Circe Attacks

Camelot had fallen. The sun rose on the violet-haired woman that had succeeded in bringing the kingdom to its knees, looking down from the balcony overlooking courtyard. She was able to see the few remaining knights and the former prince in the early morning light. They all fought valiantly, but to no avail. They stood no chance against the creatures at her command. The stone walls that had once kept its out were reduced to mere ruins by the ferocity of the battle that had taken place. The prince continued to struggle as he was clapped in chains.

"No worries, Uther," she said to the mortally wounded king that lay in a heap at her feet, "He will be much more subdued after I have transformed him." She smiled evilly as her wicked plans came together.

Suddenly, a shadow was blocking the light. Looking up, the witch's smile turned into a scowl of rage. A woman was floating up above. She was silhouetted by the sunlight as her long, curly hair blew in the wind.

"Diana!" the witch cried in a rage.

"My lady!" a voice echoed, seemingly from nowhere, "My Lady, wake up!"

Morgana woke with a start as two hands were on her shoulders shaking her. She opened her eyes and her maidservant came into focus.

"Gwen, what happened?" she asked, sitting up.

"You seemed to be having another nightmare. You were tossing and turning so much I was afraid you'd fall off the bed."

Morgana didn't say anything as she closed her eyes and rubbed at her temples, as if trying to push the images out of her mind.

"Are you alright? Should I send for Gaius?"

She looked back up to her friend and maidservant, "No, I am fine." She put on her best smile.

"Alright then, I've brought up your breakfast," said the maidservant, not entirely convinced, but playing along for her friend's sake. She walked away to finish setting the breakfast out on the table.

While Gwen was busy, Morgana couldn't help remembering the vision of a fallen Camelot.

"Hurry up, Merlin!" Arthur called behind him.

"Oof!" Merlin exclaimed as he tripped over a tree root, stumbling to the ground.

Arthur looked back to see him pick himself up off the ground, "My God, you are useless."

"Maybe, but you know you couldn't last a day without me," said Merlin, cheekily. The prince just let out an annoyed 'huff' as he turned to continue on the path with his bow and arrow ready in front of him.

"You know, this would've been easier if we brought our horses," complained Merlin.

"Knowing you, you'd be falling off every five minutes. Just keep quiet and do try not to scare away every deer in the forest,"

Suddenly, there came a loud rumbling from somewhere nearby, causing both to look up with concern.

"What was that?" asked Merlin.

"I have no idea. There's small village in that direction, though; it could be coming from there. We should investigate," the young prince ran off in the direction of the noise and the village, quickly followed by Merlin.

It didn't take them long to make it to the village. When they were close, they could hear screams coming from the villagers. When they got there, everyone was running scared. There was smoke in the air from several fires that had been started in the buildings. Merlin immediately started reciting in his head any spells he could think of to help them.

Arthur drew his sword and ran further into the village.

"Arthur, wait! You're running in blind!" Merlin called after him, but to no avail.

Arthur saw an elderly woman that was about to run past him. He caught a hold of her arm to stop her. She immediately began to struggle and punch at his chest.

"It's alright, I won't hurt you!" he shouted to make himself heard. She calmed down a bit when she heard him and saw the dragon emblem on his tunic. "Can you tell me what's happened here?"

"M-monsters, beasts, savages, we didn't see them coming. They just started attacking. Some of our men, m-my son," her voice started to crack as tears fell from her eyes, "They tried to fight them, but it was useless,"

"Where are they?" asked Arthur.

The woman was about to answer, but then her eyes widened in horror as she looked over his shoulder. Arthur turned around just in time to block a sword attack. The force behind it, though felt as if it almost dislocated his shoulder. Arthur caught a glimpse of a large, muscular man in a leather tunic before a strong kick was aimed at his stomach, sending him flying back into a wall.

Merlin arrived just in time to mutter a quick spell, his eyes flashing gold, to cushion the wall with his magic. The prince slid to the ground, slightly dazed but quickly returning to his senses. He looked up, sword ready, to battle his enemy.

The strong-man came charging, sword raised high, with a battle cry, but the prince was too quick for him. Arthur jumped out of the way and swiped his sword across the strong-man's back. He gave a cry of pain, before turning back to Arthur and running at him again.

"Oh sh-," Arthur's sword clanged against the strong-man's, and a fierce battle began.

Meanwhile, Merlin ran further into the heart of the village, to check on any survivors. What he saw made him stop and stare in shock. There were hundreds of strange creatures scattered throughout the village attacking the remaining villagers. Some were reptilian; others had bat wings and long snake-like necks. Then there were powerful beasts with the bodies of men but the heads of bulls, claws and horns equally sharp. But in the middle of it all, there was a woman in green robes. She was beautiful as she was obviously evil, with her violet hair and red eyes. She let out an evil cackle as she conjured a fireball and threw it at a nearby house.

Merlin sprang into action. He blasted away a pair of lizard beasts that were terrorizing a pair of children before finishing them off with fire, his eyes flashing gold with every word he spoke. He killed several more monsters in a similar way, before the others began to attack him. One of the bull beasts charged at him, head bowed; Merlin dodged it, then pulled out his own sword and cast a swift enchantment. The sword hovered in the air on its own before thrusting itself into another oncoming beast. Then they all began attacking at once. The Merlin's enchanted sword slashed through scaly flesh and fur; he threw fireballs and magically threw enemies away.

He was getting ready to send another fireball when there was a flash of purple light, and he was forced to his knees, unable to control his body.

"Well, well, well, what are we to do with you?" came a gloating female voice.

Arthur met the strong-man blow for blow, but his strength was much greater than the prince's, and soon Arthur's muscles were becoming weak and strained. One more swipe, and Arthur's sword flew from his hands. The strong-man raised his own sword one last time for a death blow.

"Wait!" he heard a female voice echo from somewhere in the village, "Bring him here."

Arthur was lifted to his feet by the collar of his tunic and then forcibly led toward the center of the village. There, he saw the horrific army of beasts. The crowd parted enough to let the strong-man lead him through to the center of the crowd, where stood the violet-haired sorceress, along with the remaining villagers and…

"Merlin!" Arthur called when he saw his servant bound by the witch's magic, which gave of a soft violet hue around Merlin's body.

Arthur was shoved to the ground in front of the witch. He saw a flash of purple and, like Merlin, he could not control his own body. He was forced to stand up and face the witch. She seemed to have a thoughtful expression on her face as she spoke.

"You seem oddly familiar to me. Have we met before?"

"I think I'd know if I met a sorceress as evil as you," said Arthur defiantly.

The witch didn't seem fazed. "What's your name, handsome?" Arthur refused to speak or give into any flirtation. "Oh, now don't be like that,"

"Arthur Pendragon, Crown Prince of Camelot," Arthur couldn't believe his own voice had betrayed him.

"Prince Arthur," said the witch, sounding impressed, "And who's this?" she asked, referring to Merlin.

"Merlin, he's my manservant."

"Merlin," the witch repeated, looking at Merlin, "The Merlin?" she suddenly began laughing hysterically, "By the gods this is just too good. Well now, Arthur and Merlin, I have something I want the both of you to see."

She directed both of them to turn and face the villagers. "You're gonna like this," she said as she raised both hands, palms forward, towards the villagers. Her palms began to glow with purple light, which got brighter and began to radiate outward, enveloping the villagers. All of a sudden, they began to change. They grew bigger; some grew scales, others grew fur. They grew tails, wings, claws and teeth. When the witch lowered her palms, they were just more beasts to add to her army.

She turned back to Arthur and Merlin and waved a hand. Released of her control, they both collapsed to the ground.

"Now go. Return to Camelot and tell the king what you have seen here. Tell him that this is just the beginning, and soon he will bow to Circe."

They both stood up. Arthur looked hesitant, but Merlin whispered to him, "Come on, There's nothing more we can do here." He tugged Arthur's arm until they were both headed out of the circle of monsters.

"You won't get away with this," said Arthur as they left.

Circe watched them until they were out of sight. "My lady," said one of the strong-men, "Won't letting them warn the king start a war with Camelot?"

She turned to him and said, "That's the point."

Arthur and Merlin swore they could hear her laughter even when they were miles from that village.

The warm night breeze swept through her hair as Diana flew home to the Themysciran Embassy. Nothing made her feel freer than flying, at one with the wind and the birds, high above all the worries of the world.

Her blissful thoughts were interrupted by the sound of thunder. Without her noticing, the sky had become full of storm clouds.

"How strange," she said out loud to herself, "There was no mention of a storm on the weather this morning."

Suddenly, there was a flash of light and she barely managed to dodge a bolt of lightning. "That was close." Just as she finished that thought, another bolt shot from the sky. Then another; she began flying as fast as she could to escape the deadly weapons of Zeus. Looking ahead, she saw another one; she was going too fast to avoid it. Thinking instinctively, she crossed both bracelets in front of her in time to block it. But it didn't block. Once the bolt hit her bracelets, it began spread around her bracelets, to her arms until finally it engulfed her whole body. Then it started to glow with some strange energy. When it was at its brightest, it suddenly dissipated, and Diana was knocked out of the night sky.