Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to someone else who is not me.
Warning: There is a bit of violence in this chapter
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Arthur is in a very bad mood and no amount of banter with Merlin is able to lift him from the dark cloud he can feel descending upon him. The mission that he was supposed to have taken three days in his opinion is taking much longer. Normally, he really does not mind these missions. For some reason that he pretends not to fathom, he is just impatient to find the culprits causing his people distress so that he can go back to Camelot. If he were to be honest with himself, there were certain people that he was missing terribly. Stubborn as he is of course, he would argue that it is because of the miserable weather that seems to have been persistent for the previous three days. Merlin of course, knows better as he has witnessed how the mood lifts whenever the messenger arrives with another letter from the citadel.
It turns out from further investigations that, several villages had been attacked in exactly the same way in the past two months. Somehow the reports had never reached Arthur at court. When he leant this he was extremely angry and he promised himself that he would investigate this tardiness on the part of the patrol in this area. In Camelot he had council meetings where such reports were supposed to be submitted. He would find out soon enough why this report never reached him.
The previous week, while there were at the border, they had received reports of another attack on a different village. The attacks were made in pretty much the same way. Destruction of property, food supplies and crops were common in all the reported cases. They were similar in every way leading Arthur to believe that it is the same group that is responsible or the groups are related in some way. He just cannot comprehend the reason for the attacks since the attackers never seem to take anything from the villagers. While at first it had been suspected that the attacks were made by bandits, the longer the knights stayed there, the more it seems like the attacks are deliberate and not as random as previously thought. From the information gathered so far, it seems like the attacks were happening more frequently than they used to. Arthur knows that it is an indication that the attackers are gaining confidence. He knows that with that would come a few mistakes. He is counting on them leaving behind something that would give them a clue as to who the attackers are and where they can be found. Just under an hour ago, another attack had occurred. It had been reported that during the attack, one of the 'bandits' had been injured badly. Arthur is in a hurry to get to the village so that they could get on the culprits' trail before it grows cold.
What the knights see as they reach the village would have either made any person with a heart either cry or boil with anger as it's truly heart-breaking. Several huts have been burnt and although the villagers seem to have managed to put most of the fire, smoke is smouldering from several structures. Villagers are outside either weeping or putting out fires. Near one of the burnt huts, two children sit clutching each other crying over their unconscious woman while a neighbour is tending to what looks like a deep gush on her forehead. Merlin immediately gets off his horse to see if he can put his knowledge of medicines to good use. The king also disembarks and starts barking orders to the rest of his knights.
"Ewan find me the village elder."
"Lancelot go round the village, check if there are any other people that were injured and assess the damage on all the homes.
"Gwaine and Galahad, gather as much information on the attackers as you can, what there were wearing, their manner of speaking, and anything that might lead us closer to finding them."
"Percival check if this attack has any similarities with the attacks on the other villages.
"Tor check on their supplies of food and their fields. I want to know if aid will be needed for this village too."
"Leon see if the bandits left anything that we can use to track them."
"The rest of you go and help the villagers put out any fires that they have not yet dealt with. Everyone report to me as soon as possible. We want to start getting on the trail before sundown."
All these orders were met with "Yes Sire" in response. While Merlin takes over the treating of the woman, Arthur walks towards the two children that are watching him with frightened eyes. One is a girl that looks to be about five and has big brown eyes and dark curly hair that somehow reminds him of Guinevere. He realises that he misses her more than he should. The child moves closer to the boy as Arthur approaches and the boy tightens his hold on her. Arthur smiles as he crouches near them trying to put them at ease. He understands their fear as he had seen it on a lot of victims of attacks since he had started going on missions as a knight. Their lives have been turned upside down in an instant and the experience would probably haunt them for the rest of their lives.
"My name is Arthur," he says to the pair, who are watching him like he has seven eyes and horns. "I am a knight of Camelot".
The boy's eyes light up momentarily with admiration before he averts his gaze back to the woman. Neither child utters a word. So Arthur tries again.
"Would you mind telling me your names?" Still no response came.
"Is that your mother who is lying there?" The little girl gives him a small nod.
"My friend Merlin is very good with treating people who are hurt. He will do everything that he can to make sure your mother is alright. Would you show me which one is your house?"
The little girl turns and points out a hut that is just behind them. Unfortunately, it is one of those that have been burnt down. Arthur can see what looks like grain scattered all over. When she turns back to the children, she notices that the girl looks like she is about to start crying again and decides to distract them. He goes to Merlin's horse that is carrying their supplies and comes back with two apples which he offers to the children who are looking suspiciously at him.
"Would you like some apples?"
The girl is reaching out to take one when his brother stops her.
"Isie, remember mother said that we are not to take food from strangers."
Isie looks sad as she eyes the apple longingly. "But Gaweth I am thoo hungwy." She looks like she is about to burst into tears again.
"I am not a total stranger um…Gareth, is it? I am a knight in the king's army and I have come to find out what happened to your village. I am sure your mother would trust the king's men, wouldn't she?" Arthur encourages with a small smile.
"My mother thays the king ith a good man, and Gaweth wanths to be a knight." Isie says helpfully.
Arthur smiles widely and looks at Gareth. "I bet you would be a good knight Gareth. You are so brave to look after your mother and sister like this. I am sure your mother is very proud of you. "
Gareth gives Arthur a wan smile and hesitantly extends his hand to receive the apples. Arthur lets out a silent sigh of relief as the children gobble up their apples hungrily. From the corner of his eye Arthur sees Ewan approaching with a middle aged man with dark hair that has patches of grey in it. He stands up and starts walking towards the approaching men, eager to get any information that can help them follow the attackers' trail.
The village elder bows down before Arthur but Arthur holds him by the shoulders silently asking him to get up.
"Sire, we are honoured to have you in our village although under less than desirable circumstances. My name is Yugan. I'm the elder of this village."
"Yugan. What happened here?"
Yugan shakes his head in puzzlement. "Sire, they came out of nowhere. We have heard of attacks in other villages but it has never happened to us. We were totally unprepared. They started attacking without provocation. They started hitting our banns that have our food supplies, spilling grain everywhere. Some villagers tried to stop them and that when all hell broke loose. They started hitting people and when one of our men attacked one of theirs they killed him and burnt down several houses."
"Yugan I'm really sorry. We will do what we can to help you. Did you see any of their faces or did any of them speak? is there anything that you might have noticed that could help us identify these rogues?"
"Most of their faces were covered Sire, but some of them were shouting as they attacked us. They are definitely not from around here Sire. Their way of speaking is different. But I did notice that their capes had what seemed like a shield with a serpent."
Arthur's heart thumped.He and Ewan exchanged puzzled looks. Why would Lot's men be attacking villages beyond his border? While they were not on friendly terms, they had not actively sort aggression against each other. Why these attacks and why now?
Arthur turned back to Yugan. "Can you show me where the bandit was injured?"
"Yes Sire. Please follow me."
Arthur and Ewan follow the village elder towards the far end corner of the village. Arthur notices the drips of blood on the ground and what looks like a grey piece of fabric that is covered in dried blood.
Arthur immediately instructs Ewan to gather up all his men. He figures that since the bandits have an injured man, they will not move as fast as they normally would. If they followed them right away, maybe they would be lucky enough to catch up with them. Arthur makes sure that the children and the other injured people would be taken care of before they leave.
The knights leave the village with promises of returning as soon as they can. The trail leads them to a forest near the edge of Camelot's border. As they venture further into the forest Arthur indicates for everyone to be quiet and stop moving. Having had a lot of experience in tracking, he knows that something is wrong. The forest seems too quiet. There is no bird song. Arthur gets off his horse and the rest of his knights follow suit swords already drawn. Arthur gives the signal for the knights to spread out in different directions. What happens next puzzles everyone afterwards. Arrows rain on them in a flash from different directions. Several manage to meet their targets. It takes just a moment for the knights of Camelot to recover from their confusion before men noisily charge on them. Arthur takes three men and disposes of them in no time at all. Discretely, Merlin uses his magic on one man who was about to attack him with a mace, causing the man to hit himself with it.
Arthur finds himself facing a very big opponent. The man's face is set in an ugly twist and Arthur knows it is just a strategy to intimidate. He knows that this is a fight to the death and there is no room for nerves as they can cause one to make mistakes. Arthur quickly looks around and takes note of his surroundings. He watches his opponent carefully and he knows the signs to look for when he is about to strike. He noted the tense hands and shoulders and gets ready. He blocks the first assault and dodges the next, keeping his feet firmly planted on the ground. Although is, on the average, a big man, he is not as big as his opponent and he is therefore more agile and finds it easier to manoeuvre. They parry for a while neither yet gaining any advantage over the other. His opponent has the advantage of height and strength and Arthur knows that parrying with the man for long would only be to his disadvantage as it would wear him out. Arthur attacks using all his strength and skill, forcing his opponent to move backwards, doing exactly what Arthur wants him to do. At the same time, Arthur targets his lower body, knowing that he is not quick enough on his feet. He manages to connect with a thigh causing the man to howl in pain although he does not fall. The king hits the bandit on his face with the hilt of his sword and takes advantage of the man's momentary distraction and rains quicker and harder assaults on him driving him further back. The bandit is no longer paying too much attention to anything except defending himself and does not realise that Arthur is driving him towards a tree stump that is directly behind him. Within moments, the giant is lying on his back with the tip of Arthur's sword on his chest. Arthur makes quick work of him.
It does not take too long after that before the attackers are defeated. Arthur gives the order for the knights to check on the injured and also check for any survivors amongst the bandits. When fanning out they also discover a body close to where they had been attacked. Reports start coming in to Arthur from all directions. They have lost two knights and three others have been injured, two of not seriously. Arthur goes to check on the injured and his heart feels like it has dropped from his chest when he realises that the badly injured knight has a bow protruding from his chest. The knight is groaning in agony and Arthur is left with no words to say when he realises that the injured knight is Sir Ewan.
A/N: So sorry for the delay in posting. l have been very busy over the last four or so months.
Hope you liked it. It was difficult to write as I know nothing about fighting. Please tell me what you think.
I am curious to know what you thought of the finale for those who watched it.