Chapter 9 – Mistletoe
Half an hour later, the basin was full to the brim with steaming water and Kiana stood shivering sky clad beside it. Iellwen watched her as she swirled the water with her hand, waiting for it to cool to a bearable temperature; perhaps the elven priestess had heated it too vigorously with her enchantments and in thinking of it she smirked. The girl had thinned out since they had last seen each other. It must have been at least ten years, if not nearer to fifteen, that they had spent apart. That had been when Kiana had gone her own way. Following their father. Now she was no longer a flourishing youth of twelve. Her hips jutted out unhealthily and her legs looked as if one swift blow would snap them clean in half. Iellwen almost smiled as she noted the blood smeared between Kiana's legs – a nice touch. Looking back to the girl's face Iellwen noted how little they shared. Her own features were dark and angled, almost chiselled, but Kiana had the look of a well-fed merchant's daughter. Her button nose and moist brown eyes as well as the smooth curve of her ears marked her out for what she was. A half-breed.
Both so deep in thought, neither of them heard the approaching footsteps until the door was thrown open clumsily by Merlin.
"I thought you might want Gaius to – oh!" The manservant spun around and blushed a deep red as Gaius almost walked straight into him. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know-"
"It's alright, really," Kiana snivelled, turning on the waterworks as easily as she had always been able to do. "I have no pride left to guard…" She collapsed dramatically against the side of the basin and Gaius moved to assist her in climbing in. It was all Iellwen could do not to roll her eyes.
"Merlin, fetch Kiana some broth from the kitchen. I am sure she is hungry after her…" The priestess looked to the girl who glared quickly through her tears. Iellwen took a deep breath and finished her sentence, "ordeal."
"Of course," Merlin nodded, sneaking a quick glance at his friend. She could see the searching look in his eyes. She knew he couldn't read her. It was one of the first things she had been taught during her training, how to read others but not be read yourself. He pulled his eyes from her and left the room without another word. The knot in her chest twisted tighter. Could she possibly be feeling guilty?
Hearing a splash, Iellwen turned away from the door. Kiana held her knees to her chest in the centre of the basin and Gaius was checking the cuts and grazes on her face and arms. Iellwen settled herself against the wall to watch. Kiana did nothing but glare at her. The young priestess would have been amused if she hadn't been trying to induce the Sight. It was a difficult thing to do, to summon a vision. She closed her eyes and as much as she tried she could see nothing but flickering images – Arthur and Kiana riding side-by-side – a heavily cloaked knight standing against the sky – a rearing horse. She was almost about to give up when the face of a woman flashed through her mind, if it even was a woman that she saw. Her features were horribly distorted and covered in warts and her hair fell in uneven wisps about her head. The teeth that remained stuck out at strange angles and her eyes were full of a kind of madness that Iellwen had never seen before.
With an involuntary cry, the young elven priestess fell to the floor. Somewhere to her right she faintly heard a bowl clattering against a table and the contents sloshing over the edge, and within seconds she could feel Merlin's strong arms on her shoulders as he pulled her up into a sitting position.
"Iellwen, what is it?" he asked anxiously. "What did you see?" She opened her eyes and looked into his.
"A woman – or not a woman – I'm not sure. I – she…" Iellwen stammered. "Nothing. I saw nothing."
Merlin frowned, "What did the woman look like?"
"I – I don't remember," the priestess answered truthfully. The moment she had opened her eyes the image had disappeared, leaving her with nothing but a feeling of dread. Her companion looked at her disbelievingly. "Honestly, I don't." Looking anything but happy with Iellwen's claim, Merlin helped her to her feet and waited until she had steadied herself before going to clean up the mess he had made.
Kiana now sat, still glaring, at the table, wrapped in a thick nightgown and shawl. It seemed that she had been in touch with the Sight for longer than she had thought. Gaius sat beside her. Merlin mopped up the contents of a second bowl of broth. When Iellwen looked at it questioningly, he shrugged.
"I thought you might be hungry."
"No, thank you. I couldn't eat," she replied. The flicker of hurt that passed across his face almost made Iellwen curse her pride. She nodded to Kiana. "What has she been telling you?"
"Nothing yet," Gaius said. "We wanted her to eat first."
"No need," Iellwen snapped. She took the seat opposite Kiana and looked the girl in the face as she spoke, "I can easily tell you what she'll say. She'll tell you that she lived high in the valley on her parents' farm and that's where he found her. She'll tell you that her parents were killed in the struggle and, had she not escaped when she did, she would have been too. She'll tell you that he was an evil sorcerer who spoke of nothing but his warped vendetta against Arthur and, when she's finally finished lying through her teeth, she'll break down crying and play the damsel in distress."
A stunned silence fell across the room. Although she never took her eyes from Kiana, Iellwen could feel Merlin and Gaius staring. In sudden defiance, Kiana shot up.
"Iellwen is of Magic," she cried. The triumphant gleam in her eyes lasted no longer than a few seconds. She looked around at the three of them. "Have you nothing to say? Will you not report her to your king?" They all remained still as Iellwen tried to keep her smile from showing on her face. Merlin sat next to her at the table.
"I don't believe you have had the honour of being acquainted with my good friend, Emrys," Iellwen said calmly. Kiana's eyes widened as she looked to Merlin and then quickly narrowed again. She was not priestess-trained like Iellwen. Merlin looked to the elf warily, surprised that she had used that name. She shot him a quick glance. "She will not give you away. I know her too well to allow her to do that. But it would be useful all the same to keep her in fear of you." Merlin nodded his understanding. The priestess felt a pang deep in her heart. He was far too good to her, far too accepting. He had every right to know that his name was well known to the elven-folk. He had every right to know why Kiana was now scared of him. He had every right to snap at her and demand to know everything that she did, but instead he sat there in quiet submission. Still, she could see the look in his eye that told her he would not let it go so easily.
XXX
Merlin was hot on Iellwen's heels as they entered the physician's chambers later that night, long after settling Kiana into her chambers and seeing the Yule feast ended. She barely had time to pull the bonnet from her head before he spoke.
"What was that about?"
"I know my own sister's mind." The young warlock stopped in his tracks and regarded his friend quizzically. "Well, half-sister. Barathon is father to us both."
"What is she doing here?" he asked. Iellwen shook her head and sighed deeply. "Well, whatever it is it can't be good. You didn't exactly seem to be on the same side." He paused briefly. He had never seen the priestess take such a disliking to a person and it worried him greatly. "We need to get rid of her."
"Merlin, do you truly believe that she is here to kill Arthur?" the priestess answered wearily.
"Well, what other motive could she have for being in Camelot?" Merlin retorted quickly. Iellwen climbed the stairs to their room and sat heavily on the nest of blankets that acted as her bed, wiping her forehead.
"I don't know," she admitted. There was a quiet pause and, seeing her distress, Merlin sat beside his friend.
"Didn't you see her?" he asked gently.
Iellwen frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Didn't you see her coming? Didn't a vision warn you, like it did with Arthur?" The young priestess laughed bitterly.
"Of course it didn't. She's a half-breed and half-breeds are my blind spot."
"A half-breed? You mean-"
"Her father is my father, but her mother was a mortal whore," Iellwen spat. She sighed, "It's a shame really. Kiana was such a nice girl in her youth – caring, affectionate, not a hateful bone in her body." Merlin watched the elven priestess, almost mesmerised. He could hear the melancholy in her voice and he felt bad for her. She couldn't have had an easy life with Barathon the Unseen for a father and such a confusing family tree.
"What happened?"
"What do you think happened?" She looked to him with a raised eyebrow and they answered her question in unison, "Barathon." Sharing a smile, it felt for a moment as if they had no troubles and were simply two young people sharing a joke together. Merlin felt the smile fall from his face as he remembered – they could never have that, or at least he couldn't.
"What are we going to do?" he whispered, looking down at his hands as he twiddled his thumbs anxiously. He could feel Iellwen's eyes on him as she spoke, sliding her hand into his and his heart skipped a beat at the contact.
"It's up to you."
"I feel like we should do something," he sighed. "But you're right. I don't believe she has any real intention to bring harm to Arthur, at least, not while we're still in Camelot."
"That is what worries me. What can she possibly have planned?"
"We're going to have to keep a very close eye on her," Merlin decided. "Arthur's company will leave at sunrise and I will leave with them."
"So will I," Iellwen added. The young warlock shook his head.
"No. You can stay here." The priestess opened her mouth to protest but he silenced her. "Don't argue. Protecting Arthur is my responsibility and with the history between you and Kiana it would be better to keep you as far apart as possible, in Arthur's presence at least." The elven girl sighed and nodded her agreement.
In the slowly dying candle light, Merlin looked to Iellwen. Her own gaze was fixed on their entwined fingers as she stroked the rough skin on the palms of his hands – worker's hands. A small smile played across her face as she looked up at him briefly. Her gaze carried on until she reached a spot above their heads.
"Mistletoe," she whispered.
