Merlin

“So, you’re here because you punched a baby?” Brutus asked him.

Merlin sighed. “No, they just thought I did.”

Brutus nodded. He studied his cards before groaning. “Aww. You win.” He folded his hand of cards and leaned back against the side of his bed.

Merlin sat his hand down as well.

The two of them, Merlin and his serial killer cellmate, were passing the time playing cards on the floor of the cell. It had been three days and two nights since he’d been separated from Charlie and the others.

He was ready to get the heck out of this crazy town.

Merlin looked beyond the cell bars at the lone guard on duty. He leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head. The room had five cells in it, but only two of them had anyone in it. Merlin and Brutus shared one cell, and the other occupied cell had an old man who sat on the edge of his bed, day and night. The guards sat food next to him once a day. He would eat and then go back to staring at the wall.

He creeped Merlin out.

Merlin didn’t understand why he had to share a cell when there were three others available. But clearly, the guards didn’t like him very much.

“Wanna play again?” Brutus asked, staring at the ceiling.

As if they had anything else to do.

Merlin picked up the cards. He slipped two choice cards in his sleeve and then shuffled the rest. Brutus didn’t notice. He never noticed. Merlin wasn’t even sure why he was cheating at this point.

It was just in his nature; he supposed.

“Hmm?” Brutus made a noise, and Merlin looked over at him.

Brutus had noticed something on the ceiling outside the cell. He pointed.

Merlin turned to look as well. A black mouse was hanging by its tail from the ceiling, waving his hands back and forth to get their attention.

To get Merlin’s attention.

Merlin had never been so happy to see a mouse in his life.

Mousifer.

Merlin stood. The guard turned to look at him. Merlin yawned, feigning a stretch. The guard disregarded him. Merlin pointed at the key ring on the guard’s waist. Mousifer looked down, saw it, and then gave Merlin a paws up. He pulled himself back up and out of sight. Merlin craned his neck to see where the mouse had gone but didn’t want to be suspicious. He had to have a little faith.

He was a mouse. They were great at being sneaky. He’d steal the key and have Merlin out of here without the guard even noticing.

“Squeaaaa!” Mousifer shouted as he fell from the ceiling. He landed in front of Merlin’s cell with a smack. The guard looked over and did a double take when he saw the tiny creature.

“What the? Ew!” the guard said. He stood, grabbing a book off his table to smack Mousifer with. Mousifer backed away slowly, leading the guard toward the cell. The guard moved carefully, trying not to scare Mousifer away until he got within book-dropping range.

“That’s right buddy, just stay right there. Don’t move,” the guard said. He had a crazy look on his face.

Merlin exchanged a look with Brutus. He hoped there was an actual plan in play here.

A growl from behind the guard forced him to turn. Bleedy ran forward and jumped toward him. He pressed off of the guard’s body with his forehands and then turned mid-air to kick him with his hind legs. The guard fell backwards, caught by surprise. He crashed into the cell bars and scrambled to regain his balance.

Merlin stared at him in stunned silence. Mousifer stood on two legs and beckoned at the scrambling guard. “Squeak!”

Merlin shook his head, his mouth agape. “Me? I’m not exactly the fighting type!”

“Squeak! Squea Squeak!”

“Fine,” Merlin muttered. He rolled up his sleeves and hurried forward to pull the guard back by his shirt. Keeping him from righting himself.

The guard tried to rip free. “Let me go!”

The two men fought back and forth in a way that was, quite frankly, kind of pathetic. Merlin struggled to hold the man back and take the keys off his waist. The guard struggled to break free and regain his footing. Merlin cursed every time the guard managed to reach a leg back to kick him.

Finally, Brutus approached, grabbed the man through the bars, and wrapped his hands around the guard’s neck.

Merlin was reminded of the noise pinecones make when you step on them when Brutus snapped the guard’s neck.

Merlin slowly turned to look up at Brutus. “Uh…”

Brutus beamed. A huge smiled on his face. “Eleven!” He clapped Merlin on the shoulder.

Merlin recoiled at the touch. Mousifer and Bleedy sat wide-eyed, looking at the dead man on the ground. They looked between Merlin and Brutus and then at each other.

“Purple.”

“Squeak.”

“What are they saying?” Brutus asked.

“No idea. Something judgmental.” Merlin worked to take the key off the guard’s waist. It ripped free, and Merlin hurriedly undid the cell’s lock. He forced his way out of the room. He turned to close the door behind him and realized Brutus had followed him.

Okay… probably shouldn’t let a serial killer back on the loose.

“Hey Brutus, before we escape, mind grabbing my blanket?”

Brutus looked confused. “What? How come?”

“I’ve grown attached to it.”

“You’ve only slept with it two nights…”

Merlin bit back a reaction. The serial killer thought he was the weird one. Really? “It has character.”

Brutus turned to look at the blanket over his shoulder. He frowned. “I think those are stains.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Merlin closed his eyes. “I try not to think about that. Please, just grab it.”

Brutus shrugged and turned to grab the blanket. He picked it up and turned around. “Here you go—”

Merlin shut the door, turning the key in the lock as fast as he could.

Brutus stared at the lock, and then up at Merlin. It took him a minute to realize what had happened. “Ah! You got me.”

“Sorry friend, you did kill ten…” He paused, looking at the body on the floor. “Excuse me, eleven people.”

“I know.” Brutus smiled.

Merlin waved.

“Wait! Merlin! Do you want to come to my execution this weekend? You should! It’ll be fun.”

Merlin pursed his lips. “Uhm, I think I have plans, unfortunately. I hope it goes well?”

“Thanks!” Brutus held Merlin’s blanket through the bars.

Merlin stared at it. “Actually, you keep it. To remember me by.”

Brutus pulled the blanket back and smiled. He tossed it back on his own bed.

Merlin turned to leave before a thought occurred to him. “Also, if you ever see those guys in red robes—”

“The cultists?”

“Yes! If you ever see one of those guys… I’d heavily advise you go for twelve.”

Brutus’s face lit up. “Twelve…I will! Oh, and Merlin, I hope you find that baby and teach it a lesson for ratting you out!”

“That’s not…never mind.” Merlin walked away, an exasperated look on his face.

“A baby?” an old voice croaked. Merlin turned to look at the old man in his cell. It was the first time he heard him speak.

“What?” Merlin asked, taking a step back.

The old man stood and approached the cell bars. He pressed his face in between them, gripping the bars on either side of him with wrinkled hands. “There’s something you need to know about this place. There’s something you need to know about the circle.”

Charlie

“I hope they’re okay,” Charlie said.

The trip back to town had been simple. Well, Orb had complained about having to carry him every once in a while, but other than that, there weren’t any issues. If there were any hungry, wild animals in the woods, a floating baby was a bit too intimidating for them.

They’d timed their ascent over the walls to avoid the nighttime guards patrolling it and had made straight for the stables. But to Charlie’s great dismay, Bleedy and Mousifer weren’t there. Marvin was okay. The cart was okay. And luckily, Merlin had rented both the stable and their room at the inn for a few days. So they could rest and recover in town for a bit.

They’d agreed they would check the room at the inn. If Bleedy and Mousifer had gotten worried and went to look for them, they probably would’ve checked there.

There was a hallway window open on the second floor, and Orb floated right in.

“Alright, no more carrying you. Like, for the rest of the year.”

“Week.” Charlie countered.

“Month.”

Charlie thought about it for a moment. “Deal.” He nodded his head. Orb floated ahead to check the room numbers while Charlie crawled along below until Orb signaled him. Charlie reached out and knocked.

They listened for a minute. Charlie’s face sank. He’d hoped the others would be waiting. A thought occurred to him. “Orb, what if they gave the room away when we never came back, and we just woke someone else up?”

Orb froze mid-air. “Oh…OH. Charlie, we should go!”

Charlie and Orb hurried back toward the window when the door opened behind them. Someone stepped out into the hall.

Orb went as dim as he could. Charlie froze in place.

“Charlie, Orb? Is that you?” Merlin asked.

Charlie turned as fast as he could. Which wasn’t very fast when crawling. Merlin hurried over and scooped him up. “You’re okay!”

Charlie smiled. “How did you escape from the guards?” he asked.

“Squeak!”

“Bleedy!”

Their minions spoke in quick succession from somewhere behind Merlin.

“Let’s get inside and I’ll tell you everything,” Merlin said.

Their room at the inn was spacious compared to the cramped wagon they usually had to rest in. There was a small, child sized bed for Charlie to the left of the door, and a larger one for Merlin across from it. Next to Merlin’s bed, there was a window facing the street below. To the right of the beds, against a wall, was a writing desk with a strange owl shaped lamp. The lamp was off, and the room’s corner was dark. The only light was the moonlight pouring in through the window. Just enough to illuminate the beds. Charlie sat on his with Mousifer and Orb resting on a pillow. Bleedy and Merlin relaxed on the other.

They spoke for a while inside the room. Merlin filled Charlie in on his last few days. Playing cards with a serial killer. Becoming the accomplice of a serial killer. Almost escaping and tricking a serial killer.

He seemed really fixated on the whole serial killer thing.

He was more upset when he heard everything Charlie had been through.

“I told you that dungeon was bad news. But I’m glad you’re alright. I was really worried about you guys. I’ve only been here for a couple of hours. We were discussing where to start looking for you and Orb when you knocked. Good timing. There is one other thing we need to talk about." Merlin shivered and turned to look at the window. He squinted. “Uh… wasn’t that closed?” He asked, looking at Mousifer, and then at Bleedy. They shrugged. He stood, walked up to the window, and pulled it shut. He locked the latch on it, realizing it was loose.

“Huh?” he said, trying to fix it.

The blood drained from Merlin's face when he felt the sharpened edge of a knife at his throat.

“You aren’t crazy. It was closed. Though, maybe that’s poor wording, considering you’ve been sitting in a room talking to yourself. Quite the tale,” the woman said, freshly emerged from the room’s pitch-black corner.

Merlin swallowed. “Who are you?”

She pressed the dagger into his neck a bit further, just enough to make him uncomfortable. “Hm, if you’re so curious, I could carve it into your skin for you? Would you like that?”

He lifted his neck away to keep the knife from pressing into it. “I’ll pass, thanks.”

Charlie’s lips parted. What was going on? Who was this lady?

“We have to do something, Charlie,” Orb said.

Bleedy growled at her, slowly approaching.

“Get your… dog? Cat?” she said.

“Everyone calm down. Don’t do anything. Let’s just hear her out,” Merlin said.

She tsked. “What did you do to anger the Cult of Cendra? They paid a lot of money to make sure you end up dead. So, I’m curious. What did you do?”

Merlin swallowed. “We saved a little girl’s mom.”

The woman raised a brow. “We?” Her lips twisted to the side. “Why did they want the woman dead?”

“They didn’t. They were just harvesting all the sycamara root in the forest. She needed it to survive. So, I took it.”

“Was it worth dying for? Will it be worth it? Dying?” she whispered, leaning in close.

Merlin’s gaze focused on Charlie. He smiled softly. “Yeah. It was worth it. I don’t regret a thing.”

“Parent, is my dungeon integrity still at zero?” Charlie thought quickly.

“It is.”

Charlie let out a panicked breath. He couldn’t use his power. He couldn’t attack or defend. He couldn’t even transfer her or the dungeon so that he could communicate. Charlie had come this far. He’d survived the dungeon and saved the adventurers. And now he didn’t even have the power to save his friend.

The woman was in the middle of saying something Charlie couldn’t focus on when she noticed him. His eyes were tearing up. She twisted her head to study him.

This woman was talking about killing Merlin. He’d just found his friend again, and she wanted to kill him.

For saving someone. For helping Hilda and her mom. It didn’t make any sense. He didn’t deserve to be killed for that. He was a hero.

Merlin was good. The thought of losing him after finally being reunited. After talking and catching up.

It was overwhelming.

Charlie started to cry.

“Charlie, what are you doing?” Orb asked.

Charlie bawled, tears flooding down his face. “I don’t know, I can’t help it!”

“It’s easy to forget your emotional regulation isn't fully developed yet,” Orb said quietly in their minds.

The woman stared at him. A crying baby too upset to do anything else. “You idiot,” she spat at Merlin. “You made him cry!” She shoved Merlin into the wall, sheathed her dagger, and hurried over to Charlie. She lifted him off the bed and into her arms. “It’s okay, don’t cry. I know he’s stupid, but there’s no reason to cry over that. You’re safe with me.”

She rubbed his back and cooed. “Nice to meet you, Charlie.” She read the name on his onesie.

“I’m Vetica.”