Unwelcome Visitor

[kinguthersqueen]

He lay restless in his night's sleep, still unnerved by everything that had been happening. Camelot was safe again, but to Uther, it was never truly safe. There were always those who wished harm and destruction. Cenred's men had been run off this time, but would they return? Who was the traitor who was in their midst? That was what worried him the most, knowing that someone inside, someone close to him was seeking his death. Uther would kill that person slowly and painfully when they were found.

He tossed and turned, still suffering nightmares from the horrifying visions he'd seen and the raw fear and power of the battle that had nearly destroyed the kingdom. Gaius's draughts helped a lot, but they could not take away everything, and his mind was still often troubled. He wasn't aware that someone was about to play on his vulnerability, an old enemy, attacking him in a way that would show him just how vulnerable and exposed he was, even behind his castle walls and guards' protection.

[Deleted]

Sometimes being childish was the best thing that could happen to you, Nimueh thought with a pleased smirk as she crept through the corridors of Camelot’s castle. She was invisible, a spell that needed much concentration to be held up, but for the moment it was worth it. Guards didn’t notice her creep by, maybe only feeling a not unwelcome little gust of wind as she passed them, nobody so much as looked her way.
She could have simply transported herself directly into Uther’s chamber of course, but Nimueh would not be Nimueh if she didn’t seek out the challenge!

Yes, Uther Pendragon’s bedroom, that was her destination. Now that she only just had been brought back to a physical life she wanted one special person to know this. Only just so he had one more problem on his huge plate, after his kingdom had only just averted destruction. Childish? Oh, definitely, but who could blame her? This was only the beginning of a long and detailed vendetta! No, she did not intend to kill Uther tonight, she just wanted him to know that she was back to haunt him!
Finally she was standing outside Uther’s door and took a deep preparing breath. Now she would have to transport herself through the door, and with the other spell already active, this required much of her skill.

Still, even if only just brought back to life, Nimueh was the High Priestess of the Old Religion, and so she managed.
Inside, she stode over to look down at her old archenemy, as he was tossing and turning in his sleep. Good to see he had trouble sleeping peacefully. Just as he should with his conscious loaded with murder, treachery and other outrageous crimes!
But she needed to stay focused for now! Taking a deep breath again she summoned the wind, so it would rise up and make the curtains flow in the breeze, adding to an eerie scenario as she hollowly whispered:

“Uther… Uther…Uther Pendragon!”

She still kept the invisibilty spell up, wanting to scare him first with a bodyless voice. Really, being childish could prove so much fun!

[kinguthersqueen]

At first, Uther stirred only a little, or at least not much beyond what he had already been doing. He was asleep, and believed the wind to be part of the dream. His arm brushed against his face lightly, not aware as yet that the wind was real and not something touching his skin. He turned over, still halfway asleep and in that state that made reality and dreamtime difficult to distinguish. He blinked, waking when he was more fully aware of the wind on his flesh and the movement of the drapes.

He did not fully wake at the sound of the voice at first either, but his eyes did snap open after a moment. He expected to see someone in his room, and was perplexed that no one was there. He called for the guards, and ordered a search, but obviously, they found no sign of an intruder anywhere. Uther hoped it wasn't the mandrake root again, and a check under the bed proved there was none involved this time. He sighed, hoping he wasn't beginning to lose his mind. It was all so *real*.

[Deleted]

It was beyond typical of Uther to call on his guards the minute he felt uneasy. He had done that countless times before, even before the Great Purge. Since then though, his caution had turned into nothing short of paranoia, and it was sometimes the greatest of fun to watch his feeble attempts on still obtaining the upper hand on situations.
The guards themselves however proved a little of a nuisance for Nimueh, as they really did a proper search of the chamber. She might be invisible to the eye, but she was not non-existant. Her body still was there and so she had to squeeze into a corner and wait until they finally gave up.

She hoped that after they had searched the chamber once, they would be reluctant to do so again, even if their king commanded it. She had heard about the brilliant plan with the mandrake that sadly hadn’t worked out and so she actually had to bite back a laugh as the search was spread out to the area under Uther’s bed. As if she would stoop so low as to copy an idea! Morgana and Morgause were far too rash in their actions and also they were of course not as powerful as she was, so the outcome of their plans was nothing if not sure from the start. Why else would they have bothered to resurrect her? They simply couldn’t manage alone! And oh, she would just show them how it was done!

Nimueh let Uther off the hook for a few minutes, waiting until he almost fell asleep again, dozing off believing it had all really been a dream, until she raised her voice again, the wind enhancing as well.
At first there was only a darkly amused chuckle, condescending and eerie enough to vex him, of that she was sure. Then she followed it up with a whispered: “You’re a fool, Uther Pendragon. You always have been. To think your guards could find me… pathetic!”

Then she just couldn’t resist any longer, she wanted to see his shocked face, so for a split second, she lifted the invisibility spell and stood there before his bed, smirking down at him until she vanished again, another chuckle echoing through the room.

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther had nearly fallen back to sleep, convinced he was having a nightmare. But then, the voice started calling him again. Worse, there was no mistaking its owner, even though he didn't see her. Nimueh had been gone for some time, had not bothered Uther for a couple of years now. Uther had suspected she was dead, but nothing had ever been found to prove it. She had simply vanished. Now, however, there was no other who could own that voice except her. He looked around, eyes wide open now, sitting up in the bed.

For a moment, he saw her, like a ghostly apparition, in front of him. He roared, shocked. There was no Mandrake this time, the guards had been sure of it. They entered and searched again, and he had to tell them they likely wouldn't find anything. Someone was using magic, either Nimueh or another ,he did not know. He knew it would likely not cease until the magic was stopped. he hated it because he could not tell them to look into something he could not find. The person using the magic could be anywhere.

"Have you returned to torment me? You were gone two years, I thought you dead. I was relieved. BUt it appears you remain alive. If it is not Nimueh, whoever you are, you will pay!

[Deleted]

Uther’s reaction to her sudden apparition was quite entertaining, he roared like a wounded boar and his eyes nearly plopped out of their sockets. Someone was definitely surprised to see her, which was no wonder concerning the circumstances. She had simply been away too long, Uther had grown lazy and too comfortable behind the thick walls of his castle. It truly was high time she showed him his limits once again, reminding him of her presence that would haunt him to the day he died. Sounding overly elevated and cheesy? Well, maybe, but after twenty years of constantly having to hide and after what she had had to witness, in her eyes she had ever right to display a little pathos.

Of course the guards entered again and Nimueh had to retreat into a corner once more. This time though Uther seemed to be smarter, he dismissed the soldiers before they could do another thorough search. Had he finally learned that Nimueh wasn’t someone to be caught just like any common witch? Miracles and wonders! Maybe not everything had taken a turn for the worse in the time she had been half dead? However… this was Uther Pendragon! Had she thought he could ever change she might not be so determined to kill him! So he might just have reasons for his behaviour she did not know yet.

As soon as the guards were gone, Uther started to address her in an angry voice. Nimueh however knew him good enough to know that the louder the king ranted, the more anxious he actually felt. It was a typical reaction she had observed on him even when he had been very young.
Deciding to vex and shock him a little more, she started to speak, walking slowly around his bed, but kept her voice as an illusion at one spot. He would turn his head there, but when she actually showed herself she would be somewhere else. Just another little game…

“Aww… long time no see and still you recognize me, I feel flattered! Yes, I have come back to remind you I am still alive. Did you miss me”, and here she let go of both illusion spells standing visibly at the right side of his bed, while his head was averted to the left, and finished the sentence with her normal voice: “Uther, old friend?”

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther was feeling the irritation of her illusion, the way she moved her body around while throwing her voice to another area. He was fairly certain now that it was Nimueh herself and not someone using her voice to taunt him. It was very like her, annoying and tormenting him like this, although her previous attempts were less direct-the Black Knight, the attempt to poison Arthur that had ended up poisoning his servant, the creature in the well that made so many ill. She was now taunting him more directly, coming into his own chamber.

"I cannot say that I missed you, witch. I took pleasure in the peace of the last few years."

His head snapped back to where she'd appeared, seeing her clearly now. He wanted to get the guards back in here, but it would do little good, she'd just vanish again. That was what annoyed him so much; only magic would stop her, physical attemps were nearly useless. And he would never resort to that, he would be a hypocrite if he did.

"Do not flatter yourself. The days of you being an 'old friend' are long past. I know now what you truly are, and I want only to see you destroyed."

[Deleted]

Ah, what a satisfaction it was to see Uther so thoroughly confused! He might try to hide it but once again she knew him well enough to detect the right symptoms. Know your enemy… that was a policy Nimueh had always represented to her best abilities. Only if you knew the ways of how your counterpart thought and felt, you could find means to truly hurt him. That was also why she often turned to winning someone’s friendship first to strike back with her knowledge gathered. Sometimes, in idle moments she wondered if that was truly what she had come down to be. A manipulating minx, only allowing feelings to use them to her advantage. Well, the source of this change definitely was right in front of her now. Uther and her had been friends before the Great Purge. It had been him to betray it and spurn her trust in anything good coming from fulfilling people’s wishes!

“Hold on to that feeling a little while longer, Uther”, she suggested. “Because it won’t outlast the next few weeks. I came her to announce: Peace off!”

Days long past… oh yes, that was true. It was not like Nimueh would wish those times back, she was quite content with the position of power she held now, where she was not only respected, but openly feared. In this aspect, Uther’s vendetta against magic truly had its benefits. And after the king had shown his true colors in crucial times, she wasn’t sure anymore if she actually wanted the friendship of this man!
To vex him further, she decided to take another step on the dangerous tightrope she was walking right now. With an alluring wink she sat down on Uther’s bed, grinning at him.

“You’re not the only one knowing the true character of old friends by now! I’ve learned my lesson, though it was not me destroying that… bond we once had. I risked a great deal for you, and look how you rewarded me!”

With this said, her tone had changed from mocking condescendence to something more genuine, showing anger above anything else. Uther was maybe the only human still around who could cause her to lose her composure this quickly, but even if he knew, she was sure he would not appreciate it. As didn’t she!

[kinguthersqueen]

"I would expect you to try something. That is why the peace was so unnatural. You take pleasure in runing everything...even my son's coming of age. I am only fortunate to have been able to slay that thing. But then, it wasn't ruined enough, I know. You wanted my death by the wraith's hand. And you still seek my life." the king retorted.

When Nimueh spoke of him 'rewarding' her for 'destroying' everything, he was incensed.

"I did NOTHING! You destroyed everything! I was willing to take a risk but I was NOT willing that my wife should die!!! I would sooner have forfeit my own life than hers."

That had been his hope, his expectation. He mourned the loss of the chance to see his son grow up, but at least Ygraine would still be alive, would raise him until he was able to take over as king. He had never meant for her life to be taken as the price, and it still made him sick, still hurt him terribly, even after so many years.

When she sat on the bed, hereached out and grabbed the sword that he always kept nearby. He pulled his legs under him and pushed forward, then lunged toward her, rational thought giving way to his raging temper once again. A snarl sounded in his chest, his eyes blazing with anger as he lashed out with the blade, heedless that she'd likely injure or kill him again.

[Deleted]

Nimueh listened to Uther’s ranting with a cocked head, fiddling her fingers absentmindly, and directing her gaze to some point over Uther’s head. When he finished, she waited a few more seconds to suddenly bolt upright afterwards as if she just had wakened from a dream. “Oh, your done?” she mocked him, smirking. “Thanks for running all my glorious deeds by me once again, but rest assured, what I have done back then will be nothing compared to what I have in store for you in days to come! You will wish back the wraith, the afanc and all other beasts at once, believe me!”

That she hadn’t an exact plan yet, Uther didn’t have to know. Should he rack his brain about what she might come up with this time! Nimueh was determined it would be worse and that was all that was important for now!
Her aloof composure though washed away in the instant Uther hurled these words at her. This was a topic both got testy over easily, simply because both lives had been utterly altered by it. You couldn’t even say one had gained more than the other. In fact, they were more like fellow victims, and still one blamed the other!

“Don’t you think I would have liked that as well?” she snapped. “Cause in that case Camelot and all Albion would be far better off now! Not to mention that thousands of innocent people would be alive still! None of this was my fault, don’t you dare put all blame on me! You were the one abusing ancient old rules for your personal gain and then throwing a temper fit when you got a bloody nose!”

Some part of Nimueh had expected Uther to try such a stunt and so her reaction was immediate. If anything, the ultimate failure against Merlin had made her more cautious than ever. Mere inches before the blade would have pierced her guts, she stopped it with a simple word of magic and clucked her tongue. “Now, now, getting testy again, oh mighty king? Maybe I should teach you a lesson once again on how you never should anger me with such actions? Byrnsweord!¹” she commanded to turn the metal into a flaming mass that would burn the bearer.

~.~
₁: flaming sword

[kinguthersqueen]

"And you will pay if that is so. You may be powerful, but I am certain that some way can be found to stop you. I will not have you endangering all of my kingdom's people because you desire my death so badly. You have caused enough havoc among the people. You tell me how terrible it is that I have killed people you deem 'innocent', and yet you have little problem sickening and killing innocents yourself."

Uther didn't care what anyone thought about the people he killed. They were guilty of sorcery, and therefore a danger to the entire kingdom, just as the woman before him was. He did not execute innocents, regardless of what anyone thought. He was not a tyrant, and never would believe so.

"It was certainly not my fault! I accepted a risk, but I never baargained her life!! he growled. "She should not have been the one taken."

Uther really couldn't have expected anything less than her using magic against him. He started to yell for the guards, but the fireball grew it into a pained roar. The guards came in anyway, to see if he was all right.

"SEIZE HER!

[Deleted]

“I am only paying you back in kind!” Nimueh shrugged. Just like Uther had no sense of guilt for his actions, she didn’t feel responsible for any citizen’s death. If they were unlucky to be the victims of her assaults, then it was their fate. It was not like she was hunting them down decisively, marking them traitors and evil for something they were born with. No, her ways did require a necessary loss of people to get her point across, but she never saw them as individuals. You better not get started on such things, else you opened the floodgates to doubt. And doubt was something someone in her delicate position couldn’t even think of dwelling on!

The way Uther still stubbornly held on to his beliefs was nothing short of pathetic! He really was so much like a child sometimes in Nimueh’s eyes, refusing to accept given things and lashing out blindly if something didn’t go his way. She actually could picture him stomping his foot and pouting whenever he found something displeasing.
An idea sparkled up in her mind, still very vague but she could already feel its brilliance and hilarity. She definitely would have to come back to that… but for now…
“I told you countless times, the Old Religion doesn’t care WHO lives or dies. It’s all about the balance of the world. Though I secretly think it chose Ygraine to teach you a lesson. You toyed with things far greater than yourself, and you showed not an ounce of respect. But there are things that aren’t at your command, Uther, you might be king, but you are not almighty!”

Just when things started to get interesting, this spoilsport of a king had to cry out like that, as if he, a seasoned warrior, wasn’t used to any pain. That of course alarmed the guards again, but Nimueh had heard them approach, basking through the door and so she quickly vanished into thin air again, even lifting the enchantment of the sword as she hurried into a corner. Let them think their king slowly grew insane! It would be all the more fun to watch.

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther listened to her lecture, not greatly moved by it. He had heard similar comments from her before, several times by now. She was of course right, but it wasn't something Uther was ever going to admit. It had stayed in his mind and fueled his fires of hatred all the more over the years. In his mind, she was only affirming what he already believed to be true, that magic was evil and needed to be destroyed.

"Precisely why it is so dangerous. It corrupts and destroys. It kills the innocent as well as the guilty. And that is why it must be destroyed so it cannot endanger my kingdom." he snapped back. The truth was in the exchanged words somewhere, but Uther's mind was too stubborn and too twisted about by now to recognize it anymore.

The king was not unaccustomed to pain, but it had still been a surprise, and it had hurt. He wanted desperately for them to catch Nimueh, but he knew it wasn't going to happen. She was too powerful and tricky to allow it.

"I am being tormented by a sorceress...I would like you to seize her, but you will not find her. She is not easily defeated. She appears and then vanishes into thin air. Keep watch for anyone you see leaving, but the means needed to stop her will be greater than you have right now. Stay vigilant, but you won't be able to chase her. Fetch Gaius, I'll need some ointment for the burns on my hands."

[Deleted]

Sometimes Nimueh wondered if Uther did really believe the nonsense he was sprouting. Could it really be he did not even feel the slightest ounce of regret or remorse for the things he had done? Could he really be that heartless? Or had it simply been a fear reaction that had turned into hate and now he was too stubborn to renounce what he had started? How could he really think his land had prospered in the twenty years magic had been banned? He himself might have become richer and richer but his people were suffering, not only because of the constant fear. It was dangerously easy to be called a sorceror and losing your life, even if there was not the tiniest proof of it.
But really, what did Nimueh care for the suffering of others? She wanted to make Uther pay for what he had done to HER!

“Excuse me, are you just talking about yourself? Corrupts? Check! Destroys? Check! Kills the innocent as well as the guilty? Make that a double check!” she snarled, but sadly was cut short by the entrance of the guards. She would bring the subject back up though, it was far too important Uther finally got some things said into his face! All the others at court, including his own son, did only cower before him, agreeing to everything he said. That just had to make a man aloof and non reflective on his own actions.

As soon as the guards were gone again, Nimueh chuckled and lifted the invisibility spell, treading closer to Uther’s bed.
“One lesson you learned at least. Your poor guards will not see me leaving, that I can assure you. And you send them away?” she smiled alluringly, just to vex him. Her beauty couldn’t be lost to him, even if she was his worst enemy. “That’ll give us some time without… disturbance! And then… Gaius! Another old friend I would like to meet, this might turn into a very… pleasant evening!”

[kinguthersqueen]

"I do not kill the innocent! No one who uses magic is truly innocent, regardless of who they are. They are all a danger to the kingdom![ It is not I who is corrupt, I am one of the few who can see the real truth and who knows how dangerous magic truly is."

There was a fire, an anger in his eyes that no rationalization cold quell. In a sense, Uther was hopelessly deluded by now, although he would never feel he was. he was bitter and vengeful, dedicated to exacting similair suffering out of revenge for the suffering inflicted on him. He knew that Nimueh was the one who truly needed to die. She had used magic to grant his wish and in doing so had started the events that would take her life. Uther would not trade Arthur for anything. He loved the boy dearly, though he rarely showed it. But he would still give anything to have Ygraine by his side once again.

"To contain you would require suppressing your magic. There are devices that exist, and I will find one if I can, but there is no use exhausting the guards chasing something they cannot catch."

He then growled when she mentioned Gaius.
"You will not touch him...you will not harm any more of those close to me! You will not be satsified until you have taken everything from me, I know it. And I will fight you until my dying breath!

[Deleted]

Nimueh snorted and waved her hands dismissively. She had heard this words countless time from the very beginning in some of Uther’s tiresome speeches to his people. She couldn’t believe he was actually still talking the same unbelievably stupid things. How delusional could a man be?
“You know nothing about magic, Uther, nothing at all, because you never really bothered to try and learn its true essence. All you know is that it doesn’t follow your every whim, that it is something you can’t control and that alone makes you so scared you rather destroy it than admit there are things greater than you. But it’s oh so easy to destroy and condemn those you do not understand, right?”

Nimueh wondered why she actually was still trying to make him see sense. Or was she? Did she really want to convince him otherwise or was her talking nothing but a natural reaction to fight for what she thought was right? She was only stating the truth after all, whether he wanted to hear it or not. But fact was as well that whatever he said still hurt. Not like personally hurt her feelings or anything cheesy like that but it showed her every single time she had failed. Failed in her position as High Priestess. The fate of the Old Religion had been laid in her very hands, as they had been in her mother’s before. Look what she had done! Trying to please a man that couldn’t be pleased she had sealed the fate of her world, and however much she tried to avenge all the bad things that had followed her mistake, she could not make them undone. No good deed goes unpunished… that was the hard lesson she had had to learn.

And normally the High Priestess didn’t even think about all this, she never questioned herself and her abilities. But being so close to Uther made the walls crumble easily, and that made her testy… and even more determined to make this man pay!
“Oh… what nice prospects”, she teased the king with an alluring tone, misinterpreting his words on purpose. “Oh yes, I can see you wanting to see me in those fateful shackles… or whatever it is sorcery against sorcery can come up with… I would be so helpless then… and knowing you you would exploit that, now wouldn’t you!”

She laughed at him being so angry, almost desperate to keep her away from certain people. “Oh, don’t worry, I do not intend to harm Gaius. On the contrary… I would like to have a little chat. About old times!”

[kinguthersqueen]

She was trying to make him see reason, and he could tell quite easily. Unfortunately, he was far past that point, even though he knew she was right. It was not something he would ever admit, though, not to her or anyone else. He was too jaded, too embittered, and too proud to lower himself to that level. She even threw in a jab about the fact that anything used to supress magic would likely be made of magic. That Uther did not like; no matter how he tried to rationalize it, he'd end up being hypocritical. But, it was not the first time and it likely wouldn't be the last that he'd bent the rules for himself.

"I understand perfectly that magic corrupts and destroys. It turns those who use it evil. To know the heart of one sorcerer is to know them all. Even if they do not appear to be evil, they will become evil sooner or later. And as long as that can happen, they are a threat to my kingdom."

Uther still didn't like her being around when Gaius came. If she did intend any harm, he could not do a thing to stop her. Plus, she'd only speak of things the way she saw them, just as she always did, trying to turn people against him.

"Spread more of your lies is more like it" the king grumbled. All you repeatedly do is try to poison more minds against the truth."

[Deleted]

When Uther spoke again, Nimueh rolled her eyes and examined her fingernails. Whatever the king said, however he worded it, it was always the same equation it came down to: Magig=bad. She was actually sick and tired of hearing it, and to have to counter it with an equally simple equation: Uther=bad. This man stood for everything she hated in life, and yet she could not very well stay away from him and let him rejoice in the terror he had created. Someone like Uther needed to be reminded daily of the bad deeds he had committed or else he would forget them. If she had to play his poltergeist for that very reason, then so be it!

“Blah, blah, blah!” she snarled and bared her teeth. “Honestly, do you hear yourself speak? You sound like a constant echo of yourself, it’s getting boring! ‘To know one sorceror’s heart is to know them all’ – that’s possibly the lamest excuse I’ve heard in my ample time on earth! If you believe that than you’re more of a lunatic than I first thought. And if you don’t believe it and just say it – which I think is the more likely option – then you are the worst hypocrite this world has ever seen!”

This outburst was followed by a deep breath with which Nimueh tried to calm herself again. It had been long since she last had lost it like that. Uther Pendragon perhaps was the most poisenous of all the thorns in her side.
“Against the truth?” she replied and managed to sound even half way amused again. “We both know on which side the truth lies and Gaius knows that too. All he needs is maybe a little… reminder!”

She dared to sit down on the bed again, almost challenging Uther to take some action against it. But really, what could he do?
“When will you finally admit I am way stronger than you ever could be and… bow down to me?” she suggested in a teasing tone.

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther had expected her to reply as she did. It was something they would never agree on. It was something that he knew deep inside was the truth, but he had blinded himself to it, refused to consider that it might be possible he was wrong. He had rationalized and thought and got things so twisted in his mind that he couldn't accept anyone else's view but his own as truth. He listened, but tried to will himself not to become too infuriated, something that was generally a losing battle. He was not one to hide his feelings.

"I understand all too well, I know what I have seen, what I have experienced" he growled."I attack because I do understand."

Uther was getting annoyed about her seeming references to harming Gaius."Just leave him alone. I sicken of you trying to take everything from me." he snapped

He was further displeased by the way she seemed to be almost teasing him in a way...was she trying to come on to him? He wished he knew her mind better, as it was very puzzling. She loathed him, yet she was trying to...seduce him? He hated that she was leaning on his bed and he couldn't even call the guards to get rid of her.

"I will die before I bow to anyone!"came the reply. Uther would never humiliate himself in that way, no matter what.

[Deleted]

Nimueh would have liked to wring her hands or run her head repeatedly against the stone wall. So much ignorance simply HURT! But such action of course would ruin her reputation and rid her off the least bit of dignity she might possess in Uther’s eyes. Sometimes Nimueh would have liked to get into someone else’s mind, to see what they thought, what made them tick, but in times like this she was more than happy to not possess such an ability. The inside of Uther’s head might make her own head explode. It must be a treacherous jungle of twisted lies, foul and reeking under the surface, while the said surface consisted of arrogance and a false sense of honor and might. A disgusting place to be sure! How come the people still wanted him as king? Was she the only one seeing him for what he truly was?

“Keep telling yourself that, Uther”[/color], she replied in a sickly-sweet tone, clinging to her superiority just by a hair, “and then maybe someday you will fully believe it, without this constant flicker of guilt in your eyes!”
Of course, there was no such flicker at all, Uther had a great control over his facial expressions, and his eyes showed nothing but anger and pride. But Nimueh liked to say such things, if only to confuse and discourage her counterparts. If they started to doubt themselves they were more prone to make useful mistakes. Telling Uther he showed guilt in his eyes might just lead to the very same action. The powers of manipulation…

She waved her hand dimissively at Uther’s continued plea to leave Gaius alone. “The way you sound that your trust in him can’t be deep. Do you fear he might join my side after one lenghty conversation?” she snorted. “That just goes to show how fragile that world is you built yourself Uther. One gust of wind”, she puffed up her cheeks and blowed mockingly into his face, “and it tumbles down! Good prospects for a kingdom, don’t you think?”

A genuine laugh escaped her lips as she listened to Uther’s defiant reply. Oh, how easy it would be to prove him wrong! Should she? Oh well, why not, hadn’t she come here for a bit of recompense? “Don’t be so fast with such bold statements; Uther Pendragon!” she teased him and lifted her forefinger. "Hrycg, álútan!” she demanded his spine to bend in his sitting position so that he performed the distortion of a respectful bow. Oh, she knew how angry he would be now!