Things never go wrong at the moment you expect them to. When you're completely relaxed, oblivious to any potential dangers, that's when bad things happen.
~ C.K. Kelly Martin, I Know It's Over
Chapter 9: Message From Gaius
Uther was in the new chambers he had declared as his son Arthur's. With all the recent events going on lately Uther felt he needed a break and he thought he would pay a formal visit to his son and heir. Right now he was gazing down at his son in his basket cradle sleeping with no cares in the world. Hard to believe that he would be given the task to continue on his legacy and rule the whole kingdom right after him. He would ensure that it would be one without any magic for Arthur to deal with when it was his time.
Uther stepped out after a few more moments and caught sight of Sir Peter making pace for him. "Sir Peter," he greeted.
"Sire," he said with a bow. "The men are ready for their progress report on the plan."
"Excellent. Tell them I will be there shortly," he commanded.
Uther headed to his chambers to get himself changed for the meeting. It had been a few weeks since he made the order to prepare the force for storming the village of Ealdor for Balinor Ambrosius and his dragon and they had been frustrating. He thought that he would have had his forces ready in one week but they had run into problems. First, the reason for the mobilization. Many of the lords saw what this dragon had done to Camelot and they knew that after what Uther had done to Balinor, they wouldn't be able to negotiate if the need came. Thank goodness that Uther had left out that they would have to step a bit in Essetir's borders to fight the dragon. Also a few of the lords were still upset and mourning the loss of Tristan Du Bois and a number of them were angry. The only reason that a few of them had even pledged their allegiance to Uther was because of the Du Bois family and were doing what they could to delay his request for troops while not defying him outright. Uther wanted to lash out and punish them for the insult but if he did anything too drastic then it could lead to civil war. The thing that avoided one after Tristan's death was Arthur and how they wouldn't betray Ygraine's child but it was still riding on what happened on Uther's part. It didn't help that many of them were asking for Tristan's motives for calling the challenge in the first place and Uther was refusing it. Very few people knew the truth about Arthur's birth and he needed it to stay that way or it would be chaos. It wasn't helping to rally soldiers from these lords to help him pursue the dragon. He tried to get them to see that their pettiness was giving the dragonlord and his dragon time to gain power and followers with every passing day. It didn't seem like they had moved one but that could change at any moment. His agitated thoughts caused him to stomp his foot down in anger but it sent a shock to his fading injury at his gut from Tristan's sword. The daily medicine he got from Gaius helped him not feel it for the most part but a drastic move like his last one still had him feel hard stings from it. He calmed himself down and reminded that as much as he hated it he had to be patient.
"Any news on the progress of our plan?" he said getting right into business.
"We have good news sire," said Sir Lehman. "The army will be at Camelot and ready in at least five days."
"Really?" Before it had been placed on at least three more weeks before all the lords would send a portion of their men needed to build his force.
"Yes sire," said Sir Tate. "It would seem that one lord gave in complete support and brought his entire army to add to the men we have already."
"Which one?"
"Lord Gorlois, sire."
Gorlois was one of the first lords who joined him during the war against the Greedy King. He pledged his full support for him then so he shouldn't be surprised that he would answer a summons for him like this.
"Please extend him my gratitude."
"You can do that personally sire. Apparently, he is coming personally to help in the capture of this dragon."
"I'll be pleased to have such a skilled and honorable warrior at my side. With his abundance of help we can finally move into final preparations."
Sir Jarvis gave them the final words on the status of the catapults that they were building to fight the dragon as well as the making of new salted iron spears for fighting the dragon. As they were going on, Gaius shrunk a little in his corner as he prayed that Dinah had been able to send his message through the Druids to Balinor in time. It had been weeks since he visited Dinah to ask for her help. Normally, it wouldn't be cause for concern but with Dinah traveling to the Druids and sure debate on whether they would deliver the message and the time it would take to safely travel and avoid detection from the knights, he hoped that they got to Ealdor before Uther did. He had been silently thankful for these delays but time was falling short. The only hope in sparing Ealdor was for Balinor to flee with the dragon and make themselves sighted far enough away to drive Uther's attention away from the village…and Hunith. He hoped that Uther would prioritize Balinor and the dragon above all else. This had to work.
Kilgharrah was at the entrance of the cave basking in the sunshine with a gentle breeze passing through his wings. He had to admit to himself that he had been ready to condemn himself to that underground prison and resigned to possibly never be in the sun again. Yet here he was in a comfy cave with room, privacy and a convenient distance from his dragonlord and friend. From what he could make out the two of them had been in this village for near five months, even longer since they had escaped Camelot but time seemed to be stretch farther than that. Kilgharrah was always amazed when time could appear less or more than it truly was at certain moments. He was happy to see that it was happening at a time of peace opposed to a time in bondage.
He saw that Balinor was also basking in Ealdor more than any other place they'd been to even before the Purge. Ever since his father passed Balinor had taken up being a nomad, never truly settling in one place for more than two weeks at a time. Yet after all these months it seemed as if Balinor had started to begin making a home here. The area was beautiful and had everything they needed but Kilgharrah saw that it was the people here that had his dragonlord loyal to the place. He and Hunith were allowing themselves to enjoy being with one another without having the prospect of them leaving hanging over the two of them. Introducing her to Kilgharrah seemed to take out the real last barrier between Balinor and her and now they were free. Also, Richard was proving to be worthy of their trust as he kept to his promise to not tell anyone the truth about Balinor or his dragon, not even to his wife Gina. He said it was his secret to tell and even though Balinor didn't really tell him, the least he could do was make sure it was still his to tell. Kilgharrah liked the man and there were few men he had taken to liking these days. It was looking like the pair could truly begin to start calling Ealdor home.
Sadly, Kilgharrah had been around long enough to know that as much as humans would want it these types of times didn't last forever. Kilgharrah had not forgotten about Uther and his drive to destroy them and even though they weren't in his land he knew that wouldn't deter the crazed man. When he set his sights on something Uther wouldn't let anything stop him whether it was beyond him or not. Not all men were like Richard and if the wrong one were to discover the both of them here than their time in Ealdor would be cut short. It seemed like it would be all be sooner than he dreaded as he started to sense a presence approaching. It was the presence of some faint magic and it seemed like it was more than one, perhaps three or four. For a moment he was afraid they were hostile until he heard faint mental whispers calling out for him. They were asking to see him so that they could talk. Kilgharrah reached out farther and felt that these men's auras matched those he felt from Druids. He wondered why they would be seeking him and sent a small reply for them to follow. Kilgharrah backed into his cave and waiting until he made out four cloaked men, completely unarmed and reaching.
Kilgharrah slowly stepped forward and the Druids softly bowed at his emerging form. "You seek me?" he asked.
"Indeed," one of the softly said. "I must say that we are honored to be in the presence of such a noble creature of magic."
"Thank you. Why have you come here?"
"We bring a message," the same one said. "There was a man in Camelot. His name is Gaius and he approached a sister of one of our fallen brothers to send a message to your Dragonlord Balinor. I'm afraid that it is of the utmost importance that he receives it as soon as possible."
Gaius? Kilgharrah knew of the man. Before the Purge started he was a respected man of knowledge of both magic and science, at least until he started to stand back and watch as Uther tore at magic with savagery. Balinor had told him of how the man had helped free him but Kilgharrah was not about to let one act of conscience let him believe the man could be trusted.
"What is the message? I will hear it and relay it to Balinor myself."
"I'm sorry great one. I mean no disrespect but that is not possible. It was requested that I get the message to Balinor myself and him alone. I hope you can understand."
Kilgharrah huffed. He focused and called out to Balinor. He just hoped that the message didn't say anything as dire as he was imagining.
Balinor helped carry one of the villager farmers from the field back to his house with Richard's help. The man had slipped and he got his leg cut by the sharp edge of a plow. Balinor was whispering comforting words to him as they carried him trying to keep him calm and assure him that his leg wasn't bleeding too badly.
"It hurts," the villager grunted out as tears started to leak from his tightly shut eyes.
"I know Stan but it's going to be alright," Balinor said reassuring him. "We'll get you to Enid and she can look at your leg."
They made it to the home of the most knowledgeable person in the village that came to healing injuries and set him down. Balinor and Richard explained what had happened as she cleaned the blood to examine the wound.
"It doesn't look too deep. I'll have him cleaned and stitched up by the end of the day. He'll be in a crutch for a few weeks but he should be fine."
Richard breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank god."
"Stan should be thanking the two of you for getting him here so fast. How was it that you were the ones to carry him like this anyway?"
Richard shrugged. "Everybody else was too squeamish to carry him when the blood started gushing out. I think the sight of it made them weak at the knees. I was a soldier so I'm used to seeing a lot more blood than this."
Enid nodded. "What about you Balinor?"
"I can handle blood. I'm not comfortable around it like Richard here is but I can still handle it." Richard elbowed him lightly on the ribs.
"Good job regardless. You made sure that the damage to his leg didn't worsen or get infected."
"It was nothing," Balinor said. "We just did what any man would've done."
"What good men would've," Enid corrected them. "You are good men, Richard, Balinor."
The two of them said goodbye to Stan and left him to Enid's capable care. As they headed back off to wash the blood that was stuck to their hands they ran into Stan's wife Mona. They calmly told her that Stan was fine and that he was being treated right now. She thanked them both with a hug and then ran off to check on her husband. They headed for Richard's hut as it was the closest and there was a fresh tub of water there that Richard had set aside for later but he thought this was an emergency. When they got there both Gina and Hunith gave starts at the sight of them. Hunith had been there to help Gina with things as she couldn't strain herself with the baby so close. It was due any day now and they didn't want any problems to happen. They both reassured the two women that it wasn't theirs before Hunith hit the both of them over the heads for making them both have near heart attacks. Balinor was amazed that he was such a familiar presence that he now knew everyone's name and they his and it now had gotten to the point where other people can feel comfortable enough to give him a hug, or smack his head. He'd never stayed in one place long enough to call 'home' in years but it looked like Ealdor could be it. With a girl like Hunith and friends like Richard and his wife Gina here and a place close by for Kilgharrah to comfortably stay maybe he could have a home here. Not just a home either. In the course of these months here he had also found love. He and Hunith had become very intimate with each other. He couldn't remember feeling any happier than he did the mornings he woke with his body entangled with hers. The bulk of his dreams were that of him and Hunith living happily here with a child or two and watching them play with Richard and Gina's child and/or Kilgharrah. He was seriously considering asking for Hunith's hand for that last few days. His cheerful thought was interrupted by a hard voice echoing in his head.
"Balinor? Balinor, can you hear me? I need to see you right away."
Balinor gave a shout and he was clutching his head from the out of nowhere mental invasion. Richard stopped and stood in front of him as he helped keep him on his feet.
"Balinor, are you alright?"
Balinor gently rubbed his head. Normally his telepathic link to his friend didn't cause any stir within him but Kilgharrah's voice was loud and urgent this time that it stun him in place.
His stirring got Hunith's attention in the house and she opened the window facing them as she and Gina looked out of it at them. "Is something wrong out there?" she asked as she opened the window.
"We could you both yelling from in here," added Gina.
"It's fine," Balinor said rubbing his temples.
"Right away," Kilgharrah's voice pounded again in his skull.
"All right!"
"Balinor?" Hunith asked now sounding a little scared.
He had said those last two words both mentally and audibly. "I'm…I'm sorry. I just have to check something. Outside the village for a bit," he stretched the words out.
He hoped that Hunith understood the meaning behind his words and was relieved to see her nodding her head. "Okay, just be careful. Please."
Balinor took off without another word leaving Hunith worried after him, Gina confused and Richard troubled.
"Is something wrong Hunith?" he asked.
"I don't know."
He caught that Hunith a little scared and with how Balinor reacted something told him that it might be trouble. Richard looked at Balinor's retreating form not lacking in speed before he went into his home and went to his trunk. "I'm going to go and make sure he's okay." He pulled out his sword.
"Richard," Hunith started.
"It's just in case I need it out there." He said trying to reassure her "I'm hoping I don't have to use it."
"What's happening you two?" Gina asked.
"Hopefully nothing." Richard went over to kiss Gina at the cheek before he took off.
Balinor quickly but carefully approached Kilgharrah's cave and was surprised to find a few men there with him. He could see that they were Druids and he relaxed. Balinor had multiple encounters with the Druids before and he found them to be a friendly and respectable people.
"Kilgharrah, next time tone down your message. You made it sound like you were under attack."
"I apologize for that Balinor but as you can see we have some special visitors."
One of the druids went over to Balinor and bowed at him. "I'm honored to meet an actual dragonlord. My name is Abel."
The young druid extended his hand for Balinor to shake and he did so with a small smile. "Pleasure to meet you Abel, I'm-"
"Balinor Ambrosius, the last Dragonlord," he answered for him. "Yes, I know all about you."
Balinor tried to smile and not feel uncomfortable. It seemed he had a fan. "I'm honored," he struggled out. "So why have you come here? By Kilgharrah's tone it sounded a little urgent."
The elder among them nodded. "It is but it might be more comfortable for everyone if no one was hiding. Much like your friend behind those trees."
Balinor looked back at where the druid had pointed out and could see someone's outline barely leaking from behind a tree. "Who's there?"
The man stepped out and Balinor and Kilgharrah saw that it was Richard. The three younger druids seemed a little tense when the sight of the man's sword in his hand came out but the elder remained calm.
"I assure you young man, that sword isn't necessary."
Richard looked at the four strangers for a moment before he set it down. "I've heard about the Druids before. I know your reputations for living secluded but peacefully. I'm sorry, but you can never be too careful these days."
"Understandable," the elder said simply as if it weren't an issue at all.
Balinor went over to him. "What are you doing here Richard?"
"It sounded like there might be trouble with how you took off and I saw Hunith was a little worried. I thought there was trouble here for you and your dragon and you might have needed some help."
"You didn't have to do that."
"Yes I do. Hunith's my friend and so are you. And if he was a little less pompous than maybe I could bare to be his friend too," he said pointing to Kilgharrah.
"Alright," Kilgharrah said sternly. "Balinor is here and I believe you had a message for him?"
"Yes," the elder said jumping right into it. "A sister of one of our late brethren was asked to deliver you an emergency message from a man called Gaius."
Balinor had a mental picture of the man that had help free him from Uther's dungeon. "Gaius? Camelot's court physician?"
"Indeed. It would seem as if your presence here has been discovered by Uther."
"What?!" Balinor hoped he just heard wrong.
"Yes," the druid said putting more weight on his heart. "You and the Great Dragon have been discovered here in Ealdor. That is how we knew where to look for you."
"How did he find us?" Balinor asked roughly.
"Gaius didn't say anything on that but he did say that it is best that you and the dragon leave and make yourselves seen far enough away from this place. He is amassing an army to capture you and defeat the dragon and is leading it himself."
"Uther is coming here?" Kilgharrah asked with a mixture of anger and eagerness.
"No," Balinor said shaking his head. "Uther may be mad but he's not stupid. He marches here with that kind of force and he's sure to bring war."
The Druids all looked a little sullen at that. The Elder cleared his throat. "Yes…you're right. That is why he has also given an order to ensure that there is no one left alive in Ealdor to leak what has happened back to King Cenred. He had demanded that there be no witnesses as to avoid that."
End of Chapter 9
A/N: What are they going to do? What are any of them going to do? This time, Uther is coming himself with a whole army and he won't stop until Balinor and Kilgharrah are dead and won't allow anyone to expose his actions there to spark a war.
