Thank you for reading. As always I hope that you are enjoying the story and will like this new chapter. As I said in the last chapter this in not just the half-way point in this part of the story, but the half-way point in the whole story. I asked if anyone had any ideas for a way to mark this in some way, but no one has offered any so we will have to leave that.

I know that the last few chapters may have been a little boring and I am sorry for that, but I promise that is chapter will be more interesting. This chapter will really start off what is going to be the main conflict and drama for the rest of this story. As part of that this chapter will be very dialog heavy, but it will be dialog that will move things forward. Also this chapter will reveal who the dark sorceress is. I know that you may not care about that now, as it has been a long time since I brought her up, but she is very important to the story. I hope that you will like how that works out.

The pain in their lower back, lessened now that they were lying flat on their back. The pain still came when they moved even a little, but it was not the same shooting pain thought shot up their back and felt like it reached their head, leading to a headache, that they had become used. The blanket that covered them was thin, but it felt heavy and warm. It also itched, but that was a small price to pay for warmth. The faint light started to bore into their head, bringing on a headache. It was not a bright light, but it was enough to start to wake them from their sleep. Their body began to ache from not moving, forcing them very reluctantly to slowly open their eyes and use their elbows to push their upper body up a few inches.

Pale eyes flickered open. Vision was blurry, but the more they travelled around the small room they found themselves in the more they could make out. It was a small room, a stove stood to their right and the door was directly in-front of them. To the left was a small table, and a chair. Sitting in the chair was a figure in a faded grey cloak. Their body tensed up at the clear sight on another person in such close proximity. It had been such a long time. A name, one word wanted to leave their mouth, but all that came out as a horse raspy crock of a sound. It was enough however to wake the figure from what must have been a very light sleep.

The second the figures eyes opened, he jumped to action. He quickly poured a glass of water form a jug that rested on the table. Then stood up and moved over to the bed. He handed the glass of water to the now awake other occupant of the small room. Their slightly shaking hand reached out to take the glass. They could barely grip the glass let alone hold it up. He moved the glass to their mouth. His other hand rested on their back, helping them remain sitting up. It was hard to drink the water at first, their throat was so dry, but the need for the water outweighed that. The water started to drip down their chin as they desperately tried to drink as quickly as they could.

Once the glass was empty, he took it away and pulled out a small rag from his pocket. He light patted their chin dry. "Pace yourself, there is plenty of water."

They nodded, and let out a faint sigh. For the first time in they did not know how long, they felt even just slightly comfortable. The man now that they could look more closely at him, and realised that they knew him made them feel a little safer. With his now empty hand he lifted the pillow resting it against the wall, them gently lowered them back onto it. In this new relaxed feeling and position, they looked around the room again. Searching for something, someone important. Not finding it, panic started to kick in.

Alator placed a hand on her shoulder. "Relax Morgana, she is well. A friend of mine is washing her wounds outside."

"Wounds." Her voice only came out in a crocked whisper, but the pain in her voice was clear.

He nodded. "They are only minor." His eyes lowered a little to her hands that rested in her lap now. "Much like yours."

Slowly, fearful of what she could find, Morgana followed his gaze and looked down at her hands. Peeking out from the rim of her sleeve she could see inflamed, angry red marks. Sliding her right arm forward, as she did not trust herself to have enough energy to lift both her arms to pull down the sleeve to see the full extent of the damage. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw how deep the damage was. Images of the pit flooded back to her, shaking her head she pushed them aside and focused her attention on the wounds. There were traces of ointment that must have been used to heal the wounds was still visible. It did not look like it had done much good. If it had she was grateful she had not woken early to see it.

"Aithusa."

Some strength was returning to her voice. He nodded and stood up. Her heart raced as he walked over to the door. She desperately needed to see Aithusa. She had been her only source of comfort and strength for so long. She needed her now in the harsh light of day, but she was also scared of what she would see. How badly wounded she would be. If she could barely stand to look at her own wounds, how would she be able to look at Aithusa's knowing that she was the cause of them. If she had been stronger, smarter.

Before she had time to fully prepare for seeing the young dragon she was standing in the door way in-front of her. Her eyes took in the small and fragile looking creature. She was clearly weak and damaged from their imprisonment, but she seemed strong enough to get better. Without thinking she slide her legs off the bed and moved to stand. She could not even straighten her legs fully, they simply gave out under her. She was able to catch herself slightly on the edge of the bed, but she still ended up a heap on the floor.

Aithusa seemed to be the stronger of the two now and all be it slowly moved towards her mistress. Morgana reached out her hand to the dragon. Once Aithusa was close enough to touch she placed her hand on the back of her head. Feeling an instant feeling of safety and calm, as the dragon moved the last few step to fully reach her. Then she lay down, resting her head in Morgana's lap as she stroked her head.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

Alator and his friend and ally Finna quietly entered the room. He moved to sit in the chair that he had been sitting in when Morgana woke up. Finna moved to the stove and began cooking something. Neither said anything to the witch, though there was much to say. There was also time for that later. The priority right now was to help them heal. However long that would take. Judging from the look of them now it could be a while. Though both older practitioners of the old religion doubted that they would ever fully heal. How could you ever fully heal, be the same after what they had endured.

"She woke up a few hours ago." Alator's voice was the first sound to fill the previously silent room at a normal level. "We have feed her and cleaned her wounds. She is weak but she is resilient. She is already walking, not far, but on her own strength."

Morgana could hear his voice, but it sounded distant and far away. There was one thing, one question than ran through her mind. "How long."

There was no easy answer to that. Even though she had asked, she did not really want to know. She needed to know, he understood, but he also understood that no good was going to come from it. He was also not sure of the answer. That scared him, the horror in it terrified him. It had been so long since he last saw her. She was like a completely different person. She seemed to have shrunk a few inches in height. Her black dress covered her completely, but he could see she was all but skin and bones. Her eyes were the worst. They looked hollow, dead.

"How long." She pressed. Each time she spoke she seemed to gain more strength to it.

"What is the last thing you remember."

Morgana lowered her head to look at Aithusa as she tried to think of the last thing that she remembered. It all felt so very long ago. She would expect that given where she had been that time seemed to drag on longer. There was just something to his tone that made her think that there was more to it than that.

"I visited the Dochraid a few days before I found Aithusa and we were…." She did not need to say more he understood what had happened then. "That was about a week after the last time I saw you."

All colour seemed to drain away from Alator's face. It was worse than he had thought. He dared not look at her, but he could feel her eyes on him. Burning into him, forcing him to say something, to tell her how long ago that was.

"How long." Her voice now had gained much of its normally harshens.

"almost two years."

Her heart started to race so quickly she felt that it might burst through her chest. It couldn't be, it just couldn't be. Her mind raced, not believing it, yet. Two years, two years of darkness and pain. She felt her bottom lip start to tremble. It was hard to know if it was due to her trying not to cry or if it was the cold air that filled the room. Slowly but surely the all too familiar feeling of anger started to creep up inside of her. Taking control of her so all she could think off was her blinding rage. In the back of her mind she knew that this, as it always did would not help her in the long run. It would not get her what she wanted, she was not sure she knew anymore what it was she wanted. It was a habit however one that she was not strong enough, mentally or psychically to try and break now.

"Two years." She bite out.

Alator moved forward in his chair to get closer to her, but not wanting to get to close as he knew she would just push him away. "The druids noticed that you were missing over a year ago. They have been looking for you as much as they could. It is as you know hard for them to travel as they please." He watched her face closely as he spoke, but she showed no sign of giving away what she was feeling. Sensing that a storm was brewing and wanting to keep it as contained as he could he looked over at Finna who had turned from her work to see what was going on, he signalled for her to leave the small room.

"Morgana." He asked once they were alone.

Slowly she lifted her head to finally look at him. "What of Emrys."

He looked at her with a look of confusion. "Emrys."

"He is the last dragon lord. I was held in that pit with the last dragon." He could see now where her train of thought was going. "It is his duty to protect her."

He now looked deep onto her eyes. They still held a great deal of anger and there was a slightly manic energy that made him worry that she could swing form one emotion to another at any second. The main thing that he saw in them however was something that he had not seen in them before. Something that he knew well, but had not seen in a very long time. They were now Mother's eyes. There was a kindness in them, a deep kindness that was echoed in the way she was still gently stroking the back of the young dragons head. She had suffered as much as she had because she cared so deeply for the dragon. That maybe the main reason that she suffered as much as she did. She but her whole heart into what she did, misguided or not. She never did it half-heartedly. There was also a deep rooted, unremovable sadness to her eyes too. A sadness that would never fully leave her. A sadness that he was sure came, not from her being abandoned for so long, but for Aithusa being abandoned, by someone that should have cared for and protected her. Overriding both of these deep rooted emotion in her eye was a ferocity. It was this emotion that he knew was going to be the strongest. It would be what made her make the choices about what she would do next. A ferocity to protect what she loved and cared for. He knew right away that he did not what to find himself in a position where she saw him as being a danger to those she cared for. She would show no mercy.

"I have heard no word of him in a long time."

Sensing her distress, Aithusa nuzzled her head a little further into Morgana's lap, offering some comfort in the only way that she could. This small gesture was all it took for Morgana to be calmed down, her anger to be dampened a little. Taking in a deep breath she seemed to push away the news she had just been told, to be dealt with later. There were more questions that she had to ask, things she had to know.

"Do you know the name of the sorceress."

Again it took Alator a few minutes to think of the best way to tell her what he knew. "Yes."

His pause caused her anger to start to return. "And."

"She was believed for a long time to be the last High Priestess. That was until your sister revelled herself and you yourself."

"I don't understand."

"I think you may know her name, Nimueh." He said her name with a hint of bitterness and sadness.

Morgana once again found herself not understanding. "That is impossible. She is died. Merlin killed her. She has been dead for years."

"It would appear not. Somehow she survived and has been building her strength."

"For over five years."

"You did believe her dead. That would take a long time to come back from." His attempt at humour was not greatly received. "Nimueh was once a friend. Like you she has lost the people she cared most for, was betrayed by people she trusted-"

"If you want me to feel sympathy for her, then you are wasting your time." Morgana sneered.

"I'm not, I just want you to understand what you are facing." Her pale eyes narrowed into a cold stare. "She has lived for decades with the belief that she is the last High Priestess. Her gaol is the same as yours to bring back magic to Albion, but she does not want any rivals. She has grown comfortable with being the last of her kind. Her anger has left her-"

"I get your point. If any part of that was meant to make me rethink my actions, then you are sadly wasting your time."

"She wants you dead and Camelot burnt to the ground.

"I can agree with her on one part, but the other." She smirked a little. "That I wont let happen."

"You are too weak to face her." He started to panic that Morgana was going to try and face Nimueh on her own. She did not stand a chance against her. She was taken by surprise the last time, but she was weaker now and Nimueh had had two years to get stronger.

Morgana's smirk grew. "Who said I was going to face her." She scoffed under her breath. "I'm angry, not simple minded. I want her and the Sarrum dead. I want them to suffer, I want them to bleed form ever pour in their body, so they drown in their own blood, but I have no intention on risking my own life."

Despite her graphic words, Alator did find himself breathing a sigh of relief. "Once you both are strong enough, you should return to Camelot-"

"No!"

Her yell caused Aithusa to cower away from her slightly. "It is the safest place for you. It is also where you need to be, you have to warn your Brother-"

"I have to warn him of nothing. If his Father had not killed her, our kind then she would not be out for Arthur's blood now."

"And yours."

"I own him nothing. I own no one, but my Sister anything."

"What of me."

"I am grateful for your helping me, but do not pretend that you did not do it with your own intensions in mind." Slowly as she spoke she used the bed to help pull herself to her feet. "I will not return to Camelot. I will not help them." It clearly took some effort but she forced herself to move forward.

He did not move to stop her, but kept his eyes on her. "Then where do you intend on going. You will not get far. The druids cannot protect you. It will only case them harm if you go to them."

Aithusa who had recovered more than her mistress now walked a little ahead of her, stopping at the door. Pulling her eyes form her, Morgana turned to look at Alator. "Then it is a good thing I do not plan on searching them out." With her real plan clearly now set out in her mind, she now saw a way to make it simpler.

With more effort than she wanted to admit it took, she walked back into the room a little "You must be so tired too." Taking one final step forward she let herself sink down to her knees by Alator's side. "You have seen so much. Lost so much." Her hands gentle took hold of his that rested in his lap. "You must want to put a end to all of this for good…..end it so that it is all over. No one else need ever suffer like you have ever again."

He looked in her eyes as she spoke. He was just able to catch himself before he fell fully. He sharply pulled his hand away from his. "I can guess what you are planning. I know what date is coming up. You are a-"

"A simple no would have been enough." She huffed as she pulled herself back to her feet, trying not to show how difficult it was for her.

Walking over to the door she reached out to Aithusa to pat her head. "Morgana…..what you are thinking. It will change everything. There will be no going back."

She had her back to him and did not turn to face him. "That is exactly why I am doing it" She bent down, this time it was clear that her legs gave out a little under her. "Things cannot stay as they are." She warped her arm around the dragon's neck. "It is time for a change."

A sudden gust of wind erupted in the centre of the room, surrounding the witch and dragon. All the dust that lay on the cold stone floor was lifted up, clouding Alator's sight. Just as suddenly as it had sprung to life, it vanished. Leaving behind a slightly upturned room, and taking with it the last High Priestess and dragon. The Warrior Priest slumped back in his chair. He knew that there was nothing that he could do. She would not have her mind changed. He could only hope that the change that she created did not bring to much damage.

The landing was harsher than she remembered it being. The harsh cold of the open air went right through her. Her whole body began to shack. The transportation spell was very draining, it would be a good few minutes before she could even try and pull herself to her feet, let alone walk. Taking in deep breathes Morgana tried to steady her shaking body and muster as much strength as she could. Sensing the wavering in her, Aithusa took a tiny step forward, nesting her head near Morgana's shoulder. Forcing herself to lift her left arm to meet her other hand that still wrapped around Aithusa's neck. After that effort, she let her head full to rest on the dragon's neck. The poor creature did not offer her any real warmth, except warmth of the heart. Warmth form knowing that she was not alone. That she had something to fight for, to protect. She was not alone.

"We are safe now." She whispered. "No harm will come to us again."

In that moment all of her harsh words of revenge didn't come, all feeling of hate, didn't leave her, but lessened. They did not seem right to speak now. This moment was about comfort, about letting all that they had been through truly sink in, before she had to act again. Her embrace tighten as she fought back a tear. She would not cry, not now. This was a moment to catch her breath, then act. After that, if she could not hold it back anymore, that would be the time for that.

Taking in one last deep breath she quickly pushed herself to her feet. Her head was spinning as she stood. She knew that it would only get worse, but she had to do it. Holding out her open hand she told Aithusa to stay where she was. Turing round she forced herself to quickly move forward into the cave that stood in-front of her now.

She closed her eyes, as she entered the cave. After a few seconds, when she had to reach out to hold onto the wall as her legs started to give out, she opened them. The sound of her heart beating drummed in her ears. It was all too familiar. Dark, cold, and rough surfaces. Clenching her left hand, she held out her right hand. Her eyes shone for the first time in years. A small fire burst to life in her palm. The laugh that escaped her lips sounded so unnatural to her ears.

"Lady Morgana." The voice was rattling and sounded frighteningly familiar to how hers had sounded just an hour ago.

Morgana did not speak as she moved to stand before the Dochraid. Closing and lowering her right hand she extinguished the fire. Two lit torches hung from the cave wall near the creature, offering enough light. "I come to offer you an end to your pain."

"What pain is that." The ancient looking creature leaned forward.

Morgana softened her features. "The pain of living of course." She now moved a little closer. "Aren't you tired, don't you want to do some good in this world before you die. Rather than waist away hear in the dark-"

"Abandoned and forgotten." The Dochraid laughed, a harsh laugh as she pulled back into the shadows. "You know very well about that. Abandoned and forgotten in a living grave."

Bile rose up in her throat. Those words in another voice rang through her head, making it spin. She knew that she should have rested, waited for even just a day. Her desire to act, to move got the better of her. Now that she was here she was going to make the most of it, she would not stop now. They could not win. She would die first.

"Will you help me or not." There was no reason for her to explain more. It was clear that the Dochraid somehow knew about what had befallen over the last two years. She was a creature of the earth and Morgana had been trapped in the earth for so long, maybe it did make sense. Getting no answer, she went on. "Will you be of some use in you miserable existence."

The Dochraid still did not answer. Not wanting to leave Aithusa alone any longer and not wanting to be without her any longer either, she turned to leave. She would also need time. Time to think of someone else. She had hoped that it could be someone's choice, but if she had to use her gifts to get someone to do as she needed them too, then so be it. There was no other way. Determination after this set back, gave her the strength to walk away faster and more steady than she had entered.

"Morgana." The ancient creature called after the witch.

A faint smile of relief crossed the witch's face, it slipped away as she turned round to face the disgusting creature. No, maybe today would not be a day for tears after all.

Thanks again, I really hope that you liked it. I really wanted to bring up the question of why did Merlin not try and find Aithusa in the two years that she was trapped with Morgana. I don't have a real answer, so if you have one I would love to now. Now that things are moving forward again I would be very interested in what you think of what is going on. Any idea that you have, what you would like to see happen. All feedback is very welcome, thank you.