A/N: Thank you GuestM Live and PadrePedro for reviewing! I'm so glad you're enjoying this!
Chapter 5
Lancelot's wrists were chafed raw from all the futile struggling he'd done since their capture. His heart burned with equal measures of rage and grief. These men had murdered his parents, kidnapped his sister, and now condemned one of his closest friends to an awful death. And Lancelot couldn't do anything about it.
Gwen was still weeping quietly, and the rest of them were clearly wracked with devastation as well. But their attention was eventually diverted as the caravan arrived at a place where a bunch of other people were gathered. The market Cenred had spoken of. There were lit fire pits spaced around and men mingling about…and more cages with children of various ages. Lancelot's stomach churned with revulsion.
The cart came to a stop and Cenred ordered the prisoners be brought out. They were all untied from the bars of the cage and herded together with Leon and Gwaine.
Freya scrambled to the edge of the open cage door, prostrating herself on her hands and knees. "Please," she begged. "Let my brother stay."
Cenred strode over and smacked her. She cried out and recoiled in tears.
Lancelot pushed forward in fury but received a punch to the stomach that dropped him to his knees with a dry heave.
Cenred sneered. "Your brother's a bad influence." He slammed the cage door shut and left Freya crying inside.
The rest of them were pushed and shoved through the encampment to a corral. Seven children were already inside, huddled on the ground crying softly. Gwen looked at them in horror but didn't move toward them, frozen by the sheer inhumanity of it all.
Outside the fence, men meandered about, surveying the captives, pointing and making remarks, then bartering if they were interested. One of the young boys was traded for a slab of meat.
"These aren't children," someone said disdainfully. "What good are they?"
"Those two would make for good manual labor," Cenred replied, pointing to Leon and Gwaine. "Or Wraith fodder. But the rest are the very first Lightspinners, their abilities unparalleled."
Murmurs of intrigue went through the crowd.
Another man leaned against the fence and leered hungrily at Gwen. "What do you want for that filly?"
Elyan stepped in front of his sister to block her from sight, bristling with ire.
"We have to do something," Lancelot hissed.
"What?" Gwaine replied. "We're outnumbered, with no weapons, and light spinning is useless against fellow people."
"Then we don't target people," Percival put in, looking out across the encampment.
They followed his gaze to some horses.
"We startle them, we can cause a distraction," Merlin agreed.
"That won't buy us much," Leon pointed out.
Elyan's eyes were hard as he said, "It has to be enough." He flicked a look at Gwen, who was about to be sold like chattel.
"If we don't act now, we'll be split up and never get another chance," Gwen spoke up. "And Arthur is out there."
They all shared resolute nods.
As the Roamers continued to haggle over their "goods," the group crowded around Percival and Lancelot to conceal the fact they were spinning light. They formed a pair of snakes and sent them slithering across the ground, weaving them in and around objects to keep them hidden as long as possible. When they reached the horses, they made the snakes strike upward at the animals' faces. Startled by the burst of light and the illusion of a venomous threat, the horses shrieked and reared, then bolted. Shouts went up as men threw themselves out of the way and others got plowed into.
Men threw open the corral gate and rushed in to stop them. Gwaine, Leon, and Elyan leaped forward to hold them off. With their hands still bound, they swung their arms like clubs, able to hold their own against the bottlenecked influx of opponents. But more were climbing over the fence. Lancelot and Percival spun out more light snakes to intercept the fleeing horses and steer them back around. More yelps and cries went up as the animals trampled more men.
"Merlin!" Gwaine shouted and tossed a knife through the air.
It landed in the grass next to Merlin, who quickly snatched it up and turned to cut their bonds. Once Percival was free, he immediately launched himself into the melee, allowing the others to fall back so Merlin could cut them free as well. Gwen gathered up the children urgently and told them to send light into the bad men's faces. A few of them did, temporarily blinding the men climbing over the fence slats.
An arrow zinged into the corral, grazing Leon's arm. He cried out and staggered away from the man he'd been grappling with. As the Roamer went after him, Percival rammed him like a bull, picking him clear off his feet and flinging him into a group of men, bringing them all down in a heap. Gwaine managed to grab another knife and threw it, hitting the archer perched across the field in the chest. But there were plenty more men coming, with weapons too.
Lancelot squeezed through to the edge of the corral and slipped out between the fence slats. He ran to the nearest cooking spit and snatched up a burning log, which he held to one of the tent flaps. The canvas caught fire, which quickly began to spread. Lancelot darted to the next tent and the next, filling the air with a blazing orange glow and the harsh crackle of flames.
A sword came swinging out of nowhere, and Lancelot upset his balance as he threw himself backward. He landed on his back on the ground as a Roamer appeared above him and brought his sword down. Lancelot swung the burning log, catching the blade along the side and managing to deflect the strike instead of it cutting straight through the wood. He then chucked the branch into the Roamer's face before scrambling to his feet and away.
The others had finally broken free of the corral and found weapons and were engaged in combat while half the Roamers were running to put out the fires that were spreading rapidly. Gwen and Merlin were busy trying to herd the children away from the battle.
Lancelot spotted some wagon cages with captives nearby and bolted over to them. While Cenred kept his cage secured with wound twine, these required an actual key. He looked around frantically for a way to get them out.
A lanky teenage boy pointed through the bars. "He has the key."
Lancelot whipped around and spotted a man batting a blanket at some flames creeping toward bales of hay. His gaze shifted to a pitchfork lying on the ground at the other end of the bales, and he made a run to grab it. Coming up behind the Roamer, he bashed the man over the head, dropping him in an instant. Lancelot dropped down beside him and rifled through his pockets until he found the key. Then he hurried back to the wagons and opened the cages to let the Lightspinners out. The kids scattered in multiple directions.
An arrow flew past Lancelot's head, barely missing him. He ducked low and scrambled away. The thickening smoke spewed in his face, making him cough and his eyes water. He ran into Elyan, who was crouched behind a barrel and reloading a crossbow. With the arrow notched, he jumped up to shoot, then ducked back down. Lancelot chanced a look around the edge of the barrel. The Roamers were rallying, all of them armed with blades now.
"We're outnumbered," he told Elyan.
Elyan looked grim, then angled his head at something on the ground. He reached past Lancelot to grab a corked bottle of liquid. "Check that," he said, thrusting the bottle into Lancelot's hands.
He popped the cork and took a whiff, wrinkling his nose. "Liquor."
"Perfect." Elyan took it back and tossed it into some nearby flames. The fire exploded into a larger inferno that knocked several nearby men off their feet.
Lancelot frantically whipped his gaze around for the others. They needed to regroup.
But then a shrill screech pierced the air, making them both look up in terror. Several amorphous shadows were flying overhead, no doubt drawn by the raucous commotion. Angry shouts turned to ones of fear and alarm.
Lancelot and Elyan abandoned their cover to search for their friends. Gwen and Merlin were easy to spot with the group of children.
"Make a shield of light!" Merlin was instructing them urgently.
"Where're Percival, Leon, and Gwaine?" Elyan asked as they jogged up to join them.
Merlin and Gwen shook their heads helplessly.
"Protect the children," Lancelot told them. "We'll find the others."
He and Elyan ran off across the encampment again, trying not to panic at the blood-curdling screams sounding overhead as the Wraiths descended. Percival and Leon were still engaged in a sword fight, unaware of the Wraith swooping down toward them. Elyan threw his hand up and flashed a burst of light in its face, making it rear away. The phantom went after someone else, one of the Roamers who couldn't fend it off. He went down in a series of terrifying screams.
"Gwaine!" Elyan shouted.
Despite the blazing light of the burning fires, the smoke was inhibiting visibility. But Lancelot spotted Cenred go barreling into the light dome that was protecting the children. The light failed as Merlin was knocked to the ground with Cenred on top of him, and the children scattered in fright.
"Fight the wraiths you little cur!" the man raged, shaking Merlin.
The others were too far away, but then Gwaine came running over and tackled Cenred off of Merlin, then punched him in the face so hard the Roamer immediately fell limp.
"Merlin! Gwen!" Lancelot shouted in warning as more Wraiths came down toward them.
The two quickly re-spun the light dome, with Gwaine inside, and the phantoms veered away with enraged shrieks. Percival and Elyan began spinning their own light shield, but Lancelot remembered Freya. Cenred's wagon had been left on the edge of the encampment.
Lancelot took off, his friends' harried shouts fading behind him. He darted between overturned objects and stray licks of fire. Freya was cowering in the back of the cage when he reached her, and he frantically worked at unwinding the twine secured around the latch. A gust of chill air at his back had him spinning around just as a Wraith glided up to him. Before he could mount his own defense, a large burst of light exploded from behind him, and a massive light beast came leaping out of the cage to tackle the Wraith. The phantom shrieked and reeled away as the feral cat with bent wings clawed and gnashed its fangs until the Wraith turned and fled.
Lancelot turned back to his little sister in shock. Her wide eyes gleamed with a wildness that was almost frightening in that moment, but then the light winked out and she became a terrified girl once more. Lancelot shook himself out of his stupor and got the cage door open. Freya scooted forward and climbed out into his arms, then they ducked low to the ground beneath the cart as Wraiths continued to chase down defenseless Roamers, their captive Lightspinners no longer inclined to protect them.
They needed to get out of here, though. Hugging Freya close, Lancelot ushered her around the perimeter, ducking Wraiths and batting them away with brief eruptions of light. The fire was spreading through the encampment now that the Roamers had abandoned trying to put it out and were instead running for their lives. Lancelot found the dome light shield where Merlin and Gwen were. Spinning two whips of light from his hands, Lancelot shouted for them. The dome came down, and Lancelot wielded his light against nearby Wraiths as Merlin, Gwen, and Gwaine ushered the children his way. Then they formed weapons of light and the group carefully but hurriedly made their way over to where Percival, Elyan, and Leon were.
Reunited, they gave one last look around for any other children before making a run for it into the wilderness. Some Wraiths pursued them, but they easily discouraged the creatures with some well aimed bursts of light. Besides, there was plenty of hunting to be done back at the market.
"Keep running," Gwen urged the children.
Gwaine and Percival picked up the smaller ones whose short legs couldn't keep up. They ran until all was quiet, and only a plume of dark smoke was visible in the distance behind them. Only then did they stop to catch their breath.
"Is everyone all right?" Merlin asked anxiously.
"I think so," Gwen replied, looking over the young children.
"Leon's still bleeding," Percival said.
Merlin went to inspect Leon's arm, pursing his mouth in consideration. Their supplies and weapons were gone, save for the few swords and crossbow they had stolen in battle. Merlin tore part of his sleeve and tied it around Leon's arm to slow the bleeding until they could figure out what to do. Because they couldn't worry about that just yet—they had to get back to Arthur.
So with a dozen children in tow, they followed the wagon tracks back the way they'd come, hoping their friend and king hadn't been found by Wraiths already.