Merlin trudged through the snow with his signature wooden staff/rod.

"They could have done this at any other time, but no! Why not do it at two o'clock in the morning in 30 degree temperature!?"

"What, you wimp?" laughed the voice of Mim, although he could not see her. "Is the life of royal children not worth getting your feet cold?" Mim, still in the form of a wolf, came enthusiastically skipping out from the bushes to smirk at the man.

"Just what I need," he muttered. "Alright, where are they!?"

"Might I ask: Who?"

"The boy! The two children and their aunt! Where are they?"

"I do not understand why you always have to blame me for everything. You're just like that pesky little red head. Or should I say dead head?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" he growled as he growled as he then magically transformed into a sky blue colored coyote.

"Oh you just crack me up." the violet wolf laughed. The coyote was half her size, she could easily devour him.

"Catch me if you can, Madam!" he hollered as he shook his fluffy blue tail. "And I promise I'll go easy on you."

"Oh you!" she barked as she jumped towards him, meaning to pounce but only getting a face full of snow as the coyote ran away. "Come back you rat!" she growled. "Your little legs can't outrun me!"

"Actually Madam, you should know that a coyote can outrun a wolf by several miles!" he witted.

"Well then two can play at this game!" she exclaimed before morphing into a coyote herself and catching up to him. "Got you now!" she said as she pounced on him.

"Have you though?" the blue hound slyly asked as he kicked the purple coyote off him with his hind legs.

"Ohhh! You…You big brute!" she growled. They began to throw bodies on each other like real ravenous creatures. Biting, scratching, clawing and kicking. "You know Marvin, this is quite fun."

"I agree. If you were a tad bit better though, it would be completely spectacular."

"Shut up!" she barked. "I'm through with you! And I'm going to end this!"

"You just try that."

Onyx crashed against the cliff wall after his brother had hurled him into it. He was not broken or bleeding, just bruised. He had dropped the sword Arthur left behind a while ago and was now only dodging out of the way of Cameron's blade.

(SPEAKING IN GAELIC)

"You're making this harder than it has to be Onyx! Just give in!"

"No! Never!" the teen yelled from the ground. "Your menaces may have worked on my family, but they will not work on me!"

"Oh really?" Cameron casually said before once again trying to strike Onyx with his sword but missing. "Because if that was true you'd have killed me a while ago. Like before you went and hid with Astella for eight years."

"You know nothing of that. You know nothing of the pain that has been caused!"

"I know very well of it because I was the one who caused it! And I shall continue to inflict such pain and suffering on our kingdom until you and your pathetic little sister just give in. It is your choice Onyx. Thousands of people living in terror versus you and your sister."

"You will still continue to be a lousy monarch with us alive or dead."

"Maybe you're right. But you won't be there to see it so win-win." He now had Onyx pinned on the floor, ready to plunge his large dagger into his chest, when all of a sudden, one of his men had run in and interrupted the scene.

"Cameron!" the Pict yelled. Cameron turned his head, giving Onyx some time to slip out of his stance.

"Conri, you idiot!" an indescribably irritated Cameron yelled. "Can't you see I'm busy!? What do you want!?"

"Astella has escaped!"

"My magnificent Sir Conri, bested and outsmarted by a feeble pathetic woman: Ridiculous."

"But it's true, sire! She's gone!"

"Then get your hind out of here and go get her!" Cameron yelled. "I am not stopping until my sword meets the heart of every supporter of the rival heirs to the throne! Do-you-un-der-stand!?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good! Now get out of here!" he commanded as the man did so. "Where were we, dearest Onyx?"

"Please Cameron. This isn't the way! I promise! I'll leave Great Britain for good, and you'll never have to see me again."

"I'm afraid it's too late for ultimatums, Onyx. You have already proven that you don't know how to cool my temper or lust for cutting down the Leo family tree. And besides, you are no longer diùc to the Scottish throne so in other words you are useless to my political problems. So I will just practice the intensity of my sword on you for future victims like your sister."

"No!" Onyx shrieked as he covered his head, accepting his fate.

"Hey, acorn for brains!" yelled an annoying familiar voice Cameron recognized to be his sister's. He turned around to see her standing there with the Lion's eye itself. "Get away from my brother!"

"Gwenny!" Onyx exclaimed.

"Where did you get that!" Cameron growled. "Give it to me!" he lashed out as he aggressively approached the girl. Hazel quickly backed away and held the stone as far away from him as possible.

"Not on your life!" Hazel shouted. "I'd rather die before I give it to you."

"Darling, there is a fine line between being courageous and being a Mary Sue show off and you are over it by several miles."

"No I am not." Hazel said with closed eyes and high eyebrows.

"Hmm. I suppose you're right. Afterall I still hold you responsible for when you flew the coop all those years ago."

"Enough with that!" Hazel snapped.

"Gwenny, what is he talking about?" Onyx asked.

"Go on Guinevere. Say it."

"Onyx…..I didn't go missing that night."

"What?"

"I….I ran away. I was mad at you so I left the palace. You all came to look for me and you….you…."

" 'Died' is such a harsh word my dear sister," Cameron sneered. "Let's just say they were liquidized."

"I'm sorry Onyx….it was my fault." Hazel said with her head hung.

"No..it isn't Gwenny. Not entirely, it isn't."

"Are you mad? Can you ever forgive me!?" Hazel pleaded.

"Of course I am mad Gwenny, but I do forgive you."

"Oh!" Hazel squeaked as she ran over and hugged him.

"Oh what a bitter sweet ending for the grand Leodegrance children. I shall remember to chalk something polite on your headstones. Especially you Guinevere."

"You are not gonna touch her Cameron!" Onyx barked.

"I won't if you make her give me the stone."

"Absolutely not!" Hazel growled.

"What do you want with it anyway, you can't possibly use it."

"My dear Onyx I don't even wish to use it. I'm a little in debt and that precious medallion is the only thing that will clear me of it. The stone or your sister Onyx."

"I lost her for eight years. I don't need you taking her away from me."

"Think about that carefully, Onyx. She is the reason your brothers were killed, why you lost your throne, and probably why your parents left you."

"They left you as much as they did me! And you already heard me forgive her!"

"Well good," Cameron said as he picked up his sword and slowly walked towards the siblings ready and determined to slaughter them. "Then she can die with a clear conscience."

"NO!" Hazel shouted as she shut her eyes tight. In fear, she swung the Eye of Leodegrance in his direction to try and swat him away. But something strange happened. The emerald glowed and lit up like a star. It started to shoot great beams of green and white light out of it. And when the glowing amulet met Cameron's sword….it broke the blade completely in two, saving both her and her brother from being sliced in half.

"WHAT!?" Cameron roared.

"Onyx, what did I just do!?" Hazel asked, completely terrified.

"I…I-I think you just used the stone's power. But I thought one had to be trained to know how to possess it."

"HOW DO YOU KNOW HOW TO USE MAGIC!?"

"I'm wondering the same thing."

"GIVE ME THAT!" the Emperor roared as he attempted to snatch the stone from the girl. But the minute his hands came into contact with the glowing necklace, they burned greatly. Like as if his palms had been set on fire. He screamed in agony as he immediately threw his hands away from the emerald. "Aodhan! Padraig! Get out here!" he yelled as the two summoned men arose from the shadows. "Help me kill the little insects and whatever you do, don't touch the stone!"

"Yes Sir!" they both yelled.

"Gwenny run!" Onyx exclaimed, only to have he and his sister run in opposite directions. Padraig grabbed Hazel by the hair and unsheathed his blade. "Use the stone!" her brother yelled. Hazel had no idea what to do, but she had to act fast. She quickly slid out of the way of the Pict, but not before his blade chopped off a good portion of her hair. Her luscious dark red hair that once nearly reached down to her hips, was now an overlapping wavy mess that barely passed her shoulders. She gasped as she felt the cold air hit her now bare back, for her hair used to act like a large blanket, but now it was gone. However she had to push that agony to the side in order to not have a sword cut more than her hair. Padraig swung his weapon at the girl, but it was his turn to be tricked by magic. Hazel had used the Eye of Leodegrance to create a green forcefield-like bubble around her, though she was completely oblivious of it. The man's blade bounced off the translucent shield and he fell back.

"Hey, what is this!?" he bellowed as he looked up at his king. The Emperor ignored him as he was too busy trying to catch his brother.

"I don't know, but I'm getting tired of all this hocus pocus too!" Aodhan growled. They both quickly shifted positions when several glowing, fire-hot, green beams of light came shooting at them from the Eye of Leodegrance in the girl's hands. "Every time we move Padraig, the little brat's trying to blow our heads off!" They ducked once more when the rays of burning light shot at them once again

"Gwenny ge—UHN!" Onyx was cut short when he received the butt of Cameron's sword to the head and fell unconscious.

"Onyx!" Hazel screamed.

"Well that's more like it. Now it's just you and me." Cameron sneered as he approached the pre adolescent.

"Get away from me!" she growled. "You know I have the stone and you know what it can do."

"You are very correct. I know what it does….but you don't. But if you hand it over, maybe I could help you truly understand what it does."

"How would you know? You can't use it."

"Incapacity does not make me stupid."

"Somehow I doubt that." Hazel said with folded arms.

"I'm trying to reason with you Guievere. Even when your life's on the line, you still find a way to try and seem superior to your fear."

"I am not afraid!" she growled.

"Of me that is." the Scottish king said with a disparaging smile, an idea boiling in his mind.

"What?"

"Let's face it Gwen. You may have been forgiven for what you did to the other Leo brothers, but you'll never forgive yourself for what you'll do to Arthur."

"I don't know what you're talking about." she lied.

"Oh of course you don't. Nobody ever likes to talk about their secret errors, but here we are :Calling eachother out for our crimes."

"You're a liar." Hazel sneered. However she knew her brother was about to pull something terrible. Something terrible that was gonna make her wish she was never born.

"Takes one to know one sweetheart. True, what you did to your brothers was terrible, but what you'll do to Arthur is much worse. You'll make him numb, bitter and infuriated. And I'm afraid that will affect all of England. And if it makes you feel better, that blonde pewee excuse of a king, will make sure you see the stake before he sees his deathbed." Hazel began to tremble and her eyes started to sting.

"W-what?" was all she could blurt out.

"You heard me loud and clear. If you make it out of this game alive, I know that you will only fall to Lancelot. I know Arthur will burn you at the stake. And he'll later die of a broken heart because of you. Don't you see? Without you around, things would be much better." Cameron smiled as he now had the child crying on the ground, not seeming to care that her face was shoved in the snow.

"Say Cameron," Aodhan called. "How do you know all this anyway?"

"When your ally is the incredibly foolish -yet still magical- Mim, anything is possible. And now I have just what I want: The heir to the Pictish throne, cowering before me," Cameron easily snagged the Eye of Leodegrance off his victims neck and handed it to one of his helpers, who cautiously took it, afraid of being burned or beamed. The Emperor took hold of his sister's shoulder as he pulled out a smaller dagger that was sharper than his sword, and moved it towards the girl. "Now hold still, because this is really going to hurt."

Onyx slowly drifted his eyes open. His head hurt greatly, but what frightened him even more was that his sister was missing. With all his strength, he pushed himself up.

(SPEAKING IN GAELIC)

"CAMERON!" he yelled at his brother as he turned to face him.

"Oh you're awake!" the Emperor said with a smile. "You missed out on a lot."

"Where is my sister!?"

"Here we go again. If you want her back so badly, then by all means go and get her," he said as he (to Onyx's horror) pointed off the side of a cliff. The boy's mouth dropped open. "Didn't think so."

"YOU DIDN'T!"

"Oh yeah Onyx, I'm in a real joking mood right now," he said in a satirical tone. "But that wasn't my main plan. We tried to beat her, but that didn't work. Then we tried stabbing at her multiple times, but she still continued to live. I don't know what she's made of that is strong enough to survive a blade. So anyways, I figured the drop would kill her, and if it won't the cold definitely will."

"HOW COULD YOU!?" the teen yelled with tears shooting out.

"Oh calm down or shut up. You'll get over it. And besides, the little coward deserved it. Admit it Onyx the girl was a murderer, absolute lunatic. If anything I did you a favor," Cameron unsheathed his dagger once more. However it looked very shiny and polished. As if he had just wiped something off of it. Like blo…

"You….you KILLED her!?"

"Nonsense! I just gave her a little push. And as a matter of fact Onyx….it's your turn."

"NO!"

The boy and the man broke out into a fight. Bruises were given, scratches were made. Onyx felt a hot liquid flow from his head as Cameron continued to annihilate him. Fortunately, he was able to snatch the emerald stone necklace from his uncle, but not without receiving several more beatings from him. The duke groaned in pain as he found himself cornered on the ground. This was it.

"Say 'hello' to Mother for me, will y—-." his words were cut off when a blade went straight through his back. His eyes widened and he started to choke…..until he fell to the ground and died.

Onyx loudly exhaled in relief. He looked up to see his aunt standing behind Arthur (with a scared but determined and slightly disgusted face) who held the bloody sword he had pulled from the stone all those months ago. The sword he had just used to kill the ruler of the Pictish Empire. Onyx got up with legs like jelly and walked over to Arthur.

"Good job," he whispered as he patted the boy on the shoulder. "And thank you greatly. You don't know what favor you have just done for me and Scotland by getting rid of that man."

"A-any time Onyx," he said with a weak and tired smile. "But…but where's your sister? Shouldn't she be here too?" Onyx's eyes widened.

"Gwenny!"

Merlin shook the snow out of his snout after having his face pushed into it. He heard Mim crackle with joy and humor at the sight of him.

"You are pitiful Madam!" he barked at the purple coyote.

"I think you're getting pitiful mixed up with powerful, my boy," she said with a haughty tone. "Very very powerful."

"Very well then Mim. But may I say that if it has taken you nearly an hour to just make my energy go down 1%, then I can't imagine how long it will take for you to destroy me. A day. A weak. A month. A year? To me that just seems very very pathetic."

"OH! I will show you pathetic!" the witch growled as she transformed into a violet mountain lion. If a wolf couldn't devour a coyote, then a wild cat surely would. She smacked and pawed the now feeble looking dog.

"Oh!" he exclaimed as he rolled in the snow.

"He he he he!" she giggled. "Turning into a little parasite isn't gonna save you after I bite your head off!"

"You can try!" he said as he made yet another transformation into a large blue lion. He gave a loud roar at the cat that blew her several feet back.

"OHHHH!" she growled as she shut her eyes tight and stomped her paw in the snow. "That's it! I'm going to finish this once and for all!" And with that, Mim sparkled herself into a large bear that was 10 feet tall when on her hind legs. She towered over the lion. Merlin looked around the atmosphere, panicked, but then an idea struck into his mind.

"Very well then Madam," he said as he made his final transformation into not another carnivorous predator, but a simple periwinkle sparrow. The bird tweeted and chirped as he flew in circles. The purple bear chased him to the side of a high cliff, where a dead tree grew out of it. The little bird flapped and landed at the very edge of the tree, but to his shock, the bear hesitated before jumping straight on the log. "What are you waiting for!? Come and eat me already!" The bear smiled.

"You really think I am an idiot don't you?"

"Maybe."

"Well you thought wrong!" she growled. "You thought I was gonna just jump out on the log, break it, and then fall didn't you?"

"Well I…"

"Oh please Merlin. I may be crazy but I'm not stupid," she said quite proudly. Mim then made her last shape shift into a hawk that was five times taller than Merlin. "Mind over matter dear boy. Take note," The hawk screeched loudly as she flew after the sparrow. She chased him up and down and left and right. Mim was about to swallow the little bird when she felt something strike her wing. It felt like a sprain, and oh how it hurt. She turned her attention away from Merlin and looked in horror at her wing. It was glowing green and had turned to stone, and so was the rest of her body. "WHAT!?" she yelled. Merlin began to chuckle.

"Good work Onyx!" Merlin yelled down to the place where Cameron's tents were set up. The teen had been watching the whole interaction and with his aunt's guidance, was thankfully able to use the Eye of Leodegrance to shoot a green beam of light at the hawk.

"No! No! NO! N–" the hawk was cut off when her whole head had been turned to stone. The statue of the hawk fell out of the sky and landed in the snow. Merlin flew down to it and landed on her stone beak.

"You're a lousy witch, but you'll make excellent decor."

Hazel opened her burning eyes to the night sky. Every time a single snowflake landed on her face, it felt like a needle was poked into her cheek, but that wasn't even her biggest problem. Cameron had beaten her till she was barely breathing. When that didn't work, he ordered his men to stab her. However they seemed to start growing a conscience, not wanting to kill a child in such a brutal way. They didn't aim for her heart, but just un-fatal areas. It was awful. It was Pound! Stab! Scream! Pound! Stab! Scream! Over and over again.

When Cameron saw that that didn't work, he pushed her body off the side of the cliff. However despite all the pain, Hazel was able to latch on to a tree branch, which broke her fall. But it wasn't long before the branch snapped in half and she fell through the tree, hitting several larger branches on the way down until finally planting in the snow.

Every bone in her body felt broken and all she could do was cry. It took all her energy to keep breathing. She was in great pain. She was beyond frozen. She wanted to die. She stared deeply at the sky with Arthur's simple words in her mind.

Sometimes we just have to believe in something, Hazel. Sometimes we just have to believe in magic

'Magic.' Hazel thought as she lay in the snow. Magic nor any amount of hope was not gonna get her out of this. Nothing would. Maybe she deserved this though. After seeing and hearing the pain and heartbreak she would cause Arthur in the future, maybe this was where she belonged. Definitely better than being burned at the stake. Hazel closed her eyes and just waited for the snow to cover and bury her frostbitten body to make it disappear from the world. The snow was so unbearably freezing that it was hot and burning her skin. One blurted word came out of the girl's frozen lips.

"H-help."

Hazel closed her eyes and accepted her fate.

To Be Continued….