Merlin confirmed Aithusa's existence while he stood guard that night with Gwaine and Fira. He told them the story of her hatching, and how he had lost track of her since that day. He found it worrying indeed that Aithusa allied with Morgana.

In the morning, Galahad and Elyan woke the company. The sunlight filtered down through the trees, dappling the ground. They breakfasted quickly. Arthur was eager to continue on.

The king began briefing them as all mounted up. "The spot Gaheris marked is within a day's ride. We should reach it by sundown."

"Is an ambush in the dark a good idea?" Fira looked hesitant.

Gwaine simply laughed. "We'll be fine. We have you and Merlin."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Not to mention the best knights in the land."

Fira nodded. She supposed they were right. It was a surprise attack anyways. There was no way Morgana would get caught unawares this close to Camelot. She was too smart for that.

As they rode through the forest, Gwaine told them a story about himself and his love Lorie. Only in the past few months had he managed to bring himself to tell these tales. Her leaving for the Otherworld remained a touchy subject. After all, their parting hadn't been voluntary.

Fira enjoyed hearing about Lorie. She had enjoyed the faerie woman's company in Somerset even over the few weeks they were there. Fira also figured it helped Gwaine deal with her absence.

The day drew to a close as they approached a deep valley. Arthur ordered them to dismount. Fira tied the horses to a few trees.

"From here we go on foot."

They all obeyed without complaint. Gwaine quieted down, for despite popular belief he could in fact be quiet. He just didn't enjoy it. Behind Gwaine and Arthur, Leon and Merlin crept along, followed by Elyan and Percival. At the very back, Galahad accompanied Fira. The knights all drew their swords.

With each step forward, Fira felt herself and her companions tensing. They snuck to the edge of the cliff face and looked down. A small caravan of Saxons were putting up camp down below. Arthur signaled for his companions to back away from the edge. With two fingers he pointed to the right.

They took it slow, slithering like snakes quietly down the side of the cliff into the valley. Arthur signaled for Gwaine to take Fira and Galahad around to the other edge of the valley. Leon, Elyan, and Percival went to the left side. Arthur decided to take Merlin and head straight forward.

Merlin caught sight of the lookout first. He used his magic to knock the man unconscious with a rock fall. Arthur looked back at him and nodded appreciatively. The groups moved forward again.

The clash of swords rung out as Leon's group engaged the Saxons. Now, their cover blown, Arthur shouted and ran forward, striking at a large man before him. Merlin, still hesitant to use magic with Morgana's men involved, used a sword to keep himself safe. Nevertheless, his focus remained on the king.

Gwaine engaged two men, one with better armor than the rest. He managed to disarm the smaller, weaker adversary but the second was proving to be a problem.

To his left, Fira used a mix of her light sword and her magic to dispatch the enemies. Galahad stood at her back, defending her exposed side as best he could.

It suddenly became blatantly obvious to Gwaine why the burly man he was currently engaged with had special armor. The knight found himself flying backwards from magic. He hit the side of the cliff with a horrible thud.

Fortunately for Gwaine, Galahad saw it happen. He shouted for Fira who turned and threw a ball of flames at the battlemage. The man let out a shout but quickly recovered when his armor blocked the brute of the damage. With a snarl, Fira spoke a word of the Old Religion and threw her hand forward.

"Líget!"

A stream of lightning sparks shot from her outstretched palm. As they collided with the metal armor, the man screamed and dropped to the ground. Fira assumed he was dead. Galahad, standing over Gwaine's unconscious body, shouted for her help.

"He's bleeding from his head," the young knight told her quickly as she rushed over.

She nodded and knelt beside Gwaine. "Cover me."

Galahad didn't have to be told twice. As Fira looked Gwaine over for other injuries, he defended them valiantly. Fira breathed the one healing spell she was proficient in, removing the risk of infection. But the blood was still running down his head from where he'd hit the rocks.

Soon enough the fight drew to an end. When Merlin and Arthur rushed over to Gwaine, Fira was holding a piece of her ripped shirt against his head wound to keep it from bleeding.

"He alright?" Arthur asked quickly, skidding to a halt at Gwaine's feet.

Fira nodded. "I think so, though he'll be dizzy for a few days and he's going to have crazy bruising."

A small moan escaped Gwaine's lips as he slowly opened his eyes. Confusion was evident on his face.

"Am I hung over?"

Fira chuckled. "Not this time. You just got hit really hard on the head."

Gwaine randomly laughed. "That would explain why there's four Merlins."

Galahad helped Gwaine sit up. Upon Fira's instruction, the injured knight used his left hand to hold the cloth against his head while his right hand steadied himself.

"Sire, we found something." Elyan rushed over and gestured for Arthur to follow.

Arthur nodded before turning back to Gwaine. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Who, me?"

Merlin chuckled as he and Galahad lifted Gwaine to his feet. "By the gods, Gwaine. You're so heavy!"

"Hey!" Gwaine wobbled forward. "It's not fat, it's just muscle."

"I never said you were fat," Merlin teased. "Is that an insecurity I hear?"

As Gwaine vocally protested from where Galahad, Merlin, and Fira helped him, King Arthur followed Elyan to where Leon and Percival stood. At their feet lay the body of a second battlemage.

Arthur nodded. "What have you found?"

"This man was in possession of a note." Leon handed it to his king along with the torch he'd lit.

Arthur opened it.

"Lady Morgana,

It is with glad tidings that I write you. The muster is going well. Half our forces are gathered outside the Perilous Lands as I write this and the others are headed north to you.

Current totals:

6,100 Saxon Warriors

70 Battlemages

I hope you have found the information you've been searching for. With this caravan I am sending the second batch of stones. Hopefully this will be enough to satisfy you.

Yours to command,

D"

"Six thousand is more than we anticipated," Leon reminded the king quietly.

Arthur nodded in quiet contemplation. He looked around, glancing from the note to the wrecked caravan. His heart sunk. "We need to increase the training. Fast."

"What of the stones the note speaks of?" Elyan began to search the caravan with his eyes.

Nodding, the King gestured around. "Make a quick search for anything suspect. We'll take it back to Camelot."

"Where are the others?" Percival asked.

"I sent them up to the horses. Gwaine was injured."

"They might need help keeping him upright. Should I join them?"

"Good idea."

Percival split from the group, taking his own torch to guide the way as darkness fell completely. He found Galahad and Merlin attempting to keep Gwaine upright as his concussion symptoms kept trying to derail them. Gwaine simply couldn't walk straight.

Percival took Merlin's spot and eased the brunt of Gwaine's weight onto himself and off of Galahad. The other knight wasn't weak, but he was smaller than Gwaine.

When they reached the horses, Merlin began to prepare camp while Fira treated Gwaine's head wound. Galahad gathered firewood, leaving Percival on guard until the other three arrived.

Gwaine had fallen asleep on his stomach for which Fira was quite thankful. She rolled up his shirt to reveal several dark bruises that had formed on his back.

"Percival, bring the torch closer please."

He did as she asked and sat on Gwaine's other side to bring the torch down to her level. Fira nodded her thanks and dug through her medicine bag for salves of yarrow, lavender, and chamomile.

"This should reduce the inflammation," she told the knight that sat next to her.

She carefully applied the herbal medicine but wasn't surprised at all when Gwaine woke up from the pain. He tried to sit up but Arthur, who had recently come back to camp, shut that down.

"Stay there, Gwaine. And quit wiggling like a worm." The King rolled his eyes. "Seriously sometimes I don't understand how we're related."

"I completely agree, princess." Gwaine smirked at him from where he was held against the ground. "I can't quite understand how I managed to get both the brains and the looks."

"Oh please," Fira laughed as she pulled his shirt back down. "King Arthur is at least as smart as you."

"Ah, maybe, but not as good looking," Gwaine winked and pushed himself back so he could sit normally. "Be the judge, Fira. You're the only girl here."

Fira raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "I will not be dragged into this sorry little game of yours."

With a laugh, Gwaine gladly took the plate of food Merlin offered him. The group ate mostly in silence, busy devouring their meals. Tomorrow they would ride hard towards Camelot. They wanted to get as far away from this place as possible come morning.