xregicide-deactivated20140812:
Mordred stopped, placing his vambrace down on the bench, his heart sinking. For a moment he concentrates completely on his armour, how could he answer such a question? Telling her would mean her life and the lives of those whom called Camelot home. An impossible predicament.
The young knight turns to face her, his fingers brushing lightly against the metal of his armour. “I’m not hiding anything” he tells her simply.
The guards bring Summer once more to Morgana’s tent, where the sorceress picks up a woven box and lovingly caresses the top of it. “Do you know what this is?”
Summer shakes her head, almost convulsively. Morgana’s madness feels like a shadow, sucking her in; she’s never been so frightened before.
“I was going to accept your offer to join me,” she tells Summer, who shudders. “But I see now that you will never be loyal.” She opens the box, and slowly a snake rises out of it, tongue flickering. “This is a Nathair.”
Hardly aware of what she’s doing, consumed with terror now, Summer tries to step back, but the guards pull her up short. Morgana smiles, and lifts the snake out of the box. She whispers a spell to it, and holds her hand to Summer.
Summer screams.
Mordred drifts off to the sound of a scream, curled up on the floor by his bed, the place where he had fallen and dare not move from. The temperature had dropped at some point, he’d felt a wave of cold air wash over his skin and by the time he had awoken his pale skin was a shade of purple.
He remains on the ground for some time before the flap to his tent is pulled back and in walks a guard. “The lady Morgana requests your presence.”
When Mordred gets there, Morgana is calmly seated at the table, cutting bits off an apple and eating them. At her feet, Summer lies in a heap, eyes swollen with crying and throat raw from screaming. The Nathair is coiled in its box, close by Morgana’s hand, and a map is spread on the table.
“I trust you slept well, Mordred.” It’s as if the events of hours ago had never happened. “Come, warm yourself. We must plan the assault.”