Chapter 18
Morgana was laying on her bed petting Aithusa's head with one hand and grabbing her book with the other. She still had trouble believing what happened the day before. She had met Blue, who ended up being Merlin, who had magic, which he used to rescue her, because somehow she had been imprisoned by the knights of Camelot. The only reason why she knew it hadn't all been a dream was because even she wouldn't dream something as crazy as that.
And that hadn't been all. She still remembered the surprise of seeing the boy that Dragoon had once showed her as an illusion. Until that moment she hadn't been sure if the boy was real or was something he had created to hurt her. And suddenly there he was, sitting in a corner staring at nowhere. She looked at her hands. Having healed that boy had felt right somehow. When she started she hoped to at least fix some of the scarred tissue, but in the end he could even see. She was impressed to be able to do that. She took a deep breath and smiled at the irony. The one type of magic where she probably was more powerful than Emrys was completely useless against him in a fight.
In the end she had left Camelot through the main gate with Mordred's help, who apparently already knew about Merlin, but had refused to give her any more details about that. She also met his girlfriend, Kara, who turned out to be a huge fan of her. She even asked her when her next attack on Camelot would be, and if she could be in it. Morgana really didn't want to think about that at that moment, and was thankful when Mordred called Kara to the front lines. When it finally had been time to split up, Mordred had asked her to join his camp, but she had declined. All she needed was to be with Aithusa.
She stood up and woke the dragon up. They had missed their nightly walks for two days now, and she was sure that Aithusa was feeling trapped. It wasn't wise to leave during the day, but they were in a middle of nowhere and it was just for today. They would be fine.
The second Aithusa left the cave, she spread her wings and took off into the sky. For how she was flying, Morgana knew she had been right. She soared higher and higher, and then dropped really fast dodging whatever stood on her way. Then she soared again and made circles in the air. Morgana couldn't help to smile at that sight. Once she had burnt enough energy, Aithusa flew down and started walking along Morgana.
"A dragon!" a girly voice exclaimed, a short time after.
Morgana turned around quickly to see where it came from. In front of her there were two kids, one boy and one girl. They were around six years old. The girl started to walk towards her, but the boy grabbed her by the arm.
"What are you doing?" the boy asked. "That's a dragon!"
"I know!" the girl answered, with a smile. "Don't you want to see it too?"
"Dragons are dangerous!" the boy said.
"No, they're not," said the girl, as she shook her head vigorously.
"Yes, they are."
"I want to see it anyway."
"You can't. You have do as I say. I'm older."
"We are twins!" the girl protested.
"I was born first, father always says so," the boy said.
"But it's pretty...," the girl said, looking at Aithusa.
"It's going to eat you with its big teeth," said the boy, making a scary face.
"I don't want to be eaten! What should I do!?" asked the girl, with both hands on her face.
"We have to run!"
"But it can fly!"
The boy thought for a few seconds. "I know, run in circles, that will confuse it!"
The kids turned around and started to run all over the place, screaming and waving their arms around for some reason. Morgana was still taken aback by the whole conversation which took less than thirty seconds, and now this. She glanced at Aithusa who looked as confused as she was.
"Stop, we won't harm you," Morgana said. The kids didn't slow down. "If you keep doing that you are going to hurt yourselves," she added.
"It's working! It's working!" exclaimed the girl, seeing as the dragon didn't move.
"Stop! Now!" Morgana yelled, in a commanding voice
Both kids looked at her but kept on running, which resulted in them bumping into each other head on.
Morgana sighed and walked towards them, who were sitting on the grass, grabbing their heads and crying.
She placed one hand in each of them and mumbled a few words.
Immediately the girl opened her eyes and stood up.
"I feel better!" she exclaimed. "You are a fairy", said the girl, looking at Morgana with awe.
"She's obviously a druid", corrected the boy as he stood up.
"A druid fairy!" exclaimed the girl.
That was the first time that Morgana realized she was still wearing the Green disguise.
"Are you alright?" she asked, looking at both of them.
"Yes, thank you," answered the girl. The boy just nodded.
Morgana noticed as the girl's eyes wondered again and again towards Aithusa. It was interesting finding someone in Camelot who didn't run at the sight of a dragon.
"Do you want me to introduce you?" Morgana asked.
The little's girl face lit up. "Really?" she asked.
Morgana nodded. "But only if your brother thinks is fine."
The girl looked at her brother. "Pleeeaaassseee," she said, with big eyes.
The kid looked at Morgana. "Are you sure it won't bite her?"
"I promise," Morgana answered.
The boy looked at her sister and nodded.
"Thank you!"
Morgana started walking towards Aithusa, followed by the two kids.
"Does it have a name?" asked the boy.
Morgana was going to correct him, but the girl talked first. "The dragon is a she! And her name is Cloudy!"
"Actually her name is Aithusa," Morgana said, smiling.
The girl made a thinking face. "I like Cloudy better," she said and then walked towards the dragon. "Hi, I'm Nadia, and this is Aidan," she told Aithusa, pointing at his brother. "You are so pretty!"
Nadia was playing with the dragon, while Morgana and Aidan were standing next to them.
"Don't you want to play with her too?" Morgana asked him.
The boy didn't say anything, he just shook his head.
Aithusa was having a lot of fun playing with the tiny human. She seemed more alive than most of the humans she had met before, not that she had met that many. Did her height have something to do with that? Maybe the air was different down there and that made her happier. She did a quick test, lowering and raising her head. No, that wasn't it. Now the girl, Nadia, was throwing a stick far away and then looking at her as if she expected something to happen. What, exactly, she had no idea.
They played for a bit longer, and the boy still hadn't let his sister out of his sight, not even for a second.
"You really look after her, don't you?" Morgana asked.
"It's my job," Aidan answered. "Especially now."
Morgana was going to ask him what he meant by that, but they were interrupted by Aithusa, who was trying to escape from Nadia's grasp.
"Cloudy, come back! Where are you going?" Nadia asked, as Aithusa started flying.
"I think is time for Aithusa to rest," said Morgana, smiling slightly. She crouched and looked at the kids. "Aiden, Nadia, I know that you want to share this adventure with all your friends, but not everyone likes dragons, so if you tell anyone about this you would be putting her in danger. You have to promise me to keep this meeting a secret."
"I PROMISE!" the girl yelled with a serious face.
The boy nodded.
"Thank you."
Morgana started to walk away when she felt that her dressed was stuck with something. Turning around she saw that Nadia was grabbing it and looking down.
"Lady... could you... could you help my father... he is very very ill and I love him very very much, I don't want him to left us like mom did." She look up and Morgana could see the tears in her eyes. "Please help us," the girl said. "Please, please, pleeeaaassseee."
"I would like to but—"
"Please, please, please, please..."
"I'm sorry, I can't."
Morgana turned around and started walking away.
The kids started following her and now Aidan had joined his sister's pleading.
"Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please —"
"Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please —"
"Fine! Just stop talking!" Morgana exclaimed, raising her hands in an attempt to shush the kids.
In less than one second the little girl stopped crying and made a big smile. "Thank you! Is this way," she said, pointing to her right. She turned around and started walking.
"There is no telling her no, is it?" Morgana asked, looking at Aidan.
"You would be the first," he answered.
Morgana sighed and called Aithusa. She told her to go back to their cave and wait for her there. Then she turned around and face the children.
"Alright then," she said, "let's do this."
.
.
That was it, she had gone mad. Of course two children wouldn't recognize her, but now she was willingly going towards a village in Camelot. How long would it take for them to realize who she truly was? And why on earth was she doing this? Shouldn't she be trying to find a way to conquer Camelot back?
"You were really far from home," Morgana said, noticing how much they had walked.
"We were looking some herbs for father," the girl explained. "They had to be really tall and have a blue flower."
"I know which herb you mean," Morgana said, "but you won't find it here. It only grows near lakes."
Nadia turned and faced her brother. "You told me they grew near mountains!"
"I thought they did!" the boy replied, rising his shoulders.
"Is that your village?" asked Morgana, pointing at some houses on the distance.
Nadia faced away from her brother and looked towards Morgana was pointing.
"Yes!" she exclaimed, and started running towards the village.
Both Morgana and Aidan told her to stop, and both of them started following her when she didn't.
.
.
Morgana walked behind the kids, trying not to be seen. However, being an unknown druid in a small village, that was next to impossible. She just had to hurry, help their father and then escape before anyone could realize who she truly was.
Once upon a time she would have found their home to be small, but after living first in a hovel and then in a cave, it looked like a palace. The instant they entered, she heard a man's voice coming from the next room.
"Aidan, Nadia, is it you? I was worried sick!"
"Father, look, we brought you a fairy!" Nadia said.
"She's a druid," Aiden explained. "She helps people."
She helps people. That sounded weird. Morgana followed them to the room. It was just big enough for the two beds that were there, one for the father and another one for both children. The man who was resting on the bed looked like he was in his thirties and for his clothes Morgana guessed he was a farmer. His leg was covered by some rudimentary bandages, through which you could see a red stain. The man looked straight at her and opened his eyes wide. Morgana took a step back, getting ready to get out of there.
"Who are you?" he asked.
Morgana let out a happy sigh. She was thankful he hadn't recognize her. He probably didn't travel to Camelot often. Finally a little luck. As for what to answer, she had to think a bit longer. Her own name was obviously out of the question, and between Gwaine and some of the druids, Green's name was also known. She couldn't take that chance.
"I'm just a druid," she answered. "May I?" she asked, pointing at his leg
The man nodded and she moved towards him. Removing the bandages she could see that it was badly infected.
Morgana put her hands over the wound, close her eyes and took a deep breath. Suddenly she opened her eyes and they glowed gold.
"Ic ðe ðurhhæle ðinu licsar mid ðam sundorcræft ðære ealdan æ. Drycræft ðurhhæle ðina wunda ond ðe geedstaðolie!"
She exhaled and felt a bit dizzy. She had to lean against the wall not to fall down. However, when she looked at the men's leg the wound was gone. Completely, absolutely, gone. She couldn't help but to smile.
"Amazing..." Aiden said.
Nadia ran and hugged her. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you."
"It's alright," Morgana said, patting her head.
"I... I don't feel the pain anymore... How... Why... Oh, God. How can I repay you?" the man asked.
"Just take care of your kids," Morgana answered. "They are very brave, but a little reckless."
A noise outside reminded her of her situation.
"I'm sorry but I must go now," she said. "Make sure to stay in bed at least until tomorrow and you'll be fine."
"I can't let you go like this. At least stay for lunch," the man said.
"Sorry, but someone is waiting for me."
Morgana turned around and moved towards the door. The second she stepped outside, she froze. At least half the village was waiting for her out there. Some of them were even holding pitchforks. So long to the good druid act. She got ready to cast a whirlwind spell the instant one of them advanced. The first one to move was a woman to her right.
"Could you heal me my arm?"
Morgana stood there with open eyes, but the woman question seemed to have broken the dam.
"My foot hurt!"
"I can't see very well!"
"I broke my finger cutting some trees!"
"I'm getting bold!"
"I want to be taller!"
Morgana couldn't believe it. Not one of them recognized her!? The druid disguise wasn't that good. And they were all asking for her help. What had happened to the magic fearing kingdom she knew? Looking at all those people Dragoon's words came back to her mind: What do you think Camelot is, Morgana?
"Goddess help me..."
.
.
It wasn't until hours later that she was going back to her cave carrying a basket full of food. She said that wasn't necessary, but the villagers insisted. She hadn't made anyone taller, of course, but she did manage to heal some wounds and cure some illnesses.
She was a fool. She hasn't gained anything, the farmers she helped were of no use to her and she wasn't any closer of conquering Camelot than she had been before. This had been a waste of time.
If that was true, however, why couldn't she stop smiling?
Never mind, this had been an one time deal. Tomorrow she would go back to getting ready for her fight against Emrys. Her mind went to the dream she had yesterday. The battle was getting closer. Was she happy or sad about that? On one hand, it was her chance to finally free Camelot of the Pendragon tyranny. On the other, she would be stupid not to consider the possibility that she might lose. A year and a half ago, that wouldn't even make her flinch, but now things was different. Aithusa needed her, and she couldn't just leave her alone.
She would think about that later. Right now her cave was in sight, Aithusa was waiting inside, and she had more than earned a good night of sleep. Emrys could wait...
.
.
.
Arthur was going through the reports. Two sheep stolen, a trading cart derailed, some bandits caught. The usual. There hadn't been any news of Alvarr or his army, but Arthur thought that was probably for the best. That meant that they were too few or too far away for his scouts to notice anything, and he was grateful either way. He kept on reading. Apparently the kitchen staff had reported that there were some rats in the castle. Arthur closed that report and moved it to the 'I will deal with this tomorrow' pile, which was getting bigger and bigger as the days went by.
If someone had told him before he became King that this was how he was going to spend his days, he might had considered abdicating. He almost wanted a monster to attack Camelot, just so he had something to do. Almost.
He grabbed the next file and smiled when he saw what it was about. Finally something interesting. It would seem that for the past week a druid had been helping people in different villages all over Camelot. This wasn't the first report he had received about this druid, and Arthur had an especial pile just for her. Using magic was technically illegal, but he didn't care. She was breaking the law to help the people. If more of sorcerers he had met in his life used magic like that... let's just say that reading things like this made him consider briefly the possibility of lifting the ban on magic. Of course, then he remembered all the harm that Morgana and many others had done with it, and that thought went away as quickly as it came.
This was the third report about her, but the only information that they had was that she was a druid with black hair; no one seemed to know anything else, not even her name. Still, it would seem that the villagers had come up with a way to call her. Arthur still found the name to be silly, but he thought it could be worse. Apparently it had something to do with the fact that two kids kept saying that she was a magical fairy who was sent by her mother to help his father. Arthur looked at the name one more time.
Le Fay.
Maybe it wasn't that bad.
.
.
.
After Morgana had left Camelot, Merlin had waited as long as he could before starting to write again, which turned out to be just a few days. Now, more than one week later, he was still waiting for a response.
He was sitting alone at the table inside the physician's quarters. Dragoon was nowhere to be found, Gaius was taking care of some wounds, Arthur was dealing with the reports, Gwen was spending time with Elyan and Gwaine was patrolling the fields. Merlin, on other hand, was playing Dragoon's game of 'follow the cup', which turned out to be a lot more boring when you are both the one who shuffles the cups and the one who picks. He almost wanted a monster to attack Camelot, just so he had something to do. Almost.
Besides him rested the two-way book that he carried around in the foolish hope of seeing the gem glimmer one more time. He grabbed it and opened it in its last page. What had once been a conversation between two people was now a monologue between him and a piece of paper.
"I miss talking to Green," he wrote. After a few seconds he closed the book and put it aside. This was pointless.
He added two more cups to the game and continued moving them around, faster and faster. He was almost ready to 'guess' where the ball was, when the gem started to glow. This had two effects. First that he moved towards the two-way book and tried to grab it, and second, that the cups were sent flying all over the room. After dodging them, Merlin decided that he would sort the mess later and opened the book.
"Green doesn't exist," she, Morgana, had answered.
He made a small smile and grabbed a quill.
"Just because something isn't real it doesn't mean it doesn't exists," Merlin wrote, repeating what Dragoon had once said.
"Yes, that's exactly what 'real' means."
"Are you alright? Do you need food or something else?" Merlin asked, changing the subject.
"I'm fine," Morgana answered.
"And how's Aithusa?"
"She's fine."
"It's 'fine' all you can say?"
"What do you want me to say?" she asked.
"Anything," he answered. "Just tell me about your day, like we used to."
"Look Merlin, I'm grateful that you helped me, but I can't trust you as long as you work for Emrys."
"I don't work for him. I like to think that we are partners."
"Keep dreaming. To him you are nothing more than a tool, a puppet."
"Then why are you writing to me right now?" Merlin asked.
"I was tired of the book's glowing waking me up at all hours," Morgana answered. "Don't you have something better to do?"
Merlin looked at the empty room around him.
"Not really, no," he answered.
For a while, no new words appeared. Merlin thought that that was going to be it, when green letters started to appear once more.
"Have you had any news of Dragoon?" she asked.
"Nothing, you?" he asked back.
"No, he is probably hiding somewhere as the coward he is. When I get my hands on him he will regret ever giving us these books."
"Was it that bad talking to me?"
"You know that's not what I meant."
"I know," Merlin wrote. "Do you think he had something to do with you getting caught?"
"I don't think so. Not unless you had told him that we were going to meet," Morgana wrote.
"I didn't."
"Good." There was a pause before Morgana wrote some more. "I've been rereading some of what you wrote, now that I know who 'Blue' is. You told me that some of your friends know about you, does that include Arthur?"
"No, it doesn't, but Gwen knows, and also did Lancelot."
"Gwen knows!? And he didn't tell Arthur!?"
"Of course not, she is my friend."
"I can't believe it... do you think— no, never mind," Morgana wrote.
Somehow, Merlin knew what she started to ask.
"I think she would have kept you secret too, things had been different," Merlin wrote.
"Are you planning on telling Arthur about you?" she asked, dismissing what Merlin had just written.
"Someday maybe, when he understands magic better," he answered.
"You really believe that's going to happen, don't you? Why? What has Arthur ever done to make you think that?"
"You heard his speech. He's trying to live in peace with the druids."
"Yes, but that's far from anything resembling lifting the ban on magic, or accepting sorcerers like us. And even if it eventually happens, which I doubt, it would take decades more. Our people doesn't have that kind of time Merlin. Everyday a spell is being forgotten, a magical artifact destroyed, a sorcerer killed. We need to take action. Now."
Merlin didn't know what to say. He tried to come up with an answer that showed her that she was wrong, but he couldn't think of anything. Magic was suffering, and that was a fact. Still, that didn't justify the things she had done.
"Have you told Emrys about us?" Morgana asked. "That we talk with each other, I mean."
"I haven't said a word," Merlin replied.
"And the knights, are they still looking for me?"
"Not really, at least not more than usual."
Somewhere in the conversation, Merlin had moved to his room, and now he could hear noises coming from the next room.
"Morgana, I have to go, Doc— I mean, Gaius is here."
"Fine."
"Goodbye, and thank you for writing back."
"Goodbye Merlin. Think about what I've said."
They both sighed with frustration and closed their books.
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A/N: I hope you liked it!
It's a bit weird seeing Morgana like this, but honestly, what was she going to do? kill some kids? Not even she is that crazy. After that things just escalated. Very quickly.
One thing I wondered while writing this chapter: Where were all the kids of Camelot in the series? The youngest person was probably young Mordred, and after him everyone seemed to be in their twenties or more (which is understandable from a casting point of view, but some kids could have added some interesting stuff).
I imagined Nadia being like Agnes from Despicable Me xD (I was really tempted to do the 'It's so fluffy' with Aithusa, but decided against it :p). Aidan was kind of her opposite (sometimes). Also, while Aidan was saying that he was older for being born first, there are some people that say that is actually the other way around, but we are not going to get into that. In the end, they are the same age.
IMPORTANT = I will be skipping updating the story next week because I want to have more written before uploading it here (sometimes is really useful being able to change the immediate past a little :p).
ALSO IMPORTANT = I've just updated the first chapter changing it a bit (there wasn't any change plot wise, of course), which was something I had wanted to do for a while now. I will be updating some others chapters as well, but that will be just grammar and spelling, so you probably won't notice.
Thanks mersan123, Lady Flurryous, Guest, hithere, Meri Ley and mean melon for the reviews =D
Lady Flurryous = Actually the boy who Morgana healed was Alvin from the first chapter xD. I think that I'm going to make it a tad more obvious :p.
mean melon = Thank you very much for your extensive review! It was really useful in rewriting the first chapter!
Ic ðe ðurhhæle ðinu licsar mid ðam sundorcræft ðære ealdan æ. Drycræft ðurhhæle ðina wunda ond ðe geedstaðolie! = I heal you thoroughly from your wound with that special power that is ancient. Oh! Magic heals thoroughly your wounds and strengthens you!