Saccharine Torments

Chapter 11: An Unwanted Reunion

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin and I make no money from this fanfiction.

Ever since the enchantment had been broken, Arthur, Merlin and the Knights of Camelot had managed to move forward and escaped the endless circular path they had been trapped on. Although you wouldn't know it from Arthur's mood, rough living or, more accurately, separation from Gwen, was making him tetchy and irritable and of course he just had to take it out on Merlin.

"Idiot," he said, lightly slapping Merlin around the head as he walked past.

"What was that for?" Merlin objected, loudly. He couldn't say he was in the best of moods either, but unlike the Prince, he couldn't get away with insulting everyone around him for no apparent reason.

"For being an idiot, come on, let's pick up the pace," said Arthur, starting to sprint.

Merlin groaned, he was sore all over from all the activity, he didn't think he had it in him to walk let alone run. Still, he had to try. It was times like this, he wished he didn't have to hide his magick, it would have been so much easier to have just called Kilgharrah and flown to wherever it was that Gwen had been taken, he'd even take listening to one of the dragon's lectures over having to deal with Arthur and his perpetual state of grumpiness.

Little did he know that their journey was almost over. Twenty minutes later and Sir Leon stopped them all, pointing up at something in the distance.

"Isn't that a castle?"

"I think that's where Gwen is," Merlin said, feeling the aura of Morgana's magick radiating strongly from the Castle in waves, making him feel nauseous.

"How do you know that?" Arthur asked, narrowing his eyes with suspicion.

"Intuition!" Merlin answered, brightly, falsely.

Arthur continued too look at him with an expression of disbelief. "I wouldn't trust your intuition even if it were life and death, Merlin, but we'll approach as if they were the enemy all the same. We don't know who is up there."

The knights nodded, following Arthur as he set off in the direction of the castle.

Meanwhile…

Morgana was completely unaware of the advancement that the Knights of Camelot were making on her castle; in fact she wasn't even aware that her spell to keep them occupied had been broken by Merlin days ago. She still had not mastered her powers to their full extent (much to her frustration) and she was used to having more back-up than this, normally Morgause was always there to assist her whenever she faltered. She missed her a lot, both for the advice and for the company. But that couldn't be helped; Morgause was far, far away, under the care of a healer.

Morgana was on her own now, she had to be strong, and yet somehow she'd let Gwen gain a strange power over her, a power that wasn't magickal but emotional. No, in fact, nothing was going to plan at all; she'd brought Gwen here to be her captive not to find herself captivated by Gwen. Power was slipping from her grasp all over again and there seemed to be nothing she could do about it.

She'd used the dreams, the dreams that had been her plague for years, against Gwen but somehow, last night, Gwen had managed to get the upper hand in that too. She just didn't understand it, on the surface Gwen was perfectly ordinary- a servant with no magick powers to speak of- and yet there was something within her that drew both her and Arthur. She would have to play rough again if she wanted to get back control, she'd been too lenient with the girl, she'd been weak and allowed her feelings to get the better of her.

She knocked, harshly, on Gwen's door, not waiting for her response before barging in- this was her castle and she would be damned if she would let Gwen treat it like her own home.

"Morgana…" Gwen said, eyes wide, looking perfectly innocent.

"What was that? Last night, the dream, what did you do?" she could hear the desperation in her own voice, so far away from the emotionless mask of control that she had taught herself to wear at all times. She was really losing it now.

Gwen just looked back at her confusedly. "I didn't do anything! You know that I know nothing of magick, couldn't your spell have backfired?"

Morgana shook her head insistently. "No, that's impossible, it was you."

Gwen stepped forward, laying a hand gently on Morgana's arm to reassure her. "It'll be fine, I promise."

She couldn't say she was sorry to see Morgana show some emotion, as much as she hated to see her former mistress in pain, she believed this was a sign that she was getting to her- that she broken through the walls that Morgana had placed around her heart.

Morgana allowed herself to be calmed by Gwen's momentarily, before realising that she was falling into a trap again. More agitated than ever, she snatched her arm away as if Gwen's soft touch had seared her flesh.

"Please, Morgana, let me help you," Gwen persisted. Despite the fact that her eyes were starting to well with tears, she was standing firm.

"I don't need your help, you're the one locked up here, I kidnapped you!" Morgana said, affecting a hard voice but knowing that her façade was crumbling around her. Unwilling to let herself be exposed even more; she stormed out, leaving Gwen to again wonder when things would be back to normal again.

Gwen didn't have much time to herself though, soon after her confrontation with Morgana, she heard a strange sound at the window. Walking over there, she was confronted by Merlin's face grinning up at her from outside.

For a moment she just gaped at him in horror. Anxiously, he gestured for her to open the window which begrudgingly she did, pulling him in- he was somewhat clumsy, she expected that if she hadn't he would have ended up falling to his death.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, unable to completely contain her irritation.

Unfortunately, Merlin could be fairly oblivious to such things as tone and body language.

"Arthur sent me, he thought it would be best if I went in first." He grinned. "We're here to rescue you!"

That's it for this chapter; I'm sorry it took a while again! I appreciate all reviews!