Chapter 6: Quiet In My Town

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( ARTHUR'S POV )

Arthur followed Carrow deeper into the cave, seeing the same runes that had been etched into the outside of the cave had been smeared on the inside. "What are all these for?"

"I only know a few of them. None are remotely good, though. I've tried to break them… but apparently they're positively impenetrable," Carrow replied.

"Really?"

"No, I was just trying to make myself feel better," she said, letting out a sigh. Arthur rolled his eyes at her. "What I mean is that I'm not strong enough to do anything with them, no." Arthur raised an eyebrow at the wall, looking at the strange symbols curiously. Unsheathing his sword, he struck the wall, scraping through white rune and running a thin line through it.

"Oh, I never thought of that," Carrow said sarcastically. Arthur looked back at her to see she'd crossed her arms irritably. "Look, sire, what is that? Oh it's repaired itself!" Unfortunately, it had. The white line had somehow reconnected itself, good as new. Arthur ran a hand over it. She had meant magic, of course, she had tried magic and it hadn't even done any good.

"So this is where it started, the first blood was spilled all those years ago… and these runes are keeping all the souls trapped here?" Arthur said.

Carrow nodded and bent down over a small fire pit in the middle of the small cavern. Arthur couldn't see what she was doing, but when she moved away there was a fire flickering to life. "Yes, well, it generates some sort of… field. Their energies connect with the living here, well, not all the living - just those who are more receptive of it. Like me and, I suppose, you."

"Is that… has that got anything to do with magic?" Arthur said.

"What? Oh, no. No, I don't think so. It's not terribly common for someone to be receptive of the dead, but we're not special either. It's just… there are things about this forest that make it, well, crackle," Carrow said. "It's not like I bring people around to see this place all that often, you're the first person since… Well, wait - if you're willing I'd like to try something," she said.

Arthur looked at her suspiciously, he was really in no mood to try anything to do with magic or ghosts right now. His skin was prickling with whatever energy she was talking about, honestly he felt lightheaded, like he needed to take a nap. But it did seem a bit different than how he'd felt before he arrived back at Malorne. Before he was sluggish, like dead weight, now he supposed the nausea was more due to an overload. He leaned against the side of the wall, studying Carrow for a moment as she looked at him with a hopeful half smile on her distorted face.

"If you do, I'll tell you what happened - what really happened. No puzzles, no riddles," Carrow said, tilting her head slightly to the side.

Arthur's jaw clenched at the idea. "Fine," he said reluctantly.

Carrow jumped up from the fire, clapping at him triumphantly. "Fantastic! Well, perhaps fantastic. Come stand here, near the entrance," Carrow said. Biting the inside of his cheek, he obeyed. He knew he'd regret this, whatever this was.

She held both of her hands out to him, motioning for him to take them. As he did so she slapped them away. "No, no, just hover, like this," she said. He wondered how annoyed he'd have to be in order to be pushed into hitting a woman. He knew his tolerance for stupidity had been stretched a bit thin the past couple months, but upon meeting Carrow and learning about all this ghost and magic rubbish that tolerance had dwindled to almost nothing. Especially considering how tired he was at the moment. She held her hands slightly over his, letting the energy crackle between them.

"Close your eyes. Now, think of Thomas. Think of the dreams, the clues he laid for you… Think of what brought you here," she said.

The cabin, the boy sitting on his lap and imploring him to help him find his mummy. The arrow, the sound of it as it plunged into the boy's skull. Arthur swallowed, not enjoying this exercise so far. "What the hell are we doing this for?" he asked.

Carrow shushed him. Arthur cracked one eye open to look at Carrow, who had jammed her own eyes shut and seemed to be whispering nonsensical syllables under her breath. As far as he could tell nothing was happening. They stayed like that for another five minutes and then Carrow got progressively louder with her chanting.

Arthur opened both his eyes as the energy in the cave went cold. Turning his head to look outside, he suddenly saw an entire mob of people standing there. His heart hammered away behind his ribcage. Each one of these people had some sort of grisly and mortal wound. A woman with a piece of glass lodged through her eye, a man holding his own leg, most of them had an arrow or two sticking out of their backs. But they were not just village people he saw, but knights as well. All of them, he knew, were dead. They were just standing there, looking at him listlessly.

Then a boy shoved his way through the crowd.

"Thomas?" Arthur breathed, dropping his hands from Carrow's - but she grabbed them before he could break contact.

"Carrow, don't you see them? Thomas - there's a whole bloody congregation out -"

Another ghost shoved his way forward, knocking several of the villagers out of his way coldly. He was slightly shorter than most of the knights, but stocky and thick around the middle, with a shaved head that Arthur supposed was meant to intimidate. His face was gaunt and mottled, indistinguishable from the other knights but for the fact that he was wearing a smile. He was not looking through Arthur, but directly at him. No, he was grinning at Carrow.

"She'll be a lovely new conduit, boy, thank you for forcing her back here. Necromancy is such an iffy business," the man walked right into the cave and Arthur's eyes widened. He yanked his hands away from Carrow and dove for her blunt iron sword. Grabbing it quickly, he rolled forward and launched the sword at the ghost. He disappeared, but only for a second, reappearing in the middle of the mob of ghosts, all of which still seemed to be staring forward with dormant eyes.

"Carrow! Carrow you stupid witch! Stop it!" Arthur said, grabbing Carrow round the shoulders and shaking her. She made no motion to stop. "Argh, Carrow! I'm sorry about this," he said, taking his own sword from its sheath again, he knocked her out with the butt of it. She stopped chanting and the array of ghosts disappeared in a wave of smoke.

Carrow crumpled in his arms.

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( MERLIN'S POV )

"Gwaine?" Merlin said disbelievingly as he uncovered the rogue.

"Merlin!" he replied, getting clumsily to his feet. Gwaine appeared to be slightly tipsy, his eyes glassy with alcohol. Merlin looked around him and saw that the entire tavern was in something of an uproar. Bryant was still busy with two thugs in the corner, the usually reserved Leon even had one man by the throat. The mess couldn't have been caused by the knights' visit, at least not entirely. The ones Arthur had brought with him were generally the most complacent and level-headed of the bunch.

"What did you do?" Merlin asked incredulously. He didn't know why he had decided to blame Gwaine for it entirely, it was just the odds looked better. Though Bryant certainly appeared to be having a grand time. Before Gwaine could answer, another thug had tried to take a swing at him and Gwaine managed to shove him to the side. Merlin decided to get out of the fray and edged toward the side.

"Why do ya think I had anything to do with it?" Gwaine replied, as he punched his would be attacker in the gut.

They were separated before Merlin had a chance to answer. Seeing that Leon seemed to be having trouble in a two on one, Merlin's eyes flashed gold and a stray bench knocked both the men to the floor. Leon quickly went to assist Bryant and another knight.

The fight lasted another ten minutes before they managed to get most of the villagers into a more sober state. Though that was more or less because two thirds seemed to be unconscious.

"Would someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Merlin said, tone exasperated. The happiness he'd felt to see Gwaine had been extremely brief and he was back to feeling annoyed. Honestly, they'd only been in town an hour and they'd already made enemies of the whole village. He was surprised it wasn't he who caused the trouble.

"Honestly, it wasn't me this time," Gwaine said, picking up a half empty mug of ale from one of the few tables which hadn't been overturned and finishing it off. His fault or not, the man appeared to be in high spirits. Righting a chair, Gwaine fell into it, a smile on his face. Merlin only grimaced at him before turning to Leon for some sort of explanation.

"Bryant was trying to help one of the women get rid of… well a man who turned out to be her husband. He took offense, threw a punch and his friends came to his aid. It was all a giant misunderstanding," Leon said, shaking out his fist and then pointing at the overzealous husband. "I believe he was drunk out of his mind. Middle of the bloody day, too," he said, disgusted.

Bryant came over then, and thanked Gwaine "Have we met before?" the young knight asked.

"I think you arrested me… what was it, Merlin, two months ago?" Gwaine said, a lazy grin still on his face.

Merlin nodded. "Just about."

"Funny that idiot had any friends to jump in with him, most of this town is bloody cold," Gwaine said.

"Oi, you, shut yer damn hole!" said a man who had begun cleaning up behind the bar. "I want you and yer damn friends outta me tavern, you got that?" Leon looked at Merlin, nodding for him to remove Gwaine while he spoke with the tavern's keeper. Merlin assumed he'd offer restitution on behalf of Camelot. In a way, Merlin supposed, it had been Bryant's fault. But by the looks on the faces of those men, it didn't seem like much could really rattle their chain.

As Merlin dragged Gwaine out, he said "How long have you been here?"

"Me? Oh, I don't know. Less than a week I suppose. Usually I can last at least two in a place like this, but your boys had to go and ruin that for me," Gwaine said. "Speaking of your boy, where's that pompous git?"

"Arthur's indisposed," Merlin said, bristling. He was annoyed. Perhaps not at Gwaine, but at the entire situation. If he had hoped to get anything else out of the townspeople, that chance had gone right out the window.

"Indisposed how?" Gwaine asked. "Prat's alright isn't he?"

"I'm not sure, that's part of the reason we're here in the first place," Merlin said. He hadn't necessarily planned on telling Gwaine of anything, but he supposed that he had no choice. It wasn't as though they were going to leave him here when they left, were they? He filled him in on just about everything he could think of, seeing now that the tale wasn't quite as long as he'd thought.

"Huh," Gwaine said. Merlin worried the rogue was actually still too far gone to understand what he'd been on about. But sobriety seemed to have taken hold.

"You know I thought there was something off about this place. I chocked it all up to me being, well, a bit knackered during most of my waking hours," he said.

"So you're ready to believe the ghosts bit?" Merlin asked, raising an eyebrow at Gwaine. The man always seemed ready to believe just about anything, so he didn't know why it should surprise him that Gwaine'd be happy to take this on, too.

"Ah, you know me. Everythin' with a grain of salt, right, mate? Besides, this whole bloody town is off its nut," Gwaine said.

Merlin furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

"Oh little things. You know that bar fight was the first normal bit of human interaction I've seen since I got here? These people, they barely talk to each other. It's like they're all sort of waiting for the ball to drop. Hell, yesterday it was a damn monsoon outside and there was this lady travelin' in asking for help with their carriage. Not one person got up to help, icy cold shoulder. It was the weirdest thing," Gwaine said.

"Least you were there," Merlin said.

"Oh yeah. There to keep the lass warm, too. Pretty little thing," Gwaine said.

"You didn't," Merlin said, shaking his head, though grinning in spite of himself.

Gwaine paused for effect, "Yeah, no I didn't. I helped her get her wheel unstuck and she went on her way. Though I was awarded one hell of a smile, really gorgeous girl, Merlin, I swear - hair like spun gold." Merlin rolled his eyes at Gwaine.

He supposed it was odd, the lack of warmth in the village. He shook his head. They didn't need to be worrying about how the town may or may not be filled with a bunch of psychopaths.

Leon and several of the other knights joined Merlin and Gwaine outside the tavern, several other sore looking patrons came out behind them looking surly as ever.

"Looks like we're not welcome here, anymore. We'll have to head back to the forest and find the prince," Leon told Merlin, massaging his jaw where a nasty bruise was already forming.

"A haunted forest, huh? Boy that sounds right up Arthur's street," Gwaine said, clapping Merlin on the back. "I'll have to borrow a horse, then."

"You sure you want to come?"

"Yes, of course. Arthur's got a ghost, you've got a ghost, I'd love to have one of my own as well. Besides this witch of yours, Carrow, sounds like a treat," Gwaine replied.

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( ARTHUR'S POV )

Arthur began to nod off waiting for Carrow to regain consciousness. He was sitting at the entrance of the cave, stoking the fire which was steadily fizzling out. Carrow's head was resting on his leg and he hoped he hadn't done any permanent damage. He wondered why he hoped he hadn't done any permanent damage. It would certainly better for him if she never woke up.

Honestly, what was keeping him here? He didn't need to help her. She was ridiculous and irritating and troublesome. He could try and make his bloody peace with Thomas, find the little brat's bones and burn them, do an exorcism… whatever it took, it had to be easier than dealing with Carrow.

He looked down at her irritably, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. Her face was unfortunately scarred side up and he couldn't help but stare at them, which he had tried to avoid out of politeness. As he stared, however, he noticed something of a pattern. Some sort of half triangle, curved lines… He looked from her face, to one of the runes etched into the side of the wall. They were the same. Or they would be, but there seemed to be an unnecessary vertical line… There were at least three others carved into her face that would match those on the wall but for the hatch marks running through them. Someone had carved these dark runes into Carrow's face. Absently, he traced a finger over the half triangle one.

"They're death runes," she said, surprising Arthur and he jerked his hand back. Her eye opened and she looked up at him.

"Yeah, I got that," he said. Carrow sat up quickly, scooting away from Arthur.

"I shouldn't have tried that, I apologize," she said, tone brisk and quite unlike herself.

"What were you even trying?" Arthur said.

"Oh this and that," she said, reverting back to her evasive ways.

"You promised me answers, witch. Cut and dry answers," Arthur pressed, giving her a stony glare she couldn't wriggle out of.

"Yes, well, I lied."

"Carrow."

"Alright. Arthur. See? I can enunciate as well. Fine, don't look at me like that, makes my skin all crawly," she said, maneuvering herself up against the other side of the wall. "I was trying to contact Thomas, if you hadn't guessed. But I didn't separate the spell correctly and he caught wind of it."

"Keldor?"

"Yes. I was hoping he wouldn't have found out that I was back quite so soon, but best laid plans often go awry," she said, sighing and adjusting her filthy purple tunic.

"He called you a conduit," Arthur prompted.

"Yes, yes. I'll get there. Patience, sweet prince," she replied. Arthur suddenly found himself wishing her unconscious again. "I had Thomas when I was sixteen. Out of wedlock, the father well, he was a bit of a twat," Carrow began. Arthur raised an eyebrow at her, though he was trying his best not to judge. Everything about Carrow was unconventional, why wouldn't her son?

"He was born in Camelot, a small village on the edge. Actually it's probably only two day's ride to the east of here. I suppose my parents are still there. Most judgmental people you'd ever meet in your life… though I'm sure you of all people know what it's like to have ignorant parents," Carrow said. Somehow he knew she wouldn't be able to resist a jab at his father.

"Would you get to the point?"

"I thought you wanted the whole truth! Right then, hush. I raised Thomas there for about five years, but my parents wanted rid of me so they sent me to Camelot in hopes I'd enchant some handsome young knight into marrying me. But I decided I didn't want to go there and ended up in Loxley. This was all three and a… half years ago," she said, counting on her fingers. "Loxley is very much part of the whole problem."

"How so?"

"Because the people there are absolute cowards. I began to hear things, see the ghosts. I tried talking to them, but most of them were stuck in these loops. I call them loops anyway. Death loops. They relive the last moments of their lives over and over again. That knight you saw in the forest when I found you? He mistook you for someone else, still in the throes of his own death. Depressing innit?"

"Yes well, anyway. Thomas could see them, too. He thought they were just new friends. I managed to find one ghost in particular - a woman, she had found her way out of her loop. She told me about the forest, about Maestag, that they were all trapped there because of Keldor."

"I had the woman I was staying with - Jensen, dismal woman. Awful cook, honestly she could mess up cheese and -"

"Carrow?" Arthur said, interrupting her.

"Yes?"

"Focus."

"Right, right. Anyway, she watched Thomas while I followed this ghost back to Malorne, and subsequently here. To this cave. I became consumed with the idea that I could help release their spirits. I'd travel back and forth from here, trying different spells and incantations… I even tried this really shifty tonic I got from this gypsy who'd stopped into town, it was supposed to put me under so that I could better communicate with the dead - really I think it just gave me the flu."

"I never brought Thomas with me, I felt it was too dangerous. But since my attentions had become otherwise engaged, I… I didn't know he'd follow me here. But he did and one day I tried a bit of magic I shouldn't have. I don't know what happened but something ran through me and… and I managed to summon Keldor."

Arthur remained silent through her tale, worried that if he should mention anything or ask questions, it may steer her off track. She already seemed disinclined to continue on this train of thought. She had hugged her knees to her chest and she was no longer smiling.

"It wasn't a summoning so much as a… Look at me! I'm here and I'm healthy and I'm open to anything! sort of spell. It was so… stupid," she continued. "And yes, it was every bit as stupid as what I just endeavored to do, I told you I was sorry."

"I didn't say anything," Arthur replied.

Her frown deepened, but she continued. "Keldor arrived here and he told me he could help me. He said he just needed my permission to use me as some sort of conduit, as a sort of beacon for him to conjure energy from. But the woman, the lady ghost who'd been my guide through all this, she was there. She warned me off. I declined his invitation. But Thomas was there, my… baby boy. Keldor had him by the throat. Ghost or not, somehow he was solid, he could cause harm… He began breaking his fingers one by one, threatening to snap more than his fingers if I didn't agree to help him."

She paused here, turning her head away from him. She didn't want him to see that she had started to cry.

"So you said yes," Arthur said.

"After the second finger," she said, nodding. "As soon as I agreed an arrow flew right through my little boy's head. I screamed, but not for long. Keldor had me around the throat then and he began cutting…" She motioned to her face.

"This cave had been his conductor for a very long time, but the energy had started to dissipate and he wanted something more portable. So he started on my face, replicating his death runes. But he didn't see that I… that I wasn't so stupid that I wouldn't come into a forest full of ghosts unarmed. I managed to get a dagger - iron - out of my pocket. I slashed at him. You saw earlier it doesn't quite do much damage to him, but it… discombobulates him for a moment. Enough so that my… my lovely guide, the sweet ghost who had been trying so hard to help managed to tell me that all I had to do was rescind my invitation and get rid of the runes."

"So you - "

"Yes, half this artistry is mine," she said, nodding grimly.

"You managed to escape then?"

"Yes, though I'm not sure how. Just because I revoked permission didn't make me invincible, but something stopped him from coming after me," Carrow said.

"Your ghost friend?"

"Possibly, but I think that might have been beyond her ability."

"So why didn't you just leave after you got out of the forest?" Arthur said.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Not to me."

"Same reason you came back," Carrow said.

"Thomas?"

"Yes, he's got some sort of pull. I don't know if it's the power we give him or something of his own… He'd be eight by now, I thought he was stuck in a loop here… I'm not sure," she said wistfully.

"So you just stayed at the edge of the forest…"

"I could tell you I was spending my days researching and trying to find a way to free my little boy, but honestly I'd exhausted my resources by that time. I… was waiting. I was too afraid to come back here for the longest time, but then you got my home burned down," Carrow said.

"Sorry about that," Arthur replied sheepishly.

"Well, I say mine…"

"You didn't murder someone for it?"

"What? Oh no! Though I did find a corpse inside. I buried him and well, claimed it," she said.

Arthur rolled his eyes at her, realizing that it was just like her to do such a thing. He stared at her for a moment, trying to sort through everything. She'd been dealing with so much on her own, how one person could just hold on to all of this by themselves was beyond him. Not one friend for two years.

"Why didn't you find help? Or come to Camelot and demand -"

"I did. Either I was shrugged off as a drunk or ignored. On one particularly annoying occasion I was nearly arrested by the knights of Camelot probably to be sentenced to death. If you did not owe me your life and the life of your friend, would you have listened to me? Of course it didn't hurt that you were forced to wade through the forest and see for yourself…" she said, rolling her eyes at him. She was right, of course. He would have arrested her. He would not have given her the time of day. He tried not to think of how many others he had ignored on similar claims. He was his father's son, alright. And he was ashamed of that.

"So are we safe in here? If this is his bloody conduit?"

"I told you its energy is dissipating. Keldor… Well, it's like the spectre said, he's on the spirit realm, he needs something more to interact with us. Though I suppose he could see us, I'm not sure how all that works," Carrow said.

"Why is he doing all this? What good is it doing him?"

Carrow paused, turning her head to the side as she grinned at him again. "Well, Arthur Pendragon, what is it that most men desire above all else? Even more than power?" Arthur shook his head. "Immortality. Or, in his case, simply to exist. Forever. If he has to do that by being dead first, so be it."

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So yay, some questions maybe answered. If something doesn't make sense or I've screwed something up somehow, please don't hesitate to tell me, half the time I don't know what I'm doing anyway to be honest. Love to hear your thoughts and reviews!