A Legend Entrapped: Part II

 

We had to find out more about the sorcerer who trapped King Arthur, so we asked him what had happened.

“It was Gaul, one of my knights. I guess he wanted to be king. I didn't know that he was a sorcerer. Merlin warned me about trusting him, but I just thought he was being paranoid. One night, I couldn't fall asleep, so I went out for a walk on my own. As I passed his room, I heard him murmuring something; and when I opened the door and stepped inside, I found myself unable to move.”
“He did a binding circle?” mom asked.

“Yes, and he said he was taking my place. He locked the door and put another spell on me. I couldn’t call for help. I couldn’t make a noise. He then started chanting in a foreign tongue I had never heard of before and held out a book. All I remember after that is my vision fading to black and waking up here.”

“Okay, now that we have a name, we can get started.”

“What do you mean, mom?”

“We will use King Authur’s blood to perform a spell. We’ll summon him here and trap him in the book.”

“But what if he’s released by another witch, the same way King Arthur was?”

“Not if we burn the book with him in it.”

King Arthur intervened and said he wished to kill Gaul with his own hands, but my mother refused. “No, you’re just going to give him time to think of a counter-spell. We do things my way and get rid of him properly.”

Mom and I collected some herbs and chemical compounds and mixed them with King Arthur’s blood. She wrote a spell down for me to practice as well. While I prepared, she drew a circle with sigils to summon and bind Gaul. When I was ready, we finally began the chant. Soon, a shadow appeared in the circle, spiraling until forming a humanoid figure. Gaul was entrapped.

Gaul’s eyes widened when he saw King Arthur. “You… I sealed you away in a book! I see, so these two let you out.”

He looked at me and frowned. I assumed he thought I was Genevieve for a moment as well. King Arthur grasped his sword, but mom stared at him and shook her head. He released his grip on the weapon and backed away. Mom and I kept chanting until Gaul was pulled into the book and sealed away. We continued to chant even more until a blue ring emanated from it and vanished into the air like mist.

“It’s done,” mom said.

“Is it, really? Thank you so much. You have my eternal gratitude.”

“It isn’t over yet,” she replied, snapping her fingers and lighting the fireplace.

King Arthur rushed to the book and grabbed it. He wasted no time tossing it into the flames. The book began to rattle in the fire; we heard muffled screams rising from it as it burned away and turned to ash.
Mom cast one more spell to be sure Gaul had not escaped. He didn’t. Later that day, King Arthur bade us farewell and handed over a dagger and an amulet to remember him by. Mom and I then chanted a spell to send him back to his own timeline.