I quietly said the spell that plagued me before, the one that would save us, the one I had spent hours learning, three times.
The first incantation was but a whisper and a singular swing of the sword. A rather large cut in the mountain appeared and the ground shook. The second time was said in my speaking voice and accompanied by two strikes from the sword and a perfect square was made in the base of the mountain.
The last incantation was the most painful because I had to acknowledge the fact that Merlin was gone. I yelled through my tears the final spell and thrusted the sword into the stone. The square spiraled opened and created a passage big enough for us to get through.
Afterwards, I just dropped to the ground and just stared up at the rainy sky. Arthur walked up to me and comforted me and we cried together. Our mournful moment was abruptly ended by the sound of galloping heading right towards us.
The sound of the mountain being cut open had attracted the attention of nearby soldiers and we had no time to lose. We all rushed into the passage but once inside, I didn't know how to close the entrance. The guards had arrived and surrounded us. Paul came out between some soldiers and spoke to us.
He told Nathaniel to go back to the palace and either rule beside him or abdicate the throne. He mentioned how there were rebellions all over Pasiphae over Paul's assumption to power, but with Nathaniel by his side, the rebellion would crumble, which gave me an idea. When no one was looking, I said an incantation and the rock above the entrance crumbled and fell. As it was falling, one of the guards managed to shoot me with an arrow.
After the entrance was sealed, I started a fire and Nara carefully removed the arrow from my chest. Everyone was worried, but it didn't really matter to me. We had other things to do. The most important thing was getting to Ceres.