King Henry

Chapter 53 - Merlin's Potion

***** Eleanor's Point of View *****

Merlin was driving the carriage at breakneck speed through the streets of London towards the Forbidden Forest as Eleanor sat in the back, cradling Henry's head in her lap as his body laid out across the seat.

"We can't go the usual way!" Merlin shouted. "Most of the streets out of the city have been blocked off. I just hope we can get there in time!"

"In time for what?" Eleanor asked, but Merlin ignored her question, or he didn't hear it.

She hoped that whatever he was planning to save Henry's life was going to work. She ran her hands through Henry's dark hair, looking at his handsome face that was now pale and cold to the touch. She would give anything to have him back, to see his cheeks flushed with color and his eyes looking up into hers again. She wanted that more than she had ever wanted anything.

She could tell as soon as they had entered the forbidden forest because it got dark and the temperature dropped at least twenty degrees. The road was also more bumpy and she could hear the howl of coyotes in the distance.

It wasn't too long before the carriage came to a stop and the door next to Eleanor opened.

Merlin helped her carry him into his house where they laid him onto Merlin's bed.

Merlin frantically walked around his cluttered house, searching through piles of books before he found an old leather-bound one that said, "Restoration Potions" on it in gold scribbly letters.

He sat the book up on the easel and flipped through page after page until he came to one and stopped saying, "Ahhh. There it is. The Lazarus potion to bring someone back from the dead."

"Have you ever made that potion before?" Eleanor asked. "And has it ever worked?"

"I've only tested it on animals, but it's the only chance we have," Merlin said, waving his wand at the cauldron and saying, "Accendo."

Suddenly a neon green fire ignited underneath the cauldron and Merlin started scrambling around the room, searching shelves, cabinets and drawers for ingredients that he threw over his shoulder into the cauldron.

"Five petals of Ambrosia, one jar of Ash Hopper Jelly, Blisterwort, Blue Dartwing, Blue Mountain flower, Butterfly Wing, Charred Skeever Hide and Cork bulb root," he said as he added each ingredient into the pot, which was now bubbling and glowing a neon green.

"Blasted!" he shouted, slamming his fist down onto the table, looking frustrated. "I'm missing an ingredient! I need one eye of a sabre cat and I can't make this potion without it. It's at least a two day hike up into the mountains to find one that we could kill and we can't wait that long."

His owl Archimedes hooted in the corner, ruffling up his feathers and Merlin told him, "This isn't the time for treats you selfish bird. Can't you see I'm doing important work here?"

Eleanor thought it was strange how he would talk to his owl as if it knew what he was saying.

Archimedes flew off of his perch and landed on top of a large pile of boxes stacked haphazardly in the sitting room, letting out a squawking sound as he pecked his beak at one of the boxes.

"I'm sure I didn't put it in there," Merlin told him, but the bird squawked again, pecking even more insistently on the box.

"Fine," Merlin exhaled. "I'll take a look but it's a waste of time. I know it's not there."