Una was making her way down the hall, looking for Alaric now. She had much to discuss with him now that she was feeling better, especially about last night. She was angry and confused and needed closure on why Alaric became this person Una doesn't know anymore. Una was always leery of people, but this man was the last person she would ever expect to be who he is.

"Alaric?" Una mumbled as she walked into his medicine room.

As she entered, she could see that he was not there. Una turned around and ventured out of the room and managed to run into Sir David with another guard. He looked as miserable as everyone else in the castle.

"Good morrow." He said politely to Una with a bow.

David's hair was more tangled than Una's.

"And you both as well," Una said with a smile.

David saw Una's dress. It was wrinkled and stained and looked just as gross as what he was wearing. David, too woke up this morning very sick, as well as many others. He had noticed, though, that something was quite peculiar going on.

"Have you heard, my lady?" Sir David asked.

"Heard what?" Una asked.

"All the highest lords in Wintacaster have disappeared. I think they are cowards and had run from the war!" Sir David said.

"That is rather cowardly, but I see that they would rather protect their riches than their people," Una added.

"That's common here. The only good man that has stayed was old Lord Hedwig of Wareham. We just found out he finally met God last night in his bed. His slaves and servants all had run away with his tangible riches. They tore the house up. Even the thatching had been pillaged through."

"That's tragic," Una said.

"Indeed, he was a good lord." The other man said.

This man had very light-colored green eyes that would not blink, staring down at Una. She wondered if Alaric had written on her face with soot while she was asleep, but Laurel didn't say anything.

"It was an extraordinary night. Many things happened, but that's Samhain when the darkness is closest. I imagine that many tragic things befell us before the morning dawn." Una said.

They shook their heads in agreement.

"You two haven't seen Alaric, have you? I've been looking for him." Una said.

"Don't tell me he's gone too?" The other man laughed.

"No, he was here earlier."

"I thought I saw him heading back to his room." The man said, swooping his silky umber hair behind his ears.

"Thank you, sir," Una said.

"Good day to you both then. I must be on my way." Una said, nodding and turning back around in the direction of Alaric's room.

"Wait, my lady!" The other man said.

"What is your name, might I ask?"

Una turned around and smiled.

"Una."

"May I see you again, my lady Una?" The man asked.

"Certainly." Una hesitated.

David seemed shocked by Una's response.

Una had never met this man before, but clearly, he was interested in her for some reason. Then again, it is not every day that Celts are walking through the castle. Una had her heart set on Gareth, however, even though this love was forbidden.

"Meet me in the courtyard later when training begins for the Knights. You have the arms of an archer." Una laughed.

She wanted to challenge him to a friendly competition.

"I see. You must have seen me before guarding the tower. I am an archer. Thank you, my lady Una. The courtyard it is. I'll look for you there." He smiled and waved at Una.

Una nodded and walked on her merry way to Alaric's room. When she approached the room door, she saw that it was closed and locked.

"Alaric? It is me, Una. Could you open the door, please?" Una mumbled in the corner of the door.

She could hear footsteps approach. Suddenly the door swung violently open. Alaric stood there. His eyes and cheeks were red as if he had been crying.

"Are you alright?" Una asked, staring at him.

He backed away from the door and motioned with his arm for her to come in.

"Do come in. I really need to speak with you." Alaric said in a hushed tone as he shut the door.

Una walked into the middle of the room, waiting on Alaric to offer her a seat.

"Please, sit," Alaric said, offering her a seat at the end of his bed.

Alaric switched places with Una, with him standing in the room looking down at her. He folded his arms and looked out his window at the midday light.

"I don't understand you, Una." Alaric began.

"What do you mean?" Una asked.

"I mean that I drugged you and nearly everyone in this castle, and you act as if it didn't happen. Why haven't you said a word about me, or Ingrid, or even Wilona's celebration? I thought you didn't like the queen?" Alaric said.

Una sighed and bent down to look at her hands in her lap.

"I don't like her, but I don't have any evidence against her. That is what I came here for. I wanted to thank you. I know she wanted me there. I also came to ask what happened last night. I want you to tell me everything."

"Are you mad!?" Alaric scolded Una.

"I drugged you, for God's sake!" He shouted at her.

Una stared blankly up at Alaric.

"What do you want me to say? Why are you wroth with me?" Una asked gently.

"What is wrong with you!? I am only getting wroth with you because you are acting blind, Una! You should hate me! I drugged you. I've killed many, many people."

"The difference between you and me is that we've both killed, but saving is not my calling. I am a warrior and a Queen. I kill for vengeance while you kill because you save others. I cannot believe for a second that you are a mad killer. Your true nature would not allow it to be as good as a healer as you are. All great healers cannot kill quickly because that is against their honorable duty. It is evil to kill, even mercifully, if you call yourself a healer. To heal is to assure life, not death. Leave death for those like me. Some are born to save others. Some are born to end others. You cannot serve both. You can never serve two masters. If you do, you are a fool, or you are lost. I know you help to heal, not to take lives. Una assured Alaric against his belief.

You're right, Una. I take no pleasure in killing, even mercifully. It is not suitable for me. It will never be right, even when others say that it is. No death is correct or just, even for a court physician. Alaric nodded.

I am curious, though, who was killed last night?" Una asked.

"It was going to be you," Alaric said bluntly.

Una gasped.

"What? So, you knew?" Una said, confused.

"Of course, I knew, who didn't know in the circle! That is why I drugged you. You were going to be the main course!"

"What, I thought you weren't apart of the circle?" Una asked.

"Yes, the circle. I took my little sister's place so she would suffer no more. I'd rather have Wilona sard me than have all the lords of this land gang rape my sister!" Alaric shouted.

Una gulped. She did not know what to say.

"It doesn't matter now. Your little demon friend killed everyone but Wilona, Ingrid, and me. The circle is broken, and now we are free, but I am still guilty. I am still a murderer and assassin."

"Demon friend? I have no such alliance with the darkness of your religion."

"Darkness of my religion!?" Alaric scoffed.

"Your religion burns and drowns your human sacrifices if your harvest is bad! Dark circles of Magick are not of Christianity. This circle is from the upside-down, the depraved and evil wickedness that mocks my religion. That is why Wilona forced me to join. I could die for my lord and let her take another in my place, or I could join and slowly dwindle her groups. I did not have to poison anyone. Your demon friend took care of it."

"You've been poisoning them? And who is my demonic friend you speak of! I have no religion anymore. I know not of your God or my own Gods. I believe that darkness is real, but it has never been a manifestation of my life. The tragedies that have befallen my life were not from this demon. They are my own fault! We have talked about this before! Why must you bring them up again!?" Una begged him.

"Every man that touched my sister found himself puking blood. Then his eyes, ears, and nose would bleed too. I wanted them to suffer as much as my sister, so I gave them the herb that would inflict the most pain."

Una's breath fell still.

"I am a murderer because I enjoyed the thought of them dying violently. I reveled in the thought of blood in their body torturing them to the end. I should be dead like all of them are. But somehow, I am left to suffer yet again. It does not matter, Una. Something was there that night, taking your place, claiming it was you. I swore it was. I was terrified they found you when I saw them drag you out there despite where I hid you. I knew if you died, there would be no hope left for this kingdom." Alaric said, walking to the window.

Una felt a cold chill through her as if what he was saying was true.

"I hoped I would have died last night too. Your demon, calling himself Arawn, spared my life. He told me my real family was not my own, that Ingrid was not my sister. I did not believe the monster until he brought back Ingrid from the dead. Why would he bother to spare me and then lie about such a thing? He cursed Wilona's womb black. He said you would conceive that child, that Wilona was unfit. She was cursed. He said other things about you, about how he shapeshifted into animals that protected you." Alaric hesitated.

"What? How...how is that possible? I know of Arawn. He is not a good God. He is evil. How do you know of such a God? We do not write of him. We pass it through a word." Una said breathlessly.

"I've never heard of him in my life. He appeared as some sort of guardian angel, an evil but yet benevolent one. Everyone that has meant you harm has died or will die by your will. How is it that I am still here talking in front of you? How have you not stuck me dead after what I've done, how I have killed so many, how I drugged you?" Alaric said in a hushed tone.

"A guardian angel? That's purely folklore." Una laughed.

"And yet you believe in faeries. Are they not winged messengers as well?" Alaric suggested.

"You're talking nonsense. I was not awake to witness this beast of a God. Una laughed.

"He took your form, Una. At the alter, I slit your wrists. Ingrid was there. She saw it all before she suffocated to death. All the men that are missing from this kingdom were a part of the circle. Those were the ones I have not killed yet. Arawn took care of that for me." Alaric said.

"Ingrid saw?" Una laughed again.

"It's no laughing matter, I'm afraid. In a few days, the smell of rotten flesh will consume this land. The bodies of these men and women will be found in the rocks off the cliff."

"You're bluffing." Una laughed again.

"As a child, a white wolf came to you, did it not? It came as an omen of death and destruction, and it happened to you. Was Arawn really bluffing?" Alaric said sternly.

Una felt like the air was knocked out of her. She stood up, feeling suddenly panicked.

"How did you know that!?" Una screeched, staring at him.

Alaric sighed.

"Answer me!" Una demanded.

Alaric turned around and put his back to the window. His arms were still crossed.

"I already told you. You have a little devil on your shoulder or an angel. I would not really call him either. If Arawn is really who you say he is, then perhaps he is life the lucifer of my religion, masquerading as an angel of light." Alaric said.

"We do not talk of him. He is the God of the dead, war, revenge, and terror. We feared him. I did once until he and all the others cast me aside. I abandoned the Gods. If what you say is true and Arawn is my defender, then we are damned, Alaric. He has damned me, my family, my people."

"He clearly hasn't abandoned you. In fact, I am inclined to believe that he wants to serve by your side. He does not worship you, nor do you worship him any longer. I wouldn't expect any less from an ex-pagan to have devils chasing after them when they left." Alaric said, releasing his arms to his side.

Una felt her cheeks burn, but she would not cry. This was rage and anger. Her mother worshiped Arawn like her own father. Una does not like to think much about her mother. She was very distant from Una, and they both quarreled often. Una hated looking in her shiny brass mirror, for she looked like her mother, but with darker hair and eyes. It was a constant reminder of the woman that Unavowed she would never become. It was a curse to her. Una did not like her mother because she was cruel to Una herself and her people. Una believes that it was resentment of her people. Una's mother was forced to wed Cynan because his other wives before could not bear children. Cynan had to put up with Una's mother because he was getting too old to have children. She could conceive, but she was mad.

"My father was Christian, you know. It was my own mother that forced me to worship the Gods of old. My father tried to sway me his way. I was even baptized in secret. I have both worlds to my name. Arawn is no God, but he is something definitely not to be trifled with. I would be the last human being on earth ever to believe that he would be on my side. I want nothing but good. I want war, fear, and evil to end. He is everything dark and darker. What Wilona summoned was not a guardian of mine. He is my burden." Una declared.

"He says you'll win, Una. This war is coming. You must restore the good name of the Pendragon."

Una stopped and had to recollect herself.

"I'm sorry, what? Did you just say I have to restore the Pendragon good name? Ha!" Una laughed.

"This is definitely some clever scheme you've come up with!" Una laughed harder.

"Una, stop! I am serious. I do not know either. That is what he declared. I know this war now will be against the Pendragons, so I don't know how you fit into all of this. I do know that he mentioned the fact that he hated Wilona. All his God friends did too." Alaric said.

Alaric thought about divulging the fact that Arawn said that Una was a pendragon through her mother, but he was already tormenting her as is. Some things were better-kept secret. How could Una kill her grandfather after all in this impending war? Alaric knew Una is merciful and kind. She couldn't kill one of her own after her family was taken from her.

"Arawn, are you sure it's him? Please tell me this is some joke, tell me true!" Una begged Alaric.

"I'm afraid not," Alaric said.

"It can't be, but how?" Una said faintly as she sat back down on Alaric's bed.

"There's one more thing, Una," Alaric said, holding his breath.

"Go ahead," Una said, sighing deeper.

"I'm to go with you up north. My destiny lies there. Arawn said so." Alaric hesitated.

He was too terrified to tell him anything else. Arawn said that he would have a throne waiting for him in the north under the name Lothbrok. His parents were dead, and Ingrid does not share these parents. He could hear Arawn's calm and deep voice now in his head. It was so vividly dark and yet benevolent. Alaric felt troubled by this.

"Please, Una. I must pray now." Alaric pleaded with Una.

"Hold on a second? You must come with me, north? What north?" Una asked.

"The north." He replied.

"North, like Northumbria, or are you coming to war with me?"

"It appears it will be both. Why do you think I need to pray now?" Alaric said, sitting down on the floor.

Una looked down at him from atop his bed, peering at him thinking.

"Didn't you just suggest earlier that you were unfit to live any longer, that you were a murderer? And now you wish to relinquish your position as court physician, all in the name of following orders from a God you do not believe in or serve. All of this and by my side, the side that most men die standing in within the first moments of battle?" Una said, laying it out for him.

"Yes," Alaric said quietly.

Una was perplexed.

"But that is not to say that I will be killing. I want to heal still. I will serve as a physician in this war, on Gareth's side, by your side." Alaric said, looking up, meeting Una's eyes.

Una could see the seriousness in his face. He meant what he said.

"Alright, but you will still have to learn to fight," Una said.

"I know," Alaric said indeed.

Una laughed to herself.

"I guess you and your sister will be serving me well then."

"What!?" Alaric stood up and walked over to Una.

"What can I say? You two are very devoted to being my friends." Una laughed.

"Ingrid?" Alaric said, disturbed.

"Yes, Ingrid, your sister. I do not worry so much for you as I do her. She has so much to learn. She lacks the strength, but she had a warrior's spirit. You have a warrior's strength, but you have a healer's spirit. I think you two would be a most formidable pair in war."

"Why are you letting her go!?" Alaric demanded.

"I cannot deny someone like Ingrid. If even a tenth of my men back home had your sister's spirit, we would have the entirety of Bryttania united under my name by now." Una laughed, standing up.

"So, I expect you to come to training to see me and Ingrid kick your arse." Una laughed, ending the gloomy conversation on a happier note.

Alaric sighed and had no choice but to smile. Una was right yet again. He knew he could never sway Ingrid away from this. He only wishes that the words of Arawn would stay true, that they all would be protected from now on.

"I think I do deserve to have my arse kicked after all of this happening." Alaric laughed back at Una.

"Hmm...we'll see. I'll see you shortly then." Una smiled as she stood up and let herself out the door.

Alaric smiled, but when Una shut the door, he collapsed on his hands and knees. He just signed his life away, and his only hope was for a dark entity that assured him safety to keep his promise. Alaric knew dark times were vastly approaching, and he would be right in the center of the storm. The clouds were gathering already. Soon the rain will come, both for the castle and for Alaric.