Autumn Moon Fae- Yep Mordred is really cool unlike Agravaine. Gwaine now has competition for the coolest and funniest person in Merlin.
ladyofice- Thank you so much you just about made my day. I am not planning to kill off Morgana, just yet. The mysterious discovery of the name of Morgana's sister will be revealed in this chapter. Never seen GoT so can't really comment on the similarities.
TJTMaria- Look on the bright side of life, I haven't killed Morgana off just yet. Morgana's sister's actual name will be revealed in this chapter. I wonder if you'll be tricked...
If you can remember all the way back to the second chapter when Morgana saw three images in her nightmare then you will know that all of them have come true. The roomy cell with chains was when Morgana was captured in Camelot , the agitated King filled with rage was King Gremian and the injured black haired girl is Morgana's sister.
Enjoy!
Morgana nearly dropped her grimy sister with shock. Out of all things she happened today she hadn't expected to find someone, she knew too well, lounging on her chair. Cautiously she placed her fragile and wounded sister on her bed.
"You must be wishing for a death penalty, Merlin," Morgana smirked. Approaching, Merlin with caution, Morgana remembered that she had a dagger stowed under the bed sheets so she slowly turned around, bent over her sister and pretended to examine her sister's wounds. She knew that Merlin was watching her every move so she carefully measured her movements slipping the dagger into her leather boot. Hastily, standing up and strolling over to Merlin a large evil smirk spread across her face.
"No I don't want to be sentenced to death," Merlin firmly said.. I have been called up by the great and mighty Emrys who wants for you to make a truce with Arthur," Morgana's dingy face became pallid and afraid before she swept that emotion off her face and burst out laughing. Her laughs were so cold and evil that they cracked any stone within fifty metres of her.
"Merlin," Morgana hissed cutting off her laughs in a split second. "I know you lying. Why fabricate such a story? You are not going to be able to save your own skin with fabricating a story is not realistic." Merlin was so stupid that Morgana was pretty sure that he had gone past the limit of human stupidness. At times, though, he could be wise and was so nosy that he managed to know everything that was going on. Before now, she had wondered how Merlin managed to escape from situations that she would only mange to escape from by the tips of her fingers. But, alas, it was not Merlin who had figured all of these things and managed to single handedly escape from deathly situations. No it was Emrys. Emrys her destiny and doom.
"If I wanted to save my own skin, then why did I remain sitting in your hut. You are weaponless and I could have ran right past you," Merlin persisted.
"How am I meant to know the mind of a stupid servant like you?" Morgana whispered softly but dangerously. "Is a long time side affect of planting formorrah in someone mean that they began deranged and loopy? But, no. It cannot be because you were already deranged and have been since the day you were might have inherited it from your good for nothing, widowed mother who makes porridge that tastes of clumps of soggy paper or your dead father. But alas your dead father was probably more stupid than your mother." Merlin could feel rage building up in himself and he was just waiting for the right moment to release him. But then reality came crashing down on Merlin. How did Morgana know his father was dead? Did she actually know who his father was? Panic flooded through Merlin. She might even know that he was a sorcerer whom the druids knew as Emrys.
"How do you know that my father is dead?" Merlin growled.
"I did not," Morgana laughed taking in Merlin's anger "I lucky a guess. Going to cry about it. Your father probably took his own life because he had mental problems." Morgana was surprised to see Merlin going red with rage as she had never seen him angry before.
"M-MY FATHER WAS A GOOD MAN!" Merlin trembled with rage. "Unlike your father. You're father killed the innocent rather like you." Morgana smiled and clapped her hands.
"Congratulations, servant. You've managed to get one thing right. My father claimed numerous innocent people's lifes and was a tyrant but the rest, I'm happy to say, it was utter nonsense." Merlin had a dangerous moment of passion and drew out a sword that had been hidden behind his back. He stood up pointing it at Morgana.
"Are you still not wanting to make a truce with Arthur?" Merlin snarled. His eyes narrowed with frustration. He didn't want do this. He couldn't do this. He just couldn't kill her. No, take that back he could. He had killed Agravaine so that meant he could kill Morgana so he put himself on ruthless mood. He lowered his sword and pushed Morgana over. Morgana slammed against the cold stone wall. She had no energy left because she had eaten barely anything in the past few days and it had taken all her strength to ride back to her hovel.
As Gwen would have said, to be threatening he needed to act like a rough tough safe the world kind of person. He might just get there someday when magic was allowed in Camelot. But just now he would just have to pick fights on women who were half his size, had no energy and were fit to collapse. Hastily, the weak woman pulled her dagger out of her boot. Morgana wasn't finished fighting yet. Her will to live was as strong as ever.
"Sword verses dagger," Merlin threatened. "Care to put it to the test."
"I do because it is you that is wielding the sword," Morgana hissed. She was afraid. Was that possible? Out of all the things that had happened today, Merlin had scared her the most. No that couldn't be right. Could it? Perhaps it was just the mere fact that Emrys was supposedly with Merlin. Yes that had to be it. When Morgana had been thinking she had not been watching Merlin's movements as carefully as she have done so her reaction to a sword flying at her was delayed. Morgana kept her eyes open and pierced them into Merlin's she had no time or energy to move so she just stared at Merlin hoping to make him feel guilty as he had done when he had poisoned her.
Crack!
"Owww," Mordred moaned. "Stupid door." He had tried to kick open Morgana's feeble, wooden door but he had kicked his foot right through the wood of the door.
"How can I to be a valiant knight if I get beat by a dilapidated wooden door. Sorry about the mess," groaned Mordred examining the mess of dust, wood shavings and wood fragments. Morgana's door was now off it's hinges and had a rather large hole in it.
"Where was I. Ah yes," Mordred reminded himself. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING MERLIN? PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!" Just realising that the sword that Merlin had thrust at her had stopped in mid air, Morgana moved herself to the right. She had been too immersed in looking at Mordred to notice that the sword had stopped in mid air. Morgana was too baffled to mutter a word of thanks to Mordred so remained struck dumb on the spot.
"Mordred," Merlin groaned. "Why?"
Later Emrys, Mordred telepathically muttered. Though Mordred was almost a head smaller than Merlin, he managed to haul Merlin up and drag him to the broken door of Morgana's hovel.
"I am very sorry to have intruded, my lady," Mordred sincerely apologised. "But I did safe your life, for the second time today, by stopping the sword in mid air." After apologising Mordred hastily left, dragging Merlin along with him. It took Morgana a couple of minutes to think straight and remember that her sister was lying gravely wounded on her likely death bed. Examining her sister thoroughly, Morgana noticed two deadly injuries on her sister as well as at least twenty minor afflictions. Her sister's dress was torn revealing a deep sword wound, filled with ash and grim, across her stomach. Her sister's right arm was charred and blackened. Morgana knew that she was no physician without magic but she had to try to heal her sister- Morgana was indebted to her sister, by a lot.
Morgana remembered using essence of willow over three years ago to heal Morgause. Hastily finding exactly the same bottle as she had used on Morgause ages ago, Morgana uncorked it. She cautiously measured out a spoonful of it and poured it into her sister's throat. Firmly pressing her sister's oesophagus, Morgana helped the willow liquid to slide it's way down her sister's float. Morgana didn't know if the medicine would deteriorate in time but she had no time to find a willow tree or another plant which would provide her with a strong pain killer.
Fetching a bucket of water, Morgana carefully bathed her sister's charred black arm in it. Blacked pieces of skin soon floated around in the water but still her sister's arm was still completely jet black. Morgana decided to make a solution which would hopefully help clear up her sister charred skin.
Finding energy out of nowhere Morgana went straight to get a wooden bowl and a bottle of honey. The honey was fresh as Morgana had got some as soon as she had left the Isle of the Blessed. After all she had not had the luxury of tasting honey in over three years and she knew of the medical properties it had. Honey as well as other herbs had helped Morgana heal Morgause's badly wounded face. Morgana cautiously poured the sticky honey into the wooden bowl. Now she really needed to think about what herbs or plants healed burns. Peppermint. That was one plant that she was pretty sure she had read about it's healing properties with burns and there had been a clump of peppermint thriving behind her hut for years. Morgana had purposely planted the peppermint there because of Morgause having a craving of mint at times. Because the medicine that Morgana gave Morgause tended to be hot and strong tasting, Morgause had liked to eat minty things to cool her mouth down. Morgana also noticed a clump of Daftodi (narcissus) near the peppermint and pulled a couple of the short green stubs of plants right out of the ground. Daftodi roots had been used for hundreds of years for burns and sprains. Taking the peppermint leaves and daftodi inside, Morgana crushed them with her mortar and pestle before getting a bottle of what looked like extremely thick but blended chicken soup. This 'soup' was almond oil blended in with flour and vinegar and according to Morgause it worked wonders on burns and wounds. Morgana mixed some of the 'soup' as well as the crushed daftodi roots and powdery remains of the peppermint. After stirring the mixture with all the strength she could muster, the paste turned a musty yellow colour. She generously applied the ointment to her sister charred arm. Almost falling asleep, Morgana shook herself awake. She still had to tend to the wound across her sister's stomach.
...
Merlin dragged his feet along the ground feeling glum. He wasn't making a very good job at ensuring Mordred wouldn't ally with Morgana. Trying to kill Morgana was defiantly a way to make Mordred even more angry at him. He'd need to be more careful in the future and not have irrational moments of passion. Merlin knew that if he failed to act rationally, Mordred would most likely get frustrated and give up in trying to change Arthur'a opinion in magic. He still didn't know what Mordred's revenge was and even when Mordred said that he wasn't going to hurt any of the people Merlin cared about, Merlin was still concerned.
"Mordred whose side are you on?" Merlin asked, concerned.
"I am on both sides but none," Mordred inquisitively answered staring deeply into Merlin's eyes with great wisdom. It was like Mordred had seen all was to see and had thought everything he had seen through carefully. The look was one that a man of eighty or more might give, defiantly not a person going through manhood would give. It reminded Merlin of the dragon and his riddles. Merlin thought of Mordred and Kilgharrah meeting up and exchanging riddles. The only slight problem with that would be that Kilgharrah might just try and kill Mordred but apart from that it would be better than fine.
"You are neutral to both of them," Merlin interrogated. He really needed to know the truth. After all, Arthur's survival could depend on it.
"No," corrected Mordred. "I am on their side when I want to be and the rest of the time I'm mostly neutral. Now it's my turn to ask you a question, Emrys. What did you think you would achieve out of killing Morgana?"
"I thought it would esure Arthur's safety," Merlin confidently replied. Mordred looked deeply into Merlin's eyes giving Merlin the impression that Mordred really wanted to search him for valuable information.
"There's more to it though?" Mordred inquired. Merlin was defiantly hiding a vital piece of information from him.
"No," Merlin lied. He could barely tell Mordred it was his destiny to ally with Morgana and then kill Arthur. Merlin wished that there was no such thing as seeing into the future or prophecies because they spoiled life. They could often scare you so much that you felt sick, dizzy and unwell. He had experienced this twice and pitied Morgana whom had experienced this more times than she probably cared to remember.
"Do lie to me, Emrys. I will find out this 'secret' even if it's the last thing I do," Mordred hissed. "If you tell me what it is now I won't act rashly."
"It's nothing," Merlin assured him. Giving him a look him a look of utter disbelief, Mordred picked up the couldn't bring himself to tell Mordred the truth so in the future he would have to keep an eye or him. Perhaps both eyes. Mordred must never know the truth until the time was right and by what the dragon had said that time seemed to be alarmingly soon.
With Camelot coming into view, Merlin reassured himself by telling himself if Mordred did change sides then Mordred would have to beat him first before killing Arthur, Gwen and Gaius. The mighty Emrys remained unbeaten for now.
...
Morgana eyes were vacantly shut but she was awake and alert. Twenty four hours ago she had been a terrified reck but now she was plotting to overthrow and kill the king and queen of Camelot as well as the useless servant that had almost succeeded in killing her. Morgana's tangled matt of hair had returned to it's former glossy form and her waves were swept back. She had changed out of her baggy black dress to her black dress with a corset. Her dingy skin had been cleansed and all her minor wounds and bruises had been treated with ointment. All in all she looked fairly healthy unlike her little sister. Morgana had tried her best to clean up her sister so her sister's face looked sweet and pretty except from when her mouth sagged open revealing the ash from the smoke. Her sister's right arm was tightly bandaged but her sister's charred fingers stuck out covered in the musty, hardened ointment that Morgana had applied to it yesterday.
Her little sister stirred silently rousing from her deep sleep. First thing she thought of was how parched and famished she was. Opening her eyes ever so slightly, she didn't recognise the room. The room was dark and dismal so was most likely a dungeon. It took her a while to register the agonising pain on her stomach and in her numb, right arm. Her throat was also bone dry with bits of ash in it. Choking up ash, Morgana's sister could tell that someone was walking towards her. She felt for her sword but she was weaponless and vulnerable so she shifted her body back. Fortunately she realised that the person was Morgana before she started flailing and trying maim the person.
"How are you?" Morgana questioned softly.
Morgana sister was managing to take everything in slowly and she meant to say 'where am I' but instead it came as, "I'm hungry." She wasn't bothered by the pain as she had poisoned herself many a time and had also fractured five ribs all at the same time.
"I shall get dinner ready." Morgana wasn't good at cooking, which was probably why all the food on the Isle of the Blessed tasted horrible but she was improving. Morgana decided to make soup out of honey, peppermint, peas and a rabbit which she had hunted this morning. It would be a very odd tasting soup but Morgana didn't have any other ingredients so she decided to make do. She also decided to mix some honey and warm milk together because it would help soothe her sister's throat. Adding some essence willow to her sister's tankard, she handed it to her. Finally, Morgana's odd tasting soup was out. It didn't taste disgusting it just tasting extremely odd like eating chicken and cake at the same time.
"Who are you?" Morgana asked.
"Your sister according to my mother. What do you want to know about me?"
"As much as you want to tell me," Morgana pressed on impatiently. "What's your name."
"My real name is Morrigan," answered Morgana's sister. "Only three people have ever known that: my mother, you and I. Shall I start from the beginning?" Morgana nodded solemnly. "Well, all the first memories I can recall would be living in the forest with my mother. I never knew my father but my mother told me that he was a dragonlord and he had died before I was born. We were permanently on the move and kept away from villages. We had disguise names for one another. I was called Cate and my mother Mary but my mother's actual name was Vivienne." Morgana's heart skipped a beat here. It looked like Cate was actually her half-sister by mother too.
"She was my mother too," Morgana whispered softly.
"Was your father a dragonlord too?" Morrigan asked eagerly.
"No," Morgana hissed. "My father was an evil tyrant. He killed the innocent. If you possessed magic than he would execute you no matter how innocent you were. He killed children and adults alike. He was a monster and he was King Uther Pendragon of Camelot but he's dead now. That was my half-brother, Arthur Pendragon whom you saw sentencing me to death. I was disgraced of anyone whom had a drop of Pendragon blood so it was quite a shock to myself when I discovered that I was half Pendragon."
"What?" Morrigan yelled, bewildered.
"Tell me your story first?" Morgana ordered.
"Where was I. So me and my mother never told anyone our real names. It was a rare occurrence for us to even talk to someone though. My early childhood years were very solitary and lonely. I seemed to spend them all with Midnight. Midnight was a calm pony whom carried our supplies everywhere, not that we had much, but he was good company. My mother always seemed to be distant and lost in thought. She didn't really give me the attention I needed other than to give into trouble which ups why at a young age I was always getting into trouble to try and get attention. Do not get me wrong; she made sure I was healthy but she didn't really seem to love me that much. I always got the impression that she was disappointed that she had me as a child and had wished for another one. My mother teaching me magic was the only other way that I could get attention from. By the age of six or seven my mother was suffering from so severe emotional upheaval that I took. I gathered and hunted the food that we ate. I managed to poison myself a great number of times when I was young but eventually I managed to work out what was good to eat and what was not. When I was nine, nearly ten, we were robbed by bandits and my mother was severely wounded. She was too weak to heal her wound and my magic was too feeble to heal it. In her dying breaths she told me to go to Camelot where I would find my sister, whom was called Morgana."
"It took you three years to get here," Morgana asked, impressed. Some determination Morrigan had if it took her three years to get here.
"No, more about ten months. A nobleman discovered me with my dying mother while he was out. When he my mother's seal of nobility, he took me back to his mansion for supper because he wanted to know my story. I wasn't too distressed because I had not properly loved my mother because me mother merely liked me, nothing more. The nobleman's sister thought I was sweet and cute and begged her brother to let me stay. She did not love me either but I fully understand that and am still eternally grateful for the help she offered. Perhaps I am not worthy of love or am just not a loveable person. When I was twelve, I grew extremely bored of hiding away my magic so decided to tack up a horse and search for you. It took me ten months of eating disgusting things that I had cooked badly but I fortunately didn't poison myself. Finally, I found you and that probably sums up my life simply," Morrigan finished sadly. Morrigan had never been loved by anyone but had still held her head high and carried on as best as she could. She could never remember feeling extremely elated. She had felt jealously when she had seen other children hugging their mother, father or siblings. Isolation had been hard but she like Morgana had a strong will to live. Morrigan could see the similarities between them already.
...
Morgana sighed deeply thinking of magic as she bathed an asleep Morrigan's arm in water. Morgana was impressed at her own skills as she managed to get all of the charred skin off to reveal the second redder layer off skin. No blood or anything. Morrigan's wound across her stomach was a different matter. A day and half old it was already beginning to fill with pus and a fever was beginning to break out in Morrigan so Morgana had managed to sedate Morrigan to keep her peaceful until Morgana's magic returned. Morrigan was doing a good job of pretending not to feel the pain but even then was she to weak to use her own magic to heal herself.
Feeling time tick had been a frustrating feeling for Morgana. She knew that everyday Camelot grew in strength. She was really desperate act against Camelot now. Looking at the pendant that she wore, Morgana knew that she needed Aithusa but she wouldn't be able to summon Aithusa because of her magic still not returning to her. Morgana closed her eyes trying to let go of her frustration but it didn't work and just made Morgana feel more frustrated.
Flap! Flap!
Was that just her imaging Aithusa or was it reality. Morgana grabbed the sword that Merlin had kindly left behind the other day and ran outside to find the white dragon awaiting her presence.
"How did you know that I was waiting for you when my magic has been drained from me?" Morgana shouted.
"A seer told me that you would be in great need of me tonight so I came to your hovel to look for you," Aithusa truthfully replied.
"My sister is in great need of medical care beyond my knowledge. Could you give it to her?"
"Of course, priestess. Open up the window," Aithusa commanded. Morgana obediently opened the window to let Aithusa breath magic over her. "She'll be dormant for a few hours but she should recover. Can I be of any other assistance?"
"You said that dochraid wanted to see me when you saved me. Why?" Morgana inquisitively interrogated.
"She said that she could help you kill Arthur Pendragon," Aithusa gently rumbled.
"Can you take me to see her?" Morgana pleaded.
"Of course," Aithusa agreed bending down. Morgana enthusiastically climbed onto her back and in a split second they were flying over mountain tops.
...
"Hello?" Morgana questioned as she entered a cave. Suddenly a hand grabbed Morgana's arm. A horrible looking creature sniffed her arm.
"Ah, so we meet again Morgana Pendragon," the Dochraid hoarsely boomed.
"The young dragon, Aithusa, told me that you requested my presence," stated Morgana.
"Ah, yes I do. I have advice to give you on how to destroy Arthur Pendragon."
"Tell me," Morgana inquired.
"I will in return for your healing bracelet," charmed the greedy Dorchraid. Morgana doubtfully looked at her bracelet before handing it to the Dochraid. If this information proved useful then the endless nightmares she would have to endure would be worth it.
"I shall expect it back if your information is not helpful," Morgana threatened.
"You must find Arthur's bane. To do this you must find the seers that hide away from Arthur. They will find Arthur's bane for you once you tell them that you are a fellow." Morgana felt more elated then she had done in years. The seers were her kin so she was convinced that they would help her.
"Thank you," Morgana said silkily. "You have proved most helpful." She was going to find the 'spoilers' that would help her get on the right route for Arthur to meet his death. Revenge at last!
Thank you very much for reading guys I really appreciate it. Please review too! I have a hopefully epic plan for the next few chapters including Dragon battles and Merlin and Morgana battles.
