The wind blew strong against and his armor, his face bitten with cold as he ran through the snow. The moonlight illuminating a path as he ran, and Arthur saw a flash of dark fur and a pair of malicious eyes in his sideview.
He spun around to face the thing that was chasing him, his heavy breathing making puffs of damp rise through the cold winter air.
He had stopped in a clearing but saw nothing at first, spinning around in the shin deep snow to face every direction he could to be ready for an attack. He had no hope for rescue now, he had lost sight of his knights a long time ago and he wasn't even sure they were still alive. He had heard shouting when he woke up in the darkness of night, screaming and he had been shouting out orders to the knights. Then suddenly something shoved him hard away from the battle, something or someone had made sure to break Arthur off from the fight. Was this to make his comrades more vulnerable? More disorganized without a leader? That would have been a fatal mistake on the attacker's part. His men could hold their own with or without him, he had made damn sure of that with his extensive training. But, he couldn't help but worry. He didn't want his men to die like this. He had a responsibility to keep them safe.
His thoughts trailed off for just a moment of the image of knights sprawled out, mauled, missing limbs, organs ripped out... blood soaking in the deep snow. He snapped back to the moment when the large animal-like silhouette that had been chasing him shifted closer out to the pale moonlight ready to jump out and lash out at any moment. A cold sweat ran down Arthur's arms tightening his already vice grip on the sword, bracing himself for a fight. A fight that he was so sure would end up with him being ripped apart alive, just like his knights.
The large silhouette suddenly crept out of the darkness slowly revealing itself, observing Arthur with a snarl and gleaming eyes. A low rumbling growl came out of the beast that Arthur now saw was a wolf, the largest wolf he had ever seen. At least twice the size of a normal one, his head spinning with plans to flee or fight, and he had to shake himself hard to regain a little of his ground. He couldn't risk panicking, not now, his fellow knights were in danger, he needed to get back to them quickly. Arthur's gaze focused and trailed around but never too long for the wolf's steps closer to go unnoticed, he needed to get around that thing, but he knew he couldn't outrun it. It was faster than him, so there was no escape on that part...
It suddenly dawned upon him that the wolf, who had been chasing Arthur for a good while could have taken him down at any time he'd like. Was it the thrill of chasing Arthur that kept him alive till now, or...?
His question was answered rather quickly, a lot quicker than he'd like when he finally noticed the other abnormally large wolves stalking around the tree line all around him, shifting low to the ground having surrounded him, bearing their teeth with malice and intent to kill. Arthur couldn't hold back the shocked exhale his hands giving off a slight tremble.
This, this was where he was going to die.
NO! He couldn't give up now, not when he had still a will to survive. As in response to his newfound bravery, Arthur shifted his hands on the sword for a better grip and one of the wolves snapped at him with a loud growl in response, but they didn't advance, they were waiting, searching for a weakness in Arthur that would make him easy prey. But Arthur wouldn't let it be that easy, not ever.
The first wolf attacked Arthur from behind, lunging for his exposed side and he barely slipped past luckily landing a hit on the wolf's side instead, and it yelped in pain retreating with the other ones. Their circle tightening around Arthur.
Soon all the wolves were attacking him from every direction, but it was almost as if they were strategically attacking him. Had Arthur underestimated their intelligence and made a fatal mistake? He yelled in pain as one of the wolves caught his arm in a strong vice grip when he was distracted, he swung his sword with gritted teeth at the wolf's maw hitting it square in the face. The wolf cried out in pain, its blood and his mingled under his punctured armor. These were defiantly not normal wolves.
Arthur's adrenaline left his breath shaky, his blood boiling with wrath. He glared as hard as he could hoping he could at least let them know that he wouldn't go down without a fight, but it was also to push away his fear.
And a fight he gave them.
In the end his sword slipped out from his loose hand and dropped heavily down into the snow, the blood from it seeping into the snow as it sunk. Arthur's legs buckled, and he fell onto his knees, arms limply hung by his side as his breath shook from exhaustion.
Arthur's vision was hazed over and unsteady, he looked around dizzy at the wolves not nearly as beaten up but there was a lot of blood. His eyes closed in acceptance and he exhaled in a sigh, the warm damp caressing his icy cold face as the wolves closed around him, their teeth glimmering in the moonlight.
Arthur was dead. His goodbyes would never reach the ones he loved, and his corpse would be nothing but bones if they were ever found.
But, he wasn't dead. He could slowly feel through his numb limbs that snow was being dragged along his body, his eyes open and he realized it wasn't the snow that was moving but him. Arthur weakly tried to grab at the loose snow to stop but it was no use, was the wolves going drag him to their den to devour him there? Or was he going to be stored away alive, with a slim chance of escape? His vision narrowed on the bright red that was incredibly visible in the white snow, it was his blood and there was a lot of it. He would probably die from bleeding out rather than being torn apart. He was more pleased with that thought as things blurred around him and in the end, went dark.
Arthur groaned and stretched out his arms, he was very tired and didn't want to wake up just yet searching for the covers to pull over himself. But he touched a cold stone floor instead, jolting upright only to wince and collapse down again because of the pain. Arthur gritted his teeth inhaling sharply, remembering hazily how he'd gotten here and why he was like this. A few moments pass by as he tried recovering but all the pain was making his head spin, his whole body trembled making him ball his fists into tight knots. He looked around slowly in the dark, his cheek dragging along the floor. Arthur almost jumped up again when he noticed the many half eaten deer corpses on the ground behind him, the bones littered most of the cave he was in and dried crimson blood had made most of the stone much darker than the rest of the cave.
Arthur pieced together things bit by bit and it helped that he was starting to remember the attack, the wolves and his desperately fought fight. His head was pounding in response and he groaned as his temples were being stabbed. He figured his captors had knocked him around possibly hitting his head in the process.
He tried feeling his head for any damage, there were many cuts and aching bruises. He couldn't figure out why he had been kept alive or if they had thought he was dead and left him in their food storage. But it seemed that no one was coming and no one around so he had plenty of time to remember, the uncomfortable cold stone floor was making it hard for him as his body was pretty much numbed to his relief when he was able to look at himself it had been very bad, his wounds were covered in dried blood, dark purple bruises covered his body in a sick display, wound overlapping other wounds and bruises.
After some time, he had been able to hoist himself up to a sitting position. Arthur had noted in his now clearer mind that he was unarmed and in a uncapable state to try an escape, and the smell of dead animals, dried blood and rotting flesh from all around him had gotten to him, his eyes were slightly watering. He needed to move and fast, he didn't know when they would come back, so he moved to get to his feet and wheezed in pain when his ankle almost twisted itself 360 degrees, his breathing quickened, and he tore his eyes away trying to think of something else than his broken ankle. He put a quivering hand over his mouth to muffle his panicked gasps for air.
Arthur wants to close his eyes and wake up back in Camelot with all his knights like this had never happened, he couldn't help but think about them and how he had let them down. How they were probably all dead. His breathing had returned to normal and he reluctantly opened them again staring straight ahead at the half-eaten corpses piled up on each other, he noticed how many there were. Those wolves were huge, so it only made sense that there would be a lot of food as well, though he would rather not think about them right now.
Arthur needed to think of a way to get out of here, but his broken ankle made it almost impossible to even move without sending a shot of pain up his body making him wince. But he had to figure something out or he would be dead the next minute or two. His armor digging into his back making it uncomfortable after a while, he didn't want to move though and only slumped down more onto the very comfortable and cold stone. His adrenaline slowly fading away giving space for the ever-growing calm that seemed impossible, settled into his bones making him slide down until he was suddenly on the floor. His chest ached with a dull pain as he drifted off into darkness again letting out a heavy sigh. This was going nowhere and there seemed to be no escape. Sleep overtook him, and he didn't notice the shadows moving towards the cave entrance.
A softness stroke through his stringy hair, the warmth seeped into his forehead when it brushed against his skin. It was almost like something else lingered around, it was something touched his soul and made gentle ripples through it leaving it breathless when it was gone again. Wanting to be moved again, to feel itself just a little more it reached out for the gentle touch. He shifted his head to let the warmth stroke more of his hair, and his cheek brushed against another softness as he turned. Arthur didn't want to wake up, he felt safe like this it was like he was in the embrace of his mother again. This long-lost feeling of warmth and secureness made his chest tighten, and before he knew it the softness had moved to brush away a tear from his cheek. He heard a soft sigh coming from above him.
His eyes opened reluctantly, slowly but closed he closed his eyes again wanting to go back to sleep. Arthur was too tired for this and would rather go back to sleep than having to wake up and face his decisions. But he had to face it at some point, so he opened them again lazily and a familiar pale skin tone flooded his half-closed view. He mused in confusion, was he really back in his mother's embrace again? His head felt mushy as the tiredness started to leave him.
Suddenly he was staring right into a beckoning golden river, it took some time until he saw that it was a pair of golden eyes. The color swerved around the black iris taking Arthur's breath away, black eyelashes framed those eyes as if it was a lake of gold. His eyes were locked to them and they didn't move their eyes away either, he was pretty sure he laid in their lap staring up for at least half an hour just blinking. He had been so absorbed in those eyes that he didn't notice the wolves curled around them, the same wolves he had fought the night before.
Sudden awareness made him jolt upright, the warmth and soft touch gone, he jumped onto his feet grabbing for his sword that wasn't there anymore, but neither was his armor. He eyed them desperately trying to find any way to defend himself. His gaze ended up on the small figure in the middle of the pile of wakening large wolves that stared at him with a calm expression and golden eyes. Those golden eyes simply waited patiently until Arthur had calmed down a little.
"Who are you?" Arthur hissed, and straightened himself up trying to look as calm as the man in front of him, his eyes flickering to the wolves who were now standing staring at him intensely as if expecting anything. Arthur's eyes trailed over the stranger, noticing how thin he was, how pale he was and how those golden eyes stood out. He wore a bunch of furs draped around him and down his back, a silver ring sat on his head somehow holding up the fur by wedging it between the ring and his head.
This man was very beautiful to Arthur, he couldn't stop dragging his gaze across their face, curly long black hair flowed down their shoulders. And then Arthur noticed the complicated tattoos spreading across his arm and chest, the color almost seemed a dark red it was breathtaking. As he inspected them they stared back as if he knew something Arthur didn't. There was a long silence before anything happened, he moved fast, faster than Arthur could react and he was inches away but far enough away to have to look up at him. Arthur raised a hand to stop the oncoming attack, but the strange man reached out gently only to touch the side of his face. His eyes locked with Arthur after looking him up and down.
''The once, and future. King…'' Their voice was soft but assuring, as if confirming that Arthur was what he said by touching him.
Arthur automatically reached out to their hand to touch him back, still staring into the gold enchanting eyes as he couldn't look away. He shouldn't have, as the man jerked backwards as if he had been burned. But their eyes flashed to a deep and afraid blue. This unreal man was a sorcerer.
A sudden wave of nausea crashed over Arthur as the man's eyes stopped glowing. The sorcerer barely caught him as he fell, and the sorcerer was weirdly strong as he lifted Arthur. His skinny complex didn't make sense with the strength that he had, nothing made sense right now. "Once and future King?" He thought. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Everything was going a tad fast for his liking, and everything was turning upside-down and back at this point.
He had a hard time not vomiting all over himself and the man who was holding him up, the wolves swirling around them warily on edge only made him even more nauseous. The sorcerer spoke a few words in a language he didn't understand, it was probably because of the way everything spun around, and everything sounded like faraway echoes in a closed off cave. His head pounded every time they took a step forwards, had he hit his head that hard? He hadn't felt anything until the sorcerer had jumped back.
Arthur longed after the softness he had felt when he had been asleep, he wanted the pain to stop, to just go away to disappear. He was laid down again, he winced when his head was lowered slowly onto the same softness as before. He relaxed immediately into the warmth as before, Arthur cracked open his eyes to see if everything was spinning or not, and he was greeted with now golden eyes. They were warm, unlike the ocean blue scared eyes. He watched the hand of the man lowered down onto Arthur's head, it softly trailed down the side of his head.
Arthur was in a stranger's lap, being cradled like a child and comforted like one too. This sorcerer was the one who commanded the wolves to attack them in the woods, and probably killed all his men. But he felt strangely safe here, he didn't want to leave but he knew that sorcerers were the sole reason Camelot was in peril, and he knew that all magic was evil. But, he didn't think he was in danger, nor did he think this man was evil. He wanted to let them know, he could only lean into his warmth.
He realized after he had thought a bit, that he hadn't introduced himself nor did he know the man's name. He inhaled as if to speak but the sorcerer gently put his hand over Arthur's lips, the softness on his dry lips was a big contrast, even after the man had moved his hand away he could feel the pressure and softness linger behind. He sighed annoyed and the sorcerer chuckled a little in response before continuing to stroke through Arthur's hair. He wanted to know more, to unravel this mystery that had him in his lap. He didn't even notice that the wolves had settled down around them again.
Arthur stared up at the man for a long time, the sorcerer broke eye contact quite a few times. In the end he closed Arthur's eyes for him, he didn't really resist but he didn't really want to close them either, so he kept them a little open, the sorcerer seemed slightly irritated that he didn't close them, but he didn't seem to make the same move again. He thought this was a little amusing, like teasing a tiny kitten that didn't pay much attention to anyone. Arthur couldn't help but grin at the thought of a wicked sorcerer with an army of humongous wolves as a tiny harmless kitten.
His attention was caught by the tattoos on the sorcerer's chest. How they curled upwards and above their collarbone, reaching around the neck just slightly as coiled roots of endless bodies of snakes. Symbols were written in between the roots, and sometimes the roots broke off into branches overlapping each other viciously as if trying to overtake the other. He couldn't see the sorcerer's hands or arms clearly, but they were clearly heavily tattooed as well. The color though, the color was a deep red that sometimes faded into a pink as if dissipating in water. The whole thing was enchanting, and he could swear he saw some move.
This man left Arthur breathless waiting for more, this wasn't such a bad feeling.
Arthur woke up surrounded by warm dark fur blankets. He wasn't fully conscious, so he thought the large wolves were his winter blankets and tried pulling it over him, and then the wolf yelped and moved away triggering the others to jump away when Arthur had yanked hard enough at its fur. He rolled around on the stone floor a few times before ending up flat on his stomach. The rolling had woken him up fully and he stood up in confusion he saw the wolves standing tall staring at him, they had not really liked been woken up like that either.
They stared at each other for a moment that seemed more like a dragged-out minute, and then Arthur turned and bolted out the nearest exit. His sword was gone still, and his armor was nowhere as well. He didn't know where he was running he just tripled his speed when he saw that the wolves were running after him too close for comfort.
He didn't notice before, but the wolves had the same gold in their eyes as the sorcerer, where was he? Arthur ran around in the endless tunnels connecting to other caves inside the cave, he couldn't risk running into a room because there might not be an exit, and with the wolves on constantly on his heels. But then he noticed they weren't behind him anymore, so he darted into the nearest opening.
He had exhausted himself by running that fast and far, he held onto his knees as he heaved for air. This wasn't such a good idea to do as he was recovering still it felt like, and it took a solid good ten minutes before he could breathe normally. Until then he didn't notice the sorcerer had been there all along looking confused and curiously at him, like he was some sort of alien that was going to steal his dagger collection. Well it was no chance that he had a dagger collection or would have any time soon, hopefully.
Suddenly the sorcerer moved forward towards Arthur, he was quite quick not noticing how startled Arthur was when he had moved so suddenly. His steps were completely silent he noticed as the sorcerer put a flower crown promptly on Arthur's head.
Arthur's hands flew up in protest, what was the sorcerer doing? Why did the sorcerer put a damn flower crown on his head, those were for girls and sissies? He let out a confused sound as he tried to remove it.
Two hands quickly stopped his hands from pulling off the carefully made flower crown. Arthur held his breath as the man was now closer to him than last time reaching over him. The sorcerer was staring at the flower crown with an irritated expression, his hands pressed down on Arthur's hesitantly, so gently.
A warm pulse ran through his hand from where the sorcerer touched. He wanted to hold the man's hands and never let go, he wanted to embrace that warmth that seemed like a soft heartbeat. He wanted to protect it.
Before he knew it he had slapped his hands forcefully over the sorcerer's hands, they jumped in surprise but tried not to pull their hands back. He had hit them a little too hard when he had moved too fast, the sides of his head started hurting and some flower petals fell, but he held the man's hands tightly guiding them down from his head. He looked into their blue eyes and saw how mortified and scared the sorcerer looked. But he couldn't let go, it was so soothing, so mystifying, he wanted to touch more he wanted to hold him more.
Arthur must have let that show in his expression since the next thing the sorcerer did was stab his knee into Arthur's groin with the force of a horse kick.
They slipped out of his grip soundlessly skittering backwards as if he was a scared animal. Arthur pressed his lips into a thin line in the wrenching pain, his hands covered his probably broken manly parts and let out a squeaky wheeze. And he collapsed onto the ground eyes rolling in pain.
Arthur looked up when he heard a heavy sigh, the sorcerer's blue eyes were dark with irritation, a look that most likely said ''Do that again and you will be murdered.''
Arthur gave him a thin-lipped smile through his agony, it was returned just for a second as if he was being sarcastic. He winced in reply,
''Well... I don't... I have to think of, getting any Heir-s... any. time...hahha'' he wheezed out a laugh through mostly gritted teeth, thought it seemed more like coughing. To his surprise the sorcerer laughed as well.
Arthur's eyes widened in surprise, the man had been so quiet up to now, so hearing him laugh out loud like that would take anyone by surprise. But he wanted to make him laugh more, to hear that laugh and see that genuine smile with a gentle heart behind it. And he wanted to talk to make another comment but ended up choked on air that made him emit a weird sound instead. Sudden silence filled the cave, Arthur became a little afraid that he had embarrassed himself and started trying to turn away as the sorcerer burst out laughing.
His hearty laugh didn't echo through the caves as he would have thought it would, but he stared at the sorcerer satisfied and in fondness.
After the sorcerer had calmed down a little they noticed Arthur's intent stare fixated on him, they wanted to turn away and a weak tint of red spread across their pale face. Again, Arthur is left with that feeling of wanting more, he couldn't shake it.
The sorcerer quickly turned around standing to walk back to the stone ledge acting as a workbench, on it were an abundance of flowers, lush greenery and different herbs tied together with thin rope. Berries were in piles on the table, some looked outright poisonous. The sorcerer put something in a basket as he fixed up another flower crown, at this Arthur frowned but he had given up complaining before starting. He didn't want to upset the man any more than he'd done, his groin had already suffered enough.
After a while the sorcerer turned around with the basket, Arthur was still on the floor and the man took the moment to stare at him. Then he walked over and replaced the flower crown with a new one, sitting up Arthur at the same time but Arthur felt like he'd been enough on the ground for one day standing up fully. His gaze landed on the workbench, it seemed so organized but messy at the same time. Kind of magical, but not as magical as the other things that had happened to him in the time he had spent here.
He suddenly felt a feint tug on his right-hand sleeve and jerked around to meet the other man's blue eyes, he backed out of the cave exit not breaking eye contact with the basket that was filled with the same flower crown, but some were little different in color and shape. The sorcerer stopped and waited for Arthur to follow him, so he did. They walked through holes in the walls in different directions, turned around and took another exit. This went on for a little while until they arrived at a big hole that led to an even larger cave, in it were knights. His knights that he'd thought were dead, Arthur's brow furrowed in confusion. The sorcerer was already gently moving the knights so that he could equip them with the flower crowns as well. None of the knights had hint of injury. A miracle.