Chapter 12

Eoric had to explain to Gemma and Eochaid what had happened to him. Gemma had acted on the instructions of his inner voice, but she still didn't know what had taken place out in the field. Eochaid was completely in the dark about the events outside and what had just taken place with the buckets of water. He had been convinced that Eoric was in fact dead and his sudden resurrection had stunned him.

"I had to save you, my love. Nothing else mattered. I sucked up all of the evil blackness that was filling your lungs. Unfortunately that meant that I couldn't breathe, as it was then in my lungs. Somehow my inner self kept me alive until you helped me get rid of the foul vapour," Eoric said.

"But how did you survive with your head underwater?" asked Eochaid.

"The Uruisge is a water faery and it can breathe underwater. When my head was submerged, the water from the buckets entered my lungs and washed out the vapour and I was able to draw the air I needed from the water. I think the spell that Nimue cast was designed to work only in air, not in water. So basically the water cleansed my lungs and I was able to breathe again," answered Eoric.

"But how did Gemma know that she had to put you're head in water? How did she know that would help revive you?"

"When I held Eoric's hand I heard a voice in my head telling me what I had to do," said Gemma.

Eochaid shook his head in bewilderment. He would just have to come to terms with the fact that strange things happened around Eoric. In any event, he was hugely relieved that the boy was alive and well, no matter how that had come about.

There was a strange mixture of emotions felt by all three - joy and relief that Eoric and Gemma had survived, but tempered by deep sadness at the loss of Merlin. Eochaid walked over to look down at the wizard. He took Merlin's dead hands and folded them across his chest.

"We will need to give him a fitting funeral," he said.

"I think he will be happy now that he has re-joined his beloved Arthur. I could sense the depth of his grief when I was connected to him," said Eoric, "you can pay him a fitting tribute, Sire, by carrying out his wish to see the Celts unite and defeat the Picts."

"I planned on campaigning against the savages anyway, but it may be that there is room for some of the other clans to join me," Eochaid replied.

"Even King Beli?" Eoric asked.

"Aye, even him if he has a mind to," Eochaid sighed.

Nimue had returned to her cave. Merlin was dead so he no longer threatened her. That just left the boy, Eoric, for her to deal with. She had lost her trusty servant Garth, but she now had a new agent, one that would serve her well she thought. She had been devious in the extreme when she had cast her last spell during the fight with Merlin and Eoric.

She had gambled that Eoric would be able to save the girl and survive himself, his strength had convinced her that he would manage that somehow. Her gamble had been that the vapour choking off the girl's breath was really a ruse to help hide the true nature of the spell, which was to give her control of the princess.

She hoped Eoric would be so busy with the visible and potentially deadly elements of the spell that he would miss the tiny seed she had planted in the girl's head. Even if he were connected with her he would struggle to identify the seed as it was so small, but it was enough to allow her to see and hear everything that the girl could.

"Yes, I think this might just work out if I play it slowly," she thought to herself.

Eochaid decided Merlin should be given the honour of burial on Iona. He suggested to Eoric that they should make the most of the trip by having the Abbot perform the marriage service for himself and Gemma while they were there.

Eoric was a little dubious about that, fearing that Gemma might not like to have her marriage in the shadow of a funeral. Perhaps that wasn't how she would want to remember what should be a special day for her.

"I think we should ask Gemma how she would feel about that, Sire. I can foresee some annoyance at sharing her marriage with a funeral. That's not the best combination perhaps," said Eoric.

However, Gemma was just happy that the marriage was going to happen at all and had no concerns about it being so close to Merlin's funeral. She immediately began rushing around making various arrangements and left Eoric and the King to organise Merlin's funeral.

A few days later a party of about forty set out for Crinan and the voyage across the sea to little Iona. Merlin's body had been washed and prepared for burial and was wrapped in a pure white shroud. They rode slowly as a sign of respect for the old wizard and as a consequence it took them some hours to reach the little port. The body was handled with reverence as it was carried aboard ship and laid in the prow.

Gemma had kept her wardrobe a secret and two packhorses were required for all of her baggage. Eoric wisely chose not to enquire what she had packed, already becoming wiser in the ways of women.

From the outset those on board the ship knew that this was no ordinary voyage. Four dolphins took up station and swam just ahead of the ship, forming some kind of guard of honour for the wizard's last journey. Eoric sensed their mourning and the respect they had for Merlin. He listened to them sing their own lament, their clicking sounds rising on the sea breeze in a strangely haunting refrain.

The ship sailed into the bay at Iona in the early afternoon and the entire population of the island was there to meet them. The dolphins circled the ship until it reached shallower water then all four raised themselves to stand on their tails and 'walked' backwards, clicking loudly in a final salute then they dived and raced out to sea.

Eoric heard a rumble of thunder and looked up to see that the fine summer's day was rapidly giving way to a summer thunderstorm. The thought of burying Merlin in the midst of thunder and lightning appealed to him somehow and he allowed himself a little smile.

The body was handled carefully once more as it was lifted ashore. Eight of the monks came forward to bear Merlin towards the little graveyard where the Kings of Dalriada were traditionally laid to rest. The party from the ship fell in behind the monks to march solemnly along, their heads bowed in silent mourning.

As the monks reached the grass above the beach, a series of bird cries reached them and twenty Merlins rocketed over them, barely two feet above their heads. The Merlins were all male birds, with a blue-grey plumage on their backs and orange tinted and speckled plumage on their fronts. They were extremely impressive and none there present had ever seen birds acting like this before.

The monks in particular began to watch the hawks anxiously. The birds wheeled around and flew back again, turned and raced back to the graveyard and landed on the dry stone wall. Their beady eyes watched the procession coming towards them and glared at the Abbot who was already waiting beside an open grave to receive the wizard's body.

The weather almost seemed to have been orchestrated, as jagged forks of lightning began to flash dramatically and the thunder rolled and crashed around the island.

The actual internment of Merlin's body was a simple affair, probably as he would have wished it to be. The Abbot said some words over the body as it was lowered and the monks chanted. Eochaid led the mourners in filing past the open grave to pay his last respects and then the monks manhandled a slab of stone to cover over the grave. As the stone was laid in place the Merlins took to the air once more, circling above the graveyard and then they plummeted one by one. Their wings were laid back and they rocketed towards the grave, swooping out of their dives at the last second, mere feet from the gravestone.

This time the birds didn't wheel and come back, instead they flew in single file due eastwards back towards the mainland, their tribute apparently over. No sooner had they gone than the skies opened and a deluge of heavy rain poured down on all those gathered for the funeral, almost as if the heavens themselves were weeping for the departed wizard.

Everyone hurried into the main hall of the monastery building where the monk had laid out a huge feast for them. Meat, fish, bread as well as whisky and ale lightened the mood a little, but it was clear no one was in the mood for a party.

Eoric was sitting at a table with Gemma and the King; quietly reflecting on the man they just buried. It had been an emotional day, particularly as he had been connected to the dolphins and the Merlins and he had been wrapped up in the thunder and lightning too. He had been sure his future was to have been linked to the wizard's somehow and now he felt an emptiness that he didn't know how to fill.

"It seems as if my body has left you, but my spirit is still around, young Eoric. I have been moved by all of this, but a little embarrassed too. The dolphins and the Merlins were a nice touch by the way."

Eoric was stunned to hear Merlin's voice in his head.

"How are you doing that? You're dead, I saw you die and I've just attended your funeral," Eoric thought.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I am without a body, but able to contact you it seems, so perhaps the future that you have sensed for us both might still be possible. My spirit is able to roam at will, wherever I direct it and that might prove useful to you."

"Merlin, I had nothing to do with the dolphins and the Merlins. They appeared without any intervention on my part. Nature obviously felt your passing and responded in its own way, unaware obviously that you're still around."

A broad smile had appeared on Eoric's face as he conversed mentally with Merlin. Gemma could see he had become a little distant and watched as he changed from mourning Merlin's passing to suddenly having a grin on his face. She was intrigued by this and tugged his arm.

"I hope your change in mood represents a change in your thoughts from Merlin and his death to our union, my love," she said

"I promised that there will be no secrets between us my love," he replied, "my smile would have been broader yet if I had been considering being joined with you for life. No, this was something else."

Eoric took Gemma's hand in his and closed his eyes, forging a link between them and letting his energy flow across the thread into her. Gemma jerked as she felt the surge of energy flow through her and then she heard a voice she never expected to hear again.

"Hello, Gemma. It seems I have been granted the opportunity of continuing to look after this errant soon to be husband of yours. I promise to try and look after him and teach him well."

"Merlin? How? Oh, sweet Jesu! We have just lowered you into the grave, but I am beginning to expect the unexpected with this man of mine. Nothing is as it seems. I rejoice that you can be with him, to guide him it may be.

Gemma looked deep into her future husband's eyes and smiled with him. The solemn funeral and wake had changed into a celebration for them both. Merlin wasn't gone completely.

Two days later, with the sunshine bright and warm once more, the Abbot stood beside a makeshift altar on the grass in preparation for the marriage ceremony. Eoric stood in front of the altar and waited for his bride to arrive. He was clearly nervous and kept glancing over his shoulder to see whether Gemma was there or not. He refrained from trying to link with her, but the lack of a connection allowed his imagination to run wild and he was in the process of convincing himself she had changed her mind at the last moment.

There was a great deal of relief therefore when he spotted her on perhaps his fiftieth look. She was simply stunning. She was wearing a plain white gown that she had contrasted with two sashes of emerald green. The sashes crossed her upper body diagonally, emphasising her breasts and they carried on down her back to appear as an edging for a twenty foot white train to the dress.

Eoric managed to continue functioning and thought of one additional touch that could help set off the picture of loveliness that was his soon to be wife. He focussed on the monastery dovecote and twelve white doves suddenly came fluttering down, spacing themselves out and lifting Gemma's train between them so that it was just off of the ground. The watching islanders gasped at this and then applauded, as Gemma's face transformed from worry and concern to delight at Eoric's romantic gesture.

Eochaid was leading his daughter forward and he too smiled at the moment. He decided once more that he had made a good decision in allowing this union to go ahead, Eoric would make a good husband for his daughter he knew.