“I suppose that is true,” Lancelot said with a half smile as he moved to stand with King Pellinore and the still struggling Ywain.
“We thank you for understanding,” Gawain said, mimicking Sir Kay’s bow.
“Right then, we should set off before the guards on the wall realize we’ve been standing out here for quite a while. Kay, Gawain, if you would stand here with me.”
“How will you get us inside?” Sir Kay asked as he stood on Merlin’s left side.
“I did a bit of trickery on the stone wall, so when I activate my spell it will let us walk through it.”
“Brilliant,” King Pellinore praised.
“Thank you,” Merlin smugly said. “The problem is the wretched greenery,”
“Greenery?” Gawain asked.
“Yes. I know how to work a basic transparency spell on rock, live wood is an entirely different dragon to slay. Because I can’t get the wood to let us walk through it, I’ve added a second spell which will shoot us up, letting us hop over the brush and into the wall.”
“Hop? That doesn’t sound too bad,” Gawain said.
“We shall see,” Sir Kay said, not as easily convinced.
“Right, hold on to me. At the count of three the spells will activate. You don’t need to do anything, just stand there and relax. Try not to tense up when we collide with the wall,” Merlin said.
“Collide?” Gawain asked.
“Here we go,” Merlin said, ignoring the younger man’s uneasy tone. “One, two, three!”
Unfortunately all did not go quite as planned.
Between the count of two and three Lancelot—who previously was relaxed and motionless, burst forward and grabbed hold of Sir Kay. He yanked him backwards—wrenching him off Merlin—before elbowing him in the chest and clinging to Merlin in his place.
Merlin, surprised by the sudden change and unable to stop his spells, accidentally poured a little more power than he meant to in the jump spell. Instead of ‘hopping’ over the bush as Gawain hoped, Merlin, Lancelot, and Gawain rocketed into the air, traveling at least twenty feet up before they zoomed towards the wall.
“Oh dear,” Merlin muttered before he wildly gestured.
The wall hurtled closer. It must be confessed that both knights shut their eyes rather than see the looming structure. Passing through the stone was like walking through a particularly thick bit of fog, but both knights scraped or jostled a body part on a piece of the stone wall that did not have Merlin’s magic coating it.
They were flung through the wall, landing on the (thankfully) steady roof of a cottage built against the wall. Merlin landed stiffly on his feet, but both Lancelot and Gawain crashed to the ground, rolling a bit.
“That was good luck. I sent us too high in the air, for a moment I thought we were going to hit the wall instead of pass through it. It’s a good thing I was able to extend the area affected by the spell further up the wall,” Merlin said, smoothing his hair.
“M-my head scraped the rock. I could feel my hair streaming against it,” Lancelot said.
“That’s what you get for upsetting my calculations,” Merlin said, jamming his hands into the sleeves of his robe.
“Frightening,” was all Gawain could say as he pushed himself up on his knees. He scuttled across the cottage roof, reaching the edge of it.
“It worked out in the end, I suppose. I hadn’t thought of what might be on the other side of the wall. If we were any lower we may not have cleared this cottage. That would have been an uncomfortable realization,” Merlin said, tapping his foot on the straw covered roof.
Gawain released a shaky breath and fell off the side of the roof while Lancelot stayed where he was—most likely paralyzed with fear.
“Good show, all around. So, shall we search for Arthur?” Merlin asked, hopping off the cottage.
Gawain shook his head and tried to stand. Up on the roof air leaked out of Lancelot in a high pitched whistle.
Merlin rolled his eyes. “Really, even Arthur has a better stomach for magic than you two. I will search alone, then. You weaklings recover,” Merlin said before he set off at a brisk walk.
“Uncle Urien is right. Wizards must be h-half mad indeed,” Gawain sputtered once Merlin was out of sight.
“Yes,” Lancelot agreed. “At least half mad.”
The following scene I actually thought through and planned for while writing Embittered, but I didn’t include it because Britt isn’t in it, and as I mentioned before I try to keep my scenes fixed on her. This scene occurs right before Sir Kay escorts Britt out to Duke Maleagent’s camp to challenge him to a joust. It explains why Sir Kay decided Britt’s borrowed horse was an acceptable mount. It was a blast to write, I hope you enjoy it.
“I thought Arthur would be leaving shortly for his fight with Maleagant,” Lancelot said as Sir Kay led him through the woods.
“He is,” Sir Kay said.
“How can he ride off to his fight without his horse? And aren’t you going with him?” Lancelot asked.