A/N: Thanks gorgeousangel and Witchprincess18 for the reviews! I love all of you that have been reviewing. :)

Connotation

~Chapter 10: Night Fights and No Respite~

By Fox

It's fairly easy to get out of the city; they simply swim against the tide in the sea of carts and horses and pedestrians that are swarming in from the outer kingdom. It's slow going, with Gwen assisting Morgana the entire way, but they do eventually make it to the road that leads back to Mercia.

Gwen stops them outside one of the sparse houses in the fields outside the city.

"You need clothes," she points out. Morgana looks down at the remains of her dress, and duly agrees.

Gwen dawdles, guilty once more about stealing from strangers. Then Morgana, who apparently has some strength back, sighs in exasperation, limps over, and pulls a pair of pants and a tunic mercilessly from the pile of washing. She changes quickly and leaves the dress on the ground.

Gwen says nothing, but leads the way along the road.

In half an hour they reach the seemingly endless forest, and Gwen veers off the path into the woods.

Morgana follows.

Gwen walks for a few more minutes, considering, then stops and faces the witch.

"Listen, I'm going back to Camelot." Morgana stares at her blankly. "You fulfilled your end of the deal, helped get the necklace back. You can go wherever you want."

"I am going back with you," Morgana says imperiously. Gwen shakes her head.

"No, you see, you want to destroy Camelot and kill Arthur. So I really can't let you do that."

Morgana's expression is wretched for a moment, then composed again.

"This has nothing to do with Arthur. Abernard imprisoned me for months, I want revenge. Thwarting his takeover of Camelot will suffice for now."

"So you can try to take it over for yourself afterwards!" Gwen shouts. "Morgana, leave, now."

Morgana looks hurt, and Gwen feels irrationally guilty.

"Look, I know I rescued you, but I needed the stone. You can't come to Camelot. After what you did?"

"What if I said I regretted it?" Morgana puts in quietly. Gwen gives a shrill laugh.

"Please, Morgana. Just go."

"Truly," Morgana whispers. "Gwen..."

"Stop it," Gwen says. "It's not funny." And it isn't. Gwen feels fresh betrayal welling up out of the old, exploding into fury. "It's not funny!"

Morgana takes a step back.

"Gwen-"

"No!"

"I'm sorry!"

Gwen feels a tear slide down her cheek. When had she started crying?

"You were my friend," she whispers. "I trusted you, more than anyone. How could you?"

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Liar. You meant to hurt everyone. And you did."

"I'm sorry."

"I don't care." Gwen turns her back on Morgana and walks away. It takes thirty seconds for Morgana to call out again.

"Then why did you free me?" Gwen stops walking.

"You could have just left me there, made me tell you where the necklace was! But you rescued me instead, and healed me and freed my magic! Why did you do that, if you don't care?"

Morgana touches her elbow. She had caught up to Gwen when she had stopped.

"I am sorry, Gwen. I regret everything I did. Let me make it up."

Gwen stares at her, and her memories and hard instinct know that Morgana is telling the truth. But the hard lump in her throat that means tears and logic is screaming that Gwen can't trust her. Not anymore.

"Let me come with you," Morgana pleads. "I'll… I'll do everything to make it right. You can use my help, you know it. The High Shade? I'm a powerful witch, I can help. I know things, secrets, my magic is strong. Please."

Gwen nods curtly. Morgana gasps, and Gwen notices that she's crying too.

"I haven't forgiven you," she says coldly. "And I don't know if I believe you. But I've got a way to tell for sure once we're back, and if you're lying you'll be sorry. But you're right, I can use your magic."

Kilgharrah will know. He seems like he should be able to tell.

"Let's go, then. It's a long way back."

Morgana is recovering, but still weak, and they get off to a slow start. After half an hour, Morgana speaks again. Gwen thinks she was working up the nerve.

"I do not remember much," she says slowly. "My mind was not clear."

"Will you tell me again?" Gwen adds in her mind.

"One thing first," Gwen says. Morgana nods. "There's a big oak tree coming up. Is there a face in the bark?"

Morgana peers at it and nods.

"A dryad, I think."

"Oh," Gwen says, and wonders if she's glad she's not crazy.

"Everyone in Camelot is asleep," Gwen begins, "The work of King Abernard and a High Shade he called up. Abernard called him "Zedon". Your necklace," Gwen pats the pack where she's stored it, "Is selenite, and it's the main ingredient in something that can kill it. The necklace was the closest source, you know how Uther banned it."

"And you came all this way and rescued me by yourself?" Gwen nods. "That is… impressive." Gwen blushes, but doesn't respond. Flattery isn't going to help Morgana now.

They trek all day through the forest, following alongside the main road without incident and mostly in silence. They are, however, making much slower time than if Gwen had been alone, due to Morgana's depleted energy.

Finally at dusk Gwen can't ignore Morgana's yawns and increasingly frequent stumbling, or her own fatigue. There aren't any houses for miles, though, Gwen notes despairingly.

There is, however…

"A cave," Gwen says, pointing. Morgana peers through the gloom at the dark entrance.

"I don't know…"

"Trust me, we don't want to sleep in the open," Gwen says, thinking with a shudder of starving yellow eyes. "Come on."

When they reach the cave, Morgana whispers a spell and a small glowing orb appears, illuminating the area. The cave is large and barren.

"See?" Gwen says. "Empty. We'll be safer here than out there, once we have a fire. Can you make one?"

Morgana silently pulls some dead branches in from outside and sets them alight. The orb disappears as the fire flares.

"Thanks," Gwen says. "We should rest."

Morgana nods and curls up a few feet away from the fire. As Gwen does the same, she thinks earnestly: And please don't kill me in my sleep.

Morgana doesn't even try.

Something else, however, does.

~xXx~

Zedon has had enough. He orders everyone out of the room and draws his power to his fingertips and tongue, readying himself.

After a second's concentration he breathes deep and exhales in a flurry of words spit like seeds off his lips, whirling up into a storm inside the room, over the bed and the boy.

He releases the spells and they hammer at Emrys, his body and mind, like a million nails driven by hammers.

The spells flash and smoke, lighting the room in purple and black, sending great bursts of excess energy out the windows and doors.

Finally he calls them to a stop and grins, stepping over to the bed. No mortal could have withstood that, nor many immortals.

His grin fades, though, when he sees the untouched body of the warlock, and he howls with anger.

~xXx~

Emrys' shields are battered and cracking, and the barrage keeps up even as he pulls more over him like blankets.

Black magic of the foulest kind, waking his oldest, deep-seated instincts, crashes down on to him, wave after wave after wave. He is only Emrys now, and he holds his name and its power like another shield, yelling out sound waves of magic that ward off the attacker.

Arthur, Emrys dreams and thinks, and imbues the name and its meaning through his power, and the evil recoils, for the moment.

Emrys sleeps, and fights nightmares in his dreams.

~xXx~

Gwen is woken by a furious roar, so primal and menacing that she attempts to scramble into the solid rock wall to get away while still mostly asleep.

There by the light of the still-flickering fire is a gigantic cat, as tall as Gwen. Standing at the mouth of the cave, brown with black speckles and an enormous mane, it roars again, and saliva flies off its massive fangs.

Morgana screams, and it attacks at the noise.

Gwen's eyes can't follow its rapid movement, but one moment the beast is at the cave entrance and the next above Morgana, raking huge claws down her arm.

"Morgana!" Gwen shouts. Do something!

She shoves down the urge to hare it out of the cave and scrambles to the fire and pulls out a burning branch. The flames lick at her hand but she lunges for Morgana, waving the branch at the cat.

When it rears, yowling, Gwen throws the flame in its face.

It turns in a desperate circle and Gwen hoists Morgana up, dragging the witch deeper into the cave, and then into a network of tunnels at the back. Dark closes wetly around them, and they the monster yowls in anger.