Another update for you ^_^

So quick? I know. I'm trying to make up for my long period of absence. (All of the sorry.)

This chapter is dedicated to the three people who reviewed on last chapter: Emmee, Writing Fangirl for hire and Mika271170

Thank you so much!

Enjoy ^_^

Gwen was shaking. Her arms were chained to the ceiling, her feet were chained to the floor, the strain on her shoulders was painful and the guards had already made a few suggestions about what they were going to do to her. But she wasn't truly terrified until Morgana arrived, her black dress kissing the stones where she walked. Her chains rattled as Gwen started and tried, however futile to get away. Morgana just let out a low, cruel chuckle.

'Always so scared' she said 'And yet, so brave.'

'Let me go!' Gwen yelled 'let us both go!'

'Oh in time, I will lead you by the hand into your next life Guinevere, don't worry about going anywhere.' She walked forward and looked Gwen up and down. For once, Gwen was embarrassed of her ragged dress, she had felt a lot more powerful in the fine gowns she had once worn, the gowns that Morgana had let her try on sometimes, and those that Arthur had later bought for her. Her eyes started to burn as she thought back, to the light, summer nights when her and her mistress had bonded over cute boys in the town or laughing over Arthur's latest adventures. How she missed Morgana's laugh. Her real laugh, full of joy and could make a whole castle seem lighter. Not the pathetic, humourless thing she used now.

'What do you want with me, Morgana?' Gwen asked sadly.

'Funny, Merlin was curious about that too.' she said. 'Well I want to help you Gwen. I'm going to tell you something that I recently discovered, something that I didn't believe for a long time.' she leaned in closer, Gwen swallowed.

'Merlin' she whispered 'is a sorcerer.'

Gwen let out a yap of laughter

'Merlin? Don't be ridiculous. He's as loyal to the king as you once were.'

'I never said he wasn't' said Morgana, straightening up. 'But have you never noticed how strangely things act around him? How things conveniently happen to provide a distraction he needs? Things spontaneously combusting, branches falling on bandits, even how quickly Merlin can finish his chores when no one is watching. I didn't believe it myself when I first found out, but it's true. Merlin, is Emrys.'

'You're wrong!' cried Gwen, desperately 'He's not. He's just a manservant! This is some sort of trick, he's never...' she trailed off.

Morgana smirked.

'Just think about it, Gwen.' She said 'and a whole lot starts to make sense. Now. Emrys thinks that I'm in here torturing you. And while that may be true it'd be a shame not to leave a mark.' and here she struck her former maidservant viciously across the cheek. Gwen felt a sharp burst of pain and cried out, just as another stinging slap was delivered to the other side of her face.

'That one was for not believing me about Emrys.' she said. 'And the first one was because I wanted to.' She turned on her heel and walked towards the door

'I think I've given you enough to think about for now' she said 'Take her back to her cell.'

One of the guards grabbed her roughly while the other undid her chains. She struggled half-heartedly, knowing that she'd never be able to overpower them but not making it easy for them on principle. She thought about what Morgana had said. It had to be lies of course, the idea of Merlin being a sorcerer was ridiculous. And yet. . .

A few minutes later she was being chained back to the wall of her cell. Merlin was calling to her, asking if she was alright. There was the smell of cooked meat, and Gwen wondered what it was. Then she noticed the spots of blood congealed on the floor, and the trickles of red staining his hands and the way he grimaced as he used his elbows to push himself forward.

'Merlin, what happened?' she asked him.

'Morgana' he said dismissively 'I'm fine. What about you? Your face! What did she do to you?'

'Nothing, really. She just slapped me a little.'

Merlin sank his head, relieved.

'Thank Albion' he said. 'I mean, not that she slapped you but that it wasn't worse. So what did she want?'

'She just wanted to scare me.' she said, considering the boy in front of her. The loyal friend and good man she loved like a brother. Then again, hadn't she loved Morgana as a sister? 'It might have worked.'

Merlin met her eyes, blue met brown.

'It's okay to be scared, Gwen' Merlin said 'But Arthur's coming. For better or worse, he'll come.'

XXX

Arthur and Gwaine arrived in Drithen just as market stalls were being set up. The sun was hidden by cloud and it was a cool morning. Those that were awake didn't look too happy about it. Looking around at the debris and the fear on people's faces, Arthur got an inkling of what had occurred the other day. They asked around as Arthur bought food and bandages from the stalls. He didn't know enough about medicines to weigh down the horses by buying a lot of herbs that could be useless but wine and bandages were usually a good bet. He just hoped they wouldn't be needed. Nobody knew where the soldiers had gone, or where Morgana was holed up. Gwaine took him to the forest, where he found the note, which Arthur had crumpled in his fist. The tracks hadn't been covered up. They were easy to follow. Too easy as Gwaine pointed out.

'She already knows we're coming.' said Arthur 'that wouldn't be much use if we didn't know where to look.'

So they followed the tracks, keeping on their guard, searching for the source of every snapped twig and rustling leaf. It slowed them down but Arthur was determined to do this right. He wouldn't be ambushed on a rescue mission and put Merlin and Gwen in even more danger by ending up as their neighbour in the dungeons. They came to a fork in the road and the tracks led both ways. Obviously someone else had come through here since with a large cart too. Gwaine dismounted from his horse for the sole purpose of kicking a tree and letting out a yell of frustration which made his horse start and tug at its reins.

'Now which way do we go?' He growled. 'We don't know how far is is, so we don't know how much time we'll waste if we choose wrong. We can't risk being wrong! They could already be ...' He kicked the tree again and cursed. His horse let out a loud whinny of disapproval. Arthur had stayed silent. He dismounted too and walked over to where the man was hunched, leaning on the tree for support. He had dropped the horses reins and it had backed off and walked over to his own. He placed a hand on Gwaine's shoulder.

'It's not your fault.' he said firmly. 'You had no reason to suspect that Morgana would have been there. You were alone and you fought well my friend.'

'And yet they're both gone.' Gwaine spat bitterly 'I had the chance to save both of them and I couldn't even manage one.'

'You did the best you could' said the king gently. 'And they're alive, at least for now. Morgana wouldn't want to kill them until I show up.'

'You don't know that.'

'No, I don't.' Arthur said going back over to his horse. 'But I have to believe it. Look. These tracks are deeper than those ones. The cart that went this way was bigger. It's our best shot.' And he took off, not waiting for Gwaine. Giving the man a moment to compose himself. The knight caught up with him a few minutes later. A steely determination in his eye.

XXX

It was only about half an hour later when they reached the castle. They had left the road as soon as they could see turrets peering out over the tops of the trees in front of them. They left the horses tied to a tree so they wouldn't be spotted and crept forward to investigate on foot. They split up and circled the place three times, noting the entrances and the amount of guards and possible places for guards to be hidden. Not that Gwaine didn't think he could take half of them in a fight, these were just glorified bandits after all, fighting for nothing more than the promise of gold, hardly a match for the king of Camelot and one of his best knights. But it's not as though they could fight all of them at once and as soon as they were spotted Morgana would put whatever plan she had with their friends into action. So the less attention they attracted, the better.

'Our best bet is the main gate' said Arthur 'seeing as she knows we're coming anyway.'

Gwaine resisted the urge to punch himself in the face.

'There has to be another way in' he reasoned. 'There are two many guards and going in with just the two of us gives her exactly what she wants.'

'Which means that she's less likely to hurt Gwen and Merlin.' Argued the king 'if she gets wind that we're sneaking around then who knows what she'll do to get our attention?'

'We'll have to make sure she doesn't know then.' he countered 'the more time we have that she doesn't know we're here, the better. She has some sort of endgame in mind and I'm betting it's not good. Look, how about that drain on the West side? It should be easy enough to get into and it'll give us a chance to get in and out before she even knows they're gone.'

It wasn't the best plan Gwaine had ever had. Not by a long shot. But he had a really bad feeling about walking in through the front door and surrendering. He didn't fancy going along with whatever that mad witch had cooked up. He didn't really fancy seeing her again at all. Not when the last time he had lost two of his friends and he had barely lifted his sword to defend them. He had had to be saved by Merlin. Merlin of all people. Flung out of the window like a leaf in a storm. But Merlin having magic explained a lot. He wasn't dumb, he knew that that was what it was. There was no other explanation. He hadn't told Arthur this, nor was he going to. It wasn't his secret to tell and besides anyone who would choose to reveal their powers to save a friend, despite the consequences was still a friend in his book. Although he was pretty sure that Morgana also now knew. Meaning that getting them out added an extra challenge.

'We have no idea where that drain would go to' said Arthur 'it could lead straight to where Morgana is. We're best going along with what she wants, she talks too much, we'll get a chance to fight our way out.

'You're only saying that because you've been lucky in the past' said Gwaine, thinking of all the 'luck' that happened when Merlin was around 'you can't bet on luck'

'I thought that's exactly what you did' said Arthur with a wink

'Sire, please. We can't put Merlin and Gwen in more danger. We can't give Morgana the upper hand. She'll kill them both, and us given half the chance.'

Arthur paused, chewing on his lip. Mulling this over. After almost a full minute he sighed.

'You're right.' he said 'We can't risk that. The drain it is. Unless you happened to notice a window to the dungeons?'

Gwaine let out the breath he hadn't realised he was holding.

'Thank you sire. And no, not that I saw. If they have a window it would probably face inside to the courtyard.'

'Well then. Let's work out a plan.'

So Arthur and Gwaine are here, yippee! But Morgana still has a sinister plan (because of course). Let me know what you think :D

All feedback is welcome. Any tips on how to improve, telling me whether or not you liked it, even just letting me know how your day has been ^_^ I love to hear from readers.

Thank you so much for reading.

Love you all.

Love Tibbins xx