CHAPTER SEVEN
Author's Note: Merlin finds a kindred spirit. Morgana wants him back but she's not the person he once knew. Can he still love someone who's soul is slowly darkening?
A bounty hunter had come to Camelot. He was talking to Uther about a girl who had escaped her confinements and he told the king that he would hand out a reward for anyone who brought him the druid girl; as Uther would pay much more to see the girl burn.
Arthur was out with his patrol, searching the lower town for her.
Gwen was scrubbing the floor when Morgana walked in. She had a worried look on her face as she started pacing in front of her window, it was like she hadn't even noticed Gwen was there.
"Morgana? Are you alright?"
Gwen's voice cut through Morgana's thoughts and she turned to her maid servant.
"A bounty hunter is looking for a druid girl, Arthur is out looking for her now."
Gwen looked up at her mistress and put the scrubbing brush down.
"Why does this trouble you?"
Morgana started wringing her hands nervously.
"Maybe she doesn't deserve to die, Gwen, what does it matter that she is a druid? She hasn't hurt anyone."
Gwen nodded, she understood Morgana's unease at the injustice of it all.
"Uther's law is harsh but maybe she had used her powers in a bad way." She suggested. Morgana looked at her.
"So just because she has magic she is instantly branded evil?" She snapped.
Gwen frowned and shook her head.
"No, I believe that magic is only based on it's user. It can be neither good nor bad, it's just how the person decides to wield it." Gwen said.
Morgana's fury left her and she smiled sympathetically at Gwen.
"I'm sorry, Gwen, I just feel so sorry for the girl."
She went to Gwen and pulled her into a friendly hug.
Gwen hugged her back and Morgana sighed.
"I hope Arthur doesn't find her."
Merlin was sitting with the druid girl, making sure that she had enough to eat and drink. She was a small girl with brown hair and deep eyes.
Her name was Freya and she was a indeed a druid girl but the reason she was being hunted was because of her curse which Merlin had quickly found out.
As soon as the night fell, she turned into this strange creature, with the body and head of a midnight black lioness and the wings of a giant vulture who prayed on humans. When she awoke the next day, she had to deal with the all consuming guilt of the night before.
Merlin emerged from Freya's hiding place and nearly bumped into Morgana.
The smile on his face was wide and she raised an eyebrow as she looked down at the partially empty plate he was carrying.
"Hungry were we, Merlin?" She taunted.
"A little." He answered.
She peered over his shoulder.
"So you wouldn't be hiding anything or anyone down there, would you?"
He shook his head and his gaze avoided her scrutiny.
How could he think that he could lie to her and she wouldn't know? Foolish boy.
She picked up a small chicken leg that had not been touched and bit into it.
He watched her with puzzlement.
After just one bite, she put it back on the plate and grinned thinly at him.
"It's funny how sometimes food can smell like a wounded druid girl." She whispered.
His smile disappeared and he found himself pleading with her.
"Please, Morgana, don't say anything, Uther will have her killed, you that."
She shook her head and chuckled.
"I wouldn't say anything, Merlin, It is not the girl's fault that she was born this way."
"Actually she..." He trailed off.
"Never mind, thank you for your discretion."
She smiled.
"Not at all." She went to turn away when she stopped and looked back at him.
"You are helping this girl purely because of what she is, yes?"
He nodded.
"Yes."
"And there is nothing more to it than a sense of duty to your own kind?" She questioned. He forced a smile.
"Duty, that's all."
She returned his smile and nodded, turning away once more.
That was the second lie he had told her.
Freya remianed in Camelot for all of four days.
Merlin had made a good job of hiding her and Morgana had kept to her word.
She decided that it was best to go and see the druid girl, to let her know that she was amongst friends.
Little did she know that Freya was thinking of running away again.
Morgana went to where she had found Merlin a few nights before and went quietly down the steps to Freya's hiding place. She had brought some food from her own chamber to save Merlin from getting into anymore trouble.
He was caught stealing food once before from Arthur.
Morgana rounded the corner and stopped dead. Her lips parted in shock and the plate nearly left her weak hand.
She had expected to see Freya but she did not expect Merlin to be there with her. Freya's hand was on the back of Merlin's head as he kissed her gently, much the same way he had with Morgana.
Her heart broke all over again and she turned, fleeing the place and heading for the forest, throwing the plate into a barrell as she did.
She didn't care that Morgause would not be there, she just needed to get away.
She went deeper into the forest and the dark until she was sure she was lost.
Her only light was from the moon that hung in the sky.
Morgana stopped in a patch that was lightened by the moon and sank to her knees, sobbing. Everytime she shut her eyes, she saw Merlin with Freya. It only made her cry harder and she fought for control. How could he do this to her? She thought that there was no one else for him but her and she knew that he was the only one she had ever cared enough about in her life to slip past those barriers she had so carefully constructed.
Morgana had lost track of time as she sat with her knees drawn up to her chest, her head snapped up when she heard the familiar sound of the warning bell.
A deep throated growl soon followed and as she looked up to see a black, winged creature fly over the trees. The next thing she heard was Merlin calling out for Freya.
She glanced and kept perfectly still as he raced past her.
She got up and followed him. He was going after her but by the sound of things, Freya was wounded.
Merlin had found Freya alone by the lake, the wound had not healed and she was dying, that much was clear. He had her in his lap and he cradled her as tears flowed down his cheeks.
Morgana watched from behind a tree and she could hear what he was saying;
"Don't leave me, Freya." He was pleading.
Freya reached up and touched his face.
"You have been kinder to me than anyone I have ever known, Merlin and I am glad to have met you." She rasped.
Merlin put his head to hers' and sighed.
"I said I would leave with you. I told you I would leave everything behind for you."
Her smile was weak.
"You belong here, in Camelot, Merlin, as much as I love you, i could not ask you to give that up for me. I am cursed but now finally, I can rest, knowing how much we loved one another."
Merlin cried fresh tears and Morgana frowned. She couldn't deny that it was hurting her to see him like this.
Freya died in his arms and Morgana stayed as he put leaves and anything soft he could find into the boat that sat by the bank.
She decided to leave and let him say his goodbyes alone. As she walked away, she glanced back and saw a large flame erupt above the lake.
It took six long months untill Morgause came to see her sister.
She met her late one night, below the palace.
Morgana waited untill she sensed a presence behind her and turned, smiling brilliantly at her sister.
She ran to her and held her tightly.
"It has been too long Morgana." Morgause said sincerely.
Morgana nodded in agreement.
"How have you been?"
"Fine. Uther continues to kill the innocent but as you said, that can soon change." She added with a smirk.
Morgause looked pleased.
"So you agree?"
Morgana nodded.
"I do. It's time that Camelot was ruled by someone honest and fair."
Morgause was more than pleased by her sister's eagerness to dethrone Uther and told her of her plan. Uther must die, there was no getting around that, so the plan was that a powerful spell had to be cast over Camelot. If every single person in the kingdom had somehow fallen into a deep sleep, the king would have no one to protect him and it would be easy after that, to seize Arthur and throw him in the cells.
For a spell this powerful, there had to be a vessel and that was where Morgana played her part. She was to be the vessel and it was through her that this magic would work, without her, it would be rendered useless. She agreed and Morgause told her that she needed time to prepare.
Morgana agreed and went back to Camelot untill Morgause was ready, she said that she would need no more than a day and that once everything was in place, the spell would take effect immediately.
Gwen and Arthur hadn't talked much since she first came to Camelot but over time, they had gotten to know each other pretty well and Merlin who wasn't as stupid as Arthur thought, saw that his master cared very deeply for Morgana's maid servant.
The Lady of Camelot had also started to notice but had kept quiet as Gwen did not seem to want to talk about it with her and Morgana had to respect her wishes. She might ask her later though.
They were all having breakfast with the king and Gwen and Merlin were there should they be needed.
Merlin filled Morgana's cup when he saw that it was empty and she ignored him and Gwen went over to do the same task for Arthur.
Morgana caught the hint of a smile on the prince's face as Gwen asked if he needed more water. He was staring at her all the time and if he wasn't careful, Uther would notice so to save him from himself, she grabbed his attention with some taunting.
"Arthur, I saw you in training the other day, you looked a little sloppy."
Uther stared at his son and Arthur shot her a look.
"I beat all of the knights, I think you were watching the wrong person, Morgana." He replied.
She shook her head and took a sip form her cup.
"No, it was definitley you."
Uther frowned.
"I told you, Arthur to keep up the training or you'll slip up. Morgana is only watching out for you."
Arthur clenched his teeth and forced a smile as he bit out;
"Thank you, Morgana."
She smiled back pleasantly.
"You're welcome."
Merlin came to stand beside her and bent low.
"Would you like anymore meat, My Lady?" He asked as he held a plate full of it out to her.
"No." She snapped and waved him away.
She was still hurt. He seemed fine.
He took a step back and straightened.
She couldn't be around him anymore and got to her feet.
"Excuse me."
She left and Arthur soon followed. He cornered her outside the hall and frowned at her. "Why did you say that in front of my father?" He questioned.
"It was either that or for him to catch you drooling all over Gwen."
He blushed slightly and looked away.
"I was not drooling."
"So admit you care for her?"
He paused and sucked in a breath.
"No one can know about this, Morgana, I mean it."
"Then stop making it so obvious." She shot back and left him to think on that.
In the stables, Morgana was standing with her horse, a beautiful white mare.
She would ride no other unless the horse needed a rest. She stroked her nose and spoke to her softly.
The stable door opened and she looked up to find Merlin walking in. He had been cleaning out the stables. His hair was ruffled and he had bits of hay sticking to his clothing, luckily, he wasn't covered in anything else.
He bowed his head and went around to another stall to tend to another horse.
She ignored him and went back to petting her horse.
Morgana watched as he moved to the stall next to hers. She sighed, realizing that even though she was hurt about seeing him with Freya, she had told him that there were no hard feelings and she should not be angry with him for that. Plus, Freya had died and only he knew about that.
"I am sorry about Freya." She said suddenly.
He stopped. He couldn't see her and instead he carried on sweeping the stall.
"That was months ago." He said without emotion.
"Still, it must have been difficult, you loved her after all." She said sympathetically.
He stopped sweeping.
"I was just helping her."
The sweeping started again and she chuckled softly.
"Come on, Merlin, I would have to be blind not to see it. Your smile whenever you talked about her, your whole face lit up... I had never seen you so happy. Plus..." She took a deep breath,
"I saw you with her."
He stopped sweeping again.
"What do you mean?" He asked carefully.
She rolled her eyes. She hated having to say it.
"You were kissing her... I came to bring her some food and I saw you." She told him.
She heard him sigh and then footsteps as he came into her horse's stall.
She looked up as he walked in.
"I understand how you must have felt, Morgana."
She offered him a tortured smile.
"It was just jealousy. Jealousy that she could have you and I could not."
She looked down at the rings on her left hand.
"I heard you tell her that you would have given everything up for her, would you have ever done that for me?"
Merlin sighed and stared at her.
"My first love will always be you and if I thought that there was slightest chance that we could be together, I would have taken it by now."
He was telling the truth.
Morgana locked her eyes with his.
"Uther is the only one who stands in our way, Merlin."
He nodded.
"I know but when Arthur becomes King-"
"When Arthur becomes king, things will be no different."
She sighed.
"If there was a way for us to be together but Uther had to die... would you do it?"
Merlin frowned and shook his head.
"No... that would be murder."
"Uther has killed so many innocents, Merlin. His death would not mean a thing."
Merlin took a step back from her.
"I agree with you that Uther's law is not right but I would not kill him. That would make us just as bad as he is."
Morgana rolled her eyes and sneered at him.
"Merlin, always so responsible, do you ever get bored of doing the right thing? What about doing the wrong thing to get the right results?"
He walked away from her before she said anymore.
This was not the Morgana he knew but there was something in her that pulled him like an invisible force, a force that he was close to giving into...
He couldn't help himself. He was at her door as soon as everyone had gone to bed.
He knocked and when she opened the door he walked in quickly, shutting and locking the door behind them.
He was breathing hard and the grin that seized her lips was almost too much.
He frowned at her.
"I don't know why I'm here."
She shook her head, her grin widening.
"I don't care."
She grabbed the back of his head and crushed his lips to hers.
He closed his eyes and dug his fingers into her loose hair. This was very different than Freya, this was like fire, searing his very being, threatening to engulf him if he held on too long. He didn't care, he wanted to be here and it was clear that she felt the same. He backed her up towards her bed and layed on top of her as she pulled him down, with his lips still on hers'.
He pulled back slightly to look at her.
"Is this wrong?"
She raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.
"Do you care?"
He shook his head and kissed her again.
His lips travelled from her mouth to her throat and she moaned with each scorching flick of his tongue.
Her hold of his hair tightened and he hissed against her throat which only made her more aroused.
"I never thought you could be like this." She whispered into his ear.
He laughed deeply and pushed the white gown off her shoulders. She let him kiss her bare shoulders and hissed as he nipped at the soft skin.
She helped him remove his jacket and shirt and admired the smooth skin that to her surprise, actually had some muscle there.
She smiled approvingly and ran her hands across his chest.
"Well, Arthur has been working you hard, hasn't he?"
He grinned at her and went to remove his scarf when she put a hand on his to stop him.
"Leave it."
He obeyed and kissed her again as she dug her nails into his back, bringing her knees up as he grabbed her thigh.
She sat up straight, causing him to back off of her and he knelt by her bed as she turned her back on him and lifted her hair to show him the laces of her gown.
"You need to untie these."
He obliged, even though his hands were shaking, and the dress practically fell away.
She stood on her bed and the gown polled around her feet, leaving her bare before him. He stared at her in wonder. Every part of her was flawless and he longed to hold her again.
Morgana's eyes which had darkened glanced down at his trousers as he came to a standing position again.
"You can't do much with those on now, can you?" She teased.
Merlin undid the buckle and let them slide to the floor.
He was strong and stood tall but he still had the shyness of a boy even though he was near to becoming a man, the man that Morgana knew could please her the way she wanted and so desparately needed.
They were both virgins after all. Well, as far as she knew and not that it mattered.
He would be as gentle or not, as she told him to be. He was respectful in that way. Merlin's eyes widened as Morgana sank down onto all fours and crawled towards him, her eyes glittering.
"My, you are ready aren't you?"
Colour flooded his cheeks and she grabbed his scarf, pulling him onto the bed with her...