AN: Readers are thinking, stop adding so much so fast, Woomie. I'm thinking, finally some freaking action!So sorry, knights.
CHAPTER 9: Finding Trouble
Four Days Later
A small meadow half a league from the attack on Mina's party
Gwaine looked at the man in front of him with satisfaction. He had patina of someone who was living in primitive conditions and the callouses of a man who lived by the sword. He glared defiantly at Gwaine as the latter looked at the mask in his hand. "You have a mask like the bandits we're tracking often wear," he commented. The man pulled uselessly against the two soldiers who held his arms.
"So?" he asked, but there was some fear in his face. Raiding inside Arthur's kingdom was an offense punishable by death. Everyone knew Camelot's king was protective of his people.
"So, it's odd that you are bringing a load of weapons into such a dangerous territory, and carrying such an incriminating mask."
"It's...not a mask. It's...just..." he went from defiant to close to panic in 2.2 seconds when Gwaine mentioned the mask, he noted.
"Where are the weapons coming from? Who is supplying the bandits? Who is paying you?" Gwaine hammered at him.
"I...I don't know..." Just then, one of the soldiers Gwaine had posted on a nearby ridge cried out. Then, they were overrun. Black-clad men poured over the ridge, and Gwaine was suddenly fleeing for his life. Pulling a stumbling soldier to his feet, Gwaine slashed at one enemy without stopping his flight. It killed him to run from the cowards, but they were greatly outnumbered, not to mention under strict orders to come back and report their findings and not try to take on the entire cabal. Arthur had made that order very pointed, almost as if Gwaine liked defying the odds.
An annoyingly fast attacker swung wildly at Gwaine, forcing him to duck. "Geraint, with me! Let's give our boys some cover!" Gwaine called to the only other knight he'd brought along. Gwaine threw the mask to the young man who he'd pulled up and gave him a shove away. "Tell Arthur about the weapons coming in and that the mask is probably a way they identify their allies." The boy hesitated, and Gwaine blocked a strike and another low from a couple of opportunistic bandits. "Go! Now!" He ran, along with the other soldiers. At Gwaine's side, Geraint ran one attacker through and punched another in the temple with his left hand.
Gwaine pulled his dagger in his off hand and slit one throat, the spun his sword to parry a stroke so hard the follow-through penetrated his attacker's chest. The fight had gotten tighter as more men poured into the small valley. Enjoying himself despite being vastly outnumbered, Gwaine punched one man, breaking his nose, dodged one diving at him, and kicked the attacker as he went past. Next to him, Geraint tripped, his sword trapped beneath a fallen body, so Gwaine stabbed the man standing over him and nabbed a sword from a fallen body, tossing it to Geraint. Geraint returned the favor by throwing his dagger into the throat of a man behind Gwaine. Caught up in the insanity of it all, the men grinned at each other before spinning to fight back-to-back.
Geraint had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he had the soul of a brawler, and fought with the same abandon as Gwaine. The man, one of the oldest of the knights, had only grown harder and tougher with age. There were few Gwaine would rather have at his back in a fight such as this.
With that thought, Gwaine called out, "C'mon boys! At least make a challenge!" The knights jumped into the fray with renewed vigor, together against a sea of attackers, laughing as they went.
A hill just before the edge of the hinterlands
Leon halted the men, looking down at the Tierling Forest below. It was a dense growth area, always dark and imposing, but now it the gloom seemed completely impenetrable. Not a single bird chirped or insect flew, and a feeling of dread pressed down on the men. "We will camp just outside the forest," announced Leon. "We are too exposed up here." He started to walk his horse, but no one else moved.
"Sir Leon...can't you feel that?" asked one.
Leon turned his horse back to look at them, and saw fear on every face. "King Arthur has tasked us with finding out what is threatening some of his people. You can head back if you wish, but I will do the king's bidding and help the people who live near here. I will not abandon them." He started to make his way carefully down the slope without looking back. After a pause, every man followed.
They were setting up camp in the growing dusk when the eyes appeared. A sentry cried out, and they all pulled their swords. Shapes straight from a child's nightmare crept out from the forest, and Leon had the passing thought that he understood why some people had talked of giant spiders. Every part of them was out of proportion, like shadows distorted in the moonlight. They were all long, lean limbs, arms longer than legs, some on all fours, some upright. Their hands and feet were narrow but stretched, with fingers and toes gripping the uneven ground. Their rat-like snouts were overly full with needle teeth. Though they were skinny, almost stringy, and only stood as high as a man's mid-thigh, there were hundreds of them slinking out of the trees. Their movements were eerily in sync, as if the horde had just one mind.
Far below the earth, a demonic creature stirred. "So many eyes," it hissed. "Do we see the one who shapes my earth? Do we see?" As one, the creatures rushed forward, swarming the men. One by one, they disappeared under the rush of bodies until there was nothing but a teeming mass of darkness.
My room, Camelot
It had been a quiet few days for me. My jaw and arm were now a lovely mix of purple, yellow, and green as the bruises began to heal, and the scratch of my neck was nearly gone. I was only stiff first thing in the mornings now. Only the bump on my head still really bothered me. Everyone treated me with kindness and respect, and – bliss! – I found the library. It would have been like a fabulous vacation, except for the dreams.
Every night I saw impossible things. When I recalled them during the day, my head would throb. Impossible memories would surface at importune times, more and more often as I got more and more tired. The dreams were exhausting me, preventing me from getting any real sleep. Merlin had been an absolute dear, and I was quickly growing addicted to his cheerful greetings and easy smiles. Even though he apparently was Arthur's manservant and Gaius' assistant and often acted as a physician when the latter was busy, he still managed to check in on me every day. He even snuck me extra dessert once in a while. Still, there was something about him that tickled my brain. While I trusted him, it was a trust like I'd known him for years instead of days. I had the feeling that he could do so much more than I knew. I leaned back in my chair and grunted in irritation when my hair got caught. This hair down to my butt was just one more annoyance, one more thing that was wrong. At least my mom would be happy that I finally grew it out. I frowned at the thought, trying to picture my mom's face. Two faces popped into my head, superimposed over each other and causing my head to ache.
Just then, the guy I'd been thinking about did his one habit that annoyed me. He tapped on my door and popped in without waiting for my answer. No wonder there were privacy screens in all of the room! "Mina! Hello." His trademark grin was on his face. Even as I weakly smiled back, I pulled the papers I'd been working on closer to myself. I'd been sketching some of the ridiculous things from my dreams, hoping if I put them down on paper it would excise them from my brain somehow. They weren't something I was ready to share, however.
Merlin shook the vial he was holding. "Gaius thought you might be running low on the unguent, so I made some more up for you."
My smile became real. How could it not? "Thank you. I'm really mostly better, though." I shook my head. "I don't know how you do everything, Merlin. Do you ever sleep?"
He shrugged in that loose-limbed way he had. "Sure." He peered closer at my face. "Do you? Forgive me for saying it, but you look absolutely exhausted."
"Sure," I echoed. He looked skeptical, and I spoke in a rush. "It's just – I dream and dream and dream. They are so vivid, so real. They wake me up over and over again, and even when I do sleep, I wake up as tired as when I went to bed." I rubbed my eyes. Yeah, tired. I hadn't meant to spit that out.
"Maybe it's your memories returning," he offered hopefully.
"No, no, it can't be." In for a penny, in for a pound. And truly, it would be nice to share some of this. Why did I feel I could trust Merlin? I had no idea, but I was totally sure. "I dream impossible things. Things that aren't real, that can't be real." I waved at the charcoal sketch I'd been working on. I'm no artist, but I'm pretty good at using simple lines without much detail to get an image across. The picture showed a huge flying machine that people would climb in a cross an ocean. In the background was a skyline full of buildings that would dwarf the keep. They were covered in dots, and each dot was a window. I felt like every single person in the city could fit into just one building. Merlin looked intently at the picture, then glanced at me for permission. I moved my hands away from the stack, granting it.
The next picture showed long, sleek, four-wheeled machines racing around an oval track. I knew nothing pulled them, and they traveled so fast they were hard to see. The next was a small device that allowed you to talk to people a world away. The screen showed you moving pictures, I thought. The next picture was me, but a long, muscled me, shoulder-length hair pulled back in a simple ponytail, about to slam my hand into a volleyball that was flying over a net. The "me" I saw in the mirror felt like a police sketch done by someone who'd never met me. My simple drawing felt more real that the reality I saw each morning.
Suddenly, I felt exposed and raw. I put a hand down on the pile of papers, causing Merlin to jump. "I'm sorry," I said, looking away. "This is just silly rambling. I'm tired and stressed. It's been a long week." I pushed my chair back, stood up, and gathered the papers. I shoved them in the drawer of the desk. "Just forget all of that."
Merlin touched my arm, looking at me with an intensity that was almost intimidating. I suddenly pictured his eyes turning gold and spooked myself even more. "No, please don't be frightened," he encouraged. "Dreams are sometimes more than they seem, and I can see how this would be confusing. Why don't you have Gaius give you a proper sleeping draught for the night so you can get a good night's sleep without dreams? Things will be clearer when you're not so tired."
He was just so nice. I looked longingly at the bed. I was so tired. "I don't know...I'm not sure I'm comfortable..."
There was sympathy on his face. "It must be hard to sleep in a strange place, when you're trying to remember what home is like. How about I ask Arthur to post a guard outside your room while you sleep? They could make sure that nobody comes in during the night."
I hesitated another minute. I wasn't sure I wanted to essentially knock myself out, but getting some uninterrupted sleep sounded amazing. I spoke slowly. "I guess...that might be really nice." Happy to have found a solution, he grinned.
"I'll be right back." He hurried off and I shook my head, amazed at his energy. He was back in no time with a bottle of bluish liquid. "This works pretty fast, so don't take it until you're ready to sleep. I'll make sure you're watched over." I nodded, and he hovered in the doorway until I looked up. "Don't worry. You're safe here."
As I got ready for bed that evening, I kept looking at the vial. I wasn't positive about taking it, though I trusted Merlin and Gaius. Still, I was ready to drop. There was an entire citadel I'd hardly explored, and now that I felt good, I didn't want to be held back just because I was so tired. And I didn't want to face any more mixed up dreams full of everything from bullet trains to dragons, baseball stadiums to coronations. I just wanted a little oblivion. Climbing into the heavenly bed, I chugged the draught and fell asleep before I could even open my book.