AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 50
Wulfram 1673
Not surprisingly, Emrick was shaky on his feet and seemed dazed by recent events. His skin was icy cold to the touch, and I knew we needed to get him back to Peloryon House to warm him up.
‘I think we should try zapping,’ Phoenix said firmly. ‘I know we haven’t been here long, but we’re all emotionally attached to Castle Lodge, and to the Peloryon House that now stands on that spot. And I don’t know about you, but I already feel a real attachment to our new home. It’s got to be worth a shot. It’s going to take us ages to walk him back otherwise.’ He stroked Nightwing’s head. ‘Follow us, little one. You know where we’ll be.’
We held Emrick up between us and huddled together, while I kept a tight grip on the sword. We left it up to Phoenix to transport us. His magic was rusty after four years without it, but even so I was pretty certain it would still be more reliable than mine.
Sure enough, when we opened our eyes we found ourselves in the living room of Peloryon House, where a fire blazed in the grate and all was warmth and comfort.
Emrick stared around him for a second or two, clearly amazed, but then exhaustion overwhelmed him, and we helped him onto the sofa.
He leaned back and muttered something, but again we found it impossible to understand him.
‘I wonder if he’s talking some form of old English?’ Blaise said, puzzled.
‘Welsh!’ I said suddenly. ‘He’s Welsh! I’ll bet that’s what he’s speaking.’
‘Why isn’t the translation spell working on him, though?’ Romy mused. ‘We’ve understood everyone else since we got here, and they’ve understood us.’
Emrick rubbed his forehead and I sat beside him and gazed at him in wonder. Emrick was Merlin! All this time he’d kept his secret. All this time? How long had he been alive? How old was he? It blew my mind. I mean, in our time he only looked to be in his mid-fifties, if that. No ordinary witch lived so long.
But he wasn’t an ordinary witch, was he? He was Merlin, the greatest sorcerer the world has ever known. I felt truly humbled to be in his presence, let alone to be his friend.
He frowned at me, clearly having no idea who I was, and I realised that, as yet, I wasn’t his friend. I was a stranger. How on earth did I explain all this to him?
And at that very moment it hit me. Emrick’s informants! Of course.Wewere Emrick’s informants. We were the ones who would provide him with all the information he’d pass on to us in the future. Wren, Phoenix, and me. No wonder he’d said that soon he would know no more than we did. I would return to my own time and Phoenix and Wren would know nothing of future events. His source of information would be at an end once we’d imparted everything we knew to him. When I got back home, he would be as much in the dark about what happened next as the rest of us.
We heard a tapping at the window and Phoenix smiled. ‘That’s Nightwing. I’ll just let her in, and I’ll make us all hot drinks while I’m in the kitchen.’
Wren sat down in an armchair close to the fire and smiled gently at Emrick. ‘It’s so good to see you again.’
‘See me again?’ Emrick shook his head slightly. ‘I don’t even know you. Or do I? It’s been such a long time.’
‘The translation spell has kicked in!’ I was relieved to say the least. ‘I wonder what delayed it?’
‘You put a translation spell on me?’ Emrick asked. ‘That would never work. A protection spell would have been put on me to shield me from other people’s magic while I was sleeping. It will take a while to wear off.’
‘Then how…?’
‘I just did my own translation spell,’ he said, giving us a look that plainly said,Surely you’re not so stupid you couldn’t figure that out?
He frowned, as if suddenly noticing our strange clothes. ‘What year is this?’
‘It’s December, 1673,’ I said. ‘I gather you’ve been asleep for a long time.’
His face paled and he shook his head slightly. ‘1673? Eleven hundred years in my prison.’
‘Your prison?’ Wren’s face crumpled. ‘Who did this to you, Emrick?’
He gave her a bemused look. ‘How do you know my family name? The world knows me as Merlin. Who told you who I really am?’
‘Oh heck,’ she muttered. ‘This is going to take an awful lot of explaining.’
Phoenix returned with Nightwing on his shoulder. He carried three mugs of hot chocolate, complete with whipped cream and marshmallows. I smiled to myself. Wren was going to have a much better life in this time than I could possibly have hoped.
‘How’s he doing?’ he asked us, handing our guest a mug.
