Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.
Chapter seven: One Step Closer.
"We should have made it out of the forest by now," Leon mutters, sounding frustrated.
Arthur glances round and catches sight of something caught in some branches near by.
"Look," He draws everyone else attention to it as he makes his way over to it.
Pulling a piece of red fabric from the thorns of the branch, Arthur turns and holds up the piece of torn red fabric.
"What is it?" Gwaine asks from where he was standing beside Merlin, unable to get a clear line of sight on what Arthur is holding up.
Arthur adjusts his stance so Gwaine can see the red fabric, which Gwaine quickly works out was the piece of fabric which was torn from his cloak many hours before and Gwaine lifts up his cloak revealing the hole in the red material.
"How can that be?" Elyan asks, looking round and recognising some of the more twisted shaped trees he had noticed the first time they had passed through the area.
Arthur turns and angrily strikes the tree next to him.
"We have gone around in a circle!" Arthur yells in anger and frustration. "We have wasted an entire day!"
Arthur sinks to the ground as his anger leaves him and a look of helplessness passes over his face. The longer they were stuck in the forest the longer it would be until they rescued Gwen. Elyan walks across to Arthur and sits down beside him.
"Let's make camp for the night," Leon suggest. "Get some rest and start over fresh in the morning."
Merlin sighs slightly and walks over to Arthur.
"I made you a promise," Merlin reminds him. "Remember? We will bring her home."
)o(
Morgana sat at the head the table, before her a grand meal had been laid out. A couple of steps away from the table stood Gwen, unsure of what she should do. Morgana glances over at Gwen, as she picked up her fork and ate and mouthful of food.
"Sit," Morgana orders, once she had finished her mouthful of food.
Gwen nervously moves forward and sits at the table. She couldn't work out what Morgan was trying to achieve by doing this… Maybe the food was poisoned, after all Morgana must have known how hungry she was, she hadn't eaten since before Morgana had caught her.
"Eat," Morgana orders.
Gwen shakes her head.
"Here," Morgana held out some grapes. "Food always makes me feel better."
Gwen stares at the offered food wearily and doesn't take it.
"Would you prefer some chicken?" Morgana asked gesturing to the roasted chicken on the platter in the middle of the table. "You must eat, you're fading away."
"I do not know what cruel trick you are playing," Gwen replies finally. "But I will not be broken by you."
Gwen knew what the Mandrake roots had done to Uthur, but she also knew that the affects had stopped as soon as Merlin had destroyed the root and Merlin would be with Arthur when he came to save her, he always was.
Even if Arthur didn't come to rescue her, Merlin would.
But Gwen knew Morgana knew it was Merlin who destroyed the root too, so she'd know Merlin would be able to undo all her work. So what was her plan, if it wasn't to drive her mad? There was no way Morgana wouldn't know Merlin was going to come for her even if Arthur didn't… Merlin would have done the same for her once upon a time.
"I thought this would be nice," Morgana answers innocently. "I know how lonely you must be, all by yourself in that room… At least you're not shackled. There's daylight, be it for a short time. You can move, you can see."
"You expect me to be grateful?" Gwen asks, disbelieving.
"I too have suffered Gwen," Morgana puts down her fork and looks straight at Gwen. "I spent two years living in darkness… I spent two years chained to a wall in the bottom of a pit."
Morgana pauses for a moment and looks thoughtfully at Gwen, who looked both shocked and horrified, even as she tried to keep her face from showing what she was feeling.
"You didn't know?" Morgana asks.
Gwen shakes her head.
"I would have sold my soul for someone to show me kindness such as this," Morgana waves her hand to the table of food before them. "Do you want me to take you back up there?"
Gwen shakes her head again and reaches forward and picks up a grape. She rolls it between her fingers before eating it. Morgana just watches her with a smirk.
)o(
Freya moved through the Dark Tower looking for agreement which Queen Mab had made with the once High Priestess of the Old Religion, Nimueh. She just hoped it was an oath which had been signed on paper, rather than been bound with magic alone.
She would never be able to break the oath, if it was an oath which had been bound in magic. They were after all unbreakable, even in death were mortals were concerned… The only way she'd be able to break it would be by killing Queen Mab, which she wouldn't be able to do.
Queen Mab was an immortal just like herself and Merlin and it was Morgana's destiny to die by Merlin's hand, even if it was possible for her to kill Morgana to break the oath. She was the darkness to his light, only he could destroy her.
A growl suddenly stopped Freya in her tracks.
Slowly she turned, to find Aithusa slowly making his way towards her.
"Aithusa," Freya whispers staring at the pitiful sight that was the white dragon she had known from just older than a hatchling.
When Merlin had first told her about Aithusa, she hadn't believed him. She couldn't believe that the once beautiful and strong young dragon had been reduced to such a state, but here he was right in front of her and Freya could no longer deny it.
It was heart breaking to see and she could now understand why Merlin had been so angry at King Sarrum when news had arrived from his kingdom that it had been him who had done this to Aithusa. Not only did the evil king slaughter Merlin's kind, but tortured his kin too.
Aithusa stops and tilts his head slightly, before rushing forward and pressing his head to Freya's stomach. Gently Freya run her hands over Aithusa head. Where the scales that had once been smooth and tough, were now rough and flaking from the damaged inflicted upon them.
"Oh, Aithusa," Freya whispers. "What did he do to you?"
Aithusa let out a whine, before turning and walking away.
Freya stood watching him, wincing at the way Aithusa limped as he moved. Merlin had been working so hard, looking for a spell or anything which could reverse the damage and heal Aithusa, but so far he had found nothing.
Aithusa stops walking and looks back at Freya whines again.
Freya stares at him for a moment before realising that he wants her to follow him. And so Aithusa leads Freya through the tower to a room near the top of the tower. Stepping into the room, Freya sees it's a bedroom and looked as if it had been used recently and if the presence of Dark Magic in the air was any indication, the room belonged to Morgana.
But Freya could feel another type of magic in the air.
Fae magic.
This was where the oath was being kept.
)o(
Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm sorry it taken me such a long time to update, but I'm back now so it shouldn't be too long until the next chapter is posted. Until next time,
Blessed be,
TreeOfLife1997.