Well, I survived the escapade with trailering my horses and have now (reluctantly) moved on to my next adventure: summer school. But I've paused my studying to bring you this chapter! Hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed slacking off for a day.
"I'm sorry, sire, the Lady Morgana will not be joining you and Prince Arthur for dinner this evening."
"I didn't really expect her to." Merlin had decided he should invite her to dine with him and Arthur lest she think he was angry with her over the hug, but he wasn't surprised to learn that she was angry with him. Soon he would have to make amends, or at least find a way to explain his reaction to her, but not until this business with the fire was resolved. He needed to make sure she was safe before he turned his attention to fixing things between them. For now she could be as angry with him as she liked, so long as she remained alive to do so. "Thank you for telling me, Freya."
"Of course, my lord." She waited for Merlin to say something more, but he offered no details about what had caused the rift between him and Morgana; it seemed that this time he didn't want help or advice from his friends. His next words were to Arthur's servant Cedric, telling him not to set a third place at the table. When it became obvious that Merlin wasn't in the mood for sharing his problems, Freya excused herself by saying she needed to attend her mistress.
Arthur wasn't so easily put off. "Why won't Morgana be eating dinner with us?" he asked once he and Merlin were seated and Cedric had served them.
"Why are you asking me?"
"You weren't surprised when Freya said she didn't want to, so you obviously know the reason why, Merlin. She's not angry with me, is she? I mean, she doesn't really think I talk down to her?" Arthur was fully aware that he and Morgana were often quite rude to one another, but he didn't see anything wrong with that - it was simply how they related to each other. He'd never entertained the notion that Morgana might feel differently.
"Oh, she does. It's me she's cross with though."
Arthur found that hard to believe; Morgana seemed to adore Merlin. "Did you have a fight?"
Merlin shook his head. "She hugged me."
Arthur's eyebrows shot up, almost disappearing into the hair that fell over his forehead. "Morgana hugged you?" Merlin nodded. "Yet now she isn't speaking to you. What did you do wrong?"
"Everything. She took me by surprise, and I… Well, you remember the time we went hunting and I almost got run down by a wild boar?"
Arthur nodded; that day was indelibly etched in his memory as the day he finally got to save Merlin instead of the other way around. "But Morgana doesn't really resemble a wild boar, Merlin. Surely you didn't think she was attacking you?"
"She did sort of lunge at me. Once I realized what she was doing I tried to hug her back, but I was too tense. Now she probably thinks I didn't like it."
"Didn't you?"
"Sure - there's no reason I wouldn't. I just didn't think we should be hugging, that's all. I don't want her to get confused about how things are between us."
"And how are things between you?" Arthur laid down his fork, abandoning his roast beef, carrots, and potatoes as his curiosity got the better of him.
Merlin was amused; it seemed Arthur thought there was much more to his and Morgana's relationship than there actually was. "I'll do my best to be a good husband to Morgana, Arthur, because it's my duty and because we've become friends, but that's all we are. We're not in love."
"Are you sure about that? Morgana isn't exactly free with her affections, yet she hugged you."
"I am," Merlin said firmly. "She's just grateful I saved her life - twice - and apparently I make her feel safe. That isn't love."
"And what of your feelings for her?"
"My feelings are a distraction I can't afford. Besides, what good would it do to moon over a woman who doesn't love me?"
Instead of answering, Arthur steered the conversation away from the subject of unrequited love - he'd never moped over a woman who didn't feel the same way about him, but from his friend's tone, it sounded like Merlin had.
###
Morgana tossed and turned restlessly in her bed. There was a storm approaching, making the air so oppressively humid it was almost like a thick, woolly blanket wrapped around her, smothering her. She sat up with a frustrated sigh, threw off her covers, and lifted her long hair off her neck. At dinner, she had been unable to eat because her stomach was tied in knots; now she was hungry, but so anxious that anything she ate would probably come right back up. Her head ached and she wanted nothing more than to sleep, yet every time she lay back and looked up at the canopy overhead she remembered seeing it engulfed in flames the previous night, which sent such a surge of fear through her that she was instantly wide awake again.
She sat like that for almost an hour, her nerves balanced on a knife's edge, until a deafening thunderclap sounded, so loud it seemed to shake the very air. Morgana jumped. In that same moment, every piece of glass in her bedchamber, from windows to mirrors to vases, shattered.
Her scream was nearly lost in the echoes of the crashing thunder, but Gwen nevertheless heard her and came running. The maid was already prepared for bed, dressed in her nightgown and barefoot - and the floor was littered with broken glass.
"Gwen, watch out!"
Morgana's warning came too late. Gwen fell to the floor with a cry of pain as sharp fragments pierced the soles of her feet. She threw out her hands to break her fall, which resulted in more glass cutting her palms.
There was a sudden pounding on the door; all the noise and shouting had alarmed the guards stationed outside the entrance to her chambers. "Lady Morgana, are you all right?"
"Gwen's been hurt!" Morgana yelled back. "Fetch the physician at once!"
She heard the heavy footsteps of one of the men racing away while the other burst in, picked Gwen up, set her on a chair, and began lighting candles. "Was anyone here, my lady? Did you see anything out of the ordinary?"
"Other than all the glass breaking?"
"Well, perhaps it was the storm."
"You must be joking. How could a storm cause this?" Morgana asked incredulously. "It was magic! Can no one else see that?"
The guard shuffled his feet awkwardly. Although his parents used magic to keep the vegetables they sold in the lower town from spoiling in the sun, he had always been more interested in weapons than in learning spells. As a result, he really didn't know much about magic.
When the second guard returned with Alice and, surprisingly, Merlin, Morgana's fears were confirmed; none of the three had seen any sign of similar damage elsewhere in the castle.
Alice pulled a chair close to Gwen's, took a pincer-like instrument out of her bag, and used it to extract the glass shards from Gwen's wounds. When she had removed it all, Merlin cast a spell that repaired all the broken items and returned each one to its original place. Then, while Alice applied salve and bandages to Gwen's hands and feet along with an enchantment to speed the healing process, he checked on Morgana.
She had clutched her sheets around her to keep warm when the cool wind accompanying the storm blew through her broken window; now she held them to her chest to cover herself from Merlin's eyes. "I'm fine," she replied when he asked how she was. "I'm not the one who was injured."
"You must have been scared, though."
"Naturally."
"I'm sorry this happened, Morgana."
"You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for, my lord." Her voice was painstakingly neutral - perfectly polite yet void of all emotion.
Merlin sighed. "Look, I know you're not happy with me, but I am going to keep you safe. I swear on my mother's grave I'll do whatever it takes to protect you."
"Thank you, my lord." This time Morgana allowed a note of appreciation into her voice; Merlin would not make such a vow lightly. However things stood between them, she knew he was deathly serious about her safety.
"It would help if you could tell me what happened," he said gently. "I know you probably don't want to talk about it-"
Morgana nodded, subconsciously pulling her covers tighter around herself. "It was too humid for me to sleep… I was sitting up in bed, precisely where I am now… I heard thunder, much closer than before…then the glass shattered."
"How?"
"Isn't it obvious? This time I know it was magic! You said yourself mine was the only room in which anything was damaged, so it could not have been caused by the concussion from the thunder-"
"No, I know that. What I meant was did everything break all at once, or in succession?"
"All at once. Why does that matter?"
"So the spell had no focal point," Merlin said softly to himself. If the spell had been focused, the item nearest its point of origin would have broken first, followed by the others in an outwardly radiating pattern.
"What does that mean?" Morgana demanded.
"Most spells are directed at a specific object, person, or place," Merlin absently explained while continuing to turn the problem over in his mind. "Directionless outbursts only happen under severe emotional duress or when you're dealing with an undisciplined caster. I've only ever seen this lack of control in children just coming into their powers."
"There was no child here."
"Of course not. No child could get through the magical barriers I put on these chambers to keep out intruders." Every trace of abstraction had vanished from Merlin's tone; he now sounded less preoccupied than peeved.
"Well, someone did. Surely you don't mean to tell me they outwitted the great Emrys?" She tried desperately to sound as if she were teasing him, even taunting him - anything to disguise the fear rising inside her. If Merlin couldn't stop her mysterious assailant, who could?
He picked up the slight quaver in her voice despite her best efforts at concealing it and automatically reached out to give her shoulder a friendly, comforting squeeze. Then, recalling his earlier resolution not to confuse their relationship, he snatched it back. Morgana stared up at him, her eyes showing confusion and a small measure of concern; perhaps she was beginning to wonder if he had some sort of mental affliction. Merlin wondered the same thing - there really was no other explanation for why he let her affect him like this.
Since he couldn't seem to stay in control of himself around Morgana, he decided to put some distance between them and wandered over to the table where Alice was putting the finishing touches on Gwen's bandages. "Your wounds aren't deep, so they should heal within a few days, but you're not to work until they do," she instructed the maid.
"But I must look after Morgana-"
Merlin cut her off. "Freya can do that. You need to look after yourself."
Alice agreed with him, but it was only when Morgana seconded their opinion that Gwen agreed to take a minimum of three days off. "All right, all right, I'll stay in bed until I can walk without pain, but I should still be here in case an emergency arises."
Morgana immediately rejected this caveat. "I shall have a manservant help move you to the servants' quarters tomorrow - you'll have more peace and quiet there. Freya can stay with me."
Gwen slumped in her chair, defeated, until Morgana's guard lifted her out of it and carried her back to bed. Then he returned to his post outside the lady's chambers.
Alice also left so Morgana could have at least a small chance of getting some sleep. The walk back to her quarters was a long one; by the time she got there her old bones were ready to sink into her mattress, but just as she reached for the handle of her door, a voice calling her name stopped her. Merlin had followed her home unnoticed. "My lord! Forgive me for saying so, but you mustn't sneak up on me like that. My old heart can't take too many shocks."
Merlin just peered at her in clear bewilderment. After Morgana, Alice was the second person to accuse him of sneaking up on her today. He didn't know where they got such ideas. "Do you still keep calamus root in your workshop?"
"I do."
"Good. I need some."
"May I ask why you need it, sire?"
"To flavor my tea," was Merlin's flippant reply.
Alice folded her arms across her chest. "My lord, you know it would be unconscionable for a physician to dispense medicines without knowing what the recipient intends to use them for."
"All right. I need it for its stimulant properties. I'm tired."
"You know, sire, the best remedy for tiredness is usually a good night's sleep."
Merlin glared at her. "Since you don't yet know me well, I'll forgive you this once for thinking I'd be able to sleep while the Lady Morgana is in danger. Now, will you give me what I need, or do I have to use magic to keep myself awake?"
Seeing that there was no use arguing with him, Alice sighed and went to fetch the herb he'd requested.
###
Morgana spent the rest of that night tossing and turning, never managing to do more than doze fitfully for an hour or two. When at last dawn broke, she got up and dressed with a sense of relief. Although she was still anxious and scared, at least she didn't have to try to sleep anymore. I may never sleep again.
"Breakfast, my lady?" Freya set a tray laden with enough food for four people in front of her. "You must be famished since you didn't eat last night."
"I don't know if I can eat now."
"You have to. Will told me Merlin stayed up all night trying to figure out how anyone could get in here and do these things to you, but all that'll be for nothing if you've already starved yourself to death."
Freya had a point. Morgana looked down at her plate and forced herself to inhale the delicious aroma of eggs, fresh bread with honey and cinnamon, and ripe, juicy strawberries and plums. Her stomach churned. She wrapped her fingers around the handle of her fork and held it like a dagger poised to stab a hated enemy.
"That's it, my lady. Just a few bites," Freya encouraged her.
After eating enough to satisfy the witch, Morgana went to the servants' wing, intending to visit Gwen, only to find that Lancelot was already there. Not wanting to interrupt their time together, she tried to leave quietly before either of them noticed her. Unfortunately Arthur ruined her attempt at stealth by crashing into her. "Arthur!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm certain he's not here to see me," Gwen said dryly.
"Well no, I was looking for Morgana and thought I'd probably find her here. Still, I hope you feel better soon, Guinevere."
"Thank you, sire."
"Why were you looking for me?" Morgana asked.
"I heard about last night and thought you might like some company, but if I was wrong I can go train with the knights instead."
Lancelot stood up from his chair beside Gwen's bed. "Training the knights is my job. I should go attend to my duties, and you both can keep Gwen company."
"You don't have to leave." Gwen blushed. "I- I'd like you to stay."
"Why don't we all stay here and have a game of cards or something?" Arthur suggested. In this tiny, cramped room that's barely big enough for one person, let alone four. He refrained from voicing that thought; it wasn't Gwen's fault she was confined here, unable to walk. Nor did he want to want to leave her, despite his objections to the room's size - he remembered how frustrating being stuck in bed while injured could be. When it had happened to him, it was only thanks to Morgana that he hadn't gone completely out of his mind.
Everyone agreed that was a good idea, and Lancelot went to fetch a pack of cards from the nearest guardroom.
###
Gwen finally threw her friends out hours later - she felt guilty for keeping the prince of Camelot and the future princess and head knight of Dagon from their duties, though she had to tell them she needed rest to make them leave.
Arthur and Lancelot decided to work out the stiffness that hours of sitting and playing cards had left in their muscles on the training ground. Morgana changed her clothes, pinned up her hair, commandeered a sword, and insisted on joining them. They allowed her to with no protests, Arthur because he didn't have the heart to argue with her and Lancelot because he didn't know what a formidable opponent she could be. He soon learned his lesson, and took being beaten by a lady of the court with more grace than Arthur had ever managed.
After the training session, Morgana bathed, changed into a dress, and met Theodosius in the library. The court historian ended their lesson by saying he was very pleased with her progress and thought she would soon be ready to take her place on the king's council.
She ate dinner in her chambers with Arthur, whose well-meaning yet obnoxious attempts at cheering her up with jokes he'd heard from his knights and in various taverns she endured with a forced smile. She would have preferred Gwen's less boisterous company but was determined not to come between Gwen and Lancelot again.
Arthur finally exhausted his supply of jokes and humorous tales at half-past ten and retired to his own chambers. Morgana dithered about for another half hour, rearranging her jewelry boxes and brushing her hair, before reluctantly going to bed. She sent Freya away; after Gwen's mishap, she didn't want anyone else getting hurt if this night brought another supernatural incident. The thought of going to sleep filled her with dread - as did thoughts of what she might wake up to - but she hadn't gotten much rest the past two nights. Fatigue overcame her before long.
The fears that plagued her during her waking hours turned into nightmares when she slept - nightmares made all the more terrifying because her rational mind offered her no protection in the realm of dreams. Morgana jolted awake as the castle bells tolled the hour, stifling a cry and looking wildly around for any sign of trouble. Nothing seemed amiss; there were no fires, no broken glass.
Morgana had almost relaxed when a tapestry on the wall opposite her bed caught her eye. The tapestry depicted a unicorn, and it was hung so that the unicorn seemed to stare straight at her. She liked looking into its kind violet eyes from her bed…yet when she glanced at that wall, she saw the tip of its horn instead. Had someone - or something - lowered the tapestry? Morgana shifted onto her hands and knees, intending to crawl to the end of her bed for a better look, then froze when her movement caused the bed to wobble. My bed should not be this unsteady.
Heart pounding, she peered under the bed. The floor was at least seven feet below. Her bed was floating in midair. The instant Morgana realized what was happening, the force holding her bed aloft vanished, and it crashed back onto the floor with bone-jarring, teeth-rattling force. Morgana fell off the edge of her mattress with her legs still tangled in the covers. She freed herself in a flurry of desperate kicking and thrashing, scrambled to her feet, and fled the room. She had no idea where she was going, only that she couldn't stay there one moment longer; it wasn't safe. No place was safe for her.
###
Her headlong flight ended at Merlin's chambers. Though she hadn't consciously headed that way, Morgana was relieved to find herself there. Merlin would help her. Merlin had to help her. Morgana hammered on the door.
"All right, all right! I'm coming! Keep your underclothes on!" A disgruntled Will flung open the door a short moment later. "Lady Morgana? What're you doing here at two o'clock in the morning?"
"Is Merlin here?" Morgana asked frantically.
"Yeah, he's in there. I was just trying to talk him into going to bed-"
"I must speak with him at once. Privately. It's a matter of utmost urgency."
"Bit late for that, don't you th-"
But Morgana was in no mood to be put off by the manservant. "Just get out of my way!" She pushed Will aside, darted past him, and slammed the door behind her, shutting him out. She then turned around to find herself face to face with Merlin himself.
Like his manservant, the sorcerer looked rather put out. "What do you think you're doing, Morgana? You haven't the right to dismiss my servant."
His slightly harsh tone hit her like a physical blow. "I-I'm sorry - I didn't know where else to go. Please, Merlin, I need help-"
He took hold of her arms, supporting her as she sagged against the door. "I'm the one who's sorry, Morgana. Shh, you're safe now. What's wrong?"
Fighting the urge to break down and cry, she stumbled through the story of how she'd awoken to find that her bed had levitated. "And it f-fell down when I saw what was happening, the same way the glass broke when I was startled by the thunder and the fire started while I slept. Merlin…I think I made these things happen, and I don't understand how. I don't understand anything anymore. Am I going mad?"
"No, you aren't mad."
"Then what is happening to me?"
Merlin tightened his hold on her as if he expected her to run from him or collapse. "You have magic, Morgana."
So here we finally have the big magic reveal. Next we'll have the fallout: an exclusively Mergana-centric chapter with lots of angst and some revelations about Morgana and her family you won't see coming.