A/N: So I made a new necklace. It has a shell disc with a carved spiral design in it like that of the Air Benders. .

Chapter Nine

The days stretched on as Arturia rode north toward the wasteland. Gawain�s brother Agravaine and Gaheris joined them on the quest to the north, though a bit reluctantly to leave their home to their brother Gareth to watch the home. Gawain seemed content with entertaining Arturia with tales of his life with her sister Morgan as his mother and his brothers. As they rode along, Gawain starting to sing a tale as Gaheris joined in, enjoying his brother�s fun. Arturia, meanwhile, felt like a child among a bunch of giants. They were all so much taller than her!

Merlin rode ahead when he felt something, a barrier of sorts stretched out as far as the eye could see, though he was certain the only other person who could possibly see it was Arturia. Merlin got off his horse and walked along the edge of the barrier, his staff making marks in the ground. It was dirt he was standing on, not snow. The snow wasn�t falling around the area, but the sky was still gray.

Arturia dismounted from her horse and let the reigns drop to the ground before walking to Merlin�s side. As far as the eye could see, there was a strange discoloration in front of her. Merlin put his hand to the barrier and jerked it back as though he had been stung. �Deffinitely the work of wizards. A very powerful one at that. Most likely either Professor Donovan or Professor Riddle. Both are excellent in magic, though Professor Riddle is most likely.�

Arturia frowned and touched the barrier, pulling her hand back when a shock went through her arm. �Why would they put a barrier around the wasteland when people who could leave are still inside?�

�It�s not a matter of keeping people from coming out of the waste, Arturia. It�s a matter of keeping other from coming in.� Merlin�s staff crystals glowed as he moved it toward the barrier.

�What�s going on, cousin!� called Gawain. Bedivere and Gawain were dismounting when Arturia turned to them.

�Stay on your horses, Bedivere, Gawain! Merlin is sensing something and needs to work with it before we may pass into this forbidden land!�

Gawain frowned and looked to Bedivere. �I don�t like this, Bedwyr. It reeks of a foul plot.�

Bedivere nodded and put a hand on his axe and looked to the little queen and her wizard. �We should keep an eye out, Gawain.�

�Aye, we should. Brothers, spread out slightly, keep an eye out for a possible ambush. Something doesn�t feel right about this,� said Gawain to his brothers Gaheris and Agravaine. Agravaine and Gaheris nodded and moved out on either side of the group as the guards kept watch over their charge, the queen of Briton.

Merlin kept tapping the barrier with his staff until he moved back from it. �Arturia, move away from the barrier. I want to try something. It�ll take using my old wand, however.�

�Wand? I thought your staff was your magical instrument,� said Arturia.

�It is only one of two things I use to amplify and focus my magic. I can use my hands to control my magic, but it is a lot harder, Arturia.� Merlin pulled out a foot long stick with a strange carved handle to it and swished it around for a couple of times. He smiled when a strange spit of blue sparks came from the wand�s tip. �I can�t eliminate the barrier, for I can�t replace it, however, I can�. make a hole large enough for us to go through.� He started using his wand to write symbols into the air in front of him and closed his eyes as he sent it straight at the barrier. The barrier shimmered and a hole opened to the desert like area that stretched as far as the eye could see. In the distance, they saw the mountains and lakes of Scotland beyond. Inside the desert, Arturia saw what looked to be the ruins of a castle and buildings of the same steel construction as the ruins near her home. Everywhere she looked, she saw steel ruins and old homes that were run down and forgotten; homes over grown with ivy and shrubs. Had the Britons, nay, all of the islands, been so vastly populated that what the war caused was a near extinction of the human race? Were the wizards the ones that protected such foolhardy humans from completely annihilating themselves or were they also contributing to it?

Arturia mounted her steed and started for the hole Merlin had made for them. Gawain called for his brothers as Bedivere followed after Merlin and Arturia, the guards falling in line.

The air was dry, devoid of any form of water, and very hot. The clouds ended at the edge of the desert and started back up toward Scotland. As they rode through the sand, they headed for the ruins of the old castle. �What is that, Merlin? Whose castle was it?�

�That? Eh� I believe that is Hermitage Castle, actually,� said Merlin as he looked the castle over. �It would be about right since we went through the ruins of Carlisle.�

�How could anyone live in this place? It�s so dry and nothing is growing!� Gawain came up beside Arturia and looked around, his long red hair whipping about in its ponytail.

Just then, people started filtering out from inside the ruined castle. Bedivere put a hand up to his mouth in revulsion, Gawain leaned closer toward Arturia as the guards moved out in front of everyone. Merlin watched the people with a small amount of pity as the people crawled out of their hiding places inside the dark castle ruins. They were an odd assortment of monstrosities, though some looked normal, but underfed. The ones that looked normal approached the group holding crude swords and looked ready to fight if they had to. Arturia didn�t watch them, however, she watched the creatures moving behind the normal looking ones with an impassive gaze. The creatures all looked so very alien to her; some were hairless all over and very pale, another was very tall and dressed in a child�s smock that was torn, her body overgrown in every aspect as though her body were trying to make itself look like a troll, another had small duck feet and legs while the rest of his body was normal. There was a normal woman carrying what looked to be an overgrown baby, but the child didn�t look quite right. His head was far too large for his body, part of it protruding out from the skull, his eyes small in comparison and rolled toward the sky as his mouth hung open. His body was rail thin, the muscles all but vanished and leaving him nothing but bone underneath his skin. He was little more than a skeleton with a very large head.

�What do you want,� cried one of the normal men. His eyes were odd, one looking larger than the other and had two pupils merged together inside of it. The other eye was normal looking, but both were narrowed angrily at Arturia and her group.

�We come in peace,� said Arturia as she moved her horse forward.

There was a low murmur among the people as more came out from hiding, mostly women and children. An older man came forward, his hair all gone and spots covered him from head to foot like that of a cow. �No one comes into the wastelands and lives. No one comes into the wastelands and comes for no reason, but to antagonize us!�

Arturia shook her head. �I have come to seek you out. Most can not come through the barrier protecting this place, however, if you wish, you are free to leave it. I have come to ask you if you would wish to live in a little more hospitable place. My home is far south, it will be a long journey, but we will protect you and keep you safe from the cold wind and keep you fed. In my home, you will have buildings like these to live in, for I fear the people of my home will not be so kind toward you, but I will pass a decree that will allow you to work and earn pay so long as you are able.�

Again, the people looked to each other and murmured. The woman with the skeletal child in her arms came forward. �Why would you be willing to let us live among you? Aren�t you afraid we will taint the soil and the water, the animals and the people? What is it we must do in return for living in a place that won�t be much different from where we are now?�

�You will have my protection so long as you work to earn your keep. Those that are unable will have to file with me so I might have the church give charity toward your family. Those able to work will be self sufficient enough.� Arturia gazed directly at the woman and found the woman defiant toward her. �I know what it is like to be uncared for, what it is like to be unwanted. This land is not fit for anyone to live in, even those who were here when the great war started and ended. It is cursed, branded by those who killed it so long ago. You will not live much longer in this place, your people are slowly dying out. By the end of this decade, you will all have died out, being unable to reproduce as much as it would take to live in this place. There is no water here, no growth, no animals, nothing. You have to move in and out of the land just to find something to eat.�

The woman nuzzled her child�s forehead and Arturia watched it respond by doing the same. �But what do you get out of us coming with you?�

�Nothing.� Arturia watched the woman stare at her in surprise. �I get able workers to work the harsh land and the sense that someone else is being well cared for in my kingdom.�

�Kingdom? Who are you?� asked the older man with the spots.

�Who is she? She is the queen of Briton! The holder of the kingsword Excalibur!� cried Gawain. His brothers Agravaine and Gaheris let out a few �Huzzahs� toward Arturia, grinning toward one another.

The guardsmen nodded and the wasteland villagers muttered to one another as they gazed at Arturia. �How can we believe you? How can we trust you will do what you say when we reach your land!?� said one of the boys as he came forward.

�You don�t,� said Arturia. The boy seemed to move away at this response, shocked at her quick reply. �You have nothing other than my word as queen of Briton that I will make certain you are well cared for.�

Women shouted as did some of the deformed creatures. It was a cacophony of noise as people still filtered out of the old ruined castle.

�What have we got to lose?!�

�My babies need better food, better shelter! This place is too harsh for them!�

�I want to go where it isn�t so hot anymore!�

The old man with the spots all over his body bowed his head and raised his hand to silence the people. Apparently, he was their leader or chief. �We will follow you. You can no stay in here overlong or else the sand will hurt you. As we said, no one enters here and lives.�

�We will wait outside of the barrier for your people to come through. We do not have much with us now, but in Fenrill we will purchase extra food and water and clothing for you. Please pack light. Also, is this all of you in this desert or are there more?�

�This is all that I know of. I know of one woman who came into the wasteland and tried to cross it before she found the tribe long ago, but she died in childbirth. It was long before my great great great grandfather was birthed, but that was one of the only visitors from the north we have had since the waste was created. Mostly, we get people who manage to come through the south gate who raid us quickly, before leaving.�

A woman was that heavy with child and she had attempted to cross this desert? Arturia wondered why someone would attempt something so brutal and futile. She knew that there were ways south from Scotland that required the traveler to travel over water to get around the wasteland that isolated Scotland from the rest of Briton so.

The people of the wasteland retreated back into the ruined castle as Arturia and her group went back through the barrier. There, they got off their horses and waited for the travelers to come to them from the sun heated land.

�Such insolence! I will not tolerate it!� snarled Gilgamesh as he stood. One of Gilgamesh�s servants came over to clean up the mess the food on the plate had created on the floor. Gilgamesh stalked away, now in a foul mood. �RASHID! RASHID! COME TO ME NOW!�

Rashid, in his armor, jogged from his place at the war room where he was briefing several men on tactics. �Yes, my lord?�

�Gather the men and fast. Tell the boats to load up as many as they can hold. We are going to Briton now.� With that, Gilgamesh stalked off once more, growling.

Rashid watched the heathen god king walk away. One of his subordinates came up to his side and handed him a knife. Rashid checked it and saw the bit of green on the blade that meant it had been poisoned. �God be with you, boy,� he said before nodding to his subordinate and walking off. His plan to kill the false god king and rid his countrymen of such evil was coming together well enough. He still needed to be quiet and appear as though he were completely and wholly subservient to the madman, for he feared for the lives of his family; his sisters and brothers, his daughters and sons, his brother�s wives and his sister�s husbands, their children and the life of his own wives. He feared for them all that the false god king would do exactly as he said and kill every single one of his family, fully ending his entire blood line from existence.

A woman came walking by, her clothing that of one of the concubines given to Gilgamesh from a foreign land as payment for keeping peace between their lands. She was of the orient, her eyes of gold and her hair as black as pitch. Her face was slightly pointed, but fair, hair pulled up in a rather odd hair style. While he watched her pass him, he wondered what would come of the foreigner when the kingdom found that their king was dead. Would she be sent back home? He would probably die in the act of killing Gilgamesh, though he hoped he would not. He also doubted the girl would be sent back, as she looked very youthful and fresh, though she was thinner than the women of better stock.

With that last thought, Rashid made his way down the hallway to do as his false king bid.

When they reached Fenrill, there they bedded down for the night. In the morning, they set out for Camelot once again and went to Helmsley, which was another day�s journey. Arturia carefully instructed her guards and her nephews and Bedivere to make certain they kept away from the manors of her nobles, so the people who traveled with them would forget that she was indeed their queen whilst they journeyed south. Bedivere saw the wisdom in the move, though Gawain found it to be suspicious. However, he obeyed his aunt and only asked if they might return to Cannick where he might check his brother Gareth to see if he were all right. Agravaine and Gaheris both also agreed that they wished to see their brother, so Arturia complied.

It took a week and a half to reach Cannick. The people were tired of walking and never staying put someplace for more than a night�s rest, however, she told them that it was indeed nessescary for their journey to be swift toward Camelot, where she grew more anxious to see the deep gray stone walls of her castle and the blackened walls surrounding the keep. Time grew short and everyday she felt the time for Gilgamesh to make his move grow nearer. The old, spotted man saw how much colder she became and took note of it.

�You are anxious to be home, ma�am?� he asked.

�Yes, I wish to know how my ranks have built up. I have never been so far from home for so long before,� she said. The man frowned, not sure what to think of her answer.

When they reached Cannick, Gawain nearly jumped from his saddle to the doorstep with delight. Agravaine rolled his eyes and Gaheris chuckled. Arturia found her nephews rather amusing, though she barely showed it. She had never seen such energy in a young man before until she met Gawain. Agravaine was far more mature and suspicious of her actions. Gaheris was somewhere in between and it was difficult to tell where his thoughts lie.

However, when she entered Cannick manor, she found the dark haired head of her sister Morgan. Her sister stood up and walked toward her from the bench she had been sitting on. �Arturia? Gawain! Gaheris! Agravaine! Why has this woman come into my home?�

Gawain was the first come over, his red hair down about his shoulders and messy. �Mum! Arturia came before while you were away with father and asked me if I would join her as one of her knights. I have decided to go, as have Agravaine and Gaheris. Gareth wished to go, but we told him he needed to stay.�

Morgan slapped Gawain and shoved him away from Arturia before she rounded on Arturia herself. She raised a hand toward her half-sister, but stopped, glaring at Arturia with wild eyes. Merlin had his hand up and glared at the dark haired woman as she looked to him. �So you are a witch?� he said, frowning more.

�What if I am!� she spat. She moved away and rubbed her hand. �You aren�t welcome here either, wizard!�

Arturia had a strange look on hr face, one that directly contradicted the usual frozen mask she wore. It was frightened and paler than usual as she looked at her taller half-sister. Merlin saw the look on her face and frowned even more deeply, if it were possible. He was now very angry with the woman for being so cruel toward her own kin.

�You sent that animal into my mother�s room, you disguised him to look like father and then you let him have his way with her so that she would give birth to this abomination!� Morgan snarled and raved much like an animal herself.

�Morgan?�

For the first time since she had arrived, Arturia spoke aloud. Bedivere came forward and stood in front of Arturia, Gawain following suit, his cheek red and bleeding from his mother�s nails clawing him when she slapped him. Morgan looked to Arturia with an imperious glare. �So you�ve managed to turn my son against me? Fine. Go back out into the night! Leave Cannick or I will make you all leave myself!�

�Is there something the matter, Morgan?�

Morgan�s husband Lot came down the stairs and smiled faintly at his wife before seeing Arturia. He stared for a moment and looked back to Morgan. �What is going on? Who is this girl and why is our son standing in front of her with such anger on his fair face?�

Morgan seemed to immediately change her demeanor. She smiled lovingly toward her husband and motioned toward Arturia. �She is�. My half sister.�

For the first time since Lot arrived on the scene, Arturia seemed to snap out of the strange behavior she had been displaying. �I am Arturia Pendragon, Queen of this land.�

Lot hurried over and took Arturia�s hand and bowed down low, kissing her signet ring. �My queen! Had I known you were coming here, I would have prepared for your arrival.�

�It is fine. I am only staying a night before I head out back to Camelot. I bring people with me that wished to live on my lands for protection.�

Lot nodded and stood. �Morgan, see that your sister may be well cared for within our walls. As for the people who you are granting your protection to, they will find protection here as well. Where are they from?�

�Further north, where it was far too inhospitable to let them live there much longer. South, in Camelot, it will be far easier for them to survive,� said Arturia.

�I see. Should they require a lot of room?�

�I think they will be fine if they are warm and fed. They are shy and do not want many people to see them,� she said.

Lot found that most curious indeed. He nodded and looked to Morgan and kissed her cheek. �I�ll make arrangements for them to sleep in the servant section. The servants can go to another part of the manor to sleep for the night; meanwhile, your guests can sleep there where it�s warm.�

Arturia nodded and watched the man walk off quickly. Morgan eyed Arturia and frowned faintly at her. �Come with me. Your guests in here may sleep in here if they wish.�

�My guards should stay with the people. Bedivere will stay in the room next to mine, if that is possible as will Merlin,� said Arturia, watching her sister carefully.

The guardsmen nodded and bowed, walking back out into the cold to direct the people to the servant quarters where Lot was preparing places for the people to sleep. Bedivere and Merlin followed Morgan as Arturia trailed behind. However, Gawain pulled her away from behind them and hid behind a wall as Morgan walked up the steps with Merlin and Bedivere. Arturia frowned at her nephew, very irritated with his actions. �What is wrong, Gawain?�

Gawain held a finger up to his mouth and shook his head. Arturia frowned as she eyed him suspiciously. He, then, pulled her away further to the darkness where he released her and faced her. �Cousin, I do not trust my mother�s intentions. Please be careful while around her.�

Arturia gazed at her nephew and smiled faintly. �I see, concerned for aunty?�

Gawain hissed at her, his cheeks flushed. �Cousin. I won�t accept you as my aunt, as you are too small and far too young to be my aunt.�

Arturia smiled a little more before Gawain moved away and nodded to her. �I�ll see you in the morning, cousin. I will be supping in my room tonight, for I fear my mother�s wrath.�

Arturia nodded and walked up the steps when Gawain walked off, red hair swaying slightly as he walked away. Morgan was at the top waiting with Bedivere and Merlin, both of whom did not look the least bit happy to be still in the presence of the woman. �I apologize. I was speaking with Gawain about something.�

Bedivere�s face grew a bit stiff looking as Merlin relaxed faintly, though he flicked his eyes toward Morgan. Arturia wondered what Merlin saw that she didn�t in her sister. A witch was from the same people as a wizard, so why did Merlin find her so suspicious?

�Your room is here, Arturia. Bedivere and Merlin are on either side of you as you requested. Dinner will be given to you in your rooms. I�ll go have it arranged now. Good evening.� Morgan then walked off quickly, skirts flapping around her heels in her haste.

Bedivere looked to Arturia with a concerned look. �All right, my queen?�

�I am fine, Bedivere. Merlin, why are you so suspicious of my sister? Are you and her not the same kind of people?� Arturia looked to Merlin and found she had surprised him, for he nearly jumped when she spoke his name.

Merlin smiled weakly and shook his head. �It is nothing, pupil. Likely, my stomach is upset, but it is she who upsets it, I�m sure. It�s little more than her manners is all. I detest rude people.�

Arturia nodded and walked into her room. Merlin stayed put when Bedivere retreated into his own. When they went into their separate rooms, Merlin tapped his wand on the door of Arturia and on Bedivere�s door as well. He drew up spells on their doors so that no one hostile could enter and then retreated into his room.