ARTHUR'S POV

Hiding in the forest hadn't treated the people of Camelot well. The children were being affected by some sort of allergic reaction to the wildlife of the forest and being removed from the forest didn't change their situation. Gaius reassured me that it was an easily treatable disease but he needed vast supplies of a herb that could only be found in the depths of the forest. I hated sitting in my court room, unable to do anything for these children's plight. Te council of ministers were squabbling about something extremely irrelevant from the impending crisis. Everyone else who mattered were busy. Merlin left with Leon and Percival to get these herbs a few days ago. If all went well, they were due to reach the castle any minute now. Gwen and Lancelot were in Gaius' chambers. They were working under his instructions and preparing the rest of the ingredients for the cure. Gaius was propped up in his bed , overlooking Gwen and Lancelot as they boiled and chopped up various herbs.

Gwaine, to my greatest amusement had sprained an amazing number of muscles and was actually tied to his bed because he refused to listen to Gaius and Merlin when they told him it was absolutely essential that he get a good amount of bed rest. He, of course, didn't take them seriously which led to quite an episode when he passed out when a servant accidentally hit in a broken rib with a serving plate. I was kind enough to ask Merlin if it was a bit overboard to tie my knight to his bed but when he told me that Gwaine and Elyan showed signs of starvation for over a week, I quickly agreed that they both needed to regain their strength and very gleefully helped him and Lancelot do just that.

Elyan was also confined to his room, after the ordeals of torture he had to undergo after Morgana's questioning.

Morgana…

I had no news of where she was. Or how she was.

Gwen had told me , in great detail, of how the ceiling collapsed and Morgana disappeared. She could have been hurt. When I went to see the site of her disappearance, there was a significant amount of blood and halfway through the distance, a trail of it.

When we were very young, I had promised to take care of her and never let anything bad happen to her. I'm sorry that I didn't keep my promise, Morgana. I kept talking to her in my mind, hoping that some part of the old stories and myths were true and she could hear my thoughts.

The wait was driving me insane. I needed to know. The absence of answers was riddling my mind and not letting me breathe.

I realized that the ministers were silent. I forced myself back to reality and the responsibilities of ruling a kingdom, after all that is why I have been left behind from the herb finding task. When I looked into my faces of the ministers, I couldn't help but remark about how unpleasant their faces were. I cleared my throat , ended the meeting and set the dates for the next meet. I walked to the fort walls to see if Merlin and the others had arrived. I frowned at the omnipresence of my guards. But after my beloved's attack, it was the best if I had security at all times.

Morgana.

Why didn't you tell me before? Did you really think that I could have turned a blind eye towards you? Didn't you know that I would have put my life down for you?

When I reached the fort walls, I was surprised to see Tristan standing facing the view , peering at the hairline of the forests, for some sort of movement. I quickly shook myself out of my mental rebate to try to focus. Merlin, Leon and Percival should have been back by now. I stood next to Tristan and nodded to acknowledge his presence. He, too seemed content without saying a word. I hadn't heard him talk since Isolde passed away.

As the sun turned orange and sank into the canopy of forests, I couldn't help thinking that if I had been more careful about Morgana and been there when she needed me, Isolde would have been alive. Tristan wouldn't be grieving her right now. Too late now Arthur, your incompetence has taken the lives of so many. You are just as much as a tyrant as your father or cendred. I hung my head in shame, all this misery and grief was because of me.

I, for the umpteenth time pulled myself out of my mind to the real world when I heard Tristan talk.

" They should have been back by now."

"I know."

" We should go see if there are okay. "

" They could have had a minor delay, we shouldn't over react Tristan."

"If it was a minor delay, it wont take us too long to reach them and help them bring back the herbs."

" Meet me at the gates with your horse and camp materials in an hour."

" Yes, Arthur."

I met Tristan at the decided rendezvous point with an entourage of new knights. The seasoned ones had to stay back in Camelot to protect the city if need arises. We rode out in silence as I noted the changing colors of the sky. Merlin and the others should have returned a quarter day . I was certain that Merlin had landed himself into some sort of trouble. Stupid Merlin. But he wasn't completely useless. He had unwavering faith in me that shook me sometimes. Almost suggesting that he knew something I did not. But then it was Merlin and who really knew what was going on in his mind. He knew that Agrevaine was a traitor. Maybe he knew that Agrevaine had joined hands with Morgana. But Merlin would have told me. If he did know but didn't tell me, I wouldn't blame. He knows how much I care for Morgana. That would be reason enough to protect me. I wonder if she is fine, wherever she is…

Before I knew it, we were quite far from the borders of the city and Tristan was making the knights set up camp with little help from my side.

The whole of the next day was spent following the map given to us by Gaius. We were an hours ride from where Merlin was supposed to have found the herbs. If the knights were on their way back we should have met them by now. If they were apprehended on the way, we would have seen signs of struggle. Where were they? Did magic take away someone I cared about? Again? I wonder if one person is responsible for magic and I had terribly wronged him. Soon we reached the site.

And much to our surprise, the herbs described by Gaius seemed to have been harvested, the clearing filled with knee high shrubs with their leaves plucked.

I dismounted my horse and tried to figure out what had happened when Tristan spotted a trail.

" Those are the tracks of the cart Merlin was riding to store the herbs. They lead towards the south"

However, it was already dark and I ordered the young entourage to set up camp. They were surprisingly enthusiastic, even in the cold forest they were cheerful and discussing various theories of what could have happened to the missing knights. Their laughter and innocence made my heart bleed as I leaned against a tree behind their close circle around the fire. I had also spent times like this. Only thinking of ridding my people from worried like monsters. I always thought I knew how to defend myself against any danger or pain. A griffin was best fought with an arrow, a dragon with a spear. A bleeding wound was to be staunched first and a large wound cauterized. I however never was taught gently how to deal with betrayal and helplessness. There was no weapon I could pick up or a known procedure I could enact out. But life had thrown me into a world where nothing was the same anymore much before I was ready for it. I waited till the knights retired and took first watch.

I was reluctant to go to sleep as my dreams tortured me with possibilities and memories. But I felt my eyelids drooping and I knew that I couldn't compromise the safety of my knights because I was too disturbed to sleep. I was about to stand up from the foot of the tree and wake up the closest knight when I heard a twig break. I scanned the camp to see if anyone else was awake. I realized that Tristan, like me was resting against another tree and was alert to the sounds of the intruder. He was mimicking me and holding his location till the intruder revealed themselves. I listened intently and realized that the intruding party was at least four people strong and wearing chain mail. I quietly pulled out a knife hidden in my armor and moved into a crouch, ready to attack when the intruders finally moved into the clearing. Even before I had the urge to swing my knife I recognized the wavy blonde hair that I had seen from childhood.

" Leon ! "

"My lord!"

We gripped each other's forearms and grinned at each other. Percival and Merlin also entered the clearing. The rest of the knights were now awake and were welcoming the war heroes. I looked at the three of them, they seemed dirty and tired. But thankfully unharmed. Tristan pushed through the young knights impatiently.

"What took you so long?" He demanded.

"The herbs we collected weren't as much as we needed, so we went ahead to this other site I knew of. It took us so long to collect the herbs from there as well and make it back to this place. We were heading back when Percival noticed smoke and Leon thought you must have sent some knights to search for us due to the obvious delay. So we came to investigate and I've never been so glad to see leon being proved right." Merlin ended cheerfully.

" Merlin, where are the herbs?" I knew it. Only he could be stupid enough to morph a two days expedition into a week's and then forget the sole purpose of the quest.

" We didn't want to tug them along in case you guys were not you, so we left them at our camp not to far from here."

"Go get them then, it's a days ride to Camelot from here."

With some help from the knights, Merlin managed to pull a cart filled with rug sacks of herbs back to the clearing. It was almost dawn and we started our journey back to Camelot.

I wasn't particularly worried now. We were moving at a good speed, in good weather with some of the best warriors in all of the five kingdoms. I mindlessly left my horse to lead the way as my mind wandered to where it really wanted to be.

I had traveled this very path with her more times than I could remember. She always loved this place. As my mind inflicted me with numerous memories we had of this place, I could sense Merlin looking at me. Wondering why I wasn't taking part in the banter the knights seemed to have started. I was however in no mood to put up appearances so continued my silence, replaying all those moments I treasured so much in my head.

I was fondly remembering this one time a spider crawled down her shirt when an arrow whizzed past my head.

Bandits flooded in on us . Leon and Percival were on my sides while Merlin brought on the rear. We tried to keep the bandits away from the cart. I eagerly jumped into the battle and killed a few bandits with speed I didn't know I possessed when something caught my eye. Someone was watching us from behind a big oak tree. The person was dressed in a dark velvet cloak. So much like the one I had seen Morgana wear on so many occasions.

"Merlin!"

"A little busy right now Arthur!"

"It's Morgana"

"No it's not. Get your head back here!"

And that's when I did the most merlin thing in my entire life. I lowered my sword and walked towards the tree. The figure stilled and I walked closer

"Morgana?"

The person pulled off their hood. And to my great misfortune, it was not Morgana, it wasn't even her cloak . It was a thin bandit who by the look of it had stolen a cloak from some poor noble and he was armed. I raised mine immediately and fought for a few minutes when another bandit came to his friends aid. I could hear merlin and Percival closing in, I just had to hold the fort till they reached. Right before I was about to defeat the bandit, he took a swing that slashed me across my stomach. I plunged my sword my sword into his heart. I could hear the sound of Percival putting an end to the other bandit as I crumpled to the ground.

Merlin pulled me into his lap and was shaking me. Screaming words I couldn't hear as my vision started blurring at the ends. Warm and sticky blood was pouring out of my wound. I couldn't even feel the pain. I tried my best to hold on till the welcoming darkness took over.

Merlin's POV

We were back in Camelot. Gaius put the herbs to use immediately with Lancelot and Gwen's help. The children were already being treated with the remedy and signs of recovery were being reported right and left.

I shifted in the chair next to Arthur's bed. He had gained consciousness thrice till Gaius knocked him out with a pain relief remedy to keep him in bed. I should have known from the moment Morgana disappeared from Camelot after her most recent attempt to usurp the throne. I wasn't too worried about Morgana, I knew that she had escaped alive from my attack.

However, Arthur was barely talking to anyone. There were so many clues to show that he was no where close to being out in the open, I should have known. He almost died yesterday because he was so desperate to see her again. He was no longer taking note that he was king and Camelot needed him.

I knew that he and Morgana were in love but I didn't expect her betrayal to shake him so. Well, you really can't blame her for reacting like this. after how Uther treated her, you really couldn't see her as a bad person. She was a kind and wonderful person who was horribly wronged time and time again till she stood her ground doing the only thing she could. If only I had guided her, none of this would have happened. But the Morgana I met when I first came to Camelot is not completely gone. She brought back Lancelot. She returned Gwen her true love. She was not completely lost. She was still in there somewhere behind all the bitter hate, waiting to be saved by her king.

And she wasn't the only one who needed saving.

Arthur was wasting away as well. The guilt of not saving his love was eating him up. The suffering she had to undergo without confiding in him was making him doubt his bond with her. He could not be a good king without Morgana by his side. He could not even function as a person with such guilt on his shoulders. Heck, no one could.

And if no one stopped Morgana, she could destroy the whole world. I've seen first hand how deeply she can dabble with dark magic. And she had barely recognized her powers three years ago. Her powers were limitless. I had Arthur's safety holding me back but if she lost the little humanity left in her, there was no stopping her. The only thing that had helped me defeat her in the past was her love and fear. If she lost that, hell would no longer be a myth. Something had to be done…

All in all, one thing was clear. For Camelot to survive, for Albion to be united and for mine and Arthur's destiny to be fulfilled, Arthur and Morgana had to be united.

I was absolutely sure that Morgana was still in love with Arthur. But I had to make sure. And there was only way in which I could do that.