Chapter 9

Vervain

I blinked my eyes once, twice. It was bitterly cold. The chilly wind pierced through my skin like ice, raising goosebumps. It was bitterly cold but at least it was numbness, not pain. Digging my elbows into the cold dirt, I sat up slowly. My muscles were sore, I hurt all over.

Opening my eyes again, I looked around. I was in the forest, of course. I felt something on my head and looked up, the leaves were falling in lovely colours of red and gold. It was autumn. Nearly winter I'd say by the cold. I thought hard. The last I remembered I was travelling… my mother died. It was early spring then. I recall being struck down. There was pain and I was fighting for control. I was tired though, I gave up the fight.

Now I would face the consequence of losing that battle. But first I needed to know what happened while I was unconscious. I reached inside me for my powers, I expected it to come slowly since I had been inactive for so long but the magic came rushing up, eager to obey my command.

I pressed my palm to the closest tree and made my silent request. Almost immediately, images of myself flashed in my head at different times of the season. I saw myself convulsing on the ground, pain and concentration evident on my face. The last image I saw was when I gave up the fight, my body shook one last time and I relaxed.

What was I going to do? I felt a fervent worry directed towards me softly from the tree, worry for their Queen. I sighed, remembering I still carried that responsibility. Before I could assure it, I felt a wave of energy strengthening me. I smiled lightly, shutting my eyes as I reveled in its warmth. I sent my thanks and let my palm fall from the tree.

'That's a lovely thing.' I heard the whisper sound in my mind as I bent to collect my things.

'What do you mean? Are you the one who attacked me?' I thought in return.

'I only meant that I know for a fact that the forest has never ever crowned a Queen before. As to your second question, yes I am. I am Sophia, a sidhe.' I heard respect in the soft voice.

'I ask that you leave my body.' I said, wondering how on earth a sidhe came to be living in me.

'I'm afraid I can't. My soul is as trapped in this body as your own. We are melded.'

I groaned. I'll have to postpone my trip to Camelot until I can find help and fix this problem. And by the sounds of it, I'll be set back for a long time. At least it would be winter soon, the cold had always protected me. I was safe in the snow. The cold had a way of freezing pain. But I had a sinking that removing the sidhe would definitely not be easy.

Merlin

After lunch, Arthur insisted on doing training of his own since, in his exact wording 'even Merlin's doing some form of exercise!' much to the amusement of Gwen and a lot of groaning from the knights. Gwen moved to sit beside Aria and me, grinning.

'Training?' Aria asked, turning to her with curiosity written on her face.

'Just wait and see.' Gwen said, smiling.

'This should be interesting.' I said, lacing my fingers behind my head.

'I'm glad you have a positive attitude about it today, Merlin. Then we wouldn't have to deal with your whining.' Arthur said, mockingly as he pushed a sword into my hands.

'What? You can't be serious.' I said, scrambling to my feet.

'Come on Merlin, don't be such a girl.'

Before I had the chance to retort, Arthur's sword came swinging at me. I jumped back, the laughter of the knights ringing in my ears. I defended against his next blow just barely, remembering what I had learnt from training with Arthur before. Too bad I wasn't as fluid in movement when I was sword fighting as when I was sneaking around.

I felt the air leave my lungs as Arthur elbowed me hard in the chest, knocking me to the ground. I looked up for a moment and saw stars, letting my head fall back again with a low groan.

'Are we done?' I asked wearily.

'Not unless you can find anyone else to take your place.' He said, humor in his voice.

'But you have enough knights!'

'Gwen just joined.'

I looked up again and saw Gwen fighting her brother, quite evenly matched. I groaned again as I got up. I snapped my head up to Aria when I heard her cough pointedly, catching our attention.

'Actually, if you don't mind… I'd like to try.' She said, stepping forward.

'Really?' Lancelot asked, distracted enough that Gwaine managed to knock him down.

'You don't have to…' I said, embarrassed that she'd take my place.

'It looks fun! I've always wanted to learn anyways. Unless you're afraid I'll show you up.' Aria said, smugly.

I narrowed my eyes at her slightly at the challenge. I handed her the sword and watched as she stepped in front of Arthur. Everyone halted their battles to watch. He showed her how to hold the sword and then stepping back, they began. She swung the sword hard, determination on her face. Arthur just defended in time, surprised.

She fought him blow for blow fiercely, refusing to give up but it was obvious where her weakness was, she wasn't as strong as Arthur and not used to the weight of the sword. Arthur was refusing to use it though… because she was a girl! I grinned as I realized he was ignoring her flaws.

As it turns out he didn't need to make use of her weaknesses. He jumped back as she swung her sword particularly viciously. Slicing through the air, she stumbled and Arthur tripped her a little. She tumbled to the ground panting as she turned onto her back. He held his hand out to help her up and she took it, pulling herself up to the claps of everyone.

'It's harder than it looks.' She panted.

'At least you did better than Merlin.' Arthur said, smirking.

She grinned at that and laughed, coming to stand beside me. She stood up on her tiptoes, leaning against me.

'You can play with a sword if you want but I'm just going to stick with magic.' She whispered as I laughed, earning a lot of curious looks.