A/N – Greetings, my brethren of beauty!
Must. Stop. Reading. Game of Thrones. Can't. Stop. Reading. Game of Thrones. Aaaaargh.
I'm probably going to bring this story to a close soon, but I've had a great time writing it! (Of course, when I say soon, that could mean anything from 5-20 chapters)
"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." - Terry Pratchett
Ignitrus had been riding for hours now. The insides of his legs were rubbed raw from the unfamiliar saddle. Grimacing, he rubbed his thigh. He didn't have to ride for much longer now, anyway. The fork in the road was just starting to appear ahead of him.
Pulling on the reins, he commanded the horse to stop and dismounted carefully onto his right foot. He made sure that he landed so as to leave one perfect footprint in the thick muddy track, pointing back the way he had come.
Muscles in his arms straining, he pulled himself back onto the horse and set off the other way down the small path, which turned away and headed back towards Camelot. It was lucky he had a strong knowledge of the druid paths or this stage of the plan would not have worked. Now, when Arthur and his band of fools found the footprint, they would set off back to Camelot. Ignitrus would take the shortcut down the other fork in the path, and reach Camelot before they did.
Then the final stage of his plan would come into play.
Arthur felt a warm sensation fall over him, like the curtain going down on a play. His eyes started to close and his head lolled forwards.
Thump.
"Arthur! Are you okay?" Merlin jumped off his horse and lifted Arthur from the patch of mud where he had fallen.
"Yes, yes. I'm totally... fine..." Arthur's eyes were closing again.
Merlin grabbed him and led him away from the other riders. "We need to have a serious talk."
"You can't tell me what to do. I'm the king," he slurred.
Merlin sighed heavily and pushed Arthur on the shoulders. He sat down heavily behind a tree and Merlin marched off towards the horses.
He returned a moment later with a bucket of water, which he then threw all over Arthur.
"What the hell are you doing?" Arthur half-screamed at him.
"I'm sorry Arthur, but I wasn't going to talk to you in that state."
"I don't – I don't understand," Arthur said, puzzled.
"Then I'll explain. You've been visiting Gwen in your sleep."
Arthur's mouth opened. "How do you-"
"Or at least, you think you have. But it isn't Gwen. The place you've been visiting, it's just a construct of your mind. And Gwen is just a memory." Merlin looked at Arthur with sad eyes.
"No! She's real! You can't take her away from me!"
"Arthur, why do you think people grieve? Because when people die, that's the end. You can't go on visiting them. It's my fault really – I shouldn't have put you in an enchanted sleep so many times. Gaius warned me it was a side effect but I didn't take him seriously."
Arthur looked down at his boots. A small green fern was unravelling its first leaf just a few inches away. He leaned back against the tree and felt a new leaf shoot poke him in the back.
"Why is this place so full of life, when she isn't?" Arthur whispered. "Why is this tree allowed so many years, when she had so few?"
Merlin pulled Arthur into a tight hug as Arthur sobbed on his shoulder.
"Come on. We need to catch the man who did this." Merlin said.
Ignitrus thundered down the muddy track. The horse's hooves skidded across the slippery mud and he wrapped a thick bunch of mane around each hand.
His cloak flew out behind him in the strong wind which had started to blow, making the trees rustle and old leaves blow along the ground.
The horse leaped over a particularly deep patch of bog and his breath left him as they landed. He was not cut out for riding.
That wouldn't matter when he had it, though. Nothing would matter. Not money, not food, not promises of power. He would have everything. At the same time, however, he would have nothing. Ignitrus pondered this for a second, then decided that it would be closer to everything.
The horse was still galloping along at full speed, which was strange because he had hardly stopped for hours. It had tried to buck him off just after they left Camelot. He'd soon put a stop to that.
"Oh, no." Merlin said, for the second time that day.
"What? What is it?" Tarrian called out.
"It's a footprint. Ignitrus' footprint. He's heading back to Camelot. He must have gone past us while we slept."
"How could he have got past? We had guards up the entire night. Come to think of it, how do you know it's his footprint?" Tarrian fired back at him.
"There are other ways - old druid paths and suchlike. As for the footprint, Morgana had me clean his shoes when I was serving her. I noticed that the boots he took to wearing had a strange swirl on the heel. They must have been hand-carved. If you look – here – you can see the same swirl in the footprint. In fact, I think it's been left deliberately to lead us this way," he replied.
"Then I think we have two options. Follow the footprint or carry on," Arthur said. "It's unlikely that Ignitrus left this to try to trick us into leaving him and going back to Camelot. I think it's been left as a message."
"He's gloating," Leon sighed. "He's fooled us again. This was just to lead us a way to the castle, so that he could... do what?"
"Go back to the undefended castle and kill everyone inside as revenge." Gwaine said quietly from behind them.
"Go!" Tarrian yelled. They kicked their horses on and spun around quickly, galloping back down the path.
They didn't notice the smiling face watching them from the bushes. Ignitrus hadn't been able to control himself - he had to see their faces when they realised they'd been tricked. He'd lost time though, so he'd have to be faster on the way back.
Then, he would finally win this long game. A game of chess between him and the world, and he was one move away from checkmate.
Another chapter finished!
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