Warnings: Violence, sexual content, adult situations and more- deal with it. There is more to come.

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, or any of the characters. If I did there would be a season six, seven, eight, and so on, and a movie, of course.

Spoilers: Possibly

A/N: I know its been a long time since i posted anything. Life got a hold of me and its teeth were sharper than ever. Bad news... we have just entered an alternate reality. We now have a jester for president. :'( But there is good news. We made it to another year and already we are witnessing history. The D.C woman's march was amazing. I love the hats! The signs! It was fantastic!

A/N: Please Review and be kind. ;) Sorry for any errors, it becomes difficult after editing it so many times. It becomes a lot like a word repeated over and over again until it no longer makes any sense... Okay. So the story is getting darker. Sorry. Can't help it. I like the dark sexy stuff. It will most likely get more intense.

Come on people give me some love and review. 3

I hope you enjoy...

Chapter 27

A Potion of Possibilities

Morgana tossed and turned. Something wouldn't let her sleep. Maybe it was the irritating patter of the rain on the tent or the presence of a warm body breathing beside her she didn't know but it was unsettling. Morgana sat up and looked around for what might have woken her. The furs falling to her waist.

It was still relatively dark out. The only light coming from a bundle of lit candles on her desk and the promising glow of the sun rising in the east. Nothing moved. Nothing jumped out at her. Still she shivered. Goosebumps fanned over her body and her nipples budded from the cold. It was a drastic change going from the warmth of the furs to the freezing air. Mordred stirred next to her. Morgana ignored him and stood up. She grabbed her sheer white rob draped over the end of the bed and put it on not bothering to tie it shut.

Mordred lifted his head when he felt Morgana get up. He eyes narrowed irritably as she pulled on her night gown. He was enjoying one of the best nights sleep in a long time. Every night has been the same since Merlin had attacked Mordred over the boy sorcerer, William. The nights have been brutal, filled with all his wrongdoings and it seared him from the inside out in a way only light magic could do to dark magic. It devoured it by burning it all up.

Mordred sat up and watched Morgana. She ran her hands under her hair to tug it free from her rob. He didn't speak a word as she walked around to the desk and sat down in the chair. She started to noisily and methodically riffle through the drawers.

Mordred rolled his eyes. He was awake now. He swung his legs over the bed, reached for his trousers and pulled them on. He stood up. He grabbed his shirt that he tossed on the floor by the end of the bed and walked over to see what she was doing. It reminded him of Merlin's odd behavior just a few hours earlier.

"What is it, Morgana?" Mordred questioned as he tugged on his shirt.

Morgana looked up briefly at Mordred's voice. "I don't know." Morgana murmured. She grabbed a bottle of glimmering liquid and set it on the desk. She stopped as if frozen in time with her hand on the drawer handle and looked up. She finally realized what bothered her. The camp was silent. No snores or grunts from sleeping men. There were no more curses or hateful out bursts from the prisoners tent, nor were there any footstep to tell her that there was a guard on duty. She slammed the drawer shut.

"Merlin." Morgana abruptly hissed.

"Merlin?" Mordred asked confused. "What does-"

"Shut up!" Morgana huffed.

"Excuse me?" Mordred narrowed his eyes. His irritation blossomed into aggravation. An aggression towards Morgana that wasn't there before. He crossed his arms over his chest to keep himself from slapping her, or worse. His tolerance, at least when it came to Morgana, was warring thin. So thin in fact he worried it would break through his icy façade and he's do something stupid. Like side with Emrys. "I'm not your lap dog. Don't snap at me and expect me to follow orders."

Morgana turned on him angrily. "I said shut up!" She seethed. "Go. Check. On. The. Prisoners." Morgana hissed each word, a promise of punishment if he disobeyed.

"No, not yet. Not until you tell me what's going on." Mordred stood his ground. "We're supposed to be equals. I'm not a servant to be ordered around."

"But you are, aren't you?" Morgana smirked. "You are a Knight, and Knights follow orders."

Mordred stayed silent. He didn't want to say something that would get him killed. Still he glared at her to let her know he would not be swayed. They stayed like that emerald green on glacier blue until Morgana suddenly stood up startling Mordred enough to where he stepped back in surprise.

"This," Morgana said. She lifted the bottle up for him to see. "This is our indemnity." Morgana smiled sadly at the sparkling liquid inside. "I had hopped to ovoid such measures but when push comes to shove or rather when manipulation comes to force." Morgana laughed at her joke. "There are no bounds I wont cross to achieve what I have set out to accomplish."

Mordred stilled as if suddenly faced with a very wild, very dangerous beast. "What is it you think that potion will do to help you achieve your goal?" Mordred asked honestly. He didn't think this path would get her the control she was after, but looking at her now he saw that she believed it was the key to what she wanted.

Morgana looked from the bottle back to Mordred. "This holds a million possibilities but I'm only interested in one. It gives me access to all that I desire."

"What could you possibly desire that you can't get already with a snap of you fingers?"

Morgana was silently for a moment. Her green eyes becoming darker as the silence stretched. "A bond to a powerful warlock." She said simply.

"You jest." Mordred scoffed. His heart stuttered and then picked up. "Tell me this isn't the curse you asked me research. Tell me that you aren't that stupid." Mordred demanded.

Morgana opened her mouth to object but before she could speak Mordred cut her off. His anger towards her sprang up out of nowhere and took control of his tongue. "What makes you think you could survive a bonding like this? Let alone bonding to warlock as powerful as Emrys." Mordred said harshly.

"I am a high priestess." Morgana shrugged. "Why wouldn't I survive?" It was just four small words. But those four arrogant words echoed inside his mind over and over. If she goes through with this it will be her downfall. The initial bonding may not kill her, but she isn't likely to survive till the very end. Mordred glared at her. Dark emerald green clashed with glacier blue in a game of wills. What the hell is going on? He asked himself feeling suddenly exhausted. He felt as if he hadn't slept at all.

"Your fervent sense of entitlement is stunning." Mordred confessed. He turned on his heel, grabbed his fur wrapping's to keep warm and calmly walked out of the tent not once looking back. Not even when he felt Morgana's glare burning into the back of his skull.

Mordred growled deep in his throat when he saw how the rain pummeled the muddy ground quickly flooding areas around their camp. Mordred used his magic to create a barrier above him to keep from getting saturated by the rain and continues on.

The camp was still and the sentries were at their post but the guard at the prisoners tent was absent. Mordred didn't even bother to look inside. He knew what he would find. One dead guard and no prisoners. He turned around and headed back inside Morgana's tent.

Mordred hadn't even taken one step inside before Morgana's voice rang out. For the first time the sound of her voice rubbed him the wrong way. Like razors to his nerves, and his stomach dropped to his feet. This was not good, he thought uneasily as he faced Morgana doing his best to look as board as ever.

"Well?" Morgana demanded from her spot behind the desk.

"Gone." Mordred said mindlessly. Morgana's eyes snapped to him and assessed his quietly. He looked as he always did. Brooding. Confident. Slightly bored. But there was no dismissing the look of white rage he couldn't quite hide from her. It burned from his eyes like candle flames.

"And Merlin?" Morgana murmured softly.

Mordred shrugged. "Go check!" Morgana snapped. Her out burst sudden and expected.

Mordred didn't move. He was rooted to the floor. There was a weird feeling building in his gut and it felt strangely like relief. The prisoners were gone. Most likely Merlin too.

"Mordred," Morgana snapped. Mordred ignored her too caught up in his own thoughts.

Why did he feel anything at all when it came to the prisoners? It definitely wasn't because Mordred's brother was with them and safe from Morgana. Safe from him. It couldn't be. It must be whatever magic was left over from Merlin's spell burrowing inside him changing him from the inside out.

"Mordred." Morgana tried to get his attention again.

"What!" Mordred snapped. Hate seethed from his eyes directed towards her for the first time.

Morgana sat back in her chair. "What is wrong with you?" Morgana scowled. Mordred scowled back before he sighed.

"I don't know." Mordred worried. He rubbed his fingers into his forehead between his eyes.

"Well figure it out." Morgana demanded. "In the mean time bring me Merlin."

Mordred bit his tong, bowed his head and went back out into the rain this time not bothering with keeping himself dry. It took him no more than a few minutes to reach Merlin's tent but he was drenched by the time he did. As Mordred got closer he noticed Cedric standing out side Merlin's tent not caring that he has to stand out in the cold rain with only his armor and a deerskin wrap. Hmm. Loyal. But Morgana didn't ask Cedric to keep watch as far as he knew. Merlin must have. Like Mordred thought, loyal.

Mordred stepped up to the tent door when Cedric's arm stopped him from going inside. Mordred looked down at the forearm blocking his path.

"Is there a reason you don't want me going in their, Cedric?" Mordred asked looking back at Cedric with a raised brow.

"No, My Lord, it's just... um." Cedric stumbled over his words. When Mordred looked at him like that. As if he would slaughter Cedric in a half a second with out a moments thought or hesitation he almost lost his nerve. "Lord Emrys asked not to be disturbed."

"Lord Emrys?" Mordred mocked. Cedric grit his teeth to keep his thoughts to himself.

"Yes," Cedric nodded firmly. His chin lifted defiantly.

"He's in there right now?" Mordred asked. Cedric nodded. Mordred narrowed his eyes in suspicion not believing a word he said. "So if I walk in there right now Merlin will be sleeping on his cot and not in the woods helping the prisoners escape?" Mordred pressed.

Cedric's mouth open and closed like a fish gasping for air. He knew he had been caught, and in all honesty he knew he would be, he just didn't think it would be so soon, or over something so stupid as Emrys sneaking out of his tent and doing something that would put others in danger.

"I thought so." Mordred nodded. He brushed aside Cedric's arm and entered the tent with Cedric on his tail. Just like he suspected the tent was empty, as was the bed and his bag and armor gone. Mordred turned on Cedric.

"Where is he?" Mordred demanded.

"Don't know." Cedric shook his head and shrugged. Mordred glared at him. He did a very good job at playing ignorant, but Mordred had a sixth sense about these things and lies rang like a bell in a canyon.

"Somehow I doubt that," Mordred scoffed. "Come with me." Mordred turned on his heel and left the tent. He could hear Cedric hesitantly follow him out into the rain.

"Why do you hate him so much?" Cedric asked catching up to him. His voice was nearly swallowed up by the thunderous sound of rain but Mordred had perfect hearing and was unfortunately able to catch every word. "I thought you once believe in Emrys? Was one of his biggest ally's."

Mordred stayed silent for a while before something compelled him to speak. "I was once." Mordred confessed. "I believed in his so much I risked my life for him with out thought." He licked his lips and whipped a hand down his face to clear away the rain water that poured down his face. "I did believe he was the answer to everything. I thought of him like a God of sorts." Mordred laughed sarcastically. "But then I grew up and saw he was just a man lost like the rest of us. That's when I realized something. How could a lost man lead a Kingdom of lost people?" Mordred looked over at Cedric. "How do you follow a man who doesn't even seem to remember what side he's fighting for?" Mordred didn't give Cedric time to comment. He walked into Morgana's tent with out stopping. Cedric on his heels.

Morgana looked up as they entered. She was dressed in her silver armor, sword at her hip leaning over her desk covered in scrolls hands braced in the desk with the ill advised potion clenched in one fist. A hooded figure stood in the corner to her right. A tall and imposing man that towered over Mordred by at least a foot and a half.

"Huh." Morgana grunted. She looked back down at her scrolls. "He's gone, isn't he?" Mordred opened his mouth to answer when she cut him off. "Never mind don't answer that." she waived it away and nodded to the man behind her. "Theron has volunteered to find him and bring him back. Unharmed."

"And the prisoners?" Mordred dared to ask.

Morgana looked up from the scrolls again. Her eyes lingered on Mordred a little longer than polite and then over to Theron before giving her orders. "Kill them. I don't care how." She looked back to the desk.

"I'll go." Mordred said boldly.

"No." Morgana shut him down.

"You don't need Theron." Mordred pressed. "Cedric and I will go."

"No." Morgana said with finality. "I need Cedric here."

Mordred glanced at Cedric. He knew what she planned to use him for. Cedric was to be the human life that will power the potion. A life to bind a life. He looked back at Morgana. "But," Mordred started.

"Take Theron." Morgana stood up and face him fully. She walked around the desk and leaned on the corner. "Take Theron and bring Merlin back." Morgana said seriously.

Mordred came up short. He was taken aback by this turn of events but didn't waist the opportunity. He nodded. Theron came forward and marched past him without slowing. Mordred gave Morgana one last measuring look before he followed the giant out of the tent and into the rain.