"No one knows the real story of the great King Arthur of Camelot." "Most of what you think you know about Camelot Guinevere and Lancelot and the evil sorceress known as Morgaine Le Fey is nothing but lies." "I should know, for l am Morgaine Le Fey priestess of the Isle of Avalon where the ancient religion of the Mother Goddess was born." "It began in the midst of the most violent upheaval Britain has ever seen." "The Saxon barbarians swept into my country killing Christians and followers of Avalon's goddess alike." "Unless one great leader could unite Christians and followers of the old religion Britain was doomed to barbarism and Avalon would vanish." "My Christian father, Gorlois battled tirelessly against the Saxon hordes." "For Christ!" "For Britain!" "Back home in Cornwall, I was only a child at the time but I knew my mother, lgraine, was still a follower of the old religion and secretly practiced its ancient magic." "Her sister, my Aunt Morgause had lived with us for as long as I can remember." "She relished the power of Avalon." "Mother?" "Mother, what's the matter?" "Let her have her vision, lamb." "I want to know what the Sight brings her." "She's afraid." "Let her have her vision." "Father will be angry if she uses the Sight." "Then he won't hear about it, will he?" "What is it?" "Igraine what do you see?" "Anything for me?" "A lover?" "A husband?" "The Lady of the Lake is coming and the Merlin of Britain with her." "We must make ready." "What do they want?" "You can ask them yourself." "They're here." "And so Viviane came to Cornwall." "The eldest of the three sisters Viviane was the High Priestess of Avalon and the voice of the Mother Goddess on earth." "She had just one goal to save Avalon from the Saxons." "Sister, we have to bring this fighting to an end." "The Saxons will destroy this land." "Unless we prevent it." "How?" "By giving this land a leader to whom both followers of Christ and the Goddess can give allegiance." "Someone with the blood of Avalon in his veins." "The High King could still father a child." "But he'll be dead within six months." "Viviane has foreseen it." "He'll die without leaving an heir." "You mean my husband will become High King in his place?" "That I will bear this leader that you speak of?" "." "You will bear the king, lgraine." "Yes." "But not to Gorlois." "You will bear the child to the man who wears this sign." "He is a follower of the Goddess, and he will be king." "I'm married to the Duke of Cornwall." "I've borne him a child." "I will not betray him. I gave him my vows." "You gave them first to Avalon." "If you want this child to be born of Avalon then you can bear this great new king yourself." "There is no need, Viviane." "Let me bear the child." "I have no husband to betray." "Let me bear the king." "Have you no shame, Morgause?" "Leave us." "I have as much Avalon in my veins as she does!" "Let me make this man fall in love with me." "I know the arts as well." "No man or woman can live another's fate, Morgause." "You have a king in your future, and sons." "Who?" "You'll know when you see him." "Be content with that." "You must remember, Duchess that Viviane is not just your sister." "She is the High Priestess of the faith to which you have promised your very breath." "The violence can end." "The choice is yours." "But my word" "Sometimes we have to sacrifice small virtues to achieve great ones." "This year's harvest is tilled with the blood of your own men." "Morgaine!" "What happened?" "What is it, child?" "A dead man." "Tell me, child." "Do you often see things others don't?" "Yes." "All the time." "She has the Sight already." "Three months later the High King summoned all the great chiefs to London to name his successor." "And he invited my mother as an honored guest." "But the Saxons will never forget the blows you dealt them." "You and I, Gorlois." "We dealt them together." "But I think I shall be fighting no more Saxons." "Of course you will. lt'll be many years" "That is why I have called this council." "It's why you're here." "I must tell you, lgraine my priests don't like it that your priestess of Avalon has been placed on an equal footing with them." "But I say that you both serve the Great One above us by whatever the name." "And women are, after all the carriers of original sin." "That's not quite how we advance it, sir." "Do you not say that women are the means by which evil came into the world?" "There is, in your Bible, a fantastic tale about an apple and a snake." "The Bible merely recounts the truth, good lady." "The old religion embraces yours, Bishop but your priests deny the power of Avalon." "Perhaps people no longer believe in it." "Perhaps it's because you tell them not to." "Igraine!" "Your wife speaks her mind, Gorlois." "I honor her for that." "Back, you hounds from hell!" "Back!" "My lord, forgive me." "You are forgiven, but get those dogs out of here!" "Can't you go anywhere without them?" "Allow me to introduce you, Uther Pendragon to my wife the Lady Igraine, Duchess of Cornwall." "And sister to the Lady of Avalon." "It's an honor to meet a daughter of the Holy Isle." "You will bear the child to the man who wears this sign." "Excuse me, my lord." "Viviane." "Why are you doing this to me?" "Now, listen to me." "What I am about to say will be of great importance to you all." "Did I do something to disturb you, lady?" "I felt unwell, sir." "You left the moment you saw the dragon on my wrist." "I have no fear of dragons." "I'm a child of the old world myself, sir." "Why do you call me "sir" in such a manner when you know that we are on familiar terms?" "We have not met before." "Not in this life but like all of us of the old ways you must believe this is not the only life where we could have met." "There is something between our souls already." "You felt the power of it and that's why you left the hall." "Am I right, lady?" "If I am, could you rightfully resist it?" "I am the sworn wife of Gorlois, and so I will remain." "So you know what I felt." "Come away with me." "Please, get back to the council." "There's nothing to do but give in to it." "If you do not come with me, then I will come for you before the moon is full again." "My lord is the council finished?" "It is." "Let's get back to the proceedings then, shall we?" "Don't you want to ask the leave of your new High King, lady?" "You?" "No." "Ambrosius has named Uther Pendragon his successor." "Don't envy me, Gorlois." "The lady belongs to you." "You should take care to avoid gossip." "No chaste woman is safe with Uther Pendragon." "People may gossip if they like." "It doesn't concern me." "It concerns me!" "Are you questioning my honor?" "I'm questioning your judgment." "Well, if your judgment is no better than that then your word will cease to concern me as well." "How dare you play the shrew with me!" "I told you to avoid him!" "l'll teach you!" "Think before you strike me, Gorlois or I will teach you that a daughter of the Holy Isle is the servant of no man." "And so, my father was caught up in Viviane's plots." "Sire!" "A messenger for the High King." "He waits at the gate." "He will speak with" "I have come, my lord" "To ask for my troops to aide the Pendragon." "It is the High King's bidding." "I need my men here in Cornwall." "The Saxons are massing off our coast." "The king believes it's just a feint, Gorlois." "He's ordered all his war dukes to assemble on the south coast." "Uther Pendragon can't know the mind of the Saxons." "l must keep the safety of my land." "Sir." "This is not a request." "It's an order from your king." "He's asked you to bring your army to him straight away." "I am the Duke of Cornwall, Captain." "Uther Pendragon is not." "But as his Duke, you've sworn your army to him." "Are you going to betray him at the first test?" "Watch what you say, Captain." "When I've seen off this Saxon threat, then I'll consider whether I'll be able to help the Pendragon in his schemes." "If you refuse the High King now he will become your enemy." "If Uther Pendragon thinks he can fight the Saxons and then fight me after let him try!" "I was too young then to understand why my father hated the High King so much." "But the moment he rode out to hold the Saxons at bay at Cameldun the magic of Avalon began to work." "Sister?" "Sister, hear me." "Viviane!" "Igraine you must listen if you want to see Uther alive again." "I will not see him." "I will not betray my husband." "Then the man you love will die tonight." "I do not love Uther!" "Sister, listen, because there isn't much time." "Gorlois is planning to surprise Uther while he sleeps." "You must warn him." "Save him, and save Avalon." "But like all of us of the old ways you must believe that this is not the only life where we could have met." "There's something between our souls already." "Now my mother could see how she could save Uther's life but she did not see the terrible price we would all have to pay." "There he is, sleeping away his last night on earth." "I want Uther deep in his dreams when I drive my sword in his chest." "Uther!" "What was that?" "There's magic at work. I can feel it!" "Uther?" "Gorlois is not at Cameldun." "His men are in the hills above your camp." "Save yourselves." "Save yourselves." "Igraine?" "Sir, are you not well?" "Let's prepare, Captain to show how we best welcome a traitor." "Uther!" "We can stop this now, Gorlois." "It's up to you!" "Mother, where are you?" "Mother?" "She'll be all right." "Igraine!" "There are herbs that will cure her." "Let's get her into bed." "Open the gate!" "The Duchess is ill." "We have to find the herbs!" "Open the gate." "We have orders not to, my lady." "What?" "Neither you, nor Lady Igraine can leave the castle in the Duke's absence." "My mother is dying." "I'm sorry. I have my orders." "Be careful, Morgaine." "All right." "It's over there, by the trees." "See Morgaine there?" "Fetch her." "Come along, Morgaine." "Would you fly in the face of your father's authority?" "The herbs are for my mother." "She's dying." "Captain!" "That's enough." "Now let me pass." "Not you, Merlin, nor any man." "Not even your Lord Gorlois." "Sir, I recognize your armor." "But, sir, I must do as you commanded me." "I must ask to see your face." "Show him your face, Gorlois." "Let my daughter go." "Father!" "I was overjoyed that my father had come safely back to us but then I saw the dragon and I began to understand." "What are you doing here?" "I'm waiting for my father." "He's upstairs, with your mother." "My father is dead." "Well, if your father is dead then who would that be upstairs?" "The man with the dragon." "The man of the prophesy." "You be wary of Viviane, child." "She'll catch you in her web like a little fly, just as she's tried to do to the rest of us." "She won't have me, though." "I've learned how to keep a step ahead of her." "This is witchcraft." "He challenged the High King." "It was not Uther's wish to kill him." "He had no choice." "What went through my mother's mind as she saw her husband lying dead at the hand of Uther Pendragon?" "None of this mattered to my Aunt Morgause because in King Lot of Orkney she saw at last, her own path to power." "For the first time, I saw Uther Pendragon face to face and began to understand the power of Avalon." "Britain's greatest Christian warrior was dead." "King Uther alone would turn back the Saxon hordes and Avalon would be saved by one who believed in the Goddess." "Uther took us to his castle at Camelot and made my mother his High Queen." "All the unhappiness of the past seemed to be swept away when I saw my little brother, Arthur, for the first time." "Help me." "Arthur!" "Morgaine!" "What are they doing?" "They're praying to the Goddess for a good harvest." "The Goddess?" "The one Father Cuthbert doesn't like?" "And now she'll look after their seeds, and make them grow all through spring." "So these people don't like Jesus Christ?" "Some of them do." "But others still pray to the Goddess." "Can there be a God and a Goddess at the same time?" "Of course. lt's just like having a father and a mother." "It was a time of happiness for me and my little brother." "And it seemed my new father King Uther, would keep the Saxons at bay forever." "Then one day I heard a familiar voice down in the royal chamber and I knew that everything was about to change again." "You shall now teach your son." "But he's still a boy." "Arthur must be fostered to protect his future destiny and to protect him from his enemies." "It was an agreement you made a long time ago." "And with this you must give me Morgaine to foster in Avalon." "Never." "She has the Sight." "She was born with it." "She can never escape the Unseen." "I'd rather raise her as a Christian woman." "No!" "At worst, no harm could come to her behind convent walls." "The girl was born to be a priestess." "She must be properly trained to her gifts." "Enough of this, woman!" "You're in my land now, where l'm king." "You are king." "But who put you there?" "How long do you think you'll hold on to the throne if Avalon withdraws its support?" "You'd bring ruin to your own sister in order to have your way?" "I'd do anything to see that Arthur and Morgaine fulfill their destinies." "You can't take both my children from me at the same time." "Your children will be safe and happy each growing toward their own fate." "You must learn to be content with that and with each other." "You will always be in my heart, always." "Goodbye, Mother." "Father." "What are you doing?" "Mother?" "Where are you taking him?" "You must understand." "You each have training to undergo." "It must happen in different places." "No!" "You can't take my brother away from me!" "Don't leave me, Morgaine!" "Arthur!" "Don't take him away from me, please!" "I'll do anything you ask!" "I'll be good!" "I promise!" "We all make sacrifices." "What we want and what's right are sometimes different things." "You must give him your strength, child." "We'll be strong, Arthur, won't we?" "That game we play:" "At night, if you get scared, you can call to me and if you hold your breath and listen hard enough in the dark you'll hear me whisper back to you." "I'll never leave your side." "Goodbye." "'Bye." "Come, Morgaine." "Leaving my parents was hard but leaving my little brother was almost more than I could bear." "Still, on that day we parted, one north, one south riding towards our separate fates." "The Goddess is everything in nature and everything in nature is sacred." "Look." "That is her face." "Listen." "That is her voice." "She's in everything that is beautiful." "And everything that is harrowing as well." "The guardians of Avalon appeared silently on the hilltops as we came nearer the lake that enclosed the mysterious island." "When we reached the edge of the lake and looked out into the mist I couldn't believe that behind it lay all the wonders that I'd dreamt about." "Where are we?" "On the borders of Avalon." "This is Avalon?" "As we moved closer to the mists, a chill crept across my heart." "lfl passed through that curtain would I ever be able to return to my little brother Arthur?" "is that Avalon?" "It looks like a Christian monastery." "It does." "But Avalon is beneath it, behind it deeper in the mist." "It was there long before the Christians built their monastery." "How beautiful!" "Beautiful, yes." "But unless we succeed in our quest, it's also doomed." "I finally arrived and was about to enter the great sisterhood of the Goddess." "What is your name?" "Her name is Raven." "She's taken a vow of silence to the Goddess." "But silence, I think, is not for you." "You have your own challenges to meet." "Come." "The Goddess holds all things in balance:" "Good and evil, death and rebirth." "The predator and the prey." "Without her, destruction and chaos will prevail." "And so began my initiation into the secrets of Avalon." "A path that would lead me to become a priestess of the ancient religion." "Gradually, I began to look on the Mother Goddess as my own mother and as the mother of the earth itself." "But there was more to being a priestess than acquiring knowledge." "There was also the task of acquiring power over every element one by one." "How did you do that?" "Show me, Viviane. I want to learn." "Morgaine!" "Morgaine, you have to concentrate." "But I saw my brother." "You must learn to distinguish visions from reality." "This time, keep your mind in one place." "It would take years until I was deemed ready for the greatest test of all:" "To part the mists of Avalon." "And at last, I was fit to be given the sacred mark that only those dedicated to the Goddess may wear." "Welcome to the service of the Goddess." "She's been taken." "As a priestess of Avalon I was bidden one day to open the mists for a visitor." "I was certain that my longing for my brother would finally be over." "Arthur?" "Not Arthur, lady." "But his cousin." "Your cousin, I think, if you're Morgaine." "My cousin?" "By whom?" "Your mentor, the Lady of the Lake." "Then you must be" "Lancelot." "You can embrace me if you like." "We are family after all." "Come." "Lancelot had not come for the pleasure ofseeing his relatives." "He had come to confront his mother, Viviane." "Even you can't want me to stay in Avalon while the Saxons destroy the real world." "Then Avalon's not real for you?" "Not as real as battle." "You always say we mustn't deny our nature." "Well, it's my nature to fight at the front lines." "If you stayed here to gather our wisdom you could lead the struggle, rather than being caught up in it." "I have come here for your blessing." "I'd be glad to have it." "I'm asking for it, lady but in truth, I will set my course with or without your blessing." "I've lived in a world where men do not wait on a woman's bidding to come and go." "How dare you speak to me like that?" "Mother, please." "Don't think you can soften me on this." "Mother, I don't expect to soften you on anything." "Go up to the stone circle, both of you." "If you must say your farewells to Avalon, I insist you make them from there." "Why, Mother?" "You wish me to approve of your decision?" "Then do as I ask." "I think you spend too much time riding horses." "Well, this is it." "This is what your mother wanted me to show you." "Nonsense." "You must know my mother by now." "She wanted us to feel the power of the Ring together, so I would" "So you might decide to stay." "She's full of strategy, my mother." "I think you may be right." "I do feel it, though." "The Ring." "I can feel it flowing through me." "I felt it as a child, but now it's different." "Do you feel it?" "Of course. I am of the same blood as you." "Look." "The Christians." "Can they see us?" "No." "They're in Glastonbury." "We're in Avalon." "They can't even see the stones." "Are you sure they can't see us?" "Yes." "She senses something." "You can part the veil between worlds." "Do it!" "No, I will not use the arts for play." "This is not play." "Or is it because you can't do it, Cousin?" "Where did you come from?" "Don't be frightened." "We haven't come from anywhere." "You have." "You're in Avalon." "One of the fairy people." "Keep her away from me." "She's not a fairy." "She's as mortal as you are." "I'm Lancelot and this is my cousin, Morgaine." "Who are you?" "Guinevere." "Daughter of King Loedekrantz." "I must be dreaming." "This can't be Avalon." "Avalon doesn't exist." "It does." "Where does it lead, that path?" "Down to the lawns and the groves." "Each place is more beautiful than the last." "May I stay a while?" "Will you show them to me?" "Of course." "You may stay as long as you like." "Can you hear me?" "Where did you go?" "Lancelot?" "She's trained you well, your mentor." "What do you mean by that?" "For a moment there, when I looked at you, it was just like looking at my mother." "I know she's waiting." "I shall go and give her my decision now." "And what have you decided, Cousin?" "I have the power to lead men in battle." "That's what I intend to do." "As Lancelot announced his decision deep within me there stirred something I had felt for no man before." "Within days, on the orders of Viviane I was on my way to take part in the fertility rites known as the Beltane feast the ceremony she called "the great marriage. "" "To whom I would be given, I did not know." "But Viviane assured me that the future of Avalon depended on my playing the role of the virgin huntress and that my partner would be the man who killed the king stag." "As I returned to the Holy Isle, a great longing gripped my heart:" "I hoped that the man at the Beltane rites had been Lancelot." "But I had never seen his face." "There had been no hint as to who he really was." "Who was she?" "When can I see her again?" "You were only meant to know her for one night, Arthur." "Well, you can conjure." "At least show me her face." "I never saw her face." "You will never know the identity of the virgin huntress." "That knowledge is sacred and you must let it be." "Your training is over, and you must return to the new world." "Why now?" "Because your father needs you." "As Arthur rode in search of his father that day Uther Pendragon was facing his greatest test." "The Saxons had descended on Britain again in force." "Father!" "Father!" "Arthur." "You've come home only in time to see me die." "You're not going to die!" "My boy, let's forget this world now and let's talk about the next." "Come closer to me. I'm cold." "Come, my boy." "I'm here." "And so ends the High Kingdom of Britain." "It is a great pity you never had the chance to rule." "I think you would have been a good king." "Father!" "Arthur!" "l know." "There isn't any time." "I call on the powers of heaven and earth:" "Aid me now!" "I call on the God of heaven and the Goddess of the earth!" "Help me now!" "You called on God and the Goddess." "It is the Goddess who answers." "Listen, Arthur." "You are ready to be High King." "And this will be granted to you, if you have the support of Avalon." "Avalon will lift you up if you promise to obey the old ways and keep the Goddess alive in men's hearts." "Swear it!" "I swear!" "Then look to the altar." "It is Excalibur the great sword of Avalon." "You are blessed by the Goddess." "You have the strength to draw it." "Take it, Arthur!" "Take it and rule." "Take it, Arthur." "Take it and rule." "Arthur?" "Call to Excalibur!" "To me, men of Britain!" "To me!" "Arthur turned the tide ofbattle and the Saxons were thrown back from our shores for a time at least." "As the day approached for his coronation as High King all of Britain seemed to be gathering at Camelot to celebrate the beginning of a new era." "Even King Lot of Orkney had come down from his Scottish Islands with my Aunt Morgause as his wife and queen." "My dear child." "You can't call me that anymore." "Morgaine, Morgaine." "Mother, is this my cousin?" "lt is." "This is Gawain, our firstborn." "It's an honor to meet a priestess of Avalon." "The pleasure is mine." "I've heard many interesting things about the place." "They say you make yourselves tiny and ride around on sparrows." "I think the fancy is more interesting than the facts." "It is good fortune that you returned, Morgaine." "Your mother will take great comfort from your presence." "Where is she?" "Mother?" "I lost them all." "All those years when you were a little girl." "I should have been with you, not Viviane." "I should never have allowed it." "Mother, you had no choice." "He used to sit there, where you are now, when he was at home." "You must not let this grief keep you from celebrating Arthur's accession." "Morgaine when Arthur is crowned, I'm going to go to Glastonbury." "Why don't you come to Avalon with me?" "I've given enough to Avalon." "Your mother has many Christian friends." "They will be good to her." "You mean you'll be taking vows?" "I've buried two husbands." "I won't love again." "And now Uther has gone." "I need forgiveness for what I did to your father and I'll only find that in Glastonbury." "Remember the future of Camelot lies within you all." "Watch them." "Come on, watch the eyes." "Kay, keep that shield up." "Otherwise, Bedevere will have your neck." "Here, my friend." "And that's what happens when you let the king teach you how to fight." "Almost a king." "Another bride for you." "Come." "You must meet her." "This one is special." "The Bishop wants me to marry her." "You are ever welcome at Camelot, miss." "It's an honor to attend so brave a warrior." "Then you must meet another." "This is my good friend, Lancelot." "Will you lift your veil?" "You have an unfair advantage over us." "Lancelot Guinevere of Loedekrantz." "Say something." "I'm your servant, miss." "He is a man of few words, my lady, but he is our finest soldier." "Who's that?" "Who?" "Up there, on the balcony." "Don't you recognize your own sister?" "That's Morgaine." "Come from Avalon to honor you tomorrow." "Excuse me, my lady, I must greet my sister." "Where's my little brother?" "He's here." "He's still here." "Should we go and get the horses?" "No, a single horse, and ride like we used to." "The good times have returned." "I hear you've met a hundred princesses." "Come, I'll show you something." "You see that girl down there?" "You must promise to tell no one." "We're to be married." "Do you love her?" "I will, Sister." "There is someone else, isn't there?" "No." "There is." "You cannot fool a priestess of Avalon." "There is." "There has been someone else." "It was a wonderful night...." "But?" "Why do you press me so?" "A sister's privilege." "Tell me her name." "I don't know." "You didn't ask?" "We didn't speak." "Will you see her again?" "I want to, Sister." "But I don't know where she is." "At least tell me what she looks like." "I don't know that either." "How can you not know that?" "She was wearing a mask." "It was at the rites of Beltane." "I was consecrated there." "We made love." "It was everything I've ever dreamt of." "I tell you, Sister something about that girl's eyes will be watching me forever." "Arthur!" "I must tend my duties." "You will come down and join us, won't you?" "You must meet my future bride." "My Aunt Morgause used magic against a woman she had decided to hate." "By the fire and the stone by the water and the air I curse you Guinevere of Loedekrantz." "I curse you forever!" "By Excalibur, I swear that I Arthur Pendragon, King of Britain will deal fairly with Druid as with Christian alike." "All men shall worship as they choose." "My hand for justice!" "One kingdom the old wisdom, and the new!" "One kingdom united here, at Camelot, to stand against the tides of barbarism." "Brothers and sisters!" "We have not only one joy to celebrate today, but two." "Today, our king has pledged fidelity to Britain to Avalon to the Holy Father." "And he has promised to marry the Christian princess Guinevere of Loedekrantz." "He has the people's passion." "If anyone can save Britain he can." "He'll have to do it in his own lifetime." "What have you done?" "No son of his will follow him to the throne." "Ours will." "Long live King Arthur!" "Don't leave me, Morgaine!" "What is it, lamb?" "Was it the excitement in there?" "No, Morgause, it's not that." "What is it then?" "I think I'm with child." "After the coronation Arthur rode off to visit the border country leaving Guinevere in Lancelot's care." "Arthur has a great mind for leadership." "I would've never let the tribesmen fight alone." "That's because you're a warrior, Lancelot." "You like to throw yourself into the fray, come what may." "You must think me a simple man, indeed." "Lancelot!" "Guinevere!" "Are you hurt, my lady?" "No. I'm fine." "But you risked your life for me." "It's my duty." "Your devotion moves me." "My devotion has no end, my lady." "I must confess something, to be rid of it." "Then we must say nothing more." "I dreamt of you in Glastonbury." "You opened a curtain into Avalon and lifted me in." "It wasn't a dream." "I was there with Morgaine." "She lifted you in." "But I asked her to do it." "So you felt it, too?" "But I am sworn to Arthur." "As am I." "So we have nothing to confess." "But I have sinned with you in my thoughts." "Thoughts are not deeds." "The Bishop says, "To think is to do."" "My thoughts don't answer to the Bishop." "If they did, I would burn in hell a thousand years every time I see you walk past." "Hell is very real to me." "We must do nothing about this." "Are you listening to me?" "Swear." "Swear what?" "To do nothing." "I don't intend to sin against my king." "Why, then, won't you swear?" "There will be nothing between us." "Will there, my love?" "I'm afraid." "Of course you are." "But don't worry." "I used it myself, before I was married." "It even has a pleasant taste." "Now, take your medicine." "Drink, Morgaine." "You'll be free." "Drink." "What are you doing?" "She's carrying a child she doesn't want." "I'm helping her to get rid of it." "Leave us, Morgause." "I'm not an infant, crawling at your skirts, Viviane." "Nor am I one of your adoring priestesses." "I'm a queen in my own right, wife of Lot of Orkney." "You do not order me to go or stay." "I said, "Leave us."" "How could you do this to me?" "To us?" "I never intended for you to know." "Well, I do know now." "How could you have arranged for such an abomination?" "It is my sacred charge, Morgaine." "You and Arthur are the last remaining links between this land and the world of mists." "Those links are becoming weaker with every year." "I must do everything in my power to keep them alive." "Even if it means sacrificing everyone you've ever loved?" "Even if it means sacrificing my very soul." "That is what being the Lady of the Lake truly demands." "As you, too, will find out." "I?" "Why, of course." "What else has all your training, all your suffering, been for if not to fit you to be the Lady after I'm gone?" "You have a greatness of soul, Morgaine." "I can see it." "I've seen it all along." "I am carrying a bastard child fathered by my own brother." "You are carrying Arthur's successor." "Would you have Morgause murder it in the womb in order to have her son step into Arthur's shoes?" "No." "If you bear no child the offspring of Lot and Morgause will be next in line for the throne." "Why else is she so solicitous of your needs?" "I don't believe it." "Then go ahead." "Let her ambitions shape the nation's future." "Morgause thinks of nothing and no one but herself, Morgaine." "Your motives may be nobler than hers but you still move us around like pieces on a game board." "What has my mother given up for your Avalon?" "My father died at Uther's hands because of you." "My poor, innocent brother, Arthur who was a baby on my lap, and loved me as no other." "And I loved him." "Look what you've done to us." "You've twisted our love and turned it into shame, all for the sake of Avalon!" "No!" "I will not kill the child within me but I will not let you take him to Avalon." "I will not let you twist and bend him to your will." "I can train him to be the greatest ruler Britain has ever seen." "He will never set foot in Avalon, Viviane." "He will not be one of your pawns and nor will I." "You have sworn to obey the Goddess through me." "My vows were to her, not to you." "I renounce you." "Do you hear me?" "I will never set foot in Avalon again." "You will obey!" "Never!" "Where else was there for me to go but with Morgause and Lot into the wilds of Orkney?" "There, my child could disappear into the teeming brood in Lot's castle." "Eat and enjoy!" "No man will ever say I don't keep a great hall even in the depths of winter." "I saved the best cut for you, Morgaine." "Wasn't it you who told me the best meat for a breeding woman was the liver of a stag eaten raw?" "The baby's coming." "Quick, get her to her chambers." "It's all right." "Wife, wait." "You're quick to bring our son's rival into this world." "If this child dies and Guinevere fails to produce an heir for Arthur then our son will be High King." "You think on that as you bring this infant into the world." "You think well on it." "Morgaine, swallow." "Push." "It's all right, Lady Morgaine." "Push, push!" "Morgaine!" "Why are you hidden from my sight?" "She won't be able to feed him yet." "Poor babe." "But the wet nurse is ready." "Shall I take him, my lady?" "The woman's waiting." "Not yet." "Mother." "Yes, child." "Mother, forgive me." "For what?" "Arthur he doesn't know." "Arthur is the father?" "Don't tell him." "Please." "Please, don't tell him." "Let me hold him." "Let me hold him just once." "Leave us." "What is this, woman?" "The child is alive." "And will remain so." "Why?" "It is Arthur's child." "Son of a king." "She told you?" "ln her fever." "She doesn't know I know." "Son of a High King." "No matter how many sons he has this child will always be his firstborn." "With this secret, we have a weapon in our hands." "Think of it, Husband." "His flesh, his blood, his heir." "But my instruction, my influence." "I'll teach him to have little need of Morgaine and great need of me." "And as the years pass Britain will become more and more our own." "It's time for his first meal." "A new and dreadful power was unleashed." "And the fate of all Britain was altered forever." "It was as if my life had become lost in the mists." "Everything that I loved and cherished was gone." "I thought there was nothing more that could be taken from me." "How wrong I was." "But at Camelot, it seemed that high summer had come to Britain at last." "Under the rule of a good, brave man, with the Knights of the Round Table our beleaguered country was at peace." "Arthur was the High King everyone had hoped for and Guinevere, his queen." "I've missed you, my love." "Are you ill?" "My courses have come on me again." "Why do you let them distress you so?" "But it means I haven't given you a son." "I haven't given you an heir." "We are young yet." "We have years for children." "Now, get dressed." "The troops have returned victorious, as I promised and they expect to see the queen by my side." "Arthur!" "What is it, Morgaine?" "I'm fine." "Another bad dream?" "Mom, why do you have so many bad dreams?" "Some people are born that way, my poppet." "It's like, some people have brown hair and some people have yellow hair." "Some people see things." "Not yet." "He's far too young." "Strange, that in the peace of Orkney I should feel distracted so." "Why don't you go back to Camelot?" "What about my child?" "We'll be fine on our own, won't we, poppet?" "You've quite won him away from me." "We're twin souls, he and I." "Now I'll have him all for myself, won't that be nice?" "You must promise me one thing:" "Never let Viviane get her hands on Mordred." "She wants to foster him." "You must never allow it." "I promise." "And so the day came when I returned to Camelot the beating heart of Britain itself and the place where l had spent my childhood with my little brother, Arthur." "Knights." "My sister has returned from Orkney." "You remember Gawain." "Morgaine." "Percival, Gallahad, Accolon." "I heard you were educated on the Isle of Mists." "I was trained there as a priestess." "I long to go there one day and know the mysteries of the hidden world." "My lord aren't you going to present me as well?" "My queen." "We've met briefly, but hardly spoke at all." "It's more fitting that I should bow to you, Morgaine." "You were in the king's affections long before I was." "Come, let us talk as sisters for sisters is what we are." "I will not pretend I am not afraid of you." "I was raised in great suspicion of the old religion." "But your head tells you we're the same." "Something like that, yes." "And yet" "We couldn't be more different." "Very good." "They taught you well to read another's thoughts." "I read another's thoughts as well as any woman can." "But the training, Morgaine it must have been good for something." "For instance, did Avalon train you in herb lore and spells?" "Of course." "Tell me what I'm thinking now." "I couldn't guess." "Then I will say it aloud, if I must." "There are herbs that can make a woman conceive, are there not?" "is that what you want?" "Please do not make this any harder than it already is." "There is a charm that is sometimes used." "But you, surely, would never touch it." "Tell me you are not a witch." "Tell me it is not the devil's own spell and that I will not burn for it." "This time, this one time I will believe you." "You will have it by the night of Beltane." "There, my friend." "Everything's all right." "You'll gallop like a colt!" "You have a way with horses." "Better than with people, I sometimes think." "All people, or just some people?" "I'm speaking of women." "I would have thought you'd have a bride by now." "Or does your heart still long for the woman you can't have?" "The rumors are not true." "You may speak of it to me, Cousin." "After all, I'm the one that brought it about." "I lifted her into your world." "Little did I know all that would come from that moment." "I love Arthur more than I have ever loved another man." "But whatever else is in my head, or my heart will stay with me until I die." "And do you know what is in my head and in my heart?" "I feel the loss of you, dear Cousin." "No one touched me like you did." "And still, even now, I yearn for you." "I have fought many battles, Morgaine but none like the one I fought since that day in Avalon." "Come to bed, Arthur." "The moon waxed and waned and the time of the fertility rites of Beltane came round again." "This will make me conceive?" "Don't be surprised if the charm works better than you think it should." "The ways of the Goddess are her own." "Seems fitting, doesn't it?" "The night of Beltane, but I don't care." "Let them practice their pagan magic if their goddess will bring me a child...." "Drink, men, drink." "We'll have our own Beltane celebration within these walls where it's safe." "You would walk without light?" "There is light enough over there." "It's dangerous to light the fires these days." "The priests don't like it." "The priests are becoming more powerful." "But tonight, just tonight we can forget about the priests." "Shall we walk, my lord?" "My queen." "Guinevere and Lancelot." "Two people I love most in the world." "Do you love me, both of you?" "Sometimes I think Lancelot is the best of us." "Up you come." "Come, lie beside me." "Both of you." "I want to talk to you and if drink won't help me say this it will never be said." "Guinevere has no child." "Don't you think I see how you two look at each other?" "Arthur" "No." "I will get to the end of this even if I have to command your silence." "My wife thinks it's her fault we have no child but I believe it's me." "Yes, sometimes the fault lies with the man." "Even when that man is king." "Arthur, please do not continue with this." "My kingdom needs an heir, my sweet." "Otherwise, everything I'm fighting for is lost." "A son of yours, Lancelot conceived in the king's bed would be heir to my throne." "Better that, than the son of Lot should reign, is it not?" "Sure, Bishop Patricius would say it was a grievous sin but I say it's a greater sin to provide no son to inherit my crown and let the kingdom slip into such chaos as there was before my father came to the throne." "My friend my cousin, will you do this for me?" "It's for my lady to say." "My lord, no. I have given my vows to you." "To me, yes." "To be mine, and to obey me, as your husband and your king." "For years our forefathers have done these things without shame in the faces of the very same gods who look over us tonight." "We will both be with you, together." "And if the child we want should come of this none of us need ever know for certain." "And you will be able to swear in truth that our child was conceived in the king's bed." "I wish you were the sister of some lesser man." "Good morning, Cousin." "You gave her a charm, didn't you?" "Guinevere?" "She told me." "lt was not meant for you." "Was it not?" "I had no idea it would be you." "Then the ways of the Goddess are beyond your understanding." "The king himself asked me into his bed with the queen." "All three of you?" "How can I go back to the way things were?" "How can I sit at his table how can I kneel before him and call myself his servant?" "You are not to blame for loving Guinevere." "What can I do?" "Don't worry, Cousin." "We will put our heads together." "I just never dared hope then the Lady Morgaine told me there was hope." "And I spoke to him, and he asked me." "Who asked you?" "Lancelot." "Your Majesty, I'm the happiest woman in England." "Lancelot asked you to be his wife?" "And you said yes." "Of course you did." "What could be more natural?" "Your Majesty?" "You have a husband, very good." "But do I have a child to give my king?" "No." "That's what you'll whisper to the rest of my women, isn't it?" ""The queen has her courses again."" "Get out of my sight!" "Two options: we can go to the north" "Arthur." "Take over for me." "So much for the love of your friend." "So much for your dear sister's potions." "Guinevere, calm yourself." "What is it that brings you?" "My courses have come on me, Arthur." "I bear you no child." "But, my queen-- l took poison from a witch I slept with you and your friend and gave myself to your lust and ungodliness, and all for nothing." "All for nothing!" "No baby, no baby." "Where is my baby?" "It's in God's hands now, not ours." "Don't cry." "God does not reward sinners." "We are all sinners, my love." "He knows that and understands." "And He knows that you value pagans equally with Christians and fight under a banner of the Mother Goddess as if she were equal to our Father in heaven." "Our Father may be in heaven, Guinevere but the Goddess is Great Mother to us all." "She is not Great Mother to me." "She will not give me a child." "And while you honor her, God will not give me a child either." "You say you are a good man but you condemn your wife to barrenness for the sake of an oath to painted savages." "I despise you, Arthur Pendragon." "Neither good Christian, nor good pagan nor good husband to me." "And so, Lancelot was married to the Lady Elaine." "And if he could not make me happy at least he could fill her simple soul with delight and heal the wounds that had been inflicted on him by the magic of Avalon." "Has my mother come, old Druid?" "Your mother sends her blessings, my son." "Perhaps she could not bear to see you married under the banners of Christianity all alone." "We'll visit her on the way to Pellinore." "Thank you, Morgaine." "Morgaine the Lady of the Lake is heartsick that you have withheld yourself from her." "I think of her often though I'm committed to my course." "How does Viviane fare?" "She longs to have you at her side." "She did what she did in the service of the Goddess." "And although you reject her, you do not reject the old ways, I think." "For which I honor you." "This is Accolon of Wales." "He also is strong in the old religion, as is his father, Uriens." "We've already had the pleasure to meet, Merlin." "Will you join me in a dance, lady?" "If you can bring your horsemen down from the Welsh hills, we can trap the Jutes before they breach the line of the Avon." "It will be done, Your Majesty." "Have you thought, sir, of that boon I crave of you?" "King Uriens has long been a widower and wishes to remarry." "I asked His High Majesty if there was a lady of your court who would be willing to become Queen of North Wales." "Morgaine." "Morgaine?" "is she not a little young?" "I think she would be happy with an older man." "She is no giddy, young thing." "What do you think, King Uriens?" "The High King's own sister?" "I would be honored if she'd have me." "We will discuss this later, my friend." "Thank you, my lord." "Morgaine, for Uriens?" "He is a good man of the old religion and an important ally." "Should we not at least ask her?" "I think I know what her answer will be." "Morgaine, we have had an offer of marriage for you." "Well, it has been broached." "You are asked to join yourself to the royal house of North Wales." "It is a wild place." "And you will be far from Camelot, Sister." "There is one of the old religion there, who would wish to wed you." "I cannot pretend I am as surprised as all that, Brother." "Why, the sly fellow." "He did not tell me he had spoken to you." "What shall I tell him?" "You may tell him I'd be happy to live in North Wales." "I'm happy for you, Morgaine." "Very happy." "Friends on this auspicious day I have yet another note of happiness to sound." "My dear sister, Morgaine is to be betrothed to King Uriens of North Wales." "For a moment it did not sink in." "And then I realized:" "I had been tricked into marrying the father instead of the son and there was nothing I could do about it." "To have rejected Uriens there and then would have humiliated him before the whole country and cost my brother the loyalty of Wales." "I was caught like a fly in a web." "How could you let this happen?" "There was little I could do." "First, they take down the banners of Pendragon." "Then Morgaine the one person who could've kept the spirit of the Goddess alive in Camelot is sent to North Wales." "And why?" "Because of some Christian ninny." "I have lost my strength, Viviane." "I feel the power of the Goddess is no longer in me." "Why, you're just tired, Merlin." "It's been a long journey from Camelot." "I am more than just tired." "Surely, there are enough herbs in Avalon to give you back your strength." "I shall ask Raven to fetch you some." "Please, don't leave me." "Please." "Poor Merlin." "I'm getting tired, too." "I'd hoped Morgaine would put on my robes." "Perhaps no one will step into your robes, Viviane." "Perhaps Avalon will die with us." "Well, there's young Mordred yet." "He's coming of age." "He is our best hope." "We had a long fight together you and I." "You have been a worthy partner." "I've learned everything I know from you, Merlin." "We shall fight for many years to come." "No, I won't see any more wars." "But you will continue." "You have always sacrificed everything for Avalon and done so gladly." "Merlin, do you think I've wasted my life?" "No." "We gave everything to Avalon because we had no choice." "But we failed." "No, we didn't fail." "We did what we thought was right every single moment." "Sometimes we were headstrong but we lived our lives with passion and commitment." "We should be grateful for that." "Viviane find some happiness." "Just a small moment of happiness that belongs only to you." "I think the Goddess lives in our humanity and not anywhere else." "Strange as it may seem in marrying King Uriens and moving with him to Wales I won myselfsome of the few years of happiness my life was to bring me." "When Accolon came to be with us it seemed for a while as if we were a family." "But far to the north, under the tutelage ofMorgause my son Mordred was growing to manhood." "A manhood that would destroy us all." "Stay the horses!" "What is it, my lord?" "Lucius, take these men back to Orkney." "Take not this road, but the one that follows the river." "l will see you this night." "Yes, my lord." "Follow me." "Viviane." "You know me, then." "Of course." "I welcome you to Lothian, Lady of the Lake." "You act as if you've been expecting me." "I could feel you long before I could see you." "You have a plan for me, I think." "I come in the cause of the Goddess, Mordred." "She needs a champion." "And the question is, will you be that champion?" "You already have one." "His name is Arthur." "Avalon can no longer rely on Arthur." "He's dismantled our presence at Camelot, and he has no heir." "Will you be that heir?" "Why should anyone acknowledge me as the High King's heir?" "Because you are his son." "His son?" "But my mother is his sister." "The blood of two parents from the same powerful line rich in magic, run through you, Mordred." "You have the power, too, and you know it." "His son." "Arthur's son." "By his own sister." "Yes, I have the power." "I have always known that." "I can bend men to my will." "I am placing the future of this land in your hands, Mordred." "Will you rise to it, or remain here powerless in the Scottish wilderness?" "You made me, Aunt as surely as if you had fashioned me out of clay." "What do you think my answer will be?" "Leave me." "Leave!" "Why didn't you tell me?" "She's come to you, hasn't she?" "Why didn't you tell me who my father is?" "I was waiting until you were ready." "I'm ready." "Viviane believes I am ready." "Viviane!" "Don't you see how ruthless she is?" "Breeding you out of her own niece and nephew?" "Looking 20 years ahead to a time when she might have use for you." "But in return she is placing the reins of power in my hands." "Not she alone, Mordred." "It was I who ensured that Arthur and Guinevere have no son of their own." "It was I who cursed her womb." "So you'd like to see me on the High Throne with you as High Queen Mother?" "Yes." "But nothing can be done now." "Arthur's flame has never burned brighter." "Anyone who raises a hand against him will be torn to pieces by his companions." "You think I cannot defeat him directly?" "But if you win power that way, it will not last." "Listen to wisdom." "Your enemy is that the king is so loved." "So, Britain's love of her king must be made somehow less." "How?" "He must be discredited." "No man is without flaws." "With the king, it concerns his queen." "I do not like to think that this great king this great man, my father is my enemy." "And that for the sake of Avalon I must bring him down to nothing." "I would rather love him as all men do." "I would like to look on my mother Lady Morgaine." "I would like to look on her who bore me as my mother not as the priestess, or the Goddess." "I am so weary of gods and goddesses." "I am weary of my fate." "Who was yonder old Roman who said, "Call no man happy until he is dead"?" "My task then is to bring that greatest of all happinesses to my father." "You will be drunk, dear one." "So I will be drunk." "So let it be." "I drink to death and dishonor." ""And the Lord God said unto Abraham:" ""'Lo, thou art in thy ninetieth year, yet I will grant thee a son..." ""'...and from his loins shall spring a people..." ""'...as numerous as the stars in the firmament..." ""'...and they shall inherit the earth."'" "Forgive me, my lord, I came without announcement." "Mordred of Lothian." "I pray only to serve you, sir." "I've heard of your deeds, lad." "You've routed Saxon troops who outnumbered you 7-to-1 ." "I have been questioning those Saxons who fall into my hands, my lord." "And I believe they are planning an invasion." "But they've been peaceful for 10 years." "They've spent that time building ships." "Hundreds of ships and if I know the Saxon mind, this time it won't be petty skirmishes." "They will take this country from shore to shore." "How could this be?" "lt could be true, sir." "Saxons have never been as quiet as this." "I beg of you, sir grant me the order of knighthood." "Let me bring my knowledge to your army." "With my tactics, we will destroy them." "On my honor." "My lords I heard always that a champion's duty is to meet with all comers." "Now I have cause to chastise this impudence." "Where did you learn to fight like this?" "Are you the son of one of my men?" "Not of one of your men, sir." "My father was gone long before I could know him." "But if you find me familiar perhaps it is my mother you see in my face." "She is your sister the Lady Morgaine." "Morgaine's son. I don't believe it." "She would have spoken of him." "She would have, my good lady but that I believe there was some sadness in my making." "I was raised at Orkney by my Aunt Morgause." "Yet you have that regal air possessed of Morgaine." "Who but the son of my sister would have marched in here like that?" "I can see by your face beyond doubt, that you are hers." "Welcome to my court, lad, and to my table." "Sit with me and tell me everything." "We shall stay up till morning getting to know each other." "Men, welcome my nephew." "He is one of us." "When King Uriens died I could not stop thinking of Avalon." "I knew that one phase of my life was over and a new one was about to begin." "And much though I still loved Accolon I knew, too, he could not be a part of it." "Morgaine." "This was your father's favorite view." "I'll be leaving soon." "You could stay." "Thank you." "But every time I look at you, I'll see him." "Where will you go?" "I must go back to Avalon." "But ifl thought the Mother Goddess would make it easy for me to come to terms with Viviane I was wrong." "The Saxons are upon us." "Fight!" "My men tell me the invasion will come before the next full moon, my lord." "We are ready for them." "Except in one respect." "And that is?" "If you were to die in battle, sir." "Well, you would fight on." "Lancelot would fight on." "All my brave companions would fight on." "And which of them would become High King, sire?" "You have no designated successor." "I cannot designate a successor when my queen might yet bear me an heir." "It is a hope she clings to." "I will not rob her of that." "Whatever the cost to your kingdom?" "If I choose someone not of my own descent it will split the companions." "There will be war between us and the Saxons would prevail." "Then choose someone of your own descent, sir." "I am your son." "I am your son." "But Morgaine is your mother." "It was she that you slept with in the great marriage." "She was the virgin huntress." "You coupled with her and together you conceived a child." "I am that child, come now to demand that which is my due!" "No, it's not true. lt's not true." "You're lying to force Arthur to promote you beyond your merits." "Arthur, tell him it's not true." "Tell him you never...." "You never...." "He cannot tell you because he knows what I say is true." "Then all this time when I could not give you a child...." "Mordred is his son." "For many years I gave myself to my husband in the name of our Lord." "For many years, we prayed to fashion life within me." "But it seems that God has not heard those prayers." "Perhaps He has heard but did not will it." "But what did He will instead?" "That a bastard child sprung from an incestuous bed should triumph over our tireless devotion." "They say His ways are unknowable." "Of course." "I am too small to understand the will of God." "Do you think I'm being punished for the night we spent together?" "I don't think it's God who punishes us." "I think we punish ourselves." "Would it not be a comfort to believe just for a time that we create our own heavens and our own hells?" "It would be a comfort." "It would, Lancelot." "Maybe God does not grant you all the comforts you ask of Him but offers you others which you refuse to see." "Maybe you should find the comforts He does offer you my dear lady, and accept them." "Wounded and weary, at last I arrived at the borders of Avalon." "I felt somehow I had never left." "But then I realized the power I once prevailed over had left me a long time ago." "I was stranded on the outside like a child locked out." "Viviane had forsaken me." "Then I heard a sound I had not heard for years:" "The bell of Glastonbury." "My daughter!" "Where have you been, my child?" "I've had such sadness." "Come." "Lancelot?" "Wrong." "Run!" "Mordred such a trick is worthy of you." "In the king's name, Lancelot, I accuse you of high treason." "Gawain, in God's name, how could you lend yourself to this?" "I never believed it of you." "I were to God I had fallen in battle before ever I saw this day." "Dress yourself." "I will not take you so disgraced into Arthur's presence." "Enough men have witnessed your shame." "I'm glad for your sake that you would come with us quietly." "Mother?" "See to the queen." "She'll be in your hands until Arthur deals with her." "Come along, my lady." "Get into your gown." "You do not want to go shameless before the king, do you?" "Get me your sword, Lancelot." "Come." "Stop!" "Let them go." "It is for the king to decide their fate now." "No man in all of Britain will hide them now." "They have defied you." "He has slain one of your most loyal men." "I love them both." "I will not hunt after them." "I beg you, my lord." "Lancelot has committed treason." "Treason against the Crown, to which I have sworn allegiance, sworn with my life!" "Lancelot and Guinevere are a part of me." "Do not ask me to tear into my own flesh." "If you do nothing, Father you will lose the confidence of your army and your men." "You will cease to be High King in anything but name." "I have not the heart for it." "I have no choice but to leave this in your hands." "I cannot bear to say goodbye to you here, my lady." "I am no longer any man's wife, or lover." "From this point on, I give my heart to no one except God." "I've lost my king." "I've lost my honor, and now" "That day I saw you on the stones." "That bell was also ringing." "Remember?" "How could I forget?" "So innocent we were." "I pray there is a heaven and that you would be an angel in it so when I die, we can be together at last." "I knew you'd come." "Mother Superior, I come seeking forgiveness." "And this is the place where you shall find it." "Suffering brings women to God." "When you left Camelot Arthur missed you so." "I have often thought my greatest sin was coming between the love that you and Arthur have for each other." "How is my dear brother?" "He is in great danger." "He has need of you now." "Why?" "What's happened?" "It is your son, Mordred." "As I raced back to Camelot to be with my brother in his hour of need I saw people fleeing from the coasts." "The final assault of the Saxons had at last begun." "It was at that moment that I finally encountered the one person I had given up hope of ever seeing again." "I was behind you much of the way." "I was proud and unforgiving." "I may have turned my back on you but my heart never turned." "I destroyed something between us in the name of the Goddess." "Now I fear I have destroyed something else in her name." "Will Camelot and Avalon disappear into the mists?" "I see a land that runs red with blood where chaos rules." "It is the end of an age." "I thought that I knew what to expect when Viviane and I reached Camelot." "But it was beyond anything either of us had imagined." "I am Morgaine, sister to the king." "Where is my brother?" "Where is Arthur Pendragon?" "Mother." "What a surprise." "So you came to see Arthur and not me?" "You came to see your brother and not the son you bore him." "Welcome to the new Camelot." "This is an abomination." "I thought you would be proud." "We are keeping the ways of the Goddess alive." "These are not the ways of the Goddess." "You think you know her ways better than I?" "You always got it all, while I was left with nothing." "But someone was watching out for me and what god it is I care not." "The tribesmen only follow you because you have the Pendragon banner hanging over their heads." "I am the Lady of the Lake." "I am the High Priestess of Avalon and I declare she has been deceiving you." "This is not Avalon." "This is not the will of the Goddess I serve." "This is her will and it is murder and perversion." "My sister is an evil sorceress intent on destroying all that is Camelot." "Now, bring me to the king!" "is it you?" "is it really you?" "You've come back to me." "My sister, why did you not tell me about our child?" "Why did you bear the burden all alone?" "The pain of it would have been no less for me had I shared it with you." "You always looked after me." "I've done my duty, and now you must do yours." "What duty remains for me to do?" "You must protect your land against the Saxon invasion the likes of which I've never seen before." "I'm a sinner and I'm weak." "We have both sinned." "Are we going to let those sins drag us down, as some priests would have it and send us crawling on our knees begging forgiveness or are we going to rise above them and do what we were put on this earth to do?" "What were we put on this earth to do?" "You were put on this earth to lead your people, Arthur." "Stand!" "The Saxon invasion has begun." "They have lined our shores." "They will take down Camelot." "You must ride out now, even if it's the last battle you ever fight." "You must bring one last note of glory to Avalon." "And so Arthur and the remnants of the Round Table rode out for their last battle." "We will fight as we always did." "As we always did, my friend." "He's joined the Saxons." "Our Father in heaven and our Mother of the earth soon I shall be taken into Your house." "Let me be fit to wear Your robes." "Let the sword that I die by cleanse me." "And if there is honor in the course you have set for me let me earn it today." "Mordred!" "Father." "The Goddess holds everything in balance." "Without her, destruction and chaos will prevail." "Bring me my horse." "Why have you become my enemy?" "You truly believe that I was ever anything else, my father?" "Mother." "Lancelot." "Take me home, Sister." "Take me to Avalon." "Though Avalon had already rejected me I felt its strange power as it drew the dying king and I back towards its sacred shores." "I began to doubt we would ever reach Avalon." "Perhaps, for our disobedience we would be lost in this limbo of mist forever." "Or perhaps, with Viviane's death it had simply disappeared." "Are we shut out of Avalon, Sister?" "I fear the Goddess has rejected us, Arthur as we rejected her." "Perhaps she needs an offering." "Give it back to the Goddess, Morgaine." "It belongs to her now." "We are home, Arthur." "My little brother my love." "We're home." "Avalon faded from the world of men and only Glastonbury marked where its wonders had been." "The Saxons overran Britain and made it their own and the Goddess was forgotten." "Or so I was convinced for many years." "Virgin Mary Mother of God, pray for me." "Until at last I realized the Goddess had survived." "She had not been destroyed but had simply adopted another incarnation." "And perhaps, one day future generations will be able to bring her back as we knew her in the glory of Avalon."