A/N: Thank you elbcw, 29Pieces, Buckhunter, Guest, Vanvdreamer, and pallysAramisRios for reviewing! A bit of Princess Bride, Mirkwood, and Jumanji in this fic. XD
Chapter 2
Arthur stood in a small huddle with Leon and Merlin as the others stayed near Lancelot. "Do you think it's permanent?" he asked quietly.
"I have no idea," Merlin replied. "He needs Gaius."
"Is there anything at all you can do for him?" Leon asked.
"With what?" he hissed. "We have no supplies, not even bandages."
"Then we have no choice but to keep moving," Arthur said grimly and broke away from their conversation to head back over to the others. "Lancelot, do you think you can walk?"
His knight looked pale and shaken, but Lancelot's throat bobbed and he gave a slow nod. Feeling around the ground carefully, he started to push himself to his feet. His arms immediately flailed in response to the darkness he alone faced, and Percival quickly moved in to give him something to grab hold of as an anchor and guide.
They all set off again, their pace much slower with Lancelot stumbling along. Arthur had to repeatedly catch himself from getting too far ahead.
"Don't rub at it," he heard Merlin say.
Arthur stopped and turned around in time to see Lancelot make an abortive move of reaching for his eyes. Merlin's mouth was pressed into a thin line.
"When my scarf is dry, we can use it as a bandage," he said. "Try not to touch it in the meantime."
Arthur frowned. That could take a while. Without giving it a second thought, he ripped off a strip from his cloak and brought it over. "How about this?"
Merlin looked at him in surprise, then quickly took the offering. "Perfect, thanks."
They took a few moments so Merlin could bandage Lancelot's eyes and face, then continued onward.
The forest made creaking sounds all around them, like it was a living entity, aged and decrepit. Arthur found it very unnerving and he rued coming in here after all, not that he'd admit it out loud.
"Everyone be on guard," he cautioned.
No sooner had he said that did he feel something slither across his boot. He jerked his gaze down to find a vine coiling around his ankle. It tightened in an instant and yanked his foot right out from under him. Arthur cried out as his back hit the ground, but then he was being dragged away into the underbrush. He heard the distant shouts of his friends as he flailed his arms, trying to grab hold of something. But he was moving too fast. Leaves and branches scratched at his face and hands. He tried to get his sword, but there was no way to free it from its scabbard.
He finally broke through the dense foliage and was hoisted up off the ground until he was dangling from one ankle upside down over a massive plant with a bloom the size of three horses. The flower opened up four petals lined with hundreds of tiny spikes, and in the center was an orifice with razor sharp teeth. Arthur screamed as the maw opened wide with a deep rumble.
The knights burst through the trees with battle cries, brandishing their blades at the plant. Leon and Gwaine hacked at the carnivorous flower while Elyan and Merlin grabbed hold of the vine and pulled with all their might. Once Arthur was no longer dangling above the sharp spicules, Elyan swung his sword and sliced through the shoot. Arthur yelped as he plummeted to the ground.
The plant shrieked and thrashed as the others slashed and stabbed at it, bright green blood spurting across the ground. Merlin grabbed Arthur's arm and hauled him up and away. The flower squealed and furled its petals back in as though trying to protect itself. It gave one last violent shudder before falling still.
The knights backed up warily, swords dripping with green unguent.
"Sire, are you all right?" Leon asked urgently.
Arthur nodded, still trying to catch his breath. That had been terrifying.
"This forest is trying to kill us," Gwaine grunted.
As irrational as that sounded, Arthur couldn't bring himself to disagree.
"Am I still a girl's petticoat for not wanting to come in here?" Merlin asked petulantly.
Arthur just rolled his eyes and quickly retreated from the dead plant. At least, he hoped it was dead. They backtracked, the trail of broken twigs and drag marks easy to follow until they came upon where Lancelot and Percival had been left.
"What happened?" Lancelot asked frantically, flinching at the sound of their footsteps. "Arthur?"
"I'm all right," he said, reaching out to reassure his friend. He was littered with tiny scratches but he'd live. "Let's get out of this place."
That was easier said than done. The forest had been quite vast from what they'd seen up on that ridge along the road, and it felt even more expansive when they were deep within its bowels. Not much later, they found themselves wading into a fog that grew heavier within moments, completely immersing them in an opaque shroud.
"Stay close!" Arthur called over his shoulder. "This way!"
"Where?" someone responded. "Where are you!"
"I can't see!"
Arthur paused and turned around, waiting for the others to catch up. But the fog was so thick he couldn't see even an inch in front of his face. "Over here!" he yelled.
More shouts went up, but they were growing more distant, not closer.
"No, this way!" Arthur called, making his way back along the narrow path. Or, he thought he was, but surely he should have run into one of his friends by now. Where on earth were they getting to?
His boot caught on something large and he tripped, landing with a grunt. Lying half on top of what had snagged him allowed him to see a splash of red, and the other person made a muffled sound as well.
"Lancelot!" Arthur scrambled onto his knees and reached out to pull him upright.
"Arthur? What's happening?"
"It's impossible to see through this fog." In that, they were nearly as blind as their injured friend. "Where did everyone go?"
"I don't know. I tripped and lost contact with Percival. I tried shouting, but everyone sounded like they were getting farther away." His throat bobbed. "I thought it best not to move and hope they came back."
"They all probably just got turned around," Arthur said and hauled Lancelot onto his feet.
At least, he hoped that was the case; he hadn't heard any screams of someone being attacked. But now there was an eerie silence as though everyone else had just vanished.
Arthur took Lancelot's arm and guided it up to his own elbow, which the blinded knight then grasped fervently. "Hold tight."
They then moved off together, calling for the others as they waded through the milky murk.
"Arthur!" a frantic voice echoed through the mist.
"Merlin!"
Lancelot echoed his calls, and a few moments later, his ridiculous manservant came bumbling through the fog. Arthur had never been so elated to see him.
"Where are the others?" he asked.
Merlin shook his head. "I don't know. I don't even know how we got so separated."
Arthur huffed. He was really beginning to loathe this forest.
Merlin took hold of Lancelot's other arm and the three of them continued onward, linked tightly so as not to lose each other again. They came upon Sir Leon not long after, but he was alone. Then the fog began to mysteriously clear, slithering away like it had had its fun and was done playing games.
And in the stillness of the forest where they stood, there was absolutely no sign of the others.
.o.0.o.
Gwaine stumbled out of the fog and spun around. Movement several yards down caught his attention as Elyan also emerged from the heavy mist.
"Gwaine! Where is everyone?"
"No idea." He swept his gaze around, but there was no penetrating the thick cloud. Even their voices seemed to get swallowed up in its weight.
"Hey!" a third voice called as Percival made his way toward them.
"Have you seen the others?" Elyan asked urgently.
Percival shook his head, expression pinched in distress. "I lost Lancelot."
"Lost?" Elyan repeated.
"One minute he had a hold of me, the next he didn't. The fog was so thickā¦I must have gotten turned around." Percival looked away, eyes wracked with guilt.
"It wasn't your fault," Elyan comforted.
Gwaine scanned the wall of mist. "Arthur! Merlin!"
There was no answer, no sign of them or Lancelot or Leon.
"What do we do?" Elyan asked.
Gwaine scowled at the fog like it was an enemy intentionally keeping them from their friends and king. "We can't go back in there," he said regretfully. "We'll just end up lost again."
"But we can't leave without Arthur and the others."
"We can walk the edge of it," Gwaine replied. "They're bound to come out somewhere."
Percival glanced up and down the shrouded trees. "Split up?"
Gwaine's mouth pressed into a thin line. They'd have a better chance of coming across the others if they went both directions, but he was loath to risk losing each other again. Not to mention they could run into another one of those carnivorous plants.
"Best we stick together," he said.
Elyan and Percival nodded in grim agreement.
"So which way?" Elyan asked.
Gwaine shrugged helplessly and turned to go right. He'd gone three steps when a geyser of fire and sulfurous gas belched up from the ground. The flames caught his arm and lit up the edge of his cloak. He stumbled back with a surprised yelp and slapped at his arm. Percival and Elyan ran over; Percival grabbed the tail end of his cloak and flipped it up and over the flames, using the fabric to pat them out.
"What the hell was that?" Elyan exclaimed.
Gwaine jerked his gaze across the ground and noted that the soil was different here, more spongy looking with moss and a low-hanging murk clinging to the surface. He'd thought it was just remnants of the fog, but after that little explosion, he could smell the fumes. It was a bog.
"Okay, let's go the other way," Gwaine said.
The three of them carefully backed away from the volatile marsh to head the opposite direction, but a few steps that way and another stream of fire spewed up from the ground.
"You've got to be kidding me," Gwaine growled. They were surrounded by the bog on three sides and the suffocating mist on the other. Neither was a good option at the moment, but they definitely did not want to get split up again in the fog, not to mention it'd be doubly bad if they stumbled into a section of the bog shrouded in mist.
"Guess there's nothin' for it," he grumbled, then took a deep breath before continuing on at a very slow and very careful pace, watching the ground where he stepped for any signs of a concealed blowhole.
Noxious flames shot up at random intervals, and there was almost no indication in the spongy earth as to where it would happen. There was the faintest hiss of gas as a warning, and Gwaine started being able to sidestep in time to avoid getting singed.
A particularly loud hiss prickled his ears, and Gwaine jerked his gaze around in search of the impending eruption. The column of fire that shot straight up was much larger than previous ones, and the edge of the flames caught Percival's cloak and ignited it with a whoosh. Percival yelped and frantically ripped the article off, tossing it away before it could burn him as well.
They quickened their pace, anxious to get out of this wretched fire swamp. When they finally set foot on more firm ground, they practically collapsed in relief. But in all that time, they still hadn't seen any sign of their friends.
Elyan slumped against a gnarled tree trunk. "What now? Wander around the edge of the mist forever? What if Arthur and the others were the complete opposite direction?"
Gwaine shook his hair out of his eyes and began to pace. There was no way they could navigate a path back through that bog. Maybe Arthur and the others were in the opposite direction; maybe they were somewhere else entirely, scattered and alone. This forest was a twisting labyrinth with booby traps everywhere they stepped.
Something in the forest creaked and groaned, and then Elyan screamed.
Gwaine and Percival whirled toward him, hands going to their swords. But it wasn't a fanged flower like before. No, Gwaine gaped in horror at Elyan having somehow sunk into the tree bark. His left arm was completely submerged and half his chest.
Percival surged forward and grabbed his other arm, trying to pull him out, but the bark seemed to be as firm as when he'd first leaned against it. The tree creaked and groaned again as it shifted. Something snapped loudly and Elyan threw his head back with a tortured scream.
Percival backed up and drew his sword. Gwaine did the same and they attacked the trunk with their blades. The tree made a horrendous noise in response, a grating sound that felt like spikes in Gwaine's eardrums. But he didn't stop. He and Percival hacked relentlessly at the bark encasing their friend, chunks flying away as they went. The branches above thrashed, showering them with dead leaves. Finally they'd chopped away enough of the bark for Percival to yank Elyan free, and they all scrambled away from the tree. The trunk moaned and whined as it shifted, trying to fold over its wounds.
Elyan gasped and bent double in pain, his left arm hanging at a bad angle by his side. Definitely broken.
Percival glanced between the tree, fire swamp, and fog. "I don't think we're getting out of this place alive," he said quietly.
Gwaine thought he was right.
