A/N: Thanks must once again go to withkissesfour for editing this chapter. I would also like to dedicate this chapter to her as it was her birthday last week! Happy Birthday withkissesfour!

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~Chapter 2~

Merlin’s shoulders are shivering. He feels incredibly cold.

Arthur notices this and laughs, “Why are you always shivering like a little girl?”

Merlin gives him an annoyed look and is about to fogo back a retort when a fierce breeze sweeps past from the other direction towards Arthur. Now Arthur is shaking and Merlin can see a little fear rising in his blue eyes. And notices how quickly he tries to banish them.

Merlin is about to say something comforting when he sees a man walking towards them. Arthur watches him as he gets closer and finds him strange and wonders where he comes from, for he doesn’t dress like any man he knows. Not only is he wearing a peculiar looking jaqueta and pants, the way he is atuação makes Arthur feel uneasy.

Finally the strange man reaches them and stops in front of Arthur.

“You must be Prince Arthur of Camelot!” He laughs then his eyes flash bright laranja and the chains on Arthur’s wrists tighten. Then he stops in front of Merlin,

“And you must be Merlin, the Prince’s manservant.” Merlin gives him a look and makes his eyes glow a little laranja – he knows he shouldn’t but he needs to. But the man stops him por shouting a spell, causing Merlin’s head to slump against the tree. Arthur turns his head – as much as he can – and sees that Merlin has been knocked unconscious. This angers him.

“Who the hell are you and what do you want?” Arthur shouts at the man.

The man gives him a sly look and laughs like it is all some kind of joke. Then he says, “All in good time, Prince Arthur. All in good time.”

Suddenly Arthur hears birds cantar a lulling tune. It sounds so soothing and calming that his eyes begin to flutter and before he knows, he’s asleep.

*

Agravaine cannot believe it his luck. Just when he and Morgana had come up with a plan to get rid of the young Pendragon, three mysterious people appeared out of nowhere in a strange blue box - the perfect distraction.

“Fetch them immediately!” He orders the guards who immediately leave. He was very much looking progressivo, para a frente to interrogating them.

Another of the guards bows to him, Agravaine motions for him,

“Excuse me my lord, but here is the arrest warrant with their names. The [whatever you call it] told me to hand this to you.” He hands over the scroll which he unravels and reads.

Agravaine laughs a little at one of the names. It just says ‘The Doctor’ which he thinks is extremely odd.

It is at this moment that the guards arrive in the council chambers with the three strange people – which Agravaine assumes are The Doctor, Rory and Amy. He cannot help but notice how they are dressed and how they don’t act like everyone else in Camelot, especially the one wearing some sort of piece of clothing around his neck. He seems very interested in what is going on, unlike the other two who look completely terrified.

“You were all arrested earlier for using some kind of magical enchantment as a travelling device. We have now heard word that Prince Arthur has now gone missing right around the time you arrived in Camelot. Now tells us what you have done with him and we may not make your death quite as painful?”

Amy starts shaking, Rory is completely terrified. It is lucky that the Doctor manages to look a little calmer.

“Apologies for scaring you all, but really it wasn’t a magical enchantment. You see my good pals Amy and Rory and myself are a part of a travelling circus. So what you saw was purely a trick, not anything magical…”the Doctor rambles on, but notices that the man at the topo, início of the mesa, tabela -- which the doctor assumes is Arthur’s treacherous uncle Agravaine -- and the other members of the court are not believing his story and are still eyeing them suspiciously.

*

A lot had changed for Gwen in the past year. She was no long a lady’s servant and while she was atuação nurse to the ailing King, her life was remarkably different. She had a new set of clothes that were a little finer than her anterior dresses and her relationship with Arthur was stable. Although they still had to keep their relationship secret as Uther was still alive and breathing, Gwen never felt surer in her life. She knew that one dia Arthur will be King, a greater king that his father ever was, and that they could be together. Although, the thought of possibly being queen still made her feel scared.

“My lord, are you sure you don’t want to eat some of this?” Gwen tries to encourage the King to eat something, but it is very hard. Most of the time he sits there, looking blank, like he’s lost in a sea of deep depression and no one can reach him. Other times he shouts at her and asks her “Where is Morgana?”

Though everyone was shocked that Gwen volunteered to look after him (including Arthur who was very concerned after what his father had done to her and her father), Gwen was determined. She knew that despite what Uther had done that Arthur still loves him; and she loves Arthur. She would do anything for him, even look after the man that murdered her father because at the end of the day, it is what you do when you amor someone.

Knowing that there is no way he will eat anything Gwen quietly takes the tray away and leaves the kings chambers, nearly colliding with Elyan who looks like he was in a hurry.

“Sorry Gwen.” He quickly apologizes, before asking her, “Have you seen Gaius?”

“Why whatever is the matter?” Gwen asks concerned “It’s not about Arthur is it? He was supposed to return yesterday…”

“Well we still haven’t heard anything, Gwen. But I’m sure he’s fine,” Elyan puts a comforting hand on his sister’s shoulder before continuing,

“Something strange has happened in the courtyard. A blue box and three strangers have appeared out of the sky. It’s looks like magic. ”

*

The council doors open and the Doctor see Gwen, her brother Elyan and an older looking man walk through the door. He is half tempted to wave at Gwen and Elyan, but then realizes that this would be a mistake. They don’t know who he is yet.

The Doctor notices the slight look of annoyance on Agravaine’s face when Gwen, Elyan and the older man appeared.

“Good of you, Gaius, to come so quickly. Have you examined the artefact yet?” Agravaine perguntas the old man.

“Yes I have my lord.” Gaius replies and stares at the Doctor, Amy and Rory. Amy can’t help but notice that it’s not in a suspicious manner; but rather like he is interested and intrigued.

“And what have you found?” Agravaine probes again.

“I feel that I may need some mais time to examine the object as I appear to have difficulty opening the door.”

This unsettles Agravaine. He is getting frustrated, everyone can tell. “But this is grievously important, Gaius. Prince Arthur is missing and we fear that he may have been kidnapped and that these three people are the ones behind it.”

Gwen face crumbles. Elyan doesn’t need to look in her eyes to know that they are now filled with worry and fear. Fear for Arthur and Merlin and where they are and if they are hurt or worse - dead. So he does what an older brother does and places his hand over hers, giving it a tight comforting squeeze. He knows that it is not much but he notices Gwen relaxes a little knowing that whatever happens her brother is there for her.

The Doctor can see how terrified Amy and Rory are. Hating seeing them that way he decides to say something, something that might help the situation.

“Well I could think of one person who could be behind this,” the Doctor points out.

However, he doesn’t expect the reaction he gets. Council members utter words of disbelief, Gwen’s face turns towards the Doctor and his two companions as if she is considering them, and Agravaine decides that he has had enough. His nerves can take it anymore, like they are standing on the edge of a cliff.

“Guards! Take them to the dungeons now! They will be tortured into giving us the information we require or die.” Agraviane shouts.

“Amy!”

“Rory!” Amy and Rory try to grab for each other but it is useless as they hands are chained behind their backs. The Doctor is angry. He doesn’t know much about this Agravaine fellow and realises that he must have missed something.

Gwen cannot urso to see three people that may be innocent and may be able to help go down to the dungeons. “Please, my lord. May I be allowed to speak?” Agravaine nods his head (a little frustrated she notices),

“Maybe these people should be given fair trial and a chance to defend themselves before we torture them. I know that Arthur would allow them to speak for themselves, especially if they have information on his whereabouts or who has kidnapped him.”

Amy and Rory are shocked, their mouths hanging open a little to see someone coming to their aid. The Doctor isn’t, however. He knew that she would defend them. It’s in her nature to assure that people receive justice.

The council members slowly consider Gwen’s words and Agravaine can sense that they are beginning to agree with her. He’s angry that Gwen has spoken up once again. But he cannot ruin his cover or risk being discovered, so he says,

“Fine, Guinevere. We will place them back to their cell and pergunta them later. Guards take them away!”

Amy, Rory and the Doctor all sigh collectively, a little relieved. Maybe they will be able to get out of trouble and who knows they may even help find Prince Arthur.

*

Soon, however, that little tiny piece of hope at the end of the tunnel disappears. Amy and Rory hate being in the smelly dungeons. The smell makes Amy thinks that many people must have been tortured or died in the dungeons. Either that or a lot of them didn’t bathe since they were most probably poor.

The Doctor tries his best to cheer them up, “Amy, Rory don’t worry help is on its way.”

“How can you be sure? That guy looked like he wanted to kill us or at least have us tortured! But really nothing compares to this stinky place! I feel like this is punishment enough!”

“Amy, calm down. There is only one person who could be behind this? One person who has big enough reasons to want to kill Arthur?”

Amy looks up at him, “Morgan Le Fay? Arthur’s evil half-sister who wanted Arthur killed so she could be queen herself?”

The Doctor nods his head. Both Amy and Rory looked at him a little dazed.

“So how does this help us?” Rory asks a little impatiently.

The Doctor can’t believe that Rory and Amy still doubt him after all this time travelling with him.

“This helps because there was one person in the council chambers who won’t be able to resist coming to us for some answers.” The Doctor says a little smug.

“Guinevere?” Rory answers. The Doctor nods his again affirmatively.

“Slut,” Rory and the Doctor hear Amy mutter under her breath.

“Someone clearly has been leitura too much Mallory.” The Doctor responds, feeling the need to correct Amy.

“Well I never liked Guinevere in the legends,” Amy says defensively.

Before the Doctor can respond to Amy’s remark, someone appears por the dungeon door.

*

Amy looks at the woman through the cell door and she recognises it has the woman from before - the one that tried to stand up to that pompous guy before.

“Guinevere!” The Doctor points out.

Amy’s mouth hangs open. So does Rory’s.

“How do you know my name?” Gwen asks.

“Let’s just say that we have met before but you don’t remember me. But I know that you have an older brother Elyan who has only returned to you; that you care very deeply for Prince Arthur,” the Doctor looks at Gwen and for some reason that she cannot explain she finds herself wanting to find out more, though the mysterious man knows some personal details about her – because he may hold the key to finding out where Arthur and Merlin are.

“You were talking earlier about knowing who has taken Arthur and Merlin hostage before you were interrupted. I think I have a fairly good idea who it is, but I was wondering…” Gwen stops and looks a little uncertain.

“Yes?” The Doctor asks.

“If you knew who it was…” Gwen finishes her face still full of uncertainty.

“Morgana,” the Doctor answers. And this confirms the feeling in Gwen’s stomach that maybe these people could help her.

“Do you have any idea where Morgana could possibly be holding them?”

“Not exactly, but myself,” the Doctor says, “Amy and Rory would be very willing to help you find them.”

Gwen knows what some people would say if they knew she was here – that she is naive to trust the people standing before her in the cell, people she barely knows. But her instincts are telling her something different - that these people may be trusted and be here to serve a purpose. And with Arthur and Merlin’s lives at risk, she decides there is only one thing to do.

“Well then I must help you escape.” Then Gwen goes to the little pocket in her avental and takes out a key and Rory and the Doctor give Gwen a look, one of total appreciation. Even Amy is glad that Gwen has the courage to help them, though she still feels a little hesitant about what she thinks about this version of Guinevere.

Gwen manages to put the key into the lock when Rory pipes up, “What about the guards?”

“Gaius has distracted the guards por slipping a sleeping potion into a jug of mead which should give us enough time to escape through the tunnel that leads to the lower towns and the forest,” Gwen explains while she opens the door and begins unlocking their chains.

The Doctor looks to his side, gives Amy a wink “See I told you they are different than the legend.”

Amy rolls her eyes.


To be continued....