Destinies Intertwined (Mordred/OC Merlin BBC Series) - IN PROGRESS

Chapter 2

I swallowed hard as I followed Mordred through the woods toward his ally Ragnor. Ragnor always gave me the creeps. The way he looked at me was utterly disgusting, and I hated it. Unfortunately, the only thing Mordred could do was glare at him and hold me behind him protectively.

When the Druid camp had been raided, it landed the two of us on our own. We had been in many groups and with many people before we came across him. Finding Ragnor, at the time, seemed like a blessing. With him, we could be safe. Though I hated what he and his band of renegades did, we felt we had no choice. Until we could figure out somewhere where a pair of magic-bearing Druids could stay without fearing for their own lives, he was our only true chance of survival. I had tried speaking out against Ragnor's ways, but it landed me with a sound beating. All I could do was run in the night, leaving Mordred and the others behind until Mordred managed to find me and convinced me to come back with him to Ragnor until we could find someplace new. Which was where I was in that moment.

After we had managed to lose each other for a few months when he joined forces with the sorcerer Alvarr and his evil band of renegades shortly after the Druid camp had been raided, we refused to settle for being apart any longer--with very few exceptions, including this very instance where I ran from Ragnor. I resisted parting from Mordred because I wanted to keep an eye on him and be there for him, and he resisted parting because he hated being apart just as much as I hated being parted from him. We were best friends, after all.

I sighed, tucking some of my shining, hip-length, golden-red curls into the scarf I used around my head and shoulders like a gypsy, allowing the scarf to come across and cover my mouth and nose. It was absolutely freezing, but keeping all my curls close helped me keep warm. I couldn't help but thank whatever higher power was out there that I was wearing thick leggings and warm layers with boots instead of a silly dress. I was certain I would have frozen and fallen behind if I had.

It took time to find Ragnor and his company again, and I was certainly unhappy with the arrangement, but I couldn't deny that staying with a group of people made me feel a bit safer, knowing I'd certainly have a way to keep warm at night and food to keep me alive. But as we came upon them, I recognized the faces of two men at the same time as Mordred. When Ragnor and his "friends" raised their weapons to kill them, I lurched forward, and Mordred grabbed my wrist to hold me beside him.

"Stop!" he commanded forcefully, making me jump. He looked upon Merlin and Arthur and strode toward them, almost dragging me behind him, his eyes locked with Merlin's, both of us feeling the change in our power as we reunited once more. Ragnor and his goons looked at us. "Shouldn't we leave it to the Lady Morgana to decide their fate?"

I looked to Mordred, wide-eyed. Morgana?

Ragnor chuckled and made his way toward me.

"So here you are again," he cooed to me, and Mordred tried to pull me further behind him. Ragnor glanced at him in warning, but said nothing. "I wasn't expecting you back quite so quickly."

"She hadn't gone far," Mordred answered, and Ragnor turned back to me with a sleazy grin.

"I suppose this time you won't be arguing with me about selling these people to Morgana, will you my sweet?" I grimaced as he took my arm and pulled me closer to him, his face inches from my own.

"You're vile," I spat at him, unable to keep quiet now that my friends were involved.

"Sounds like you need another sound beating, stupid girl," he growled, pulling me even closer, but I pulled out my knife, ready to place it against his neck threateningly so he would let me go, only for Mordred to catch my wrist and pull me back. "Keep the girl reigned in," Ragnor growled at Mordred threateningly before he turned and walked off and I glared at Mordred with a mixture of anger and pain. Why was he doing this?