Hey, thanks to all of you who continually read and review *gives virtual cookies*
Hope you all like this next chapter
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As night fell over the kingdom of Camelot, Nimueh stood at the balcony, looking at her new lands whilst the survivors and prisoners of the battle were locked up in the dungeons. Having no idea what time it was, women mourned the loss of their husbands, brothers, fathers and sons with babes sleeping in their arms. The younger children slept whilst the older children comforted their mothers. Everyone had lost someone close to them that day but only now did they realise that they would not get to say their final goodbyes to their beloved. The women dealt with this news in very different ways. Some cried whilst others remained silent, and some just carried on as if nothing had happened. For Morgana though, she had finished with tears. Huddled up in a corner, her cheeks tear stained and her eyes sore, she sat silently. She had also lost people that day. She had lost her guardian, her protector was dead and her friends were under Nimueh's control. Camelot had fallen and there was no one left to save it. The women had no fight left in them and even if they did, there was no way to escape, plus Nimueh would probably sooner kill them all then let just one of them slip through her fingers. The situation was completely, totally and utterly hopeless.
"Morgana?" a voice said softly. Looking at the person stood in front of her, Morgana smiled ever so slightly. At least she still had one friend left.
"Gaius."
"Everything will be alright, just you wait and see."
"How do you know?"
"Oh, I just do." he said, sitting down beside her.
"Arthur's dead, the King could be like that for all we know and Merlin and Gwen are both under Nimueh's influence. All the men of Camelot are dead, so how can the kingdom survive?"
"It's not hopeless Morgana. Nothing is ever completely hopeless."
"But…"
"Twenty years ago was the Great Purge, and Camelot was in one of its darkest stages yet, but it became the kingdom that it is today. I thought then that nothing good could ever come out of so many deaths, but it did. I didn't necessarily agree with the King's methods, but it did the job. Neither of us could have envisaged Nimueh wanting her revenge."
"Could you have stopped her?"
"No. When Uther removed all sorcery, he removed a chance of fighting back. At this moment in time she pretty much can't be defeated."
"Then we have no hope."
"I never said that. There is one hope."
"Go on?" Gaius smiled at Morgana.
"Arthur."
"He's dead." she bluntly stated.
"I don't believe so." Gaius told her. "Did you see a body?"
"No."
"Then we only have Nimueh's word that he's dead, and she has lied before now. She took on the guise of Alethea just so that she could get close and take her revenge."
"What happened to the girl?"
"Alethea wanted to get home but it turned out she was unknowingly walking straight into Nimueh's arms. Nimueh took Alethea's appearance with the intent of killing Arthur, but for her to keep her true form hidden, she had to keep the girl alive. Therefore, if Nimueh granted the Prince his wish to be with Alethea then he should still be alive."
"And we have a hope of rescue?"
"If Arthur and Alethea can work out a way back to Camelot and survive long enough to defeat Nimueh, then yes."
"Then the king?"
"I doubt Nimueh will have killed him. If I know her even just a little bit then she will keep him alive for as long as possible so that he can suffer, believing that his son is dead and having to watch everything he's built be destroyed. Nimueh is a good one for suffering."
"So if the Prince still lives and Uther live as well, what will happen to Merlin and Gwen?"
"All spells wear off in the end. Even the strongest spell can be broken, believe you or me."
"So it's not all hopeless?"
"No." Gaius smiled at her before looking around the dungeons. The cells were filled with the women and children from the town and some of the children were running around, their older siblings trying to calm them down. One of the younger ones in the cell that Gaius and Morgana were in was begging his mother to tell him a story, but his mother was too tired. He was a young boy of about 5 years with blonde hair and striking blue eyes, dressed in a faded red tunic. Gaius took one look at him and was reminded of the young Prince when he was a child, forever running around and getting himself into all sorts of mischief.
"What's your name then?" The young boy just looked back at him with wide eyes, looking rather scared. "I won't harm you."
"Peter sir."
"Well then Peter, how about a story?" The boy nodded and sat down in front of Gaius. The children in the same cell gathered around, whilst the others pressed towards the bars so that they could hear Gaius. Morgana looked at them all and sighed. They were innocent children who had no idea that they would never see their fathers again nor had they done anything to deserve this treatment. She just hoped that when they got out that they would be alright.
"Everybody comfortable?" The children nodded excitedly, eagerly awaiting the story that the old physician was going to tell. "Then I'll begin. A very long time ago, when I was only a child, one of the nearby villages of Camelot was under attack. It was a warm day with the sun shining when the first attack came. Men were in the fields tending crops whilst women sewed and children played when a shadow loomed over the village. A monster appeared in the sky, part lion, part serpent with the head and wings of a dragon. It's scales were the colour of the purest blue and had it not breathed the flames of Hell itself, it would have been one of the most beautiful things you would ever see. It was a Spinkernuckle but at the time nobody worried about it's name. All chaos broke out at the appearance of this beast and everybody feared for their lives. It has never been known for a friendly beast to exist and this one was true to this thought. The beast fed on the flesh of men, but at first it only stole sheep and cattle. Every night the beast would come and steal another person's livestock, and each morning the owner would wake to find another member of the herd to be missing, until eventually all the sheep and cattle were gone." Gaius paused, letting the children take it all in.
"Then people began to go missing. Traces of them were found later on, a shoe here, a belt there, but no bodies. The Spinkernuckle lived in a cave in the forest where no one ever dared to venture, but the village people decided that something had to be done. They could not let the creature take members of their village for food. It was agreed that two men should go to Camelot and ask for some assistance. Those two men never reached their destination. A few of the braver members of the village decided that they could take on this beast, but they became its next meal. Time wore on and still the Spinkernuckle lived and the villagers lived in fear, until there were very few men left. Despairingly, the villagers began to realise that they had no chance of survival left. Wallowing in self pity, one by one more people disappeared. However, a young girl, around your age, could stand it no more. At the dead of night she left the village and headed towards the castle. She was scared, but she was determined that no one else would be eaten. It was a long journey and she soon grew tired, her feet sore, but she eventually arrived at Camelot." Everyone was listening to him now, even the women and the older children. Morgana sat listening to him too, wanting to know what was going to happen next.
"The girl marched straight up to the castle gates and asked to see the King. At first the guards laughed and mocked her, but the King heard of this and let her inside himself. Asking the girl what it was that she wanted, he couldn't believe what she said. Rebuking his guards, the King promised the girl that the beast would not eat another human being. Sending his best men to the village, the girl was made to remain at the castle. Meanwhile, her mother had woken that morning to find her child's bed empty. Fearing that the beast had got her, the woman began to weep. When the soldiers arrived, they were greeted by the sight of weeping women and children, crops failed and empty fields. Asking where the beast hid, the women gave them directions, wishing them luck. Of the ten men that first arrived, only one was to return."
"Ten men rode towards the cave that day, each believing that they could defeat this creature that was half lion, half reptile but as they reached the entrance, they saw something that they would never forget. The cave was filled with skeletons whilst the dragon stared at the intruders. Within moments, half of the group were ashes. Swords drawn and shouting their battle cries, the men attacked but were simply swatted away like flies. Two more men fell, never to get up again. Three men were left to fight this monster but as they began their attack, one man fell. They two remaining knights looked at each other, and knew what they had to do. One of them had to distract the creature long enough for the other to stab it through the heart. The oldest of the two, Sir Stephen, decided that he would distract the beast leaving Sir Tristan to kill it."
"Sir Stephen knew that he had little chance of survival, but he knew that he would face his death straight between the eyes. He would die an honourable death, going down fighting. Pulling on the beast's tail, he felt the hot fiery breath and smelt the stench of rotting flesh before he was torn from the world. Sir Tristan meanwhile tried to stab the creature, but he was too far away. Having seen his comrades die, he remembered the little girl who no longer had a father and knew that he could not allow her to die. Staring at the beast, he ran beneath it, his sword ready and lunged for the heart." All was silent and now every single person was listening.
"Did he kill it?" asked Peter.
"Did he?" asked the other children.
"Please, tell us what happened next." Morgana pleaded. Gaius smiled.
"Nothing happened for a few moments. Sir Tristan swore that he could feel the fiery breath on the back of his neck, but the beast just groaned and fell. He never moved again. Tristan felt a sense of achievement, until he remembered the number of men that had failed where he had succeeded. Removing his sword from the Spinkernuckle's body, Sir Tristan hacked off its head and brought it down the hill. Presenting it to the villagers, they celebrated but they could never be truly happy. Nothing could bring their men back. One woman approached Sir Tristan, hoping that he could answer her question. Wishing to know if the man had seen a small skeleton, the man replied that the girl was safe at Camelot. No beasts attacked that village again for they knew that it was under the protection of Camelot and it's men."
"What happened to the little girl?"
"She returned home to her mother and everyone lived out their lives quite happily."
Sensing that this was the end of the tale, the children went over to their mothers, many feeling sleepy. It was rather late from what Gaius could tell, and it came as no surprise to him when most people were asleep. Wide awake, the elderly physician looked at everyone surrounding him. These would be Camelot's future, if indeed it did have a future, and hopefully they would not make the same mistake that their grandfathers had. Hopefully these children would grow up to know the differences between good and bad, and know that it was better to use good against evil. Looking at the cold stone walls, Gaius just hoped that he had been right in what he had told Morgana. He hoped that somewhere out there, staring at the night sky would be Arthur with Alethea and together they would save Camelot. Praying that they were safe, he closed his eyes.
