Merlin's Broken Heart

A Story by Peter Joseph Swanson

This is an excerpt from my published paperback novel

Merlin said, “But I feel so sad!”

Arthur pulled on him. “So what. Feel sad somewhere else.”

“I want to be back in the Realm of Dragons!”

“Now! As the prince, I order you. We go! Posthaste!”

Merlin grumbled to Arthur, “Someday when your heart has a heavy ripping pang, you’ll want a sprained ankle to distract you, and you’ll know what I’d felt.”

“I’d never marry twice,” Arthur said. “That’s begging for trouble.”

Merlin stated, “Second marriages have always been thought of as hope over experience. I should receive praise for my efforts to live in hope when I should know better. Go ahead and marry only once. If you get a good wife it’ll make you a good man. If you get a bad wife it’ll make you a good King.”

“You sure?” Arthur frowned.

“The only thing that’s sure is that earth is a nightmare of mundane dirt.”

Parsifal said, “The world isn’t so terrible to me!”

Merlin made a face at him. “Aye. To be so young, handsome, healthful and rich, the world is your baked turnip. How happy we all are for you. I’d sing and dance for you but I might hurt my other ankle.” He pointed his stick. “Let’s go.”

After walking an hour in silence, Arthur asked, “Is it fitting for a wizard of the wild to take the hospitality of an abbey of Christendom?”

“They have ale.”

“That’s your reason?” Arthur asked. “But what if they want to burn your thumbs or screw you to the stake, whatever it is they do to wizards?”

“I know Abbot Babble Blaise well, and he already knows that I’m Merlin and I don’t have to hide anything from him. Remember I had him scribe for me. My only true complaint about the monks is that when they’re not drunk, they’re sober.”

Parsifal was dismayed. “What kind of a monastery doesn’t care about Christian ways?”

“The true mission of that abbey is to provide sanctuary for all the poor orphans of the demon bell and wasteland blight.”

Arthur was impressed. “Really?”

Merlin said, ‘Nay, it’s really just to make a very happy ale.”

“Nay,” Parsifal disagreed. “It’s to pray for our souls and make ale.”