More Than A Servant

Chapter 11

"Arthur!" Guinevere yells from the steps of the palace.

Arthur turns back to face her, seeing the worry on her face.

"Guinevere I have to go. I would never forgive myself if I didn't at least try."

"I know, just please be careful. This is a lot bigger than just finding Merlin. This is Morgana we're talking about."

"I know. I'll be careful."

Arthur turns to leave when the knights, when Gwen yells.

"Arthur?" He turn to look, "bring him home."

He smiles and her and rides off with the knights. Altogether there is about 30 knights, including Leon, Elyan, Percival, and Gwaine. The plan is to search the forest and go around to the surrounding towns to ask about Morgana. The knights try to pretend everything is fine and this is just a normal mission, but everything just seemed off. It's different without Merlin. Even Gwaine, who is known for his endless chatter, had trouble coming up with what to say.

As they reach the area of the Valley of the Fallen Kings, Arthur begins to spilt the knights into groups. He eventually lands on four groups, one to the south, north, east, and west.

"Be sure to search the forest carefully. Bring back any clues you may find. Also, if you come to any villages be sure to ask about Morgana. This may be our chance to capture her once and for all. Report back to me with anything you find."

***

Once again, Morgana finds herself in the council chamber with Merlin, and an unconscious Uther. She knows in the back of her mind that there is something wrong here, but she can't put her finger on it. Her subconscious is screaming at her to run, but she doesn't. Merlin offers her a drink of water, but she refuses. In her mind she's terrified, but she doesn't quite know why.

Merlin wakes up in a daze. His senses are still a little bit off, but at least feeling relatively normal. Right now he's actually a little ticked. He hates not having full control of his mind. It feels wrong, like being invaded.

When he starts hearing Morgana's whimpering, he decides not to do anything at first. She can deal with whatever nightmare it is on her own. Suddenly the whipping turns to choking again. She can't just choke in her sleep can she? Merlin decides that it he probably shouldn't risk it.

"Morgana!" The choking stops.

When Morgana opens her eyes again, she isn't being poisoned by Merlin. She in the middle of the square. She tied up on a pyre. Everyone around her is looking at her with hatred, especially Uther. He gives a nod to the knight with the torch in his hand. Morgana starts pleading and crying, even before the flames start.

"Morgana?" Merlin questions at her sudden silence.

The crying starts again, but this time she seems to be pleading with someone.

"Please, please! I'm sorry, I didn't know!" He hears her say.

Out of nowhere, her crying turns to screaming. He can hear the pain in her cries.

"Morgana! Morgana, wake up! It isn't real!"

Suddenly, the table near him catches fire. Instinctively, Merlin puts out the fire by looking at it. However, he was so preoccupied by the fire that he failed to notice that Morgana's screaming had stopped.

He looks up to see Morgana sitting up in her bed, eyes wide, looking at him.

Merlin can do nothing but stare at her, stunned. He waits for Morgana to say something, to start yelling at him or something. But she just sits there, staring. After about 15 seconds of silence, Merlin realizes she's hyperventilating. She might not have seen. Or even if she saw she may not have comprehended.

"Morgana?" Merlin questions hesitantly.

She doesn't answer, but she seems to snap out of whatever daze she was in.

"Morgana? Are you okay?"

"Okay?" She scoffs, "Do I look okay, Merlin?"

"Was it nightmares?"

She nods her head. Her head was starting to clear so she could think logically. Wasn't there a fire a minute ago?
"What happened to the fire?"

Merlin hesitates.
"What fire?"

"Wasn't there a fire in here?"

"Morgana, you were dreaming. It wasn't real."

She could still swear that she smells smoke, but she lets it go. Her mind could still be playing tricks on her. She stands and paces around the room to try and clear her head. It doesn't help. In addition, the fact that the one who poisoned her is in the room with her does not help at all.

"What happened?" He asks.

She scoffs.
"What happened? Well let's see I've lived in Camelot for the majority of my life with people that absolutely hate magic. Next thing I know, I have magic that I can't control, and I'm forced to hide who I really am under penalty of death. You don't know what it's like to be ridiculed, hated for what you are. To have to hide yourself in fear that if anyone finds out who you truly are you will be killed for it. To be able to trust no one, not even your closest friends."

Merlin pauses, debating on what to say. He's the one that poisoned her, he betrayed her.

"I'm sorry. I understand-"

Morgana laughs bitterly, cutting him off.
"You could never understand. You don't have mag-"

Wait. Could he? Her eyes drift to the table where she sees the fresh burn mark. How did it go out? She looks at Merlin suspiciously. Before he can open his mouth to react, Morgana's eyes flash gold, and he passes out.

Ooooo... does she know??? Thanks for reading! I hope you all are okay with longer chapters because they get longer from this point on. Please feel free to vote or comment with your thoughts/constructive criticism!