Forbidden Love - Merlyn [2]

Chapter Twenty-Two: All For Morgana

Merlyn had walked throughout the night, she wished she could have taken Major but there would have been no chance for her to have gotten Major passed the guards. Thankfully, the Forest of Essetir was not that far and she knew she was closing in on the Druid camp. Merlyn just prayed she was right about all this and Morgana would be here otherwise a lot of people were going to die. Though her feet ached, her breathing was laboured and she seriously needed a wash, Merlyn kept plodding on through the forest. She wanted to give up but that was not an option.

As she walked, Merlyn could suddenly hear voices. A collection of them but they all talked over one another bringing Merlyn to be highly confused. It sounded like there was several conversations going on at once, at the same volume and same distance. The conversations didn't make sense and they certainly weren't happening anywhere near her – there was no sign of a camp within a mile of her in any direction. Quickly, the voices were beginning to overwhelm Merlyn causing her to shut her eyes and slam her hands over her ears but it did no good – the voices were as loud as ever ... as if they were in her head. Frowning, Merlyn lowered her hands and decided to try and listen to the voices. As she concentrated on them, she suddenly recognised one of the voices clearly, actually two of the voices. One was the Lady Morgana's and the other ... was Mordred's! Merlyn's head shot up. Thinking of Mordred led Merlyn to remember the conversations she had had with Mordred through their minds. The telepathy she possessed though struggled to use at will. If she was picking up voices perhaps, she was closer to the Druid camp than she thought. With her mind set, Merlyn began moving in the same direction as the voices, the louder they got the closer she knew she was getting.

~8~

It took no time at all for Merlyn to finally spot smoke from a camp. The camp was one of peace and serenity. It was a homely place where people were clearly very happy. It was a home of people that strove for peace – Merlyn would not mind living in such conditions she had to admit. However, she had no time to dwell. Surprisingly enough, Merlyn easily got to the camp and was able to sneak her way through, using the many tents as cover. Focusing in on Morgana's voice, Merlyn followed it all the way to a large tent that was covered by layers of brown and cream cloth.

"What would you like to know?" a male asked from inside the tent but it was not his voice that stopped Merlyn in her tracks but the person who responded.

"Why I can see the future in my dreams? Why I'm able to start fires with my mind?" Morgana asked with a tremor in her voice. Having found the Lady, Merlyn lowered herself down so that she was hidden as she could be whilst she leaned in closer to the tent so she could hear their conversation. It seemed that Morgana was going to get the answers she had been striving for and Merlyn couldn't interrupt that.

"People who are able to do this are few and far between. You have a gift" the man explained with a softness and understanding that only another magical being would have.

"Is it magic, Aglain?" Morgana asked. The ultimate question.

"Of a kind, yes" Aglain said, Merlyn could hear Morgana's gasp. There was no doubt now. Merlyn didn't know how she felt about the truth being confirmed by everyone she could trust – Druids, Gaius, Kilgharrah and her own magic itself. "But it will be many years before you're able to understand it fully, let alone use it." Merlyn felt herself sigh, at least she had time to improve her own magic before Morgana turned against them all and tired to kill Arthur as the legend so strongly stated. "This isn't something to be afraid of." He was clearly surprised by Morgana's reaction whilst Merlyn was not.

"It is if you have Uther as your guardian. If he found out, he'd have me killed" Morgana admitted. Merlyn sighed as she rubbed her fingers across her forehead in despair. Merlyn feared that Uther would be the only deterrent for Morgana becoming an evil witch – as long as she feared the king, she would not dare try to learn her magic – and on the other hand Merlyn knew that Morgana's hated of Uther would grow realising that he hated her for her magic which in turn would bring him to be a catalyst in making her an evil witch. It seemed more and more likely that Kilgharrah was right. Morgana would always turn evil in the end.