The wind howled across the empty plain as the dead lay, piled atop each other. Death moved lazily here, lapping at the remaining souls as their gasping final breaths left their bodies. Morgana stumbled between them, a sword hanging heavily in her hands. she was the only person in sight who wasn't dead or soon to be, but she was tracking. Her eyes flickered golden and her direction changed slightly, heading towards the forest.
Mordred fled the battlefield, the weight of his actions hanging over him. He limped across the tops of the cliffs, adrenaline carrying him faster and faster away from the lifeless body of the slaughtered king. He felt triumphant at his success, however taking a life such as Arthur's had also taken a toll on him, and as soon as the body hit the ground the need to escape overcame him. He knew it would only be a matter of time before he was followed, by Merlin or Morgana or any one of the slain king's followers. He pulled his hood over his head, raising a face to the sky. The ominous clouds promised for wild weather, and as the first drops of rain fell as he descended the stone path toward the forest, a smiled whispered across his face. He might just get away with this.
Morgana briefly turned her eyes to the sky. To be free to see the sky still made her joyous, even in the darkest of times. She thought of the years she'd spent under the ground, years in a place that could only be described as hell. The clouds opened up and rain began to fall, washing some of the blood and dirt from her face. She paused to wipe her face, holding out a flask to collect the water. Again she checked the trail, a distant glowing figure becoming visible in her mind. The anger she felt helped to block out some of the unbearable anguish at seeing Arthur fall. The battle had raged for days, neither side making any ground. It had seemed like an eternal stalemate, with dwindling numbers of exhausted troops running into battle, never to return. The stench of the dead was revolting and by the end the ground was invisible for the piles of corpses. Both leaders had fought, their moves throwing them closer and closer together, but never to meet face to face. Until today. Today each side had so few soldiers that it was inevitable they should finally fight to the death. A few hundred warriors for each side remained, and they were the ones to die first. Mordred and Arthur were among the last few standing, and their confrontation had been a short one.
Both men were run down, covered in sweat and blood and dirt, so bone-weary neither could speak. Their swords met, twice, before the younger recovered quickest, thrusting his blade upwards through chainmail, muscle and organs. Arthur fell to his knees before Mordred, staring into his eyes as a smile twisted across the druid's face. Morgana had seen the encounter from a distance, seen as the young boy she had known so long ago slaughtered her brother, then turned and ran. A dragon circled, high in the sky above, Aithusa preparing to land on the ground. She ran to Arthur's fallen body, glancing desperately to the sky. 'Take him to Merlin!' she had shouted to the dragon. She gazed down at his face. His skin was grey and cold, eyes closed. She took Excalibur from his hand and sprinted after Mordred, sure of only one thing. She was going to kill him.
The trek from the white mountains through the forests had taken a day and a night, and by the time daylight once again brushed the tops of the trees, Mordred was soaked through, wet to the bone, starving and haggard, clutching at the body of a dead rabbit. He threw his sword into the ground and sat, shivering on a log. He knew it would be foolish to start a fire, but decided it was his best shot at warming up, and surviving digesting his meal. He quickly beheaded the body, cutting off the legs and peeling away the skin and gutting it before throwing the rest of the meat on the fire. He sighed, impatiently poking at the food with a stick, willing it to cook faster as his stomach growled. The rain had stopped but a thick fog had settled in, cloaking his surroundings and unsettling him whenever a bush rustled or a twig snapped. He had no time to sleep, no time to think about what had happened at Camlann. He used magic to remove the rabbit from the fire, spinning it to make it cool, cursing as it dropped to the forest floor. He reluctantly moved from his spot on the log, pulling his sword from the ground and skewering the meat. after a few mouthfuls and a swig from a flask of water, he noticed something different about his sword. A piece of the blade had been chipped off. He rang his hand over the gap thoughtfully, still chewing. The blade had not been chipped when he faced Arthur, he thought. So therefore it must've broken inside the king himself. He smirked. The mighty Pendragon, killed by shrapnel. Something fell and echoed on the path ahead. Wiping his hands on his legs, Mordred made a decision. He knew he was being followed, how closely he was unsure. He decided to circle back around and shake them off his trail. Kicking the rabbit into the fire, he decided to leave it burning. Then, with his sword in his hand, he melted into the thick forest without a sound.
•••
Morgana had been tracking Mordred throughout the night. She knew he would be as tired as she was, and she prayed to the Gods above he would be first to make a mistake. She was checking his position less and less often, in an attempt to conserve her energy for their confrontation. She had been slowly closing the gap between them, and anticipated she would soon catch him. Her grip on Excalibur tightened, knuckles whitening.
The trees began to thin out around her, and soon she came to a clearing. Scanning the tree line, she saw no one. A fire burned openly in the middle of the glade, with no one in sight tending it. She waited, alert for someone to return. No one did. Finally, making a decision, she scrutinised the trees surrounding the area once more, before stepping out into the open. As she approached the campsite, she looked into the fire. Something was burning in the heart of the fire, letting off acrid smoke. It was the body of a rabbit, it's removed skin smoking in the flames. In that moment, Morgana realised her mistake and something hit her from behind, sending her sprawling onto the ground. Turning on her side, she saw Mordred standing above her as he wrenched Excalibur from her hands. She staggered to her feet, never taking her eyes off the man in front of her, now holding two swords as she stood unarmed. 'I never would have guessed we would end up this way Mordred' she spat at him. 'The first time we met you were just a boy. Don't you remember? Arthur helped you and you killed him.'
He smiled mirthlessly. 'You know nothing of my reasons Morgana.'
'So tell me!' she screamed, losing patience. 'Tell me the story of why you deserve to cause so much pain, why you're so special that your life is worth more than his? Tell me why you get to deliver justice as you see fit and a kingdom has to suffer for it?!'
'His soldiers slaughtered my village!' Mordred roared. 'They killed men, women and children, set fire to tents, barns containing livestock nothing and no one was spared.'
Morgana recoiled in shock as he continued. 'You know the girl Zaira? She is from what is left of my village. She survived a massacre, one of many under your "merciful leader". His kind have persecuted druids for years, persecuted you and I! Only I will make a better king, only I can return magic to this land and I will destroy anyone who gets in my way.'
And as Morgana opened her mouth to speak, he plunged Excalibur into her stomach, slicing upwards towards her heart. She heard a terrible noise, a tortured scream as a raven-haired man burst from the trees. A white hot pain enveloped her, unlike anything she had ever felt before. She was not aware of her body hitting the ground. She was not aware of the blood soaking her dress, and pooling on the ground next to her. She wasn't aware of anything, nothing but the pain. And then the pain faded to blackness. And there was nothing.
•••
...SO. I've been thinking of this story for a long time, and I finally decided it's time to finish it. I'm not entirely sure of the small details of the story I wrote, but I know what I had planned for it, and that's what I'm going to go with! Hopefully you've enjoyed this chapter and I'll have the next one up soon! Please do let me know what you think x