Mistress Elladora
Chapter 2: Mistress Elladora
By the time Merlin came back to himself, he had no idea how far he had walked or for how long. It seemed to be past sunset, although the torrential rainfall made it harder to tell time. He was soaked to the bone, and shivering, and wrapping his thin arms around himself seemed to offer no warmth.
After ten minutes more of walking, Merlin spied a shallow raised cleft under a hill, just up ahead and hurried into it, eager for some respite against the deluge. As he stood, shaking excess water off of himself, Merlin wondered how things had gone from bad to infinitely worse.
One second they had been fighting a Griffin that had been trying to scale the castle parapets, and when he had seen it fell their knights one by one, Merlin knew they were going to be no match for a creature of that size and agility. Then it had turned and set its sights on Arthur who was struggling to get up from a blow it had landed just moments ago. Before even thinking about it, Merlin had flung himself in front of his King, throwing both hands in front of him and yelled as loud as he possibly could.
"ábæde!"
It had sent the Griffin screeching away, most likely to regroup, but the damage was done. Merlin had outed himself in probably the least effective way possible. Merlin thought of the hurt sound to Arthur's voice, that had been all he could see. His sword had made it so Merlin had no choice but to freeze in the position he was in. All he could discern was that to Arthur, Merlin had chosen to corrupt himself for power, rather than to serve faithfully at his side.
Merlin sniffed, coughing slightly and peered out in the rain. What shocked Merlin however, was Arthur's absolute refusal to see past the magic. He had made his assumptions about Magic and couldn't even try to fathom a semblance of fairness. In light of Merlin's loyalty, was he not worth even that small token of justice?
But would the outcome have been any different? A voice in his head whispered. Instead your head would sit, proudly displayed on a spike come tomorrow morning. Merlin shook his head. No, Arthur wouldn't have done that to him. Arthur was different. He wasn't Uther. But the traitorous voice in his head persisted.
Are you sure?
Even when Arthur had banished Gwenivere from Camelot for her supposed dalliance with Lancelot, (which turned out to be an illusion by Morgana), his King had shown lesser anger than the fury he'd shown in announcing Merlin's exile. There had been no deliberation, no thought, just an instant ultimatum. Just two options.
Stay and die, or leave and live.
What had happened to the King he had put his trust in? The one that promised fair dealings with Druids? Was magic so bad? Why could he not see Merlin's loyalty behind his magic? Why did everyone insist on defining him by the one thing he had no control over?
Why?
"Oooh. Looky looky. Boss. We got one!"
Merlin started at the nasally voice coming from above him. He looked up to see a head hanging from the top of the cave. He blinked in astonishment, as the head disappeared and two seconds later, a group of people crowded the entrance to the cave brandishing long spears and swords, peering at his huddled figure. A man, who appeared to be there leader stepped forward and grabbed Merlin by the chin, moving his head from side to side, almost inspecting him. He was big burly, with a thick shock of brown hair. His face was large, pudgy, with eyes that sunk into their sockets and thin, reedy lips.
Merlin looked at the state of the group behind the leader and had to physically resist the urge to sigh when the man nodded in satisfaction, grinning toothily, revolting a revolting set of rotting yellow teeth.
"Mm. He's a good 'un. He'll fetch a good price with the noblefolk this 'un will."
Just my luck. The day I leave Camelot, I get picked by slave traders. This day just keeps getting better and better.
The slave traders wasted no time in securing Merlin's wrists in iron manacles and dragging him to their caravan. As they approached it, Merlin saw that their party consisted of one horse drawn wrought iron cage that already had one person inside it and 6 other horses. All in all, it was a party of 7 men and now 2 prisoners.
He was roughly manhandled into the cage, and unceremoniously cuffed to one of the bars on the cage side. The girl on the opposite side of their prison had barely moved since he got in, save for peering cautiously through the curtain of her red hair, big and unruly. It had barely been seconds since he'd sat on the hard floor, when the driver of their caravan snapped his reins, urging the horse into motion. Almost immediately they went over an uneven portion of ground, sending the cage bouncing harshly in the air and causing the young woman to slide ungracefully across the floor and right into Merlin's lap.
"Ouch! Sorry. I didn't mean to – are you alright?" She finally used a hand to push her curly hair out of her face for the first time, but Merlin found he couldn't concentrate seeing as he was pretty sure he had just ruined any chance he would ever have of having children by the collision they had just had. He raised his bound hands ineffectually, in lieu of words, reassuring her he was fine.
"I'm fi-fine. Ah! that's going to smart later." He looked closer at her. She didn't look like a peasant or a servant girl.
"What's a girl like you doing mixed up with slave traders?" The girl looked miserable at the reminder of their situation.
"I was just coming home from visiting family in another village. I thought I could take a short to get back to Camelot, but here I am." She pushed her hair to the front again, framing her face from both sides and Merlin got the distinct impression that she was used to using her hair as a shield.
"My name is Lianora. How did you get caught?" Merlin scowled as he thought about it.
"I was looking for shelter from this insanity, and another kind of madness caught me instead." Lianora snorted.
"Madness is definitely how I would describe it. Raedus cares nothing of his wares – which is us in case that wasn't clear- I've been here less than a week, but the woman who was here before I was, died in an attempt to escape. She barely made it a foot out of the camp before she was sighted. " Lianora began to take on a bit of a greenish pallor as she remembered the unfortunate woman.
"It was brutal and ugly. Nothing like the swift death one would hope for."
Merlin was silent, his brain whirring with possibilities and plans.
"Lianora, where exactly are we?" She looked surprised at the turnaround in the line of questioning but went with it.
"You don't know? We're about half a day's walk from Camelot, at the northern border. Raedus intends to sell us off to Lord Claudas, in King Pellinor's Kingdom. The thing's that man is famous for.." Lianora didn't finish the sentence and shivered as Merlin fell into a thoughtful silence.
Later that night, Merlin listened with a sick stomach as the men gathered around a fire, feasting on a deer and recounting the death of the woman Lianora had mentioned. It made him think of Arthur, how furious he would be to learn that slave traders were operating his Kingdom. Merlin thought about his predicament. He would be lying if he said he didn't resent Arthur somewhat. But in the same breath he knew he couldn't hate Arthur. Hate his actions maybe, but never Arthur.
. . . . . . . .
In that moment, Merlin made his decision. Destiny may have said that Arthur needed his protection, but it never Merlin had to be right next to him to do it. He would live his own life, he decided. Whether it be rich or a poor one. He would live life on his own terms. Maybe he would even fall in love. Merlin paused at that, watching as the men got ready to turn in for the night, with a scrawny thin man taking the first watch. Alright, maybe falling in love was stretching it a bit. What he even do with a girl – or a boy, he wasn't picky – by falling in love with them? They would die eventually and Merlin would be doomed to grow ancient without aging forever, wallowing in grief for eternity.
Stop it. Merlin told himself sternly. That's a road I promised I would never follow.
Merlin realized that the camp had finally grown still and sat up straight from his slouching position inside the cage, his sore back protesting the movement. He reached over and nudged the sleeping Lianora with his knee, waking her up from her unsatisfactory sleep. She groaned and turned over to lay on her back, opening one eye to hiss at him in annoyance.
"What? What could you possibly wa-"
"Shhhh! Quiet. You'll give us away!" Merlin motioned her to be quiet and sit up. She looked at him quizzically but did it anyway. Merlin leaned over to whisper in her ear.
"What I'm about to do right now might come as a shock, but you have to be quiet or we'll both die." She nodded confusedly, using her hands to push her hair back and watched him.
Merlin looked at his manacles and let his eyes flash golden as he quickly snapped them in two, freeing his hands. Lianora squeaked, clapping both hands over her mouth, eyes wide. Merlin nervously watched the guard to make sure he hadn't heard anything. Once he was satisfied that he hadn't, he turned to Lianora and did the same to her ankle cuffs.
"You have magic." She was whispered, slightly uneasy all of a sudden. Merlin rolled his eyes.
"Now isn't the time to play bigot Lianora. You can hate me later, right now let's just get out of here. Alright?"
Merlin turned and grabbed the closest two bars and took a deep breath only to be stopped by Lianora's timid hand on his forearm.
"I'm not a bigot. You just...surprised me. That's all. No one would willingly reveal themselves as sorcerers to just anyone. We're strangers. I could tell people about you. Aren't you worried?" Merlin gave her a tight smile.
"I'm sure Lianora, that whoever you tell, would go to tell King Arthur and I already know what the verdict will be. So no, to answer your question. There is very little that truly frightens me now."
Without much ceremony, Merlin wrenched the bars apart wide enough to slide through with the whispered phrase of
"beáh"
Lianora took a moment to be in awe of Merlin's powers, then quickly pulled herself together and shimmied out of the cage after Merlin. They immediately took refuge behind the tree that their prison had been placed in front, and crept to where the lone man continued his night watch. Merlin weighed his options here. If he chose to knock him out through physical means, he had to absolutely sure that he could do it one try. Since that was likely to fail, Merlin decided to use his magic – again – and put him to sleep gently.
He gestured for Lianora to follow him to where the slave traders had picketed their horses. He quickly got Lianora settled upon a horse that had provisions to last her until sunset tomorrow before he un-tethered all the horses and found one for himself. He hopped on and trotted his horse over to her.
"Listen, this is where we split up. You're probably going to go back to Camelot, right?"
She nodded, biting her lip in uncertainty, eyes trained on his face,
"Alright." He waved his hand over her, eyes glowing gold before he waved them over himself. Lianora had to physically had to restrain her gasp. Merlin had gone from looking like a strapping young man to beautiful woman with simple gesture of his hand. Merlin spared a quick glance at her as he guided the horses quietly from the camp.
"I'm assuming that expression means that my glamour transformation worked?" She nodded vehemently, which made him grin,"Oh good. I have a habit of messing up transformation spells.I always seem to do something wrong when I cast them. I'm probably only going to keep it on for about a day, it'll keep me from being recognized, besides people are more inclined to accommodating to women." He quickly turned serious. "I enchanted you so you'll be able to travel through the woods relatively unnoticed but it will only work for a league give or take. So you'd best put as much distance between yourself and the northern border. If you ride without stopping, you should be able to reach Camelot by mid-day tomorrow."
He patted her horse on the rump, starting it into motion and waved goodbye, leaning back slightly in his saddle to point towards the campsite.
"On three then." She said nothing and watched from afar as the tents caught fire and Merlin kicked his horse, startling both of their horses into a run, his skirt billowing out behind him.
"Goodbye Lianora, may the gods watch over you!" Merlin called out to her as they leaned forward in their saddles, going as fast as they could, hearing the distant shouts of the camp coming to life abruptly.
"You never told me your name, Sorcerer!" The thought suddenly occurred to her as Merlin's path split from hers. He didn't slow his pace, instead turning his head and shouting back over the winds, his now long hair whipping wildly about.
"My name means nothing!" He smiled and tilted his head to the sky, the thrill of escape taking over. "Now run!"
Lianora urged her horse to run faster, watching out of the corner of her eyes as some of the men tried to follow him on foot, but failed. True to his words, they never looked her way and instead turned back to the camp to salvage their possessions.
She raced back to Camelot, feeling euphoric with this new chance at life, wondering if she would ever meet her savior again.
. . . . . . .
Patrol was terse that morning. The knights were still reeling from the simultaneous blows over Merlin's sorcery and his banishment. They were restocking on supplies in a tavern an hours ride out of Camelot, before they headed out to check for illegal operations in the forest.
The aftermath of Merlin's banishment was one of the most frightening scenes that Castle had witnessed since Ygraine's death over 20 years ago. Arthur was unlike his father, his anger was not physical, it did not manifest in killing sprees or violence to servants. No, this was perhaps worse. A kind of silence descended over the castle. There was not one of Arthur's close friends that was unaware of what had happened. No one beyond the knights knew of Merlin's sorcery, but the servants and council members alike knew that Merlin had somehow betrayed his Lord's trust. No one dared breathe out of turn. Even Gwenivere could not Arthur see reason.
When attempting to broach the subject, she received an icy rebuke,
"Gwenivere, he is exiled and that is the last I will hear of it. Even that is a mercy considering what the law dictates for those that practice magic.So long as Merlin stays outside of Camelot, he will live."
Gwen, never one to back down, crossed her arms and stared Arthur in the eyes.
"And Gaius? Hunith? What do we tell them?"
Arthur's expression had remained unchanged.
"Gaius will have to be told. Tell his mother that he decided to seek employment elsewhere."
The entirety of the Knights had heard the exchange from outside the throne room and now as they sat in the tavern, it occurred to them that Merlin's fleeing figure might possibly be the last they would ever see of them.
They hadn’t said a word since they had sat down, not knowing where to start. So instead they opted to drink instead.
"Yer joking surely!"
"I am not! He was a boy, scarcely over 20. The unruliest black you've ever seen, eyes as blue as the ocean's waters and ears that stick out like the ears of an elephant!"
Gwaine sat up straighter in his seat, swiveling slightly to locate the source of the voice. It came from a young woman that was handing out tankards of mead to group of men near the back of the tavern. Her hair was curly and red, with a lithe figure and confident posture. He looked at the rest of the knights, only to see them all eyeing her as well.
"I'm telling you, he had a red kerchief around his neck, and he helped me escape. Those brutes were going to sell us to Lord Claudas." A wave of horrified murmurs filled the tavern in response to her revelation. "If it weren't for his quick thinking, we would have been wearing slave collars by now and working in that awful man's manor."
"Lucky you eh Lianora?" The girl in question shook her head in the jovial way in which her audience was taking her story. She gathered empty cups and loaded them on to her platter.
"You're awful, the lot of you are." There was no malice in her words however. Lianora knew it was hard to believe her story. Without mentioning magic, it was impossible to believe she had come out of such an ordeal alive. People were more likely to believe she had just gotten lost and refused to admit it.
"Miss. More ale." She looked up to see the group of men that had entered earlier waving her over. She picked up a jug from the counter behind her and walked over. As she began refilling their cups, she noticed that they were almost all full to begin with. Their leader wore a stony expression while the rest's expressions ranged from resignation to annoyance to calmness.
"Clearly it's not ale you want. Out with it then." The man with the longest hair spoke after a moment.
"The man who helped you escape. Did he give you his name?" Lianora stiffened. Suddenly she was glad that he had given her no information to identify him with. She was a terrible liar.
"No. We weren't exactly trying to be friends. We just focused on escaping." The biggest man was observing her with a keeness that she didn't like.
"You said he had black hair, blue eyes and big ears?" A man with kind eyes asked her in a gentle voice. Lianora shrugged.
"They could have been green. We really only got to see each other in the dark when we met."
"That's enough. We're leaving. Now." The leader finally spoke. He made eye contact with no one, and got up. His tone brooked no argument. He slid a satchel of coins across the table to her as the other men followed suit and stood from their seats.
"Good day."
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Merlin rode until his thighs grew sore, pushing his horse harder and faster until the shouts of the traders died away and the blackness of the night sky gave way to early morning blue horizon. When he finally stopped, it was next to a stream. He stiffly slid off and surveyed his surroundings. He was at a stream of slow running water, that appeared to be across from a mid sized village, that was already bustling with activity despite the early hour.
He bent over with a sigh and scooped up some water to wash the sweat from his face. He started when he caught sight of his reflection.
Staring back at him was a woman's face. Angular, pale and with striking blue eyes. His hair cascaded in loose waves until his waist. He stood straight and glanced down at his attire. He had somehow magicked himself into a loose fitting moss green gown whilst over his shoulders was fastened a deep burgundy red Cape.
Lords. I scared myself. I almost thought I was Morgana.
Merlin took a deep breath and closed his eyes, he focused on turning himself back into a male and waited for the familiar feeling of a transformation reversing. He waited a moment.
Nothing.
When Merlin opened his eyes, he realized with a long-suffering sigh that he'd done something wrong with spell, again. But now, there was no Gaius, how was he going to -
"Demon children begone with you!"
The shrill scream distracted Merlin from completing his thought and he looked up to see in the village a a group of four small children running from what could only be described as a moderately large lynch mob that was pelting stones at them. At Merlin's estimate they couldn't have been more than five year old.
A large pudgy woman stood at the forefront of the crowd, hurling slurs and stones simultaneously.
"How dare you set foot in our village. You bring misfortune upon us. We should just burn you. Devil worshipers the lot of you!" The crowd yelled their agreement heartily and began to surge forward, surrounding the cowering children.
"Stop!"
The yell froze everyone instantly as they searched for the source. A strikingly beautiful woman stood between the crowd and the children suddenly. She stood tall and proud, wearing clothes that made her look like nobility, yet the pouch on her hip easily identified her as a traveler.
A man pushed his way in front of the crowd. He was tall, with a curling mustache that seemed melt into his hair in a never ending loop. His large back eyes roved over her face.
"And who would ye be to stand in the way of divine punishment wench?"
The woman paused for a moment as if giving the question serious thought, then put her hands imposingly on her hips.
"I," she backed up a little to gather the children around her, smiling at the man in satisfaction when they clutched her skirts as if seeking protection.
"I am Mistress Elladora."