The Merlin Chronicles: Box Set (All Three Novels)

by Daniel Diehl

  “I don’t think it was your fault and don’t assume you were drunk.”

  “Of course it was my fault. I must have drunk too much, and then I let that woman into my room, and what happened was my fault.”

  “Listen to me.” Jason met Merlin’s gaze. The old man’s eyes were shining with that eerie light. “I need to know what she was wearing.”

  “Lu Morgan?”

  “If that’s what she called herself.”

  “Um...a red evening dress. Why?”

  “What else?”

  “A purple scarf over one shoulder. What does it matter?” Jason still felt awful and this third degree made his head hurt.

  “It matters. What else was she wearing?”

  “The scarf had red Celtic designs on it and it was fastened to her dress with a gold Celtic pin. The pin looked really old. Oh, and she was wearing pearls. Why? Is it important?”

  “‘And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls.’ The book of Revelations, remember? Your Lu Morgan is Morgana le Fay. God but she is a brazen bitch, flaunting herself like the whore of Babylon, knowing that no one would ever make the connection.” Merlin’s glowing eyes blazed with anger.

  “Whoa, easy, isn’t that kind of reaching for it? I mean, even if Morgana is still alive, what on earth would she be doing at a cocktail party in Liverpool?”

  “Looking for you, young man. What else?”

  Jason’s mouth opened and his jaw worked but nothing came out.

  “Don’t you see, she knows I’m out and has made all the connections; you, what we have been doing, everything. I need to show you something, but I warn you, it won’t be pleasant.” Merlin got up from the chair and left the room, rummaging around for a second before reappearing.

  “Here, read this.” Merlin said; handing Jason a newspaper folded to reveal the headlines and lead story. As he read, Jason’s eyes grew wide with disbelief.

  University Explosion Claims Three. The headlines screamed up at him. An explosion of unknown origin at the Hougton Physical Sciences building on the main campus of the University of York earlier today claimed the lives of three university employees. Among the deceased are Dr James Lo-Pan, 37, lecturer in geochemistry at the university, Mr. Thomas William Souter, 22, a graduate assistant and Mrs. Emily Thompson, 54, a member of the university cleaning staff. Investigators from the North Yorkshire Constabulary and the York Fire Brigade are investigating possible causes of the explosion but say...

  Jason dropped the paper into his lap and looked up at Merlin, his face even whiter than before and his eyes wide with fear. “You think this is all connected, don’t you?”

  “Naturally. Look, Jason, everything fits. Dr Daniels’ sudden heart attack, you’re having to take his place at the opening and then this terrible explosion. Jimmy is dead, the sphere is ruined and I’m completely vulnerable. We are all vulnerable and that woman is closing in, but she’s playing with us like a cat with a mouse. She must really be enjoying this. She probably realizes I have figured it all out and she’s just waiting to see what I do next.”

  Jason closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. “Why didn’t I see it? Why didn’t I realize who she was?”

  “How could you have possibly known? If she had walked in looking like some medieval harpy, of course you would have recognized her, but how were you supposed to suspect some well-dressed woman at a museum reception?”

  “If she knows you’re out, why didn’t she just come after you? I’m sorry, that didn’t come out right, but you know what I mean.”

  “Jason, that woman has been waiting for a millennia and a half to find me. Now she thinks she has me at her mercy so she is going to enjoy this for a while before finishing the game. I just wish I knew whether she told the Dragon Lords about all this.”

  “But why Dr Daniels’ heart attack? Why the thing with me in Liverpool? What did she want with me?”

  “Lunch.”

  Jason’s brow puckered in confusion. “What?”

  “She fed from you, Jason. That is how she stayed alive all these years; by drawing energy from male victims through the act of sex. Daniels wouldn’t have done her any good. He’s old and has neither the sex drive nor the physical energy she needs.”

  “You mean she’s some kind of fucking sex vampire?” Jason felt his chest constrict and his stomach heave. He thought he was going to be sick.

  “More like a succubus. Do you know what a succubus is?”

  “Isn’t it like some kind of evil spirit that attacks people when they are asleep?”

  “The succubus were mythical Roman demons. They came in the form of beautiful women that attacked men while they were sleeping, having sex with them and drawing their energy at the point of orgasm.”

  “And that’s what she is? A succubus?”

  “The original succubus were phantoms, spirits. But Morgana uses the same method to maintain her youth. That’s one of the things the dragons taught her; achieving immortality by draining energy from humans in much the same way they absorb energy from fire. She quite literally sucks the life out of her lovers. Honestly, I don’t know how you survived.”

  Jason clamped one hand across his mouth, holding his breath to keep the contents of his stomach in place. “The lady from the museum followed me back to the hotel. I think she interrupted us…her.” After a pause he added, “How did you know what happened? Is that something you learned from her books?”

  “How to stay alive indefinitely? Yes.”

  “Do you...” Jason couldn’t continue.

  “Do I drain the life out of people?” Merlin smiled. “No. That would have been a little hard locked inside a glass ball for fifteen hundred years, wouldn’t it? I drew energy from the same ley lines that powered the crystal web in the globe. Now,” Merlin leaned back and patted his skinny stomach, “I stay alive the same way as you do. I eat food.”

  “Wait a minute.” Jason desperately tried to process this new information. “Does that mean that you aren’t immortal anymore?”

  “I told you before, I am not now, nor was I ever, immortal. But if your question is have I started to age again, the answer is yes. I am getting older day by day just like everyone else. And considering my age, that makes it all the more imperative for us to stop Morgana before she comes after us.”

  Jason pushed himself toward the edge of the bed, swinging his legs slowly onto the floor. “I think I better get up.”

  “Are you sure you feel up to it?” Merlin reached out a steadying hand.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Jason forced a wan smile. “I think I have to be.”

  “It doesn’t have to be this minute. It isn’t likely anything is going to happen today.”

  “’S ok. Just let me get a shower and get dressed.” He stood up, testing his legs, and putting a hand on Merlin’s shoulder, patting him gently. “As soon as I clean up and have something to eat, you can tell me what we need to do.”

  Merlin craned his head, following Jason across the room. “What makes you think I know what to do?” Jason stopped dead in his tracks and stared over his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I haven’t thought about anything else since the newspaper arrived. In fact, while you pull yourself together, I have a few errands to run. I should be back in a few hours.”

  An hour and a half later, Jason had showered, shaved and eaten for the first time in nearly thirty hours. He was still weak and shaky, but with food in his system the strength lost to Morgana’s attack began returning. While waiting for Merlin to come back, he busied himself reading the article covering the explosion that had taken the life of their friend and ended their chances of recreating Merlin’s sphere. Just before nine o’clock he rang Beverley to let her know he was feeling better, silently wondering if she was in as much danger as he and Merlin obviously were. For once he was glad they only had a few minutes to chat before Beverley left for class; he could not decide how much, if anything, he should tell her. In the end
, he promised to call her back that evening. When he hung up, Jason sat down in the big, over-stuffed chair and chewed his lip in nervous frustration. For nearly two hours he alternated between staring at the walls, rereading the same article and pacing the floor with rising panic.

  The clock tower of York Minster Cathedral was tolling eleven when he heard the downstairs door open. Rushing into the hall, Jason peered over the banister as Merlin’s head came into view. “Thank God you’re back.”

  Tilting his head upward, Merlin smiled and raised an index finger as a sign for Jason to be patient. Under his arm was a large, flat package wrapped in brown paper.

  “I was worried sick. I thought you might have been killed or kidnapped or something.” Then, waving a hand toward the package, he snapped, “The world is about to collapse and you went shopping?”

  “We, young man,” Merlin said, laying a hand on Jason’s shoulder reassuringly, “are going on the offensive. What is it you Americans say? ‘The best defense is a good offense.’ Well, we’ve been on the defensive for too long, and obviously it has cost us precious time and poor Dr Lo-Pan’s life.” Laying his coat aside, Merlin bent down and began tearing open the package. “Now, we go on the offensive. Here,” he said, waving a hand across the package “is the first step in our campaign.”

  Removing the paper and opening a heavy cardboard box, Merlin brushed away a layer of Styrofoam peanuts to expose an oval mirror about a foot wide and eighteen inches high. The glass was old, pitted and wavy and the silver backing had seen far better days. Surrounding the mirror were the remains of a once elaborately carved frame covered in decomposing gold leaf. Jason looked at the object for a minute before shifting his gaze to Merlin as though the old man had gone completely crazy.

  “We’re all going to die and you decide to redecorate?”

  “This mirror was made in Venice centuries ago. It was very, very expensive. Do you know why it cost so much?”

  “I’ll bite. Why?”

  “It’s not glass. It’s Venetian crystal.”

  Jason knew this was leading somewhere important and ventured a guess. “Crystal like your sphere?”

  “Yes, that too, but more specifically crystal like the scrying glass I lost when my sphere was destroyed. It will take me a few hours to prepare it properly, but by tonight I should be able to track Morgana’s whereabouts. And then we will know nearly as much about her as she knows about us.”

  Jason lifted the fragile old mirror, holding it at arm’s length, looking at his distorted reflection in the flawed glass. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, where’s the meanest bitch of all?” Then he handed it to Merlin. “So, once you locate her, what do we do then?”

  “I’m still working on that. Eventually we have to confront her. She must be stopped. Destroyed. And hopefully, we can get to her before she contacts the Dragon Lords. Possibly she hasn’t done so yet, hoping to have me safely out of the picture before going to her masters with the good news. But at this point, all I am sure of is that I still need your help. You may have to take some time off school.”

  “I think I already figured that part out.” Jason wondered how Merlin could be so matter-of-fact about all this. “I’ll go to the head office and cancel the rest of the term.”

  “Good. Now, one other thing. I’m becoming a bit concerned for your young lady.”

  “I figured that out too. What do we tell her?”

  “Considering the gravity of the situation, the only thing we can tell her is the truth.”

  “All of it?” Jason knew Beverley would be at least as skeptical as he was when he first met Merlin. What if he couldn’t convince her of the danger they were all in? Worse yet, how would he protect her?

  “All of it. The whole truth. Invite her over tonight and we will explain everything to her as calmly as possible.”

  “What if she doesn’t believe me?”

  “She will believe me. I can make her believe.”

  “Don’t frighten her, Merlin.”

  “I’ll do my best, Jason. Beverley is a bright, level-headed young lady. She will understand.” Then, after a long pause, “Eventually."

  “But how do we protect her from Morgana?”

  “You have to trust me.”

  “I do trust you.”

  “Good. Now, we really must get to work.”

  While Jason got ready to cancel the rest of the term, Merlin took the mirror into the bedroom, propped it against the computer monitor and began rooting through the piles of scrolls and books littering the floor.

  Before leaving, Jason stuck his head through the door to see the old man on his hands and knees, muttering to himself as he cast aside one scroll after another in frustration. “I’m off. I’ll be back later. I think I’ll check on Professor Daniels while I’m out and then maybe try to catch Beverley after she leaves her four o’clock class.”

  “Yes, yes. Take your time. I’ll be right here.”

  “See you later.”

  “Jason.” Merlin raised himself to his knees and turned toward the door.

  “Yeah?”

  “Be careful, won’t you?”

  Jason smiled and nodded. “I will. You too.”

  * * * *

  “Yoo-hoo, Mr. Carpenter. It’s me, Beverley McCullough. Jason brought me to see you.”

  She and Jason were just coming through the door and Beverley was all smiles. As Beverley set a bottle of wine on the table, Merlin stepped into the living room wearing his long gray robe and goatskin vest. His hair tumbled around his shoulders and his beard again hung nearly to his belt.

  “Oh. Umm.” Beverley mumbled with a perplexed look on her round face. “Fancy dress costume party, Mr. Carpenter?”

  Jason didn’t know how to react to this unexpected development, so he just led Beverley to the sofa, installed himself next to her and took her hand in his. Obviously Merlin was jumping in without any preamble. While Merlin walked across the room, his robes swirling behind him, Jason laid the back of his free hand on Beverley’s face to get her attention.

  “I think...I mean, Merlin... that is, my Grandpa and I…have something to tell you and you need to keep an open mind and pay really close attention. It’s important.”

  Beverley’s eyes darted back and forth between Jason’s concerned face and Merlin’s weird outfit. “Is something wrong? There is, isn’t there?”

  Jason was relieved when Merlin picked up the lead in what was obviously going to be an awkward conversation. “The first thing you need to know, Beverley, my dear, is that I am not really Jason’s grandfather.”

  For the next three hours Jason and Merlin unwound their strange story, beginning with the discovery of the sphere. At least this early part of the story was familiar to Beverley and it allowed her a point of reference for the mind-boggling details that followed: Jason’s dreams, Merlin’s manifestation at the departmental reception and his appearance in Jason’s apartment seemed impossible enough but when the he began explaining the threat of Morgana le Fay - particularly the details of the seduction in Liverpool - it proved, predictably, more than Beverley could accept.

  “I don’t know what this is all about, but you’re scaring me, Jason.” Then turning toward Merlin, her eyes brimming, “You, too, Mr. Carpenter...or whoever you are. This isn’t funny. Stop it.”

  “Please, Beverley,” Merlin leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of him. “Neither Jason nor I want to frighten you. I am very fond of you and I know Jason cares for you very much. I wish there was time to explain this in some other way, but there just isn’t. This is very real and we are all in a potentially very dangerous situation.”

  “I just can’t believe this. Any of it.” Looking directly into Jason’s eyes as though she could discover the truth there, she continued. “How can you expect me to believe anything so crazy? Things like this don’t happen in real life, they happen in books.” Laying a hand on Jason’s cheek, she whispered, “Are you ok? I mean, you’ve been all stressed out for weeks now. You�
�re not having a breakdown or something, are you?” Then almost pleading, “Please don’t be crazy, Jason.”

  Jason reached his arm around her and pulled her close. “I think I wish I was crazy. At least that would make some kind of sense. But the fact is that neither Merlin nor I are crazy and this is all too real.” Then, turning to Merlin, he continued. “I think you need to prove to Beverley who you are.”

  At first she didn’t see anything unusual. But then, after a moment, Merlin’s legs, just above the top edge of the coffee table, began to shimmer and fade until they disappeared altogether. The process continued upward till all that was left of the old man was one disembodied hand holding a glass of wine. Slowly, the glass raised itself toward unseen lips, spilling its contents down an invisible gullet.

  “Oh, my God! That’s so amazing. How did you do that?” Eyes shining, she stared at the vacant space where the wizard should be. “Do it again. Do it again.”

  Instantly Merlin reappeared, sound and whole. “I’m glad I didn’t frighten you, Beverley, but the important thing is that you understand that I really am who I say I am and that everything we have told you is quite real.”

  Laying her hand on her chest to catch her breath, Beverley suddenly sat up; her eyes sparkling. “How did you do that?” Then, glancing toward Jason, “That was amazing. Did you see that? How did he do that?”

  Jason reached out and hugged her close, knowing it would be ok. He wasn’t going to lose Beverley, and she would be able to accept everything he and Merlin might do in the coming weeks.

  “Mr. Carpenter. I mean, Merlin. Would you do another one? Please?”

  Theatrically, Merlin thrust his right hand forward, throwing the sleeve back to the elbow. Twisting his hand as though turning a doorknob, his fingers began to close. As they clenched inward, the illumination from the floor lamp halfway across the room left the bulb and floated through the air, coming to rest in his palm. The room was as brightly lit as ever, but the bulb in the lamp was completely dark. Merlin massaged the ball of light in his hand, causing it to pulse and shift like a ball of putty. Suddenly he snapped his hand shut into a tight fist, sending tiny shards of light spiraling through the room like a thousand miniature spiral nebula. One by one, the sparkles spun homeward toward the light bulb as Merlin brushed his hands together as though clapping off dust, sending the last few sparks into the air.