The Mists of Avalon Page #3

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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! l 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 l 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...

...l couldn't believe that behind it

lay all the wonders that l'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 l 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.

l 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, l 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, l 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. l want to learn.

Morgaine!

Morgaine, you have to concentrate.

But l saw my brother.

You must learn to distinguish

visions from reality.

This time, keep your mind in one place.

lt would take years...

...until l was deemed ready

for the greatest test of all:

To part the mists of Avalon.

And at last,

l 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...

...l was bidden one day

to open the mists for a visitor.

l was certain that my longing

for my brother would finally be over.

Arthur?

Not Arthur, lady. But his cousin.

Your cousin, l 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 of seeing 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.

lf you stayed here to gather our wisdom...

...you could lead the struggle,

rather than being caught up in it.

l have come here for your blessing.

I'd be glad to have it.

I'm asking for it, lady...

...but in truth, l 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, l don't expect

to soften you on anything.

Go up to the stone circle, both of you.

lf you must say your farewells to Avalon,

l insist you make them from there.

Why, Mother?

You wish me to approve of your decision?

Then do as l ask.

l 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 l would--

So you might decide to stay.

She's full of strategy, my mother.

l think you may be right.

l do feel it, though.

The Ring.

l can feel it flowing through me.

l felt it as a child, but now it's different.

Do you feel it?

Of course. l 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, l 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.

l 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 l 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 l looked at you,

it was just like looking at my mother.

l know she's waiting.

l shall go and give her my decision now.

And what have you decided, Cousin?

l have the power to lead men in battle.

That's what l intend to do.

As Lancelot announced his decision...

...deep within me there stirred something

l had felt for no man before.

Within days, on the orders of Viviane...

...l 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 l would be given, l 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 l returned to the Holy Isle,

a great longing gripped my heart:

l hoped that the man

at the Beltane rites had been Lancelot.

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