AN: Absolutely hate the ending of this chapter.

Conflict

Morgana's escape from Camelot had angered Arthur greatly. His talks with Gwen had ceased completely but this wasn't because his increasingly erratic behaviour scared her. No, she had actually become more persistent but the King believed that his people needed his guidance and that it left no time for their talks anymore. Without Agravaine, the King no longer had any guidance whatsoever. Arthur had hired mercenaries to search for the sorcerers and raised taxes to pay for it. The city wasn't as peaceful as people wished it to be. The King's mind was ruled by anger and betrayel while desperation claimed his heart. His pain flowed into his Kingdom like blood from an open wound and drops stained the cloth. The people felt his pain, sympathised with him, but the wound was not tended to and festered. Sympathy turned to fear and their King refused to see it.

Bad news reached Camelot and due to the fact that Arthur kept himself preoccupied with magic, Sir Leon had to bring it to his attention. The Knight found the King in his study, standing by a table with upon it a map of Camelot. Although Merlin and Morgana had escaped ages ago, Arthur felt the need to find out how they did it. Unfortunately it always boiled down to one thing; magic.
"Sire, we've received a rather disturbing letter from Nemeth."
Arthur immediately looked up from the map.
"Nemeth? Did Merlin or Morgana cross the border?"
Sir Leon swallowed nervously. Arthur didn't know that even that kind of 'bad news' was wishful thinking.
"No, Sire. I fear it may be much worse."
The King took a deep breath and nodded for the Knight to continue.
"Passing through Gedref, Princess Mithian witnessed a 'Lord Tyrwen' rounding up 'innocent villagers' and 'dragging them by their hair'. She goes on about it for a while and then comes the first piece of bad news." Sir Leon moved uncomfortably and quoted Mithian's letter. "We believe your policies against magic are harmful for the population and therefore we demand that the lands Gedref be turned over to Nemeth."
Arthur ran a hand through his hair. Nemeth wasn't a powerful military force but they were a wealthy kingdom, providing surrounding kingdoms with finer products such as silk and wine. Arthur wanted their allegiance, it was the reason he had agreed to meet them in the first place. He wanted it to be settled as to be able to give finding Merlin his full attention.
"You said 'first piece', what the second one?" Asked the King.
"One of our informants has reported that Princess Mithian has met with Merlin."
"And?" Arthur barked.
"He doesn't know the details but an army is gathering not far from the border."
Merlin gained an army. Giving them Gedref would allow them to come closer to Camelot under the guise of filling the garrisons. Slowly their numbers would grow until they would strike, like lightning.
"Gather the men." He replied as he looked down at the map again.
"What do you plan to do, Sire?"
"A pre-emptive strike. She's meeting up with the same sorcerer who I am trying to purge from these lands. I will not be bullied into surrendering Gedref."
"They're still in Nemeth, crossing the border would be an act of war." Sir Leon clarified and although Arthur understood, he saw things differently.
"We're already at war, with magic, and this is no different. She claims that my policies harm my people and yet she forges an alliance with Merlin and intends to take our land."

Mithian left her tent quickly followed by her maid, Thea. It had taken little effort to convince her father that the people of Gedref were suffering under Arthur's reign but getting him to agree on sending an army was difficult. She had neglected to tell the King about her encounter with Merlin as this would definitely have put him off the idea. More than a few soldiers disagreed with the current course of action. Camelot and Nemeth had been on very good terms with each other for a while and many people had family across the border.

The Princess looked at her maid who gave her a fake smile for comfort.
"How long before we cross the border?" Asked Thea.
The army had made camp near Gedref but they didn't intend to cross the border just yet.
"We're waiting for Arthur's response but if he doesn't answer in the next four days, we'll act."
Thea wasn't very convinced about the 'justice' Nemeth was said to bring. Who were they to say what was right? They weren't gods amongst men and Camelot and Gedref weren't the only ones they would have to answer to. If King Arthur did not answer, the army of Nemeth would visit Camelot's garrisons in Gedref and relieve them of their duties. The task was as simple as it sounded. The garrisons were only there to keep the peace. They fought bandits and kept an eye out for armies trying to sneak into the kingdom. Their army counted more than double the men than those in the garrisons. The garrison commanders would abandon their stations as they could easily raze the garrisons and dead men can't fight. Camelot's troops would leave, Nemeth's men would take their places and so they would change their borders.
"Does this not violate our alliances?"
Mithian assumed she was referring to invading Gedref and not the letter they sent on its own. It was a tricky situation they were in. She couldn't do nothing when the people of Gedef suffered but voiding their alliances could bring ruin to the whole of Nemeth. Thankfully their relations with the other Kingdoms was strong.
"With Camelot, probably, but Queen Annis has already stated that Caerleon will remain neutral." Replied Mithian.
"And you believe Arthur will yield?"
"With his uncle executed as a traitor and Merlin and Morgana plotting his demise, I don't see him wanting to fight over Gedref as well." She repeated the argument that ultimately convinced her father and the council. It was opportunism at its finest but that didn't mean the outcome was set in stone.

"Good Morning, Princess." Greeted Sir Roland as they approached his tent.
"Good morning to you, too." She smiled as they stood by the little table. "How is morale?"
"Some are a bit nervous but most see this as an exercise. They don't think we'll go to war."
"If all is well, we won't."
Only it wasn't. A couple of men ran patrols in case bandits got any funny ideas but one of them saw something completely different. He ran for the hills, back to the encampment, and burst into Sir Roland's tent.
"Camelot's banners are on the horizon!"
Mithian, Sir Roland and several soldiers followed the patrolling soldier to a vantage point which lay on higher ground. On the horizon was the red of Camelot troops and the dragon that decorated their banner. There were hundreds of them, enough to lay siege to a city. Mithian moved to the nearest tree and puked but Thea was quick to make the Princess presentable.
"We should have killed Merlin when we had the chance." Said one of the men with a wry smile.
Mithian recognized him as one of her escorts towards Camelot but not one of those whom had heard her speak with the sorcerer. The remark was a bit out of the blue but Mithian did not see it as a trivial comment. She approached the man and pulled the sword from his scabbard. The Princess did not know how to fight but neither did she need to against an unarmed man.
"Did you tell them?" She asked calmly.
He frowned in confusion.
"A mere threat wouldn't prompt the King of Camelot to do this, but whispers of Merlin would. Your words undermine my authority in front of your superiors. I doubt you remained silent at the taverns you visited. Who did you tell?"
Mithian knew she was right when the man did not speak in defense of his honour. Honour was something for Commanders and Knights but some of the more loyal soldiers would have spoken up. All she saw was anger in his eyes, his frown, his clenched fists and how he had begun leaning forwards slightly.
"You're a disgrace." Said Mithian.
The soldier barged forward but other soldiers pushed him back and brought his hands behind his back. Mithian was startled and her eyes grew with fear. He looked like a rabbid dog baring its fangs.
"You're the one allying with evil! Have you," He hesitated at the sight of attention he was getting, attention he tried to exploit. "Have ALL of you forgotten the destruction magic has brought upon us?!"
The Princess quickly overcame her initial fear as she heard the treason coming from his mouth, the confession of his treason.
"And what of the one you unleashed?" She taunted him, "I did not ally with Merlin. I struck a truce because I want no more bloodshed. If you had kept your mouth shut, Arthur would have given us Gedref for the sake of one less worry. Your betrayal brought war to Nemeth, to our home!"
Sir Roland approached the traitor from behind and grabbed him. The Knight, along with a few other men, went into the forest. Mithian went back to Sir Roland's tent. She didn't yet have the stomach to utter the words to sentence him to death, let alone kill him herself, but Sir Roland knew what needed to be done. Eventually the Knight returned to his tent where their conversation more or less continued.
"What are our options?" She asked the Knight.
"They vastly outnumber us. Few of us are on horseback whilst they have a great cavalry. We will suffer heavy casualties whether we flee or not. I can imagine the King ordered the troops stationed in Gedref to spy on us until the army arrived. They know where we are, our numbers and that we are ill prepared."
"This is war. He won't stop, even if we flee." Mithian worriedly replied.
Sir Roland sighed at the choice he had to make.
"We can't win but fleeing will leave us with an army not big enough to defend the capital. Fighting them might decrease their numbers enough to give your father a chance to keep them outside the city walls."
The Princess nodded.
"Then it's settled, we fight."
"You don't have to fight. You can still make it to the capital." Sir Roland reminded her with a slightly amused smile.
"Thea, get our horses." The maid curtsied, unnecessarily, and left Mithian alone with Sir Roland.
"How long until they're here?"
"Half an hour. Longer, if they're cautious."
Mithian turned to Thea who just returned with the horses. She hugged the maidservant without preamble.
"Tell my father what happened here." She said to her maid.
"What?" Asked Thea in surprise and Sir Roland agreed.
"Princess, this is madness."
"I will not abandon these men. They face death because of my mistakes and I will be with them when they draw their swords."
Thea looked at Sir Roland in hope that he would change her mind.
"My mind is made up." Mithian insisted stubbornly, "Thea, you'll be faster if you change horse from time to time. Now you must go and tell my father about what happened here."
The Knight knew that nothing he would say or do would change her heart.
"Go." He told Thea.
"Best of luck." Mumbled Thea as she mounted her horse and left with both hers and Mithian's.
Mithian turned to Sir Roland, sword in hand, and smiled.
"Half an hour. You'd better teach me how to fight."

The pair trained for mere minutes when shouting came from the forest west of them, which was opposite the direction Arthur's army was approaching. Before anyone understood what was happening, crossbow bolts cut the air and burrowed themselves into the chests of soldiers and squires. Sir Roland pulled her into the tent and flipped the table so that any bolts piercing the tent would not harm them. It was at this point that the Princess regretted her decision more than anything. It was foolish and she had been a complete idiot. This was not the sort of battle she had read about in the history books. This was chaos, and madness, and shouting, and the screaming of metal meeting metal. Sir Roland saw Mithian's crippling fear but knew he could do nothing about it. Watching tournaments did not compare to the real dangers of battle. She was still so very innocent. She still looked away at a man's execution.

Mithian hoped that Thea had managed to escape but there was little hope of that as she had left but minutes before the attack. The surprise attack had caught them completely off guard. They had been so focused on the troops in the east, the troops which were at least twenty minutes away, that no one suspected anything would happen in the west. Their encampment wasn't in a well defendable location. They didn't think they'd need to. It was imaginable that Camelot would defend its lands but never that they would invade Nemeth.

Rattling armour went past the back of the tent and then they entered, dressed in red and protected by plate. Sir Roland raised arms against the enemy but valour alone did not win wars. The song of metal was fierce and foes fell but there were too many. A sword made its way into his heart and Mithian stared in fear. Her mind was filled with prayers of despair. Enemy soldiers effortlessly knocked the sword from her hand and pulled her from the tent. Outside she saw the devastated camp where so many laid dead.

Being pushed towards the enemy encampment, Mithian saw a small group of soldiers forced into a corner. The soldiers from Camelot kept their distance as they bringing in crossbowman to neutralize the situation. The prospect of pointless bloodshed stirred something inside the. She violently pulled herself from her captors' hands to try and prevent their deaths but she was too late. The bolts flew through the air and blood followed.
"I could've told them to surrender! You didn't need to murder them!"
Not far from her came a man's voice.
"I would've given you Gedref. You didn't need to betray us."
She looked at him, the blond haired man with a crown atop his head. King Arthur.

AN:
After this somewhat boring chapter, we will have a tiny bit of Merlin/Morgana.