Chapter 25

It took a while, and Rowen and Arthur were both sweating profusely by the end, but together, they managed to move all of their friends so that they were lying in a row next to the exit.

"Do you think they're alright?" Arthur asked as he dropped Gwaine unceremoniously onto the floor beside Percival.

"They all have slight fever but I don't think it's anything to worry about."

"They're pale," Arthur pointed out.

"Probably to be expected seeing as they've been kept unconscious in a freezing cave for several days without food or water," Rowen said, "Come on, let's see if we can get them to drink something."

She scooped some water up into her hands from the nearest stream and walked gently back over to Arthur who propped Gwen up so that Rowen could pour the water into her mouth. It seemed to take hours to give everyone a few handfuls of water each, but by the time they had, some colour had returned to their cheeks.

"How long do you think it'll be before they wake up?" Arthur asked as Rowen sat down by Gwaine's feet. Arthur was crouched between Merlin and Gwen and would switch between looking at Merlin guiltily to looking at Gwen longingly.

"I don't know," Rowen said, "What do you feel bad about now?"

"I was willing to let him die."

Rowen rolled her eyes, "No, you weren't. I told you to trust me and you did. Surely you must know I'd never let Merlin die."

"I do know that. But I didn't know what you were planning. I chose Gwen over Merlin."

"She is your wife. And the queen of Camelot."

"And he's just a servant," Arthur said sadly and they descended into an awkward silence.

"Well, seeing as we have some time to kill," Arthur looked at her accusingly, "The ropes."

Her heart sank, "Ah."

"Magic?"

She nodded sheepishly.

"And you didn't tell me because…"

"I was worried you'd think I was like Morgana," she admitted.

Arthur laughed, "I think you've proved to me enough times that you're nothing like your sister. You nearly just gave your life for Merlin's. Besides, you know I haven't executed him… yet. I'm still thinking about it."

Rowen laughed, "I wasn't worried about that. But you said you hated it and Merlin was the only exception."

"So instead of telling me you had it and perhaps reinforcing my trust in magic, you decided to keep it hidden like a criminal?"

Rowen smirked, "That sounds about right. I don't use it like Merlin does, though. Only very rarely and if I absolutely have to, which isn't very often. I'm like him though, I was born with it. I didn't purposefully learn it."

"You sorcerers," Arthur teased, "I'll never understand them."

"You're not angry?"

"Surprisingly not. I understand why you did it."

"You understand why Merlin keeps it hidden but you're still angry at him."

"Well, he's an idiot."

Rowen laughed, "I'm sorry. I should have told you."

"No harm done," Arthur sounded genuine, "Maybe I'll execute Merlin in your place."

"Arthur!"

"I'm joking. Mostly. I did suspect, though. I never understood why Merlin would tell you something like that for no reason."

"I wasn't lying when I said I caught him doing it," she said, "But he looked so terrified, I just had to show him he wasn't alone. I wasn't expecting him to get a job in palace, though. I thought I'd never see him again."

Arthur shook his head, "You're both insane."

It must have been nearly mid-day when their friends started to stir. Leon was the first to groan rather loudly and twitch. Arthur was by his side in a second, helping him sit up, while Rowen went to fetch some more water. It was strange to see the knight lap up the water like a dog from her hands, but no one cared.

"How do you feel?" Arthur asked him after a few minutes.

"I ache," Leon admitted, "Everywhere." He stretched his back and it cracked horribly, "Ow."

"Well, you have been lying on stone for five days," Arthur said almost casually, "It's to be expected."

"What happened?" Leon asked groggily, looking around, "Where are we?"

Just then, Percival gasped quietly and forced his eyes open. Once they'd sorted him out as well, Arthur explained everything they knew.

"What do you remember?"

Percival frowned, "Nothing."

"The last thing I remember is going to bed," Leon said, "But I was on duty in the lower town on the night you said we went missing. So I must be thinking of the day before."

"You've forgotten a whole day?" Rowen asked.

"I must have," Leon admitted.

It was another while before anyone else stirred, but by the time Lancelot and Gwen woke up, Leon and Percival had washed their faces in the river and were up to helping tend to everyone else. Once again, they helped the pair sip some water, asked how they felt and then explained what had happened. Just like the others, both Gwen and Lancelot had no recollection of the day before they were taken.

"So we won't ever know how they managed it," Arthur said in annoyance.

"Unless one of them remembers," Percival pointed out, gesturing to Gwaine, Elyan and Merlin.

Arthur scoffed, "I doubt it. Gwaine was probably drunk anyway and Elyan can't even remember where your rooms are."

"What about Merlin?" Gwen asked.

Arthur smirked, "He's not competent enough to remember something important like that."

Gwen smacked her husband sharply on the arm and scolded him for being cruel which made everyone else chuckle.

"I'll put all of you in the stocks," Arthur threatened.

"You do that and I'll get them right back out again," Gwen retorted.

Their argument was cut off by a particularly loud and painful groan from Elyan. Gwen rushed to her brother's side immediately and began fussing over him while Arthur went to retrieve some water.

"He was worried about you all, really," Rowen informed them. "Completely beside himself. He didn't even stop to tell the court what had happened before he ran off to find you."

The knights all grinned at each other and then glanced at their king appreciatively. The moment was slightly ruined by a sudden grunt from Gwaine, followed by him shooting upright in panic. Apparently his sudden movement didn't do the knight any good, as he groaned and clutched his head. Lancelot and Percival went to see to Gwaine just as Arthur returned with water for Elyan.

He smirked, "Well of course Merlin would be the one to sleep in."

"Well, given what happened before, sire, it would only be fair for you to let him rest a bit," Rowen said mischievously, "You definitely owe him at least that much."

Arthur glared daggers at her as everyone else demanded to know what had happened.

"Oh, Arthur, what did you do?" Gwen sighed.

"Nothing!"

"I was just teasing," Rowen informed them before they irritated the king so much, he was forced to tell them, "Nothing happened."

Arthur looked relieved. He knew if Gwen ever found out how he'd gone to save her over Merlin, she'd probably murder him, divorce him and slap him. Not necessarily in that order. Gwaine would probably have a few choice things to say about it too.

When Merlin did finally decide to join them, Rowen found it slightly hilarious how Arthur babied him, glancing back at her as if to make sure she wasn't going to tell anyone what happened.

"What's wrong with you?" Merlin had asked when he found his voice.

"What? Nothing," Arthur argued.

"You're worried about me," Merlin accused.

"Don't be an idiot, Merlin, I was just making sure you're not being even more lazy than usual."

"What's going on, exactly?" Merlin sat up and looked around them.

This time, Rowen and Arthur explained everything in detail.

"So these things move?" Gwaine asked, poking the stone slab which they were sitting beside- the one which Leon had been lying on.

Arthur nodded, "They were going to tip you all into the chasm."

"That sounds fun," Gwaine muttered.

"Shall we start heading back?" Gwen asked.

"Maybe we should rest here for the night," Arthur said, "Thanks to Merlin taking his time to join us, the sun's already setting."

"Hey!" Merlin protested, "It's hardly my fault."

"Who else's fault is it? Leon's been ready to go for hours!"

Leon didn't look too pleased about being brought into the argument.

"Stop it, both of you," Gwen ordered, "We'll stay here until morning. I'm sure you could use the rest," she looked at Arthur and Rowen who admittedly hadn't slept in two days.

"Fine," Arthur agreed with a well-timed yawn, "But Merlin does first watch."

"What's wrong, sire? Are you grumpy because you haven't had your beauty rest?" Merlin asked patronisingly.

"Merlin, how do you fancy being our breakfast tomorrow?" Arthur retorted, "I'm sure everyone must be very hungry."

Leaving them to it, everyone else settled down to sleep, smiling softly as Arthur and Merlin argued continuously until Gwen shouted at them. Like wounded puppies, them men snapped their mouths shut and Merlin shuffled slightly so he was in a more alert position to keep watch.

It took another half day to successfully navigate their way out of the cave system safely. Several times, someone lost their footing next to a drop and had to be caught last minute by the person next to them. Once or twice they thought they'd found the way out but ended up nearly tumbling down the cliff face when they were actually still far too high up.

The threat of the journey home being more difficult hung over Arthur and Rowen's heads, but they never said anything. Their friends were still too busy trying to regain their lost memories and figure out how they had been kidnapped. Either that or constantly twisting around to try and ease their stiff backs.

There was a collective sigh of relief when they finally stepped out into the fresh air safely and that was also the first time anyone noticed they were missing something. Gwen gasped dramatically and held her hand up, "My ring! I must have dropped it somewhere. Oh, Arthur, I'm so sorry!"

Arthur fumbled comedically to find the little package of their friend's possessions, "No, it's alright. I've got it. Whoever took you used your belongings to taunt us."

He handed everything back one by one and they all looked grateful.

"That's weird," Gwaine said as he put on his necklace, "Someone took our belongings from our unconscious bodies and threw them in a river."

"It's wet," Merlin complained as he re-tied his neckerchief, "Why is it wet?"

"Must be something in the water," Arthur muttered sarcastically.

"Let's keep going," Leon suggested, "We're several days away from Camelot still."

"Oh, Arthur, the horses!" Rowen said suddenly.

"What about them?"

"We only have two!"

"It'll take days to get back on foot," Lancelot pointed out.

"It's alright. We'll figure it out when we've actually got back to the horses," Arthur said, "We have to get through these woods first."

"I think," Gwaine said awkwardly, "There's something else that might be a bigger priority."

Slowly, everyone turned around to see what was troubling Gwaine. Coming from the mouth of the Chasms, were a pack of wolves, all growling and baring their teeth.

"Get ready to run," Arthur said.

"Slight problem with that," Percival coughed awkwardly.

There were wolves coming from everywhere. The tree line was teeming with vicious creatures, all staring at them hungrily. There had to be at least twenty or thirty.

"Rowen," Arthur said quietly as the group backed up into a circle, "How many arrows do you have?"

"Not enough," she replied reluctantly, "I could take maybe half, if that."

She and Arthur were the only ones with weapons. None of the knights had swords or knives which they'd usually take everywhere.

"We'd never outrun them," Lancelot said.

"What about the river? Can wolves swim?" Gwen suggested.

"They'd outswim us," Arthur said.

The wolves were now starting to circle them, slowly getting nearer and nearer.

"Arthur, if I shoot one, they'll all attack," Rowen said, "What do you want me to do?"

"How many can you take at once?" he asked, thinking of when she had fired multiple arrows to take down the bandits attacking him.

"Two? But they're moving so that would be lucky."

"We might have to split up," Elyan said.

"But only two of us have any means of fighting them."

"We have to think of something," Gwen cried hysterically, "They won't wait much longer."

"Ok," Arthur decided, "Rowen, take Gwaine and Percival, go east over the river and kill as many as you can. Leon, Elyan, come with me and we'll head west; we'll do the same. Lancelot, take Gwen and Merlin and follow the river. Keep going and we'll find you. If you get there before us, wait by the horses. Rowen, can you remember where they are?"

"I can get there," she nodded, "But they're at least two days away from here."

"It doesn't matter. That's where we meet if we don't find each other first. Ready?"

Everyone nodded. Rowen slowly retrieved her bow from her back and grabbed an arrow.

"Go!" Arthur yelled.

With as much screaming as they could to try and confuse the wolves, the group split. It didn't really work too well, but somehow they all managed to get into the forest without being killed. Rowen, Percival and Gwaine leapt over the river. On the other side, they turned. For some reason, the wolves didn't leap as they had but were swimming across. It wasn't much slower, but it allowed Rowen to shoot a few before they had to turn and run. Every few seconds, she would turn and fire another arrow, but she was quickly running out and there were still wolves pursuing them.

"How many are there?" Gwaine yelled as he lobbed a sharp stone over his shoulder at one of the wolves.

"There must have been more hiding," Percival deduced.

"I've only got a few arrows left," Rowen called, "What do we do?"

"Trees," Percival said, "Climb a tree. Wolves can't climb."

"Grab some stones, first," Rowen said, "We can make more arrows from twigs and rocks."

From then on, as they ran, they would occasionally bend down to scoop up a couple of sharp looking stones. It slowed their moving, and allowed the wolves to gain on them a little, but once they got too close, Gwaine pointed at a thick three, "There!"

All of them sprinted towards it and began to climb up. While Rowen killed off a few more wolves with her arrows, Percival and Gwaine fashioned some makeshift arrows from sticks and the rocks they collected, tying them together which thread from their tunics which they ripped. They sharpened the rocks with Rowen's dagger. It was much easier to kill the wolves from up a height. Firstly because neither parties were moving so getting a clear shot was fairly simple. Secondly because they were so high up, no one was at risk of getting hurt.

By some miracle, Rowen managed to shoot and kill all of their attackers before Gwaine and Percival ran out of stones or the tree ran out of branches. They grinned at each other and carefully made their way down from the tree and Rowen led them all back towards the river.

"Do you reckon the others are alright?" Percival asked, "Arthur only had a sword for protection."

"They'll be fine," Rowen said, "It looked like most of the wolves came after us anyway."

"Must have been because they could see Percival was the meatiest," Gwaine joked, "He obviously looked like the best meal. I mean, given the choice, who would you rather eat? Percival or Merlin?"

"There are so many things wrong with that question," Rowen told him.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well, for starters, Percival would demolish you before you got anywhere near him. Then there's the fact that they're both your friends."

"It was hypothetical," Gwaine told her, "I wouldn't really eat them."

"I'm glad," Percival chuckled.

For the remainder of the walk, Gwaine wittered on about the pros and cons of eating Percival compared to Merlin. When they reached the river, they were slightly disturbed to see streaks of red swirling amongst the clear waters.

"Let's hope that belongs to a wolf and not Gwaine's next meal," Rowen said, "Merlin was following the river with Gwen and Lancelot."

"I said I don't really want to eat him," Gwaine said cheekily, but he too was staring at the water in fear.

"We'll need to cross it at some point," Rowen said as they followed the stream.

"Wait until there's a narrower part," Percival suggested, "We don't want to have wet feet overnight with no way to dry them."

At one point, the corpse of a wolf floated past them which was slightly gruesome and unnerving, but no one mentioned how it could have been one of their friends. They debated stopping overnight to rest, but decided against it. There could be more things hiding in the woods waiting to attack them. They shouldn't stay still too long. They crossed the river in the hopes of finding some of the others if they had stopped. By the next morning, the three still hadn't so much as heard their friends. There was one occasion when they thought they had, but it turned out to just be another wolf. It was difficult to kill, considering its close proximity, but they managed to stick Rowen's knife in it without getting too injured. All three of them were exhausted, but tried not to show it. Both knights gave Rowen a piggy back ride for a while when she began to stumble while walking. After all, she'd had a much more tedious week than they had.

There wasn't much conversation, unless you counted Gwaine's constant twittering, but there wasn't much to talk about. A few hours before sundown, they stopped to rest for a while, following the same plan of moving through the night for safety, but being too exhausted to carry on.

"How much farther is it?" Percival asked Rowen.

"I reckon we'll be there soon," she replied, "It took me and Arthur two days to get from the horses to the caves, but that was following the river directly and stopping to rest overnight."

The sun was starting to rise again when the finally found the pair of horses. They were whinnying and braying sadly which was unsurprising given how long they'd been left. Rowen was vaguely surprised they were still there.

She didn't have time to think about it too much however, because there was something much more concerning to focus on first.

"No one else is here."