A/N: Thank you SnidgetHex, GuestM, Buckhunter, Guest, and pallysAramisRios for reviewing! Arthur is blinded by his worry for Gwen. He's not handling it the best way possible but he's not being selfish for selfishness sake. Also, don't worry, there will be a way for Lancelot and Lily to be together. He is getting the happy ending he deserves. ^_^
Chapter 8
Arthur and the knights went back to the beach first so they could fish out their chainmail from a neglected pile and gear up for this hunt Arthur had pledged them to. Not all of their armor had been salvaged from the shipwreck, so they would have to make do. Really, they were only half prepared and outfitted for such a mission; were they back in Camelot, Arthur would have set out with twice as many men armed with everything from swords to crossbows.
But they had none of that here. Only their courage and grit, which as far as Arthur was concerned, was enough. They would slay this cath palug and win the flower that would save Guinevere. That was all Arthur was thinking about as they made their way back to the scene of the attack. The two bodies were still there; no doubt some people from the village would come retrieve them later. Arthur had more important things to see to at the moment.
"Which direction did you see it run off?" he asked Merlin.
"Um, that way."
Everyone followed the direction Merlin pointed and converged on the spot, scanning the ground for tracks. Large, distorted paw marks were imprinted in the dirt: an animal moving at great speed. The trail of broken branches was also easy to follow, and they set off, moving deeper into the center of the isle.
They had to stop several times when the tracks disappeared in an area of thick greenery, but then they found some again and pressed on. Until they completely lost the trail at a wide stream. They searched the bank all up and down the one side, but there was no sign of which direction it had gone.
"You don't think it could have jumped the stream?" Gwaine postulated as he regarded the eight feet dubiously.
"When we first encountered the creature," Lancelot spoke up, "it had been hiding beneath the surface of a pool."
They all turned wary eyes to the bubbling current. It was difficult to gauge how deep it was, but Arthur had a hard time believing a great cat would just be swimming around at the bottom of it.
"Arthur," Percival said in low warning, and they all looked up as four men appeared on the other side of the stream, sauntering toward the bank and drawing to a stop.
Lancelot shifted closer to Arthur. "That's Sklaar," he said quietly.
The brigand that had captured three of his knights. Arthur narrowed his gaze on the armed men. But this time, their own group was twice as many, and equally armed. There would be no taking of prisoners today.
Sklaar and his men, however, seemed content to stay on their side of the stream.
"Looks like our new friends found some old ones," Sklaar remarked blithely. "I hope you're not thinking of coming over here and starting a fight." He bared his teeth with a wolfish grin that suggested he wouldn't mind a skirmish at all. But Arthur didn't have time for that.
"We're hunting the cath palug," he called back. "Do you know where we can find its lair?"
The man snorted derisively. "Is that what you sailed all the way out here for? To hunt and slay the great beast?" He exchanged a round of rough chortles with his companions.
"No," Arthur said tersely. "We came seeking a magical flower, the star lily, to save our queen. Do you know where it grows?"
"We do not." Sklaar turned a dark look on Lancelot. "Liliana's people do not like to share."
"So we've noticed," Arthur said bitterly.
Sklaar's eyes narrowed on him. "If you're looking for the star lily, why are you hunting the cath palug?"
"It is my hope slaying the beast will earn us the flower. So I'll ask again, do you know where its lair is?"
Sklaar's brows pinched together slightly at that, and he didn't say anything for a tense moment. But then his posture loosened and he thrust his chin northeast. "There's a waterfall with a cave behind it that we have long suspected is the beast's lair. But no one who's been brave enough to see for himself has ever returned."
"I'm sure we can handle it," Arthur replied tightly.
"Hm, good luck, then."
The knights remained guarded as Sklaar and his men moved off in the opposite direction.
"I'm not sure we should have told him all that," Lancelot murmured.
"It got us a probable location for the cath palug," Arthur countered, setting off upstream.
About an hour later, they reached a waterfall, its white cascades feeding into the stream they'd followed. Arthur searched the ground nearby for signs of the cat. There were some overlapping prints in the mud near the edge of the stream, but the constant moisture prevented him from determining whether they were fresh or not. Still, tracks were tracks.
Arthur carefully drew his sword so the steel made the softest snick as it released from its scabbard. Raising it above his head, he signaled for the knights to follow him in.
They skirted the edge of the escarpment over which the waterfall flowed, and Arthur caught a glimpse of a small gap between the sheet of water and rock wall. It looked like there was a cave back there after all. Arthur ventured inside, muscles coiled tightly.
But an initial visual sweep of the cavern behind the waterfall showed no great cat lying in wait. Bones littered the ground, however, so at least they knew they were in the right place.
"What do you think?" Leon asked in a hushed voice. "Set up a trap?"
"In here, we'll be the ones finding ourselves trapped," Percival put in, eyeing the small space with its uneven shale floor.
"Yeah, but outside is downwind," Gwaine pointed out. "It'd smell us before it ever saw us."
"There's also the matter that Excalibur is probably the only thing that will actually kill it," Lancelot added.
"Uh, Arthur…"
Arthur waved a hand inattentively at Merlin. "It has a taste for human flesh; I could simply present myself as bait."
A round of objections went up at that, and Arthur sighed at his knights' overprotectiveness.
"Arthur!"
He half turned to Merlin. "What?"
Merlin jabbed a finger at the pool of water flowing backward into the front of the cave. A dark shape appeared to be swimming around at the bottom.
It took Arthur a second too long to correlate that with the "water cat" he'd heard tell of, and in that second the thing leaped up out of the pool in all its feral savagery. It snapped its jaws around Leon's leg and yanked it out from under him. He screamed as he went down.
Arthur and Gwaine were closest and they both launched themselves at the cat with swinging blades. Gwaine's however, seemed to glance off the creature's slick scales, barely scratching it. But when Arthur slashed at its shoulder with Excalibur, he managed to score a deep gash.
The cat yowled and recoiled, skittering several feet away and spinning back toward them. Hot breath spewed from its nostrils as it bared its fangs and hissed.
Gwaine grabbed Leon and dragged him out of range while the other knights spread out in an attempt to block the cat's escape, though if it wanted to dive back into the water, it could very well do so. Arthur couldn't let it get away.
He attacked, swinging his sword down at the creature's torso. The cath palug scampered out of the way and twisted around, claws scrabbling across rock as it took a swipe at Arthur's back. He torqued his waist and brought his sword up, deflecting the massive paw and slicing into the meat of the cat's leg. It howled and tried to leap away again.
Lancelot and Merlin managed to light some branches on fire and were now standing between the cat and the water, brandishing the flames in its face when it darted toward them. Percival moved in and took a stab at the beast's eyes, which drove it back toward Arthur again. The roar of the waterfall couldn't drown out its enraged howl.
It lunged with a slash of its claws at Elyan, catching him across the chest and knocking him down. Arthur let out a battle cry in response and charged. The cat hunkered down and skittered out of the way again, dropping into a stalking crouch around Arthur. He turned to keep it in his line of sight. Its back legs rippled like water, which was the only warning Arthur got before it was launching itself through the air right at him. He thrust Excalibur up just as the cat barreled into him, tackling him to the ground so hard the wind was momentarily punched from his lungs. A heavy weight plopping on top of him whooshed the last of his breath out, and he lay there gasping like a fish.
"Arthur!"
Several pairs of hands pushed the cat off of him, and Arthur gulped down oxygen now that his lungs could expand again. He felt the hilt of his sword get pulled out of his hand, and when he turned his head, he saw the cath palug had been impaled on the blade.
"Arthur!" Merlin was frantically patting him down in search of injury, and Arthur mustered the presence of mind to bat him away so he could sit up.
"I'm all right," he said, still breathless. "Is it dead?"
Gwaine rounded the unmoving creature and prodded it with the tip of his sword. "It's dead."
Arthur nearly went limp with relief.
"Merlin," Percival called, and the manservant jumped to his feet to hurry over to Leon, who was clutching his leg as blood oozed out between his fingers.
Arthur sat up quickly and twisted around in search of Elyan. He spotted Lancelot helping the young knight to his feet. "Are you wounded?" he asked urgently.
Elyan rubbed at his chainmail, which appeared to be intact, and shook his head. "It just clipped me is all."
Arthur nodded and turned to lumber his way over to Leon. Merlin was busy ripping the knight's own tunic to bind his leg with.
"The punctures are deep but not bleeding that badly," Merlin said. "We still need to get him to the village."
"I can walk," Leon insisted through gritted teeth.
Arthur clapped him on the shoulder.
Merlin finished tying off the makeshift bandage, and then Percival helped haul Leon upright, bracing him as he tried not to put weight on his leg. Gwaine and Lancelot used some rope to truss up the carcass to bring back with them.
It was a slow trek back to the village, but they eventually made it. Arthur came to stand in the center of the settlement and gestured for Gwaine and Lancelot to drop the dead cath palug right there for all to see. All the villagers gathered around, gaping in disbelief and amazement.
Kieran gazed at it for several long moments, looking almost troubled.
Arthur shifted his weight impatiently. "Chief Kieran, I present to you the plague of your island, slain by my hand. Will you now grant us the star lily to save my wife?"
Silence weighed heavily between them, and Arthur flexed his hands in growing agitation.
Kieran finally looked up. "I appreciate this feat of bravery on your part, King Arthur. Future generations of this island will no longer live in fear of the cath palug." He took a breath. "But it does not make you pure of heart."
Arthur stared at the man numbly for a prolonged moment. Then stupor swiftly gave way to anger, but Arthur forced himself to hold it in. It would do him no good now. Nothing would. He had been asking and pleading his case for days, but it was clear that nothing would convince these people to give him the means with which to save his love.
Kieran gave him a regretful look before turning to Leon. "You have wounded. Please, come." He gestured to his hut.
Leon flicked an uncertain look at Arthur, who nodded wordlessly. His knight needed tending and he would not sacrifice his own out of spite.
But Arthur did turn and walk away. He, for one, was done with these people.
.o.0.o.
Merlin watched Arthur leave, his heart constricting with shared disappointment and despair, before he followed Leon and Percival into the chieftain's hut where Calla came to treat Leon's leg. She had him sit on the bed and told him to remove his trousers. Leon turned slightly pink as he struggled with his belt. Merlin stepped in to help while Percival held him upright. Once his pants were off, Calla brought over a stool to prop his wounded leg on and began to peel off the bandages. The punctures were only a little jagged from the cat's teeth.
Calla examined them, then turned and exited the hut without a word. But she returned a few moments later with some large, waxy coated leaves. Taking a seat next to Leon, she placed the leaves flat against his leg and held her hands there. Merlin could feel her using magic to activate whatever healing properties he supposed they held, even though there was no outward sign that she was doing anything of the sort.
"What do those do?" he asked.
"Draw out toxins," she replied. "We don't want the wounds becoming infected from the cath palug's saliva."
Leon stiffened. "Is it venomous?"
"Not like a snake bite is, no. But any wild animal's mouth is hardly sanitary."
Merlin wondered how effective the plants combined with Calla's magic was, if he needed to be on the lookout for complications once they left the village.
Percival cleared his throat. "The villager who was attacked…how is he?"
Calla flicked a look up at him, then quickly back to Leon's leg. "He will survive."
"Why don't you use the star lily on your own people?" Merlin asked.
She didn't answer right away, and Merlin straightened with suspicion.
"Wait, do you?"
"You have the flower here?" Percival added earnestly.
"It does not grow in the village," she replied carefully. "And a single blossom is used up in one application."
"How can you justify denying us access to it?" Leon said accusingly.
Calla shook her head. "It is not that simple."
"Why not?" Merlin pressed.
"It does not grow in abundance."
"So," Percival said, "your reticence to share it is because you would rather save it for your own people. Is that why you are so generous with everything else? To cover up that singular selfishness?"
Calla sighed and peeled the large green leaves off of Leon's leg. "The wounds can be stitched now," she said, not deigning to respond to their accusations.
"I can do it," Merlin said in a low voice. Emotions were running high and he didn't think Leon needed to sit through a stitching by Calla or anyone else from her village.
She merely nodded and gestured to the supplies on the counter, then left without another word.
"They're never going to give us the flower, are they?" Percival said dourly.
Neither Merlin nor Leon responded, but they were both thinking the same thing.
No one disturbed them as Merlin sewed up the holes in Leon's leg. When he was finished, he gathered up the supplies to put everything back where it belonged. He gaze happened to flit past the open archway into a back room when something caught his eye. A tapestry hung in the far corner, and while Merlin normally wouldn't have paid it much mind, some intricate embroidery of bright gold piqued his interest.
There was a mountain peak and a lily hovering above it, wreathed in stitched lines of gold to resemble shining light. Merlin stared at the woven image for a suspended moment. The star lily was sacred; it would make sense the village would have cultural items depicting it. And if it was poised at the top of the mountain…
Leon grunted as Percival helped him back into his trousers, and Merlin tore his gaze away to go assist. Then they headed outside. Calla was nowhere in sight, but Merlin spotted Lancelot off talking with Lily. When he saw them, he said something more to her and then hurried over to help Percival support Leon's weight.
They slowly and arduously made their way down the trail to the beach where they found Arthur engaged in clearly fraught pacing. Gwaine and Elyan were standing at a short distance, giving him a wide berth. Merlin braved approaching him.
As though taking his presence as an invitation to explode, Arthur suddenly kicked at the gravel beneath his feet, sending several pebbles flying through the air to plink in the surf.
"All this time we've wasted!" he vented. "Waiting for the village to help us when we should have been scouring the island ourselves."
"We weren't doing nothing," Percival gently pointed out. "We can't bring the flower home without a ship."
"And we can't sail until we have the flower," Arthur retorted.
"If it were easy to find," Gwaine put in, "those other blokes we ran into would've known where it grows."
"It can't be too far from the village," Leon spoke up. "The villagers went to get it while we were out hunting the cath palug. They used it to save the man who was attacked."
Arthur's nostrils flared with a surge of indignant fury at that news. Merlin winced under the palpable storm.
"Can't you ask Lily for it?" Elyan asked Lancelot. "You two have been spending time together. You could try to convince her to tell you."
Lancelot's mouth tightened. "I have spoken with her, but she's resolute about respecting her father's judgment."
"We can't just give up!" Elyan shouted.
Merlin swallowed hard. "I think I may know where we can find it," he said.
All eyes turned toward him incredulously.
"I saw a tapestry in Kieran's hut," he explained. "It showed the flower on the mountaintop. The village is set at the base, which makes sense if they're considered the gatekeepers to it."
Arthur drew his shoulders back. "Then we'll just have to go up there and find it ourselves."
"The village is not going to like that," Lancelot said softly.
"I don't care," Arthur snapped. "Gwen's life is at stake. Kieran may not believe my cause is noble, but I know it is. We all do."
They all exchanged solemn nods of agreement.
"Do you plan to take it by stealth or force?" Gwaine asked.
Arthur's eyes were hard with staunch resolution. "The fog is usually thick first thing in the morning. We can go then."
Merlin caught Lancelot's eye and saw he was troubled, though he didn't speak out against their plan. Merlin also felt bad about violating the village's trust, but they had to get that flower.
And this wasn't the first time he'd had to commit heinous acts for the greater good.