Out of Time

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: YAY! I still have some readers! I'm so surprised, you know with the length I've been gone and how spotty I am. I noticed, while I was editing the chapters to put up on Wattpad, that I always had the same opening which was some sort of apology for being late. Well hopefully I don't have to do that. ALSO, I don't know if you guys noticed but, since I was putting chapters up on Wattpad I was editing them properly. Now if you re-read the, you should notice that I updated the FanFiction chapters as well. There are some small changes that I've made and I've done my best to catch all the spelling and grammar errors. Also! I've brought back shoutouts! So, don't forget to Fav, Follow or Review, if you'd like to get in the shoutouts. Hope you guys enjoy this update and I'll see you guys next week!

Shoutouts: Sessysbaby666, Rsschmidty265, Serienqueen2004, Daughter of Poseidon25434, Like-a-Slasher-Film and ForeverTeamEdward13

Chapter 34: Out of Sorrow

Arthur had dragged Merlin hunting again, but this wasn't a normal hunting party. For the third time that month Addison had once again gone missing. She was supposed to have been out picking wild flowers and herbs for Gaius but she never came back for lunch. This meant that Arthur was to find her before it got dark and there was no prey anyone could hunt better or faster than Arthur could hunt Addison.

Addison's tracks had led him into the heart of the forest. Past the lake and straight in to the darkest most fearsome parts. Merlin knew that Arthur was certain at this point that Addison was taken, because it made no sense for her to have gone this far away from the castle for no reason. Merlin figured she did have a reason, but as they hadn't been able to find her to ask her, they didn't know what it was.

As they were creeping along through the shadows of the underbrush Arthur swore, he heard something scuttling about. And to be fair, Merlin heard it too, but Addison didn't scuttle so it couldn't have been her. He gave some signal to his knights and they left them. Then it was just Merlin and Arthur.

And he wanted Merlin to go into the clearing to flush out whatever was hiding there as Arthur and his knights surrounded it. Keep in mind, Arthur had no idea what was in that clearing, it could have been anything. He was essentially sending Merlin to his demise as bait or some kind of distraction.

But as he walked towards it, he could hear the soft tones of someone singing and he had a feeling he knew exactly who was in that clearing.

When the first breath of winter through the flowers is icing, and you look to the north and a pale moon is rising, and it seems like all is dying and would leave the world to mourn. In the distance hear the laughter of the last unicorn.

Merlin slowly made his way out from behind the trees and found Addison sitting on a log, a unicorn's head in her lap as she sung softly and braided flowers through its mane.

My lord, a real live unicorn. Merlin never thought he'd see on in real life. Mainly because he wasn't sure they existed.

Addison looked up to him a soft sort of smile on her face. "Oh, hello Merlin what are you doing here?" The unicorn got to its feet as did Addison who put a hand out to calm it. "Don't worry, you can trust Merlin."

Merlin slowly approached it, he just wanted to touch it, just to feel its soft nose under his palm. The unicorn let him pet it and somewhere in the forest a branch creaked. It was that then he remembered.

"No, no, you have to go," he said to both her and the unicorn. "Run, flee!"

Addison blinked her eyes as if not understanding the danger that they all were in. "Why, whatever for?"

Merlin turned to where he could see Arthur cross bow ready and aimed. He shouted no hoping to scare the beast away but Arthur's bolt had already been let loose. And Arthur rarely missed.

The unicorn shrieked, falling to the ground but its death throe cries were nothing compared to Addison's sudden pealing scream of horror. She fell down beside the fallen creature but there was naught that either could do to save it.

When Arthur made his way down from his perch, he was clearly expected some sort of celebration but he wasn't going to get it from Merlin nor was he going to get it from Addison.

"Ha ha, look at that, a unicorn!" he cried proudly.

Addison turned wild on him. Screaming shrilly: "What have you done?" and Arthur wildly backed away.

"I've done the unimaginable…"

"You've done the unthinkable!" Addison screamed. "That unicorn wasn't hurting me, and it wasn't hurting you! Why would you think to slay it?"

"So, I can show my father and display it on the walls of Camelot."

"So, my unicorn died for sport?!"

Arthur blinked his eyes. He glanced down to the felled beast and then back to her. "Is that why you've been sneaking out of the castle? To meet the unicorn? Why didn't you say something…"

"Because I wisely thought you might stop me or worse, follow me to hunt it for some trophy and now you have!"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Addison tis merely a beast, you must calm yourself…"

Addison had slapped him quick as a viper before Arthur could block and the knights and Merlin all shared a collective gasp of both surprise and shock.

"You are a monster Arthur Penndragon and I will never forgive you."

Arthur tried to speak with her, to calm her down, but she wouldn't let him touch her, nor would she respond when he spoke to her. And for the ride back to Camelot, Addison refused to touch, speak to or even look at Arthur. She just sat behind Merlin silent tears streaming down her face, while Arthur shot her quizzical looks as if he couldn't understand why she would be so mad. A sinking feeling of dread had settled in Merlin's stomach and try as he might he couldn't shake it.

Uther was, of course, ecstatic to have a unicorn horn in the castle. He was immensely proud of Arthur for bringing it back and it sat on the table that evening as a token of honour to the feat Arthur had managed to complete.

Arthur should have been happy. But both Addison and Merlin had been despondent since the hunting trip. Merlin's despondency had him distracted. Addison's was completely different.

Though his father had called for her to sing of Arthur's accomplishment, she refused. She was not proud of the murder she called it. She called him a monster to her father's face and she would rather sit in her cell again for the rest of eternity than to celebrate his heinous crime against the unicorn.

Uther sent her to bed without dinner, which was little punishment as she wasn't hungry. This made apparently when she stormed into his room with the meal he had the servants secretly bring up to her. At first, he thought she might want to sup with him. She did not. She whipped the meal at him and then stormed out.

Arthur gotten very little sleep with Addison's incessant weeping and wailing coming through the walls all through the night. It was a blessed moment when she finally cried herself to sleep.

Then over night crops all died. None of the vegetation around the fields were affected, only the crops they could eat. Then the livestock started dying or getting eaten by beast, the water began to dry up and turn to sand in their wells. They people were growing scared and Arthur was starting to think that Gaius might have been right about the curse.

Right when he had brought in the horn, Gaius had mentioned that a curse would call upon any person who slayed a unicorn. Now it seemed one had fallen upon Arthur, except instead of just affecting him it was affecting the whole kingdom.

Uther put a curfew on the city, proclaimed that looters would be executed. Anything to save what little food they had left.

By the time night fell Arthur was becoming despondent as well. Now that Gaius had confirmed that magic was behind this, he was more and more certain that it was the unicorn's doing. He never should have killed it.

He gave his knights the order to patrol the market and the lower town to ensure that no one left their homes and then sent them on their patrols.

On his way back to the castle, no doubt to stew about what to do next, he found Merlin. This was both a good thing and a curse. On the one hand he'd like some advice on how to approach Addison. He had tried to speak to her that day but she had literally shut he door in his face. When he left himself into her room, she had refused to look at him or even speak to him.

She was down right furious, and he couldn't get her to see reason. It was just a unicorn. Had it been a dragon or a griffon she wouldn't have batted an eye.

The problem with finding Merlin walking through the courtyard was that the buffoon was completely disregarding the curfew Arthur was set to uphold.

He called Merlin's name and the boy came to a stop, letting Arthur walk up to him. "You do realize there's a curfew?" he asked him. It was a trick question. He knew very well the boy knew about the curfew he was giving him a chance to explain himself.

"Yeah, I was in your chambers hunting for the rat."

"Did you find it?"

Merlin looked down to his shoes. "No."

"So, you have been outwitted by a rat?"

Merlin took in Arthur's glare and sighed. "They do say rats are very intelligent."

Arthur just wanted to slap the boy. "More intelligent than you, it would seem. Go home. It would be embarrassing to have to lock up my own servant for breaking the curfew."

He turned away from Merlin, just to look around and then he spotted it. A figure in a white cloak with a staff sneaking into the castle. "What was that?" he asked, though he had a feeling he knew what it was.

"What?" he heard Merlin ask but Arthur was already giving chase and he happily heard Merlin behind him. That made him feel a modicum better, not much mind you, the boy was useless after all, but the company would be nice.

The figure led them down a set of stairs to a basement of sorts. There wasn't much here except perhaps the store where they were holding the rest of the grain they were rationing for the people. But one needed to know the inner workings of the castle to find their way from this point of entrance.

They got to the bottom of the stairs and saw no sign of him, but Arthur knew how to cut the man off. He turned around a motioned for Merlin to go the other way and cut the man off. Merlin nodded and then Arthur turned to give chase only to sense that Merlin was following him.

"That means you go the other way and cut him off."

"Okay."

They jogged in separate directions and instead of cutting the man off they met one another. How the hell had they missed him? Arthur noted a moving shadow and sent Merlin back the other way, Merlin should have caught up with him but when Arthur got there no one was there except Merlin.

"Where is he?"

Merlin looked around but there was no one there. "I didn't see anyone!"

"I swear if you let him get past you."

"Arthur, no one passed me."

"Are you blind?" he thundered because there was no point in being quiet now the man had gotten away due to Merlin's ineptitude.

"Are you looking for me?"

Both Merlin and Arthur started and turned. There standing before them was the figure in the white cloak. The man was old and clearly wizened. He held a staff that looked like it had been carved from a giant antler, but Arthur knew of no stag that grew its antlers that long.

"I am Anhora, keeper of the unicorns."

Okay, that was a weird title. "Camelot is under curfew. What's your business here?"

"I have come to deliver a message."

"And who is this message for?"

"It is for you, Arthur Penndragon."

Okay yeah see, he knew it wasn't his fault. It was this guy, this guy was responsible for all that had befallen Camelot that day. "Is it you who is responsible for killing our crops, turning our water into sand?"

"You alone are responsible for the misfortune that has befallen Camelot."

Codswallop.

"Me? You think I'd bring drought and famine upon my own people?" Because he never would. Not ever… not purposely at least.

"When you killed the unicorn, you unleashed a curse." Goddamn this fucking unicorn. Why the hell did it matter if he shot it or not, it was merely one beast. "For this, Camelot will suffer greatly."

"If you have put a curse on Camelot, you will lift it or you will pay with your life."

When the druid boy showed up Arthur was torn, he wasn't certain he could kill someone simply because they held magic, but right there in that moment, he knew he could.

"The curse was not my doing," the man repeated but Arthur wasn't buying it.

"Undo the curse of face execution."

"Only you can do that. You will be tested."

"You're under arrest," Arthur said as he made a grab for him, but Anhora simply disappeared into thin air leaving Arthur in the lurch. What the hell had just happened?

From the stairs came the man's voice again. "Until you have proven yourself and made amends for killing the unicorn, the curse will not be lifted. If you fail any of these tests, Camelot will be damned for all eternity."

And then once again he was gone and that was a very heavy warning to be left with. God, what was he going to do?

Addison was sitting in her room trying very hard not to cry when Arthur let himself in again. She had been giving him the cold shoulder since he had killed her unicorn senselessly. Her beautiful Amalthea. When she had found her as a foal, she had sworn that nothing would ever happen to her and she had been caring for her all this time.

She was usually so careful. She'd only call for her when she was in the darkest parts of the forest, farthest from Camelot in case Arthur was following her. She had grown quite large and beautiful and she was the one thing, other than Arthur, that made life in the medieval world worth living. And now she was dead because Addison had been careless.

She should have known the second Merlin appeared that Arthur wasn't far behind but she had foolishly just thought him to be there. That as a creature of magic he would be able to find and appreciate a unicorn as she did. She was a fool.

She could tell that Arthur was standing behind her, but she refused to look at him. Instead she stayed, standing in front of the fire wrapped in her warmest cloak, no longer able to keep herself warm anymore probably because of her grief.

"I met someone tonight. Anhora…"

Addison knew that name. And it couldn't be, he wouldn't have come here, unless he was there to take her as punishment. "Keeper of the unicorns," she finished for him.

Arthur didn't like the sound of that. "It troubles me greatly that you know that name, Addison."

"Of course, I know the name," Addison whispered coming towards him. "When the unicorn was given to me to care for it came with certain understandings. Which meant keeping her safe from people like you. And who do you think gave me those understandings, Arthur?"

"The unicorn was given to you?"

He seemed surprised. "Not really. I found her as a foal, wounded in the forest. I nursed her to health and returned her to Anhora, for my kindness he gave me permissions to visit with her."

"And where was I for all of this?" Arthur thundered. "You have trusted me with everything else, why wouldn't you trust me with this?"

"It was one of the understandings. That I not tell a soul."

Arthur stared at her and she stared pointedly at the ground. "She was sweet and kind and pure hearted her and you slaughtered her like a stag for a trophy and your pride."

Arthur said nothing he just stared at her. "Now you are reaping the consequences. And soon… I will too."

"You? What does that mean? What do you mean? It wasn't your fault. It was my doing, so what consequences could you have?"

Addison didn't want to tell him, instead she looked away from him. He came forward, wrapping her up in his arms. But she couldn't melt into it, not when this was the man who had take away her dearest friend and doomed her to grief and punishment.

"I won't let him hurt you Addison. If my taking the blame will save you than I will do it."

But Addison pushed away from him. "You won't even take the blame to save your people," she snapped. "Get out, Arthur. Just… get out!"

Though she knew he didn't want to he still left her. Addison moved herself towards the fire again. She felt absolutely wretched, to think she was the reason why such a creature had perished. Her own selfishness had caused this grief. She only wished that Anhora had come to her instead of Arthur. If she could, she would have had him take her and the curse off of Camelot at the same time. Anything to save the people and quell the pain in her heart.