THE FOREST OF ESITIA
"Set them there, we make break, water the horses."
The gruff voice matched the heavy footsteps that stomped away from the knights and he queen.
Judging that they were a safe distance away, Gwaine hesitantly lifted one eye.
They were in the middle of a clearing, somewhere he did not recognise.
Supressing a groan, he lifted his heavy head to look over his shoulder at Mordred, who like him, lay in the mud, hands bound, head pounding on his side.
"Mordred." Gwaine hissed.
Mordred lifted his eyes and peered at him, but nodded once when he saw in Gwaine's eyes what the plan was.
Like the other knight, Gwaine lifted a sharp stone form the floor and started to slice at the ropes that held his wrists together.
A little way in front of him, Gwen lay curled on her side, completely still and sodden with cold.
"Gwen…" He hissed at her, eyes flying around the make sure that the bandits, who were sat around with the horses a little way away, were not over hearing.
They were not.
"Gwen." Gwaine hissed again.
She stirred but did not wake completely.
Gwaine cursed.
Snap.
He looked down when the ropes fell away from his wrists.
Immediately he rubbed at them, and reached for his hip, realising that his sword was gone.
He cursed.
Snap.
The almost silent sound made him look over his shoulder at Mordred, who was flexing his wrists, weaponless, as well.
Gwaine snapped his head in the direction of the queen by way of instruction.
Mordred nodded.
The two of them, slowly, on their sides, shuffled towards where the queen lay on her side.
Gwaine checked the pulse on her neck as Mordred silently stood and rushed around to her other side, before falling to lie flat again, working on removing her bonds.
Her wrists were more delicate than hers and the rope had cut into her skin.
"If she inhaled as much of that stuff as we did, no wonder she is still out cold…" Gwaine whispered and shook her gently.
"She is smaller than us, more delicate, it would have taken less t put her under." Mordred confirmed quietly.
Both their eyes snapped around.
"What are we going to do?" Mordred hissed, "We haven't got a weapon between us, she isn't awake, we don't even know where we are…"
"Yeh but at least we are all still alive." Gwaine muttered, "And I will take being probably soon to be dead, rather than actually dead, which is what we will be before long I would guess."
Mordred sighed firmly, "So what are we going to do?"
The queen stirred between them and coughed slightly, moaning her husband's name.
"Arthur?"
"You have got us instead my lady..." Gwaine hissed as she peeled her eyes back, "We haven't got much time… come on…"
Gwaine shifted and wriggled towards where the bushes were thick just by their heads.
He forced his way through and then turned to reach for Gwen's hand.
Mordred watched the bandits and Osiris, in a group a little way away, his hand touching the queen's hip as he helped her crawl through the bush to Gwaine.
He nodded to the knight who immediately stood, safely in the undergrowth and rushed away with the queen.
Mordred moved to follow.
"Oi! They are escaping!"
"Stop them!"
The booming voice of Osiris made Mordred snap his head around.
The bandits stood and drew sword, racing towards him.
He cursed and forced his way through the bush, before scrambling upright and racing after Gwaine and the queen.
Osiris fumed, stalking after them, lifting one hand up as his eyes flashed.
A crack of lightning shot down from nowhere to scorch the earth just beside where they ran.
All of them cried out in shock and stumbled, but kept racing.
The bandits chased.
Another flash of his eyes caused another of Osiris's bolts of lightning to slam down into the earth.
Osiris let out a shout of anger and his eyes shone amber with the production of a lightning bolt that split a tree in half.
CAMELOT OF DESTINY – THE GREAT HALL
As the feast continued to swell, Tanya crossed the room silently around the edge, with Eveline at her side, to see the queen stood beside a pillar, her eyes locked on where her husband was dancing with Lady Vivienne.
Her devotion to him, through a love spell none the less, had made her contentedly lower herself to be his whore, for all of Camelot to see.
But Kings belonged to their people, not to their wives.
To almost everyone it as more than acceptable for the king to keep a mistress… especially when his queen appeared to be barren.
It was what hurt Gwen the most.
She swallowed and lifted her goblet of wine to her lips and sipped at it.
Tanya turned her head slightly to look at a couple of women of court, talking quietly.
The eldest, old enough to be the others mother, sighed slightly at the sight of the queen by herself.
"What do you know of marriage Ester?" The younger woman asked.
"I know, Anne, that it should not be thus." Ester replied quietly, "I know that a queen should not have to be made to feel so humiliated, so small, when there was a time when her husband would have moved mountains for her… when his eyes lit up at her very name, a smile on his face always in her presence… before he lost his way and became like his father."
Tanya swallowed and watched as the woman called Ester's jaw flexed and she sipped her wine sharply.
The younger woman named Anne stared at her, "DO you agree with what people whisper, that the king has changed over these years, because Merlin, the sorcerer left…"
"I have been a member of this court my whole life… the king was arrogant as a child, yet when Merlin arrived even separated station they formed a close friendship… his advice… it helped shape this kingdom… now he is gone, living his happy life with the serving girl who was once so loyal to the queen… the King is lost without him, yet too angry and proud to admit it." Ester replied, "The king is the man his father would long since have wanted him to be, king first and husband second… the queen must watch as he showers another woman with looks of lust that he once held only for her… their marriage is empty…. Rumours are abound that if she does not conceive soon she will leave to seek sanctuary somewhere else."
Anne gasped, "But she loves him."
"And so she will find a way to live with it." Ester stated, "Merlin the sorcerer left and chose his own happiness over the council that he was to his friend… the kingdom is not as strong under him, and the king will never admit just how much he misses him by his side… and the queen… she feels abandoned, and so she should. Tanya the serving girl that Merlin now lives with was one of her only friends, they were kin… now the queen is on her own, and her husband finds comfort from the stresses and pains of his life, despite all his failings, in the arms of another woman."
Anne swallowed and shook her head, letting her eyes flitter to where the king was stood with Vivienne.
"Do you think he loves her?" Anne whispered.
Tanya stiffened.
"Not with his heart." Ester said as gently as she could, "No matter what anyone says, or how hard it is to see, that will always belong to Queen Guinevere."
"Then why does he…"
"Because he can. Because he is the king, and a mistress is expected… and I think part of him wants to prove that the fault with the queen being childless does not lie with him. Though no one will ever suggest such a thing."
Ester's small words made Tanya swallow painfully and turn her head to watch as the queen stared at the king and Vivienne interact, before it all seemed to come to be too much.
Guinevere set her goblet down and turned to sweep from the hall.
Hurried murmurs of "my lady" and "Your majesty" rippled through the crowd, and Arthur turned to see her leave just as the doors slammed behind.
Eveline took Tanya's wrist just as the kings jaw locked.
THE HILL - THE FOREST OF ESITIA
Grey twilight covered the entire forest.
The air had cooled.
The heavy breathing of the two knights and the queen, who were jogging and scrambling up a large hill away from the road they had raced away from after being herded there by Osiris and his men when they tore through the undergrowth, hounded by lightning that the sorcerer had conjured.
Their warm and rasping breaths in the cold air turned to white clouds in front of their faces.
Gwaine stopped walking, putting his hands on his hips.
"We are going to need to find somewhere to shelter." He stated to Mordred, "We can't stay out in the night…"
Mordred nodded, "Yes."
"What? No!" Gwen cried, stopping walking beside them.
All of them were breathing heavily.
"Shhh." Gwaine scolded her, "We don't know how far they are behind us…"
"So why is stopping a good idea?" She demanded, "We need to get back to Camelot."
"We have no idea where we are my lady." Mordred tried, "even in the day light we could not see… we will have no chance at night, the temperature will drop… it is too dangerous…"
"The knights are out there somewhere looking for us," She stated, "I am sure of it!"
"Osiris and his men are still out there, and I am pretty sure that they know this forest better than we do." Gwaine stated.
"You are a knight of Camelot, can't you track?" Gwen snapped.
"Track what?" Gwaine demanded, "What, In the dark?"
Mordred was puzzled by her temper.
Gwaine ignored her apparent emotional state.
"Please…" Gwen wrapped her arms around her torn, damp and scorched dress as well as the cold, "We must get back, Arthur will be beside himself with worry…"
"I had rather he be beside himself with worry than your head be beside your body." Gwaine stated.
"Gwaine I need to go back! I am…" She cut herself off and straightened.
Gwaine sighed shortly, "I know you are expecting my lady."
Mordred's eyes widened.
He hadn't.
Gwen stared at Gwaine, "What?"
"I have travelled a lot, seen many women who are carrying a child… I have been in many taverns, and seen hundreds of women all trying to hide their little secret." He chuckled slightly, his eyes flirting down over her form.
She glared at him sharply, irritated by her emotional state and Gwaine's frustrating attitude.
"You cannot compare me to a tavern wench." She snapped.
"Don't call them wenches," Gwaine grinned, "it isn't nice."
"I could have used another word beginning with W!"
"And if I can say my lady…" Gwaine chuckled, "You are being rather more emotional than normal.
She scowled at him and sighed shortly.
He shook his head and turned.
"Come on, we need to find shelter."
He strode forwards further up the hill.
Mordred threw the queen an apologetic look and set off up the hill after Gwaine.
Gwen lifted her eyebrows at her own emotional state and bit her lip against tears.
She wiped them away furiously and swallowed, looking down at her flat belly.
Slowly she let her hands fall to rest on it, either side of her navel.
It felt different, although it could not be seen.
"Come on Esmerelda."
Gwaine's voice from further up the hill made her sigh.
She cast one look out over the forest and the rising moon before she turned and ran off after him.
THE FOREST OF ESITIA
"We are not stopping."
"Arthur I can barely keep my eyes open, and based on how worried you are I would wager that your brain is worn out…"
"As if I could sleep."
"The horses need to rest."
"We have slowed to a walk."
"The horses need sleep."
"They will be fine."
"There is barely enough light to see by." Merlin stated.
Arthur sighed heavily and stopped his horse, lifting one hand to his face, "She can't be far…"
"I know." Merlin said gently, "But we have to work together."
Arthur stared at the bleak and cold forest around him.
"We will make camp." Merlin stated, "Then we will try and pick up some form of trail in the morning."
The young warlock turned his horse and rode a small distance away through the undergrowth to a clearing.
Arthur sighed sadly and looked up at the sky, seeing the moon shine down on him.
He slowly lifted his fist towards the sky, his thumb sticking out, so it looked, when eh closed one eye and peered closely at the heavens, that the moon was the same size as his thumb.
He sighed.
THE HILL – THE FOREST OF ESITIA
Gwen continued to trudge up the hill with Mordred and Gwaine.
She was tired, worried, and cold.
The young knight had hung back with her to check that she was alright and safe, while Gwaine had route marched harder up the hill in search of any kind of shelter.
Gwen let her eyes flitter up to the stars and she sighed slightly at the sight of the moon.
Just as Arthur had done, she lifted her fist and thumb, to peer at it beside the moon in the sky.
"What are you doing your majesty?" Mordred asked.
Gwen looked at him in embarrassment and lowered her arm back to her side.
She smiled at him tiredly, "I am not always 'your majesty' Mordred. You may call me Gwen."
Mordred shifted, "I couldn't…"
"I call you by your name, why should you not call me mine?" She touched his arm.
He flushed slightly, "Gwen then."
She smiled and sighed, looking back up at the stars and moon.
"It is silly… but when Arthur and I were first married, and he left on progress around the five kingdoms, I was worried he would come back injured or worse…" Her voice turned quiet on distant, "so on the night before he left, he had a picnic prepared for us under the stars on the roof of the south wing… the evening was warm, and he held me and told me that no matter where you are in the world the moon seems to never be any bigger than your thumb... meaning that wherever we are in the world, however far apart we are… that is always the same for the both of us... keeping us together…"
Both of them had stopped walking.
Mordred watched her carefully.
She flushed and looked down, wiping at her eyes, "I am an emotional mess…"
"It is normal to miss the ones we love." Mordred said.
She smiled at him, "Thank you Mordred."
"Ah ha!"
The booming voice of Sir Gwaine made Gwen and Mordred turn their heads to face up the hill, before walking up to where Gwaine stood, arms outstretched, grinning at a shack.
Gwen blinked, "This looks like a drunk's hovel."
"No, it's even better!" Gwaine clapped his hands together, "it is an empty drunk's hovel."
Mordred stared at him as he threw open the door and strode in.
Form inside Gwaine could be heard to cheer, "Not empty of ale to get drunk with though! Now it's a party!"
Mordred entered, "We cannot stay here."
"Don't be a princess." Gwen was starting a fire with some of the logs that were in the old shack.
Gwen sighed heavily but shuddered with cold.
She stepped inside and peered around the tiny shack, which was boarded up on all sides, moonlight leaking through some of the cracks in the walls.
It smelt dusty.
But it smelt dry.
She looked around, "Who does it belong to?"
"By the looks of it?" Gwaine was sat beside the fire removing his boots, bottle of ale at his side, "It was the home to some smugglers… and also on inspection, it seems that they have long been out of business… you probably have your dear husband to thank or that…"
Gwen shot him a look and walked to sit down beside the fire, her legs crossed, her hands in her lap.
Mordred sighed heavily.
"Shut the door." Gwaine stated.
Mordred looked at the queen who simply sighed tiredly.
The young knight took one last look outside before shutting the door.
THE FOREST OF ESITIA
"Do you think that Tanya got back to Camelot safe?" Merlin asked.
He was sat opposite Arthur, who had his elbows on his knees, poking at the fire between them.
"Unlike the rest of us." The king muttered.
Merlin nodded, wanting to believe that it was true.
THE SHACK – THE FOREST OF ESITIA
Gwaine, Mordred and Gwen sat around the fire.
Gwaine threw an empty bottle of ale over his shoulder, before reaching for another.
He unscrewed it as Gwen sighed and shifted where she sat with her legs crossed, hands in her lap.
Mordred was poking at the fire, making sure their capes, which were drying over the flames, did not get burnt.
Gwaine gave out a particularly large belch and Mordred shot him a look.
"Gwaine."
"What?" Gwaine smacked his lips together.
Mordred glanced at the tired queen and Gwaine sighed in understanding.
"Oh I see…" He leant closer to Gwen.
Mordred watched as he thrust to bottle at her.
"Do you want some?"
She rolled her eyes and Gwaine chuckled, reclining back against a bench and stretching his legs out.
Mordred looked at the queen.
"How long have you and the king known, about the baby?" He asked gently.
She looked down at herself, resting her hands on it, stroking it softly.
"Only since yesterday…" She said and sighed, "I can't imagine what he is going to say about all this.. he didn't even want me to come today…"
Mordred chuckled, not unkindly, but in a friendly way, "I imagine he can be very protective."
She smiled, "Just a little bit."
Gwaine scoffed at this but said nothing, just continued to sway at a song that was only in his head.
He collapsed backwards and chuckled, although it turned a heavy sigh and snore.
Mordred sighed and stood, lifting his cloak from the fire, "We should all get some sleep."
Gwen nodded but glanced at him when he leant across the fire to hand the cloak to her.
"You can sue it as a blanket. It should be warm and dry now." He explained.
She smiled, "thank you Mordred."
He inclined his head, "Gwen."
He watched, as he lay down on the other side of the fire, as she curled on her side, snuggling under the blanket.
She let her eyes flutter open to stare at the multiple bottles, and crates, of alcohol that were around the shack.
It was nearly full to the seams.
Her mind set in an idea.
THE ROYAL CHAMBERS – THE CAMELOT OF DESTINY
When the white light faded from around them Eveline and Tanya were again in the royal chambers.
"This immediately follows her sweeping from the great hall." Eveline said quietly.
"You can read my mind?" Tanya whispered.
"I can read your face." Eveline's eyes did not move from staring hard at the scene.
She knew what the future held based on Merlin and Tanya's love was dark.
Tanya was beginning to really understand just what would befall all those she cared for, those who showed her kindness, if she allowed Merlin to love her and put her before them all, and his destiny.
The queen was stood looking out of the window, one hand on the cool glass, as the rain hammered and the thunder and lightning snarled at her through it.
Her skin was pale with disappointment.
Suddenly the door burst open and Arthur strode in.
"Whatever gave you the impression that you could storm out in such a fashion?" He demanded, ripping his cloak from his shoulders and throwing it on the table.
Gwen swallowed painfully and her burning eyes snapped around to stare at him.
"You bring women into your bed, our bed, they throw themselves at you, and all the whispering that you would once have condemned only grows worse…" She snapped, turning to face him completely, "I have had private humiliations that you have made public, for although as a king you do not belong to be but as my husband I thought you would be loyal!"
Arthur set his jaw and glared at her, "You will…"
"I will not silent and I will not bow to you!" She cried, "I love you with all that I am and it hurts me… it hurts me when I cannot conceive, when I fail to bear a lving child, and when you love others!"
Arthur stepped towards her but she did not flinch away.
"I know that you blame Merlin for the crumbling of the kingdom, I know that you find it hard to admit that you struggle to rule the kingdom alone but you used to know that you did not have to be on your own!" She almost shouted, tears in her eyes as she was desperate fror him to see…
"You mean everything to me Arthur, and our marriage… it has withered and died… it is empty, yet full of Vivienne and the sadness and I…"
Her hands shook and her voice cracked.
Still Arthur said nothing, his eyes indignant and burning.
She swallowed and fisted her hands at her sides.
"I have never once, made public my grief regarding your affairs…. You have lost your way because you are angry about Merlin leaving, abandoning you and Camelot for his love for Tanya and taking his counsel that you so relied upon with him…"
"Guinevere." Arthur snapped, striding towards her.
"He made you a great king and took you from being the arrogant man you have once again become, sometimes I wonder why I married you, why I could not see…" She was crying, "Because for all I love you, you are now like your father… a tyrant who is no more man than any king…."
"You have gone too far." He snapped, grabbing her wrists and holding them tight.
She gasped and stared up at him, bitter disappointment in her eyes.
"And there are times when I fear what our marriage will become… what it turning into…. Yet I kow you will not strike me… for there are times when you touch me and kiss me… and you are just Arthur…"
His jaw locked at her words.
She swallowed and the strength in her eyes made something flicker in his vision.
He was angry, angry over Merlin leaving with Tanya….
Arthur felt lost and afraid.
Yet he could never admit it.
He was too proud.
He was angry that he had hurt his wife…
Angry that they had not conceived…
Yet he was the king.
That was who he was.
He made to wrap his arms around his wife and crush her to him.
"Don't touch me…"
"Guinevere…"
His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, holding it as tight as he had earlier, if not tighter.
She gasped in pain and he pulled her to him, holding her tight against his chest, pinning her hands at her sides in his.
"Arthur…" Gwen gasped, her voice trembling.
His eyes burned and smouldered.
They did not burn and smoulder in the way she was used too though, the way when they were first married he would smile and she laughed...
More than ever as she stared at him, she could have sworn she saw something glint in the corner of his eye…
Her heart broke.
It was like there was a small speck of something marring the eyes, his eyes that she knew so well.
Without another word he slammed his lips down upon hers.
She gasped in shock as his hands moved to cup her face roughly, thumbs pressing into her cheeks.
She whimpered.
"Argh, Arthur…"
She tried to tilt her head away and push him away but he only held her tighter, wrapping one arm around her back, straining her to him, while the other grabbed at the shoulder of her lavender dress and shoved it down, exposed her flawless skin.
"Arthur…"
Tears of fright were rising in her eyes as he pressed his lips to her shoulder, kissing roughly, straining her and crushing her to him.
"Arthur stop, please…" She smacked him on the arm to shove him away and started to struggle.
She wriggled in his grip but he only held her tighter.
"Arthur no!" She shouted, tears rising in her eyes.
She cried out in pain when he nipped her shoulder with his teeth, moving to bite at her neck as he kissed her.
"Arthur…"
He backed her to the table, the base of her spine crashing into the side of it as he shoved her to sit on it.
"Arthur stop!" She struggled and cried out, "Stop!"
Tears were pouring down her face as she fought him, his hands moving up under the base of her skirt to push it around her legs…
She struggled and anger coursed through her as she fought him with all she had.
He only held her tighter.
"Is this how you treat her, Vivienne?" She cried roughly.
Tanya swallowed and looked to Eveline.
"I can't watch this…" She whispered.
The Parlevine girl nodded and took her wrist.
The white light wrapped around just as Gwen cried out in pain ad fury.
Her voice was rough and Arthur clutched her tighter for all she struggled.
"Is this how you treat your whore?"
AUTHORS NOTE: So those of you who can get the mild references to a couple of movies (One being "The Duchess") in this chapter will just have to go to the next chapter – where it is really very obvious! A disclaimer for the use of this awesome scene – which is so very Gwaine… He would have been a good pirate!e he hj