This chapter contains some violence and blood , I thought I'd warn you because I'm nice (:

Reviews much appreciated (:

Chapter 7

Dawn broke over the forest, the makeshift tent still in place, and the fire smoking gently, grey wisps of smoke floating up towards the morning sun. The sound of a chattering bird brought Feu from her peaceful slumber. She jerked awake to find that she was still laying outside, her hair covered in dead leaves, and her head resting on her arm. She looked around, and saw Merlin close by her. It seemed that he too had fallen asleep outside, but he hadn't woken up yet.

The sound of footsteps made Feu turn round, and she saw Arthur coming out of the tent. He grinned at her slightly startled expression.

"Did you forget to go to sleep last night?" He asked brightly. He didn't sound bothered by the fact Feu and Merlin had foolishly let themselves fall asleep outside. He was probably glad, as there wouldn't have been enough room in the tent for four people.

"Seems so," Feu mumbled, sitting up quickly and brushing the leaves from her hair. She gave Merlin a nudge with her foot. He groaned, which was at least a sign that he was waking up.

Before Feu could even rub the sleep from her eyes, Addis came scampering out the tent. He jumped into Feu's lap, the sudden weight on her legs making her wide-awake.

"Hello you," Feu said happily as Addis grinned excitedly up at her. "Did you have a good night sleep?"

Addis only had enough time to nod before saying: "I want some breakfast!"

His loud, excitable voice seemed to wake Merlin up as well, and he sat up, looking a little confused as if he had forgotten for a few moments where he was. But when he saw Feu, a smile grew on his lips.

"Morning," he said happily.

Feu returned his greeting and his smile. "Morning."

Addis however, didn't want to bother with morning greetings; he pulled at Feu's clothes. "I want some breakfast!" He repeated, annoyed.

"Yes all right," Feu said with a sigh, she looked up at Merlin and Arthur, "anyone else like some breakfast?" She asked.

The two of them nodded, "we'll help you look for something," said Arthur. He knew there had to be some fruit or something to eat, or maybe even a small animal to catch. Merlin agreed, and all four of them set off into the forest.

Little did they know that they were not the hunters, they were the hunted.

Looking for food took longer than the four of them had expected, so they decided to split up. Feu and Addis went one way, while Arthur and Merlin went another. Despite having to walk to get breakfast, and a night on the forest floor, everyone seemed to be in good spirits.

It was Addis who first sensed danger.

Addis was bored and hungry, but happy to be spending time with his Mummy, so said nothing. He strolled along; holding Feu's hand, kicking the odd stone every-now-and-then, and watching it bounce through the trees.

A sudden noise made him stop suddenly, and his ears prick up.

"Did you hear that Mummy?" Addis asked loudly.

Feu looked up and looked around her. She had heard nothing, but Addis had better hearing even than her, so she knew he wasn't lying. "What noise?" She asked.

Addis wasn't sure, he shrugged, "strange noise." He mumbled.

But whatever had made the noise had fallen silent again, and was hidden within the trees. Feu could see nothing, but she kept her senses alert. They continued through the forest.

In the end it was Arthur and Merlin who were attacked first.

The attackers had been following them for some time, and were coming closer, waiting to make the attack.

Merlin heard the typical crunch of snapping wood under a silent foot, and he stopped suddenly. "Arthur, did you heard that?" He asked in a whisper.

Arthur looked around to see Merlin frozen to the spot. He rolled his eyes. "It's probably a deer—" he began.

But then suddenly the men charged out of the trees.

There were only three of them, but they had nasty looking weapons in their hands and took Merlin and Arthur by surprise. Arthur had fortunately remembered to bring his sword along, so quickly drew it as the men came closer, ready to fight. White light burst from Merlin's hands, throwing the men backwards when they dared to come closer.

The men put up a decent fight, one almost whacking Arthur over the head with a nasty-looking club. But none of them dared to get too close. Merlin wondered if they knew Arthur was the King of Camelot, or perhaps they were afraid of Merlin's magic. Arthur seemed confused as well, so was beginning to get frustrated. As one man ran forward, instead of knocking him away with his sword, he grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck, almost lifting him off the ground.

"What do you want from us?" Arthur demanded angrily.

The scrawny man Arthur was holding had a large scratch down his face, they looked like claw marks, and only a few days old. At first it seemed the man wasn't going to say anything, but her was afraid of Arthur, who grew impatient and started to shake him. "Nothing!" The man blurted out.

"What do you mean nothing?" Arthur wanted to know, he and Merlin now confused.

"Err…" the man glanced nervously at his fellows, who didn't seem very happy that he had told Arthur the truth, but they had stopped attacking Arthur and Merlin, as they wanted to see where this was going to go. "We don't want anything from you," the man eventually confessed. "We just needed to distract you."

"Distract us? From what?" Arthur demanded.

Merlin shook his head, the colour suddenly draining from his face. "No," he mumbled, "from whom."

Arthur turned back to Merlin, and could see the worry in his friend's eyes, "Feu…" he began. Merlin nodded.

At this, Arthur was no longer interested in the man he had by the scruff of the neck, he pushed the man away, and he stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. The other two men briefly considered stopping Arthur and Merlin from going to look for Feu, but one murderous look from Arthur made them change their minds, and instead they took flight into the forest, the third one quickly running after them.

There was a moment of shocked silence, where Merlin and Arthur simply stared at one-another, as if they weren't sure of what to do.

"Why would they want Feu?" Arthur asked in a quiet voice.

Merlin shrugged, "I said she had lots of enemies, perhaps I was right."

With nothing else that needed to be said, Arthur and Merlin turned and ran through the forest, looking desperately for tracks that might lead them to Feu.

Feu heard the pounding footsteps of Arthur and Merlin before anything else. She looked up, confused, as she heard them shouting her name.

"Feu!" Merlin cried breathlessly, he could just glimpse her through the trees as they came closer. "Feu you have to run! The forest isn't safe! There's someone—" but Merlin never had time to finish his sentence.

This time, there were only two men bursting through the trees, Merlin didn't know them, but Feu did. It was Dwyn, and the other man was the one who had held her child at knifepoint.

Merlin and Arthur were still a fare distance away from Feu for them to do anything, but they heard Addis scream with terror as the two men launched themselves upon him and his mother. If Arthur and Merlin had been closer, they would have seen Addis' eyes flash bright green with fear.

Feu reacted quickly, turning to face the men, screaming to Addis to run, but Addis was too afraid.

The first man to come close enough to Feu was the one who had held Addis at knifepoint. Feu's fear and rage at the sight of this man was too much, and she wouldn't have been able to control herself if she wanted to.

A clawed hand swept out and cracked the man over the head, it was done with such force, that he fell to the ground, motionless.

Dwyn had stopped a few feet away from Feu, to see what would happen to his fellow if he continued with the attack. The sight of yet another dead man made him roar with fury.

"You'll pay for this witch!" He yelled, pointing at Feu, in the other hand he held his knife. "You'll pay for what you've done!"

Almost as soon as Dwyn had said this, the other three men that had attacked Merlin and Arthur appeared through the trees. Heading straight for Feu and Addis.

Drawing out his sword again, Arthur ran to Feu's aid, quickly followed by Merlin. Both were yelling with as much rage as Dwyn.

Feu glanced at them, at Dwyn, then at the three men running towards her. Finally, she looked down at her terrified Addis.

"Addis," she said hurriedly, kneeling down to his height. For a few moments, the anger in her eyes had disappeared. "Listen to me Addis," she said gently but firmly, as Addis looked around, terrified. "You have to run, run faster than you ever have before, and don't look back."

The prospect of this terrified Addis as much as the men running towards him. They had just collided with Merlin and Arthur, who were fighting with them ruthlessly. "But—" the small voice of Addis began.

"You have to go Addis," Feu told him, "I promise I'll find you. But you have to run, run now!" She shouted.

Despite the situation, Addis knew he had to do what he was told, and he turned and ran from the nasty, scary men, but also from Mummy.

Feu straightened up again, knowing that she had done what was right, even if it was dangerous. She came to her feet just in time, as she saw the man with the scarred face Arthur had threatened come running towards her, a strange axe-like object in hand. She reacted quickly, dodging out of his way and then hitting him hard around the face, so he lost his balance and fell. Before the man could get up, Feu kicked him hard, once in the stomach, again in the head. The man had just enough time to groan with surprise and pain before falling into unconsciousness.

Feu looked around her. Arthur and Merlin were fighting with two of the other men, Arthur using his sword, Merlin his magic. They both seemed to be winning, but there was something missing. Feu looked around.

Where was Dwyn?

With a sudden, horrible feeling, Feu turned back to where Addis had run off to, and realised what had happened. Dwyn was going after her son.

Addis was a fast runner for a small boy, but he wasn't quite fast enough to out-run a grown man. He heard the running footsteps of Dwyn, and it filled him with terror. But he kept on running, just like his Mummy said he had to.

Suddenly the sound of Dwyn's footsteps disappeared. Addis thought that maybe he had managed to out-run the scary man. This made him smile with pride, but he kept on running, he was still scared. He just hoped he would be able to get back to his Mummy soon.

But Addis was too busy thinking about getting back to his Mummy, he wasn't thinking about what was ahead of him until he almost ran into it. With a gasp of fear he managed to stop a few inches away from the tall man, and looked up into the mad, angry eyes of Dwyn.

"Got you!" Dwyn grinned, raising his knife.

Addis squinted, terrified, knowing that the knife would go plunging down into his neck. And then something very bad would happen…

"NO!" A scream ripped through the air, as Feu materialised through the trees, running between Dwyn and Addis.

For a few moments, Dwyn was taken by surprise, and he hesitated. He heard the rustling of trees behind him, and Merlin and Arthur appeared, they froze for a moment, looking at the scene ahead of them.

Dwyn took this chance.

He drove his knife down, aiming for the head of Addis he could just about see from behind Feu.

With another cry, Feu shoved Addis out the way, but she had no time herself to get away from the knife. She screwed up her eyes and raised her arm over her head to protect herself.

The knife sliced down into Feu's arm. It cut so deep it could have reached the bone. The flesh fell away and blood poured down Feu's arm.

"MUMMY!"

Feu only opened her eyes when she heard that scream. She couldn't feel any pain, but she knew something was wrong, even just by Addis' petrified scream. She looked down at her arm.

The sight of the gushing blood and the large, open wound made Feu's whole vision blur. She couldn't feel her legs any more; she was going to pass out.

"NO!" A joint cry from Arthur and Merlin brought Feu back to her senses a little. She was dimly aware of Addis clutching her leg, crying loudly.

Feu watched as Merlin, filled with rage, launched himself on Dwyn, who was still holding the knife. It only took simple magic to pull the knife from Dwyn's hands, but it takes a heart filled with so much love it turned to pure hate, to stab it into Dwyn's heart.

This was one of the last things Feu remembered seeing as Dwyn fell to his knees, then fell forward, and then became motionless. She remembered hearing Addis mumbling her name, still crying desperately, and Arthur shouting that she needed help.

Once again Feu could feel that couldn't stand up any longer, but suddenly Arthur had appeared by her side while Merlin was attacking Dwyn. He just managed to catch her before she collapsed and let the darkness take over.