“Let’s take a step back here,” I said. “If you really are Merlin, the Merlin from the Arthurian legend everyone knows about back home, then there are actually a few things I know about you as well.”
Merlin nodded. “Go on.”
I wondered if there was even a point in saying what I was about to say, suspecting that he already knew what it was long before I even thought to say it, but I continued anyway.
“My Arthurian knowledge isn’t super deep,” I admitted. “My mother always had a big, old, English edition of Le Morte d’Arthur sitting on her booksh…”
I stopped myself, snapping my head to the shelf in question.
And there it was.
I stood and walked over to the floor to ceiling bookshelves that encased the entire wall leaving only the fireplace dead center as a spacer. Reaching up, I retrieved the large black tome entitled, The Death of King Arthur.
I sat back down.
“I never read it,” I said with a hint of regret. “Too intimidating. And for some reason, I never really got into the lore because of it, even though it was one of my mother’s favorites. I only really know a few tidbits that the general public gets wrong, mostly because she loved to lecture me on it endlessly; like when people assume the sword in the stone was actually Excalibur, when really they were two different swords and Arthur only later gets Excalibur later from the Lady in the Lake.”
“It’s actually Lady of the Lake,” Merlin corrected.
I glanced up at him. “Another friend of yours?”
He nodded. “Nice lady.”
I returned my attention to the book, trying not to think about that. “I know only a few other things, but I do know two in particular about you, oh great and powerful Merlin. First, that you died, but more importantly, that you knew exactly when and how you were going to die, and that you let it happen.”
Merlin smiled. “And you were so surprised that I could see the future.”
“Yeah, but…” I started to say, thinking, “you also said that all you could see was your own future, so if you can’t see past your own death – which is cool for you I guess – I assume you can’t see much past the Dark Ages.”
The man nodded again, an action that was starting to aggravate me. It was beginning to seem condescending, as though he were a puppeteer stringing me along and controlling everything I was saying, all the while sitting there patiently waiting for me to catch up. But that was okay, because I was starting to make sense of everything myself, and it was starting to get interesting.
“But you can also read my mind,” I continued, “however it is you do that… but that also means that everything I know, you now know too.”
Merlin nodded again with an impish smile. “And now you understand why I have been so excited to meet you. The past five years have gone by far too slowly.”
I slumped in my chair, quite shocked despite having pieced it together for myself. Had I just given what was obviously an exceptionally powerful man more knowledge than I should have? Had I just done more damage to the timeline by simply meeting him than I had through everything I’d done over the past half-decade? If he knew everything I knew, plus everything I’ve ever known and then forgotten apparently, he had quite an arsenal of new knowledge to draw on.
“You shouldn’t worry yourself about such things, Jacob,” Merlin said. “There was nothing you could do to avoid it, but if it makes you feel better, let’s just say that you’ve given an old man that hasn’t had much to do in a very long time, much to think about, and little more. For that, I am grateful.”
“Please stop answering the questions in my head, Merlin,” I asked politely. “It’s rude, and I’m not used to having my internal monologues interrupted by anyone but myself.”
He dipped his head. “My apologies, Jacob.”
“It’s fine,” I replied, not really that annoyed. It was actually kind of nice having someone answer all my unspoken question for me. “But why did you have to wait five years? If you know your own future, then you should have already seen my presence here, and therefore been able to see this entire conversation from the beginning.”
“Normally, you would be right. And, in fact, I did foresee your presence beyond my front door five years ago, but it wasn’t until you stepped inside that things became much clearer.”
“That really wasn’t your actual front door, was it?” I asked, referring to the cottage door.
He shook his head. “No, not actually.”
I rolled my eyes. “So how is that you hadn’t already seen this conversation then?”
“Because there is an anomaly that you haven’t yet thought of.”
“The orb,” I answered immediately.
Merlin’s eyes furrowed in confusion.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he replied, “but you are correct. The orb. It… muddies things.”
“But you invented it! Didn’t you build a failsafe or something? Or something that can better control it?”
“I never said I invented it,” Merlin clarified.
“Then tell me more!” I demanded. “There’s so much I need to know! How does it work? What is its origin? Why didn’t Remus use it? Why would an ancient pre-Roman even have such a thing? If it can’t send me home, then it must be able to send me somewhere! There has to be somewhere out there better than this! There has to be! I… I have a son to think about now.”
Merlin looked at me, but his expression was soft, as though he empathized with my plight. “I will help you, Jacob, but in order for me to do so, you must be willing to help yourself.”
“I’m beyond ready, Merlin.”
“All right then,” he responded. “So where shall I begin? I suppose the beginning is as…”
“Wait,” I said, holding up a hand. “You’re not just going to sit there and tell me everything I need to know in horrible expository dialogue like in that one Matrix movie, are you?”
“You aren’t harboring any hopes of being referred to as The One referencing a movie like that, are you?”
I leaned back in my chair awkwardly and cleared my throat. “Of… course not?”
Merlin rolled his eyes. “Well fear not, my young friend. For you are most certainly not the one of anything. You and Varus were hardly the only people capable of utilizing the orb, merely the unluckiest. And, it grieves me to say, he was far unluckier than you.”
I looked away, saddened at Merlin’s reminder of Marcus Varus, but he didn’t wait long before he stood abruptly and moved to leave the room. I watched him go, confused at his departure, and wasn’t sure whether to stay or follow. I looked at the fireplace, the chess board, and the bookshelves, a part of me wanting to stay right here, in this very comforting part of my old life. Even without my mother here, I found this room nearly as protective and soothing as Helena’s warm embraces.
But I stood, unable to let myself grow complacent. I had to see this through. For her sake and our son’s if no one else’s. When I turned to follow Merlin, I pulled up short. The back of the den did not appear as it should have, replaced instead with the original dark room I had first entered. I snapped my head to catch one last look of the fireplace, but it was gone in a flash.
I frowned and moved off into the darkness.
Merlin stood not too far away, dressed in his original red robes and pointy hat, a pair of doors standing on either side of him. He looked more morbid than earlier, but I continued to suspect that he didn’t mean me any harm.
He raised his eyes and looked at me. “I suppose you are right, Jacob. A simple explanation will hardly do what really transpired justice, nor will it be very interesting for your future books and movies, so instead, I shall show you. But where we go from here is completely up to you, as two paths now lay before you, one with answers and one without.” As he spoke he held out his hands to either side of him, one toward the door on his left, the other the door on his right. “Either choice has acceptable outcomes, but only one will lead to wh
at you truly want.”
I lifted a hand to my shoulder in a questioning gesture. “Where’d the other Merlin go? I liked him better. He was more Gandalf the Grey than Gandalf the White.”
Merlin smiled, but his form did not change. “Then let’s spice things up a little, shall we?”
I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, and I was doubly certain that I would probably regret it later, but then the door to Merlin’s left opened. It was a large door, ornate in appearance, with a pair of Corinthian columns flanking it on either side. It only opened a crack, but the first thing to come through was a human leg.
A bare, shapely, woman’s leg.
It extended itself in a kick before snapping back to a bent position, but then disappeared completely behind the door. I craned my neck to see where it went, but then a female figure sauntered through the opening, wearing nothing but a bikini. I tracked my gaze up her body slowly and my mouth hung open when the figure revealed herself to be none other than Agrippina.
Her bikini was white and stringy, setting off her pale skin alluringly, and her golden hair cascaded past her shoulders in thick curls that swayed with the rhythm of her body. She pranced around the door like a stripper, clawing her way up and down Merlin like he was a pole. When she was finished, she returned to the door and stood beside it like game show girl. She set her head low before tossing it back, looking at me seductively, all the while saying nothing.
Which was probably the best thing about the whole show.
Merlin gestured toward her. “Door number one.”
I crossed my arms and grinned. “Is this your idea of providing more stimulating visual aids to spice things up, Merlin?”
“It was hardly my idea, Jacob. It did come from your mind… for better or worse, I suppose,” Merlin commented. “Now, door number two.”
He held out his hand toward the other door, and another leg kicked itself out before retreating just like Agrippina’s had, but while Agrippina’s was pale, this leg was a light bronze and slightly more muscular. Again, like before, a long lean female body emerged, and I was not surprised to discover that it was Helena. Pre-pregnancy and without any of her scars, instead of a string bikini she wore a bright green one-piece swimsuit like the kind from the 90s that rode way up high on the hips, with the addition of a deep V that went just past her bellybutton.
She strutted toward me like a catwalk model, her eyes locked on mine. She reached out and placed her hand on my chest, staring deeply into my eyes as she circled around me, her hand never leaving my body. My grin widened as I watched her dance around me, but when she completed only a single revolution, she leaned in and kissed the air inches from my nose.
With a wet smack from her lips, she twirled around and made her way toward Agrippina. The two of them reached toward each other with scandalous intent in their eyes, but Merlin slammed his staff into the ground, distracting them. Helena pouted at the rebuke and waved at Agrippina sadly before returning to her door, where she stood beside it just like Agrippina did her own.
“Oh come on, Merlin!” I shouted, throwing my hands out wide.
“That’s the mother of your unborn child, Jacob!” He countered, pointing, but he sounded more amused than angry.
“Yeah,” I said, staring at Helena as she gyrated seductively by the door like she could just barely contain herself and was just dying to jump me. I glanced at Agrippina, who was biting her lips and beckoning me with an outstretched hand, and I pointed at her. “But she isn’t! And… I mean… this is my fantasy, man! Come on! When am I ever going to get the two of them wearing outfits like that in the same room together again?”
“Probably never, Jacob, and believe me, that is for the best.”
I crossed my arms and pouted. “Fine. So that’s it, then? Just two options?”
“Would you like a third? I suppose I could arrange that.”
He clapped his hands and a third door appeared from nowhere, and again a leg popped out, this one just as sexy and shapely as the first two, but when the figure emerged, I saw that the leg belonged to a red bikini clad Artie.
I threw up a hand to cover her from view. “No! That’s okay! Just two is fine!”
“Are you sure, Jacob? Perhaps four would be best?”
And again, a fourth door emerged, and a fourth leg appeared, but this one was hardly feminine, at least not by my standards. Out emerged Boudicca, looking everything like a female version of Arnold Schwarzenegger, striking show poses in her black thong bikini.
I threw up my other hand to cover Boudicca now, but placed extra effort in keeping Artie blocked. I tried to focus on Helena, who was now bending over and running her hands up her legs slowly, Agrippina doing the same, only turned around.
“All right, all right, enough! I get it!” I shouted, squeezing my eyes shut and turning away. When I opened them seconds later, all four women had thankfully disappeared along with the last two doors.
I sighed in relief and put my hands down, looking at Merlin angrily. “Some spirit guide you are.”
“Whoever said I was, Jacob?”
“Fine,” I said as I stepped forward, looking toward the door the Helena apparition had recently abandoned. It was a copy of the cottage’s original entrance door, and one I assumed would lead to the outside world.
“What happens if I choose this one?” I asked, not taking my eyes off of it.
“You will leave, never to see me again. While I cannot speak with any certainty, I believe if you were to choose this door, you could convince Agrippina to leave you alone as long as you stayed as far from Rome as possible. You would be able to live out your days with Helena and your children.”
“Children?” I asked. “As in more than one? I thought you couldn’t see anyone’s future but your own.”
“I speak simply with an intuition that I have honed over a great many years, Jacob.”
“I see,” I said, deciding to finally look at him. “Could we be happy?”
“You could. Very happy, I would think.”
I gestured toward Agrippina’s door with a hand. “And this one?”
“Your answers, Jacob. Nothing more.”
I was at a crossroads, but even with all the doubt my mind could surely come up with, there really only seemed one door I could possibly consider.
I stepped forward and reached out to grip the handle of Agrippina’s door and looked back for Merlin, but he had disappeared, only to be replaced once again by Helena. She was still wearing that wonderful green one piece swimsuit with the deep V, but she wasn’t exuding any of the slutty qualities she had earlier.
I stepped away from the door and moved toward her, but she held out a hand and stopped me.
“Don’t, Jacob,” she said.
“But…”
“It’s all right, my love,” she said, her eyes practically shining like green lensed flashlights against the color of her swimsuit. “This decision was yours, but right or wrong, I’m here to remind you that I will always support you. I know you may not believe me after what happened because of the orb, but you have to believe it in yourself before you can believe it in anyone else. Just remember that I’ll always be there for you. No matter what.”
And with that, she winked out of existence, leaving me with little more than the memory of her in the swimsuit and the idea that I knew she was right. Helena would always be there for me. As long as I remembered that, I would never have to doubt anything ever again.
I turned and faced Agrippina’s door, took the handle firmly in my hand, and tugged it open.
With a deep breath, I stepped through.
***
My first thought upon crossing the threshold was that nothing had happened. Even before the door had closed behind me, I could tell that this room was exactly like the last one. Bathed in a sea of darkness, I wouldn’t have even been able to see my hand in front of my face if not for the light coming off the door behind me. I turned to see that it was still there, a reassuring presence, my mi
nd convinced I could at least go back if I wanted.
I shook my head at it, the motion causing me to catch something else out of the corner of my eye. I looked to the right and saw the other door there, the one Helena had presented and the one that would have supposedly led me out of this mad house. I cocked my head at it, confused at its presence, when Merlin’s voice interrupted my inspection from behind me.
“Did you really think I’d give you the opportunity to pick the wrong door?” He asked. “It isn’t like you are not, in fact, solely responsible for the systematic destruction of the entire space/time continuum.”
My eyes grew wide, every single one of my fears emerging at once at the statement. “I am??”
“No, not even close,” he said playfully, “but you aren’t exactly doing anyone any favors by staying here.”
I turned to face him. “But you said Helena and I could be happy here.”
He angled his head away from me. “Let’s just say you’re not doing anyone else any favors then.”
I shook my head, closed my eyes, and allowed my heart rate to slow itself. “So I didn’t really have any choice at all, did I?”
“You did, Jacob,” he said. “This is merely a representation of how little a choice it was to you. In your mind’s eye, as some might say.”
My frustration at all his games continued to grow, but when I opened my eyes, I found myself in a new location, with Merlin nowhere to be found again. I didn’t even bother looking behind me this time, knowing that it too would have been filled with the same expanse of nature that lay before me now.
The transition from the claustrophobic black room to this outdoor space was jarring. I threw a hand up to shield my eyes from the sun’s intensity, but I wasn’t nearly fast enough to stop it from washing out my eyesight. I clenched my eyes shut again, but after a few moments, reopened them. I didn’t focus on anything right away, giving them the time they needed to adjust, but when they did, the view in which they took in was simply breathtaking.
I stood atop a low hill with a series of other hills spread out in front of me, and small clumps of tree scattered off in the distance. Judging by their foliage, I figured it was summertime, but it didn’t seem excessively warm, even though the sun was shining brilliantly with only a few puffy clouds spattering the sky. Off to my left, a large group of birds fluttered off, briefly silhouetted by the sun before disappearing out of view. It was like a painting – the large ones with beautiful rolling vistas the size of entire walls found mostly in art museums.
A Hunter and His Legion (The Praetorian Series Book 3) Page 40