Love, Faith and Family

Chapter 51

"Oh, sorry Gwen," Miriam said as she accidentally bumped into the girl on her way out of the palace late at night.

"That's quite alright. What are you doing here so late?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, Sir Leon was wounded whilst training. I was seeing to his injury," she explained. "It's rather late, might I escort you home?"

"I suppose I wouldn't mind the company."

"How are you faring lately? I haven't seen you in a while," Miriam asked, making small conversation as they walked into the lower town.

"Busy, though when am I not, but I'm alright. And you? How are things with you and Arthur?"

Miriam chuckled as she looped her arm through Gwen's.

"I keep forgetting that you know. But things between us have not changed. How would they?"

"They will when he is king, I am sure of it," Gwen said as they reached her house. "Would you like to come in?"

"For a moment," she agreed as she followed Gwen inside, the girl removing her cloak. "Everyone keeps telling me that things will change when Arthur's king but I don't -"

Miriam cut herself off as Gwen clutched her arm, a strange man advancing on them from the back of her house.

Pulling a poker from her fireplace, Miriam stood in front of Gwen protectively as she dropped to a defensive stance.

"Who are you?" she questioned and Gwen screamed from behind her as another man pressed a cloth to her mouth and she went limp in his arms.

Lifting her foot up, Miriam pulled a small dagger from her boot.

Letting out a battle cry, Miriam lunged at the man, her poker serving as a sword very well as she disarmed the man and plunged her knife in his neck, but before she could withdraw it, a cloth was pressed to her face and it seemed instant as sleep consumed her.

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It was after breakfast that Merlin pulled Arthur aside, worry building inside him after Morgana mentioned that Gwen never turned up for work which was very unlike her.

"Miriam's missing."

Arthur's eyes widened in horror.

"What do you mean Miriam's missing?!"

"Sir Leon called for a healer last night, so Mira went. She never came home. Gaius is searching the lower town right now, but I don't think Gwen not showing up for work is a coincidence either."

Arthur sighed heavily as he put a hand on Merlin's shoulder.

"Go to Gwen's house and see if you can find any trace of them. And Merlin, as quick as you can."

"Yes, sire," Merlin answered before he all but ran towards Gwen's house.

That was where Merlin discovered a pool of blood next to his sister's knife, along with the poker she'd used to defend herself. As well as the cloth that was held to the faces of both women and caused them to fall unconscious.

They were kidnapped.

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"Get off me, you bastards!" Miriam spat through gritted teeth as she fought against the two men that dragged her into Cenred's throne room, her hands bound as well as her feet. Their only reply was to throw her to the ground next to Gwen who was a lot less vocal than Miriam.

"Guinevere and Miriam," Cenred drawled as he stood from his throne, tossing his half-eaten apple to his guard, knife in hand as he approached Gwen.

"Stay away from her!" Miriam growled as she tried to get up, an uneasy task with her limbs bound.

Cenred only ignored her as Gwen held up her bound hands in an attempt to protect herself, letting out a small scream as Cenred took her hands, only to use his knife to cut the ropes around her wrists.

"You killed one of my men. Those ropes will be staying on you for a little longer," he said after Miriam had gotten to her knees, Cenred gripping her face only for her to spit at him.

"Rot in hell."

"My, my, what a firecracker you are," he remarked as he let her go, Miriam's gaze like a million sharp daggers.

"Why have you brought us to this place?" Gwen asked.

"Well I need the two of you for entirely different reasons," Cenred revealed as he twirled his knife in his hand. "Take Guinevere to the dungeons to meet our guest. I'm to have a little word with the physician of Camelot's apprentice."

"Gwen!" Miriam called as she was dragged away and Miriam was hauled to her feet.

"I'll be alright!" she promised but Miriam didn't know how true that would be.

"What could you want with me?" she asked, voice and eyes displaying signs of rage.

"I can see why Arthur's enticed by you," Cenred chuckled as he collected his apple back, cutting another piece from it. "Not the kind to go down without a fight."

Miriam rolled her eyes as Cenred began to circle her.

"You're crazy as well as a coward if you think Arthur cares for an apprentice."

"My sources say otherwise, which is why you are the perfect person to bring me Arthur Pendragon," he said with a smirk as he whispered the words into her ear, his front pressed to her back.

"You'd have to kill me first before I'd betray my prince and future king."

Cenred's chuckle was deep as his arm slipped around her waist, apple still gripped in it as he grazed the knife along her jaw.

"Oh no, I won't kill you first. First I'll kill Guinevere, and then I'll kill her brother."

He then spun her around to face him, his shoulder-length hair hanging in his face as he looked down at her.

"You have a week."

And she felt the ropes binding her hands break before Cenred left, and Miriam was shown to a horse before she rode for Camelot as fast as she possibly could.