Lackluster Efforts

"Rayna?" Gaius asked as he stepped into his chambers late one night, having just come from helping the king prepare for sleep, his shoulder was hurting him again and he'd needed a salve.

"Uncle!" she gasped, nearly jumping out of her skin, turning to try and hide something behind her back.

"What are you doing?" he eyed her critically but she shrugged innocently and he was forced to give her his dreaded eyebrow, "I saw you up to something."

She sighed and pulled the small objects from behind her. It wasn't much, he had to walk over to her to see it clearly, but it was a small, round stone, no…not stone, metal, like a disc of some sort, with a hole stabbed through the top of it, small wires twisted through to attack it to a strand of brown string. There was a faint etching of some sort on it…

His eyes widened when he realized what it was, "Is this a rune?"

She nodded, "I was…trying to make you an amulet."

He blinked and looked at her, "An amulet? For what?"

"To protect you from enchantments," she shrugged, "It's just…since I've been here, Arthur's been enchanted twice and I just kept thinking…if that ever happened to YOU uncle…we'd be doomed. NO one knows as much about magic and science as you," well, there WAS the Dragon, but Gaius was far more helpful than the overgrown lizard, "If something ever affected you…I just wanted you to be safe so I thought why not try a protective amulet," she handed it to him, "I know protection spells aren't my strongest area, I'd sooner use a spell to send someone flying into a tree than be able to stop an attack, I'm not Merlin but…I did want to try. I thought if I could get the rune right I could have him magic it and…" she sighed, "It was a stupid idea," she reached out to take the metal charm back.

But Gaius held firm to it, "No, it's…a very thoughtful and very wise gift," he smiled at her, "Runes are trick though, Rayna, you must be very careful about the ones you pick and how you set them."

"I know," she turned and picked up a scrap of paper, "I was practicing and trying to work out the best one," she showed him the symbol she was considering, what looked like a capital Y but with a vertical line through the top half of the point as well.

"Algiz," Gaius identified.

"Yes," she nodded, "It means protection and…"

"And it is perfect," Gaius smiled at her, "Though, I don't believe you'll need Merlin's help with it, you Rayna, merely need to try using your magic more. You've better control of it than Merlin does, and so we see more of his magic than yours, but that doesn't mean that you are any less powerful than him, I truly believe that. You have a more focused magic and if YOU place the rune activation spell on this…I am quite certain it will be quite the powerful charm indeed."

Marayna looked at him with a small smile, "You really think so?"

"I do," he nodded, "Come, let me show you how to properly inscribe the rune," he placed the metal down, Marayna watching intently as her uncle actually instructed her in magic.

~8~

The next morning, Marayna woke up with a smile on her face, pleased. She'd been able to finish the amulet last night AND activate it and it was such a relief to know that her uncle would be ok if there was ever an enchantment placed on him. It…wouldn't quite work if it was a very powerful spell, like one that was put over the entire kingdom, but anyone trying to enchant just him would fail. She laughed to herself at that, just…happy she'd managed to do it. They'd tested it a bit, she'd tried to enchant him to tell her the truth and nothing but it…and he hadn't, because she'd asked him to lie, asked him a simple question really, how many siblings he had. And he'd said just 1 when she knew he had 2.

It had been enough proof for them that he'd be safe if ever there was some sort of magical attack on Camelot. He'd be ok and he'd be able to help without fear of being influenced. She couldn't wait to tell Merlin about it. If she'd been able to do that, the she couldn't imagine what Merlin would be capable of, is magic naturally seemed to gravitate towards protective sort of spells like that. And if the two of them tried…well, maybe it would be strong enough to withstand a castle-wide spell! It made her curious what would happen if she, Merlin, AND Morgana tried.

Maybe, one day, they'd be able to put ward stones that she'd read about in the corners of the castle and help protect it from an attack like that. It would be quite a while before they were learned and practiced enough to do that, but it was a possibility now! Oh she couldn't wait to tell her brother. She got up out of bed and grabbed her dress, rushing to get ready before she headed out of the room. Gaius was already up, mixing tonics, and smiled at her as she passed. She knew he couldn't wear her gift outside his physician's robes, but she knew he was wearing it beneath them and that was all she wanted, her uncle safe. She'd wait and see if the amulet would actually hold up against a real enchantment by an enemy before she went about making it for Gwen, and Morgana, and Merlin first though. She would hate to give them something like that and then have it fail.

She grabbed an apple off the table as she passed, heading out. She wasn't quite sure where Merlin was though, she'd woken and he wasn't there though it wasn't the first time he'd overslept in Morgana's chambers. Usually he'd head right to Arthur's and play it off with Gaius later that he'd just woken too early and got a start on his chores and THAT was why the man hadn't seen him. She was starting to suspect that Gaius didn't quite believe that as much as he had at first, but until he said anything, she wouldn't either.

She had just swallowed her apple bite when she reached Arthur's chambers, heading in to see Merlin on his knees, scrubbing the floor. He paused, looking over his shoulder at her, "Finally decided to get your lazy bum out of bed and help me for once?" he asked.

She stopped dead, that…did NOT sound like her brother, no matter how cross he might get with her at times he was never that bitter or snappish with her, "What, did you and Morgana have a fight or something?" she countered, moving to take a brush to help him, but Merlin pulled it back.

"No," he glared at her, "And don't touch the floor. You'll just muck it up like you always do and it'll be twice as much work for me. Arthur wants you to go muck out the stables instead."

She blinked, "How exactly do I much it up and make it twice as hard for YOU?" she crossed her arms, not about to let him get to her.

"Oh I don't know," he rolled his eyes, "Every time you open that trap of yours Arthur ends up insulted and we have to work twice as many chores."

"Yeah, we BOTH do."

"Well doing YOUR chores still allows you to see the person YOU love," he spat, "I hardly get to spend any time with Morgana awake and the time I almost have gets wasted because of you have to go and fire back at Arthur. Would it really kill you to just hold your tongue every once in a while?"

"Probably," she shrugged, though she was eyeing him. The look in his eye…it wasn't anything like she'd ever seen of her brother before and she couldn't help but feel like the man she was seeing wasn't really him. Oh she knew it wasn't an imposter, it wasn't someone mimicking him, no, he spoke the way he always spoke, the same unique inflections and pronunciations, and he had the same mannerisms, it WAS her brother…

But it wasn't HIM talking. She knew that much.

She had just seen him last night, he'd been happy and laughing, he'd hugged her and gone to see Morgana. There was NOTHING that could have happened in the night that would have him acting like this mere hours later…and as much as she hated to cry 'sorcery' like Uther did, there was just…no other excuse she could find that would explain it. It was too sudden, his words too harsh, and it wasn't like her brother to act like this. When Merlin was upset, deeply upset or angry about something, when it was about her, he kept quiet. He bit his tongue because he didn't want to lash out at her in anger, like he was now.

"Don't worry Merlin," she spoke calmly to him, standing, "I'll take care of it," she nodded to herself, heading out of the room to go back to her uncle. There was something that had to be going on here, and she just…she would rather see if there was anything she could do to tell her if Merlin was under a spell before she brought anything up to anyone else, not even Morgana or Gwen, because if it was some sort of spell, and they got involved, she didn't want them hurt by Merlin or to fall under it as well.

"Oh!" she gasped, nearly running right into the two of them around a corner, "Morgana! Gwen! Sorry…I…"

"Be more careful would you?!" Morgana snapped at her, glaring, "You nearly sent Gwen falling back down the stairs!"

Marayna blinked, "I didn't run into you THAT hard," she remarked dryly, and the stairs were about two feet behind Gwen as well, if she were going to fall down them, it would be enough time for her and Morgana to grab her and pull her back from them.

"But you did run into me," Gwen frowned at her, "Marayna you've got to be more careful! You can't just keep running around all over the place with no consideration for any other servant. We all have a job to do and being servant to the prince isn't more important than being servant to another part of the castle. We all have our duties and masters to answer to. You've got to stop acting like you're exempt from those expectations of proper decorum!"

Marayna probably would have laughed at that, at Gwen trying to put her in her place given that the girl was one of the three who had been laughing at her 'chicken impersonation' during the poisoned chalice incident. Gwen had complained to her often enough about the rules of court, especially after Lancelot had left, that they were ridiculous and stuffy and hardly ever changed enough to not be steeped in the dark past.

This was starting to worry her though, because she had seen Gwen get angry in the past and when she snapped at someone, she often backtracked, realizing what she'd done and said and stuttering out apologies…but here she was, just staring at her like SHE should agree with everything she'd said. And if…whatever it was that had happened to Merlin…had gotten to Gwen as well…

She glanced at Morgana, "Anything to add?" she asked her, crossing her arms, might as well hear her out.

"I pity you," Morgana shook her head, looking at her with said pity, "To hold onto the hopes for Arthur when you know full well it can never be? I pity your desperation, your greed, and your obsession with him."

"Me?" she scoffed, "Obsessed with Arthur?"

She really wanted to laugh rather badly at that. She had no idea what was going on, but it was becoming quite obvious it was magic, that these weren't the opinions of the three others, especially not when Morgana had literally been pushing her and Arthur together, FAR more obsessed with seeing the two together than SHE was to be with Arthur. She just didn't know one thing…why someone would enchant Merlin, Morgana, and Gwen to act that way towards her. Honestly, she'd gotten worse insults from friends in East Anglia than they were capable of dishing out. True, those insults had been said in love, with jest and ale behind it, but she'd heard worse, she'd dealt with worse blows than that in the past and there was really nothing that she could think them saying that would affect her so greatly…

If that was even the point of this enchantment. She had no idea why they seemed to be targeting her, but she could guess. Perhaps turn her allies to enemies? Maybe someone was going to accuse her of magic and, without those three backing her up and vouching for her, she'd be executed? But no, that would mean exposing Merlin as well and Morgana, no matter her current thoughts on her, wouldn't let that happen to him.

Try to alienate her? Weaken her? Make her vulnerable? Ha! Whoever it was that had cast the enchantment clearly had no idea what she was like. She had used to care a great deal what people thought of her in the past. She'd based her value on those of her village, her prospects among them. She'd based it on the opinion of the nobility. She'd based it even on the passing remarks of strangers…till she realized how truly pointless it was. None of them were her, none of them knew who she was or what she was like, they hadn't lived her life, they didn't KNOW her…

What right did they have to pass judgment on her?

None.

Once that had been knocked into her head, it was like a breath of fresh air. She just…didn't care what others thought of her. She cared for her brother's opinion and that of close friends, but she had learned enough that the only way to be truly happy was to be truly happy with yourself first. No matter what others thought, it would always be her own opinion that mattered in the end. So Morgana and Gwen, even Merlin, could spew what they wished at her, it would do little.

Especially because she KNEW they were enchanted now. Honestly, Arthur had been enchanted twice already to act like a lovesick fool around another woman. Whoever cast this particular spell…did they really expect no one at all to make a connection? Did they really expect that, common sense wise, she wouldn't think or suspect that the reverse sort of enchantment could be true? If Arthur could be enchanted to love, why not enchant others to hate?

That was one thing she did not understand about these enemies of Camelot, they attacked in full force, they attacked outright, and they attacked suddenly. And sudden change in personality, to her, especially in Camelot, with nothing to explain it…was a clear sign of sorcery and enchantment at work. Did this mysterious caster truly believe that everyone was as thick as Arthur was? That she wouldn't be able to guess from how suddenly the opinion of her had changed over night, that there was magic at work?

"Well your complaints have been duly noted," Marayna remarked, pushing between the two women and heading down the stairs, she had to get to Gaius and she'd rather do that than muck out the stables on her own. Oh she had no problem doing it on a normal day, or offering to do it, but there was something very wrong going on and she wanted to see it solved first.

Her friends and family came first.

Horse poop came second.

She stopped walking at that thought…she probably shouldn't have stayed up last night reading the magic book, she was starting to sound like a two year old in her mind. That tended to happen when she was overly tired, she either ended up a raging terror who would snap and kill all who dared get between her and some place to curl up…or she'd turn into a giggling two year old where even the slightest odd word sent her laughing and made her far too amused.

She sighed and rubbed her head, running a hand through her hair as she continued on. She stepped into the hall that led to Gaius's chambers and let out a sigh, "You've got to be kidding me," she mumbled, seeing Arthur standing outside the doors, having just stepped out of the chambers.

"Marayna!" he called, spotting her.

She stopped, rolling her eyes, able to tell that this was going to be yet another enchantment induced confrontation. Arthur hardly ever called her by her full name when they were alone, it really was quite a mouthful. At first she had liked to think it was just that, that her name was wordy and he couldn't be bothered trying to say the rest of it. It seemed to happen quite a lot with her, most of her nicknames came from mispronunciation and just stuck as a way to irritate her that she just grew used to over time. Rayna was really the only nickname that a majority of people used, and even then it became more like a second name than a nickname it was used so often.

"What?" she crossed her arms, squaring her shoulders, ready to let the battle commence.

It shouldn't be too hard to best Arthur in a verbal showdown though, she'd done it…more times than she could remember and with Arthur's mind addled it should be even easier.

"Have you mucked out my stables yet?" he demanded, crossing his own arms but in a manner far less loose than Marayna's, more serious.

"No, I…"

"I have let you slack off long enough," Arthur cut in, "It is not befitting a servant of Camelot, a servant of the Crown Prince, to shirk their duties as often as you have in the past. And I will not see it happen again. You go the stables NOW and you muck them out. Then help Merlin collect firewood and…"

"For what?" she scoffed, "It's not that cold at night Artie…"

"Don't you DARE address me so informally," his eyes narrowed at her, "You go the stables this instant and muck them out or…"

"Or what?" she challenged, putting her hands on her hips, "What would you do? The stocks? Fire me? Banish me? It really won't make any difference to me at all My Lord, Camelot is NOT my home and you are not my ruler."

"I am your prince," he stated firmly, "And you are my servant. I command you to muck out the stables."

"Alright fine," she nodded, walking past him, "Then I quit. Muck out your own stables."

"You would rather have Merlin do them on his own?" he called.

She stopped, her jaw clenching at that, of course, why would he muck out his own stables? She sighed, she should have known he'd force Merlin to do it and…as much as she did NOT want to give in or back track, if he made Merlin do it there as a chance that he'd be even more cross later with her for it happening. With Merlin and magic and an enchantment, that would NOT be good thing at all.

She spun on her heel and stormed past him, only for him to grab her arm as she passed, holding it a bit too tightly, "I meant what I said Marayna, you are my servant, you do as I command," she just rolled her eyes and tried to pull her arm away, only for him to jerk it back, tighter, "Let's start with respect."

"Yes, let's," she countered, "Earn mine and I'll show you some in return," she pulled her arm out quicker this time, striding away from him and heading for the stables. The sooner she got that over with, the sooner she could get back to Gaius and see what was wrong.

~8~

Marayna was ready to kill someone when she finished mucking out the stables so that Merlin wouldn't have to. It seemed like Arthur had opened his personal tables up to a few of the knights, for reasons unknown to her, though she had a feeling it was just to give her more work. She really had no idea what whatever sorcerer was behind this's plan was. All it was doing was making her irritated and she was rather scary when she was mad, or so Merlin said far too often for her liking. She wasn't THAT scary…was she?

She sighed, glancing over when she saw Merlin walking towards the forest with a small wheelbarrow they used to collect firewood. She hesitated only a moment before heading after him, "Need any help?" she asked when she caught up with him, already by a back pile of wood and filling the cart.

"No."

She rolled her eyes at that, "Come on, it'll be quicker if I help," she moved over to take a few logs off the pile…when he grabbed them from her.

"I said I can do it," he grumbled, throwing the wood into the cart.

"Are you going to be a right misery all day?" she had to ask, her irritation growing even more.

"That depends," he glanced at her, "Are you going to ever leave me alone?"

"Nope."

"Then yes, I'll be miserable," he turned, trying to gather more wood in one go and dropping to logs.

"I've got it," Marayna sighed, moving to pick up those two…

"I said leave me alone!" Merlin snapped, throwing his hand out and sending her flying back. She hit a tree not quite hard enough to bruise, but enough to knock the wind from her and make her sit there for just a moment till she got her breath back.

Merlin just glared at her before loading those fallen pieces and heading back to Camelot, leaving her alone.

"Poor little sorceress," a voice said just as she picked herself up and brushed off her skirt.

She spun around to see a woman that appeared to be her own age, with red hair standing there, smirking at her, her clothes black, her face round and pale, "You're the one responsible for all this, aren't you?" she glared at the woman.

But the woman just laughed, mock-bowing to her, "Lady Gretchen at your service," she rose, her expression turning more sneering, "And how pitiful you are."

"Me?" she scoffed, "I'm not the one who had to resort to cheep tricks. What, did you want to lure me out here or something? Wouldn't it have been easier to enchant ME to just wander out into the woods?"

"It was not my intention to use you," the woman spat, "Nor to control you."

"What then?" Marayna put her hand on her hips just…tired of all of this, "Kill me?"

"Yes."

Well the woman was blunt, she could give her that, "Good luck. I've found I'm surprisingly hard to kill."

"Not to me," the woman glared, "I am in training to be the next High Priestess of the Old Religion!" she declared, "My Mistress will be proud of me when she sees I have finished you off for her."

"Me?" she gave Gretchen a look, already guessing she was something related to Nimueh, the only sorceress at the moment who seemed bent on destroying Camelot, "Why am I so important to her?"

"You are the one with the legitimate claim to the title," Gretchen glared, as though Marayna had slighted her by that, "You who were merely born with the power and have never studied the duty that falls to such a designation."

Marayna blinked at that, she hadn't been aware she had a claim to anything, but ran a hand through her hair, that was yet another thing she had to speak to the Dragon about then, "And you intend to off me so she has the only claim then?"

Gretchen nodded, holding out a hand as a fire appeared in it, ready to throw…

Only for Marayna to blink once more when the fire raged out of Gretchen's control, forcing the woman to drop it, creating a blast of light that had her shielding her eyes from the sight of it, hearing Gretchen screaming in agony before she looked over…to see the woman was gone and only a pile of ash remained.

She looked around, wondering if it was a trap, that couldn't POSSIBLY have been the attack that was meant to end her or something like that. The girl had managed to, from a distance, spell Merlin, Gwen, and Arthur…and yet one fire ball…and she couldn't manage that? Granted she knew nothing about it, it could be near impossible to master or something but…she felt like she was being watched.

She looked over her shoulder and up at the sky, before shaking her head and rushing back to the castle, not wanting to be caught in the woods alone. She ran down the path, nearly falling as she snagged a root and stumbled into the edge of the wall of the palace…right as Arthur was heading past to the courtyards to train the knights.

"Mara!" he called as he caught her, "Are you alright?"

Marayna looked at him intently a moment, "Artie?" she tested.

But he merely rolled his eyes, "I thought we agreed to stop calling me that."

She smiled, letting out a breath at that, to see that he didn't seem to remember how he'd acted. It was much like the other times he'd been enchanted, hadn't a clue what had happened. Luckily she hadn't had much interaction with him or the others so there would be no noticeable gaps in their memories, she was thankful for that. She…didn't plan to tell them what had happened, it had been too brief, too pointless really, and it had been resolved with little fuss.

"YOU agreed," she poked him as she stepped back, "And I never listen to you anyway."

He let out a small laugh at that, "I am oddly enough getting used to that," he admitted, before he sighed, seeing the knights starting to look over, "Um…see to it that my rooms are straightened and have a bath ready for me after training."

She nodded, "Yes sire," she smiled, walking past him, not seeing him watching her in confusion.

What had he done to earn her calling him sire?

~8~

Quite a distance away, Nimueh glared as she watched Marayna walking past the prince, smiling and shaking her head as she nodded and waved at Gwen and Morgana, passing them, heading to Arthur's room where her brother greeted her with a smile and her a hug. That as NOT the plan! Granted she hadn't thought for a moment it would work but…when Gretchen had actually managed to enchant the four others…she'd had hope her apprentice might succeed.

But then she had seen Marayna more irritated than broken by the enchantment the dunce of a girl had placed, had seen Gretchen preparing to kill Marayna instead of capture her as planned, and had HAD to intervene. Her apprentice, she was loath to call her that, was treading too close to disturbing destiny.

She had done more research into this Merlin and Marayna, gone to the Druids in disguise, learned of them…Emrys and Ressa…it was not their fate to die at her hand or Gretchen's…and she'd had to stop the girl.

She was irritated the plans had fallen through, that they hadn't managed to grab Marayna and sway her to their side. A woman like that, the sister of Emrys, the beloved of Arthur, so close to Morgana…she would have been the perfect weapon. But her apprentice had overestimated her own importance and nearly crossed a line that not even SHE was willing to dare.

She had come close to tempting fate, to challenging destiny in the past, but it had to be done carefully, something Gretchen lacked. And even worse, she had revealed to Marayna a secret that she had never wanted the woman to know. SHE had claimed the title of 'High Priestess' when the Purge began, the magical community needing a leader to look to. They had fallen apart regardless of her efforts, gone to hiding like cowards instead of fighting back...but SHE had remained strong, resolute, using her position as a means of power...

And now, because of Gretchen...her position might be in danger of being seized by another.

She could NOT let that happen.

A/N: I am SO sorry this is so late :( I'm really hating the site right now :( I was all logged on to post and then it went right back to the 'error' again :( I thought it was all fixed because I could log on yesterday at the right time :( -sigh- So I want to say sorry again! But I finally go the chapter up :)

I hope you enjoyed it, I wanted to try my hand at a bit of a comical/annoying sort of chapter, where it had potential to be really terribly dangerous and hurtful to Marayna...but just ended up annoying her :)

Some notes on reviews...

I can't say if Morgana will still be evil or not, that'll be as surprise, but I can say we'll find out at the start of Series 3 ;)

They're true feelings will be coming up very soon ;)

Thanks so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the chapters :) I try to get the grammar and spelling as best I can before posting to try and give you all the best version of a story that I can :)