A/N: Thank you Hodophile-Sandhiller, Buckhunter, and GuestM Live for reviewing!

No. 11 Sloppy Bandages

Percival moved slowly through the forest, scanning the ground for tracks. Leon was a few feet to his left, and the rest of the knights and Arthur spread out further in search of game to target on this hunting trip. An odious scent reached Percival's nose, that of blood and rot. He turned to investigate, narrowing in on some large bushes. As he pulled the branches back, his stomach immediately roiled at the sickening sight of two bodies covered in blood and flies. They had been ripped to shreds by some kind of animal.

"What is it?" Leon asked, coming over.

Percival simply cocked his head at the scene for Leon to see for himself. Looking away from the grisly sight, he noticed bear tracks smeared with blood lumbering away. Percival stiffened. "Bear."

Leon furrowed his brow as he studied the signs. "The bodies haven't been eaten."

Percival shook his head, back snapping straight with tension as he swept his gaze around the forest. "Once a bear gets a taste for human blood, it goes mad with bloodlust for more. We need to regroup."

He and Leon hurried off to find the others. Most of them were within sight and yelling distance. Percival whistled sharply to get their attention and waved them in.

"What'd you find?" Arthur asked.

"Two dead," Leon reported. "Looks like bear."

"This is no longer a leisurely hunt," Percival said seriously.

But before he could explain further, a roar reverberated through the forest, followed by screams. It only took a second for Percival to realize Lancelot wasn't with them, and he sprinted off toward the animalistic sounds. The bear had found Lancelot, who was on the ground and trying to fend off the animal's jaws as it raked its claws down his chest. Lancelot screamed again.

Percival snatched up a branch and swung it at the bear. It instantly whirled at him with a snap of its jaws, then turned back to its prey. Percival beat at it again and again, until it finally pulled away from Lancelot and wheeled on Percival. With a swipe of its mighty paw, it knocked the branch out of his hands. Percival staggered backward to avoid the next swipe and frantically looked around for another weapon.

Then Merlin came leaping in with a flaming branch and beat back the bear with fire. The animal bellowed at Merlin in response, but then decided it wasn't worth it and turned to lope off into the underbrush.

Merlin dropped the flaming branch and rushed to Lancelot, as did Percival. Lancelot's eyes were blown wide as his body jerked in shock, his chest clawed to shreds and blood painting his entire torso.

Arthur and the others came barreling through the trees.

"What happened?" Arthur exclaimed.

"There's no time," Percival replied, grabbing Lancelot's arm and hauling him upright. "We need to get out of the open, now."

"We need to get Lancelot back to Camelot," Elyan argued.

Percival shook his head urgently. "Not while the bear is out there. It'll be hunting us. We need to move."

Merlin grabbed Lancelot's other arm, and together they heaved the wounded knight to his feet, though he could barely keep them. Leon moved in to take Merlin's place so he and Percival could bear most of Lancelot's weight as they turned and made haste in the opposite direction the bear had gone. Percival knew it would circle back around, though.

"Aren't we near some ruins?" he asked.

"Yeah," Gwaine replied, expression tight. "That way."

They hurried through the woods, Lancelot's feet tripping over themselves as Percival and Leon pushed a harried pace. He was gasping and shuddering, but they couldn't afford to slow down. The bear's roar echoed behind them, sending chills up Percival's spine. When they reached the ruins, he didn't stop until they found a chamber that was wholly intact.

"Lock the door!" he urged.

Gwaine and Elyan quickly shut the door and placed the wooden bar in the slots. Merlin ran to the windows and slammed the shutters closed, then turned and scrambled over to Lancelot as Percival and Leon lowered him to the floor. He was in bad shape, shaking and eyes glazed over.

"I need bandages," Merlin said frantically, yanking off his own coat and bunching it up to press against the gaping wounds.

Gwaine immediately pulled off his shirt and tore it into ragged strips. Merlin took them and worked them under and over Lancelot's torso, tying them in a mass of sloppy bandages.

"We should make for Camelot," Arthur said.

"The bear will hunt us down before we make it," Percival argued.

"It's just one bear."

"Percival's right," Gwaine spoke up. "It'll follow the smell of blood and be on us before we hear it coming."

"What about Lancelot?" Elyan asked. "He needs Gaius."

Percival exchanged a grim look with Merlin. This was bad, very bad.

Snuffling sounded just outside the door, and Percival abruptly lunged for it just as the bear threw itself at the wood to break it down. It bellowed and battered at the door, and the others flung themselves around Percival to help brace the door as it juddered under the bear's assault. The beast went at it for what felt like a long time before giving up and shuffling off. It wouldn't have gone far, though.

They all tentatively stepped back from the door, then Percival grabbed the table in the room and upended it against the door to reinforce it.

"One of us can go for help," Elyan spoke up.

"The bear will catch you," Percival argued.

"Maybe not."

Elyan went to the window and opened the shutter to peek out. "Looks clear—" he started to say, but then the bear was there, pacing around the perimeter, and he slammed it closed again. "We can't stay here forever," he pressed.

Percival went back to Lancelot, his heart dropping into his stomach as he found the bandages had already soaked through.

"He's going to die, isn't he?" Percival asked Merlin quietly.

Merlin's mouth was pressed into a tight line, and he shook his head helplessly. "Elyan's right, we need to get Lancelot out of here."

"We can't move fast enough carrying him," Leon pointed out.

"So one of us goes for help," Elyan repeated. "Or we go out and kill the bear before it gets us."

"We're not equipped for that," Arthur conceded. "A handful of crossbows isn't going to cut it in this situation, I'm guessing."

"No," Percival agreed. "Swords and spears would be better."

"Then it's back to one of us going for help," Elyan replied. "And the longer we debate this, the less chance Lancelot has of surviving until help returns."

In the quick exchange, none of them heard the bear returning to the door until it threw itself against the wood again. Then they were all scrambling over to brace it, fearing each violent judder would splinter the wood and let the bear come crashing in on them.

"I'll go while its attention is on the front!" Merlin shouted.

"What? No!" Arthur protested.

"I'm the fastest runner," he argued as he went to the window and opened the shutter. "Plus I'm the smallest to fit through this."

"Merlin!"

"I'll be back!" he promised.

Percival could only grit his teeth and hold on as the bear continued to ravage the door and Merlin slipped out the window. It was another few minutes before the animal gave up again. Leon and Gwaine grabbed more furniture from around the room and shored up the door. Percival went to sit next to Lancelot, who was still trembling from shock and blood loss. He tried to neaten the makeshift bandages, but the wounds were so ragged and long that his efforts didn't improve the situation much.

The bear didn't attack again, and they began to worry it had picked up Merlin's trail and gone after him.

"I can take a look around," Gwaine offered.

"No," Arthur immediately shot down. "We have to trust Merlin can outrun the bear with the head start he had. He certainly runs from his chores fast enough."

The attempt at humor fell flat.

They sat in dour silence, save for the hitched breaths coming from their dying friend. Then, they heard shouting outside, but it was too soon for Merlin to have reached Camelot and returned with help. Not to mention yelling would just draw attention from the bear, so they scrambled to remove the door's barricade in case the beast was on someone's heels. But Merlin wasn't in a panicked rush, just an urgent one.

"Let's go," he called. "The bear is gone."

"What do you mean it's gone?" Arthur demanded.

"It came after me, but I led it into a gulch and managed to climb up a tree's roots to escape. And then a rockslide just happened to get triggered and it crushed the bear!"

They all stared incredulously at that.

"Come on!" Merlin snapped. "We need to get Lancelot to Gaius."

That jolted them out of their astonishment, and Percival picked up his friend to carry in his arms. They hurried out of the ruins, the knights still on the lookout for the bear. Arthur remained dubious at Merlin's story, which did sound like quite the coincidence. But then, those strange coincidences did seem to happen to them a lot.

"Would I come back and tell you it was safe if it wasn't?" Merlin huffed.

So they took his word for it and made haste back to Camelot, Lancelot's blood slowly trickling down Percival's arms in crimson rivulets.

A/N: To be concluded on Day 31