It was when Merlin heard the screams of the villagers outside that he looked up. Two figures were walking quite calmly about, and would choose to strike down one here, one there. Merlin's heart stood still. If the blood ward had been broken-
Oh, My God. He would not allow the thought even to form in his head as he screamed through the hallways as he ran down-
"Freya! Get everyone into the tunnels! Cast an undetectable charm-they won't have all of us yet!"
Crazed, he burst into the lower town. He had no idea that he was glowing with anger and fear, so much that a white light gleamed around him. He screamed out in the tongue of the dragons-
"Trono, veu no meu auxilio! Lóstrego, matar!"
At once the heavens began to rumble as if the earth itself was trembling within. Bolts of lightning shot down from the sky, and they all converged over Merlin's head. Bolt after bolt hit him, but it did not hinder him as he stalked towards Nimueh like vengeance itself. For the first time there was a shadow of fear in Nimueh's eyes. He crackled with electricity and tiny beams of white shot from and across his eyes. For all that the astounded villagers knew, he could have been the god of Lightning himself.
He raised his hands, across which lightning writhed in snakelike tendrils.
"What have you done to my daughter!" he shouted, and his voice seemed to echo through all of Camelot. "Where is she? What have you done to her?"
"She is dead!" screamed Nimueh with a wild cackle of laughter. "The foolish girl thought to make me pay for the day that she died so long ago. And I have taught her a sharp lesson, Merlin. She will not forget-at least not until she takes shape in the world of the Sidhe."
An anguish seemed to build in Merlin's stomach and seep upward through his body. His Ania, dead, the child of which Freya had spoken so long ago when she had said-
"One day, Merlin, I will repay you..."
And Ania had been the debt she had paid. Freya had given him a daughter, nearly dying herself, who would have been his dearest treasure, no matter what she was. And Nimueh had dared to lay a hand on what on this earth Merlin held most dear-
He stood still, while the bolts of lightning above his head seemed to grow thicker...
But a greater force than Merlin stood behind him. Nimueh saw it. Morgause had wisely absented herself, gone to who knew where-probably she had fled, meaning to leave Camelot.
Merlin turned to see his wife.
What he saw was the sea itself in all the power it possessed. From Freya's feet flowed icy water, and when she spoke Merlin could hear the sound of water crashing in a storm.
"What have you done!" screamed Freya. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ANIA?"
Behind Freya came Morgana, who was wreathed in flame. Her eyes burned orange and she gathered fire between her hands and hurled it at Nimueh at the same time that a great wall of water rushed towards Nimueh. Nimueh screamed in pain when both struck her, and returned with a spell which both Freya and Morgana dodged. Water and fire flew like wind, and crack after crack sounded through the kingdom.
At last, it was over. Where Nimueh had stood there was nothing; and suddenly a most familiar voice sounded behind them.
"So it was Nimueh,"
They turned around to see Gaius.
"Ania is dead," said Merlin.
Freya took a step back from him and shook her head.
"No, Merlin. It can't be."
She ran away towards the stables.
And the mother is always right. :P