This story in unbeta'd, so all mistakes are my own.
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of the characters and settings. It all belongs to the BBC.
Prologue
It was a dry year in Camelot. Every day, the sun rose with little or no cloud cover and scorched the land below with its blistering rays. There had been just enough rain for farmers to bring in the harvest. Granted, it was not as much food as usual, but it was enough for the people of the lower town to get by, plus a little extra. The nobility and people in the citadel barely even felt the lack of food. Overall, life wasn't bad, and, though it was dry everywhere and hadn't rained for months, the people in the Pendragon kingdom prospered.
Deep in the woods that backed up to the lower town, in a clearing, a band of traders was passing through. They had just stopped at Camelot and negotiated with the king and wished to get to their homes in Mercia as fast as possible. Wanting to save their money, rather than stay at an inn, they stopped in the clearing to rest and get some sleep before continuing on. They built a fire, cooked some freshly caught game, and then unrolled their bedrolls for the night.
When morning came, one of the men woke to find that his blanket had been taken by another and so immediately tackled the guilty party in question. This caused quite a stir among the rest. An all out brawl broke out, with men punching and biting each other every which way. After finally wearing themselves out, they all had a good laugh, and the man who started it all got his blanket back. Then, they went on their way. Upon leaving the clearing, the men were so tied up in thoughts and chuckles about what just occurred that they failed to notice the birds singing in the little bit less than green forest, the dry grass that crunched under their horse's hooves, the brook nearby that was running lower than it should have been, and the small spark of the fire they had built that was not quite extinguished. They did not notice the spark turn into a small flame. They did not notice the flame hungrily reach out for the dry grass surrounding it, setting it alight.