Camelot

Twenty - Dangerous Enemies

Twenty – Dangerous Enemies

The following moments of that dark day are some of the strongest memories from my mortal life. Those moments are the ones that set the boundary between good and evil and set not only my own, but Emrys' destiny into motion.

We'd retreated to the great hall, where Uther's throne sat. Morgana and Merlin sat beside him on the floor, looking desperate. Merlin clutched a moleskin pouch in his hand and looked as though his energy was draining out of him with every breath.

Leith and Arthur leant against the heavy doors, sweating heavily and panting. They were fighting a battle with their eyelids, straining to keep them open for just that little bit longer before fighting to tear them open once they had closed.

Madeline and Jensen were beside me, sharing the same looks as the others around us. The spell was taking its toll on everyone in the room – all but Morgana, who was a picture of health. She'd claimed to have taken a potion prescribed from Gaius when she had noticed the symptoms, but upon Merlin's search it appeared that there was no such thing as the potion that she had described.

While there was no doubt in my mind that Morgana had something to do with this whole enchantment, I doubted that she would have the strength the muster up such a powerful enchantment. I could feel the power radiating from her, yet I knew that she hadn't mastered the art of magic to perform something to this degree.

"We need to get my Father out of the castle," Arthur breathed, stepping away from the doors and swaying slightly.

"How can we do that Arthur? There's so many of those knights and we do not have the strength to defeat them," Madeline responded, stifling a yawn.

"There's a cart down in the citadel," Arthur said. "If I get the cart beneath the window then we can lower my Father into it from the window and then get out of here."

"What of the guards?" I asked. "Arthur this is too risky."

"I can do it Emalia," he snapped. "I must protect my father."

I silenced myself and was awarded with a look of confusion by Madeline. When she opened her mouth to object to Arthur's decision, I quickly held my hand up to silence her and surprisingly, she obeyed.

"I'll go with you Arthur," Leith decided. "You have a better chance of getting past those knights if you have a second sword and I'll do my best to watch your back as we head to the citadel."

"Thank you, Sir Leith," Arthur replied formally.

Leith responded with a small tilt of his head in respect, before turning to look at Madeline. I could tell that she was worried about him by the stiffness of her face when he turned to look at her.

"Make sure you come back to me," she said to him, pulling herself to her feet and walking over to him. Once she was at his side she kissed him lightly on the cheek and whispered something softly into his ear.

"I will," he promised.

I tore my eyes away from them and looked towards Arthur, who was facing away from me with his shoulders slumped. Once Leith had returned to his side the two of them worked hard to pull the barricade from the door before running out into the hall with Madeline and I barricading the door behind them. It was only moment later that we heard the unmistakable sound of steel on steel.

"I can't just stand here and listen to this," I said.

"Emalia, this is hurting me too," Madeline stated. "Arthur and Leith are great swordsman and they -,"