Thanks for reviewing. This chapter is the longest so far though I am not intending for the chapters to get longer. I am really annoyed at myself as I have read my story again to find Morgana isn't in it heaps. She is my favorite character by far so she will be in it heaps more starting this chapter. I called the baby Dawn because it tied in with Sunnivia and I hoped it would make someone happy.
When Morgana woke up she found herself in a tent wrapped snugly in blankets. She shut her eyes and tried to recall what had happened. She could remember riding on her horse and then falling. At this Morgana shot up feeling for her dagger which was still hidden in her dress. Venturing outside she was utterly shocked to see Sir Leon, Sir Percival and Sir Elyan. Morgana was surprised to see that she was not in chains and the knights were not pointing weapons at her. Instead all three knights were glaring at Morgana as though she was guilty but none of them uttered a word. Morgana longed for the knights to threaten or attack her so she retaliate and wipe them out with her supreme magic skills. The knights just stood their ground like rock, their eyes burning into hers. Avoiding catching the knight's eyes Morgana spotted her horse and its tack. She quickly tacked up her horse and galloped away. Morgana felt completely bewildered again and hoped that she had just witnessed some kind of optical illusion. Anyway she couldn't press on these matters however much she wanted to, she had work to do.
"Elyan you are a total genius," Percival said. "We managed to confront Morgana without dying and hopefully we managed to make her feel guilty. Did you see the look on her face when she came out the tent and saw us all staring at her."
"I still think we should have killed her," Sir Leon grunted.
"Well no one is going to find out about this. We can't just kill Morgana in cold blood. If we had tried to take her back to Camelot we would have to abandon our quest so many more people would die," Elyan said.
"And we would probably never even manage to make it back to Camelot alive," Pervival added.
Roaring reverberated through the hovel which confirmed Merlin's fear - the giant was the source of the noise which sounded like thunder.
"It's time," Arthur announced approaching the door.
"Wait for me," Sunnivia called.
"Sunnivia you are only a child," Arthur replied. "You will remain here to look after Dawn. Else the poor baby will surely perish." Arthur tried to protect Sunnivia as he thought that they had little chance of slaying giant and returning alive.
"I am sixteen in two months," Sunnivia said indignity but she didn't press this matter as she loved Dawn more than anything else in the world. Arthur, Gwaine and Merlin quickly exited the house to find the enormous figure of the giant in the distance.
"Stay here Merlin," Arthur ordered. "Look after Sunnivia and Dawn. If I don't return then tell Gwen that I truly forgive her." To Arthur's uttermost surprise, Merlin for once stood his ground and didn't even attempt to follow him. Arthur sprinted off with Gwaine right at his heels.
"O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!" Merlin roared. Kilgarrah came swooping past Merlin with around fifty wolves running behind him.
"Couldn't give me a lift," Merlin shouted to the Great Dragon as the dragon flew past.
"I am not horse Merlin and it would be life threatening. Exposure," the dragon rumbled. Merlin had no choice but to dash after Kilgharrah and the wolves.
Sunnivia being curious had poked her head out the door to see the dragon and army of wolves. They were surely going to finish Arthur, Gwaine and Merlin off thought Sunnivia to herself.
"Hello is anybody there?" asked a voice. An old woman cautiously peeked into the house.
"Edla, just in time. Take care of Dawn with your life. Do you understand?" Sunnivia commanded with an air of authority.
" B-B-But," Elda stuttered.
"No time to explain. See you later," Sunnivia apologised. She grabbed her sword sheath, flung her wild ginger curls over her shoulder and darted out the house leaving poor Edla in shock.
"Arthur watch out," yelled Gwaine. Gwaine had spotted the Great Dragon and army of wolves. Arthur pulled Gwaine behind a bush and watched them tear past. "Phew, that was close," Gwaine panted. Just then Merlin came bounding after the wolves and the dragon.
"MERLIN! What on earth are you doing here? That dragon was meant to be dead. It could have killed you," Arthur shouted furiously.
"The dragon and most of the wolves saw me but I don't think they want to kill us. I think they seek to kill the giant," gasped Merlin.
"That would be preposterous but we cannot give up our quest." Seeing the puzzled look on Gwaine's face, Arthur asked, "What is wrong Gwaine."
"I have been to almost every pub in these lands and have encountered many sorcerers and weirdos. Not all of them seemed to be evil. In fact I was very good friends with a sorcerer." Gwaine caught Merlin's eye and grinned as he spoke the last part of the sentence.
Arthur commanded, "Well we need to go. Merlin for once in your life I am begging you to do what you are told." Arthur and Gwaine dashed away.
"That clot pole wouldn't last a second without me," Merlin muttered to himself before chasing after Gwaine and Arthur. As they took plight to get to the giant they witnessed the dragon circling round the giant's head.
"Merlin,"the dragon spoke telepathically. "This tactic isn't working so we will attack the giant. You need to keep Arthur away from the giant until we manage to knock the giant onto its back."
"Bene læg gesweorc," muttered Merlin and mist clouded their view. It was the same spell as he had used to help Morgana, Aglain and Mordred escape from Arthur when Morgana had went to see the druids when she had first learnt of her magic.
"Merlin, what are you doing?" Gwaine whispered curiously.
"We need to keep Arthur away from the giant until the dragon and the wolves manage to knock it over onto its back," Merlin murmured so his speech was not audible to Arthur. "The dragon will tell me telepathically when the giant has been knocked over. Let's hide behind those trees it might delay Arthur for a bit."
Kilgharrah was gliding round the giant and breathing fire over the dragon's feet while the wolves were using their magical powers to try and break down the skin. Soon pools of blood were streaming out of the giants feet and the feet were covered in charcoal. The stubborn giant was not giving up on his feast that quickly though and he kept on lunging at the wolves. Whenever he caught a wolf the giant would rip it apart not caring if it was alive or dead. Throwing it into his mouth his eyes would widen in delight and his spirits would rise which made the giant want to devour even more wolves. Fortunately the giant was beginning to get unstable on his feet and when Kilgharrah breathed fire in the giant's face, he fell over crushing several wolves.
"Merlin," said Kilgharrah's telepathic voice. "Come as quickly as you can. The giant has fallen."
"Come on," Merlin shouted urging Gwaine to head for the open ground where Arthur was busy searching for them.
"Where the hell have you two been," asked a furious Arthur.
"We were er… We were searching for the giant," Merlin replied.
"It is maybe too hard for you two to hear the giant's footsteps coming from over there or to see the tall figure which is as big as a mountain."
"What tall figure," asked Gwaine.
"It is right there," Arthur called, jabbing his finger in the air but the giant had of course fallen down so he was pointing his finger at nothing. "Hang on. Where did the giant go?"
"Let's go and find out," called Gwaine. The trio ran into the distance. When Arthur spotted the giant he darted ahead of Merlin and Gwaine running as fast as he could towards the giant's heart. He was running so fast he didn't even notice the wolves backing away from him. Pointing Excalibur at the giant's skin he plunged it in but the giant's skin being so thick meant that Excalibur hadn't pierced the giant's heart.
Merlin gave him a helping hand by using his magic to help Arthur pierce the giant's heart. Once the sword had pierced its heart the giant shuddered and then moved no more.
"ARTHUR!" Sunnivia shrieked, sprinting towards Arthur. "We need to leave. The Saxons know that you are here and are coming to kill you."
Morgana dismounted her horse at the entrance of an eerie looking castle and tied its bridal to the fence. She smirked at the thought of finally getting her revenge on Arthur after waiting so long. The witch strode right into the castle her midnight blue cloak flowing behind her. The gloomy entrance hall was lit by ignited torches. Though it was morning the hall made it feel like it was night as there were no windows to give any source of light. Morgana felt as though she had walked into a prison with the exception that there were no prison cells.
"Halt," ordered a guard. "What business do you have here?"
"I seek to speak with King Gremian. The matters concern Arthur Pendragon," Morgana confidently stated.
"Who are you?" the guard questioned. Morgana hesitated she couldn't say that she was Morgana Pendragon or else King Gremian, loathing Arthur, would surely kill her straight away. She also didn't want to lie to the King as it would destroy any forms of alliance she tried to make with him.
"An enemy of Camelot," Morgana answered.
"You need to be more specific. What is your name, occupation and where do you live."
Morgana answered straightaway this time, "Well I can't tell you my name. I do not have an occupation unless you count trying to take over Camelot and kill King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. I live on an island all by myself in a ruin." The guard suddenly made a raucous shrieking noise and numerous soldiers came sprinting towards Morgana.
"Prince Alexander, I found her lurking about the castle. She wants to speak to the King about Arthur Pendragon but she will not tell me her name and she is unemployed. She is quite likely to be an assassin sent to kill King Gremian by Arthur," the guard spoke. Prince Alexander stepped forward and looked deeply into Morgana's eyes. Alexander was good looking boy with brown hair and a mixture of green and brown eyes. If Morgana had to estimate an age for him she would probably estimate that he was in his late teens.
"Search her for weapons," ordered Alexander. Morgana stood stationary letting them search her for weapons but she had unfortunately forgotten that her dagger was stowed away in a secret compartment her dress. A soldier unluckily found the secret pocket and held the dagger up.
"Here, Sire," the soldier called presenting Prince Alexander with the dagger.
"Restrain her," Alexander commanded. The soldiers seized Morgana and confined her in chains. Morgana didn't even resist the guards, even when Alexander gave her the death stare. "Lock her up and I shall speak to her later. Make sure she is securely chained up before then though." Morgana had not got what she bargained for. She had expected the Prince to take her to the King to decide her fate. If that had happened Morgana would have told the King her plans to destroy everyone who was in league with Arthur and take over Camelot.
Morgana had no choice but to be led to the dungeons. In the dungeons there were several prison cells which had barely enough room for a human to lie down in. The dungeons gave off a strong smell of urine and rotting human flesh. King Gremian preferred to leave the people, he wanted dead, to perish in the prison cells. The only exception to this was that people who possessed magic were burnt at the stake. Morgana was dragged past several cells with dying people in them. Most of the people in the cells had been left to die for minor crimes like not being able to pay their taxes or insulting a knight. Morgana was relieved to see that she was being led to a prison cell that was three times the size of a normal sized cell there but she shouldn't have been relieved. Unlike the other prisoners who were allowed to roam free in their cells without any chains, she wore handcuffs which were chained to the wall. The chains were long but the handcuffs were heavy and hurt Morgana's wrists.
Just when Morgana thought things couldn't get any worse, a few soldiers came with a metal collar. Morgana had had enough. She wasn't going to let herself wear that thing and be treated like a dog. As the soldiers tried to force her into it, she kicked out at them managing to give a soldier a nose bleed and give another soldier a broken foot. The soldiers had to get reinforcements and it took ten soldiers to pin stubborn Morgana against the wall and force her into the metal collar. Morgana had face the rest of the duration, before Alexander came to visit her, standing up as the chain attaching the metal collar to the wall was no longer than her arm.
"Are all these precautions really necessary, my lord," Morgana questioned hopefully as Alexander entered her cell.
"Absolutely," Alexander replied.
"I would rather take my own life than be in league with Arthur Pendragon."
"A likely story," Alexander mocked. "Well you should have no fear to tell me your name then."
Unfortunately for Morgana a prisoner yelled, "You stupid idiot! Did you not know that she is Arthur's half-sister MORGANA PENDRAGON?" Alexander could tell by the horrified look on Morgana's face that what the prisoner said was true. Morgana didn't even have a thought to comfort herself. It was the stupid name Pendragon that was going to result in her death.
Poor Morgana! I hope the writers are not as cruel to her in the fifth series as I have been to her in this fanfic so far. I can guarantee you that there will be someone else put in prison in this fanfic. Edla is Sunniva's Grandmother's sister. Mordred and Aithusa will be returning in the next couple of chapters. Thanks for reading and please review.
