Paved With Good Intentions [Morgana]

[Lucy Halacre]

Lucy wasn't one for anonymous notes, so when one appeared late one Tuesday evening, she should have just thrown it in the fire. But unfortunately, it had, quite literally, appeared out of nowhere. It fluttered down from where it had materialised from thin air, landing neatly in her lap. And she could hardly be blamed for unfolding the thing, just to see what it said. Someone with magic had obviously sent it; a druid might have sent it. She had to open it, it might have been of extreme importance.

So she had read it, and was now sincerely regretting even picking the damn thing up. After all, she hadn't bargained on being flanked by two heavily-armed guards on her left and right; silent, scarred men who looked like they would happily kill her without a thought.

The note had told her that the writer knew where her lost brother, Mirao, was, and that if she wanted to see him, she'd come to a famous oak tree in the Forest of Ascetir. She just couldn't blow off this note. It could be a lie, but what would anyone want with her? It wasn't like she had anything of value.

She had only just arrived when a pair of hands had gripped her her hard around the waist and lifted her onto a horse. The sound of a hand slapping flesh sounded and the horse started forward with a loud whinny. Lucy was panicking frantically. But the sight of those guards had shut her up tighter than a clam immediately. She wouldn't show weakness.

They had been riding for a long time now, her horse seemingly knowing exactly where it was going. Lucy was getting tired, as it was, after all, the middle of the night. Then, all of a sudden, both of the guards threw up a palm.

A gate loomed out of the fog, manned by two more men of the same sort of physique, demeanour and uniform.

"Girl to see the Lady." It was the first sound she had heard from anyone all journey and Lucy could honestly say the low grunt gave nothing more away.

Who was the Lady? Some sort of local noble? A foreign dignitary? Lucy hadn't a clue.

The second pair of guards swung open the guard for them to pass through and they did so, still holding their palms above their heads. The sun dawned above as a castle revealed itself. It was grey, battered but at the same time utterly terrifying. Lucy suddenly became a great deal more frightened. Even if they were holding Mirao in here, Lucy suddenly found she didn’t want to know. This was a great deal for a girl who didn’t even know her brother to go through. She almost whimpered, but held it in with iron steel.

Lucy, feeling half-asleep, yet wide awake on adrenalin, could barely keep track of the twisty passages and stairways. Where on earth were they taking her. Out into fresh air again, that was something.

They entered some beautiful gardens, bright with flowers of all different colours, and Lucy smiled despite herself. Nature, she could definitely appreciate. They rounded another corner and Lucy caught glimpse of a woman standing at the end of the row.
”Milady!” The guard called down to her, at the leather pumps, the cotton dress, the long, braided ebony hair…

The Lady Morgana turned to face them.

Tagged: Morgana
Word Count: 569
Notes: Yeah, this kind of ran away from me

[mysery]

The crispness of the early morning air was refrshing for Morgana. Morgause still didn't like her over taxing herself, though her poisoning at the hand of her so called 'friend' had been weeks ago and she had made a full recovery. Her sister had told her the few details Morgana herself couldn't remember, but it hadn't changed anything. Merlin had tried to kill her, poison her right there in the throne room of Camelot. What was worse was that he had decieved her. Clearly he hadn't drank from the wineskin he had handed her, which meant he had fully intended to kill her. So much for friendship.

Turning her mind from those thoughts, which so far had only ever managed to anger Morgana when she contemplated them, the dark haired young woman brushed her fingertips over the petals of the flower before her. She didn't know what it was. Besides recieving them, flowers and learning of the plants had never really been her forte. She'd been more interested in the swords Arthur had generally refused to let her near. He was afraid, though he'd never admit it, that she'd best him yet again. A small smile made its way over her features as she thought back to their childhood. Heaven forbid whatever Arthur would have turned out like if she hadn't been around to annoy him. It was in everyone's best interests that she had been there to ensure his head didn't get too big. Or that he turned into Uther.

Her smile faded as thoughts of the King entered her mind. Morgause had also told her that she had failed in killing him. Morgana, despite her sisters words, felt responsible. If she hadn't drank the poison Merlin had handed her, Uther would be dead. Even she could see that Merlin and Arthur would have faded fast and Morgause had been just beyond the doors. Everything would have worked out. But no. He had escaped his fate yet again.

Morgana was pulled rather suddenly into the present when somebody approached her sanctuary.

”Milady!” She turned to see two guards approaching with a young woman between them. She seemed vaguely familiar, but Morgana couldn't pull a name from her mind. But this must have been the one Morgause had been telling her about. She wanted Morgana to know more about herbs and plants, as they would be a large part of her magic, so she was going to enlist some help. It would seem the help had arrived.

"Leave us," Morgana instructed the guards, knowing they wouldn't go too far. They were to protect them after all. Once the men had bowed, and retreated from their sight, Morgana approached the young woman. "What is your name?" she asked.

[Not a problem. Hehe, as you can see, it happened to me too!]

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Setting: Forests of Balor

Tag: Lucy Halacre

Timeline: In The Year Between

[Lucy Halacre]

Lucy heard the order for the guards to leave, but barely heard it. The Lady Morgana was here! The Lady Morgana! The Lady that had been missing over a month now, was standing almost directly in front of her! But what on earth was she doing in this cold, grey castle; in this beautiful garden? Had she been kidnapped? She seemed awfully benign for someone who had been taken from her life in the lap of luxury, her surrogate family and a court that were enamoured with her.

The even more confusing thing; why was Lucy here with her? If it really was a kidnapping case (Lucy felt the first nudge of suspicion that it wasn’t), then wasn’t there a bit of a difference between victims? The only similarities between herself and the Lady Morgana were sex and age. But if a so-called kidnapper wanted only young women, then why didn’t he just go for women like Lucy who had a meagre livelihood and no family, rather than a young woman who someone would miss within five minutes?

Lucy shook her head. It just didn’t add up.

“What is your name?” The Lady asked her.

She automatically slipped back into her peasant frame of mind, curtsied deeply and answered, “Lucy Halacre, if it pleases milady.”

One thing was plain to Lucy, and that was her brother was not here. That had plainly been a ruse to tempt her to come. The main feature was obviously Morgana, why else would she be greeted by the Lady that all Camelot was searching for? Was this something to do with the druids? Were they the ones that had taken Morgana, perhaps for her own protection from the tyrant King? Did they want Lucy to…help her?

O God, nothing made sense at all. Exhaling, Lucy decided to just go with the flow of things; no doubt her purpose here would soon be revealed, and in the meantime it did her no good at all to guess.

She offered a small smile to Morgana, and waited.

Tag: Morgana
Word Count: 341
Notes: Ack, so sorry! The delay on this post is atrocious; there really is no excuse.

[mysery]

Morgana nodded as the other female gave the name she had asked for. She curtsied to her, and Morgana understood immediately that this young woman knew who she was. Or at the very least was payingher respect because she believed her to be of higher station than her. And then again, perhaps she was just frightened and figured showing such respect would spare her any unneccessary trouble. Not that Morgana wished for the girl to fear her. She was to be her teacher after all. It would help if she weren't afraid of Morgana at all. So, with that thought in mind, Morgana smiled.

“Please, there is no need to call me 'milady',” she said to the girl, her smile holding firm. “We are the same here,” she added. Alright, that wasn't technically true, Morgause wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice this girl if she became a problem, but otherwise, in Morgana's eyes, they were equal. Remembering why Morgause had brought Lucy here in the first place, Morgana turned to the side to look over the gardens.

“You are to be my tutor, or so I have been told,” Morgana said, gesturing for Lucy to walk with her. What better place than through the gardens themselves?

“In plants and herbs,” she added, beginning to walk down the path before her. The blood guards were nearby, she heard them shuffle to stay close, but they were of no consequence to Morgana. For now, her attention was on Lucy and would remain there for the moment as she settled the girl into the role she had been selected for.

The blood guards were here primarily for her sister, Morgana knew this, but Morgause had also tasked them with her protection. She'd managed to get conversations out of some of them and they'd told her they were created to protect the Priestess', which Morgause apparently was. It had fascinated Morgana, this heirarchy and religion that she had never known existed beyond what Uther chose to slander and destroy, labelling it all as magic.

[There is no need at all to apologise. I completely understand!]

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Setting: Forests of Balor

Tag: Lucy Halacre

Timeline: In The Year Between