Mistress Morrigan

*Chapter Three - A Surprise*

Chapter Three

As she strode down the corridor leading out from the dungeon, Morrigan came across an old friend. "Cara! How nice to see you! It seems it's been forever!" Cara gave a wave, and walked towards, and besides Morrigan.

"Morrigan! I know! How have things been going?"

"Oh, pretty well. I have a new trainee. He's being quite difficult, but we both know I can handle him. How have things been going for you?"

Cara thought for a moment, and replied, "Okay. They've been going okay." Morrigan decided not to pry, after all, it was Cara's business, not hers. "Denna has gotten to the point with her trainee, that she's passing him around."

"That's good. Means he's breaking. If I'm not mistaken, this Richard figure was a difficult one, no?"

"Oh, yes, he was difficult. But, we both know very well, that Denna would break him. She is Lord Rahl's favorite, and after all, she has to be a favorite for a reason."

"Did he call out anyone's name?" Morrigan inquired. When a person is getting tortured, she knew, they sometimes would call out the name of a person very important to them. They may call out their mother's name, their lovers, siblings, anyone they were close to. They will, eventually, forget their life before, and all that will exist will be their undying devotion to their mistress. Cara's brow furrowed in thought.

"I don't think..." Then her face lit up, as if remembering something. "Oh! Yes, he did. A woman named Kahlan. Odd name, isn't it? She must be very important to him, he called for her at least ten times."

"A lover, do you think?"

"Most likely, I would assume so, anyways."

Morrigan glanced up, and saw her chamber doors. "Well," she sighed, "I'm afraid this is where we part, my dear friend."

Cara nodded, and offered her a rare smile. She then walked towards her chambers, towards the left. Morrigan walked into her chambers, undressed, and crawled under the blankets. And simply thought. She thought about Xavier, and how she had an odd urge not to hurt him as badly as the others. She thought about her own training, and how frightening it was, she thought about how she killed her father in the most horrible of ways... No. She caught herself. Her parents had never really loved her. The only family she has are her Sisters, the mord-sith. And, anyway, if she let up on Xavier, even a bit, or started to think that the things she did were wrong, Lord Rahl would most certainly punish her. Then she thought about her son. The boy Lord Rahl had sired, when Morrigan herself had just turned thirteen. She wasn't even done with her training yet, and she was taken, rather forcefully to his bed.

The boy had to be about thirteen years old now. She was not permitted to care for him, and so, she didn't have any real feelings towards him. He would most likely be trained to be a D'Haran soldier, but she did often wonder what he would look like now. When she was allowed to hold him for a moment, he was still bloody, and crying. But then he opened his eyes, and they were the most startling blue color she had ever seen.

And even then, when he was just an infant, she saw the utmost intelligence in them. As if he knew what was going on, that he would never see his mother again, and was trying to commit her face to memory. Morrigan did the same. She memorized his little nose, his lashes, the deep, startling blue color of his eyes, the curve of his tiny mouth, how his fingers curled around her pointer finger. She knew he would not remember her at all now, but she did like to think about him. She knew his whereabouts, at least, she hoped he was still there. Witherton, is where Lord Rahl sent him to live, with a 'kind family' as he put it. She knew that he would actually be training to be a soldier, but she hoped that Lord Rahl was at least honest as to where he sent him. Perhaps, one day, she could visit him. She knew that she had a very slim chance of this, but she could still hope. She could still dream. These are the things Lord Rahl cannot take away from her.

Morrigan's eyes snapped open. Someone was in her chambers. She quickly evaluated the side of the room she could see, and then nonchalantly turned over, and sighed, hoping that whomever was in her room would think she was still asleep. It didn't fool them. She saw a hand fly towards her head. She caught it without a problem. Twisting it viciously, she heard the satisfying, yet sickening crack of bone, and an anguished cry of a man. She slid from the bed, and savagely jerked his arm behind his back, enough to cause discomfort, but not enough to snap it.

"What is your name?" She growled. When she didn't get a response, she tightened her grip, and pulled a little harder on his arm.

"Xavier!" She gasped. A look of realization passed over her face.

"My charge...? THAT XAVIER?!" Extremely angry, she jerked his arm. He cried out in pain. "No. You can't be my charge. The magic would have stopped you. It should have stopped you." She peered at his face, and a lock of dark hair fell over her green eyes, which shone with anger and malice in the moonlight. Her face took on an expression, somewhere between amazed, flabbergasted, and angry. He was, in fact, her charge. 

"How are you here?" Morrigan asked, in a deadly voice. 

"I... uh... I don't know."

Morrigan stared threateningly at him. She reached for her Agiel, which was sitting on the night stand closest to her. 

"No, I swear, I'm telling the truth! I dosed off -"

"You... dosed off...?" She asked, her jaw tightening.

"Yes, I have no idea how. I could almost feel the magic trying to... get at me... But, it couldn't. Anyway, I dosed off, and then when I woke up, I was here. In your chambers."

"That doesn't explain why you took a swing at me. Which failed, by the way."

"Yeah... I realize this... I thought, that maybe, if I knocked you out, I could make a run for it."

"Ha. Run. That would get you nowhere. My sisters would be alerted to the sound of running footsteps down the corridor, and they would take you down within the minute."

"I didn't think it through. I just acted." 

"And see where that got you." She proceeded to sit on him, which drove a pained grunt from Xavier. 

"Well, obviously, I can't trust you. So, you'll have to stay with me." Suddenly, he screamed in agony, writhing on the floor. "Yep. It apparently works when I'm in the same room as you are. Now, shut up. I'm trying to think." He panted on the floor. She thought for a moment. "You know what? I think I have a solution to this problem of ours." She reached up, and rifled through the nightstand drawer, producing a collar. She considered it for a moment, and then snapped on his neck. His face turned to one of surprised as she clipped a chain on as well. She snapped it to her bedpost, and sighed. "There. Problem dealt with. If you try to move from this spot," she instructed, pointing to the floor, "The magic will stop you, if you try."

"Are you sure about that?" Xavier asked, in an innocent voice.

Morrigan backhanded him hard across the face. "Just hope you don't ever say another flippant thing again." He stood in stony silence, while she crawled back under the covers. "Good night!" she called cheerfully. Xavier didn't respond.