Okay, I'm really sorry about this delay but there was much to do for university :-(
This last chapter is not beta-readed and I hope there aren't to much mistakes.
But now enjoy!
Chapter 7
"Arthur, what will we do now?"
Gawain's softly spoken words finally broke the silence.
Arthur raised his eyes from the necklace in Tristan's hand and scrutinized the prisoners. Just in this moment one of the criminals caught Arthur's eyes. The prisoner looked over to the knights, guessed immediately what was going on there and slowly a sneer appeared on his face.
Arthur felt his anger raising as he realized that the gang planed this. He went down the gorge and stoped in front of the men. Despite their awkward situation most of the men looked very satisfied.
"Allright, I want to know what happened down there", he pointed down the battlefield. "I know you've planned something like that. One of my men disappeared and I want to know what happened to him!"
The men remained silent.
Before Arthur really knew what he was doing he draw Excalibur out of his scabbard and held it in front of one thieve's throat reday to kill him.
"I want to know what happened down there!" he repeated in a quiet voice but with a dangerous undertone.
The man he threatened looked at the Roman nervously but unimpressed.
Arthur increased the pressure on his sword and the blade slightly scratched the man's skin.
In this moment he felt a hand on his left shoulder
"Arthur, don't do this! It's useless", Galahad remarked.
Arthur sighed.
"You're right."
With these words he lowered Excalibur, shoved the blade back through its scabbard and turned back to the knights.
"Bors, Dagonet and Gawain, you'll take our friends here to the fortress. If anyone of them tries to escape do whatever you want with him."
No more words were necessary. They all knew the Arthur would never return to Badon Hill without at least trying to find Lancelot.
Arthur and Galahad went back down the gorge to join Tristan who had been looking for some clues regarding Lancelot's disappearance.
"Did you find something?", Arthur barely dared to ask this question.
"Just the traces here and some footprints which lead to the wood", Tristan answered.
"That's better than nothing. We'll follow these footprints. Take the horses with you, maybe we will need them", Arthur ordered.
"I' ll take Lancelot's horse", Tristan remarked. "I think he prefers riding."
XXX
The first thing Lancelot saw when he regained consciousness was nothing but darkness. He screwed up his eyes and winked.
He slowly realized that he was lying on a cool and hard ground. Confused he tried to sit up but as soon as he moved his torso a sharp pain shot through his left shoulder. Immediately he remembered the fight against the criminals in the gorge and especially the moment when the arrow had hit him. Lancelot's right hand instinctively went back to his shoulder to touch the wound. Someone had removed the arrow while he had been unconscoius but they had made no effort to bandage the wound and now the fabric of his tunic adhered to the wound. But it finally had stopped the bleeding.
Lancelot again tried to sit up but this time he managed it and let his gaze wander over this strange room where he appearently was locked up.
On closer inspection he noticed that he was indeed sitting in a kind of dungeon with a stable door and just one window high up in the wall. To high to enable Lancelot to escape.
Just in the moment Lancelot was going to scrutinize the door he heard steps outside. Before Lancelot could do anything the door was opened and a tall man wearing black clothing and a red cape entered the dungeon.
"Oh, you're awake. That's good", the man remarked and then remained silent.
"Who are you, what do you want and why I'm here?" Lancelot finally asked impatiently.
"It's irrelevant who I am and where we are. I want to know the name of your leader. Unfortunately he caught some of my men."
"And I suspect you'll let me only go when these men are free," Lancelot said.
"You're very clever", the man remarked ironically.
"I'm very sorry that I've to disappoint you but I'm just a Sarmatian knight and the Roman Empire couldn't care less about a Sarmatian. I'm afraid you caught the wrong person", Lancelot retorted.
"I hope you know that I can kill you right now. But you're useless for us when you're dead", the man answered without letting it show if he believed the knight.
"There are still some things I really want to know and I'm sure you can give me an answer. One of my questions is: Where are my men?", the man cotinued.
Lancelot didn't answer.
The man raised his hand and hit Lancelot.
The blow sent Lancelot back to the ground and the pain in his shoulder increased.
"I just gave you a foretaste of what will happen if you'll be stubborn. Listen, I give you one day to think about it and then I'll return. And I promise you that I'll make you talk!"
He went back to the door but suddenly stopped and turned back to Lancelot.
"And don't have hopes that someone will free you. Nobody saw us."
With these words he left the dungeon and left Lancelot alone.
But neither Lancelot nor the man knew that after all one living thing already had premonitions where they where.
XXX
Arthur, Tristan and Galahad had followed the traces for a while and from time to time they had found some clues that someone had taken this way a short while ago.
The sun was already setting down when the traces led them to a small hill.
"Arthur, we have a problem. I'm afraid we won't find some new traces on this rocky ground", Tristan remarked.
Arthur just nodded. He had known that just following the traces to find Lancelot was to easy.
"Maybe we can see something of interest from that hill", Galahad suggested.
Arthur was going to agree with Galahad when Melyo attracted the knights' attention. He raised his head, neighed and took a few steps. He turned back, looked at the knights and neighed again before he walked on.
"What's the matter with him?", Galahad asked. " Is it one of his tricks again? He acts as if he were a dog."
"And I think he wants that we follow him", Arthur suspected.
Galahad looked at him surprised but before he could say something Tristan remarked: "I also think so. Lets give it a try. What else should we do?"
As soon as Melyo realized that the knights had understood him he walked on.
Melyo led the knights around the mountain and soon they detected that it had been the right idea to follow the black mount as they saw some houses of a small village on the horizon hidden in the woods.
Melyo came to a stop, neighed again and looked at the knights.
"It looks like we found what we were looking for", Tristan said and patted Melyo's back.
"Yes, and we would not have managed it without this horse", Arthur answered. "It's unlikely that there are much of these criminals left, we decimated them during the last two fights. And it seems that they are certain that nobody will find this place. I can't see any guards and the gate is open."
"What are we waiting for?" Galahad asked.
"You're right. Lets go in."
The three knights drew their weapons and entered the small village.
XXX
The clatter of swords, cries of battle and just a few moments later cries of pain let Lancelot startle. Immediately he sprang to his feet.
He had a feeling that it was Arthur who was fighting outside.
"Hey, I'm down here!", he shouted.
But nothing happened. The fight continued.
"Can anyone hear me?", Lancelot shouted again.
Suddenly commotion began in the building which contained the dungeon. The battle was going on inside this building.
Lancelot shook the door and shouted again, hoping that one of the knights would hear him.
But the noise outside fell silent and nobody appeared.
All of a sudden Lancelot noticed that it was getting warmer and warmer in the dungeon. Horrified he saw the first clouds of smoke around the door.
The building was burning and Lancelot realized that he had no chance to escape!
XXX
Arthur, Galahad and Tristan soon had been engaged in a fight, but in no time they noticed that Arthur was right. There weren't much of the thieves left who could defend the yard and the fight ended soon.
Arthur looked around but he found no sign of Lancelot.
"I heard something!", Galahad suddenly whispered.
Arthur turned to the youngest knight. "What did you hear?"
"I'm not sure but it sounded like someone screaming for help. Listen, there it was again."
"Yes, I also heard something now", Tristan agreed. "I think it came from there." With these words the scout pointed at a big building on the other side of the yard.
Arthur took hold of his sword and made his way to the house. The door was open and the knights carefully entered the building. They found themselves in a large corridor with small stairs at the rear which led to a basement. But as soon as they tried to reach the stairs five figures appeared. One of them who was wearing black clothes and a red cape stopped but the others immediately drew their swords and attacked the three knights.
In no time the first attacker fell to the ground, killed by Tristan's sword.
Arthur lifted Excalibur and swung the sword around to stroke a deep wound in his opponent's chest. The man fell to the ground, his hands cramped to his bleeding chest.
Galahad brought down his enemy in the same moment the last man attacked Arthur. But soon he joined his dead comrades on the ground.
The criminals' leader watched in horror at his dying men.
In panic he looked around and a burning torch caught his eyes. He grabbed the torch and pointed to a pile of straw which was lying in a corner near the wooden stairwell
"You see I can stop you from freeing this knight. Release my men or I set this house on fire and he will die down there!", The man shouted still in panic.
Arthur looked at the leader, Excalibur still in his hand. He slowly approached the man.
"Stop, or I'll drop this thing", the criminal shouted.
Arthur immediately stopped feverish thinking about a last resort.
Deep in thoughts he didn't notice the sudden flash of cold metal in the man's hand as he drew a small knife. But as soon as the criminal raised his hand to throw the deadly weapon Tristan's bow buzzed. The man collapsed, an arrow sticking in his chest. The knife clattered to the ground but the burning torch unfotunately hit the straw. Immediately the fire spread out towards the stairs.
Horrified Arthur realized that it was impossible to break through the flames.
"Arthur, we must get out!" Galahad pressurized.
"He's right. Perhaps we can find another way to save Lancelot", Tristan suggested.
Arthur realized that the two knights were right. He nodded and they left the burning building.
"Arthur, we heard him outside. Do you remember? There must be an opening. We just have to find this opening", the scout explained.
Luckily Galahad soon found the window in the wall.
"Hey, is there anyone?", he shouted down.
"Galahad, thank gods! Get me out of here!" Lancelot answered.
Galahad beckoned Arthur and Tristan over to the wall. "I found a window which leads to the dungeons."
Arthur immediately made his way to Galahad.
"Lancelot, can you hear me?" he asked.
"Of course, I'm not deaf. Get me out, I'm nearly done!", Lancelot coughed.
In this moment Tristan arrived, a rope in his hand.
"I see he's still alive", he detected.
"Lancelot, we've got a rope here. We'll pull you up."
"But hurry up!"
Lancelot grabbed the end of the rope which Tristan had thrown down and tied it to his waist.
"I'm ready" he shouted.
The knights pulled and soon Lancelot was able to leave the burning building.
He sat down and coughed.
"You're hurt?" Arthur asked.
"Just a few scratches. I'm well."Lancelot lied. His shoulder ached terribly and he was feeling dizzy.
"Don't lie to me. We found a puddle of blood at the battlefield and I suspect it was yours." Arthur insisted.
Lancelot pointed to his back
"Shoulder", he explained.
Arthur gently tore the fabric of Lancelot's tunic and looked at the wound.
"It was an arrow", Lancelot admitted.
Without saying a word Tristan knelt down, his bag beside him and started to clean the wound.
Suddenly Lancelot raised his gaze.
"I want to know something. How did you find me?", he asked.
"I think you won't believe it but it was your horse who led us the way." Arthur explained.
Lancelot suspiciously glanced at Melyo who was standing at the yard.
"Well finally this troublemaker is helpfull", he detected. "Thank you, Mel."
END
Loopey-Laura : It looks like Melyo found a way to return Lancelot a favour ;-)
Kal's Gal: Okay, here's the update.
Drakcir: You see, you were right ;-) Once again I'm very sorry about this delay.
Eshlyn Kar: Okay, what shall I say? I couldn't do it without this cliffy ;-)
kyra: Thank you very much. I'm glad you like it.