A/N: So I totally wrote the first half of this chapter to the song Wonder Woman's Wrath from the Wonder Woman OST. Great battle music.
The knights circled around Gareth, Gaheris and Fira as the beasts called out far above. Gaheris's crossbow remained trained on one and as it flew down, he released a bolt. Fira used her magic to make it a flaming bolt. The wyvern screeched and fell out of the sky. It hit the water with a thud.
"We need to move," Leon shouted. "Everyone this way. I saw stairs!"
The group ran, heads down, after Sir Leon. Fira's heart beat in her chest as the screeches of the draconic beasts rang in her ears. She turned and threw a fireball up at one that got a little too close for comfort. Soon enough they reached the crumbling stairs and Leon ordered Gwaine to lead them up.
"What about you?" Gwaine argued quickly.
Leon rolled his eyes. He immediately barked back. "I'll be right behind. Get them all up there in one piece or so help me God, I will kill you myself."
"I bet you would try." With a smirk, Gwaine nodded. "Too bad you'd lose."
Leon snorted with laughter. "Go."
Gwaine charged up the stairs, sword in hand and ready for anything. Percival went behind him, Gaheris and Gareth following. Finally Mordred and Elyan tried to push Fira in front but she forced them to go. Leon physically made Fira move up the stairs in front of him as he dodged a wyvern. She turned and shot it with a fireball while Leon downed it by slicing the left wing. Suddenly Fira screamed.
"Mercenaries!"
But it was a little late. As soon as Gwaine had reached the top of the stairs, a fair number of mercenaries attacked him. He stabbed the first through the gut and then spun, catching another in the leg. Percival was right behind. With a swing of his sword, he managed to decapitate a third. By the time Fira and Leon reached the top, all hell had broken loose.
They were stood on a relatively small platform of stone. On the left side was a door. Fira left the knights to deal with the Emerald Lady's forces while she herself focused on getting the postern door open. It was their only hope.
She began chanting in the old religion, before finally she shouted, "Edwylm!"
A whirling fireball the size of a pumpkin flew from her hands to the door. The force rocked the hinges but didn't do much else. She sighed and looked around. Vines of all sorts grew around them.
There's an idea, she decided mentally.
She closed her eyes and reached out with her hands into the air towards the vines. "Wínbéamas cymst ond ásmorest!"
When she opened her eyes, the vines moved and began to strangle the door, grabbing and wrapping themselves around it. By now the knights had very few enemies left. Some continued to flood in, but Leon, Mordred, and Galahad were bottlenecking the entry point.
"Gwaine, Percival!" Fira shouted for her friends. "Come here!"
They turned and saw what she was doing. Gwaine took hold of the rope of vines, and Percival soon joined him. Adding her magic, the three began to heave the door off it's hinges. Fira managed to unbolt the hinges and the men pulled the cast iron door away.
"Follow me," Gwaine told them. He turned to the others and shouted back. "Let's go!"
Gwaine stabbed the first man in his way clean through the stomach so far, it impaled the second man as well. He stepped back and heaved out his sword with a such a swing that Fira had to duck to avoid the blade. Elyan took over for Galahad alongside Leon in the back, as Galahad's arm was now bleeding quite a bit from a slash he received.
They navigated the hallways smoothly. Gwaine and Percival, ever in front, worked in tandem. When one took on more than he could chew, the other stepped in. They decided to keep heading upwards in the crumbling, ruined castle.
Fira could sense the Emerald Lady. They continued to get closer with every step up. At one point Percival's arm got caught by a sword, and Gaheris stopped up beside his brother. Gwaine looked at him in surprise for a moment before nodding. Mordred fought alongside Gareth and the injured Galahad, covering for both. Gareth knew swordplay, but Gwaine had placed him in the center for a reason. Gwaine, quite fond of his youngest brother, needed him to be safe.
After ten minutes of hallway fights, Fira blasted open a set of big wooden doors. She went and pushed herself in front of Gwaine and Gaheris despite their incredibly vocal objections. What she found made her freeze.
"We meet again." The Green Knight stood before them, axe on his back and sword in hand. "The Ladies told me it would happen."
"Get out of our way," Fira snarled, drawing her sword since she knew her magic would do nothing.
Gwaine and Gaheris stepped to her right, Leon and Elyan to her left. Mordred stood behind Fira, Galahad struggling beside him. At the rear, Percival and Gareth fought off the mercenaries.
The Green Knight laughed, and suddenly Fira's face blanched in horror. She recognized that laugh. She could tell a few others knew it too.
"King Roland?" She stepped forward.
The Green Knight brought his green sword up and readied it. With a flash of golden eyes, he shut the doors behind Percival and Gareth. They came off their hinges and crashed together. Escape would not come from there.
The Green Knight stepped up and took off his helm. Indeed beneath the steel armor was the face of King Roland Bertilak.
"Welcome to your tomb," he said in a low voice before swinging at Fira ferociously.
She held up her small sword to block the massive attack but Gwaine shoved her out of the way and caught it himself. It sunk him down almost to his knees. Fira skittered away, feeling entirely helpless. Percival ran forward and distracted the Knight long enough to give Gwaine a chance to recover. Mordred and Galahad focused on keep Fira safe. The latter found this strange, and was wondering if he was merely trying to avoid the fight. Gareth hung back with Fira.
Gaheris circled with Leon and Elyan behind the Knight. The five men kept the Green Knight busy, but he had other tricks up his sleeves.
"Hleap on bæc," the Knight hissed, sending Gwaine and Percival flying back against the stone wall.
They remained where they fell. Leon, Elyan, Gaheris, and Gareth now fought the beast they'd known as King Roland. Leon slammed his sword down on the Green Knight's own, sending a rousing clang throughout the entire former throne room.
Fira ran over to Gwaine and Percival. She tried to wake them, eventually succeeding though they were completely out of it. Percival was bleeding from the back of his head, and Fira rolled him over so she could get a closer look.
"Hairline break," she muttered. It was small enough that she figured she could use magic to repair it. But it would take some time.
Galahad and Mordred stood side by side, swords in hand, defending the injured and the healer. Galahad's arm had been roughly patched up, bound with bandages and enchanted to resist infection. But it hurt like hell, so that Galahad hadn't noticed one very important thing. Mordred had taken Fira's enchanted dagger.
When he did see, he turned and pointed his own sword at him. "Drop it!"
Mordred looked at him incredulously. "You can't be serious! It's the only thing that will possibly do damage to him, and she isn't using it!"
Galahad glared but knew he was correct. They were jolted back to the fight when Gareth and Gaheris flew into the walls much like Gwaine and Percival. Leon and Elyan stood alone against the Green Knight.
Suddenly Fira stood, her face plastered with fury. She faced the wall but as she stood, a side door opened and in walked the being, the presence she now understood.
Fira spun around and shielded herself against a blast of fire. "Morcades!"
The older woman nodded at her with a small smile. As the two women faced each other, Leon managed to land a blow on the Green Knight. The Knight glared at Leon, pushing him against the wall with Elyan.
"How?" Fira paused. "Why?"
"My Knight is already dead, Nyx," Morcades explained, circling the room. "You cannot kill that which is already dead."
Fira glared at her, pure rage in her eyes. "King Roland?"
"Oh I never loved him." Morcades laughed. "I married him for power, to gain access to Somerset's elite. I enchanted him to me not long after our marriage. A necromantic ritual."
Fira threw her hand out and sent ice shards flying at Morcades, but the experienced sorceress blocked them with ease.
The Green Knight was now attacking Mordred and Galahad. But Fira could do nothing for them, nor the dazed knights on the floor of the castle. She didn't noticed Gwaine was missing either.
"And Gwaine? And Gaheris? And Gareth?" Fira spat at Morcades. "You never cared for them either."
Morcades shook her head. "Of course I care for them! Blood ties are stronger than anything else." She paused. "Gwaine?"
The man in question stood behind Fira, face covered in disgust and hurt. Behind him, Gareth and Gaheris were struggling to their feet. Their faces mirrored their elder brother's.
Fira stepped to the side as Gwaine drew his sword. He stepped up and spoke quietly. "You have a lot of explaining to do."
"Years ago, my sister, my baby sister, married Uther Pendragon." Morcades spat the name of the dead king. "He used magic to sacrifice my sister for an heir. Arthur is his progeny."
"So what, you decide to kill Arthur as punishment? And get half the land killed along the way?" Gwaine waved his sword in the air. "Why?"
It remained silent for a few moments before a new woman's voice sounded.
"I needed an army."
Fira looked at the newcomer in horror. She was just like Fira had seen in her dreams. Beautiful, hauntingly so. Her eyes light green and her dress black. Her hair was messy but it suited her.
"Lady Morgana," Gwaine spat and turned to his mother. "You teamed up with her?"
