Chapter Thirteen: Waking Up

Escanor feels the sunlight on his face before he even opens his eyes. He smiles, although that hurts and sends a bolt of pain through his skull. But it is warm and refreshing, so he turns his face towards it as he blinks awake.

Something soft touches his hair, and when a face comes into view he realizes it is Merlin. She smiles down at him as her fingers press the bangs back from his forehead, "Good morning," she says.

"What—"

"Don't get up." She presses on his shoulders, and Escanor winces. He feels… alive, enough. His head pounds with a dull ache and it unnerves him more than anything else.

Merlin is smiling, but he can tell there is something behind it, some unnamed emotion. "What's going on?" he asks, his throat dry and rasping.

"You're healing fine," she says. "By tomorrow you should be as good as new. It was a bad wound."

"The Holy Knights," he sighs. Escanor closes his eyes, remembering, but not clearly. "We were fighting. Are you okay?"

"Yes. You saved me." Her hand is cool against his forehead. "You saved my life."

He keeps his eyes closed even as his mouth quirks up a bit in a smile. "I am your bodyguard."

Merlin does not answer, so he uses the silence to assess himself. Other than the dull throb behind his skull, nothing else hurts. But his stomach… he can't feel anything, as if it is numb, and reflexively he moves his hands against his torso to make sure it's still there. Escanor's touch grazes over fabric, and he realizes he is heavily bandaged. "What happened to me?"

"You were stabbed through," she answers. Merlin's voice is on a different side of the room, and he opens his eyes to find her at a table, pouring tea into a teacup. "You stopped a sword with your body and your bare hands." She carries the cup over, sitting it carefully on the bedside table. "I don't know how you survived, but you did. Your power is remarkable, Escanor."

Escanor nods, and then carefully he sits up. He feels no pain, which is unsettling. Shouldn't this be excruciating? Yet other than some stiffness, he manages to slide up against the pillows and prop himself up enough to take a look around with very little pain.

The room is the same one he had shared with Merlin—was it days ago? He opens his mouth to ask, but she is handing him the tea, and his mouth waters at the idea. Escanor sips slowly, the liquid feeling foreign inside of his throat. Finally he hands it back and asks, "How long ago?"

"Just two days." He nods, but keeps his gaze steady on her. Merlin is not revealing all, he knows she isn't. "As I said, your healing is incredible. When things have settled I can do an examination."

There is still something else. "How are the others?"

"Meliodas is fine. So are Ban and Gowther." She sits carefully on the edge of the mattress, not the chair. "Your friend King is here as well. Ban saved his life so he's stuck around." Merlin smiles sadly. "You do have a way of collecting us oddities."

"Enough," Escanor whispers, and her gaze flies to him in surprise at the forcefulness of the word. "What's happened? You're holding something back, I can tell."

Merlin lifts her chin slightly, a sign he knows well. It means she is steeling herself, and his lungs tighten in anticipation. There are so many things he notices now about her: her hair, which is normally sleek and shiny in long bangs against her face, is a bit dull and tucked behind her ears; her eyes do not have the same shimmer, as if she is about to tease him or test him; her hands, always steady, now tremble so slightly anyone else would not notice. Escanor does not stop to think of how he can see these things. Seeing them is enough.

"Elizabeth," she whispers back, as if the word hurts her. There is a tremble in her voice Escanor had heard only once, the day they said their goodbyes on the porch of the tavern, and it makes his blood go cold.

Escanor watches her fingers dig into the bedsheet. "Is she—"

"She's been taken." Merlin shudders visibly, and then he is horrified to see her expression crumble. "They took her, and I don't know where—"

He moves, grabbing her up and pulling her against his chest, and to his relief Merlin does not protest. Instead she presses her face to his shoulder and sobs, her tears streaming into his shirt. Escanor swallows thickly as he rubs her back, trying to soothe her. Giving comfort is not something he is used to doing, and a crying woman in his arms is a first. Particularly when that woman is Merlin—until this moment he would have bet she never cried.

Unsure of what to do, he runs his fingers through her hair, remembering how nice it felt when she had done the same. He presses his cheek to her temple and squeezes her closer, trying to remain relaxed when her arms slide around his waist.

Escanor holds her for a few minutes until her cries grow calmer. "I'm sure she's fine," he murmurs. "They wouldn't go through the trouble of taking her just to hurt her."

Merlin stiffens against him, and then pulls back to sit up. He is disappointed, but she remains close, their faces just a few inches apart. Escanor can feel her breath on his cheek, and without realizing his eyes drop to her lips, swollen and a deep berry color. His own part as his mouth goes dry. She is still curled around him, still pressed against his chest, and he wonders briefly what she would do if he slid a hand in her hair or leaned in closer.

He decides to risk it, moving on instinct now. This close, Escanor can notice every little detail: the tears now drying on her lashes, the flecks of orange in her golden eyes, the little scar above her eyebrow he never saw before. He tilts his head forward, and she does the same. The moment stills until it is frozen.

Their gazes lock as he thinks about what it would be like to kiss her now. Has he thought about it before? Maybe, deep down, he admits to himself. Escanor can see it in his mind's eye. He can feel the way her lips would be soft, he can imagine how her breath might catch. Would she be aggressive, and pull him closer, and draw him in deeply? Or would she open for him to take and taste as he pleased? All he has to do is close the distance and he will have his answer.

But she is upset. Distraught. To kiss her now would take advantage of that—and change things between them, which Escanor is not sure he wants. So he takes every ounce of his will and eases back, but first he cannot resist grazing his lips against her brow, barely touching.

"There's something you don't know," she murmurs.

Escanor shakes himself as he replies, "That's nothing new. What is it now?"

Merlin shoots him a look. "Elizabeth is not the king's daughter. Not by blood anyway. She was adopted from the druids."

"The druids? The ones that worship the goddesses?" She nods, and Escanor continues, "Why would a king adopt her? It's not as if the goddesses exist. They are just a story."

"As much of a story as the demons?" Merlin drops her head. "She is a vessel for their power. It's in her blood. The goddesses sealed away the demons, and her blood is needed to open that seal. They took her to—" She sucks in a breath before looking up at him. "I need to find her."

Escanor shakes his head. The idea that the goddesses are real (another fairy tale come to life, how many more would there be?) and sitting up for so long has him woozy. "We will, Merlin, but are you sure? Most likely they will marry her to one of the Grand Masters, or use her to abdicate officially and make their claim legitimate. I don't think they will kill her."

"You don't understand these people. They won't stop."

Tentatively he presses a hand to her cheek. "We'll get her back. We'll stop them."

Merlin looks at him with a watery smile, and Escanor's heart aches. Never had he imagined she could look so unsure. "Thank you," she whispers.

Despite his protests, Merlin insists he stays in bed until the wound is fully closed. Once she rid herself of her tears she took a look at his stomach, which he found annoyingly embarrassing. She had seen him without a shirt before, and it's not as though he had been showing off, but having her fingers trace on his body made his skin flare and his pulse race. There was just a bit of an opening left, and again she exclaimed over his healing abilities.

"We should talk more about your powers," Merlin murmurs. "I have some theories but it's hard to say for sure."

But Escanor is exhausted, his eyelids dropping before she is even finished, and the next time they open the shadows have moved to midafternoon. "Merlin?" he yawns.

"No, they're gone."

He jolts to a sitting position, ignoring the tenderness in his stomach, not even pausing to assess how much feeling has returned. "What do you mean? Who left?"

It is King, the young man from the contest. "Merlin. And Ban and Meliodas. They went after the princess." Escanor gives a shout and throws back the covers as he hurries on, "Don't worry, I'm on your side! I want to save Liones too! They left me here to look after you. Merlin said you were to stay in bed."

"Like hell I am." He feels lightheaded but ignores it, hurrying to pull on his chausses over his leggings and throw his shirt over his shoulder. He steps into his boots, not bothering to buckle them before he has his knife and his cloak in his hand and rushes down the stairs.

The main room only has Gowther, wearing a uniform and standing behind the bar. "Where did they go?" Escanor demands.

Gowther pushes his glasses on. "The princess was spotted at the castle in Liones. They went to meet the others in the resistance at the Capital of the Dead."

"Where the hell is that?" Escanor shouts as he pulls his shirt on.

"Outside a village called Tala." Gowther tilts his head and examines him. "Merlin said you were to stay in bed."

"She's not the boss of me." He pauses as Gowther opens his mouth to protest and then hurries on, "Fine, she is the boss of me, but I'm also the boss of me and—it doesn't matter, I'm going after them."

"Good luck!" Gowther says, flashing a V sign.

Escanor shakes his head as he heads out the door, but pulls up short once his feet hit the grass. They have a huge head start, and he's not even sure where this town is. And if Merlin used her Teleportation magic (he still hadn't forgiven her for that!), then he was sunk.

An idea hits and he rushes as fast as he can towards Vaizel. The tavern had stopped only a couple of miles outside of the town, so he arrives in less than a half hour. The city looks nearly empty with the fighting festival now over, and only a few leftover flags and the occasional packed-up stall offer any evidence that there had been hundreds here just two days before.

He remembers the turn for the stable and is spotted by the redheaded boy before Escanor sees him. "Hey, Sir! You're back!"

Escanor jogs over to the stalls, nodding and reaching for his purse. "Do you still have the horse?"

"Yes," Arthur replies. "You're lucky, too, she's practically the only one left. People rushed the animals to get out of town quick. Were you there when the knights came in? They say they captured a band of thieves, and some of them killed the king himself! Ran through the village arresting people and causing a huge riot. My pops took off, told me to look after the stable. But I don't know if he's coming back. Can you believe it? I might have met a man who took down a whole kingdom, just think—"

"Well and good, now go fetch the horse," Escanor snaps, handing him a few coins. "Be quick about it."

Arthur glances at the gold in his palm and yelps, "This is too much! You only owe half this. But my pops is gone, and I don't have—"

"There's no time," Escanor growls. "I need to go, now. There are lives at stake."

The boy's eyes go round as saucers and he squeaks, "Yes, Sir!" before bolting into the stable. Moments later he leads out the mare, and if Escanor was not focused on finding Merlin he would have appreciated the very good care of the animal.

Instead he takes the reins and adjusts the saddle. "Is there anything else, Sir?" the boy asks.

"Yes." He turns and sees the boy standing right next to him. "Do you know how to get to the village of Tala?"

"Tala?" Arthur thinks for a moment and then goes a bit white. "Wait! That place is haunted! Why do you want to go there?"

"Do you know where it is or not?" Escanor huffs.

Arthur nods. "Yeah. It's not far. But really, you don't want to go there. Everyone that goes there ends up a ghost."

Escanor grits his teeth as he mounts the horse. He wants to proclaim it nonsense, but since meeting Merlin his life has been curses and demons and fairies and evil knights and all the nonsense that had ever been written in a children's tale. Why not ghosts, too? "Just tell me how to get there."

"Can I come?"

The question startles him, but Arthur looks up at him in earnest. "It's tricky to find, but I've been there, I swear. I don't have anywhere to go. And you're a knight, right? You need a squire. I always wanted to be one. I want to be a knight too someday, but my pops said that's crazy talk. But I really think—"

Escanor leans down and picks the boy up by the back of his shirt, depositing him on his horse. "Don't fall off, and don't talk again unless it's the words 'right' or 'left', understood?"

"Yes, sir! I mean, right! Sir!"

With an internal groan Escanor snaps the reins, and they ride through the gate and down the road, Vaizel growing smaller and smaller behind them. The sun is falling towards the horizon, but Escanor is determined, spurring the horse sharply into a gallop. Behind him, Arthur gives a bit of a cheer, drawing a wry smile despite his misgivings. Collecting oddities, indeed.