━━ ⦗the swan princess! ⦘
❝ you're beautiful!
thank you, but what else?
... what else is there? ... ❞
███████████ 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝
the courageous odette teaches the
once and future king a less...
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chapter twenty-three! 023. mordred
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THEY KNEW getting the boy out of Camelot wasn't going to be easy. But Odette hadn't pictured how strenuous the action would be until they truly started to think about it. Hidden within the traffic of the markets, she, Merlin, Morgana, Guinevere and Adelynn all travelled through the town▬searching from the Lower Town entrance to the draw bridge and within the citadel walls for avenues of escape. They saw nothing▬all they saw were guards at every exit and entrance; they searched everyone who came in, and everyone who went out. They stopped servants, farmers, even Upper Classmen▬not leaving one stone unturned in the search for this Druid boy.
Odette frowned at the guards stopping a wagon of firewood underneath the shadow of the market stall. She pretended she was searching through pretty hair clips with Morgana, Gwen and Adelynn▬she found one that she slipped into the basket Merlin carried (as Morgana decided to buy one for her servants and Adelynn each▬nothing too expensive, of course, Odette already felt uncomfortable as it is holding something so pretty). Merlin made a face as he carried yet another thing for the girls.
Guinevere picked up a hair clip and held it up against her brown locks to test it out▬as she did, she said out of the corner of her mouth subtly to her friends, "The guards are searching everyone leaving the town."
Adelynn quirked a brow, briefly peering upwards from dark hair that hung around her olive cheeks. "There must be another way," she thought aloud in a whisper. She focused on some pearl buttons that were placed beside the hair pins. "This citadel was built to house one of the greatest Kings in our history▬there must be escape routes beneath the castle."
"You're right," muttered Merlin▬and the group of them went silent for a moment as she payed the merchant for the pearl buttons and placed them in Merlin's basket wrapped up in cloth. Once she was done and he had turned his attention onto other customers, the Prince's manservant added in a low voice, "There's a secret door in the armoury. It leads to the Lower Town. I'll take the boy out that way."
"No," said Morgana immediately. She had been quiet during the whole conversation up until now. She played with some stained balm, testing the colour on her hands▬something she usually used to keep her lips soft and not chapped. She eyed Merlin briefly, "it is too dangerous. I will do it."
Odette's brows furrowed, taken aback▬she glanced at Gwen, who held a similar look on her face. Both of them shared a quiet exchange, their concern growing for their mistress's eagerness to risk her life for this cause.
Merlin was hesitant. He shuffled on his feet uneasily▬Odette knew why. He cleared his throat and quickly said, "I▬I▬I'm good with secret doors and things..."
Morgana added her balm and some rouge into the basket, "If you get caught, Uther will execute you." Merlin sighed, but he bit back on his objections. Morgana was determined; she nodded, jaw set. "The boy is my responsibility. I will smuggle him out of the castle."
