England

IT WAS RAINING as though the bottom fell out of the sky.

This was the only thing I was sure of when I woke up to pounding on my windows and on the roof above my head.

It was then I remembered that today, we would ride into battle against Camille and everything she stood for.

It was then I realized I really needed to use the chamber pot.

I rushed into my small bathroom to relieve myself before surfacing in my room, relieved. I rang for Rose. I settled into my sofa.

I thought about the plans my round table had come up with last night.

In the end, we decided that there had to have been significant casualties among the Saxon ranks. We couldn't afford to lose too many men, therefore, all these things combined, we had decided to use one battalion, plus ourselves.

I may not have been trained to use Excalibur, but the rest of them were raised for battle.  

I grinned when I thought about all we would accomplish by not giving her much time to recover from our attack yesterday.

Rose arrived quickly, a bundle of cloth in her arms. She smiled when she saw me, and gestured towards my closet.

"These are the new garments you requested, Lyra. Should you need anything, I'll be right here." Rose handed me the garments she was holding and I walked into my closet to get changed.

I was probably going to have to get over my modesty, but I didn't want to think about that right now. 

I slipped into the silky tunic and stepped into the comfortable pants. The boots I would wear were brown leather; the worn in kind that you didn't need to walk in to be comfortable walking long distances in them. I secured my curls under my hat.

I strapped Excalibur to my waist.

When I looked in the floor length mirror on one side of my spacious closet, I thought I looked every bit a king.

I opened the doors to the main room and stood in front of Rose, who seemed to be speechless.

"No one will ever doubt who the real ruler is, miss," Rose said, her voice coated in awe. 

I blushed furiously. "Thank you."

Rose bowed and left the room, her smile leaving behind a warm hope in my chest.

We could win. I could win.

England could win.

I left my rooms soon after Rose, eager to begin the journey early. The sooner we left, the sooner we would reach Camille's supposed base, and then we would strike.

Someone might drive a sword through Camille's heart.

I made my round table promise that the whole sword thing was a last result, but I didn't see one person who looked completely sincere.

I took in the gilded hallways, the silver finishings and old bronze-framed portraits. I admired the beautiful tapestries and woven rugs that had to have been added to the palace recently, because none were fraying at the edges.

Everything in the palace seemed suspended in time; as though the passing of years outside the grand walls did nothing to the objects inside of them.

Taking my time, I stopped and looked for Merlin and Arthur on the way to the Round Table, but deep down I knew they wouldn't be in any of the rooms.

They would be preparing for war in the armory, or waiting for my appearance in the room housing my knights.

When I finally reached the doors, I took a deep, cleansing breath. After I entered the room, I would be thrown into a cyclone of plans and questions; limits and control. 

I opened the doors to madness.

Everyone was running around, shouting for this map or that, asking for updated location points. Everyone wanted something, and so my arrival went generally unnoticed.

At least, it did until Arthur looked up.

His smile at the sight of me continued to blow me away. He seemed to save each smile for me, as though I was something precious and deserving of tiny presents like his smiles. His hair was wonderfully unstyled, left in a permanent state of messiness I couldn't help but find attractive.

And his eyes, oh Lord, his eyes. In the early morning light streaming through the windows, they were a pure, clear blue.

Arthur looked down again, and I cursed myself for getting side tracked before moving on. Within a matter of minutes, every single person in the room had either left or gotten their things organized. 

Soon enough, our plans were finalized and we were saddling our steeds.

"Hey," I spoke softly to the beautiful white horse I would be riding. "I promise I won't let anything hurt you. But I would understand if you ran away. Battles can be pretty tough."

The horse's big eyes looked back at me as I patted his nose, not an inkling of understanding even passing over his features.

Oh, well. Couldn't blame me for trying.

I mounted my horse and looked over the crowd as men and women climbed onto their horses, watching the calming chaos.

People hugged goodbye, soldiers helped each other secure their weapons to horses. Apples were passed around as treats for the noble creatures. The courtyard was alive with a new buzz, something different and yet undeniably familiar.

I couldn't put a word on the energy these people created, but I knew that I trusted these people with my life, and I would gladly die for them so that they could return home.

Arthur steered his horse to be next to mine, his eyes holding a million questions.

He didn't ask any of them.

"Good morning," he greeted, bowing his head a little. "I'm glad to see you."

I blushed. "Thank you, I'm also glad to see you."

We fell into a comfortable silence for a little while before we both turned our attention to the wizened old man walking towards us.

Merlin looked like he was thousands of years old, but moved as though he was still in his prime as a young man. It was curious, the way he seemed to be ageless. 

"You two need to stop flirting for three seconds so we can ride to war. When we get back, you can do all the courting you want, but right now it's battle time." Merlin's humor had quickly worn off this morning, it seemed, because there were bags under his eyes and his shoulders were hunched over in such a way that was decidedly un-Merlin.

"No! I'm coming too! I don't care if the crown princess or prince or whatnot didn't add me to the list, I want to fight!" Grummore's steady baritone floated over the noise of the crowd, and i smiled slightly. It was so like him to want to go charging into battle.

I hoped he was sober enough to handle his sword properly, because if he wasn't, he needed to stay here.

Though I doubted he would take no for an answer.

I turned my focus back to Merlin and Arthur, who seemed to come to some sort of silent  agreement just as I looked at them because both rode off in separate directions to get everyone organized.

I felt like I was several steps behind everyone else.

I rode to the front of the group and looked over the hundreds of men and women who would be risking their lives so that I could be king without a war brewing during my coronation.

We could do this. 

"Attention!" I yelled, but only those closest to me seemed to hear me. Merlin glanced over at me, and mimicked talking louder. I rolled my eyes at the obviousness of his quiet statement. "Attention!"

This time, everyone looked up, and a slow hush swept across the ranks, like a lazy wave that took its time to grow, to crest.

To break.

"We will be riding to the Saxons' last known location. In the front, my knights and I, along with the royal mages, will be giving orders and answering any questions you may have about what we're going to be walking into. Stay in formation, and do not let your guard down."

I turned my horse, and there was silence. My seven knights came beside me, and Guinevere offered me an encouraging smile. Elaine sat on her horse next to Guinevere, and she mimicked the other girl's expression.

I trusted Uther's decisions about my knights more than anything I had ever ordered.

When Merlin and Arthur cast the silence spell over the battalion, we rode out of the palace courtyard, our people spilling into the fields beyond the great gates. As one, we turned into the woods and allowed our horses to be careful. 

We needed them to be in perfect condition in case something were to happen that we had not accounted for.

We crept through the foliage, ducking under low-hanging branches and steering around patches of forest so thick that we couldn't see a possible way to get through. The trees here were a complete contrast to those in the grove I had found at the Stone Tournament, in regards to being unscared and perfectly straight.

I still got the same chill riding into these woods as I did those.

"Lancelot," I whispered, leaning towards the knight on my right. "How close until we go on foot?"

The tracker looked down at the map we had used to draw out our plan of attack. "I'd say another ten minutes. We are getting close, but we don't want to start out on foot too early."

I nodded and looked ahead again, deciding when a patch of grass was too odd or that we should avoid being in the general vicinity of that bush.

Needless to say, I was paranoid beyond belief.

Lancelot gave the signal, and Percival immediately dropped off of his mount, as we discussed, and searched the perimeter. If he came back satisfied, we would move on with the security our horses would be here when we got back.

If he came back dissatisfied, we would go anyway and be prepared with returning to the castle on foot.

The sun had nearly reached the top of the sky, indicating it was late morning. If we didn't want this battle to drag on, we needed to be riding home by the time the moon was in that same position. 

That gave us twelve hours to bring down a rebellion.

Percival came back and nodded once at me, and I smiled.

Things were finally falling into place.

I followed my knights and hopped to the ground before turning to make sure everyone else was following suit. When I was sure the majority were ready, I started off into the woods, jumping at each little sound.

When a bird chirped above us, it nearly got beheaded.

We pressed forward, each step excruciating. Any crackle of leaves or a broken branch below our feet was deafeningly loud.

Finally Lancelot led us to the clearing where the hut was, and I was anxious to get this over with. I wanted a compromise.

Camille wouldn't agree.

Because of her own ambition, Saxon blood would be spilt on the doorway to my reign.

The entrance to the hut was propped open, and lantern light illuminated the interior of the building. When I made a move to begin walking towards it, Lancelot held out his arm to stop me, and Elaine stepped in front of me.

"Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, this is a poorly disguised trap," Morgan whispered from beside me, while Lancelot pointed at a rope running from the door to a hidden crossbow in the trees. I doubted it would have struck true from such a vantage point with no human operator, but I was happy that my knights had caught it.

No unnecessary risks.

My hundreds of soldiers filed into the clearing, and I had no doubt Camille had moved her hiding place, in the costume of being smart.

We had wounded her, and she didn't want us to sneak up on her like we were planning to.

Kay stopped abruptly in front of us, and looked back with wide eyes. "They've gone a little ways outside the clearing, but they didn't make it far. I assume that they buried their dead."

I nodded, Morgan and Lynette taking the hint. The three of them went ahead to scout out the area. When they returned, we would not only have a plan, but a way of attack.

The waiting crushed me. I needed to get better at patience, for it was a virtue, though I doubted that would ever happen.

Kay ran back into the clearing, his armor clanging. He didn't seem to notice.

"Numbers... low... attack... nightfall..." Kay panted. "Morgan and Lynette decided to keep watch so we would know if they began heading back," he turned to address the entire battalion. "Retreat to the woods for cover! We attack when the moon rises!"

There was a silent cheer, for the end was near.

I didn't know how to feel.

I followed my soldiers into the woods, though I was the closest to the clearing after we had all been filled away. I wanted to try again with Camille, but I knew she would never accept that England would never be hers.

I sat down, over thinking everything we were about to do.

Would I walk out of this alive tonight?

Would I even walk out at all?

Word Count: 2194

Total Word Count: 33800

I lied! One more chapter to go, then one Merlin chapter, and then this book is done. Are you excited for the final battle scene? 

Don't think you're safe from a plot twist yet. 

Thank you so much for reading!

:D

CJ