“Arthur!” Merlin took his hands away from his stuck leg.
He nodded at him. “Merlin.”
“For once, you saved me.”
Arthur rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Merlin? I’ve saved your life before.” He crouched down next to Merlin, grabbing his leg. With a quick tug, he freed him.
“Really?” Merlin asked. “How about you name a time when you saved me?”
Arthur had to think about this for a moment. Picking up his sword, he stabbed the ground with it. “Oh, I don’t know. What about the time when I asked Lancelot to take you back to Camelot after the Dorocha attacked you? And what about all the times I’ve had to free you from jail?”
“That still doesn’t compare to me,” Merlin whispered under his breath.
Arthur gave him a funny look. “Excuse me? I thought you’d be glad to see me.”
“Oh, I would be,” Merlin sarcastically said. “But last time I did, you embarrassed the whole of Camelot at the Feast of Peace. Also, Gwaine still hasn’t gotten over the fact that you almost killed him.”
“I was under a spell!” Arthur argued.
“And how can you be sure of that?” said Merlin.
Arthur pulled his sword out of the ground. He came within reach of Merlin. With his head, he gestured for him to follow him. “Follow me. There’s somebody I want you to meet.”
***
The search party was waiting for the two boys at the beach where Esmerelda had taken Arthur to spend the night.
At the sight of him, Guinevere literally started to cry. “Arthur!” She picked up her dress and hurried to him, pulling him into a hug.
Agravaine and Merlin rolled their eyes.
Gwen took her arms away from Arthur and next focused her attention on Merlin. “Merlin! There you are!” Now she hugged Merlin.
It was Arthur’s turn to roll his eyes.
Merlin smiled at Gwen, but he didn’t smile at Arthur or Agravaine. He hugged Sir Gwaine, Sir Percival, and Sir Leon before his eyes landed on Sir Elyan. The knights had gotten some rope from their saddlebags and tied him up against a tree. They also took away all his weapons.
He glared at Arthur, who pointed at him and asked, “What’s with him?”
Gwen tried to keep herself together, but it wasn't easy. “The Death Lion. He’s possessed him.” Her eyes landed on Merlin. “Merlin, where’s Dragoon?”
Merlin cringed. “Dra-Dragoon?”
Gwen used both her hands to rub tears from her eyes. “Yes. He said that you were looking for a sorcerer to help us. Apparently, there’s something at this lake that can break spells.”
Merlin opened his mouth to speak, but Arthur beat him to it. “Dragoon? You mean the good-for-nothing sorcerer who tried to save my father?”
Merlin took slight offense to that. “He was just trying to help,” he growled.
“Yeah, and look where it got him!” Arthur said. “How could you trust a man like that, Merlin? I knew you were an idiot, but this? I thought you were better.”
Merlin attempted to punch him, but Arthur grabbed his wrist.
Gwen looked back and forth between the boys. Why were they acting so mean toward each other? This wasn’t like them at all.
Merlin released his wrist from Arthur’s grip. There was no way he could beat him in a fight. Not without magic.
Glancing at Gwen, he explained, “The sorcerer said that there’s a being here who can loosen the effects of spells. He took off when he said that you guys were here, and told me to meet you. As Arthur said, I’m an idiot, so I listened to him.”
“You’re not an idiot. It’s true,” a sudden voice said from off to the side.
Everybody jumped. Sir Percival, Sir Gwaine, Sir Leon, and Arthur drew their swords, but they lowered them when Esmerelda stepped out from behind a bush. She was wearing a leaf skirt that she made overnight and a flower in her hair. She looked absolutely gorgeous. Percival, Leon, Gwaine, Agravaine, and Elyan stared at her.
Arthur, though, recognized her. “My Lady.”
Esmerelda nodded shyly. She bowed to the king. “Your Highness.”
Merlin glanced from her to the knights and Lord Agravaine. All of them had stupid smiles on their faces.
“You’re so incredibly beautiful,” Gwaine said.
“My name is Esmerelda. I can help your friend,” Esmerelda stated. With that, she began to move toward Elyan.
Merlin whispered into Arthur’s ear. “Do you know her?”
“Of course, I do,” said Arthur. “She saved me.”
Merlin recalled what Kilgharrah told him. The mermaids specialized in healing magic. Did this mean Esmerelda was a mermaid? If so, where was her tail?
The closer she came to Elyan, the more mysterious she became. She lifted her hands, starting to hum a song.
“What are you doing?” Guinevere asked in a frightened voice. She tried to run to her brother, but Merlin grabbed her.
“I think we can trust her,” he whispered.
Percival, Gwaine, Leon, and Agravaine followed Esmerelda to Elyan. She asked them to untie his rope. They followed through with her request and released him.
An eerie presence hit Merlin’s head. The Death Lion. It was coming back. “Not good,” he told himself. He couldn’t let the Death Lion kill Esmerelda, not if she could help them. He had to lead it away from the search party. Merlin was willing to sacrifice his magic to save this beautiful siren. He grabbed Arthur’s shoulder, saying, “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” Arthur wanted to know.
Merlin cut off. He tried to think. Finally, he said, “We need to let Esmerelda work.”
***
“So, let me get this straight. You know Esmerelda is a mermaid?” King Arthur asked Merlin a little bit later.
“Unfortunately, yes,” was his reply. “But she’s in danger. The Death Lion feeds on magic. We need to lure it away from her.” He and Arthur were walking alongside the lake bed. It was covered in rocks, so they had to be careful. Flinching, Merlin stopped walking. He ran his fingers down the length of his leg. He must have hurt his ankle slightly when it crashed into the hole.
Arthur noticed his distress. He groaned, asking, “What is it now?”
“I think I twisted my ankle a little bit,” said Merlin. “Just let me rest for five minutes.” He pointed across the rocky lake bed to a wooden boat that was resting on a small beach. “Meet me at that boat.” Why there was a boat in the middle of nowhere, he had no idea.
Arthur did not appreciate Merlin giving him an order. “I am the King of Camelot! I do not need to be bossed around by a simple servant!”
Merlin asked him, “Do you want to get eaten by the Death Lion, or would you rather me?”
Arthur instantly changed his mind. “I’ll meet you at the beach. That’s as if you don’t get eaten on the way.” He laughed at his own joke, starting back over the rocks.
Once he was no longer in Merlin’s presence, Merlin checked behind him into the forest. Nodding slowly, he whispered an enchantment. “Elushia amisha.” He actually managed to pull off the spell. Merlin’s eyes glowed up. At his command, the forest’s trees pulled apart to create a path. He could sense the Death Lion. Merlin was succeeding in leading it away from Esmerelda and the search party. He wasn’t sure how much time he and Arthur had before it attacked, but hopefully it was enough to come up with a plan.
***
“Still the same old Merlin. You sure know how to make a king wait,” Arthur said when Merlin made it to the beach. “I trust your ankle is feeling better?”
“It is,” Merlin replied. “I also wanted to make sure the Death Lion’s following us.”
“And is it?”
“Yes.”
Arthur continued to tease his friend. “So, who do you think the Death Lion is going to eat first? You or me? I’m sure scrawny servant is its favorite meal.”
Merlin wasn’t paying attention to him. Somehow, he had been mesmerized by the boat sitting on the beach. He could feel incredible magic surrounding it—Death Lion magic. Arthur was also fascinated. He lost his smile, and together, he and Merlin just stared at the boat. Merely looking at it, they suddenly turned extremely hostile toward each other. The Death Lion was in their heads.
“I am so sick of you, Arthur!” Merlin shouted at Arthur. “Your jokes are boring, I always have to save you, and you treat me like I’m nobody!”
Arthur fought back. “Well, that’s who you are! A nobody! Why shouldn’t I let the Death Lion kill you first?” He pointed his sword at Merlin.
“Because you’re totally useless without me!” Merlin said in a frustrated voice.
“Then I was right! I really do have the worst servant in the world!”
The Death Lion made it to the beach. It leaped out of the forest, growling. It was ready for attack, but it relaxed at the sight of Merlin and Arthur.
They were too busy arguing to notice the fused beast next to them.
Merlin asked Arthur, “Why is it that whenever you need to go out, you take me along? Don’t you have a whole Knights of the Round Table to help you?”
“Trust me. I never want to drag you along, but I’m forced to because, because…” Arthur stumbled on his words.
“Because you’re a clotpole!” Merlin snapped.
Wow. They were such easy targets. The Death Lion was smarter than it looked. It wasn’t planning on killing the siren with King Arthur and Merlin in the mix. It had them right where it wanted them. The monster’s eyes glowed up. It used psychic magic to drag the stranded boat up to the two boys. Totally oblivious and still arguing, they stepped into it and sat down.
“You should have seen yourself the other night! It was disgusting!” Merlin snapped. “What king in their right mind puts their stinky boots on the banquet table? You embarrassed all of Camelot!”
Arthur always managed to find an excuse. “Because I am the king! I can do whatever I want!”
“Gross! Why am I even friends with you?”
“Who said we were friends?”
The Death Lion used its magic to push the boat into the clear lake water. It waved goodbye with its antlers.
A few mermaids who were sunbathing on some rocks cringed when they heard all the arguing. They slapped their hands over their ears, diving underwater.
Merlin and Arthur were slowly floating out toward the lake’s heart, in the direction of the mountains. They kept blabbering away.
Arthur said to Merlin, “Oh, do you want me to start calling you dollop head and clotpole? How about simpleton? I think that fits you best!”
“Why, you little prat!” Merlin sprang his hands forward. He grabbed Arthur’s wrists and tried to knock him off the side of the boat.
The Death Lion wanted to stay for the rest of the show (this was incredibly amusing), but it couldn’t. It had to please its master. If someone was going to die first, it was going to be the siren. Without her, Arthur would never recover from the curse. It shook out its head of mane and trotted back into the forest.
Merlin and Arthur kept on wrestling in the boat. It wasn’t until the center of the lake that they realized they had been pulled into a trap.
The spell left their heads. Both boys shook them out. Their eyes widened when they saw they were nowhere near land. There were no paddles in the boat. It was way too far to swim back to shore. They were stranded in the Lake of Peace.
Arthur called to Merlin. “What are we doing out here?”
Merlin rubbed his head. Even he had no idea what was going on. “I have no idea.” The last thing he remembered was opening the path for the Death Lion and meeting Arthur on the beach. He let the realization sink in that they had been tricked and got the message across to Arthur. “The Death Lion tricked us!”
“Do what? Well, don’t just sit there! Get us back to shore!”
“How am I supposed to do that?” asked Merlin. “Do you see any paddles?”
“I don’t know! Call the mermaids!”
“I don’t know how to call mermaids!”
“Here! I’ll help you!” Arthur stormed to Merlin. Grabbing his shoulder, he threw him right off the side of the boat. Splash!
Merlin hurried to the surface. Gasping for air, he grabbed hold of its side and gave Arthur a sarcastic look. “Very funny, sire.”
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