CHAPTER 29
I do not own Merlin and I am making no profit off of this.
Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!
ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS
"This is it, Emrys. It's finally over with for you at last. We can no longer afford to waste time with you and your friends any longer. Not when there's an invasion of Albion already underway even as we speak," Blodeuwedd said.
"An invasion?" Merlin asked in surprise.
"Yes, Merlin. One of the Aesir, beings from another dimension who are worshipped as gods by the Norsemen, has just arrived. I'm not sure which one it is yet. They're deliberately blocking their identity," Alice said.
"And you were going to tell us this when exactly?" Merlin asked annoyed.
"Excuse me for being distracted by the fact that my only remaining child was in mortal danger from my worst enemies," Alice said.
"Don't blame me for your mistakes. It's not like you ever cared about me before," Catherine said in a cold voice.
"You're right, child. She doesn't. She never did. The only reason that any of them are interested in you at all is because we want you for our side. They just don't want us to gain a new High Priestess. Otherwise, they wouldn't give you the time of day," the Old Woman said.
"That's not true!" Merlin protested.
"Isn't it? Why was there all of this sudden interest in making me your apprentice then when you barely even noticed me before?" Catherine asked suspiciously.
"Catherine, I noticed you. I apologized to you when I snapped at you way before all of this even happened. Remember?" Nimueh said.
Catherine nodded as she said, "She has a point there. What do you have to say to that?"
"Don't worry. I'm sure they'll think of something," Alice muttered.
Catherine snickered despite herself, and Alice couldn't help but hold onto some slip hope that she hadn't completely lost her after all. Merlin meanwhile was more worried about being trapped in a cave with the Triple Goddess than losing Catherine. He was convinced that she was just hurt and angry and wasn't seriously thinking of switching sides.
"We don't have time for this. The girl's too weak at the moment to be of any real help anyway. Just wipe them all out now so that we can go on ahead to Camelot and find out exactly who our new enemy is there," the Old Woman said.
"Even Alice?" the Mother Goddess asked hesitantly.
"Especially her. She's a traitor to us or have you forgotten that?" the Old Woman said.
"She's also one of us whether she's on our side or not," the Mother Goddess protested.
Alice couldn't help but smile at that. She had always thought that the Old Woman was the only truly rotten one of the group (at least until Blodeuwedd had joined anyway). Alice and the Mother had always had moments of mercy even at their worst such as when Alice made sure that Catherine would be protected from being detected as a sorceress by the magic hating Uther. The Old Woman had never showed any mercy to anyone. She was incapable of it.
Nimueh, please tell me that you brought Excalibur with you. Merlin said telepathically while the Triple Goddess were momentarily distracted.
Oh, so now you want me to use Excalibur, do you? What is it with you anyway? Always before all that you said was 'Don't use the sword, Nimueh.' or 'Give the sword back to Arthur, Nimueh.' It was just nag, nag, nag all day and night. Now you're suddenly changing your story. Which is it? Do you want me to use it or not? Make up your mind. Nimueh replied back to him as she smiled at him evilly.
Not now, Cara. Do you have the sword or not? Merlin replied in an aggravated tone.
You called me Cara. Nimueh answered in a touched tone of voice.
Well, you seem just like her now. I never know what to expect from you anymore. You change personalities at the drop of a hat these days. I still love you anyway though no matter who you are this week. Merlin responded with a smile.
That's the thing, Merlin. If even you don't know what to expect from me, then neither will the Triple Goddess either! Nimueh replied as her face suddenly took on a determined look.
She suddenly drew Excalibur from the invisible scabbard that she had been wearing around her waist the entire time and charged at the Old Woman with it. Merlin sighed and then smiled as he went into battle right alongside her.
Merlin did his best to keep the other two goddesses away from Nimueh by placing a protective force field around her as she used Excalibur to attack the Old Woman without mercy. For someone who looked so old and feeble, the elder of the three goddesses was surprisingly agile as she easily dodged each of Nimueh's attacks while she launched several mystical attacks of her own against her. This just showed that appearances could be deceiving especially when it came to the Triple Goddess.
Alice meanwhile was staying as far away from the fight as possible as she continued to stand protectively in front of Catherine. She felt guilty for not helping, but she had to protect her little girl first and foremost.
Merlin was extremely proud of himself during all of this as he seemed to be successfully holding off two of the Triple Goddess all by himself while he protected Nimueh's back from them. He knew that he had been slowly getting more powerful over the last couple of months but even he hadn't realized just how powerful. Now he was finally cutting loose with his full power at last, and he had to admit that it felt incredibly liberating.
He felt like he was finally living up to his true destiny here today at last as he took on Blodeuwedd and the Mother Goddess all by himself. He couldn't help but worry though despite all of that. He knew that the goddesses had so much more experience with magic than he did, and they were definitely much more devious. How much longer could he keep this up?
Forget Catherine. Maybe he was the one who needed a confidence booster.
The Old Woman meanwhile was starting to weaken before Nimueh's assault as the former High Priestess used both Excalibur and her own mystic blasts that combined her magic with Excalibur's against her at once. After a few of the powerful blasts managed to hit her and severely weaken her, the Old Woman knew that it was only a matter of time before Nimueh would completely overcome her especially with no help from the other two goddesses coming any time soon.
She would just have to do something about that and quickly. She smiled as she secretly switched bodies with Catherine.
Now it was Catherine who was left in the Old Woman's body to face off against Nimueh's rapid assault. Needless to say, the inexperienced girl didn't last long as she was hit by several blasts at once. She didn't even have time to scream before she hit the floor and had Nimueh standing over her ready to cut her head off with Excalibur.
Catherine was left too weak to even speak as she looked up into the angry eyes of Nimueh. She could only look at her with a terrified look in her own eyes as she waited for the fatal strike of the sword.
The Old Woman now stood right next to Alice as she did her best to keep a huge smile off of her face until Nimueh had finished Catherine off. Even at that very moment, the Old Woman was busy secretly transforming Catherine's body so that she could contain all of her power without burning out. She intended on making it into her new home now right underneath her enemies' very noses.
All she needed was for Nimueh to complete the illusion of her death in order to start her new life amongst them.
Nimueh felt a surge of exhilaration go through her as she looked at who she thought was the Old Woman laying before her in a defenseless state. She was finally about to use Excalibur to finish her and then the rest of the Triple Goddess off once and for all. Finally she would have her revenge against them for corrupting her and ruining her life at last and better than that she'd have her peace of mind back as she knew that they would never be able to hurt her ever again.
She couldn't do it though. She looked into the Old Woman's eyes and saw no malice or anger there. All that she saw was pure fear and a silent pleading for mercy. She hesitated now as something started to bother her that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Something definitely wasn't right here, but she had no idea what it was.
"It's okay. I don't think that I could do it either. Not now. It would provide a horrible example for Catherine," Alice said as she saw her standing there unable to finish her attack.
"No, you have to finish her. If you don't then, she'll just come after me again," the Old Woman said as she pretended to be Catherine.
Alice looked at her in surprise as she hadn't expected the normally gentle girl to say such a thing. Then again she had to admit to her shame that she really didn't know her that well. Not like she should.
"I can't," Nimueh said.
"Do it. Finish her," the Old Woman said in an impatient voice.
"I just can't," Nimueh said not really understanding why that was herself.
The Old Woman was furious because Nimueh was completely ruining her plan. She could no longer contain her anger and finally let it loose against her in a torrent of emotion.
"Kill her now, you useless creature!" the Old Woman screamed.
"Catherine, what's wrong with you?" Alice asked in shock.
Nimueh now looked deep in the Old Woman's eyes and she knew. She instinctively knew what had happened.
Before anyone could stop her, Nimueh cast a quick body swapping spell on the Old Woman and Catherine and then finally stabbed the Old Woman through the heart with Excalibur before she had a chance to switch back. The Old Woman screamed in pain and rage before her body completely disintegrated. There was nothing not even ashes left of her now.
Thanks to Excalibur's powerful magic, her link to the Earth had now been shattered forever. She would never be able to return now. Nimueh smiled in triumph as she knew that she had finally killed her at last.
She was only just now starting to have something awakened inside of her that would soon threaten to overwhelm her. She didn't realize it yet, but she soon would.
Nimueh now turned to the other two goddesses with an evil smile on her face as she said, "Next."
Alice shivered in terror as she knew that once that could have been her. Then she watched in surprise as Catherine began to scream and held onto her for support.
"What's wrong, honey?" Alice asked in confusion.
"She was in the Old Woman's body. I almost killed her. I'm just glad that I was able to figure it out in time. I just knew that Catherine's eyes were too gentle to be the Old Woman's and vice versa," Nimueh explained with a look of regret on her face.
As Catherine broke down in her arms and Alice comforted her, she said to Nimueh, "Thank you. If you ever doubted whether you were one of the good guys or not, I think this should put that to rest for good."
Nimueh briefly smiled at her before moving on to help Merlin with the other two goddesses now. The two sorcerers working together now made a near unstoppable force especially while Nimueh was using Excalibur's power.
Even despite the power that the two sorcerers had together though, they still would have taken a long time to defeat both goddesses at once if Blodeuwedd hadn't suddenly disappeared. She teleported away and never returned leaving the Mother Goddess completely alone.
"Traitor!" the Mother Goddess spat out in indignation.
"Why am I not surprised by that?" Merlin said with a grin.
"I'm certainly not. You were definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel recruiting her for your third member," Nimueh said.
"It was the Old Woman's idea. I knew I shouldn't have listened to her," the Mother Goddess admitted as she fought for her life.
"She's gone forever now. So you don't have to listen to her anymore. You also don't have to die like her either," Alice said.
Merlin seized upon this idea as he said, "That's right. Why should you die for? Do you really want to die to carry out the wishes of someone else? What is it that you want you to do? Wouldn't you rather join forces with us instead to fight the real enemy? Wouldn't you rather fight with whoever it is that's invading us? Don't you care about what happens to Albion? I bet you do. I bet you love this land just as much as we do or you wouldn't have tried to protect it from invasion in the first place."
"You're wasting your time, Merlin. She hates humanity. I bet she could care less about what this new evil force does to it," Nimueh said as she felt a curious need to do less talking and more fighting that was definitely not like her.
The Mother Goddess paused now and stopped fighting as she said, "I don't want Albion to fall or be turned into some kind of nightmare world. I would like to save it. That doesn't mean that I want to leave the humans alone though. They should worship us. We deserve their worship not their disdain as they turn away from us."
"The people of this land have a right to make their own decisions about who or what they should believe in. They should be free to believe whatever they want to believe. That's what I'm trying to establish with Arthur. A land where magic can be practiced freely because everyone is free to believe in what they wish instead of having one person or group's beliefs forced onto everyone else. Don't you see that you're just as bad as Uther was? You want to force people to worship you just like Uther wanted to force people not to practice or even possess magic. I don't see much difference in either of you myself," Merlin said.
"If you have to force someone to worship you, then what good is their worship? Wouldn't it be better to have them come to you of their own free will?" Alice asked.
"I don't believe that they would. They're already been turning away from us in droves for generations now. That's why we wanted to fight to keep them for in the first place," the Mother Goddess said.
"What's the point? Let them go. We're not really gods anyway. You do know that, don't you? If we were all that we were cracked up to be, then we never would have lost Albion in the first place now, would we? I think that we should change the focus of our lives to protecting Albion instead of destroying or subjugating it," Alice pleaded.
"You're trying to save me. You actually still care about me. I thought that you were a traitor before, but I see now that you weren't trying to betray us. You were just trying to follow your heart and do what you thought was right. You're nothing at all like Blodeuwedd who betrayed me because she was more worried about herself than me or our cause," the Mother Goddess suddenly realized.
"So you'll join us?" Merlin asked hopefully.
The Mother Goddess hesitated and then said, "No. I won't. I won't stand in your way when you fight the invader though either. For now, I declare a truce while I think things over. The truce will last as long as Albion is under threat."
"You're not going to join us in driving the invader off though? You won't even do that? Do you hate humans that much that you'd rather see Albion be destroyed than to lower yourself to working with us?" Nimueh asked in disbelief.
"I . . . I don't know. I just need time to think things over. I won't bother you while Albion is under attack though. That's the best that I can do for now," the Mother Goddess said in an uncertain voice.
"Thanks. I appreciate even that much of a concession from you," Alice said.
The Mother Goddess smiled at her and then teleported away without saying anything else. Merlin sighed in relief. At least that kept one of the Triple Goddess off his back for a while. He just hoped that Blodeuwedd would go along with it too.
"Thanks, Alice. I didn't want to kill her anyway, and I was so scared that I was going to have to," Nimueh said.
"Why? You didn't seem to have any problems in killing the Old Woman?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, but that's because she was endangering Catherine. I . . . I don't want to use it again though. I see now why the dragon didn't want anyone but Arthur to use it," Nimueh said in an uncomfortable voice.
"What do you mean?" Merlin asked in alarm.
"Now that I've used it to kill once, I want to use it again. I can't stop thinking about it. It seems to have awakened some kind of bloodlust in me and that frightens me. I'm trying very hard not to give into it but . . ." Nimueh trailed off with a worried look on her face.
She immediately transferred Excalibur's power back to it and gave it to Merlin as she said, "Here. Give it to Arthur. I wish I had listened to you and never used it."
"You had to in order to save Catherine and the rest of us," Merlin said.
Nimueh began to openly weep now as she said, "This isn't fair. I had just gotten my mind back to normal, and now I'm in danger of becoming a homicidal lunatic."
"I see what must have happened. The dragon made the sword specifically for Arthur and him only. So if anyone else used it, it would make them become unbalanced and cause them to develop an enormous bloodlust. It probably didn't bother Uther that much because he already had a natural bloodlust for all magic users," Merlin said in a worried voice.
"It's a bloodlust curse. Kilgarrah probably put it on the sword to keep anyone else but Arthur from having that much power. The bloodlust will eventually completely consume whoever uses the sword and get them killed," Alice said.
Nimueh looked at her in a near panic as Alice quickly added, "That's only if you keep using it. You're not using it anymore though so the bloodlust should fade away in time. As long as you don't give into the temptation to use it again, you'll be okay."
"I hope so," Nimueh said.
"Can't you help her in some way? She's tried so hard to become more like Cara again. Please don't let her lose all of that progress," Catherine asked Alice as she spoke for the first time since the Old Woman had attacked her.
Alice smiled at her and nodded as she said, "I can't promise anything but I'll try."
She placed a glowing hand on Nimueh's forehead for a moment and said a few words in a strange unintelligible language as both Nimueh and Merlin looked at her in alarm.
"It was just a spell to calm the bloodlust until it fades. Don't you trust me by now? I'd never hurt either of you especially not after you just saved my daughter," Alice said in a voice filled with emotion.
"If you love me so much, why weren't you ever there for me?" Catherine asked.
"It's because I was stupid that's why. I was too stupid to realize just how precious of a thing that a child is, Catherine. I thought that because you were part human that I didn't want anything to do with you. I was wrong to feel that way about you though. I realize just how wrong that I was now, and I'd like to make it up to you if you'll let me. Please," Alice said as her eyes began to tear up.
Catherine hesitated and then nodded and said, "I'll give you a chance because I've wanted to be with you my entire life. You don't know how much I've wanted that for so long. Alice, please don't . . . Please don't break my heart. I don't think that I could take it."
"I won't. I promise. I love you, Catherine," Alice said as she embraced her tightly.
Catherine said nothing. She just stood there looking terrified and yet strangely hopeful at the same time.
"Do you feel better now after that spell, Nimueh?" Merlin asked.
"Some. It's not gone completely, but it's not so overwhelming anymore either. I hope that it'll at least help me to keep it under control until it fades away. If it fades away that is," Nimueh said worried.
"It will. I know it will," Merlin said confidently.
Then he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a passionate kiss that she quickly returned. She had to admit that Merlin's kisses made her feel far better than Alice's spell ever could. She didn't feel any bloodlust period as long as she kissed him.
It was too bad that they couldn't stay kissing that way forever she mused. That thought finally gave her the courage to ask Merlin something that had been on her mind for a long time now.
"Merlin, do you think that we'll ever get married? I know one thing after another just keeps preventing us from doing it, but I really would love to sometime soon. I really do love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you," Nimueh said in an earnest voice.
"I'm sorry. I should have already asked you way before now I know. Something just kept happening to delay it though because we were always so busy with some new crisis or another that it just didn't seem like the right time. I actually was going to ask you after Arthur came back though. I wanted to clear some time with him for the wedding and the honeymoon. Now though with this invader and the bloodlust who knows? Maybe we should just do it anyway. Invader or no invader. Bloodlust or no bloodlust. I'm sick of waiting for the perfect time, Nimueh. I realize now that there is no such thing. In fact . . ." Merlin said before he trailed off and got down on one knee.
"Nimueh, will you marry me?" Merlin asked.
Nimueh smiled and shouted, "Yes, of course I will!"
Then the two of them kissed passionately for several moments while Alice and Catherine looked away to give them some privacy. Finally they broke away and just smiled at each other with joy for several long moments without speaking.
"I have no idea when the wedding will be, but I promise you that it'll be soon no matter what happens next," Merlin finally said.
"Now that we're finally engaged that's all that matters to me for the moment, Merlin. Don't worry about anything else right now," Nimueh said happily.
"It's about time, Merlin. Even I could get old waiting on you to say something," Alice finally said with a chuckle.
Merlin frowned at her while Nimueh just laughed. Catherine couldn't help but hope that maybe Alice would turn out not to be so bad after all. She held Alice's hand now as she allowed herself to hope that someone could actually love her for the first time. Alice felt so terrible for the scared but hopeful look in her eyes that she pledged to herself to never give Catherine any reason to ever lose that hope. Not ever.
Meanwhile back in Camelot, Loki using the disguise of Siegfried was rapidly gaining great favor among not only the knights but also the people of Camelot. The more that his story was told the more that people looked up to him and asked him to dine with them or offered him free drinks at the bar. He smiled to himself as he realized that his plan was working perfectly and that soon he would become just as popular as Arthur himself if he kept this up.
"When will the king and his no doubt lovely new bride be back? I'm not complaining about the wait of course. I'd just like to know since my wife is due to arrive soon, and I'll have to arrange for some quarters for her," Loki asked Morgana shortly before Merlin, Nimueh, Alice, and Catherine returned to the kingdom.
"Your wife?" Morgana asked in surprise as she exchanged a questioning look with Gwen who shrugged.
"Yes, I came ahead to explore this land for a place to stay first, and she was to follow me when I sent word for her to come. Now I have done so, and she should arrive very soon now. She was only a few hours' ride away after all. Don't worry, Your Highness. You'll love her. She'll be absolutely no trouble whatsoever," Loki said.
Then he turned and smiled as he said, "Speaking of which, there she is now."
A beautiful blonde woman in a long flowing gown now appeared riding in on horseback and smiled at them. Despite her pleasant demeanor, Morgana was just as alarmed by her as she had been by Loki from the start. From the looks of things, so was Gwen who stared at her with a furious look on her face.
It's Blodeuwedd. That woman is Blodeuwedd. Gwen said telepathically to Morgana who had to use all of her willpower to keep from crying out in surprise.
Loki and Blodeuwedd smiled conspiratorially to each other not realizing that Gwen and Morgana now realized exactly who that Blodeuwedd was. The two of them had been working together right from the start to set this entire plan against Albion up. Blodeuwedd had purposely talked the other goddesses into kidnapping Catherine just to draw the three most powerful defenders of Camelot away so that Loki could carry out his plan without having to worry about them or the Triple Goddess interfering with it.
The fact that she managed to get the Old Woman killed was even better. Now that the Triple Goddess had been broken up yet again that would be one less thing to stand in their way. Soon she and Loki would rule Albion together side by side, and no one would stop them. Anyone that would even try would soon be dead if they had their way.
Next: More is revealed about Loki and Blodeuwedd's plan as Arthur and Morgause return to Camelot at last. How will Arthur react to them? Will Nimueh continue to be able to resist the bloodlust curse or will things get even harder for her? Plus both Sophia and Sara the Lamia are approached by Loki with an offer to grant them their fondest desires if they will help him. What will he offer to them and what will they say to him?
