Within Your Heart

He had ridden into rain and darkness. Morgana shuddered beneath him. She felt tense and uneasy. Merlin couldn’t blame her; this forest was far from hospitable. He couldn’t believe such a place existed. He had wanted to leave Ealdor and now that he had, he wasn’t so sure he wanted it after all. The wet soaking through his clothes certainly wasn’t helping his mood.

They finally reached a fork in the road with a broken signpost. Merlin wondered which way to go when he noticed the tracks leading to the right and up the hill. There also appeared to be tracks where Morgana had fled. It seemed the most obvious place to start. Had his Mother honestly thought that that road was a good idea? What had she been thinking? He could not doubt the tracks though and turned Morgana in that direction.

Morgana became twitchier the further they went. He tried soothing her by rubbing her neck and talking to her. He noticed the tracks seemed to change. The horse’s tracks stopped. Merlin noticed foot prints moving away from the tracks. He also noticed other prints, they seemed to belong to animals. Oh god. If his mother had… He did not want to take the thought into consideration, it could only lead to bad things. He climbed off of Morgana and led her forwards, following the footprints. Morgana, although nervous, followed him.

They finally reached a gate where Hunith’s footprints disappeared inside. He pulled the gate open and noticed something lying on the floor. Merlin picked it up. It was Hunith’s hat.

“Mother, you are here.” Whispering to himself, he felt the tight feeling in his chest loosen slightly. He looked at his surroundings. A courtyard. And ahead a huge castle, not unlike the one he had created in the clouds. But seeing it in reality was something else. He felt it then. An invisible finger running up and down his spine, his skin becoming goose flesh under the touch. It made him shiver with both delight and worry. The place was steeped in magic. He had never felt anything as powerful as that. He continued forwards anyway, despite his growing nerves. What was this place and if his Mother was here, was she hurt? Why had she not come back home? All around him there was silence and stillness. With the magic still running across his skin, Merlin couldn’t tell if it was only that that was giving him chills or if there were indeed invisible eyes watching him.

Merlin finally found the stables and quickly tied Morgana up. She whinnied softly to him not to leave her. She didn’t like this place. Merlin smiled and ran his hands down her nose and neck.

“Quiet princess, there’s no need to be afraid.” As he soothed her he cast a quick spell to lull the horse into a doze. It calmed her down immediately and he began the search for his Mother.

He checked the streets surrounding the castle first, calling out her name, hoping that he would get a reply. After a while with no such luck, he decided he should search the castle instead. It certainly seemed a more likely place.

He approached the large, wooden door slowly and pushed it open without knocking. He couldn’t see very far as the interior was shrouded in darkness. Merlin took a few steps inside and closed the door behind him. The thud of wood echoed down the hall but no other sound came. Merlin stood for a moment to see if anything would happen. Nothing did.

“Hello? Is there anyone there?” His voice followed the sound of the door down the hall and there was still no reply. The young sorcerer quickly got annoyed with the dark and with a flick of his wrist created a glowing blue ball of light. It was bright enough that he could now see his surroundings, but not too bright that it would hurt his eyes. He began to make his way down the hall. He looked around doors for any sign of a living person who he could ask about his Mother, but the place seemed abandoned.

“Mother? Can you hear me? Hello? Anyone?” All he could hear was the echo of his own voice as he moved deeper into the castle.

-x-

One of the goblets hopped into the room out of breath.

“What’s wrong David?” Gwen asked full of concern. The goblet called David began hopping around a bit.

“There’s someone in the castle!” He replied enthusiastically. Gwen sighed.

“We know that dear. That poor woman locked up in the dungeon. Poor thing. If I had hands I’d wring Arthur’s neck. Oh gosh! Don’t tell him I said that.” A few pieces of crockery and cutlery sniggered. No one would dare tell the Master something like that. Most of them agreed with Gwen’s sentiment anyway.

“No! No! Someone else!” The goblet continued.

“What? What do you mean someone else? How could there… I mean no one would… but it’s not possible.”

“But there is. I saw!” David insisted.

“No one for years and then two at once… but-” Gwen didn’t know what to say.

-x-

“Had to invite her in didn’t you? Had to let her warm herself by the fire. In the Master’s chair no less. I would say you had a mental affliction, except the handle of the sword that you are has no space for a brain, which explains everything.” Gaius was in one of his lecturing moods. Lancelot crossed his cross guard.

“One, it’s a pommel. Two, I was being chivalrous. The poor woman was soaked; I couldn’t let her shiver to death. Besides, our high and mighty Lord and Master would do well to learn some chivalry,” Gaius sighed sadly.

“If he had, we wouldn’t be in this mess, would we? Alas I fear even sorcery cannot teach him such a thing. It will take nothing less than a miracle to-”

“Hello? Is there anyone there?” Both objects stopped and looked to the door which was slightly open. It wasn’t a voice either recognised. They both saw something pass the doorway. They turned to look at each other, before Lancelot hopped over to the door and peered around it.

“There’s a boy,” Lancelot whispered.

“What do you mean, ‘there’s a boy’?” Lancelot turned to look at the blue liquid filled vial.

“I mean, there’s a boy. There is a boy, wandering out there, in this castle.” Gaius hopped over to where Lancelot leaned and looked around the door himself. He was in time to see a skinny youth looking around the corridor, his palm open and above it, a shimmering globe of light hung silently.

“Mother?” His voice echoed around the corridor. Lancelot and Gaius looked at each other.

“The woman in the dungeon. He’s come to look for her,” Lancelot whispered.

“We must follow him,” Gaius whispered back. Both objects began to follow Merlin.

-x-

“He missed it. He’s going the wrong way,” Lancelot hissed.

“Help him then,” Gaius sighed back. Lancelot nodded his pommel and darted to the door nearby and pushed it open. Gaius waited in the shadows. Merlin paused as he heard a door creak open. He spun around to see where the noise had come from and noticed a door was ajar.

“Hello? Is someone there? I’m looking for my Mother. Have you seen her?” He wasn’t that surprised when he received no reply. He walked to the door and pushed it open further. It seemed to lead downstairs and a strange noise seemed to coming from there. A sort of scratching. The sound you would get from scraping metal against stone. Merlin looked around him before walking down the stairs. “Please, is someone there? Can you help me?” The stairs ended in another corridor. The whole place smelt of damp and decay. Merlin wrinkled his nose in disgust. The smell made it hard to breathe. He turned, thinking there was somebody nearby but realised there was only a suit of armour holding a sword. Merlin sighed in defeat. There didn’t seem to be anyone there. He tried once more just in case. “Hello?”

“Merlin? Merlin, is that you?”

“Mother!” He ran to where he had heard the voice coming from. The ball of light stayed behind before winking out completely. He slid to his knees as he found a cell with his mother shut inside. There was just enough light spilling in from barred windows to be able to see. “Are you alright?”

“Oh Merlin! You shouldn’t have come here. Silly boy.” Hunith grabbed at her son’s hands and smiled as brightly as she could.

“Mother! You’re freezing. I was so afraid when Morgana came back without you. I thought the worst.” He held back the tears but his voice hitched.

“I’m sorry. But please. Leave now!” Her eyes were wide and pleading as she begged her son to get away.

“No. I’m not leaving you. Who did this to you?”

“Please, Merlin. Go!” She tried pushing him off but he clung to her.

“Not without you!” He reached for the lock to undo it with magic when his shoulder was grasped firmly and he was yanked away. He rolled over against a wall. Hunith whimpered. Merlin pushed himself up from the floor and looked around wildly. There were too many shadows to see anything.

“What are you doing here?” a loud voice demanded from the darkness.

“Merlin, run, please,” Hunith begged once more. Merlin could hear the tears in her voice.

“Who are you?” Merlin tried to sound braver than he felt as he climbed to his feet.

“The Lord and Master of this castle. Now, what are you doing here?” the voice replied angrily.

“I’ve come for my Mother. She needs to go home. Can’t you see that? She’s ill.” Fear for Hunith held his voice steady.

“Then she should not have entered my castle. She is paying the price for trespassing.” Merlin glared in the direction the voice was coming from.

“She was looking for help!” Merlin took a wild guess at that, as he was sure his Mother wouldn’t have come to such a place otherwise. “Are you really that cold hearted? To not help a woman in need? She could die. Let her go.”

“I shall do no such thing. You cannot tell me what to do, insolent boy! She is my prisoner and will remain so.” The voice sounded far too sure of himself. It only added to Merlin’s anger.

“Fine. Take me in her place then!”

“Merlin! No! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Hunith tried to reach for him but he ignored her, his mind set on what he was about to do.

“You would be my prisoner instead?” The voice had softened slightly, it sounded almost curious.

“Would you let her go then?”

“Yes. But you would have to stay forever. You will not be able to leave.” Merlin thought for a moment and looked at his Mother; he glanced down at the ground then back at the shadows.

“Come out where I can see you.” There was silence. A pause. A whimper from Hunith. Then the owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows. Large clawed feet, like those belonging to a lion stepped forward. A golden scaled tail curved round. From knees to waist, tight breeches covered the thick thighs. A loose fitting red shirt covered the chest, but the lower arms were revealed to have golden fur and ended in paws with large claws. Hanging slightly open on his back there were a pair of golden wings. The head was that of a golden dragon. Large horns curled back from its head, a long nose and wide mouth filled with sharp teeth.

The whole beast seemed to be from two worlds. The animal kingdom, for the furred parts of the body belonged to a lion, and the magical realm for everything else, was that of a golden dragon. It was a strange combination and was truly terrifying. And yet, when Merlin looked into its eyes, there was something else there. Something that belonged to neither creature. The eyes were a pure blue and far too human. It was this that terrified Merlin the most. His eyes were wide with the fear he felt, but he held his head high despite his need to run.

“Merlin. You can’t do this. Please.” Hunith went unnoticed once again.

“I will stay.”

“Acceptable.” Merlin fell to his knees, the adrenaline rushing out of him and leaving him empty. The monster moved over to the cell and unlocked it. Hunith darted out and grabbed her son.

“You can’t do this Merlin-” The beast grabbed hold of her and pulled her away, dragging her away from Merlin. The sorcerer turned.

“Wait!” His plea went unheeded as he saw his Mother being carried up the stairs.

“Merlin!”

“Wait!” He tried to run after her but his legs had no strength in them and he fell back to the floor. He let the tears fall as he heard his Mother call for him.

-x-

The beast dragged Hunith through the castle as she continued to scream her son’s name. He carried her outside and threw her into a waiting carriage.

“Take this woman back to where she belongs. Do not stop for any reason and return straight away.” He could hear the woman crying inside but felt no pity. She was lucky to even have the transport. He could have shut her outside the gates and left her to the wolves. He was feeling considerate today.

He waited for the carriage to roll off, before returning inside to deal with his new prisoner.

-x-
As Arthur stalked down the stairs on all fours, Lancelot pulled himself from the armour’s grip. The sword seemed a little nervous. Blue eyes narrowed.

“What do you want?”

“Well, it seems the lad will be staying with us for a while. Don’t you think it would only be fair to give him a room?” The beast growled angrily. The sword visibly slumped. “Or not. Do as you will. You always do anyway.” The last was mumbled under Lancelot’s breath as Arthur prowled away. He took in the sight of the boy lying on the floor, trying to cry quietly but an angry sob escaping his throat occasionally. At the sound of heavy breathing, he lifted his head, his face red and stained by wet trails. His watering eyes narrowed with hate.

“You never even let me say goodbye to her. You tore her away from me. I’m never going to see her again and I didn’t even say goodbye.” He paused, anger making it hard for him to speak. “I hate you.” It was a harsh whisper before he lowered his head again. The monster’s eyes widened slightly. In all his life no one had ever spoken to him quite like that. It made something stir in him that he had never felt before. Something akin to guilt.

“I’ll show you to your room.” Again the dark head snapped up.

“Room? I thought I was a prisoner.”

“Do you want to stay locked in the dungeon? the beast replied gruffly. Merlin turned his head to look at the cell where Hunith had recently been locked up.

“N-not really.”

“Then follow me.” Merlin looked at him briefly before getting up off the floor. The creature watched him with those too human eyes before it turned away.