Page 90 of Swords and Curses

"Where are we?" Rosa shivered, her magic bringing a flame to her hand.

"Ynys Enlli," he answered, shaking the water from his hair.

"We…we are on Bardsey Island?" Rosa stammered, and then the penny dropped.Arthur. "You buried him here?"

"I did, but not where anyone could find him. The cave on the other side is a convenient rumor," Merlin answered.

"Damn, I came here on a uni expedition. I meditated in that damn cave." Rosa flushed.

"Did you receive anything?"

"Only a damp ass."

Merlin's barking laugh echoed through the cave, and it hummed with resonance. "Come on, Rhosyn, let's see if your vision was real."

CHAPTER THIRTY

The tunnel was dry as Merlin navigated through the passages, occasionally touching the rock to deactivate whatever trap he had set. Rosa clutched the back of his jacket as a reassurance.

With each step, Rosa could hear the steady beat of a heart, as if the whole cave system was alive and breathing. There was a light up ahead, and the breath froze in her throat. It was just like her dream.

As they entered the forest of glowing trees, they flared brighter as if responding to the proximity of their creator. In the center of the room was the sarcophagus. Merlin hesitated, stopping in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" Rosa asked.

"Nothing… I haven't been here for many years, that's all."

"Why come now?"

"You saw him wake," Merlin whispered. "I could use my friend right now. There was no fighter or tactician like him. I always said that if I ever had to go to Hell for something, Arthur is the only man I would trust to go with me."

"Then why stop now?"

"Are you so impatient with everything in your life?"

"Are you such a chicken shit when it's something that matters to you?"

"Infuriating child!" he snapped, but there was laughter in his voice.

"Grumpy old bastard," she retorted. When he still didn't move, she gave a frustrated sigh and walked over to the sleeping king.

Arthur looked the same, as if he was only taking a light nap, his deep red hair shining in the artificial light, and his fine clothes slowly getting eaten away by age. He was powerfully built, and he would be over six foot tall when he was standing.

"If he wakes, won't the poison start to kill him again?" she asked tentatively.

"The spell I put on him was only to wake him when the damage to him had completely healed," Merlin said from the other side of the chamber.

Rosa reached into the sarcophagus and received an electric shock when she touched the hilt of his sword. She looked expectantly at the long hand holding the hilt. Not even a twitch. She ran her fingers over his hand, feeling the pulsing life in them, and her magic reached out to touch it.

For a moment, there was nothing, and then there was a spark, like lightning being shot through her veins and the fingers tightened over hers.

"Merlin!" Rosa looked up at his shocked face. "Merlin, Itoldyou!"

He was beside her in a moment, looking down at his friend, face drawn tight with emotion. He placed a hand on Arthur's forehead and whispered in the Unseelie tongue.

Arthur shuddered all over before his slate blue eyes opened, fixed on Merlin's face, and smiled. It was as if it somehow heightened every great thing about him, and Rosa blusheddespite herself. Merlin touched Arthur's throat gently, and the king coughed roughly, sitting up.

"Myrddin, you mad wizard, what in God's name did you do to me?" he asked in a thick, Welsh brogue.

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