It was a strange ride the group set out on. Still dark but with enough moonlight to give some visibility. With Gwaine and Merlin in front they made steady progress, Merlin could have gone faster, but was well aware they needed to make their journey believable. As they rode he kept trying to contact Morgana and was sure he had got enough through so she would know they were on their way. But the women were clearly some distance away.
Morgana and Gwen meanwhile had got out of the camp and were making their way to the horse line. Morgana could sense something but wasn't sure what. She felt a feeling of relief from something inside her, assuming it was Merlin. But she didn't want to risk she was wrong, so continued with her escape plan, such as it was. They managed to get to the horse line without being spotted, but there their luck ran out.
The man left to guard the horses was fed up, he had wanted to rest and relax with the rest of them, but because he had pissed of Kendrick he was stuck on guard duty for the second night running. But he knew better than to relax his guard. If the horses got away for any reason he knew it would be him running after them. So, when he saw the two figures creeping towards him he watched them carefully. Not putting it past the leader to test him out. Well whoever it was wouldn't get past him! As he watched he realized it was the two women prisoners. Moving between them and the horses he shouted to raise the alarm. Then rushed at the nearest one and grabbed her.
It was Gwen, she struggled and shouted at Morgana to run. "You promised" she shouted, before kicking out at the guard.
Morgana cursed as she saw what was happening and heard the camps other men shouting and coming towards her. Knowing that if she was captured no one would be able to find help she very reluctantly ran past the struggling pair and jumped on a horse and pulled it free, scaring the others as she did so by letting out a scream. Galloping off as fast as she could, many of the other horses running into the surrounding forest. Luckily Morgana was an expert rider and having no saddle wasn't the hindrance it could have been. Gwen was soon held fast and waited her fate. But at the same time was pleased to see Morgana keeping her promise.
Morgana rode like the devil was after her, and in many ways, it was. The men that could grab a horse did so, but by the time they had their saddles on Morgana had a head start. Deciding for now to keep to the open areas so she could put as much distance as she could between her and her followers. Hoping she was heading in the right direction to meet up with her rescuers. As the sun began to rise Morgana was still evading her captors. She had rested her horse for as long as she dared, not wanting it to drop dead from exhaustion. But she knew in doing so she was risking capture. Her flowers were hampered as they couldn't track her in the dark and where Morgana could she was keeping of the skyline.
The Prince and his group were making steady progress and it was getting lighter by the minute allowing them to speed up. They to rested their horses for a short time before heading off once more. As they reached the base of a cliff Leon spoke up.
"Sire I recognize this place from when we followed some slave traders many years back, it was one of my first patrols. We will need to go around this area to be able to get past the hills with the horses. It's far too steep to take them over."
Arthur glared at the delay "Is there no way through?"
Leon stooped and gave the matter some thought. "We were told of a cave system that went through the hills, but we didn't use it as Wildeoren live in the caves."
Gwaine looked up Wildeoren?" he repeated a question in his voice.
Arthur grimaced "Like giant baby rats, and they are partial to human flesh." He told the other man.
"Better not use that then." Gwaine said.
"How much time will it cut off." Arthur asked his knight.
"Several hours Sire" Leon admitted. "We didn't use it before as there was no need to take the risk." He paused thinking once more. "I recall that the old castle the slave traders were using as a headquarters was also connected to the tunnels."
Arthur smirked "Then some of us best go through. Morgana's captors must be heading somewhere and the castle sounds as good a place as any. I'll take a couple of men and go that way and you take the rest and the horses the long route."
