Chapter 5-Family Matters (Part Two)

Oh my gosh I am so embarrassed I left a note to myself in the last chapter, so sorry.

And lets welcome my wonderful new beta flyaway213!

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As the group made their way into the forest past the arch, they could hear soft moaning in the distance. Every once in awhile, they could make out a word or two. They walked onward, not saying a word to one another, and all aware that they would soon have to rest for the night. Yet, none of them wanted to sleep in this haunted place. This place could make a man insane the moment he entered. You could feel the unrest and even the most magic-less man could feel the strong, dark magic.

Merlin could feel the dark magic seething off of this place. It was as if nothing was at peace here, much unlike the forest outside the Disir's cave where everything felt so alive. In this place, he only felt direst and death. The way his magic could feel the restless souls calling out for peace that he couldn't give them made his stomach twist in pain. His magic rose up to defend him; he had to use all of his control that he had developed over the years to keep the glow of magic out of his eyes.

Arthur could see Merlin's face twisting in some unseen pain. For a moment, he thought he could see flecks of molten gold shining in his eyes, but if the gold was ever there it was gone too soon. Arthur pushed away what he thought he saw while he reasoned that it must be this place messing with his head, making him see friends as enemies. But he must admit that this whole trip was full of unasked questions. Looking over at his friend, he could see that Merlin's head was hung low, looking at the ground in shame? No, not that. Merlin was trying not to make eye contact, but the question was why?

Merlin was having a hard time holding himself together as his magic threatened to spill out. He hung his head, trying to not let anyone see the magic shinning in his eyes. This place was making his magic stir like crazy. For all of his years of working to perfect his control over his magic, this place was threatening his hold over it to slip.

"We need to find a place to rest for the night," Leon remarked. Leon could tell no one was going to suggest to camp for the night. To tell the truth, he would like nothing more than to carry on until they had left this place far behind, but after looking at the tired faces around him, he knew they would have to rest for the night.

"Leon is right. I think that I see a place in the path where it gets a bit wider up ahead," Percival replied. Arthur looked forward in the path, shaking himself from his thoughts about Merlin's odd behavior.

"You're right. That looks to be the best place to camp for the night. Merlin?"

"Yes, sire?" Merlin replied with out a hit of sarcasm, barely looking up at his master.

"How much supplies do we have left from the hunt?"

"Not much. Only about two days worth of food," Merlin replied.

"Okay, let's get moving to that clearing," the group made their way to the clearing and setup camp for the night. Merlin was cooking stew over the fire.

"Merlin, why were you acting so odd earlier?" Gwaine asked. It didn't surprise Arthur that Gwaine was the other one to realize that Merlin was acting strange. He and Gwaine were much closer to Merlin than the others, although Percival had grown closer to the younger man after Lancelot's death.

Merlin looked up from the pot of stew he was siring, "I just have a funny feeling about this whole thing." Merlin didn't just mean the restless dead thing. No, he meant how his magic was acting up in this place.

"aww...Don't be such a girl, Merlin,"Arthur said in a condescending tone, but that didn't explain why Merlin wouldn't look anyone in the eye for a good part of today's journey. "Merlin, earlier, I thought I saw-"

"GWAINE!" a hard, angry voice called. Gwaine looked around franticly, his face flashing in recognition at the sound of the voice.

"Father," Gawain breathed under his breath. "No, you cant be here," Gawain franticly looking all around the camp.

"Gwaine, calm yourself. There is no one here," Percival said, placing a hand on the agitated man's shoulder.

"No! I heard him! He's out there!" Gwaine drew his sword.

"Gwaine, come and face me," the voice hissed out of the darkness.

"Gwaine, you must calm yourself. It's just the darkness," Merlin said, looking at his frantic friend. Percival was trying to hold Gwaine back. He was trying to head for the forest.

"No! He will pay for what he did to my mother!" Gwaine yelled, looking right at something unseen in the darkness. "He cheated on her then cast her aside. Then, he goes and gets himself killed, leaving me and my mother with nothing!" Gwaine was hysterical at this point.

"Yes, but she died because of you. You and your selfish love of drink and women. You never worked, you left her alone most of the time, and, when she fell ill, you didn't even find out before it was too late," He hissed out. Everyone could hear him now. Suddenly, a ghostly figure appeared in the forest to the side of the camp. The man was tall and well built. You could clearly see that he had been through many battles. He wore knights' armor with a midnight blue cape. All of them looked over at Gwaine in shock. Gwaine's sword fell to the ground as tears welled in his eyes.

"What is your name?" Merlin asked. He thought maybe they could make peace with Gwaine's father's spirit.

"I was Sir Gavin, Knight of Caerleon," Gavin replied in a cold tone. "And I see not only did my son abandon my wife, but his kingdom as well. A Knight of Camelot, indeed. More like a drunk playing dress up!" the man sneered. "But the time for talking is over." He held his hand out as a blue mist flew out of his hand and made its way into Gwaine. Gwaine shuffled backwards to try and escape the mist, but it was moving too fast. It flew into his mouth and everything went dark for the young knight.

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Ok so I have a plan, Two members of the group will be tested in one realm. One of them in the next. And the last two in the last realm. Tell me if you like that. I feel like it will give each of them more time, so I don't feel rushed to get all of them done.

Thanks!