Autumn Moon Fae- Hahaha Gwaine is too awesome in his own funny way.
Serenityskywalker- Thank you very much!
JuniorWoofles- Shame :(
Lily was TJTMaira's name choice and she appears in this chapter. Enjoy!
"Mordred is Arthur's bane," Morgana repeated incredulously. "But he is just a boy." It was like a complex jigsaw puzzle as Morgana couldn't piece together this information with everything she knew about Mordred. Mordred was a mystery to everyone who met him and was full of pleasant and not so pleasant surprises. However Morgana knew that him being friends with Arthur wasn't an act, causing Morgana to dwell deeper into this matter. Mordred being Arthur's bane just didn't make sense. Morgana had thought that she would be Arthur's bane. She had thought that all the Druids would need to tell her was how and when she would fulfil the prophecy of being Arthur's bane although now Morgana had made a fool out of herself as the witch was usually right about a lot of things.
Mordred. Arthur's bane. Arthur's friend. Traitor. Her friend. These thoughts went round on a rotational loop in Morgana's brain. The seers stood in the background and just gazed into space to let Morgana get to grips with what she had just heard about Mordred. The information was startlingly shocking and before Morgana could fit it together she found the seers looking at the door as if they were expecting someone to burst in at this very sight. Shivering, Morgana glanced at the stone door to realise that perhaps coming into this room hadn't been a good idea after all. The seers didn't appear to be very trustworthy and she felt as if she was being confined to this room. Wanting to get out of this dim, grey room which had damp and rotting feeling about it, Morgana strode towards the door silently without even saying a word. The seers thought this was discourteous considering that they had just gave Morgana the information she had been desperate to get for over five years.
Wait," the seer murmured to Morgana. Morgana obeyed and halted facing the door with one of her hands resting on the rough handle of the door. "Beware Morgana. You cannot tell Mordred that he is going to kill Arthur and if you do everything shall go wrong and Mordred shall turn against you and ally with Arthur forever." These words did not really impact Morgana that much as she wasn't planning to Mordred that he was going to kill Arthur in the foreseeable as she knew that it probably wouldn't go to plan and would end up in disaster. Mutely nodding her head, Morgana abruptly left the room without so much as smile or a simple "thank you". The seers exchanged guilty looks with each other. They knew that the witch was evil and arrogant; corrupted by her sheer magical power and even more evil sister but it didn't mean that she wasn't the person the legends foretold. Morgana had the potential for greatness but she just needed to show it. For instance just now, she had managed to figure out that there was a trap door on the roof and moved the ladder, by magic, from the corner room to the trap door and clambered out of the dingy room. It took Morgana's eyes a while to adjust to the dazzling sunlight and when they did, she began to hatch a daring plan to make Mordred turn against Arthur. This plan was very risky and concluded of her faking death and could put hundreds of lives at risk if she didn't pull it off but all in all it was quite a good plan although Morgana would need to get many recruits and have to wait until the Saxons retreated from Arthur's kingdom or Arthur was thwarted by the idiotic King Gremian. It took her no longer than half an hour to find her horse but when Morgana did she found out that the witch did not face the major repercussion that Gwaine, Mordred and every else faced, Morgana actually knew the way back to her hovel.
...
Gwaine reluctantly opened his eyes when he felt someone trying to shake him awake. At first he unsure of who it was, but as his vision focused and lost its blurriness, Gwaine could tell that it was Mordred.
"What the hell is wrong, Mordred?" Gwaine moaned still half asleep.
"Why were you unconscious?" Mordred worriedly asked. Gwaine looked around completely at ease, taking in what was happening.
"Huh," Gwaine yawned. "Oh yeah... How did you find me?" Finally what had happened starting coming back to Gwaine and he began to realise where he was and what had happened to Gwen. Why the hell had he said Morgan? Gwaine had always known that he was a bit of an idiot but he had never thought that he was this stupid. Perhaps him thinking of Merlin duelling Morgana caused him to accidentally say Morgan but it would be naïve to say that. It went deeper than that. Morgana had caused Merlin, Arthur, Gwen and whole of Camelot pain beyond all imagining but somehow he didn't hate her but more pitied her and wanted her and everybody else to make amends although Gwaine knew that probability to that was about one in a billion trillion. Gwaine was a likeable knight because of his optimism and he knew that if there was the slightest chance that Morgana may change sides, even if it's probability was one in a billion trillion, that it could still happen.
"The river," Mordred knowledgeably said pointing to the small river. "Normally if you follow a river you will find some sort of settlement or human civilisation. What happened to Merlin?"
"He's fine," Gwaine lied. Gwaine could not help imagining bloody visions with Merlin lying caked in blood on the ground. He knew that if Morgana had any chance of killing Merlin, then Merlin would be dead but he still couldn't hate Morgana. He sympathised her even though he knew that Morgana had her nameless half sister who would be able to look after her. "We need to worry about Gwen?
"Why?" Mordred pressed. "I told her to ride back to Camelot. Did she not?"
"No she didn't. She was knocked unconscious." Mordred raised his eyebrows as to ask why Gwen had been unconscious. "Long story but was something along the lines of sword fighting with Morgana."
"Idiot," Mordred mumbled. Gwaine nervously chuckled at this remark though in his head he was silently debating whether him and Mordred should try and rescue Gwen or travel back to Camelot to tell Arthur the dreadful news. "Don't tell anyone I said that though or I would probably be charged with treason."
"I wouldn't dream of it. Gwen had been taken hostage by the Saxons and... Well... There is slight repercussion. She may be burnt at the stake," Gwaine mumbled.
"Why? Do they think that she is a witch?"
"They think that she is Morgana and it is all my fault," Gwaine explained. A small crease appeared on Mordred's forehead as his eyes locked with Gwaine. He frowned not because he was confused at how Gwen could have been muddled up with the witch but what to do next. Like Gwaine he was silently debating whether to track Gwen down themselves or tell Arthur that his wife had been mistaken for the witch. He shut his eyes trying to visualise what was happening to Gwen at this moment. Mordred couldn't imagine Gwen being dead or serious maimed. Unlike Gwaine he chose to think that King Gremian's soldiers would have the brains to keep 'Morgana alive. He knew that when King Gremian saw Gwen that he would know that she was not Morgana. But the important question was, would he who Gwen really was? When Mordred had finally concluded what he wanted to do, he opened his eyes. If he was thinking he liked to block out everything around him so that he could concentrate on the matter and visualise everything.
"We shall go to Camelot," Mordred declared opening his beautiful cerulean eyes. Gwaine couldn't tell what was going on in Mordred's mind. His didn't even give away any tantalising hints and remained extremely emotionless. Hiding his emotions was a skill that Mordred had been adept at for numerous years. He knew the way the mind worked and even though he had 'mind reading' magic (though Mordred thought that it would be indeed naïve to call it that) Mordred was still great at hiding his emotions though he couldn't act. For instance if he was extremely angry with someone he could hide it well but he couldn't look happy or sad while he was extremely angry. This meant that half the time he spent looking like he was not sad, happy or angry but just emotionless and blank. Though this skill was great, it could not compare to the brilliant acting that Morgana was able to do. Morgana could manipulate people by playing through different emotions and fool people so easily that it was impossible to know who she really was. The thing that Mordred really wanted to be able to do was fake cry when he needed to and he knew that Morgana could do this. Perhaps in the future he would be able to get acting and manipulating lessons off Morgana but for now, he would just have to spend a while looking blank and emotionless.
...
A picture began to form vaguely in Merlin's head. He didn't know where he was but it looked picturesque. Merlin was lying in soft lime green grass with tall, emerald trees keeping him out of the sunlight. The dazzling sun reflected off the burn making the water look silvery and unrealistic. Merlin's hand dangled into the river but it did not feel cold instead felt pleasantly warm. It was mid April and Merlin knew, since he was north of Camelot, that it should of been cold since no fire was right next to him. However there was a fire in the distance with an aroma of cooking fish and rabbits wafting towards him. This had to be some sort of afterlife as he never had seen somewhere more peaceful, beautiful or even more perfect than this. Merlin was still earthy from the cave so he bent over the silvery burn washing his face with the natural water. He felt parched and drank from the burn until his thirst was quenched. Merlin after that looked at his reflection in the burn to see that he looked slightly paler than usual but, apart from that, the warlock looked his usual self. The warmth of the water made Merlin want to just jump in it but he knew that he would catch a cold afterwards so he didn't. Merlin had a rather large cut on his knee though so he dipped his fingers into the water and dripped the water onto his wound. The wound healed instantly and vanished not leaving a mark. Slowly, Merlin raised his hand up to his neck where Morgana had made a small cut with her dagger to feel to mark. This burn seemed to have magic properties.
Emrys, said a telepathic voice. Merlin was pretty sure that he had heard this voice before but not telepathically. He closed his eyes just wondering what on earth was going on but couldn't manage to fit anything together. Someone placed his hand on his shoulder and the plot thickened. Merlin turned around to see the pale girl with her hair which was as black as ebony. Her dark stormy blue, green eyes told Merlin who it was. He could not understand what she was doing here or why she wasn't trying to kill him. Merlin could tell this was no chance meeting and that he wasn't dead. What he couldn't understand was how he was alive. She couldn't of saved his life. Couldn't of she? Well she could of but she wouldn't. Or would she? Merlin was confused. Utterly bewildered so he just replied, "You?" It was more of a question than anything as if he was wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. He didn't even know what her name was.
"Yes it is I, Morgana's half-sister, Emrys," Morrigan said softly in a soothing tone. "I, who healed you from the hemlock that my sister tried to kill you with. The vilia helped me in the brook helped me, This is the only time that I shall help you though." Morrigan offered Merlin a hand up and she led him to the camp fire, with the mouth watering aroma wafting put of it.
"Why?" Merlin asked. Morrigan just shook her head a little sadly in response. They eyes met and Morrigan gave an sad absent minded smile. It was clear that she was very upset and miserable about something. Merlin didn't know what but he returned the smile. Her smile had been full of despair and misery whereas his smile was full of happiness and hope. Morrigan had moments where she was just a wreck and wanted to die. Living without love hurt like hell and it had seemed like her life was wasteful and pointful. Merlin watched as Morrigan glided into the distance. He wasn't too sure what she was doing but she turned around to look at him before she vanished out of his sight.
This is where we say farewell for now brother, Morrigan telepathically whispered before blinking and turning around to go and trudging away. Merlin now couldn't think straight. Morrigan had called him brother. He needed to talk to the only person who could possibly know anything about Morgana's sister. He spoke the words of the Old Religion which would summon his faithful companion to him.
"To what do I owe this pleasure, young warlock?" Kilgharrah roared, landing softly beside Merlin and looking into Merlin's eyes. It always surprised Kilgharrah when he saw how small Merlin was for his huge destiny which would shape the future of not just Camelot but the whole of Albion too.
"Do I have a half-sister by father?" Merlin questioned hastily. The Great Dragon peered into Merlin's eyes. "This girl called me brother."
"I do not know, young warlock. If she is younger than you then it is quite possible. Is the girl trustworthy?" Kilgharrah looked very interested in what Merlin had to say. After all people who were related to Dragonlords were like superior to him. Merlin frowned when the Great Dragon said as there could be every chance that Morrigan could of lied as she was Morgana's sister. If this were true then Merlin wouldn't be able to explain why Morrigan would have saved his life.
"I don't know. She saved my life but then she is Morgana's ally and half-sister," Merlin gasped still trying to piece everything together.
"So Vivenne would be her mother. What is her name?" Kilgharrah wondered aloud. Kilgharrah couldn't make sense of this either but he knew that if he wasn't imprisoned in that filthy cell for years upon end then he would know all the answers to Merlin's questions. He felt intense fury for Uther Pendragon for the billionth time in his life. This is why he did not like the witch, Morgana Pendragon. He knew that it had been foretold that Uther's spirit of hatred would be inherited by the witch and it seemed, by what Merlin had said, that it had happened. Kilgharrah now felt rage towards Aithusa is well.
"I don't know," Merlin called. He now felt like an idiot seeing as the dragon had been around for a thousand years. Merlin blushed a bit and looked at ground in frustration. "I don't think anyone knows her name."
"MORGANA MUST DIE!" Kilgharrah snarled. Merlin frowned as this seemed to have just come out of the blue. "HEED MY WORDS, YOUNG WARLOCK! THE WITCH MUST DIE BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!" Kilgharrah took off with great fury and growled so that everybody within ten miles at him shuddered with fear. Loud noises like that were a bad omen caused every human to fear for their lives while debating what had made that terrible noises. Even animals ran for their lives for hours on end. Kilgharrah knew that this would be the result of animals and humans fleeing in fear. The Dragon had left Merlin with more questions than he had started with making him determined to answer all the questions
...
Drip, drop. Drip, drop.
The drizzly rain splattered on Arthur and his knights as they trotted through the woods in search of Gwen. The dismal weather perfectly reflected Arthur's mood as Gwen had been nearly missing for a day. Showers of rain had been on and off the whole of the day and now dark clouds had arisen overhead making a storm and large downpour of rain quite likely to happen soon. A storm would not make Arthur cease the search for Gwen, not even for a few minutes. It was beginning to get dark and although he was exhausted, Arthur wasn't ready to give up for the night. He had not even stopped for a bite of food and when he heard that the guard on the gate last night had either fallen asleep or been knocked unconscious he had felt sickened beyond all imagination. It was a large possibility that she had been taken hostage perhaps for ransom or to lure Arthur into a trap. What Arthur couldn't understand, if Gwen had been taken hostage, what Arthur wouldn't be able to explain was how the people would have been able to elude the guards. Unless Gwen had gone for a stroll in the lower town it should have been impossible. Even if Gwen had taken a stroll, then it should have still been very hard but Arthur wouldn't even be able to understand why Gwen would have went for a stroll. Which meant he highly doubted that Gwen had been taken hostage. Unless it had been Morgana who had taken her hostage or another magical being. Arthur sighed deeply at the thought of his evil half-sister torturing or even killing his wife. He still just couldn't grasp what had happened to Morgana as a child she has been kind and compassionate yet still determined and not easily scared by anything. The Morgana now had a heart as cold of stone though she was still as determined as before. Despite her feistiness and anger, Arthur could sense fear at times in Morgana. Arthur knew that Morgana had every right to be terrified as wherever the witch went she would be hunted. Hunted to be tortured badly before dying a lonely and painful death.
Percival looked worriedly at the expression on Arthur's face but couldn't find any words to comfort Arthur. After all he wouldn't lie to Arthur and promise that Gwen would be found and be fine. That wasn't guaranteed and Percival couldn't lie so he decide that he would just remain silent. He looked at Sir Leon wondering if he should do anything to help Arthur who was looking distraught and extremely but Leon shook his head sympathetically. What could have they have done anyway?
Crack!
Arthur turned around in the direction he had heard the noise and unsurely gasped, "Gwen?" He pointed his sword in the direction of the noise as he couldn't be too sure what was lurking out there and there was only a slim chance that it would be Gwen. Indeed Arthur right to think that there was only slim chance that it was Gwen as it wasn't Gwen. As a figure came out of the darkness, Arthur could instantly see that it wasn't his beloved but a bedraggled girl with light brown hair. Her dress must of once been magnificent but now the fine silks were torn, damp and filthy. She had no shoes on so the flesh was ripped off the bottom of her feet after a hard day of fleeing for her life. It was easier to run in bare feet than the high heels that she had been wearing at the time. With no time to change into her leather boots she had ran across rocky and sharp terrains ripping the skin of the bottom of her feet but now she could barely stand on her feet, let alone walk or run.
"My Lord," the girl stammered, looking up fearfully at Arthur. Arthur frowned for a minute recognising the girl and trying to work out who she was. Arthur and the girl had not seen each other in a number of years but beneath the layers of grim, Arthur could sense that he knew her. Then it all clicked in Arthur's brain making him look very concerned against this poor girl.
"Lady Lily," Arthur murmured in response. The girl nodded her head as to assure Arthur that she was Lily. Dismounting his horse, Arthur worriedly approached Lily.
"What happened," Arthur investigated, wondering what had happened to manage to get Lily in such a state. His father and Lily's father had been quite close friends as Lily's father had been a knight of Camelot. Lily's father had suffered from a agonising back problem and Gaius had told him that he wasn't fit to work about ten year ago. Lily and her parents therefore moved from Camelot to the very north of Arthur's Kingdom to get some well earned rest. The mansion had been Lily's father's childhood home so it seemed only sensible for them to live there.
"A massive Saxon army attacked our house," Lily almost cried in great distress. She was extremely close to her breaking point so Arthur prepared for Lily to start weeping over him. "My m-m-mother and f-father were both s-slaughtered but luckily I was taking a s-s-stroll along the road and I managed to escape. There must have been at least twenty thousand men there." Lily was just managing to hold back her tears though her lip was trembling and her eyes were full of tears.
"May I make a suggestion, sire?" Sir Leon politely asked. Arthur nodded his head mutely while putting his arm around Lily's back to steady her as she was close to falling over. "Why don't we go back to Camelot to take the Lady Lily to Gaius and while we are there we can ask if the Queen has been found, yet." Even in all the trauma she was in, Lily couldn't help listening and wondering if the Queen was lost. Arthur nodded mutely again as his throat felt too dry to speak. Taking Lily in his arms, Arthur lifted her gently onto his horse and mounted his horse after her. Soon the rain began to cascade upon them and by the time they had cantered to Camelot they were all completely drenched and frozen. It was pitch black and even the guard at the gate had trouble distinguishing who they were. When they dismounted their horses, Arthur graciously accepted Percival's offer to carry the Lady Lily up to Gaius's chambers so that he could go and check the news on Gwen. Arthur burst into the entrance hall finding Elyan in it alone looking devastated his heart skipped a beat.
"There has been no news, sire," Elyan whispered tensely. Arthur strode away not thinking where he was going but he somehow managed to incredibly end up in his chambers. Perhaps it was merely because he knew the route so well that he went automatically to his chambers. George was there so he lit fire before Arthur lost patience and yelled at George to go away. Arthur took off his chainmail and placed it in front of the fire for it to warm up and dry. He changed his other soggy clothes before going to the table and drinking goblets upon goblets of water. Grabbing his saddle bag, Arthur grabbed several apples from the bowl and put them in it. After this he hastily filled up his animal skinned water holder before corking it and placing it in his saddlebag beside the apples. Now he wouldn't have to come back into Camelot for several hours because of a need of food or water. Arthur just heard a sharp rap at his chamber door when he was crawling into his chainmail.
"Enter," Arthur ordered though his voice was rather muffled. The last thing he thought he would see was Mordred and Gwaine both drenched walking into his chambers.
"Mordred. Gwaine. Where's Gwen?" Arthur desperately questioned. Gwaine shifted forward uncomfortably getting slightly flushed.
"It's my fault Arthur," Gwaine sighed. "The Saxons have taken Gwen hostage an-"
"WHAT?" Arthur shouted in great distress. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"
"It wasn't my fault that the Saxons took Gwen as they would have done that anyway but I fear the next part of information I have to tell you is entirely my fault. The Saxons think Gwen is Morgana," Gwaine nervously said, looking at the floor the whole time like a naughty child getting into trouble. Mordred looked deeply into Arthur's eyes observing Arthur's emotions. Two bits of devastating news in two hours made Arthur feel the power of being king killing him. Despite the war that would be taken place very soon, Arthur felt the urge to leave his people to fight the war so that he could look for his beloved Gwen. Unfortunately things didn't work like that in Camelot as he would have to lead his men into war and not look for Gwen.
...
Gwen was somewhat comfortable when she woke. She opened her eyes trying to recall what has happened but all that came to mind was Morgana and then darkness. Covered in a few furs, Gwen tried to shove them off her but found her wrists bound together with coarse rope. The tent in which she was in was tiny but had enough room for about two people to sleep in. Next to her was a bony child no older than nine years old. He looked very underfed and unhealthy. As soon as the boy took one look at Gwen he ran from the tent to tell Chief Pierce that the witch was awake.
"Greetin's milady," said Chief Pierce in his broad accent. Gwen's heart skipped a beat when he said this. He was Saxon (his accent gave it away) and he seemed to know who she was. The way he had called her 'milady' had pretty much confirmed that. "What do you think King Gremian will give when I hand over the Lady Morgana"
"Morgana," Gwen mumbled, confused. She didn't quite get what the Saxon was meaning or why they were telling her this. "Have you captured Morgana?" Pierce cackled making Gwen feel utterly bewildered. She couldn't understand why the man had bizarrly brought up Morgana. As if Gwen would care about Morgana now that they tried to kill each other.
"I already know tha'nyou are Morgana so don't say you ain't." Gwen opened her mouth to say that she was actually Guinevere Pendragon but she quickly shut it again. What Gwen did not get was how on earth they thought she was Morgana? Gwen couldn't hide her bewilderment and this made Pierce cackle even louder. "They always said that Morgana was a good actress bu' I didn't know tha' she was this good a one. You can't fool me though because I know you are Morgana."
Thanks for reading and please review. Reviews make me so happy guys.
