This chapter didn't quite turn out the way I planned it, but I'm still happy with it. The characters from Ranger's Apprentice will be turning up eventually, so don't worry. Hopefully, they will at least be mentioned next time.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin or The Ranger's Apprentice Series.

Sir Leon had been sent by King Uther to follow up on some rumors flying around through some of the outlying villages. He and a group of three other knights had arrived in the small village of Tenebris a little over an hour ago. They had been speaking to the village leader, Miles, about some of the rumors coming from there. According to the man, people had claimed to hear odd howling in the night. Not to mention, some of their livestock had been disappearing. The same story had come from a couple of other villages they had already visited.

In all honesty, Sir Leon had not been particularly worried at first. Originally, he has just assumed that it was just a wolf, something that was not terribly uncommon in most places. He told the man his thoughts, but the man had disagreed with him.

"I thought the same thing as you, my Lord," Miles replied. "However, yesterday some of the other men and I had gone towards the forest in hopes of finding some sort of hint. There we found something very strange."

Upon hearing this, Sir Leon grew interested. "Would you mind showing us what you found?"

"Not at all, my Lord," Miles answered.

Miles brought Sir Leon and his fellow knights to the edge of the forest. He brought them to a gap between two trees and knelt on the forest floor. He motioned for the other men to kneel next to him. "These are the prints we found yesterday."

Sir Leon, along with the other knights, leaned forward to get a better look. One of the knights, Sir Hirum, spoke to the group. "They just look like simple bear tracks. What's so strange about that?"

"Normally I would agree with you, my Lord, but look at the way the tracks are spaced out. As you know, bears have four legs. If you look at these, it looks like it was walking on two legs, not four."

As Sir Leon continued to examine the ground, he saw what the village leader meant. The prints on the ground definitely resembled those belonging to a bear, but they were spaced oddly. It looked more like a two legged creature had made the tracks. "Miles is right. There's something off about them. I think we need to follow them."

Going back to the main area of the village, the knights collected their horses and set off towards the forest. The entered through the gap in the trees and began following the strange tracks. They twisted through the forest, sometimes leading the knights in places that were difficult for the horses to walk through.

The knights were surprised when they realized that the tracks had led them to a small clearing. They were even more surprised when they realized that the clearing showed signs of someone having been there before them. Signaling for the knights to halt, Sir Leon dismounted from his horse and walked forward to the small camp site.

"Someone was definitely here before. By the looks of it, it was abandoned." Sir Leon continued to gaze around the clearing, looking for any clues that would hint at what had happened.

Behind him, Sir Jarvis spoke saying, "Sir, you need to come and look at this."

Turning around, Sir Leon made his way over to the other man. He was pointing his finger at something lying on the ground. He approached the object and knelt down beside it. "It's a sword," Sir Jarvis said. Sir Leon picked it up and looked at it carefully. There was something about it that looked familiar. He inspected the sword carefully. He examined the hilt of the sword, noticing something carved into it. Looking more closely, Sir Leon received a surprise. A small wolf was carved into the hilt of the sword, an image he very familiar with. When he realized what the image was, the sword dropped from his grasp. One of the knights with him was not going to be happy.

"What's wrong?" Sir Fabian asked. Sir Leon sighed. This was the last man he wanted to talk to at the moment.

Getting up from the ground, Sir Leon turned to face his knights. "I'm pretty certain that I know who was in the clearing."

"Who was here? How do you know?" Sir Fabian asked.

Sir Leon closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He could not keep the information from the young man any longer. He deserved to know. Opening his eyes back up, Sir Leon passed the sword to Fabian. "Look at the image on the hilt."

Sir Fabian did as he was told and looked at the hilt. His eyes opened wide and the sword fell from his grasp. His mouth opened and closed several times before he could get any words to leave his mouth. "This is my brother's sword…but…why would it just be lying on the ground? He's a knight! He wouldn't go anywhere without it."

"Fabian, relax. I'm sure Andrew's alright."

"How can you say that? We just found his sword, something he never leaves just lying around, on the ground. Not to mention we just followed the tracks of a possibly dangerous beast directly to his camp site. Something has happened to Andrew, and we need to find out what happened!"

"Look, there's no-" but Sir Leon was cut off before he could finish his sentence.

"Leon! Come and look at this!" Sir Hirum shouted. Sir Leon was beginning to hate those words. He walked over to Sir Hirum and instantly saw what the other man wanted him to see. Before them was a path leading into the forest, but it was no ordinary path. The path had been made by force. That much he could tell by the amount of broken limbs, trampled grass, and scattered leaves across the ground.

"Something tells me Sir Andrew ran into the beast while he was here. Whatever happened, it cannot have been good."

Sir Leon, Sir Jarvis, Sir Hirum, and a very distraught Sir Fabian set off to follow the path. They led their horses along the path, constantly alert for any signs of Sir Andrew or the creature. With each minute that passed, Sir Leon was becoming more and more concerned. He was worried about what they would eventually find. Several times they had stopped along the path to examine bits of red cloth they found caught in the limbs of trees or bushes. They had even found signs of blood in a couple of places.

Riding at the front of the group, Sir Leon was the first to see the body lying in the middle of the forest floor. He held up his hand to signal the group to stop and then dismounted his horse. He approached the body carefully, aware that the creature could still be in the forest. He stopped when he recognized the body. It was Sir Andrew's. He heard the other knights walk up behind him. His heart broke as he saw Sir Fabian rush forward and drop to his knees beside the body of his brother. The young man broke down and began to sob uncontrollably. Sir Leon didn't blame him. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to come across your brother in such a manner.

One thing concerned Sir Leon about the body. He knew that the man had most likely been attacked by the creature they were tracking. He found himself confused as he continued to look at the body. Other than the small cuts made from branches, there were no other marks on the man's body. Sir Andrew's eyes were open, a look of terror plastered on his face. If there was one thing that Sir Leon knew for sure, it was that they were facing a creature the likes of which he had never seen. He needed to get back to Camelot and inform King Uther and Prince Arthur as quickly as possible.

Let me know what you thought of this chapter!

Episode 2 of Season 4 comes on tonight. I'm so excited!