A/N: Thank you Guest, GuestM, Buckhunter, Vanvdreamer, Undertheoaktrees, SnidgetHex, and pallysAramisRios for reviewing! Rescue now!
Chapter 6
Arthur stood at the edge of the tree line, eyes fixed on the mountain that Merlin's white dragon had led them to. Behind him were the sounds of soft shuffles and whispers, the entire might of Camelot waiting under the cover of the woods for their scouts to return. Arthur tried not to fidget restlessly himself.
Finally there was a low imitation of a bird call, and everyone straightened at attention as two hooded figures made their way toward the concealed army. Gwaine and Elyan immediately pushed their hoods back once they were under the safety of the eaves.
"There is, in fact, an underground fortress and fight ring in there," Gwaine reported as Merlin helped him back into his armor. "And it isn't voluntary."
"Did you see Lancelot?" Arthur asked.
Gwaine shook his head grimly.
"That doesn't mean he's not there," Elyan put in, slipping on the last piece of his knight's uniform. "We saw three fights, each with different participants. Who knows how many slave fighters they've got holed up in there."
"The Vilia are certain he's one of them," Merlin spoke up.
Arthur didn't know whether the word of water sprites was enough to go on—he'd certainly had a difficult time informing his council about this new lead—but if there was even the slightest chance Lancelot was in there, they had to try. And it would make sense, given how he'd disappeared without a trace.
"What are their defenses like?" Arthur asked next.
"Lots of guards, but they mostly handle the prisoners," Gwaine replied. "Spectators were pretty much limited to the great hall, so we have no idea where the prisoners are kept or what else is inside the fortress. But the places we could see were shored up pretty tight. The door we went through was well-guarded and they'd see us coming the moment we advanced on them."
"And they could withstand a siege," Elyan agreed.
Arthur pursed his mouth and turned to Merlin. "Any ideas?"
"Actually, yeah," Merlin said, a wicked gleam in his eye. "We make them come out."
He turned and stepped out from under the trees, tilting his head back and speaking in a deep, reverberating voice that rattled the wind and Arthur's bones. A dragon's roar responded, and the white dragon took wing in the distance, heading for the mountain. Arthur watched as it crashed against the side with enough force to shake the foundations of the fortress. With another shriek, it flapped its wings and did it again.
Sure enough, moments later men came spilling out to see what was happening. The white dragon swooped down and trounced them, then turned toward the open gate they'd come through and spewed a stream of flame into it.
"Now," Merlin said.
Arthur raised his sword and led the charge. By the time they reached the fortress gate, the white dragon had decimated everyone who had set foot outside and cleared a path for the knights to storm the entrance. Gwaine and Elyan then took the lead to direct them toward the great hall. They encountered a handful of men who instantly attacked, but they were swiftly cut down. The knights of Camelot were on a mission and nothing was going to stand in their way.
Until they stormed into the great hall and were met with a man in black robes whose eyes glowed amber, and then an invisible force was knocking them all to the ground. Merlin leaped to his feet and shot a hand out, a spell spilling from his lips. The other sorcerer dodged out of the way and threw back another bolt of magic that Merlin narrowly avoided. The lightning struck the wall behind him, splintering rock.
Arthur and the knights split left and right down the room, taking cover in the corners as Merlin and this other sorcerer duked it out. Arthur forgot sometimes, what Merlin was, when they were in Camelot and Merlin was just his regular goofy self or just performing silly magic tricks. But right now he was raw fire and fury and power. Even the air wobbled and cowered in the face of that tremendous presence.
Merlin bellowed another spell, and the sorcerer went flying backward, slamming into the wall with bone crunching force. He collapsed and didn't get up.
"Glad Merlin's on our side," Gwaine muttered as he surged to his feet again.
Arthur just shook his head and followed. A few more mercenaries came charging out of a tunnel in the back, but they were swiftly dealt with. That left one man behind a large banquet table, spluttering at them.
"How dare you—"
Gwaine swept around the table and backed the man against the wall with the point of his sword. "Arthur, meet the leader of this little operation."
Arthur narrowed his eyes on the varlet. "Where are your prisoners?"
"You have no authority here," the warlord spat.
"If one of my knights is in here somewhere, I have all the authority I need."
Gwaine grabbed their prisoner by his collar and shoved him toward the back tunnel.
Arthur turned and waved to a handful of knights in the back. "Secure this place."
The rest of them headed deeper into the fortress, the warlord grudgingly leading them toward a dungeon where rows of cells were filled with scruffy, dirty men. Several got to their feet and eyed the knights with intense interest, while many more didn't bother moving at all.
Merlin and Percival pushed forward, rushing down the aisle as they called for Lancelot. Arthur's jaw was tight as he waited, hope almost too painful to entertain. Then Percival shouted.
"Here!"
Arthur hurried down the aisle toward the cell Percival and Merlin had stopped in front of. His breath caught in his throat as he finally laid eyes on their long lost friend. Lancelot was sitting against the back wall, posture slack and gaze numb as he looked up at them. He was covered in the same filth and grime as the other prisoners, including blood in various shades of drying.
Merlin cast a spell that broke the lock, and then he was rushing inside. "Lancelot."
Lancelot lolled his head up at him in apparent confusion, still not seeming to recognize them.
"Are you hurt?" Merlin asked urgently, crouching beside him and looking him over.
Percival went in and knelt on Lancelot's other side, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Lancelot? Say something."
Lancelot blinked slowly. "What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice strangely detached.
"We're here to rescue you," Merlin replied. "Can you stand?"
Lancelot still looked too dazed to fully process the question, so Merlin and Percival took him by the arms and carefully pulled him to his feet. Lancelot stared at Percival as they guided him toward the door.
"You're alive," he murmured.
"Yeah." Percival smiled weakly. "So are you."
"The pendant!" one of the prisoners suddenly shouted in warning.
Arthur snapped his gaze back down the aisle in time to see the warlord clutch a pendant that was around his neck. Lancelot cried out and fell to the ground, Percival and Merlin dropping down beside him. Arthur whirled back to the warlord as he held up the pendant toward the other knights around him.
"Back off," he warned. "Or I'll kill your man."
Leon threw a harried look at Arthur, who didn't know what to do. Lancelot was writhing on the ground making choking noises as Percival and Merlin tried to brace him.
The warlord started backing away. Gwaine and Elyan glowered at him, clearly wanting to rip his heart out, but none of them knew whether he could carry out his threat. Arthur threw a frantic look at Merlin, silently telling him to do something.
But then the warlord drew too close to one of the cages, and the prisoner inside suddenly reached through the bars and hooked his arms around the guy's throat. With a deft twist, he snapped his captor's neck. The warlord fell dead, his hand falling away from the pendant, and Arthur looked back at Lancelot to see his thrashing had stopped.
Merlin bent over him anxiously. "Lancelot? Can you hear me?"
"Yes," he replied faintly but didn't try getting up.
"What the hell was that?" Gwaine snarled, poking the dead warlord with his sword. No doubt he'd wanted to mete out some of the justice the barbarian deserved himself.
"Garerrock and all his guards have those pendants," said the prisoner next to Lancelot's cell who'd shouted the warning. "They're bound to the brands with magic."
"What brands?" Arthur asked.
The man tugged down the collar of his shirt, revealing the top portion of a circular burn on his chest.
Merlin's eyes widened, and he rolled Lancelot onto his back and pulled up his shirt to find the same.
Arthur's rage curdled in his stomach at the sight of not only the brand but also a myriad of scars Lancelot didn't used to have. He turned to Leon and Elyan. "Make sure no one else is roaming free in this place and gather up all these pendants—and be careful with them!"
Leon nodded and cut the string from the warlord's neck, then gingerly picked up the amulet and set off to do a search.
Merlin and Percival were helping Lancelot sit up, but he was still in that quiet, almost numb state and barely responded to their promptings.
"Gwaine," Arthur called. "Get the rest of these men free."
"You're King Arthur," the man who'd spoken before said, and he sounded slightly amazed.
Arthur nodded.
"He spoke of you." The prisoner shook his head. "I can't believe you actually came."
Arthur's stomach tightened at that. It'd taken him too damn long to get here.
He kept a concerned eye on Lancelot as they took the freed prisoners and made their way back to the main hall. The released captives immediately descended on the banquet table to ravage the food still sitting out. Lancelot was the only one who didn't. Gwaine snagged a chair out from the ravenous throng of men and brought it over so Lancelot could sit.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" Merlin asked again.
Lancelot slowly shook his head. "They had a sorcerer who healed us after every fight." A flicker of actual life entered his eyes at last and he looked up at Merlin worriedly. "He's dangerous…"
"He's dead," Merlin firmly assured him, then pointed to where the sorcerer's body still lay in a broken heap across the room.
Lancelot stared at it for several long moments and fell silent again. Gwaine brought him some water, which he only listlessly sipped at. Percival shared a worried look with them all over Lancelot's head.
Leon and Elyan returned with more knights.
"The fortress has been thoroughly searched and we've rounded up the mercenaries who surrendered," Leon reported. He also held up a fistful of necklaces with identical pendants on the ends. "What should we do with these?"
"Burn them," one of the released prisoners snarled, having overheard.
Another one stepped forward, a gleam of madness in his eyes. The knights automatically shifted to angle themselves protectively in front of Arthur and Lancelot.
"Those men who surrendered should be thrown to the serket and wilddeoran. See how they like it," the man spat.
Gwaine stiffened. "Where are those at?"
The man pointed to the cage. It was empty, but there were some grates covering a couple shafts stretching into darkness.
Arthur turned to Merlin. "Do you think we can safely destroy the pendants?"
"Let me see." Merlin held his hand out, and Leon passed him the objects. "I think so. They were activated by the will of the wielder, am I right?" He glanced back at Lancelot in question, but Lancelot didn't seem to be listening.
"Yes," another prisoner spoke up.
Merlin cast another troubled look at Lancelot before nodding to Arthur. "I'll do it now."
Arthur nodded back and called over Sir Geoffrey to head a troop of knights he'd leave behind to finish the cleanup of this place and help the other freed fighters return to their homes. Although, the moment Arthur suggested it, several of them snapped they didn't want or need any help from anyone. Arthur sighed but didn't push. He figured these men had been through enough. He still wanted Geoffrey to make sure any dangerous things left in this abhorrent place were taken care of. His priority was getting Lancelot out of here.
Merlin finished destroying the pendants with fire, and so Arthur signaled for him and his immediate circle of knights to head out. Percival had to prompt Lancelot into standing up and following. Arthur hoped it was just shock and that whatever this stupor was, it would wear off soon.
They were approaching the outer gate, which was thrown wide open and spilling light in over the charred bodies the white dragon had incinerated. Arthur didn't feel a single ounce of remorse for them, not after what he'd seen in this place.
Lancelot suddenly staggered to a stop, bowing forward and pressing his palms to his face.
"Lancelot?" Percival exclaimed, gripping his arm to hold him up.
"I can't," he whimpered, wrenching away and nearly colliding with the wall. He would have slid to the ground if Percival hadn't kept ahold of him. Even so, he turned his face into the rock and tried to cover his head.
"Is it another spell?" Elyan asked in alarm.
"No," Merlin said, pushing forward. "I should have expected this. He's been underground this whole time. The light is too painful."
Lancelot let out a pained whimper as though in confirmation. "I can't. I'm sorry, I just can't."
Percival stepped in close behind him in an attempt to shield him from the daylight.
"Should we go back inside?" Leon asked.
Lancelot made another distressed sound, which they all took to mean he'd really rather not.
"A blindfold?" Gwaine suggested.
Merlin's mouth was pressed into a thin line. "I don't think that'd be enough. He's already in too much pain." He moved around to Lancelot's front and gave a subtle nod to Percival, who nodded back and wrapped his arms around their friend. Then Merlin held his hand in front of Lancelot's face, not that he noticed with his eyes squeezed shut against the blinding pain, and whispered a spell.
Lancelot suddenly went limp in Percival's arms.
"I'm sorry," Merlin said, throwing the rest of them an apologetic look. "I just think it'd be easier on him if he wasn't conscious for the journey back to Camelot."
Arthur nodded in grim agreement. "Will he be out the whole time?"
"He should be, but we should cover his eyes to protect them. They're far too sensitive right now."
Merlin pulled his neckerchief up over his head and gingerly blindfolded Lancelot. Then Percival lifted the unconscious knight into his arms and carried him out. In the full light of day, he looked ten times worse than he had in the dingy underground fortress. His pallor, combined with the layers of sweat, grime, and dried blood, was almost gray, and he was far thinner than he used to be.
The white dragon was pacing anxiously outside the gate and perked up as they emerged.
"Thank you, Aithusa," Merlin told it. "And thank the Vilia for us too."
The dragon gave a sober nod, eyes tracking Lancelot's limp form with a glimmer of concern.
Arthur cleared his throat in preparation to address the creature. "If you wouldn't mind staying to stand guard, I'm leaving some men to finish up here."
To his surprise, the dragon nodded readily and flapped its wings to go take up a higher perch on the side of the mountain.
The knights crossed the field between it and the woods where they'd left their horses. Gwaine and Leon briefly took Lancelot from Percival so the larger knight could climb onto his mount, and then they passed him back up to him. Elyan unclasped his cloak and tossed it up over Lancelot, Percival catching the ends to tuck around him securely. Then the rest of them mounted up and set off for home.