Here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

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Assassins

It was dark when the assassin finally managed to get inside the walls of Camelot. He squeezed himself inside a small opening in the wall of the castle to hide from a group of soldiers on patrol. He exhaled deeply when their footsteps faded.

As silently as possible he scurried across the courtyard until he was right under the window to the King's chambers. He slipped two arrows from his quiver and mercilessly jabbed them into the spaces between the stones that made up the castle walls. Without another thought he began to scale the wall.

Half way up he was forced to stop when he heard voices coming from bellow him. He dangled there dangerously and only began to climb again when he was sure he was alone.

The lock on the window was easy enough to pick. It slid open soundlessly at his touch. He slipped into the dark room, making no more noise then a mouse. His eyes immediately fell on the nicely made bed where the king himself slept every night.

The assassin scoffed. How could this oppressor be aloud to sleep in this nice bed when the rest of them were forced to sleep on the cold ground? But the next time the king slept here he will have wished he hadn't. This thought lightened the assassin's mood. He slithered towards the bed and lifted the freshly puffed pillow.

He removed a small leather pouch from his belt and undid the knot that held it shut. Inside were a handful of purple leaves. The dark lady Morgana had explained to him what they were and had cautioned him against doing his job too slowly. He wanted to have this done as fast as he could, he didn't want to be around when the spell on these leaves activated.

He took half of the contents of the bag and sprinkled it over the mattress, then replaced the pillow so that none of them could be seen. He smiled at his good work then was out the window as quickly as he had entered.

Using the arrows he moved sideways across the wall until he reached the prince's chambers. This window was not locked at all. Must have a forgetful servant. He thought to himself. Oh well, this just made his job that much easier.

He slipped in and moved towards the bed to perform the same task that he had in his father's chambers, but that's when he noticed that the door to the hallway was open. He froze in his path, his eyes quickly scanning the room. The few candles that were lit gave off little light.

He didn't have to look for long when a slender figure stepped out of the shadows. She wore the cloths of a servant and she held a basket of laundry in her hands. She looked at the assassin curiously, tilting her head to the side.

The assassin sized up the young woman. She looked slightly frail, not at all a threat. So he stood up tall, trying to look as powerful as possible in order to intimidate the young servant, but she didn't even flinch. She just kept looking at him, with those large, soft eyes. She put the basket she was holding on the ground without taking her eyes from the assassin.

"Hello." She spoke innocently. "Can I help you? Are you in need of assistance?"

"You could help me by leaving and pretending that you never saw anything." His request was worth a try. He didn't want to hurt the girl but she had seen too much.

"Oh don't worry." She razed one of her slender fingers to her lips. "I won't say a word."

"That won't be a problem." He said, taking a step towards her. "You won't have a tongue to say it with soon enough." Even with his ominous warning the girl didn't move.

"Is that so." For a moment her sweet voice deepened and showed hints of darkness. "Well if that's the case then you won't mind me asking what exactly you are doing in the prince's chambers."

"Nice try, but there's no chance I'm telling, not even to you." He smirked.

"Did I not ask nice enough?" She purred. "Well isn't that a shame." She took a step towards the assassin and razed her right hand. A short spell slipped through her teeth and her eyes flashed gold. The assassin's eyes immediately fell out of focus.

"Now let me ask again. What are you doing here?"

"I was sent by the dark lady Morgana to plant these poisonous leaves," He held up the leather bag. "And place them under the king's and the prince's pillows so that when they went to sleep tonight they would be infected and then slowly die over the next week."

"Well we can't have that." She crossed one of her arms over her body and rested the elbow of her other arm on it and began to tap her temple with one of her fingers. "Is there a cure?"

"No, there is no cure." The spell worked his tongue.

"Oh dear." She tapped her temple again, her eyes flash gold once more and he was released from her spell.

Once he was released he fell to his knees. "What did you do to me?" He howled.

"Oh nothing much." She smirked slyly. "But you really should learn to control your tongue. Who knows how many more of your lady's secrets you'll spill."

"What?" But before he could say another word the serving girl spoke the words of magic once more and he fell under her spell.

"This isn't like Morgana. There must be more to this plan." She pondered. "Why is your lady doing this? What else does she have planned?"

"The poison is merely a diversion for the great Warlock, Emrys." He spoke against his will. "In a weeks time, when the poison has done its work, she is taking a small group of sorcerers to sneak into the castle and take it from within. When the time is right she will signal to her reinforcements and her army will fall upon the city. She wants Emrys out of the way."

"Only a diversion you say." She tapped her temple several times. "Thank you. You have been very helpful." Then she released him from her spell once more.

"Stop doing that." He ordered. "You have no right to force words from my mouth."

"I have every right." She retorted. "You are planning to attack a place I call home. Now we can't have that, can we? Whether you like it or not I am already involved. "

"You have heard too much." He said getting to his feet. "You can never leave this room alive." He slipped a curved dagger from his belt and pointed it menacingly at her.

"What a mess you have made." The girl went on smirking. "What would Morgana do to you if she found out you messed up."

"I haven't messed up." He jabbed the dagger in her direction. "Once I am done with you all of this will be erased. She will never have to know."

"Let me guess." Her arms dropped to her sides. "She thinks you are the best magical assassin in the world."

"Yeah that's right." He grinned fiendishly. "I have never failed."

"Yes and I would hate to put a black mark on your records." She clapped her hands together softly. "But it seems your lady was mistaken."

"No she wasn't." He growled. "She is never wrong." But by the time he finished speaking the girl had vanished. He looked around for her frantically, fear welling up inside him. If he lost her Morgana would have his head.

A mischievous giggle came from the air beside him. He froze. She had moved so quickly he hadn't even noticed that she was standing right beside him. "You're too slow." She mocked.

"No!" He spun around, swinging his dagger. His dagger never met its target, because she was no longer there. Pain shot through his arm. The girl was pinning it tightly to his back.

"And you're sloppy." She added. "Not a good trait for an assassin. You are letting your emotions control you." Using his arm she spun him across the room.

"So you're giving me pointers now." He rotated his arm, trying to get the feeling back into it.

"Well I can't share all of my secrets." She tapped the tip of her toe on the floor.

"I still have a few tricks of my own." He lunged at her. Things seemed to slow down as she caught him by his arm. She slipped a small knife from a hidden pocket she had sewed into her right sleeve. As quick as humanly possible she had the assassin in an unbreakable hold with the knife pressed to his throat.

"You want to know who the best assassin is." She whispered in his ear. The assassin breathed heavily trying to force air into his lounges. In one swift movement she moved the blade across his throat.

"Its me." Gaia let him fall to the floor, motionless. She picked up the leather bag that the assassin had released from his hand when she had killed him. She opened it but quickly threw it away as if it had burned her. A few of the leaves fell from the bag onto the floor. They had begun the glow. The spell had been activated.

Gaia clutched her heart as she tried to regain her breath. She took a deep breath and reached out one of her arms toward the bag, levitating it then setting it on fire, to make sure no one else could be infected.

Before she had thrown the bag she had noticed that it had been only half full. Quickly she got to her feet, heading towards the door, and then stopping just remembering the body she had left on the floor. She spoke a few words of the old language. The body of the assassin disintegrated, his ashes being picked up by the wind and blown out the window.

With her work there done, she ran from the room, completely forgetting about the basket of laundry she had left behind in the prince's chambers. She had to get to the king's chambers before anyone else went in.

She slowed her run to a walk as she turned the corner. Another maid was about to enter the room.

"Martha!" She called to the maid. Martha looked up, dark circles could be seen from around her eyes. She hadn't slept in over a day.

"Gaia, done already?" She tried to put on a normal, awake smile.

"Yeah." Gaia noticed how tired Martha appeared. "You look tired. You should go get some sleep."

"I would love to but I still have this left to deliver this laundry." She explained, showing Gaia the basket she was carrying.

"No let me do that. You won't be able to do it properly with the state your in." Gaia took the basket from her.

"Thanks Gaia. You are a life saver." Martha gave her a quick hug then disappeared down the hallway.

Gaia sighed with relief. She slipped into the room and made her way over to the room. She moved the pillow to reveal the glowing leaves. Gaia clutched her head and stumbled as a wave of nausea swept over her. As well as she could in her state, she set the leaves on fire, carful not to burn the mattress.

When that was done she left the room and ran back to her own. She flung open the door and flopped onto her bed. The pain she was feeling caused her to cringe. The migraine made it feel like she was dying. In an attempt to stop the migraine she took the pillow and pushed it against her head. She remained this way for the rest of the night.

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