Child of Time: The Pendragon Line

Part 10: Altared

I was in a round room. The roofs large, gaping holes let in the only light and the wind whistled softly rustling deep red curtains the hung along the walls.

In the very center was a large stone alter raised slightly on a round ascension of three steps.

On the opposite side of the room, Morgana stood with her back to me, mixing ingredients at a long wooden apothecary table, books were tossed around it, cluttering the floor.

Every wall had at least a single cobweb and every single cobweb seemed to pulse with the oddity of the room.

"Hello my child" Morgana said, her long black hair flowing down her back. Slowly she turned with a rustle of the velvety matching red cloak she wore and continued to work the mortar and pestle in her hand.

I gasped and looked away as she slowly moved into the dim light. Beneath the open robe the Queen stood naked, her pale white skin glowing eerily.

Her breasts were taut and youthful and she stood readily exposing her femininity.

"Come now, this is nothing you haven't seen before." She laughed in a way that made my skin crawl, "I want you to look."

She slowly walked forward, her uncovered feet making a soft padding sound on the cobbled ground.

With a single cold hand she raised my chin.

My eyes widened as I took in her body. Morganas stomach was painted in dark, red markings I had never seen before. They looped up and around her gentle curves and disappeared beneath her breasts, only to remerge again around her shoulder. Still wet, they leaked streams of thick liquid down her body.

"Do you like my markings?" She asked, "Do you know what they mean?" The smell of blood was so strong with her this close that I knew the symbols were not painted on with paint.

That's when I saw it, a man's body laying headless by the apothecary table. He couldn't have been more than twenty years old, now decapitated and resting in a puddle of his own blood.

I shook my head, eyes widening in horror. I could feel tremors of fear run through my body.

"Pity" she turned away from me sadly, "I was somewhat hoping you knew a little more than you do."

"How would I know anything, I have yet to be filled in on what I'm even doing here." I choked, fighting to keep myself calm as I watched droplets of the boys blood fall from her breasts and pool near her feet.

Morgana smiled at me over her shoulder as she circled her way around to the other side of the altar. Slowly she followed my glance to the man's lifeless body and laughed.

"Come" she said beckoning me closer.

I stood rooted, back against the golden door, my instincts screamed at me. Urging my body to run, to get out but I knew that there was no escape.

"Come", she said again, her voice taking a more commanding tone.

I didn't dare move.

"Have it your way" she said, just before I felt the two familiarly rough hands grab me from the shadows.

I kicked the air as Jeffrey lifted me easily and forced me closer to his Queen.

Screaming, I clawed and bit at Jeffrey. The sounds of my desperate struggle echoed across the cold stone.

Eventually he had me pinned flat onto the alter. I could feel the coldness of the stone through my thin night dress and I as I looked up into Jeffrey's face soul froze. His emotions were one of excitement, an eerie, dark anticipation made my stomach churn.

He held me down, kicking and screaming with streams of hot tears running down my cheeks as Morgana floated from side to side of the alter. First she chained my arms bent up, wrists by each ear and then my ankles laying flat into place with tight iron bands.

"Oh darling", Morgana sighed; resting her naked body against the altar I was now trapped to. With one claw like nail she trailed it slowly down the center of my chest. Her face contorted into a sickening smile that made me struggle against my shackles even more.

"Hush now, I finally have you. I wasn't sure at first but once I tested your blood...I knew" Bending down she kissed my forehead, the trailing hand brought up to rest over my heart. "I have killed countless men looking for a son that turned out to be a daughter. My brother was either very foolish, or very clever."

I lay motionless, my spine pressed firmly against the stone slab and the restraints digging deeply into my wrists. No matter how hard I pulled, I was trapped. "Archer, such a masculine name, it only made sense." She turned to Jeffrey, who did nothing more than nod.

"What made sense? What do you want?" I asked, unsure if I really wanted to know the answer.

Morgana turned to me, locked in her gaze I watched as her eyes began to swirl as Merlin's had the day I was pulled into the lake. There was something sinister about the way hers seemed to spin and glimmer with flecks of red and gold.

"Oh my dear sweet girl, you are so naïve tonight is the full moon"

I pulled again at my restraints, inching my body as far from her touch as I could.

"I don't understand." I cried.

"Think of the moon as a beautiful doorway from which stems all the power of the life that fills and empties with every one of its cycle passing its power to the world." She smiled serenely, nodding to Jeffrey who pulled Merlin's golden dagger from his tunic.

I watched as he passed it to her gently, brushing his fingertips against hers and the sickening look of approval they passed across to each other in doing so.

"This wonderful little trinket is the key to that doorway." Slowly, she pointed the razor sharp tip downward to my chest. Balancing it between thumb and forefinger, I could feel it's sharp point tickle against my skin and my heart began to race, it's very touch seemed to make my blood boil.

"Do you feel that?" Morgana asked, sweeping her long black hair along my arm. "The key knows the lock in which it belongs and your blood reacts to it."

"Tonight with the power of the full moon I will be able to use the key to unlock a very special power that you have trapped deep inside of your heart. With the incantation written in innocent blood I will be able to control life itself."

I felt hot tears flow down my face as I stared up at the billowing clouds through the broken, thatched roof and thought of home and how simple things had been.

With a contented smile, Morgana left my side and from the corner of my eye I watched her return to the apothecary table, stepping over the cold, dead body of the man. Lazily she flipped through on of the books, taking her time as her gaze paused now and then on an image or anecdote.

Jeffrey stood next to me, silent and watching Morgana in reverent awe. His eyes drifted down, eyeing her naked body openly.

She moved effortlessly through the chaotic mess of the room, Morgana brought the book to the altar and gently rested it against my hip, continually flipping through pages until her fingers stopped on a page that brought an excited red tinge to her pale cheeks.

"Shall we prepare Sir Grey?" Morgana held out her hand to Jeffrey, who eagerly took it and began to lead her from the room. "We have much to do before night falls and I have no doubt that the idiots you stole her from will be making some foolish attempt to storm our fortress."

"What of the girl?" he asked, chivalrously opening the heavy door.

"Half the fun is leaving the victim afraid and anticipant. Put one of your men on the door."