The former and the future queen

Far away, in the remote land of Iceland

The queen was silent. Her hair was as white as the whirlpool of snow that didn't seem to stop outside. She carried many years as well as remarkable knowledge. Long ago, she'd come to this land to be married to a great king. She'd been scared. It took her so long to learn to love him, but now she wouldn't have wished for a better husband. They had two beautiful boys together, but they were both gone. The king had died when her elder son was barely a teenager and those had been very difficult years for her kingdom. However, as their problems seemed to end, her elder son made a terrible mistake and he never returned home. Some years ago, she'd found news about his death. The other son tried to compensate for her loss, but the kingdom never regained its lost power.

The youngest, compared with his brother, was ambitious and greedy, but he was everything she was left with after the loss of her beloved husband as only a few years later, her brave and wise elder son was to be lost forever.

He was also the only thing that prevented the country from falling on the brink of civil war. Her youngest son had been far from being a good king, but he was the last descendant of legendary Vasilias Ashkanar.

Centuries ago, the frozen island had been the realm of dragons and it had been called Drakar. The Old Gods had blessed the first king with the power to tame those beautiful creatures and since then every firstborn of the royal family became a Dragon Lord. So had been her husband and her elder son. Now, there was no dragon left on the frozen land and no Dragon Lord to call out the beautiful creatures from their eggs. There had also been some people that had mastered some of the skills of the Dragon Lords, but they had also died during Uther's reign.

Her second son had died recently and now she was only left with a grandchild that was more a curse than a blessing for the land. He cared little for his duty and a lot for his own ends. He lacked intelligence (at least, the queen thought so) as well as manners and most important he was a disaster when it came to magic. But he had armies at his command and a treasure full of gold. The queen feared the day when he would become king, but she had no choice.

She only hoped to find a suitable wife for him. She had to be powerful and clever. Yet, finding a powerful witch in Drakar was a difficult task. Her land was the only kingdom where magic was still legal, but even so, there was hardly any High Priestess that would match the queen's demands. Though, there was one person the queen was pretty curious to meet – Morgana Pendragon.

She lived in a foreign land and ironically, she was the daughter of her mortal enemy, but her legacy was precious as well as dangerous. Morgana might not have a right to the throne of Camelot, but she was still of royal blood. The queen knew that Arthur's relation with his sister had been a continuous fight, but despite it, the queen hoped to end a deal with him.

Moreover, the stories the sovereign had heard about Morgana's power had really impressed the queen, and she wasn't someone to be easily impressed. And there was that dragon Morgana had managed to tame. Her friendship with the creature would make the former Camelot's lady the perfect candidate for the throne of Darkar.

With the news about Morgana, the queen got rumors about a dragon who'd destroyed the High Priestess' forces while she was hunting for her brother. There were only four Dragons the queen knew to have survived the purge and all of them were supposed to be lost forever.

Three of them had disappeared and the queen had never heard about them. They were the dragons she'd kept hidden in Drakar when the purge started. Uther had never found out about them. The fourth, and the eldest of all, had been captured during the purge. He'd managed to break free, no one knew how, but he was supposed to be dead.

Though, the queen knew better. Neither Arthur nor his knights could have managed to kill Kilgharrah. Whatever, or better said whoever, had convinced the Great Dragon to abandon his quest for revenge it had to be very important.

She had no way of contacting Kilgharrah, but she'd heard that Morgana might know about the person capable of calling him.

The queen didn't dare to hope. She'd given up hope long ago. There were thousands of explanations for the existence of another Dragon Lord. Maybe, Uther hadn't killed all of them. Or maybe, there was a Dragon Lord's son Uther didn't know about. However, as little as the chances of her son being alive were, she couldn't ignore them.

All in all, the queen decided to meet Morgana, and one day she found the perfect occasion to bring the witch to Drakar.

The Sovereign had just heard the news of the High Priestess being caught by a famous warlord. He seemed to have Morgana and the dragon, prisoners in his land and he seemed to be very proud of his accomplishment. Little did Sarrum know that discretion was a virtue and his pride his undoing. Despite his cruelty, Sarrum was hardly a match for the people of Drakar.

Nevertheless, the queen sent someone to make an offer to the greedy lord and, as she'd expected, Sarrum was just too proud of his capture to sell it for some gold. In fact, he was expecting a better offer. The queen wasn't willing to pay more, though. Instead, she used the negotiations with Sarrum to buy time. Meanwhile, the guards were supposed to find the dungeon and take the High Priestess and the dragon to Drakar.

When they found her, Morgana was hardly the beauty they'd expected to see. Her few days in the prison had left deep marks on her body and energy. Sarum's people had taken her magic and kept her chained for days, without food and water, without any possibility to move her body. Her wounds were covered with mud and some were already infected. The dragon was better, though. She was still a baby and there was still enough space for her. Yet were she to stay any longer, the pit would have gotten too small for her and it would have damaged her delicate body.

As soon they were to arrive at Drakar, the royal physician would have a check on them.

To their surprise, it was easier than they'd thought. Sarrum was caught in his noisy parties and he never suspected that his prisoner would ever escape. When he'd found the next day, Morgana was already in Drakar: as soon as they reached the meeting point, they transported her to Drakar, so it only took them half a day to complete the task. After all, Drakar still had some magic tricks.

Morgana had started to lose hope. There was no one left to care for her and so no one would notice her absence. Up to that moment, the High Priestess had been caught into plotting and fighting and she hardly had any time to meditate about her new life.

Now, she would have given anything to be free again. She hadn't seen the sky for days or maybe months. She didn't know anymore. Everything she saw was darkness. The only voice she heard was Sarrum's. Anyone else's company would be a blessing now compared to Sarrum's.

When Drakar's men found her, she was on the brink of desperation. Their presence scared her. She knew they couldn't mean any good for her or Aithusa.

She mumbled something, but her voice seemed to have abandoned her, too. With her last force, she tried to shield Aithusa, but the chains wouldn't allow her to move.

"Please," she muttered.

"We've come to rescue you." A young man told her. "Be quiet." He warned her.

Even if she had wanted to make noise she wouldn't have been able to.

Rescue? Who would want to rescue her?