The sound of steel meeting steel crashed and echoed throughout the trees. Rúnya felt rage flow through her veins as if her fury had replaced her blood. Her long raven black hair streamed wildly behind her and she struck, her blade striking and paring before she ducked and the dance repeated itself. Her limbs sang with the sweet song of combat as she dug her sword in to the breastplate of a bandit. The grey steel was coated now in a crimson slime. Around her, the guards of Rheged fought valiantly, for queen and country. The sight of their monarch in the fray with them made their spirits soar as the men roared with terrifying ferocity.
"To me!" Rúnya bellowed.
The men encased their queen in a protective circle, all the while fighting back the waves of bandits as they crashed down upon them. Eventually, the chain broke and they were all once more scattered, each fighting for his or her own preservation. The queen felt her power coming to life within her, fire crackling like lightning as she scorched the first man foolish enough to try and challenge her. At her side, a man on the attack whom she had been preparing for was flung against a tree by an unseen force. Rúnya looked up at once. Morgana!
"I thought you had left." Rúnya called as she pivoted and slashed at the next attacker.
"And miss all the fun?" Morgana grabbed a sword from a fallen man and countered a strike that nearly cleaved her head from her shoulders. She summoned a burst of power and sent the man flying backwards. Her neck instantly broke upon impact. "Never."
They fought side by side together, dual silhouettes of deadly power. Rúnya's flames lashed out like a whip, snaking their way around enemies and setting their armor ablaze. Her goal wasn't to kill, only to burn them badly enough to dissuade them from continuing their pursuit. The men around them cheered as the bandits began to flee back in to the forest like wounded dogs.
And then, it happened.
Hidden in the tree line, the head of the horde of human filth, the man who had tormented Morgana and had threatened Rheged's security notched his bow. He had but a single arrow left, and two targets to chose from. But it did not take him long to decide where to aim: one death would in this case work much the same as two. He left his arrow loose, listening to the sweet sound as it sang through the clear path.
The arrow buried itself nearly midway up the shaft in to Rúnya's chest. She dropped to her knees, hands instinctually flying to her stomach. "Ignis…." She wheezed. The fire obeyed its mistress. "Ignis, ábradwian!" Like a shot, the flame leapt from her body and seared through the chest of the assailant, following the near invisible trail left by the trembling air that marked the arrows path. Bandit and queen fell forward at the same moment.
"No!" Morgana screamed. "Rúnya, Goddess no." Careful as could be, she wrench the arrow out. "No, please. Not you." She gathered the young queen in her arms. The Rhegard guards rushed forward. "Get help." Morgana croaked above her tears. "Don't just gawk! Your queen is dying!" She turned back to Rúnya. "Rúnya, stay with me." She begged. "You can't go like this." Morgana pressed her forehead against the younger girl's. Her stomach dropped: Rúnya's skin felt cold. "Stay." She whispered.
Rúnya swallowed. Almost part of her body felt numb. Her eyes flooded with tears. "I don't want to die." She said softly. "My baby…" Her hands still clutched at her belly. "No…my baby….Morgana."
"You're not going to die.' Morgana said firmly. "Not you…not like this." But even as she said the words, Rúnya grew colder still. A moment passed, and the young queen grew silent. "No!" Morgana wailed. "Come back!" She squeezed her eyes shut. There was a small burning sensation on her arm that she had previously been ignoring…but she could not deny the searing pain that seemed to be peeling her skin apart with the heat of it. It grew worse, until she felt like she was engulfed in fire.
Morgana. A voice said loudly through the pain.
Who are you? What is this?
This is the moment you chose. The voice told her. The young girl's gift to you those long years ago has awoken. The flame spirit is yours to command, but how you use it now rests solely in your heart
What does that mean? Her head felt as if someone were yanking her mind in every direction possible, pulling sharply until it all threatened to tear apart.
You now, in this moment control the spirit of the flames. And as it's mistress you may do with it as you will.
Morgana's mind suddenly swarmed with visions. Camelot, Arthur and his army upon a burning plain, the fire roaring as it bent to her will. Crops withering at her misery, rivers and wells drying to dust. Yes…she now had the power to destroy Camelot…she could feel it.
"No." She said out loud and shook her head. No. She told the voice. I choose Rúnya, I chose her. Morgana pressed her hands against where the arrow had pierced Rúnya's skin. "You told me once, that I would know what it was for when the time came." She smiled. "This is a gift that I gladly give back to you." The power dribbled through her fingers. Morgana swore that she could feel it actually draining from her. The power…such ultimate power.
Rúnya's chest began to rise and fall again. Morgana could feel her heart, beating strongly beneath her palms. Each beat counteracting the feeling of loss as the power slipped away from her as it breathed life in to Rúnya. Morgana hesitantly pressed her hand to Rúnya's belly and waited.
She was greeted by a sharp kick.
Morgana burst in to tears of sweet relief. "Rúnya." She sobbed and held the queen close.
"Thank you." Rúnya whispered, her voice still very weak as she slowly returned to the world.
All that power…power Morgana had never even dreamed of possessing….it was gone. And she didn't even care. Morgana embraced Rúnya tightly. "You're going to be okay now." She promised. "Your guards are on their way, can't you hear them?"
Rúnya nodded. "You saved us." She murmured.
"Of course I did." Morgana smiled as if Rúnya had said something so obvious that it was comical. "You're the last person that I love: how could I ever let you slip away from me like that?"
"Rúnya!" It was Eldrion. He frantically dropped to the ground beside them. 'Thank the Goddess." He praised and gathered his wife in to his arms. "I thought….I thought I lost you both."
"We're still here." Rúnya promised. "Thanks to Morgana."
Eldrion couldn't help himself. He hugged Morgana tightly. "Thank you Morgana." He said, eyes misted. "You…you always have a place with us." He promised us. "My wife, our daughter…we owe you everything."
"There are no debts between friends." Morgana said. She picked up the arrow that had come so close to taking Rúnya from them both. Her eyes traveled to where the fire had shot out and struck the bandit king. He laid there now, a blackened, unrecognizable monstrosity. It was a quicker death than the man had deserved. "It's over." She said with relief. Two years….for two years she had lived in constant fear of her fate at his hands…and now thanks to Rúnya, he was just another nightmare. "How do you feel?"
"Like I've had my chest kicked in by a horse." Rúnya chuckled, even though both Eldrion and Morgana could tell it pained her to do so. "But I'll live."
"Yes, you will."
Rúnya gazed up at Morgana with the same look of wonder she had when they had first met. "I know you did Morgana…you could have made all those whom have wrong you kneel at your feet. You could have conquered any army that dared challenge you."
Morgana nodded. "I know." It was all that needed to be said.
"Eldrion," Rúnya looked to her husband. "Take me home?"
The king nodded. "Of course my lady." He scooped her in to his arms. Eldrion took only a few steps before he realized Morgana was not following. "Are you not coming back?"
Morgana shook her head. "Not this time." She said.
"Goodbye Morgana Pendragon." Rúnya said tiredly, a soft smile managing to creep across her lips. "Our paths will one day cross again."
The priestess nodded. "I'm sure they will." She looked up at Eldrion. "And you….she gets hurt again and I'll kill you myself." With that, Morgana strode off in to the forest, her head held higher than it had in years.
Eldrion looked down at Rúnya, face pale. "She wasn't joking, was she?" He kissed her lovingly.
Rúnya chuckled. "No, I think not." Her eyes were trained on where Morgana had walked off in, as if her fey eyes could still see her old friend. As far as Eldrion knew, maybe they could. "One day…we'll all be free to live how we were born to live." Rúnya murmured, almost to herself. "Dree yer ain weird."