A/N: Sorry, guys. I'm late to the update, aren't I? You know how it is. Life sometimes happens and time runs away. But I won't bore you: Here's a new chapter. Enjoy! And thank you all for the feedback :)

Chapter Ten: A New Quest

Gingerly, Arthur ran his hand over the side of Pomers' neck. The horse shuffled slightly. Pomers turned his neck and happily pushed his soft snout into Arthur's shoulder. With a stab in his heart, Arthur realized that the horse was all that was left to him of Camelot. That and the clothes on his back he'd escaped with. A deep sigh left Arthur. He wondered how everyone was back in Camelot. Worry cruelly clawing at him, Arthur ran his fingers over the destrier's back. At least he was slowly feeling better. The stab wound was much improved and Arthur had been able to leave his tent and walk around a bit. His gaze left his horse and wandered over to the Druid camp. The tents were crowded together as if seeking protection from each other. Here and there, Arthur could spy cooking fires. The Druids themselves were all dressed in the same bluish cloaks and kept their distance from Arthur. In fact, most of them threw him hostile looks when they saw him. The only ones he had conversed with were the healer and Menw. And both men made no secret of their dislike of Arthur. After a little more than three weeks in the camp, although Arthur had been conscious for barely half that time, they really needed to leave.

"I see you're not falling over your own feet anymore," a voice drawled.

Arthur turned and rolled his eyes as he spotted Gwaine. Wineskin in his hand, the knight leaned casually against a tree.

"Gwaine," Arthur greeted tersely.

He was grateful that the knight had shown up when he had. Still, Arthur couldn't help but feel bitter that Gwaine had left him. He had abandoned Camelot, his king, and his duties. Just so he could chase after a lost sorcerer. And Gwaine hadn't even found him. Not that Arthur wanted to know where exactly the sorcerer was. No.

"So?" Gwaine said. "What's your plan now?"

Arthur peered at the knight. Cuttingly, he said, "I didn't think you'd care at all. Didn't you leave my service months ago?"

A smirk crept on Gwaine's face and he shrugged at Arthur. "Doesn't mean I don't worry about the people of Camelot."

"Don't pretend you care about Camelot," Arthur said acridly. "You swore fealty to Camelot and her king, Sir Gwaine. How easily you broke your promise to your liege lord. Loyalty means nothing to you, does it?"

It wasn't fair. Still Arthur enjoyed the fury that erupted on the knight's face. He pushed away from the tree and stepped right into Arthur's personal space. Gwaine's hand hovered over the hilt of his sword as he glared at the king.

"You speak of loyalty?" the knight growled, fury bending his voice. "That's rich."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Arthur snarled.

"You are the one with no loyalty," Gwaine bellowed right into the king's face. "Merlin saved you and you threw him away like rubbish."

"He murdered Agravaine!"

"Agravaine was a traitor," the knight growled.

A lie. It had to be a lie. Yet, niggling doubts had invaded Arthur's thoughts since Morgana's scornful words. It were those doubts that now made his temper flare irately. Flashing his teeth in a snarl, the king grabbed Gwaine by the collar of his shirt and hissed,

"How would you know that?"

"Merlin told me," Gwaine sneered at him.

A hot wave of fury hit Arthur hard and he harshly pushed Gwaine away from his person. The knight instantly retaliated. Anger twisting his face, Gwaine grabbed Arthur by the shoulder and gave him a shake. Arthur felt pain flash through his stab wound at the abrupt movement. He didn't pay that any heed but instead seized Gwaine's arm, ready to exchange blows.

"Hey," a voice cut through their anger. "Stop."

Someone grabbed Gwaine by the arm and pulled the furious knight away from Arthur. Snarl on his face, Gwaine turned and almost punched Leon in the face.

"Stop it," Leon ordered. "What's wrong with you?"

"With me?!" Gwaine hissed. He furiously gestured at Arthur. "He's the one that messed everything up."

He violently wrenched free from Leon's grip. The other knight raised his hands in a gesture of peace.

"Okay," Leon tried to soothe. "How about we take this inside?"

Sure enough, some of the Druids had noticed the commotion and stared at Arthur and the two knights. His temper still seethed, but Arthur acquiesced,

"You're right. Let's not discuss this here."

Without another word, he turned and strode towards his tent. After a moment, Arthur heard steps following him. As he stalked through the Druid camp, he could feel their eyes following him. Suspiciously, vengefully, fearfully, the Druids watched him. Arthur saw a Druid woman grab her young child and hastily pull it away, away from Arthur and to safety. Another swoop of annoyance hit the king. What did they expect? That he should pull his dagger and attack their children? A memory of another Druid camp and a dead boy threatened to bubble up in him. Arthur hastily pushed that away. If their fear was well-founded, that only served to pique his already fragile temper further. They had chosen magic. Everybody knew it was the path to the devil. It wasn't Arthur's fault.

Not my fault…

Pasting a glare to his face, Arthur stomped into his tent. He crossed it and flopped down at the table. Gwaine and Leon entered the tent while Arthur reached for the jug with wine. Not looking at them, he poured himself a cup. The wine burned in his throat as he gulped it down.

"Easy, there," Gwaine scoffed and plopped down on a chair.

Arthur threw him a lethal glare and slammed the cup back down on the table, spilling red wine. Leon sighed softly as the other two men once again started to glower at each other.

"We should really focus on the problem at hand," Leon tried to reason.

"You can focus all you want," Gwaine sneered. "Arthur here needs nothing short of a miracle to gain back Camelot."

Temper flaring dangerously, Arthur disparaged, "Of course, you'd give up without even trying."

Gwaine barked out a sharp laugh and threw Arthur a derisive look. "You probably don't give a rat's arse, but for your information, I spent the last months trying to find Merlin. After you gave up on him."

That name alone sent a spike of something hot and sick right through Arthur. Close to anger, but not quite. His fingers tightened around his cup and he hissed, "That man is a sorcerer! He lied to me. He betrayed Camelot. Who knows what he'd been planning."

"Merlin saved your sorry behind," Gwaine sneered. "And you thanked him by trying to kill him."

Arthur opened his mouth to snap something in return, but Leon cut over him. Curtly, the knight said, "I understand that Merlin is a point of contention, but I suggest that, for now, we do not dwell on it. My Lord, the people of Camelot need our assistance."

Leon's level-headed manner managed to sober Arthur up. The grip on his cup loosened and his anger deflated. In its stead slithered the tight feeling of worry. The king exchanged a short look with Gwaine. Indignation still whirled in the knight's eyes, but the same worry flittered over his expression. The anger had bled from Gwaine's voice, as he said,

"I won't change my mind on Merlin, but I suppose Leon isn't wrong here." He shrugged and added, "It still stands, though, if you want to regain Camelot it's not gonna be easy."

"Morgana won't relinquish her grip without a fight, that's for sure," Leon threw a look at Arthur and suggested, "We might be successful in rallying our allies. Nemeth and Gawant would support Camelot."

Gwaine nodded, pensive look on his face. "You could also go to Queen Annis. She's helped Camelot before, right?"

Arthur leaned back in his chair. Absentmindedly, his hand brushed over his left side where, under his tunic, the bandage covered his wound. He gazed down at the red wine in his cup while his thoughts wandered back to the day he'd lost Camelot. He could still see Percival's clouded eyes as he'd swung his poleaxe at him. There had been no emotion on Guinevere's face when she'd raised her dagger.

"We can't do that," Arthur whispered.

"What do you mean, my Lord?" Leon frowned at him. "We need help. You have allies."

The royal raked his fingers through his golden hair. His thoughts were swirling through his head and Arthur did not at all like where they were headed. He glanced at Leon and replied quietly,

"You've seen Morgana's spell, the hold she has over Camelot's citizens."

"What do you mean?" Gwaine asked, frown creasing up his forehead.

Arthur sighed deeply and took a sip from his wine. Shadows of a plan formed in front of him and he felt sick just considering it. Arching his eyebrows, he told his knights,

"If we get Nemeth's and Gawant's or even Caerleon's help, and we march with an army on Camelot, what do you think will happen?" He put his hands on the table and leaned towards the men. Voice firm, he answered his own question, "We will feed even more men into Morgana's following. What stops her to cast her spell again and enchant Nemeth's soldiers? All our allies? The only thing we'd have accomplished is increase the size of Morgana's army."

Leon paled and stared at Arthur while a groan fell from Gwaine's mouth. Wordlessly, he reached for the jug of wine, filled himself a cup, and downed it in one go.

"Damn it," Gwaine hissed, eyes glinting with anger. "When you're right, you're fucking right, Princess."

"It's even worse," Arthur said. "I fear that that is exactly Morgana's plan."

Leon's tensed and breathed, "You mean… She plans to expand her realm?"

The king nodded, grave look on his face. "Ultimately, yes. Either she's going to use her magic to coerce more and more people to follow her. Or she'll simply use the Saxons and Camelot's army to conquer the other kingdoms. One after the other, they will fall. In the end, that must be her plan."

Leon slumped back in his chair, face ashen. Gwaine cursed under his breath and poured himself another wine. Worry swimming in Leon's eyes, he peered at Arthur.

"Then, what can we do? Morgana needs to be stopped."

Arthur released a long breath of air. The plan spun through his head and despite how much he wished it wasn't true, he just couldn't think of any alternative. Arthur needed to free Camelot from Morgana's clutches. Not only Camelot, all of Albion was in danger. He'd wrecked his brain, but there just was one course of action left. So it was with much reluctance, that Arthur said,

"I need to find Emrys and speak with him."

Leon's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Sire?"

"What we're facing here is magic. How can we ever hope to fight that with swords?" Arthur pressed his lips into a thin line. "If what Menw said is true, Emrys is powerful enough to break Morgana's magic."

"I- I see…" Leon stuttered, looking shell-shocked. "But… Are you sure? He's a sorcerer."

"Believe me, I know." Arthur crinkled his nose. "If you have a better idea, I'm all ears."

The knight just looked at Arthur and slowly shook his head. For whatever reason, this had managed to lift Gwaine's mood considerably. He held his wine cup and a grin curled the corners of his mouth as he eyed Arthur.

"So let me get this straight," said Gwaine. "You want to ask Emrys to help you?"

Amusement, as if from a joke that Arthur wasn't privy to, danced in the man's eyes. The king furrowed his brow. Slowly, he replied,

"I don't have much of a choice here."

Gwaine barked out a laugh. "And you think he'd want to help you?"

Now Arthur worried his bottom lip. That was the crux of it. He had no idea. Maybe that whole story Menw had told them wasn't more than a fairy tale. Arthur raked his fingers through his golden hair, mussing it up. Even if he existed, Emrys was a sorcerer. He would have no reason to help or even trust the king of Camelot. To recruit the help of a sorcerer would not be easy. Hypocrite, Arthur cursed himself. As it was, though, he would do anything to save his people.

"Maybe," the king finally sighed. "I haven't met the man before. I'd have to talk with him. But could he be convinced to help? I don't know."

"Hm."

Gwaine leaned back in his seat and didn't comment further. Leon finally poured himself a cup with wine and took a sip, pensive look on his face. Then he reminded softly,

"We'd still have to find Emrys first. Any idea where he might be hiding?"

Another flaw in this insane operation of his. Arthur groaned and let his head sag down to the table.

"No. None."

"Menw wasn't very forthcoming either, was he?" Leon hummed.

"Well, this whole thing doesn't seem to be a sound plan at all," Gwaine supplied. "If you want to even call this a plan."

Unfortunately, Gwaine was right and Arthur had no good comeback. Forehead still pressing against the table top, Arthur blindly fumbled for his cup with wine.

"Seriously," Gwaine drawled. "You really are a prat."

He pushed the cup into Arthur's searching hand. Arthur only grunted in response. Reluctantly, he raised his head and nipped from his wine. Gwaine rolled his eyes at his antics.

"Luckily for you," the knight said. "I am not a prat but quite charming."

Arthur swallowed the wine and peered sceptically up at Gwaine. "What are you going on about now?"

Gwaine flashed him his white teeth in a smirk and replied haughtily. "As I was just saying. Unlike you, I'm a very charming man. And I so happen to have spent some time earlier with two very pretty Druid girls."

"Urg," Arthur exclaimed, pulling a face. "I really don't need to hear that."

"Not like that," Gwaine waved his concerns away with a lazy hand. "I was talking with them."

"Okay…?"

Gwaine took a gulp from his wine and, easy grin on his face, he told them, "So, I was asking them about Emrys, right?"

Arthur sat up straighter, attention focusing on the knight. Leon leaned in a bit closer as well as the other knight continued smugly,

"They told me the same old story we'd heard from Menw before. Emrys is protecting the Once and Future King. Yadda yadda. Then I asked them how we can find Emrys. They couldn't tell where he is either. But they said that if someone was trying to contact Emrys, their best bet would be going to the Lake of Avalon."

Arthur's face scrunched up. "The Lake of Avalon? What is that?"

"It's apparently a very strong place of magic," Gwaine supplied, entirely unhelpful.

"Great," the king said in exasperation. "Strong magic. My favourite thing."

Gwaine shrugged. "The Druid girls said a water sprite lives there and that she might know where Emrys is."

Arthur's fingers fiddled with the cup in his hand and he couldn't help but feel frustrated. Nothing could ever be easy, could it? A water sprite? Really? Annoyance to his tone, he drawled,

"And did your little girlfriends tell you where we might find that lake at all? Because I've never heard of it before."

"Well…" Gwaine furrowed his brow in contemplation. "Not really, no."

Arthur stared at the knight over his cup of wine. Then he replied, sarcasm bending his words, "Isn't that nice? And here I thought you were a friend of solid plans."

"We don't have any other lead, do we?" Leon mused reasonably.

The king's gaze wandered to his first knight. Reluctantly, he said, "I suppose not. But how to you suggest we find that elusive lake?"

"If we assume the lake's somewhere in Camelot," Leon mused. "We'll just have to ask around. The closer we get, the more likely it is that we'll find people who've heard of it."

Arthur's face scrunched up in displeasure. This sounded like a very high-risk plan with no guarantee of success. Voice tight, the royal said, "If we go asking around openly, sooner or later word will go back to Morgana."

"Yes," Leon admitted, not looking happy with this either. "I'd honestly rather not take the risk. But if not even the Druids know how to get to Emrys, this might be our only chance."

"I don't like this," Arthur sighed. He peered at Gwaine. "Are you sure Emrys could be found by that lake?"

The knight shrugged and said, "Probably a dead end to be honest. But it's all we got."

Arthur heaved a long breath of air. He felt the strong urge to throw his cup at Gwaine's head, but he refrained. Instead, he gently placed the cup back on the table. He really didn't want to, but in the end, he had to decide,

"Fine. We will try finding the Lake of Avalon."

Leon gave him a curt nod, grave look on his face. Surprisingly, though, Gwaine nodded as well. Arthur frowned at him.

"You're coming as well? I thought you wanted to find…" He gestured with his hand dismissively.

"Merlin?" Gwaine suggested coldly.

Arthur nodded. "Yes. Him. What about that?"

The knight shrugged and said airily, "I haven't given up on that. But I think I should help you with this Emrys business. I don't want to let down the people of Camelot."

Arthur scanned the man suspiciously. In the end, though, ulterior motive or not, Arthur did really need all the help he could get. So, he opened his mouth and decided,

"Fine. We'll leave tomorrow at first light."

.+.