Obstacles
by Soledad
Disclaimer: Arthur, Merlin and the other characters belong to the BBC. I'm just borrowing them to have some fun. No copyright infringement intended, no money made.
Part Four
Morgana hurried along the siege tunnel with a burning torch in one hand and hiding a clouded glass bottle in the folds of her hooded black cloak with the other one. She had almost reached the bottom of the long, steep stairway that led directly to the women's wing in the Citadel (if one knew where the hidden trap door could be found, that is), when she heard the heavy footsteps of a man behind her.
"Hold!" a voice called.
"Hleap on baec!" she hissed, without looking back, slamming the stunned knight backwards into the wall.
The crack as his head hit the stone was most satisfying, but she did not waste her time with looking whether he was dead or alive. He wasn't her concern.
She hurried up the stairs, reaching the top of the stairway, where Agravaine was waiting for her with another torch burning, slightly out of breath. Not as much that she wouldn't be able to snap at him, though.
"I thought you'd keep the guards away from here," she said, clearly irritated.
Agravaine frowned. "I did. I ordered them all to the strategic points of the Citadel, to keep the refugees safe."
"Really? What was Sir Osbert doing in the siege tunnel, then?" she demanded.
"Perhaps he was trying to flee Camelot," Agravaine guessed; not all new knights were the stellar examples of young manhood, after all. "I'll see him suitably punished tomorrow. Right now, we have more pressing issues. Do you have the draught, my lady?"
"Here," Morgana lifted the small bottle, but when Agravaine reached for it, she grabbed his arm and forced him tin the knee with surprising strength that could not have come from her thin body alone. "Where's my precious prey that you've promised?"
Agravaine hissed in pain. She was becoming more unpredictable the longer she dwelt in the woods alone. Having her back to her proper place in Camelot seemed more urgent, all of a sudden.
"Presumably on her way to my chambers already," he replied. "You shouldn't keep me from returning, my lady, lest she might feel that something is amiss."
She gave him an icy look but let him go.
"I'm beginning to wonder whether I should really trust you, Lord of Bois."
"You need not to worry, my lady," he answered slowly. "By being your mother's daughter, you shall always have a claim over me. You cannot ask anything that I wouldn't do for you; for she meant everything for me. Everything."
She nodded impatiently, clearly understanding neither the full depth of his devotion nor the roots of it… and not particularly caring, either.
It mattered not. Uther might have snatched her away after Gorlois' death, but it had been him, Agravaine, of whom the Lady Vivienne had extracted a solemn vow on her deathbed. A vow that he would look after her little daughter; would see that she was happy.
For many years, he had lived in constant guilt for not having been able to take on a more active role in Morgana's life. He could not take her from Uther, after all. But he wouldn't fail her – wouldn't fail Vivienne – now, when she needed his help most.
~TBC~