Merlin continued staring at Morgana, who held Arthur's sword in her hands. He couldn't let her get away with that weapon. He watched as she stirred slightly and opened her eyes.

She blinked several times. Then slowly, she stood up and smirked. "Merlin."

"Put that down," Merlin demanded.

"Or what?"

Merlin narrowed his gaze at her. "You'd be surprised."

"Hmm. Well, I can't do that. You see, this sword of Arthur's," she stroked the blade, "is magical. See, you didn't even know that, did you? I bet you are just appalled to learn that your precious king has been using an object of magic."

Merlin stared at her, dumbfounded. "You really have no idea what you are talking about, do you?"

Morgana smirked. "Oh yes, I do. You see, I know things. About magic. And I also know this." She sauntered in a circle around Merlin. She leaned in, close to his ear, and whispered, "There has been a sorcerer. Protecting Camelot. Right under all of your noses. And his name, is Emrys."

She withdrew, a large satisfied smirk plastered on to her face. But her lips faltered slightly at the evil grin sneaking on to Merlin's.

He leaned in, just as she had done, and whispered, "I know."

Then he flashed his eyes as the witch went sailing back, screaming.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She crashed into the council table, and had thrown up the sword in reaction to being thrown back. The blade trembled as it absorbed some of the blast.

Thus, she looked up, startled. Her eyes were popping out even larger than Gwen's.

"You're not Merlin," she said.

"No, I'm not," he stated. She visibly relaxed. "Not to you, anyway." Her eyes widened and she stared at him, confused. "You see, Merlin is what my friends get to call me. You, on the other hand, know me by something different."

"No…" cold fear rushed through her veins.

"Oh yes. You do. How about, the light to your darkness? No? Or how about your destiny, or perhaps even," he leaned in next to her ear and whispered, "your doom?"

Morgana froze. She tried to move, to speak, but all of her muscles seemed paralyzed. Her mouth and cheeks clenched tight as she tried to form words. Just then, she noticed his hand open, and consequently, hers opened too, releasing the sword. It was a trick! The sword hit the ground with a deafening clank.

"Helpless, Morgana? You know, I just thought of that spell, or rather, lack of one, on the spot."

She felt her insides burning in agony as her anger and frustration at not being able to fight back rose.

Then her eyes noticed a small flame in Merlin's hand.

"Another one on the spot."

By now, she was furious. When the flame died out, she felt his hold on her release. She took that moment to grab the sword and point it at his chest.

Without moving, he flung her backwards into the council table. She scrambled to stand up again as she felt the blade trembling. I was right, Mordred, she thought.

"Hleap on- AHHH!" Merlin threw her into the wall this time.

A little disoriented, she scrambled up again, trying to get away. "AHHH!" she screamed as her stomach flew out from under her and she slammed into the wall.

"You know, I'm just going to keep throwing you into the wall until you give that sword up," Merlin stated.

Her anger rose. "I'm going to get my revenge! And I'll start by stealing this precious sword you created!"

He looked at her, puzzled. He had most definitely not created that sword. Then he shrugged. Better to let her think that, though. Suddenly, he heard a loud bang on the council doors, and he snapped his heads towards them. Morgana's eyes flashed gold, but so did his. There was a ripple between them, and then Morgana was flung backwards.

She scrambled up, but Merlin turned around and threw her back again.

She pulled herself to her feet, and took one step… "AHH!" she crashed back into the wall.

Merlin sighed.

She stood up again. "Hleap on- AHHHH!"

Merlin shook his head.

"I will get my" crash "REVENGE!" she screamed from the floor. Her eyes glowed and she brought pieces of the ceiling down, but the debris flung themselves and crashed into the opposite wall.

There was another loud bang on the council doors as she stood up again. This time Merlin twisted her in the air before slamming her into the wall.

Then the council doors burst open, and Arthur and his knights rushed in, followed by a nervous Gwen.

Merlin froze, his eyes darting back and forth between them and Morgana. Finally, he stared at her terrified form, and raised his hand.

Her eyes widened in panic. This was the first time he had raised his hand at her. "KEEP YOUR DAMN SWORD!" she shrieked as she threw it down, and she bolted past the knights and out the door.

Everyone's jaws dropped and heads snapped toward Merlin in perfect synchronization.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What was that?" Arthur demanded.

"Ah. That was…" Merlin trailed off.

"Merlin was in here, in charge of the redecorating," Gwen cut in nervously. Merlin opened his mouth in shock and stared at her, but she gave him a meaningful look. He snapped his mouth shut.

"And you manage to invite my evil half-sister as well?"

"Ah. That was… a mistake." Merlin continued.

Arthur glanced around the room. "And I assume that she is responsible for this mess."

"Ah, well-" Merlin caught sight of Gwen, who was nodding her head up and down. "Yes."

Arthur sighed. "And she just left?"

Merlin nodded.

"That's it? No evil plots? She just came here to destroy my council chambers?"

Merlin paused thoughtfully, then nodded.

Arthur sighed. "And how did she get in?"

"What?" Merlin asked.

"How did she get in?"

Merlin thought for a moment. "You know, she's a sorceress. She has her… sorceress ways."

Arthur sighed in frustration. "I know that. But what did she do? Did she use some sort of spell? Was it a transportation spell?"

No Arthur, she probably just walked in, he thought. "I don't know. Why are you asking me? I don't know anything about magic."

Gwen snickered. Arthur glanced at her briefly, then turned back to Merlin. "True. Well, I suppose you can clean this up?"

Merlin gaped.

"Fantastic. We have an early meeting tomorrow. I expect it to be perfect by then."

Arthur walked out of the council chambers, and his knights followed.

Gwen remained behind.

"Gwen, I-"

"It's alright."

Merlin sighed in relief. "Well, I'll just… continue with this work then." He walked over and began setting the chairs upright.

"Merlin," she started.

"Hmmm?"

"Are you an idiot?"

He frowned. "Why do you ask?"

She walked over and wrestled a chair from his hands and threw it on the ground. "Don't clean this up by hand, you fool!"

He stared at her puzzled. "Wha-"

"Ahh!" she exclaimed. "Don't make me spell it out to you."

He stared at her, even more puzzled than before.

"Use you magic!"

Merlin jerked, then he visibly relaxed. "Oh. Right. Feormness." The chairs and papers strewn all over the room began to right themselves and shortly the room was restored back to order.

They both began to walk out of the council room, when Gwen turned.

"So Merlin, I do have to ask one question."

He tensed slightly. "What's that?"

"Why didn't you do anything like that before?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back outside the castle, Morgana was running frantically to try to find Mordred. She saw him waiting there where they had tied up their horse. He had begun to untie it, and was ready to take off.

Suddenly, she found she couldn't move anymore, and collapsed to her knees.

"Morgana! What did you do?"

She stared up at him. "It was Emrys…"

"Yes! I told you he was there! And what did you do? You stayed behind, and let him beat you senseless."

Morgana looked terrified. Mordred frowned. "How did you make it out alive?"

"The sword."

Realization crossed Mordred's face. "You were right after all! Sorry for questioning your plan. Tell me, what did it do?"

"It absorbs some of the blasts."

Mordred smirked. "Tell me. Where is it?"

Morgana snarled. "Emrys still has it."

Mordred's jaw dropped. "You let him get away with it?"

"He tricked me!" she shouted.

"You let him get away with it. After we had it in our hands."

"No!" she cried. "And there was something else. Emrys was disguised."

"He was? When did that happen? He looked normal when I saw him."

She shook her head. "He was disguised as Merlin."

Mordred stared at her, incredulous. "Morgana, Merlin is Emrys."

She settled her eyes on his, not comprehending. "No," she tried, confused.

"Yes. I thought you said you knew who he was?"

"He's an old man!"

"Morgana, you said you had battled him before. Were you mistaken? Because Merlin definitely is Emrys."

"Merlin is Emrys?" she said desperately.

"Yes," Mordred said, wondering why Morgana couldn't understand this.

"Merlin… is…" she trembled as her eyes widened and she tried to speak the last word. "Emrys," she whispered. Then she collapsed to the ground. "NOOOOO!" she screamed. Mordred watched in horror as the clouds darkened overhead. "NOOOOO!" she screamed again. The clouds began to rumble, and the wind picked up vigorously. "NOOOOOOOOO!" The sky cracked. A bolt of lightning split the sky, and their horse neighed. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Three more bolts flickered overhead, the wind still picking up. Trembling, she sat up, gasping for air, and let out one more guttural scream. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A bolt of lightning struck down, blinding them and blasting off a chunk of the castle wall. The debris rained down on them as the witch collapsed, unconscious.

Mordred stared at her in disbelief. If he had thought she was near mental breakdown earlier, he was now certain that she was well past it.

"Well, I guess I'll have to drag you to the horse," he mumbled. He turned to where he had left it… and saw a rope lying at the base of the tree.

He sighed in frustration. "Great. You managed to scare off both of our horses. In less than a day." He bent over, ready to use magic to gently float her beside him as he traveled back. Then he stopped. He eyed the rope lying on the ground, used to tie up the horse. He grinned wickedly as he picked it up and tied the rope around her waist. Then he stood and grabbed the end, dragging Morgana on the ground.

"Revenge is sweet," he chuckled to himself, Morgana's unconscious body flopping in the dirt behind him.