"Are you cold, babe? Hold on a little longer, it'll be here soon." The witch grazes my cheek with her knuckles and I smile even if I'm unable to feel her soft skin because she's wearing gloves. The truth is that it's really cold here by the sea but the ocean remains calmed despite the strong wind, a bitterly cold mist coming from the water covers the beach around us... it feels like we're walking through a sea of clouds that reaches our knees. The air is damp even if it's not raining, drops of water condense on my cape and run down the fabric, they also drop from the edge of my hood to the ground in front of my face. I hold Luna tighter in my arms, wrapping her up with the velvet fabric to protect her fur from the humidity in the air while she warms my hands.
"I don't understand it, Ruby. Morgan is a major fairy, she has amazing powers, she lives on an island where weather is always good along with other queens and fairies, forests are lush, the castle offers all the luxuries the heart could possibly desire and people say apples are always sweet and crunchy, ready to eat. Why would she want to be Queen of Britain? It'd be like climbing a step down, like a prince wanting to be a slimy toad voluntarily. It's ridiculous, she lives much better now than sitting on Arthur's throne."
"Honestly, I think she does this to irritate everybody, not because it's her personal ambition. Or maybe she just wants revenge." I stare at my wife frowning confused. "The truth is that Niniana, Merlin and their friends drew up a good plan, they forged Excalibur and put Arthur on the throne to save the kingdom so people could live in peace, but they ruined some lives at the same time. Morgan and her sisters were happy, their beautiful mother Igraine adored them and their father Gorlois was the Duke of Cornwall, a powerful man and famous warrior. They had everything they could wish for... But King Uther had an infatuation with Igraine and he tricked her helped by Merlin to sneak in her bed, Gorlois was murdered and the King married their mother who had not choice but to agree, later Merlin took Arthur away to raise him in secret and Igraine died of grief. Morgan and their sisters were forced to get married to Uther's vassals..."
"Yes, well, I guess she has reasons to be bitter about it and hate Niniana and Merlin, but Arthur is his half-brother and a victim of circumstance too."
"True, in fact I think Morgan really appreciates him and doesn't want to hurt him, she just wants to kick his ass out of the throne to make the plan fail and punish the people who killed her father and ruined her mother and sisters' lives. The only problem is that common people will suffer if war breaks, we need Arthur to maintain peace and fight the enemies of the kingdom that will come from foreign lands, that's why we need to stop Morgan even if we can feel empathy for her... Here it is..." A small boat made of white wood gets closer to the shore slowly but there's no boatman or oars, it came to us guided by magic. "Be careful when you get on the boat, hold Luna tighter... Sit down there while I take our bags."
I obey my wife, putting the cat on my lap and wrapping us both with her mother's cape while we wait on the boat for it to move again, the mist doesn't let us see what's around us... light is gloomy and gives me the shivers. In fact, the shore vanishes 5 minutes later and we drift with the flow in the calmed and cold sea but the witch doesn't look worried and waits quietly sat in front of us. She seems to be pretty sure that her mentor will welcome us with open arms even if we come from her brother's court.
Actually, we've been traveling for days before arriving to the beach even if Ruby told me she'd be able to bring us there with her magic in less than one second, but that would arouse suspicion. My wife decided that we could take this trip as a vacation and would visit several kingdoms so her former lover believed that Avalon was just another stop of our tour. We said goodbye to Arthur and a very polite yet cold Queen Guinevere, although she couldn't restrain herself and asked me who the dressmaker of my stunning red gown was, and we rode with Niniana back to her lake. Ruby turned down her invitation to stay overnight, she told me the palace is too damp, and we kept riding till reaching Princess Aurora's castle.
