Blood Lines

Prologue: Need to know basis

I keep watch over both of Uther's children, and have their entire lives. Arthur became King, taking me as his advisor. Morgana became one of the ladies of the court. I took care of them, keeping their hidden kinship a secret as Uther had instructed me to. Morgana came to me one day pale, exhausted, and hardly in her right mind. As I examined her, I healed her symptoms and found that she was with child. I didn't want to alarm her, so I kept the news to myself.

Arthur came to me as well. He was ecstatic with news of a potential queen. As he told me of the fair maiden who had won over his affection, I became skeptical but listened intently. She was a beautiful pale woman, hair like the night sky. Her eyes became green emeralds in the torch light. He was completely overwhelmed with her, intoxicated by her image that fogged his mind. As Arthur rambled on, I asked the name of his beloved. If I had not heard him say it myself, I would have never believed it: Morgana, the one woman Arthur couldn't have. The same woman who had come to me pregnant just before Arthur's arrival. I could not keep the kinship a secret any longer. I told Arthur why his beloved would never become his queen. They were brother and sister; an affair his father had with another queen had brought about her conception. With disgust in his eyes, he came to the realization that banishment was the only solution.

Without hesitation Morgana was banished, quietly in the night. As she was taken away she took one final look back at Arthur and me, her eyes filled with hatred. Although I had not banished her myself, she knew I had not stopped Arthur from doing so. She rode off into the woods; and Arthur, in time, forgot about his love for her. For the next ten years I kept a watchful eye on Morgana. I would send eagles to spy on her, so as not to let her know of my presence. In time I found out that Morgana had the gift of magic. She practiced dark magic, and I worried for the child in her womb. I came to find out that the child was a boy that she named Mordred. I never told Arthur of this; he had too many things on his mind, he did not need another. As the years passed, Arthur found a new beloved, Guinevere. They quickly became lovers and she eventually became Arthur's queen. However, her beauty did not go unnoticed to those around her. Lancelot, Arthur's most trusted Knight of the Round Table, fell in love with her. She returned his affection. They tried keeping it a secret, but it wasn't kept well enough. Arthur knew his wife was hiding something. His suspicions grew, and he sent a spy to follow Guinevere who caught them in the act and immediately reported to Arthur. Arthur erupted into a fit of rage. I tried to console him, but nothing could calm him. He banished Lancelot and forbid Guinevere from leaving the castle. The turmoil in the kingdom rose as Camelot heard of the unfaithful queen. At this time I began to feel a darkness growing in the back of my mind. I had ignored it at first, trying to help Arthur with the unveiled affair; but as it grew, I could not disregard it any longer. I thought it best not to tell my King of this.

One early spring morning I sent an eagle out to check on Morgana. It was not long before it returned to me, speaking of a darkness that had sickened the land. The trees had been drained of life and became discolored from the lack of sunlight. Dark clouds had begun to cover the whole village, the fresh water became poisonous, the crops hardly grew. Men and women became ill and the children either died of sickness or turned nasty with hatred. I knew I must go to sort things out myself, so I left in the night. I left in secret, and I traveled for three days until I arrived at the darkened village in the north. I cloaked myself in a charm so Morgana would not recognize me. As I entered the town the dank sickness weighed on my shoulders. It oozed out of every crack and splinter. The men looked tired, half dead, and the women looked as if they had been stoned. The children were covered in bruises and cuts. The look in their eyes was murder and pain. I continued my search for Morgana and her son, keeping close watch of the shifting eyes in the dark alleys. The closer I drew to Morgana's dwelling, the heavier the weight grew. I knew something was wrong. Morgana wasn't powerful enough for this kind of magic, yet this felt like magic in the darkest manifestation possible. Hiding among the trees I found her home, a rundown wooden shack made for two.