Arthur ordered the knights to continue on towards Morgana's refuge. Somehow the enchantress had survived this long, but the king was determined to end that streak once and for all that day.
The party entered the cavern they had been informed Morgana was in. They stepped in, each one trying his hardest to stay silent. They continued in a far ways, eventually coming across a more civilized area of the cavernous tunnel. The group split into two, searching for a possible way to attack the sorceress.
Eventually Arthur's group came upon Morgana in a grand room, where she sat chanting an ancient magics.
The king charged at her, his knights following. However, she was ready for them. She easily overpowered the knights. Instead of killing them, she locked them up instead.
Arthur asked her, as she imprisoned him, "Why aren't you killing us?"
"Because both Emrys and the sorceress that is your queen will come to me if they believe you can be saved."
"Don't you dare touch them! Don't go near them!" The king exclaimed through the bars. Morgana simply laughed.
"No, you're not coming Merlin." Winry stated clearly to the manservant pestering her. "I'm not putting you in danger."
"Are you even listening to yourself Winry? You're planning to fight Morgana? Alone? Are you trying to kill yourself?" The warlock asked exasperatedly. The queen was being very finicky and unreasonable.
"Would you just listen?" Winry asked in desperation. She felt very strongly about this as she had basically everything lately. "I'm trying to save your arse. Just wait here! I don't intend to fight Morgana, but I can break her spells she puts on the locks."
"Not letting you go alone. Out of the question."
The blonde let out a shuddering sigh. "Fine. Let's go."
The two sorcerers rode their horses out of Camelot. Each of them had an acute sense of where Morgana was, she was so powerful at this point. Her hideout reeked of magic.
They got there and ventured in on foot. Winry went in first, a little too anxious to do this. Merlin was beginning to worry about her. They split up at the same place the knights had, though they did not know it.
Winry soon came upon the same room Arthur had. She saw two other doors. One to the dungeon, the other straight across from where she was now to another tunnel. She saw Morgana as well. And the other sorceress saw her.
"Ah, my little witch." Morgana said in a pleasant tone. "Decided to come join me."
"I came for my husband." The formed blacksmith said in a dangerous tone. "And I will return to Camelot with him."
"You cannot guarantee th-" Before Morgana could finish she was struck by Winry's magic, keeling over with a cut on her face. A small trail of blood trickled down her face. It slid behind her ear and hit the ground. She stood back up. "Nice try." She said.
Winry felt as if she'd been slugged in the gut. She flew back against the stone wall, luckily her arm taking most of the blow.
Merlin came in at that moment, throwing Morgana off her guard. He began fighting with five or ten times the ferocity Winry had showed - and yet he held back, giving a few precise strikes to the woman.
Before Merlin could drive her out out, Morgana lifted Winry up again with her magic, this time by the throat. She tossed the younger sorceress around before Merlin knocked Morgana out.
Merlin ran to unlock Arthur and the knights, but as soon as he did so Arthur ran to his wife's side. She was laying unconscious on the floor of the grand room.
Hours later the queen awoke with a throbbing headache, her arm wrapped up and held to her chest, and Gaius leaning over her. She tried to sit up, but her back hurt too much.
"Careful." The old physician warned. "Don't want you hurting yourself more." He said, dabbing some blood from her forehead. "You are lucky considering how powerful Morgana was."
Winry remained there for a few more hours before Gaius returned to tell her the worse news of the matter.
"My lady," he began. "I'm afraid you may be surprised by this."
"Just say it."
"I'm sorry to say the physical trauma you received caused you to lose your child."
Gaius had said it almost seamlessly, as if telling her it was a broken bone. One tear then two tried to push their way out of her eyes. Her unbroken arm hovered protectively over her midsection.
It's my fault.
That night she returned to her bedroom, when she truly let the tears fly in the hidden comfort away from the castle bustle of the evening.
Later Arthur came in. The usually stoic king had tears welled up in his eyes. Gaius had explained to him what'd happened. He had handled it better than Winry, or so it seemed. Quietly he changed into nightclothes and got into bed next to his wife who's tears quietly fell onto the bed.
His fell too. However, he slowly wrapped his arm around her, holding her close as they didn't speak but slowly fell asleep together. The king thought,
It's my fault.