The Daughters of Merlin

Grace was two months away from her due date. She and Virgil were staying at Merlin’s cottage with Zana, taking a break from the castle. It was midnight, and Grace found herself woken up from her sleep, by what though she didn’t know.

Grace turned to face Virgil, but found that he wasn’t there. Grace sat up, looking around the room only to find that it was empty.

“Virgil?” Grace called out worriedly. She waited a few minutes but received no response. Grace then got out of bed and left the room.

“Virgil?” Grace called again, a little louder this time. “Zana?”

Again, Grace received no response, which frightened her even more. Grace hurried to Zana’s room and found that it was indeed empty.

Grace placed her hand on her stomach as she bit her lip, trying not to panic. She hurried down the stairs, heading to the front door. She grabbed her blue cloak, wrapping it around her shoulders. The air was beginning to turn cold as winter was approaching. After this, she threw open the door, looking towards the enchanted forest, searching for any sign of the two people she loved and needed most that were left in this world.

“Virgil! Zana!” Grace shouted.

Again, there was no response. What was worse was that Grace didn’t see Raven, Sky, or Blue anywhere either. Grace knew that if they had heard her voice they would have gone running over to her.

Before Grace could begin to break down, she saw a purple light coming from off in the distance, from inside the forest. Without a second thought, Grace took off in the direction of the light.

Every once in a while, the light would appear for a few seconds before going out again. Grace followed after the light, figuring that it was Zana.

Grace had been walking for only five minutes when she began to hear voices coming from ahead of her, though the light seemed to be coming from farther away than the voices.

“Virgil, please! Just come away from the cliff!” Zana shouted desperately.

Grace hurried towards the direction of the voices. She hid behind a group of trees, peering around the corner.

Virgil was standing on the edge of a cliff which was a good six story drop with rocks at the bottom, and a small stream flowing through the gorge, though it was only a few feet deep at most. Zana stood a few meters away from Virgil, both Raven and Blue standing next to her, Sky also with them. Zana was holding her hand out to Virgil.

“Why should I?! You left me there alone! You don’t know what it’s like! Everytime I close my eyes I see his face. His blood is on my hands!” Virgil shouted back at Zana.

“He killed our parents and hurt Grace! He deserved to die!” Zana said, her hair sparking.

“He deserved a trial!” Virgil yelled, a tear falling down his cheek as he took a step closer to the edge.

“Ok! Ok, maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. But that doesn’t mean you should kill yourself over it! Alright, so I admit that I was wrong to make you kill him like that. I was wrong to leave you to take care of his body by yourself, but I was grieving too! You don’t know what it’s like, having the ability to save your dad but unable to do so.” Zana looked down at the ground.

“I lost my parents that day too, Zana!” Virgil shouted. “You know Grace still doesn’t know what I did to Mordred? I haven’t told her because I don’t want her to be ashamed of me. But I can’t keep ignoring what happened! I need to talk about it! But everytime I try to talk to you you just ignore me!”

“Alright, then let’s talk about it! Just come away from that cliff!” Zana yelled back.

Virgil shook his head. “This is the only way to get you to listen to me.”

“Damn it, Virgil! Look, all it takes is for you to slip and fall! The Draconi won’t be able to catch you if you fall and then you’ll die! You of all people should know what would happen if you died! You think I can stand losing Grace again, let alone for good?! We both know that if either one of us dies Grace will kill herself! She needs you, Virgil! Think about your unborn child! Live for them!” Zana shouted, tears falling from her eyes. “They need you.”

Virgil closed his eyes. He knew that Zana was right.

Virgil sighed, holding his hand out towards Zana’s, taking a step toward her. As he shifted his weight, the ground beneath him began to give way. With wide eyes, Zana surged forward, grabbing Virgil’s hand before he could fall too far, though he was left dangling in midair, with Zana holding onto his hand.

Raven ran forward, biting down on Zana’s shirt to stop her from falling over. Growling, he helped Zana pull Virgil back over the cliff and onto safe ground. Once Virgil was safe, Zana wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close.

“I’m sorry, ok? I’m sorry.” Zana said.

“Me . . . Me, too.” Virgil said much quieter as he hugged her back.

Grace.

Grace turned, looking away from the scene. She could see the purple light still shining farther into the forest. Grace didn’t really think about following after the light, but she did begin to notice that the light was starting to get closer.

As if in a trance, Grace followed after the light for several more minutes until she got to a cave where the light was emitting from.

All Grace did was blink her eyes and she then found herself now inside the cave, laying on her back on a stone table. The purple glow had been coming from the table. Grace tried to move, to sit up, but found that she was held in place by a spell.

“Well, well, hello again.”

Grace’s eyes widened as she turned her head to look at the one person who she feared most, the one person who had forever haunted her nightmares, worse than Mordred ever did. Most of Morgana le Fey’s hair had now turned grey, her face was covered in wrinkles, but besides this, she hadn’t changed at all.

“Did you really think you could escape me forever?“Morgana sneered as she placed her hands on top of Grace’s stomach.

Grace struggled against the spell that held her in place but she could not break free. As long as she was pregnant, Grace could and would not use her powers for fear of hurting the child, knowing that using her powers made her weak.

“Get your hands off of me!” Grace cried desperately, even though she knew that doing so was hardly going to stop the witch.

As expected, Morgana ignored Grace, beginning to chant. As she did so, the shadows seemed to gather around the witch in a dark halo, her eyes glowing as the shadows twisted around Morgana’s pale arms, traveling through her hands into Grace’s stomach.

Grace felt a searing pain in her womb, causing her to scream from the pain, tears falling down her face as she cried from both the pain and for her child, for whatever Morgana was doing to them.

Grace had no idea how long this lasted, but all of a sudden, Morgana stopped chanting as a knife sprouted from her shoulder. Morgana shouted in pain, whirling around before using her power to throw Virgil against the wall, knocking him unconscious.

“STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER!” Zana screamed at Morgana as she charged at the Witch, her entire body engulfed in a green and purple flame.

This was the last thing Grace saw before passing out, feeling no more.