Next chapter as promised, hope you like it!
It was midafternoon before Gwaine and Leon found anything to aid them in their search for the king and it was really only by chance that they spotted it in the first place. Despite the fact that it was well into autumn, the sun had been quite warm and the pair had spent most of the day on horseback. By the time the sun had reached its peak and started to descend towards the western horizon both of the knights were parched, having drunk all the water they'd brought hours before.
They had been on the lookout for a few hours before Leon caught sight of the small stream, partially hidden behind the thick underbrush. Stopping their horses, the two men dismounted and led the animals to the creek, kneeling beside them to splash the cool water across their faces and fill up their water skins.
It was while Gwaine was kneeling on the ground that he spotted the boot prints, the imprints were barely two yards down the stream and were pressed heavily into the soft mud lining the bank. Alerting Leon to the fact that they weren't alone, he rose slowly, loosing his sword in its sheath before doing a quick scan of the area. Leon followed suit, hand resting lightly on the pommel of his sword as his sharp grey eyes took in their surroundings. After a few tense moments with no immediate threat they waded across the stream with their horses in tow and bent down to inspect the prints in more detail.
"Well, it's a man." Leon said, breaking the silence as he traced the outline with his fingertips "Could be Arthur."
Gwaine nodded and Leon was relieved to see that some of the light had returned to the younger man's eyes at the discovery, no matter how small it was.
"Can't be more than a couple days old either." Gwaine replied, rubbing some of the mud between his fingers, "Let's see what else we can find."
"If it is Arthur there probably won't be much of anything." Leon cautioned, not wanting the younger man to get his hopes up only to have them dashed again. The king was quite good at covering his tracks, had been since he was a little boy and it was going to be damn near impossible to find him, especially if he didn't want to be found.
"I know." Gwaine answered, motioning Leon forward with a mocking bow that displayed a hint of his usual sarcasm, "After you."
The older knight stood, smirking slightly at Gwaine's antics and scanned the ground as he followed the prints back into the forest; they didn't last for long, disappearing into the dense underbrush after only a few paces, but at least they provided some idea as to which direction the man had been heading in.
"Let's split up." Leon suggested, "Twenty paces and then we return to this spot, be on your guard."
Gwaine nodded in agreement, senses heightened with adrenaline as he headed off to the right. Leon went to the left but soon returned to their meeting spot by the stream, his search having yielded next to nothing, if someone had gone that way they certainly hadn't left any indication of their passage.
A short while later Gwaine's excited voice rang through the quiet woods, "LEON, HERE!" The older knight jumped up and headed into the trees, following the sound of his companion's voice, within minutes he stood beside the younger man trying to decide if he should be worried or relieved at the sight.
Gwaine was standing beside a tree with a half smile stretched across his face, fingering a strip of red cloth that he'd found tied to a low-hanging branch, "It's Arthur, it's got to be."
Leon made a noise of assent in the back of his throat and paced forward a few steps wondering why the king would leave such an obvious trail. The material had clearly come from Arthur's shirt, none of the bandits or vagabonds in these woods would own anything half as nice, not to mention that it was red, a color that was decidedly not conducive to blending in, something the people who lived here excelled at and depended on for survival.
Neither did it make sense that the king had been captured, although he did briefly consider that option. The thing was, if Morgana, or bandits, or anyone else had taken Arthur, he never would have had time to tie the cloth around the tree so the only conclusion, in Leon's mind, was that the king had been injured. If that was the case, then Arthur had taken a huge risk in marking his trail, the flags could just as easily have been found by an enemy and the only reason the king would decide to take such a risk was if the situation was quite desperate.
"Did you find any more?" Leon asked abruptly, reaching the conclusion that they needed to find the king as soon as possible, every minute counted and the longer they waited, the less likely it was that they would find Arthur alive.
"Not yet," Gwaine replied, shaking his head, "but I'm sure we will."
All in all they only found six strips of cloth before the trail ended, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The knights paused, growing wary as they glanced into the forest around them, Arthur had obviously wanted to be found, he'd left them a trail after all, but now the clues had ended and they had no indication of where to turn next.
Gwaine crept forward on the balls of his feet, making no sound as he moved through the underbrush and motioned Leon to follow him, which the older knight did immediately. Gwaine's eyes were sharp, much better at tracking than Leon's and if anyone could pick up the trail it would be Gwaine.
"Here." Gwaine said, pointing out several broken branches before bending down to inspect a rare patch of bare dirt that wasn't covered by the foliage. "Look at these prints, something was wrong, he must have been running but why?"
Leon shrugged as the younger knight stood, brow furrowing as he stared contemplatively into the trees before them, almost as if they could provide the answer to Gwaine's question. It didn't make any sense, if Arthur had been injured gravely enough to leave them a trail, how had he found the strength to run? Something else that niggled at the back of Leon's mind was the blood, several of the fabric scraps they'd found had been stiff with dried blood, enough to suggest a serious injury, and yet there had been no blood on the trees or the forest floor.
It was strange and Leon didn't know what to make of it, he kept turning things over in his mind as he trailed along behind Gwaine but no matter how many times he reviewed the facts, he always came to the same conclusions, conclusions that made absolutely no sense. He came out of his reverie quite suddenly as he slammed into Gwaine's unmoving back. The younger knight grunted and turned, glaring at him before gesturing towards a small clearing that was barely visible through the trees. Leon nodded but instantly regretted the action as the other man stepped out into the open without a second thought.
"Gwaine!" Leon hissed, giving a furtive scan of the trees before drawing his sword and following his companion into the clearing. The younger knight was obviously distracted by the fact that every step brought them nearer to finding the king but, if anything, they needed to be more cautious now than ever before.
Gwaine knew better than to enter an un-scouted area without securing the perimeter first and, while Leon was glad that the knight had grown increasingly animated, acting more and more like his old self during the course of the search, it didn't excuse his reckless behavior. These woods were dangerous and they couldn't afford to take risks if they wanted to find the king and make it back to Camelot in one piece.
Leon assumed a defensive stance, staying low to the ground and spinning in slow circles as he walked, checking the area for danger as they should have done before entering the open. By the time Leon reached him, Gwaine was standing on the far side of the clearing, staring at a large pile of rocks with his arms crossed leisurely over his chest.
"Gwaine-" Leon began, only to be cut off before he could begin his lecture by the tightness in the other knight's voice.
"What do you think?" Gwaine asked, gesturing wildly at the rocks for a moment before returning his arms to his chest and crossing them again, this time protectively.
Leon took a moment to study the pile before replying, "Looks like a rock slide to me, probably fairly recent."
"That's what I thought." Gwaine said, clearing his throat before reaching up and scaling the rocks with ease. Once he reached the top, he turned back to look at Leon, humor lighting his eyes for a moment before being swallowed by something darker that the older knight couldn't quite define, although if he had to hazard a guess, he'd say it was worry.
"Coming?" Gwaine asked, when the other man made no move towards the pile.
"Yeah." Leon grunted, shaking his head and sheathing his sword as he made one last cautionary sweep of the clearing with his eyes and pulled himself up.
Once they reached the top it was immediately evident that the cause of the rock slide, or whatever it had been, was anything but natural. Several of the stones had large scorch marks on them and there were three deep holes that had been dug out of the rubble. There was a strange smell on the air that raised the hairs on the back of Leon's neck and he brought up his guard once again as they trekked towards the first hole. When they reached it they found that the pit was empty but the rocks that lined it were stained with an alarming amount of blood.
"Do you think…" Gwaine started, trailing off as he brought his earnest brown eyes up to lock with Leon's grey ones.
For a moment the older knight didn't answer, then he moved towards the second pit, voice trailing behind him as he walked. "Let's not jump to any conclusions."
In the second pit they found Morgana, or at least her body. Several minutes passed in stunned silence as they took in the still, pale form of the witch who had been Camelot's greatest enemy for years. Her skin had long since gone cold but there was an air of cruel beauty about her, even in death, that drew them in, stealing their breath away as they stared at her.
Gwaine was the first to break her hold, wonder and incredulity painting his tone as he voiced the words that they were both thinking, "Morgana is dead."
"It would seem so." Leon replied, equally dazed by the simple fact that someone, possibly Arthur, had succeeded in killing the witch who had wreaked so much havoc on the kingdom. It was surreal to think that finally, after all the years of conflict, Camelot's biggest threat, her archenemy, was dead.
"If Morgana's dead, where's Merlin?" Gwaine asked, glancing around as if he expected to find the boy hiding behind a rock.
"I don't know." Leon said, "With Arthur?"
"Let's go then." Gwaine answered, stalking towards the edge of the pile, ready to climb down.
"Wait." Leon said, "Don't you think we should, you know, bury her?"
"Why?" Gwaine asked impatiently, "She deserves to rot in Hell for what she's done, to Arthur, to Merlin, to all of us."
"Still…" Leon replied reluctantly, "She was our friend once."
"She might have been your friend," Gwaine huffed, "but she wasn't mine. Come on, let's go."
"We can't go any further tonight anyway." Leon reasoned, pointing at the sun, which was hovering just above the western horizon, sending its lasts streaks of golden light through the trees.
"Fine." Gwaine agreed, "We'll stay here for the night but we're leaving at dawn. And I'm not helping you bury that witch."
Leon nodded in agreement and turned back to the pit, using the stones piled beside the hole to fill it in, slowly but surely sealing Morgana Pendragon in a tomb of rock. Gwaine might not think that she deserved it but Leon knew better, yes she'd betrayed them, yes she'd spent the last few years doing everything in her power to steal the throne that was Arthur's by rights but Leon couldn't bring himself to condemn her completely for her actions.
He still remembered her as Uther's raven haired ward, the one who had run through the castle corridors with prince Arthur, playing tag and fighting imaginary dragons with her little wooden sword. He remembered the way her laughter could fill a room, the silvery peals bringing a smile to the face of anyone who heard. That girl deserved at least this much and he would give it to her, duty demanded it of him.
He had just finished filling in the pit when Gwaine motioned him over, the younger knight was standing over the third pit holding a makeshift torch so that it illuminated the face of the man inside. Darkness had fallen and Gwaine had fetched their horses from the woods, setting up camp while Leon had been busy burying Morgana.
"Who is this?" Gwaine asked.
"No idea." Leon replied after studying the boy's face for a few minutes, "Let's go eat."
After dinner, Leon stretched out on his bedroll, shoving his pack under his head and tried to get some sleep. Gwaine had offered to take first watch and Leon hadn't argued, the younger man looked like he had a lot on his mind and it wouldn't do any good for both of them to stay up all night.
Barely ten minutes passed before Leon's light snores filled the air and, before too long, Gwaine's eyes started to shut as well, drooping further and further before finally falling shut as he gave in to his exhaustion.
The night passed uneventfully, the moon rising and setting with little change in the prone forms below; in fact, it wasn't until the sun rose that the trouble started. A sharp groan echoed through the trees, bouncing off their trunks until it reached the sleeping knights, it was followed shortly thereafter by an ear-piercing shriek that seemed to freeze the very blood in Gwaine's veins, ripping his already damaged heart into a thousand pieces as his eyes snapped open.
He tore his blankets off in a frenzy of terror, rushing to the edge of the cliff before throwing his head back and shouting at the top of his lungs. "MERLIN!"
I know, I know, another cliffy but what can I say... this is me you're dealing with.
I had fully intended for Gwaine and Leon to find our boys this chapter but I felt like I should go into more detail with the search, it's not easy to find two people in a huge forest you know. Also I thought Morgana deserved to be buried. In other words, I tried to tie up the loose ends and my imagination ran away with me, again.
Next chapter we'll find out what happened to Arthur and Merlin plus Gwaine and Leon will finally meet up with them, I promise.
