This chapter contains a little bit of suggestiveness near the end, just to warn you. But its not too bad, although it makes Morgana seem a bit strange.
The following morning, Merlin roused Morgana with his knee and woke her up after several minutes. She untied him and was never expected anything different in his appearance or attitude. He returned to the dungeon to release Arthur. Gwen and Gaius.
"She didn't expect anything," Merlin whispered to everyone as he opened the door. "Sorry, you all still have to stay in here, I can't release you without raising suspicion," he told the knights."Its alright, Merlin. At least try to get us decent foor, please," Gwaine said. "And maybe some ale."
"No alcohol. Sorry, Gwaine," Merlin laughed, "but I will see about the food. Gwen, Arthur, you'll have to go get our breakfast, tell them I said to send decent food to the prisoners. I'll have to make some snide remarks to remain in character, so sorry about it."
"Say whatever you need, Merlin. As long as it fools Morgana," Arthur said.
"Make sure you talk to the dragon, Merlin, he might be of use," Gaius said.
"I'll figure something out," Merlin smiled as he shut the door and headed back to his room and the others headed off in their own direction.
Soon after, Gwen and Arthur arrived with the breakfast and they started to attend to the duties Merlin and Morgana assigned them. Merlin was struck with the idea to be rude, and he felt bad, but in a way it was the truth.
"Arthur, where the hell did you get this? The rubbish bin? It tastes terrible. I should have you thrown in the stocks for your incompetence."
"Sorry, Sire, would you like for me to fetch you something else from the kitchens?" Arthur asked politely.
"No, its quite alright. Continue your duties. I've eaten worse before," he said before turning to Morgana. "Morgana, I thought of something that could aid in your plans. I'll have to leave the castle for a few hours today though. I want it to be a surprise."
"Sure," she smiled. "Coming from you, I know I will be surprised. You surprised me even before I took control of you."
"You'll love it. Arthur! Go ready two horses. You are coming with me. You may be of use," Merlin snarled.
"Right away, Sire." Arthur turned to give Gwen a small smile before hurrying from the room.
An hour later, Arthur and Merlin were riding into the forest.
"So, Merlin, what about you telling me I killed the last dragon?" Arthur asked as they rode through trees.
"Sorry about that. I lied. I ordered him to never attack Camelot again," Merlin said. Arthur pondered silently for a few moments. "Arthur?"
"Yes, Merlin?"
"You're not angry about me having magic are you?"
"I'm angry, but not because you have magic. I'm angry because you didn't tell me. I'm sure if I had found out before now, you'd be in trouble though. Gaius explained the general story to me, but I still want the full story from you."
"I promise, I'll tell you everything. Sorry for not telling you, but I was scared. First it was your father, then I was scared you would order my execution because you held the same views as he did."
"Normally I do, but I trust you, Merlin. I'm certain you'll help me see the error of my father's ways."
"Thank you, Arthur. Here we are." They had just entered the meadow.
"So how do you get him here?"
"I just call him. Watch." Merlin looked away from Arthur and spoke in a harsh, deep voice.
Several minutes later the dragon flew overhead in a circle and landed before Merlin. He bowed his head and said, "I see you've told the young Pendragon your secret, Merlin."
"Not exactly. I technically haven't said anything. It was Morgana."
"What has the witch done?"
"She somehow discovered I was Emrys and had me kidnapped. She put some sort of spell on my to turn me evil or something. I've been under her control for a few days. Last night Arthur rescued me. Now we need a help on how to defeat her."
"As I have told you once before Merlin, you ought to have killed her."
"I can't! I don't want to have to do that. There must be another way."
"As strange as it sounds, I don't want her dead either," Arthur spoke up. "Even with all she's done, I couldn't imagine never seeing her again.""Well, she is your sister after all," Merlin said.
"What about you, Merlin? There must be some reason as to why you do not want her dead. Could it be you have feelings for her?" the dragon asked.
"Um.." Merlin said. Both Arthur and Kilgharrah stared at him until he broke. "Alright! I've liked her basically since I met her. We are married now, not that I ever expected it to happen anyway, and not under these circumstances."
"And so he confesses his feelings," Arthur said jokingly. "The marriage is legitimate anyway. Geoffrey performed it himself. It will be difficult to break."
"What exactly did she say to you before all of this, Merlin?" Kilgharrah asked.
"She said The Callieach told her I was her destiny and her doom. She thought about it and said that if she removed the doom part, I was her destiny, which she took to mean it was her destiny to change me and force me to ally myself with her."
"Well, why not twist the meaning another way and attempt to prove it to her?" The dragon reared up and got ready to take off.
"What do you mean?" Merlin yelled.
"Think about it, Merlin. You can be clever sometimes."
"Did you understand that?" Merlin asked Arthur.
"Not really. I think he wants you to change around what Morgana told you. I'm sure you can come up with something."
"She thought it was her destiny to change me, right? What if its her destiny to be changed by me? The part about me being her doom, what if I am to be the doom of her current self so that she will be her old self again?""I like that, Merlin. You're definitely smarter than you look. You can change her, I can be king again, she'll come home and you can stay married to her and life happily ever after?"
"You would let me stay married to her?"
"Yes. Firstly, marriages are difficult to end. Especially if both sides will not consent to ending it. I'm sure she wouldn't. Secondly, you love her and I'm certain she feels the same because why else would she marry you? She could've made you her consort or something, but she chose to marry you and make you her king."
"Makes sense. Now, I think we should make a start tomorrow. I'll get her drunk tonight or something so she passes out, then I'll bind her with that unicorn rope and we'll confont her in the morning."
When they returned to Camelot, they found Morgana in the throne room. Merlin strode up to sit beside her while Arthur made his way over to stand next to Gwen.
"What was this surprise you left about?" she asked Merlin.
"Oh. I figured it would be nice to have help from a dragon."
"Dragon?" she asked confused, then she realised. "That's right. I forgot you were a Dragonlord."
"Yes. I went to speak to him. He has to obey, so when ever we need him, he will come. I just informed him of the changes that have happened since we last spoke."
"Good." Morgana leaned over, closed her eyes and kissed Merlin. He looked surprised, but then he recovered remembering to keep up pretenses. She appeared not to notice. The kiss was rather heated and lasted for what seemed like several minutes until someone cleared their throat.
That evening, Merlin and Morgana had their supper served in their chambers by Arthur and Gwen. Both bustled about with anxious looks on their faces. Merlin made sure Morgana kept drinking as long as possible. One time Arthur accidentally knocked Merlin's goblet into his lap.
"You idiot! You will spend the entire day in the stocks tomorrow for your incompetence. You're wife will have to carry both of your duties." Merlin gave Arthur an apologetic look when Morgana turned her head away. He used magic to clean up the mess.
As bad as he is at most things, Merlin seemed quite a good actor. Morgana seemed fooled. After several more drinks, Morgana's head slumped onto the table. She was asleep. Merlin gave Arthur and Gwen a look and picked Morgana up and carried her to the bed. He kissed her on the forehead before 'ordering' the other two from the room.
When they arrived in the dungeons, Gaius was waiting for them. "She's out. When I get back, I'll use the ropes on her. I won't even lock this door tonight. Let yourselves out at dawn and go to the throne room. I will bring her there myself."
Once back in the bed chambers, Merlin found Morgana sitting up in the bed. He would have to restrain her after she went back to sleep.
"Where were you?"
"Had to return the servants to the dungeons," he said. "I put you in bed before I left because you passed out on the table."
"Thank you." She patted the bed beside her. He moved over to sit on the edge and she crawled over to him. Next thing Merlin knew, Morgana was on top and kissing him. He was quite terrified because he had never done this before, well, not without being under a spell. After pulling his shirt off, she tied him to the bed again, using the normal rope he placed next to the bed.
Several hours later, he lay awake listening to Morgana's soft breathing. She had essentially taken advantage of him while he was in his right state of mind. Quietly, he muttered a spell that caused the unicorn rope to come from under the bed and snake its away around Morgana. It slowly bound her feet and her arms and secured her to the bed. She never woke. Merlin drifted off to sleep not even bothering to get rid of the ropes binding him.
I think its safe to say the freakiness of Morgana at the end here is due to her being drunk. Merlin is pretty bad at being 'dark' it seems, but it seemed to be enough to fool Morgana. I guess we will have to see her reaction when she wakes up with ropes on her.
