Merlin could follow this logic without liking it one bit.
“He doesn’t know she’s pregnant?” Ari asked, cringing with her eyes nearly closed. “So they haven’t…?” Bless her strategic vagueness.
“It’s a political match. To make him seem older in the eyes of his people,” Lam said, placing their wrist on Ari’s shoulder.
“He has his own chambers and sleeps in a pile of hunting dogs,” Jordan admitted.
“Aw,” Lam said.
“Okay, but,” Ari said, “this isn’t about Arthur and his adorable dog pile. This is about getting the chalice and getting back to our time without messing up the story. Check that dumb book, Jordan. Are the Lancelot pages still missing?”
Jordan hiked up her skirts and pulled out the MercersNotes, paging through. “They’ve returned.”
“See?” Ari asked Merlin. “I fixed it. Time continuum patched.”
“For now,” he said. “But if we’re not meant to be part of this legend, it will derail.”
Ari crossed her arms, bristling with challenge. “Wouldn’t it be helpful if one of us knew exactly what was going to happen because he’d lived through it before?”
“You have to understand,” Merlin wheedled. “This era was horrid, and not just for humans in general. I was new to the world, dropped down here with a fully formed intellect, the selfish emotions of a newborn, and no one to learn from. I spent years in a state of savage enchanted survival. And then Arthur came along. This innocent child. This spark of goodness. I believed my sole purpose was to protect him, and if that meant being the dark so he could be the light, well, I did what I believed I must. But since then—”
“You’ve grown a conscience?” Lam asked.
“I’ve blocked most of it out,” he said, head drooping, the rest of his shameful words hitting the floor. “All the pain. The missteps, the cruelty… I banished it from my mind.”
Merlin looked up to find that Ari had stopped listening. He waggled his fingers and cast a few sparks to get her attention back. Gods, his immature impulses were growing stronger as he aged down.
Ari didn’t notice. She was staring out an arrow slit. Was more danger approaching the castle, about to scale the walls? Merlin followed her line of sight and found Gwen in the courtyard below, wearing a purple silk dress ringed in fur, Arthur following in her wake.
“I haven’t seen Gwen since we left the future,” Ari said, her voice somehow both breathy and tight. “I need to talk to her.”
“Absolutely not!” Merlin yelped.
“We know what it looks like when you two talk,” Lam said.
“The kingdom will erupt with adultery fever,” Jordan confirmed. “In one version of these Camelot stories, Gweneviere was beheaded for her interest in Lancelot.”
“I’ll be discreet.”
Merlin tried not to laugh. He tried very hard.
“Fine,” Ari said. “I’ll find a way to be near Gwen that doesn’t look suspicious. Maybe I should get close to Arthur. Lancelot’s supposed to be his best friend, right? His favored knight?”
“True…” Merlin said. The dark shadow of a memory rose, but he couldn’t quite see what cast it. Merlin hadn’t trusted Gweneviere or Lancelot when they first arrived in Camelot. He’d suspected them of some kind of scheme against Arthur. And then… a shiver raged through him. He pulled his robes tight, as if they could defend him against what came next.
“I think I remember something,” he whispered.
“Good,” Lam said, thumping his back like Merlin were a gassy infant instead of a rapidly de-aging mage.
“What is it, Merlin?” Ari asked.
“Right after Lancelot and Gweneviere arrived in Camelot… I tried to have them assassinated.”
A great beast roared past the window.
“By dragon.”
The dragon spun around the tower, parts of it visible in every narrow window at once, from its sleek head to its barbed whip of a tail. It was coming for Ari, hunting for Lancelot, because they were one and the same. Merlin felt sick and relieved at the same time. So, they weren’t ruining Arthur’s story and setting their future irrevocably off course!
“We’ll be okay,” Lam said, clutching Ari’s arm. “You’re a natural with dragons.”
“Ketchan dragons! Taneens are overgrown desert lizards. That looks like a serious medieval monster.”
Merlin jumped in, desperate to be helpful. “Dragons were an endangered species by this time period. Surly, yes. With inner fires that warmed their invertebrate bodies in the harsh northern climes? Certainly. Violent against humans? Hardly ever. If we break the enchantment binding the creature to the hunt, we’ll be fine.”
“Pretty sure it’s not going to wait for that before it attacks,” Lam said.
Jordan’s skirts flew up, and she started handing out a small arsenal that she’d strapped to herself. At least someone here was in their element.
Lam took a throwing knife to the arrow slits, hunting for weaknesses on the dragon while Merlin spun a quick, coarse plan. “All I have to do is get to my tower and break the enchantment Old Merlin cast before the dragon gets a chance to, you know…”
“Swallow us whole?” Ari provided.
“Oh no, there’s an obscene amount of crunching,” Merlin said.
“You remember that detail, of course.”
“Just keep it busy for ten minutes,” Merlin said, running for the stairs. “And draw Old Merlin away from the tower!”
“You want us to lure out the guy who’s trying to murder us,” Ari said, voice flat.
“I would never have killed you outright,” Merlin promised. “In fact, I believe I even pretended to fight the dragon so Arthur would think I was protecting his bride and his new knight.” Merlin winced. His crimes just kept getting worse.
“We have to get to Gwen.” Ari drew her not-even-remotely enchanted sword. “It’s going to attack her, too.” She gave him a dirty look that could never compete with how soiled he felt.
The dragon perched on the side of the castle, talons digging between the stones with a heart-crumbling sound. A second later, its tail made contact with the top of the tower. Stones flew in every direction, the roof now exposed to the sky.
Merlin stared up at the looming, green-black body.
