"He must have escaped in some other direction" Gwaine gasped breathlessly as he fell from behind a tree and into the clearing, pausing a moment to glance behind him another time before throwing his sword down. "Is she awake?"

"Not yet" Elyan muttered, not bothering to look up from the fire he was building. Gwaine strode toward him and kicked the motionless body that lay nearby with the side of his foot for confirmation. Satisfied, he checked the ropes that bound her wrists and dropped down beside Percival.

Percival slumped against an oak tree at a distance from the fire, his eyes were half-closed. Days without sleep had not gone unrewarded, but neither were without consequence. They were exhausted and diminished, grime and blood covered their faces and many of their belongings had been lost along the way. They each knew not one of them would be any use in a fight.

Bored, and too fatigued to keep up his usual chatter, Gwaine busied himself with emptying the pouch of mead he had smuggled from the local Tavern earlier in the day. Elyan rolled his eyes but said nothing, a tired smile managing to turn his lips. Several moments passed in silence before Percival spoke up.

"We should send word to Arthur; he'll want to be in Camelot upon our return"

Another moments silence, Elyan turned to his friend. "Is that necessary?" he replied questioningly, "It's the first time away he's had all year, we can contain her until he returns."

Percival nodded grimly in agreement, a sad expression on his face. Their king had suffered enough. The betrayal of his sister and the death of his Father had been plenty to deal with, becoming King, discovering a traitorous Uncle and the loss of Lancelot coupled with the on-going attacks from distant kingdoms had taken a serious toll on him. The Knights had been glad to suggest he take a band of men to check on outer reaches of the kingdom, away from the fighting it was a task he could use as a rest. No-one desired to disturb that, all believing he deserved a break.

"If it were up to me I'd have killed her where she stood" Gwaine muttered darkly, staring broodingly into the fire, his comment earning him a pointed look from Elyan. Gwaine raised his gaze to meet Elyan's defiantly.

Glancing at Percival as though to determine where he stood on the matter, but gathering nothing from his friends countenance Elyan returned his attention to Gwaine:

"I know, and I get it! I do, but try to remember she was a -"

"It doesn't matter what she was" Gwaine interrupted angrily, throwing his pouch to the ground and flying to his feet. "She's an enemy of Camelot now, and what do we do to our enemies? We kill em." Agitated, he paced a little before glancing in her direction with disgust "or at least we used to."

Elyan remained silent, allowing his friend to vent. He knew Gwaine's behavior was all down to their time locked in the dungeon, and made worse by his exhaustion. Gwaine; no matter how much he laughed it off, was angry, and he had every right to be.

A distant sound of snapping branches stirred the knights from their sleep; another caused Gwaine to leap up gleefully, sword in hand and glancing around at the trees.

"Come on out!" He called to the darkness, grinning "Don't be shy!"

Percival heaved himself up from the ground and staggered a little, drawing his sword also he came to stand at Gwaine's back. Elyan moved silently towards the horses, moving quickly to tie their satchels to the saddles and moving the animals around ready to fight.

Quite suddenly, Leon burst into the clearing, gasping for breath.

"Leon!" Elyan sighed, relieved. Dropping his hand from the reins and rushing towards the other knight. "I thought we'd lost you! Where the hell have you been?"

"RUN!" Leon gasped, doubled over breathlessly before forcing himself to straighten and make for the horses. The three knights stared between themselves before looking worriedly around for a foe. Seeing none they stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Quickly!"

They stared back at him, he grabbed Percival's arm as though to pull him into action: "Come on! We have to go!"

"But there's no-one there" Gwaine pointed out blankly to his friend, moving to place his hand on Leon's shoulder reassuringly.

"Trust me the-"

Leon was interrupted by the pounding of feet headed towards them. With wide eyes Percival and Elyan rushed forwards and swung up onto their horses. Leon quickly followed, spinning his horse around he glanced to his left. A unanimous decision was made silently to flee, in their current state a fight was not what they needed. They knew they would not win and realizing this, Gwaine rushed to untie his horse. Just as he had his foot in the iron Elyan remembered:

"GWAIN!"

"What?" Gwaine demanded, moving again to mount the horse.

"MORGANA!" He cried, motioning towards the girl desperately.

"Oh, right!" Gwaine gasped, spinning around and roughly grabbing the unconscious witch around the waste and swinging her up behind the saddle. He leaped up in front of her and laughing a little, he clamped his heels against the horse's side and set off through the trees at a gallop, followed by his friend and leaving the cries of angry bandits in the distance.

AN: Well, that was shit but I tried!