A/N - Sorry for the delay! Thanks for the reviews, please kept them coming. Enjoy!

I would love you to let me know what you think will happen next, just to see if I have surprised you XD

25) Only One Chance

As the group moved off, Morgana was pulling stumbling after them. Quickly, she mastered how to walk in a more dignified manner across the rocky terrain. Her mind was elsewhere, plotting. At least, she was trying to, but the sharp jarring of her wrists every few minutes and the raucous shouting from the men were enough to distract her. How had she let herself into this situation? She'd allowed herself to be blackmailed and she was struggling to figure a way out of this predicament.

Broken from her thoughts by a series of shouts, Morgana turned her head to the source of the noise. The horses were halted and most of the riders dismounted, and like she wished to do, headed to the back to investigate the commotion. Morgana looked to the ground and smirked to herself. The perfect opportunity had presented itself. This was their only chance. She couldn't screw it up.

Leaving no time to back out of her meagre plan, if you could call it that, she slowly and as inconspicuously as possible walked under her ropes several times until they were slightly twisted. Then, she pulled backwards sharply. Since the man who had held it had gone and left the end tied to the saddle, it came free on her second attempt. Wrists still bound, she ran to the saddle and was relieved to discover a small but sharp knife in its sheath. It wouldn't serve well as a weapon but with some difficult sawing motions, the rope fell to the ground in tatters. Now to get to her children…

Feeling safer with the blade resting in her palm, she turned away from the three men still mounted and gloating about her by the sounds of things, prepared to go straight to the back. Her act first and think later plan in action and not for the first time…

"Halt!" roared one of the men, choosing the wrong moment to turn and check on the prisoner.

Damn. Damn him to hell.

Almost out of instinct, she released the dagger and it was flying through the air, a blur of deadly silver before it embedded in one of their shoulders. It was not as fatal as she'd hoped but it would serve to slow him at least down.

Now defenceless, she tore off into the forest and then stopped abruptly. She couldn't abandon her children but how was she going to free them when the group was now hurtling after her…Footsteps thudded behind her and she knew she didn't have any chance of a successful fight. Think Morgana. Taking a huge risk but knowing she had to do something, she leapt up and grabbed onto one of the lower tree branches, hauling herself up.

When she was perched a few branches up, her hands were bleeding from deep scratches but it had worked and she released a breath as the men raced underneath her, furious that she'd evaded them. Except she hadn't because they still had her children. So why weren't they threatening her with them…?

Waiting a few more minutes which seemed to drag on for centuries just to be certain the men were gone, Morgana swung down from the tree, thanking the gods that she'd had plenty of practice in her games of hide and seek with Arthur as a child. How she wished he was here to help her now…

When she got back to the place they'd stopped, most of the horses had been abandoned and there was no-one in sight. Where were they? Morgana, wary of an attack, approached one of them and searched the saddle and then another, smiling when her hand clasped the hilt of a sword. Her face fell instantly as she spotted a trail of blood leading into the forest. Oh god, no. What the hell had happened? She should never have risked it, not when she was unsure as to what she was actually doing. Panic was clouding her mind fast. Stop it. You have to find them.

Morgana got the fright of her life when she felt an icy cold hand reach up to tap her on the shoulder. She whirled around and almost screamed when she realised her sword had been millimetres away from removing Arya's head.

"What? How?" asked Morgana.

"My ropes were loose. They were so occupied with Arya and Edmund that they didn't tie mine nearly as tight. I was able to get my hands free and then theirs," said Alana with a smile.

"We got into some trouble with a few of them, though," added Edmund. When he spoke, Morgana noted that his lip was bleeding. He saw her looking "It's nothing, mother, honest."

"You should have seen them when we were finished with them," continued Arya.

"I'm so proud of you all; you know that, don't you? But you shouldn't be so proud of the violence. These men were monsters and they deserved everything, but it is a thin line between justice and revenge. Don't ever lose yourselves to evil."

In turn, she kissed each of them on the forehead. It felt so good to have them safe again. And that's when it hit her that they weren't. They were still in terrible danger. The men weren't fools; they'd see no trail and come back to search for them. She didn't want to be around them when they returned.

"We have to go! Now!"

"Where? I've no idea where we are."

"I've no idea, son, but we need to get out of here. Camelot, perhaps?"

"It could be days away…" Alana pointed out.

"There's no other options, sweetheart. At least we'll be one step closer."

"Can't we take the horses?" asked Arya.

"No. The tracks are too easy to follow. We'll find a village, I promise. We can rest and maybe contact Arthur."

"Why do they want to hurt us?" questioned Alana.

"Because I killed someone," responded Morgana, simply "And they want revenge."

Having walked for hours in the dark, they were all exhausted and just about ready to collapse. Every sound caused them to jump at first but now they didn't acknowledge it. Partly because they were on a narrow, dusty track and there was nowhere to hide.

"There's a village," said Edmund.

"It's our best chance," agreed Morgana.

So, once again they set off, following the solitary light, praying that it wasn't enemy territory.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Alana.

"We just don't mention names," responded Arya "It'll be fine."

The youngest sibling gnawed her lip, unsure. She had a sense that something was amiss. It had been too easy to escape.

"It'll be ok, sweetheart. We'll just stay for one night," Morgana tried to reassure her.

In reality, her fears about the village were niggling in her stomach, pressing her to turn back. She had no idea what kingdom they were in, let alone the village and Camelot was not allied with many of the kingdoms surrounding Essetir. Still, there was no alternative. They all needed rest and food, they couldn't last much longer stumbling around aimlessly.

Morgana had severely underestimated the distance and it was breaking dawn when they finally reached the outskirts of the village. People were already up with the sun and they received several curious glances as they walked through, exhausted and rough.

In the heart of the village, there was a small inn and they entered quickly, heads down. The woman who ran it was stout and looked very fierce, making them all even more uncomfortable.

"We would like a room, if you please," said Edmund.

"Don't bother me, boy. What does bother me is if you have the gold," retorted the innkeeper.

"…"

"You look like trouble. I don't want no trouble."

"We were ambushed by bandits on the road. My sister is injured. Please.."

"That ain't no concern of mine."

"We just need to rest. For one night," Arya piped up, trying her best to look young and vulnerable.

"If you'll just stop hassling me. Up the stairs and first on the right," said the woman "And you two girls can help me clean up later as payment."

"Thank you," finished Arya, taking the key.

"And there better be no trouble!"