will happen to a person you know well depends on so many other factors, you can look two, maybe three days into the future and be reasonably accurate, but beyond that, it is open to so many influences.”
He paused for a moment and Merlin sat in thought.
“Of course,” continued Uriel, “There are persons who have such a major influence that we can have a good idea as to what their actions will bring in the future. You are one such. There are others of course, but I am here with you,” he said with a brief laugh.
Merlin smiled at him and nodded.
“Would you like to see a couple of the futures you could be involved in?”
Merlin nodded again.
“Bring your mirror here.”
Merlin got up and went to the shelf he kept his mirror, taking it out of its velvet bag and carrying it over to the table. He sat down next to Uriel so they could both see. “Make it a bit bigger will you?” asked Uriel.
Merlin nodded and pulled at the mirror until it was much larger.
“Call her, please,” asked Uriel.
“Alice, are you there Alice?”
They heard a brief giggle and the sound of running feet; Alice stuck her head around the corner of the Mirror, a big smile for Merlin. Then she spotted Uriel “Mel’Akh,” she said, almost with reverence.
Uriel looked at Merlin “Do you know who this is?”
Merlin shrugged “A dead girl.”
Uriel looked at him, almost in sympathy, “Not even close.”
“Don’t tell him,” pleaded Alice “Please, I mean no harm and I have found a home. I will tell him when the time is right.”
Uriel looked at her and nodded, “Very well, but you must tell him.”
She looked a little sad, “I will,” she promised.
Merlin looked at Uriel, “What is that about?”
Uriel shook his head, “Don’t worry about it, she won’t hurt you, and her history is very sad and brutal. As she said, she has a home and she can do what she has always wanted to do. Help. Shall we get on?”
Merlin nodded.
“All right,” said Uriel, “I am going to show you two images of the future. Child, I will need your help.”
Alice nodded.
“Sinister Albion please.”
Alice shuddered, but the image changed. A blasted landscape, trees stunted or dug up, forests gone, people, dead, corrupted, stacked like wood ready for the fire. Horses, slogging through mud halfway up their legs, on their backs, warriors, but horrific, the armour black and twisted, moving as if it were alive, severed heads, still dripping blood, hung from the saddles, blood streaked ...
The image snapped off. Merlin was surprised to find that he was shaking with anger, that somebody; anybody could do this to HIS land. Uriel looked at him, but didn’t say anything. “Alice, show us Camelot please?”
The mirror changed again, this time though the image was almost bucolic. Orchards and fields, peasants working but happy, a castle nearby, clean and painted, with bright banners hanging from the battlements. A group of warriors rode past, armour clean and polished, laughing as they passed a flagon between them, at their head a magnificent figure wearing a crown and carrying a sword that, even from this distance, Merlin could see contained huge power. As they passed the peasants, a cry of joy and happiness rang out, and the man at the front raised his hand and smiled...
The mirror went back to being a mirror, Alice sat, clearly exhausted. Uriel looked at Merlin. “Well?” he asked.
“Two such different futures,” said Merlin, “When are they?”
Uriel looked at him, “They are both about five hundred years from now, and they are both due to you.”
Merlin looked shocked, “How?”
“The first,” said Uriel, “Sinister Albion, is where you decide to follow your base instincts, to satisfy your desires and look after yourself, to gain what you want. You have ultimate power, everyone fears and bows to your name, there is nothing you can’t do, no whim unfulfilled, there are no gods but you.
“The second, Camelot, is what will happen if you decide to help, put aside your desires. You will find yourself as an advisor, still feared, even hated, by many of the people around you, relegated to a secondary position. Your power is still there, but you need to control it, you cannot do what you want, but only at the instruction of others around you.”
Merlin sat, stunned. The fire had gone out and dusk was rapidly approaching. He felt numb, unsure for the first time in his life. The first was so tempting, power, fear, respect, anything he wanted, but ... And the second, bucolic, happy, but even there...
Uriel looked at him, “You have some thinking to do. I will return, but now is the time to make your decisions,” And, with that, he simply vanished.
Alice looked at him, a little sadly, “Sorry Merlin, I can’t help you with this,” and she ran back into the mirror and out of sight.
Merlin sat and stared into the dying fire. His thoughts tumbling over themselves, fear and confusion, desire and despair, lust and longing, hope and hatred, all fighting among themselves in the depths of his mind.