More Than A Servant

Chapter 8

Entering someone's mind is a tricky thing. Entering someone's mind when they are unwilling is even harder. It takes only the strongest sorcerer to be able to examine an unwilling person's mind, and even then the person can block of them out of certain memories if they try hard enough. Therefore, Morgana decided to try her spell before Merlin wakes up. For at least a short time, Merlin will be too out of it to do anything. 

After spending much of the previous night looking at her books, she was mostly sure that this would work. However, she also knew that it would exhaust her. She would only be able to hold the spell for a short time. She would also have to pick the memories very carefully, and she would have to know what she was looking for.

She decides on a few things that she wants to see that she knows she'll be able to find. She opens the book, reads over the spell one last time, and walks over to Merlin. She inhales deeply, mentally preparing herself, and starts the enchantment.

"Gadewch imi fynd I mewn meddwl a gorfennol Merlin."

When Morgana opens her eyes she's in a beautiful green field. Looking around she she's a little buildings in the distance: Ealdor. She smiles to herself knowing she reached her first destination. She looks around more and notices a group of kids playing in the field nearby. As she approaches them, sees a little boy with messy black hair and blue eyes walking over towards the group as well.

"Hey guys!" Says mini Merlin cheerfully. "Can I play with you all?"

A couple of the boys started laughing.
"Sorry, we don't play with freaks."

Merlin looked like he was starting to tear up.

"Aww, are you sad? Why don't you go home and cry to your daddy about it? Oh wait-"

The whole group snickered and walked away. Mini Merlin ran in the opposite direction, into the woods. Morgana decides that she had seen enough of this memory. Her eyes flash gold and time started to pass very quickly in front of her, taking her to her next destination.

Merlin felt as if he was somewhere in between a dream. He wasn't fully awake, but it didn't seem like he was asleep either. For some reason he had just relived a memory from his childhood. The next time he became semi-aware he was meeting Arthur for the first time.

Morgana found herself in the courtyard of Camelot. She was watching the first interaction between Merlin and Arthur. They always had some weird bond between them, so she was honestly just curious as to how they met. As it turns out, their first interaction consisted of Merlin attempting to sass Arthur, not knowing he was a prince. She had to give Merlin credit, that took some guts. That explains why Merlin never treated Arthur as a royal.

At the end of the memory, as Merlin is being taken to the dungeons, Morgana starts to feel a shift. It was almost as if the earth became fuzzy for a second, and then became clear again. She figures that Merlin must be waking up. She would have to act fast. Time began to speed up again taking her to her next destination- the night that Merlin drank the poisoned chalice.

At this point, Merlin knew something was off. It was like he wasn't in control of his own mind. As he reached the end of his memory about meeting Arthur for the first time he sensed something off. It was almost as if there was another presence watching... then it hits him. There is someone else in his head, controlling all of this.

The next thing Merlin knows is that he's in his 'official servants uniform' that he wore the night that he drank poison in the place of Arthur. While watching the memory take place before his eyes, Merlin is trying to figure out what is happening to him. When was the last time he was awake? He was injured in the forest, and then he was taken somewhere...

Meanwhile, Morgana is trying hard to keep her spell. Her power was starting to drain and she knew it. At the same time she was also trying to focus on the memory playing out in front of her. She quickly figured out that Merlin was set up by that serving girl. He jumped into action without even thinking about his own safety. Why? Morgana always knew he was he was selfless, but this went beyond the line of duty. Sadly, none of this solved the mystery of why Merlin was so loyal to Arthur. It just confirmed what she already knew.

Just as Morgana was about to move on to another memory, she hears a voice surrounding her.

"Morgana..." It was Merlin's voice. He sounds weak, but he could definitely overpower her at any second.

Morgana started to panic. She could feel her control slipping, in Merlin's mind as in her own. Somewhere in this panic time sped up up and it felt like she was spinning. When the world came to a stop she was standing in the throne room with Merlin. Instantly she knew this was not a memory that she did not want to relive.

Merlin is now fully aware of what is going on in his mind, but he could not yet find the power to stop it. All he could do was attempt to reach out to Morgana to get her out of his mind. Suddenly he starts to feel her waver and panic. Somehow as he was trying to fight her they were both taken to the day he poisoned her.

"No..." Merlin whispered in his mind. He could not relive this memory.

Morgana looked on in horror as Merlin poured Hemlock in his water-skin. She tried to get away but her control was lost, she couldn't even get herself out of her own spell. Just as Merlin was handing her the water skin, the world went black.

She woke up on the floor of her hovel with Merlin staring down at her, horrified.

Hey guys! So sorry if this chapter is a bit confusing. It was fun to write about some of these past episodes, and I hope you enjoyed it/stuck with it. Thanks for reading!