Here we are and I'm back again with another chapter. I am trying to wrap things up but it is taking longer then I realized.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, only my OCs and this storyline.
Hope you enjoy and tell me what you think.
Hanging by a Thread
Everything was on fire. The flames licked up the houses as the people ran screaming in terror. The soldiers and knights from Camelot marched through the city, burning everything as they went. They cut down anyone who got in their way. Some of the people tried to fight back but it was no use as their lifeless bodies fell to the ground. Even the people in the cages screamed for us as they were forced to watch. I could hear Lavania calling out my name but the further I got the more muffled her voice became until it was completely gone, never to be heard again by my ears.
Parents carried their children as they tried to escape the flames that consumed the place they once called home. Many of them were trapped as the houses collapsed and the fire blocked their path.
The day had begun with a market where everyone smiled and shouted to be noticed so they could sell their goods. In only a few moments that had changed. The stalls were destroyed. The last of my pots were smashed. Families were separated. Many people had come from towns and villages close by but would never return. Their families would always wonder what had happened to them and why they never came home. Some would figure it out and others would be in denial, still hoping that somehow their loved ones had survived and escaped the chaos. Very few did.
My feet hit the ground as I ran down the street, my brow covered in sweat. I had to find the others. I had told them to hide and that I would find them. I promised. I wasn't going to leave this place without them. It was my job to protect them and I would not fail. We were going to go together.
I saw a small girl standing in the middle of the street, her wavy black hair tangled and her face covered in soot. She looked around with wide eyes, lost. Then she called out. "Gaia!" A friend? A sister? "Gaia!" She called again. A woman came running out and scooped up the little girl who screamed in protest.
"No!" She screamed. "I have to find Gaia! I won't leave her!" She struggled but the woman didn't let her go, running toward the edge of the city.
I turned off the main road, looking everywhere. There were carts of hay turned over, catching on fire. I coughed as the smoke entered my lungs. Then I saw him, through the smoke, and he saw me. His little legs carried him slowly towards me and I ran towards him, falling to my knees and embracing him.
"Arthur." I breathed his name. "Thank goodness your safe." I kissed the top of his head as he sobbed. He was so young and had already seen so much. I looked around us. "Arthur, where are Jasper and Aida?"
"We were separated." He sobbed.
At least there was a chance that they were still out there. "Lets go find them." I said getting to my feet. I turned and froze. There, standing right in front of us in his read uniform was a knight of Camelot. He held a loaded crossbow in his hands, the arrow aimed straight at my heart. I pushed Arthur behind me. But the knight did not fire. In fact it looked as if he were shaking. He was young, around my age, with short cut brown hair. His uniform was hand-me-down. He must be new to being a knight. Still trying to find the glory they told him about in battle. Was this what he expected when they told him stories? Did they tell him his job was to kill the innocent, their own people?
"What's your name?" He asked. A mistake. It would be easier to shoot us if he didn't know who we were.
"Joone Tellar." I tried to keep the shaking out of my voice. I tried to stand tall in front of him. "And you?"
"Sir Galahad. Who's he?" He gestured with his crossbow towards Arthur behind me, surprising that he did not recognize him. But his little face was covered in soot and he wore the cloths of the people.
For a moment I was silent. The story we had created to hide his identity escaped me. I couldn't remember, so I said the first thing that came to my head. "He's my son." Arthur didn't deny it with the arrow pointed at us.
That answer made the knight hesitate. How could he shoot a mother and her child? He had a mother. Would this be like killing her?
"I can't let you go." He tried to sound confident but his voice wavered. "I have orders."
"To destroy traitors to the king. Yes, I know." I spat. "Even the children of this town have betrayed the king. Is that what they told you? Did they tell you we deserved to die for our treachery towards the king?" He was silent, trying not to break eye contact with me. "Then shoot me, but let my son go. He's only a child."
"I didn't want this." He began to lower his weapon. "This is not honorable, to kill woman and children. I didn't sign up for this." He threw the crossbow to the ground. I was shocked.
"Go." He said as the sound of other soldiers could be heard in the distance, getting closer. "Go!"
"You are truly a knight." I called to him. "The most gallant. We won't forget your mercy." Then we ran. I looked back once to see him picking up the crossbow from the ground but he did not follow us. He would lead the others away from us.
Sir Galahad. Not a name I would soon forget and he would never forget me either. Joone Tellar, the woman who proved he was a true knight. He would never forget my words.
I scooped Arthur into my arms to run faster, holding him close. I didn't really know where I was going, just that I needed to keep running, searching for my refugees. That's when I saw Aida come bursting out of the smoke, almost running into us. Her cloths were slightly burnt and she had lost her cloak. Her ginger hair looked almost white with ash. Her eyes focused in on me and she engulfed the two of us in a large hug.
"Where's Jasper?" I asked.
"I don't know." Her eyes were wet and her voice was almost horse from shouting, calling for Jasper and the rest of us. I stroked her face with the back of my hand.
"We'll find him." I promised. The house next to us collapsed, and the flames jumped out at us, bighting at our heals as I pulled on Aida's arm to follow us. The town was falling apart, soon there would be nothing left but ashes and the memory of what it used to be. Very few would remember this night and the terror it brought.
We avoided the fire as best we could, but the smoke was thickening, threatening to suffocate us. The scarf I had wrapped around my head caught on fire and I was forced to pull it off, throwing it to the ground. We followed the path the fire showed us until we came running out into the open. Night was falling as we ran out into the fields that surrounded the town and the forest beyond. We didn't stop running until we came to a small hill where we could look down on the burning town and the flames would not reach us.
The cold air cooled our skin, but we didn't notice. We stared down on the town with wide eyes, traumatized. I turned Arthur's face away so he would not see. Aida fell to her knees and wept. I lowered Arthur to the ground and he wrapped his small arms around Aida to try and comfort her.
"Why are you crying?" He asked.
"Because Jasper isn't here." She cried. "He was supposed to be here."
I wished I could comfort her as well but I could not take my eyes off of the flames. For four years we managed to evade the law, but now everything was falling down around us.
Uther's forces against magic had gone quiet for so long that we had become too comfortable. Maybe that was his plan. Make us feel as if he was beginning to relent so that we would feel like we could come out in the open only for him to grab us as soon as we stepped outside our doors and throw us in cages. The ones he had caught would be taken to Camelot and thrown in the dungeons to keep them away from the rest of the world. His prisons would become too full soon. What then?
Perhaps he planned to burn us out until his realm was all but ash. Would that please him, to know that he has destroyed his own kingdom?
I buried my face in my hands, no longer able to look at the gruesome sight anymore. My hair fell over my face. Then I looked up at the sky and yelled to the high heavens, falling to my knees. I couldn't save him. I couldn't save Jasper.
"I should have saved you." I smoke softly to the night sky. "Jasper."
I could remember his smile in my memories. I remember him dancing with Aida. I remember them laughing together and how stubborn he was to trust me in the beginning. I remember his kind heart. He didn't deserve this.
"Its okay Aida." Arthur spoke to her. "Jasper will be here soon."
His words broke my heart and I began to cry. He didn't understand what had happened. One day he wouldn't even remember this tragedy.
"He's gone, Arthur." Aida sobbed. "And he's never coming back."
"Yes he is." Arthur argued and looked to me. "You promised we would all go home together."
"I'm so sorry Arthur." I cried. "We won't be going home together today."
"Tomorrow then?" He still did not see.
"Not tomorrow Arthur. Not ever."
"No, that's not true." Arthur didn't want to believe it. "You're lying." He let go of Aida and stared up at me. "You're lying."
I didn't want to answer him. I couldn't. Many would have lied and told him Jasper was on a trip and wouldn't be back for a long time, but I just couldn't. I had done too much lying in my lifetime that I just couldn't do it anymore. I'm surprised at how long I've been able to keep my sanity.
Everyone was silent as we listened to the flames that brought the town to its knees. We heard the screams of the people. I looked away, but Arthur and Aida could not. Arthur wouldn't remember what happened but he would always remember the fire. Aida's eyes were wide and watery. She looked until she couldn't bear it anymore. I pulled Arthur away and he buried his small face in my skirts.
"This wasn't supposed to happen." Aida broke the silence. "I never even got to tell him…"
We heard the crack of a twig beside us and we turned to see the last person we ever imagined. He too had lost his cloak, his cloths were singed, and he was covered in ash.
"Never got to tell me what?" He coughed the smoke from his lungs.
"Jasper!" We shouted.
"I told you he'd come!" Arthur shouted.
Aida was the first to run forward as she stumbled to get to her feet. She stopped a few feet away from him as if she didn't believe he was real and this was all just a trick.
"Aida?" He looked concerned. "Its me. It really is me."
Just hearing his voice shattered the illusion and she closed the space between them. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
"Its about time." I said to myself.
"We thought we'd lost you." Aida said, pulling away.
He smiled. "I'd never just leave you like that." He assured her and kissed her again.
"Ewww." Arthur called from beside me. "Get a room."
We all laughed. So everything hadn't fallen apart after all. We were still hanging on by a thread.
"Come on." I called to them, taking Arthur's hand. "Lets go home."
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This is the longest story I have ever written.
Hope you keep following and I will see you next time.