Flowers.
Artus and Enyd walked together towards the village they saw in the distance, all the while keeping an eye out in case any enemy troops came close to their location.
"At least it's calm right now, helps ease out on the stress that the chase caused" - Artus said as he summoned his sword to his side.
"You say that yet you have your weapon ready" -
"Just because it's calm doesn't mean I'm not going to be prepared for any danger. You saw how many Knights there were" -
"And you saw how far away we are from the forest, they're not going to catch up quickly. By the time they're here, we're going to be hiding inside that village" -
"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you. After all, they already know what you and I look like, it'll be easier for then to find us than before" -
"If they come again, I'll just kill them. My fire already stopped them once, a direct hit will burn them to ashes before they can even put a sword up" -
"I understand that burning stuff is your thing, but please don't be reckless with this. Not only our lives are in play, but we need to take dad into consideration" -
"Dad… You're right, I probably shouldn't do stuff like this" -
The pair soon arrived at the village, noticing how there was no one out, not a single light turned on on any house either, it was almost like no one was there at all.
"I have a bad feeling about this…" - Artus said as he prepared his weapon.
"You're not the only one. It gives me the creeps…" - Enyd said as she summoned her weapon as well.
They started to search the town to see if there was anyone still there, but they found nothing. Every house was devoid of any life, the well was entirely empty and every torch was turned off.
"They were here not too long ago" - Enyd said as she touched one of the torches - "The fire was put out recently" -
"But where could they have gone? It seems like they just disappeared" -
"They did not, but they found out the same thing that every single previous resident found out. This place isn't safe" - the voice of an old man came from the shadows.
"Who are you? Show yourself before I turn you into ashes" - Enyd said with her weapon ready to strike.
"Calm down young lady, I wish no harm to you" - the cloaked figure of the old man walked in front of the two - "I'm just a simple old storyteller" -
"Do you know what happened to the people who lived here?" - Artus asked with his sword in hand. Neither he nor Enyd trusted the old man one bit.
"I do, young man. If you follow me, I shall explain…" -
"We're not going anywhere with you, old man. Speak here or leave" - Enyd cut him before he could continue to speak.
"You do not understand, young lady. Staying in the town at night is a near death sentence. We need to move this conversation to a safer place" -
The two stared at the old man and moved not a single step. After a few seconds like that…
"Gee, you two are no fun. Your father was more entertaining than the kids, you probably took after your mother" - his voice suddenly changed to that of a woman.
"Wait, I recognize that… Aunt Artoria?" -
"She and I do sound alike, but not this time" - a storm of petals started to surround the old man until disappearing and revealing a beautiful woman with white hair, white clothes and a staff on hand - "You may refer to me as Merlin" -
"... Uncle Merlin?" -
"Oh right, you guys already know Merlin… How about Merlina? That sounds better to you?" -
"... She's just like uncle Merlin" -
"Didn't uncle Arthur mention her a few times?" -
"How about we call her 'Arthur's Merlin?" -
"Oh, how about Merlin 2?" -
"Why are you two excluding me from a conversation about me!?" - she yelled as she bonked the two with her staff - "Just call me Proto Merlin and be done with it" -
"Proto Merlin? Why Proto?" - Artus asked.
"Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? But let's move away from that" - she said as she lit up all the torches to create more light.
"Why are you here? Are you not stuck in Avalon like our Merlin?" -
"Oh don't concern yourself with such things dear Enyd" - she said as she patted the girl.
"Why are you here now?" - Artus was the next one to ask.
"I've been following your father's journey for a long time. After he was captured by Morgan, I decided to try and rescue him on my own, can't give up on my only source of entertainment after all" - she said with a small laugh - "But that bitch Morgan got the better of me and sealed magic as soon as I set foot in here. I'm almost entirely powerless now" -
"You came here to get dad back? Wow… Thanks for that, but now…" -
"Ever since I've been staying on this village taking the disguise of an old man to stop her soldiers from finding me" -
"Wait, did you…" -
"I did nothing to the ones that lived here before, they left a few hours ago" -
"Why?" - Artus asked, as he and Enyd were rather curious about the situation.
"Because of Morgan. Every town needs to give a monthly supply of food and rations, and they didn't get this month's. Instead of trying to face her soldiers and be killed, they escaped. Although I think the soldiers aren't going to care much about them, they'll be too busy hunting you guys down" -
"Probably. Anyways, is there a map or something we could use to learn where we are exactly?" - Enyd asked next.
"Sure, they left one right before leaving" - she handed them a small and a bit torn off map.
The two siblings looked at it, basing themselves on the position of the forest and how far it looked for them…
"We saved almost an entire week of walking with that spell…" - Artus said to himself - "That's…" -
Before he could continue speaking however, the sound of a battle horn sounded from far away. Morgan's soldiers.
"Look at that, they did take time to pick up this month's rations. Better hide kids, you don't want to fight them" -
"They're going to find us, and there's no place to run away without them catching us first. I think you know what we have to do, right Artus?" -
The boy looked at Enyd, who had an innocent yet malicious smile on her face - "I hate that you're right. We'll have to fight" -