Thursday afternoon became an entirely different matter.
Gwen and Arthur browsed the stalls. Morgana and Merlin, with Gwaine in tow, had disappeared off to the little 'occult' corner in a side room. There were a few stalls selling new age jewellery and crystals, and some rather more significant items on occasion. Percival went hunting for chutney. Lancelot hung around Gwen and Arthur and Leon strolled around close to them. Arthur didn't feel particularly threatened as they moved through the crowds. A few people brushed past him as they peered at the items on the stalls, and Arthur always tried to gain some personal space.
"I don't suppose you remember where exactly the stall was?" Lancelot asked Gwen as she looked over some framed pictures. There was one of a cluster of what looked like goblins that Arthur guessed was meant to be cute but ended up being grotesque. Leon peered over his shoulder as Arthur picked it up.
"As if goblins look like that," Leon said dismissively. Arthur quickly put the picture back down again and he moved onto the next stall.
"There are goblins?"
"Yeah, they can be a little hyperactive, and very annoying."
"You've encountered one?"
Leon shook his head, "no, but we do have some details records. Quite frankly I wouldn't want to meet them, they are nothing but trouble with an obsession for gold."
"You mean they're lawyers?" Arthur said. Leon snorted with laughter.
"Okay," he said. Arthur gave him a sidelong look.
"The legal system is not much of a friend. In my experience anyway."
"You know your father has a law degree?" Leon said. Arthur grimaced.
"No, I didn't. I don't know anything other than what I've seen, and that's not really been exactly great."
They turned to poke around another stall, picking up ornaments and Arthur sifted through a plastic tray of watercolour prints.
"To be honest," Leon said, examining a china horse as he spoke. "I don't think either of you have tried to find anything out, from each other at least."
"Guess not," Arthur said, he frowned and tilted his head before lifting the print he had spotted out and held it up. "What's that?"
Leon paused and stared at the print. It was of a landscape, a misty lake bordered by forest. In the centre, it's lines softened by the wash of mist, looked to be an island with a ruined castle built on it. The turrets of the structure rose up out of the mist, the towers broken down and sorrowful, but somehow they managed to look majestic.
"Don't know, does it say on the back?" Leon asked. Arthur flipped it over and looked at the plain white back. There was nothing on it to suggest a name or location of the lake. There was just a little sticker informing them that it was £4. Arthur turned it back over and looked at the picture again, his stomach churning in a way that over the past few days he had learnt was something he should not ignore.
Leon watched as Arthur looked up at the stall holder, who had sidled closer seeing that there was perhaps a sale to be had.
"Do you know who painted this, or where it's actually of?"
"No, idea my love," she said to Arthur, eyeing him with interest. Leon watched her, lingering by Arthur. It made Arthur flicker with irritation but Leon knew an attack could come from anywhere, he wasn't going to take a chance. He was the only one close to Arthur. Lancelot was nearby, but there was no reason for any of them to worry, except Arthur's sudden behaviour.
"Is there anyway you could find out?"
"Sorry, I just found them in a house clearance," she announced, starting to sound a little irritated. Arthur started to rummage in his pocket for his wallet, even if he couldn't find out now, there had to be a way of getting some information. He wasn't entirely sure why he felt he needed to know. Leon watched the woman for a moment, and she clearly mellowed at the fact that Arthur was willing to buy it.
"I'm not sure if the old lady produced them herself, she had quite a stack of them. The one who used to live in one of those old cottages, just by the lake, the one who took that fall."
"Oh, I remember that was in the news," Leon said, trying to sound casual. "Those little holiday home things. She fell when she was out walking."
"That's the one, no one could quite understand that, she was quite fit, and she knew the area so well."
"I think they just assumed she took a wrong turn or something. It was quite sad," Leon said.
"Yes," the woman agreed. Arthur had extracted a ten pound note from his wallet, but was flicking through the rest of the prints. Most of them were of flowers, and plants. The landscapes were few and far between and none like the picture of the island.
"I'll just take this one," Arthur said, waving the print and handing over his ten pound note. The woman smiled at him.
"I've got a five pound note, but I'm not sure if I have any pound coins, I might have to give you that in change."
"It's doesn't matter," Arthur said pleasantly, looking like he had surprised himself by that as he retrieved the five pound change off the woman. She carefully put the print into a thin carrier bag and handed it to Arthur.
"Thanks," Arthur said. She smiled again as Arthur meandered off with Leon in tow. Gwen and Lancelot strolled along behind as they realised Arthur was moving off, still scanning each stall. Arthur paused and let them catch up.
"I think you two go and scan as many stalls with jewellery as possible, there looks to be a few over there. If me and Leon start doing that we'll look a bit strange."
"Oh, you'd make a lovely couple, however, I can stand in as token female, if you'd like. Gwen and Lancelot could take over there, we'll work the other way. Have we worked out what we are looking for yet?"
Gwen frowned as Morgana directed the question at her. She frowned and shook her head, looking around.
"It's so hard to say, I was a lot smaller, it doesn't look the same, unless I start shuffling around on my knees," Gwen said.
"Let's face it," Morgana said. "It was a long shot, at least we've got Arthur out and about, so if anyone is watching, they might take a hint, especially if they see Gwen and connect it up. Quite clearly they thought you important in the scheme of things, you still probably are. I hate it when people are ahead of me." Morgana sounded a little offended by the fact she hadn't realised Gwen's place in the scheme of things. Yet, they had still had Gwen under their roof on a regular basis.
"We'll just keep looking for a while longer," Arthur said. "Where are Gwaine and Merlin?"
"Gwaine went for a grope break," Morgana said. There was a bit of eye rolling but Lancelot and Gwen wandered off and Arthur, Leon and Morgana went the other way.
"A what?" Arthur said.
"It's basically disappearing off with Merlin for a quick grope. Gwaine once said that it's to prevent him from starting smoking. Merlin, being Merlin, never refuses."
"Gwaine's probably feeling the need to reassert his prowess," Leon said, keeping his face serious. Morgana smirked.
"You look really evil when you do that," Leon told her.
"I know," Morgana said. "Now, let's go stare at jewellery."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"You shouldn't take it so seriously, you'll only make them worse," Merlin said as he leant against Gwaine, who was leaning against the wall of the Town Hall. It sort of hedged around the real reason that Gwaine was finding it annoying. Arthur did annoy him, for all sorts of different reasons, Merlin had worked that out. The main one however there was no getting away from. Most of the legends, talked about himself and Arthur, with definite hints at a deep connection. Merlin knew he hadn't helped, by being so concerned about Arthur, and for feeling the connection they were supposed to have.
It was hard to really notice at times, but Merlin knew well enough that Gwaine was insecure, over him at least. Merlin wasn't entirely sure why Gwaine was worried, he and Arthur were never going to be a couple. Arthur would probably be happy to never had sex for the rest of his life. But Merlin supposed the connection was deeper than that level of partnership. The realms of magic had been waiting centuries to get the two of them together. Gwaine, in a way, played no significant part in it. Or at least, that was how Gwaine was beginning to see it.
"He's not that good looking," Gwaine said, wrapping his arms around Merlin's waist and pulling him close.
They were tucked up in an alcove just by the steps that led up into the Town Hall. Just under the sweeping stone steps was a door that Merlin presumed led into an area of the basement. It gave them enough privacy from the people wandering in and out of the building and passing along the street. If they were walking down the side of the building towards the steps people could see them, but they paid no attention to them.
"I suppose not," Merlin said, giving as neutral answer as possible. Gwaine looked at him, while his hands slid down to Merlin's backside.
"What do you really think?"
"I think you're funny when you're insecure," Merlin said kissing him. He gave a muffled squeak as Gwaine's hands tightened on his arse. As they pulled out from the kiss Merlin looked around guiltily.
"No one's paying attention," Gwaine said.
"Are you sure you don't want to ravish me in the middle of the market?" Merlin said. Gwaine squeezed his backside again, pressing Merlin's groin against his own.
"Is that an offer? The way you scream that will be all over YouTube in minutes."
"No, it's not an offer."
"We could come back when it's dark."
"Gwaine! I don't believe you!"
"Yeah, you do."
Gwaine kissed him again, and Merlin wrapped his arms around Gwaine, pressing closer to him. As they paused for breath Gwaine nuzzled along Merlin's jaw and then worked lower, moving down his neck. Merlin tilted his head back, his eyes fluttering as Gwaine sent shivers down his spine. Then Merlin suddenly opened his eyes, movement catching his attention as he stared upwards towards the pleasant blue sky, scattered with white fluffy clouds.
"Gwaine," Merlin murmured.
Gwaine made a random sound as he gently bit down on Merlin's neck, which assured Merlin that he was awake and seeing what he was seeing. His entire body tensed, which did have something to do with Gwaine's hand wandering from his backside to his groin, but there were other things on Merlin's mind. He shook Gwaine's shoulder, gripping onto his tee-shirt. There was the sound of something ripping.
"Gwaine!" Merlin said, with greater urgency.
It made Gwaine lift his head and he frowned at Merlin, thinking that Merlin was worried about being in public. Then he realised that Merlin was still gazing upwards, so Gwaine followed his gaze staring up at the side of the building.
The sun made it a little hard to discern what the movement was, then the huge bulk shifted and Gwaine blinked. He saw several other things start to move and he pushed Merlin back a step so he could move and look up, seeing one of the creatures suddenly detach itself from the wall, turning to crawl along the side of the building.
"What the fuck?" Gwaine murmured, and then he blinked again as one of the gargoyles grabbed onto the edge of one of the open windows. They were tall elegant windows which ran up to a peak at the top and which may have, at one time or another, been filled with stained glass. Now they were practical, plain, clear glass which opened to allow the air to breeze in. Gwaine blinked as he watched the beast grip the window above them, where it had been opened to allow air to flow into the main hall. As it yanked the window open he pulled the entire thing off the top hinge, causing the glass pane to tilt and then drop. The sheer weight ripped out the bottom hinge.
Gwaine's reaction was instantaneous. He still has his arms around Merlin's waist, so he yanked him violently, dragging him sideways to pull him clear of the falling glass. Their legs tangled as they moved sending them sprawling onto the cobbles, causing a murmur from the people strolling through the square.
"Get back!" Gwaine yelled in warning, rolling again so he was on top of Merlin and he hunched his shoulders as the glass pane exploded onto the cobbles, it caused several people to shriek as glass splinters flew in all directions. Gwaine kept himself as a barrier between the glass and Merlin, which didn't matter because Merlin automatically wrapped them up in a protective bubble. The people around them were so shocked they didn't see the splinters of glass that caught in the air around the two men on the floor, Merlin catching them carefully to prevent them from hurting anyone else. It was all he could do in the time that he had.
As Gwaine rolled away from him the pieces held in the shield tinkled to the floor and they both sat up and looked up as people started to scream. Quite naturally most people had looked up to see where the glass had fallen from and spotted the half dozen gargoyles that were now crawling along the building. Another one crashed through a window, not even bothering to pull it apart, it just smashed through it. People continued to scream, running away from the building, tumbling over each other in their haste to run. Gwaine and Merlin slowly struggled to their feet, still staring up at the moving beasts. Two policemen, who had been over the far side of the square ran up, both of them staring at the scene, Gwaine turned to them.
"You'd better get the market clear and keep people away from the building."
"What about them inside?" the one on the left asked.
That seemed to cause the next flood as people started to run from the building, again tumbling over each other in their haste to get away.
"Call for back up, and keep them moving," Gwaine advised.
The sudden rush also caused one of the gargoyles, who was hanging from a window sill, to look down. Merlin watched as it's head tilted, and it's tongue lolled from it's open mouth. He saw it hunch up, it's carefully sculpted leg muscles tensing as it launched itself off the building and downwards. Merlin blinked as it's wings opened and it banked to the side, suddenly flying towards him. He tensed and raising his hand whispered. Gwaine saw his eyes flash and a moment later the creature seemed to hit something solid and pulverised to dust. Merlin used his raised hand to cover his eyes as it rained down on him, Gwaine and the policemen. It also seemed to slow the rush of people as the dust gently floated onto the cobbles.
"Get them to go sensibly," Gwaine said, pointing at the mass of people. "And file them out of here, block the area off."
"Who put you in charge?" the policeman demanded. Gwaine glowered at him.
"It seems the most sensible course of action, unless you want to go inside and take on a group of huge, stone-but-moving gargoyles."
The policeman decided he didn't really want to do that. He glanced at his partner and they both ran off to organise the evacuation as another wave of people appeared in the doorway.
"We're not getting in that way," Gwaine said. Merlin glanced along the side of the building.
"There's got to be a fire door, come on!"
Gwaine followed Merlin as he ran along the length of the building and ran around the corner. A blue metal door marred the neat stone wall. Merlin paused, and Gwaine fumbled for purchase on the edge of the door.
"Why can you never get in these things?"
"Because they are designed for when people want to get out," Merlin informed him.
Gwaine was about to snap his answer when there was a huge roar, followed by some more screaming.
"People want to get out now."
"I dare say the fire marshals are in the crush out there, since this isn't a fire. Gwaine, get out of the way!"
Gwaine paused and then stopped scrabbling and stepped back. Merlin breathed out a word and his eyes flashed and the door swung open, crashing back on the wall, and would have flattened Gwaine if he hadn't moved. He looked at Merlin slightly embarrassed. Merlin grinned. It faded as they heard another crashing sound and something thudded in the building over them.
"I can guess who isn't running away," Gwaine said. He dashed in first with Merlin hot on his heels. They paused at a small stairwell, glancing down the long corridor they were in, hearing the screams from the entrance hall.
"I'm going to guess that the main stairs will be a bit difficult to get up," Gwaine mused.
"Stairs are stairs," Merlin said starting up the small flight that was in front of them. Gwaine ran behind him, both of them taking the stairs three at a time to get up them.
"We don't know what room we'll end up at," Gwaine panted as he ran after Merlin, trying to get ahead of him, so if they did meet any danger Gwaine was there to protect his partner. Not that Merlin needed protecting, he had demonstrated as much when he had smashed one of the gargoyles apart.
"There aren't that many rooms!" Merlin yelled back. "Arthur said it looked like they were staring, so we can safely guess who they are probably aiming for."
"Looks like we've found someone who doesn't like Arthur's blondness!" Gwaine shouted back. Then both of them gave up talking and put more effort into running.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxX
The flicker of shadow had caused Arthur to look up, but as he glanced out of the window, he didn't see anything, so he turned back to Morgana, who was filtering through a pile of junk jewellery, unsuccessfully if her expression was anything to go by. As they wandered to the next aisle the sound of glass breaking and metal groaning made them turn. The three of them stood there staring, not screaming, as the gargoyle yanked the window off and started to crawl in, buckling the rest of the metal frame, and shattering the other panes of glass.
"Okay," Arthur said, quite pleased at how calm he felt. He leant towards Leon. "Is this something you've read about?"
They slowly started to back up, aiming towards Gwen and Lancelot, who were pushing their way through the crowd to regroup.
"No," Leon said, as another gargoyle appeared crashing through the window, landing heavily on a table and crushing everything under it's huge clawed feet. It's head swept from side to side as it ambled forward, knocking obstacles out of it's way without even looking at them.
"What the hell is going on?" Lancelot demanded as he finally reached them, holding tightly to Gwen, and keeping her behind the rest of them. Leon moved in front of Arthur as they continued to back up. They all jumped as one of the creatures leapt forward, bounding towards the people running to the door.
"Oh my God, they'll be crushed!"
"Shit!" Arthur said, he grabbed the first thing that came to hand, which was a heavy glass punchbowl, and hurled it at the beast, hitting it, with instinctive accuracy, on the side of it's head. The thing growled and turned, the stone grating making them all wince. It snarled, and ignored the panicked crowd in favour of them.
"I wonder if that was a wise move," Leon mused, moving in front of them and guiding them, glancing towards one of the side doors in the hall. "I guess we're going that way."
"Good idea, keep moving," Lancelot ordered, reaching to his side and producing a gun, from what seemed to be nowhere. Leon did the same.
"How the hell did you do that?" Arthur demanded as Morgana reached into the waistband of her jeans, at the small of her back, and produced her own firearm.
"Concealment spell of Merlin's, nobody sees them, unless you draw them from the holster," Lancelot said.
"Nobody thought to mention this to me?" Arthur asked, reaching the doorway and pulling Gwen through it. Morgana shuttled after them. Lancelot and Leon blocked the door for a moment.
"Actually, orders from your father, he didn't want to worry you," Lancelot said.
"That wouldn't have worried me, you lot carrying concealed weapons, does not worry me. Those!" he pointed at the gargoyles trampling through the room. "They worry me!"
Gwen gave a yelp and then clapped her hands over her mouth as another of them crashed into the room they were backing into. Arthur turned, and pushed Gwen behind him looking at the dragon like creature as it moved low to the ground through the room. There were tables and chairs stacked around the room. One of it's wings brushed against a pile of chairs sending them scattering to the floor. The animal jumped and swiped at them, sending padding into the air as it ripped some of the upholstery.
"Oh, that one looks agile," Morgana said.
"Will those guns to any good?" Arthur said, taking the one that Lancelot produced from the waistband of his trousers.
"You've only got what's in that clip," he warned Arthur. Then Lancelot aimed and shot at the creature's head. It made it recoil a little but did nothing more than leave a hole in the stone. The dragon snarled, turning his attention to them.
"I've got a spare clip," Lancelot said to explain the waste.
"I don't think it's going to make much different, we'll fire a couple, make for that door," Leon said.
"On three?" Morgana asked.
Arthur took Gwen's hand, knowing what was coming.
"Three!" Leon and Lancelot yelled, firing twice at the dragon. The others ran, then so did the two men. They ran through the door and Arthur took the heavy wood in both hands, slamming it round before they ran down the corridor. The door met the creature head on, giving them a few more seconds, until they almost ran into another gargoyle destroying a door frame to get through.
"Shit, go back!" Morgana yelled.
"Crap!" Arthur said.
"Crud but apt," Leon told him. "All we've got is the stairs up."
"If we go up we can take the main stairs down, hopefully," Morgana said.
"No other option!" Lancelot announced, pushing Leon up. "Go ahead, just in case! GO!"
They all ran, hearing the crashing sounds behind him.
"At least if they all follow us, they might all get stuck or something!" Gwen said, her voice wavering a little. Arthur ran behind her, hot on her heels but as they reached the stairs and dashed into the tearoom they faltered. The people still in there, unaware of the disaster downstairs eyed them in shock. Three of them slid the weapons back into their camouflaged hiding places, Arthur put his behind his back.
Percival, who was sat at a table drinking coffee and admiring his newly bought jars of chutney looked up and started to carefully put the jars back in the bag. He swallowed a huge mouthful of his drink and slowly got up.
"If he's trying to be subtle it's not working," Lancelot murmur, and waved at him to come over. Percival obeyed, frowning as he looked at them.
"This is not good," Leon murmured. "Does a public place make it easier or harder to get to Arthur?"
"Easier or harder for what?" Percival asked.
"Harder because there are more people," Morgana said. "Easier because he probably won't want anyone to get hurt."
"This lot are probably better staying put, come on," Leon said heading through the room, Arthur hid the gun under his shirt and, with Percival still demanding to know what was going on, they fled through the café as swiftly as they could, running down the stairs. The people watched them go, and started to chatter a little curiously.
"Maybe we should have warned them," Gwen said.
"No, I guess they will be fine, if we go down, so will those creatures," Leon said.
"You don't know that!" Gwen snapped.
"Safe from what?" Percival asked.
"Gargoyles," Leon said before turning to Gwen. "No, I don't, it's a best guess, it's all I have!"
As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Arthur wavered; staggering and shaking his head, slipping down the last three steps and said, randomly.
"Just come down the stairs from the tea-room, where are you?"
"What?" Gwen asked. Arthur blinked and shook his head.
"Merlin, I don't know which way is east!"
"That way," Morgana said, helpfully, pointing to the left. Arthur shook his head.
"Right," he said, wandering that way. Then he shook his head again and staggered. "I didn't say I was going right, Merlin, you idiot! I was saying right as in agreeing!"
Arthur would have cannoned into a wall but Lancelot grabbed his arm and steadied him. They ran down the corridor and as they reached the stairs, Merlin bounded into view, almost crashing into them. Gwaine was right behind him.
"Have you seen the gargoyles?"
"Yes, one looked like it was about to eat us, then Lancelot put a hole in it's head," Leon said.
"Did that stop it?"
"No, I think it's just pissed it off," Morgana said, turning as she heard growling. The dragon was heading down the corridor towards them at speed, they drew their guns but Merlin held out his hand again and as the beast leapt it exploded into pieces.
"Well, that's useful," Arthur said.
"That might depend on what they are made of," Merlin said. "The other one just became dust, and I used the same spell."
"So if we have denser stone, we might have a problem," Gwaine said.
"Can you up the power? I could help," Morgana said. Merlin shook his head.
"Dunno."
Arthur jumped and frowned as his phone started to ring. He pulled it out of his back pocket and cringed before answering it.
"Hello?" he paused and listened. "No, we're in the building."
Arthur rolled his eyes. "You know what dad, I would never have thought of that. I don't think it will make much difference if we are in or out of the building, they're coming after us. We might put everyone else in danger if we try getting out!"
He frowned and looked at Merlin. "Would me being away from the building stop them moving?"
Merlin looked wide eyed and shook his head. "Don't know, if they are after you then maybe, maybe not."
"That could go either way," Arthur said into the phone. "I think we need to find out if they are really following me before we do anything else."
He pulled the phone away from his ear and snapped it shut, not before they all heard Uther's voice announce.
"Arthur, don't you dare!"
"Right," Arthur said. "What's best, open space or small space?"
"Open," Merlin and Morgana said, while at the same time Leon and Lancelot announced.
"Small!"
Arthur rolled his eyes and glanced at Gwaine. Gwaine shrugged.
"I don't know, Merlin can probably try exploding them but in a confined space that may be dangerous, the large ones may be limited in a small space but that might make them hard to shoot."
Arthur shrugged, glancing around as everyone looked at him, almost expectantly, except Percival who was trying to find a way to carry his bag without damaging it.
"Give it to Gwen," Arthur advised him, handing his bag to her. Gwen frowned.
"What am I, the bag lady?"
"You're the one who's staying out of danger," Arthur announced.
"I doubt she'll get out of the building," Leon said. Arthur's eyes narrowed.
"Fine, Percival go with her. If they follow you, run to the main hall, it might be an open space, but there are obstacles."
"Are you sure about this Arthur?" Merlin said. Arthur shrugged.
"No, but let's do it anyway."
"It's what we came for," Gwaine said with a grin. Arthur shrugged and they ran down the corridor, heading for the main hall. All of them sending glances Arthur's way, not because he had suddenly seemed to take charge, but because all of them had noticed.
He had called Uther 'dad'.