Chapter one.
Eight years later.
Everything as far as the eye can see is consumed by layers of snow.
Fallen trees, flowers, leaves, even streams that have frozen over have small mounds of snow building up on top of it. A small snowflake lands on the tip of his nose and almost as quickly as it came is gone again and he shivers.
"Cold Mordred?" Sir Leon asks and Mordred jumps a little at the sound of his voice "huh? Oh, only a little bit" he replied wearily then straightens himself up on his horse. "Don't worry, we will stop soon" Leon reassures him before turning his attention to the snow covered path before him.
There was a time, once long ago that the knights of Camelot were hunting him. "The druid boy" Uther had nicknamed him when he instructed his knights to look for him. It would kill Uther, if he was still alive, knowing that a druid resided within the castle walls. Mordred smirks to himself at the thought of Uther discovering that a knight was a druid and that his son, King Arthur had allowed one.
"All of you dismount and muzzle your horses" Leon instructs quietly and Mordred glances up as the rest of the knights stop and dismount their horses. He slides off his horse and muzzles the horses snout then ties it to the nearest tree "not a sound from anyone" Leon says as they all gather around at the edge of the path "bandits?" Mordred questions quietly. Percival shakes his head as Mordred surveys the people crowding around a fire with a cart and tents set up behind them "smugglers" Percival answers before Leon heads off down the slope and they follow.
Seven people are crowded around the fire, two of them women and the other five are men. It's one of the women that notices them first, her eyes locking on to Mordred as she draws her sword which alerts her companions. Gawine flings forward and jumps on one of the men both of them collapsing to the ground while the rest of the knights converge on the scene. Mordred's hand closes around the handle of his sword and he pulls it from its sheath as one of the smugglers lung forward with his sword drawn. Mordred swing his sword up blocking the blow from the man and then kicks him square in the stomach and he collapses to the ground before Mordred hits him in the back of the head.
Around him the knights are fighting diligently and two of the smugglers lay either dead or knocked out and bleeding on the forest floor. Blood has dried up into the snow around the bodies and that is when he notices another man running towards him and quickly but surely he runs his sword right through the man's abdomen and removes the blade. Almost as soon as he removes the blade that is when he becomes aware of silence silence.
"Leon, look at what we have here" Gwaine says with a hint of joy in his voice as Gwaine and Elyan struggle with containing one of the smugglers, one of the females the female that alerted the group to the impending attack.
"Well" Leon says walking towards them as Elyan and Gwaine manage to force the woman to her knees, there is something about her, something Mordred can't quite put his finger on. "What do we have here" Leon stops a few feet in front of her and Gwaine pulls the fur trimmed leather hood from the woman head revealing her face.
Strands of red hair that were pushed back under the hood fall over her face and the girl's ponytail slides over her back. The girl is panting and there is a small bleeding scar on her face, Mordred frowns at her as Leon addresses the girl who is looking everywhere else but at Leon and that is when their eyes meet. Her eyes are a bright green, almost the colour of mint and then everything falls into place. Some form of recognition registers on the girls face as hatred wells up in her eyes "Mordred?" what he assumes is her voice rings around in his head. He eyes her for a second but is then distracted when Percival's hand appears on his shoulder.
"Beautiful isn't she?" he asks eyeing the girl "yeah, she is" Mordred whispers slightly distracted as he looks over the girl whose hands are being bound by Elyan and her sword now in Gwaine's hand. "Come on back to Camelot" Leon instructs as Gwaine pulls the girl to her feet "Mordred" the girl calls again but he ignores her and heads off with Percival to his horse.
At night, everything seems to become more vibrant and the usually beautiful forest is turned into a cold collection of trees and frozen streams. When Mordred closes his eyes the darkness is consumed by a battle one against the knights of Camelot and the druids of the camp he lived in as a child, however it isn't a battle is one is armed with weapons and the other with nothing. Then it changes to Elyan and Gwaine forcing the smuggler girl to her knees, Gwaine removing the hood of her cloak, the contrasting of her hair against the snow, the scar on her face, the colour of her eyes and the hatred in them. Mordred's eyes fling open and he is staring up at the roof of his tent, he sighs and rolls over onto his side trying to get back to sleep. His attempts prove unsuccessful so he decides to head out and sit by the fire.
Mordred makes it as far as the entrance to the tent before he realizes this could possibly be a bad idea. He moves the cloth a bit, just enough so that he can see outside to who is sitting around the fire. Gwaine is poking the logs in the fire with a burnt down stick and yawns a little the girl is just sitting there staring into the flames.
"Come on you idiot, you'll have to find out sooner or later" he mumbles to himself and walks out into the open. As soon as he steps out he wishes he hadn't because it's cold and almost immediately the girl has locked her eyes on him.
"Ah Mordred, couldn't sleep?" Gwaine asks in his smooth tone and Mordred nods "yeah it's just a bit too cold for me" Mordred replies standing next to the fire "I'll take over watching her if you like" he says briefly eyeing the girl for a few seconds before turning his attention to Gwaine.
"Sounds fantastic" he says jumping to his feet "firewood is over there" Gwaine says patting Mordred on the back as if saying "good luck, you'll need it" and Mordred watches as Gwaine walks off to his tent.
Mordred eyes the tent door for a short period of time before he slowly turns his head around and his eyes come to land on the girl who has taken to drawing images in the snow. The girl then stops and lifts her gaze to meet Mordred's own and he freezes, Mordred gulps then goes to sit on the log where Gwaine was sitting about a minute earlier. There is a bitter silence between Mordred and the girl for a short period of time before one of them breaks it.
"How proud you must be" she says spitefully "sir Mordred" Mordred glances over at her and the hate that he first saw on her face has returned and his suspicions are confirmed in the space of seven words. Mordred opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes for a few seconds "I thought you were dead Aislinn" he says softly. Aislinn scoffs "I'm sure you did" Mordred glances away and his eyes begin to burn "while you were off playing soldier with the knights of Camelot I was fighting to earn a living" Aislinn says coldly and Mordred eyes her.
"Why didn't you fight back?" Mordred asks watching her as she pokes a stick in the fire.
"While I was being stabbed by the knights or while I was being bound by your friends?" Aislinn asks glaring off into the flames again.
"Both if you like" he says and she runs her tongue over her bottom lip "I did fight back" she says her tone empty "why didn't you fight this time?" he questions Aislinn sighs and rolls her eyes. "Are we playing fifty questions?" she asks sarcastically and Mordred frowns "what happened to you?" Aislinn whose face was seconds ago full of determination has now sunk "it's called growing up, you should try it sometime." she whispers and blows out the fire that has started at the end of the stick.
"Ever though you're the one who needs to grow up?" Mordred hisses Aislinn laughs a little "says the one who was ignoring me the entire way here." Aislinn looks at Mordred who is staring into the fire and she can almost see the fury radiating off of his face and she sighs knowing she has been a little unfair. "Did you ever wonder what happened to me?" she asks "did you ever come to look for me?" Mordred turns to face her and their eyes lock together, Mordred at first says nothing then reaches his hand down his top and pulls out a silver necklace with a red gem. "Every day I wondered what happened to you, every day I tried searching for you" Aislinn reaches for the gem and Mordred goes to move away. "I'm not going to hurt you" she says softly enclosing her fist around the gem "was this the necklace I found behind the oak tree?"
Mordred nods "the one I told you to put back because it wasn't yours" Aislinn lets it go and looks away "I missed you every day" he says and she turns her head back towards him. "What is it like?" she asks softly "what is what like?" Mordred asks eying her "being someone" she whispers and Mordred watches as a tear rolls down her cheek. "Why do you ask?" he asks her "I always knew you would do well" she says smiling Mordred scoffs a little "I always thought you would get married off to some handsome prince, you were always beautiful enough to be a princess." Aislinn raises her head and frowns at him "you were always the best at bullshitting" she says "no I wasn't" he laughs "I always believed it, and I still do."
"Does King Arthur know you are a druid?" she asks the bitterness returning to her voice and Mordred rolls his eyes "no, he doesn't need too" he says quietly "are you ashamed Mordred? Are you ashamed of whom you are?" Mordred frowns at her, his anger rising towards her "when did you become so spiteful?" he spits.
Aislinn's face hardens and then she smirks a little "when you left me to die."