Sir Oliver was already in the arena when Arthur arrived. Uther initiated the fight and they were off. They were fighting to the death, though Merlin sincerely hoped it wouldn't be; for Anna's sake.

Arthur took a swing at Oliver's neck. Oliver blocked and went for Arthur's arm. The fight continued, blocking and attacking for what felt like hours. Each attack parried and defended, the skill of one knight equally matching each other. But Arthur's ruthlessness was an advantage in the ring; when the opportunity arose, a slight pause, as if to draw breath, Arthur plunged his sword through Oliver's stomach. Oliver dropped his sword and shield, stumbling backwards clutching his wound. Arthur could see the thick red oozing between his fingers but didn't know why Oliver was still alive. Oliver looked up at Arthur with a gaze of disbelief. Oliver muttered something incoherent, Arthur presumed it was a plea for help. Then Oliver's eyes glowed and he disappeared. Arthur gasped, instantly turning to his father. Uther was furious.

"Find the sorcerer!" He bellowed and everyone ran, more for their safety than in search of the magical knight.

Merlin ran straight for Oliver's tent; he didn't want Anna to be punished for Oliver's sorcery. Gaius soon followed, eager to make sure Merlin kept himself out of trouble.

But what Merlin was greeted with wasn't what he expected at all; she was leaning against a table holding Oliver's helmet, but she was wearing a full suit of armour, muttering spells to herself to try and heal her own wound, though she couldn't stop the blood. She looked up at Merlin helplessly; doing anything to try and stop the bleeding. He ran over to her, holding her arm across his shoulders as she gave in to weakness.

"Can you take us up to Gaius' chambers?" Merlin asked, wanting her to live, so she could explain what was going on as much as anything.

"Merlin!" Gaius cautioned him.

"I can't let her die, Gaius!" Merlin screamed.

Gaius sighed. "Fine but hurry; knights are coming." Merlin glanced at Anna as her eyes glowed and they appeared in Gaius' chambers.

Lancelot was first to enter the tent behind Gaius.

"My chambers." Gaius whispered before the other Knight's arrived. Lancelot nodded and turned to the other approaching Knight's.

"No one in here. Let's split up; I'll go take a look in the castle." Lancelot explained before running up to Gaius' chambers. He burst through the door and Merlin was on the floor next to an armoured girl Lancelot didn't recognise; her blood staining the floor. Merlin looked up at him.

"Please, help her," Merlin pleaded. Lancelot picked her up in his strong arms and placed her gently on the bed. Merlin had composed himself and was pressing a handful of towels onto her wound.

"Merlin, we need to remove her armour." Lancelot reminded him, as Gaius returned to examine her medical condition.

888

The Knights were running round Camelot desperate to find something that could lead them to the whereabouts of Sir Oliver and his serving girl. Arthur and Uther had gone straight up to Uther's chambers, for privacy if nothing else.

"I can't believe we let a sorcerer compete in such a prestigious event." Uther bellowed, throwing his own sword across the room. Arthur flinched as he heard it clanging on the stone floor; he was tired from the fight, a little wounded in the small cuts and bruises he'd attained and questioning his father's anger against magic, as he did every time the matter arose.

"Calm down Father, once we find the sorcerer we can have him killed. The whole city is looking for him, we'll put wanted posters up in the lower towns, we'll do everything we can to find him."

"We will. I'll recruit new Knights, call up old ones and make sure we find this man. How did we not see it sooner? His seals seemed so real, he seemed so noble."

"But he never did attend any of the banquets or dinners, and his serving girl was a bit suspicious."

"He had a serving girl? What if she was his apprentice! We must find her too. What does she look like?"

"I'm not sure, I only saw her around a bit. Never really stopped to look at her properly."

"I doubt she possesses magic, she is irrelevant. Find Oliver." Uther pressed. Arthur bowed his head and left, clutching the sword at his side.

Outside his Father's chambers he bumped into Gwen.

"Guinevere, my deepest apologies, I didn't see you."

"It's fine. I just wanted to congratulate you." She smiled kissing his cheek. "I doubt amongst the confusion of 'Oliver the Sorcerer' anyone remembered you still won the tournament." She added.

He couldn't help but smile at her caring gesture. "Thank you. But I must go find 'Oliver the Sorcerer'." He chuckled, letting his hand fall down her arm as he rushed away down the hall, hating having to leave her so quickly. But she understood. She understood that he had to make Camelot his priority if he stood a chance of getting the people on his side when he was King.

But she could never could claim to understand the burden of being the heir held. She didn't know what it felt like to know that one day, he will rule the lands his Father now ruled, knowing that one day, the responsibility would fall upon Arthur's shoulders. All she could do was support him, be there to slowly massage his shoulders as he fell asleep face first in maps, documents, or even his dinner. She was a compassionate woman at heart, and nothing would ever change that; this was something she did understand.

So that's two chapters in two days. *does happy dance*. When I started writing this, Gwen was not banished and Lancelot and Uther were both alive. I know we all prefer it that way ;)

If you'd all like to go buy all/one of the versions of Alex Day's 'Forever Yours' then I'll update sooner. He's trying to get a Christmas Number one and he deserves it he really does. There are 9 versions of the song as of now (there will be 12 by tomorrow) and if you could just spare 79p for one or £9.48 for the whole lot each and every purchase helps him get the number one he deserves!

Anyways, if not buying songs to help me to help Alex, you could always review and make me smile ;) xox