Switching Places
Marayna was eagerly pulling her brother down the halls of the castle, ignoring the looks she was getting from servant and nobleman alike, already used to it. She'd tried her best to act the role of Queen, as much as she felt she could without giving up who she was. She would never be a prim and proper lady of the court, she hadn't been bred that way nor did she want to be stuffy and stuck up like a few other women she could mention. She wanted to be herself and she strove to keep the strongest aspects of her personality the same. It was a big thing, a very important thing, to her and Merlin that no one see them truly being different than who they always were. They liked the fact that the people saw them as one of their own, as a former peasant and servant. That was what they strove for, to make the people feel comfortable speaking plainly with them and approaching them with concerns just as they had done when they weren't prince or queen.
She wanted the people to see her as just…her. Still the same clumsy servant (though she'd gotten better at NOT tripping over her dresses thanks to Gwen hemming up the fronts of hers just slightly, just enough where she didn't get caught on it) that would mouth off and slap Arthur in the head and trek through manure and scream at the sight of a rat. She still did. Just last week the guards had thought someone was trying to murder the queen, had burst into her bedchambers to see her standing on Arthur's desk, screaming bloody murder at the tiny mouse scurrying across the floor.
She'd had to be carried out of the room she refused to set foot on the ground till the mouse was caught. She knew it was an infinite source of amusement to the people to hear that she'd spent the night sleeping on one of Gaius's work tables because she was so scared to go back into her room till Arthur had told her the mouse was gone, Arthur knowing better than to dare lying about the event just to get her back in the room. But that was fine with her, she liked that the people could laugh at her, she laughed at herself for how she'd overreacted yet she knew that she'd do the same anywhere. Put her in the market and have a mouse scurry out ahead of her and she'd probably jump onto a stall or grab the nearest man (she'd hope it would be Arthur or Merlin just to save from the awkwardness of it) and half climb on top of him to avoid the mouse.
It was funny, she could forgive Will for what he'd done as she now had two lovely children. She wasn't scared of horses despite that one had literally nearly trampled her to death. But she was STILL scared of mice and rats. It made sense though. Arthur had once remarked that she had the ability to see past the surface of things to the true underlying cause behind it. Like with Alice, she'd seen the woman's crime as her attempting to poison Uther, NOT that she had magic or even used magic to do so. When Arthur had tried to strangle her once, she'd seen past it to the fact that Sophia had enchanted him and controlled him to do so. It was the same with the horse, she could look past the fact that the horse had harmed her because she could see that it was the mouse that had spooked it in the first place.
Speaking of horses though, Arthur was very excited because he was very close to deeming William old enough to be able to have riding lessons, at least on a small pony. She'd offered Bartok if ever Arthur needed a bigger horse to train on. Sadly she didn't seem to be able to leave the castle much, not as much as Arthur could or did. It was the queen's duty to remain behind and guard the castle, rule the kingdom, in her husband's absence. And she understood that. There was also the fact that it was for the protection of her children. If one parent was there and another was facing an enemy, if anything happened, they'd still have their one parent and the kingdom would still have its one ruler. She was going along with it…for now though. Biding her time. It was like she'd been told when she'd first been made queen, she would have to pick and choose the times she insisted she go with Arthur and the times she remained behind. To her, the more she remained behind now, the more leverage she'd have to go with him later.
Arthur had surprised her though when she'd offered Bartok, he'd started to talk about Rosaline as well, about how, when she was older…he was thinking he'd want her to use Aurora. The horse was a dear, just as old as Bartok was, and she'd seemed to have developed a special fondness for HER whenever she'd visit the old horse at least once a month. They still had their special bond, they still had the scars Urry had given them. Now that she thought about it, she'd been visiting Aurora each month since she'd run into Urry again. It was like it had spurred her to go back to the start. It began with her being there just to tell the horse that Urry was finally gone for good, not that the horse could understand her, but she still wanted to just say it out loud and Aurora was the only one she could think to do it. Bartok and Aurora were the only horses Arthur trusted to teach his children to ride on.
Thinking on it now, she would have to see if there was a spell or enchantment that would allow someone to communicate with an animal like that, be able to understand them and be understood by them. That and if there was a spell that would allow a magic-user to speak in the mind of a non magic-user. Ooh there were so man y spells she still had yet to try and look up and study and see if they might work. Merlin's flub of a spell that turned him invisible would be quite useful for spying. Being queen and prince, she and Merlin were noticed more, they lacked the spying quality that servants had, no one really noticed them. Though there wasn't much going on in the castle walls that required spying. There were no traitors in their midst, they took care of that a long time ago. Everyone in the castle, save for Sefa, had been loyal to Camelot and were ones they felt didn't need to be sought a replacement for.
Still, that brought her back to her current course of action. She and Merlin were going to attempt a glamor. Like using the crystals to change their appearance into someone else's, but without the crystal part. They had known a few people to use a spell like that, but they wanted to try it themselves. If the crystal usually worn around the neck was ever torn away, it would mean that the enchantment faded and they couldn't risk that. A spell would be more permanent, give less evidence. And a spell wouldn't require a potion. It was much like what Merlin was trying to do with his spell to reveal the invisible, replace a potion Gaius would make with a spell except instead of trying to make one herself, she was searching for other spells already in existence to use instead.
"Come on Merlin!" Marayna dragged him on, "Move faster!"
"Aya we've got all day," he laughed, "It's the first day we've not had any duties or meetings or anything to see to and you want to use it practicing even more."
"That's because this is one of the few days we won't be expected anywhere," she reminded him, "If we flub it and I end up a bird or you end up invisible again, we'll have time to figure out how to reverse it."
Merlin had to nod at that, that was a very good reason to hurry on. The sooner they got it done, the sooner they'd be able to see if it was working or not. So the two of them made their way into Gaius's chambers to see the physician already waiting for them at his work bench. He was grinding something in a pestle and mortar, but set it down when he saw them enter.
"Are you both ready for this?" he asked, "Glamors can be quite tricky."
He'd warned them o f the dangers when Marayna had first brought up the idea. This wasn't like when they'd turned into animals. There wasn't a set time limit on how long the spell would last. If they got it wrong, they could end up permanently looking something else. Or looking deformed. Or end up being an entirely different color and THAT would just shout sorcery to any who saw them.
But they were determined to go through with it and see what came of it.
"We're ready uncle," Marayna nodded.
"Have you got the spell?" Merlin asked as they stepped closer.
Gaius sighed but nodded, turning to grab a small book off a shelf, Marayna had found the book and spell during one of her many, many, many study sessions with Gaius's books, having only discovered the spell a few days prior. As it didn't require a potion as a trigger, all they needed to do was know the language and pronunciation. They both looked at the spell, trying to keep it as fresh in their minds as they could, though it was hard before they looked at each other, trying to picture the person they wanted to try and look like…each other, just to see what would happen…
They took a breath and said the spell, "Bewrixlan mec into hwæt ic æalá!"
Before their worlds went black.
~8~
"Rayna?" Marayna heard a voice calling and looked to her said to see it was Gaius, but…he wasn't speaking to her but crouched over by someone else lying on the ground like she was.
"Uncle?" she asked.
Gaius stiffened and looked over at her, shifting to the side enough to reveal he'd been kneeling beside…HER. Or her body at least. Or something that looked like her body.
"Did it work?" she looked at him, only to frown, "Why do I sound like Merlin?" she shook her head, "The spell was meant to make me look like him, not sound like him. And…why am I over here?" she looked around to see that she was on the opposite end of the room than she remembered being.
"It appears the spell worked too well," Gaius remarked, "It didn't change you to look like Merlin. It changed you to BE Merlin."
Marayna blinked, "The spell switched our bodies!?"
"I'm afraid so," Gaius nodded.
Marayna tried to run a hand through her hair, a sort of nervous habit of hers, only to realize that her hair was too short, it was Merlin's hair, "Please tell me there's a counter spell, a reversal, a time limit, anything?"
Gaius could only shake his head sadly, "It doesn't appear to have either."
Marayna let out a breath, "So what do we do?" she looked at him, "I can't go around as Merlin all day nor could he me."
Gaius got up slowly and headed back to the book, reading the incantation carefully, all the information he could see for the spell while Marayna made her way to Merlin's side, checking on him.
"Why have I woken up and he hasn't?" she frowned.
"As much as I hate to say it Rayna, the shock of finding himself a woman might have been too much for his mind to comprehend when the spell took form."
Marayna blinked, "You're telling me he fainted?"
"Perhaps," Gaius smirked "Ah," he nodded, finding something written in the book, "I believe that, as it was the first time casting it, and that Merlin isn't conscious to maintain it, it shouldn't last long."
"Yes but how long is long?" Marayna slowly stood, trying to get sued to how her brother's body worked. It was taller than her by an inch or two and he was a man…it was awkward to move.
"I can't say," Gaius sighed, "It could be minutes to hours."
Marayna began to nod, a thought striking her, "I'll be right back…"
"Be careful Merlin!" Gaius called after her, trying to remind her she was supposed to be Merlin right now as she dashed out of the room.
She ran as quickly as she could through the halls, stopping only when she passed a rather reflective window to see it was truly the oddest thing she'd ever witnessed to look at it and see her brother staring back at her. She could admit she'd poked herself in the face a little, made faces out of it, the most laughable expressions, but that wasn't the main focus. Right now it was getting to Arthur.
She had noticed a…change in him, ever since he'd gone to find some sort of sorcerer, Osgar. He'd found the man alright, and been given a runemark as a token that the Disir had summoned him. All she'd been told was that he'd gone to them to argue the judgment he felt they were about to place on him. He'd managed to change their minds about him, about Camelot, according to Merlin. She had been very relief that they'd gotten to see the Arthur she always knew existed, that they saw him as a great and just king, one who was working towards change.
Still…something about that trip had to be bothering Arthur as he would get very quiet at the end of the day. He'd look out at Camelot, a thoughtful expression on his face and, every time she tried to question him about it, see if he was alright, he'd keep quiet about it. He'd just smile at her or wave her off saying that it wasn't anything important. She knew that the knights knew what it was, that Mordred and Merlin knew as well but all the men had seemed to swear some sort of oath not to speak of it to her.
It was bothering her. Arthur spent more time with their children, with her, which was nice. But the look on his face as he gazed at their children always made her feel like he was wondering how much longer he'd have to be able to do that for. It was like he was expecting the world to end any moment and was cherishing the time he had and…it was scaring her, badly.
She wanted him to just tell her what was going on, but he clammed up. She was sure it was some daft noble reason, like he didn't want to worry her or that he was trying to protect her or that he could handle it himself, but she wanted to know. He wasn't treating Mordred any differently so whatever it was she doubted he knew of the role Mordred played in the vision Merlin and Morgana had seen.
This might be her one and only chance to get the truth out of him as she ran across the castle again. Whatever happened, Merlin knew about it, and if Merlin knew then Arthur might be more inclined to say yes and tell her about what it was he'd discovered or at least speak of it around her if he thought she was Merlin. She just wanted to know what was going on and, if her husband and brother were going to keep it from her, she'd find out in her own way.
Normally she'd let it go, thinking perhaps they were conspiring a surprise for someone, possible one of their friends, or her or Morgana, but they were too serious about it, too solemn. She'd gotten nothing out of the knight either when she tried to talk to them. She should have known though, they were loyal to Arthur first and foremost and she didn't feel right ordering Mordred to tell her in her capacity as High Priestess. She knew though that it really hurt Gwaine to not be able to tell her what was going on with Arthur, they had been good friends for years and, unlike the other knights who met Arthur first before meeting her and Merlin, Gwaine had known her the longest, he felt more loyalty to her than Arthur but apparently the king himself had given the order not to speak of what happened.
Now THAT really did bother her and worry her quite a good deal. If Gwaine, of all people, was pulling a leaf out of Lancelot's book and honoring the order given to him by Arthur…it really had to be terrible news.
She shook her head as she ran through the castle and towards hers and Arthur's chambers. She and Merlin must have been knocked out longer than she thought as the training for the day as over and she knew he'd be taking lunch in their rooms. She stopped before the doors, actually hesitating, not sure what to do, if she should knock as it wasn't HER rooms right now as she was apparently her brother. Which reminded her, being her brother…he wouldn't knock.
So she just barged in, to see Arthur behind his changing screen, his shirt off, holding a fresh white one to change into.
"Ah, Merlin, there you are," Arthur greeted, stepping out and putting the shirt on, "Just the man I was looking for?"
"Oh?" was all she could think to say to that.
Arthur nodded and walked over to her, "I wanted to thank you," he said, clapping her on the shoulder, "For not telling Mara."
"Not telling her what?" Marayna blinked and frowned, hearing flat out that yes, something WAS most certainly being kept from her, and by her own husband.
"Exactly," Arthur joked, before sighing, "About the judgment the Disir have given and the conditions we came to for it."
"Right," Marayna nodded, "What about it?"
Arthur looked at her, "I really do appreciate it Merlin, that you're allowing ME to tell her. I know you and Mara are closer than anything. It can't be easy to keep this from her and I hate that I asked you to do it."
"No, no," Marayna waved it off, "It's no problem," she swallowed hard, "Of course I wouldn't tell Aya about the Disir's judgment, why would I? You told me not to after all."
Arthur eyed him for a moment, "Are you alright Merlin? You're as skittish as a newborn colt."
"Fine!" she said quickly though she was starting to feel quite light-headed, her stomach churning and she knew it had nothing to do with what she'd just learned. She could feel her magic starting to react and silently cursed.
Really? She spent ALL day as a bloody owl, Merlin nearly spent the rest of his life invisible, and this blasted spell was already wearing off?! Well that was just her luck wasn't it? She'd been hoping that it would last quite a while. It would have been amusing if it had. Try and spook the knights, have some fun with Arthur and Morgana and try to see if they'd work out what happened. She didn't doubt they would if the duo tried to kiss her or Merlin and they backed away. She and Merlin both had such different personalities she thought it would be easy to work out what happened. It seemed Arthur was just a little preoccupied though, he hadn't noticed at all.
But, then again, she was actually trying to act like her brother at the moment. Though it seemed her moment was coming to an end.
"Merlin?" Arthur frowned, "Are you ill? You're starting to go a bit green."
"Yes," she nodded, "Yes, I…I just might be. I ought to go see unc…Gaius, about it," she corrected quickly knowing that, while she favored calling Gaius 'uncle,' Merlin tended to call him by his name.
She turned and ran out of the room, dashing down the hall before Arthur could move, racing around a corner and into a small niche in the wall, panting and shaking, feeling her magic truly starting to swirl within her. She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths…and when she opened them…she was lying in a cot in Gaius's chambers, staring at the ceiling.
She let out a soft breath, realizing she and Merlin had switched back and sat up, rubbing her head. She'd wanted the flub of a spell to last longer than it had. She could have gotten something more useful out of Arthur if she'd had more time. But what she HAD found out alarmed her.
Apparently the Disir had given judgment and now she realized how clever Arthur and the others had been in their phrasing of the event. All they'd said was that Arthur had gotten the Disir to change their minds about him, no mention of the judgment. She'd had no cause to think that the Disir had even passed judgment. Gaius explained to her, Lancelot, Gwen, and Morgana what the Disir were, how they operated. He HAD mentioned that they were like a court and passed judgment on others for the Triple Goddess but she'd assumed that the judgment was passed only after the person was before them, not before. It seemed she was wrong.
The Disir had passed judgment on Arthur before they'd changed their minds about him. But what was there to change their minds from? What had they originally thought of him? Nothing good if Arthur had needed to change their thoughts on him. And if they hadn't thought the best of him…what sort of judgment had they passed? What punishment would they give? And what conditions was Arthur talking about?!
She ran a hand through her hair as she considered that, Arthur had thanked Merlin for allowing HIM to tell her what was going on…but he hadn't. What was he waiting for? She knew she couldn't confront him about it or he'd realize what had happened with the spell…he might not ever say anything in front of Merlin again if he wasn't sure it was Merlin or her listening. She couldn't do that to her brother, she couldn't shatter the bond that he had with Arthur just because she wanted to know something…even if it was a rather important something.
She let out a long breath. She was going to have to wait, wasn't she? She was going to have to wait till Arthur told her what had happened no matter how far in the future that might be.
"Oh Arthur…" she murmured to herself, "What have you done?"
A/N: Uh oh, Marayna's suspicious now O.O I think this is the shortest chapter of the entire series lol. I debated whether to make it an entire day or couple days of her and Merlin switching bodies, but I sort of wanted to try the opposite where Marayna has only a few hours to use to her advantage ;)
Lol, I just realized the last chapter was my 100th for the entire series :) ...and that means the story/series will be over in less than 2 weeks! O.O Time flies :)
Bewrixlan mec into hwæt ic æalá - Change me into what I see.
Some notes on reviews...
Oh Arthur just has the worst luck, I agree :) We'll have to see what Marayna will do. I think it'll depend on when she finds out exactly what happened and what's coming that'll see what she might do ;)
Nope, the Disir is the actual episode from the show. What happens in the canon version is that Arthur essentially and continually insults them and the Old Religion, refusing to accept it back to Camelot. The Disir attack him but Mordred steps in the way and is wounded. Arthur returns to them to plead for Mordred's life and the Disir give him an ultimatum to return magic or seal Camelot/his fate. He refuses (as Merlin urges him to, Merlin thinking Mordred is going to kill him and that saying no to the Disir will mean Mordred dies), and when they return to Camelot, Mordred is healed. Merlin realizes that sealing Arthur's fate meant healing the one who would kill him, and that's Mordred :(
I'm glad you're all caught up and enjoying the series ^-^ I hope you'll like what's to come too :)
Lol that was a good video :) I have mixed feelings about Reading Rainbow, all I can remember of it was really, REALLY disliking the show when I was younger so hearing the song with a show I like made me have mixed feelings about it. But I did think that it was very well done in matching things :)
