Love, Faith and Family

Chapter 100

How she fell asleep, she didn't know, but Miriam woke to the wet feeling of something falling on her cheek.

Panic seemed to set over her as she wiped the black sludge from her fingers and in the little bit of daylight she had, she saw what hung from the ceiling.

"Mandrake root," she whispered, remembering when Morgana had used the same trick on Uther to drive him crazy and warp his mind.

She flinched as the screaming started again and she dodged the dripping roots to scrounge up the knife she'd dropped the night before.

One by one, she cut the roots from where they hung, piling them in the corner of the room as far away from her as she could.

The black slime that coated the roots and dripped from them covered her hands and sleeves of her dress that had dried from the sweat it was stained with from the previous day.

But as she endeavoured in her task, the laughter started.

And when she turned, she was met with Merlin.

But he seemed paler, almost like that of a ghost or spirit as dread filled her.

And then he laughed.

A cold and cruel sound that seemed to be almost mocking her as she closed her eyes and backed away from him

Her heart skipped a beat when her back collided with a stone pillar and her eyes shot open, her knuckles impossibly tight around the hilt of her knife as she saw no sign of her brother.

And fear morphed her face into a frown because as hard as she tried, there was nothing she could do to stop the mandrake root from poisoning her mind as she'd unknowingly slept under it.

But she transformed that fear into anger, anger that raged inside as she took her knife to the few remaining roots that dangled from the ceiling.

She wanted to claw and cut the skin from her fingers as they wrapped around the final root and tossed it into the corner.

"Mira," whispered a voice and Miriam spun, her dagger poised but no one there.

And then she turned.

And she couldn't help but scream as Gwaine stood before her and she rushed backwards into a pillar, grasping it as if begging the stone to anchor her and give her some sense of reality.

"MERLIN! Merlin! Merlin, help me," she bellowed, voice starting in a scream but whittling down into a desperate whisper.

And then Gwaine vanished as light flooded the room and the door opened.

Miriam peeked around the pillar, only to see Morgana, and instantly her fear was replaced with anger as she ran at the witch.

But like her plan years ago to rescue Merlin and Arthur from Jarl, it had been a plan riddled with flaws as the sorceress' eyes glowed gold and Miriam was flung backward.

The knife clattered from her hand onto the stone as her eyes closed and darkness swallowed her, Morgana's jaw tensing in frustration as she beheld the room.

"Mira, Mira," she sang before spotting the pile of cut-up roots in the corner and a wicked grin spread across her lips. "Seems I underestimated you, once again. But you've underestimated me."

Meanwhile, Merlin had been walking mindlessly with the knights and Arthur, the rhyming riddles of Queen Mab replaying in his head when he was forced to his knees.

"Merlin!" Elyan called as everyone stopped and rushed over to him, Elyan and Arthur dropping to his sides.

"Merlin, are you alright?" Arthur asked as the servant covered his ears, eyes scrunched closed as he shook his head.