Love, Faith and Family

Chapter 119

Miriam herself wanted to lead the charge of 200 men that would ensure the Saxons had retreated back across the border, but Leon and Gwen refused to let her.

With Arthur still missing, at least to everyone else, Camelot still needed a ruler and now that the battle was won it was imperative that Miriam stay safe.

So, the distressed queen busied herself giving out orders as they prepared to ride for the citadel and helping see to the wounded as Gaius had also disappeared. Again, to everyone else he was missing, Miriam knew exactly where he was. He was riding for Merlin to see if there was any chance for medicine to save Arthur.

What worried Miriam more though, was that Morgana's body still hadn't been recovered after she'd been knocked from the cliffs by Merlin's magic. Which likely meant that she was alive and if she was alive then she'd still be coming for Arthur.

She cried tears of relief though when Gwaine and Percival arrived home safely with what was left of the patrol that they took out. The last thing she needed was more people she loved dying.

She was back in a blue dress today. Arthur liked it when she wore dresses the same shade of blue as her eyes and if he came home, that was what she wanted to wear for him.

This dress wasn't armoured. She couldn't stand to be in armour for a while, just as she could barely stand the sight of the scars on her face. It was just a reminder that she'd fought in a battle where her husband had been mortally wounded.

The jewelled band that she wore on her forehead that served as a crown was securely pinned in her hair as she ran through the palace corridors to meet Gaius on the stairwell, the physician escorted by Gwaine.

"Is there any news? Is he alright?" she asked worriedly as she let the skirts of her dress fall.

"He's alive," he said and Gwaine put an arm around his friend as she sighed in relief.

"Why isn't he with you?" Gwaine asked.

"He is wounded. Merlin is taking him to the one place where he could be saved as we speak," Gaius revealed as Miriam squeezed the Pendragon seal in her fist, not having let go of it since she arrived back home.

"I'll ready as many men as I can," Gwaine offered but Miriam pulled him back with her free hand.

"No! I want to go as much as you do Gwaine but Morgana and what's left of her forces are still very much alive. If we send an army out, we'll be announcing Arthur's location to her. Merlin can handle it. If I didn't trust him, I'd be on the first horse out of here."

Gwaine softened as he saw the reasoning in her words.

"As you wish, Mira. But Gaius, are you sure there is not anything we can do?"

"Actually, Sir Gwaine, there is."

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"Eira," Gwaine called, that being the name of the woman he'd rescued from Stawell and the woman he'd been sharing a bed with since then.

"Gwaine! I - I was just-"

"Sending word to Morgana?" he finished, having watched her sneak out of his rooms and release a crow into the night sky with a message around its ankle, a message bearing the information Gwaine had told her a few hours ago.

"No! My lady..." Eira exclaimed as Miriam walked into the room, a calm but angry expression on her face. "I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't betray you or the king," she insisted.

"Only Gwaine," Miriam spat, and Eira stammered for a response before Miriam interrupted her. "And you didn't betray me or Arthur. In fact, you've helped us. And you can go to your death safe in that knowledge," she said viciously, her worry for Arthur mixing with her fury that someone had hurt Gwaine, someone linked to Morgana, the very person who resulted in her husband's injury. "Your note will send your mistress riding for Brineved and all the while, the king will be travelling in the opposite direction. So really, it was Morgana you betrayed, Eira. Guards!"

And two knights entered the small room in which they'd cornered Eira as they grabbed her.

"No! Gwaine! Please!" she cried but the knight stayed motionless as she was dragged to the dungeons.

Miriam then turned to her beloved best friend as she stood on her toes and kissed his cheek.

"I'm so sorry Gwaine, and it's not your fault," she said sincerely before leaving him to his thoughts. She'd known him for years and in all that time, he never really was one for talking about how he felt. But his friend didn't need him to speak to know how it felt when someone you loved has betrayed you. It was how she first felt with Morgana.

But the queen wasn't going to lie about admitting that she'd like it if Eira's hanging hurt a little after how much she'd hurt her friend.