An extract from I, Morgana by Felicity Pulman:
Prologue:
I am an old woman now. My bones creak and scrape together like bare branches
in a winter wind. I ache with longing for my youth. When I notice my reflection, I am aghast
at the vision of the hag who looks back at me. I mourn the passing of who I was, and
everything I could have been. More than anything, I long to reverse time. Throughout the
years I have tried and tried to do this, without success. Now, even my most potent spells and
incantations cannot transform me into the young woman I once was, with all my life still to
live. With age, my magical powers have all but deserted me. Once I was desired by men; now
I am disregarded by all and loved by none.
And I ask myself: How has it come to this, when once the future looked so bright and full
of promise? And I swear a sacred oath to the gods, whoever they may be, that if only they
would grant me my life anew, along with the wisdom I have learned so painfully, I would not
make the same mistakes again. I would not lead us all to destruction.
But the gods are deaf to my prayers and to my promises. All I can do now is call for
parchment, cut my quill, and tell my story. I shall start at the beginning, because that’s when
the first seeds of doom were sown: when I was a child and believed I had the power to make
the whole world new.
CHAPTER ONE
“Look at me, Merlin! Look at me.” I twirl and twirl, giddy with delight, bubbling with laughter
as the earth turns around me and my hair flies into my eyes.
“Well done, Morgana! You must concentrate now; think about being a bird. How will it
feel when you are flying?”
I close my eyes and I try, I try so hard, because I know how much it’ll please Merlin if I
succeed. Around and around I spin, the world gone dark around me, the air swishing past.
“Open your eyes, Morgana! Look about you. See that raven? Remember what I told you?
You have to think that raven, be a raven.”
I am a raven. I am a raven. I am Merlin’s raven. I am! I am a raven flying, flying high,
soaring into the sky, riding on the wind.
I think it. I will it with all my heart, my mind, my soul.