I don't own Merlin
Heres chapter 4, thanks to all those who reviewed previous chapters and I hope you enjoy this one.
-Rin
Witches Coven
Chapter 4
With her heart in her mouth Glory watched as flames consumed the small town and inhaled the black smoke that hung thick in the air. In the distance, over the crackle of the flames and the roar of the wind, she heard a familiar song, it's climbing and falling melody was one she had grown up with and once upon a time it had been her greatest comfort. The voice that was singing was as familiar as the words; it was one that she had hoped to never hear again.
Her mind immediately turned to denial, to deny it was pointless, that she knew but she didn't want to believe that after seven years of silence, the same old nightmare could reappear from the mists of time to haunt her again.
"Athena" the name passed her lips as a whisper which echoed eerily loud in her head and as the name faded a bone chilling laughter broke out in place of the song and she knew her assumption was correct.
Glory shot up from the bed as her eyes snapped open. She looked around frantically, chest heaving as she struggled to get enough oxygen and her mind worked overtime trying to digest the new realisation that had the potential to rock the very foundations of her sanity.
Sitting round the bed watching her, Merlin and Gaius shared a glance, they had already realised that the girl had a strong connection to magic and therefore had correctly guessed that the sleep they had been unable to wake her from was not in fact a coma, but rather a deep enchanted sleep from which only the caster could wake her.
As Glory's senses returned to her and her brain began to process the information her senses collected she noticed the boy and the old man who sat and watched her intently, her first reaction was to panic but she had already realised that they might have guessed her magical roots, just as she had guessed Merlin's.
"I think you have some explaining to do, young warlock" The old man said fixing her with a serious gaze, Glory's expression remained calm but that couldn't disguise her unwillingness to co-operate. She, like everyone else knew the penalty for using magic and she had no desire to submit herself to that fate. However, she also knew that she could not risk lying.
"I'm not obligated to tell you anything." She said, the physician fixed her with a pointed stare, a look that told her he knew without her saying a word, if only he knew everything.
"Then answer me this, do you intend any harm on the Pendragon family?" He asked searching her eyes for any kind of lie, this one she could answer truthfully.
"No." she answered, she posed no threat to the king and the prince, Athena on the other hand, was a different story.
Gaius relaxed in his seat, Merlin like Gaius was unable to detect any lie but he didn't let his guard down, there had been too many close calls in the past.
"Well then we shall say no more for now, drink this" Gaius said handing her a gruesome looking liquid "it will help you get some sleep" he added noting her expression with some amusement.
Glory nodded in thanks, drank the potion which tasted even worse then it looked, lay back on the makeshift bed that she was unable to move from and allowed the dark abyss of undisturbed sleep to claim her mind and body in its embrace.
"I'm waiting for you…"
Over the next few weeks, fear consumed Glory's every waking moment; she would not let herself sleep for the terror of what awaited her in the blackness of her mind and she didn't dare to gaze using the emerald again. On the two occasions when she did accidentally nod off, the nightmare of her past came to her and she awoke remembering little.
As the days wore on Gaius began to notice something was amiss with the girl but remembering the reaction he got the first time he had said anything he decided not to approach her a second time. Instead he decided to have Merlin try to talk to her, there was no doubt in his mind that Glory knew exactly what Merlin was, the boy who he looked upon as a son had told him of the rush of magic he had felt the moment he touched her, this had intrigued the old physician but it had also worried him, just what kind of being was she and more importantly could they really trust her?
Arthur decided he'd had enough, over the past few weeks Merlin had been neglecting his duties of looking after the prince in favour of helping Gaius with some girl Sir Ebert had brought to Camelot from the southern forests.
It irritated Arthur more that Merlin hadn't even bothered to ask him for time off to help the old man with the woman, instead he just disappeared or had turned up late more times then the prince could count, which in turn left the prince in a dire state of disarray and for that he placed the complete blame on his tardy servant.
Storming through the halls off his castle home like a dark and dangerous storm cloud, the prince headed for the physicians chambers where he would no doubt find his distracted servant and the source of the distraction. It was that side of things which interested Arthur the most, he had never known Merlin to be distracted by any woman, except maybe Gwen and even that hadn't caused his mind to wonder this badly, it was a miracle Arthur hadn't sacked him yet!
Knocking rather harshly on the door the young Pendragon waited impatiently for the door to open, after a minute or so he got tired of waiting and in a very un-prince like gesture he opened the door and walked right in, what he saw caused is memory to flare to life and the forgotten nagging feeling that told him he was forgetting something reappeared, he knew the girl lying on the makeshift bed, only for the life of him, he couldn't remember how.
Her hair was spread out over her pillow like a halo that shone with a glittering magnificence of red, copper and gold as the sun rays that beamed in through the window to light up her pale face hit it, and Arthur, for some reason he could not explain, knew with unquestioned certainty that when she opened her eyes, they would be the darkest shade of brown. A few minutes later when her eyes did open, he was proved right.
Glory opened her eyes to be met by the sight of a familiar face. Pale skin, bright blue eyes and golden blond hair was all she could distinguish through the glaring sun light that shone in her eyes and hindered her vision, too weak to lift her arm to shield her eyes she closed them and relaxed her tense muscles; she knew after all that he posed no threat to her.
"Who are you?" he demanded, she smiled at the memory of the fist time he had asked that and decided to more or less give him the same answer she had then.
"I could ask you the same but having seen your face I require no answer" She answered as cryptically as possible, the prince steamed, he had a major sense of déjà vu he just couldn't place it in his memory.
"Have we met before?" he asked sitting down on a small stool near to her bed after rather reluctantly closing the shutters of the window that caused light to be cast over her face. She turned her head and smiled at him in thanks before returning to her previous position only with eyes open this time, she did not look at him as she answered.
"Perhaps, I am seen by many but remembered by few" again a cryptic answer and one that did nothing to stifle the prince's curiosity. The truth of the matter was this; Glory had placed many ward enchantments over herself and her home, one of these made the people who saw or spoke to her forget the moment they left her company and home, it was a handy trick for one who wished to hide their existence from the world. Of course to admit to this use of magic to the prince of all people, was suicide, literally.
Arthur found it hard to believe that someone could forget her, he'd had taken one look at her and knew it would take some time for her face to fade from his mind. Her hair colour in particular caught and held his attention, still from the moment she had opened her eyes her lack of sleep had become obvious to him, the fact that she made no move to shield her eyes from the light and the struggle it took for her to produce even a small smile showed her exhaustion even more clearly, it made Arthur wonder what could have caused it.
Deciding he would ask Merlin about her later, Prince Arthur stood up from his seat and abruptly excused himself to leave, she nodded, albeit rather stiffly to indicate she heard him and he left the room completely forgetting the reason he had been there in the first place now that his mind was otherwise occupied.