2 years, it had been 2 years since Rose had escaped by the Sarrum, it was horrible she spent 1 year in his dungeon with Morgana and Aithusa the little white dragon who was unrecognizable now. She had been knocked out on her way to get Mordred to go to Camelot, but she never made it there. She had come around in Sarrum's dungeon her hands chained above her, Morgana next to her. It was a blur, they'd get fed, then they'd sit around all day. Sometimes they would speak to each other a lot to pass the time and it was horrible. It was horrible and dark; it was like a living grave. Morgana had tried to get the Sarrum to let Rose and Aithusa go and keep her, but he was using her a bargaining chip. If Morgana misbehaved, then Rose would get punished.
The worst thing about it too was Aithusa was growing and would become deformed and would bleed a lot and his bones would break. Rose did her best to ease the dragon's suffering, but it was no good. Day went into weeks and weeks went into months and months went into a year but sometimes it would feel like they were in days. It was such a weird feeling. Rose had a few full memories from that time due to how much she had blocked out the memories. She believed something happened to her one of the days because she has no memory of it whatsoever, but she felt empty for the rest of the time so something traumatic had happened. Morgana wouldn't tell her but would comfort her a lot more and her dress had been changed at some point, but she couldn't remember it happening. When she had returned Camelot, she was covered in wounds and scars from her time in the living grave. It took her a year to get back to some kind of normal. She couldn't speak about it much, so Arthur and the rest of them except Merlin and Gaius only knew that she was taken by someone using her as bait for Morgana but not about Aithusa neither did he know it was the Sarrum but there had been rumours.
Rose was walking along side Gwen down the corridor and her maid was walking behind them, they had gone for walk to get some fresh air. When she returned to Camelot, she had been put on bed rest for a few months so as soon as she had been able to get out of bed she would go for walks with Gwen and it had become a routine. She loved spending time with Gwen and would spend a lot of time with her at times.
"We are late for the round table meeting" said Rose.
"Don't worry about it, Arthur won't care" said Gwen. They got to the stairs which lead to the round table room everyone was gathered at the bottom waiting around for them.
"Are you capable of anything" asked Arthur speaking to Merlin.
"Putting up with you" said Merlin. Rose sniggered at that comment and Gwen cleared her throat and everyone looked around at her.
"Sorry we're late" said Gwen.
"Late, not at all" said Arthur looking at them both. They walked down the stairs and met Arthur at the bottom. Rose changed her position, so she was on Arthur's other side. She walked in alongside them and sat down the other side of Gaius. She knew what the meeting was about it was to do with the missing knights. Arthur stood up and started to address the table.
"Noble Knights of Camelot, countrymen, friends. I welcome you to this meeting of the Round Table. For three long years, we have been blessed with peace and prosperity. But now, it seems a shadow has been cast across our lands" said Arthur he took breath and continued "Sir Gwaine set off for Ismere some six weeks ago. With him went three score of our finest men. There has been no word from them since, at my request, Sir Elyan and the lady Rose led a search party to the wastelands of the north. They found no trace of Gwaine or his men. It is as if they have vanished from the face of the Earth".
The meeting carried on and they arranged the search party to start the next day at dawn. Everyone was dismissed and, a small group went to Arthur's room to talk about the journey. This meeting had Gwen, Arthur, Elyan, Merlin, Rose and Gaius present at it, a map was spread against the table.
"We know Gwaine and his men crossed the pass, here, at Isulfor. But beyond that, there was no trace. The trail went cold" said Elyan.
"Literally, it was freezing there, very snowy" said Rose. She got a few smiles and a few laughs for her jokes.
"What of this story that the fortress of Ismere has been occupied once more? Is it true?" said Arthur. Elyan and Rose looked at each nervously, everyone they asked had told them it was Morgana; however, she didn't know what Morgana was up to because she was in the mood of telling her she was better off without her.
"There were many rumours, sire" said Elyan.
"One name keeps getting mentioned, Morgana" said Rose. Everyone looked nervous at the thought of Morgana which was to be honest was very justified after everything that happened with the whole taking over Camelot and getting stronger every day.
Morgana had sent Rose back Camelot and told her they couldn't communicate because she was better off without her which broke her heart, it wasn't Morgana's fault it was the Sarrum's fault.
"Then we have no time to lose" said Arthur. He turned to face Rose and looked at her "have you heard from her lately?".
"No, however I can get into her mindset and if we go ahead with this we could be walking into a trap" said Rose.
"Rose is right sire, you could be walking into a trap" said Gaius seriously.
"The Knights of Camelot do not abandon their own" said Arthur. Rose nodded at that and smiled at him.
"Morgana knows that, she'll be waiting for you" said Gaius.
"We have to save them, they'd do the same for us" said Rose it was true both Percival and Gwaine were so selfless they'd lay down their lives in a heartbeat and didn't deserve whatever Morgana was doing because she was livid and angry from everything that had happened.
"Rose is right, these men bleed for me" said Arthur.
"May I make a suggestion, you approach Ismere from a different route, go from the west" said Gwen. "Through Annis's lands" asked Arthur.
"It would certainly take Morgana by surprise" said Gaius.
"Would Annis's grant us a safe passage with so many armed knights" asked Arthur.
"I believe she would sire" said Leon. Rose smiled and nodded before remembering something about Morgana that needed to be noted.
"But we do need to keep in mind she is a seer, so if this future is too strong then she will know about it" said Rose.
We will keep that in mind, dispatch a rider immediately, we'll follow at dawn" said Arthur. Rose smiled and nodded "remember if we are to succeed, this has to be a secret". Everyone agreed with this and nodded. Merlin seemed anxious and walked out the room with a crash, Rose ran over to see what happened. Sefa the maid and Merlin were cleaning up apples. She smirked before walking down the corridor.
She went to her chambers to get ready for the mission. She packed her weapons, her shield and her potions that she had to take, Gaius would batch make them for her so when she went on knight patrol's she could take them with her, she packed enough to last 6 days because that was how long it was probably going to take. She went across to window to see if she had any letters, but she never did these days, the odd one from Kara every so often but nothing else. Rose had not seen, heard or spoken to Mordred in 3 years. After she had escaped the dungeon with Morgana, she had been bed bound to start of with and because of this it had been even longer until she could tell Mordred what had happened. She had attempted to write but heard nothing back. So, she had journeyed to Ealdor with Gwaine to see if he was there, but he had gone. Hunnith had told her he gone to find her, and Kara had gone to druid camp not that far away from Ealdor. Mordred could be dead for all she knew. That broke her heart the fact he could be dead, and he must have thought the worst to begin with because it wasn't for months until they all realised, she was missing. Rose finished off her packing and walked across to the window and watched the people in the square before walking across to her bed and going to sleep forgetting to take her sleeping draft. She began to dream and flashback to her returning to Camelot.
Rose, Morgana and Aithusa were sat in the dungeon, everything hurt and she didn't know how long it had been yet as every day felt weird at times it felt like years had passed but sometimes it felt like days. Aithusa's head was on Rose's lap and she would stroke her head as she cried and shrieked in pain as he grew. Morgana was sat next to her asleep.
"Morgana, so I know that my dress was changed, and I have an empty feeling that I don't understand, what can't I remember" asked Rose desperately at this point though she had asked the question a few times.
"You have blanks in your memory because you have been through some traumatic stuff, I can't tell you what happened" said Morgana. The window was opened, and the light was dazzling causing her to frown, the dragon let out a horrible cry. Bread was chucked down to them and they shut the hatch.
Rose looked up and noticed the light coming through a crack, they hadn't shut it properly. She looked across to Morgana. Morgana snapped their chains with magic. She then stood up for the first time in ages and immediately fell down again feeling hot pain in her legs, Morgana caught her.
"Aithusa fly up and meet us at the top" said Rose in the dragon tongue. The poor little thing stretched his wings as best he could., and he flew up knocking the gate with him. Rose got hold of Morgana and readied her magic.
"Aswindan ae outside" said Rose. She shut her eyes and the flying sensation happened and they landed in the fresh air of outside the dungeon. They looked around and saw that they were outside a massive castle structure. Rose landed on her feet and so did Morgana. She ignored the flaring hot pain she felt in her legs and they ran.
The three of them ran blasting anyone that bothered them. They got to the woods. They ran until they got to a clearing.
"Where even were we?" asked Morgana.
"Wherever the Sarrum is king for, to be honest I could go back and kill him, what are we going to do now" said Rose.
"You are going back to Camelot, you are better off without me, all of this was my fault" said Morgana. Rose shook her head but stopped as it caused her pain.
"No, it was the Sarrum's he had us locked up, I will go back to Camelot, but I am not losing you, look after Aithusa for me" said Rose.
"You are better off without me" said Morgana, she got a grip on Aithusa and disappeared in front of her eyes. Rose stared at where she had just been and felt her legs give way.
"O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!" said Rose into the sky. Kilghara came flying down to where she was and stared at her in horror with his golden eyes.
"Young one what has happened to you" said Kilghara.
"A nasty king took me prisoner used me as bait and punishment for Morgana and I just escaped; I need your help" said Rose.
"I can see that, come here, I cannot heal you because they need to see what this king has done" said Kilghara. She got up slowly and with his help, she climbed on Kilghara. She held on tight as he flew through the air. She smiled when she saw Camelot in the distance. Tears pricked her eyes and Kilghara landed in the field near Camelot. She gently slid down and hugged his leg.
"Thank you" said Rose.
"I am glad that you are safe, I have spent the last year looking for you, if I had known you where you were I would have done something" said Kilghara the sorrow in his face was there and she stayed stood up.
"I hold you no ill will" said Rose. Kilghara nodded before flying up into the sky. Rose walked towards Camelot. Her legs hurt, her back was stinging, and everything just felt wrong. She felt weird being back in the normal world and in the open.
Rose carried on walking and eventually she heard horses come on the path behind her.
"Are you in need of assistance" asked Gwaine's voice from behind her. She nearly cried at the familiarity of the voice. She turned around and looked at her fellow knights, the knights she didn't think she was going to see again. Gwaine, Percival, Elyan and a few other young knights looked back at her.
"Rose!" exclaimed Percival he jumped of his horse and went over to her. She collapsed into him and he caught her. He then scooped her up which caused her to hiss in pain. Elyan came over and examined her quickly as Percival walked her to the horse.
"We need to get her to Gaius" said Elyan. The journey back to Camelot was a blur of red and blue, it was so good to be back with people that were safe. They got to the square and she was taken from the horse and was being held in Gwaine's arms.
"Tell the king that the lady Rose has returned and is in Gaius's chambers" said Gwaine to some guards he then ran her through the corridors and ran her up to the physian's chambers.
Rose awoke with a start and looked at the window to see that it was nearly dawn. So, she got up and got into her knight's uniform. She stared at herself in the mirror as she got changed into her knight's uniform. The reason her legs had been hurting on her escape was because both her ankles had been broken, her back had been stinging because she had whip marks on her back, she still had the scars. She wasn't going to let anything happen to Percival and Gwaine. They were her friends, and she didn't want anything to happen to them.
She took her potions, one was for pain, one was for anti-sickness, and one was for when she had finished eating, she also took a sleeping draft at night to stop the nightmares. She got her bag and put it over her shoulder and left the room. After that she got her horse ready and went to join everyone in the courtyard.
"Are you ready?" asked Arthur.
"Yeah, lets go get our wayward knights back" said Rose. Gwen came down the steps and approached Rose and Arthur.
"Be careful both off you" said Gwen.
"We will be okay" said Rose.
"I hope so, I'll miss you both" said Gwen.
She pulled them both into a hug before stepping back and standing on the steps into the palace. They all then set off out of Camelot. They travelled through the woods, which is when Merlin started talking.
"Do you really think they could be alive" asked Merlin.
"I have to find out. They're Knights of the Round Table. It's a bond we share" said Arthur.
"Gwaine and Percival would never give up on us so we shouldn't give up on then" said Rose.
"I understand" said Merlin.
"If this was you Merlin, I wouldn't bother" said Arthur. Rose laughed that wasn't true, he'd probably send the whole army out if Merlin went missing. They travelled for a while longer all talking amongst themselves for a while.
"Well Merlin if you went missing, I would be bringing the army to find you" said Rose.
"I can see you doing that as well, how are you feeling today" asked Merlin.
"I am good actually, I am having a good day for pain, nothing is stopping me finding Gwaine and Percival" said Rose.
They arrived at the border between Camelot and Annis's lands which was lined by a gorge. It was getting colder the more they went up north like it had done when she had come out with Elyan to look for the knights however they went a different direction.
"The gorge marks the start of Annis's lands" said Arthur he looked around to the others.
"Its prime ambush territory" said Elyan. Arthur nodded at him and looked back at the gorge before turning back to Elyan and Rose.
"Take some knights and follow the ridge" said Arthur. Rose and Elyan rounded up some men and they went around the ridge carefully. They were on the lookout for an attack of any side.
"You can always use your advantage if anything happens" said Elyan. Rose smiled and nodded at that.
"Yeah, anyone coming up behind me are in for a surprise attack" said Rose.
"The word being surprised" said Elyan. She laughed along with him and they continued riding forward until they got to an abandoned camp.
There were dead people scattered around and the place was completely trashed, the dead seemed to be mainly women and children. Rose got off her horse.
"Check for survivors, Elyan get Arthur" said Rose. She started to check for survivors with the other knights. She looked up when she saw Arthur and the rest of them join them.
"Emerys" said a voice in her head it was calling. She looked across to Merlin who had heard it too. The voice called a few more times before Merlin went into a cave. Rose decided to leave him to it and checked on a few more people. After a while they all congregated together and there was still no sign of Merlin.
"There are no survivors, every single one off them in is dead" said Rose. Arthur nodded and looked around. He then looked at Rose and frowned.
"Anyone seen Merlin" asked Arthur in a concerned voice.
"He went into the caves" said Rose. Arthur sighed in relief and went into the cave after him quickly. A few minutes later they came out of the cave. Merlin looked really upset and distressed; he came over to her and slipped his hand in hers. They gave the dead a proper burial before moving on.
The sun was starting to set, and Rose was starting to get the usual aches and pains she usually got when she on patrol. They stopped for the night and soon everyone was settled down for night. Merlin waited for everyone to fall asleep before getting up. Rose wasn't asleep yet but was awoken by her brother walking past her. She let him walk ahead before getting up and putting on her cloak following him.
"O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd' hup' anankes!" said Merlin to the air. So, he was calling Kilghara. Why was he calling him? What had happened in the cave? He met Kilghara at the bottom of the hill. Rose watched from a far as Merlin met the dragon.
She smiled when she saw him land. This had to be serious to cause Merlin to risk a lot to call him.
"Young warlock what is bothering you" asked Kilghara.
"I need to have some knowledge about a Druid symbol, a black spiral, within it a thin, yellow coil" said Merlin.
"It is the mark of a Vates. A Druid seer. Where did you encounter him?" asked Kilghara with interest. Rose also looked from her hiding spot with interest.
"On my journey here. He warned me of Arthur's bane" said Merlin. No, not Arthur's bane, can't they just have a simple mission without some kind of threat.
"His bane?" asked Kilghara.
"And then he showed me a battle. A terrible battle. Arthur was fighting for his life. I saw him wounded. I saw him fall" said Merlin sadly.
"The Vates' power of prophecy is unrivalled, even by a high priestess, yes young one including you" said Kilghara.
Rose smiled and came out from her hiding place and came to stand next to Merlin. She took his hand and held it in hers.
"So, this battle will come to pass?" asked Rose nervously.
"I do not know, but one thing is certain... this was no chance meeting" said Kilghara. Rose and Merlin looked at each other nervously.
"You think I should heed his warning?" asked Merlin.
"There was a time when the words of a Vates were considered a gift" said Kilghara he was being vague again which Rose always found really annoying about him. It was like have this information but work it out yourselves.
"Then why do they feel like a burden?" said Merlin.
"A wise man is not cowed by knowledge, Merlin. Instead, he uses it to guide him" said Kilghara.
"How?" asked Rose and Merlin together.
"That is something only you can decide. But remember, the Vates singled you out for a reason. Now, more than ever, it is you and you alone that can keep Arthur safe" said Merlin.
"Your wrong, he is not alone and he'll never alone because he has got me" said Rose. Kilghara nodded and smiled before flying away. Rose and Merlin stared after him before turning around and heading back to camp.
The next morning, they packed up camp and travelled more through Annis's lands until eventually in the evening they arrived at Annis's castle and entered the throne room to see Queen Annis sat on her throne. She got up and smiled at them.
"Queen Annis" said Arthur.
"Arthur Pendragon" said Annis.
"I am most grateful that you have allowed us safe passage through your kingdom" said Arthur they all bowed, and Rose curtsied for her.
"We are allies Arthur and these are troubled times" said Annis. She linked Arthur arm and they walked through to a banquette hall. A servant came along and attempted to take Rose's bag.
"Can I take your bag to your room my lady" asked the servant.
"No thank you, I would prefer to keep my bag on me" said Rose.
"You'll have no use for it for dinner" said Annis.
"It's got potions in that I need" said Rose. Annis looked at her with curiosity before nodding the servant left her alone.
They all sat down at the table. Rose sitting between Leon and Elyan. Everyone started to talk, eat and drink. Rose sipped on some wine while talking to Elyan about a knight's fight manoeuvre.
Annis and Arthur were talking about Morgana. Everyone on the top table stopped talking to listen to what the queen had to say about it.
"What you saw at Asgorath is no surprise. Some months ago, Saxons began raiding our villages. They're rounding up all the men they can find and taking them to Ismere" said Annis.
"To raise an army" asked Arthur. No that wasn't right, if Morgana had Saxons, she had no need to be kidnapping men and taking them away.
"There are rumours she is ripping the citadel apart" said Annis.
"Why?" asked Arthur. He looked at Rose with a questioning look, like she had answer over what Morgana was up to.
"I would assume though she is looking for something, however I am unsure what she's up to" said Rose.
"Then my men may still be alive?" asked Arthur hopefully.
"There is every chance that they are alive" said Annis.
Merlin came forward and poured wine into Arthur's goblet and then Rose's goblet. The queen looked at Merlin and smirked. Rose had a rush of protectiveness towards him what was she showing interest in him for. "I think it's time for some entertainment. I would love to see your fool perform. Given all his failings, he must have some skills". She relaxed and looked across to Merlin and laughed. Arthur looked across to him to looking highly amused.
"You would think so" said Rose.
"You heard the queen, jump to it" said Arthur. Merlin bent down to Arthur to speak to him, they hissed at each other for a few seconds before Merin straightened up and picked up some eggs.
Merlin went into the middle of the room and started to juggle the eggs, starting with one egg, followed by two eggs and then straight to four eggs. He was using magic and Rose found it hilarious. He then made all the eggs disappear. Arthur looked confused as everyone cheered for him. She took her after meal potion while everyone was distracted with Merlin, she then clapped along with everyone else. After a while the Camelot party were showed to their rooms, Rose ended up sharing a room with Arthur and Merlin. She went looked out the window as Merlin helped Arthur out of his armer. She then went across to her bed before looking around and seeing that there were only two bed. She laid down back against the headboard to look across to Merlin and Arthur. Merlin was looking into the fire nervously and Arthur was taking his boots off.
"Where did you learn to juggle like that, I didn't even know you could catch" said Arthur.
"Yes, well, I have many talents. You've failed to notice them, that's all" said Merlin. Rose got her sleeping draft and drank it down quickly.
"What's wrong?" asked Arthur. Rose started to feel sleepy as the sleeping draft took effect.
"I don't think we should be going to Ismere" said Merlin. Rose fell asleep at that hoping Arthur would talk him around.
The next morning everyone got ready to leave for another day of travelling to Ismere, if Morgana had to be kidnapping people, did she have to do it so far away? Couldn't she have been searching somewhere warmer as well it was so cold. The knights went ahead as Rose and Arthur walked with Annis.
"Morgana is consumed by hatred, be cautious" said Annis, she put her hand on Arthur's shoulder.
"I would say fear rather than hatred" said Rose.
"We will" said Arthur.
"Either way fear or hate, good allies are hard to come by" said Annis. She looked across at Rose and smiled "Rose could be our only hope with Morgana". Rose wasn't sure what to say so carried on walking but gave her a polite smile and nod. She got on her horse and rode so she was along side Merlin. They all set of into the coldness of the day.
"We are both more powerful than Morgana" said Rose into Merlin's head.
"I know but after everything why is she back now, and this vision it's a warning, Mordred will kill Arthur" said Merlin into her head.
Her heart tightened at the thought off Mordred. He was still in the future that meant he was alive. Maybe that was worse, she had been sending him letters to be delivered directly to him and he hadn't written back. Maybe he didn't love her anymore. That broke her heart even more.
"Mordred doesn't want to do it; he knows that's his destiny and he has been fighting against" said Rose into Merlin's head. They carried on riding for the rest of the day, only stopping once to water the horse. At night fall they found a secluded spot and set up for the night. This journey was so long but it'll be worth it in the end. Soon everyone was settled and laughing by the fire. Excepted Merlin who was sat a bit away chucking stones into a pool.
"What's up with him?" asked Arthur.
"He's worried about Ismere, I think, go speak to him" said Rose. Arthur looked at her and nodded. He went over to Merlin and sat next to him. She was glad it was him going over to comfort him, he was probably sick of her face. A few minutes later they both returned to the fire and after much eating and sitting by the fire to keep warm everyone settled for the night. Rose laid her bedroll next to Merlin's and he pulled her to him, so they were sharing body heat and a bed roll and blanket. She took her sleeping draft and fell asleep quickly.
The end
