Mordred.
Mordred had been brought up being told he was special, a child that would do great things. He had been conceived by two children of the same Avalon priestess but having different fathers. Both his grandfathers had been kings and enemies, Uther Pendragon had killed Gorlois of Tintagel, and then take his wife, a priestess of Avalon as his own, uniting the two kingdoms. Uther though didn’t rule for long before being killed himself, his last breath and act was to plunge the sword Excalibur into the stone. Both of Mordred’s parents had been still children then, the elder, his three year old mother was then taken to Avalon while Uther’s new born son, his father, was fostered out to a noble family to be raised, his identity kept a secret to protect him.
With a messed up family history like that Mordred understood how his life could have gone so wrong and his own relationship with his father could have broken down.
While Mordred’s father would become the mighty warrior and the great King Arthur he had been brought up in Avalon with his mother, the great priestess and powerful magician Morgan Le Fay. She had been personally taught until she was seventeenth by the Great Merlin who had worked so hard in bringing a golden age to Briton. She was a child of power and magic, born with abilities that could never be taught. Merlin saw her potential and secretly orchestrated a union between the half brother and sister to produce Mordred, the heir of Avalon.
The Great Merlin had introduced Arthur to the young priestess on a visit to Avalon and with a subtle nudge with his powers had sat back as his heir to Avalon was conceived. The next day Arthur and the Merlin had set off to meet the last of the Saxon invaders in battle which would lead to Arthur winning the crown to be king of all of Briton.
Yet even the most powerful of Mages don’t live for ever and age claimed the Great Merlin’s life. Mordred had been still a toddler when he had attended the funeral of the Great Merlin at his mothers side. His body had been brought back to Avalon from Camelot where he had acted as the kings advisor ever since Arthur had first pulled the sword Excalibur from the stone. He had abandoned the teaching of his mother to guide the young Arthur to win his crown. Over the next seven years with Merlin at his side Arthur had fought his way to take the crown of a unified Briton. For a further three years the Great Merlin had lorded it in Camelot as the kings chief advisor seeing the birth of his planned golden age before his death.
It was the first time he had seen his father the king and his young queen. He remembered his father as a huge man with kind eyes and a ready smile while the queen’s eyes were cold when she looked at him and his mother.
On Mordred’s tenth birthday a knight from his fathers court at Camelot arrived in Avalon to begin training the young Mordred in the ways of a knight, after all he was a prince of Briton and would need to be trained not just in the ways of Avalon.
Mordred had grown up as a proud child of Avalon, schooled in the Old Ways of his mother and Avalon and trained as a warrior by the greatest knights from his fathers court. At sixteen when he left Avalon to pledge his sword as a knight at his fathers court he was considered a fighter of skill with both blade and spear.
When he had arrived at Camelot he found a father who was distant to him, his health was just starting to fail but there was no bond between them and the kindness in his eyes had gone. His wife the queen was almost hostile to his presence, she was followed everywhere by one of the new priests from over the seas and her champion, Sir Lancelot. Many others at court were also turning to this new religion and their backs on the Old Ways as the queens influence grew. The queen ensured that those who followed the teachings of these Nazarene priests would win favour within the court and advance in position.
Those knights that still held to the old ways told Mordred how the priests had at first been respectful of Avalon but since the death of the Great Merlin had begun to increase their power after converting the queen to their faith. The present ambassador from Avalon had found himself sidelined as more nobles and courtiers converted to the new religion.
While nobody at court would dare insult Mordred because he was a prince and the only child of Arthur, few were friendly to him, following the lead of the queen. Mordred knew he would never be welcome in this court so influenced by the queen and her priests and with every slight by her his resentment grew. He was a prince of the realm and a child of Avalon yet she looked at him with disgust and contempt. As the king’s illness grew it was the queen who took over running his court and Mordred found himself further shunned.
Mordred watched as the court of Camelot drifted away from the Old Ways and the nobles looked down on the ordinary people who still held to the ways of Avalon. He watched as his father did nothing to stop this betrayal of Avalon that had placed him on the throne and brought about his golden age. He sent warnings to the Lady of the Lake about the queen and her priests but they were ignored. With no other option to save the old ways Mordred decided he would act to bring down this queen and have Arthur return to the Old Ways or he would replace his father as king.
Mordred sat up and pushed his memories aside, he slept within a small cavern deep underground. Something had stirred in the world bringing back his memories of his old life but as yet he couldn’t tell what it was. Since he had returned from death he’d preferred the dark and spent most of his time deep underground where he could easier connect to the land and see his progress in weakening the earth power. He had sensed a tremor in the land a few days ago but could not place what it meant. It felt like a memory of the Old Ways had stirred to life but it was too faint for him to pinpoint. His plans were too advanced for anything to change what he had spent centuries working towards, mankind would soon fall and the Dark Gods would rise.
Mordred had been taught growing up that the king was tied to the land, in order for the land to flourish the kingdom must be united. Arthur had divided the land as his court at Camelot broke with the Old Ways. He had pleaded for Avalon to act but they had sided with the king, betrayed Mordred and left him for dead on the battlefield.
Now Mordred had worked from the shadows to divide the nation further and poison the lands. He would destroy everything linked to Avalon and the Old Ways and watch as humanity in it’s foolishness fell to ruin and destruction.
To be continued.
this isn't a fully finished story and I'm still editing it as I post it to steemit.