A few hours later Gwen, the Doctor, Rory and Amy are making their way towards where Arthur and Merlin were supposedly meant to have been hunting.
Gwen had managed to successfully smuggle the trio out of the castle through the tunnel thanks to the sleeping drought Gaius gave the guards. Whilst they were in the tunnel she quickly tossed them some clothes to change into, explaining that they wouldn't be recognised so much if they weren't wearing their 'normal' clothing.
The Doctor could tell by the look on Gwen's face when she said 'normal' that she wondered about who they were and what they were doing. She just chose to instead focus at the task at hand, finding where Merlin and Arthur were and how to get them out of there safely.
Amy stops a little as she tries to breathe in her corseted armour top. Gwen notices this and tries to comfort her by giving her a kind look and saying "I'm sorry they were the only clothes I could find. You'll get used to it don't worry."
"Umm…thanks," Amy says, still not quite sure what she thinks about Gwen's kindness.
"I rather like this outfit. Though it's not the same without my cool bowtie," the Doctor reveals he fiddles with his brown jacket.
Amy raises her eyebrows and laughs, "I think it is remarkably better without the bow tie."
"I agree!" Rory puts his hand up.
"Well I don't care what you guys think. Bow ties are cool!" The Doctor says defensively and continues walking.
Gwen laughs at this exchange and then she finally stops when she realizes that they have reached their destination.
The Doctor asks, "Is this it then?" And then he begins looking around the clearing. Gwen, Amy and Rory join in too.
"It seems like whoever took them from here did their best to cover their tracks," the Doctor thinks out loud.
Gwen nods and then stops when she spots a thread of Arthur's red tunic barely hidden amongst some leaves lending north. She knows without a doubt that it is his.
"Hey look at what I found!" The Doctor, Rory and Amy immediately join her.
"This is from Arthur's tunic I'm sure of it." Gwen tells them with certainty.
The Doctor laughs then jokes under his breathe, "I bet you are!" Amy looks at him but before she can say anymore Rory comments on Gwen's detective skills.
"Good work!" Rory smiles at Gwen, which Gwen returns and says, "Thanks."
Amy then gives Gwen a rather pointed look, which Gwen feels quite perplexed and confused about since she knows that Amy and Rory are together after their short getting-to-know-each-other conversation.
"Where did you find it?" the Doctor asks.
"Just here…" Gwen dugs her boot into the leaves and dirt where she found it "and look there are some footprints here leading north towards the Valley of The Fallen Kings."
The Doctor nods his head and agrees "Yep it looks certain they were taken to that way." Amy then points out,
"Isn't that place meant to be cursed?"
Gwen nods her head and answers, "There are legends, stories about The Valley of The Kings saying that is cursed. That evil lurks there."
Scared, Amy whispers, making sure that only the Doctor and Rory can hear, "How can you be sure that Arthur and Merlin were taken there?"
"I just felt something before while we were in the dungeons and thought nothing about it. Then we arrived here and I just got this overwhelming feeling that they are in the Valley Of The Fallen Kings."
But before Amy and Rory can further ask him questions about it, Gwen comes over to them all with some water from her water pouch; which Rory is very much grateful for and nods his thanks, causing Amy to once again give Gwen a 'don't you dare' look.
Knowing that they are no doubt going to go to the Valley of The Fallen Kings after the Doctor's odd confession, Amy cannot help but announce,
"Well I think we ought to vote on whether we go to The Valley of the Kings"
The Doctor look at her odd, then asks "Since when have we ever voted before we have gone on into dangerous situation?"
"Well - never," Amy concedes. "But why not start now? Make it more of a democracy so it's not always you who is masking the decisions. You know give us some power."
Gwen watches their banter and knows that she did the right thing by trusting these three people and helping them escape, though she does find them rather odd, but in a good way. She thinks. She cannot help but wanting to get to know them better.
The Doctor begrudging agrees, "Fine! We are going to vote. Say 'Ay' if you think we should to travel to the Valley of the Fallen Kings?"
Rory, Amy and Gwen all say, "Ay".
"There. Decision made. Happy?" Amy and Rory nod their heads and Gwen laughs at the three of them and how close they are. It makes her think of Arthur and Merlin and whether they are alive. But she stops herself thinking too much about that. She needs to focus on finding them and hoping that they are alive.
"Now on to important matters… Gwen, how long does it take to get to The Valley of The Kings?"
"Not long maybe a few hours, but we must hurry now before night falls. Agravaine will have sent out Knights to search for us and it won't take them long to discover which way we have gone."
And with that Gwen, Rory, Amy and the Doctor begin walking north.
XXX
"God," Arthur complains as he raises his head from the floor and looks over at Merlin who stretching his neck.
"I know how you feel," Merlin agrees bitterly. Then poses a question, "Do you think any of this is real or are we dreaming again?"
Arthur thinks about this carefully before he answers, "I don't know. I just know that this one feels real, solid." Arthur then looks over at Gwen who is lying next to him and gently brushes away a stray curl that had fallen on her face.
"Does this have anything to do with the fact that you're King now, happily married and expecting a child with Gwen?" Merlin puts out, with a cheeky grin spread right across his face.
"Oh shut up!" Arthur hits Merlin's shoulder playfully.
"Naww, how touching!" a voice says behind them causing both Arthur and Merlin to spin around.
"You!" Arthur shouts out. Arthur is just moments away from losing his patience with this man and begins to think that magic must somehow be involved. Hell, who am I kidding? This man obviously has magic!, Arthur thinks to himself. He takes a few deep breathes, trying his hardest to calm himself, because no matter how angry he feels he needs to be strong so he can figure out how to get out of whatever mess they have found themselves in.
The strange man continues to stare at them like he is a puppeteer and they are his puppets and he is complete control.
Arthur has had enough and decides to ask him a question he didn't get the chance to ask before. "Who are you?"
The strange man laughs, surprised at Arthur's question. "I'm a Chaos Demon."
"A Chaos Demon?" Both Merlin and Arthur's faces contort trying to understand what he means.
Their stunned and confused reaction seems to only make the demon more excited, which perplexes Merlin.
"I thought you would have worked that part out already seeing as Merlin is an expert on these types of things. But alas it looks like I was wrong and now I have to explain it to you,"
"Well then get on with it…" Merlin grumbles, frustrated.
"I've got a challenge for both of you. There are two worlds – one is real, the other is fake and in each world you will face dangers, but only one of them is real." Then the 'Chaos' Demon evaporates as if he was never there in the first place.
"Great!" Merlin complains leaving nothing for Arthur to do but nods his head in agreement.
XXX
Crunch.
Agravaine hears some twigs snap behind him.
He turns around and there before him is Morgana in her black gauzy cloak with the hood on her head. She pulls it down and asks him sternly – so much so that Agravaine senses that Morgana is growing more and more impatient with him- "What news do you bring me, My Lord?"
"It would appear that the three prisoners I told you about, the ones that arrived in Camelot in a quite interesting manner have escaped along with Guinevere. It would seem like they are on their way to rescue Gwen's beloved Prince"
Morgana's eyes lights up with so much rage and anger knowing that once again her plan is looking like it might fail - and all down to the hands of her former servant and some three strangers she doesn't know!
But she's determined to not let this plan fail. "Well then I must follow Gwen and her companions and make sure that they never reach they destination," she tells him determinedly, with a smirk slowly appearing on her face once again. She is willing to do whatever she can to prevent her plans from failing once again.
To be continued...
