Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of the characters, that belongs to BBC and the creators of the show. I do however own the rights to Anna and Fanny.

Chapter 8

As soon as Morgana took a step towards the litter, Fanny started to step away and didn't stop until her back hit a nearby tree. Morgana's eyes shifted to Fanny before they stopped back at the litter, never in her dreams did she think she would meet her cousin this way. She, of course, knew about Anna through the girl's father but was never given the chance to meet her in person. Morgana never wanted their meeting to start with only one of then being awake, while the other one was passed out due to a sleeping potion she had brewed.

"You did well my loyal subject, thanks to you we have all the leverage we need to smoke Arthur out and have him come to find me. Now take the litter and attach it to my horse, I will take her back to my hideout start trying to convince her of our cause." Morgana's voice softened as she kept staring at her cousin, slowly Aithusa walked towards Anna.

At first, Aithusa looked at Anna and tilted its head to the right side. The white dragon then sniffed her hand before glancing at Morgana. The white dragon returned its gaze back to Anna, then let out a low growl that made Fanny jump and trip over a tree root. Morgana gave Fanny a disapproving glare, before lightly petting Aithusa on the head and speaking in a soft tone of voice. "Easy their little one, we need her alive for our plan to work but once we are home I will have a special treat brought to you."

Aithusa rose on her hind legs and let out a happy sounding squeaky roar, as soon as it heard Morgana say special treat. Anytime Morgana gets one of her followers, to find a deer or anything large she gives to Aithusa. It was still burned into Morgana memory, the first time she met Aithusa and how it saved her life.

Ever since that day, Morgana has done her best to care and protect Aithusa and found the dragon was the only one she could trust. Seeing that Fanny had not yet done as she asked, Morgana darted her eyes towards the servant now losing her temper. "Fanny remove that latter from your horse. Now!" Morgana's voice was very cold and angry, it was so loud that Fanny's horse started to rear again and getting more upset as it spotted Aithusa.

As soon as the horse started to rear, Fanny ran to the front and grabbed the reins while trying to calm the horse. But no matter how hard Fanny tried to calm the beast, it just kept going and she was worried it might kick the latter. Not wanting anything to happen to her queen's cousin, Fanny started to take the harness off the horse.

As she tried to unhook the litter with one hand, Fanny watched the horse's back fearing that any moment it will kick. Morgana said something to Aithusa that caused the dragon to back off, once the dragon was farther back the horse slowly calmed. That was when Fanny was finally able to release the final strap, that freed the litter from her horse. Once the horse was free, Fanny limped as she leads the horse away from Morgana and tied it to a free that was further away from Aithusa.

Once the horse was tightly secured to the tree, Fanny slowly limped back over to Morgana and noticed Aithusa was again at her side "What of the manservant Merlin? Arthur is still looking for him, shall I kill him upon my return to Camelot?" Fanny's voice was low and sinister as she asked the question; she knew Arthur would be crushed finding his friend.

As Fanny went through the dozen ideas on she had to kill Fanny, she heard Aithusa growl loudly at her suggestion to kill Merlin. Morgana's left hand reached out to the white dragon without her looking, while she stood standing in that spot there was a puzzling look on her face.

"Merlin is no concern of yours, your job is to watch my thieving brother and report what you see nothing more." Morgana's voice had a hint of angry when she said Merlin's name, she didn't mind that Fanny wanted to take charge a bit. For Morgana plans to work she needed, Merlin alive for now if she was to use him for her end game. The look on Arthur's face when she brings in her trump card was what Morgana looked forward to the most.

Fanny slowly picked the litter up and started to limp her way over to Morgana's horse, but fell to her knees halfway there. As she looked back to where Morgana and Aithusa were standing, that is when she saw they hadn't moved instead they were glaring at her. Too scared she turned her so she was facing forward and slowly got up, as Fanny started to stand a shooting pain shot up her left leg.

Not wanting to make Morgana angrier, Fanny bit her lower lip fearing if she cried out in pain that she would be thrown into a tree again. So Fanny did her best to bear with the pain and continued to limp to Morgana's horse, with the litter dragging behind. Even though she did her best not to show the pain, every step that Fanny took was complete agony and it only got worse.

It was the fear of being attacked again that kept Fanny going when after what seemed like forever she finally reached Morgana's horse. Like she had done with her horse, Fanny started to strap the litter to the other horse while making sure it wouldn't fall off. Fanny took a bit longer then it would normally take her since Morgana's horse was a bit larger than the one she had just ridden. Plus Fanny wanted to be extra sure that the litter was one tight enough, so she wasn't to blame if it came undone.

Causing an accident that would injure Fanny's queen's cousin, thinking of Anne being hurt and Morgana's rage sent chills down her spine. Morgana must have sensed something was wrong because she tensed up, before in a cold voice asking Fanny with Aithusa growing at the servant girl. "What is it, now?"

At first, Fanny didn't dare turn around to face Morgana so instead she focused on trying to get the litter attached to the other horse. No matter how hard Fanny tried she couldn't stop her hands from shaking, and the shaking got worse when Fanny heard the question.

"It..it's nothing my queen, I will have this done in a few moments and you will be on your way safely to your hideout." Fanny's voice trembled as she replied to Morgana's answer, part of her dreaded the anger her queen might have if she didn't move faster. Fanny was also fearful that Morgana might feed her to Aithusa, she could feel both pairs of eyes being very watchful of her every movement.

Luckily for Fanny as soon as she said that she finally got the last strap in place, still she had a sense of dread so she double checked it. Then she tripled checked it and once Fanny was sure it was all good, she turned and faced Morgana while still keeping her eyes to the ground. "The litter is safely secured, my queen." Fanny's voice shakes as she spoke since she kept her eyes locked to the ground she didn't see Morgana's fake soft smile.

"Good work my faithful servant, now head back to Camelot and keep an eye on my brother and the pretender queen. If you see anything or anyone that you don't recognize or think is out of place, then report it immediately so we can take care of it." Morgana's voice wasn't as cold but it still had to iciness to it, which made Fanny glad that she wasn't standing to close to her queen.

Not long after Morgana had spoken, both her and Aithusa were slowly making their way towards Fanny. Aithusa kept her distance so she didn't scare the horse again, while Morgana walked to the left side of the horse. As soon as Morgana reached the horse, Fanny dropped to all fours which allowed her queen to get into the saddle with ease.

Even when Morgana stepped onto Fanny's back, she did her best to ignore her already screaming back. Morgana gave Fanny a kick in the side, that sent the girl back to her feet but again she kept her head bent.

Giving Fanny a small grin, Morgana looked at her for a moment before kicking her horse gently forward. Aithusa let out a loud roar before taking to the sky, but keeping high enough that no one would see her but low enough to keep an eye on Morgana. Once they were gone, Fanny stood there for a moment before walking back to her horse and making the long ride home.

For Morgana, the ride home was more dangerous since Arthur had doubled the paroles on the roads around Camelot. She was almost halfway there when three knights stopped their horses right in front of her, to Morgana it was like Déjà vu. Morgana remembered how years earlier, a couple of knights tried to stop her and her sister Morgause from reaching the Isle of the blessed.

It ended with them failing that time, and she was determined to make sure her brother didn't know where she was this time. The lead knight jumped off his horse before drawing his sword, the other knights followed his lead and took their swords out. Slowly the knight made his way towards Morgana, and in a strong tone, he began to talk. "Identify your self."

Slowly Morgana lowered her hood and as soon as the knights saw Morgana's face, two of those on their horses gasp. "Lady Morgana?" The lead knight spoke in a serious tone while looking a bit shocked to see Morgana since no one had seen her in years.

Before any of the knights could say or do anything Morgana said something in the old langue causing the swords to come out of the knight's hands. Then Morgana once again said something else in the old langue, that sent the swords flying into the middle of each knight's chests. The horses saw what happened and started to spook, causing them to rear up throwing their riders off before bolting away.

Morgana smiled as she looked down at the three bodies, once she sure that they were dead she rode forward. The rest of her trip was uneventful when she finally arrived at her hideout three hours later she was welcomed by two of her loyal subjects. Jaxs ran towards her first and grabbed the horse, while Anders helped Morgana off her horse.

"Welcome home our queen, I hope that your journey proved to be with the while like you hoped it would." Jaxs kept his voice polite and unlike Fanny it had no touch of fear in it, Morgana looked at him and smiled. Then took a step towards the litter and removed the cover from Anna, so her men could see who she had come back with.

Morgana studied Anna's sleeping face before looking back at Anders and Jaxs while keeping her composer. "The Journey was indeed worth it, Anders see that my cousin gets her quarters and guard her until she wakes up." Morgana looked at Anders who nodded his head and started to pick up Anna, then carried her carefully to her room.

"Jaxs tell me, how is our other guest doing?" She asked as she walked into the crumbling remains of a castle, Jaxs followed behind but keeping a good distance away. After they reached the door of the healer, which Morgana had paid off to work for her she turned and faced Jaxs.

For a moment Jax didn't say a word, he just looked at the door before walking towards it and then staring back at Morgana. "The same, he hasn't woken up since he was spirited away here but Hans has figured a way to wake him up." Jaxs then opened the door, in time to reveal Hans sitting in a chair beside a sickly looking Merlin who was breathing shallowly.

Morgana gave Jax a smile, then walked into the room taking three steps towards Merlin keeping her gaze on him and no one else. "Leave us." Her voice said forcefully, and her eyes didn't leave Merlin she did, however, hear the sound of Hans getting up and the door shutting.

Once she was sure that they were along, she took Hans seat and gave Merlin an evil smile. "Now the fun shall begin."

I apologize for the long wait guys, things have been a bit crazy here, but I promise to try and get the next chapter done as soon as I can. Also, thank you to those who Favourite and Follow the story, I really am glad that so many people are enjoying the story. So please leave a review and let me know what you thought of it and I will see you hopefully soon with another chapter.