CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE BEGINNING OF THE END ( ii. )

"He's burning up. How long has he been like this?"

Merlin leans over the druid boy with his hand on his head as he sleeps. A thin layer of sweat covers his entire body, and Calliope fears his condition will only get worse. How are they going to get him out of Camelot like this?

Morgana looks at Merlin with worry etching her eyes, "Since early this morning. I think his wound may be infected."

"Shit," Calliope breathes, standing up and putting her hands behind her head.

"We need Gaius before it gets any worse."

As Merlin moves his hand away from the boy's head, he sighs deeply, "We can't involve Gaius. It's to dangerous. Besides, if he finds out about this he'll execute me himself."

"We need to get him out of Camelot, and we can't do that while he's sick. We need a physician."

The look in Merlin's eyes is a signal that he's coming up with a very fucking stupid plan, "I'll treat him."

Calliope scoffs, "Merlin, I hate to break it to you, but that's a terrible idea. You have no idea how to treat an infected wound."

"I'm a fast learner."

Before Calliope can continue to tell Merlin how awful his plan is, footsteps echo closer to the door. The three people by the druid boy exchange worried glances when an urgent knock reverberates through the room.

Morgana glances between Calliope and Merlin, motioning for them to stay silent, and then she stands, yanking the red curtains closed to hide them from whoever is at the door.

Her heels click against the floor as she approaches the door. Merlin moves the curtain back slightly so he and Calliope can see what's going on. When the door creaks open, they hear Morgana greeting someone.

"Arthur," she says. The blond prince strolls into the room, his blue eyes scanning around carefully. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Don't get all excited. It's not a social call. We're looking for the druid boy," he turns to face Morgana. "I'm afraid we're going to have to search your chambers." Shit.

"You're not searching my chambers."

With a long sigh, he places his hands on his hips, "Don't take it personally. I have to search the entire castle. It will only take a few minutes."

This is not good. All the prince has to do to find the druid boy is pull back the red curtains, where he would also find two other accomplices that Uther would probably want on the chopping block with him. Calliope's heart pounds. She glances over nervously at Merlin as Arthur begins looking around.

"I'm not having you mess up my things," Morgana says in an annoyed tone.

"I'm not interested in your things. I'm just looking for evidence that the druid boy is in the castle."

Out of the corner of her eye, Calliope notices Merlin staring at something outside the curtains. She follows the path of his eyes and notices that his small, brown boots are sitting right by the table behind Arthur.

Merlin focuses on the boots as Morgana tries her best to get Arthur to leave, "Perhaps the boy is hiding in your chambers. There's usually such a mess you'd never know."

"It's hardly my fault I have such a lazy idiot for a servant," Ouch. Calliope looks over at Merlin, but he disregards the comment, using his magic to make the boots start walking towards the curtain.

"If you can't even find your own servant, what hope do you have of finding the boy?"

"Really, I'm touched by the confidence you have in my abilities, and as much as I'd love to stay and talk, the sooner we get started, the sooner we'll be finished."

The boots have almost made it to the curtain as Morgana turns to the prince, "Well, I'll save you the trouble."

"And trust me, if I could find him, I would."

"The druid boy is hiding behind the screen," Calliope and Merlin freeze just as the boots make it to them. Her eyes widen. "I'm sure your father would love to know how you wasted your time by rifling through my things," Calliope realizes what she's doing as she stops in front of Arthur with a mocking tone. "Go on."

"So you can have the satisfaction of making me look like a fool?"

"In my experience, you don't need any help looking like a fool," Damn, good one Morgana. "What are you waiting for? Take a look."

Arthur's annoyance shines through as he rolls his eyes at her, "Why don't you just go back to brushing your hair or whatever it is you do all day."

"Bye Arthur," she says with a smug grin as he leaves the room. "Good luck with the search."

The door slams behind him, and Calliope and Merlin let out a big sigh of relief. Calliope reaches forward and pulls the curtain back to look at Morgana.

"Morgana," she says. "that was fucking genius."

♛ ♛ ♛

While Merlin spends the next few hours trying to figure out how to cure the druid boy's intense fever, Calliope does some reading of her own. She has about ten books sitting by her bed that Gaius got for her, and all of them are old and covered in a thick layer of dust that causes her to cough constantly. Reading about myths of the undead is not exactly a fantastic past time, but alas, they must find a way to stop Sepharin before he rolls into Camelot and cakes the streets in blood.

She feels herself starting to nod off at the last sentence of a very long paragraph about undead witches coming back for revenge:

While slaying these beasts with mortal weapons is never a solution, a better option would be searching for the source of their power. If you can cut off their source, you can cut off their head. The undead are always kept in our realm by tethers, and without those tethers, their grip falters.

Calliope jerks back up as this section of the page flickers through her mind a few times. The blood wraiths only exist in the world because of the assassins and the power their kills give them, and assassins only keep their immortality through the blood wraiths. It would be impossible to find all the assassins scattered around the world and kill them to stop the blood wraiths.

But there are only three blood wraiths. If Calliope kills them, that might also kill Sepharin. It would cut off his tether.

Calliope looks down to the scar on her palm from the night she bond herself to the monsters. If she does find a way to kill the blood wraiths, she might die too since she's still tied to them.

That's my price to pay. She thinks. I must face the consequences.

"Cal," the blonde closes the book and is jerked out of her deep thoughts as Merlin opens her door. He holds up a vial with white liquid. "I think I did it."

"Alright, wizard boy, let's go."

The two of them hurry out of Calliope's room and head straight for Morgana's chambers. They pass several guards still mercilessly searching for the druid boy, and they try to act as unsuspecting as possible as they slow their pace every time a guard appears.

They climb the winding staircase and find themselves right in front of Morgana's door breathless.

Merlin knocks twice and Morgana pulls the door open shortly after, "What took you so long?" She asks.

"Sorry," Merlin says as they head over to the boy. "Once Gaius starts talking anatomy, there's no stopping him."

"Oh no. How could you make such a grave mistake?" Calliope asks with raised eyebrows. "If he gets a chance, he'll spend three hours talking about stomach bile."

"Trust me, I know that now, Cal."

As Calliope leans down beside the boy, who is barely conscious and caked in sweat, Merlin pours the contents of the vial into a small bowls and begins making a paste. Then, he gently spreads it on the boy's wound.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Morgana asks.

"I'm doing my best," he responds quietly.

Morgana nods, "I'll get you some water."

"Hey," as the brunette leaves, Calliope puts her hand on Merlin's shoulder. "I'm sure this will work. You did good, Merlin." He turns his head, offering her a small smile of thanks. "I have to meet Arthur for a patrol. Let me know he's doing when I get back tonight, alright?"

"Alright, see you later."

Calliope leaves Merlin with the druid boy as Morgana comes back to his side with a picture of water hoping that when she sees Merlin again, he will have good news. If not, that boy may never make it out of Camelot alive.

She strides through the corridors, her sword in its sheath dangling from her belt, with her eyes focused as guards are around every corner with their swords and torches drawn. Ever since she won the duels, Arthur's men treat her with a little bit more respect, but that's mostly out of intimidation and definitely not admiration. They know she's not afraid to kick them in the throat. All they had to do was ask Sir Henry.

When she arrives in the courtyard, still busy with endless searching, she spots Arthur by the gate chatting with one of his men. She remembers their last interaction; it wasn't exactly a smooth one.

The blonde clears her throat as she stops in front of them, the hot torchlight illuminating her face in the night.

Arthur glances from her to the guard to his left, "Just keep searching the castle grounds. Calliope and I are going back to the low town for a final search down there."

"Again?" Calliope asks, crossing her arms over her chest. The guard walks off, and Arthur sighs. "We were just there this afternoon."

"My father wants us to be thorough."

"Of course... because everything he wants is so correct."

Arthur steps closer to her, "If you're just going to be a pain in my ass the entire time, you can go back to your room and stay there. It's been a long bloody day, and I'm tired of your little jokes."

"Damn, don't get your panties in such a twist, princess."

The very annoyed prince grabs the torch sitting on the wall beside him with a long huff, "Let's just get this over with."

♛ ♛ ♛

It's not a shock to find out that the search is less than productive. Mostly, it involves checking behind houses and in the closed shops while Arthur gives Calliope an angry and annoyed silence. Is he really so mad at her for giving him the slap of reality that his father isn't always right? It's not exactly something she hasn't mentioned before. She doesn't bother doing much searching on her own because she knows exactly where the druid boy is, and even if she didn't, this would still be a massive waste of time. Eventually, she finds a small barrel to sit on while Arthur checks a butcher's shop.

Calliope leans her head back against the cool wood of a small house, staring up at the sky. Not many stars are visible. It's too cloudy and will probably rain soon, but the crescent moon is peaking out just enough to provide a good amount of visibility.

When Arthur finally comes out of the shop, he walks over to the resting blonde.

"I think we've looked enough for tonight."

Calliope stands up, dusting off her pants, "So what are you going to tell daddy? 'Sorry, I can't seem to find that child you want to murder. Maybe you can round up all the other little kids and chop their heads off instead.'"

The prince looks away from her, shaking his head, "You think you're so goddamn funny, don't you?"

"I think I can just see reality much clearer than you."

"My father is just trying to protect Camelot," The tone of his voice, it's like he's trying to convince himself of that.

"You can't honestly believe that, can you? I mean, how delusional do you have to be to not see your father for what he actually is by now?"

Arthur turns to her, anger spiking in his eyes, "You don't understand. You don't get what it's like to have people relying on you; to have other people to consider besides yourself, and to have all this blood on your hands so you can bear the burden for them."

Something inside Calliope snaps as she steps closer to him with a threatening gaze, "Don't tell me what I don't understand. You have no idea what I've been through to get here!"

"Yeah, because you hardly ever tell me anything!" he exclaims loud enough for anyone close by to hear. "This morning was the first time you've ever really told me anything about yourself."

Her jaw clenches, knowing exactly what would happen if this prince knew everything; every truth, every tear, every drop of blood she has spilled.

When she looks into his eyes, she feels the gripping temptation to tell him all her darkest secrets; the names of the men she has killed, but she learned a long time ago that the only people who can keep secrets are resting in overgrown graveyards

A light scoff rooted in sadness escapes her lips, "You don't want to know me, Arthur."

"Then how am I even supposed to fully trust you if you can't be honest with me?"

You can't trust me, she wants to say it, but the words are trapped in her throat, "Maybe trying to trust me was your first mistake—maybe trust isn't something I can offer."

As he takes another step closer, she feels this magnetic pull to make the distance left between them even smaller. She sucks in a breath of self control, her heart rate skyrocketing.

"You have darkness in your past, Calliope, and that's always been obvious to me, but the truth is, we all do, and you can't overcome your past by trying to hide from it," He's trying to break through the last wall between them. The barrier convoluted with the lies and the hues of death and destruction, but she's not sure she can let it break for him. "Whatever this is, you can tell me. I promise I can handle it."

Calliope finally steps back, looking to the ground, "You're wrong," she says, her eyes lifting in the moonlight. "You want the truth? Where here it is—I'm not a good person, so do yourself a favor and stop trying to see me as anything more than that."

And then, she leaves him alone in the low town with only the crescent moon to keep him company.

She could go back to the castle for the night, but she needs some time to cool off and try to keep her mind away from Arthur and how he keeps pushing and pushing to know her secrets. How would that end? Probably with her on the executioner's stand. After all, the Red Dragon is wanted dead or alive in all of the Five Kingdoms.

Plus, her...friendship or whatever she has going on with the Prince would come to a very brisk end. He would never see her the same again.

Once she gets to the outskirts of the city, she leans back against a wall and sighs, alone with her thoughts. Until, she hears the voice of the last person she wants to see right now.

"Well, wasn't that a lovely show?"

Calliope rolls her eyes, "Fuck off, Sepharin. I'm really not in the mood for this."

Sepharin emerges from the shadows with his usual smirk plastered on his face, "I thought you might miss me. After all, we used to spend a lot of time together."

"Yeah, well, that was back before I realized you were a demented psycho."

He puts his hand over his heart, "Ouch, you know, words can be very hurtful, Calliope."

"Okay, I'm over this," Calliope pushes herself off the wall. "Why are you here?"

"The big guys sent me," he answered with a grin. "They aren't very happy with you. In fact they think you're going rogue, and I mean, we all know how that ends don't we?" Calliope watches him carefully. "Let me tell you a story of the boy who entered the guild before you. He was great at killing, but then he fell in love, and suddenly didn't like his job anymore. So, he thought he could just run away and nothing bad would happen. Stupid right?"

"Just make your point."

"Anyway, this boy was starting his life with his new lover, and then, one day, he just fell over and died. No one had any explanation for it," Sepharin walks closer. "But you and I know the truth; the truth that if you even think about straying from their orders- that if you go too long without giving the wraiths a soul, they'll take yours instead."

"So is this why you were sent here? To threaten me?" Calliope asks with a bored expression. "Because I hate to break it to you, but it's not working."

"I'm just here to remind you that your deadline is approaching."

Suddenly, Calliope feels her chest tighten. Her eyebrows furrow as it starts to get harder to breathe. It feels like someone is reaching into her chest and squeezing her heart; squeezing harder and harder.

She gasps for breath as she falls to her knees; if her heart is clenched any tighter it might burst. Her brain goes into panic mode. She can't breathe.

With a sly grin, Sepharin leans down, "Tick tock, little dragon," he says as her wide eyes meet his. "Tick tock."

And as Sepharin disappears from the clearing, Calliope feels the pressure in her chest subside. Her back collides with the hard ground as she gasps loudly, relief flooding her veins as her chest heaves up and down.

It's very clear how this will end. Either the blood wraiths and Sepharin will die, or Calliope's soul will be trapped in their grasp forever, and everyone she loves will follow.

♛ ♛ ♛

hey everyone! i know it's been forever, but here's an update! i broke my foot a few days ago, and i'm basically stuck in a cast for 5 weeks and can't work so i have a lot of free time on my hands lol. you can expect a few more updates in the coming weeks!

remember to vote and leave your thoughts in the comments <3 :)