-102-

Ryll felt a pull that led them north. They rode hard until night fell and then camped beneath a grouping of thin spruce trees. The air was growing cold as fall came on. Ryll huddled close to Merlin as she slept. Her nightmares continued, but she knew they were headed in the right direction. A sense of dread crept over her as she slept though, and her nightmares turned to Arthur. She hadn't dreamt of Arthur dying in a long time, but tonight she did. She saw the flash of a sword and saw him fall. She screamed out, running to his side, but she was too late. She turned to see who had struck him down expecting to see Morgana, but it wasn't her. It was a young boy with curly, dark hair and the brightest blue eyes. There was hatred and pain on his face. Ryll turned away, holding Arthur. Her fingers felt for a pulse and found one, though weak. He was still alive. It's time, she thought. Time to give my life for him. But then something hard hit her over the head, and she fell to the ground beside Arthur, unconscious. When she awoke he was gone, and she was alone with the fallen. Blood soaked her mail, and she could not tell if it was her own or her enemy's. She got to her feet, looking around her. The sky was red with the sunset, matching the blood that soaked into the ground. The outlines of her dream grew blurry as she started to wake up. She clawed to stay inside of it. She needed to see how it ended, but she was already awake, and the dream faded into a memory.

She kept her dream to herself, thought she knew both Merlin and Byron sensed that something was wrong as they rode in silence the next day. They probably assumed she'd had another nightmare about Morgana and didn't pry. Ryll had the same dream the next night ending in the same place. She had all but stopped dreaming about Morgana, and she wondered if there was a correlation between her renewed nightmares about Arthur dying and her quest to free Morgana. Was she making a grave mistake? Was she setting everything into motion? She remembered the time Merlin had tried to stop Morgana from murdering Uther only to find that everything he did was all a part of this particular future even though he was trying to prevent it. If there was one thing she had learned it was that there were an infinite number of futures that could be set into motion at any time. There was no predicting the future when a tiny detail could change everything. If you change your mind now, the nightmares might get even worse. So she didn't say a word. They headed east after a time, and Ryll felt the pull grow stronger. Another day and they reached an abandoned farmhouse. Ryll dismounted and entered, Merlin and Byron following behind.

"She stayed here," Ryll said. She saw signs of habitation and found a white dragon scale by the fireplace. The thick layer of dust told her it had been uninhabited for a few months now. "We need to go north again," she said. "I've been seeing a castle in my dreams. It's made of dark stones and bears a red flag. Outside its gates are gibbets with the bones of sorcerers inside, a warning to those with magic."

"Sounds welcoming," Byron said with half-hearted cheerfulness.

"Morgana is being kept in a pit outside the castle walls in the forest. It's guarded not only with men but with a powerful anti-magic stone that is built into the walls. It mutes magic for whatever reason, so we need to be careful."

"Good thing at least two of us are handy with a sword," Byron said, casting Merlin a sideways look. Merlin glowered at him.

"I can take care of myself," he retorted.

"Without magic?" Byron questioned, looking unconvinced.

"He'll be fine," Ryll defended him. "Anyway, I think we can counteract the stone's power."

"So do we have a plan? How far away are we?" Byron asked impatiently.

"If we leave now then a few hours," Ryll said, pushing past the boys to get outside. She mounted Owl, reining her toward the north. "And yes, I have a plan, or I will."

Byron and Merlin exchanged an uncertain glance, but Ryll was already urging Owl forward. The further north they traveled, the stronger Ryll could sense Morgana. It was like a rope binding them together, growing tighter and tighter the closer Ryll came. Ryll's fear grew as they came closer though. Each night her nightmares grew more and more vivid. She only got a little further every time, stumbling into the forest and running toward something, but each time her dream faded into nothing until she was left wondering whether or not Arthur was still alive.

By nightfall they had reached the castle. "Do you know where we are?" Merlin asked.

Ryll shook her head, and Byron denied knowledge as well. "Some place where magic is hated above all other things." She could feel the oppression bearing down on her like a weight. "We need to take out the guards from a distance and then focus our magic on the muting-stones to destroy them. With our combined powers, we should be able to break it. Morgana will be at the bottom of the pit with the dragon. The dragon might be able to fly out, but I can use magic to pull Morgana up. We make our escape quickly. Morgana and the dragon will be weak."

"How do we get the dragon not to attack us?" Byron asked. "Did that occur to anyone?"

"Merlin will handle it," Ryll said.

Byron turned to look at Merlin. "You said he had a way with dragons."

"He's a Dragon Lord. The last of them," Ryll said off-handedly. Byron looked surprised.

"You really can take care of yourself, can't you?"

Merlin shrugged. "I manage."

"Merlin can talk to the dragon using its language, tell her that we're trying to help Morgana."

"That's not entirely true," Byron put in.

"Well we're saving them both from this torture," Ryll said. "We'll get them back to the farmhouse she was staying in to rest. After that Merlin will send the dragon off to join the only other living dragon, and we'll take Morgana back to Camelot as a prisoner."

"Have you thought out how you're going to control her magic?" Byron asked. "She'll get her strength back quickly."

"I've enchanted a bracelet to keep her powers at bay," Ryll said, pulling out a cuff bracelet. "She won't be able to take it off herself nor use her magic while she's wearing it."

"You have grown powerful," Merlin said, sounding impressed.

"More focused, I'd say," Ryll said, bowing out of the compliment. "But I'm confident I can control Morgana's powers. She strikes out in anger and looks for revenge, but I have mastered my abilities through patience and self-peace. I have control, she doesn't. Let's leave the horses here. Owl will scatter them if anyone else comes."

They dismounted, and Ryll gave Owl directions. The chestnut mare gave a low whinny as if to say she understood. Ryll, Byron, and Merlin skirted around the castle, keeping their eyes alert for guards. They saw several stationed along the walls, but Ryll used a spell to keep them from being scene. Part of using nature for power meant that Ryll could blend into the shadows as if becoming a part of the dappled greys and whites of the forest under moonlight. The guards would see nothing more than the surrounding woods. A quarter mile behind the castle walls Ryll saw the pit. It was dug like a well and enclosed by a rounded metal grate. She felt an insistent tug.

"That's it," she whispered. "Two guards. One stationed in a tree, the other is doing a perimeter walk. Byron." She nodded toward where the guard was and he took off in that direction. "We need to get the other guard down."

"Leave that to me." Merlin aimed his magic at a neighboring tree and sent a shiver through the leaves. Ryll caught on and did the same to the guard's tree, shaking the roots until he let out a muffled cry and half-fell out of his post. Merlin lashed out with his magic sending the guard back into the tree. He slumped unconscious to the ground. Ryll used her magic to send the tree roots around his arms and legs until he was pinned down. Byron returned at that moment.

"Taken care of," he said. "I can feel the muting-stones."

Ryll could feel it too. It pressed against her as if feeling for her magic. "We need to act now or it will weaken us," she said. "We each need to spread out so that we're standing in a triangle around it and use our power to crush it. Focus solely on the stones." They nodded and fanned out. She counted to three in her head, echoing her thoughts to them. They all reached out with their magic. Merlin and Byron's eyes glinted amber. The air fairly hummed with their combined magic, and the metal grate melted under the pressure until it disintegrated, falling like ashes to the ground. Ryll felt something break deep inside the pit. Their magic was stronger than the muting-stones. It was thrilling, she thought to herself, feeling Byron and Merlin's magic swelling around her. She could feel how powerful Merlin was though he might not know just how powerful yet. Byron, too, had a deep power that coincided with nature. Ryll's own magic had grown strong and resilient, controlled as she'd told them before. In that moment she had never felt so alive as if all her life she had been waiting for this. Finally she felt the stones give out. There was a crackling and then they released their power.

"It worked," Ryll said hoarsely.

"That was incredible," Byron said.

Ryll moved forward toward the edge of the pit. She couldn't see anything, so she sent a light down to illuminate the interior. She saw matted black hair and then a pale face that squinted up at the light as if it were bright as the sun. Ryll dimmed it slightly. She saw the outline of a pale dragon and then a flash of a wing as it rose protectively over Morgana.

"Morgana," she whispered softly. The sorceress seemed to hear. She looked straight up at Ryll and mouthed something Ryll could only hear in her head. Help.

"Can you ask the dragon to fly out?" Ryll asked Merlin. "Just don't let Morgana see you."

He nodded and began to speak in a guttural language that sent chills down Ryll's spine. The dragon growled down below. "She doesn't want to leave Morgana."

"Can she fly with Morgana on her back? I can pull Morgana up, but the dragon might not trust me."

Merlin spoke again, and there was another growl. "She isn't saying much. I don't think she can speak well, but I think she can fly." Ryll looked down to see the dragon urging Morgana onto her back. She was still small, but big enough for one person to ride. Morgana clung to the dragon's neck as the creature got ready to fly. She couldn't really flap her wings in the small space so she hunkered down like a coiled spring and then shot upwards using her claws to pull herself up the sides of the walls. Her leap took her halfway up and then her claws did the rest. She slipped a few times, but then her head appeared over the edge of the pit. Ryll gave her a little boost, and the dragon stood on all fours before them. She was small for a dragon, her growth probably stunted from her time in that confined space, but she was still the size of a small horse.

"We need to go before someone hears," Ryll said. Morgana appeared to be unconscious, so Ryll moved forward to place the cuff on her wrist. The dragon growled, turning so that Morgana was protected. "Can you tell her I don't mean them harm?" Ryll asked Merlin who started speaking in the dragon language again. The dragon continued to growl.

"Maybe you should try it later," Merlin said. "We need to get out of here, and she's very protective of Morgana."

"Fine. Let's go. If you can get her to follow."

Merlin spoke again and, after a hesitation, the dragon followed. She was clumsy on her feet at first, and Ryll felt a surge of pity for the creature. No one deserved to be kept in such a tight space like that. Watching the dragon stretch her wings and get her balance was enough to convince Ryll that she had done the right thing. As they moved into the moonlight, Ryll used her magic to hide them once more. Her eyes snagged on the scars that ran all over the dragon's thick scales. She'd been tortured. A burning anger started in Ryll's stomach. She looked at the castle.

"Ryll," Merlin said warningly, and Ryll realized she'd stopped.

"Look at what he did to the dragon," she said, her voice coming out as a hiss.

"We don't even know who it was."

"The king." In her nightmare the night before she'd finally seen Morgana's captor. She didn't recognize him, but it didn't take much to see that he was the king. "He was a friend of Uther's or at least shared his view of magic." She'd seen him torture the dragon in her dream, felt her pain and Morgana's sorrow.

"We didn't come here for revenge," Byron said. "You'll get us all killed."

Ryll blinked. "You're right."

"We need to go now or someone is going to notice." Ryll forced herself to keep moving. There would always be cruel people in the world and, much as she wished she could stop them all, she couldn't. Thirst for revenge never ended well.

They somehow managed to make it back to the farmhouse just as dawn crept over the horizon. They were all exhausted, but Ryll insisted on a guard. Byron offered to take the first shift, steering Ryll to her blanket when she tried to protest. Morgana had been laid on the cot. Merlin was the only one the dragon would let anywhere near her or Morgana. Now the dragon stood watch over Morgana, taking up a large part of the small farmhouse. Ryll admired her loyalty. After all the time she had been locked in a small space, she opted for the farmhouse rather than the outdoors just so she could watch over Morgana. Ryll wondered how they'd found each other and formed this bond.

"Does she have a name?" she asked Merlin.

"Aithusa," he told her. "I named her."

"You never told me that. Just that you'd hatched a baby dragon."

"It means 'the light of the sun'," he told her. "She was supposed to stay with Kilgharrah, not end up like this."

"She chose Morgana instead somehow. I'm never going to get that cuff on. You'll have to do it."

"I'll try. I can't say I blame her for hesitating to trust humans."

"No. Not after the cruelty she's been through. A fate worse than death. Why are people so cruel?" Ryll asked sleepily.

Merlin couldn't answer that as he was already asleep. Ryll shut her eyes and tried to rest, but her mind was humming and the anger she felt wouldn't fade even though she knew it was the same kind of anger and hatred Morgana had felt toward Uther.

…

Byron woke Ryll midday and she took over the watch. Morgana was still fast asleep, but the dragon wouldn't shut her eyes. She growled as Ryll walked past. "It's all right," Ryll tried to assure her, but the dragon continued to growl. Ryll chose a spot outside, glad Byron had woken her. She'd been dreaming again. Nearly the same dream only this time it had started earlier in the battle. She had been fighting in her knight's armor, cutting down enemies left and right, keeping very close to Arthur. The battle had been going ill as Morgana and Aithusa attacked the Camelot knights. It was the first time Ryll had seen either Morgana or the dragon in her dream. This made her more and more wary of having freed both. Morgana was trying her hardest to strike down Arthur's forces but then an old man appeared on the cliffs above the battle. He held a staff and thrust it at the sky. Lightning flashed behind him, and his magic swelled in the air like storm clouds. He began to strike down the enemy, and the battle turned in favor of Camelot. Ryll realized she'd lost sight of Arthur in her distraction. Panic welled up. How could she have lost him? She slammed her sword down on an enemy's head and fought her way to where she thought he might be. Finally she saw him facing off with the curly haired boy she'd seen in her last dream. Two sword thrusts and both fell. She rushed forward to grab Arthur, but she was too late like always. The boy fell, dead, but Arthur was still alive. Something hard hit her from above, and she fell unconscious. When she woke up again she stumbled to her feet, looking around at the devastation. Arthur was gone like he always was. She'd hurried into the woods in search of him. She needed to find him, needed to fulfill her destiny.

The dream had gotten hazy after that, and she'd only grasped images, but she'd stayed asleep. At one point she'd been facing Morgana, but she could only make out snippets of their conversation. She remembered begging Morgana to stop, but Morgana had only said: "Don't get in my way, or I'll have to hurt you." When Ryll didn't move, Morgana used magic to send Ryll flying backwards. "I'm sorry," she'd said so softly that Ryll was sure she'd misheard.

Ryll had awoken after that, unsure of what had happened after Morgana had knocked her unconscious. It was frustrating not seeing the whole dream. If she was supposed to save Arthur then might it benefit everyone if she saw the whole dream? Perhaps the future was still uncertain. Ryll wanted to stop it, but she was afraid anything she did would make it worse. One thing had been clear in the vision: Morgana and her dragon did not spend the rest of their lives locked away in Camelot. Somehow they were going to escape.