I don't own Merlin
Well its been a good while since I updated this and since I have it written, I might as well. The trouble at the moment is with managing my time around school work and my social life - its getting harder to do. This might be the last for a while but half term is coming so you never know, anyway here's chapter 5.
- Rin
PS. This is another unedited version and like I said with the other chapters, I will go back over it and fix it when I have time.
Please review I need some feedback so that I can improve the way I write but if you are going to criticise something, please try to be nice about it.
Witches Coven
Chapter 5
When Merlin entered the princes bedchamber that night to serve the future king his dinner he had been confronted by a barrage of questions form the irritated price, but not about his neglected duties as Merlin would have expected, instead they all concerned Glory. The feeling that he had been forgetting something had only intensified in Arthur as the day wore on and so his temper had flared.
"Who is she?" he demanded pacing the room in a frantic manner, it was making Merlin dizzy just watching him.
"Who is who?" the baffled warlock asked the prince, Arthur growled in frustration.
"The girl Ebert brought to Camelot from the southern forest" The prince just about yelled while continuing to pace as if he was determined to wear a hole in the floor.
"I think you better sit down" Merlin suggested trying to reason with the frantic royal, Arthur didn't stop, he couldn't. His frustration had built to a point where he felt ready to burst and it became impossible for him to sit still.
"She seems so familiar, I've definitely seen her somewhere before" Arthur ran his hand through his hair, it only served to further enhance his crazed look as his eyes snapped to Merlin who was looking quite bemused. "Who is she?" he asked again with a little more force behind his words, it wasn't a question this time; it was a demand.
"Her name is Glory, that's all I know" Merlin sighed and the prince collapsed in a seat and slumped over the large table that occupied the floor of his personal chambers.
"That's a fat lot of good" the prince muttered, Merlin snorted and Arthur looked up.
"What?" he asked.
"Sounds like you like her" Merlin teased, Arthur scowled.
"Actually, I have a feeling I didn't" he said, Merlin's eyebrows shot up to his hairline and his expression changed to one of complete disbelief.
"What do you mean?" he asked his startled look quickly turning to a frown.
"I mean… oh forget it" the frustrated prince puffed slumping back to his previous position, Merlin shook his head and laughed inwardly at the flustered prince.
"Well you could always try talking to her" Merlin said setting a plate of food in front of Arthur.
"I already did" He said groaning at the memory, what she said had seemed awfully familiar as well.
"Really, what did she say?" The servant asked setting down a goblet of wine and standing off to the side.
"I asked her who she was and she said 'I could ask you the same but now I have seen your face I require no answer' I've heard that somewhere before" Merlin rolled his eyes and picked up a tray.
"Try to get your head out of the clouds before I get back" He said as he left the room, Arthur growled when he realised Merlin hadn't really listened to a word he'd said.
The days that passed after the disappearance of Bouron in the North, with the biggest loss of life to date, were among the grimmest Morgana had ever had the misfortune to see.
The streets of Camelot had become almost silent in fear and the people went about their daily business with an air of suspicion surrounding them, trust among the people was beginning to wane and their hospitality to travellers arriving in the city was non-existent
There was a dark cloud hanging over the royal city as the people waited for the news of the next disappearance, news they were certain would come.
The recent attacks were not the only thing plaguing the lady's mind, over the past weeks her nightmares had intensified, they were always similar, pictures of peaceful villages and towns, happy faces of the smiling villager's content with their place in life, that however did not last for long.
At the going down of the sun each time the picture would change and suddenly, the villagers, men, woman and children alike would appear before her eyes with an expression of pure undiluted fear, always cloaked in a wreath of wild and dancing flame, their screams echoed in her head as smoke from the fire turned the picture to black.
The last series of images were always the same, it always began with a figure, hooded and cloaked sitting on a hill watching the distant village burn with her back to Morgana's vision and just as the first rays of sun would appear, the green cloaked figure would stand up and begin to remove their hood, it was in this moment that Morgana would wake, shaking and shivering, the figures face remaining unknown.
Today she planned to go to see Gaius to ask his advice and help with the nightmares although she knew the trip would probably be in vain.
"The sunnes cours, we may well kenne,
Ariseth est and goth down west:
The rivers into the see they renne
And it is never the more almest;"
The sun shone through the window of Gaius's small chamber and lit up the face of the singing girl who sat brushing out her long red hair whilst trying in unsuccessfully to shield her dark eyes from the glare of the light. She did not realise someone was listening in.
"Windes rosheth here and henne;
In snow and rain is non arrest.
Whon this woll stunte who wot or whenne
But only god on grounde grest?"
"That song is beautiful" Glory's head snapped round to face the person who had spoken, it was a woman she had never seen before, a lady of the court. Glory studied the woman closely, they were close in age, that she could tell but it was easy to see that the red head was the younger. The older girl's hair fell in dark tresses around her beautiful face which was pale and weary despite the lady's glowing inner energy.
Glory frowned in contemplation "Are you the lady Morgana?" she asked tensely, she felt vulnerable under the girls scrutiny and oddly exposed like a deer caught in the headlights. It felt odd being caught in the middle of a song after living alone for so long with barely any human contact. Morgana nodded in confirmation of what Glory already knew.
"I am, you're the girl Sir Ebert brought from the southern forest, forgive me I have not yet heard your name" Morgana's eyes trailed the figure of the girl before her, her bones were clearly visible through her flesh and her skin was pale in contrast to her hair which was a wavy main of dark copper. She would be quite tall when standing up maybe an inch or so off Morgana herself, but she wasn't gangly, actually if she wasn't so underfed she would be quite well formed, Morgana admitted to herself. The girl's eyes however were the most unsettling thing about her; they were a dark vortex of emotion. They showed a tense readiness to run and an unwillingness to trust along with a fair amount of fear, her entire form was tense but she managed to nod to the lady to confirm her identity.
"My name is Glory my lady" she stated quietly and said no more, it was that moment that Gaius chose to enter the room.
"Lady Morgana, I did not expect to see you here child, how may I help you?" the physician asked the kings ward, her attention left the red head and grey eyes snapped to the old man who was also one of her closest friends.
"Yes, I am sorry to trouble you Gaius but I was wondering if you would possibly have some sort of sleep remedy, I'm afraid I have not slept well these past nights" Morgana explained. Gaius's eyes immediately took note of the paleness of her skin and the dark bruises that marked under her eyes with a black shadow.
"Come in child" he said motioning to a chair that sat at the head of a large oak table where Glory sat drinking a cup of hot water and herbs.
"The dreams have continued?" he asked once she was seated, Morgana nodded tears coming to her eyes.
"Not just continued, gotten worse, it was bad enough when Arthur was bitten by that beast and almost died but now I'm seeing villages and the deaths of hundreds of men, woman and children who can do nothing to defend themselves" she said tears leaking and beginning to flow down her pale cheeks, Gaius sighed as she began to relay her dream to him while Glory watched the exchange in silence deep in thought now completely relaxed, she knew what the girl was.
"I'm afraid I can not give you anything to stop these dreams from what you've told me these seem to be more then mere dreams, you must be careful who you tell about them but I can not help you" The physician stated gravely, Morgana sighed. A small tap from the top of the table drew both sets of eyes to the young girl who sat at the top of the table. Both old man and young woman had completely forgotten about their other observer, Glory's head was down as she stared into the bottom of her empty cup apparently lost in thought, then suddenly her head snapped up and her dark brown eyes captured and held Morgana's pale grey ones.
"I think I may be able to help you…" she said, leaving both Morgana and Gaius reeling from shock.
Song used and English translation:
The sunnes cours, we may well kenne,
Ariseth est and goth down west:
The rivers into the see they renne
And it is never the more almest
Windes rosheth here and henne;
In snow and rain is non arrest.
Whon this woll stunte who wot or whenne
But only god on grounde grest?
The erthe in oon is ever prest,
Now bedropped, now all drye;
But uche gome glit forth as a gest:
This world fareth as a fantasye
English:
The arc of the sun, as we all well know,
Rises in the east and descends in the west:
Into the sea the rivers run
Yet it almost never overflows
The winds rush hither and thither:
In endlessly driving snow and rain.
Who knows where all this will end, or when,
Except for god who graces the plain?
The earth is constantly pressed into unity,
Sometimes dripping wet, other times dry:
But each man walks here only as a guest:
This world fares well as a fantasy
Disclaimer: I did not translate this, I found it on a website I can't remember the name of!
Song: The World Fareth As A Fantasy
by: Mediaeval Baebes