Chapter 2

I slept late at the day the feast of Beltane was scheduled, but so did most of the knights, too. I felt sick, thinking about the next days. While everywhere else in the castle servants were bustling and the knights were getting ready, while everyone was excited about the feast, I made my very own preparations. I made sure my blade was sharp, my chain mail in it's best conditions and ate, even though I did not feel like eating in the least. While I was thinking about packing provisions and hiding them somewhere, someone knocked on my door. The unusual sound startled me, but I guessed it would be someone with orders for the day.

"Come in", I answered hesitantly. The door opened, and Sir Leon entered. He looked at me, again without really seeing me, and gestured to my sword.

"I want you in the lower town tonight", he said. "Get ready, the change of guard is in half an hour."
He left without waiting for an answer, clearly annoyed that he would not be at the feast.

I stared at the door in disbelief. The one place I hadn't wanted to be today certainly was the lower town, the first place that would fall to the Southron army. Still, I was now a knight of Camelot and to defend the city was kind of in the job description. And being in the lower town would result in being able to get out of Camelot and into the woods, where, hopefully, Merlin would find us, so long as the story was not messed up by some major change tonight.

While I reached for my sword, I prayed to all the gods and goddesses I knew to keep an eye on this city today. We would need all the help we could get.

It was already dark when I left the citadel for the guards' place in the lower town. A cold shiver went down my spine. Even the air felt strange, thicker than usual, like a foreboding of evil and not even my billowing cloak could keep away the feeling of fear.

It was may, the beginning of summer, but the weather did not seem to care, I could see a mist hanging over the lower city.

It took me a few more steps to realize that this was not mist and that a tinge of something burning was in the air. Even though I had known something like this was going to happen tonight, I had not noticed it's beginning.

The Southrons were already in the city. The attack on Camelot had started.

I drew my sword before I turned the last corner.

Houses were ablaze, knights with buckets full of water were running around, trying to extinguish the flames and to stop civilians from running back into their homes to save their belongings. I saw Elyan and Leon and hurried to get over to them. "The Southrons!", I heard myself screaming, "they are here!"

Leon turned around and momentary confusion crossed his face, but when he turned again, he too could see the enemies coming at us. Both he and Elyan drew their swords. Seconds before the yelling and sword brandishing Southrons were upon us, the knight turned around again: "You!", he pointed at me, "sound the alarm! Quick!"

I reacted without really noticing it, running back along the street before I knew what I was doing. The sight of the attacking men had frightened me beyond imagination, taking me back to all the days I had wanted to forget about in worlds I could get no longer into, where I had been killed by attackers just like these.

It was a good thing that my instincts took control over my body, because if they hadn't, I might not have ducked fast enough when I heard a strange, swishing sound behind me. The crossbow arrow narrowly shot over my head and into a door frame instead. I didn't turn back but started zigzagging instead, hoping to avoid anyone taking aim at me again and to shake off any pursuers by speeding up.

There were no more accidents on my way to the citadel, but I only slowed down when I reached the entrance to the bell tower, leading out of one of the main hallways of the castle. I called out to the knight at the top of the narrow, winding staircase, but got no answer. Behind me I could hear firm steps of more than just one person, so I started to go up the stairs myself. Something clearly felt wrong.

I watched my step: Falling down the stairs now without the bells ringing and people knowing something was wrong might prove fatal for all of us.

Finally, I reached the bell and saw instantly that I was right. Someone had killed the knight who was supposed to ring the bell in case of emergency. It was not hard to guess who might have done this.

I had heard the bell in the series so many times before, but hearing it in reality was a lot different. Louder, for one, because I was standing right next to it while ringing the alarm. Maybe, I thought, I should have protected my ears or something like this, but by now it was too late to do anything against it.

I decided to stop striking the bell after a while, because everyone should have heard it now, and to go back down and look where I could be of help.

I reached the hallway, turned right and came to a dead stop. Agravaine was standing in the corridor, giving me one of those smiles that never really reached his eyes. Behind him a group of Southerners was gathered. I had a bad feeling of déjà vu and something suddenly told me that I was not supposed to be here.

"I'm not being funny or anything", I said, the familiar sentence just popping out of my mouth, "but I believe you might be in the wrong hallway."

I grasped the hilt of my sword and Agravaine mimicked my move, but a voice from behind the soldiers, cold and commanding, stopped him: "We don't have time for this, Agravaine."

The soldiers parted and Morgana, looking even more evil as I had ever imagined, stepped to the side of the King's uncle.

"You're right", she said in my direction, "you're not funny. Not at all."

Then her eyes flashed, and I had a strange sensation of flying, before everything went black.

.

A/N: I'm not sure, but I believe we never really saw the bell, did we? I just decided to put it in one of the towers of the castle and hope you don't mind or object to that idea.

So, what do you think? How is Elyan being in the lower town and William meeting Morgana affecting the story line? I guess we will have to see how this is going to work out!

I hope you enjoyed reading and stay with me for the next chapter! By the way, leaving a review does not take long and I really like them, so go for it!