I do not own Merlin.

Chapter 4 - The Ritual

As Morgana lied unconsciously in her own bed, Merlin waited beside her anxiously. He hadn't meant for the rocks to hit her on the head so hard. Luckily, because of the siege, nobody felt the need to question Merlin while he ran around the castle with her in his arms.

He noticed a light gash on her forehead from where the rock hit her. He placed his hand on her head to examine the wound, brushing away stray locks of hair in the way. He looked around the area for a cloth to clean her cut, and ended up using the neckerchief hanging around his neck.

He murmured a quick spell to wet the neckerchief before he carefully wiped the blood off of her skin. Once the gash was cleaned up, he whispered a spell to fully heal her of her head wound. He watched as the skin magically closed up, leaving only a tiny scar. He reached down, lightly brushing his lips over the scar.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Merlin took a hold of her hand, and gave it a light squeeze. "Please, wake up."

It had been a long night so when Merlin bowed his head down on the bed, he didn't realize how quickly he would fall asleep. Though he wasn't able to sleep for long as he felt her hand slip out of his when she jumped away from him.

Merlin lifts his head up to see her cowering away from him on the other side of her bed. He reaches out to touch her again, but she only moves further away from him.

"Get away from me," she quivered in fear. His eyes don't mask how hurt he is at her reaction. He honestly didn't mean for her to hit her head so hard.

He removes his hands from the bed slowly, surrendering. "Morgana?" She looked as if she would become hysterical if he moved any closer to her.

"Sh-she was right. You were going to kill me," she whispered in quick strides. "Just like in my visions. You're going to kill me."

He was shaking his head at her in disagreement. "That's not true."

"It was your plan all along. You gain my trust. Get me to fall for you," she panted slightly in fear of the realizations. "And in the end, you'll kill me."

He sat up slowly. "Is that really what you think?"

"It's what I know. I saw it." Her voice was no longer a whisper.

"You saw wrong," he argued back in calm tone. "I don't want to hurt you. I won't. Not if I have a choice."

She sat up. "No. I'm not falling for this. Not again." Merlin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, unable to figure why she was acting like this. She covered her ears, and shook her head. "I'm not going back there. Not again."

"Morgana-"

"Get out." He didn't move. "Leave, Merlin!" He moved a foot, willing himself to stand up. At the look of her face, he mumbled a quick apology and trudged out the door.

It didn't take long before his mind was plagued with thoughts of Morgana. He couldn't quite understand her sudden change of attitude. He's never seen her be so frightened of him. He tried to sleep it off that night, but he couldn't get it out of his head.

For the last few hours of that night, all he did was twist and turn in his bed until Daegal came to wake him up. Before he went off to receive his duties of the day, Merlin decided to pay Gaius a visit. Daegal followed after him, deciding that his chambers was clean enough.

Merlin knocked on the door and walked in after he heard Gaius's voice. "Enter."

"Good morning, Gaius." Merlin smiled.

Gaius looked up from his seat at his desk. "Merlin, Daegal. What brings you here?"

"I never got the chance to ask you about what caused Uther's illness," Merlin took a seat at the bench. "Oh, and Daegal knows about- you know."

The physician perked his head up in fear. He took off his glasses and stood up. Surely, Merlin isn't talking about what he thinks he is talking about. "What do you mean?"

"You know, about my," he whispered the last part. "magic."

Gaius almost fainted, but instead he sighed in utter disbelief. He couldn't quite put off how casual Merlin played that off. In a tired and disbelieving tone, he started to scold him. "Merlin, how many times-"

"Before you say anything else, I didn't tell him or mean for him to find out. He caught me while I was saving Arthur."

Daegal nodded. "I won't say anything. Promise." Gaius raised his infamous eyebrow, observing the two boys sitting in his room. He sighed, realizing that there was nothing else to be done now.

"It was a mandrake root," he answered his initial question.

"A what?" The boys asked simultaneously.

Gaius sat back down in his seat. "The mandrake root can serve many different purposes. It is a very dark kind of magic," he explained. "For non-magical beings, it could have far reaching effects on their mind. It would cause them to hallucinate visions that would strike fear and dread in their very soul."

Merlin thought of Morgana. "And what would it do to people who do have magic?" Daegal looked to his master curiously.

"I do not think mandrake roots would have the same far reaching effects on a magical being, compared to someone without magic. It wouldn't be as potent."

"What do you mean by far reaching effects?"

Gaius adjusted his position on the chair. "Well, if someone was under the enchantment long enough, both their mind and body would no longer be their own. They would be slaves to the person who cast the spell. If they didn't have magic."

"And if they do?"

"I'm not sure. There should be a book about it in the library, but could I ask why you may need it?"

Merlin shrugged, avoiding his eyes. "No reason. Just out of curiosity."

"Merlin."

"It's nothing to worry about." He managed a tiny smile, and the physician didn't question him any further.

Merlin and Daegal snuck into the far end side of the library so they would avoid Geoffrey. Luckily, they were able to find a book about the magical plant in less than an hour. Merlin began flipping through the pages of the book to find anything that matches Morgana's behavior. Daegal pointed to something on the page he was reading.

Merlin gave it a quick look through, and looked up. "What does it mean?" Daegal asked.

"It talks about an ancient ritual of the Old Religion," he skimmed. "The Teine Diaga." He let Daegal look through the book. "It's like what Gaius said. The ritual terrorizes the victim to the point where they lose their free will."

The servant looked up from the book. "Uther's all better now, you know," he told Merlin. "I'm not quite sure why you want to do extra research."

The raven haired knight sighed. "It's not for Uther."

"Figured that much," he said. "I did catch you ask about it's effects on people with magic." Merlin rubbed his eyes tiredly, having not slept much the night before. He pushed his hair back, knowing he was going to have to tell him sooner or later.

"Morgana's been acting a little strange."

Daegal looked at him incredulously. "Just a little?" Merlin gave him a guilty look. Morgana did turn them over to Morgause who left them to die in the woods.

"She's normally not like this," he defended her. "She never would have done anything to harm Arthur or Camelot before. Uther, maybe. But not Arthur or Camelot." Daegal narrowed his eyes at him. "Okay. Uther, definitely. But she's stopped herself before."

"Does she know about you?" Merlin nodded. "Your destiny?" He nodded again. "Arthur's destiny?" Another nod. "Your dragon?"

Merlin stopped himself from nodding once more. He opened his mouth to say something, but bit his lip instead and looked away. "About that."

"She doesn't know?" He raised an eyebrow at his master.

"I didn't think there would be a point if I did. If I told her, she'd probably want to meet him, and well-"

Daegal chuckled. "Yeah, I know. The dragon's not the friendliest of beasts, but I think he likes me." Merlin looked at him in disbelief. "He's not too fond of Morgana though."

"Especially her, but I know he means well," he sighed. "I thought it'd be best if they met at a reasonable time. Which is," he stopped to think. "not now." Merlin turned his attention back to the book.

"So you really think she's under this root enchantment?"

"I didn't know before, but this morning she woke up and she," he recalled her fear. "She was terrified of me. I don't know what happened, but I think it could be what the book describes."

His servant shook his head. "That's what happens to someone with no magic. It looked like she had her mind intact when we were talking with her."

"Wait, here." Merlin summarized the paragraph he read. "A magical being can't completely finish the ritual. Their magic protects them from fully losing their mind, but it doesn't mean that they can't be influenced to swear complete allegiance to another."

"Influenced?" Daegal asked. "Like, brainwashing?"

"The ritual can cause people to see visions of their loved ones turning against them," he rubbed his face in realization. "I think that's why Morgana kept telling me that she saw me killing her." He kept reading. "It also says that these visions would play on their deepest fears and insecurities."

"How do we save her?"

Merlin dragged his finger through the lines to find the answer. "It says that someone who has been through the ritual-" He quickly read over the unnecessary details until he reached the end. "could be doomed for all eternity." His lips parted in shock. "Wait, what?"

"What? Keep reading." Daegal flipped to the next page, only to realize that it was the end of the book.

"There- there should be more books on this." Merlin stood up and looked through the cases again, but to no avail. He read the last paragraph again. "There's no way there's no cure for this." He wished it would be as easy as throwing the mandrake root into a fire, but the mandrake roots used on her were most likely long disposed of by now.

"Well, we could always talk to our scaly friend."

They met in a clearing in the woods to summon Kilgharrah. Merlin had just finished his night shift when they decided to head out. He couldn't avoid Arthur for too long. Most of the day was spent burying the dead and cleaning up the lower town.

Merlin tried to keep his mind off of the news all day. More than once, he had to keep reassuring himself that there was a balance for everything. There must have been a cure for this. She wasn't completely gone, he repeated to himself in his head all day.

Magic is embedded into her very soul. It said that magic will protect the person from losing their mind. She's not doomed for all of eternity. Hopefully.

Kilgharrah landed with a loud swoosh. "What is it this time, young warlock?"

"It's Morgana." Before the dragon could reiterate his usual warnings, he continued. "We think she's under the Teine Diaga, and we don't know it's cure."

Merlin couldn't tell what the dragon was thinking. Only hoped that he wouldn't argue with him, and agree to help save her life. "The Lady Morgana has been missing for over a year. She is long gone," he said. "But, if it is true that she protected your secret, then she may be saved."

The knight exhaled deeply, not realizing he had been holding his breath. "How?"

"All magic has a balance. The Teine Diaga is a magic of the darkest kind. It is rare, but it is possible to save her using the light of the sun."

Merlin looked down to try and figure out what that meant. "The light of the-" When he looked up, the dragon had already flown away. "sun," he sighed. "Thank you for the help."

Daegal frowned. "He didn't even say goodbye," he sniffed. "After all that we've been through." Merlin awkwardly patted him on the back as they walked back to the castle.

He thought he would see Gaius again tonight, if he was still awake. He also planned to do some chores for him. He's getting older and he shouldn't be doing them all by himself. He hasn't had a lot of time to do so because of his knightly duties, but he'll try to make more time.

However when he reached the physicians chambers, he found that the door was ajar. He and Daegal peeked into the seep of the door, listening to the conversation.

"It is the Triskelion of Ashkanar." They watch as Gaius examines the object with caution and care. "The bind runes will guide the bearer to the tomb of Ashkanar," Gaius looked to the man in question. "We both know the legend. We both know what he hid there."

"A dragon's egg."

AN: I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I sense a happy Mergana reunion in upcoming chapters! I apologize if the Teine Diaga information is incorrect. I think it has the same ideas, but I might have made some stuff up along the way. I know the cure is the Cauldron of Arianrhod, but that's Arthur/Gwen's place so I thought I'd make up a different cure. Morgana's behavior seems to have made a complete 360, but something had to happen to show Merlin that somethings going on.

currageously: lol I love reading the enchantment theories, and you were spot on. It was the Dark Tower. And I'm pleased you liked the Merlin, Arthur, Daegal part. The breakfast line was one of my favorites from show. Thank you so much for reading! :)

Guest: Soon, I promise! :) And I'm sorry. I'm not a big fan of evil Morgana, no matter how good Katie looks in evil clothes.

Meri Ley: Hopefully! Thanks for reading! :D

Guest: It was the latter lol. Glad you caught that. She thought she was too trusting, and she let that part of her go. Thank you for reading! :)

Thank you all for reviews, follows, and favorites. Hopefully, the next update would have happy mergana. :)