Chapter 4: The Posioned Chalice
Nimueh stands in her cave, and drops some of her blood from her hand into a stone basin.
Running her fingers through the water of the basin, Nimueh begins to chant, "Diegol cnytte, gewitte me yst, þa tacnian me yst þonne ieceþ sicle. Diegol cnytte, gewitte me yst, þa tacnian me yst þonne ieceþ sicle. Swilte ar ond calan, drædan morðor, to Camelot he cymþ!"
An image of Arthur training in the courtyard appears in the basin, and then the water clears. Nimueh picks something out of the water and attaches it to the inside of a silver goblet. She then holds it up, as in a toast, and says menacingly, "Arthur Pendragon."
Camelot
5 days later
In Camelot, Bayard and his party arrive in Camelot, greeted by Uther and his party. The two groups meet in the throne room, approaching each other at the same speed. The tension in the room is almost palpable.
The two kings and their parties meet in the middle of the throne room. The two kings stare at each other for a moment before Uther states, "Camelot welcomes you, Lord Bayard of Mercia. The treaty we sign today marks an end to war and a beginning to a new friendship between our people."
Nimueh is seen in the background as a servant in Bayard's party, while in the forefront Uther and Bayard grasp arms. Both parties applaud while Nimueh stares down Arthur, who is standing behind his father.
With Daemon
In one of the castle hallways, Daemon follows Gaius while carrying 3 heavy bags.
"Remind me again why I have to do this?" Daemon complains as he passes Gaius.
Gaius laughs and stops in the hallway. "You're my apprentice, Daemon. It's what you do."
"My arms will be a foot longer by the time I get this lot inside." Daemon complains again, shrugging his shoulders slightly.
"It's character building." Gaius says, still laughing slightly. "As the old proverb says, hard work breeds...a harder soul."
Daemon just gives him an unbelieving look. "There is no way that's a proverb. You just made that horseshit up right there ." Daemon says, incredulous.
"No. I didn't." Gaius denies.
Nimueh passes through carrying a load of fabric and pillows. As she passes, she fakes a fall right in front of Daemon.
"Sorry." Nimueh says sweetly, gathering up the things that had fallen.
"It's alright." Daemon says, exchanging looks with Gaius.
"Excuse me." Nimueh says, sounding like the servant she is pretending to be.
"Let me give you a hand with that." Daemon says, crouching down to help pick up some of Nimueh's things.
When Daemon crouches down, he catches Nimueh's eye. Daemon is not fooled for a second, as his magic allows him to see through the enchantment that she had on her so nobody would recognize her, but keeps it to himself. They both stand up, still staring at each other. Daemon has a slight smile on his face.
"Hello. I'm Daemon." Daemon says, offering his hand and still wearing that smile.
Daemon shakes Nimueh's hand.
"Cara." Nimueh says. "You're the apprentice of the court Physician here in Camelot. That must be such an honor."
"Oh, yeah, someone's got to eventually take over for the Old Man over here," Daemon jokes. Gaius crosses his arms and gives him a pointed look from behind Cara.
"Thank you, Daemon." Nimueh says, nodding at the pillow Daemon is still holding.
"Hmm?" Daemon asks, distracted. Daemon looks down at the pillow he picked up for her. "Oh, right." He says, putting the pillow on top of the pile she was holding.
"It was nice meeting you." Nimueh says. She then turns and walks away, a slight sway in her hips, and Daemon watches her leave.
"Shouldn't you be busy training to replace me?" Gaius says wryly and laughs.
Nimueh sneaks through the halls past a guard and arrives at Bayard's guest quarters. She checks the doors to see that they are locked. After checking the hall around her, Nimueh chants, "Alysan duru ronne."
The door opens with a slight creak, and Nimueh enters the empty room. She closes the door behind her, and then opens a box with two silver goblets inside. She replaces one of them with an identical looking one that she enchanted at the beginning.
As Nimueh finishes replacing the goblets, she know's that if her plan is to have any chance of success, she needs to keep Daemon distracted. Luckily, she knew just how to do that.
Later that night
In Daemon's room
Daemon was in his room, getting ready for the feast, when he sensed something behind and grabbed it by the throat and forced it against the wall. It was then that he saw it was Nimueh, dressed in her true appearance with that torn red dress of hers and her hair pulled back in braids.
"Nimueh," Daemon said as he pulled away, "My most beautiful teacher."
"Daemon Blackfyre," Nimueh smirked playfully. "My most handsome student."
"Why are you here?" Daemon asked.
"I know you killed my Afanc." Nimueh said, alarming Daemon. "Relax, I'm not mad, not anymore at any rate."
"Why?" Daemon asked.
"I was angry at first, but then I was excited when I saw your power, and how you've grown, since you were that young boy who left the Isle of the Blessed." Nimueh said with a seductive look on her face as she wrapped an arm around his neck, and grinded her crotch against his, causing a certain part of Daemon's anatomy to twitch in excitement. One of Daemon's fantasies as a boy had been fucking his teacher and making her one of his wives. It seemed now he would finally get the chance. He also really did not want to go to the feast and told Gaius he was wasn't feeling well already, so he may not be able to attend.
Nimueh initiated a kiss filled with passion and Daemon reciprocated, the two of them slipping their tongues into each other's mouth's. But when she pulls away, Daemon begins to feel weak and dizzy, so much so that he drops to one knee. "What have you done to me, Nimueh!?" He furiously asks her, even though his speech is slurred some.
"Oh don't worry that handsome face of yours. It's a simple enchantment. You needn't worry. I'm not here to hurt you, Daemon. I'm here to help you. You'll wake up, but not in time to stop Arthur from drinking the poison I put in his chalice." Nimueh says as Daemon loses his consciousness.
An hour later
Daemon finally woke up and shook the cobwebs out of his head before hurrying to his feet. He still didn't particularly care about Arthur, but he didn't deserve death.
Bayard is still speaking as Daemon rushes to the banquet hall, though Daemon's movements are still sluggish. "And may the differences from our past remain there. To your health, Uther."
Everyone stands to toast, raising their goblets.
"Arthur. "
Arthur nods in recognition.
"The Lady Morgana."
Morgana nods in response. Arthur waits.
"The people of Camelot."
Arthur starts to drink, looking annoyed when he is interrupted.
"And to fallen warriors on both sides." Uther finishes.
Everyone starts to drink. Unfortunately, Daemon gets there only in time to watch Arthur consume all the poison. "No!" Daemon shouted.
Bringing a hand up to his throat, Arthur begins to chokes and falls to the floor unconscious, the cup rolling away with a clang.
"He's poisoned my son! Guards seize him!" Uther shouts. Everyone in the room, from Camelot and Mercia alike, pulls out their sword, though Bayard saw he was outnumbered and surrendered.
Daemon crouches over Arthur, and is soon joined by Gaius and Gwen.
"Arthur. Arthur! Can you hear me?" Daemon asks, prodding the unresponsive prince and forcing an eye open. "We have to get him back to my chambers." Gaius tells Daemon, who proceeds to pick him up. "Bring the goblet. I need to identify the poison."
Daemon carries Arthur out of the room, and Morgana grabs the goblet before quickly following.
Daemon enters the physician's chambers carrying Arthur. Gaius, Morgana and Gwen follow close behind.
"Lay him on the bed quickly; he's struggling to breathe. Gwen, fetch me some water and a towel." Daemon and Gwen quickly follow his instructions laying Arthur out on the cot.
"Is he going to be alright?" Morgana asks as she helps situate Arthur on the cot.
"He's burning up." Gaius mutters.
"You can cure him, can't you Gaius?" Morgana asks, as Gwen hands Gaius a water soaked cloth.
"I won't know until I can identify the poison." Gaius replies, placing the cool rag on the forehead of the prince. "Pass me the goblet." He waves.
Daemon grabs the goblet but then notices something stuck in the bottom. Reaching down, he picked it out, to reveal it was a flower petal. A flower petal he recognized. "Oh no," Daemon realized what was wrong with him.
"What is it?" Morgana asks, standing up to join him.
Daemon let the goblet down and handed the flower to Gaius numbly. "It's the Mortaeus Flower." Daemon informs them.
"His brow's on fire." Gwen says.
"Keep him cool; it'll help control his fever." Gaius says distractedly as he studies the petal.
Gwen and Morgana tend to Arthur, while Daemon handed the petal to Gaius, who looked in his encyclopedia to compare the picture to the petal. "You're right. The petal comes from the Mortaeus flower. It says here that someone poisoned by the Mortaeus can only be saved by a potion made from the leaf of the very same flower. It can only be found in the caves deep beneath the Forest of Balor. The flower grows on the roots of the Mortaeus tree." Gaius read.
"What's that?" Morgana asks, looking at a picture of a reptilian creature.
"A Cockatrice. They live in that forest and their venom is potent. A single drop would mean certain death. Few who have crossed the Mountains of Isgaard in search of the Mortaeus flower have made it back alive." Daemon said as he went to his room and shut the door behind him.
A few minutes later, Daemon came back out, dressed in full armor and carrying Blackfyre, stating in a serious voice, "I'll be back."
"Daemon, it's too dangerous." Gaius argues.
"Tell them what will happen to him if I don't get the antidote in time." Daemon tells pointedly.
"The Mortaeus induces a slow and painful death . He may hold out for four, maybe five days, but not for much longer. Eventually he will die." Gaius states.
"And that's assuming that whoever poisoned him, didn't use a spell to double the potency of the flower, which leaves us with maybe half that time. There's no time to waste, if I'm going to have any chance at saving him." Daemon said as he opened the door, to head to the stables.
"Daemon!" Morgana calls to him and he turns to her and Gwen.
"Please be careful." Gwen said before Morgana could.
"I will." Daemon said with steel in his voice as he left.
In her cave, Nimueh watches events unfolding from her stone basin.
With Daemon
Daemon leads his horse through the forest. Once he close to the cave where the flower is, he sees Nimueh sitting on a log in the middle of the forest.
In his anger at Nimueh playing him, he dismounted from his horse and strides forward only to stop when a Cockatrice leaps at him from behind. He pulled Blackfyre from it's sheath and in one fluid motion, cutoff the creatures head while it was in mid-air.
5 more Cockatrice's crawled out from the cover of the tree's. Daemon did not have time to deal with this, and so instead, he reached out with his magic and levitated the monsters in the air. Finishing it, he snapping his fingers, the five Cockatrice's spontaneously combusted into a shower of blood and guts.
"Wow, someone's angry." Nimueh said seductively, though Daemon was in no mood.
"Enough!" Daemon shouted, his eyes glowing with violent purple light as a storm began to appear above him and thunder cracked across the sky, the weather changing and reacting to his rage, as Nimueh kept her mouth shut. "I am not in the mood for games! What the hell was that with Arthur!?"
"I didn't think you needed anyone to explain that I am killing him." Nimueh pointed out, standing tall in the face of her former student's out of control magic.
"Why? You helped bring him into the world!?" Daemon demanded, the storm raging above them, as both he and Morgause knew the secret of Arthur's birth.
"And it's because I brought that child into the world, that so many so our people have suffered! Friends, family, countless innocents. All of them, magic-users! And it isn't just here in Camelot either. Uther started a pandemic that has spread all over Albion! Everywhere, our people are persecuted, murdered and tormented." Nimueh argued back.
"He's not guilty of that!" Daemon shouted back.
Nimueh would have argued with him further but it was then that the ground beneath their feet began to shake. Great bolts of lightning crackled across the sky, creating booms of thunder that could be heard for miles around. Nimueh looked to the sky and could see tornadoes starting to form and slowly make their way to the surface. The ground beneath them started to split into a giant chasm and Nimueh could see a red glow slowly start to rise.
She looked to her student and saw him gripping his head in pain, his nose bleeding, birds in the sky began dying and falling to the earth like raindrops and she realized that this must have been what happened in Amanta. When Daemon saw Morgause about to be raped and murdered by Sarrum's men, he lost control, and he could not reign himself in before his magic unleashed a series of natural disasters that left all of the kingdom destroyed.
'I need to calm him down somehow.' Nimueh racked her brain and quickly came up with an idea. Quickly closing the distance between, Nimueh sealed her lips on Daemon's with a kiss, distracting him from his anger as the disasters stopped, the calm returning to the land. This there was no enchant, as Daemon did not feel weak or dizzy.
"I'm not going to fight you, Daemon. Even though I have more experience and knowledge, a fight between us would always end with my death. I don't command the magic of the entire world itself, like you. I know you're hurt by how I played you, but you will see that I am doing this all for you're benefit. Now, you better hurry. Arthur doesn't have long." Nimueh advised before she stepped back into a cloud of mist and disappeared.
Daemon was not sure what his teacher was up to with Arthur, just letting Daemon find the Mortaeus flower but he did not have time to waste. He entered the cave and looked to the cliff across from him. The flowers are across a large gap with a narrow ledge and long drop down. Daemon merely extended his hand out and summoned the flowers to him, collecting them in a small leather satchel before he left the cave.
Camelot
Daemon nearly killed his horse rushing back to Camelot but he arrived with 6 hours to spare to save Arthur's life. Daemon immediately jumped off his horse and rushed to Gaius's chambers. He enters them to find Morgana and Gaius tending to Arthur.
"How is he?" Daemon asks urgently.
Gaius ignores that question in favor of another. "Have you got the Mortaeus?"
"Here." Daemon said says, holding the flower out to him before sitting at Daemon's side.
"His breathing's much worse. We have to hurry." Gaius says as he begins to crush the flower.
Gaius works to crush the leaves before stopping, a thought occurring to him.
Morgana notices from the corner of her eye, and asks "Why have you stopped?"
"The poison was created using magic. We may need magic to make an antidote." Gaius explains.
Morgana looked fearful. "But we can't. It's forbidden. Even if we could."
"I'll try and make it work without it. Oh, Arthur need;s a fresh cloth, I'm all out" He says, Morgana moving outside the room to get him one.
Gaius lifts the bowl he's holding. "Sythan…"
Gaius stops when Daemon places a hand on his shoulder. "You're 2 decades out of practice. Let me." Daemon said as he took Gaius's position.
Coming to a decision, Gaius hands Daemon the bowl before Daemon closes his eyes and begins to chant, "Sythan arrest wearth feasceaft funden. Denum æfter dome. Dreamleas gebad he gewinnes longsum."
The potion sizzles and foams for a moment before settling back into a dark green. Daemon nods to Gaius, indicating it was ready. Morgana returns with a fresh cloth and hands it to Gaius, who dabs it in the bowl of water before handing it back to her, and she puts it on Arthur's head.
"Thank you." Gaius says softly, mixing the cool water with the potion.
Gaius pours the potion into a small cup and goes to Arthur. "Hold his nose." He orders.
Morgana pinches his nose as Gaius pours the potion into Arthur's mouth. "Swallow, my prince. Swallow it." Gaius urges. Arthur swallows reflexively and immediately his condition began to improve.
Morgana look down at him, happy and in shock as he awakens. "Arthur. You're alive."
It was then that Uther entered the room, as he heard that Daemon had returned and had been busy dealing with the potential war that was on the horizon.
"Arthur, this is truly a miracle." Uther hugs his son and sits down next to him on the bed. "I thought... I really thought..." Uther looks and sounds overjoyed.
Arthur looks around in a daze as he replies, "Erm...what happened?" Arthur asks. "The last thing I remember is drinking the wine."
"Daemon rushed off after he brought you here to find the antidote to the poison that you had consumed." Gaius complimented.
"It was nothing," Daemon said, "I've seen Morteaus flower be used like that once before in Olaf's kingdom, so I already knew where to find it."
"Well, t-"Arthur was about to thank him when suddenly he lurched over on the bed in pain.
"Arthur" Morgana asks in worry.
"Oh god, what's happening to me?" Arthur groaned in pain, as his hair lengthened down to his upper back, and became thicker and wavier, not to mention softer and a lighter shade of blonde. Arthur's face also lost it's masculine features, his skin becoming softer and feminine.
"Gaius," Daemon asked as he looked to Gaius and Uther, who were in complete horror as if something had just gone terribly wrong.
"Why is Arthur turning into…a girl?" Morgana asked the question that was one everyone's mind, as Arthur's entire body now turned from male to female.
"Stop this, Gaius! Stop this at once! Turn him back!" Uther shouted desperately.
"I can't my lord. I have no way of knowing how this is happening! Prince Arthur took his potion just 3 days ago." Gaius said in protest.
"I will not lose my heir, Gaius! Especially not at the hands of sorcery!" Uther shouted.
"Father," came a feminine voice from Arthur's direction. Everyone turned to see a beautiful blonde woman in Arthur's place.
Daemon shook his head, trying to focus again. "Gaius, you and I need to talk in my room. Now." Daemon drags Gaius into his room and shuts the door.
"Talk, Gaius. What the hell is going on? Why has Arthur been sex-changed into a girl?" Daemon demanded. Gaius signed as he realized the secret known only between him and Uther was known to two other people.
"It isn't that he has been sex-changed, Daemon. It's that he no longer is." Gaius said, causing Daemon to stop.
"What? Are you trying to tell me that Arthur is actually a girl and always has been?" Daemon asks.
"Yes. Arthur was never born a man. Arthur isn't even her real name. Her real name is Rebekah Pendragon." Gaius told him, shocking Daemon as he realized what they had done.
"You sex-changed her!? Gaius, that can only be done with magic! And those spells…they are unnatural. They can cause all sorts of problems, both physical and mental." Daemon said in horror.
"Not if applied at birth." Gaius said. "When Ygraine, Uther's wife, died in childbirth, he was left in a precarious position. The Pendragon dynasty has not ruled Camelot for 100 years. His dynasty was new and the lack of a male heir would have been seen as a weakness. Uther came to me and begged me to use magic to change Rebekah into a man. As she was still a newborn, she would not suffer problems that would normally arise if she had been sex-changed as an adult. But I had to re-apply the treatments every few months to keep up the pretense."
"So, the monster who murders my kind just for being different used magic for his own selfish purposes." Daemon thought as this would have been the 2nd time Uther used magic. "I don't understand though. The spell should have prepared the antidote and that was it."
"Maybe it did more than that," Gaius offered. "Your magic is powerful, Daemon. More powerful than anything I have ever seen in my entire life. It is possible your magic, when you used it to prepare the spell for the antidote, over powered the enchantment on Rebekah and undid her sex-change."
"Let's hope Uther doesn't find out." Daemon says as they peak out the door to see Rebekah now screaming bloody murder towards her father, as she found out what happened to her, as she stormed out towards her room, Morgana following after her.
"Gaius, you must fix this! Change her back!" Uther demanded of him.
"I can't, my lord," Gaius informed him.
"Yes you will. I am your king! You will do as I command!" Uther shouted.
"I cannot do that because it would only cause more problems, sire." Gaius said. "I could only sex-change Rebekah before because she was a baby. She's an adult now. If I did it again, it might succeed. But it would cause all kinds of problems, chief among them, her not being able to have children."
Uther angrily growled at that, as he would not risk anything happening to his bloodline.
Council Chambers
Later
In the council chambers, Uther consults his advisors over maps and reports. Gaius enters and addresses the king, "Sire, forgive the interruption, but may I speak with you?"
"Not now." Uther dismisses.
Gaius presses. "But, Your Highness, it is important."
"Word of Bayard's arrest is making it's way back to Mercia. We're about to be at war and I don't have time to deal with my child right now." Uther replies.
"I feel that what I have to tell you may have some bearing on your plans. Please, it will only take a moment." Gaius asks.
Uther looks slightly annoyed, but he nods to one of the knights and steps aside with Gaius.
"I know who tried to poison Rebekah." Gaius begins.
"So do I. He's locked in my dungeons." Uther replies, turning to walk away.
"It wasn't Bayard." That statement made Uther stop. "The poison was magical in nature. And I'd recognize the hand that made it anywhere: Nimueh."
Uther looks shaken. "You must be mistaken."
"I wish I was."
"It can't have been. We'd know her. That witch's face is not easily forgotten." Uther sneered.
"She's a powerful sorceress. She can enchant the eye that beholds her. We never knew it was her." Gaius told him.
"Have you any proof?" Uther asks Gaius.
"The poison used against the princess was made more potent by the use of magic." Gaius informs him.
"Are you saying that she conspired with Bayard to kill my…my daughter?" Uther asks hesitantly. He was having trouble accepting the new reality that Arthur was back to being a girl.
Gaius shakes his head at that idea. "No, Bayard is innocent. Look at what's happening. This is what she's wanted all along. A war to bring strife and misery to Camelot."
Uther stares off to the side for a moment before the door opens up, revealing a frantic soldier. "My Lord! There's trouble!"
"What is it?" Uther demanded.
"It's Bayard, sire. Lord Bayard and his entire retinue have been slaughtered, Someone snuck in and slit their throats." The soldier frantically told his king.
"Damn it!" Uther said shouted as he slammed his hand against the table. With Bayard dead in his castle, the only way now to end the war was to conquer Mercia for himself or wage a defensive war until Mercia's armies give up. "Call the banners."
"All of them, sire?" Gaius said in resignation, as war was unavoidable now.
"All of them, Gaius." Uther told him before Gaius bowed and Uther called his generals back in.
Daemon
Daemon enters Rebekah chambers, and sees the newly turned girl, sitting on the bed in a nightgown in a daze.
"Still alive, then?" Daemon states, making Rebekah turn to him. He leans against a pillar and asks, "How are you holding up?"
"I just…found out that I have been lied to my entire life. That I was born and because my father so desperately needed an heir, he used magic to turn me into a man. I just found out that my ENTIRE LIFE IS A LIE!" Rebekah shouted at Daemon as she got off the bed and got in his face. "HOW DO YOU THINK I'M DOING!?"
"Sorry, dumb question." Daemon says with his hand's raised, "I know you and I got off on the wrong foot when I first came here, but I would never wish you dead. I was only dropping by to make sure you're alright. I don't know if you've heard, but we are about to be at war."
"Yes, well, it doesn't matter. My father is confining me here to my chambers. He's already told the court about how Arthur is dead and how his secret sister Rebekah as returned." Rebekah said bitterly.
Daemon seeing that she wanted to be alone to deal with her grief, turned to leave. But she called out to him. "Daemon," he turned around to see her looking at him, her mood swings from her out of control hormones making her feel bad about yelling at him. "Thank you. You risked your life to save mine when you didn't have to. I won't forget that."
Nimueh watches in her stone basin as Daemon and Rebekah bid their goodnights.
Chapter end