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Post by himiko on Apr 16, 2007 6:30:36 GMT 9.5
Merlin glanced around the room. With the exception of Uther, who could clearly see Mab as well, the entire room was staring at him as though he were completely insane. Which he could understand- he had, after all, apparently been arguing with a patch of air behind Uther's shoulder. Presumably, they thought that the door slamming and Uther calling for his guards were a result of Merlin's presence. One of them (Merlin thought it might be the Duke of Cornwall) drew his sword and started towards Merlin.
"Shall I get rid of him for you, sire?" he asked Uther, glaring daggers at Merlin.
"No... no, that won't be neccessary," Uther muttered distractedly, glancing between the Duke and the patch of air behind him. Merlin glanced in the same direction, and glared at Mab, who answered with a self-satisfied cat-smile. Oh, she would be enjoying this, Merlin thought viciously to himself.
He considered his choices. He could either pretend that she wasn't there, and try and talk to Uther on that basis (That would be just brilliant, "Your Highness, Mab cannot be trusted, you must avoid her at all costs... Yes, that's right, the woman standing right behind you now.... Yes, the one you seem to have met before... "), or he could openly accuse her of standing there. This wasn't a question he had time to ponder.
"Mab," he muttered threateningly under his breath, "Leave now. You have no place in this court." She raised her eyebrow.
"Leave?" she asked mockingly, "Now, dear Merlin, why would I want to do a thing like that?"
"He's talking gibberish," one of the knights exclaimed in annoyance.
"He's a complete lunatic," another one added in disgust. Merlin gritted his teeth. He wasn't helping himself at all.
"I'm not insane, my lords," he replied, "Simply unfortunate enough that Mab has graced me once again with her presence. The Queen of the Old Ways is standing in this room behind your prince." Several of the knights scoffed or laughed at this, others glanced at the air behind Uther nervously. Staring deliberately at Merlin, Mab whispered something to Uther, too quietly for Merlin to hear, before taking a step back and vanishing.
"Don't be absurd," one of the knights snarled at him, "No Pagan witch could gain entry to this castle without us knowing."
"Queen Mab isn't a simple witch," Merlin replied shortly, "Whether you believe me or not, she was here. Prince Uther saw her, too. Ask him." The prince looked startled for a moment at being challenged, as several pairs of eyes swept towards him.
"Don't be absurd," he replied, laughing uncomfortably, "There was no-one there. You're simply trying to frighten my court, wizard." Merlin's eyes narrowed. He was honest, by nature- Mab and her kind couldn't lie, and Ambrosia had always brought him up to be honest, so it was ingrained in him twice over, and deliberate dishonesty irked him a great deal.
"Liar"
Uther turned almost as red as his robes with anger, but was cut off before he could reply, by the guards he had called for earlier, now finally able to enter through the door.
"You called, sire?" they asked. Uther looked confused for a second, then nodded, pointing at Merlin.
"Arrest this man, and take him to the dungeons," he replied imperiously, glaring at Merlin, who was mentally kicking himself for managing to get himself into this position again, "He has lied before my court, and called me a liar into the bargain."
As the guards surrounded Merlin, the wizard met the eyes of the heir to the thone defiantly. This man was no fit ruler, and one day, Merlin would make sure that he saw to it that he never became one.
As soon, he reflected, as the guards caught his arms and began pulling him away, as he managed to escape from this particular predicament. Breathing deeply, he closed his eyes, preparing to use magic to confuse the guards holding him... and came up against a brick wall. His magic was there, but somehow, it lay out of his reach.
Mab's mocking laughter echoed down the hallways after him.
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Post by EarlyBird on Apr 16, 2007 6:38:17 GMT 9.5
Mab stroked Uther's arm again gently "you are such a good lair..." she grinned. "Now for our bargin" she said simply. "Who said I was making a bargin with anyone" he sighed deeply, Mab's eyes flitted back at him angrily. "Oh you wouldn't want to say no" she hissed walking towards him "anyway...I have ways of making you win your battles...against whoever they may be" she smirked. He pushed her hand away and slumped further back "be gone witch, be gone from my sight". Just then Mab raised a finger pulling him off the floor and holding him up by his chin. "Care to utter those words to me again...it is Queen to you" she hissed at him sternly.
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Post by Tosca on Apr 16, 2007 8:02:47 GMT 9.5
There was a great shuffling amongst Uther's lords, as the majority of the congregation filling the hall witnessed their prince - who had just imprisoned a man for suggesting supernatural powers were at work - push fiercely at a patch of thin air, and then seem to jerk up and levitate momentarily above the floor.
A moment later, Mab released her hold on the future king, and Uther crashed back into his throne and scrabbled to look dignified. He cast an affonted glare around the hall, as if condemning the awe-struck expressions of those who watched the proceedings, agog. He turned an angry, humiliated gaze back towards the meddlesome Fairy Queen, but - as was her fashion - she had flickered out of sight as though she had never been.
Merlin huddled up in the corner of his dungeon, which was not altogether disimilar to the one he had been locked away in at Pendragon. He puzzled the matter of his defencelessness - his inability to use magic. It must be Mab's doing, he reasoned. And if she didn't want him to make even more of an enemy of Uther by using his magical powers against him, she must be content with him sitting here to rot, completely powerless. Berating himself for getting him into such an avoidable mess - or rather, letting Mab goad him into such an avoidable mess, which was far worse - he steeled himself for a long wait. He closed his eyes.
Dreams flitted across the surface of Merlin's mind like night-bats, silent and unattainable. He had no idea how long he slept for, or where his mind wandered in that time, only that a voice was calling him.
"Merlin..." It whispered. "Merlin..."
Merlin had struggled to his feet in an instant, eyes darting from side to side. Brain still foggy with dreams and benumbed with sleep, he raced to the patch of light from the only window. Breathless, he squinted against the pale rays of sunlight, and as if he were living within a memory, whispered "Nimue?"
Of course, he regretted it immediately. Mab's chuckling tore the last vestiges of hazy dreams from his mind. "Merlin, my love!" Mab cooed with apparent delight. Merlin was intensely glad that the sun dazzled him too much for him to be able to see her vengeful smile.
"Mab." He spat, reaching up to clench at the bars, and then quickly withdrawing his hand as Mab petted it in mock sympathy. "What are you doing?"
Mab practically purred at his frustration. "Well, my dear. That's for you to wonder. But I can tell you that you are performing your part admirably."
Merlin withdrew from the bars, and sat down heavily on the bare ground. There was little he could do with a somehow drained reserve of magic. "It makes a change - I'm not disappointing you for once." He replied, sounding as though it galled him deeply.
"Quite." Mab agreed, and crinkled her nose in an expression of glee one might make to a young child.
Merlin could do little else but grind his teeth.
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Post by himiko on Apr 16, 2007 8:33:16 GMT 9.5
"Merlin, you sound almost irritated," Mab said in mock surprise, "I thought you'd be so pleased."
"Pleased at what?" he asked evenly, "Being left to rot in a dungeon. Oh, yes. I'm ecstatic."
"There's no need to be sarcastic," Mab scolded, the gleeful smile she wore suggesting that she was finding the whole matter rather enjoyable, "I meant your magic. You've always said that you want no part of the Old ways, and that you didn't want the powers I gave to you. Now you don't have them."
Merlin glared at her, "So this is your idea of revenge?" Mab laughed.
"Revenge? No, simply trying to help my dear son."
"Let me out of this cell and stop scheming and meddling in my life, and then I might believe that you're trying to help me. Somehow, trapping me in a dungeon doesn't have quite the same feel to it," Merlin replied. Mab raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, so you want me to let you use your powers again?" Mab considered this for a moment, "You should be careful what you wish for, Merlin." Merlin glared at her again. She smiled, "Actually, I don't think I will. Perhaps if you're very well behaved and polite, I might consider it later on."
"You'll have a long wait, then," Merlin snapped, "What exactly do you hope to acheive here, Mab?"
"Like I said," Mab replied, "That's for you to wonder. After all," she gestured at the small dungeon, "It seems you'll have precious little else to do."
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Post by mirandafan on Apr 17, 2007 2:33:38 GMT 9.5
I just had to intrupt to say how much I LOVE this story. That is all ;D
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Post by Incapability on Apr 17, 2007 4:40:51 GMT 9.5
She turned to vanish with a flicker, but Merlin called her back. "Tell me, Mab, are you being so mysterious just for the sake of it, or is it because you have no idea what you are doing?" She froze dead in her tracks, and once again Merlin got the vague impression that one of his toes might have crossed the line. "Never ever call me unknowing, Merlin.", she hissed. Uh oh. Not so good. "I suggest you watch out for yourself. After all", she looked him up and down, the messy, dungeon-filth-besmeared self that he currently was, "it seems that you yourself have no idea what you are doing. What with you vow never to help me? You are playing into my hands, and you don't even know it. No matter what you do, I will benefit. I'm winning, and there's nothing you can do!" Mab caught a deep breath and frowned. This outburst had not been planned, but Merlin had this knack of angering her beyond belief. Even when she was successful on the whole way, he could not accept it and tried to get the better of her. Stupid mortal. As it was, the only way to leave the current situation with an acceptable amount of dignity was immediate retreat, possibly accompanied by the odd cryptic warning. She turned and fixed Merlin with one of her trademark cat-stares, and just the moment he started to protest as it was his pathitic way, she was gone, and only her voice was left lingering in the air. "Remember what I told you, Merlin ... " ---- (sorry, couldn't resist)
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Post by himiko on Apr 17, 2007 5:30:10 GMT 9.5
Heehee! Pictureses! ---
Returning once more to the Land of Magic, Mab pondered over her next move. Uther and Merlin were certainly performing their parts admirably enough- Merlin had ridden straight into Uther's court, and Uther had been more weak, obnoxious and pathetic than even Mab had imagined was possible for a mortal. Now Uther wouldn't trust Merlins advice, or at least, his pride wouldn't allow him to listen, after Merlin had insulted and embarassed him in front of his lords earlier- and Merlin, in turn, saw Uther as a liar, and a general waste of humanity (which, in all honesty, Mab was more than inclined to agree with). Merlin could hardly want to see Uther on the throne now. Still, best to leave him where he was for the time being, out of the way. She had no intention of harming Merlin, or letting Uther harm him, he was far too important to her plans for that. Still, she hoped her warning earlier would give him at least a couple of sleepless nights. It was the least he deserved. When Merlin finally got out, he would fight with all his being to keep Uther from the throne, all that she had to do was sit back and watch.
Of course, there was the tiny problem of Uther's other followers to deal with. Their number was growing by the day, and the vst majority of them (or at least of the most powerful and influential of them) were Christians. They would want one of their own on the throne of Britain. Of course, at the moment, Uther was the obvious candidate- he was Constant's son, and so had a stronger claim to the throne than any of the rest, he was young enough to bear heirs to follow him, but old enough to have seen some battles, and he was willing to listen to their advice, or at least pretend to listen. But if some of them saw Uther as unfit to rule...
Mab considered this further. She didn't want Uther to be overthrown, and simply be replaced by another of these Christian idiots. She needed to make sure that there was just enough suspicion raised against him so that some of his more religious knights would turn on him, but still keep enough followers on his side to deal with them. Whilst they squabbled over who would be king, it would delay them, giving her, and Merlin, time to keep Uther (and any of his more ambitious lords) from gaining the throne.
The question was, how to go about it...
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Post by himiko on Apr 17, 2007 6:30:41 GMT 9.5
I just had to intrupt to say how much I LOVE this story. That is all ;D Me, too. A Mab fic that you can write and read other people stuff too *huggles fc* Just hope that it stays alive. ;D
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Post by Tosca on Apr 17, 2007 6:40:03 GMT 9.5
[also liking the shiny pic!]
If sowing discord had been as tangible as sowing wheat, the crops borne of Mab's toil would have been the lushest in all the land, great golden fields of chaos, all sown from a single grain of mistrust. But the beauty of discord was that it wasn't so obvious; it was unobtrusive and subtle, and mortals could compound it all by themselves...
The guards at Winchester castle dashed towards the sound of a scuffle. It seemed to be coming from the throne room, and the prince was regularly found therein, oftentimes alone... Skidding through the doors, swords drawn to slay any would-be-assassins who had slipped past them to make an attempt on the prince's life, they came to a halt as they took in the scene. Uther was indeed here, but he was alone. At one end of the room, and exquisite carving of the crucified Jesus hanging from a cross was hung upon the wall. The king seemed to be making a few embellishments to it - or rather, removing a few. The guards stared in shock as Uther happily cleaved away at the symbol of his own faith, a faith to which he would have called himself devout.
Finally noticing their presence, the king whirled around. The guards exchanged a worried glance. The young prince beamed, hovered for a moment, then dashed past them, shrieking, "Down with the Christians! Away with the Christians! To hell with everything!"
There was an understandably stunned silence in his wake.
But it seemed the king was not through. Entering his dinner hall, where he was already expected to take his place at the head of the long table, he scampered past his lords with an agility he had never before, grinning happily as he did so. Some later said that his levity of mood succeeded in lifting him bodily off the ground. At any rate, within seconds, Uther was on the table. There were gasps and snorts from those lords not too humble and polite to feign blindness, as their liege-lord bounded along the table, upturning wine and kicking a hog's head like a ball. What could possibly have driven him to such distraction?
"My lord...?" One of the braver men spoke up, and got no further. With a frown, Uther picked up a carving knife, and hurled it merrily at the young man, knocking him clean off his chair. Immediately, the confused, embarrassed silence of shock changed to a wave of noise as cries of horror and scandal broke out. Men reached up to restrain Uther, to calm him, to get some sense out of him - but all at once, he cocked his head, as if hearing the approach of footsteps audible to his ears only. Leaping into a sprint none would have thought possible for such a portly man, he left the room, as abruptly as he had entered.
Mere seconds later, he returned - from a separate entrance. This time with no spring in his step, and his face paled as he seemed to register the mess before his eyes - the ruined food, the injured man sprawled upon the floor, the mutinous faces of those surrounding him. With wide, staring eyes, he demanded, "What in God's name has been going on here?" And, riling the men even further, he actually sounded convincing. When with their very own eyes they had seen their trusted lord bring this madness into their midst.
Uther seemed not to understand why his question was met with stony glares. He glanced from face to face, beginning to perspire ever so slightly under the evident hostility that met him.
In the Land of Magic, Mab clapped her hands in glee and chuckled heartily. Of course, she would never admit it to him, but sometimes Frik's imagination and downright idiocy succeeded in amusing even her.
Moments later, her servant appeared from behind her, and bowed low to the ground, a smirk playing across his face. Mab surveyed him, still half-smiling, and muttered, "That'll do. For now."
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Post by himiko on Apr 17, 2007 7:02:20 GMT 9.5
*ROFL at mental picture* ---
Uther stood for a while longer, waiting for someone to speak.
"Well?" he asked, growing more nervous by the second, his eyes sweeping the room. Those watching him seemed torn between a rather bemused hostility, and unwillingness to confront their prince. In the end, Gorlois was the first to speak.
"Your Highness doesn't remember?" he asked, his voice tinged with just the faintest hint of sarcasm, almost imperciptible. Uther had had suspicions about the loyalty of the Duke of Cornwall for some time now.
"Remember what, Gorlois?" he challenged the Duke. If Gorlois thought he could challenge the future king in such a way, then he was sorely mistaken. In the event, however, it wasn't Gorlois who spoke up, but an older knight- Bors, it might have been...
"Well, ummm.... when Your Highness jumped onto the table, and.... and started running up and down..." he informed Uther uncertainly. Uther's brows furrowed.
"How dare you accuse me of... I did no such thing!" he exclaimed angrily, his face turning red as one or two of the more incautious lords let out what sounded an awful lot like quiet giggles at the memory. Bors continued to look uncertain.
"Well, I mean- we all saw it," he said, watching Uther as if not entirely sure what he would do next. He turned to the rest of the room, "Didn't we?" There was a collection of nods, and general murmurs of assent.
Uther's eyes narrowed, "I have been in my bedchamber for the past hour. There is no earthly way I could have..." He trailed off, anger and humiliation making him eager to place blame on anyone possible, "Merlin!"
"Pardon, Sire?" one of the other lords asked in confusion.
"This must be Merlin's doing," Uther snarled through gritted teeth, "Yes, he's trying to humiliate me..." Some of the lords looked to each other and nodded knowingly, as if they felt the explanation made sense. Others- Duke Gorlois amongst them- looked far more sceptical. In Uther's mind, there was no doubt- Merlin was here in the castle, and had already insulted him, clearly marking him as a traitor to be imprisoned. Now he thought to humiliate Uther as well...
"Guards!" Uther bellowed, "Have Merlin brought to me."
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Post by himiko on Apr 19, 2007 5:09:07 GMT 9.5
*pokes thread* ;D
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Post by Tosca on Apr 19, 2007 5:30:14 GMT 9.5
*pokes it too* It is blatantly someone else's turn to post. *eyeballs Incapa* *hums*
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Post by himiko on Apr 19, 2007 5:37:36 GMT 9.5
Or anyone new?
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Post by Tosca on Apr 19, 2007 5:39:39 GMT 9.5
Or anyone new. *agrees* Mab Rox hasn't posted in a while. Maybe we can persuade her. *stashed a few pointy implements up sleeve*
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Post by himiko on Apr 19, 2007 5:57:18 GMT 9.5
*waves arms in bid to attract new posters*
We are in no way impatient. We just need our Mabfic-fix NOW!!! ;D *attempts to look sane*
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