A/N Possible missing scene from episode 3x3, 'Goblin's Gold', after Merlin gets arrested.
Taunts
Merlin felt the rough stone scrape against the back of his head, sharply pressing against the skin. His eyes were shut against the desolate view in the present as he reviewed the past, flicking between the images of the last few days, tasting the bitterness of folly as over and over again he sprang the lock on the box and let the wretched Goblin out. Curiosity killed the magician. It felt like such an anti-climax, getting condemned to death for wielding magic, when for the first time in a long while he hadn't done anything of the sort. He'd done much worse in the past, right under the king's very nose in fact, and had somehow gotten away with it. Not today. It was funny actually if you looked at it sideways.
Merlin didn't need to open his eyes to know that someone had approached and stood on the other side of the bars. Although no sound reached his ears to indicate that he had company Merlin felt their smug disdain crawling over his skin.
"You're not supposed to be down here," he commented absently, as he slowly opened his eyes to gaze at the Witch.
Morgana stood back from the bars, her lips curled in the same smirk she'd had on her face when he got dragged out of the Throne room, her eyes cold.
"I hardly think that matters."
Under his fingers Merlin felt the dirt, like grit, roll between his skin and the stone floor; his mind recalling all the others that had sat there, touched that patch, leaving a momentary imprint of themselves while they awaited execution. Some were lucky to be pardoned, and others less so. A piece of straw brushed against his fingers, feeling hollow.
"So you've not come to set me free then?"
She laughed, it sounded sharp and brittle. "Now why would I do that? This is precisely where I want you," she tilted her head, her voice condescending, "and I didn't even have to lift a finger to get you here."
Merlin rose to stand inside his cage and moved closer to the bars, closer to her. He shrugged slightly, his eyes never leaving hers, summer sky meeting the forest frost.
"I would've thought you'd want to help someone with magic..."
"You don't have magic Merlin," she sneered back, cutting him off with the same contempt in her tone as when she'd said it down in the vaults. "Uther is just blinded, as usual, but this turn of events works out very nicely for me." The smile returned with the self-satisfied tone, but it didn't reach beyond her lips.
Merlin gripped the bars in front of him, exasperation edging his tone, as he tried to impress on her the gravity of what was occurring above their heads at this very moment.
"Gaius is controlled by a Goblin..."
"Oh, of that I have no doubt," she replied seriously, "only a fool would think that the real Gaius would turn you in like this." Another dig at Uther, and Merlin could feel his knuckles turn white as he twisted the numbing metal beneath. Morgana continued, "Gaius said some very strange things to me when I saw him earlier, but possessed by a Goblin explains it well."
Merlin remembered the havoc that had already been wrought and recalled Gaius' warning. Goblins were dangerous. He stared across the void between Morgana and himself; although physically he could reach out and brush the silk of her sleeve their minds were separated by a yawning canyon.
"You have to stop it..." Tone pleading he desperately tried to reach across the void with his voice, light stretching out to darkness.
"Stop it?" her voice pitched in disbelieving astonishment, once again cutting him off before he could explain. "Why would I stop it? It has made Uther look the fool many times over and thrown the realm into chaos. It has even gotten rid of you. You might say I owe it a favour."
"It will turn on you, like it turned on me," he warned, even now trying to protect her despite everything.
"Then I will just have to be ready for it," Morgana smirked, before again letting it fall away in pieces. "Maybe now you will finally understand why Uther's rule should be stopped," her voice was stung with hate, and her lips twisted from their bitter frown into a contorted smile, "Pity you won't live long enough to appreciate it."
Sure that her final parting barb had hit its mark she turned away from the bars and left, throwing a last taunt of, "Goodbye Merlin," over her shoulder. The cold stone bounced her words back and forth mercilessly.
As the sharp footsteps faded away from him Merlin sank down onto the bed, resting his interlinked hands on his knees, and bowed his head again, eyes once again shut against the desolate view.
Only after he was sure that no one was watching did he allow himself a small smile, because the Lady Morgana was wrong. She was wrong in so many ways. She was wrong about the Goblin, but more importantly she was wrong about him. Merlin looked at the lock on the prison door and with a flash of gold both unlocked and re-locked it in an instant.
There was no way he was letting that blue monster remain loose any longer than he had to. Letting his eyes shut once more against the desolate view in the present, Merlin reviewed the future, letting each new image slide into place as he planned his escape.