Merlin doesn't belong to me.

A Woman With An Agenda

000

Guinevere packed her bags and looked around the room one last time. She was going to miss this place and it was amazing that just five years ago she had thought that she would never like it at all.

000

"She's alive."

The men stopped and turned back and looked at the young girl. "She's alive," the girl repeated.

Gorlois left his men and walked back towards Morgana. "Sweetheart," he told her, "no one could have survived that attack.

"She's alive, Father," Morgana insisted.

Gorlois bent down and looked at the young girl his daughter was cradling in her arms, surprisingly she had a pulse.

"She's alive," he told his men and picked her up and put her on his horse.

A few years ago

"That's it," Tom praised his daughter. "If you keep it up you'll soon be better than your brother."

"No way," Elyan said. "Guinevere will never be better than me." He picked up the armour that Gwen had forged and looked at it critically. "I mean, it's not too bad," he smiled at her, "for a girl."

Tom smiled at his children, happy that they were talking, and teasing each other. For a time when their mother had died, three years ago, he had thought that they would never smile again, especially Elyan who had run away from home for almost six months. Millicent's death had been hard on all on them but now it seemed that they were fully recovering.

"Father, Francis' here," Guinevere told him. Tom was gazing at the door thinking about how he still missed Millicent. Francis was Tom's oldest friend and he was one who had helped Tom set up his forge.

"Francis, what are you doing here?" Tom asked him. "I thought you had gone into town. You said you'd be gone a month at the very least." Tom and his family lived in Path, one of the little villages that were found on the outskirts of Camelot, Uther's kingdom.

"That was my plan," Francis agreed.

"You seem… I don't know… preoccupied," Tom told his friend. "Is something the matter?"

"We need to talk," Francis said. "In private."

Tom and Francis left the house and took a walk towards the woods.

"But why would he be looking for us?" Tom asked. Francis had just informed him that Uther was looking for him.

"Do you remember that sword, Strider," Francis asked him. "The one you forged for Sir Elliot, the one with which he won the tournament?"

"Of course." The man that Tom had been paid for making that sword had kept his family clothed and fed for months.

"Well," Francis continued. "Apparently the king was so impressed with it and somehow or other one of men at court studied it and it was discovered that it had a design that they called the dragon's breath."

"That's ridiculous," Tom said. "I made that sword myself and I can assure you that I have never a dragon in my life. I just came up with that design."

"That's what I told them."

"What?" Tom asked him. "You mean they asked you about me?"

"Sort of," Francis replied evasively.

"So, Uther, the king, wants to meet me then?"

"Not really."

"What is it?" Tom asked him.

"At first I thought that as well," Francis told him. "He seemed to want to meet with you and thank you but later I discovered that I was wrong."

"Francis, just tell me," Tom said.

"Okay, okay," Francis said and told him the whole story.

Uther and some of his friends were talking about the tournament and how Sir Elliot had won; obviously everyone was interested in the sword he had used. Such workmanship hadn't been seen in Camelot for years. One of the men, Nils, a well-read man, had looked at the markings on the sword and pointed out that they were very similar to those on the swords used by Bernard, a knight of Camelot who had been a friend of Uther's father, and Gorlois' godfather. Everyone in Camelot knew that Gorlois had suffered a tragic death many years ago and that Uther never liked to talk about him.

The markings on the sword had of course prompted Uther to find out where Sir Elliot had gotten the sword from and somehow it had been discovered that not only was Francis from Path but that he knew this Tom, the blacksmith and Francis had been brought before the king.

Francis had at first been very happy to extol his friend's genius and hard work …it had seemed as if Uther wanted Tom to become the royal blacksmith. It was only later that he discovered that Uther wanted Tom death…for knowing something about Gorlois.

Francis had left citadel as soon as he could, and run home to warn his friend.

000

"But I never even knew this Gorlois," Tom protested.

Francis shook his head. They both knew that this wouldn't matter to Uther in the least. He'd had men killed on lesser charges. "I don't know how much time you have," Francis said. "But I'm sure that by now they've noticed my absence and they know that I must have returned home to warn you."

Tom rushed home and they packed their bags and set off to Mentor, a neighbouring village. It was on the way there that they had been attacked and left for dead.

000

"Where am I?" Guinevere asked. She looked around the white room in shock; the last thing she remembered was being shot at in the woods.

"Mentor," Morgana replied.

"Where are my father and my brother?"

Morgana didn't answer that question, instead she said, "My name's Morgana. What's yours?"

"Guinevere," Guinevere replied, "but you can call me Gwen."

"That's a pretty name."

The two girls smiled at each other and then the door burst open and Elyan walked in. "Gwen," he hugged her, "thank God you're alright." Morgana left the siblings alone.

"What happened?" Gwen asked. "Where's father?"

"Uther's men attacked us," Elyan told her. "Father is dead."

000

Elyan and Guinevere were taken in by Gorlois and Veronica, Morgana's parents and raised as their own. At first it had been very hard – obviously, they missed their father and life in Mentor was so different from life in Path. In Path they had been normal children, but in Mentor, they were the children of the leader and expected to behave as such.

Gorlois and Uther were brothers, and as the eldest Gorlois was the one who was supposed to have inherited the throne of Camelot when their father had died but Uther was cunning and had tricked his brother into going for a hunt. While there, he was supposed to have been killed but the men sent to do the job had spared him instead, and let him and his wife and child escape to Mentor. Gorlois was determined to get back what was rightfully his and had been working towards that goal for years.

000

"It would be better if Morgana went," Veronica said for the third time.

"I know, she's stronger than Gwen and she should be next in line for the throne," Gorlois agreed. "But you know we can't risk it."

Veronica nodded, she knew why they couldn't send Morgana – the risk of being recognized was too great, but she also felt that they were asking too much of Gwen.

"Elyan and Morgana will be nearby," Gorlois added, "and once Gwen settles in, they will be able to live with her."

Veronica nodded and looked at her husband. "I hope we're not making a mistake."

"Me too."

000

Guinevere, Morgana and Elyan traveled to Camelot. It was a three-day journey, and one that they had taken many times that year, in preparation for this day, although they had actually never entered the citadel.

"I guess this is it, then," Elyan said, when they saw the castle come into view.

"This is it," Gwen agreed.

"You know you don't really have to do this inspite of what mother and father say," Morgana told her.

Gwen nodded in agreement, they had had a similar talk a few months ago and Morgana had brought it up again the morning they had set off. "I know," Gwen said, "but this needs to be done and I am the right person for it, besides," she smiled at them, "it will actually be good for me to do something that you both haven't already done before me."

Guinevere's part in the plan was to find a job in Camelot preferably as a maid in the castle - to infiltrate the enemy camp and they would get the information they needed on Uther and Arthur. The information to bring them down.

000

"Sorry, I didn't see you there."

Gwen looked up at the young man who had knocked her down. He was smiling at her. "You must be new in Camelot," he held out his hand to help her up, "I'm Merlin, I'll take you to Gaius and he'll check you out."

000