Disclaimer: I don't own Angel the Series or Merlin (BBC). No money is being made off of this. It's made by a fan for the enjoyment of other fans.

Thanks to deiticlast for being my beta-reader throughout this fic so far.

Was I ever the only one who found the way Morgause said 'sister' to Morgana in the season 3 episodes more than a little bit creepy?

The Ruins Of My Kingdom To Come

By Alkeni

Chapter 21:Honor Bound

Not for the first time, Morgana wondered if what she was about to do was entirely safe. Or, for that matter, a particularly good idea.

It amazed her just how many times she could ask herself that question in the relatively short span of time it had taken her to get from her chambers to the guest quarters that had been set aside for Morgause while she was here.

If she'd been able to ask Merlin, she was confident that he'd have told her that it wasn't a good idea. Of course, then he'd have probably told her to go ahead and do it anyway, given how most of his plans and actions were built on acting on bad ideas and running with it from there.

But I need to speak with Morgause. There were, as with most things Morgana did, several reasons for why she felt like she needed to speak with Morgause.

For one, she wanted to understand just what it was that this woman wanted. Morgana doubted just asking her would be a productive option, but if she could speak to the woman firsthand, perhaps get the measure of her, even a little, she could have a better idea of what the woman wanted.

From the brief words she'd been able to share with Merlin after the fight, Morgana was certain that Merlin thought that whatever it was Morgause wanted, she was still hostile to Arthur and Camelot.

Morgana didn't know what to think. She didn't want to leap to the conclusion that Morgause was an enemy of her and Merlin simply because she had magic. But at the same time...

She wanted to give the woman the benefit for the doubt. Part of the reason she did, though, was the second reason as to why she needed to speak with Morgause.

Ever since she'd seen the woman take off her helmet, underlying her fear and recognition at the sight of the woman from her vision, there had been a sense of familiarity, of recognition. Something she hadn't sensed when she'd seen her in the vision.

Morgana wanted to understand what it was – did Morgause just have 'one of those faces', as it were? Or did she know the other woman, somehow? Perhaps from years ago?

I need to find out.

Morgana knocked lightly on the door, but didn't wait for a response. Instead, she just opened the door, given that it was unlocked.

For a moment, she didn't see anyone in the room, and then Morgause came out from behind the dressing curtain, clearly dressed to ride and ready to leave.

"I didn't mean to intrude," Morgana lied blandly. "I wanted to speak with you. I'm Lady Morgana."

"I know who you are," Morgause said, her tone far from the harsh, iron tone she'd taken with Arthur. It was gentler, more earnest.

Morgana raised an eyebrow. "And why would that be? Unless I'm much mistaken, we've never met." She was speaking in her 'noble lady' voice, as she often referred to it in her mind. A deliberate tone with a hint of imperiousness.

"No, we haven't." Morgause didn't seem at all interested in rising to Morgana's tone. "But I am glad we have." Morgana found herself...drawn in by the familiar tone in Morgause's words, but she shook her head a little and forced herself away from that thought. She needed information, not a clouded head. "Are you alright? You look tired."

"I didn't sleep very well last night." Or any night, granted. "I was concerned about Arthur."

"I had no intention of killing him," Morgause pointed out. "As I showed today. I knew Arthur would take my offer – he is known throughout this kingdom and beyond as an honorable and brave man."

"I didn't know that last night," Morgana pointed out in turn. "And as much as he may be a stubborn fool at times, he's my brother in all but blood."

Morgana had no idea what was amusing about those words, but Morgause smirked in amusement regardless. "I see." Morgause looked at Morgana, and for a moment, the king's ward felt...her skin felt like it was crawling across her body. Only for a moment, though. Morgana saw a bracelet on Morgause's injured arm, it caught the light in just the right way to glitter, and she felt her eyes drawn to it.

After a few moments of staring at it...she realized she was in fact staring at it. "That's a beautiful bracelet," she said after a moment, trying to cover her inexplicable interest in it.

"It was a gift from my mother," Morgause told her. She reached her other hand towards it, as if to remove it, then seemed to think better of it. "I never knew her very well."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Morgana told Morgause truthfully. She knew from experience the pain of losing a parent, and she'd at least had her father for years before his death.

This wasn't working. She was getting caught up in other things...she needed to get out of here. There was something about Morgause that just...

"I'm sorry," she said after a moment. "But I need to go. And you look as if you are ready to depart. I won't keep you." Morgana turned and went for the door, walking perhaps a little too quickly.

"I hope you will remember me fondly," Morgause called after her quietly.

Why would she care? Why would she expect...?

Morgana had the strangest feeling that Morgause...had come to Camelot as much for her as for Arthur.

But why on earth would she do that? It doesn't make any sense.

But nothing about that woman seems to make any sense.

Morgana shook her head, trying to clear it. She'd dwell on all this later. But first, she needed some fresh air.

AtS-Merlin-AtS-Merlin-AtS-Merlin-AtS-Merlin

Merlin looked curiously at the two guards standing outside Arthur's chambers, but when they didn't stop him from entering, it only made him more curious.

As the door closed behind him, Merlin looked for the prince, seeing him sitting in the window-alcove, digging a dagger into the stone. Arthur only did that when something was bothering him – it was, after all, quite harmful to any weapon's blade.

"Why are there guards outside the door?" Merlin knew that Arthur could pick up on the real question – 'what does your father want you to not do?', since that was the only reason guards ever ended up outside Arthur's door.

"Father has confined me to my chambers." Fairly self-explanatory, given the presence of the guards. "And forbidden me from going to Morgause to accept her challenge."

Unloading clean clothing from the basket he'd brought with him, Merlin decided to make a probably futile stab at making Arthur see reason. "Well, maybe he's got a point. You have no idea what it is she's planning to ask you to do."

"I gave her my word,"Arthur said pointedly, wagging the dagger lightly in Merlins direction as he spoke.

"Yes, and?" Merlin shot back. "You're not refusing to honor your word. Your father is stopping you." Okay, here goes nothing. "I understand why you feel like it's a matter of honor you keep your word, even if she had a sword at your chest at the time, but you really don't have any idea what it she's going to ask you to do. What if she asks you to do something even more dishonorable than breaking your word?"

"To break a sworn oath, by action or inaction, is the height of dishonor," Arthur disagreed. "I can't be expected to be seen as a good and wise king if I go around making promises and then failing to keep them!" Arthur half threw up his hands in frustration as he spoke. "It's easy for father to say I shouldn't follow through on my promise. He didn't make it."

"What if she asked you to kill an innocent person, or betray Camelot? Or kill the king?" Merlin shot off the first possibilities that came to mind. "If she wanted you to do something good and just, wouldn't she have just asked you to do it? You have a reputation for that sort of thing."

Arthur looked at Merlin, narrowing his eyes a little. "Merlin, shut up." Sometimes Arthur tolerated his manservant's occasional penchant for...talking out of his station. Once in a blue moon, he even said something...almost wise. Or at least helpful. And he had to grant that Merlin's suspicions had even been proven right a few times...the man with the serpent shield, for example.

Still, he doesn't understand. He's not a noble, and there's only so much commentary I can accept from him. Merlin was, in some ways, a sort of friend. But he was just a servant. An often useless, lazy – and sometimes even idiotic – servant, but a servant nonetheless.

"I thought you found the idea of her beating me amusing," Arthur continued, changing topic.

"Oh, I did," Merlin said with a smirk for a moment. "I just don't trust her, and I don't think you should either." He saw the look on Arthur's face. "Shutting up now."

"You're smarter than you look." Arthur looked out the window. "Gather some supplies. We're leaving tonight." Then he looked back over to Merlin. "And find me a way to get out of here."

"Yes, my lord." Merlin said, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now.

I'll have to go with him and do my best to keep him safe.

...And tell Morgana he's going. Not that she didn't probably guess it herself.

AtS-Merlin-AtS-Merlin-AtS-Merlin

When darkness fell, it was time to go.

Once again, when it seemed to really count, Merlin had managed to accomplish more than he usually did. Arthur had noticed as much, which was one of the reasons he kept him around. Rope was the obvious way to get out of his chambers unnoticed, and Merlin had come up with a surprisingly clever way to get it to him. Though Arthur wasn't sure how Merlin had managed to wrap the rope around his middle under his overshirt without someone noticing him doing it.

Arthur was just getting ready to open the window and toss one end of the rope to Merlin when the doors to his chamber opened – he tensed up, but almost immediately relaxed when he saw that it was Morgana, who closed the doors behind him as she strode in.

"So you're really going to go?" Morgana didn't sound surprised, and for some reason, Arthur doubted that Merlin hadn't already told her.

The two had heeded his earlier warnings, and while they did both vanish from time to time, it was less often and less noticeably than they had before.

"I am. I gave my word." Is she really going to bother with trying to talk me out of this too?

"Yes, your honor." Morgana's tone encompassed a rolling of her eyes, though she didn't physically roll her eyes. It was one of her many annoying talents. "You really shouldn't have given her a chance to pick up her sword, you know."

"I'm starting to realize that, thanks," Arthur shot back, falling into familiar sarcasm. "But I gave my word."

Morgana sighed. "I know. Just-" She shook her head. "Just don't trust her."

Arthur looked from Morgana to the silent Merlin. "What, did you two decide to gang up on me? Now you're both telling me not to trust her."

"Because she's not trustworthy, Arthur," Morgana pointed out. "Your father has already decided the same thing, and if we brought Gaius, or Geoffrey, or Wesley or Illyria – or anyone else in here, for that matter - they'd all probably agree. She's not trustworthy. You're just too foolish to care." Morgana held up a hand before he could say anything.. "I know, I know. Just be careful, and don't trust her." She shook her head. "Go. Just go." She looked over to Merlin, and Arthur wondered just what sort of silent communication she and his servant were trying to exchange in that moment.

That, and wondering about her taste. He wasn't planning on stopping Morgana from doing what she wanted – for the moment anyway – but really: Merlin? That was who she'd gone for, out of the hundreds of suitors and potential suitors or even simply available candidates-?

Then again, I...I've fallen in love with a servant, despite all the potential choices. I'm not in her head. I don't know what she thinks.

And right now, Arthur had other things to think about than Morgana and Merlin. Many other things.

AtS-Merlin-AtS-Merlin-AtS-Merlin

Wesley was not surprised when word spread through the palace that Arthur was missing. Anyone with half a mind had to know he was going to make every effort to keep his oath.

Wesley contemplated getting himself involved; he was rather attached to the idea that Arthur would in fact take the throne and be the legendary good king that lived on in the collective English memory. But he decided against it. For one, Merlin was gone as well, which meant there was someone keeping an eye on Arthur anyway, and even more, because he had a greater priority in the form of Illyria.

Wesley opened the door of Illyria's chambers, as he was well used to doing, and...found them empty. There was no sign of Illyria – not even a stray blue hair. Not that he'd ever seen one of her hairs even break a little. They were, presumably, as tough as the rest of her.

"Illyria?" Wesley called out, feeling his throat tighten. He hoped she was just out of sight as he stepped further into the room.

"I am behind you," Illyria's voice came from the hallway. Why is she-?

Wesley turned around, facing her.

"We are departing. You'll need a horse." Illyria started off down the hallway. Confused, Wesley just stood there, and Illyria half-turned. "Follow," she ordered, and Wesley found himself hurrying catch up to her.

"Illyria, where the hell are we going, and why?" Wesley found that he had to keep up the hurrying just to stay apace with her.

"I wish to test a number of theories," Illyria replied. "And I need you to enlighten me with knowledge the shell did not possess as we travel."

Yes, please, marshal up a little more vague for me, will you? "What exactly do you want me to enlighten you about, Illyria?"

"I want to know what the legends and myths of King Arthur have to say about this 'Morgause'. She is a character in them, is she not?"

AtS-Merlin-AtS-Merlin-AtS-Merlin-AtS-Merlin

For a land that was supposed to lack both dragons and powerful spellcasters, Camelot had far too many of both.

The demon had come to Camelot to take the power it had sensed...and instead, found the source of the power a demon – a demon ensconced in the castle...

A castle atop a dragon and residing with two spellcasters powerful enough to give even it temporary pause.

It would win in the end. But it needed time. A plan.

And potentially, an ally in yet another spellcaster that had come to Camelot.

An ally...or a tool.

But the power of the demon in the blue-hued form would belong to it. One way or another.