AN: I am going to be honest. I have no idea why this chapter took so long to write. It was like all my writing passion died and my passion for other things increased. I drew more in the past 6 months than I did in all of the 2010s combined. I have posted a few other works since I last updated this, but overall, I haven't written much since last summer. I just hope this chapter measures up!

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Chapter 46

Morgana wasn't mad. Worried, maybe, but mostly scared. She was going back to the one place, other than Camelot, that had ever captured her. Morgause had gotten them out of more binds than the sorceress cared to remember, yet she ended up trapped in a pit in Amata for two dark, long years.

Was she going there for her own sake? No. Aithusa's? No. She was going because the leader of Amata had paid assassins to come after her family so many times that her husband had lost his control and took off with Kilgharrah in the middle of the night! She had planned on making this trip when she was fully recovered, but Merlin had gone off before she was ready.

She never saw him during her and Aithusa's flight, but she knew it had been hopeful thinking that she would. Morgana and the young dragon didn't head straight for the capital, instead flying to where she expected to find her husband. The prisoner pits.

It really didn't look all that different. A series of well like holes in the ground with a metal and wood cover over the opening. They were all identical. Despite that, she knew exactly which one she had suffered in.

Those two years were some of the few that were truly hers and not just Morgause living through her. She had stayed there, listening to Aithusa as she cried in pain as her bones broke and grew twisted. She hadn't known how to get away without hurting the dragonling, but she didn't try very hard either. This place haunted her the most because she had chosen misery as herself rather than escape and allow her body to be taken over.

She didn't want to face those feelings yet. She was still not fully healed and her mind was still a mess from the past 10 years or so. But she had to face it before her husband did something stupid. The best way to stop Merlin was to deal with it before he did. She had the dragoness land beside their pit. She fought memories as she removed the cover and climbed into the hole.

Everything that they had suffered there flooded her mind, but she accepted them. Without that time, she would not have the family she did now, no Hunith, Merlin, Branwen, or the babes. With that in mind, she asked the Triple Goddess for strength and willed the earth below her feet rise, filling in her once prison. Around her, all the other pits had filled as well.

It was as though she had been swimming in a heavy gown and kicked the garment off. She felt lighter, happier, and stronger. Now to find her thick headed husband.

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Nothing good could come from the young warlock throwing himself into a task like this without a thought, especially when his emotions had run away with him. The young man was lucky his witch wife knew this as well. She and the youngling had made impressive time following them.

While this endeavor was personal for the great dragon, he knew this was not his fight nor his job. He had failed his duty as Aithusa's guardian, but that was in the past. It was up to the dragoness and her lady end this.

In the meantime, he would do his best to slow the dragonlord down. He had millenia of experience to draw from and was a master of half truths. He would easily give them a few hours to do what needed to be done before Young Merlin ever reached the capital city.

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Merlin was getting frustrated. He and Kilgharrah had left an hour before dawn, but it was midday and they had only just reached Amata. He didn't understand why it had taken so long, but the journey seemed to have exhausted the Great Dragon, so they were all the way back at the border in a sandy area where Kilgharrah would blend in.

He knew he was going to have to deal with what was happening to the golden beast before he could return home, so he decided to deal with that before storming the capital. He didn't know it, but that was his first mistake. One of many.

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Landing outside of the capital, Morgana felt no more fear. She had been broken by this place, but she had become stronger from the experience. She seemed to have miraculously arrived before her husband, but given Aithusa's constant amusement, she was sure that was all thanks to a certain cryptic beast waylaying him.

As she walked towards the city walls, the allied forces of Albion parted the way. They seemed more worried than anything else. She was fine with that. If they were concerned about her health after everything she had been through with the pregnancy and births, she was touched. If they were uneasy about what she was going to do to the people of Amata, well it showed they cared about lives in general and not just those of their allies. But either way, there was nothing to be anxious about. Only one life was possibly at stake, though she had no intention of letting Amata's ruler die anytime soon.

A small burst of magic and the gate was open. She held herself proudly as she walked through the town. The squalor the poor people were living in was appalling. She reached out to the nearby followers of the Old Religion and asked that they provide food and medicine to the townsfolk, but she blocked out any reply as she continued to the inner wall of the city.

The trip was a blur to the Priestess. All she truly recalled was the filth the peasantry had been forced to live in and Aithusa at her back. When she breached the gate and entered the inner city, she saw that the conditions were only slightly better than those in the outer city. How had a kingdom fought a war as they had, yet had their people live in such a poor state?

How mad did a ruler have to be to allow such a thing to come to pass? Uther had lost most of his mind when Ygraine died, yet even he cared more for his subjects than to allow something like this to happen. This was a low she had only witnessed once. This was the level at which Cenred had kept his people and blamed it on his enemies. This new Sarrum must be truly depraved.

It wasn't until she reached the citadel that she found any opposition to her advance, but a simple sleeping spell was all she needed to pass through the castle. Following her instincts, Morgana found herself outside a massive set of doors heavily warded against spells. The witch couldn't find it in herself to feel anger at the hypocrisy of using magic to fight magic as Uther had in the early days and when one of his children truly needed it.

"Aithusa, would you like to open this one?"

The look the Priestess received would terrify most people with the white dragon's bared fangs, but to Morgana, it was a cheeky grin. A moment later, the door was splintered on the floor of what looked to have been a banquet hall in the past, but now seemed to be a makeshift barrack for some lords. And she knew, deep in her soul, that this was where she was going to find the man who went after her family.

"I assume you all know who I am, so I will forego introductions. I am here for one reason. I want to know why. Why attack me and my family? Was depriving me of everything but pain for over two years not enough?"

"You killed my father!" Morgana's skin became covered in gooseflesh as the voice rang out.

Turning, she saw a boy no older than James glaring at her with pure hatred. He was dressed similarly to how his king had, but he was far less built than the late Sarrum had been. He wasn't the son of that man, but the grandson.

"And how did I do that? Was he the guard who had stood between me and my freedom? Or the rider I threw from his horse to escape this land? If not, I wasn't the one who killed him."

"You killed grandfather! You killed both of my uncles, and you killed my father. Don't you dare deny it, Witch."

Mogana shook her head sadly at the child king. He had likely been convinced by his councilors that she was the reason for every bad thing that had happened to the kingdom since she had gotten away.

"So, because you believed I killed your family, mine was forfeit? You thought it gave you the authority to poison a grandmother? To try to kill a soon-to-be mother? To assassinate infants and babes? Your mind has been poisoned and it sickens me."

Casting a spell to silence the roaring outrage of the lords in chamber, the priestess moved to the raised dias where a throne may have once sat. She was followed by Aithusa, who was far too large to be inside the building, and when the woman spoke to those present, it was with a beautiful and deadly beast to her back without fear. This was who they had provoked.

"I, Morgana Wledig nè Pendragon, claim victory over Amata in the name of my brother, Arthur Pendragon, Ruler of Camelot and King of Albion. All citizens of this land are now his subjects. Sarrum of Amata, you shall stand trial before a Council of Kings. May they punish you as they see fit."

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It was nearly an hour later that Merlin ended up at the gates to Amata's capital. The warlock had left Kilgharrah to rest after it seemed he was just tired, not that the great dragon had just told him that, and teleported to just outside the wall. That was when he realized the golden menace's exhaustion had been a ruse to allow Morgana time to get there first.

He was shocked at the poor condition the people were in. He had lived in a poor village that barely survived season by season, but never had Ealdor's people looked like this. They were flea infested, sick, stank of dung and urine, and several undernourished. How had they not known this?

Had the army not made sure the people didn't die while they were locked in? A few hours ago, would he have even cared? He could have taken the city weeks ago and saved them from starving. But he had hated the ruler so badly that he had forgotten that the people were not at fault for the actions of their king.

Reaching out through his bond with his wife, he could feel her sadness and disappointment, but nothing that showed that she needed him. Content to let her work things out on her own, the former servant changed into his old work clothes and morphed his beard away. Like this, he wandered into the crowd and set to work feeding the hungry, cleaning the clothes of the filthy, and treating the sick with subtle magic and hard work.

It actually took quite a while for anyone to notice who he was and what he was doing. By that time, he had magically cleaned more bowls than he cared to count, had renewed the spell keeping the soup at the right temperature at least 3 times, had an entire tent enchanted to go through the process of soaking, scrubbing, washing, drying, and folding clothes as the townspeople were given clean outfits to replace their soiled ones, and had seen to well over a hundred sick men, women, and children. And just like that, the news spread like wildfire until the people were hesitant to let him look them over.

He had been careful not to use spells to heal any but the most dire cases, so they eventually let him help, but were highly wary. Thankfully word from those he had already helped spread too, easing the fears of those yet to be seen. By sunset, the majority of the people of the city had been helped by the allied forces of Albion, which was good because that was when the dragons landed, scaring the Amata people.

Merlin left his post to greet his kin in a hope of calming the masses. No sooner did he calm their fear of the dragons to the point they were no longer fleeing in terror than guards escorted a group of nobles from the city in shackles followed by someone the people seemed to fear worse than the ancient beasts.

Whispers in horrified tones could be heard throughout the crowd. "The she-devil", "Dark priestess", "Witch of death", "Sorceress princess", "Mother of monsters" were some of the nicer things uttered as Morgana exited the city. She climbed onto Aithusa's back, stared at the people, and all fell silent but but the whimper of babes and the crackle of the fires.

"Hear me, people of Amata! From this day forth, you are no longer ruled by your Sarrum! This city and land have been claimed in the name of my brother, King Arthur Pendragon and you are now under his protection. Until a new lord is given this land to rule, the armies of the combined nations of Albion will provide you all with food, water, healing, a clean place to rest, and protection. If they fall short of that duty, I will personally return to see that the people of this land are being cared for properly. May the gods bless you all!"

As if to punctuate her closing statement, Aithusa roared. Then the two were off. Heading back to Camelot.

Now, the whispers were more confused than vile. It was clear these people had not expected compassion from the witch their late king had trapped for two years, who was said to be the reason their crops failed, why they had been living in squalor for the past several months. None of them knew what to think.

Smiling, Merlin made a show of mounting Kilgharrah, morphing back into his fine clothes and regrowing his beard as he did so. Now, it was his turn to speak to the masses. Sadly, he wasn't as used to this as Morgana and Arthur were, but he had written enough of the Prat's speeches and he held the authority of Emrys and the last dragonlord to help him here.

"Everything you just heard is the truth. You are all safe under King Arthur's protection. You have the guarantee of the King's sister, the Lady Morgana, but also that of mine, Merlin Wledig, the court Cleric of Camelot, husband of the lady, and Emrys of those of the old religion. Your city will be rebuilt, you will know no hunger, and fear not for your safety. For the love of Camelot!"

His cheer was echoed amid the soldiers as he too took his leave. He could feel Kilgharrah's chuckles the entire flight home, but he didn't care. The war was over and Morgana had faced her oppressors. Now, they could finally relax and be a true family. The laughter of a thousands of years old dragon was nothing compared to that.

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AN: So? How was it? This is the last chapter, but I have plans for an epilogue. Leave me a review if you actually read this after my crazy update schedule over the last several years!

Anyways, Thank you all for all your awesome support over the course of me writing this story! Stay safe out there and may the gods bless you all!