Lurking in the wood, Morgause was keeping a careful eye on the wagon as the leaves fell around her. it wasn't the season for them to darken and crisp to the ground, but wherever the prince and his company led with Elaina in tow the surroundings were influenced by her depleting health. This wasn't unheard of among powerful sorceresses and that included grimoires as well it seemed, or at least one as talented as Elaina.

Above them the clouds hadn't lifted from their grey colouring, though it was well into the day and the sun should be shining, making it seem no different than when it had been night upon the land. If Morgause closed her eyes, she swore to hear the song of a nightingale calling, a symbol of darkness to which they must escape less it closes in on Elaina and she too succumbs to its song and taken under its wing to be fully enwrapped in the night forevermore.

It would be a cold wing to envelop and lift her to the plain the dead should go after this life and Morgause found that despite her decision, all she could do was bid them onwards in their journey.

Quickly she had figured out where they were heading and was actually impressed at the sorcerer's knowledge about the sacred lake and it would go without saying that the lake carried a warning, and not just known for its tranquillity if only arriving as an observer.

From observation, it seemed the scarred man was keeping that information to himself as any normal person would question him about how sure he was in seeing the plan to completion.

Here Morgause stood as a sister and even she would not go to the same lengths as he was...

What was interesting was that it seemed Arthur could still give his ear to those with ancient knowledge when it suited and benefited him, which was what he had done with her when she had promised a glimpse at his mother and to share in a conversation. Morgause sniggered, as he wasn't then too different from Uther after all as if she needed further reassurance of that fact.

However, in this circumstance she would not hold it against the prince.

She of course had refused to help, knowing full well that with Elaina gone, a hinderance to her plans would die with her. A battle was flickering in the smoulders of a conscious that she has wanted to wither away for years and that wishfulness has done her good to get to the point in which she stands now, but since the involvement of her sisters in her life, she could feel a battle inside her between priestess and woman. Morgause's nature wanted to see Elaina be snuffed out as she would any enemy, but as a sister she was holding back from the emotion of wanting to charge down there and take Elaina within her arms to the lake herself.

And yet she knew even then, she was not willing to pay the price once she got to the destination. Anger flared as she felt like the monster she was often labelled as due to the coldness of her character, which she thought played into what Uther envisioned of those with magic and what she despised him for, so now that she was proving him true, she didn't know who to hate more, him or herself.

She would not take an active role in preserving Elaina and it was a straightforward enough plan, yet some things still managed to surprise Morgause and the tinkling laughter of a child was enough to do just that.

Quickly she scanned the forest with her horse reacting to the noise as well and then she spotted them in the distance. She had to squint to be certain it was no woodland fairy or troll, because an average child would not be able to travel these roads.

However, that shade of rich brown hair and the dainty brows and strong jaw; Morgause's heart leapt and she almost sent the horse into a gallop after the girl, but she resisted. This was no real child but by whose making, the forests or another source is what she questioned and why.

Mesmerized as she hopped on grass mounts in nothing but tiny slippers, the girl must not be any older than perhaps five or six, as she seemed to just be losing the roundness that lingered after infancy. She seemed to be making a good game to occupy herself, still jumping away like a frog in the slick grass. Morgause nearly shouted a warning in case she fell, almost falling for the illusion.

She supposed whatever they were meant to do, they would fulfil that purpose but that did not include the priestess and so, she turned her horse homewards. Although not even she could deny that the sight of that little girl will remain with her.

"you know what I can't wrap my head around," Arthur suddenly announced during the silence the solemn trio had been travelling in, with some sort of comfort because with Edwin among them, neither the prince nor servant had really known what to talk about. Especially when there was virtually a corpse in the wagon too, making it a good mixture of awkwardness.

Merlin scrunched his face in confusion which sometimes put Arthur in mind of a rodent, even down to the twitching of his nose like Merlin was trying to sniff out the answer, while his front teeth were bared with a curled lip.

"what," he asked groggily, tired from the boredom of the journey more than anything, having been twirling a loose thread on his sleeve for hours it seemed with his only amusement being the hit he gave Edwin, that had seen Arthur seethe with jealousy. From Camelot's gate to the present, nothing much had happened which wasn't really how these trips usually went and he was surprised to be expecting and wishing it almost, just to shake things up.

Arthur cleared his throat while giving the reigns another little whip to urge the horses on, "I know these forests and these roads probably better than most. A king must know his surroundings my father taught me and I have also travelled them more times than I care to count. However, we have not ventured too far out from Camelot's borders with the time spent travelling and yet every turn and every inch of dirt we've upturned, I have not recognised any of it. How?"

Arthur had tossed the concern over his shoulder to where Edwin still sat with his hood drawn up. The rain continued to patter around them, a mist settling in so the view beyond the wagon was not great, but it had not mattered to Edwin. He just continued to throw commands on what directions to take without a look at the road.

To Arthur this was a risky thing when they had so few hours left to get to the lake and they needed to be precise with no missteps in order to make it in time, because having to turn back would cost them valuable minutes and hours they did not have spare to keep Elaina's heart beating.

However Edwin did not need his eyes to see, but a statement like that would not be enough of an explanation when the prince proceeded to wear this armour of ignorance and would need to be spoon fed.

"places like this are hidden for its protection, like I told you," Edwin began to explain, with merlin listening earnestly as well, "Many have tried to find the lake and many have failed. You must have a gift to look through the ancient illusion spells cast, which mirror the surroundings and therefore make the roads we have travelled on all but disappear. This sight, I can channel with my mind's eye with help from my father's amulet. You on the other hand, let me guess after a few blinks of me telling you where to go the roads suddenly just appear."

Arthur grunted finding out the reason his head was throbbing with his eyes adjusting to what wasn't there and hours of convincing himself he had been going mad.

"your father's amulet, what does that do?" Merlin chirped in, remembering that since the day he had met Edwin he had always worn it. A long silver chain that held a circular piece of Celtic jewellery patterned like a flowers face with pearls.

Seems Edwin was always busy with his hands, fiddling with things, which was one-way Elaina figured out who he was when they reunited. The other habit of his was that he stoked the face of the amulet to draw strength from it and in some ways to draw his father's spirit forth when he did.

"it was his final token to me on the day of his execution. It amplifies a person's magic and helps focus their energy better so their spell casting is more efficient. Without it I might not be as good a sorcerer or healer that I give myself credit for being."

When they had planned to run away from the Camelot guards that fateful night of their deaths, Edwin's father had ushered it over Edwin's head when his son had been abruptly awakened from his sleep in their haste. It was an action that told Edwin now that his father knew that he was going to die alongside his mother and that Gregor needed to pass this heirloom onto his only child, to help protect and govern his powers.

It had served him well.

"…I'm sorry about that, by the way. what happened to your parents and the aftermath of leaving you behind. I don't expect you to accept it, since I would not accept it if you apologised for trying to kill my father but nonetheless, I am sorry for your parent's deaths at his hands."

When the dust settled after what Edwin had inflicted on Camelot all those years ago, Gaius shared everything with Arthur about the man's history when he questioned him. Arthur hadn't approved of his actions, but he understood why he had been driven to such lengths having not long put his father at sword point, when he believed him responsible for his own mother's death.

Uther would never view things this way, but on his behalf, Arthur did do a little good in his father's name hoping it would polish and take the edge off of some of his sins as the blackened mass of them enlarging the kings shadow terrified Arthur. It was a weight that can only carry you downwards when you reach the end of your tether, while someone of a clean conscious and did only good like Elaina, will surely fly.

Edwin was astounded a prince would dare utter the words, but also the genuine remorse behind them when he spoke was what truly shook him to the core. He wanted to throw back that an apology was meaningless when the culprit of the crime continued to commit the cause of grievance, but it wasn't Uther but Arthur, telling Edwin that the boy knew the wrong in his father's actions and was brave enough to admit it in some form or another. It meant that Arthur could acknowledge the pain Edwin had carried and want to remedy it, even by just a drop of the years' worth of grovelling he was owed by Uther.

It felt similar to the sympathies Elaina gave him, enough that it didn't make him wallow from the pity that can follow apologies turning it sour in robbing him of the courage he had to bear the pain and move on.

'Arthur is not his father,' Elaina's motto repeated in his head.

His thumb again touched his father's amulet and in doing so he could see their next turning and their journey was drawing to an end with an hour or two more… but there was something else waiting for them there.

Hunched on the side of the road, a boulder was his first thought but then they do not move and a list of all sort of magical creatures were sorted through less any were dangerous. Only the very last thing he expected strangely enough, was a human girl.

"Wait Arthur, stop!"

Confused, Arthur did what Edwin demanded purely because of the shock in his eyes and he put a hand to his weapon as it inspired this sort of urgency.

"what is it Edwin?!"

Truth be told, Arthur had been waiting on another run in with the bandits or even Morgause herself as she was the one, he blamed for all this and she always liked to make an appearance in her schemes rather than let others do her dirty work for too long. Only Edwin jumped out the wagon and ran around the bend they had been approaching, giving cause for merlin and Arthur to pursue him as the trust between them and him was still paper thin. When they found him, he hadn't made it too far and was just stood still staring off at what they too were eyeing.

All three stood in a row, puffing for breath while before them a little girl stared back with an amused smile.

Her lips were rose red, wearing dainty slippers and a green silk dress which matched her emerald eyes, they blinked with a full long set of thick lashes that defined her eyes all the more. Her skin was warm like a peach and blushed with a pink hue to her round cheeks, while there was a scattering of freckles across her sweet face. In her hands, she held a few flowers that came out with the root in tow from the rough tug she must have given them, staining her dress where the plant brushed her skirts.

Seeing them, she suddenly threw back her head and let out a piercing laugh, "Ha! Edwin, I found you."

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