What if he wakes up when you were gone? He could be awake right now and doing that damn curse!"
As if to prove his point, a screeching sound came from the general direction of Gaius' rooms and everyone froze for a manner of seconds. As one, Arthur, and the rest of the knights jumped to their fee and raced off, followed by Gwen and Gaius.
Merlin grinned as the red vapour substance rose from Archie body, curling in the air. The grin faded as it started twisting towards him. He backed away, slowly, keeping his eyes on it. He had just reached the door when It burst open and he went flying into a table.
"Merlin" It was Arthur. "You okay?"
"Well I was till I got a door slammed into my face…"
"Yeah, sorry about that," Gwaine butted in, sheepishly, "My bad."

Merlin grinned but froze as the red mist lunged towards Arthur. Merlin reacted faster than he could have imagined, leaping across the bench and shoving Arthur to the floor. Unfortunately for him, that put him directly in the path of the vapour. It hit his chest and curled around him, sinking into his skin. As it soaked in, Merlin found he couldn't move, and his skin tingled, sending shivers through his body. He could tell that the curse had sunk in as is body started to warm, thrumming with energy. So much… too much… He couldn't hold it all… he had to let it out… but he might hit… no, it didn't matter… too much… had to let it out… Merlin heard several voices calling is name, and seemed to lose some of the instinct to lash out. Turning, he saw Arthur getting to his feet, and Bedivere stopping Gwen from entering the room. Merlin opened his mouth to speak, but only managed "Power… so much…" before a red haze descended over him and he let it loose. He heard faint cries and thuds, but they didn't matter… nothing mattered except letting it all go… all of it…
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Heart4Wolves's avatar
A curse like that on a young inexperenced sorcerer wouldn't be good but they might be able to control it.
But on Merlin? The most powerful warlock who ever lived?
This is bad. Very bad...