A Herald of a New Age

Chapter Twenty One. An uncertain road

|an| Well, here I am, on a coach. I just realised that I finished the previous chapter on the 9th of May... and never published it. It's now the 22nd of May please forgive me ahah. Well, I've got a whole coach ride to London, so might as well get started as an apology for not publishing :/ whoops.
Also, just a note, Gwen is making her entrance as a reoccurring point of view, she'll be good eyes to look through with Elyan hopefully making a reappearance. |an|

"There was nothing they could do. Helen said they were half tricked into it." Arthur recalled.

"Well, as a small fleeing tribe of persecuted Druids, you can definitely see the appeal of their arrival. Promises to make them strong again."

Gwen pondered this from the edge of the meeting. The Druids had shown them to a small collection of tents where they could stay the night and no sooner had they dumped their bags were they all huddled round the King seeking answers. Gwen had tried to keep up with it all, apparently the Southern Tribe had conflicted with the War tribe during the purge and Morgana had used their guarded nature and isolated way of living to infiltrate. What Gwen didn't understand was what Morgana got out of it. Had she known of the quest? Had she tried to seek out the Druid tribes within Camelot before Arthur could?

"So they rock up and kill the seer." Gwaine recounted, trying to put the facts together himself. "Then they pretend to have found the body and are offered brief hospitality for bringing the poor old sod back.. they poison the rest of the elders in a matter of days and suddenly it's a totalitarian microcosm."

Everyone stared blankly at Gwaine. Gwen blinked once, twice. "What?" She said, echoing everyone's thoughts.

"A mini dictatorship. Like the big one Morgana is trying to create." Arthur expanded with a sigh. Gwen longed to let her hopeless love for the worried King take her up and whisk her away; she wanted nothing more now than to be in his arms. But she couldn't. Not while chaos seemed to ensue around them and with Morgana at each corner. Gwen also had to share her worries for Arthur with her deep concern for her brother. He was always the older one, but always the one who got himself into trouble. It was his nature, or his fate, as Gwens mother had told her when she came back to the forge dragging a brother she had picked out of some mess for the second time that week. In the back of her conscience was another worry for herself. Did she have what Elyan did? Magic? She couldn't imagine it. She had rarely seen it until Merlin, and while watching him light fires and move objects was mesmerising, she understood very well that Merlin was an exception. Magic was a dangerous skill, until harnessed properly it could lash out and was very hard to tame without training. Gwen was happy with her sword and her skills in her work at the forge and the castle, her stomach turned when she tried to imagine Elyans fear at having something so delicate as magic thrust upon him.

Gwen noticed the conversation moving on and focused in on Arthur's voice once more.

"Helen said that after we left, all hell broke loose. Morgana apparently saddled a horse with a few men and immediately left in search of us. She said that she could see the madness take over her actions and in her haste she nearly trampled many of the Southern people. The elders who weren't actually elders began to attack them, and the Southern Tribe eventually fought back, but not after they had been pushed back to the edge of their camp. That explained all the burnt and trampled tents we saw as we made our way here. Helen said it was actually the older Druid, Arthur, who rallied them all and helped them to finally chase out the imposters, but they've barely got a grip on the place since. Helen said that their grief is still raw and she will need time to convince them that they cannot just retreat back to where they were before- as hiding only made them isolated."

"And vulnerable to Morganas cunning." Leon finished heavily. Arthur nodded, staring at the ground.

"But Helen is all for the peace agreement?" Gwen cut in, trying to lighten the situation just a little.