Finding himself at sword point Arther was left to Morgouse's mercy.
Looking at Morgouse, Arther spoke, " Well my fate is now yours what will you do?"
Morgouse took her helm off and threw it away before speaking.
" I will give you reprieve if you agree to my conditions."
" What are your conditions?" Asked Arther.
" In 3 days time you must meet me outside Camelot at a location of my choosing and accept my challenge regardless of what it might be."
Arther remained silent thinking about his choice because he needs to consider what challenge could be asked of him and his position in the kingdom.
" Times running out, make your choice." Morgouse urged.
" You have my word, I'll meet with you in 3 days."
Hearing Arther's words Morgouse pointed her sword away from him and offered her hand to him as sign of a reprieve.
Arther grabbed it and he got up, The crowd cheered and Uther gave a look of relief and then clapped his own hands.
…
In a temporary treatment room Gaius tended to Morgouse after checking with Arthur and confirming that he was uninjured.
Morgouse however did get cut on her left upper arm which fortunately for her was her less dominant hand.
While tending to her Gaius noticed a bracelet of silver with gold inlays on her wrist and immediately recognised it as well as what it meant.
" That's a beautiful bracelet, I also recognise it's craftsmanship, have you been to Camelot before?" Gaius asked feigning ignorance as into the true nature of that bracelet.
Morgouse looked to her bracelet and said, " Yes, once when I was a baby, I greatly doubt you would remember me though."
After her wounds were attended to she thanked Gaius and left.
While in the temporary room where she left much of her stuff that was not needed for her dual with Arther, she was packing everything up so that she would be ready to go at day break, until a knock on the door was sounded.
" You may enter."
Opening the door was none other than Morgana.
" Hallo, I wanted to come and introduce myself and congratulate you on your win."
Giving a light smile Morgouse replied, " I don't believe their is anyone who doesn't know you, Lady Morgana."
" Well regardless that was a well earned win, it isn't often that Arther is soundly defeated in a dual and you were certainly the first woman to do so."
" Well as glad as I am to receive praise from you, if Arther never backed away allowing me to retrieve my sword then I would have lost."
" But enough about that I would love to hear a bit about you Lady Morgana."
And While they did talk for a short while, Morgana found the sense of familiarity from Morgouse even stronger so she asked.
" Have we met before, because it feels like we have known each other for a long time?"
With what appeared to be a kind smile she said, " No this is our first time meeting, but I hope you will remember me fondly."
…
During the night Morgouse snuck into Morgana's room and placed the bracelet that Gaius noticed at the desk like structure at the foot of Morgana's bed, The bracelet could even be considered a family heirloom.
Shortly after the sun rise Morgouse walked towards her horse at the citadel gate, where Arther with his own horse, was waiting to have one last talk with her.
While they talked Morgouse spoke of her admiration for Arther's horse and during that moment when Morgouse's eyes locked with the horse's eyes her eyes glowed gold while the horse's eyes glowed red.
Yet the only thing Arther would not forget about the conversation was when Morgouse complimented him on being a man of honour, A treat she said he inherited from his mother.
His mother, the one woman he knows next to nothing about due to the fact that she died in his childbirth.
And as she left The only thought remaining in his mind was how much about his mother did this woman know.
Afterwards Arther went to his father to inform him of the promise he made.
" That is certainly not happening." Uther said in a tone that told any who heard it that he found The mere idea of upholding such a promise ridiculous.
" Father, I gave her my word." Arther said, Determined to uphold his promise.
" Arther you are not going and that is final!"
" I will and you can't stop me!!."
Naturally the silence that followed was deafening, Uther looked like he was about to blow a blood vessel while Arther stood still keeping his eyes level with Uther to convey how serious he was.
Yet it mattered not as Uther in eather his determination to remind Arther that he is not only his farther but also his king or for fear that his son was being lead into a trap, confined Arther to his room under armed guard and he would not be allowed to leave until after the promised time.
Yet during the night Arther with the help of Merlin successfully escaped throu the window.
…
While sitting at the table Gaius realised that is has been a few hours since sunrise and hasn't seen Merlin get up and now that he has made breakfast he walked up the small number of steps and knocked on Merlin's bedroom door.
Naturally Taylor kept a eye on Morgouse the whole time in order to make sure she didn't try to enchant anything, much to Morgouse's unawareness.
" Merlin breakfast is ready, it's a long time you got up now." Yet nothing but silence replied.
After 5 minutes Gaius opened the door to see what happened, Yep, we greeted his eyes for the freshly made that that clearly had not been slept in the night before.
The most logical explanation was that Merlin used magic to make the bed, but that is not what happened as Merlin made a promise to Gaius.
To not use something as sacred as magic for daily chores.
And despite the impressive performance Merlin is capable of when making the bed for Prince Arthur, he never makes his own bed to that same standard, If anything it's very sloppy.
So seeing a perfectly made bed Gaius knew that Merlin clearly did not sleep in it last night.
Gaius informed the king the Merlin had not been seen all morning and considering that Merlin is Arther's Manservant when Uther stormed into Arther's room seeing it empty with a window open and rope leading out of it, he ordered lots of search party's to be assembled immediately and ride out to find Arther.
Later in the day Gaius walked passed Morgana he noticed that on her wrist was the bracelet the he once saw on Morgouse's wrist.
Knowing what he now knew he went to the king ready to break a promise he once swore to take to the grave.
At the sound of the doors opening Uther looked up and saw Gaius walk in, after Gaius asked for a private moment to talk Uther sent both the Council and guards out.
If it was anyone other than Gaius he would certainly not have done this.
" Ok my friend what is it that bothers you so, that you need a private talk with me?"
" As I was walking through the castle I noticed that Morgana was wearing a new bracelet which normally I wouldn't have spared a second thought at, but then I noticed that it beared the mark of the house of Gorlois."
And the look in Uther's eyes said everything, because unless Morgana dug up Gorlois's grave she shouldn't have anything bearing that mark as she had buried hers with him.
Gaius confessed that he had helped smuggled out the half sister back when she was a baby and intrusted the baby to the high priestess of the old religion. who will have very likely trained Morgause in great and powerful magics
" The only reason I am telling you now it's because I swore an solemn oath and the only reason I'm breaking it now is due to what I fear of Morgouse's intentions."
" Then you best hope that Morgana never learns the truth as I will not have her loyalty's divided." The tension in his voice could choke the heart.
…
In a hidden room of the castle known only to 3 people, 2 of the 3 people were currently present Morgana and Taylor.
In the room both have been watching Merlin and Arther's journey through a Crystal that comes from the Crystal cave a place often believed to be the origin of magic in this world.
And when you look into one of the crystals from this cave, you can see things that have been, things that currently are and some things… that have not yet come to pass.
While you can't control what past or future the crystal shows you can control the present in both location and people.
Most of what had happened was Arther and Merlin talking about The possible challenge that Morgouse would pose to Arther, and even a heart to heart about the fact that Arther new almost nothing about his mother and Merlin talked about how he knew next to nothing about his father.
While watching them on their journey Morgana almost asked how Arther seemed to know which direction to go in but then she noticed that it seemed to be Arthur's horse that lead them.
Morgana instead asked Taylor how the horse seemed to know the way.
Taylor then explained that there is a spell that is often used for pack horses but works just as well with riding horses, as the spell essentially imprinted a hyper realistic detailed map with a full set of directions for how to get from the current location to a specified destination.
While both Taylor and Morgana looked into the crystal they witnessed Arther and Merlin come upon a beautiful lake of crystal like water with a beautiful flowing waterfall at the far end of the lake.
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Sorry for not updating for the last few months as I have been in a creative slump, so I've been taking the last few months to just not even think about writing to see if that will help me get out of it and it has helped a little bit.
I also had a bit of a problem with the process in which my story was coming along, but now I have found the best way to deal with that issue so now I should be getting back into the flow.
I also think everyone for their patience and not bombarding me with questions about when I will next update that has been much appreciated.