3 - IN WHICH MERLIN TELLS OF THE NEXT QUEST

Merlin was moved to the guest bedroom, and Lance dressed his wound properly. For the rest of the day and through the night, Merlin slept.

He woke at noon the next day and asked for water, toast, and four Advils. “Magic is good, but magic plus medicine is great,” he said faintly. He ate, swallowed the pills, and went back to sleep.

He woke again at dinnertime. Artie was in the room reading a comic book. Merlin looked at the thin boy who had freed him from his prison, the invisible tower. Merlin couldn’t believe it: after all these centuries, after all his suffering, after all his scheming, his plan was working.

Merlin whispered, “My boy, how are you?”

Artie looked up from his comic book and said, “Good, I guess. But how are you?”

“I’ll be fine,” Merlin said, a smile creasing his face. “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner.”

Artie shrugged. “Don’t sweat it.”

Merlin propped himself up. “It must have been hard to wait. I know how badly you want to get your friend back.” He paused for a moment before adding, “In fact, Artie Kingfisher, we need to get her back.”

“Of course we do—she belongs in Shadyside, not in the Otherworld!” Artie insisted, but clearly Merlin meant something more. Artie stood and asked, “What’s going on?”

Merlin started to get out of bed. “It’s better if I tell everyone. Are they here?”

“Yeah, they are. But I want you to tell me first. I am the king, after all.”

Merlin gave Artie a hard look. “As you wish, my liege,” he said with a little less sincerity than Artie would have hoped for. “Qwon’s in trouble. She doesn’t have much time.” Merlin raised his head and looked Artie in the eye. “We need to get her so she won’t be killed.”

“What?” Artie asked, taking a step backward.

“I’m sorry, my boy. We have ten days.”

“Ten days? What are you talking about?” The fact that Artie wasn’t already there, actively helping Qwon, was killing him.

Merlin stood. “When you and Mr. Thumb opened the crossover at Serpent Mound, things were set in motion. Things that can’t be stopped,” he said. “The worlds became aware of one another. If they are to continue to reunite—and then remain united—you must open the King’s Gate on Avalon before the next new moon rises.”

“I don’t understand—” Artie began.

“It really would be easier to explain this to everyone at the same time, my boy.”

“Okay,” Artie blurted, his heart beating through his chest. “But tell me one thing.”

“What is it, sire?”

Again, Merlin’s tone sounded slightly condescending, which Artie didn’t dig at all. “Is she all right?” Artie asked.

“As far as I can tell, yes.”

“Good,” Artie said, his heart rate easing. “Let’s go see the others then.”

Artie helped Merlin downstairs and into the living room, where everyone was engrossed in some TV show. “Ahem,” Merlin said.

Kay spun and exclaimed, “Merlin!” Bedevere switched off the tube, and they took turns giving Merlin a heartfelt welcome.

As they settled down, the wizard asked what they’d been up to while he was away. “Not much,” Kay answered. “School, chores, sword practice, video games, school.”

“Target practice,” added Lance.

“Trying to understand algebra,” Bedevere lamented.

“Preparing the store to reopen,” Thumb said from a small chair on the coffee table. He’d been in Cincinnati until the night before, taking care of the IT, which had been closed since the actual invisible tower had come crashing down around it.

They chatted idly for a few more minutes, awkwardly avoiding all the things they wanted to talk about. Finally Artie, his knee bouncing furiously, leaned forward and urged, “Forget us, Merlin. Tell them what you told me!”

All eyes whipped to the wizard.

Merlin tried on a well-meaning smile. “Qwon is in trouble,” he said.

“What kind of trouble?” Kynder asked.

“I’m afraid her life is in danger.”

“And we’ve got ten days to rescue her!” Artie said desperately.

Kay stood and said, “Ten days? What are we waiting for?”

Merlin held out his hand and patted the air. “We can’t be hasty, dear Kay,” he said. “You saw what happened to my leg. I was lucky to get out of there alive. Morgaine is quite powerful.”

Kay plopped back down and asked, “But why only ten days?”

“Something about the new moon. Something about Avalon,” Artie said.

Bedevere huffed as Merlin said, “Yes. If the next new moon rises and Artie hasn’t yet gone to Avalon to open the King’s Gate, then all crossovers—whether open or closed—will be sealed for a thousand years. Excalibur’s pommel will no longer work, and everything we’ve fought for will be for nothing. You will not become king—”

“And Qwon will be trapped in the Otherworld,” Kynder said.

“Precisely,” Merlin said gravely.

“Then let’s go to Avalon!” Artie blurted.

“Yeah, like, tonight!” Kay said.

“Ha!” Bedevere laughed. “No one has been to Avalon in ages. Isn’t that right, Merlin?”

Thumb answered for the wizard. “That is right, Sir Bedevere. But we will go there. And once we do, the game is changed.”

Artie leaned forward and said, “It’ll be my whatchamacallit . . . my coronation, won’t it?”

Merlin and Thumb nodded together. “Yes, sire,” Merlin said. “Once you are returned to Avalon, you will be the king of Otherworld, and all there must bow to you, including Morgaine, who will be forced to return your friend. If not, she will pay the price.” The wizard looked giddy with anticipation on this last point.

“How do they get to Avalon then?” Kynder asked, a little nervous to let his children go off on another quest for the ancient wizard.

“By retrieving the Seven Swords,” Merlin said matter-of-factly.

“Ha!” Bedevere repeated, even more defiantly than before.

“Hey, c’mon, Beddy,” Kay scolded. “What’s so hard about getting a few more swords? We’ve proven that we’re pretty good at that already.”

“The Seven Swords aren’t your average swords, Kay,” Bedevere scoffed. “They’re only the seven most magical blades of the Dark Ages. One of them is Excalibur, which, inconveniently, is being held by our enemy. Most of the others have been hidden for a very long time!”

“Not anymore,” Thumb said, nodding at Merlin.

Bedevere’s eyes widened as Merlin said, “It wasn’t easy, my dear Bedevere, I’ll give you that. Researching the locations of the Seven Swords was a major project of ours during my detention in the invisible tower, and all the work has paid off. We have found nearly all of them!”

“And while Excalibur may be under wraps at the moment,” Thumb said, “we already have one in our possession.”

“Cleomede!” Artie exclaimed.

“Precisely.” Merlin beamed. “The others are Gram, a Norse broadsword; Kusanagi, a Japanese katana; Orgulus, a French rapier; The Anguish, a bizarre fairy blade; and lastly the mysterious Peace Sword. This one has special meaning. In the old days it was used by the traitor Mordred to kill Arthur the First.”

“Whoa,” Artie said.

“Gram, which like Excalibur can only be retrieved by its rightful owner, is in Sweden,” Merlin said. Lance quietly pumped his fist, happy that this time he might be able to help—even if he couldn’t go to the Otherworld, he could definitely jet to Sweden.

“Kusanagi is in a strange part of the Otherworld,” Thumb said, “that can only be accessed from a crossover in a remote corner of Japan.”

Merlin continued, “Orgulus is in a castle that exists simultaneously in both this world and the Otherworld.”

“And The Anguish,” Thumb added, “is safe in the hands of its rightful owner—a fairy named Shallot le Fey—in the Otherworld land of Leagon.”

There was a pause before Artie asked, “And what about the Peace Sword? The one that killed the original Arthur?”

Merlin frowned. “A guard in Fenland wields it. Sadly, we haven’t yet discovered who this guard is.”

“We’ll have to figure that out,” Thumb said.

“In the next ten days,” Kay added with a note of sarcasm.

“Yes, lass,” Thumb confirmed. “We will do it.”

They were silent for a few moments as this news sank in. Artie’s mind spun, but no matter where it went, it kept returning to Qwon. He had to get her back, alive and well. He thought about the last time he’d hung out with her, when she caught Artie and Kay playing with Cleomede in the backyard. She’d taken a turn with Kay’s sword, and Artie remembered how expert she was at wielding it. Then it hit him.

“Qwon’s important for another reason, isn’t she?” Artie asked Merlin directly.

Merlin squinted as he said, “Yes, she is.”

“Kusanagi—the Japanese sword—it’s Qwon’s, isn’t it?” Artie guessed.

“Yes, my boy,” Merlin said with a smile.

Kay couldn’t believe it. She threw up her arms and said, “And I suppose Gram belongs to Erik Erikssen? I’m pretty sure he’s like a thousand percent Norse, or Swedish or whatever.”

“Ha! Right! Can you guys imagine?” Artie said with a laugh.

But neither Merlin nor Thumb returned his laughter.

“Actually, yes,” Thumb said.

“What?” Kay blurted.

“This is all pretty convenient,” Kynder said. “Artie, Kay, Qwon, Erik. All in Shadyside?”

“Convenient my foot,” Merlin quipped. “Do you have any idea the lengths that I had to go to get these children’s families to move closer to you? The Onakeas are from Hawaii. Imagine how hard it is to convince Hawaiians that their lives will be better in Pittsburgh—nothing against Pittsburgh, of course, lovely place. The Erikssens were easier since they were from Ohio, but even so.”

“So it’s not all a coincidence?” Kay asked. The idea that she and Erik, who happened to like her a lot, were meant to spend time together was slightly nauseating.

“No, Kay, it’s not,” Merlin said.

“It makes sense,” Artie said, standing up. “It’s why Qwon knew what she was doing with Cleomede that day, Kay. It’s why Morgaine could key in on her. She’s like us. She’s . . . different.” Merlin nodded, and Artie continued, “All right. How do we go about this?”

The wizard smiled. “Using the pommel, you will leapfrog around this world and the Otherworld, opening crossovers as you go, seeking out the Seven Swords. Naturally Morgaine will try to stop you when she can. Of course she wants to prevent you from returning to Avalon, but she also does not want the crossovers opened. They devour magical energy through the ether, so more open crossovers equals less power for Morgaine, and the less power she has, the easier she will be to defeat!”

At this Merlin clapped his hands excitedly.

“Fine, but how are we going to get Excalibur?” Artie asked.

Merlin sighed and said, “I’m still working on that.”

“Great,” Kay said flatly.

Artie wasn’t totally satisfied either, but what choice did they have? He said, “Okay. Let’s get started. Like, now.”

“Tomorrow, lad,” Thumb said. “We’ve got to recruit Erik first, and also ready ourselves.”

“Yes—tomorrow,” Merlin said. “I’ve drafted a half dozen magical letters that will enchant whoever reads them, making them unaware that you’re not around. They’re for Erik’s parents and your school, since you’ll be absent for the next week or so. Lance—can you run them to the post office in the morning?”

“Course,” Lance said. “Then can you send me to Sweden? I really want to help find Gram. I don’t enjoy feeling like a fifth wheel so much, you know?”

“Of course, Mr. Lance,” Merlin said with a broad smile. “But this time you can help in any way Artie sees fit. You will be joining us in the Otherworld!”

“What?” Lance barked.

“That’s right! I’ve brought back some talismans that will enable you to cross as easily as Artie or Kay or Mr. Thumb.”

“Hoo-ah!” Lance said, standing up and knocking his chair over. He bounded into the backyard whooping and hollering.

“That’s awesome,” said Kay, happy to know they’d have another ally over there.

“Seriously,” Artie agreed.

“Well,” Kynder said, smacking his thighs and standing up. “Merlin—why don’t we let the guys take this all in? I have to go and do some dishes. Do you feel well enough to give me a hand?”

“Yes, of course,” the wizard said, easing out of his chair. He joined Kynder and they went into the kitchen, leaving Artie, Kay, Thumb, and Bedevere to talk about going back to the Otherworld.

Kynder rinsed dishes and Merlin loaded them into the dishwasher, and for a while they didn’t speak. Kynder broke their silence when he said, “Merlin, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Yes?”

“A few weeks ago you mentioned that Arthur was genetically engineered by someone in the Otherworld.” Merlin nodded. “Do you know who it was?”

Merlin put down a plate and removed a smooth, dark pebble from his pocket. “Take this, Kynder, and keep it with you at all times. I need you to do something for me. You must come to the Otherworld this time as well and go to the Great Library of Sylvan. I need you to do some research for us.”

“Okay . . . ,” Kynder said cautiously, taking the pebble.

Merlin cleared his throat and said ominously, “The children cannot know what I am about to tell you. Promise you won’t tell them.”

Kynder’s grip on the little stone tightened. “Okay, I promise,” he said hollowly, almost like the wizard was casting a spell on him.

“Morgaine, Lordess of Fenland, made Artie. I know it sounds crazy. But King Arthur needed to return so he could get Excalibur and free me. And I needed to be freed so that Morgaine could try to kill me. She never could have reached me in the invisible tower. It was my prison, but it was also my refuge. Her plan went awry—she never intended for Artie to be stolen from her—but the end result is the same. I stand here before you a free wizard.”

“Whoa,” Kynder said, his hairs rising along his neck.

“I know. Now, this is what I need your help with. According to the Lady of the Lake, it’s not just Morgaine who wants to kill me. Excalibur does too. I need you to find out why the sword wants me dead.”

Kynder pursed his lips. “Okay,” he said, feeling a little dazed. “But what should we tell Arthur?”

“We’ll tell Artie that you’re being sent to the Library to try to discover the identity of the person who wields the Peace Sword.”

“Got it,” Kynder said, clutching the pebble with purpose. Already he could feel the Otherworld’s power pulsing through it.

This time, when his kids went to the Otherworld, Kynder Kingfisher would be going too.