The Union of Avalon and Briton 14
The spells in the story are not all mine. Some I got off a story from another author here called Calliann. Some spells are from Earth, Air, Fire, and Water: More Techniques of Natural Magic by Scott Cunningham and Everyday Magic by Dorothy Morrison. Other spells I borrowed from the writer Patricia C. Wrede, and still others are from a videogame-I don't know the game's name, but I got it from some sort of game. Some rewritten spells are from Green Magic: The Sacred Connection to Nature by Ann Moura. A few ARE mine though! Part of a chant is from Lady Alexia V, and her story Dark Red. Some of the Dark Gods are from a web page Beltane information comes from and , the main web page, a few words are from Harry Potter, and the web page Temple of the Sacred Spiral. Another spell, in this chapter actually, is from the book Spell casting: Practical Magick for Daily Life by Sister Moon. As always, King Arthur is not mine and none of the characters belongs to me either. They are all apart of the Arthurian Legends. I am only using these characters as a fun activity in my spare time so please, don't sue me!
The Knights listed are TRUE Knights of the Round Table-I found the names of all the Knights listed on different websites!
Arthur and Lancelot rushed as quickly as they could back to the inner courtyard, the inner sanctuary of Avalon, with Elaine swathed safely in the First Knight's arms.
As they reached the courtyard where they had left Morgana, Arthur cried out, "Sister! Something or someone has possessed Elaine!"
Morgana's naturally blond, streaked, golden brown hair spun around and stared at them in horror. As her brother and his friend halted in front of her, each breathing deeply and erratically from the panic they were both feeling, she looked intently at her baby sister's face in an attempt to find out what was wrong.
She bit her lip as she tried to force her way through Elaine's darkly protected mind. Her own telepathy wasn't as powerful as her sibling's skill, but she was no slouch either in the magick of the mind.
After a few fruitless tries, she gave up, threw up her head, and cried out, "Morgawse! Bring Branwen! QUICK!"
They waited impatiently as the eldest child of the late Igraine stumbled out of the tent. In her arms was their baby cousin, the youngest of their generation, Branwen, second daughter of Niniane, the Late Lady of the Lake.
As the pair grew close, Branwen, whose power was aura healing, started to scream over and over again, "DARKNESS! DARKNESS! DARKNESS!"
Morgawse gasped as her tiny cousin started to thrash about. She was eternally grateful that she had cast the protection spell the day before because she had forgotten all about it in the following haste of the festival and her baby was still under the spell's enchantment.
As Branwen's trouncing grew prevailing, Arthur lunged over to his eldest sister and alleged as he took the young girl in his arms, "I've got her, Morgawse. You need to rest. That baby is about ready to come, you know."
Morgawse smiled slightly as she placed a hand on her lower back to alleviate some of the pressure carrying her little Eartha and Branwen together.
Isolde, who had just arrived with Tristran guarding her back, commanded as her eyes bled to silver,
"Nirvana! Come to me!"
In a swirl of silvery, white light, the aforementioned Priestess appeared with a thoughtful frown on her face.
She tilted her head downward as a sign of obedience and asked soothingly, "What is it that you wish Lady Isolde?"
The lover of Tristran frowned and said as she pointed to her cousin resting, seemingly serenely, in Lancelot's arms, "It is Elaine, something is wrong with her."
Nirvana nodded and glided forward and placed a gentle hand on the young Priestess' forehead under the eagle-eyed glares of her brother and lover.
Her lips pursed together and her eyebrows furrowed as she hissed and snatched her hand away and cradled it as if it had been burned.
Percival gasped and said in a shocked voice as he pointed towards Nirvana, who had been his escort the previous day and his lover the night before, "Look! Her hand! It looks like it was burned!"
Isolde made to grab the limb, but Nirvana cradled it closer to her bosom and said easily as she lightly dodged the red-hared woman, "It is nothing that I cannot heal later, Lady-sister. Lady Elaine is currently battling whoever is in possession of her. There are two auras around her-one belongs to Elaine and the other…"
Arthur and Lancelot sighed impatiently and asked a bit rudely as one voice as her voice faded into silence, "Well!"
Nirvana bit her lip nervously and with a bit of apprehension as she rose her eyes to the two men and said in a loud whisper that seemed to float to every pair of ears gathered in the sanctuary, "…Ganieda."
Elaine stumbled as a circular, pure silver plate flew past her temple grazing it. She blinked and swore as her concentration wavered for a slight second.
Unfortunately, that was all the elder Dark Priestess needed to regain her confidence and regain some of her waning strength.
Elaine bit her lip, accidentally drawing blood but not caring either way, and said as her eyes started to bleed gold, "You will not win, Dark Priestess. The magic of Avalon and the God, Herne, himself and the Mother Goddess will help me defeat you!"
Ganieda snorted, wiped the sweat droplets off her forehead with the hem of her cloak, and said in a dry heaving kind of voice, "Why do you think this has happened child? They have abandoned you! Join me! We can be invincible!"
Elaine frowned and said crossly, "No! My loyalty is to the All-Mother! She has NOT abandoned me, and I will NOT abandon her because you wish me too, old hag!"
Ganieda hastily gulped back large quantities of air and said in a mockingly disappointed tone, "Oh dear me child! What has become of you? You are starting to sound like that barbarian Sarmatian boy that now fathers your unborn child. How could you have let this happen?"
As her face grew even more falsely sympathetic, she added on, "How could you have let yourself fall so far from grace, as too procreate with such a low-breed monstrous creature?"
Elaine bit down even farther into her plump lip and harshly reminded herself, she's just trying to make you mad! Remember Elaine! The first one who REALLY looses their temper is the one who will lose.
Ganieda was growing more and more worried by the minute. She was slowly losing ground in her own battleground of choice! This wasn't supposed to happen! She bit back a loud, pain-filled groan as a bar from Elaine's cage, that hadn't been destroyed completely from her earlier escape, flew by her hip and cut shallowly into her aging flesh.
She thought wildly about what she could do. She didn't want to give up because Elaine's was her last chance at attempting to destroy Arthur. After this, she knew her end was near. She was to old and her affiliation with the Dark Ones had stolen years off her natural lifespan that the Goddess had blessed her with upon her birth; after this battle, her magic would be to far-gone for her to continue living. I MUST win!
Her eyes narrowed as she jumped lightly to the side as she dodged another jaggedly edged bar from Elaine's artillery. In that instant, her world tipped and her grasp of the metal world floundered.
As the world around her flickered from the Astral Plane to the real world and back again, Elaine's smile turned into smirk of hope and thought ironically she's right, I've been around Lance to long!
She shook her head and screamed at herself for losing focus. This was her chance to escape; all I have to do is defeat Ganieda and kill her!
With that in mind, her eyes narrowed and her hands clenched into white knuckled fists. She punched her fists forward and watched with pride as two emerald gold bolts of physic energy flew from them and crashed into Ganieda's protective bubble.
Ganieda cursed aloud as her protective bubble wavered and seemed to grow dim. She was losing ground and she couldn't help it. Her powers were being stretched to far and in to many different directions.
She bit her lip and for a brief minute put all her powers into fortifying the mental world-the Astral Plane.
She did not appreciate the three-way split she was forced to endure-the mental world, the fight, and attempting to re-cage Elaine. Nevertheless, if she wanted to annihilate Arthur, she had to defeat his sister, Elaine, first.
Ganieda warily jumped aside once again as Elaine's attack grew in strength. She just didn't understand! How could she have grown this powerful! This isn't mortally possible! She protested in her mind hysterically.
She absentmindedly wiped her perspiring brow, heaved in another lung full of air and coughed with the exertion needed, and said as her knees trembled in exhausted weakness, "I'm going to win, you know that, right?"
Elaine smirked and said in a breathless tone, "No, you are not! I won't allow you to use ME to kill MY brother."
With that, she sent another bolt of physic energy at the elder and grabbed the last jagged bar she could find. She was determined to beat the old Dark Priestess. I will NOT allow her to kill Arthur using ME!
As she once again dodged Elaine's attack, Ganieda stumbled and lost her footing. She hissed in pain and clutched her wound at her hip.
As she rolled to her feet, very much off balance she noticed with disgust, she said in a mocking tone that revealed her resignation to her fate, "Too bad you don't have a knife."
Elaine's eyes widened in shock and sparkled with an intense joy as she thought A Knife! But, I do have one!
Her eyes narrowed as she visualized the dagger Ganieda had sent to her possessed form. Even though she had not seen it consciously, her subconscious, the part of her that was currently possessed by Ganieda's dark spell, had. She forced herself to remember and visualize it in the Astral Plane. With a flash of golden light, the bejeweled weapon appeared by her side. With a merciless wave of her hand, she sent the dagger hurtling through the plane.
She watched with a dispassionate air as the dagger embedded itself with a sickening, squishy sound in Ganieda's chest; directly into her black heart.
Ganieda collapsed and gave off a sigh as her eyes closed for the last time.
Isolde, Morgana, Morgawse, Arthur who still held Branwen close to his heart, and Lancelot cried out in shock and fear as the dagger Elaine held so bloodthirstily in her right hand vanished.
Nirvana calmly took a step forward, placed her hand once again over Elaine's forehead, and said sweetly, "Elaine's aura summoned the dagger-not Ganieda. In fact, Ganieda's aura is weakening even as I speak. Have no fear My Ladies, My Lords, Elaine is winning!"
Brietta, who had gone unnoticed by the growing group of Priestesses and Knights since the Knights had arrived two nights before, paled and slowly edged away from the group.
Unfortunately, what she didn't know was that Sir Agravine saw her and followed behind her as silently as possible.
Agravine smirked as he shadowed the Priestess, whom had been extremely rude to all the Knights and most importantly, Arthur, since they had arrived. He almost chuckled when he realized that the 'plant mage' didn't even realize that someone was following her-even with all the plant life around her.
After a few minutes of running through the forested island, Agravine watched with wide eyes as Brietta rushed to the shore, threw a handful of leaves into the lake, and dived in. Despite himself, he couldn't help but admire how graceful her body arched through the air and slide through the rippling, sapphire, waters of the magical lake.
After a few nerve wracking minutes, Agravine pulled off his tunic top and dived loudly into the lake. He swam as far down as he could and spent at least three minutes looking around frantically for the young priestess. After that time though, his lungs demanded he swim to the surface, so he did. After he gulped in another burst of life-giving air, he dived back down to the lake's sandy, rocky floor.
After ten more dives, Agravine splashed to the shoreline, tossed his tunic haphazardly on and ran as fast as he could back to the others.
Arthur couldn't believe what was happening. First, he had thought that he was going to murder the man who deflowered his baby sister, but then Lancelot had being chosen specifically by the Horned-God, and he felt elated! Second, his best friend and sister, whom he loved very much, and who loved each other with a passion he envied, and now this: The woman trying to murder him possessed his sister, and she was currently unconscious because of it.
"ARTHUR!"
He spun around, watched in concern as his Knight fell to his knees, and gasped out what the problem was.
The Knights watched with wide eyes full of concern as the royal family of Avalon paled and Morgawse's eyes started to glow white very brightly, "The Heart of Avalon…"
Morgana spun around and said shortly, "Aithne, Water Elemental Mistress of Avalon, go forth and find Priestess Brietta and investigate the lake."
As his lover nodded and turn to leave the courtyard, Galahad stepped forward and said adamantly, "She's not going anywhere without me!"
Morgana eyed Aithne. Her cousin was blushing lightly but also had an exasperated look on her face. Morgana understood because all the Priestesses of Avalon were battle-priestesses, and to have a guardian was not good for their egos. She turned to Arthur and tilted her head.
He rolled his eyes and nodded.
Morgana shrugged and said, "Fine…hurry back."
As they rushed through the trees, on the same trail that Agravine had taken when he followed Brietta, Galahad asked, "What could possibly be wrong with the lake of Avalon? It's the very center and most important part of Avalon's magics, right?"
Aithne turned towards him and said, "That's what has us all worried. Avalon's very heart is the most powerful part of the island. With this…well…having Brietta there is a bad thing."
When they arrived at the lake, Aithne grabbed his hand and said as she pulled him into the water, "My powers give me the ability to breathe under water. With you touching me, you too will have this ability."
Galahad looked a bit uncertain but as her hand caressed his cheek tenderly and her sweetly, whispered, "Trust me…" he nodded and said as he gripped her hand confidently, "Lets go then."
Galahad was amazed!
His grass green eyes were wide and awed as he gasped at all the beautiful fish he could see. In addition, with the sunlight glinting off the pure, sapphire waters, he couldn't help but wish he, too, had this kind of power.
As he turned towards Aithne to ask her a question, his words were caught in his throat. The blue waters made her skin a beautiful hue of light blue. That added to her already mesmerizing, aquamarine, blue eyes, which were glowing softly as she engaged her powers. The young Knight knew then and there that if she asked him, he'd marry her and live in the village outside Avalon happily for the rest of eternity.
After a minute, Galahad and Aithne stopped and Aithne's head jerked back in surprise. The normal blue aura shield that protected the cave of power was overlaid with a dark, evil, blood red shield. Just inside, they could see Brietta hastily cleaning things up with wide, panicked eyes.
With a frown, Aithne thought to the shield, I, Aithne, daughter of Avalon and daughter of Viviane, seek entrance to thy hidden lands, with this Knight of Sarmatia, Galahad, this is my will, SO MOTE IT BE!'
With a surprised yelp, Galahad found himself flat on the cave floor. He grimaced in slight pain as he pushed himself to his feet and pushed Brietta up against the cave's walls with a growl, "What have you done?"
He turned towards his lover and asked exasperatedly, "Why is it that you didn't fall on your face!"
Aithne smiled and said as she pulled off the shelf a black candle-lit it and a handful of JuJu herbs and with a wave of her hand,
"Bound by nails of the coffin,
Bind the enemy who provokes me often.
I bind all lips that wish me ill,
I call the ants to eat at will.
Release the olive branch of thorn,
Whenever my name is spoke in scorn.
Within the circle of lace and stone,
I call the powers of ancient Crones.
Keep this enemy far from me,
Stave the evil and thorns of tree.
Bound with magic and ebony lace,
Thorns stand guard mine enemy's face!"
Then she threw a black four by four square black lace cloth in Brietta's direction and with a poof of black smoke, Brietta was gone!
Galahad stuttered and asked brokenly, "Wh…wha…what happ…happened to her!"
Aithne smiled impishly and answered as her voice drawled to nothing as shock overcame her happiness, "I am well versed in the drop when we cross the boundary, and I sent her to the shore bound in unbreakable…"
Galahad gulped back a sudden lurch of bile in his throat and thought weirdly enough this kind of thing shouldn't be effecting me anymore…
There before them, laying spread eagle in the center of the inverted pentagram was Ganieda-and a VERY familiar bejeweled dagger in her heart.