TJTMaria- Massive major meet up end of this chapter though Morrigan somewhat vanishes.
Junior Woofles- Not going to steal off of Dr Who
Autumn Moon Fae- Gwen is in this chapter quite a bit.
King Gremian slouched in his stone grey throne with Alexander standing by his side. There was a rough knock that echoed into the distance.
"COME IN!" bellowed King Gremian. A short man stumbled in bracing himself for the murderous and low shouting that King Gremian would give, once he knew the news.
"M-My Lord, the soldiers have returned," the short man mumbled.
"And," King Gremian roared. "A scout told me that the witch had been found."
"Yes indeed. Will I go and get the soldiers who saw her. Five of them are severely wounded, eight of them have minor injuries and six of them remain unscathed," the man stuttered.
"DO!" King Gremian barked. Alexander uncomfortably shifted his standing position ever so slightly as he knew what would happen to the soldiers if they had not managed to capture the witch. Fourteen disheartened soldiers trudged into the throne room.
"What happened?" Alexander softly asked. No one spoke for a split second as all the soldiers were afraid of King Gremian.
"The witch escaped from our grasp," a brave soldier muttered.
"HOW DID SHE MANAGE TO ESCAPE!" yelled King Gremian thundering over to the soldier and clasping his neck.
"S-She e-escaped on a b-b-bull," the soldier gasped, panting for breath. King Gremian's face turned crimson with anger making his face look like an oversized, withered plum.
"DID SHE USE HER MAGIC OR EVEN WIELD STEAL?"
"No, my lord," gulped the guard.
"SO SHE JUST ESCAPED ON A MERE COW THAT WASN'T EVEN A BATTLE HARDENED HORSE!" King Gremian's voice shook with rage. Throwing the soldier against the wall, the soldier quickly stood up massaging his throat. None of the other soldiers had spoken a word. They looked as if they had been struck immobile.
"Make sure the soldiers who failed in capturing the witch are all killed by the time I get back," King Gremian grunted in Alexander's ear.
"Yes, father," Alexander shamefully replied.
As King Gremian stomped out the room, he thought off what a nuisance the Pendragon's were to him. By the end of the year they all would be dead and Camelot his. He knew that they had tried to fool him but he was not that stupid- or so he thought. He knew that the witch, whatever she was called (King Gremian didn't even know Morgana's name) was in love with stupid knight who thought he was incredibly hilarious. He also knew that her and Arthur liked each other as brother and sister. Now he needed to amass an army to conquer Camelot and rid the world of the Pendragon's and their lovers.
...
Inside the cave was a chamber lit up by several flaming torches. She went over to one of the flaming torches and tried to grab the torch but unfortunately Gwen fumbled with the torch. Dropping the torch, the flame had went right through Gwen's hand. Gwen did not gasp in the slightest or show any signs of injuring her hand.
Odd, thought Gwen. She had burnt herself once before and jumped a mile back shaking her hand furiously before sticking her wounded hand in a bucket of water. This time though she hadn't felt any pain and her hand. Tenderly touching the hand which had gone through the flame, Gwen did not feel any pain. The torch was lying on the floor but the flame was not spreading. Gwen stupidly stuck her foot through the flame knowing that it was a stupid thing to door. It was very queer not for her boot to fire or for her hand not to be sore when she had stuck them both through a flame. Then it clicked. It was magic.
The room was round having no doors or passages from it. She was in shock because she did not know where they had all disappeared. Finally Gwen was able to crack the problem when she saw a circle in the middle off the floor decorated with runes. Lifting it up, Gwen threw her torch in. Gwen couldn't exactly see how far down it was but if she had to estimate how big a drop it was she would have estimated that it would be about the same size as the drop off of Camelot castle's highest floor. This appeared to be the only way out and Gwen could not see dead corpses in the hole. Knowing it was a horrendously stupid thing to do, Gwen sat down with her feet dangling down the hole and pushed herself off the edge. With her eyes tightly shut, Gwen felt herself falling and slowing down before her feet gently touched the ground. Not expecting to land so gently, Gwen tumbled over onto the ground.
Drip, drop, drip drop. Dirty water dripped from the earthy walls. It smelt of a mixture of damp earth and rotten wood making Gwen wrinkle her nose in disgust. There were four tunnels leading off the one that she landed so Gwen picked up her torch and searched the ground for footprints. She found three sets of footprints leading to the tunnel on her direct left so decided to take that route. What over choice did she have? She could barely go back up to the top floor. Taking that tunnel, she saw several over tunnels off that. It was like an underground maze. One thing that surprised Gwen was the good air ventilation but the tunnels were so small that she doubted Merlin could walk through them without bending down.
Left, right, left, left. Gwen began to make her way deeper through the tunnels. There were trick steps hidden in the dirt, dead ends and sudden drops which led her deeper underground. There was no sign of anyone or any other living organism. No plants. No animals. Not even a mere rat which would thrive in these conditions.
Right, dead end, left, right, right. Gwen, exhausted and starving, began to zone out into a dream but her feet kept on moving. She did not come back into reality until strode straight into something. Not something, someone. Someone who she had condemned to death. Someone who loathed her. Someone who she didn't wish to hurt. The choice was simple either she had to die or commit murder.
...
Mordred panted but smiled at his success. He had not had this fun in ages. Never having been through a maze before, Mordred wondered if he would be the last to reach the seers as he was sure that he would not be the first. It had taken Mordred a split second to realise that a cave was like huge puzzle. The runes on the trapdoor had also helped him find his way. As a boy he had been given a book on ancient magical runes by his father and memorised them all. It had came in use quite a number times. The runes on the trap door had been a riddle to Mordred delight and it only taken him a couple of minutes to solve.
'I am a killer but also a saviour.
When most people see me they don't care about me.
Others can spend days looking for me.
I can take three different forms.
I can travel the world without any aid from humans or animals.
When I am cold I can be helpful.
When hot I can be dangerous.'
Mordred just liked riddles too much and was extraordinarily good at solving them. Opening the door, Mordred awkwardly strolled in to find three people watching him very closely as if they knew that he was going to enter the room at that precise moment.
"You are Mordred," a seer's ghostly voice announced softly. "Your future has been written about since before the dawn of time." Mordred closed his eyes for a second to think deeply.
"You've seen into my future?" Mordred asked, smiling eerily. The smile hastily vanished as the hooded seer came closer to him. Mordred was able to see that this seer was an elderly man despite his young mobility. The room was so dimly lit that Mordred had not been able to tell whether the person was male or female at a distance.
"Yes I have. You shall not find out the nature of your future, yet. Nigh is the time for you to flee out of this place and back to Camelot." Frowning, Mordred pondered over why the seer wanted him to leave but could not come up with a conclusion
"Why should I flee? I need to stop Emrys and Morgana from killing each other," Mordred protested.
"Nor Emrys's or Morgan l- Morgana's end is nigh. You need to ride back to Camelot urgently because you shall intrude on something important." The seer's eyes locked with Mordred's aqua eyes and they made an silent agreement. "Trust me, Mordred. Their destinies are too great for either of them to die yet. This quest was only meant for Morgana, Morrigan and Emrys. Gwaine and the young Pendragon queen shall not be able to succeed in the quest either. They shall abandon it half way through due to injury." Mordred gave a little nod and began to ascend the ladder that all three seers pointed to. He badly wanted to find out what he would confront on his way back to Camelot.
...
Arthur marched straight into Gaius's chambers feeling sick with worry. Gaius turned quickly round to face the distressed King.
"If this is abou-" Gaius began.
"Gwen, Merlin, Mordred and Gwaine have all gone missing. Do you know where any of them are?" Arthur injected.
"Merlin and Gwaine went to the tavern last night. I think they had plans of traveling to Ealdor straight after. As for Gwen and Mordred, I have no idea where any of them are." Arthur kicked the wall in frustration as he willed his anger to abate. For him it was just one thing after another and each time the thing got increasingly worse. Gaius inquisitively raised an eyebrow instead of inquiring what had happened.
Suddenly, shy Elvina burst into Gaius's chambers looking angered.
"I am sorry to intrude, my lord, but the guard who was guarding the gate last night seems to have been drugged," Elvina worriedly snapped. "And a man from King Gremian's kingdom commands an audience with you urgently." Arthur nodded his head as he knew that his words would be trembling with stress, rage and worry if he tried to speak. It took him no less than thirty seconds to be certain that he could speak normally without a trace of anger.
"Do not worry," Arthur reassured Elvina. "We shall find Guinevere in no time." Arthur said this a lot more confidently the he felt as he was certain that it would be complicated to find Gwen. He patted Elvina on the back before heading straight for the council chambers which was completely deserted with the exception of George waiting efficiently by Arthur's throne. Glumly trudging towards his throne, Arthur sighed, stressfully. He needed to hear something hilarious to lighten his mood and unfortunately he was stuck in a room with George.
"Tell me a joke, George," Arthur ordered, impatiently waiting for the court to arrive.
"I like to thrash brass with glass and grass," George said without managing to get his tongue twisted. He gave a nervous but cut it off because of the exasperated look on Arthur's face told him that it was not funny.
"A joke that does not involve brass and a joke that is actually funny," Arthur said rolling his eyes.
"Why is spring cleaning called spring cleaning?" Arthur shook his head with exasperation.
"Because it is done in the spring," answered Arthur cooly.
"How did you know the answer," questioned George, bewildered.
"Because I am a genius," Arthur laughed. George was to stupid for his liking but that stupidity had managed to make him laugh. "Tell me another one."
"Did you hear about Camelot's latest tragedy. A two seater carriage upturned in a cemetery. They have found more than a thousand bodies and are still digging them up," George chuckled. Arthur could not stop himself and burst into hysterics losing the kingly act completely.
"Breathe, sire," warned George. The door suddenly opened and Arthur just managed to calm himself though he had nearly lost it completely. All the court took their places and Arthur tried to ignore Gwen's absence, though there was a sinking feeling in his stomach. Once everyone had taken their places and the movement, commotion and whispers had ceased. A man strode to the middle of the room with his head bowed towards the ground.
"I bring you devastating news, my lord," the scout calmly announced. The scout did not look devastated in the slightest but he did risk his life everyday spying on King Gremian and living in his kingdom. "King Gremian is amassing an army to try and ambush you." Arthur felt like he wanted to run away but he knew he could not. He would be indirectly killing thousands of people if he did run away as Gremian would terrorise the kingdom and slay or enslave most of the inhabitants. He would not abandon his people even if it meant going to his death.
"We need to garrison more troops," Arthur ordered. "King Gremian's army is huge."
"And I shall go and see if I can find troops that are still loyal to my father and I," added Princess Mithian."We shall help you in this everlasting war between you and the Saxons as it is the least we can do to repay for your kindness and hospitality." Arthur slowly stood up completely emotionally exhausted.
"King Gremian is barbaric and has a brain that does not think about things. We shall beat him because our soldiers are better trained and we have better tactics," Arthur determinedly said. He strode out the room with one thing on his mind. Arthur did not care about the Saxons he was worried about Gwen.
...
"It's not that funny, Gwaine," Merlin said trying not to burst out laughing. Gwaine was bending down in hysterics and had basically lost it. All the seriousness of the situation had mysteriously vanished. "I only used my magic to make the guard of Camelot at the gate fall asleep. True he could be sleeping for weeks because it kind of went wrong." Gwaine collapsed at this completely losing it.
"A-A-And I d-drew a m-m-moustache on h-his f-f-face and s-stuck an a-a-a-apple in his mouth," Gwaine chortled, crying with laughter. Having his quiet five minutes a little while, Merlin had known what was coming next- Gwaine's, at least half an hour of super hyper chaos chatted and laughter. Merlin looked at Gwaine disapprovingly making Gwaine snap back into his serious self. After all it could be a life or death situation.
"Keep calm and listen for footsteps," Merlin authorised. "Remember Morgana and Cate- her nameless sister are both here." Gwaine merely nodded his head and guiltily stood up without uttering another word.
Clash, clang, clash. Merlin closed his eyes. It sounded like sword fighting but he could not think who it could be fighting. He extremely doubted that Morgana and her sister would fight with the seers- especially with swords. Someone could have followed him and Gwaine here but he highly doubted that too as he had checked behind himself a few times just to make sure that they weren't being followed.
CRUNCH! Gwaine took a huge bite into an apple making Merlin jump around in fright.
"Shhh... Listen," Merlin commanded, shooting daggers at Gwaine. Gwaine apologetically looked at Merlin before listening intently for two seconds. After that he fell into dream about feasts, apples, mead, apples, wine, apples, banquets and apples.
Clang, clash, clash, clang.
"Did you hear that," Merlin murmured. "Sounds like sword fighting to me." Gwaine carefully listened not allowing himself to get distracted by dreams or apples.
"Well Gwaine the Knight in shining armour and Merlin the greatest sorcerer ever shall save whomever is trouble. Damsels in distress, included," Gwaine announced, putting on his pompous and disdainful accent. Merlin sprinted in the direction the sword fighting was coming from with Gwaine hot at his heels.
...
Block, attack. Gwen's head was buzzing from all the clashing of swords but Morgana was worse off. Morgana was exhausted having slept only three or four hours the night before and having being very active since. Morgana's reactions were at least two seconds slower than they normally were and her arms were aching so much that she felt like her arms were going to fall off.
Gwen was just able to block off Morgana's lethal swipe at her but fortunately for Gwen, Morgana stumbled over a rock landing on the floor. Pointing her deadly, trembling sword at Morgana, Gwen showed Morgana that the game was up but it was not. Morgana was too determined and stubborn to give in ever until the day that she died, so in split second Morgana had come up with a sheer brilliant plan to get herself out of this difficult situation.
"So, my little queen, are you going to kill me? Are you going to kill your dear Morgana? The one that you comforted, after she woke from terrifying nightmares that came true. The one that you would bring flowers for. The one that you would risk your life to save. Could you live with yourself for killing her? You first met her when you were crying your heart out for your dead mother. When you badly needed a job, she made sure that you got a well paid one in which the people would treat you fairly and you would not have to work too much. Half your job was talking to her. Are you going to kill her?" Morgana said in the perfect frightened tone of voice. She was just too good an actress and deceiver for anyone else's liking. Giving Gwen a terrified, horrified and scared look would ensure that Gwen didn't kill her. It was Gwen's good nature that was going to be the end of her after all. When Morgana was sure that Gwen was not going to kill with the sword Morgana picked up her sword off the floor and whacked it off of Gwen's sword, making Gwen's sword fly out of her hands. Gwen fainted. It was too easy to be real for Morgana. She should have foreseen that because she was swept off her feet by a gust of wind. Black hair. Blue eyes that turned gold. It wasn't Mordred. It was Merlin. Now everything seemed to make sense for Morgana. No wonder Arthur never died when he had his magical servant Emrys at his side.
"Merlin is Emrys?" Morgana half asked, digusted.
Thanks for reading. Please help me. How is Morgana going to react to Merlin having magic?
Also, the first person to crack the riddle which Mordred solved in two seconds can pick a characters name for the story. I made the riddle up so it may be quite hard to crack but there is another hint to the answer in the chapter.
And the competition for naming Gwen's mare is still on if you want to think of names
