Forbidden Love (Rewritten) | Arthur Pendragon

28 • THE CHANGELING

"So what do we do now?" Ulric asked.

Eowyn remained silent and kept her eyes on the Square. Sitting by the window pane in her chambers, she watched the delegation of King Godwyn arrive. A man in his forties stepped out of a carriage followed by a young woman, surely Princess Elena, clumsily exiting the vehicle. Uther had invited them for unknown reasons to the court and had been preparing for their arrival meticulously. Perhaps Uther expected something from Lord Godwyn's visit or perhaps it was a way for Uther to forget about her.

It had been a few days since the Usadian delegation had arrived in Camelot and thus, it had been a few days since they had been imprisoned. Though she, Ulric, and Eldrid were housed in noble quarters, it was clear that they were held hostage. Eowyn had expected the meeting to last a week at most, especially as Uther had never brought back the subject of her potential link with magic. As she had expected, he was now always reminded of Arno every time his eyes would land on her and her great resemblance to her father was not helping. But she also knew that it was nothing but a matter of time before he overcame this. Besides, the threat that represented Cenred hovering over her added even more to the urgency of returning to East Usad. But she could not even leave the citadel. Uther had to forbid her or the O'Doley to even step foot into the lower town.

"Have you successfully delivered the letter?" Eowyn finally asked.

Ulric nodded. "Yes. But I couldn't sneak out of the castle so I had Merlin deliver it for me."

Eowyn said nothing and only nodded. Through the wind that had carried her voice to the Immaculate Castle, she had managed to deliver a message to Osmond. He had sent a messenger to Camelot so she could give them a detailed report of the situation through letters. East Usad was too far from the Royal City of Camelot so the message she had sent through the wind had gradually faded away. Letters were safer to ensure all the information would remain, though there were greater chances to get caught.

Eowyn let out a sigh and stood up, putting the letters written by Bearach aside. Apparently, the resistance in West Usad had grown more fierce against Cenred and some inhabitants there had managed to sneak into East Usad and ask for asylum. Of course, Bearach granted it but the situation was getting more and more serious. The people were becoming frightened and the High Council feared an invasion by Cenred. It was imperative for Eowyn to return.

"For now we must retrieve the three remaining Sacred Protectors of Usad" Eowyn said. "Heimdall said Uther took them during the Great Purge. They must be hidden somewhere in the vaults."

"So one of the most guarded places in the citadel."

"Yes, but I have a history of sneaking around the castle so it shouldn't be too difficult. We simply have to be quick."

"We should go now, however," Ulric said. "They'd notice if three of the most precious treasures disappeared. We must take them upon our departure."

"The issue is that we don't even know if Uther will allow us to depart." Eowyn crossed her arms and sat on her bed. "We must convince him that we are no threat to Camelot and somehow earn his trust."

"You want to earn the trust of someone who you cannot trust? Good luck with that."

Eowyn let out a heavy sigh and let her body fall back onto the soft mattress.

"I know, but we don't have much of a choice."

For now, the safest way to go about this situation was pretense. They had to pretend to pledge allegiance to Uther and be at his service. Once he believed that they were no threat to Camelot or did not wish to defy his authority, they would be able to leave Camelot and return to East Usad to handle the problem that was Cenred. In the hypothetical situation in which Uther still refused to allow their departure, then the Usadian delegation would have no choice but to leave without his permission. Eowyn would like to avoid that as she knew for a fact that this scenario would not occur without commotion. In fact, it could very much end up in a war between East Usad and Camelot. Which was another reason to avoid this at all. East Usad could simply not handle a war against Cenred and a war against Camelot at the same time. It would simply end up in the total annihilation of Usad.