The cold wind felt like razors scraped through his face, and pile of snow wasn’t making it easy to walk on the narrow path. The journey to the kingdom of Deneos was tiring, but he knew they had to make it if he wished to save his kingdom. Merlin urged Alexander to hurry as it would get dark soon.
"Hurry up, Alexander. We still have a long journey ahead of us, and we have to find shelter before it gets dark."
"But why are we in a hurry for shelter? We can handle anything that comes at us, so let’s keep going until we reach Deneos," Alexander said.
"I know we can make it, but he can’t. He’s still just a child and he will have to be protected," Merlin said as he pointed at the boy on his back. The village boy, Dante, had followed them on their journey since he had no family left. He slept soundly on Merlin’s back as he was stil recovering from whatever the demons did to him, but Merlin was happy enough to carry him. "I see some lights in the distance, maybe there are people there who might be willing to help us."
At that moment they seemed to have gotten their energy as they started splinting towards the unknown unkown lights. When they got to the lights they stopped to catch their breath. The lights were coming from a small village in the middle of nowhere. Merlin knocked at the door of one of the houses and an old woman opened it, she had a bright smile on her face. "Welcome strangers. I imagine you are also stuck here because of the heavy snow?" She said at Merlin and Alexander.
"Yes ma’am, and if you can help us with shelter for tonight I promise to compensate you for the trouble," Merlin said as he reached out for his bag of coins.
"Nonsense young man. Here in our small village we believe in helping people, so keep your values and come in," The old woman said, and she pulled Alexander inside.
Her home was nicely built for a peasants, and she had fine furniture too. The warmth inside the house made Alexander smile and he sat down immediately to rest. When Merlin walked inside the house the first thing he laid eyes on was a young woman sitting on a chair drinking something that he only assumed was tea. This young woman had curly white hair and beautiful grey eyes, and the way she was dressed made her look like she did not belong here. She was donning a beautiful white dress and the jewelry she had on were too expensive for a peasant to casually wear.
"And oh, these guys are also my guests here. They got stuck just like you guys so treat each other kindly," said the woman, and she pointed at the young woman drinking tea and the man that stood behind her.
"It’s nice to meet you all. My name is Isaac and these are my younger brothers, Alexander and Dante," Merlin lied, but he knew it was best to keep a low profile because his name was known throughout the world. "And I’m sorry but I didn’t get your name, ma’am," Merlin said to the old woman.
"Oh sorry. I’m miss Rosa. It’s nice to meet the three of you. So are you young men coming Deneos?" The old woman said, and shook Merlin’s hand.
"No ma’am, we came from the kingdom of Lunira," Merlin answered, and the woman seemed amazed since it was a long journey from Lunira to Deneos. Alexander just kept quiet because he knew it was best to let Merlin do the talking. Merlin looked around the room and tried to find the best place to lay down Dante, who was still soundly asleep.
"Can I put my little brother here?" Merlin asked as he pointed at the soft carpet in the room, and miss Rosa just nodded at him.
The room was awkwardly silent. They were strangers forced under one roof by the storm so they had nothing to talk about, but Merlin felt the need to break the ice and started a conversation. "My lady, are you a princess?" He asked the young woman drinking tea, and Alexander just let out a little sigh.
"No, I’m the daughter of duke Kingsley," the woman said but Merlin had no idea who that was.
"Oh, okay," those were the only words that came out of Merlin. The awkward silence continued for a few more minutes before miss Rosa asked a question. "So are you guys hungry?" She said and the loud grumbling of Alexander’s stomach was all the answer she needed. "I made some soup earlier, would you like some?" She said and went to her kitchen.
Miss Rosa came back with plates of soup and handed them to her guests. "You should also eat, lady Laila," Rosa said to the young woman.
"No thank you, ma’am. I already filled up on some fruits on our way here," the young lady said.
"Nonsense, food tastes better when eaten with others. So I insist you join us," Rosa said to the woman.
"Oh, so your name is Laila? What a beautiful name," Merlin said as he looked in the young womans eyes. She just rolled her eyes and proceeded to drink the soup miss Rosa gave her. "Alexander, can you please wake up Dante? He hasn’t eaten all day," Merlin said to the prince.
Merlin continued his flirtation towards lady Laila, but all his attempts were unsuccessful as she just ignored him. "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful your eyes are? It’s like staring into stormy clouds. They look both fierce and beautiful," Merlin said to lady Laila. The man standing behind Laila just gave him a death glare, but Merlin ignored him.
"Thank you. But this isn’t going to work, Mr Isaac," lady Laila said.
"Come on, give me a chance. I could take you out on a date tomorrow. I hear the kingdom of Deneos has some beautiful places to eat," Merlin said, and lady Laila couldn’t help but smile at the man. Merlin had never taken an interest in any woman so this was the first time he’s ever had a crush.
"Alright I will give you one chance, so don’t waste it," said lady Laila. She drank more of the soup, but something felt wrong. Her hands started getting numb and she started shaking uncontrollably. When she looked at Merlin his head was just bent on one side and he also failed to move his body.
"Merlin, Merli-" Those were the only words that came out of Alexander’s mouth before he fell unconscious. Merlin tried to move his body but he couldn’t, and when he tried to chant a spell all that came out were mumbled words.
Rosa walked inside the room. She looked at everyone and smiled. The sweet old lady smile turned into a sinister smile.
"Don’t worry, this isn’t poison. You guys will just fall asleep for a while and wake up in the morning. I’m only here for the boy," she said as she pointed at Dante. "Someone paid me a lot of money to get him, but I didn’t think it would be this easy," she laughed. Rosa’s body started changing from a sweet old lady and into a blond haired woman who looked to be 20 or so.
’A shapeshifter,’ Merlin thought to himself. He tried once again to move his body but failed, so he could only watch as the woman lifted Dante from the floor, and started walking out. She never realized that Dante was still awake, so the boy took the opportunity and proceeded to smash half the house onto the shapeshifter with an ability that seemed to control earth. His sky blue hair shined bright and so did his eyes, and his power was only getting stronger.
The shapeshifter was lying on the ground as she had been knocked out by Dante. Dante checked on Merlin and Alexander but there was nothing he could do but wait for them to wake up.
******
Morning came and Merlin was the first one to fully recover. He dragged the shapeshifter from the rubble and tied her to a chair.
"LLARETAW," he chanted a spell and a small bubble of water appeared on his hand, and he splashed it on the shapeshifter’s face and she woke up.
"What the hell?" The shapeshifter shouted.
"Who are you? And who sent you? It’s best you answer truthfully because I’m not against torture," Merlin said. He pulled out his magical staff and pointed it at the shapeshifter.
"Okay, okay I will talk. My name is Rosa I didn’t lie about that. I was paid a lot of money to kidnap that boy," the shapeshifter said.
"I’m glad you aren’t stupid enough to resist. So who exactly paid you to do the job?"
"I-i never saw their face. They wore full body armor, and all I know is that they work for a faction called the Holy knights. I swear that’s all I know," she said. Merlin seemed more pissed at the mention of the ’Holy Knights’. He went to Alexander and tried to wake him up but it was no use as he was still stuck in the slumber.
"How do I wake them up?" Merlin asked with concern for the prince and the others.
"I don’t know. The potion was given to me by the knight. He said that it can even work on a god, but he also said they naturally wake up," the shapeshifter said, but this answer made even more concerned.
"Fuck. Do you know what you have done? The potion you gave them is a poison to normal humans. It will kill them!" Merlin angrily said. "And if they die I swear so will you."
"Please, please I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to harm anyone. B-but how did you wake up if it kills humans?" The shapeshifter said, and the fear in her eyes could be seen.
"Because I’m not human, you fool," Merlin said, his voice was cold and void of emotion.