Plot starts to kick in… and I named a hag after myself. :D
Chapter 2: Mathilde placed a hand on the spiked top of the wooden chair. She wavered her hand over the crystal and whispered,
"Sαµc Lϊthiyøt."A fuzzy picture appeared on the clear face of the crystal and she saw Ithaca running quickly forward, as if escaping something. Then the picture flashed and the crowning of Prince Arthur of Camelot appeared, tears of happiness and longing running down his cheeks. Beside him was a serving boy who looked much too prominent for a mere servant. In the back she thought she spotted her own niece, but the picture flickered before she could get a better view. Now she saw Ithaca falling, her arms flailing but the reason of her fall was rather unclear. The vision shifted again and a Druid boy was holding a brilliant staff of gold and brandishing it in the air. He aimed it at the Prince and murmured the incantation from the Old Religion. But by a strange energy of magic blocked the staff's deadly power and saved the Prince from untimely demise. The last image was Ithaca dueling someone, another sorcerer presumably, but the face was masked by black smoke. Mathilde gasped when she saw the black smoke. Such a sign was always the mark of death which would corrupt everything she stood for. She shuddered and placed the crystal down. Her mind wondered again as to why she wielded the crystals when they consistently showed her visions of the future that upset her terribly. And then what was to come of Ithaca? The visions certainly showed her in quite a lot of danger, but the purpose was still very unclear. Mathilde clutched her chest and moved to rest on the back wall. If Ithaca failed then the Prince would stay alive and that was just relying on the fact that Ithaca would indeed seek revenge. Only this morning she had set out with a magical dagger as her only companion to search for Morgana. Ithaca had always been soft in some ways and never believed in brutal punishment. But Mathilde knew that that would not be enough. She would have to seek for a way to complete the task faster and perhaps put an end to the odd futuristic visions the crystal presented. Mathilde clapped her hands and whispered,
"Alexia, Saristria, µn Isabella, lαre ώσstimé!" Three hooded figures appeared in barely a second's time. Their long cloaks swished the ground and in each of their frail hands lay a staff. They smiled beneath their cloaks as Mathilde bowed regally to the floor, sweeping it with her hand as she moved upward.
"My three Queens," Mathilde smiled clasping her hands together. "I seek aid from you."
"What sort of aid?" asked the one farthest on the left. She banged her staff in a drumming beat on the floor as she spoke.
"Revenge on Camelot. For the death of Morgause." All three hags laughed, long, hearty laughs which caused the ground beneath them to rumble. The shake was forceful enough to make Mathilde stumble. The hag in the middle through her hands up,
"Everyone wants revenge on Camelot and many have asked for our help. You may be a dear servant, but a servant nonetheless. What makes your revenge different from anyone else's?"
"Lady Saristria, please. Morgause was such a brilliant sorceress. Her death almost does not make sense. I am beginning to believe that Uther Pendragon has a sorcerer hidden just to kill all the others. And a powerful one at that." Saristria through off her hood and her bird-like, old features emphasized the ugliness. But wisdom gleamed in her eyes.
"Mathilde what childish accusations you make! Uther Pendragon is many things, but he would dare not keep a sorcerer in Camelot to defeat others. But for Morgause's sake…" the hag on the left interrupted Saristria.
"Where is Ithaca?" she too took off her hood as she spoke. Mathilde glanced around uneasily at the mention of her niece's name. The hag on the right also through down her hood and they all looked as Mathilde with beady eyes that glistened in hungry sorcery.
"Ithaca has left to fulfill her destiny." The hag on the right spat,
"Ithaca- that weak thing-, a destiny? I was really surprised how poor her talent at magic was considering who her mother and sister were. Her father too. Why, Mathilde, even you are far stronger."
"Isabella, not every person of sorcery is bound to be strong. There are many who will not be at the top rank. Others who fall as lowly servants to the higher sorcerers because their magic is so weak," Saristria said sagely to the hag on the right. Isabella turned her glowering eyes on Mathilde once again,
"You'll be wise to tell us where your precious niece is," she said, pointing a long finger nail as her. Mathilde let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. It pained her to feel this way; it pained her to hear Ithaca be spoken of like this. All the child had done was try her hardest. And she was a brilliant swordswoman, if anything. Arian had recognized that and made her is assassin…his court assassin, he had called her.
"Ithaca has gone in search of Morgana Pendragon. I urged her to do so," Mathilde said. She looked all three hags in the eye as she spoke, trying to gain courage she knew she would never possess.
"How stupid!" said the hag on the left who went as Alexia. "You sent a child who is not strong enough in magic, but still possesses sorcery out all by herself to find a half sister whose whereabouts are as of now unknown. If Ithaca meant anything to us, we would have you killed. If she was Morgause you would never have seen another day of light. I can promise you that, Mathilde Spade."
"The poor child," Isabella added, making noises of sympathy, "You have sent her to the black veil of death, Mathilde. Really, haven't you lost enough people in your life?"
"But Ithaca is not the point," Mathilde finally burst out. "Morgause is! Please, help me. You loved her like a daughter too, you know." Saristria held up a hand,
"For the sake of Morgause- as I had stated before- we will aid you. But that does not mean you are any less stupid. And we do not need your help anymore." Isabella and Alexia smiled at each other knowingly. Mathilde paled both in fear and confusion,
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Oh, I think you know my dear. We will avenge Morgause, but you do need to see that day. And we will find your Ithaca and turn her into a sorceress which you could never d," Saristria kept her hand up and her black, purple pools of eyes turned gold. She held up her staff with the other hand and yelled in a clear tone, "Sær nσ϶c-thϊt traµsti!" Mathilde screeched in terror as she flew backwards. A dull thud rang across the room as her hand bashed violently against the stone wall and her body slithered down. Her head lolled to one side, and her arms and feet sprawled lifeless around her non-breathing body. All three hags surrounded her and without their staffs, hissed a single, "Ræώl." Mathilde's body erupted into ash and lay like dirt on the floor. Alexia kicked it away and turned to the other two.
"We must go to Aréda for Orion will give us aid. If the rumors are true, than he is indeed allied with the Sorcerer King," she said, as she traced her long finger nail down the edge of the wall creating a horrible shrieking noise. Isabella nodded in agreement, but Saristria frowned,
"Yes, we can get the aid of Orion, but later. We must first find Ithaca as I told Mathilde we would. For I believe that she may have a powerful bout of magic…seeing her lineage, but I wonder if it is untamed and if Mathilde has never taught her to use it to her full potential. And anyways, Ithaca may lead us to Morgana. She is someone who Orion will aid without a doubt." The other two hags nodded, though somewhat reluctantly, and the three left the room together, their dark cloaks leaving an invisible mark.
Emrys…Emrys…the sorceress is very near. Beware; Emrys… the voice had become very clear inside Merlin's head all of a sudden. It had kept coming back all through the night, though faintly, sending him warnings about this sorceress, whoever she was. He considered ripping his head off, but he figured that that would not be any good.
"Merlin! Stop daydreaming and move!" Arthur yelled as he turned back to his servant. Merlin groaned, but urged his horse in front of some of the other knights who had gotten ahead of him. He came next to the Prince.
"I really don't know why you fancy hunting. It's almost as bad as the melee," Merlin said, as he ran a hand near his sore bottom.
"How many times do I have to tell you how prestigious the melee is? It is only stupid to those who can't fight."
"Of course, Sire. But considering you were almost killed in the last melee, even though it's a violence 'free' competition, I don't understand why you keep on believing it's so great."
"That was against the rules," Arthur snapped. Merlin laughed,
"Since when does any competition truly have rules?"
"That's why magic cannot be condoned," Arthur answered, his voice suddenly solemn. Merlin felt a deep shudder from all the way beneath his skin. An icy silence sliced the air threatening to take over, until Arthur wacked an armored arm at Merlin and motioned him to move forward.
"What was that for?" Merlin huffed as Arthur turned to the knights and nodded. Arthur jumped from his horse and handed the reins to a knight. "Arthur?"
"Shut up, Merlin," he whispered harshly before turning to the knights. "Stay here, Merlin and I will return soon." Merlin got off his horse, rather less elegantly than Arthur did. Arthur rolled his eyes as Merlin plumped to the ground. "Do you always have to be so clumsy?"
"I'm hurting. We were riding forever."
"Your bum hurting again?" Arthur said laughing. Merlin rolled his eyes and followed the Prince. Arthur lead them through overgrown trees and branches and the voice came like a bang in Merlin's head.
She approaches! She approaches!
"Arthur, where are we going?" Merlin asked, but then his ears twitched. He had heard something- a creature, but one unlike an ordinary hunting game. Something…magical.
"We are going to the best area to hunt. Once we get there, you have to go back and bring the others with you."
"Why couldn't we just bring them with us?"
"Because that would defeat the purpose," Arthur answered. Merlin stared at him, confusion clouding his face. But before he could say anything else, a huge dragon-bird like creature came diving from the sky. It was growling and roaring. Merlin looked up and ducked his head. "What the hell it that?" Arthur asked. Merlin grabbed his arm and yanked him forward,
"I don't know, but run!" he exclaimed as the creature went up again and came down for a second dive. It was coming toward Merlin and Arthur, and the young warlock felt useless. He just kept running forward. "Go ahead," he yelled.
"Merlin, what are you talking about? Are you saying that you're going to take that thing on your own? You? Take on a creature- let alone one of sorcery?" Arthur shouted over the wind as they ran.
"Just…" but before he could finish his sentence there was a powerful conjured fire ball thrust into the air which meant the creature. The creature turned distracted and dove toward what presumably created the ball. Then there was a fatal scream and everything went completely silent.