A/N: Thanks Baje Barra, Indiamoore, Guest (whoever you are), megan, and Kaitie85386 for your reviews! You guys are great, whether you've been reading or just started. : ) One more chapter and an epilogue to go!

Connotation

~Chapter 14: King's Beds and Killing Juice~

By Fox

At dusk Morgana wakes, irritated but without the knowledge of how to destroy Emrys, and the merry band sets out.

Her irritation increases, with more than a little terror, when Kilgharrah self-righteously orders them to climb onto his back, stating that under ordinary circumstances he would be digesting them before they could even suggest it, but that they are pressed for time.

Morgana clings to Gwen and shuts her eyes the whole way, only containing her screams because they would alert the enemy, while Gwen fights the urge to whoop out laughter, and lets one hand trail in the air currents until Kilgharrah tells her it throws off his balance.

After this it is surprisingly easy for Morgana and Gwen to quickly cross through the towns surrounding the citadel. Everyone is asleep, both naturally and under enchantment.

There is a slight mishap involving a patrol, a kicked stone, and a parrot, but it's not worth mentioning.

"Do shades sleep?" Gwen whispers to Morgana as they're walking beside the wall of the citadel towards the gate.

"They are not creatures of this world."

So "no", then, Gwen translates, and when did Morgana become as cryptic as the bloody dragon? But nerves sweep her irritation away as they reach the gate.

She has the sword held tightly at her side, and Morgana, at her insistence, has conjured three witch-lights and has a defensive spell waiting in her hands.

"Okay," Gwen says, trying to calm her stomach. "Into the courtyard, straight to delivery entrance. Ha. Delivery entrances, am I right?"

Morgana looks at her like she has a strange disease, and places a hand on the gate. There is a breath, a grunt, and a word, and then the gate lifts slowly until it is a foot above the ground.

Gwen shimmies under and Morgana follows, breathing harder than seems necessary.

"Lifting a gate is that hard?"

"I am not yet fully recovered from the effects of the cuffs," Morgana snaps, and both of them fail to see two knights running towards them until they're right there.

By some miracle Gwen turns just in time to see the one coming towards her, and manages to raise her sword to block his. The next few moments are blurred, but she is pretty sure the man tripped over something, and she took the opportunity to hit him on the head with the hilt of her sword.

She turns to help Morgana, but Morgana doesn't need help. The other soldier is staring dreamily into space, singing softly under his breath.

"What did you do?" Gwen hisses.

"He'll just be confused for a while," the witch reassures grudgingly. "Not that I would care if he was permanently addled."

Gwen glares at her but decides to forgo the argument, instead turning and traipsing towards the entrance in the distance.

"For goodness' sake, stick to the shadows," Morgana whispers as she runs up to Gwen and pulls her to the wall.

"It's nighttime. The whole air is a shadow." Morgana just keeps walking silently along by the wall.

Fine. Gwen thinks. We're both probably too nervous for arguing anyway. I know I am. Which is why I should be concentrating on the plan.

Gwen concentrates on the plan. They sneak into the kitchens without any trouble, other than a little hysterical giggling from Gwen at the irony. Escaping through here, sneaking back through here.

Gwen takes the lead, sneaking softly up the stairs.

"Where would the Shade be?" she whispers to Morgana, who is about to answer when an ear-splitting roar resonates from seemingly everywhere.

Gwen and Morgana hit the floor and half-panic before remembering the plan.

"I will draw them out," Kilgharrah had said. "You must use the time I give you wisely."

Gwen mentally berates herself for letting instincts get the better of her. But she's never heard a sound like this.

It's still going. Echoing off the citadel, wailing in circles through the sky. It is the sound of fury and monsters and things that go bump in the night. She can hear the chaos it's causing: thundering footsteps from above, shouting voices, screams.

"Come on," Gwen says, more to herself than Morgana. "All the knights are rushing to fight the dragon."

"Hopefully," Morgana adds. Gwen ignores her, something that's becoming a habit of late.

Gwen looks out the first window they reach, and sees chaos. At least a hundred soldiers are swarming around the huge form of Kilgharrah, who dwarfs them easily. He is roaring and breathing fire into the air, sweeping the men down with his tail.

"That must be almost everyone," Gwen says. "Let's find the Shade. He might be with Merlin."

Morgana's eyes narrow, and Gwen hefts the sword and squints at her meaningfully. Morgana takes the hint and sweeps an arm in a gesture for Gwen to lead the way.

She does, experiencing severe déjà vu as they trace her path of days ago up stairs and through corridors to Arthur's bedchamber.

"He was in here last time I saw him," Gwen says, and places one hand on the door handle. Morgana raises her fists, a spell shimmering between them.

Gwen swings the door open and they rush in, sword raised and magic blasting a wave through the room, rippling curtains and bedcovers and shattering a mirror lying on the desk.

But having, unfortunately, no effect on an absent High Shade.

"Not here," Gwen mutters, disappointed. A good impressive entrance, wasted.

"He was," Morgana notes. "I can feel his magic. He was just here."

But someone is there, however, still tied to the bed. Or, the remains of the bed. Gwen hurries over to check on Merlin, but is rather brought up short by everything around him.

The "bed" is so much ribbons and charcoal, burned and slashed to pieces, odd fragments of stone and powder around it on the floor. The walls are splashed with dubious substances and some of the stones have corroded and bubbled, and various barely-recognizable bits of weapons are sunk into what the mattress used to be. Everything seems to be covered in a purple, oily sheen.

Morgana stoops and tastes some of the greenish powder on the floor and looks impressed.

"Black magic residue. From those spells we saw earlier. That's what the purple oil is, too. Killing juice."

Gwen feels sick at the description and finally takes a look at the figure on the bed, though she really doesn't want to. What kind of shape will Merlin be in, after all this…?

Pretty good shape indeed, apparently. Merlin is breathing quietly, serene in the destruction around him. His clothes have been shredded and burned- Gwen quickly retrieves a shirt from Arthur's cabinet and covers him- but the man himself is fine, not a scratch on him.

"Well, at least we know he's alright," Gwen says.

"Yes," Morgana hisses, "At least we know Emrys is unharmed." She looks slightly mad. Without hesitation, Gwen steps smartly over to her and slaps her hard on the cheek. Morgana stumbles back and looks at her in shock, though her eyes are clear again.

"Guinevere!"

"You do that creepy evil-eye thing again, and I'm telling Kilgharrah to eat you," Gwen promises. "Now let's go. If the Shade's not here, where is he? We don't have a lot of time!"

How long until Kilgharrah is overwhelmed and leaves? Even a dragon can buckle under a hundred men. Or someone's going to realize it's a diversion.

The Shade is not in Uther's old chambers, or the dungeons, though they don't venture too deeply into those.

"The throne room," Morgana says finally, and Gwen can't believe they didn't think of it before. She knows in her gut that the creature will be there, and has a sudden vision of it lounging on Arthur's throne, mocking the kingdom with its very presence.

She feels rejuvenated by anger, and, with fresh determination (at least on her part), she and Morgana trek back up the stairs from the dungeons.

By the time they're at the huge doors that quite possibly lead to sudden, painful death, Gwen is fairly winded from the climb and fairly panic-ridden from thinking about what lay ahead while they climbed. The anger has quite worn off.

"Alright," she says, trying not to throw up. "Here we go. Morgana. He probably has more people in there with him. Um. So. Plan. You take… oh god."

She feels dizzy, so she doesn't see Morgana's hand until it has landed sharply on her cheek, stunning her for a moment. Clarity returns with a rush.

"Wow. I suppose that's payback, but thanks." She hops in place a little and shakes her head to clear it more. "Right. You do what you can with magic to disable them from afar, and whatever happens, don't let the Shade escape. I'll keep him busy until you can help me. Ready?"

"Are you?" Morgana asks, and a bolt of something like lightning spreads between her palms. Gwen raises the sword, puts one of the witch-lights on her shoulder for moral support, and shoves the doors open.