Princess and The Pea [Caitrin]

[stormzlz]

Emrys furrowed his eyes, raised his hand in her direction and ....

Morgana's eyes shot open and burned an angry amber. Her heart felt like it was beating so fast it was hard to distinguish any one beat from the other.  All of her previous dreams had been premonitions and so tonight she had just witnessed her own death. How many times she had seen this vision she could no longer count, but it haunted every night that she didn't care to drug herself asleep. Tonight she didn't take a sleeping draught as she was roughing it, traveling between sympathetic Lords, so she could not afford to knock herself out. Morgana's nostrils flared as she put her cold fingers to her chest, in a very human effort to keep her heart from leaping out of her chest. After a few minutes, Morgana had settled enough to take stock of her own surroundings.

It was early morning by now with the sun peeping through the trees of the forest and the birds twittering their morning wake up calls. Morgana shivered under her furs and looked over to where she had made a fire the night before. It appears that it had gone out long before she awoke, as there were no embers left. No matter, Morgana was alone and so could practice her natural magic freely. Her eyes glowed briefly and the fire burst to life once again. The sudden burst of fire spooked her large palomino riding horse. Morgana took little notice and instead got up to start cooking what little porridge she had left.

"And sing blow away the morning dew
The dew, and the dew.
Blow away the morning dew,
How sweet the winds do blow."

Morgana tried to shake the horrible start to her morning with an old English song. Her voice was not pretty, she had never managed very well in her singing lessons at court, but she did find that it soothed her soul as she stirred the cooking pot over the fire. Yet another thing that she was poor at - cooking - but the girl had been pampered all her life and could totally relate to the Princess and The Pea story. What she wouldn't give now for just a pea under her mattress! Now she had even given up squealing at finding other little furry critters sharing her bed.

"Nevermind Rosetta, once I become Queen, the pretenders won't even have a mattress!" Morgana growled as she lifted her spoon to her lips. She would set off through the woods to the next Lord soon, but for right now her bum was numb from riding and her fingers were nice and warm near the fire. It was half a day's ride from her current position, but she should set off soon. The ruffians that might be out were probably laid back drunk on their profits this early in the morning so it was probably safer passage. Morgana raised her black brow and chuckled a little wildly. That was ridiculous thinking. She was the most powerful a Witch alive. Who cares about a scallywag?!  "I will turn their blades into molten metal! I will ask the trees to snatch their legs up with their vines! I will make them beg forgiveness from the High Priestess!" Morgana grinned and her spirits were well lifted by the idea of exercising her magical abilities.

Tag: Caitrin
Timeline: Post season 4.
Where: a lovely little glade in the Forrest not too far from the city of Camelot. It would be a bit sheltered but not too far off the beaten track :-)

[Caitrin de Archer]

It was early morning in Camelot, or at least one of the earlier mornings that Caitrin had been out walking in quite a few months. She had only just really got used to being settled back at home, at her Uncle’s estate. Given what had happened during the witch’s first take over, her husband had conveyed her away from the kingdom, despite being heavily pregnant at the time, when she had taken over the kingdom again. They had mostly run around for weeks, eventually making it to Glouchedon. Now they were back of course, and she was just about settled. Today she had left both Esmae and Arthur asleep in their crib; they were but two months old, but she trusted her husband enough to look after them for the morning; she wouldn’t be gone that long anyway. She was just about getting her figure back after giving birth, and she put her hand to her belly instinctively; it was hard to believe that she had carried her children for so long, yet now it felt like her pregnancy was a lifetime ago. Smiling to herself, she bent down to pick a few herbs off the forest floor. The dew was still fresh on the ground, and she breathed in, taking in the aroma of the morning. It truly was beautiful out here, and she deserved a bit of peace. She hadn’t been sleeping very well given she had twins; if one was content then the other was usually screaming, it was as if they had a rota between them.

But today they had risen early, so she had already fed them and passed them onto their father to look after them while she went for a walk. Her herb store was running short anyway, she had just wanted to get out of the house for a little while without worrying which of the babies, or on the odd occasion her husband, was screaming at her. Taking some stems of lavender, she continued to walk through the forest. She had often walked these paths years ago, practising her sorcery as she went. Now of course she had too much to live for to dabble in such things. Caitrin did feel a little sad sometimes when she thought of her magic, as she knew she could never use it openly, and that if she did she would rip her family in half. For now she was content to put her herb to good use, and see where that led her. She was sure that some sorcery went into the brews she made, but she never made her gifts public, so there was never any bother; it was for family use. Griff knew about her of course; he was her husband so she supposed he had to know.

Banishing the thoughts from her head, Caitrin looked up as she saw smoke rising in front of her. Biting her lip, she paused, unsure of what to do. Years ago she would have continued without a moments hesitation, but those years had taught her enough to make her hesitate now. Not enough, it appeared, as usual with Caitrin Aubert her curiosity got the better of her. Stepping forwards slowly, she held her breath, hoping to see who it was before they heard her. Getting quite close, a voice suddenly ripped through the calm of the morning; Caitrin froze, she had heard that voice hundreds of times before; Morgana. She tried to back up as quickly as she could, but a twig snapped underneath her heel, and she stopped, praying she hadn’t been heard.

[stormzlz]

The morning wind blew gently and stoked Morgana's small fire. The blaze was enough to warm her spirit, quite literally, but it also drew her attention in such a way that she was looking in Caitrin's direction at precisely the moment she made her fatal error. Morgana's eyes squinted to focus, but she was now sure that she was not alone. Oh, she was not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination because she was usually sleep deprived. Morgana could practically feel the magic buzz through her veins, the adrenaline pumping it hard just in case... Emrys raised his hand  in her direction.

"Show yourself!!!" Morgana's voice was the tiniest bit shrill, trying hard not to show how frightened her nightmare had made her and instead project an air of supreme confidence. She kept her eyes trained in Caitrin's direction and couldn't really decide whether to stay seated - as if she was not threatened at all by this unannounced visitor - or stand up directly like she was some Matron accepting the visitor into the parlour.  If she could peel her eyes from the woods for a second, she would see that the spoon in her hand was close to breaking and her knuckles even brighter white than the rest of her pale hand.

"I warn you now, come forth and show yourself as a friend and no harm will come to you. Stay hidden and you are a foe, for which I will set the hounds of hell upon you!" the fight was back in her voice and she stood up with a flurry of her fur coats and stood in as demanding a fashion as she could muster without a full court for an audience in front of her. Ok, so the human woman she'd played at being for 20 odd years of her life was hard to shake, get a grip on yourself, Morgana.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin’s heart felt as if it had leapt into her throat. She lf her breath and pressed herself up against the tree she was hiding behind, praying that she hadn’t been heard, and that she would be able to slip away as quickly as she had come to this place. There weren’t many things in this world which scared Caitrin, but Morgana was one of those things. The woman was dangerous, Caitrin knew that all too well. She couldn’t be caught out here on her own, she knew she had magic herself, but she couldn’t match up to Morgana’s strength, and neither could the woman ever discover she was a sorceress anyway. Caitrin tried to take a step forwards to try to get away from the scene, she needed to get back home to her husband and children, and she didn’t want to spend any longer out here. She took one step, then another, and for a moment thought that she might just get away with it. That was until Morgana’s voice ripped through the clearing. She’d heard her.

She froze and put a hand over her mouth to stop herself from crying out with the fear. She had no intention of dying here, or falling prey to Morgana’s wrath. There was something in the woman’s tone though, almost as if she were scared, or spooked. That wasn’t noticed that much by Caitrin though, the young Mercian was more concerned about her own safety, and how scared and vulnerable she was here. There wasn’t an inch of her that was concerned for the witch who stood a few feet away. Caitrin of course didn’t reveal herself, she wasn’t stupid, perhaps if she just stayed here then Morgana would think she was hearing things and she would leave her be. It was a small hope, and she knew that if the witch were to take a few steps forwards then she would be revealed anyway. Caitrin knew she couldn’t just stay here; she had to try and get away.

Needless to say, when Morgana spoke again Caitrin didn’t believe her words. She knew she could not trust the word of the witch, and she had no intention of doing so. Caitrin had suffered enough in the past at Morgana’s hands to know that there was not an inch of her that could be called friendly. Breathing out slowly she smoothed down her dress nervously; she was going to have to run and at least try to get away. She inched forwards until she was around the tree, and her eyes met Morgana’s for a split second before Caitrin’s survival instincts kicked in. Hitching up her skirt she turned on her heels and tried to run away.

Notes: Let me know if you need this editing![/color][/size]