THE FOREST OF NEMIA
A magnificent black stallion hammered over the ground and raced through the trees.
Its rider drove it harder, her eyes flashing every few seconds to clear the path of fog and fallen tree branches.
Her jaw was locked and her icy hands were tight around the reigns.
Morgana drove her steed like an arrow, craving through the grey fog.
Above her head came a deep rumble and a crack of lightning, which drove birds form the trees and caused them to fly away.
Her horse broke through the edge of the trees and she drew it into a hard reign.
Its hooves skidded across the wet mud and grass at the side of the lake.
In the centre a large island was a shard that reached towards the churning sky.
The water of the lake rippled and crashed.
Morgana straightened and glared at it.
The weather above continued to war with the fog.
A grey and dark mist had settled over the land.
Her heart burned though, with the promise of victory.
THE ISLE OF THE BLESSED
The new dawn was cold and bleary, and grey compared to everywhere else they had ridden through.
It was colder than Arthur's heart in that moment.
It burned with every emotion that he was feeling.
The certainty and decision that lurked there sought to silence the scream for his wife.
He was doing it for her.
Merlin trudged behind him.
They picked their way across the uneven and icy ground, through the mist and the fog.
They moved past the towering ramparts of an old castle.
The sky tore with thunder and lightning, ripping apart the cloud in a bolt of fire.
Arthur swallowed and set his eyes forwards.
His jaw was locked with determination as they moved through the isle and up the stone stairs.
Merlin remembered racing up them when he had come to save Gaius from trying to sacrifice himself to Nimueh in order for Merlin to be saved.
The young warlock had wanted to trade his life for his mothers, after the sorceress had taken an unjust price, when Merlin had tried to bargain his life for Arthurs.
Here they were again.
Arthur stared forwards through the grey and drizzling freezing air.
They walked across the ground into the open space.
By the side of the stone table Eveline stood.
Her cloak was thrown over the table, and atop it gleamed the glistening golden cup.
Merlin straightened upon seeing it.
The cup of life.
Eveline watched them carefully.
Her skin was pale white in the grey fog, her bare flesh not feeling the coldness in the air around them.
Arthur's steps were heavy but he stood tall.
He would not be afraid in the face of his own decision.
Merlin followed him for three steps before he strode faster to stand in front of him, blocking his path.
"Arthur I am begging you this has to stop." He stated.
"Merlin." Arthur drew in a deep and angry breath.
He pinched his eyes shut.
The young warlock continued to stare with wide eyes at his friend, begging him to understand.
Arthur turned his face to the ground.
"Arthur you cannot go through with this!" Merlin cried, "Please, if not for me then for Gwen…"
"I am doing this for her." Arthur gritted out, still not opening his eyes.
"No you aren't!" Merlin shouted.
Another peel of thunder and lightning tore at the swirling sky above their heads.
The air was damp with the foreboding cold of rain.
"Arthur this is madness!" Merlin cried, shaking with the desperation to stop his friend, "Surely you can see that…"
"All I can see is that this provides a way for me and my wife to have a child, a way for Guinevere to have all that she wants…"
"Arthur!"
"And for our kingdom to have an heir." Arthur hissed.
"No!" Merlin shouted, "Arthur Gwen doesn't want a life without you, she raised you from the dead with her love for you does that not tell you enough!"
"I know what she would do for me!" The king shouted at his manservant and friend.
Arthur's eyes flew open with rage and he glared at Merlin.
His teeth locked together and his gaze burned.
Merlin straightened.
"I know what she means to me, what she would do for me!" Arthur bellowed, "She would give her life for me, prove anything and do anything… I feel exactly the same way…"
"She wouldn't lie to you, not like this." Merlin hissed.
"She did lie though didn't she?" Arthur tried to step around him, "She lied about how magic as used to save my life when I was injured at the Kristonica…"
"She wanted to tell you, you know she did." Merlin hissed and stepped back in front of him.
Eveline watched the exchange with narrowed eyes.
They flitted upwards however, when another peel of thunder sounded and a single drop of rain fell into the cup of life.
She watched as the water splashed off of the gold and landed onto the back of her palm, where her hand was resting atop the stone table.
She swallowed and straightened.
The sky was twisting and the clouds were overlapping.
A new time was coming.
She watched as Arthur stared at his servant and best friend.
"I am sorry Merlin." He said in a low voice, "And when the time is right, after I have gone, and she has our child to remember me by… I want you to tell Guinevere that."
Merlin shook his head slightly, "No, Arthur…"
The king ignored him and stepped around him.
He walked towards Eveline and stood before her, the stone table beside them with the cup of life atop it and in between their forms.
He straightened and she stared at him.
The look in her eyes told him that she was waiting for him to speak.
There was only one thing that he could say.
"I am ready."
Arthur stood before Eveline, his hands at his side and in fists.
She stared at him carefully.
"Once you enter into his bargain Arthur it cannot be undone."
Her voice was as clear as cut glass, and as refined as was possible, in contrast to her appearance.
Her hair remained plaited and in curls and it flew around her face in the wind that was starting to pick up.
Both Merlin and Arthur could feel the chill, but Eveline as always looked unchanging.
Her wide eyes locked on the king and she stared at him.
A new era was coming.
It was coming fast.
"To create the life of a child that you want so much for your wife a life must be taken…"
"I know." Arthur said.
His voice was rough and low and it tore up to his lips straight from his heart.
Merlin stiffened and was drawing in angry and almost frantic breaths.
Please Eveline.
The voice in his head called out to her.
It shot at her brain and was loud and clear.
She swallowed and straightened.
He stared at her with wide and pleading eyes.
Please you cannot let him go through with this!
She blinked but seemed to ignore him.
She looked uncomfortable for only half a second, and Arthur, wrapped up in his own hammering heart, missed it completely.
Please!
Merlin's mental voice screamed at her.
Please you must know that the future will be dark if you let him do this, it is my destiny to protect him, my future…
Her eyes were wide and flashed to glare at him.
Do not presume for one minute that you have anything to tell me about the future.
Her mental words were as harsh and cold as stone and they made Merlin straighten.
She glared at him.
Events have started that you cannot stop or even think to comprehend.
At this his eyes narrowed.
What do you mean?
She ignored his telepathic question and turned back to Arthur.
She took a second to compose herself.
Merlin stepped closer.
Eveline what do you mean?
She blinked his screaming voice away from her head.
Her eyes stared at Arthur.
The clouds above their head were struck by lightning and a clap of thunder seemed to shake the earth.
Arthur swallowed and watched as she reached with one pale and thin hand to pick up the cup of life.
She held it reverently, with the tips of the fingers of one hand holding its stem, the others tracing around the edge.
Over the top of it she stared at Arthur.
His eyes couldn't leave it.
"You would give your life so that your wife may have a child?" She whispered.
Arthur drew in a breath and swallowed.
She narrowed her eyes at him.
Her voice was low and soft, and held a strange authority that Merlin only every heard from her.
Her eyes were so deep into Arthur that he believed she was reading the answers to the questions she asked of him from his very soul.
"Are you ready to die, for this life of your child to be created, with the magic that you will outlaw and review?" She whispered.
Arthur straightened and his jaw flexed.
The answer pushed against his teeth and his tongue wrapped out it.
His eyes flickered.
Tears burned in them as another clap of thunder and a flash of lightning tore at the swirling fog.
Merlin stared at him, his heart hammering and his hands clasping into fists.
Eveline stared harder at Arthur, whose eyes were still locked on the golden cup of life that she held.
"And do you take responsibility for the actions that come of the decision you make now?" She breathed.
Something in her eyes, some small resignation, made Merlin narrow his eyes.
He would not let the tears which raged in his heart fall…
But he was fixed on Eveline, her every movement and every breath seemed different...
Something was wrong.
There was something that she was not saying.
She was staring intently at Arthur.
"I am waiting Arthur." She breathed.
He drew in a long breath and straightened.
His voice was low.
It was a vow that he made, more than a promise, and more than any number of ordinary words.
"For Guinevere's happiness, I would give my life."
"How wonderful…"
The voice was sneering and it mocked them all.
Arthur spun at the sound of it.
Merlin's head snapped around as he did.
Eveline straightened and lowered the cup of life to her waist height.
"Morgana." She said calmly.
The witch, stood at the arch on the other side of the island, sneered harder.
Arthur drew his sword and his head snapped around furiously to glare at Eveline.
"You knew that she would come."
Merlin stared at her in furious confusion.
"Eveline what are you…"
"Catch." She said and hurled the cup of life at him.
Merlin caught it, for to him it was worth far more than his life.
Eveline's eyes flashed gold and Arthur was thrown at the manservant.
The crashed together and rolled towards the bank of the island.
"No!" Morgana cried and her hand snapped up.
But Eveline was faster.
Her hand raised itself sharply ad her eyes flashed.
"Tirebair!" She shouted.
Her vice pierced the air.
There was an almighty clap of thunder and lightning shot downwards.
It struck the ground and inch from Arthur and Merlin as the ing and manservant struggled to scramble upright.
"No!" Merlin shouted.
Her eyes flashed gold again.
"Incendier!"
The lightning tore around them in a circle and shot upwards into a long funnel.
It locked them inside.
Eveline drew in a breath.
"Returndran."
Her eye flashed once more.
The fire shot outwards, blinding both her and Morgana for a moment.
No!
Merlin's furious mental shout made her stiffen.
When Eveline opened her eyes the fire had gone.
Thunder rumbled overhead and rain began to fall.
Cold and icy wind whipped her hair around her face.
Arthur and Merlin were gone.
Her eyes moved to Morgana, who had walked closer, and was staring furiously at her.
"I will not let you hurt them, they are gone." Eveline hissed, straightening, "You have all that you came for."
Morganas sneer cracked her face.
"Indeed I do, Emrys."
AUTHORS NOTE: So yeeeh… Morgana thinks that Eveline is Emrys, Mordred told her that she was, Eveline knew he would… the plot thickens. There are plenty of people who would lay down their life for Merlin.