Chapter Six, Goblin's Gold Part 1

Things had been rather quiet in the weeks since the attack on Camelot, and it rather put Merlyn on edge and nothing Arthur or Gaius said could change that. It felt like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"Merlyn, take this to the library please and bring me back this book. If you cannot find it I'm sure Geoffrey will help you." Gaius said as he handed over a slip of parchment that had the book's name on it. Reading it over Merlyn couldn't help the small smile that came to her face; she loved going to the library when she could or reading one of the numerous books lying around their chambers, it helped her understand the art of healing better. She found that if she understood the body better, how it functioned and how you could heal it, she was able to use the healing spells better and help Gaius in his physician duties.

"I'll be back in a bit, Gaius." Merlyn said before she left the chambers humming to herself. She was startled when she realised she was in front of the large library on the East side of the castle, she had been so lost in thought it seemed she had walked automatically towards the library. Shaking her head Merlyn opened the heavy double wooden doors and entered the library seeing Geoffrey sitting behind a desk in the middle of the room reading something.
"Good morning Geoffrey." Merlyn greeted as she walked up to him.
"Good morning Merlyn." Geoffrey greeted, once he'd finished reading. "What can I do for you today?" He asked kindly.
"Gaius asked me to get The Bestiary of Gwilym of Cambria." Merlyn replied.

"'The Bestiary?' I'm sorry Merlyn, but I haven't seen that for many years." Geoffrey apologised. "But it'll be somewhere in the East Wing. Though I have no idea where."
"Okay, thank you." Merlyn sighed but kept a polite smile on her face. Trust Gaius to ask for a book that not even Geoffrey, who ran the library, had seen in years. She headed off to her left and started searching for the missing book. After a while of searching she came across an aisle that was half shrouded in darkness and the books on the shelves were covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs, obviously they have not been touched for an extremely long time.
"If the book is going to be anywhere it's going to be down here." Merlyn muttered to herself as she walked down the aisle searching the large numerous shelves.

Halfway down the aisle she came across it, however, it was several feet above her at the top of the very large and very tall bookcase covered in cobwebs.
"Great." Merlyn sighed. Hiking up her green dress a little Merlyn climbed on to a shelf trying to reach the book, only to step on a trick shelf activating the secret door the bookcase hid. Merlyn gripped onto the shelf as tight as she could as it spun around into a secret room filled with magical artefacts. She wondered if Arthur or Uther knew about this room as she jumped down and started looking around. Probably not she conceded, otherwise all, if not half of this stuff would have been destroyed or would be locked up down in the vaults. Noticing a large book similar to the one Gaius gave her sitting on one of the shelves, Merlyn moved aside the thick cobwebs and picked up the heavy leatherback book.

She couldn't stop the small smile that spread across her face when she opened it. It was a spell book, much like her own, except this one held more spells and spells she didn't even have in the one hidden in her room. Placing it back on the shelf for now with plans to get it later when it was dark she continued to look around the room, enthralled by it and its contents when she accidentally kicked a box that was laying on its side, growling came from inside the box startling her a little as she hadn't expected it. Though she really should have given the room she was in, crouching down she righted the box which was extremely heavy, the voice inside growling out 'Girl,' as she did so. Seeing that box had no way to open it apart from possibly magic.

Merlyn held her hand over the lock of the box, her eyes glowing gold as she incanted, "Onluc scrin." Immediately the lock popped open as soon as she finished the spell. Slowly she opened the box, hesitant to see and possibly let out whatever was trapped inside, Gaius would have her head if he saw her or found out about this. He always says her curiosity would get her into trouble. Once the lid was half way up something shot up out of the bottom making Merlyn fall backwards startled with a soft yell. It was a creature of around three feet tall, it had green skin with blue markings all over it, black hair in a bun on top of its head. Large ears with gold hoop earrings, large brown eyes, three toes on each foot with sharp claws holding on to the box, sharp pointy teeth and it was wearing small brown shorts.
"Boo." The creature said as it stood on the edges of the box. All Merlyn could do was stare. 

"Are you gonna say something or shall I?" The creature asked with a nasally voice.
"You can speak." She said amazed, normally magical creatures couldn't speak, apart from Kilgharrah of course.
"You're a sharp one." The creature mocked, as it started to stretch, its joints cracking and popping as it did so. "I can't tell you how good it feels to be able to do that. And that. And this!"
"Shh-shh-shh!" Merlyn shushed, she did not want to attract Geoffrey's attention. She'd not only endanger Gaius but she'd lose her head.
"I have been squished and squashed inside that box for more than fifty years!" The creature shouted still with its nasally voice. "Time to have some fun." It said before it jumped up onto the shelves.

"Whoo-hoo!" It hollowed as it kicked vases off the shelf and threw others at Merlyn who was trying to catch them, quieten the creature down and limit the racket, all without much success.
"There you go." It said, throwing another at Merlyn.
"Have fun quietly." She said sternly. "Just - very quietly." She said annoyed now as she dodged and shielded herself from the onslaught of vases and jugs being thrown at her.
"Uh-oh." It said as it went to push a black ceramic vase off the shelf.
"No. Don't you dare." Merlyn said sternly. "You are gonna get us both into serious trouble."
"Oh, Oh, Oh! Oh, dear, what a shame. Never mind." The creature said as it pushed the vase off causing it to crash loudly to the tiled floor.
"Right, that's it. I've had enough.

You're going back into that box while I work out what I'm going to do with you." Merlyn said, fed up and annoyed.
"Oh, all right." It said sadly, as its lip quivered. "If I really must."
"In." She said firmly glaring at the creature as it paused by the box. As she was coming closer to lock it once the creature was in, it jumped up on to her shoulders with a yell.
"Ha ha! Fooled you!"
"Stop messing around! Get in your box. Now!" Merlyn said crossly once it had vanished into the shelves. She followed it along the shelves and into the back of the room where it was searching through a chest, throwing things out of it when it wasn't what it was looking for. Grabbing an old tapestry Merlyn crept up slowly and quietly behind it. With it fully distracted Merlyn threw the tapestry over it and was wrapping it up when it suddenly stopped fighting and disappeared.

"Oh, where have you gone now!" Merlyn complained as she picked up the tapestry only for a yellow buzzing ball of light to appear. It seemed the creature could transform itself.
"No!" Merlyn shouted when it escaped out into the main library. She rushed out into the main library only to be hit in between the shoulder blades by a large tomb.
"Bulls eye!" The creature cheered.
"Someone's going to see you." Merlyn hissed.
"Really?" The creature shouted mocking her as it kicked books off the shelf. "I'm just having a little tidy-up. You wanna get rid of all of this. Nasty mess up here. Nobody's had a brush up here for years! Look at it— it's all old." The creature said in disgust. In a weird twist of luck, the book Merlyn had originally come to the library for, had been kicked at her by the creature. Still shielding her head Merlyn smiled and picked up the book as more books joined it on the floor.

"Right, that's enough. I'm off." The creature said, pulling Merlyn's attention back to the matter at hand.
"No!" Merlyn gasped as it scampered off into the shelves and turned into the ball of light once again. "Oh, Gaius is going to kill me." She groaned. Flashing her eyes at all the fallen books she made them return to their places, before she ran off after the creature almost bumping into Geoffrey. "I found it." She said, showing him the book.
"Ah. That's good. I'll start working on that section today, categorising the books." Geoffrey said almost to himself.
"Bye Geoffrey, have a good day." Merlyn said politely before rushing out of the library and running all the way back to her chambers.  Hoping Gaius wouldn't kill her, at least not before they caught the creature.

"Why do I get myself into these situations!" She complained as she ran back to her chambers. However, she never made it back to her chambers. She got halfway when she found a mess leading all the way into Arthur's chambers as the creature ransacked Arthur's chambers searching for something.
"No, no, no, No!" Merlyn groaned as she ran into the chambers.
"None under here either!" The creature complained, frustrated, as a boot came flying out from under Arthur's bed. Merlyn crouched down preparing to grab it when yet again it disappeared and she heard a voice behind her.
"Merlyn, what's going on? If you're angry with me I'm sorry but I don't think it's cause to trash my chambers." Arthur said from behind her, confusion clear in his voice.
"There's a good reason for this." Merlyn said as she climbed to her feet.

"Which is?" Arthur prompted. "Remember you can tell me anything. Anything." Arthur stressed, when she hesitated and looked at him uncertainly.
"Right. Sorry Arthur, I forget that you know and accept me." Merlyn sighed with relief. "Okay, so a creature has escaped from a secret room in the library. I was on my way back to Gaius so we could identify it and capture it but it was in here looking for something. The same as it did with a chest in the library. It's fast and can turn itself into this ball of light to escape through cracks." Merlyn explained in one breath, just as the door opened and soft footsteps were heard.
"Okay..." Arthur said slowly. "You don't have to fear me, Merlyn, though I know it'll take time. How'd it escape? Wait, did you - Merlyn!" Arthur groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry." Merlyn muttered, kissing his cheek which successfully calmed Arthur down.
"Now that's not fair!" Arthur grumbled, just as a crash was heard. "Come on." The pair followed the creature's destruction all the way to Morgana's chambers where it was ransacking her jewellery chest.
"Nearly. Nearly. Nearly. Nearly. Oh." The creature exclaimed, throwing items out before it came across Morgana's healing bracelet.
"No!" Merlyn said sternly. The creature growled at the pair of them before it disappeared out of the window with a howl. "It just had to ransack Morgana's room, the person who wants to kill me." Merlyn grumbled as she and Arthur picked up the jewellery quickly. They were nearly finished when they heard someone clear their throat from behind them.

Fearing it was Morgana they span around only to find Gwen holding Morgana's clean washing as she looked at them rather confused but also amused. Especially as Arthur had a necklace held to his chest.
"I'm not sure that suits you Arthur." Gwen teased, causing both herself and Merlyn to dissolve into fits of giggles. Since Merlyn had told her all about her relationship with Arthur, minus the magic, Gwen had become good friends with Arthur and was more comfortable around him, she could see her best friend was changing him for the better. Although it did make her miss Lancelot all the more, they conversed through letters. Hopefully when Arthur is King and Merlyn is Queen, they can be together again.
"Very fun." Arthur grumbled, bringing Gwen out of her thoughts as he threw the remaining jewellery into the box.

"Merlyn, I'll keep searching, you go see what Gaius knows." He said as he stood up and left the chambers bidding goodbye to Gwen.
"Is everything all right, Merlyn?" Gwen asked concerned.
"Yeah, don't worry, Gwen. Gaius, Arthur and I will get it sorted. I'll see you later." Merlyn said, picking up the book, hugged her friend and left hurriedly for her chambers.

Meanings:

Onluc scrin = open/ unlock the box