To Love a Sorceress
Sequel to To Love a Sorcerer. Five years after a sorceress appeared in Camelot, the destiny that brought Merlin and Iris together is slowly unfolding. Guided by visions and prophecies, friends and dragons, it is up to them to see to the creation of Albion, no matter the cost.
Prologue:
Spring brought balmy days kissed by the promise of summer, and cold nights that carried the memories of an ice-ridden winter.
The flowers were beginning to bloom as life began to wake up from its long slumber. She could smell the gardens from where she stood on the northern wall, as she stared out towards the vast swatch of forests that she knew lead out towards the White Mountains.
How long had it been since she had travelled along those paths to find her way here? How long had it been since she left the ashes of her previous life behind, to only discover that her journey was just beginning?
She smiled as a jolt went through her, part pleasure, and part grief. She still was haunted by the memory of her last day in her village, of her parent's blood soaking the lily and iris flowers...
But now, here, she found something new, a turning point that began with Merlin, one she knew would also end with him as well, prophecy or not. The past, it seemed, could not be buried completely, as it gifted her with Gwaine, the missing link in her heart.
And now she could muse about the future, standing in the spring sun. She could see the new kingdom, with its white banner flying.
Without her realizing, her eyes closed.
She could see Arthur and Gwen, bold and proud, ruling over this united kingdom, spreading peace and prosperity across the land.
A smile tugged at her lips as she envisioned Morgana and Gwaine finding their own happiness together, linking the circle they formed even closer together. They were already well on their way to fulfilling that.
She stumbled from daydreaming into a vision within a span of a moment.
She saw a tall, slim woman standing before her, cloaked in velvet that matched the color of the night sky. The woman had her back to her, so she could only see the tumble of glossy black curls.
Then the woman turned, and she gasped when she saw her eyes, eyes that burned into hers that were so familiar, even as their color changed into a deep shade of copper.
The woman smiled, and she felt another jolt go through her. She had seen that smile before, countless times...
This was... she was...
But Iris woke up, blinking as the vision faded away, taking the images of the black haired woman; so she was only left with a peculiar feeling in her chest, as though she was forgetting something very important, perhaps the most important thing that would ever come to be…
Ooo0ooO
Merlin sat at the entrance to a large cave, his eyes fixed on the stretch of meadows and grasslands that were edged with vast forests. Beside him, a dragon tracked the sun's movements through the sky, stream billowing from his nostrils as he scented the wind.
"It seems like not too long ago, you found me in a different cave, young warlock," the dragon named Kilgharrah mused.
Merlin thought about that day when he had first heard the dragon's call, deep within his mind. How shocked he had been when he stumbled down into the bowels of Camelot to find Kilgharrah chained, unable to stretch his wings or feel the sunlight on his golden scales.
"And not too long after that…"
The Great Dragon did not need to finish that thought, since he knew Merlin would catch his meaning.
A few months after being freed, Kilgharrah was visited by another powerful, magical being- a sorceress with flaming red hair and a temper to match that fire.
Merlin could not help the smug smile that encompassed his features when he thought of Iris now. With the passing of every winter, came the memory of another winter, when he knelt before his love and asked her to be his, always. He smiled at how she said yes, but only if he would be hers as well. Iris, after all, was very… possessive.
And now… Merlin glanced down at his left hand, where a shining silver and gold band sat on his third finger. The matching band had been Iris's idea, of course, after contemplating and looking at the crystal ring he had given her.
The runes etched into the surface were the same as well- ones depicting love and devotion, promises and magic.
Merlin acquiesced to her request, wanting others to know that they belong to no one but each other, that she was his- his friend, his lover, and now, his wife.
"Where is Iris today?" Kilgharrah asked, pulling Merlin from his thoughts.
"With Gwen and Morgana."
"Ah," the dragon chuckled, the rough sound like waves against the shore. "Is there to be another wedding soon then?"
Merlin shot the dragon a look. "Wouldn't you know?"
The toothy smile the dragon gave him might have unnerved the bravest of knights, but Merlin saw the gleam on his golden eyes. "I think there are other matters that will come… before."
A flash of Iris's vision, which she had shared with him years ago, went through Merlin's mind; the one of Gwen hunched over a bundle in front of a great fire, her expression alight with love and tenderness.
"Perhaps you are right," Merlin conceded, smirking.
"But all will not be just weddings and flowers and lovely things, Emrys," Kilgharrah warned, his expression now serious.
Like the dragon, Merlin's cheerful expression gave way to a scowl. "I understand, Kilgharrah. Ravens and war and blood and… and…"
Mordred. Agravaine. The Isle of the Blessed. All unspoken words, but all well-known.
Kilgharrah dipped his head once.
Merlin exhaled deeply, his gaze turning back towards the sprawling landscape. Just a few more days of this, he thought quietly. Just a few more moments before…
He cut his wayward thoughts off and closed his eyes.
Ooo0ooO
Morgana rested a hand on the dark earth, closing her eyes. Her magic seeped out slowly, reaching deep in the soil, then outwards.
Tender green buds emerged from the ground, moving up towards the sun, before opening up into a wide array of flowers.
Roses, hyacinth, lilac, honeysuckle, irises, violets, lilies, peonies…
A few feet away, under the shade of a massive cedar, Gwaine watched the flowers bloom and grow, filling the tilled earth with their roots and sprouts and seeds, releasing their delicate fragrances into the wind that blew softly through the trees.
Morgana stood slowly, her hand still extended, opening her copper-colored eyes. When the spell was finished, her eyes cooled and she smirked.
"If you had your way, Camelot would be a massive garden rather than a kingdom," Gwaine teased her.
Laughing, Morgana walked over to him, leaning into his open arms. She tilted her head back for a kiss that tasted of sunlight. "You say that as if it was a bad thing," she said. "Personally, I think Camelot would look much better with a few more gardens."
"I'm sure Arthur would have something to say about that."
"Oh no, not with Gwen agreeing with me. 'There's too much stone and metal'," Morgana said, mimicking Gwen's voice.
Gwaine chuckled. He knew that Morgana's power was more greater than she let on, but she told him that little things like making the flowers grow made her happy, and gave her a sort of… release, with all the magic her body possessed.
He had made a few comments about if she needed help with release, which earned him a smack on the back of the head.
The couple sat beneath the cedar tree, enjoying the warm day, and the fact that Gwaine had to patrol tonight. Again.
Lancelot, even with his ever-fair mannerisms, had made a few comments himself about Gwaine's priorities. But after a few years, Gwaine shrugged them off with a laugh, knowing his fellow knight meant nothing and was merely jesting.
Gwaine knew he had to merely bide his time and wait until a lass caught Lancelot's eye, then the tables would surely turn.
"What are you thinking about? You have that same look in your eye that Iris gets when she teases… well, anyone."
"Nothing," Gwaine said innocently. "Just about the future, and what it might hold."
Morgana, who had an unnerving ability to look at him as if she could hear his thoughts- which she told him time and again she could not, merely narrowed her eyes and settled against his side again.
A raven cawed from a nearby tree, before taking flight.
Ooo0ooO
The mists that clung along the borders of the Isle were thick and gray and cold, despite the turn in the weather weeks ago.
A figure strode to the Isle's center, to the ruins of what was once a massive castle and throne room. They drew their hood back as the cloak whispered along the floor, as black as a raven's wing.
"I see you have returned," a soft, beautiful voice whispered from behind the mists. "Is it time yet, my dark prince?"
"Soon," the cloaked figure responded.
Ooo0ooO
Disclaimer: I do not own BBC's Merlin or its characters.
Author's Note: Welcome to To Love a Sorceress! Like To Love a Sorcerer, this story will span over multiple years and will include flashbacks and memories of past events.
What songs make you think of the show or its characters? Music is my biggest inspiration to write!
Please review!