"But where are you going?" Callum trailed at Arthur's heels like a lost puppy. "I don't understand!"
Arthur made his way to his horse, hopping up in the saddle. He glanced down at the boy. The dawn light made his hair gleam like gold, and his green eyes were like two shimmering emeralds darkened by shadow.
"Callum." He explained gently. "Merlin found something yesterday that could make life much easier for me. I won't be gone long. We'll find what we're looking for and return home."
"But where?" Callum looked close to tears. "Why can't I come with you?"
"Because you're too young." Arthur said, his voice turning firm. Merlin was sitting beside him, on a bay horse with a black mane.
"You said your father let you come with him on missions and stuff." Callum pointed out, stubbornly. "When you were my age."
"Not dangerous ones." Arthur raised an eyebrow. "And my father also would have grounded me to my chambers for disobeying him like this when I was a boy. Is that what you want?"
"Arthur…" Merlin's voice was unusually soft in the presence of the boy. "He's just a child."
"Ha!" Arthur snorted. "Like that's meant anything to you!"
"Listen," Merlin addressed Callum. "We can't tell you where we're going because we're not entirely sure yet. But we will be back before you know it… Arthur will be back before you know it."
"What if something happens to you!" Callum whimpered, fear flickering in his gaze. He stared at Arthur through horrified eyes. "What if-."
"Nothing is going to happen to me." Arthur assured him. He reached out a hand, ruffling the boy's hair. "You have to stay here. Gwen will be back soon, and I need someone around I can trust to take care of her… of the kingdom."
"But-."
"Are we going?" An impatient voice snapped. Thomas Oak was on his gray mare beside Merlin, a frown set on his face. Arthur glanced back at the youth. Gaius had agreed to let him come with them, in case they needed a physician's skills on their journey. But Arthur wasn't sure about the boy… something about Thomas rubbed him the wrong way. He'd looked too excited to join them on the mission. Arthur glanced down at the boy, surprised by the way his heart ached at the thought of leaving him. And Gwen… he'd so wanted to be there when she returned… but he couldn't. If Merlin was right, and the unicorn's blood would save him the hassle of stabbing chest pains throughout the day, then he needed to find some.
"You be good." Arthur ordered, swallowing. "I'll be back. I'd best not hear you're slacking off."
"No, sire." Callum lowered his head. "You won't hear I'm slacking off…"
Arthur gave him one last long look, before tapping his heels against his stallion's side. The white horse shook his golden mane, backing up. Arthur turned him around and urged him into a gallop, Merlin and Thomas trailing along behind him. Arthur didn't feel it necessary to bring the knights along. There was no danger out there he felt He and Merlin couldn't take care of. Just as they always had.
Like Merlin once said to me when the veil between the worlds was torn and all seemed lost, he mused. 'We'll do it, together' he had such faith in that… even then.
When nightfall came, darkness began to stretch over the land. The group made camp.
"So," Arthur said, sitting with Merlin beside the fire. The horses nickered from where they were tied a few lengths away. "Where do you suppose we can find a unicorn?" Arthur prodded him with his elbow. "Don't suppose you can sense them, sorcerer?"
"No." Merlin chuckled. "Unfortunately, not."
"There was a, um, rumor in the village I grew up in." Thomas came to sit beside them. He licked his lips. "That there was a whole herd of unicorn in the Valley of Mist."
"The Valley of Mist?" Merlin said.
"That sounds like a fairy tale to me." Arthur admitted, poking at the fire with a stick. The embers flew into the air. Merlin eyed them, before sticking out his hand and uttering a spell. The embers took corporal form, and a horse began to leap back and forth over Arthur's stick. The king shifted, still unused to such blatant use of magic.
"Yeah… but so do many things that we know to be true." Thomas pointed out. "It could be true… worth a shot."
"Where is this… Valley of Mist?" Arthur asked, looking away from the prancing fire horse.
"I…don't know." Thomas confessed.
"You don't know?" Arthur said slowly.
"I only heard the stories." Thomas said defensively. "She…they didn't exactly give me a map to the place."
"Then how are we going to find this place?" Arthur snapped.
"We'll figure it out." Merlin lay back, propping his feet up by the fire. "In the morning."
"I wouldn't get too comfortable." Arthur snorted, slapping his friend in the chest. "You're taking the first watch."
"You know," Merlin clucked his tongue. "I was starting to think we might be friends."
Arthur scoffed in disbelief, laying against a log.
"What on earth gave you that idea?" He snorted, though his eyes gleamed. Merlin knew he was teasing. He couldn't love the sorcerer more if they were kin.
Thomas was watching them, something raw and bitter in his eyes. When Arthur met his gaze, he turned his head away.
"Get some sleep." Arthur told the boy, his tone brisk. "You'll need it for tomorrow."
"I don't need sleep." Thomas muttered. "My family had to move around a lot. I'm used to going days without it… but I guess king probably wouldn't be."
"You really hate nobles." Merlin mused, sitting up. "Don't you?"
"I didn't say that." Thomas shrugged. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to help, would I?"
As Thomas finished speaking, Arthur shot up straight. He could hear something in the brush before them… like twigs snapping underfoot.
"Did Gaius make you?" Merlin chirped back at the youth, unaware of how stiff his friend had become.
"As if that old man could-."
"Shut up!" Arthur ordered, standing up. "Something's watching us."