The Nightmare Begins

Part One


Sleep eluded me. I could hear the thunder rumbling outside and the room was illuminated by the persistent flashes of lightning. I had gone from walking around my chambers to hanging of the side of the bed in an attempt to make myself tired.

Finally, having given up on the hope of getting any sleep, I walked out into the hallway. When I reached the end I pushed open the door to Aleya's chambers and walked in. She was in bed asleep, but her head was thrashing back and forth violently. I made my way to the bed when a vase shattered. I ducked to the floor as the shattered glass and roses fell. I looked up and saw Aleya sitting up in bed looking terrified.

"What the hell was that?" I asked as I stood up.

"I don't know." She said.

"Whatever it is, we best not tell Uther." I said. She nodded quickly. I looked over to the table which had a candle sitting on it when I noticed smoke billowing from under the door. "We should go." I said.

Aleya jumped out of bed. I pulled the door open and saw that the whole corridor was consumed with smoke. Her and I both made our way into the smoke. We were met by Arthur who was running down the hallway.

"What happened?" He asked.

"In there." Aleya said as she point towards Morgana's chambers, which were across the hall from mine. It was obvious that that was where the smoke was coming from.

As we got closer to the door I could hear Morgana's screams coming from inside. Arthur quickly ran over to the door and threw it open, causing more smoke to pile into the hallway. Aleya and I stood in the hallway, but I could see that the flames were engulfing a tapestry.

Arthur picked her up off of the bed and carried her out. He motioned for us to follow him so we did. He led us to his own chambers which were on the same hallway, but the smoke had not made it that far.

"What happened?" Aleya asked as she tried to comfort Morgana who seemed scared out of her wits.

"I don't know." Morgana mumbled.

"Did you leave a candle lit?" I asked.

"They were all out." Morgana said. Aleya looked to me and I knew what she was thinking. In the legends Morgana had magic, but I could not understand why she would have set the fire in her own room and almost killed herself.


After the fire was extinguished and Samantha and I had both returned to our rooms I had not slept much. I busied myself with cleaning up the vase that had shattered. I remembered what Aglain had said to me about my having magic. It seemed so far out of the realm of possibility, but was it?

It was just after dawn when I decided that I would go and see if Gaius needed any help. I had found that spending a lot of time alone was bad for my sanity. Merlin walked up behind me, carrying some sort of herbs.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"What?" I asked.

"I heard about the fire last night." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"It wasn't that big of a deal." I said.

"It must have been terrifying." He said as we walked.

"For Morgana, yeah, but I was just in the hallway." I said. "Besides, it takes a lot more than that to frighten me."

"I'm glad you're alright." He said as we made it to the physician's chambers. We stopped outside of the door because we heard voices coming from inside. From what I heard Gaius was comforting a distraught Morgana.

"You're the only person I've told about my dreams." Morgana said. "I know I can trust you Gaius."

"Yes, of course you can." Gaius said.

"It was me." She said. "I set the room alight. I started the fire."

"I don't understand, did you knock a candle over?" Gaius said.

"No that's not what happened. I did it just by looking at it. The flames suddenly leapt higher." She said.

"It could have been a gust of wind." Gaius said.

"It was me. It was magic." I looked over at Merlin who was looking at me with wide eyes.

"So she has magic?" I whispered.

"It would appear so." Merlin said.

"Uther will show her no mercy if he finds out." I said. "We have to help her."

"As of now, Uther is clueless. Until he finds out we have nothing to worry about." Merlin said. We heard Morgana walking for the door so we walked down the steps to avoid suspicion. "I'll only be a moment." Merlin said once Morgana had left. He took the stairs to at a time as he went. I had a distinctly bad feeling about this.


"I don't understand your theory." I said to Arthur as he walked around the burnt area of Morgana's chambers.

"What don't you understand?" He asked.

"If it was lightening then, wouldn't the window have broken inwards?" I asked.

"My father seems to think that it's sorcery." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"In fairness, your father believes that everything is sorcery." I said. He laughed a bit.

"You are correct." Arthur said. He motioned towards the door and I led the way out into the hallway.

"So, how is he going to proceed?" I asked.

"He's instructed me to arrest everyone that we have under suspicion." Arthur said.

"What?" I asked in shock. "What will that prove?"

"He believes that whoever is responsible will come forward before they see others die." Arthur said with remorse in his voice.

"What if this was just a candle being knocked over?" I asked.

"I don't know." He said. "I'm sorry, but I have to go."

"You know that this is wrong, Arthur." I said.

"There's nothing that I can do." He said as he walked off.


Gaius had left to go an speak with the king about his arresting those suspected of sorcery so Merlin and I were in his chambers. Merlin was lighting some candles and I was sitting at the table reading some of Gaius' medical books.

There was a knock at the door so I made my way back to Merlin's room as he went to answer it. The fact of our relationship still remained that no one could know about us. At the moment the only people who knew were Samantha and Gwen, although Arthur had shown his suspicions.

"Is Gaius here?" I heard Morgana asked.

"Uh, no he's not at the moment. He should be back soon though." Merlin said.

"I need to speak with him, where is he?" Morgana asked.

"He's gone to speak with the King. What's wrong?" Merlin asked. There was silence. "You can trust me, Morgana. You know you can."

"I'm scared, Merlin." She said, "I don't understand anything anymore. I need to know what's happening."

"Gaius will be back soon, he'll be able to help you." Merlin said.

"He won't, I don't want any remedies, they won't do any good." She said, "It's magic, Merlin."

"What?" Merlin asked sounding shocked.

"I'm your friend, you know that I wouldn't make this up." She said, I could hear the fear and uncertainty in her voice.

"Of course." Merlin said reassuringly.

"And you believe me?" Morgana asked. Merlin did not respond. "You think it's magic too? Please, Merlin, I just need to hear someone say it so I don't have to keep feeling like I'm imagining it."

"I really wish that there was something I could say." Merlin said. I heard Morgana walking away and when the door shut I walked out and saw Merlin was staring at the door.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked angrily.

"It's better this way, Aleya." He said, his tone sounding strained.

"You know good and well that she has magic." I said, "Why couldn't you just tell her?"

"I don't know for sure." Merlin said shaking his head.

"It's the only possibly explanation and you know it." I said. He did not say anything. "Merlin, now she feels as though she is going crazy and imagining it." I looked down to the ground. "I know how she feels." I mumbled.

"How do you know how she feels?" He asked as he turned to me.

"I..." I began but thankfully I was interrupted by Gaius walking in. As soon as he walked in I was out the door. I was not willing to hash this out with Merlin at the moment.


"Arthur is arresting everyone who is suspected of consorting with sorcerers or the Druids." I sad. I Aleya was sitting on the chest at the end of my bed as I paced back and forth. It was apparent that her mind was somewhere else.

"What was that about the Druids?" Aleya asked.

"They're arresting anyone who consorts with them, why?" I asked.

"The Druids, they help people with magic, right?" She asked.

"Aleya, you don't need to go to them." I said as I sat down beside of her.

"I know that, Morgana does." She said.

"What?" I asked.

"Morgana, she has magic. She started the fire." She said. Wonderful, Morgana had magic. That could only bode well for Camelot.

"Uther thinks that it was an attempt on her life." I said.

"You don't understand, Sam." She said, "Morgana feels lost and confused and she thinks that she's imagining it."

"Maybe she is imagining this." I said and Aleya gave me a look.

"What if this is the path that leads her to become the Morgan Le Fay of the legends?" Aleya asked. She did have a very compelling argument.

"And she told you all this?" I asked. It could be said that Aleya and I were not exactly close with Morgana.

"Well, no." She said, "She told Merlin."

"Isn't he going to help her?" I asked.

"He doesn't believe her." She said, "But, if Merlin won't I will."

"How do plan to find the Druids?" I asked.

"Well, if Arthur is arresting people suspected of talking to them, then there must be a list.." She said with a sly smile. "I would bet that Arthur has it."

"And if you can find these Druids, are you going to have Morgana wandering around the woods to find them?"

"No, I'll have to go and ask them if they can help."

"So, you'll be wandering around the woods by yourself?"

"I can take care of myself, Sam."

"I'm going with you, if you go."

"Fine."

"How do you plan to get the list?"

"Could you, maybe, perhaps distract Arthur?"

"Like last time?" I asked remember the past.

"Just, keep it rated G, alright?" She said with a smile.

You would think that it would be extremely easy to distract someone for a few moments, but things are instantly complicated immensely when the person who you are trying to distract is Arthur Pendragon. I walked up to him in the hallway, unsure of how I was going to complete my task.

"Arthur." I said with a smile.

"I need to get through, Samantha." He said with urgency in his voice.

"Why the rush?" I asked as he tried to step by me. I moved and blocked his path. Aleya owed me big time.

"My father has instructed me to bring in all of those who are under suspicion." He said.

"And you have to do that now?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Like right now?"

"Yes."

"Like this very moment?"

"Samantha, please." He said with desperation in his voice. I saw Aleya walking down the hallway. She raised her thumbs up while mouthing something.

"Alright then. Have fun. Be safe. Wear a helmet." I said as I ran past him leaving him standing there confused.

"Never again." I said as I walked into Aleya's chambers and saw her sitting there smiling widely.

"There's a woman named Fern who lives in the lower town." She said as she stood up. "I won't be long, get ready to leave."

She walked out of my chambers eagerly. I was not sure that she fully understood what she was getting herself into. Or me into, for that matter.


I had walked past the guards, trying to look as normal as possible. I made it to the house which, luckily, they had not made it to yet. I opened the door and walked in realizing that this was not a time for social graces. I looked around the house for her when I felt something sharp against my back.

"Who are you?" A woman's voice called from behind .e

"I'm Aleya, are you Fern?" I said. She dropped her blade and I turned and looked at the woman. She had dark hair and she wore a green dress. She looked at me quizzically.

"Why do you ask?" She said.

"Because we haven't got much time." I said. "Uther has sent out men to arrest everyone who is under suspicion of magic."

"This way." She said as she led the way to the back of the house. "Thank you, you have taken a great risk."

"I wish that I could help more of them." I mumbled. "Do you know where the Druids are?"

"I do not." She said defensively.

"Listen, I need to find them. My friend needs their help." I said with pleading eyes.

"Their camp is on the very edge of the Darkling woods." She said. "Do not betray their trust."

"I only want their help." I said, "Thank you." I said before running off having accomplished my goal.


I watched from the window as people were led into the castle. The guards were handling them like animals. I was astonished at just how cruel Uther was, just how blinded by his hatred. I could only hope that he had not corrupted Arthur in the same way. Arthur was beginning to feel unsure about what his standpoint on magic was, which was a good thing. I remembered the dragon's words regarding the road that Arthur had to travel. The door swung open and Aleya walked in.

"You ready?" She said.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked as I picked up my satchel that I had packed moments earlier.

"Of course." She said.

"Do you think that she would do the same for you?" I asked.

"She doesn't have to." Aleya said, "Now are you coming?"

"Where to?" I asked with a forced smile as I walked out of the room.


Samantha and I walked for what seemed like forever. By the time night fell I had my doubts as to whether or not the information that I had been given was true. I could tell that Samantha was having her doubts as well.

"Are these woods safe at night?" She asked as she sat down against a tree. I sat down next to her, looking around the darkened woods.

"I'm not sure." I said.

"That's great." Samantha said, "Just wonderful."

"What was that?" I asked as I heard something rustling in the woods. I stood up and began to look around.

"Maybe it's a bunny." Samantha said as she stood up beside of me. At that moment a giant scorpion walked into view.

"What the hell is that?" I yelled.

"Look at the sting on that thing!" Samantha said as she drew her sword.

"You think you can kill it?" I asked.

"I can try." Samantha said before she charged at the creature. She tried to stab her sword into it, but the blade shattered. She backed up to me. "Yeah, I don't think I can."

"Should we run?" I asked.

"That seems to be our best option." She said. As she turned the scorpion stung her on the back and she fell to the ground.

"Are you alright?" I asked as I knelt down next to her.

"I'm not sure." She said as she tried to stand up and fell. "I'm going to go with no."

"Crap." I mumbled as I stood up to face the scorpion.

"What are you doing?" Samantha said weakly.

"Something blatantly idiotic." I said. I held out my hand and tried to channel whatever had made the vase shatter.

The scorpion stung me on the arm but through the burst of pain that radiated through me I felt a surge of power. The scorpion was flung against a tree and fell to the ground, dead. I felt my legs give way and I fell down next to Samantha.

"What was that?" She asked.

"I don't know." I said as I started to see spots on my vision. I felt myself fall into darkness, wondering what else was in the woods.