Remember
The innkeeper was a happy man. His tavern The Rising Sun was doing very well lately. With the arrival of a few new knights somehow he was ensured of more guests. That Sir Gwaine was surely a lively person! Not that the innkeeper minded. In fact the truth was that the man was good for business, so he was only to happy to welcome the knight inside. He always brought drinkers with him and if he told tales they were bound to stay for hours.
This night though it was different. Sure Gwaine was his sparkling self, but his tales for once were not about himself. In fact he was talking about another man; a knight he claimed was the most noble one of them all. It was the knight who did not return from their last mission. The mission that saved Camelot from the dangerous ghosts that came in the middle of the night and were not afraid of anything, but fire.
Gwaine told the men listening about the wildeoren and wyvern, about how Prince Arthur had lead them to where the ghosts had come from and about the cold nights that were scary to even the bravest among them. While he joked he was never scared, the truth showed on his face. It was after all very unwise not to be afraid of the Dorocha (as the ghosts were called) for they brought only death.
The tale continued even as the innkeeper brought more mead. He heard Gwaine tell about how they made it to the veil where the spirit world opened into their world. An old woman, or rather a witch awaited them. She protected the tear in the veil and demanded a sacrifice to close the tear. The Prince had vowed to himself he was to be the one she could take, even before they had left Camelot.
At that fact everyone held their breaths. While they knew Arthur had returned it was quite a brave decision he had made. "What had happened out there then that changed his mind?", a knight asked the question they all had on their minds.
"Lancelot happened", Gwaine spoke simply and a little sad. He told them how neither Merlin, Lancelot nor he himself were ready to let the Prince go through with it. Yet it was not Gwaine who the witch was interested in it seemed, she had used magic to throw him several feet through the air and he'd been knocked out.
Quietly then Merlin, who had come in with Gwaine, took over the tale and the knight for once let another man do it. The innkeeper knew they were friends for he'd seen Merlin bail Gwaine out of trouble for being in the tavern when he shouldn't be far too often to have missed it.
Merlin told them that the witch had been interested when Arthur stepped forward. Royal blood was something she seemed quite happy about. However before Arthur could do what he came to do and before Merlin had seen what Lancelot was up to they were too late. One last smile and a nod, Lancelot had known what he did. His selfless sacrifice was to safe all of Camelot and the Prince was to live another day to rule it.
Quietly everyone, including the innkeeper, sat staring at Merlin and Gwaine. They had all seen how the Prince and his knights had returned. All speechless and sad. One of their own had been lost. One they deemed a brother and a friend. One who would be part of their tales for a long time to come and because of that he would always be remembered. Even long after they were gone the world would know about Lancelot and they would name him "the most noble of them all"...
The innkeeper closed his doors late that evening. For once he did not care that he forgot to be a businessman and he'd even gave a few rounds for free. He could be ruthless and insistent on earning coins tomorrow. The knights would be back anyway, as long as there were knights and there was mead his tavern would be here. Of that he was sure.