Chapter 12

Arthur stood there in shock when the hooded figure turned around, and revealed that the person trying to kill his cousin was the servant girl Fanny. He quickly reposed himself and he pointed his sword at her, then in an angry tone of voice he yelled at him while she still had her dagger aimed at Anna. "Step away from Anna and drop your weapon now!" Even after hearing Arthur's order Fanny didn't move a step, instead she turned her eyes away from Arthur and back towards Anna.

Seeing Fanny, turning her attention back to Anna, made Arthur more cautious about the situation, also worried that his cousin might be killed before he got his answers.

He was getting about to get a bad feeling, but before he could act on the feeling Fanny lunged at Anna while starting to bring the dagger down on his cousin's heart.

So without thinking Arthur charged at Fanny, sending her flying one foot away from where she had been standing. Before she would wrap her head around what had happened, she looked up to see Arthur, pointing his sword at her throat with an angry look on his face."Please my king, let me kill her, if I don't something bad will happen to my family." Tears ran down Fanny's face has to beg Arthur to let her do as Morgana ordered, hearing her story still caused Arthur to doubt her words.

"You will tell me who ordered you to kill my cousin, and why they want Anna dead so badly."

His voice was very angry, but Fanny's face never changed, it was unchanged the whole time that she sat there with the sword aimed at her. Instead, her eyes just looked away from Arthur again, and returned to her Anna, who still reminded in a deep sleep. In Fanny's eyes there was a deep determination to finish the job that she had been assigned, her mind was turning on how she could get rid of Arthur so she could complete it.

Instead of giving him an answer she turned her gaze back to him, then let out a deep laugh before speaking in a deep ominous voice. "I serve the true Queen of Camelot, Queen Morgana has ordered the death of this woman for betraying her and trying to help the servant boy. Her efforts will soon be in vain, the boy will soon be dead and it won't be long after that you join him." Fanny let out another evil laugh, knowing that the pretender king had no idea how many of her Queen Morgana's spies still roam the castle.

Arthur angry started to grow more hearing her words, he was about to might a smart remark when Gwaine ran into the room looking a bit out of breath. "Arthur? Is everything alright?" As he waited for a reply he looked down at Fanny, who kept a straight face on, then his eyes turned to Anna who was still out.

"Gwaine I am alright, I did however find this little traitor trying to kill my cousin on the orders of Morgana. I want you to take her down to the dungeons and interrogate her about anything she knows, to make sure no one else tries it three guards near to be posted to protect Anna. We still don't know for sure if Anna is involved in everyone getting sick or not, but there must be a reason why Morgana wants her dead, so much." Arthur took a deep breath while feeling even more confused about everything, what he knew for sure was that they needed to get the cure and save Merlin.

Even though by what Fanny had just said they seem to be running out of time to save Merlin, but Arthur did his best to shake it off the dread feeling. Instead, Arthur just kept telling himself that Merlin would be alright, that somehow Merlin always came out of danger alright and he would again. Gwaine looked at Fanny and then back at Arthur, before walking by his king and dragging Fanny to her feet by her arm. "Arthur, we will get through this and we will get Merlin back. There is no way we are going to let Morgana win." Gwaine voice was calm and he hoped that Arthur took his words to heart, Fanny, however, let out a slight laugh but was dragged away before she could say anything else.

Arthur stood in the room alone for a moment, before he gathered his thoughts and headed to the gate where Gwen was waiting for him. When he finally arrived Gwen gave him a worried look, but he gave her a slight smile before he took his arm and they walked towards the panicked people. For a moment she stood there scanning the faces, when he looked into their eyes all he could see was fear, not only themselves but for their families as well.

"My people, I know that you are worried about the illness that is spreading throughout Camelot and how many people that it has already killed. I can tell you that we are doing all that we can to save them, thanks to the help of one man, I can tell you that we do have a cure. So please remain calm and we ask that those who can, please help with the sick and also help bring those who are sick here so once we have the cure made they can get it. This was the work of Magic! We must show those that we responsible for this that they will not win that as one we will survive and thrive." Once Arthur had made his speech to his people they all calmed down, slowly they disperse and went their separate ways.

Gwen and Arthur watch as some of the people headed over to where the sick were being tended, while the others got on their horses and rode out to small villages. Once there was no one in sight Arthur turned to face Gwen on his right side, when their eyes met she smiled at them. Though the moment was short lived when Maverick, Gwaine and Percival walked towards them with four horses walking behind. Two of the horses were black, while one was white and the last one being brown, on their horses' backs were their packs with their bedrolls and some food and water.

"I will go get my sword and Armor on and then we will leave right away, wait here I should only be a few moments." Arthur's voice was not in the same tone as it was when he address his people, instead it was in a low friendly tone. No one said anything in response to what he had just said, instead they nodded their heads in agreement and held onto their horses and Arthur's. Once everything was in agreement, Arthur and Gwen walked away from the group and headed to the bed chamber that they shared.

Once they arrived, Arthur quickly moved to the wardrobe and grabbed his armor, it had been polished just the way he liked it. When he was looking at it Arthur couldn't help but to picture Merlin sitting in the room polishing it, making the young king miss his friend even more. Gwen saw how troubled Arthur looked and walked over to him and placed her head on his shoulders, wanting to do all she can to help her husband. Feeling her touch again pulled him back from his thoughts, Arthur gazed down at her and placed his right hand over her left that was resting on the center of his chest.

"Arthur when you go out there, promise me that you will be careful and come back to me in one piece." Her voice was soft when she spoke, and without saying another word she took Arthur's armor from his hands and started to place it on him. While making sure that it secured so that way it doesn't slip to where it won't protect him, Gwen so much wanted him to return to her and their unborn child. Though it still was a bit of a shock that they were having a child, it was very hard to wrap her head around it but she was glad it happened.

Arthur helped with some of the straps that he could do while Gwen did the others, while she was working on getting everything in place he noticed that her hands were shaking. He stopped what he was doing and turned around so that he was facing her, before giving Gwen a long and passionate kiss. "There is nothing in this world that will stop me from coming home to you, when I do return, it will be with what we need to make a cure to save our people." As he spoke to his wife Arthur did his best to keep his tone as hopefully as possible, knowing that there was a chance they could fail.

Gwen stood there listening as she took in Arthur words, she knew that would do all he could to return to her, but there was a part of her that still worried about him. Her mind took her back to the time that Arthur went to hunt the Questing Beast with Merlin and his knights, it ended with Arthur returning bad hurt. Arthur had been bitten by the Questing Beast and poisoned and it took everything Gwen had to hold it together back then, so there was a part of her that it might happen again. But Gwen did her best to hide her fears from Arthur and walked over to the desk, before picking up his sword and bring it to him.

Arthur did his best to smile in a way that might comfort her, as he carefully took the sword from her hands and placed it in his sheath that was strapped to his left side. Once Arthur was sure that he had everything that he needed, he pulled Gwen into his arms and gave her another kiss before saying in a normal tone. "I'll be home as soon as I can with what we need for the cure, then we will get Merlin back so please don't worry, all will be back to normal soon. Tomorrow Merlin will walk into our chambers and trip over something, or forget our breakfast or be late as always." Gwen laughed as Arthur listed things Merlin did wrong at the same time it's what made him lovable, she took a deep breath and nodded her head.

With that Arthur gave her another kiss, before they walked back out to where they left Maverick, Gwaine and Percival. Arthur then climbed up onto his white horse with the others following suite, once everyone had mounted their horses the young king smiled at Gwen. Then Arthur, Gwaine, Percival and Maverick rode off towards the Forest of Silence, as Gwen watched them, she started to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. The bad feeling was telling her that something bad might happen, Arthur and the others were too far away for her to call to them.

There you are everyone, another chapter is up for your reading pleasure. I hope that you like it and thanks so much to all of those who are favouriting, following and reviewing this story, it makes me so happy to see that so many of you are enjoying it. I am looking forward to reading your thoughts on this chapter so please don't be shy and leave a review telling me what you thought. I will be working on the next chapter for this story and the next one and I try and get those done, as soon as I can.