A Life for a Life

Summary: Set a year after the end of Series 3, AU. Morgana's attempt to take Camelot had failed and she had disappeared, so when Arthur finds the young girl employed under a false name to one of Cenred's knights, he saves her and begins to rebuild their relationship. However, when they are set upon by bandits and Uther's life is saved by Morgana, her own life hangs in the balance. Will it be a life for a life?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, plotlines belong to both me and headinclouds123, finer detail to me.

Chapter One

At a north-facing window of the council chambers, deep within the Camelot citadel, King Uther Pendragon was staring out into the forest beyond. The morning sun had dawned bright and shining, yet his soul had never felt so dark and shadowed. His beloved ward, Morgana Le Faye, had been stolen away from him in a whirlwind of choas, created by her scheming sorceress sister. Just like she had done before.

Not a day had gone by since Morgana had betrayed him when he did not question as to why she had done it. But then again, not a day had gone by that he had not wished to have told Morgana of her heritage sooner. Perhaps it would've stopped her going astray, perhaps it would've merely speeded up the process. Only the fates could know now, and only they would know how the tale would end.

Uther turned his mind's eye to rest on his son, who he had sent to scour the forests for what must have been the hundredth time, for the King was still convinced that she could be found. So convinced, in fact, that he had given his only son permission to venture into the tree covered edges of Escitir, the kingdom of the late King Cenred.

The forest were extremely built up, offering shade from the sunlight, but doing little to deter Arthur's nerves. He was not normally a nervous person, but there was something about the way that the wind whistled through the mighty oaks that gave the place a spirit-like feel, almost a haunted one. That was the reason why the prince nearly jumped out of his skin as a loud metallic clatter resounded through the trees. His fear turned quickly to anger as he saw his manservant of five years, Merlin, scrambling on the ground, various articles of weaponry scattered around him.

"Merlin, is there no end to the amount of things you can muck up?!" snapped Arthur, throwing an apple at his servant's head.

"Arthur, is there no end to how rude you can be in one minute?!" retorted the dark-haired man under his breath. Not quite enough.

"What was that, Merlin?" asked the prince, the annoyance clear in his tone of voice. Luckily, Merlin was used to these reactions by now and was able to come up with a plausable excuse in a matter of moments.

"I said that I'll have this cleared up in a minute, Sire." answered Merlin. To his surprise, the prince just returned to his horse, mounting the steed and sparking a conversation with Sir Leon.

"Unbelievable!" muttered Merlin, placing the remaining weaponry into the and mounting his horse, just as Arthur called for the men to set off once more, riding for what seemed like hours before they came across a large, dingy castle.

"It belongs to one of Cenred's most trusted knights, Sir Fendrel. He's fearsome, one of the most legendary warriors Escitir has ever known." explained Arthur.

"And we're going to wander right up to his front door?!" sighed Merlin disbelievingly.

"Yep." came the simple reply.

"Thought so." sighed Merlin, nodding his head annoyedly.

Luckily for Merlin, however, when they arrived, Arthur set him onto the less dangerous task of lookout with most of the knights, while the prince himself and his Knights of the Round Table stormed the lower levels.

It was amazing for Arthur to see how badly servants could be treated. Of course, he had few close relationships with servants, bar Guinevere, needless to say and Merlin, if the reference must be made, but he had always treated any servants of the castle with a great amount of respect. However, obviously, Sir Fendrel did not share Arthur's morals.

The Knights crept down the jagged stone staircase soundlessly, attempting to keep their cool, as they knew that, had their patrol been injured or postponed in warning them, they could be set upon by soldiers at any moment.

Once they reached the bottom of the steps, they were shocked by what they saw. The place they knew to be where Sir Fendrel's servants slept resembled more of the Camelot's palace dungeons. There were two small beds in the room, which was barred across the wall in front, giving a full view to the people who would be sleeping inside. However, to the Knights' dismay only one of the two women they were meant to be rescuing was actually within the cell.

"Hello?" Arthur called quietly, making the girl jump and turn, terror set firmly into her face.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice shaking and her hands trembling violently in fear.

"My name is Prince Arthur of Camelot. I'm here to rescue you."

"That's not possible, sire. Once you're a servant to Sir Fendrel, you don't escape, you don't get rescued, you stay until he doesn't need you anymore. Then you die. It's as simple as that. I've seen it happen before. If he finds another two girls, Cyra and I are doomed."

"Cyra?"

"She's the other serving girl. The poor darling, she's only nineteen years old. Ran away from her family because they didn't want her anymore, and got caught by Sir Fendrel's patrol. That was one year ago. Now she'll never escape."

"No, she will, I'll go and find her, I promise. But first, you need to get out of here. Where do you live?" he asked, deciding to quickly change the subject, so that he could save the other girl and get out of the darkness as soon as he could.

"A long way away from here. It's a village called Nevaria, on the other side of the White Mountains." The finals words rang a bell in Arthur's head and, a few moments later, he made the connection.

"Is that anywhere near Ealdor?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, her eyes almost lighting up. "My village is about a mile away from there."

"Brilliant! Now, Leon, take everyone up to the patrol and tell Merlin about... Sorry, what's your name?"

"Emelyn." the girl answered.

"Emelyn, find my manservant, Merlin and tell him where you live. Take some guards with you and he'll get you there. Gwaine, Leon, Percival and Elyan, back up. With some of the guards with Emelyn and Merlin, I need as many great soldiers up there as I can get."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to find Cyra."

It took Arthur about thirty minutes, but eventually he located the dark-haired girl, bent down scrubbing a filthy stone floor, a large, intimidating man standing over her as she worked. The prince watched for about five more minutes, until the man swept out of the room, kicking a pail of ashes from the fire across the still damp floor as he went. The girl began to cry as soon as he left, her soot-covered hands coming up to hold her face as she cried.

"Cyra?" Arthur whispered quietly, a little too quietly, as the girl clearly didn't hear him. Arthur called her name twice more. On the third time, she looked up.

"Who's there?" asked the girl, her face still directed towards the floor, so Arthur could still not see it, not even once he stepped out and bent down beside her.

"My name is Arthur Pendragon, I'm the Crown Prince of Camelot. I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to get you back home."

"They wouldn't want me back. You should know that more than most, Arthur." she stated simply, looking up slowly. Arthur's eyes widened to the point of bursting when he saw the girl's delicate, heart-shaped face, proud cheekbones and sparkling emerald eyes. Suddenly, everything made sense.

"Morgana."

A/N: Please review this story, I really want to know what you think about it.