Arthur
Arthur couldn't get a wink of sleep that night and spent it staring at the fire, when he heard a crunch behind him and he turned his head to find Elyan staring off into the woods before walking over.
"If I had stayed with her…" trailed off Elyan guiltily staring out into the forest still.
"We can't blame ourselves," said Arthur, "I'm as much to blame as you, I should have defended her better she is my Wife after all, and the love of my life,"
"She raised me, you wouldn't understand,"
"I do,"
"I don't know what I would be if it wasn't for her, I can't explain,"
"You don't have to," said Arthur, putting his arm around Elyan and leading him back towards camp. Eventually the two fell asleep though it wasn't for long when everyone but Arthur who had not fallen asleep yet and Gwaine jolted awake in a scream waking up the few remaining others still sleeping.
"It's alright," said Elyan, going over to Leon trying to comfort him.
"The tower. Everything in its shadow. . .was dead. The sound it was like. . . like children screaming..." said Leon trailing off before someone picked off where he left it.
"The rain that fell was like blood. I had the same dream. I was lost in a forest, the trees had claws, and when I finally escaped it there was a plain. . ." said Percival, still shocked.
"Empty as far as the eye can see, except. . ." continued Elyan.
"Beyond the skyline there was a black pillar of stone," added Leon.
"The tower was so dark, it could swallow the sun," confirmed Percival.
"The dark tower. It's a place where every young knight is taught to dread and highly so. It's where many have met their end," said Arthur knowing what they were talking about as he nearly groaned, why did every single thing have to have 20 rows of spikes in front of them?
"I've never heard of it," said Gwaine, who had done a lot of traveling.
"With good reason. It's said that the mere mention of it can bring doom to those that hear it," said Arthur as the air seemed tense as they looked at each other.
"Well, let's not mention it again. I was having a dream of eating a cheese that tasted like apple pie. Anyone else had that dream?" said Gwaine breaking the tension before adding, "Well you're all missing out," as the others began looking at him weird and falling back asleep and the others followed suit while Elyan and Arthur had another chat about the situation.
"Why would they both have that dream?" questioned Arthur as Elyan seemed to be thinking of an explanation, this was the times he missed his manservent even if he was an incompetent clotpole most of the time, he always had some crazy idea to try to make sense of things that somehow seemed to be correct.
"The poison, it must be still coursing through their veins," said Arthur, it dawning on him and turning towards Elyan.
"But the same dream?"
"Elyan, Morgana conjured those snakes, Leon and Percival would be dead if she wanted that," said Arthur, continuing and Elyan getting a look of realization on his face.
"She planted those visions in their minds. It's a trap, she is luring you to your doom," finished Elyan before adding grimly, "The tower... that's where she's taken Guinevere,"
Merlin also had not been able to sleep that night with the dripping of Mandrake Root splattering everywhere including in his mouth when he had almost dozed off and had to spit it out.
Somewhere else in the tower Guinevere was having similar problems, visions already starting to dance before her though never quite doing anything… yet.
"I've decided to journey to the Dark Tower, it is my belief that Guinevere and Merlin are imprisoned there," said Arthur as the knights began waking up, "I don't know what horrors may be waiting there, so I'll travel alone,"
"No," said Elyan without a hint of hesitation.
"I'm sorry, I have made my decision,"
"You can't stop me Arthur, she is my sister," declared Elyan obviously not backing down.
"Nor me either, Gwen is our Queen and Merlin is our friend," said Percival and Leon at the same time.
"She is a maiden in a tower, a damsel in distress, I was born for this moment," grinned Gwaine slightly, his humor took the edge off of most especially when Merlin wasn't around to cheer them up.
They all nodded in agreement before taking off on their horses going through meadows and forests before stopping at the cliff overlooking the Impenetrable Forest.
"The Dark Tower," said Arthur grimly staring out at the place holding his wife and best friend, not that he would ever admit that to Merlin.
"How do we get to it?" questioned Percival looking down at the forest below.
"Through the Impenetrable Forest," I replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world, though honestly I was getting pretty good at beating the odds of well… impossible. I had slayed a dragon, came back from the perilous lands alive, and survived the Questing Beasts bite which was said to be impossible among other things.
"But its-"
"Impenetrable," finished Gwaine for the other knight.
"We can't possibly go through there," said Leon, voicing his doubts once more.
"We must," said Arthur, "Besides I survived the Perilous Lands and they weren't so Perilous, we can very well get through a forest can't we?"
"I believe you almost died? If it wasn't for-" snickered Gwaine.
"Well even if I did, how would you know? You weren't even there," hissed Arthur, sending Gwaine a look.
"Whatever you say, Princess,"
I groaned at the nickname but the banter didn't seem the same without Merlin as we continued our journey through the Impenetrable Forest's that was densely packed with vines, hoping to find our way out. Slashing through the vines as we kept walking.
Gwaine was making a real mess of it as he was not used to going through forests like this and was slashing randomly around causing scene making the others stare at him once again, "Keep going,"
As they kept going for what seemed like days and the others were getting worn down Arthur was still going on as strong as ever just in desperation for it to be done when there was a loud cracking noise behind him, as he turned he saw that Percival's sword had broken in half.
"Blunt anyways," shrugged Percival, dropping his old sword and getting a new sword from Leon.
"Don't stop," I commanded them, still wanting to get there as fast as possible.
"We have lost the path," said Percival, driely continuing to slash at the plants.
"Just keep heading North,"
"How do we know which way is North?" called out Gwaine still struggling to get through the vines.
"The ivy. Pale leaves face south, dull leaves face north." I stated gesturing around to the vines of leaves before continuing onwards as Gwaine picked some up and examined them before thrusting them away.
Soon a bit of hope flared in all of us when we came across another ridge, where they could see the Dark Tower ahead of them though it was still a ways off, "We should be there by sundown, let's pick up the pace" proclaimed Arthur optimistically.
Morgana
Morgana listened to the screams of her two former friends as she ate dinner, she was already becoming used to blocking out the sounds of the Mandrake Roots, after all they could do no real harm to her down here.
She could hear both of their screams from a mile away honestly if anything that was what was going to lead Arthur towards them, they both had a different sound to them though.
Gwen's sounded what most people sounded like, a pleading begging voice for escape which she heard when she held her ear to the door, basically where their were terrifying figures and it was delightful to hear.
Merlin didn't scream as much actually, he begged and cried out but never full on shrieked, which she couldn't tell whether or not showed he was stronger than Gwen, what it did show was Merlin had experienced something or perhaps multiple things that caused this.
Because what he was responding to sounded like actual things that happened, when the conscious can't come up with enough painful things it has done to haunt you it will make things up usually in the sound of laughing and sneering.
Merlin's was different though, and she wanted to know exactly what it was that he was so guilty or afraid of, afterall it could be powerful knowledge in the future.
She heard their scared cries throughout the night though and allowed that to soothe her to sleep, maybe tomorrow she could check on her favorite prisoners who must have been having the time of their lives.