Wow. It was three in the morning when I finished this chapter, barely two hours after I started it. Conversations are awkward and it is moving a little slowly :/
Please review and tell me what you think. Should I speed up the action a bit or is this pace okay(ish) ?
Next chapter is where the real action starts.

Chapter 3

It was on the last day in Mercian territory when they heard the war cry of bandits and in moments the small party of Camelot knights were surrounded.

There was barely a moment's notice in which they had to react, but the knights were well trained and natural fighters. They all had their swords drawn and were ready for the bandits even as the first one reached them and several crossbow bolts whizzed past them, barely missing their marks.

Merlin's horse reared up, threatening to throw the young man from his saddle. He was the only unarmed member of the group and found three bandits running towards him with yells of triumph on their lips and weapons held high. Knowing Arthur was currently too occupied to come to his aid, Merlin cast about frantically for some way to save himself without bringing too much attention to himself.

An arrow aimed at Arthur's back proved to be just what he needed. With a flash of golden eyes, Merlin subtly changed the arrow's flight path so it hit one of the bandits instead, sending him tumbling backwards in shock and taking down one of his companions as well. The third bandit was dispatched by Percival before Merlin had to resort to throwing himself from his horse. The latter of the two men shot his friend and grateful smile.

Quiet reined over them less than a minute later. The six men calming their horses as they surveyed the bodies scattered around them. It had been a very short fight, but the bandits had seemed a lot less organised and were weaker than those they normally came into contact with. What that said about Camelotian bandits, none of them particularly wanted to know, but they were all glad to see that the worst injuries were a few shallow gashes and some dented armour.

Nervous laughter came from Merlin's throat as the adrenaline of the fight wore off, even if he hadn't actually done anything. Gwaine chuckled at the look of fear on their young comrade's face, but stopped suddenly, his body jerking in a way they all recognised with sickening clarity. A crossbow bolt protruded from his chest plate.

"Gwaine!" Arthur shouted in alarm, jumping from his horse and running over in time to steady the knight that slumped over the neck of his own horse.

While the King checked the severity of their friend's wound, the rest of them cast about for the one that had shot him. Merlin spotted the stray bandit first and with a glare and another flash of gold, a strong gust of wind blew through the forest, giving cause for a weak tree to collapse on top of the man attempting to get to his feet.

"Merlin," Leon called even as Percival and Elyan went to see if the bandit was dead, unconscious or just feigning it.

Knowing that his steadily-growing skills as a physician were needed, Merlin nodded and went to where Leon and Arthur had lain Gwaine on the grass a few yards from the edge of the road. They were out of the way of the road and not in immediate sight of anyone travelling on it, so they were safer here and could set up camp there if needed. The horses were trained well enough to have followed and stood grazing together nearby.

Gwaine was pale and trying not to show how much it hurt, his knuckles white as he clenched his fists at his sides. It was a lucky thing the arrow had only pierced his shoulder about an inch, Merlin reflected as he inspected the wound as best as he could – Arthur and Leon had removed Gwaine's armour and chainmail.

"Fetch my saddlebag and some water, please," Merlin told the pair, and despite the demanding tone he used, neither man said anything as they scrambled to get what he'd asked for. They trusted Merlin's judgement and allowed his slip in authority when it came to the wellbeing of their own.

"Here," Leon handed Merlin a water skin as he dropped to his knees on Gwaine's other side, and Arthur sat beside Merlin, the pack set down open between them. Merlin nodded his thanks and poured a little water on the wound around the arrow, cleaning it of blood so he could see what he was about to do.

"Hold him down," Merlin told them, leaning his weight on Gwaine's arm and grasping the shaft of the arrow in his free hand. Seeing what he was about to do, Arthur and Leon restrained their friend.

Gwaine barely made a sound as the arrow was pulled out of his shoulder, but tensed and after a few seconds let out a stream of curses that made the three men smile ruefully.

"Well?" Arthur asked as Percival and Elyan rejoined them shortly, eyes drawn to where Merlin was stitching Gwaine's shoulder with a steady hand.

"Dead. It landed on the back of his head while he was standing and broke his neck," Elyan reported. Arthur grunted in dismay, a little angry at the fact the bandit had gotten away easily after shooting one of his friends.

Gwaine huffed and smiled, "Looks like I'll be as useless as Merlin, now. That was my good sword arm," he joked weakly, still pale and shaking minutely.

The others gave him a smile but they all knew how lucky he was that the shooter hadn't been more accurate. Arthur was sourly tempted to send Gwaine home to Camelot, but said knight saw the look on his King's face and shook his head. "You can't send me back, now. I'll be fine enough to hold my own with my other arm. I'll only be begging to be attacked if I go back on my own and you can't spare anyone else to accompany me," Gwaine reasoned.

"He's right, Arthur," Elyan agreed when Arthur didn't acquiesce. "Plus, you can't tell us you're going after the Holy Grail and then send us – or one of us – home."

Merlin huffed, obviously holding back his laughter as he hide his grin by bowing his head over his work, bandaging Gwaine shoulder now.

"What?" Arthur asked sharply, knowing without having to even look that Merlin was finding something funny about this.

Merlin glanced up to see if he was in trouble for laughing, then shrugged. "It's just, you're stuck with us no matter what happens. You know that by now but you still sometimes try to tell us to go home. I don't know why you bother anymore," he explained.

"Yeah, even when I'd left Camelot before, you couldn't get rid of me," Gwaine grinned. He tentatively sat up with Merlin's help, poking at the bandages wrapped tightly around his shoulder until their stand-in physician slapped his hand away and fiercely scowled at him.

"Come on, you can still manage a few more miles can't you? We should at least cover a few more miles before making camp. That way we can cross into Tam's Kingdom sometime tomorrow," Leon reasoned.

"I'll be fine as long as we don't ride too fast or get attacked on the road again," Gwaine agreed.

Arthur sighed and helped him to his feet. "Let's go then. Tell us if you need to stop," he told the injured man sternly, almost ordering him to do so since they all knew that Gwaine wouldn't hinder their progress just because he was in pain.

"Here," Merlin stopped Gwaine as the others went to mount their horses. He handed him a piece of willow bark from a bundle in his pack. "Chew this, it helps with the pain."

Taking it, Gwaine rose an eyebrow at the piece of bark as if Merlin had just told him it was a cure for the common cold. But he saw the serious look on the warlock's face and shrugged with his good shoulder, shoved it in his mouth and started chewing. Almost immediately, his face scrunched up and he spat it back out into his palm, looking back to a laughing Merlin in disgust.

"That tastes horrible!" Gwaine exclaimed.

"Yeah, but it works," Merlin grinned cheekily. He could have given him something to take the bad taste away, but that's what Gwaine got for making fun of Merlin's swordsmanship, no matter how right he was.

Gwaine made a sound of disgust, stared at the slightly-chewed piece of bark in his hand and decided it was probably not worth making a fuss over. Trying not to grimace as he put it back in his mouth, Gwaine pulled himself into the saddle and they continued on towards the Mercia's south border again.

True to Leon's prediction, they were able to get within a half-day's ride of the border before Merlin noticed that Gwaine had started lagging a bit, a less-than cheerful look on his pale face. He hadn't regained any of his colour and was seating slightly, but when whined at the suggestion of stopping even though it was still mid-afternoon. It took Arthur ordering him to shut up and get off his horse to make him comply.

Helping the older man off his horse, Percival walked with Gwaine to where Elyan, Leon and Merlin had put their packs, near to where the fire would be once they'd gathered some wood – which was what Arthur stomped off to do once Gwaine had stopped insisting that he was fine.

Merlin moved to Gwaine's side once Percival had put a heavy on the man's good shoulder and got him to sit down.

"I'm fine, Merlin, the willow bark worked, honestly," Gwaine said, trying to wave Merlin away.

"It only carries on working for a short while after you stop chewing it, you idiot. The chemical that works as a pain reliever is hard to get out of it, so you need that constant supply," Merlin told him, holding Gwaine's wrist in a surprisingly tight grip with just one hand, using his free hand to unclasp Gwaine's cloak – they'd had to cut his tunic off because they couldn't move his arm to take it off. Luckily, there was a village nearby they'd agreed to pause at the next day to get more supplies. "You spat it out at about noon, so there's no way it doesn't hurt," Merlin finished, and as if to prove his point, Gwaine hissed in pain when he accidentally moved his arm in the wrong way. "Idiot," Merlin chastised softly. Gwaine gave him a sheepish smile and stopped complaining.

"Do you have any idea where the Grail is, Arthur? Or are we to search the whole kingdom for it?" Gwaine asked later that afternoon, as he slumped against a tree less than a yard from the fire. He wore fresh bandages and was wrapped up in a blanket after Merlin had scolded him for pushing himself until he was starting to get feverish.

~#~

The group had been fairly quiet since making camp, only a few words being exchanged every now and then, most of them in regards to how Gwaine was fairing or how they'd leap to his rescue if they were attacked on the road again before he was well enough to defend himself properly.

"I'm not really sure, but I have a few places in mind," Arthur replied haltingly.

"So, we're searching the whole kingdom, basically," Merlin reiterated with a knowing smirk.

Arthur gave him a deadpan stare that turned into an expression that was almost a pout. "Yeah, basically," he nodded in agreement.

"Does this mean we get to go to taverns looking for information?" Gwaine asked, hope shining in his eyes. They all knew he didn't want to go to the taverns just because they were where you could easily get information.

"No," Arthur replied quickly. "I won't have you getting drunk and giving away who we are. We don't even know if this Kingdom is a friend of Camelot or not. They haven't been part of any peace treaties so I'm not sure where we stand with them. We're stowing our cloaks before we break camp tomorrow," he added hastily.

"Won't we needed to hide our swords as well?" Leon asked carefully. "They had the Pendragon crest on them – they're known to be carried by yourself and your knights," he explained.

Arthur shook his head, "No, they won't notice the crests under the cloaks we'll get from the village and if anyone sees and asks, we stole them from a patrol we took out a few weeks ago, okay?"

Nods of understanding were given in reply, though none of them looked very happy at the prospect of lying so.

"How do you think Gaius will react to hearing you'll be gone for a month, Merlin?" Elyan asked, changing the topic to try and lift the mood a little.

Merlin laughed nervously. He'd told Gaius before he left that he wasn't sure how long he'd be gone, but it couldn't be much longer than a week or so. The length of the trip hadn't been decided until well after the meeting Arthur had held with the courtiers, so Gaius hadn't known what they'd left to do before they'd gone.

"He'll kill me," Merlin replied confidently. "Well, if I don't die protecting Gwaine," he grinned widely at said injured man, ducking quickly as a stick came flying at his head. "That doesn't work, you know. I get enough practice dodging things when I try and wake Arthur up in a morning," Merlin said, only grinning wider and fully expecting the slap to the back of the head. That didn't mean it didn't sting a little, but it made the others laugh, at least.

"Hey... How about I go with someone to the village and pick up supplies now, before nightfall. We can be there and back in a couple of hours and then we won't have to stop tomorrow. We'll make it to the border before noon," Leon reasoned, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled over them.

"I'll go with you. We'll rearrange a couple of saddle bags, so it won't seem as odd to buy for more than two people for a couple of days," Elyan agreed, looking to Arthur as he went to stand, remembering who was actually in charge here. Sometimes it was just so easy to forget that Arthur wasn't their friend and equal; he was their King.

But Arthur saw the logic in getting supplies now, instead of wasting half a day so Gwaine could rest. He nodded. "Be as quick as you can. The horses have tonight to rest, still, so ride hard. And try not to be followed."

"Yes, Sire," the knights nodded and went to sort their saddlebags, quickly mounting their steeds and heading off to the south-east at a steady gallop.

"Percival," Arthur started once the two knights were out of sight.

"Yes Sire?" Percival asked, his attention immediately on Arthur.

"Go and hunt for some food. There's no need to waste provisions where we know we're fine using our skills to survive."

"Yes, Sire," Percival nodded as Leon and Elyan had, going to collect the crossbow and quiver of bolts from his own saddle bags.

"I'll go with you," Merlin volunteered, jumping to his feet.

"Merlin, you're-"

"I'm not entirely useless, Arthur. And it's not as thought you or Gwaine can go with him. Gwaine's not allowed to move from there other than to lie down and sleep-" a pointed look from the warlock reinforced the would-be order, "-and you need to stay and guard him and the camp in case anything happens," Merlin says without missing a beat.

"But you'll probable scare everything off. It'll take three times longer with you there," Arthur argued.

Merlin frowned. "I'm not useless, Arthur," he repeated. Sure, he falls over a lot, but that's partly because he's not paying attention and partly because he tries to stop Arthur killing anything when they go on hunts together.

"Then here," Arthur sighed, collecting the second sword from where it was strapped to his saddle and handing it to his manservant. "At least arm yourself so you look half-competent."

"Prat," Merlin grumbled at the insult. If only Arthur knew. If only Lancelot was around to give him one of those reassuring smiles that said 'I appreciate what you do for us.'

"Idiot," Arthur retorted without thinking about it, the affection obvious in his voice as he playfully brushed past the younger man to sit near Gwaine and put a few more sticks on the fire.

Merlin smiled a little and strapped the sword belt around his waist, catching up to Percival as the knight started off into the forest.

Word count: 2,778