Legacy: The Mark of Merlin. Gerald Pruett

with you, but as I said, the king’s men are hunting me and I’ve lived too many centuries to die now. Anyway, Breena, I’ll try to make this as quickly as possible for you.”

      Tears flowed down Breena’s cheeks as she said sullenly, “I don’t want to die.”

      “Neither do I,” Marbella said before casting the incantation to destroy Breena. The incantation was short and within seconds, Breena screamed as she was being consumed in a burst of flame.

      Once Breena had disappeared from sight, Marbella stepped up to the decorative mirror and recited another incantation.

      When the glass of the mirror clouded over, she instructed, “Show me the wizards and sorceresses who will be born during the next forty years.”

      When a group of people with russet skin appeared in the mirror, Marbella ordered, “Show me their land and how to get to them.”

      Marbella’s eyes had widened in horror when the mirror had shown her that the only wizards and sorceresses who were to be born in the next forty years were located in what will be known in the future as the New World.

      “That’s across the monster-infested seas, and in a part of the world I’ve never heard of before. Show me something closer.” When the mirror couldn’t show Marbella anything closer, she continued with, “Okay, Breena will not be the last sorceress who I’ll switch bodies with. So if a wizard or a sorceress won’t be born within the next forty years, then I’ll have to change that. I’ll summon a spirit of a dead wizard… of a powerful wizard, and I’ll have that spirit impregnate a few women. That should give me a few options. And hopefully the king won’t discover them and have them executed before they reach eighteen.”

      During the passing minutes, Marbella prepared the incantation and then cast it to bring forth a spirit of a powerful wizard.

      It took thirty minutes to prepare the incantation and summon the spirit. Once she had sent the spirit to the sleeping women throughout Britain someone began to pound on the front door.

      Marbella quickly moved to hide the evidence that sorcery had been used and just as she was hiding the last of the evidence, the sound of the front door being forced open was heard.

      Marbella moved towards the door and saw ten soldiers piling in. When the leader of the group saw Marbella, he uttered, “Good Lord, Breena! What are you doing here?!”

      “Marbella invited me.”

      “Marbella is a sorceress,” the leader quickly informed. A staged expression of surprise came across Marbella’s face. “So you shouldn’t be here, and you shouldn’t be out at all after dark.”

      “It’s dark out?!” Marbella uttered in her staged sincere tone.

      “It is…”

      Again Marbella’s sincerity was staged as she interrupted with, “Wow, the time had slipped away from me!”

      “I’ll make sure you get home safely,” the soldier assured her. “Right now though, I need you to tell me where is Marbella.”

      Marbella gestured towards the door while saying, “She stepped out to get some water. That was some time ago though.”

      A second soldier stepped up and suggested, “Marbella could’ve seen us coming and took off.”

      “Possible,” the leader said. He then barked out, “Torch the place!”

      “Is that necessary?” Marbella quickly questioned. “I mean, since Marbella is gone, what will torching the place solve?”

      “It will make anything in here useless,” the leader said. “So if she’s outside watching us, and waiting for us to leave so she can gather her magical charms then she’s going to be leaving this region empty handed.”

      Marbella gestured towards the mirror while saying, “I like that mirror. It’s pretty. So can I have it?” When an uncertain expression came across the leader’s face, Marbella begged, “Please?”

      The leader sighed before turning towards one of his men and saying, “Make sure that Breena gets home safely and assist her with the mirror.”

      “Yes, Sir,” the soldier said.

      Marbella hugged the leader in a staged gratifying manner while saying, “Thank you.”

      “Okay, well, you need to get home,” the leader said while breaking her hug.

      “I will,” Marbella assured him as the soldier assigned to escort her home was removing the mirror from the wall.

      “And next time, Breena, keep better track on the sunlight. You shouldn’t be out this late.”

      Marbella nodded while saying, “I will.”

      The soldier assigned to escort Marbella stepped up with the mirror in his hands while saying, “Let’s go, Breena.”

      “Bye,” Marbella told the soldiers.

      “Bye,” the soldiers echoed before Marbella could follow her escort towards the door.

      As Marbella was living Breena’s life during the passing days, she learned that Breena would get cryptic psychic dreams.

      Marbella had switched bodies with a sorceress who was also a seer once before, so although Breena might not have understood what she was dreaming, Marbella certainly did.

      As the days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, Aldan and five other women were showing signs of being pregnant; however, when Marbella consulted the mirror, only Aldan was going to give birth to a wizard.

      After Merlin was born, and during the passing years, Marbella kept an eye on Merlin, and kept him from harm.

      By the time Merlin had reached the age of eight, Merlin had discovered that he had magical powers. Marbella was surprised that Merlin’s ability was emerging before he reached adolescence. She also had quickly instructed Merlin to keep his powers a secret, and as an incentive for him to do so, she offered to teach him a few things in the art of magic.

      As instructed by Marbella, Merlin had kept his secret, but after Merlin had reached the age of ten Aldan had learned about Merlin’s secret as well.

      After Merlin had reached the age of fifteen, Marbella woke with a terrible psychic dream of Merlin being too powerful of a wizard for her to swap bodies with.

      Marbella quickly got out of bed and stepped up to the mirror. After casting the incantation, Marbella instructed the mirror, “Show me what would happen if I attempt to swap bodies with Merlin.”

      Marbella’s eyes had again widened in horror when the mirror had shown her, her death if she would attempt to switch bodies with Merlin.

      “Show me what would happen if I attempt to swap bodies with any of his children.”

      Again the mirror showed Marbella her death if she would attempt to switch bodies with any of Merlin’s children.

      “Merlin and any of his children will be too powerful for me to swap bodies with.” Marbella then rhetorically asked, “How can I fix this problem of these wizards and sorceresses being too powerful for me to swap bodies with?”

      Marbella was slightly stunned as the mirror showed her the answer. She then smiled before saying, “That’s it. The powers of Merlin’s children must be split and I know exactly how to go about it.”

      During the following six nights, as Merlin slept, Marbella would cast an incantation that gave Merlin terrible nightmares. In his nightmares, Merlin’s evil-doing children would be as equally as powerful as he, and his children would kill him in the future along with turning the world into a hellish wasteland.

      Because of the nightmares Marbella was giving Merlin, Merlin was only averaging three hours of sleep each night, and after a week of not getting enough sleep, Merlin sought out his twenty-six-year-old magic tutor for advice.

      Marbella