Chapters 1 and 2

The evening sun was a golden orange, and all Camelot was hard at work. Under the reign of King Uther, the kingdom flourished and suffered little.

I sat in my room, staring out the window of the castle, overlooking the kingdom. The vie was exceptional, the reason it was my room every time my father and I visited King Uther, his son, Arthur, and his ward, Morgana. Her father was friends with Uther, but had been killed in battle when Morgana was young. Since her mother had passed sometime after Morgana was born, Uther felt he owed it to Morgana and her father, and raised her as his own.

Uther's wife, Egraine, died in childbirth after he used a sorcerer to ensure that they had a son and heir to the throne. What Uther failed to understand was that all magic comes with  price: A life for a life.

Enraged by his wife's early passing, King Uther had all druids, living in Camelot and traveling through, put to death. The law was that anyone found harboring, helping, or freeing anyone accused of sorcery, would also be executed. Since I was nine, I had discovered that I was a druid. I hadn't told anyone, but Gauis, the court physician, who figured it out, because I knew the stories. My father didn't even know what I was, even though he allowed magic in our small kingdom of Thorne Valley.

Besides my father and Uther, Gauis was the only man I trusted. He was like a grandfather to me, and had taken care of me when I visited and had fallen ill. Gauis taught me how to control my powers, use spells, and most importantly,
whom to tell.

All of our previous visits had no reason behind them, but this one I could sense, held a specific purpose. I turned away from the window, and picked up a leatherbound book from the small shelf next to my bed. It was a spellbook that Gauis had given me, so that I could practice while I was away at home. Thorne Valley somewhat neighbored Camelot but miles of wooded land separated us, and we were allies.

As I flipped through the pages, there was a knock at my door.
"Lady Aria."

I am a lady, or more like the lady of Thorne Valley. After my mother passed away, I was given he title. I assumed she was a druid, l like me because I look just like her: dark brown hair, blue eyes and according to my father, I act just like her. My father has red hair, and no magic.

"Yes?" I returned, hurriedly putting the book back on the shelf, just as the door opened.

It was a servant, I figured, by the clothes, and the fact I had never seen him before.  The boy looked at me with large green eyes, "Prince Arthur wishes me to inform you that, if you are willing, he would like you to accompany him on a ride this evening."

Oh, lovely. I had been looking for something to do. "Yes, that would be wonderful. Tell him I shall be ready in a few moments."
The boy bowed, "Yes, my Lady." And he took off down the hall.
I shut the door, and contemplated changing into a more elegant dress, then decided against it. It wouldn't be anything special, Arthur was my friend and had bee since we were children. I was already a dark green, ankle-length dress with brown boots that came up to my knees; it was nice enough to go riding in, so I only fixed my hair.

A few minutes later, the boy returned, and I opened the door, "Lady Aria," he bowed again. "Prince Arthur is waiting for you by the barn, if you are ready."
I nodded, "Yes, I believe I am. Thank you for telling me."
He looked a little surprised. Apparently, he had never been thanked. I would really speak to Arthur about that.

The boy  dismissed himself and went back down the corridor. I made my way to the barn, as quickly as I could. When I reached the foyer, there were two guards, one on either side of the door. They silently opened the door for me. The sun still glowed a bright orange, as I made my way down the steps and to the barn.

As promised, Arthur stood outside  the od grayish brown building, waiting.
"Aria, I see you found the barn easily."

"Of course. If you recall I spent most of my time either here wit the horses or in the library. Or don't you remember?"

He nodded, "Of course, I remember, but the question is," he said, as a stable hand brought out a black horse, "do you remember her?"

I looked at the horse, my eyes got wide and filled with excitement, "Is that Midnight?" Midnight was a horse we had seen being born the last time I was here. It had been six years since I had seen her.
 
"She's beautiful," I said, breathlessly, looking at her most unmistakable features; white ankles, a white star on her forehead, and a single white streak in her otherwise all-black mane.
"I can't believe your father kept her." I looked at Arthur.
"It took a lot of persuading, but he finally came round."
I noticed Midnight was saddled, "Is she..?"
Following my gaze, Arthur said, "That was the condition on which she got to stay."
"Uther paid to have a horse that he was going to sell, saddle-broken?"
"I told you I could be persuasive," Arthur smiled slightly, looking around. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes."
Alright. I don't know where that boy is."
"The little one you sent to tell me about the ride?"
"No, that was an errand boy. I'm talking about my servant, Merlin."
"I don't know who that is," I answered, truthfully, continuing to look.
"There he is."
I looked where Arthur was pointing. Oh, no. It was him, the boy I had been looking for since I had arrived in Camelot.

*******Two days ago*******





I decided to go to Camelot, while my father was away on business, and would be gone for day, so I seized my opportunity. I suck off alone, with only my servant, Henry. knowing where I was. I wanted to see what Camelot was like from the eyes of a commoner.

It was daylight, but because of the large, full trees, the forest looked darker. It would take almost a whole day to get to Camelot, almost another to get home, and that would leave only the night to spend in Camelot.

The woods were unusually quiet today, considering I spent a lot of time in them. There were no birds singing or squirrels chattering. It felt strange, almost unnatural.

I stopped to look around, gripping the strap of my bag, tightly. Nothing seemed out of place, so I silently scolded myself for being so easily startled.
Deeper into the forest, a twig snapped behind me. I froze, almost turning around, but then I stopped myself.

"There is nothing there. It's only my imagination. There is nothing there."
Suddenly, some trees around me started shaking and about ten Balorian worker spiders skittered out of them.

Summoning my magic, I cast a simple defensive spell that should have allowed me to gain some ground on them, but it failed. So I tried another, still it did nothing. My knowledge of magic is mostly limited to healing, and not for fighting uses, but I wasn't ready to give up yet.

My gaze fell upon a long, stout-looking branch a few yards away, behind one of the creatures. So I gathered my courage, and I raced toward the spider. Taking a deep breath, I jumped over it, landing easily on the other side, with the limb now in reach.

I brandished it like a sword, with which I was very skilled. Mostly, what I lacked in defensive magic, I made up for in swordsmanship. As the first blow hit, it caused the giant spider to hiss. I thought it would retreat, but instead, it came back with more fight than I had, because I had been walking all day, and my energy was drained. The beast began blocking my blows with its extremely long
legs.

They all advanced on me, snapping their pincers together , viciously. There was no way I could fed off all of them. In a matter of seconds, I would be overtaken by these giant creatures, and there was noting I could do to stop them.
I closed my eyes and waited for their poisonous bites, but none came. Confused, I opened my eyes and looked around. The spiders lay on their backs, dead. A boy, or  should say, young man, stepped out of the trees. He was tall, lanky, had untidy black hair, and deep blue eyes that, like mine, hid secrets.

"Are you alright?" He asked, stepping towards me.
"Y-yes. I'm fine, thank you, but...how did you do that?"
His gaze dropped from my face, but quickly recovered, "There's been a disease or something killing them off for months."

A disease? That was news to me and possibly everyone in Thorne Valley, unless that was the business my father was taking care of.
He must have taken the look on my face as a loss of interest, which it was not.
"Are you on your way to Camelot?"
"Yes, but I've never encountered Balorian spiders before."
He looked at me, "You've been to Camelot before? How do you normally travel?"
I opened my mouth to say carriage, but I stopped myself, "Horseback, the last time."
He nodded, "They are afraid of horses, and a carriage would have scared them off," he smiled slightly, highlighting the specks of even lighter blue in his eyes, making me blush. I hoped he didn't notice.
I could tell by the faded blue of his shirt, red scarf, tattered brown jacket, pants that stopped right above his ankles, and old brown boots that he was a commoner, or like me, dressed like that in order to get away from something. Either way, it didn't matter to me, two of my best friends were servants. Henry, who had magic like me, and Guinevere, who was Morgana's handmaiden in Camelot.

"Since you are going to Camelot, do you mind if I accompany you?"
"Not at all," I replied.

So we started to make our way to Camelot, it wasn't very far, mostly we talked about the city, Uther, and Arthur. He seemed to know things about Arthur even I didn't know, considering we'd grown up together.

At one point, he stopped, "My name is-"
"No. Please don't. I am only here for the night, and I don't want to become attached to anyone I might never see again."
"So you're not going to tell me your name?"
"I am sorry, no."
He looked at me skeptically for a moment, then nodded, "Okay, I can respect that."
I smiled, "Thank you."
The strange boy and I eventually reached the top of the hill, over which stood Camelot.
As we entered the city gates, he asked, "How long do you intend to stay?"
"Oh. I don't know. I think I will have to leave sometime tomorrow."
"Well," I could hear the disappointment in his voice, "I'm sure we can find you a place to stay for the night."
"I actually already have a place to stay. A friend of mine lives here."
"Who is it? I might know them."
"Her name is Guinevere."
"Gwen? You know Gwen?" he asked, puzzled.
"Yes, of course. You now her as well?"
"Very well, actually. Would you like to see her now?"
I shook my head, "Not now, she's probably busy."
"Okay. So what now?"
I looked around, "You tell me."
He thought for a moment, "How about a picnic? In the woods?"
"What about the spiders?"
He smiled, mischievously, "I think we'll be alright."
Maybe it was because he saved me, but I felt safe with him, that I could trust him.
"Okay. Why not?" I took his arm and we walked off. We had spent the entire night laughing and talking.
The early morning sun surprised us. A voice echoed in my head, 'Aria. It's Henry. I'm on the road outside of Camelot. Your father sent a messenger. He is on his way home. Loriane is going to try to keep him from discovering that you are gone. Where are you?'
'Hold on, I will meet you in moment.' I broke the connection and turned back to the mysterious boy.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go."
"What? Now?"
"Yes."
"I can't believe you have to leave."
"I know. I don't want to."
He touched my hand, "Then don't. Stay here with me."
I closed my eyes, "There is nothing I have ever wanted more, but I will be missed." I stood up, and without further objection, he obliged.
I can still feel our goodbye as though it just happened.
As I turned to leave, he grabbed my wrist, spinning me around between him and a tree.
It had been our first kiss, and I feared our last.