HI! Yes, I finally, finally got to post this story! YES! The season finale showed in America last night, so I'm free of spoilers for my American readers who actually WAIT for the show to come on TV. I am not one of those. Note that there may be some things I put that will not coincide with s4. Can't be helped. As for betaing… It's unbetaed at the moment, because I'm waiting to see if DarkAngel2112 wants to beta me.
Also, I'm not going to make you wait and guess about the title. There is a very obvious reason for it. Xyla, in Arabic (I think it's Arabic) means "Of the wooded land", and a lot of this should take place in the woods. I thought about the title "Silvae" which means "of the woods" in Latin, but decided against it. Also note I wrote this a while ago, so I can't promise anything about the writing style. Hopefully it's okay.
I will try my hardest to update once a week. If I don't, check my profile for my excuse.
This is rated T for possible sight name-calling and/or language later on that is not completely appropriate. I could get away with calling it K+, I know, but I'm paranoid and way too sheltered. So there you are.
Here's the sequel to Scheming Woman at long last! ENJOY! All spells are Welsh. Probably incorrect Welsh.
Prologue
The dark-haired beauty fell to her knees, dropping the person she held in her arms. That person was in no position to complain, but was completely still as the woman placed her hands on the root-and-twig-strewn forest floor, gasping. After a moment, she caught her breath and looked up at the sky, her green eyes flashing gold.
"Gwneud i mi gryfach."
The words, layered with magic, seemed to make her feel better, and she stood up again, once more picking up her unconscious companion nearly effortlessly.
"Don't worry," she told the one in her arms. "Soon we'll find her, and you'll wake again."
Then she lifted her head and kept on, deeper into the lush green forest. They were almost there. She looked to both sides often, eyes alert. "Any minute now," she kept muttering, and suddenly, as though there was some silent signal, she whispered, "We're here."
We're here. The words seemed to echo, to spread throughout the forest, filling it up to the brim. She put her companion down on the forest floor, checking to make sure there was nothing sharp that could cause any damage to her body. The woman smiled to herself as she stood back up, but the smile faltered after a few minutes when nothing happened.
In a second, she was scowling. He better not have lied to me. To me! This is where that worthless man said she'd be, the healer-girl. He looked like he was telling the truth.
And he had. His arms had been shaking as he faced her, and his eyes had spoken of nothing but sincere fear for her and her power, and even her silent, sleeping companion. "I'm sure she can heal that one," he'd said. "She's been training in medicine for over a year, and she's powerful. She's sihirli kisi. A magic woman."
Her mouth, that so many men found so appealing, twisted into a little pout. "Hello?" she called, inwardly planning all the things she would do to that man if he had lied…
"Hello."
The voice and the crunch of leaves announced the entrance of the one she'd come looking for.
The woman, her dark waves swirling about her shoulders, spun around to face the stranger. She looked her up and down critically. Another woman, younger than herself, but not by much. She was mildly attractive, at least, the woman noted, but if the flirtatious, long eyelashes were anything to go by, men would find her very attractive indeed. Her eyes were brown and soulful, annoyingly so. Her nose was thin and wrinkled itself up in a cutesy expression a lot. A flirtatious wench, the woman guessed. Her hair matched her eyes, brown, the common color.
Interestingly, she wore a faded blue neckerchief over her billowy shirt and tight trousers. That reminded the woman of someone… Someone that her blood boiled to even think of…
"Can I help you?" asked the girl, her head tilting to the side.
"You are Xyla?"
"I am."
The woman stepped aside and let her see the unconscious one.
Xyla gasped. "She's injured! What happened? Who is she?" The brown-eyed girl rushed to the side of the sleeping female, all of the words coming out in one concerned breath.
"My sister. She was… hurt. She's dying, and they told me you could fix her." The woman's voice cracked a little, showing that she cared despite her cold demeanor.
"How long has she been asleep?" asked Xyla, feeling the blonde's wrist for a pulse.
"Several days."
"An accident?"
"Not exactly. Can you help her?"
"Of course. My pack is behind that tree – just there. Please get it. It has herbs and such."
"You can't just use magic?" questioned the black-haired woman suspiciously.
Xyla smiled up at her indulgently. "You said several days since she'd been injured, did you not? Am I the healer or are you?"
The woman simmered a little at her impudence, but wisely did as she was told, watching as the girl began to enchant spells over her sister. "Merlin," she muttered as she put the cloth bag by her sister, remembering the name her sister had muttered during the brief time she had awoken. Remembering how the blonde had insisted it was Merlin's fault. "He'll pay for this," she growled, her rage boiling inside her.
Xyla froze, hand extended to open the pack. "What did you just say?"
The woman shrugged. "Nothing."
Xyla looked momentarily suspicious, but then she shook her head. Drat, I'm imagining things again.
"What happened to her?" she asked the scary-looking woman as she took a creamy substance from her sack and rubbed it over her rough hands.
"I think she was thrown against a wall…"
"Ow, I know how that feels." Xyla seemed to be remembering something painful, for she rubbed the back of her head. "What's her name?"
The woman stiffened. Xyla saw and immediately put her hands up in surrender. "Off-limits? Okay… I suppose I shouldn't ask for yours, either, huh?" Smiling, the healer began to methodically rub the white substance into the unconscious one's temples in a circular motion. "She's going to have a headache when she awakes," warned the healer, and promptly went back to reciting whispered spells.
"Pathetic servant," mumbled the dark-haired woman to herself, and again it gave Xyla pause… Though, of course, she couldn't know who the woman was talking about.
"Servant?" said the healer. "Then… you did say…" Her eyes narrowed distrustfully; her hands stopped moving.
"What?"
Xyla didn't answer, but her hand moved away from the patient's face, towards her hip where no doubt she hid a knife. "What did you say your name was again?"
Instantly the woman's arm shot up and grabbed Xyla around the wrist. Xyla didn't move, but looked up, into the woman's eyes.
The woman wondered, staring at Xyla suspiciously… Was it possible that…? There was one way to find out, a spell Morgause had taught her:
"Gadewch i mi weld y gwir."
"What… stop that; let my arm go… Who are you?"
The woman gasped. "You… you reek of Merlin!" she accused, her nose wrinkling in repulsion and disbelief.
That was going too far. "I don't reek!"
"It's old," she whispered, "But it is still there. Your clothes are tainted with his!"
"I wash them!" Xyla shouted defensively.
"Your hair… your arms… your lips, they all shout out Merlin! You know him!" The woman was terrifying now, her eyes crackling with an electric magic, her face as pale as death…
"I don't know what you mean; let me go; let me help your sister…" The woman's vise-like grip was proving impossible to escape, though Xyla twisted and struggled. Suddenly the woman's hands glowed red, as hot as branding irons, and Xyla yelped.
"How do you know Merlin?" The woman's voice was now completely magical, her eyes were so gold they hurt to look into.
"I… I don't. Who are you?"
"How?"
"I just met him, okay? I saved his life, and he saved me… Let go!" Xyla was scared, tossing her head and pulling away from the woman's grip.
"How long ago?"
"A year? More?"
"You kissed him. Did you love him?"
Xyla tried to smile quirkily. It was hard. "No, I'm just a disgrace to my name, can't lay off the men…"
The grip suddenly tightened, and Xyla jerked, thinking her arm would break. "Okay, okay! I loved him! That's why I wear this stupid neckerchief, anyway."
"Why did you leave?"
"I was supposed to be dead; I tried to kill Uther and… Ow! Stop that; I'm telling the truth, I'd swear it! The man killed my family and friend, I… OUCH, cut that out!" she hissed, infuriated.
The grip lessened, and the woman pulled back. Xyla yanked her arm back to herself, tears in her eyes when she saw the angry burn on it.
The woman smiled, a scary, evil smile that Xyla didn't like at all.
"Finish healing my sister."
Xyla, numb with fright and nearly speechless with shock, actually did. She didn't know what was going on, but an injured woman… That she understood, and could fix.
"My name is Morgana," said the woman, oddly polite, and Xyla looked startled. "You know me?"
"Merlin mentioned you… He said you were gone."
"Did he say that he poisoned me?"
"Yes…" admitted Xyla. "But he didn't want to; he missed you."
Morgana scoffed. "I hate him. He did this to my sister."
"Why?" asked Xyla in a low voice, already trying to make excuses for the man in her head.
Morgana tilted her chin with an air of pride. "We tried to kill Uther, to take Camelot."
Xyla grinned ruefully, an odd expression, considering everything. "I bet Merlin loved that. Don't tell me you went after Arthur, too? Because he won't put up with that; believe me, I know."
Morgana was more serious. "I want revenge."
Xyla's smile fell. She leaned back a little from Morgause's body.
"On Uther, too. And I think you will help me."
"No, thanks, Lady Morgana… I tried that once; I'm not doing it again. I have to refuse…" Her arm went back again, going for the knife she always had under her clothes, her mind thinking up all the spells she could use to defend herself.
Morgana was faster. In an instant, she had Xyla by the arm, and she spat her spell before Xyla's could be articulated.
"I never said you had a choice."
Xyla screamed once as her arm burned with the spell's power. Was it smoke or was her vision blackening; was she crazy or was her mind floating away from her body; was everything spinning?
Morgana's malicious smile was the last thing she saw. And, honestly, she could think of better things to be seeing as she dropped into darkness.