A/N: I'd thought to write another one shot, but it turned into a mini fic with four chapters. Basically a whump fest. Thanks to 29Pieces for beta reading! (Also probably goes without saying but AU Lancelot lives.)
Chapter 1
"I cannot wait to get back to Camelot," Gwaine grumped. "The wine in Dagor's kingdom was too sour."
"That didn't stop you from partaking generously," Elyan pointed out.
"I kept hoping it would improve."
Merlin rolled his eyes in fond amusement. He was eager to return home too. Being a king's manservant in a foreign kingdom was always challenging, especially if the staff in residence weren't feeling particularly helpful. But Arthur had concluded the treaty negotiations successfully and they were on their way back to Camelot.
Arthur pulled his horse to a halt at the top of a rise. "We can take a shortcut through that forest," he declared.
Merlin followed his gaze to a dark, dense wood spread out below. The road they were on stretched a long ways before winding around the vast forest, probably doubling the time it would take for them to keep to it. Merlin, however, did not like the look of the place.
"Don't you think there's a reason no one's lain a road through it?" he said.
Arthur scoffed. "Don't be such a girl's petticoat, Merlin."
Merlin scowled in response as Arthur turned his horse around to take a sloping trough down to the forest. He threw a beseeching look at the rest of the knights, who merely shrugged as they also turned their horses to follow their king. Resigned, Merlin nudged his own horse after them.
The edge of the forest was dark and forbidding, as far as Merlin was concerned. The trees were gnarled and pale, their leaves a dark pine, almost pitch color in places, and wispy cobwebs hung from the branches.
"I really think we should stick to the road," Merlin tried again.
The knights shared dubious glances at the unwelcoming wood, but Arthur just rolled his eyes and doggedly kicked his horse into entering. The rest of them had no choice but to follow.
The forest was thick and close, with low hanging branches that forced them to lean forward over their horses' necks. Dangling vines tried to snag at their hair and the clasps of the knights' cloaks, so soon they all decided to dismount and lead the horses on foot.
It was dark under the forest canopy, which was blocking out all sunlight and only the greyest filter was left to dimly permeate the enclosed space. No wonder all the foliage looked sickly. Merlin roved his eyes over the crooked trees, not a squirrel or bird in sight. This place gave him the creeps. Despite the lack of wildlife, he could almost feel eyes on them, a sleepless malice stirring at their arrival.
They walked a bit further before their horses started turning skittish, spooking at sounds that weren't there and fighting their masters.
"Maybe we should go back," Leon suggested as he struggled to keep his horse from backing up into Gwaine.
Merlin whispered soothing words in his mare's ears, trying to calm her even though he felt their agitation just as keenly himself.
Someone stepped on a branch, and the resounding crack echoed through the woods like a thunderclap. In a flash, dozens of bats suddenly burst from the mesh of leaves all around them. They swarmed over the knights in a flurry of shrieks, sending the horses into a frenzy. The reins were ripped from Merlin's hand as his mount reared and took off. The other horses all broke free and fled as well while the knights were preoccupied with shielding their faces from the bats' sharp tiny talons. The swarm took off into the trees a few moments later, leaving them alone, but by then all their horses were gone.
Merlin turned toward Arthur. "Would this be a good time to say 'I told you so'?"
"No, it would not," Arthur said darkly as he strode past and headed back down the way they'd come.
Merlin huffed and followed. None of the others deigned to comment as they backtracked in search of the horses. But there was no sign of the animals. In fact, there was no sign of the way out of the forest, either.
"I thought we came this way," Arthur groused irritably.
"I thought we did too," Lancelot agreed.
"We hadn't gone that far in," Leon added. "The edge must be nearby."
They trudged along for a few more minutes, to no avail. They were still surrounded by the dense trees.
Arthur threw his arms up in frustration and came to a stop. "We'll just have to continue on to Camelot without the horses."
"What, through your shortcut?" Merlin said dubiously.
"Yes."
"Do you even know which direction Camelot is? Because you seem to have been wrong about the direction out."
"There's no need to panic, Mer-lin." Arthur pointed back down the way they'd already backtracked from.
Merlin rolled his eyes in exasperation. Yet for all the ways he thought this was a bad idea, the fact was they couldn't seem to find their way back out the way they'd come. So they could either keep wandering around, or press on and hope they eventually came out the other side. There didn't seem to be much choice, so he huffed and followed after their fearless leader.
The forest grew so dense that they had to walk in single file through some of the thickest parts. Arthur took the lead. Without any sun to mark the passage of time, it was impossible to tell how long they'd been hiking.
Arthur trekked over a patch of dirt, followed by Leon, then Gwaine. But the moment Percival set foot on that same spot, his foot instantly sank down. The large knight yelped in surprise as he suddenly found himself waist deep in loose earth.
"Percival!" Merlin shouted in alarm.
The others in front pulled up short and crowded back to see what had happened. Lancelot stepped forward past Merlin and reached his hand out to help pull Percival out. But when the large knight took his friend's hand, he didn't budge from the sifting sand.
Percival's eyes widened. "I'm sinking."
"What?" Arthur blurted. "That was solid a minute ago."
Merlin had seen the others walk over that spot with no problem, but Percival was definitely sinking further into the quicksand that had appeared out of nowhere. Lancelot grasped at his arm and pulled with all his might, but it wasn't enough.
"We need something to pull him out," Gwaine said.
"Everything was with the horses," Elyan replied, expression stricken with fear as the urgency of the situation quickly settled in. The quicksand was up to Percival's sternum.
He grunted as he tried to wade toward the edge of the hole.
"Don't move, Percival!" Merlin warned. "It'll just make you sink faster."
"I'm sinking fast enough as it is," he snapped back, tone tinged with barely concealed panic.
"Here!" Leon yelled, reaching for some thick vines hanging from a nearby tree. Arthur and Gwaine quickly moved to help, tossing one of the sturdy, fibrous vines over a branch for leverage.
"Grab hold!" Arthur shouted.
Percival struggled to lift his arm out of the mire and grasp the hanging vine. But no sooner had his fingers wrapped around the shoot did he suddenly plunge beneath the surface.
"Percival!"
The vine went slack where it hung. Merlin watched in horror, wracking his brain for some form of magic he could use in that moment, regardless of the consequences. He didn't get the chance. Lancelot reached out and snatched the vine, then swiftly wound it around his arm multiple times until it was secure enough to cut off his circulation. Then he dove right into the pit of quicksand.
"Lancelot!" Elyan called after him.
Merlin sucked in a breath, holding it as he waited for them to resurface. Each second felt like an eternity between heartbeats. Then the vine snapped taut.
"Pull!" Arthur commanded, lurching forward to grab hold of the other end of the vine. Leon and Gwaine took hold too and heaved.
Merlin watched tensely, praying it wouldn't break.
Lancelot's bound arm re-emerged, still clinging fiercely to the plant. Then came his head, bowed low, and then Percival's. Both of them broke the surface with a gasp. Merlin and Elyan scrambled forward, careful to avoid the edge of the pit, stretching as far as they could to grasp their friends' cloaks and drag them to solid ground.
Percival's legs finally came free, and with the resistance of the quicksand abruptly gone, Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine fell backward with the force of their exertion, and Percival and Lancelot came crashing down on top of some tree roots. Percival was coughing raggedly, but he was alive. Merlin crouched next to them worriedly.
"You all right?"
Percival gave a shaky nod. "Y-yeah. Just…give me…a minute."
Lancelot slumped back against the tree, also breathing raggedly. Merlin did him the favor of disentangling the vine from his arm.
"You're insane, mate," Gwaine remarked.
Lancelot just smiled.
Percival craned his neck toward him. "Thanks."
Lancelot clapped him on the back, then reached up to try brushing the sand from his hair.
"I don't understand," Arthur said. "That ground was solid!"
"Have I mentioned I'm getting a really bad feeling from this place?" Merlin put in.
Arthur huffed. "We should keep moving. You two good?"
Lancelot and Percival nodded and got to their feet. Merlin really wished they could go back the way they'd come and get out of here, but since that already hadn't worked out, he supposed the only way was forward.
Lancelot and Percival spent the next several kilometers of walking shaking out the sand that had gotten absolutely everywhere. Merlin grimaced in sympathy; that had to be unpleasant.
They continued through the forest, everyone seeming on edge now and watching the ground beneath their feet warily.
"Look at that," Elyan broke the silence.
Merlin glanced over and found him looking at something a few yards away, a bunch of bright blue flowers growing along ivy up a few of the trees. Their vibrant color was stark in the dim forest, but as Merlin looked at them, they seemed to be moving. Elyan started toward them.
"Be careful," Lancelot said, trailing cautiously behind him.
"Never seen flowers do this," he commented.
Indeed, the blossoms were opening and closing in a steady rhythm, almost like the pulsing of a beating heart. Merlin didn't know whether to be fascinated or unnerved, but he kept his distance and watched tensely as Elyan kept drifting toward them.
"Don't get too close," Merlin warned.
"What's the holdup?" Arthur called from the head of the group.
"Sorry," Elyan called back and turned away from the flowers.
The three of them quickened their pace to catch up. But just as they rounded one of the trees, Lancelot pulled up short as he almost ran face first into a blue flower hanging out from the trunk. The petals fanned wide, and in the next moment a cloud of orange pollen burst from the blossom into his face. Lancelot reeled back with a cry, hands flying up to his eyes. Merlin and Elyan scrambled away from the flower as the others came running back.
"What happened?" Arthur demanded.
Lancelot staggered backwards and bent double, clutching at his face. Merlin rushed forward and gripped his arms just as Lancelot tripped and went crashing to his knees. Merlin dropped with him.
"Water!" he yelled. "Does anyone have water?"
"Here!" Leon yanked the waterskin from his person and handed it over.
Merlin frantically pulled his neckerchief over his head and tipped the water into the fabric. "Lancelot!" He tried to prize the knight's hands away from his face.
Gwaine dropped down next to him and helped by capturing Lancelot's wrists and wrenching them down so Merlin could help him. Lancelot's face was mottled red from the pollen having burned.
"Tilt his head to the side," Merlin instructed tersely to anyone who would listen.
Leon moved around and clasped the sides of Lancelot's head, angling him to the left. Lancelot shuddered and whimpered as his friends restrained him.
"Open your eyes," Merlin coaxed.
Lancelot grunted in pain as he tried to obey, his eyelids squeezing shut again quickly.
"I know it hurts, try to keep them open." Merlin then poured some of the water straight from the skin over his eyes as Lancelot struggled to open them again. They had to flush the pollen out. Merlin used his wet scarf to wipe around Lancelot's face as well.
After several moments, Lancelot's writhing gradually stilled as the process seemed to work. Merlin rewet his scarf and tentatively wiped it over his friend's eyelids. Leon and Gwaine released him, but as soon as they did, Lancelot flailed his arms out. He knocked against Merlin's and latched on with desperate intensity. Bloodshot eyes blinked furiously at something just past Merlin's shoulder.
"I can't see," Lancelot said.
Merlin returned his grip. "Just give it a few minutes to clear."
"No. I- I can't see anything." He moved his other arm out in an arc until it bumped against Gwaine and then his fingers blindly grasped around for his shoulder.
Merlin exchanged a horrified look with the others. This was bad. This was very bad…
