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Quest for Camelot

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The sun was bright as it beamed from up above. Nerissa was glad that she had worn her cloak to help shield her eyes. She was also thankful that she had slipped on one of Merlin's old shirts and an old pair of his trousers, from years before when he was much shorter, that she had stuffed away. While her mother didn't whole-heartedly approve of her appearance before she left home, Nerissa knew the journey would be far easier in this attire than what she normally wore. Her only problem was her footwear was her own and not a hand-me-down from her brother. And they ached.

"Mer-lin," Nerissa groaned, emphasizing each syllable of her brother's name. "Are we there yet? My feet hurt." She tried to curl her toes in her shoes, but they hurt terribly. They were likely bloodied and would need looking after when they arrived at their destination.

Merlin stopped and looked over his shoulder at his sister who was several paces behind him. He had originally planned on taking this journey to Camelot alone, not with his baby sister tagging along. Somehow she had managed to get her way, yet again. Merlin shook his head in annoyance, as an older brother often does with his younger sister when she does something bothersome. "Maybe you should have stayed home if all you were going to do is complain the whole journey to Camelot, Nerissa."

Nerissa shot her brother a scowl before she passed him on the path, leaving him standing there staring at her as she somewhat hobbled ahead.

He shook his head and started after her. "Y'know, I still don't know how exactly it is you ended up convincing Mother to let you come all the way to Camelot. As of last night, she said you were staying home with her. How'd you manage that one, dear sister?"

With her brother now at her side, Nerissa smiled at her brother and shrugged. "I can be very persuasive, you know."

Merlin scoffed. "More like annoying."

"Well, whatever you call, I learned it from you." She smirked.

He scoffed to himself once again, this time with a roll of his eyes. Little sisters could be dreadfully annoying at times, especially when they used your own craft against you. "Seriously though, how'd you manage it?"

"I may have told Mother that I was considering accepting Jorgen's proposal of marriage since you would no longer be around to protect me from the menfolk and their proposals."

Merlin narrowed his eyes at his sister and shook his head. "And that worked? I know for a fact that you'd rather die than marry Jorgen. Or anyone for that matter. You've said so, numerous times."

Nerissa chuckled. Merlin was telling the truth. She had no desire to be some simple farmer's wife. Unlike most women of her position, her dreams were much grander than that.

"Not to mention that there will be more men in Camelot than in Ealdor."

She smiled. "Mother mentioned that very thing. But I countered her argument with that at least in Camelot I'd have you and Uncle Gaius to keep me safe. Thankfully, I thought to mention Gaius, his position as court physician and his importance to the kingdom is what sold my argument, I'm almost certain. If I'd only have mentioned you, I'm sure I'd still be in Ealdor."

Merlin rolled his eyes at his sister's teasing. Since she was young, Nerissa could always go toe-to-toe with him in a battle of insults or teasing. While he enjoyed their battle of wits, most people thought that a woman's place was to be seen and not spoken to. Men only wanted his sister because of her beauty - thinking they would be able to break her into silence or worse. Merlin didn't want to see his sister broken - even if it meant he had to bear the brunt of her.

"What? No witty retort? No scintillating comeback? Merlin, what is wrong with you?"

He smirked at his sister. "Sorry, Nerissa. I was too deep in thought already pitying the poor sucker you coerce into marrying you."

Nerissa stopped with her mouth agape and her hands on her hips as Merlin simply continued walking, laughing at her expense. She wasn't truly angered at her brother, but she couldn't let him get away with it - especially when this might be her last opportunity to get him good.

She glanced over her shoulders to see if anyone was coming. There was no one other than her brother several paces ahead of her. Nerissa scrunched her nose and the irises of her eyes flashed gold.

A vine, several yards from Merlin, snaked out in front of him. His front foot stumbled over the vine causing him to fall with a great thud, flat on his face. Nerissa smirked in accomplishment.

"Hey!" Merlin shouted from the ground.

Mother had warned both of them against using magic, especially in Camelot especially since the king had strictly forbidden magic and used every attempt to rid his kingdom of it. But Nerissa just couldn't help herself.

"Nerissa!"

Nerissa took the opportunity while her brother was still down to step on his back and keep walking. Had they been in a reverse situation, Nerissa was sure her brother would have done the same. So, she felt no guilt.

Merlin groaned as she stepped on him.

"Dollophead!" she called over her shoulder.

"What does that even mean?" Merlin scoffed before he pushed himself up from the ground. He dusted himself off when he was upright. "That's not even a real word."

Nerissa grinned. "Sure it is. Just because I made it up, doesn't mean it isn't real. How else do you think words came to be?"

Her logic was sound, but Merlin eyes his sister pointedly with his arms folded across his chest. "Yeah, then what does it mean?"

"You." Nerissa beamed proudly at her insult.

Merlin rolled his eyes. Dollophead? He'd have to remember that one. It was a pretty good insult. Not that he'd ever tell Nerissa that. Instead, he took his sister's arm and dragged her up a hill. "C'mon, we've got to be almost there."

The siblings ascended the hill and stopped. From behind, the pair looked rather mismatched. Merlin seemed to tower over his sister. But from the front, both Nerissa and Merlin smiled widely. Camelot. They could finally see what it was they had journeyed for. To say it was impressive would have been an understatement. The tall walls and towers of the castle looked nothing like they had ever seen in Ealdor.

Nerissa felt a sense of excitement within her. She eagerly looked forward to her time in Camelot. Although to be fair, she would have looked forward to anything that kept her from being the wife of a farmer.

The siblings looked at each other and smiled. Merlin then gave his sister a playful shove, causing her to lose her balance. "The last one there's a dollophead!" he called before he began to run down the path toward Camelot.

"Hey! You can't use my own word against me!" Nerissa growled as she picked herself up from the ground, still quite thankful she had dressed in boys clothes. She then chased after her brother, both of them laughing as they made their way to the edge of the city.

Merlin ended up being the dollophead. Nerissa, especially when not in a dress, could easily outrun her brother even if he had a head start and her feet ached terribly. While Merlin was much better at magic than his sister, running was one of the many advantages she had over her brother.

The city of Camelot was bustling as Merlin and Nerissa made their way through toward the castle. Both of them looked on wide-eyed with amazement at all the people and buildings. They certainly weren't in Ealdor anymore.

As they approached the drawbridge to the courtyard of the castle horns began to sound along with the beat of a drum. "What's going on?" Nerissa asked her brother.

"I dunno. Let's go see," Merlin said as they crossed the bridge and spotted a crowd of people forming in the courtyard. "It'll just be a quick stop. I'm almost certain this is the way to Gaius anyway."

Nerissa nodded her head. She wasn't sure if her brother's addition was for her sake or to ease his own conscience about not going directly to Gaius once they reached Camelot as they had been instructed by their mother. What harm could certainly come?

They came to a stop at the edge of the crowd. Nerissa was too short to see what it was they were gathered around. Why hadn't she been born as tall as Merlin? Curse her lack of height. Merlin seemed to be tall enough to see something coming. Nerissa tried to move from side to side to see around the other people, but she had no luck.

But then a loud voice boomed from overhead. Nerissa quickly spotted the owner of the voice. He stood high on a balcony and wore a crown. "That must be the king," Nerissa whispered.

"You think?" Merlin quipped.

Nerissa, not having meant to say that out loud, simply rolled her eyes at her brother. All she knew of the king was that he hated magic. But she listened to the king's words to piece together what they were about to witness.

"Let this serve as a lesson to all. This man, Thomas James Collins, is adjudged guilty of conspiring to use enchantments and magic. And, pursuant to the laws of Camelot, I, Uther Pendragon, have decreed that such practices are banned on penalty of death..."

Nerissa's eyes widened. She glanced up at Merlin to see if what the king was saying was true. Merlin gave his sister a grim nod. And there was no escaping this sight now. Despite Nerissa not being able to see, Merlin grabbed his sister and turned her so that she faced his chest. She trembled a bit as Merlin whispered, "Cover your ears."

While he might tease Nerissa relentlessly at times, Merlin took his job as older brother seriously. He wanted to shield her from this. Merlin held night onto his sister, unable to tear his gaze away from the tragedy that was about to befall.

Just as Nerissa managed to cover her ears with her hands, Uther lowered his raised arm as a signal to the executioner. The executioner did as he was commanded. Thomas Collins was beheaded.

The crowd gasped in horror at what they had just witnessed and Merlin held his sister a little tighter. He was almost certain she was on the brink of tears if she wasn't already crying as she trembled in his arms. Nerissa couldn't help but think how easily that could have been her or Merlin instead of Thomas Collins. Perhaps she had made a mistake forcing her way to Camelot.

"It's all right," Merlin whispered to his sister.

"Is he dead?" Nerissa asked quietly.

Merlin just nodded his head, because Uther began to speak once more.

"When I came to this land, this kingdom was mired in chaos, but with the people's help magic was driven from the realm. So I declare a festival to celebrate twenty years since the Great Dragon was captured and Camelot freed from the evil of sorcery. Let the celebrations begin."

A celebration? Who would possibly attend such a celebration for a cruel act? What had the poor man done? Nerissa then realized that she might be rushing to judgement too soon. Perhaps Thomas Collins had done something worthy of such a punishment. But something in her heart told her that he wasn't.

A great wail resounded through the courtyard. Nerissa wiped at the few tears that been shed from her eyes as she released herself from her brother's protection, trying to find the culprit. The crowd backed away from a woman, parting just enough for Nerissa to get a view of the woman.

Nerissa thought the woman looked rather old and haggard. From the looks of her clothing, she was likely poor. Nerissa wasn't judging the woman based on her appearance, she knew because her clothes looked much the same - tattered and lacking in colour.

The woman was looking right up at the king, it seemed as if in an act of defiance. Nerissa wondered if the woman was related to the recently deceased.

"There is only one evil in this land, and it is not magic! It is you! With your hatred and your ignorance! You took my son! And I promise you, before these celebrations are over, you will share my tears. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son."

Then everything seemed to happen so quickly. Uther demanded that the woman be seized, but before his knights could reach her, the woman disappeared in a whirlwind and smoke.

Nerissa blinked quickly several times trying to find the woman. But she couldn't find her. The woman must have used magic. Nerissa didn't know such powerful magic existed. She had only known what she and Merlin were capable of, Merlin the better of the two in that aspect.

The woman's warning was quite ominous. Nerissa wondered if what she had threatened would pass. But before she could think anymore on it, Merlin interrupted her thoughts as the crowd began to fritter away.

"Are you all right?" Merlin asked his sister, gently rubbing her arm.

"I'm fine, Merlin." Nerissa brushed off her brother's attempts to comfort her.

Merlin looked at Nerissa with a rather pointed glance. "You don't look fine."

Nerissa rolled her eyes. "That may be true, but I still look better than you. So there's nothing to fret about, is there dollophead?"

Merlin sighed and shook his head. "Back to your insults is it? Yeah, you're fine."

Had Nerissa not been wearing a cloak over her head and had her hair back in a plait, he probably would have ruffled her hair. Instead, he gave her a playful shove. But not hard enough to make her fall this time.

"On that note, I'd rather find Gaius before we have to witness another one those, however."

"I agree."

With that Merlin and Nerissa continued on their search for their uncle, who was located somewhere in the castle. But Nerissa couldn't help but wonder if what had happened was a sign of things to come.