Hi guys this is a merlin fanfiction that I saw on google.its a good story have read it and I said I should share it with you guys. The scene starts when merlin poisoned morgana to save camelot

Chapter 1 - Sacrifice
He held the poison in his hand.
Ready and waiting. Merlin used his
sleeve to wipe the sweat from his
shiny forehead. He could hear
Arthur's sword crashing against the
undead knights just outside the big
double doors.
He hazily turned his head to stare at
the Lady Morgana. His friend, the
woman who trusted him, the
woman who was the source of the
spell, the traitor.
The victim.
Yet she seemed genuinely worried.
She craned Uther's head in her
shaking hands as she stared down at
the sleeping King.
No he thought as he turned his head
back around to gaze at the lethal
liquid in his hands. He had no
choice. If he didn't destroy the
source, then Camelot would be
forever lost. All his friends, his
destiny with Arthur. They would
cease to be and that was an option
that was not acceptable.
It had to be done.
He heard the sound of ripping cloth
as Morgana began preparing Uther's
sheet made stretcher to lower him
out the window. Just like Arthur had
said. What is she doing? No! He had
made up his mind. It had to be done,
now.
He crouched down on one knee, his
back still to the King and his ward.
Popping off the top to his water sack
he immediately poured the poison
in, not prepared to allow himself
time to consider his actions.
He swiftly turned back to Morgana.
The deadly liquid in his hand. He
watched her silently for a few short
moments, now seeing guilt written
all over her face. He was unsurprised
when her eyes drew upwards to his
own baby blues. Seconds felt like
days as their eyes met. She looked at
him like she knew what he was
doing...like she knew he was going
to kill her.
"Have some water." He said quickly,
pushing the water towards her. He
watched her eyes look down at the
ordinary looking sack before
returning to his.
She shook her head. "I'm not
thirsty." She stated and instantly
went back to ripping Uther's sheets.
His mind feverishly thought a reason
as to why she should drink it, but
why exactly would you have a drink
of water at a time like this if you
weren't thirsty.
His mouth spoke faster then his
brain could think. "If we get out of
here you may not get another
chance to drink."
She looked up at him as if he was
crazy. "If we get out of here." Her
tone was full of doubt, frustration
and...anger?
Arthur's scream echoed up the hall,
causing the pair to turn their heads
towards the big double doors. Merlin
stood and walked towards the door
whilst handing her the poisoned
sack, and watched her as he walked
past as she instantly put it down. Did
she know?
Realising there was nothing else he
could do. He walked back and picked
up the water casually and proceeded
to put the deadly drink to his mouth.
With his back to her he pretended to
swallow it with an audible gulp,
silently wondering if she was even
watching. He spun around and
crouched to hold out the beverage
to her.
"Here" He whispered, though unsure
as to why.
"I'm fine." She repeated annoyingly.
"N-No you have some before I finish
it." He stammered. She stopped
what she was doing and stared up at
him with those big blue innocent
eyes. His heart skipped as his guilt
stabbed at every corner of him.
She suddenly smiled charmingly and
reached out for the flask. Her hand
tightened round it and he found
himself having to force himself to
release it.
"Thank you." She whispered. She
looked touched by his apparent
generosity as she grasped the
poisoned water now in her hand.
She popped the lid, he finding
himself unable to tear his eyes from
the scene.
And just like that she drunk. He felt a
fierce stab in his gut in those few
seconds she swallowed, having to
blink a couple more times in an
effort to stop himself lashing
forwards and stealing the water
from her. She finished and wiped
her mouth.
It was done.
She gave the sack back to him with a
smile and he immediately snatched
it from her, once again not prepared
to allow himself time to ponder what
he had done. He turned his back to
her and waited. Waited for his friend
to die.
She coughed, and he took in a large
gulp of air. It was beginning.
The sudden intakes of air came next.
He could hear her. Gasping. Afraid.
He had done that to her. He had
betrayed her, and now he could feel
her eyes penetrating into the back of
his head. Those hot suspicious
vibrant blues burning into his very
soul. The gasps grew more frequent
and he knew it was only going to get
worse for her.
She deserved more than this. She
deserved more than to be gutlessly
killed by someone who she thought
she could trust. He felt the stinging
sensation of tears and hastily wiped
them away, almost slapping himself
in the process. She at least deserved
his attention.
He turned to her suddenly at first,
ready to show her a cold exterior,
but was brought to a stand still. She
stared up at him with confused,
terrified eyes. He almost felt himself
collapse when a squeak escaped her
frozen lips.
What had he done? He dropped to
his knees to try and bring her into his
arms but she batted his arms away
in a frenzy, her eyes screaming
betrayal. He tried again to be met
with the same results, but persisted
in the knowledge that shortly she
would be too weak to resist his guilt
ridden comfort.
He was proven right as she fell into
his arms. He caught her and
immediately allowed her to put her
weight on him. She gasped for air
whilst grasping her throat. He stared
down at her with his lips trembling,
he stared at her as he watched her
draw her last few terrified breaths
before he could take no more.
He wrapped his arms around her
and stared up at the ceiling, his eyes
glazing over with unshed tears. He
couldn't watch her die at his own
hands in his arms. He bit his bottom
lip as he heard her choke out
desperately when
suddenly...nothing.
Silence rung out through the throne
room, and a single silent tear
escaped the young Warlocks eye. He
had done it. He had killed one of his
good friends. He looked down at the
unmoving woman in his arms and
broke down, shaking with guilt as
tears rapidly burst forward from his
glistening blue eyes.
He pulled her head up to his and
rested his own forehead on her pale
one. Subdued yet violent sobs shook
him as he rocked them both back
and forth. He had done this without
proof, but instead on the word of a
vindictive dragon that had always
had a sore spot for the 'witch' as he
called her.
Abruptly the locked double entrance
doors to the throne room blasted
open. Merlin snapped his head to
glance at the doors to find Morgause
stepping through the smoke. Merlin
studied her through blurry wet eyes.
She seemed genuinely concerned, in
fact afraid of the sight she saw
before her.
He didn't have time to make a plan
as the blonde sorceress came
bounding forward, dropped to her
knees and took the lifeless Morgana
from him. He stumbled backwards
mouth agape. Eyes red raw from hot
tears. He was a monster, and he
silently prayed to the Gods that they
would forgive him for what he was
about to do next.
"What has he done to you?"
Morgause asked her half-sister.
Merlin slowly rose to his feet with a
still trembling bottom lip. Uther
began to stir behind him. There
wasn't much time.
"I can save her." He stated weakly,
yet with an underlying tone of
assurance. Morgause looked up at
him confused.
"What? What could you possibly do?
You're just a servant -"
"I'm the last chance she's got!"
Merlin rather more boldly replied.
Morgause continued to stare up at
him now even more confused.
"I don't understand." She said dazed.
He could hear Uther groaning
behind him, as well as Arthur's boot
clad footsteps charging back up
towards them.
"There's no time!" He yelled
suddenly. "I'll save her on one
condition. You leave Camelot, and
never come back. Not ever."
Morgause looked at him
scandalized. Who did this servant
think he was?
"We don't have much time!" He
yelled once more, turning around to
check on Uther. "It's now or never
Morgause!"
She would have to make her mind
later. For now it was time to save
Morgana. She nodded her approval.
Merlin held out his hand. "Restituo
suus!" Morgause watched as his eyes
glazed over with an unnatural fire
red right before Morgana sat up with
a huge gasp. That's when everything
seemed to happen at once.
Uther sat bolt upright to find Merlin
standing up, Morgause on the floor
with a heavily breathing Morgana.
Arthur arrived at the big double
doors panting. Morgana turned and
looked at Merlin with a look of
complete revulsion and Morgause,
having seen Morgana was Ok looked
up at Merlin.
He held her stare with hard
resilience. She looked behind her to
see Arthur making his way towards
her with his sword out. Turning back
around she saw Uther rising behind
Merlin, a firm frown on his face. She
shifted her eyes once more to the
raw eyes of Merlin before
disappearing in a cloud of black
smoke with one final snarl. Morgana
jumped back in surprise. Instantly
Arthur and Uther were by her side,
Arthur offering her his hand.
She took it and flung herself into her
brother in Law's arms, shocking the
crowned prince. Eventually he
wrapped his arms around her as she
began to sob into his shoulder.
Concerned though he may have
been, Uther could do nothing but
stand by and watch.
"What happened Morgana?" The
King asked anxiously.
Morgana slowly pulled away to look
at her Guardian. Merlin's heart
caught in his throat. This was it. She
was going to tell the King that he had
just tried to kill her and then he
would be dead by morning. Arthur
watched his adoptive sister stare at
his father with knitted eyebrows. He
too was wondering what had
happened whilst he was away.
"Morgause blew the doors open and
tried to kill me." She stated, calm as
if she had been asked what the
weather was like outside.
Merlin's eyes widened in disbelief.
She was lying on his behalf? To
protect him? Why would she after
what he had just done?
"How did you survive?" Arthur asked
inquisitively.
Morgana turned to Merlin. Their
eyes met. Blue on blue. Merlin
stared at her in such astonishment
that it made her own icy cold glare
seem that much more dangerous.
"Merlin convinced her that it would
be in her best interest to leave
Camelot for good."
All eyes were now on him, but he
found himself unable to tear his eyes
of Morgana's beautiful yet void like
eyes. He didn't understand. She was
not only lying to protect him, but she
was making him out to be some kind
of hero. He was so shocked that he
didn't even notice the King arrive
next to him until he spoke.
"How?" Uther asked astounded.
Merlin turned to face him. Good
question he thought to himself and
turned to look at Morgana for
answers. As if she hadn't done
enough for him.
"I-I...Err..." Merlin began briefly
before being cut off by Morgana.
"He made her see that it would be
wrong to destroy the whole of
Camelot just because of her
grievances with you my Lord"
Morgana continued for him, bowing
slightly at the king. "It stalled her
long enough for you and Arthur to
arrive, which I assume scared her
off."
Arthur's face was a picture. It
seemed he was having almost as
hard a time believing it as Merlin
himself. Whereas Merlin all the while
seemed unable to remove his wide
eyes from Morgana's ice cold blues.
"Incredible." Arthur murmured out
loud before moving towards his man
servant. "Just when I think I have
you all figured out Merlin, you go
and save the kingdom." He punched
him in the shoulder, which helped
release him from the death grip
Morgana's eyes had on him. He gave
his prince a weak smile. "This is
becoming quite a habit for you
Merlin. You ought to be careful."
Arthur finished with a smile.
"Indeed." Uther agreed, shocking
everyone when he placed a hand on
Merlin's shoulder. "You really have
proven yourself to be quite a trusted
ally. Wouldn't you say so Morgana?"
Now all eyes were back on Morgana,
though the King and Prince seemed
to miss the coldness within her eyes.
However Merlin did not. His fake
smile dropped upon gazing into
them.
"Yes my Lord." She answered
robotically. "Quite trustworthy."
Morgana stood at her window,
gazing out at the city of Camelot.
Today it had almost been destroyed,
and yet it's people knew not. They
knew nothing of how the King's ward
had almost destroyed their homes.
Of how she had betrayed her own
just because of her longing for
answers, for her desire to be with
someone like herself...to be loved
for what she was, not for what she
pretended to be.
She had thought Merlin was one of
those people who could care for her
no matter what she was. He had
kept her secret no matter what and
had always proven himself loyal.
Until tonight. She heard Gwen enter
behind her, obviously there to assist
her in her nightly duties.
"I'm not ready for bed yet Gwen."
She said distracted in her thoughts.
"Could you come back later?"
"I wouldn't expect you to after a day
like today." Morgana's eyes widened.
That was a man's voice. Spinning on
her heel she turned to face the man
who had tried to take her life not
hours before. "After all, you were the
only one who wasn't tired today."
The two stared at each other un-
falteringly. Each with their own
thoughts of mistrust running wild
through their heads. Morgana was
the first to break the unpleasant
connection.
"What do you think you're doing
here?" She asked, her tone devoid of
all emotion and her stare cold.
Merlin briefly broke eye contact to
stare at the ground.
"I came to check that you were
alright."
Morgana scoffed. She couldn't help
herself. "What? You mean to finish
the job you started? The knifes right
over there."
"You left me no choice Morgana." He
whispered heatedly. "You were
willing to let Camelot die. To let
Arthur fight to his death thinking
that he was saving you, unaware you
were the source of the problem."
Morgana bit her lip. "So that gives
you the right to poison one of your
friends? On assumptions? I did not
cause Camelot to sleep. That was
Morgause."
"Don't lie to me Morgana." Merlin
boldly demanded, walking up to her
so he was face to face with her
frosty glare. "I have let things slide
one too many times."
She moved back slightly, trying to
regain her personal space. "What are
you talking about?"
"I watched you when you tried to kill
Uther before. I've helped you save
Mordred. I've kept the fact that
you're a sorceress from everyone
close to you a secret. I found the
druids for you so you could gain
some clarity, to try and help you. I
sacrificed myself on the same day so
the druids could help you escape
and Arthur would not discover the
true reason why you were there. I
watched as you met with those
sorcerers in the woods just outside
Camelot, and then steal keys from
Arthur's chambers so you could free
him from the prison. And today I
helped you avoid suspicion from
Arthur when I believed it was your
magic that was keeping you from
falling under the spell."
Morgana had no idea what to say.
She had no idea he had done so
much for her. "I thought you were
just confused." He continued. "I
believed so much that you were a
good person, but now I realise I was
just fooling myself."
"I..." Morgana began vulnerably
before forcing herself to remember
he had just tried to kill her. "How
does any of this give you the right to
kill me? And how did you know I was
even the source of the Magic? What
makes you such an expert-"
"I am not as ignorant as you might
think." He interrupted fiercly,
surprising the King's ward. "Where I
come from, Magic is not as evil as
Uther makes out. That's how I knew
where the druids were. That's how
knew you were a sorceress. I am
NOT some idiot servant." The two
stared at each other desperately for
a while, unaware of how close they
were to each other. "What would
you have had me do Morgana? Let
you live and let the hundreds of
other people in Camelot die?"
He was now beginning to sound
frantic, and it scared her a little. This
was not the Merlin she knew. She
knew the bubbly loyal adorable
friend that would do anything for
those he cared about, but she
guessed she was no longer within
that circle.
"I have never felt so ashamed and as
broken as I did today when you were
dying in my arms. I have never felt
as revolted at anything in my life as I
did today at myself. I HATED
everything about what I became,
and I blame YOU for putting me in
that position. I blame YOU for
forcing me to choose between one
of my best friends and a whole
kingdom! How could I have justified
my actions when you were willing to
sell out everything and everyone
you're supposed love to someone
YOU'VE ONLY JUST MET!"
"I didn't want anyone else hurt!" She
screamed out. "I only wanted Uther
gone so this kingdom and it's people
could get on with their lives! I was
never told what would happen, only
that he would be removed!"
"And you trusted her? Have you
learnt nothing during all our
adventures? All our experiences with
people willing to go to extremes to
get what they want!"
His eyes were wild with anger at her,
and she felt her heart break. She had
done this. She had pushed a quite
humble self sacrificing man to the
point where he loathed himself. A
single tear escaped her moist eyes as
she stared at him.
"I'm sorry" She said quickly. "You're
right. About everything. I'm so so
sorry."
"TOO LATE!" He yelled intensely.
Instantly a vase on her table
shattered into a thousand
fragments, causing Morgana to
jump back with a small gasp of
shock. She stared down
questioningly at the shattered
fragments of the once beautiful vase
before apprehensively turning back
to Merlin. He seemed a little put off.
His breathing eratic as he obviously
tried to calm himself down.
She continued to stare at him. Had
she done that? Or was it
perhaps...perhaps Merlin in his
anger loosing control. Her mouth
opened slightly. It would make
sense. His knowledge, his
understanding and his support all
lead to a possibility of Merlin himself
having magic. Just as she was about
to say something, a concerned voice
came from the door.
"Is everything alright?" Both
occupants turned to face Gwen at
the door briefly before turning back
to each other.
Merlin slowly stepped back into her
personal space, his face mere hairs
from her own. She felt his warm
breath on her face, creating a much
more personal atmosphere.
"This friendship is over." He
whispered ruthlessly. Her eyes
widened at the malice in his voice.
He meant every word of what he
just said. He swiftly jolted away from
her and bounded past Gwen in what
the maid could only describe as a
purposeful walk.
"Merlin?" Morgana spoke weakly as
the man stepped out of her door for
what would be the last time. No, she
needed him. "Merlin!" She screamed
this time but to no avail. She
suddenly broke down into harsh
sobs, falling to her knees. She felt
Gwen's worried hands attempt to
comfort her but she pushed them
away. She didn't deserve them. Not
after what she had done. She looked
up at the door, praying that he
would walk back in...but he didn't.
He was gone, and it was all her fault

"Merlin"
There it was again. That name. The
name of the man who had tried to
kill her. Once again it resounded in
her head, yet soundlessly travelling
towards her to the ordinary ear. It
had been a week since it had
happened, since she had found out
what she had done to Merlin. She
hadn't seen or heard from him since
that day and she found herself
questioning her sanity. She had been
hearing his name whispered in her
minds ear all night. But was too
afraid to follow it to see what was
going on. For the most part of the
week she had been hiding in her
chambers, only really seeing Gwen
or Arthur and Uther at meal times
before retreating.
Morgana stared, unmoving, at the
filtering light of the full moon that
broke through the window in her
dorm. Her thoughts dwelled on
Arthur's Manservant and probably
most trustworthy friend Merlin. She
had thought him trustworthy...once.
But yet she found herself not hating
the man. In fact found it impossible
to hate him, but instead understand
his decision to poison her. He had
been forced into a decision that was
impossible...because of her.
"Merlin"
Morgana closed her eyes. This was
far from the first time she had heard
the boys' name being called in the
night. In fact the first time she had
assumed she was going insane, since
she had never met him. Although
that day he had saved Arthur from
the witch who had lost her son to
Uther's no tolerance for magic.
Although this time the voice that
called his name so demandingly was
that of a woman, rather than the
deep menacing voice before.
"Merlin"
Morgana snapped open her eyes.
Enough. She sprung up from her
bed, snatched her turquoise robe
from its cosy peg and abruptly
exited her room. Throwing on the
well used robe and pulling over the
baggy hood one thought resonated
in her head.
She was going to find out what was
so special about Merlin.
Merlin rubbed his frozen hands
together, trying to use the friction to
warm them. His breath fogged up in
front of him as he travelled alone
through the dark empty streets of
Camelot. His footsteps were the only
noises in the silent kingdom, aside
from the odd sound of laughter
from a far away home.
"Merlin"
Merlin put his back to one of the
houses as he stared out across the
vast openness before the North
Tower. The young Warlock stared in
anticipation at the tall tower. That's
where the voices were coming from,
at the very top. Merlin sighed.
"Typical" He thought annoyed.
"Couldn't be on the first floor, could
it? Oh no. Far too easy."
"Merlin"
His blue eyes scanned every
entrance, every empty floor space
and every possible hiding space his
mind could think of before taking off
at a brisk space. Whoever this voice
was he knew they must know his
secret. After all it was no secret that
only people with magic could talk
telepathically.
"Merlin?"
Merlin froze on the spot. That voice
was not in his head. That voice was
not said by a girl. And most
importantly that voice had a very
familiar arrogant ring to it. Slowly he
turned to find his prince, Arthur,
staring at him with an eyebrow
raised.
"Arthur" Merlin said slowly. "What
are you doing out here?"
"That's a good question. I'm out on
the last patrol. Now, Merlin what are
you doing out here? Admiring the
scenery?"
"No I was...Err..." Merlin
stammered. "I - I was - I saw a
suspicious woman out my window.
Thought I'd, you know, check it out."
"Really?" Asked Arthur.
Merlin nodded. "Yeah."
"Merlin do I have idiot written across
my forehead?" The blonde prince
asked whilst crossing his arms.
"Well not your forehead but -"
"Merlin!"
"I'm being serious!" Merlin said
desperately. "I saw her go into the
North tower!"
Arthur rolled his eyes. "You can't
expect me to believe that you would
leave your warm bed to -" Arthur
was interrupted when he looked up
to the north tower, only to find a
light on in the allegedly unused
building. The prince looked back
down at a smug Merlin.
"Idiot must be written under your
fringe."
"Shut up Merlin!" The young wizard
couldn't contain a smile. Arthur
drew his sword. "Let's go!"
The young prince darted forward
towards the tower with Merlin on his
tail. Both of them unaware that they
were being watched. Morgana
watched from behind a wall about
twenty feet away, her hood falling
down over half her face. As soon as
she had seen the duo enter through
the vast double doors she sprinted
across to them herself.
Upon entering she soon realized that
the rumours were true about the
North tower, and could certainly see
where the structure had gotten its
reputation. There were whispers
among the people that the North
Tower was haunted by the King's of
the past, and the spirits of these
Kings would only be able to rest
once there was a King who the
people could call their Sovereign
with pride. A King that would put his
predecessors to shame. A King that
would be remembered throughout
time.
Upon reaching the stair case she
began to climb, her thoughts lost on
the mysterious Merlin yet again. He
must have obviously heard the voice
calling his name, but she was told
that only those with sorcery could
hear the calls. Perhaps it really was
how he had told her adoptive
brother. Maybe he had only seen a
strange looking woman and decided
to investigate, but she strongly
doubted it. He demonstrated all the
virtues of a hero. He looked for the
good in everyone, he would do
anything for his friends, he was loyal,
prepared to sacrifice himself to save
others, always ready to do the right
thing, brave and capable of making
impossible decisions.
As she had found out a week ago.
She had wanted desperately to
apologize to him, but every time she
had set off to do so she found
herself cowering back into her
chambers like some scared child.
The whole situation was ridiculous.
She was the King's ward. There were
men who would die just to have a
conversation with her, and here she
was afraid of rejection from Arthur's
man servant.
She abruptly stopped in her tracks
once she came to two stair wells.
One leading to the left and the other
the right, both of them completely
pitch black. With a firm frown
Morgana decided to take the left
hand path.
"Merlin"
It seemed she was on the right path.
Sooner or later she was going to find
out just who Merlin really was.
Merlin tripped over what seemed
like the hundredth loose floorboard
whilst silently cursing the deadly
floor. He and Arthur had split up
upon reaching the fork in the stair
well, and he had managed to
wrangle it so he was following the
direction of the voice calling his
name.
If he was going to be honest he had
been waiting for something like this
to happen all week, since he had last
seen Morgana. She had been on his
mind incessantly and he had found
himself craving a distraction. The
way he had talked to her when he
knew she was just lonely and
confused. His temper had gotten the
better of him but he stood by what
he had said. She had put him in an
impossible position, and he in turn
had done the impossible.
Crash.
Merlin stopped dead in his track. The
crash had come from just behind
him, and it was followed by a heavy
stomp. Someone had obviously
tripped. But that someone couldn't
have been Arthur, because the
prince was nothing short of a hot
head and would not have been able
to resist cursing shamelessly at the
perilous ground. No. This person
clearly did not want to be
discovered.
Someone had followed him.
Morgana covered her mouth to stop
the inevitable torrent of evil that
would escape her due to the
untrustworthy floor boards. She
couldn't afford to have either Merlin
or Arthur know she was there. That
would lead to questions that she
couldn't answer truthfully and she
was tired of lying. So tired.
She eventually found the courage to
continue up the pitch black stair
case, making sure her footsteps
were completely silent. She listened
for the calling, but it never came.
Frustrated she carried on forwards
with her robes floating hauntingly
behind her.
"Infligo"
She had just about enough time to
turn and see a silhouette of a man
before she went flying backwards in
the darkness. The last thing she
remembered was her back hitting
the solid granite wall before
everything fell into complete
darkness.
Merlin stood over her squinting
before crouching down. It was a
woman, but who? Holding out his
hand he closed his eyes.
"Ignis" The old unused torches on
the wall instantly lit up. His eyelids
lifted to reveal those fire red eyes
returning to their normal colour. His
eyes drifted down to the peaceful
beautiful face of Morgana. Shock
covered his features as he stared at
her. He hadn't even thought it might
be her, but what was she doing
here?
He continued to stare at her. It
sounded odd but he had missed
looking at her...it was just a shame
things had to end up the way they
did. He had always enjoyed
spending time with the King's ward.
There was just something about her
that made her company enjoyable
and familiar, but he was never able
to figure out just what it was. He
guessed it was knowing she had
magic too, and that she was going
through what he himself had been
through.
He hesitantly put out his hand
towards her, not knowing if he
should or should not do what he was
thinking of, what he wanted to.
Taking one last look around, he
gently brushed a lock of hair out of
her face and stroked her cheek
slowly. He had missed her. It was
clear to him now. But he could never
forgive her, and he wasn't sure he
ever would.
Arthur looked around as he walked
forward slowly. By his memory of
the building he and Merlin should
have met up by now. Yet here he
was, alone, in the dark. Stalking a
strange woman with a peculiar taste
for old abandoned buildings.
And all of a sudden there it was. The
door with light escaping from behind
it. He brought his sword up and got
into stance. This woman could be
anything. A shape shifter, a
sorceress, he had even heard
rumours about werewolves.
He reached out and took the dusty
handle in his gloved hand, the other
firmly grasping his sword. Taking
one deep breath he swiftly bolted in
the door and charged into the
room...only to find it empty.
Confused he looked around. There
was no light in here, only the light of
the full moon that filtered in though
the rusted window. He turned his
back to the window when something
wavy caught his eye. Smoke, from a
candle.
Someone had been in here, and they
probably still were.
"Arthur PenDragon."
Arthur swung around at the female
voice, sword at the ready to strike
anything down. What he saw was a
woman with ice blue eyes, jet black
hair and a blood red robe that
flowed down to her ankles. Only the
moonlight lit her, and Arthur found
himself oddly creeped out.
"Who are you?" He demanded
sharply. "This building is closed off to
citizens."
"I am your salvation." She stated
slowly, calm. Far too calm Arthur
decided after being threatened by a
crowned prince.
"I demand to know who you are" He
ordered. The girl smiled. Arthur was
shocked. She was younger than he
first thought, and the smile was not
one of maliciousness. But instead
warm, amused.
"Ignis" She muttered. The candle
and torches burst into flames which
lit the whole room. Arthur jumped
back in surprise before regaining his
composure.
"You're a sorceress!" He stated,
pointing his sword at her.
"Oh Arthur. I forgot even you were
once blinded by your Father's
ignorance." At his confused stare she
seemed to look him over. "You're
afraid. I've never seen you afraid."
"You've never met me!"
"Not yet." She responded quickly
with a quirky smile. Arthur squinted
at her. He had seen that smile
before somewhere. "In fact I'm not
even born yet."
Arthur knitted his eyebrows
together. "What?" Was all that came
to mind.
"I'm your niece Uncle Arthur. I'm the
daughter of Morgana and Merlin and
I have come here to save Camelot."
Arthur looked at her with a weird
smile on his face. "But you can just
call me Imogen."
Morgana gradually opened her eyes.
Her brain hazily tried to recall the
previous events with extreme
difficulty, but one thing it did register
was Merlin looking down at her. Her
eyes shot open as she abruptly
remembered everything. Hearing
Merlin's name being called,
following him and Arthur into the
North tower...trying not to get
caught by them...
"Merlin!" She gasped.
He looked at her as she helped
herself up, his eyes following hers.
"What are you doing here Morgana?
Why are you following me?"
She stared at him with her eyes
wide. It was then that she decided to
be honest. "I kept hearing your
name being called in my head. I
wanted to know why."
"So then why didn't you tell me once
Arthur and I had gone in different
directions?" He asked quickly,
emotionlessly.
"I..." Morgana broke eye contact and
stared at the ground. "I was too
scared. We didn't exactly finish
things well the last time we met."
"Is that the truth?" He asked in
exactly the same way as he had
before.
She stared at him in frustration.
"Yes! Of course it is!"
"How am I to know Morgana? How
am I to trust anything you say
anymore-?"
"Look Merlin. I know I made
mistakes, but can you honestly stand
there and tell me you've never done
something you regret so much you
wish you could turn back time and
do it all over again." Merlin looked
away, unable to continue staring at
her. Morgana sighed. "I miss you.
There's something about you that's
just so..."
"Familiar." He finished for her,
causing her to pause in surprise.
"Yes. Exactly. I can't believe I took
you for granted, I just no idea I
would miss you this much. I didn't
know I needed you this much."
Merlin stared at her in revelation,
but his shock went up a level when
she began moving towards him.
What was she going to do? He bit his
lip and found himself fidgeting. She
was getting closer with those wide
blue eyes. What should he do? A
week ago he was denouncing her,
telling her that their friendship was
over...and yet they were. Alone in an
abandoned building, in the dark. His
answers came when she wrapped
her arms around his chest and laid
her head on his shoulder.
Merlin froze. She was hugging him?
After everything she was hugging
him. It was now that he felt an
overwhelming need to wrap his
arms around her, to show her
everything was alright. To show her
that he forgave her. But he hadn't
forgiven her. He was no longer
angry, but he couldn't just click his
fingers and forget she had almost
killed everything he loved.
But he was enjoying the embrace at
the same time. He so wanted to give
in, but he didn't want her to think
that everything was going to be back
to normal. He also knew she was
scared and lone, and knew that he
couldn't let her suffer anymore than
she already was. He slowly wrapped
his arms around her and rested his
chin on the top of her head. He
heard a happy sigh escape her lips
and felt her tighten her grip around
him.
"Things can never go back to how
they used to be Morgana."
His words hit her like a ton of bricks,
and he felt her grip tighten once
more. Like she didn't want to let him
go.
"I'm sorry." He whispered
mournfully. She believed it. She
believed he was sorry...but not as
much as her.
"No, I'm sorry." She whispered back.
She felt him reluctantly begin to pull
away but pulled him tighter. "Just a
little longer?" She asked looking up
at him. He opened his mouth to
respond but she cut him off.
"Please?"
She sounded so vulnerable, so
distressed that he couldn't refuse
her. He nodded and pulled her in for
another embrace. She heartedly
accepted and smiled into his jacket
despite herself. They lost track of
time as they stood there, lost in their
own little world. In fact they were so
lost to the world around them that
they didn't even notice Arthur and
the mysterious Imogen watching
from a few steps up.
Arthur couldn't believe his eyes. He
had suspected a while ago that there
was something going on between
them but had dispelled the idea
when nothing presented itself. But
now he was watching them, he was
watching it. He had never seen
Morgana act like that with anyone.
She had always stood away, keeping
her distance and the only other
person he had ever seen her
embrace was Gwen - which were
only two three seconds tops. Never
ever like this.
He turned back to the girl Imogen,
who had a knowing smile on her
face. His eyes widened.
"It's true." He whispered. "You're
their daughter."

Chapter 3 - The Woman In Red
Merlin held her to him with blinding
proximity, a fact he was well aware
of. He could feel the sweat forming
on his forehead and knew she must
have been able to feel it. Yet she
continued to hang on with that
contented smile and her silky,
black...beautifully fragrant hair
pressed against his face. He took a
deep breath, releasing it after closing
his eyes. He heard Morgana do the
same before regretfully pulling
away, only enough to place both her
hands on his chest and look straight
up into his eyes.
"Thank you Merlin." She whispered
sadly. "You didn't have to do that."
He swallowed hard. Proceeding to
mentally curse himself. She surely
would have seen that, and would
therefore guess he was feeling a
little tense. They continued to stare
at each other in complete silence,
still unaware that they were being
watched by two pairs of blue eyes.
Arthur watched them in
amazement. How could he have
missed this? Or rather forgotten it?
He could see the connection now,
but at what cost would they go too
to ensure that connection. Deciding
he had contemplated enough the
blonde prince pursed his lips and
cleared his throat.
In complete unison both Merlin and
Morgana snapped their heads
towards his and took one step back.
Arthur watched in mild amusement
as Merlin began fidgeting with his
scarf to cover his nerves, whereas as
Morgana had a completely different
technique. She placed her hands on
her hips and glared down at her
adoptive brother.
"Forgotten how to say hello Arthur?"
She asked coldly.
Arthur smiled. A smile that told
everyone who saw that he had
already won. "I just didn't want to
interrupt your...moment."
Merlin stepped forward urgently.
"I've told you before it's not like
that." Arthur cast his eyes quickly to
Morgana just in time to see a
momentary glitch in her mask
before she rapidly recovered herself.
Arthur smirked and looked back at
Merlin. "It's not like that. We're just
friends."
"Sure" Arthur replied crossing his
arms and smiling. "I mean I hug my
friends longingly all the time-"
"Arthur!" Morgana interrupted
fiercely.
"In fact" Arthur opened his arms in
the direction of Merlin. "Come
embrace me Merlin. We couldn't fit
one in this morning-"
"Arthur that's quite enough!"
Morgana scolded, finally noticing the
shiver of the woman in red behind
him. Morgana crossed her arms.
"Have I offended your friend?"
Arthur looked confused until Imogen
stepped down next to him. "No...I'm
sorry it's just my Mother used to talk
just like that when I was a little girl
whenever I had been bad. It brought
back old memories."
Merlin squinted his eyes at her. He
swore he had seen her before, not
noticing that Morgana was doing
exactly the same. Arthur however
did take note of this and proceeded
to explain her arrival.
"She's a sorceress from the future."
He stated boldly, pleased when that
seemed to get their attention. "She's
come back to help save her time."
Merlin's eyes bulged out of their
sockets. "I'm sorry? Could you
explain that?"
"Without going into too much detail"
Imogen stated stepping forward.
"There is a dark threat casting it eyes
on Camelot even as we speak. I have
come back to warn the current King
of his descent, in hopes that we can
create a future free from tyranny."
"Oh right." Merlin replied nodding
sarcastically. "Now I understand."
Morgana almost laughed as she
turned to Arthur. "And you believe
her?"
"I do." He answered certainly.
"Well then why haven't you arrested
her?" Merlin asked curiously. "She's
a sorceress. If your father knew..."
"She has very compelling reasons for
me not to. Now come on, we have to
get back to the castle to warn my
father-"
"And what are you going to do? Tell
him a future sorceress has warped
her way into the north tower and
has told you what to do - which by
the way is what?" Morgana
questioned.
"Morgana -" Arthur begun.
"No she's right. You were always too
trusting Arthur, but then again you
could say the same about you
Morgana." Imogen interrupted her.
"The way you trusted the boy
Mordred, the sorceress Alvarr, and
of course Morgause not last week."
Morgana looked stunned. How could
she know that when no-one else did.
Imogen continued.
"Now right now you're thinking that
this crazy lady might know what
she's talking about but what is she
going to do to clinch it? Well put it
this way, Subsisto!If it wasn't for me
Morgause would have been the one
to save you instead of Merlin, as I
put the antidote in his book." She
briefly looked at Merlin here, of who
now looked equally stunned. She
knew his secret.
"Morgause would have taken you
back to her lair while the great
dragon broke free, destroyed the
majority of Camelot, Merlin and
Arthur would have had to find a
dragon lord and you would have
become an evil sorceress bent on
destroying the great city of Camelot.
Oh yeah did I mention you have
nightmares that come to actually
pass and you had a brief period
where you couldn't control the
things you set fire too, but oh well, at
least you have your old friend Merlin
to take you to the druids whenever
you're feeling low. Believe me now?"
Morgana looked Mortified as she
stared at the young girl before
swiftly turning to Arthur. The man
had an odd look on his face, as if he
had spaced out for a moment. She
turned to look at Merlin who was
standing, staring at this sorceress
from the future with wide eyes and
his jaw touching the floor. He clearly
believed her...and now so did she.
"Don't worry." Imogen spoke up.
"Arthur didn't hear any of that. A
Subsisto is a deafening charm
designed to stop people hearing
what is said right in front of them.
They don't even realize it has been
cast over them at all unless told.
"What do you mean an evil sorceress
bent on destroying Camelot?"
Morgana asked with evident fear in
her voice. Imogen released a
calming breath before placing both
hands on the other woman's'
shoulders. "I'm not going to let that
happen, but first we have to retrieve
one more person in order to prevent
everything."
"Who?" Merlin timidly asked.
Imogen turned to him and smiled.
"Patefacio Vestri" She incarnated,
causing Arthur to blink a few times
before resuming his usual pose.
"Everything will be revealed if you
join me in front of the King's
audience in one hour."
Morgana bolted forward. "The King?
He will execute you rather than spit
at you!"
"I have to agree with Morgana."
Arthur butted in. "When it comes to
Magic my father cannot see reason."
"You don't understand." Imogen said
frustrated. "Sometimes you have to
take these risks, especially when it
can stop something so horrible, so
evil that even if I told you everything
you would not believe it. Some
things are worth the risk."
"Then tell us." Merlin asked softly,
and Arthur could physically see
Imogen's hard face melt. "Help us
understand."
She stared at her unknowing father
with some discomfort before
hanging her head in defeat.
"Malum."
"Malum?" Morgana asked. Imogen
nodded.
"A Demon Lord, bound to spend the
rest of eternity sleeping in an
underground chamber by one of the
original and most powerful sorcerers
to have ever set foot on mortal
ground. The first ever sorcerer King."
"Sorcerer King?" Arthur asked
questioningly. "I didn't even realize
there was such a thing."
"Well there is. There is a whole
kingdom, hidden to the mortal eye
unless it is revealed to them by one
of their own. Another sorcerer. The
Sorcerer King gave his eternal life in
order to seal the demon Lord Malum
in an underground prison, but now
there are forces with the intent to
release him."
"Eternal life?" Merlin asked whilst
squinting his eyes.
Imogen nodded. "Every crowned
prince of the Venemagus Kingdom is
given a well guarded elixir that will
grant the receiver eternal youth.
They will not age unless given up
willingly, which is what was needed
to help imprison Malum. At this
moment in time his son, King Borin
Regus, rules the land."
"That's who you want us to find?"
Merlin asked again. "The King so he
can imprison this Malum should he
escape."
"No" Imogen answered firmly. "The
current King is a ruthless man,
corrupted by power. He shows no
Mercy, no kindness nor regret for his
malicious actions and besides, he
does not posses powerful enough
sorcery to complete such a heavy
task. We need his son and heir,
Prince James Regus."
"Right. Well no more wasting time."
Arthur interrupted. "I will request an
Audience with my Father
immediately. We'll get this sorted
out. Morgana, take Imogen to one of
the spare chambers and have Gwen
assist her in whatever she needs. I
will go wake my Father."
Morgana and Imogen strolled down
the torch lit corridor which lead to
the spare chambers, both too busy
wondering in their own thoughts to
speak. It was only when they
reached the spare chambers and
Morgana opened the door for her
did she speak.
"Ok. This is where you will rest until
you are called upon."
Imogen smiled warmly at her
mother, but only received a
confused stare in return. "Thank you
My Lady.

Cont

Morgana continued to stare at the
slightly younger girl. "Why do I feel
like I know you?" The king's ward
asked in puzzlement. Imogen looked
away uncomfortably.
"Well you shall...One day anyway."
she answered mysteriously.
"No it's more than that." Morgana
said whilst taking a few steps
forward. "I trust you, yet you give
me no reason too. And it appears
you have the same affect on Merlin
and Arthur too."
"Guess I just have a friendly face."
Imogen tried to brush off with a cute
smile. Morgana found it hard to
keep the smile from her face upon
seeing it.
"Well you have an addictive smile I
can give you that." Morgana said
with a faint quirk of her lips. "And
don't worry. Gwen is my personal
Maid, very trustworthy and good at
what she does. She will assist you
well."
"Oh I know." Imogen blurted out
with a small laugh. Once realizing
what she had said she quickly
covered her mouth and cast her
eyes towards her young mother.
"Do you...know Gwen?" Morgana
asked curiously.
"No, no no not at all. I was just; I
mean I just assumed that if she was
your personal maid then I'm sure
she would be good at what she
does." Imogen blurted out like a
clumsy drunk.
Morgana narrowed her eyes.
"Really?"
"Yes." Imogen splattered out almost
before Morgana could even finish
the sentence. "Really really" She
finished with a nervous laugh.
"I think we may need to work on
your lying skills, Imogen." Morgana
stated with a friendly smile.
"Please call me Imi." Imogen just
released a dazzling smile and
slumped her shoulders. "Probably
one of the truest things I've heard in
a while. I get it from my father-"
"Who's your father?" Morgana asked
abruptly. Imogen's smile slowly
diminished as she stared at her
Mother, which caused the other
woman to hang her head. "Don't
worry, I'm sure if I needed to know, I
would. Just tell me is it someone I
know?"
Imogen swallowed and looked up at
the ceiling. She hadn't counted on
this being one of the hardest parts of
her journey. "He's someone you
have yet to know fully."
Morgana smiled. "Ok. I'll stop asking
questions about your father, but if
you don't mind could you tell me
why you were calling Merlin's name
instead of Arthur's or myself."
The future sorceress turned her back
and rolled her eyes. Her mother was
just as curious about what she did
now as she was in the future. She
decided on giving half the truth
rather than the full truth. "In my
time Merlin has always been
someone you could trust, no matter
what the situation."
Morgana cast her eyes downwards.
Her thoughts were once again on
that night. Over the course of finding
Imogen her mind had blissfully
forgotten about it, but it seemed she
had retrieved all the callous
emotions and memories with a
single sentence. Imogen noticed
straight away.
"He didn't want to Morgana."
Imogen whispered affectionately.
"He done what he thought he
needed to."
Morgana nodded her head. "I
know."
"How long have you had feelings for
him?"
Morgana whipped her head up to
stare at the mystery woman. What
was she talking about? What kind of
feelings was she implying? She
valued him as a friend, as a
confident but...was it more? She
thought over their encounters in the
past. There was something there.
There always had been. She recalled
one of their first real encounters
where it was just them. It was when
Gwen had been arrested during the
plague for allegedly being a
sorceress. She had been so
impressed and touched by his
sincerity, by his kindness and
sensitivity that she had instantly
grown fond of him. But it was when
he had stormed into her room with
the injured boy Mordred that she
had first begun looking at him
differently. She could remember
being so surprised that he had just
risked everything for a strange boy
without a seconds thought. In his
own words 'A spur of the moment
kind of thing'. That was also the first
time she could remember the
underlying tension emerging. It was
now always there whenever they
met, like an invisible force pulling
them together yet pushing them
away all at the same time. She
couldn't describe it, but it was
always there just beneath the
surface, yet always deniable.
"I don't..." Morgana began. "I..."
It was at this moment when Merlin
himself walked in with Gwen hot on
his heels. Morgana jumped back a
little and brushed a stray lock of hair
out of her eyes.
"Ok, Gwen this is Imogen, Imogen
this is Gwen." Merlin spluttered out.
He seemed a little out of breath,
nervous. Though about what not
even Imogen could explain.
"It's a pleasure." Gwen greeted
politely with a small bow. Imogen
smiled before enveloping the
woman in a full blown hug.
"Don't ever bow to me again." The
sorceress demanded in such delight
that it made Gwen smile despite her
surprise.
"Erm...ok" Gwen responded, unable
to resist putting her arms around the
eccentric woman. Merlin turned to
Morgana, surprised to find her
unable to make eye contact with
him. He frowned in confusion. It
couldn't still be what happened a
week ago. She was able to at least
look at him moments before. In fact
look at him dead in the eyes with so
much blazing intensity that it made
him gulp. What could have
happened since?
Arthur stopped in the doorway to
the guest chambers when he saw
the two women hugging as well as
the tension growing like a bubble
between Merlin and Morgana. He let
loose a heavy sigh as he walked
forward, unwittingly interrupting
Merlin and Morgana's staring
competition.
"What is going on today? Every time
I turn a corner there's someone
hugging."
"You're just not used to the concept
of affection." Morgana spoke up
with that sarcastic smile. Merlin
couldn't help himself, but he smiled
too.
"Now that's not true, we heard him
admit earlier that he embraces his
friends longingly." The young
warlock spoke up. Both he and
Morgana burst into a small fit of
giggles, causing the crowned prince
to stare at them like he had been
ambushed.
"When you're quite done mocking
me-"
"Who's mocking you?" Merlin
interrupted. "I was just saying what
a brave admission it was-"
"And you're finished. Unless you
want to find yourself in the stocks
again?" Arthur finished for him,
watching as his man servant bit his
lip in a failing attempt to contain his
next onslaught. Arthur turned back
to the now separated women with a
roll of his eyes. "My father will see
you; just give him time to prepare.
I'm going to gather the necessary
knights. When we're ready for you a
guard will come find you." And with
that Arthur walked out the door with
Merlin behind him.
"Merlin?" Gwen's voice stopped him
dead in his tracks. "Where are you
going?"
"Gaius" He replied quickly. Morgana
narrowed her eyes at him. "I thought
he'd want to see this."
He turned and left at Gwen's nod
without so much as batting an eye
lid in her direction. She knew this
shouldn't have bothered her. He had
done it many times before and she
had never thought anything of it. So
then why was she now feeling an
odd tug in her chest, a little painful
pull somewhere in her gut? It only
lasted for a second but it was there.
Well one thing she did know was
that he was lying. He wasn't going to
get Gaius, at least not straight away,
and it was on this premis that she
made up her mind. She turned to
Gwen and Imogen.
"I'm going to go see if there's
anything I can do to help." She said
and with a twirl was gone. She was
going to find out what was making
Merlin lie.
The flame lit torch swished through
the air, providing Merlin with both
light and heat as he travelled down
the stone steps to see the great
dragon. He needed to know more
about this whole thing. About
Imogen, her reasons for doing this
and if they were true. The whole
thing was being taken so lightly that
it was infuriating. She's a sorceress
from the future, and yet Arthur
trusts her, Gwen trusts her, and he
was pretty sure Morgana was
beginning to.
He was so lost in these thoughts that
he didn't notice Morgana's
crouching form rise up from behind
the wall and silently jog down the
stairs behind him. He turned the
corner at last and walked out onto
the familiar ledge, overlooking the
whole dungeon where the Dragon
was bound. Morgana reached the
corner and peered round the corner,
her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
What on earth was he doing down
so far beneath the castle?
"I need your help!" Merlin's echoing
voice brought her gaze to his back.
"Please! I know you're angry that I
haven't released you! But I made a
promise and I intend to keep it!"
"Who the..." Morgana whispered to
herself until something happened
that would haunt her dreams for
years to come. A Dragon. The Great
Dragon. Flying down from darkness
of the top of the cave and landing on
a large rock a few feet from Merlin.
She placed a hand over her mouth in
order to hide her gasp as her eyes
shot open. She brought her head
back from round the corner and slid
down the wall she was now leaning
on.
She couldn't believe it. Merlin was
talking to the last Great Dragon
and...did he say he was going to set
him free? He wouldn't. She was sure
of it. She knew what the beast would
do. He would seek vengeance
wherever he got it, reeking havoc
and destroying innocent lives.
"I have no doubt you will Merlin."
Came the dragon's voice,
interrupting the Kings Wards
thoughts. "Do not forget that you
promised me your mothers life
should you fail to keep your end of
the bargain."
"I remember." Came Merlin's harsh
voice, reminding Morgana of how he
had spoken to her a week ago.
"Then I trust the Lady Morgana is
dead." Came the Dragon's voice.
Morgana took in a large intake of
breath.
"No, I saved her."
"That was not your destiny Merlin.
Your destiny is to protect Arthur until
you and him unite the land of Albion,
a destiny you have up till now
succeeded in. The witch is of no
concern."
"I've told you to never call her that!"
Merlin yelled out, but it was too late.
Morgana had heard, and a tear
rolled down her cheek. "She's a good
person! How can you judge
someone you have never met!?"
"Because I know what she becomes
young-"
"You know nothing of her!" Merlin
interrupted, not realising he had just
stopped the Great Dragon from
revealing his secret to the woman in
question. "I know what you think she
becomes, but as you once said to me
destiny is neither wrong or right, just
what is and what will be!"
"And what is is that she almost
sacrificed not only you, but Arthur,
your mentor Gaius, your friend
Guinevere and every man woman
and child in Camelot just to rid the
kingdom of Uther-"
"Can you honestly tell me you
wouldn't do the same!?" Merlin
interrupted. The Dragon brought his
head back in contemplation. "You
hate Uther more than anyone! How
DARE you judge her for thinking the
same thing you have for 20 years!"
The dragon stared down at the boy
with taken aback eyes. "I see you
feel strongly about this Merlin.
Something must have changed to
speed up the events I have
foreseen."
Merlin nodded heatedly. "That's why
I came down to talk to you! A
sorceress from the future has
arrived claiming she wants to fix
things."
"Hmm. What is her name?"
"Imogen." Merlin answered. The
Great Dragon let loose a deep heavy
sigh, hanging his head and giving it a
shake. "Do you know who she is?"
"I know who she will be, yes."
"Well then who is she? Why did
everyone just trust her? And why
does she seem familiar? Are her
intentions real or does she have
other reasons?"
"You can trust her young Warlock."
Morgana's eyes shot open even
wider than before as a gasp escaped
her before she could cover her
mouth.
"Oh my God...Oh my God...Oh
my..." She couldn't believe it. Merlin
was a sorcerer, a warlock. She had
started to imagine it but to just
suddenly hear it? It was unreal. All
the times something mysterious
happened to save the day, how he
knew where the druids were, his
understanding of her magic. It all
made sense. And here he was,
defending her to the last great
dragon with absolutely no fear.
However one thought echoed
through her thoughts, and she hated
herself for it.
Why hadn't he told her?
There was a long time when she was
so confused, so alone and so scared
of what she was. There were nights
that she lay awake dreaming,
begging whatever higher power that
there was that she could find
someone who understood.
Someone who could guide her and
help her understand what was
happening to her, answer her
questions, tell her it was Ok. But she
knew why he hadn't. She was the
King's Ward, and he couldn't have
known for sure whether she would
tell Arthur or not. Giving her head a
quick shake she began listening once
again.
"The girl Imogen is an ally to which
you should pay heed Merlin. And
perhaps one day soon you shall
discover why, but there is one thing
you must know." Both Merlin and
Morgana stopped breathing. "There
will be a moment...soon...where you
will have to make a choice, not only
to protect your secret, but to protect
everyone you hold dear."
"What are you talking about?" Merlin
asked puzzled. "What decision?"
"In one hand you will have one
future, filled with everything you
love and desire. But in the other will
be what the world needs. You must
do as the sorceress commands and
find the Sorcerer Prince, for he alone
can bring you your salvation now."
Merlin shook his head, but knew that
would be all he would receive from
the dragon. "Thank you."
"And Merlin." The Great Dragon
called, causing the young warlock to
turn back to face the beast. "It is
important you be careful in the days
ahead."
Merlin nodded. "I will."
"Do not make the mistake of
believing only your enemies will
provide you with challenges. Do not
make assumptions on your travels.
Though the Sorcerer Prince may
have a Moral heart, it is buried
underneath a mountain of pain,
anger and hatred for all those of
non-magical heritage. Years of being
raised by an evil father have made
him a dangerous man. You must
tread carefully, for I doubt your
magic, or even mine, could stand up
to his power."
Merlin pursed his lips together and
nodded in understanding. "Thank
you again." And with that he spun
and left the cave so hastily he didn't
even notice Morgana crouched in
the darkest shadow. Once she heard
him leave she quickly rose to her
feet with a determined expression
on her face.
She was going to make sure that
Merlin's secret was kept, no matter
what kind of decision he had to
make. Because as much as she
didn't like it. As much as she knew it
would never or could never happen.
And as much as she wanted to deny
it...she was developing feelings for
Merlin, and from now on she was
going to protect him for a change.
Starting with this so called
dangerous Sorcerer Prince.

Chapter 4 - Conflicted
It was only another dream, Morgana
would tell herself later after she
woke. Just another stupid dream.
Not a premonition. No. She would
not allow herself to think every
dream was a premonition, despite
that little voice in the back of her
head. She tossed and turned in her
bed. Still dressed and her silk sheets
beneath her.
She fell back onto the throne room
floor, landing harshly on the marble
lining. She attempted to push herself
up as she looked back at her
attacker. Uther stood tall above her,
his arm outstretched as was his
palm. He looked like an animal with
his teeth clenched and wild eyes
staring down at her. He had hit her
to the floor, he had caused the blood
to gather in her mouth and he didn't
seem to care.
This is when the scene switched and
a man levitated seamlessly down
from the sky before landing facing
an active volcano, a black robe on
and the hood covering most of his
face. His green eyes shone through
the shadow his baggy hood had
created, eyes filled with both fear
and resolve. The volcano shook in
front of him, but the man somehow
levitated from the ground and dove
into the volcano.
Merlin with a single tear sliding
down his pale cheek. He was
standing in a dark misty red room,
staring at two glowing orbs with
haste in his body language.
Fidgeting, sweating. He was making
a choice.
Arthur. Dead. Lying limp in
Lancelot's arms as the brave knight
took slow, emotionally devastating
steps forwards across a field filled
with blood and lost souls. Lancelot
fell to the floor in exhaustion, and it
didn't take long for the brave
Lancelot to fall into the realms
unknown over his dead prince.
Gwen stood tall above a child's body.
A deceased child's body. A sword
with fresh wet blood up to the base
of the handle secure in a trembling
hand. Arthur's sword. Hatred.
Anger. Devastation. All these
emotions radiating off of her hand
maiden with such fluctuating waves
it was virtually visible. Tears flowed
freely down her face without any
effort to be stopped.
A burning tree in a dark forest. The
searing flames rising to the sky while
two pairs of blue eyes watched in
amusement, almost glee.
Accomplishment running through
the two's blood at setting a harmless
beautiful creation of nature on fire.
Laughter ringing through the silent
air.
Imogen bleeding. Unable to breathe.
People surrounded her. Gaius
tending to her wound, tending to the
arrow sticking independently out
from her side. To weak to cry, to
move, to say her last words. The
smell of death in the air stinging
Morgana's nostrils. She knew this
was a dream, but it all felt as real as
any moment in her life. But she
could do nothing to end the
suffering that suffocated her.
And then there it was. A sword in a
hand...the same sword that at this
moment was resting easily in
Merlin's gut. Horror-struck Morgana
stared up into those warm baby
blues, filled with pain and betrayal.
Who had done this? Someone had
driven this sword through the
stomach of the one decent man in
the whole of Camelot. They had
killed Merlin.
"Prince..." Merlin's words escaped
his dry lips.
Morgana was confused. Why had
someone done this? What the Hell
was going on?! "What?" She asked
lamely. She didn't know what else to
do.
"Prince...Sorcerer Prince." And his
neck fell limp, dropping his head on
his still chest.
Then a face made from what looked
like white stone, its eyes opening to
reveal soulless red eyes. "Morgana"
The stone face whispered, coming
closer. "MORGANA!"
Morgana sat bolt upright in her bed
with such a shrill it might cause
Uther himself to shudder. She
bounced up and down
uncontrollably on her bed, violent
screams escaping her dry throat as
she fought the beast away. Her arms
flapping and slapping the offensive
hands away from her convulsing
form. Merlin and Arthur were dead!
Gwen was a murderer and Imogen
was dying! She had to do something.
She had to save them!
"Morgana!" Came her name in an
elevated voice.
"No!" She continued to scream,
slapping the offending protrusions
to her skin away. They had to get
further away. "Get off me!"
"Morgana it's Gwen!" Came a softer
voice, more concerned. Morgana
snapped open her eyes, her watery
eyes to see the soft brown orbs of
her hand maiden staring
affectionately into her eyes. "Oh God
Gwen." Morgana whispered,
wrapping her arms around her
friend.
"It was only a dream My Lady."
Gwen tried her best to ease the black
haired beauty but knew she was
fighting a loosing battle. She had
been through this before with the
Lady Morgana, and these dreams
that plagued her mind at night often
caused her to do irrational things to
supposedly 'stop' them from coming
true. The last one she could
remember was when she had
dreamed of Arthur's death at the
hands of the questing beast.
Morgana had run out to stop him
from leaving in nothing but her night
gown, but when Arthur had come
back virtually dead she had almost
believed her. That was until the
prince made a miraculous recovery.
"I saw such horrible things."
Morgana whimpered, trying to take
deep breaths to calm herself down.
She was struggling to remember
what had happened the previous
night to explain why she was still in
her dress and sleeping on her covers
rather than under them. She had
been sitting on her bed after
eavesdropping on Merlin and the
great Dragon...Merlin the Warlock.
"You can trust her young Warlock."
The dragon had answered Merlin's
question about Imogen. "Your
destiny is to protect Arthur until you
and he unite the land of Albion"
That's what had shocked her almost
as much. Merlin's destiny, at least
according to this dragon who she
had decided harboured a deep
resentment for her, was to protect
Arthur and one day bring peace to
the country alongside the future
King. But how could that be the case
when she had just dreamed
someone had killed him? And also if
the dragon could see the future how
did it not know that she was
watching? Or that she was still alive
for that matter?
She took a deep steadying breath
and tried to calm herself down. She
would think of these things at a later
date, but for right now she needed
to relax. The sun was just rising and
Gwen's gentle arms were more than
comforting to her shaking form. She
could physically feel her body
become more controllable and at -
"What's wrong?" Came an
apprehensive male voice. Both girls
turned to find Merlin standing in the
open door way, seemingly too afraid
to enter the room fully. Gwen felt
the answer come to her mouth
before being frozen in her throat.
Merlin was unable to take his eyes of
the Lady Morgana. A quirky smile
made its way to her lips as she
studied Morgana's own expression.
The two were staring at each other
as if afraid the other would
disappear into thin air. But there was
something else, something there
that both wanted to say but couldn't
bring themselves to. Neither blinked,
neither seemed to even breath. They
just continued to stare with such
meaningful gazes, almost
communicating silently through this
odd new connection. Gwen suddenly
began to feel her presence was an
intrusion, but she also knew that at
the same time the two were caught
in their own little world.
"Nothing serious." Merlin turned his
haunted blue eyes to gaze at Gwen.
"Morgana just had a bad dream-"
"Bad dream?" Merlin interrupted
whilst snapping his head in the
direction of Morgana. The king's
ward diverted her eyes to the floor,
unable to maintain his intrusive
eyes. She could never shake the
feeling that whenever he looked at
her he could see every part of her.
Her flaws, her doubts and her
desires. And after the current events
she felt that more than ever. He
made her doubt herself now,
whenever he walked into a room she
immediately forgot all exultant
feelings of happiness and instead
had them replaced by guilt and
confusion.
However Merlin was one of the only,
if not the only person who knew
what her dreams could mean. So
brushing of the creeping doubt
Merlin's presence had caused her
she turned to Gwen. "Gwen could
you give us a moment alone please?"
She asked her friend and Hand
Maiden.
Looking like she was unsure whether
to be confused or oddly happy Gwen
nodded and stood. "Of course My
Lady." As soon as the door was
closed behind her Merlin rounded
on the black haired beauty.
"What dream?"
Morgana rose from her bed and
walked over to her wardrobe.
"Probably just a bad dream."
"We both know that's not likely."
Merlin added following behind her.
Morgana turned to him, jumping
back a little when she realized how
close he was. She swallowed
nervously. Did he always use to
stand so close? "Tell me what
happened."
She put her hands on her hips and
her tongue in her cheek. "It wasn't
like the other ones."
"How?"
"I saw...normally I see one event and
only one event. But this time I saw
so many things...horrible things
Merlin." She could feel herself
welling up again but refused to allow
herself to crumble down. What right
did Merlin have to bring this up after
she had just managed to compose
herself?
"What did you see?" Morgana stared
straight up into his eyes at his tone.
It was just like it used to be, when he
used to care.
"I..." She took a deep breath to
steady her nerves. "I saw Uther
strike me down on to the floor-"
"What?" Merlin interrupted yet
again. Morgana frowned as she
studied him. Was he angry?
"Uther strike me to the ground. A
man flying into a shaking volcano,
you upset staring at two glowing
orbs. That knight Lancelot carrying
Arthur who looked like...like he was
dead." At this point her voice
cracked and she had to break eye
contact with him. She remembered
the horror of seeing these things,
and she wasn't even finished yet.
"Gwen was standing above the body
of a murdered child with Arthur's
bloodied sword in her hand." She
now had unshed tears gathering in
the base of her eyes. "Imogen dying
and bleeding to death. She couldn't
even scream she was in so much
pain and then..." Morgana paused
and looked back at him with fearful
eyes. Merlin pursed his lips in
apprehension.

cont

"What is it Morgana?" He asked
softly. She loved those eyes. Those
adorable big blue innocent eyes.
"Was it something to do with me?"
"I don't want to..."
"Morgana please? I need to know if
I'm going to help."
She couldn't resist those eyes, but
how was she supposed to tell him he
was going to die? "You have to
understand my dreams aren't
always exact. They can change. But I
saw..." She stared at him as she
paused. She couldn't do this. And
besides she had sworn to protect not
only his secret but from this sorcerer
prince. And this was not the way to
go about starting. "I saw a face
made from stone."
"Stone?" Merlin asked confused.
"He had the most horrible glowing
eyes and he called my name over
and over again. It was terrifying."
She replied, skipping the whole part
where he ended up getting stabbed.
Merlin looked at her oddly.
"Is there anything you haven't told
me?" He asked distrustfully.
She nodded but failed to meet his
eyes. "There's nothing else." She lied
before moving swiftly closer to him
and placing a soft hand on his cheek.
"Is there anything you want to tell
me?" She didn't know what she was
doing. The question had come out
before she could even think about
stopping and the actions had just
sort of followed suit. She had acted
without thinking. She couldn't even
remember the last time she had
done that, move almost instinctually.
Merlin had a look of complete
awkwardness on his face. "Like
what?"
"Is there nothing you could tell me
that might help?" She asked softly,
almost whispering. He looked down
from her shining blue eyes down to
the space between them. The now
non-existent space between them.
Her body was practically pushed
right up against his, and he found
himself questioning how the fact
that they had both almost murdered
each other could have changed their
relationship from trusted friends to
one of uncomfortable affectionate
moments such as these. Did she
even realise how close she had
placed herself to him?
"Is there anything you could tell me
that could help save them?" She
breathed out. But her eyes were
fogged and filled with an emotion
Merlin not only recognised but
feared. Desire. "Any information?
Any...secrets?" She wasn't even sure
what she was saying anymore. Nor
did she care. Only one thing was
passing through her mind at the
moment, and it wasn't Merlin's
secret powers nor his past actions.
It was just want. For the man, not
anything else.
He blinked in mystification as she
moved her lush mouth slightly closer
to his own with a simple feminine tilt
of her head. He wanted to taste
her...and he couldn't believe it.
Before he entered the room he
wasn't even sure if he would care if
she hadn't been there. If she had
been taken by Morgause after all
and didn't come back. And yet here
he was now. Inches from making
what he knew would be a big
mistake. Nonetheless he found
himself sucking in the strange heat
that seemed to radiate of her plum
lips, and realised soon thereafter
that he was actually leaning in to
initiate the outlandish connection.
Suddenly desperate to bond with
her.
His gut was a swirl of conflicting
emotions. On one hand he wanted
nothing to do with her. There was a
part of him that hated her, that even
the very recollection of her existence
made him infuriated with his entire
surroundings wherever he was. In
spite of this whenever he was
around her he felt a contented
uncomfortable atmosphere this last
week. He couldn't really explain it,
but no matter how appalled she
made him feel there was a side of
him that enjoyed it. That enjoyed the
horrendous tension that had grown
between them and instead of
causing him to turn and run
alternatively preferred to stand
strong and feed off of it. Almost as if
it elated him to be around such
loathsomeness.
And it was this elated side that fed
off of the loathsomeness that was
sending him into a dangerous
unknown territory as it forced him
closer the Lady Morgana. He felt
rather than made his hands slide
slowly over her waist to seize her
and suddenly their lips were the only
things that were apart. Morgana
rested her arms on his surprisingly
broad shoulders, her hands snug
enough to grip the back of his neck.
Abruptly their lips parted in unison
and they dived in for their prize until
- SLAM! Both Merlin and Morgana
jumped apart so fast Merlin
stumbled and had to clutch a nearby
chair to steady himself. The pair
shifted their eyes over to the door
only to find it still shut, despite the
fact that the two had almost
suffered a fatal shock in complete
cooperation as soon as they had
heard it shut. Someone had seen
what had just happened.
Morgana shifted her gaze back to
the heavily breathing man standing
opposite her. She couldn't believe it.
They had almost just made the
biggest mistake of their lives and
someone had seen. She could tell
just by looking at him that he was
thinking the exact same thing. The
question was who was it who had
seen? She straightened her pose as
she watched him stand up straight,
determined not to allow him any
reason to think she was as perplexed
as could be by the whole scenario.
"I don't have any secrets." He finally
answered impassively. His eyes
vague and seemingly disinterested.
She stared at his well practiced mask
with some scrutiny behind her own
facial shield, using it to conceal her
own rising fury at his outright fib.
"Very Well." She retorted knowing
her tone must have let slip her
resentment of this whole situation.
"Well I'm sure you have other duties
to attend to, was there anything
else?"
The distressingly high unbearable
tension in the room had reached
new heights at the revelation that
was at this moment spinning their
thoughts into places best left to the
imagination. Merlin lightly shook his
head to regain some thoughts
before eventually realising he had
been asked a question. "Err yes.
Imogen will be appearing before the
King at any moment. The King
requests you be present for the
meeting."
"Of course." She replied, for
unknown reasons afraid to blink.
There was a long pause as the two
could do nothing but stare at each
other with estranged emotions
shining from within them.
Merlin stepped forward. "My Lady-"
"Get out Merlin!" She all but yelled,
her composure finally giving way
under the vast amount of pressure
now residing in the room.
"Right." He almost jumped and
made his way to the door. He
reached out and wrapped his hand
around the cool black handle of the
door before freezing on the spot. He
grudgingly turned to her with his
mouth open. "If Arthur or Uther ever
found out about what just
happened..."
Morgana gave a little awkward smirk
before almost instantaneously
wiping it from her face. "Don't worry
Merlin." She answered, watching as
the Prince's man servant's shoulders
relaxed a little. "You can trust me."
She added hastily. Merlin's eyes
hardened immediately upon those
words. It was sad that a single three
letter sentence could instigate a
whole range of memories and
currently forgotten feelings of
betrayal.
"I hope so." And with that he opened
the door and ruthlessly slammed it
shut behind him. She finally let her
knees give way as she allowed
herself to fall down onto her bed
and release all the torment she had
been withholding. She barely
noticed Gwen running in through
her chambers door and sit down
next to her on the bed,
compassionately wrapping her arms
round her.
"I saw My Lady." Gwen consoled. "I
saw you and Merlin." Morgana
raised her flowing eyes to look at
Gwen's empathic brown orbs. "I
understand how difficult it can be."
Morgana shook her head. "Gwen
you don't understand. It's not like
that."
Gwen frowned in perplexity. "But I
don't...I saw you two."
Morgana sighed and wiped away a
stray tear. "I need to tell you
something."
5 minutes earlier.
Gwen pushed the door open ever so
slightly further so she could stare at
the incredible sight before her.
Merlin and Morgana, slowly leaning
in towards each other to prepare for
a kiss she had been expecting since
the druid boy had appeared in
Camelot. She knew that if she were
caught spying on the King's ward
that Uther would have neither
compunction nor hesitation as to
whether or not to execute her for
even thinking of doing this. But then
again if either Arthur or Uther
caught what was going on in the
Lady Morgana's chambers they
would not really concern themselves
with her simple inquisitiveness. They
would instead barge past her and
slice Merlin's head clean off where
he stood...ears and all.
"Guinevere?" Came the familiar
voice of Arthur Pendragon. Shocked
and panicked Gwen spun around to
face her prince, inadvertently closing
the door with an almighty slamming
noise. The hand maiden closed her
eyes as she inwardly cursed herself
for making such a racket. She was
sure that her mistake would have
interrupted the pair's first kiss.
"Arthur." Gwen squeaked before
clearing her throat. "What brings you
our way?"
The prince looked at her in
bemusement. "I'm going to get
Imogen for an audience with my
father. Merlin was supposed to tell
you this?" Arthur sighed. "Has he not
shown up?"
"Err..."
"I can't say I'm surprised." Arthur
continued. "He's been acting strange
all week. I'll have to make sure he
doesn't get himself into trouble with
my father."
Gwen couldn't help but smile. He
didn't even realise what he just did,
but his thoughts instantly went to
protecting the younger man. "You
always surprise me Arthur. You're
heart really is the biggest organ your
body has." The two shared a quick
moment before Gwen's smile faded
in realisation. "Not that I'm saying
your other organs are small or
anything...because I'm sure their
not!" Arthur raised an amused
eyebrow. "Not that I've looked or
anything it's just you are a prince
after all...and-"
"Gwen I'm going to ask you to stop
before this gets anymore
humiliating." Arthur said with his
arms folded. It was then that Merlin
stepped out from Morgana's
chambers and froze upon seeing his
master. "Looks like I spoke to soon."
"Sire." Merlin greeted an Arthur who
looked like he expected Merlin to tell
him something stupid. "What?"
"Did you tell Morgana about the
Audience with my father?"
"Yes sire."
"Did she accept?"
"Yes sire"
"Right then go and get Gaius."
"Yes sire"
"Be as quick as you can,
understood?"
"Yes sire"
"And Merlin, are you in fact a whiney
man child?"
"Yes si-" Merlin stopped and
presented Arthur with a frustrated
look. "Don't you ever get tired of
being such a prat?"
Gwen raised her eyebrows. She
never could get used to their
relationship. "I'd better go tend to
Morgana." Arthur turned disappoint
eyes on her.
"Of course. Don't let us hold you
up." He smiled. Gwen smiled back
and gently pushed the door open.
Arthur took a moment to stare at the
now closed door until eventually
turning to Merlin, ready to ask why
he wasn't going to get Gaius. That
was until he saw the man in question
also staring sadly at the door. Arthur
sighed. "What is it Merlin?"
Truth be told he had a vague idea
what was going on behind those
empty looking eyes. Merlin was in
love with Morgana. What other
explanation was there? He had been
acting like a weirdo all week, hardly
ever insulting him at all and quite
frankly the whole thing grossed him
out. He was still reeling in on the
idea of Merlin and Morgana having a
daughter together...although how
was it possible that she had become
a sorceress? He guessed that it was
probably an attempt to fight off this
Malum threat that posed her time
but he had never actually asked. He
had simply trusted her. Her
familiarity winning over his trust in
almost instantaneously, discarding
all thoughts of doubt from his mind
without a second thought.
One thing was stuck in his mind
though, and that was a single
question. If Merlin and Morgana
were allowed to be together, then
was there a chance that Gwen and
himself had a chance at happiness
as well? That thought had been
biting at his brain ever since he first
believed Imogen's story. He had
closed his mind off from the
possibility of ever having a future
with the hand maiden, but now after
all this confusion and unimaginable
glimpses, a whole had been poked
through said closed off mind. It was
for this reason alone he told himself
that despite his unsure thoughts
about a Merlin and Morgana
relationship, he was silently routing
for the two to discover their feelings
for each other. Naturally he knew
that both would be too afraid to tell
him but nonetheless hoped for a
better outcome.
"Merlin?" Arthur tried again,
rewarded by the young warlock
finally hearing him.
"Hmm?"
"What's been wrong with you this
week? It's like you've been
possessed by the ghost of
boredom."
Merlin shook his head. "I don't know
what you mean."
"Really?" Asked the prince with a
disbelieving look on his face, only for
it to turn to frustration when Merlin
nodded with those wide eyes. He
hated those eyes. They always grew
wider whenever he was lying.
"Merlin you're a worse liar than the
queen of Logres."
Merlin's eyebrows bounced a little at
the mention of the queen. "Now she
was creepy."
"Yes she was." Arthur had to agree.
"What did she do to you when she
finally managed to lure you into a
room alone with her?"
Arthur took a deep breath and
closed his eyes. "Some things are
best left to the imagination."
"Because there were rumours-"
"Shut up Merlin!" Arthur interrupted,
annoyed when he saw the little smile
appear on his manservant's skinny
face.
"You don't think she'll come back for
the royal festivals next week do
you?" Merlin asked a little worried.
However he'd be lying if he didn't
admit he was enjoying Arthur's fear
a little.
"Dear Lord I hope not." Merlin had
never heard such conviction in his
prince's voice until that moment.
"Now you should have left already to
go get Gaius. Go!" He barked
sending Merlin scurrying away. The
blonde prince shook his head as his
secret friend ran round the corner.
"How did you ever get someone like
Morgana?" He whispered to himself
before setting off in the direction of
Imogen's chambers. Thankfully the
girl had inherited Morgana's looks
and pose instead of her father's
clumsiness.
However he couldn't say that he was
looking forward to this. A bad feeling
was growing in the pit of his
stomach like a bad virus. He truly
had no idea how this meeting was
going to proceed, but he did know
he had to try and convince his father
(somehow) that recruiting this
sorcerer prince would be a good
idea.
Arthur sighed. Men would fly before that miracle would happen.

Chapter 5: The Reasons For
Treason

"That's what was going on when I
walked in?"
Gwen stared across the bed at
Morgana in shock. She couldn't
believe what she had just been told
by the King's ward. She had just
been told everything of what had
happened. From Morgana meeting
Morgause all the way up to Merlin
storming out of the room when she
had entered a week ago. Morgana
had even been kind enough to let
her know who the girl Imogen really
was, at least by her knowledge.
Morgana nodded, never once taking
her eyes of her friend. "Yes. That's
why Merlin stormed from the room
when you entered a week ago."
Gwen continued to stare at her with
a face Morgana could only describe
as disgust. "How could you?" The
maid breathed out. Morgana
opened her mouth and stood, only
to have Gwen take a step back.
Morgana froze in her place. She was
afraid of her? Her best friend was
afraid of her?
"Gwen please-"
"If Merlin hadn't of poisoned you
we'd all be dead!" Gwen yelled.
Morgana could do nothing but stare
in shock. Gwen hadn't yelled at her
since they were little girls.
"Gwen I had no idea Morgause was
going to kill everyone!" Morgana
tried desperately. "I was tricked. All I
wanted was Uther gone! For all the
pain he's caused! For what he did to
my father! To your Father!"
"So your first thought was to murder
him?" Gwen asked in astonishment,
hoping that it wasn't true. "Morgana
you find another way! Murder is
never an answer!"
"I know that now." Morgana said
whilst hanging her head. Gwen
released a long and heavy sigh as
she tried to calm herself down.
"Gwen you have to believe me. I did
not know what Morgause was
planning."
"We've all been tricked by the
illusions of Sorcery at some point."
Gwen conceded, not surprised when
Morgana looked up at her in utter
relief. "But then why did I almost see
you kissing? You and Merlin?"
Morgana shook her head with a look
that clearly said your guess is as
good as mine. "It's complicated."
She whispered, now averting her
gaze to where herself and Merlin
had almost lost control.
Gwen squinted at her. "My Lady?"
Morgana looked up with smiling
eyes. She had called her My Lady.
For a few moments she feared she
would never call her that again. "Do
you have feelings for Merlin?"
Morgana just stared at her hand
maiden. Her smiling eyes had turned
vacant and unreadable, but it was
obvious to someone who knew her
as well as Gwen that it was simply a
mask.
"We should get ready for the
meeting. It starts soon." Morgana
brushed off, standing from her
sitting position and walking over to
her wardrobe. Gwen couldn't help
the small amused quirk of her lips at
her actions. Morgana turned to face
her with a stern look on her face.
"Gwen I'm sure I don't need to tell
you that all this is to be kept
completely secret. Absolutely no one
must know that these events have
taken place. Lord knows what would
happen if this got out."
Gwen nodded solemnly. "Of course
My Lady. You can count on me."
"I thought as much. Now come, we
must get ready."
Imogen stood outside the big double
doors that led to the throne room.
Two guards stood either side of her,
staring straight. She would
occasionally throw brief glances in
their direction. They hardly looked
like they were even breathing.
However she was breathing. A lot.
Her hands were fidgeting and try as
she might she could not stop them.
She was blinking far more rapidly
than necessary and the beginnings
of sweat despite the cold morning
air.
She knew what she was going to
have to do in order to convince the
King to trust the Sorcerer Prince. It
would involve sinking to a level she
reserved only for absolute necessity.
She had long ago discovered that
she had inherited a certain skill from
her mother. Manipulation. She could
get almost anyone to do whatever
she wanted - no magic needed. Men
were the easiest to control. She was
able to exploit their deepest
instincts, odd as they may be, to
protect her so long as she played her
role correctly. She guessed it came
from a long forgotten tribal
influence that rested in the deepest
darkest corner of the mind, but
either way it was there.
Her mother had told her that she
had used it all the time on the men
in Camelot. Uther, Arthur, even
Merlin her father when she felt she
needed to. As soon as she had
discovered her own daughter
possessed the same ability she had
warned her not to get lost in it,
warned her that it could become like
second nature and take over what is
left of your original self. This she had
told her right after she had caught
the five year old girl making all the
boys do things for her. Her chores,
her responsibilities and even her
hair. At first she was angry, which
had confused the little girl. But upon
sneaking out of her chambers after
being told to reside in them until she
had realised what she had done
wrong. She saw her Mother, Father
and Uncle Arthur laughing about it.
To say she was puzzled would be an
understatement. However as she
grew she realised through
experience what her mother had
meant. A skill like manipulation was
not something to show pride in, in
fact quite the opposite, and should
only be used when it could be
justified. Yet as much as she hated
the thought of doing it, now it was
the only option.
"Imogen."
Came a familiar voice. Imogen spun
round to see her father, Merlin,
walking purposefully towards her.
She couldn't hide the smile that
stretched across her face.
"Merlin." She greeted happily,
ignoring the odd feeling that crept
up on her at calling her father by his
actual name. He simply nodded and
turned to an old man behind him.
"This is the court physician Gaius."
He introduced. Imogen lost the
smile and obtained a look of
complete shock. "Gaius this is
Imogen, the-" He darted his eyes to
the two guards. "The girl I told you
about."
"Pleasure to meet you my girl."
Gaius greeted charmingly. Imogen
now had a smile wide enough to
block of the wide corridor they stood
in.
"Please Gaius the pleasure is all
mine. Really all mine."
Gaius raised an eyebrow at the girl,
which for some reason only served
to make her snicker. Honestly, the
child was behaving like she had met
her idol.
"Could I ask what is so funny?" The
physician asked baffled.
"Oh nothing." She replied, still
smiling. "It's just that...I don't wish
to confuse you further but...well...I'd
been told about that eyebrow thing."
Gaius raised it again. "What eyebrow
thing?"
Imogen looked at surprised, briefly
turning to an amused Merlin before
shifting back to Gaius. "I was told
that you raised your eyebrow
whenever you had...well actually
that you just used to raised it a lot."
Gaius looked mortified.
"We had a nick name for it." Imogen
continued.
"Nick name? What kind of a nick
name?"
"The eyebrow of devastation."
Another snicker alerted the elderly
physician, only this time it seemed to
come from Merlin. Gaius narrowed
his eyes as his young protégé stifled
a random chuckle after another.
Gaius realised now would be the
time to take pity on the boy, but
instead preferred to watch him
struggle. Watch as the sweat formed
on his forehead, as his lips shook
along with the rest of his body, as he
battled fiercly in a fight he was never
going to win.
"What's going on here?" Sounded
the deep commanding voice of
Arthur Pendragon as he strode into
the group. His eyes landed on a now
violently shaking Merlin, and he
could feel the look of annoyance
spread over his face. "What on earth
is it now?"
"Merlin was just displaying his
amusement at a nick name Imogen
and her friends had for a certain
aspect of my face." Gaius explained.
Arthur turned to look at him. "Is it
the eyebrow?"
A high pitched and disturbingly lady
like noise escaped Merlin's clamped
lips, causing Arthur and Imogen to
swiftly turn to look at the young
Warlock. Gaius however was
shocked. Since when had his
eyebrow become such a public
endearment?
"Grow up Merlin!" Ordered the
crowned prince.
"We called it the eyebrow of
devastation" Imogen repeated.
Gaius snapped his head in her
direction sufficiently heatedly.
"Yes thank you." He finished shortly.
Imogen looked down at the floor in
shame. He turned back to Arthur
"Sire perhaps we should be
discussing what -"Arthur was now
biting his lip in an attempt to keep
his own laughter in, shoulder to
shoulder with Merlin. "By the Gods."
Gaius exclaimed frustrated. He was
surrounded by idiots.
"There was another nickname."
Imogen said quietly whilst looking
fearfully at Gaius.
The elderly physician rolled his eyes.
"Well go on then, you might as well.
Put them out of their misery - I can't
bear it any longer."
Imogen seemed to struggle to find
the courage at first, but eventually
dug down deep and forced herself to
nobly carry on. "We called it the
excited caterpillar."
And that, it seemed, was that.
Morgana and Gwen rounded the
corner to find Merlin and Prince
Arthur roaring with hysterical
laughter. They watched as their
future King slid down the far wall of
the corridor on his back in what
could only be described as in an
uncontrollable state. Casting their
eyes downward they saw his faithful
and brave man servant, already on
the floor on his back, holding his
stomach and over-all looking quite
unhinged.
"It hurts!" Cried out Merlin.
"Try...to think of...sad things!" Arthur
advised from the wall in between fits
of giggles.
"Like what!?" Merlin queried.
"I don't know!" Another roar of
laughter from Arthur. "Sick
children?!"
"Arthur!" Morgana yelled from
across the hall, turning all eyes upon
her and Gwen. "Have you no self
control?" The King's ward chastised.
"Merlin started it!"
"I did not!" Merlin yelled defensively.
"I don't care who started it."
Morgana scolded. "Let's just see
whose man enough to finish.
Whatever this is, it's gone on long
enough."
Merlin and Arthur rose slowly, still
shooting out the odd giggle and
wiping away fresh tears. Morgana
and Gwen walked towards the
throne room doors with repugnance
clear on their faces.
"Babies." Gwen whispered as she
walked past them. Both Merlin and
Arthur felt affronted but had
difficulty removing their smiles. The
two girls then passed the two smiling
guards and a hurt looking Gaius to
reach a shamed Imogen.
"Are you ready?" Morgana asked
with a concerned glint in her eyes.
Imogen took a sharp intake of air
before nodding with a simple smile.
"As I'll ever be."
Morgana smiled back before looking
at one of the two guards. "Is it
alright to enter?"
"Yes My Lady. The King has finished
the Personal Guards ceremony. He is
expecting you."
Imogen nervously looked at the door
as Arthur strode towards it with a
firm frown on his face, all humour
forgotten. She felt Merlin stop on
her right side and Morgana on her
left. The tension seemed to grip her
every nerve and squeeze at them.
She wanted to turn around and run.
Run back to her time and just live in
what the world had become, after all
she knew that world. Desperate as it
was she knew what to expect, what
could occur there where she could
openly use her powers without fear
of being killed every second.
She suddenly branched both her
hands out and grabbed her
unsuspecting parent's hands. Merlin
and Morgana froze as they felt the
girl they hardly knew clasp their
hands so tightly that for one
moment Merlin thought she could
rip his off. Yet he felt some odd yet
immensely powerful twang shoot in
his chest as it happened, almost as if
it belonged there. He momentarily
gazed over at Morgana to see she
was feeling something similar to
him, her eyes confused but happy at
the same time.
"Don't leave me." Murmured
Imogen. At this Arthur turned
around to see the union before
looking to see the reactions of the
two she was hanging to.
"We won't." Morgana replied, not
even noticing when she begun
brushing the girls hair softly with her
hand. Arthur swallowed nervously,
whilst Gwen and Gaius watched on
in amazement.
"We'll all be here if you need us. Just
give us a signal." Merlin comforted.
As Arthur watched he wondered
why Merlin didn't notice Morgana's
maternal instincts firing up, but on
that mark decided they should not
keep his father waiting.
"Ok." Arthur said to gain everyone's
attention. "I've briefed you on the
rules. Do not tell him who you really
are. Under no circumstances let my
father know that you're from the
future, or that you're a Sorceress. It
will be the last thing you ever do."
Morgana rolled her eyes at the
panicked look on Imogen's face. "Oh
well done Arthur. For god sake don't
take up motivational speaking."
"They needed to be said. You ready?"
He asked staring straight at Imogen.
She seemed to think for a moment
before nodding. "Then let's go."
He pushed open the large double
doors and walked in ahead of the
group. Imogen released her parent's
hands upon entering. She really
didn't want any kind of connections
being made in the King's head, even
if it didn't seem likely anyone could
make them.
She stared up at the man who could
choose between whether her future
was filled with happiness or whether
it stayed in the shadow of its former
self. Just by looking at him sitting
comfortably in his throne she had
already judged him. Of course she
had heard stories of his brutal
nature, but she had also heard
stories of how he had cleaned up
Camelot when magic ruled the land.
His hatred for magic was legendary
even in her time, so it was logical to
exploit this as a weakness.
"Father." Arthur greeted, standing in
front of Imogen and before Uther
with his hands behind his back.
"We've received some distressing
news."
"Ah yes. The news that could barely
wait until morning. Continue."
Uther's smug royal tone came
through in folds as he reached over
and grabbed some wine from a
servant.
"We encountered this girl wondering
around the outer city. She claimed
that she saw four men entering her
home of Sorestan discussing a plot
to attack Camelot."
Uther knitted his eyebrows together
in thought, looking over Arthur's
shoulders to stare at Imogen. "Step
forward child." Uther demanded
with a wave of his hand. Morgana
clenched her jaw in anticipation. She
knew first hand that the girl had
trouble being less than honest.
"You're Highness." Imogen greeted
with a curtsy. "My family has always
been in awe of your grand codes and
conduct. It is truly a privilege to
finally be in your presence."
Merlin's eyes grew to the size of the
sun. She was good. He had expected
her for some reason to be less than
a bad liar, but here she was. Staring
straight into the eyes of Uther
Pendragon without even
flinching...and making him smile.
"It's always nice to hear that you've
had such an affect on people." Uther
said, leaning forward in his throne.
Arthur couldn't not let loose a
crooked disbelieving smile. He was
into this.
"Very much so my Lord. My father
used to tell me tales of your battle
against the evils of sorcery right
from the beginning. Your bravery
has been an example for my entire
family to compare themselves to
during our darkest moments. That's
why I knew I had to come here first;
I knew you would know what to do."
"Please speak child. I'm sure we'll
find a solution. What of these four
men and their plans for Camelot."
Uther said with a warm smile.
"Of course. There were four
sorcerers and a small druid boy My
Lord." All in unison Merlin, Morgana,
Arthur, Gwen and Gaius all snapped
their heads up to stare stunned at
the girl they thought they knew. She
was speaking of Mordred, but how
could she know of his existence?
"Small druid boy?" Uther questioned
with a clear suspicious glint in his
eyes. "I believe I know of the boy. He
escaped from our dungeons not
long ago." At this Uther threw a
fleeting glance at Morgana before
returning his over bearing gaze back
to Imogen.
Imogen nodded. "They plan to use
the boy to unleash a powerful threat
upon this great city. They plan to
release a demon from his eternal
prison-"
"Malum!" Uther's urgency brought
the fives attention back to him. He
knew?
"That was the name they used my
Lord yes." Imoged feigned
ignorance. Uther stood and walked
down the steps towards her,
surprising all with the shadow of fear
that had seemed to cast itself over
the King.
"Father you've heard of this threat?"
Arthur questioned.
Uther weakly nodded. "It was before
you were born. The kingdom was
ruled by corrupton and sorcery as
you know, but what I failed to tell
you was of the creature that had
started it. The creature that
destroyed all those who opposed
him and so created a world free of
order and control. There were those
who fought against his regime but
none were a match until..." Uther
trailed off.

Cont

"Forgive me my lord, but I heard one
of the Sorcerers say something
about a Sorcerer King." Imogen
threw out, surprising Uther a little.
He did however nod.
"Yes. Arden was his name. The only
Sorcerer to have ever proven himself
to be good of heart. His son however
has shamed him. He truly embodies
all that a true Sorcerer is."
"The Sorcerers my leige, they spoke
in fear of one person in particular.
They said he alone had the potential
to thwart their plans. That only he
possessed the power to defeat this
Demon Lord should he ever arise."
Imogen continued, still feigning
innocence.
Uther turned to her in hope. "What
was the name?
"Prince James Regus."
"Absolutely not!" Uther yelled, his
commanding voice echoing
throughout the throne room.
Imogen looked flabbergasted. Surely
she had made it clear that the
Sorcerer Prince was the only one
who could help them. She had made
up that whole lie about coming
across the four Sorcerers, and
Arthur would have been surprised to
hear her little addition of Mordred.
But she had made herself a promise
before leaving her home, and that
promise was that she wouldn't allow
her Mother to become what she was
destined to be. A powerful dark
Sorceress. Morgana had far much
more to give than to waste five years
hating Camelot, and getting rid of
Mordred whilst he was still young
and weak was the best way to go
about doing that. She had already
stopped Morgause from taking her
after her father had poisoned her.
This was her next step.
"But Father" Arthur protested
standing forward. "What if this
Sorcerer Prince is the only one who
can save us?"
"You do not know the Regus throne!"
Uther responded whilst walking
toward his son. "They are a cruel and
ruthless family. This Prince is next in
line to the throne! Have you not
considered the ramifications for
trusting such deceitful people?"
"Surely you can not judge one
person based on what their heritage
is. Maybe he's not like his father."
Arthur tried desperately to reason
with his father.
"You have not met them! I met this
Prince when he was just a child. I
saw what he was being taught and I
dread to think what kind of a man
that sort of tutoring could create. A
man filled with hate and anger."
"He's nothing of the sort!" Imogen
suddenly burst forward, shocking
everyone else into silence. "He is a
kind and selfless person! He always
strives for what is right! You have no
idea what he will give up one day to
ensure justice is served! He may not
be the King Arthur will one day
become, and yes he has a dark side
but he has a heart as pure as the
water in Camelot!"
Morgana and Merlin lost themselves
in thought. They both remembered
what the dragon had said. "Though
the Sorcerer Prince may have a
Moral heart, it is buried
underneath a mountain of pain,
anger and hatred for all those of
non-magical heritage. Years of
being raised by an evil father
have made him a dangerous man.
You must tread carefully, for I
doubt your magic, or even mine,
could stand up to his power." It
seemed that Imogen shared the
same views as the dragon. A fact
that worried both of them.
Morgana looked over to the opposite
side of the room to spot a Merlin
deep in thought. She guessed he was
thinking the same thing...or perhaps
of a way to convince the king with
one of his talents. She was brought
out of her thoughts as Merlin
suddenly lifted his head to look
straight at her. Stunned they both
became transfixed at the sight of
one another, this not going
unnoticed by Gwen.
"You dare tell me what should be?"
Uther's voice was low and
menacing. Arthur opened his mouth
to divert his father's attention away
from her when Imogen signed her
own death warrant.
"Clearly someone has to." She spat,
and that was when he saw it.
Morgana's daughter was standing
before them and was clearly no
longer worried who could guess it.
"One more word out of you girl and
you will be thrown into the
dungeons for as long as I see fit.
Control your temper-"
"Your kingdom will be destroyed!"
Imogen yelled. "You will leave your
son in charge of a Kingdom that will
be smothered in the shadows
forever! Force him to watch
innocent children be used as vessels
for matters that shouldn't even be
left to the imagination! And you will
do this in the name of pride!"
"Guards take her to the dungeons!
Immediately!"
"You should take lessons from your
son!" Imogen continued. "He does
not think of himself before the needs
of his kingdom! He would never
assume a whole race of people
would be evil because of a select
few! He will not be driven by fear like
his father! And together he and my
Father will create a land free from
your established tyranny!"
Merlin narrowed his eyes as Arthur's
widened. The blonde prince turned
to look at his manservant before he
could think better of it. Him and
Merlin? What the hell did that mean?
He looked back and discovered that
the guards had now grabbed a hold
of Imogen's arms and Morgana was
running to her side.
"Morgana!" He heard Merlin's voice
from behind him, and soon he too
was running past him to Imogen's
side.
"Uther I beg you to listen. This girl
knows what she's talking about!"
Morgana pleaded.
"How could she know?" Uther
questioned. "She's just a peasant
who overheard something that will
probably lead to nothing."
"Because I've seen it." Imogen
added. "I grew up in it. I've seen
what it will cause."
Uther shook his head in frustration.
"What on earth are you talking
about?"
"I am not from this time!"
"Imogen!" Arthur tried to interrupt,
but it had no affect.
"I came back in time to save this
kingdom and my family, and with
your pride you have sentenced them
to death!" Imogen froze. What was
she doing? What had she done? She
had just sacrificed her mission
entirely. She had just let down her
entire family.
Uther's eyes bore into her skull. The
silence of the room was deafening.
Merlin now at her side could not
take his eyes of Uther as the King
stood frozen along with everyone
else. Morgana however turned to
Arthur with a desperate plea
shinning violently in her eyes. Arthur
broke eye contact with his adoptive
sister and took a step forward, only
to be stopped by Gwen's hand
enclosing itself around his own. The
blonde prince stared back at her,
seeing how much the hand maiden
wanted him to stay out of it.
"You came back in time?" Uther
finally spoke, whilst moving towards
the scared girl.
"She's just upset!" Morgana tried.
However it was too late. Uther
would not take his eyes of the young
Sorceress.
"There is only one thing I know that
could create such a situation." Uther
continued. "Sorcery!"
"She's not well." Merlin abruptly
shouted out, causing all heads to
turn to him.
"Merlin!" Arthur whispered urgently,
pulling away from a frightened
Gwen to hit Merlin round the back of
his head.
"No Arthur." Uther stopped his son
as he eyed Merlin carefully. "The boy
has proven himself a trusted ally. Let
us see what he has to say."
Arthur's eyes could not get any
wider. What the hell? Since when
had his father ever listened to
anyone of non-noble blood? With his
mouth agape the prince turned to
look at an equally stunned Merlin, of
who was currently looking back a
fearful Gaius.
With a gentle nudge from Arthur the
young Warlock turned back to the
waiting King. "When she first arrived
in Camelot she was weary and tired.
I found her and took her to Gaius,
were he determined she must be
haemorrhage through the brain."
"This is true My Lord." Gaius said
stepping forward. "Mental
Haemorrhage can cause any person
to think strange things."
"Nonsense" Uther declared. "This girl
is far from insane. Her cheap
manipulation techniques proved
that to me."
Morgana shook her head. "My Lord-"
"Enough!" Uther affirmed. "There is
only one explanation for her deceit.
She's a Sorceress! Guards!"
The room was suddenly aloud with
movement from the guards all
pulling out their crossbows and
aiming them all at Imogen's head.
Morgana shook her head. "No!" She
screamed, wrapping her arms
around the young Sorceress thus
shielding her from the arrows.
"Morgana!" Uther bellowed fiercely.
"I will not let you hurt her!" Morgana
declared with such conviction that it
made the King himself look taken
aback.
"She is a Sorceress and must
therefore accept the consequences
of her actions!"
"She has done you no harm!"
Morgana yelled right back at him.
"Just let her leave. Banish her if you
must, but allow her to leave with her
life."
"I cannot do that"
"Well then your nothing but a hateful
coward!" Morgana bellowed out.
She had no idea why she was doing
this, but she felt an explosion of fear
as soon as the arrows were pointing
at Imogen's head. All she knew was
that she could not let her be
harmed. There was neither reason
nor logic that she could think of
behind her actions, just an
overwhelming feeling that she
needed to protect her.
Uther bared his teeth in anger. "If
you do not move out of the way then
I will be forced to order the shoot
with you in the line of fire!"
Morgana stared up at him through
her eyelids. "You wouldn't."
"Sire-" Merlin tried, taking his newly
pointed respect from the King to the
next level and walking towards him.
That was until Uther drew his sword
and placed it at the boy's neck.
"It appears I made a mistake about
you." Uther growled, the edge of his
blade pressing lightly against
Merlin's Adams apple.
"Father!" Arthur yelled now stepping
forward.
"Enough of this." Uther declared
once more before turning to look at
the two women on the ground.
"Move or I cut the boys throat."
"Your highness I must protest!"
Gaius said now walking forwards
with Gwen.
"Quiet Physician!" Uther ordered.
"This is something only Morgana can
stop."
Morgana's mouth fell open. What
was she supposed to do? Either
protect the girl or Merlin, the man
who had tried to kill her. She stared
down into the frightened eyes of the
girl in her arms not to see fear for
herself, but concern for the man at
the end of Uther's blade. She looked
back up at Uther with conflict
shinning through on her face.
Uther sighed. "Very Well." And with
that he raised his sword above
Merlin's head.
"No!" Both Morgana and Imogen
cried in unison as they both bolted
from the floor in the direction of the
King. But Morgana knew they
wouldn't be quick enough. There
was no way they could reach them
in time. Uther's sword came
plummeting down through the air in
what seemed like slow motion. This
couldn't be. Merlin had to live, so he
and Arthur could make a better
world. He couldn't die...she couldn't
loose him.
But there was nothing she could do.
Uther's sword reach Merlin's neck.
This was it, her dream was coming
true. Merlin was going to die and
then whisper those two words that
echoed in her mind. Sorcerer Prince.
Morgana covered her eyes as she
halted her movement...only to hear
the sound of steal colliding. She
whipped her hands away from her
face to stare staggeringly at the sight
before her.
"Arthur!" Came Gwen's voice.
Uther was standing with wide eyes
looking straight into the eyes of his
son, Arthur. Morgana followed
Uther's sword to see Arthur's own
sword blocking his father's attack
only a mere hairs length away from
Merlin's throat. Arthur had saved
him, but committed treason at the
same time.
Both Uther and Merlin seemed
unable to tear their eyes away from
Arthur. Completely different
thoughts running through their
minds, until Uther's eyes raised a
little to see his newly appointed
personal guard switching his aim
from Imogen to Arthur.
"No stop!" Uther demanded but it
was too late. The fresh young guard
Uther had just allowed into the
sought after personal guards had
pulled the trigger.
That's when everything happened so
quickly it was hard to tell what went
first. Merlin turned to see the arrow
coming straight for Arthur and burst
into action. The two royals swords
dropped and their eyes grew wide.
Morgana watched Merlin move at
impossible speeds before suddenly
Imogen appeared, pushing Arthur to
the ground. Within seconds the
arrow had plunged into the young
girls' side.
Both Merlin and Morgana watched
as everything seemed to return to
normal speed. The two stared in
horror as the girl first fell to her
knees, her hands finding the arrow
now sticking independently from her
side. She gave one last breath before
falling to the throne room floor.
Gaius reached the girl and began
getting out his healing tools as
Imogen struggled in her pain. People
began surrounding her as Gaius
struggled to stop the bleeding.
Morgana and Merlin both looked up
at the other in unison. One thought
rebounding around within their
heads.
The dream was coming true, just not
in order.
"Gaius leave her." Uther's voice
echoed in the silent throne room.
Morgana snapped her eyes to him in
disgust.
"What do you mean leave her?" She
asked stamping up to him.
"She is a Sorceress. She is only
receiving her retribution early."
Morgana laughed a laugh devoid of
all humour. "She just saved your
sons life!"
"Do not be naive." Uther
reprimanded his ward. "I have no
doubt that she did this to earn our
trust."
Morgana stared open mouthed and
appalled at her guardian. "You're a
monster." She whispered bitterly,
earning her a dangerous stare in
response. "My Father would be
ashamed of you."
Merlin watched as something
seemed to snap in the King's eyes.
Without thinking, in his anger, he
raised his arm and struck her around
the face with the back of his hand.
Morgana went crashing down
through the force of it, landing next
to her future daughter with a heavy
thump. All eyes now on the King and
his ward, watching as the scene
grew from bad to worse. The fallen
Morgana turned back up to look at
her guardian only to see the face of
him in her dreams. He looked like an
animal with his teeth clenched and
wild eyes staring down at her. He
had hit her to the floor, he had
caused the blood to gather in her
mouth and he didn't seem to care.
Merlin stared at the scene. It was all
happening as Morgana had
described. They may not have been
happening in the same order, but
they were happening. Uther striking
her to the floor, Imogen being shot
by a cross bow. It was all happening,
which meant everything she saw
would now come true.
And just like that their surroundings
faded into nothingness. Merlin spun
around on his heel to look around at
the darkness. The throne room had
disappeared, along with Uther, Gaius
and all the guards. Only Him,
Morgana, Arthur, Gwen and Imogen
existed now. He could feel wind
form in the darkness, the strong gust
almost blowing him off his feet
before a cold wet feeling surrounded
his feet. He turned to the other four
only to see they appeared to now be
in a forest, standing in a puddle at
night.
"What the...?" He heard Arthur say
as the Prince spun round and round.
"Where the hell?"
"Where are we? What happened?"
Gwen asked, running up to Arthur
and grabbing his arm.
"I don't know." Morgana answered
for him. "It's like we've
been...transported but we didn't
move."
An idea suddenly hit Merlin full
force. "Teleported." He spoke up,
earning him full attention. He looked
down at Imogen lying on her back
now out cold just by the little puddle
the rest of them were standing in.
"She must have teleported us here.
To get us away from the Kingdom."
Morgana suddenly went charging
across the dirty cold puddle and fell
to her knees beside the fallen girl.
She picked up her head and rested it
on her lap. "I don't know what
happened but without Gaius she is
going to die! Gwen come help me!"
"Of course." Gwen responded, now
splashing through the lake herself to
reach the dying girl.
A loud screeching noise above them
swiftly caught their attention. Above
them was a creature that seemed
impossible, hanging from a nearby
tree. It spread its gigantic black
wings and opened its long pointy
mouth to reveal its sharp fangs. Its
yellow eyes focused on Arthur and
Merlin.
"What on earth is that!?" Arthur
yelled whilst withdrawing his sword.
"I don't know." Merlin responded.
"But it seems to like us."
And just like that the creature
swooped down through the air
towards them with its mouth
hanging greedily open. "Get down!"
Arthur yelled, diving forward and
narrowly dodging the hungry
creature. Merlin did followed suit,
barely escaping with his head
attached.
The two scrambled up to face the
direction it had flown to see it
swinging around to come for
seconds. Its eyes reflecting the
moons pale light. "Merlin! Get the
girls into the forest!"
Merlin turned to face him just as the
creature began hovering back down
towards them. "But what about
you?"
"Now Merlin!" Arthur ordered,
sending the Man servant running
towards the three women.
Arthur spun his sword in his hand
twice before holding it vertically in
front of him. His legs squatting,
prepared to strike the beast down. It
eventually swooped down for the kill
with its wings spreading straight
adjacent to its, by comparison, small
body. Arthur watched as the beast
opened its mouth and prepared to
strike when its wings were hit with
what seemed like flames. The
creature went crashing down into
the small puddle, splashing the dirty
water all over Arthur's body.
Merlin turned back around with
Gwen and Morgana on either side of
him, Imogen in his arms to see the
defeated beast lying dead in the
puddle. He looked over at Arthur
who was wiping the water from his
eyes.
"What happened?" He yelled over to
the prince, causing him to turn to
him.
"I don't know!" He yelled back.
"Something hit him, some kind of
fire-"
"Arthur look!" Gwen screamed,
pointing to a small hill leading out of
the puddle. Arthur spun round to
see a hooded shadow standing tall.
Arthur raised his sword defensively,
only to have the figure raise his
leather gloved hand to send it flying
out of Arthur's hands. Arthur
stumbled back and with a raise of
the figures other hand, felt his feet
leave the ground and his body go
soaring back through the air, only
stopping when his back slammed
into the trunk of the tree beside
Merlin and the girls.
The prince let out a quick groan of
pain before looking back to see the
figure was already in front of him,
the moonlight now showing a
shinning pair of green eyes from
beneath the baggy black hood.
"Let him go." Merlin demanded.
The figures head casually turned to
him in acknowledgement. "Hello
Emrys." Came a male voice from
beneath the hood. Merlin's eyes shot
open in shock. He knew who he
was?
"His name is Merlin!" Was the gruff
reply of Arthur's form as he
continued to struggle against the
invisible force keeping him pinned to
the tree in mid air. "I am Prince
Arthur of Camelot! You will tell us
who you are!"
A small amused puff of air escaped
the figure as he dropped his hand.
Arthur fell to the floor in an
ungraceful heap with Gwen leaping
to his aid. The four watched as the
hooded figure placed a hand on his
hood and swiftly pulled it down to
reveal jet black hair and a handsome
face to accompany the shinning
green eyes.
"I am Prince James Regus." He
declared, shocking the four into
silence. "Or as you might know me,
the Sorcerer Prince." He took a
moment to examine their
expressions. "And you're
trespassing."

All four, Merlin, Morgana, Arthur and
Gwen were thrown to their knees on
the hard marble flooring. Morgana
couldn't help the small whimper that
escaped her traitorous throat as her
knees hit the cold floor, she hearing
a few groans from her friends next
to her. She slowly looked up to the
feet that lay in front of them.
Following her gaze Merlin looked up
to see what the feet were attached
too to discover a young but mature
looking man, glaring down at them
from his throne. Needless to say a
gulp escaped him.
"What is this you bring before me,
James?" The man asked someone
behind him. Soon the sorcerer
prince walked past them, a guard
carrying an unconscious Imogen
following loyally behind.
"Father," he responded, sending a
shockwave through the kneeling
four. Merlin looked over at Arthur to
see he had the same disbelieving
look on his face. How could this man
be the sorcerer prince's father? He
barely looked older than the man
himself. "I come bearing gifts." The
four watched as a crooked smile
split across the prince's handsome
face.
His father however seemed bored.
"Is this one of your stupid jokes?"
The prince shook his head and gazed
greedily into Merlin's eyes. "Certainly
not My King, I bring you the future of
Camelot." The Sorcerer King turned
his head to look at his son in
puzzlement.
"Explain yourself, quickly." The King
ordered.
"Of course. Might I introduce Prince
Arthur of Camelot and his love, Miss
Guinevere." He introduced. At this
the youthful looking King leant
forward in his overly decorated
throne with a keen smile on his face.
"Uther's son in love with a serving
girl?" The King it seemed had trouble
containing his excitement at this
prospect, and Arthur could guess as
to why. He was sure this sorcerer
King knew of how his father would
react to such news. Fury would not
be an appropriate term; instead
something more descriptive of a
national disaster would be more
suitable. Gwen hung her head,
seemingly compensating for the
Kings lack of shame. The hand
maiden looked up to her left to see a
bewildered looking Morgana staring
right at her, mouth open as the black
haired beauty gazed from Arthur to
herself in realization. Gwen turned
back to the sorcerer King. Well that
was one less secret.
"Who told you that?" Arthur
demanded heatedly. "I demand to
know."
The sorcerer Prince, James sent his
shinning green eyes boring through
Arthur's angry blues. "No one has to
tell me anything. Has no one told
you Prince Arthur? I'm brilliant,"
James said with a confident smile.
Merlin looked behind the prince to
see the King roll his eyes. "And part
of my brilliance is knowing what you
are thinking, even right at this very
second. I'm a can read minds Prince
Arthur, and I'm reading not only
yours but your friends at this
moment," a laugh escaped him as he
looked at all the worried faces
staring up at him. "Good lord and I
thought I had problems."
Arthur smirked. "You couldn't
possibly-"
"Couldn't what? Know who Imogen's
parents are?"Arthurs' mouth fell
open as James took a few steps
down to Gwen. He threw of his robe
over a nearby guard to reveal black
boots, black trousers and a red short
sleeved vest whilst keeping on his
black leather gloves. A single silver
chain hung from his tanned neck
with a pendant carved in the shape
of an eye. He stared down at Gwen
with his arms folded over his chest.
"What Uther would do should he
find out about you and his son?" He
continued down to Morgana and his
smile fell. He seemed to grow
uncomfortable as he stared down at
her, his eyes mysteriously clouding
over. "Will he leave you like your
father did?" He chanced a glance at
Merlin before looking back at
Morgana. "You lost a parent?"
Morgana's anger flared to new
heights. "What do you care?"
The Prince stared down at her,
stripped of his arrogance. Gwen and
Merlin focused, those couldn't be
tears gathering in the bottom of his
eyes. "I don't care. It's called
showing off, and you do it whenever
you dress up for a party so don't
judge me."
Morgana visibly snarled as his self-
assured smile returned and he
moved over to Merlin.
"Wow! Well, you're easier to read
than a freshly written scroll. But no,
Arthur has no idea how many times
you've saved him," he looked up the
line of people all looking at him
curiously. "None of them do,
although she has an idea." He
pointed at Morgana who turned
away quickly. Merlin stared at her
curiously through scared eyes. What
did that mean?
"Enough of your games," Came the
Kings voice as he stood. "I have
duties to attend to."
"But Father can't you see what this
means?"
"I can see brat" The King's spit flew
everywhere as he marched up to his
son, invading his personal space.
"The creatures that lay in the
outskirts are more than a match for
them. So what are they doing here?"
The sorcerer prince looked away
from his father's piercing eyes. "We
need information from them; it was
for the good of the kingdom."
"Do not think you can lie to me boy."
The King responded. "You saved
them because you're weak. You
always were, going out and saving
people who you believed to be
innocent despite my constant
warnings. Even the slaves you
deemed worthy of your attention.
You have so much potential son to
be a ruthless and great King."
"I do not deem ruthless as great
Father," replied James just as
strongly. "I deem great as a King
who would go out of his way to help
his people. Something you could
never understand."
"How dare you preach to me about
what a King should be. You're a fool
James, and you prove it every day.
Hopefully your younger sister will
prove to have a less selfless heart."
"You will not corrupt her as you did
me." Prince James Regus stepped
even closer to his father his jaw
clenched. The kneeling four watched
on in amazement. Perhaps there
was a chance that the sorcerer
Prince did have a heart after all? "I
will not allow you too."
"You do not have a say," assumed
the King with an appalled expression
fixed onto his face. "Your mother
would be ashamed of you if she
could see you now," Merlin saw as
the prince tensed. "She would be so
disappointed."
"Mother was the one out there every
day feeding the slaves you felt
necessary to starve. She would be
proud of my actions towards them."
"She would be as appalled as I am at
your weakness."
"I am not weak." James stated back
through gritted teeth.
"You are weak. It is that weakness
that killed your mother."
James eyes turned wild as his
father's words hit him. Very slowly
he took a step forward towards the
King. "Are you blaming me...for my
mother's death?" His tone was low
and menacing, and for the first time
the four watching from the floor
could see why Uther feared his
alliance. Right now even the King
seemed weary.
"You could have saved her and you
know it," whispered the King
venomously. "But you didn't
because you were afraid to make the
difficult decisions."
"I will not be blamed!" A smashing
noise interrupted the row as all the
windows shattered around the great
hall. The King turned back to his son
only to take a few steps back as he
took in the sight before him. His
son's eyes were only glowing gold.
The deep sound of thunder roared
through the empty window frames,
causing the still kneeling four to look
anxiously around.
"What's happening?" Gwen asked,
having to close her eyes as a fierce
wind began blowing from within the
hall. Morgana turned to Merlin in a
desperate plea for answers to see
him staring up the sorcerer prince
through his eye lids.
"It's him," answered an
inappropriately calm Merlin. "It's the
sorcerer Prince."
Morgana looked up at the prince
with wide eyes, watching as his hand
rose to the man loosely holding a
still bleeding Imogen. "Forba
erninge." He whispered. Instantly
Imogen began shaking violently in
the guards arms.
"What are you doing?" Morgana
screamed at the prince, who simply
stared at her with those gold eyes
and a simple smirk.
"Making a difficult decision," He
answered back. The prince then
turned his eyes onto a fearful
looking guard. "Take them to the
cells," he ordered as his eyes turned
back to their normal shimmering
green.
"They are to be executed in the
morning," The King ordered. James
snapped his head in his Father's
direction alarmed. "Your lack of
control merely demonstrates why I
am the King, and don't you forget it."
James sighed as his father walked
away, far more nervous than he
would dare show. He turned round
to stare at the four being dragged
away to the cells as he had
instructed. It looked like he had lost
that one, but he would get his father
back someday. It was just a shame
they had to die over a meaningless
squabble.
The prince shrugged and picked up a
now still Imogen. "Oh well." He
sighed before walking off.
"Why do you think they put us two
together?" Morgana asked, staring
emotionlessly at the cell wall.
She and Merlin were locked in a
dungeon cell after being sent here
by the man who was supposed to
save them. It certainly had been a
disappointment meeting the
supposedly brilliant sorcerer prince.
She had built up an image in her
head about how he would be, but he
was nothing like she pictured. She
expected someone fantastic.
Someone who would charge in and
save them all, give them hope that
they could stop whatever threat was
out there.
Instead he had separated herself
and Merlin from Arthur, Gwen and a
practically dead Imogen. She had no
idea whether the girl was still alive or
not, or in fact the fate of Arthur and
Gwen themselves. Instead she was
left in a cell with the man who she
really didn't want to be alone with
right now. A man she hadn't been
alone with since they had almost
kissed.
She closed her eyes in dismay as she
waited for his answer.
"I don't know." He answered
honestly. "I could understand if they
put you Arthur together because
your nobles, or if they put me with
Arthur because we're male. I don't
know why-" And just like that he
thought what connected them.
They were both magic.
"What?" Asked the lady Morgana,
but she already knew what was
going through Merlin's head. He had
just worked out that the sorcerer
prince must have known that they
both had magic. She sighed a little.
Men were idiots.
"Nothing." He lied, again. She rolled
her eyes before getting up and
resting her head on the rough
metallic bars that bound them
within the damp cell.
"We need to talk about what
happened, Merlin." She stated softly,
earning her a worried glance from
him.
"What do you mean?"
"Stop doing that" She demanded
whilst turning to face him. "Stop
pretending you're an idiot when
you're clearly not."
He looked at her through his eyelids,
obviously considering her words.
"Ok. So where did you want to
start?"
She sighed once more and began
walking round the cell. "Where do
we start? The part where we almost
killed each other or the part where
we almost kissed, despite the first
point?"
"Morgana," He said as he got up
from the floor. "I can't give you any
answers. If I knew why any of that
had to happen then I would be a lot
happier. I think we should just put it
down to a mistake and forget it
happened."
Morgana swallowed back the surge
of emotions that threatened to
break through her well practiced
mask. She didn't know why she felt
this way. Too be honest she was
going to say the exact same thing,
but for reasons she silently hoped
she would never discover the
answers to, when he said it - it only
served to create a stabbing feeling in
her gut. How the hell was she
supposed to make sense of not
being able to stand being around
someone, but also not being able to
stand being away from them?
"I agree." She did? "But there's
something you should know. Gwen
saw us."
Merlin's eyes widened. "Gwen?!"
"Yes Gwen. I told her everything."
"Define everything."
"Everything," Morgana answered.
"From the night a week ago to what
was really going on between us."
Merlin walked cautiously toward her.
"Why would you do that?"
"Because she saw us...and I was
upset." She looked like she was
addressing an enemy, Merlin noted.
Her back was arched, her shoulders
straight and her chin sticking out.
Unfortunately he was feeling a little
too angry to care at the present
time.
"You were upset?" He asked
disbelievingly. "So was I, but it
doesn't mean I go running to Arthur
to tell him all my secrets."
Morgana almost smiled. "No. You
like to keep your secrets hidden,
even when revealing them could
help someone you're supposed to
care for."
Merlin looked at her now baffled.
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing," She said quietly, turning
her head away from his eyes.
"No, no you've been asking a lot
about my secrets recently. Why?"
She could feel his eyes burning into
the side of her head, and in her
anger she felt like turning around
and telling him just what she knew.
That she knew he was a Warlock,
and a powerful one at that. It might
certainly help their current trapped
situation. She was sure if he tried
Merlin would be able to simply
mutter something and send the bars
flying off their hinges, but she also
knew he would never trust her if he
knew she had followed him down to
the Dragon. It would be too much
on top of everything else that had
happened.

"I'm sorry," She forced out through a
slightly clenched jaw. "I guess I just
don't know what to expect from you
anymore." Merlin's accusatory eyes
softened at this. She could almost
see his guilt washing over him, the
same guilt she felt whenever she
looked at him. "Besides it's not like
we're friends anymore."
A long deep sigh escaped him. "Why
aren't you friends anymore?"
Sounded a small voice from behind
them. Both Merlin and Morgana
spun around to see a small girl
looking through the bars at them
with a curious expression on her
little face.
A few moments passed as the little
girl simply waited patiently for her
answer. "Are you as creeped out as I
am?" Merlin asked Morgana, who
simply rolled her eyes at him and
moved towards the small girl.
"Hello, who are you?" Morgana
asked softly whilst crouching down
to her level.
The little girl smiled at her. "I'm
Princess Anna."
"Princess?" Merlin asked walking
forwards. "Princess of this
Kingdom?"
"Yes" Anna answered cheerfully. "I
am Princess Anna Regus of the
Venemagus Kingdom."
"Wow," Humoured Morgana with
animated eyes. "Oh and so pretty
too. How old are you?"
The little girl let loose a gargantuan
sized smile. "I'm six years old."
"I'm Morgana, I'm King Uther's
Ward."
"Daddy doesn't like him. He says he's
a nasty old man." Anna said with
wide eyes, her bottom lip sticking
out.
Morgana smiled warmly at her. "You
know what? I agree with your
Daddy." Anna smiled another smile
before looking up at Merlin. The
smile fell of her face and was instead
replaced by a look of curiosity. The
little girl and the young warlock
stared into each other's eyes for a
few tense moments.
"Morgana the creepy child is looking
at me, what do I do?" Merlin finally
asked frozen.
"He looks funny." Anna commented
strangely. Morgana turned back
round to face Merlin with a smug
smile gracing her face.
"You're right. I think it's the ears."
Merlin frowned at the black haired
beauty, only causing the Uther's
Ward to widen her smile.
"What's wrong with my ears?" He
asked hurt. Morgana pursed her lips
as she turned back to the girl.
"You're pretty. Why are you locked in
the dungeons?" Anna asked with
large curious eyes. Morgana couldn't
help but smile at the little girl,
inwardly smiling too due to the fact
that she had called her pretty. Merlin
however frowned. Why would
Morgana's looks matter?
"Well because we were trespassing
on your land without asking. Our
friend teleported us here without
telling us where we were going, we
didn't have a choice."
"Hmm," the small child considered.
"Are you two married?"
Both Merlin and Morgana leapt away
from her in mortification. Merlin had
to look away from his locked up
companion in order to hide his
embarrassment. Why didn't she just
ask if Morgana was pregnant too? It
would certainly complete her
invasive collection.
"We're not married." Merlin
answered with a clear flush on his
cheeks.
"I think you are." Little Anna looked
sternly up at him.
"But we're not."
"Yes you are."
"We're not."
"Are."
"Not."
"Are."
"Not."
"Are."
"Not."
"Are."
"Not."
"Are and I lock it and throw away the
key."
"Rats." Merlin conceded with a shake
of his head. Morgana looked at him
in complete bewilderment. How on
earth was he a powerful Warlock? As
if sensing this he looked round at
her. "What?" He asked at her
expression. "She beat me ok? So I
suppose we're married. Sorry..."
Morgana shook her head at him.
"You are a grown man Merlin."
"I don't know, have you ever heard
Arthur on one of his rants? He calls
me every girls name under the sun."
"What?" Morgana asked through
squinted eyes, but Merlin simply
soldiered on.
"Because take it from me, he can be
pretty convincing."
"Merlin-"
"For a few months most of the other
servants thought I was a girl." Merlin
said sadly whilst pursing his lips.
Morgana could only look at him
confused as the Prince's man
servant seemed to begin
remembering those times with a
sort of fond sorrow
"What's wrong with him?" Anna
asked confused.
Morgana could only nod. "So many
things."
All of a sudden the dungeon door
blasted off its hinges and flew across
the room. Anna jumped back out of
shock, unknowingly stepping in the
way of the oncoming door. Morgana
gasped and covered her eyes with
both her hands, knowing she
couldn't watch...until Merlin stepped
forward next to her.
"Geláces." He whispered. Morgana
watched in amazement as Merlin's
eyes flashed gold right before her
eyes. Everything seemed to go in
slow motion as Morgana watched.
Some invisible force seemed to send
Anna soaring back just time to
narrowly miss the flying door.
Everything raced back to normal
speed and Morgana couldn't help
the sigh of relief, before turning to
Merlin with wide eyes.
The man gulped as he stared back at
her, equally shocked. What had he
done? He had acted on instinct,
obviously not wanting to see the
small girl crushed...but now he had
done the one thing he never wanted
to do. He had performed magic in
front of the Lady Morgana.
Everything else seemed blurry to
him as Arthur appeared with Gwen
by his side. "We have to get out of
here." The Prince stated, but
unfortunately neither was listening.
"Hey!" Arthur yelled, finally gaining
their attention. "We're getting out of
here, now."
Morgana shook her head to try and
regain her thoughts. "But how-" She
was interrupted by Imogen bursting
into the room, looking slightly less
than fine. "Imogen,
you're...you're..."
"I know, I'm awake – and yes I'll be
fine," she said with a large gulp,
clearly swallowing her pain. "And I
told you to call me Imi."
"How?" Merlin asked baffled. The
last time he had seen her she had
been beyond the point of no return.
"The sorcerer Prince...must have
healed me. I need to rest, but after
we get out of here."
"There's a girl over here." Called
Gwen from behind everyone. They
all turned to see Gwen helping a
groggy Anna to her feet.
"Why is there a child on the floor?"
Arthur asked bizarrely.
"She's the princess." Sighed
Morgana.
"Anna?" Imogen's tone was
incredulous, as if she couldn't
believe it. She watched as Gwen
helped her along with her soft
hands.
Merlin stepped forward. "You know
her?"
"Know her?" Imogen couldn't help
the small laugh that escaped her
despite her pain. "She's my best
friend."
A small moment of silence broke out
across the room as different thought
passed through their minds. Merlin
was still reeling from the fact that he
had some explaining to do to
Morgana as soon as they were alone,
and he would have to trust the one
person who it seemed impossible to
trust right now. If he was going to be
honest there was a slight relief
pouring over him, but it was only
slight. The rest of him shook with
fear. He took a moment to look next
to him to see her. She was looking at
the floor, clearly he thought, thinking
about what had just happened. He
slammed his eyes shut and hung his
head. He needed to find a way to
make her think she was seeing
things...but how would you make
someone forget that?
Morgana looked over at the man
standing next to her, seeing him with
his eyes firmly shut. He was
panicking. She knew. But by quite
the opposite she couldn't be more
pleased. He had sacrificed a secret
that could get him killed on pure
instinct. In a second he had revealed
something he had kept secret for the
best part of his life. In a second he
had forgotten everything, and
trusted her again. She tried to hide
her smile but it appeared anyway.
He had trusted her again.
"How did she end up over there on
the floor?" Arthur's voice brought
the pair out of their inner thoughts
and back into the panic of the room.
"What?" asked Merlin in spite of
hearing him perfectly.
Arthur's annoyance was highly
visible. "I said...how did she end up
over there on the floor?"
"I-I don't know," stuttered Merlin.
"Maybe she...fell?"
"Across a room?"
"It's happened before."
Arthur's smile showed his disbelief.
"When? When has that ever
happened?"
"You must have been out," Merlin
answered with a firm purse of his
lips.
Morgana took a subtle step in front
of him. "There's an enchantment on
these bars. When she touched it she
was sent flying back the poor child.
Is she alright?"
Merlin looked over at her in
unquestionable shock. She was
protecting him? Why? After
everything they had been through
why would she lie to Arthur on his
behalf? He suppressed an
unexpected surge to embrace her,
an emotion that he hadn't felt since
he had first sent her to the druids.
He shook his head to clear those
thoughts. He was dangling of a very
dangerous cliff with thoughts like
that.
"Alright, Imogen blast the door
open. We need to leave here
immediately." Arthur ordered.
Imogen finally turned away from
little Anna and nodded.
"Stand back," Imogen suggested.
Morgana and Merlin did as they
were told as Imogen raised a shaky
pale hand. "Blaesus." The door was
thrown of its strong metal bars in a
cloud of smoke and dropped with a
heavy metallic thud.
"We need to move, now!" Arthur
bellowed, ushering Morgana then
Merlin out from the strict confines of
the prison. They all began running
toward the door, until the reason
they had wanted to come here in the
first place stepped round the corner.
The group skidded to a halt and
stared at the sorcerer Prince head
on. A small smirk tugged its way
onto his face as he shook his finger
disapprovingly at them. "Tsk tsk tsk,"
he mockingly reprimanded as he
stepped into the dungeon. "A little
rude don't you think? To leave our
humble home without even an
attempt at a goodbye." He shook his
head at them. "I'm actually a little
hurt."
"Get out of the way." Arthur
threatened in a low menacing voice
as he drew his sword. He wasn't,
however, prepared for the other
royal to snort at him.
"What's that for? To trim my toe
nails?" He looked around at the
group. "Probably for the best now I
think about it. To be honest they are
beginning to get on the monstrous
side of things."
Imogen abruptly took a large step
forward. "ádes trindan!" A large fire
ball burst from her hands and shot
out towards the prince. However he
simply raised his right arm and
swatted the blast away, it bouncing
of his hand and flying into the wall to
the side. All except Imogen stood
astounded at how he could simply
swat a huge ball of fire with an
effortless wave of his hand.
"See now I'm beginning to not want
to invite you back." He said with a
smile. However his smile faded as he
stepped up to Imogen with large,
slow strides. "Do not think you can
compare to me," he threatened, all
humour gone. "I have no equal."
"I did not expect anything less,"
Imogen replied calmly. It became
obvious that this seemed to shake
him; her lack of fear at his remark
was clearly something he was not
used to. "I did not however expect
you to be such an idiot."
"Excuse me?" he couldn't believe his
ears. Who did this girl think she was?
"I saved your life, and I can quite
easily take it away-"
"You would never take another's
life," stated a suddenly bold Imogen.
"You couldn't."
"Why don't we test that theory on
one of your friends?" He asked with
his smirk making a grand re-
appearance.
Imogen smiled. "You cannot fool
me. I believe in you, I know you
won't turn us over to your Father.
You are your mother's son, not your
father's lapdog. You are everything
that is good about this kingdom,"
she said as she began very slowly
walking towards him. "You're the
heart, the soul and the true leader of
the people. But you're also the fire
and the rage, and the pain and the
broken boy that was forced into a
life that he does not belong. Forced
into making choices that made you
hate yourself from the moment you
made them till this very second.
Moulded into a man who at the very
thought of himself causes him to
suffer in silence, only because you
are not allowed to show weakness.
Hiding behind a mask of humour
and danger so you can earn a man's
respect, a man you despise with
every part of your being," She finally
stopped walking and placed a soft
hand on his dazed face. "A man who,
deep deep deep down inside, is good
and selfless, and will one day be the
greatest King this kingdom has ever
seen."
Silence filled the once thunderously
loud dungeon as all could only stare
in astonishment. James looked
down slightly into the eyes of the
woman who still had her warm hand
on his cheek with no words to
describe the emotions coursing
through his entire being. He
attempted to use his agape mouth
to speak, yet merely found he had
lost the ability to talk. Never, ever
had anyone described his hatred for
himself and his life. Never before
had anyone realised how the choices
and the teachings he had had during
his frenzied childhood had caused
him to change everything that he
was.
The silence was however broken
when Merlin leaned over to Arthur.
"Why can't you say something with
that much depth about me? You
know to show your appreciation."
Arthur looked at him in amazement.
"Because, Merlin, you have as much
depth as a puddle."
James though could not tear his eyes
away from Imogen. "Who are you?"
He whispered.
"I'm the person asking you to save
us," she spoke quietly. "Begging you
actually, to for once not listen to
your father and do the right thing."
He tore his eyes away from hers and
pulled away. He brought his hands
up to his hips as he turned his back
on the waiting group, craning his
neck to stare conflictingly up at the
ceiling. He released a deep breath of
air before he brought his head back
down to face the empty door frame.
"If I helped you, if I help you stop
whatever this threat is, then I would
be committing treason. I cannot
betray my Father." His voice was
deep and almost disappointed.
"I understand," Imogen said softly.
"But what would your mother do?"
James twisted his neck to stare
unblinking at the sorceress. His eyes
then travelling across the groups
tired looking faces until finally
landing on his little sisters innocent
face. He eventually blinked and
stared down at the floor in severe
contemplation, his eyebrows knitted
into a firm v shape.
"Princess," he raised his eyes to
Anna, who instantly recognised the
nickname. "What do you want to
do?"
The group were stunned. Why on
Earth would he ask a six year old girl
a question which had the answer
that determined the future of not
only Camelot but it seemed the
entire country? All eyes were now on
the wide vacant eyes of the little girl
who had her tongue in her cheek.
Her eyes rather swiftly moved to
Morgana, who in turn provided her
with a brief smile. Anna smiled back
at her before grabbing her hand.
"I want to help them." She stated
happily. Everyone turned back to the
sorcerer Prince to see a slightly
insane looking smile break open
over his face.
"Well what are you waiting for?" He
asked mockingly. "Let's go be
heroes."

Chapter 7 - Escape
Morgana sat in silence as she stared
at the wall, the one the Sorcerer
Prince was leaning on. His arms
crossed along with his legs as he
hung his head seemingly in deep
concentration. To most people the
silence in the room would have
made for an uncomfortable
atmosphere, and from what she had
seen of this sorcerer Prince she
wouldn't put it past him to be doing
it on purpose. However Morgana
was too lost in her own thoughts to
contemplate such ideas.
James had come up with a plan to
get them out without his Father
suspecting it was him. The plan was
that Imogen had broken out of her
cell before freeing her friends, then
the King would send out James
himself to go search for them. It
seemed simple but it was all they
could think of on short notice.
Meanwhile Arthur and Merlin were
digging through one of the
particularly soft mud walls of the
dungeon with Gwen and Imogen
covering the mess. Morgana had
been opted to stay behind in case
any guards came by on their patrol,
and then James could send them
away before they noticed the cell
only contained one occupant.
However this was not the main
brainwave of the many floating
around in her head. Not long ago
Merlin had performed magic to save
the little Princess Anna from an
untimely fate before her very eyes.
Of course she had known he
possessed magic previously but to
actually see it in action was
something else. He was no longer
the clumsy servant boy she had
known all along, he was no longer
that loveable boy who possessed an
almost child like innocence about
him. The recent events had changed
her perspective of him completely,
his little show of Magic only nailing
down the coffin.
He was an equal.
It was pompous she knew. It was
snobbish and wrong but she had
always seen him as Arthur's
manservant and nothing more. It
was true she had sort of thought of
him as a friend, an ally and a loyal
companion but now, now she
realised Merlin was a force to be
reckoned with. Someone you didn't
want to get on the wrong side of...as
she had.
The other thing swirling around her
head was the girl Imogen. The group
as a whole had seemed to have now
accepted her as one of them, even
trusting her enough to take her
suggestion and pair with this James
Regus, the sorcerer Prince himself.
She herself had even begun to
strangely care for the girl which only
seemed to further unsettle her. She
had only known her for the best part
of two days and yet she cared for
her in a rather strange way. A way
that she imagined one could only
care for family.
What also unsettled her was what
she had said when she had first met
her, about her becoming an evil
sorceress. Could it actually be
possible that she would abandon all
her friends? Gwen? Arthur? Could
she really turn against them?
She looked up at the sorcerer Prince
with conflicted eyes. "Could I ask
you something?"
James looked up at her a little
surprised and pursed his lips.
"Err...no." And he went back to
hanging his head. Morgana stared at
him open mouthed, a little appalled.
He really was nothing like she had
pictured.
"Excuse me?" Her tone spoke for
itself. She was annoyed.
"You're not used to people saying no
to you are you?" He replied if a little
too amused by her reaction.
Morgana shook her head. "Forget it."
James rolled his eyes and blew out a
deep frustrated breath of air. "Look
My Lady." He began boredly, earning
himself a warning glare from the
black haired beauty. "I'm not doing
all of this to be your friend. I'm not
doing it because future girl has some
rather dramatic ideas about my
personality. I'm doing it because it's
the right thing to do, and if what
your friend says is true then both our
kingdoms will be in serious danger."
"Right." Morgana replied shortly. "I
just thought you might have some
insight."
A few moments of silence passed as
the two were once again left to their
own thoughts. It became so silent in
fact that it seemed to be quite
deafening, Morgana's outburst
disturbing the rooms once blissfully
silent atmosphere.
"Ever has it been known that love
knows not its true depth until the
hour of separation." James suddenly
blurted out, staring blankly at the
wall. Morgana looked up at him a
little startled at the wisdom in his
words.
"I'm sorry?"
"The boy Emrys. You have feelings
for him...feelings you didn't realise
you had until your relationship
changed and you didn't speak for a
week."
Silence once again filled the room as
Morgana stared shocked at him. His
knowledge was not only invasive but
disturbingly accurate, a combination
that really didn't go down well
together.
"How...?" She began before being
cut off by her confusion and fear.
Two other emotions that didn't mix
well.
"Please." He replied as if insulted. He
shifted himself off the wall and
walked to stand in front of her. "You
should remember that whenever
you are in conflict with someone,
there is one factor that can make the
difference between destroying your
relationship and deepening it. That
factor is attitude. Anything positive is
better than something negative."
Morgana shook her head in
amazement. She was strangely
touched by his words, despite the
fact that she knew he was only
saying it because he wanted her to
shut up.
"And as for your reservations about
the Imogen girl, you may not trust
me but trust this. She is a friend who
you can rely on." James added with
an unusually friendly smile.
Morgana looked down at the floor in
contemplation. That was what the
dragon had told Merlin way down
beneath the castle. "But you don't
know what she said when we first
met. She said that I would become
an evil sorceress, bent on destroying
Camelot."
"To be honest that's what I had
heard too." He answered honestly,
causing Morgana to snap her head
up in his direction. "When I was
younger I was made to read the
ancient scriptures, and it was written
that a powerful sorceress named
Morgana Le Fay would send the
great King Arthur's kingdom into an
era of darkness. Emrys is also in
there quite a lot. It's written that one
day he will become the most
powerful of us all, even more so
than the seventh crowned prince of
the Venemagus kingdom who is said
to be unstoppable."
Morgana was not only mortified but
confused. "Who's the seventh
crowned prince?"
James smirked. "Give it to her Anna."
Morgana turned to see little Anna
supposedly hiding behind one of the
many crates within the dungeon.
The little girl jumped out and
pointed at James. "James is!"
"Yes I am! Come give me a hug!" The
little girl smiled and ran at her
brother, he wrapping his arms round
her and picking her up before
spinning round. Morgana couldn't
help but smile in spite of her mood
as Anna giggled joyfully at his antics.
When he eventually stopped
spinning he looked back at Morgana,
still holding a now dizzy Anna.
"What do I do?" She asked, not
intending to sound quite as
vulnerable as it did.
James rolled his eyes before
answering. "You learn from it, and
remember that you choose your
future. Do not let it choose you."
Morgana gave a single nod in
understanding before releasing a
sort of sad smile. "Thank you. I
suppose you're not so bad."
"Oh don't mention it," he replied
with a toothy grin; however
Morgana watched as it suddenly
dropped. "Ever." He added
genuinely.
She nodded in mock determination.
"Understood."
The two smiled at each other, both
not realising Merlin was now
standing at the door watching in. He
frowned as the two continued to
stare smiling at the other, and an
odd sinking feeling soured the lining
of his stomach. He took a deep gulp
as he tried to quell the swelling
sensation before he realised he had
been trapped staring at the two for a
much longer period than he had
anticipated.
He shifted uncomfortably as he tried
to think how he could interrupt the
two's moment. Moment he thought
coarsely. They had only just met. He
laughed to himself relieved, before
realising he was in fact relieved. Why
was he relieved? It's not like he
thought of the Lady Morgana as
anything but a friend...in fact
recently not even that.
He emptied his head of all thoughts
and cleared his throat, gaining the
two and little Anna's attention.
"We're ready when you are," Merlin
spoke unsteadily, his voice breaking
a little in the middle. Morgana
squinted her eyes at him, realising
he once again couldn't make eye
contact with her. She assumed it
was because of what happened
earlier.
James smiled at the two, noting
mentally how he could use this
against them at a later date. "Right,"
He brought up as he opened
Morgana's cell. "You two go, I'll
catch up. Remember you'll be able
to teleport once you're out of the
dungeons. The locking charm only
works down here."
Merlin nodded and turned, hoping to
burst into a light jog back to Arthur.
However James's voice interrupted
them. "Morgana," his commanding
voice caused the two to freeze and
making them feel compelled to turn
back. "Be careful" He said softly to
Morgana, finishing off his little
drama with a little yet devastating
wink.
Morgana looked at him confused
whereas Merlin's reaction differed
completely. James watched as the
young Warlocks jaw tensed and his
eyes moved down to the floor. A
smile did indeed split open across
the handsome Prince's face.
"We had best be leaving," mumbled
Morgana still a little bemused.
James nodded. "Of course. In fact I'll
come with you to make sure you get
out Ok."
"Oh no," Merlin spoke up rather
swiftly, taking a step forward.
"Arthur's already dug the tunnel."
"But all the same," James continued
annoyingly stubborn. "I would rather
come with you to make sure."
Merlin turned to Morgana only to
see the Kings ward looking like she
agreed with the Prince. She looked
back to Merlin, waiting for him to
agree as well. He closed his eyes and
took in a deep, calming lungful of
fresh air before turning back to look
at James. "Right." He said defeated.
Both Merlin and Morgana turned
and walked out, leaving a smiling
James behind. Anna shifted in her
brother's arms in order to look at
him, her eyes wide with confusion.
"Why are you smiling?" She asked.
James looked at his sister. "Your
brother is a very bad man Princess.
Now come on," he said whilst
putting her down. "You're getting
too fat to carry." And with that the
Prince walked off after Merlin and
Morgana. The little girl looked
shocked at her older brother as he
waltzed away.
"I am not fat!" She screamed with a
sinister stamp of her foot.
"Of course you're not," James
answered as he turned back to her
with a fatherly smile on his face. He
gave her a wink and turned to walk
once again. "You're just meaty."
Anna gasped before her eyes filled
with blood rage. With a ferocious
scream that would make the great
dragon himself wet his scales she
charged at the crowned sorcerer
Prince. James only had time to
glance back at the small girl before
sprinting off at a petrified pace, his
sister hot on his heels.

Merlin and Morgana walked in
silence, their eyes gazing straight
ahead so as not to make eye contact
with the other. Merlin began to
sweat with all the thoughts bouncing
abrasively around in his mind. Not
only did he have the original tension
him and Morgana had for each
other, not only did he have to worry
about the fact that they had bizarrely
almost kissed, but now he had to
worry about what she was going to
do with his secret.
How could he have been so foolish?
Morgana now knew what he could
really do and given recent events,
what would stop her going straight
to Uther or Arthur and giving him
up. He could hear Gaius reprimands
already as the pair silently travelled
down the halls together. They were
not far from Arthur, Gwen and
Imogen now Merlin told himself.
This unbearable silence would have
to come to an end eventually.
They turned yet another corner and
a sigh of relief echoed in Merlin's
mind. Only one more corner and
they would have to act like friends
once again. However Morgana's soft
hand on his shoulder not only
interrupted his blissful thoughts but
also his movements.
"Merlin, we need to talk." Morgana's
voice was strict yet soft at the same
time.
Merlin stared back at her with
panicked eyes. "Morgana I don't
think this is the right time -"
"It's exactly the right time." She
interrupted. She didn't blink as she
spoke Merlin noted internally.
Nothing short of a miracle would
distract her now. Merlin closed his
eyes tight and prayed to whatever
divine power there was that there
would be such a miracle, but even as
he prayed nothing happened. He
slowly opened his eyes to stare at
her bright blue eyes and felt himself
deflate.
"What do you want to know?" He
asked defeated once again.
Morgana released a breath she
hadn't realised she had been
holding. "A lot of things, like why you
neglected to tell me you were a
sorcerer after discovering what I
myself was going through? Why you
let me feel like I was alone in
Camelot? But more importantly why
you trusted me again?"
Merlin frowned in confusion at the
last question. "When did I trust you
again?"
"You were prepared to display your
magic in front of me to save Anna.
In that short moment Merlin you
forgot everything that had happened
between us and trusted me. I believe
your instincts wish to forgive, even if
your head tells you otherwise."
Morgana answered softly, her eyes
barely containing her joy at the idea.
She wanted nothing more than for
Merlin to trust her again. "I have
long since forgiven you for your
actions a week ago, when you
poisoned me. I understand why, and
I can't describe how sorry I am for
my actions. I placed my trust in the
wrong person Merlin, but you have
to believe me when I say that I never
intended for anyone other than
Uther to be harmed."
Merlin took a deep breath as he
averted his eyes away from hers.
Lately he found he could think more
clearly if he looked away from her.
"Morgana -"
"Look at me." She demanded
sternly. His eyes snapped back up to
hers.
"What?" his quiet voice could only be
heard if you strained your ears.
"You don't even look at me
anymore," She answered, her voice
cracking ever so slightly in the
middle. "You always used to look at
me."
"I can't look at you because I don't
know who I'm looking at all the
time." His voice was suddenly very
bold and clear. "Morgana you must
realise you have two very different
sides to you. There's my friend and
then there's this other woman, who I
can't even begin to trust. How can I
trust someone who I'll always be
worried will stab me in the back if
she doesn't like what she'll see?"
Morgana could only stare at him
devastated. "You must be so scared,"
She whispered brokenly. At his
baffled stare she continued. "You
must think I'll run straight to Arthur
or even Uther to tell him you're a
sorcerer." She watched as his eyes
grew wide with fear and felt her
heart break. She delicately placed
two hands on either side of his face
as she elegantly moved into his
personal space. "I promise you, on
my father's grave, I will never betray
your secret."
The two stared unblinkingly at each
other as everything else faded from
their senses. Merlin's throat went
dry as he recognised the familiar yet
unsettling atmosphere change
between them. This was what
happened when they had almost
kissed before in her chambers.
Lightning was striking twice.
Her heartbeat raced. It pounded
harder than it had ever before,
almost to the extent where she
began to feel out of control of her
own actions. The first time this had
happened she had lost her head. Her
emotions had gotten the best of her,
but this time she would not allow it.
She realised now she had to be his
friend before they could move on to
anything else. But did she want to
move on to anything else? These
moments were just that. Moments.
She couldn't honestly say she always
-
Before she knew it his lips crashed
down onto hers with such strength
that she went staggering back until
her back hit the wall. She felt his
surprisingly firm body lean against
her own, and in that moment she
felt her walls thunder down
destroyed. She threw her arms
around his neck in a burst of fiery
passion and forced her own lips
against his in blazing enthusiasm.
Their bodies moved in unison
against the others as Morgana's
hand clasped and pulled at his thick
unruly hair to yank him impossibly
closer to her. She moaned into his
lips in ecstasy as his hands brutally
grabbed at her pulsating skin
through the thin smooth fabric of
her dress. Heat radiated off of them
as the two released everything that
they had been concealing,
everything they had been hiding
from themselves and the world.
"Get out of the way!" Came a deep
yell from next to them. The two
sprung away from each other as if
scalded mere seconds before James
came storming through at high
speeds, followed closely by Anna.
The little girl stopped in front of an
immobile Morgana before pointing a
fierce finger at her brother.
"I'm telling Daddy!" Anna yelled, her
temper flaring.
"Oooh I'm shaking," replied James
sarcastically, sounding like a six year
old himself
"Could you two be any louder?"
Came the urgent whisper of Arthur.
The four turned to see a mud
covered Arthur staring wide eyed at
them. "Do you think I'm covered in
filth for my health?"
"I thought it was to cover the smell,"
James spoke up.
Arthur closed his eyes before turning
dangerously to look at him. "I. Do.
Not. Smell."
"I'm afraid you do," James replied
fearlessly. "Kind of like a corpse, but
a corpse wrapped in dung."
Arthur shook his head. "You just love
to make friends don't you?"
James could only shrug his
shoulders and raise his eyebrows.
"The ale makes me say hateful
things."
Merlin and Morgana turned to each
other with eyes the size of the royal
plates. What had they just done?
They knew it was a mistake the first
time, but what did that make this
time. Especially when it was
so...good. Morgana gulped. She had
to get away from him before she did
something else she'd regret. It
almost seemed like fate to her when
Gwen walked round the corner.
"Imogen says we're ready." She said
to the group as a whole.
Morgana turned to Merlin. "I'm
going to -"
"Yeah of course," he replied
uncomfortably. The two held each
others stare for a few moments.
Morgana offered him a sad smile
before taking her leave and
following Gwen. He could watch her
go with vacant looking eyes. What
had he done?
He a familiar hand land on his
shoulder. "Merlin," said Arthur.
"We've decided you should go
through the whole first."
"What?" He asked as he spun around
to face his master. "Why?"
"Well we thought about it a lot
and..." He trailed off.
Merlin looked at him unimpressed.
"By we you mean you don't you?"
"Yes." Arthur agreed.
"And by thought a lot about it you
mean thought it would amuse you."
"Yes I did, and still do. So come on,"
Arthur continued, giving him a bit of
a nudge. "Let's move."
Merlin sighed and walked off. This
had to be one of the worst days he'd
had in a while. Arthur began
following him before he felt James
hand now fall on his shoulder. "Wait
here. I need to talk to you." His tone
was serious that even Arthur
decided to not disobey. He watched
as the sorcerer Prince went and
began talking to Imogen before
bringing her back. "Ok, Arthur am I
right in thinking Imogen has told you
who she really is."
Arthur nodded frowning. "Yes, she
told me she was Morgana and
Merlin's daughter."
"Good," said James relieved. He
turned to Imogen. "You are a
slowpoke."
"What?" She asked surprised.
"Do you realise what it means
whenever you change things here?
You are putting everything good
about your world in danger,
including your own existence." He
reprimanded harshly. "I would never
authorise such foul uses of magic."
"You didn't" She answered shortly.
"In my world, you are the sorcerer
King, but you are nothing like your
father. You are a great King," she
stated as she turned to face Arthur
as well. "You both are."
Arthur looked a little stunned until
James interrupted the moment.
"Don't allow her to baffle you with
her tales of your future Arthur." He
said, keeping his eyes firmly on
Imogen. "Tell me why I can't read
your mind."
Arthur snapped his head in James'
direction. "Wait, you can't read her
mind?" He turned back to Imogen.
"How did you do that?"
"I can't say," she whispered whilst
averting her gaze.
"Huh." Arthur breathed out amused
as he watched Imogen's body
language. James firmly closed his
eyes in an attempt to keep the rising
fury in him at bay.
"What?" He asked through gritted
teeth.
Arthur shrugged. "It's just that
Merlin and Morgana always avert
their gaze whenever they feel
uncomfortable."
"So what?" James jaw tensed.
"It's just interesting." Arthur replied
lamely. James could only nod
frustrated.
"You're an idiot." James turned back
to Imogen. "There is only one way to
conceal your thoughts from me, and
that's if I..." He trailed off as he
slowly realised how she was able to
block his thoughts. "Oh God." he
whispered. Arthur watched as
Imogen once again looked away
from him, swearing he saw her
cheeks glow red in embarrassment.
He shook his head.
"Why am I here?" He asked a still
flabbergasted James. He watched as
the sorcerer Prince done nothing but
stare agape at an embarrassed
Imogen. "Hello?" He tried again;
finally gaining the other mans
attention.
"Right," he replied vacantly and
obviously severely stunned. Arthur
could only wish he knew why.
"You're here because you know who
she really is, so you can be trusted.
Imogen so far you have only
meddled with your parent's
relationship, but what you didn't
realise was that in doing so you have
sped up their relationship by years.
Which means you may become
older or younger without realising or
worse yet you may not even be
born."
"Oh my God," Imogen replied
devastated.
"What can we do?" Arthur queried,
taking a step forward.
"We can only do one thing." James
answered as he looked between
them. His eyes were stone hard. "We
have to make sure Merlin knocks up
Morgana."
"What?!" Arthur and Imogen yelled
in unison, gaining the others
attention briefly by the hole.
"Would you two keep it down?"
James whispered urgently.
"You cannot be serious?" Imogen
asked incredulously. She looked
desperately over at Arthur who had
turned decisively pale.
"I think I'm going to be sick." He
murmured weakly.
"I know there are nicer things in the
world -" James began.
"Nicer things?" Arthur interrupted.
"I've fought beasts nicer than this"
James looked at him unimpressed
before continuing. "If we don't then
Imogen may die and Malum will be
released anyway. Imogen, how long
until you're born from now."
Imogen lifted her head to look at the
roof of the dungeon in
concentration. "Three years."
"Ok then prepare to get three years
older."
"I'm going to become 21?" she asked
him disbelievingly. At his nod she
looked once more to a still pale
Arthur.
"I don't know," he spoke up as he
held his stomach. "Can't I just wish
them well?"
"Uncle Arthur." Imogen whined as if
she were Anna. "I know it's gross,
but please...for me?"
'Uncle' Arthur looked down into her
now timorous blue eyes that seemed
to be magically gathering unshed
tears. He really hated those eyes.
Morgana had been using them on
him since he was young and he had
always been unable to refuse them.
They had a power over the male
species that magic couldn't even
compare itself too. He closed his
eyes and sighed.
"Fine. I guess I owe you for saving
my life back in Camelot." He
muttered under his breath. Imogen
joyfully jumped in the air and
clapped her hands in excitement.
"Thank you." She said as she placed
a tender kiss on his cheek. She
turned back to James. "I think we
can do this."
Gwen interrupted the moment once
more. "We need to go."
Arthur nodded. "Right, so we'll meet
up with you in Camelot?" He
questioned James.
"Yes as soon as I can, try to take a
bath before I get there." Arthur gave
him a dirty look. "What? Don't kill the
messenger. Gwen does Morgana
have Anna?"
Gwen nodded. "Yes."
"Then we better go. We'll see you
when there," Arthur grabbed
Imogen by the arm and they both
followed Gwen.
Merlin, Morgana and Anna turned as
Arthur, Gwen and Imogen crawled
out from the hole and out into the
fresh night air. As the three rose to
their feet the sound of marching
footsteps appeared.
"Ok is everyone ready?" Imogen
whispered. At everyone's nod the
girl closed her eyes.
Merlin once again stared in awe at
the surroundings as everything
faded into nothingness. The whole
castle dissolved away and soon the
slowly becoming familiar wind
picked up just as strong as the last
time. Merlin suddenly felt his
stomach tie in knots before the
lining of said stomach decided it
wanted to make a grand entrance,
the young Warlock fell to his
knees...landing on light grey solid
granite. He lifted up his bloodshot
eyes to see they were once again in
Camelot, the main square. Looking
around a bit more he saw Arthur
helping Morgana and Gwen to their
feet, the girls seemingly as dizzy as
himself.
"Have you never teleported before?"
Came a small voice to his left. He
looked up to his right to see Anna
standing unaffected over him with
one eyebrow raised.
"No."
He heard her begin tutting at him.
"Tut tut tut, you look awful."
"Thanks." He replied sarcastically.
"I'd feel a lot better if you left me
alone," he added frankly as he
struggled vigorously to get back up
to his feet. Just as he had managed it
Imogen came running to his aid.
"Da -" she covered her own mouth
to stop the natural flow of her own
words before she gave herself away.
Thankfully no-one had looked up.
"Merlin," she tried again, this time
gaining her unsuspecting Father's
attention. "Are you Ok?" she asked
upon finally reaching him.
"Yeah I'm fine." He answered during
a stretch, his back clicking in the
process.
"Are you sure? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry
I should have taken more care I
know but I just wanted to get out of
there before the guards saw us and
-"
"Imi, calm down," he said with a
laugh. "I'm not your father."
Imogen released a sad smile as her
eyes began to mysteriously well up.
Merlin became panicked as he
pondered what he had said. Oh God,
she was probably missing her
Father...and he had just brought him
up.
"Imi I'm sorry you must be -" he was
interrupted as the girl threw her
arms around his neck and
proceeded to hug him fiercely.
Bewildered, the only thing he felt he
could do was pat her on the back
awkwardly, "Erm, Ok? Why?"
Imogen smiled into his shoulder.
"You called me Imi," she answered,
seemingly struck by the joy of it.
Merlin slyly looked at the others, all
of which apart from Arthur were
looking on confused. He gave them
a brief awkward smile from the
corner of his mouth.
"Right, that's...normal." he resigned,
deciding to just roll with it rather
than question it any further.
"Wait a minute," Morgana finally said
after a moment's silence. "The sun is
up."
The others looked up at the sky to
indeed see big round yellow ball
shining happily down on them. Of
course this was not something that
would usually strike the group as
odd despite their severe lack of tans,
but the fact that mere seconds ago
the full moon was illuminating their
way it was beginning to make the
group question their sanity.
"This is what happened the first time
we teleported," Gwen spoke, causing
everyone to turn their attention to
the hand maiden. "It was day before,
and after we arrived in the
Venemagus Kingdom it was night."
Imogen released her father and
turned to look at the rest of the
gang. "That's what happens when
you teleport, you cover so much
ground at such high speeds that you
land a lot later than mere moments
as it feels. Sometimes you can even
arrive the next day, I don't know
why."
"Hey where's Arthur?" Morgana
asked suddenly, making the group
look around for him. They finally
spotted him about 200 paces away,
kneeling in front of a large pile of ash
lying dead centre of the square.
"I thought it was peaceful," sighed
Merlin as the group walked to stand
behind him.
"Arthur? What are you doing?"
Morgana asked as they watched
Arthur release some of the strange
ash.
"This ash, I can't decide why it would
be here." He got up, placing his
hands on his hips as he examined it
further. With a shake of his head he
turned back to face them. "It makes
no..." Arthur trailed off as something
caught his eye in the sky.
Confused Gwen waved a hand in
front of his increasingly surprised
face. "Arthur?" she asked, waving
her hand around rather frantically in
failing attempts to get his attention.
"Arthur what's wrong?" she tried
again. Slowly but surely the crowned
Prince of Camelot raised a hand and
pointed to the sky behind them. The
group turned in unison...and their
faces fell astounded.
There in the sky was a man...flying
toward them. The faction could only
stare as the man's jet black robe
fluttered wildly behind him as he
came to an eventual stop in mid air.
Slowly and gracefully he hovered
down in front of them until his feet
fell lightly on the granite floor.
James Regus, the sorcerer Prince
stared past them at the ash on the
ground. His vibrant green eyes gazed
out from the underneath the
shadow the hood had created over
his handsome face as he moved
cautiously towards the ash pile.
Morgana stared horrified as he
walked past her, and immediately
she turned and grabbed his hand
with a forceful grip. She led him off
to the side a little and leant over to
whisper in his ear.
"It's him." She whispered
immediately, confusing poor Merlin
for the thousandth time that day.
"What?" he asked deflated.
"The man!" she whispered urgently.
"The man in my dream! The green
eyed man, in the black robe, with the
black hood flying into the volcano.
It's him!"
Merlin's eyes widened as he
remembered her telling him. He
whipped his head around to star at
the now kneeling James. "Are you
sure?"
Morgana rolled her eyes. "Merlin,
how many people can fly?"
"Good point."
"Yes it is," Morgana rested her head
in her hands as she tried her hardest
to contain her fear. "It's all coming
true Merlin. Everything I saw in my
dream is coming true."
Merlin grabbed her by the shoulders
and looked her dead in the eyes.
"Morgana, we'll talk about this later

Ok? For now we need to see what
the plan is."
Morgana nodded just as an
unexpected but no less blaring fire
rose from the once dormant ashes.
The group all took a step back in
unison. James pulled back his hood
off of his head as he raised a leather
gloved hand to the fire. "Sceawunge
mec se sceaflum," He growled.
Instantly the fire turned a deep
shade of purple, causing James to
adopt a look of fear on his face.
"What is it?" Arthur enquired. What
could make the sorcerer Prince look
at it with fear?
"A spell," James replied slowly. "A
spell conjured by deep, powerful
sorcery...and it seems I've just
activated it."
"What kind of spell?" Imogen now
asked. He looked at her with his eyes
wide.
"Truth," he whispered to her. "As of
this moment no one in Camelot will
be able to tell a lie."