Praetorian Series [3] A Hunter and His Legion (55 page)

Merlin rolled his eyes and leaned in.  “
I know you’ve seen, read, and played enough fantasy tales to know that magic can, in fact, be very limiting.”

“So
are you confirming that the orb is magic based then?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“So its technology based then.”

“I also know that you’ve seen, read, and played enough
science fiction
stories to know exactly what I’m getting at.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, indeed knowing pretty much exactly what he was getting at
. “Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law: any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.  Blah blah blah.  Give me a break…”

Merlin leaned back and sighed in contention
with his eyes closed, waving a hand across his face. “A beautiful quote.  Poetry to my ears, in fact.  You have no idea how long it’s been since I’ve heard someone speak with such clarity.”

I was about to counter my own argument by stating th
at such a sentiment only applied to primitive beings with no knowledge of science or technology, and that it didn’t apply to a smart guy like me from a time period with the very same science fiction author who coined that very quote, but then something in Merlin’s wording caused me to stop and rethink what I was going to say.  I waited for Merlin to interrupt me like he always seemed to do, but he simple sat there, gazing at me.

“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 ne
ed 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 ra
ised 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 what 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.