Well there were only 4 votes. 3 for Morgana & Morgause and 1 for Merlin. I would have liked some more votes, but I guess I have to live with that. So, since 3 are more than 1 I will go with the Morgana & Morgause – arc. There will be just one vision about Merlin so you know what awesomeness you are missing. Ok, nothing more to say than enjoy the new chapter ^^
On the next day Merlin left after the first rays of light hit the meadows surrounding the hard stonewalls of Namhilrok. So Morgana was now all alone with the terrifying blond queen of the Dusk. Yesterday was just her being told about her powers and a little scrying. Morgana had the feeling that the moment she shared with Morgause watching Merlin drool all over a book with names of important nobles was the beginning of her binding with the queen. Therefore Morgana hoped that she could create more of these moments. Now she was walking down the hallway to Morgause's chamber. Like the day before, the door opened before Morgana had even the chance to raise her hand and an expecting blond woman was sitting in her ornamented wooden chair, observing the entrance to her room with narrowed eyes and a witty smile. Morgana was once again amazed how natural her blond counterpart looked in her royal demeanour. The midnight-haired beauty took a deep breath and stepped inside the room which was furnished with simple but elegant pieces made of a rare brown wood.
"I hope you are well rested because today I will bring your powers to a limit to measure the amount of magic you can command by now."
"Sure, I am ready for everything you can possible put me through",
Morgana replied in resilience. This answer made Morgause chuckle.
"We will see, my dear. Now, first things first. You will scry a scene of your choice. Please go ahead."
Morgause gestured with her hand to the silver bowl ornamented with green leaves they used yesterday. The young seer nodded and made her way to the vessel and put some water from the nearby flagon into it. Since Morgana was good at remembering things, she could easily recite the words Morgause used yesterday. As she was chanting she was thinking about the person she wanted to see most. First the water turned hazy but after a short moment the fog was lifted from the picture and she was now looking at a raven-haired man with eyes of the deep blue colour of a mountain lake. Her heart instantly started to beat faster as she saw him riding above the hills.
"Well done. I am impressed you memorized the chant after hearing it just once, but this should make things a lot easier. Can you look at me for a second, please."
Morgana turned her head away from the motion inside the water and locked gazes with Morgause. The queen put her index finger on the seer's forehead and her eyes flashed golden. Morgana felt a slight dizziness and grabbed her counterpart's shoulder for support. She shook her head to get clear again before she asked the blond woman in front of her.
"What have you done?"
"I blocked your ability to scry after my brother.", Morgause replied bluntly.
"But why?"
"To eradicate a distraction. There is too much at stake. So I eliminated the biggest distraction for you. Now you can concentrate on your training and not on the possibilities of watching every step of my brother. I know you feel a lot for him, but this is not the time to be led by emotions, I hope you understand."
Morgana nodded slightly agitated.
Of course I would have tried to scry after Merlin but I would not haven been sidetracked by him. This is just presumptuous.
Morgause gave her a hard look, apparently knowing what was going through the seer's head. The midnight-haired woman cringed inside after receiving such a cold, analyzing stare.
Or maybe she is not …
Morgana sighed in defeat.
"Yes I understand, but I think your measure was a bit too drastic."
"I dislike uncertainties. This is a trait of mine you will have to accept. Therefore my means might seem excessive to you or others, but for me they provide an important safeguard I can rely on. You have to understand that I, as a queen, shoulder the fate of an entire nation and now that war is unavoidable I have to create the best chances."
Morgana acknowledge her argument with another nod and waited for further instructions.
"Good. Now I want you to envision Uther, maybe we gain worthwhile information from your scrying."
Once again Morgana chanted the formula. Just this time she thought about her father. The foggy picture cleared after the blink of an eye and showed now the great hall of Camelot.
Morgause stepped next to her and examined the sight of the one man, whose hatred driven madness throws an entire continent into war.
"Who are those people? I recognise Uther but who are the men surrounding him?"
The blond queen gave Morgana a look of anticipation and curiosity, which the black-haired seer found hard to deny. She let her gaze wander over the several faces and recognized a lot of them.
"I will start from left to right. First we have the three archdukes of Gerrard's lake, Vigil's shire and Kamill's fall. They control the eastern lands of the Alliance and hold most of the kingdom's manpower. To my father's right stands Gaius, our court physician and trustworthy advisor."
Morgause's smile widened slightly, but was left unnoticed by Morgana.
"Well, the man with the crown is my father and the man left to him is Geoffrey of Mammoth, also one of the most trustworthy advisors my father has. And for the last two, well, I just recognise the earl of Livinghton."
After the blond witch finished remembering their faces, her gaze wandered to the map which was spread on the table. A playful smirk was now showing on her face and Morgana was wondering what her counterpart found.
"What makes you smile like that?"
Morgause turned her head and started to explain.
"After I took a look at their map, we have an enormous strategic advantage. First of all, the scale and the placement of our cities is quite off. Secondly, they will use the main street because it is much easier to move on a certain path when crossing foreign terrain. Therefore we hold the advantage when we ambush their forces. So we can decide the location and the time to strike. This is an invaluable information for us and the positioning of our army. And at last, the counterattack. Since Uther will probably deploy all of his forces in order to invade our lands we can form small raiding parties which are going to initiate small, scattered assaults on enemy territory. Uther will be forced to send a fair amount of his men back to deal with our teams, if he does not want his supply-route cut."
A big, mischievous, scheming smirk was accompanied by a bright spark of her wits in her eyes. Morgana had to admit that the sheer sight of the woman in front of her made cold shivers run up and down her spine. She was witness to the Morgause who put her emotions behind her reason and worked with logic and tactic to gain everything she wants. Morgana was sure, even when Morgause would not posses any magic, her intelligence and strategic prowess would pose as an ultimate deterrence to any reasonable enemy. But her father was not reasonable and what Morgana now noticed is that against the queen of Namhilrok, Uther would just be a puppet attached to her strings. Another shudder flashed through her body before she gathered her resolve to look at the woman in front of her again.
"Are we done for today?"
"No, not at all. I told you at the beginning that I would exhaust your powers today."
"I do not think I can exhaust my magic while scrying."
Morgana had no idea how much magic her body contained but she was pretty sure that she could scry like this for hours without breaking a sweat. The playful but at the same time horrifying smile Morgause showed let the young seer swallow hard.
"You are right, it is quite impossible for you to spend all of your power on scrying. Therefore I have something much more interesting in mind which is a "certain" way to consume all your magic. You will fight me."
Morgana's eyes widened in shock.
Did she just say that I have to fight her? There is no way. Definitely no way.
The blond witch walked over to Morgana who was shaking her head and took her by her hand.
"Where are we going?"
"Outside, of course. We would not like to have anything destroyed, do we?"
After they reached the outskirts of Namhilrok, Morgause positioned herself opposite of Morgana.
"You learned some basic channelling and a few offensive spells from Merlin. Use them. I will defend for the beginning."
Morgana did as ordered and unleashed a lot of magical blasts which were easily deflected by Morgause. Next she tried the levitation spell to lift a big rock and flung it towards the queen. The blond witch made the rock shatter in midair and gave Morgana an acknowledging nod, before she suddenly initiated a counterattack. After the first attack hit the midnight-haired woman's defence, she was taken aback. The attack was simple but brutal and Morgana had some difficulties to deal with them. But soon she figured out how to negate the ferocious onslaught of Morgause, which made the blond hold her attack. An unexpected flash of gold took the queen by surprise and her body reeled back. Morgana, who was shocked, instantly ran over to make sure her opponent was fine. The royal figure laid face down but started to move before Morgana reached her and after the blond turned around her whole front was covered in mud. She wiped her eyes with her hands blinked a few times. Morgana whose mouth was wide agape in awe, horror and amusement at the same time simply stared at Merlin's elder sister.
"Well done, but let us finish for today. I think my pride has taken enough damage for a day."
Morgause started to laugh wholeheartedly and Morgana joined in. After they both calmed down, Morgana produced a handkerchief and offered it to Morgause, who took it thankfully and cleaned her face, chuckling at the absurdity of cleaning her face when everything else was still covered in mud and how little difference it made. She had fun. Something she did not have since she sent Merlin to Camelot and after he returned she had not enough time to do anything fun with her dear brother. But Morgana was not half-bad. She actually was happy that Merlin brought her with her, although at first the opposite was the case.
After they reached the castle again the day neared its end and Morgana went to bed with a bright smile on her face, before she closed her eyes.
Merlin was walking through a forest Morgana did not recognise.
"Hello! Hello! Where are you? The people who live her told me about you, so no need to hide!"
"I did not hide myself, I was merely watching you, without you noticing me."
Merlin turned around in the blink of an eye. He was stunned by the look of the female in front of him.
"I did not know I have this kind of an effect on males, but so be it."
The female in front of Merlin flashed a delighted smile.
"Are you the witch of the ´Ancient Cult´? Are you Nimueh?"
"Yes. But what do you want from me?"
The women with pitch-black her and blue eyes which rivalled Merlin's and who wear a red dress, cocked her head intriguingly.
"The people who live here told me about a pure-blooded witch who is supposed to call this forest her own. So I got curious and marched straight into it."
Merlin's cocky grin apparently amused the woman called Nimueh.
"Well, that is how you found me, but not your reason for searching me."
"Right. I am searching for people with enough magic to fight against Uther and I cannot let the chance of meeting a pure-blooded witch slip through my fingers. I heard you are a sorceress of the Ancient Cult, a circle of warlocks and witches existing since the beginning of our time. Someone like you would be a great help to our cause."
"I see, but unfortunately I have to decline. I call this forest my home. I cannot let it be unguarded. And when Uther tries to enter my sanctuary he will have to deal with the consequences."
"But do you not care about others. Do you care so little about what will happen once Uther has the Forge in his mad grip?"
"Ooh, please do not misunderstand me. I care, I really do but I do not see any sense why I should meddle with the things outside my forest."
Merlin was near to his limit. He needed her. He was sure of it. He could feel her power emitting from her. It was a gentle stream touching and picking at his magical aura. She was testing him.
"I need you and your power! So please, tell me what do you want? What can I do to change your mind?"
The witch in the red dress pondered a few moments about Merlin's appeal and nodded.
"We of the Ancient Cult believe in a fair exchange. If your price is right, I will come with you. So what do you have to offer?"
"I can offer you whatever you want, just tell me."
Nimueh stepped closer to Merlin, their bodies nearly touching. She laid a suggestive hand on his cheek…
KLANK… An iron mug fell down on the floor and waking Morgana in the process. Inwardly swearing at the vessel she stood up and walked towards the window, gazing at the moon and the stars surrounding it.
Merlin, what are you doing?
A/N: I hope you are happy with the little Merlin-arc insight. It will be the only one until the arcs will merge again. Well, I hope you enjoyed it. I always love reviews, so if you have something to say, please say it. Until next chapter ^^