"I was hindered because she was a woman!" announced Arthur, to the quiet room. Merlin, the only one in the room, looked at him with a smirk, knowing he was lying.
"You didn't look hindered..."
"Shut up," retorted Arthur. He leaned over then and pressed his face into the cold, wood of the table. He supposed he should be happy he were alive, a Knight's code was you fight to the death, but the strange woman had spared Arthur's life. She had also challenged him in the first place, so Arthur was rather confused. The whole thing was confusing. It had been only yesterday, when yet again Uther had thrown a feast, only so he had an excuse to drink so much he could barely think straight, probably, but covered it up with being 'happy the yearly tournament would be starting in a week.' It was a time for calibration apparently, that was until this mysterious woman came bursting into the castle and demanded Arthur fight her...and for what? Because she lived and he lived, only because she allowed him to. And her only request for allowing Arthur to continue life, was simple, she had made him promise something, something he had not yet shared with anyone else. Arthur wasn't sure what he was going to do about it, not yet anyway. Surely, he had to do what she asked.
Only the next day, after a night of rest from the fight, she readied herself to leave and Arthur was, again, confused by this. She had been mysterious this whole time, if not dead, what did she want from Arthur? And why was she doing all of this? She no less said her name, much less her intent. He walked toward her, as she readied her horse. He brought along his own horse, as an excuse to speak to her, as if he was going on a ride or something, he was not.
"I suppose this is goodbye..."
She looked up at him, with a raised eyebrow and a thin smirk on her lips. "Not for long."
"You have not even told me your name, yet you expect me to do as you ask?" retorted Arthur. Her smirk didn't move, she just studied him, with big, brown eyes.
"It is the bargain we struck, is it not?" she said back, coolly. "I allowed you to live. You are a Knight, Arthur, you know what you must do." He stare at her, as she step forward and petted Arthur's horses mane. "You have a very fine horse, he will treat you well on your travels," she said, before looking back at Arthur with a rather obvious look of dislike, she masked it, however, rather quickly. "Tomorrow, as the dawn rises, you will set out on your quest, you will find me, passed the last waterfall, just beyond the edge of the Earth..."
Arthur, once again, stared at her, confused by her words. "How will I find that?"
She smirked agan, "You will know when the time comes..."
She got on her horse then and grinned down at Arthur, but not in a kind way, as one might grin at someone, but very coldly. He sighed and almost wished he had chosen death, instead of this completely stupid turn of events. This random woman might be bringing him to his death anyway, and will take pleasure in prolonging Arthur's life, only to watch him make a fool out of himself. Her horse began to trot off then, and he rolled his eyes.
"You will not even tell me your name then?"
"My name is Morgause..."
And then she was gone, horse breaking out into a run, through the courtyard, a few passersby had to jump but of the way in time, Arthur watched as she went, still confused. But he supposed he had no choice. Arthur returned his horse to the stables after that, as he never had any intention of riding a horse anyway, just wanted an excuse to ask this strange woman...Morgause, some questions. Now, Arthur headed back inside, to his chambers. Merlin was there, hanging tunics up in Arthur's wardrobe. Arthur paused there, at the door, he had still not told Merlin of the woman's request and he honestly didn't know how, because he knew Merlin would tell him not to go.
"Merlin," he said in a strong voice, even though he did not feel very strong right now. He had just been bested by a woman, and now had to follow her rules. Needless to say, Arthur didn't like it. Merlin looked over at him, when he spoke. "I need you to pack, enough for three or four days, we leave tomorrow, at first light."
Merlin didn't move, as a good servant would, he just stare at Arthur. "Where are we going?"
Arthur didn't know how to answer that, so he stare for a long moment, making Merlin's eyebrows forward, in suspicion. "I have business to attend to."
"Where?" demanded Merlin and Arthur sighed, rolling his eyes.
"It does not matter where!" he retorted. Merlin's look of judgment did not falter.
"Why don't you want to tell me?"
"Because..." Arthur trailed off, lost for words, just completely. Merlin glared. "It doesn't concern you."
"If I am supposed to go, it concerns me," Merlin retorted, turning toward Arthur more fully and placed his hands on his hips, in distaste. "How will I know what to pack?" he demanded then, looking like an angry mother. "Will it be hot, will it be cold, will it be wet, will it be dry...?"
Arthur's mouth fell open a little bit, as he shook his head. "I DON'T KNOW!" he shot back and Merlin tutted at him, rolling his eyes. Arthur pointed a finger at him. "Just pack!"
"I don't see why I should..."
"BECAUSE YOU'RE MY SERVANT AND I AM TELLING YOU TO!"
"And you can't even tell me where we're going!" Merlin argued back, but seemed to cave, and turned back toward the wardrobe, pulling tunics back out of it. "Because you're an ass who thinks he is too good to tell me things..."
"That's not it," said Arthur, calmer now, at least. "I just know you will tell me not to go..."
Merlin paused at this and looked worried at Arthur. "Why?" he asked, eyebrows knitting together at this point. Like a snake crawling across Merlin's forehead. "Who is asking you to go? Uther...?"
"No," answered Arthur, ignoring Merlin's look of worry. "Morgause...the woman who defeated me."
"Oh, Arthur.." said Merlin then, dropping the thing he was holding, which was a sock, and rushed at Arthur like he were dying all of a sudden. "I don't trust her...you can't do anything she says."
"I have no choice, I gave her my word..."
"Why would you do something so stupid?"
Arthur glared at Merlin suddenly "I don't know..." he retorted. "So I didn't die?"
"What is she making you do?"
"I have no idea yet, I am to meet her in the woods somewhere..." Arthur sighed. "Passed the last waterfall, just beyond the edge of the Earth...that's all I know."
"So it will be wet..." muttered Merlin, and Arthur looked up at him strangely. But Merlin's eyes were somewhere just over top of Arthur's head, deep in thought, deep in worry, and Arthur thought he had a good reason to be.
The next morning came all too quickly. Arthur had lied to his Father about going on a hunting trip, because he was another person who would tell Arthur not to go. He would say it was stupid and foolish, and he would probably be right, but Arthur had no choice. He and Merlin set out, just as the sun was starting to rise. They rode for a good two hours, before Arthur started to really consider one rather important thing, he had no idea where to go. All he knew was he was looking for a waterfall, that was it. There were plenty of waterfalls, so which one..? What was the last one before the edge of the Earth? How the hell long would they be traveling for?
They came to a fork in the rode, after three hours of traveling, and they stopped there. "How are we supposed to know which way to go?" offered Merlin and Arthur shrugged.
"We should go left...this way takes you toward the mountains."
"We're looking for a waterfall, that means water," retorted Merlin, as he pointed toward the right path. "This leads to a lake."
"A waterfall has to fall down something, Merlin!" Arthur shot back. "We will go left..."
Merlin growled at him, and Arthur kicked his horse into alertness, only for him to walk the opposite way Arthur had just urged him to go. Instead, the horse followed the path Merlin had just said to go. Arthur looked over his shoulder and glared at Merlin. "I didn't do anything!" retorted Merlin, for the second time, but he did look rather amused now.
"Oh good...so the horse knows where we're going..."
They traveled another two hours after that. They had stopped three times so far, twice to water the horses and once for lunch. At least they were making good time, wherever they were going. They were now just allowing Arthur's horse to make all of the calls. And it struck Arthur, as he watched the sun start moving across the sky, showing it was getting latter into the midday, that if the horse was the only one who knew where they were going...and it was a horse, clearly that's magic. And if Morgause has magic to enchant the horse...she has magic to enchant herself, and to beat Arthur.
"She used magic!" he announced, rather loudly, suddenly, and harshly, cutting through the silence that was between them. Merlin looked over, with a raised eyebrow. "She has to have...to beat me."
"She didn't look like she was using magic..."
"How do you know?" Arthur retorted then, and Merlin rolled his eyes. "How do you know what it looks like when someone uses magic?" Merlin sighed then, and shrugged, but it hit Arthur then. "Oh yes...your mate. Will...of course, probably hexed all sort of honorable Knights in front of you."
Merlin openly rolled his eyes yet again. "Something like that..."
"Oh, I have no doubt," said Arthur then, smugly. "It couldn't have just been me he hated..."
"Maybe he didn't like you because he thought you were a bad influence on me?" offered Merlin then, with a smug look of his own. Arthur dismissed this.
"No, I am the best influence..." he said "I have made a proper person out of you."
"Hmm...no I don't think you have," said Merlin, still rather smugly. "Now, I have you, definitely..."
"Excuse me?" retorted Arthur, allowing the horse to veer them off, onto another path again. "What have you done to change me?"
Arthur knew the answer, which was almost everything, but he refused to give that to Merlin, though he had no idea why. Probably pride, Arthur had already lost a lot of it already. "You were a complete ass when I met you," said Merlin, seriously. "You were horrible and treated servants like pests...at least know you treat us like people."
Arthur couldn't argue that, he knew it was true. "Yes, well...when I met you, you thought you were oh so clever...but you were only disrespectful and rude."
"I am clever," retorted Merlin, and Arthur laughed, even though he hadn't wanted to. "And I was never disrespectful or rude, that was you."
"I hardly think so..."
"You tired to kill me because I told you something you didn't like!"
"Shut up..."
"See...not so changed after all," retorted Merlin, and Arthur sighed, almost annoyed, but he did have some sort of stupid grin on his face all the same. He liked these pointless talks with Merlin, they made him forget what was to come. They traveled on, and it became well passed midday, it was dusk now, nearly dark but not quite and Arthur didn't want to stop, he wanted to get there and get this over with, before he gave up and went home, even if his horse protested.
"We can go an hour more," he said, and just as he said this, his horse stopped, just stopped dead, in the middle of a clearing. He looked around, saw no ends of the Earth or waterfalls. "WHAT?!" He seethed out, and Merlin pointed, down a very small pathway between two low hanging trees. "Oh...wonderful."
They left the horses there, traveling by foot, down the pathway. It was rather short and on the other side of it was a large lake, almost completely covered by over-hanging trees and mountains in the background. In the middle of this lake, was a waterfall. "Passed the waterfall, just beyond the edge of the Earth..." said Merlin, in a musing sort of way. "We have to go through it."
Arthur didn't like it, but he didn't question it, he just entered the cold, cold water, which was about waist level at most, even in the very middle of the lake. But Merlin complained, he complained a lot, about being cold and being wet...and Arthur wanted to make side comments about this, but he felt looming in his heart, at what was passed this waterfall, so he did not.
What was on the other side was darkness, the rock of the mountain had swallowed them, along with the thick of the trees, it made it so they could not see the setting sun anymore. It was a temple, of some kind, Arthur could tell...but what kind, he did not know. They continued on, for some time, until they reached a garden. It seemed odd a garden could grow in this darkness, but Arthur supposed anything was possible with magic.
"Arthur Pendragon," said a voice, behind Arthur, and he turned around, to see Morgause there. Instead of armor, she wore a red dress now. "you have proven your word, I am pleased."
Arthur scrunched up his face at this. "What do you want from me?"
"I want nothing, I promise you."
"You did not make me come all the way here for nothing," he said, sure of this, and she grinned at him, just as before, with dislike. "Just tell me what it is..."
"I wanted to see if you were a man of value, or if you were as selfish and arrogant as your Father," said Morgause. Arthur growled at this.
"Do not speak of my Father, you do not know him!" he retorted, but she did have a point, a Troll did cross Arthur's mind, for a second, but Uther had been under a spell, so maybe that didn't count. Though, there were other times, plenty of them. Arthur knew Uther's faults, but that still didn't change anything. he would still defend his Father's name.
"No need to get hostile, Arthur, I was complementing you," said Morgause then, with a smirk. "I want to give you a gift, for keeping your word. After all, Arthur, your word is all you truly have in this world."
"A gift...?" retorted Arthur, still keeping himself on guard and rather irritated, she was wasting his time, wasn't she? She smiled, for real this time, not in dislike or in a smirk, a real smile. Arthur still found it rather ugly.
"There is something you have always wanted," she said then. "Something you always wished you could have...and now I can give it to you." Well, Arthur didn't like the sound of that at all. He was afraid of what this thing might be. "Don't look so worried, your secrets are safe here," her dark smirk was back. "I mean something you have wanted since you were a child...a chance to speak to your Mother."
Arthur was not expecting that at all. "What do you mean?"
"There is a reason I asked you to meet me here, Arthur," said Morgause, instead of answering Arthur's question. Arthur really hated Sorcerers, they never got to the point about anything. "This is a temple of the Old Religion. It is thriving with magic...with the right spell and a powerful caster, I can grant you your wish."
"You can bring my Mother back?"
"For a short time, yes," smiled Morgause. "Enough for you to speak to her. Would you like that?"
Yes, Arthur thought at once, more than anything, but he didn't trust it. He looked over his shoulder at Merlin, who had stayed quiet the whole time, allowing Arthur to handle Morgause. But now, he was shaking his head no. Arthur looked forward again, in disappear. He knew Merlin was right, something about this didn't feel right, something about Morgause didn't feel right.
"Do not look so troubled, Arthur, this is a gift, no tricks," she said, softly. "I give you my word."
Arthur didn't say anything at all, and Morgause nodded her head, as if agreeing to something Arthur didn't say and she took a step back, closing her eyes. Arthur wanted to tell her to stop, but he didn't, something yearned in him, to see if Morgause was telling the truth, to see if perhaps...he could just get a glimpse of his Mother, just for a second. The room grew darker and very cold all of a sudden. A chilling wind blew and it made Arthur's damp clothes stick to him. Morgause was saying something, in a strange voice, and then looked at him, her eyes ablaze with an orangey gold color, she took in a deep breath, almost gasping. Arthur wanted to tell her to stop again...but he didn't.
"Close your eyes, Arthur!" shouted Morgause and he listened, he actually listened to a Sorcerer. he didn't know her or trust her. You can't trust a Sorcerer, his Father had told him this countless times, but still, he did it. The room grew even colder, as if it were about to snow, and then as if the world stopped all together, everything grew deathly silent. Arthur pleaded with himself to open his eyes, but he refused his own want, as he did with a lot of things, and kept them closed.
"Arthur...?" someone said his name, but it was a new voice, one he didn't know. He didn't want to trust it, it might be a trick, so he kept his eyes closed still. "Arthur, open your eyes."
And he did, as if he were a servant and had to do what someone else told him, he did it. And there, stood before him was a very beautiful blonde woman, and Arthur didn't only say that because she was his Mother, but because she truly was beautiful. And then, without fail, as if it had not been trained into his head, beat into it really, with a rock. It was as if none of it mattered now...because right then, looking upon his Mother's pale face and blue eyes, just like his own, Arthur just started bawling.
(A/N: So, this update is really late, my internet was messed up again, which means I couldn't write anything and I am a bit annoyed about that, but either way...I figured I would do something productive, so I updated and honestly, I love the Sins Of Th Father chapters so much. I know I already said that before. But the next chapter is like my 1000% favorite chapter right now. I looove it. It is so good, I'll explain why I like it so much after I post it. Anyway...enjoy this chapter now!)