Ureshiitamago: Wooo! Extra long chappie this time, just cause I'm bored, and have nothing better to do with my life than make chapters for a fanfiction…just kidding! I love you all, and love writing these!
Anora: I do think that your head is screwed on too tight.
Ureshiitamago: You're quoting the Grinch who Stole Christmas…
Anora: No, you are.
Ureshiitamago: If you still don't understand that I don't own Merlin, shame on you.
Anora: You're changing the subject…
Ureshiitamago: On with the fanfic! Oh, by the way, this is set in "The Coming of Arthur". Just thought I'd let you all know.
"One more minute and you both would've been dead." He said. The two bickering men looked at him in slight shock. "Neither of you won, your plan was a half-baked disaster. And if it wasn't for that fire," He paused. "We would all be pushing up daisies." He walked past them after he made his point. Gwaine looked after Merlin while the younger man walked away as Arthur stared at the place Merlin had been, as if trying to comprehend that he had been scolded. Gwaine looked back at Arthur. I laughed heartily, and shoved past them myself. I like Merlin. I thought. He has that slightly annoying yet funnily sarcastic quality.
Chapter 3: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
"Are we there yet?" I asked for the billionth time since I joined them. At first, it was a legitimate question, but it soon turned into a 'try to make Arthur get pissed off' question. It seemed to be working.
"No." His answer was much shorter this time. Suddenly, he stopped, and not expecting it, I ran into his back.
"Well, don't tell me we're actually here." Merlin remarked. I chuckled as I took in the scene in front of me. It was a smallish cave entrance with a stone sort of blocking it. The stone was covered in moss, and I thought it looked beautiful.
"You mean the cup is with the Druids?" I asked. "If you'd told me that sooner, I could have taken us here faster." Arthur sent a withering glare at me, and looked away.
"Easy Merlin, little flower. You don't want to rile the Prince." Gwaine said, elbowing me in the side. I frowned at his words.
"Prince?" I asked. Merlin nodded as Arthur moved away.
"The prince of Camelot." He said. I froze in my steps, and looked at Arthurs' retreating back. Gwaine followed.
"Are you okay?" Merlin asked me. I gave him a somewhat reassuring smile.
"Yes, go with them. I need to process this." I said. Merlin gave me a look, and I laughed as I interoperated it. "No, I'm not thinking about killing him. As long as he leaves the Druids alone, I'm fine with him going in there." Merlin nodded hesitantly before following. I turned away from the cave and sat down against a tree with the intent to watch for the eyes that had been following us, and to think about what I had heard.
I never really liked royalty, mainly because I was the bastard daughter of a king and a 'whore of the court'. I was brought up as 'the whore's daughter', and hated by everyone except for two people. One was the captain of the guard, who taught me how to fight and hunt. The other was my mother, who loved me regardless of the fact that every day that I grew older, I looked more and more like that horrible king. I had left finally, making my way across the lands that most people have only heard of in bards tales, and eventually across the great sea, where I didn't fall off the edge, and I learned how to survive in the wild for an indefinite amount of time from the copper skinned natives who lived there. I had made my way back to where I was born, only to find that both of the ones who loved me had been killed, and I had nowhere to go. So I became a treasure hunter. I met Gwaine a few times on my travels, enough times for me to call him a 'good friend', and I trusted his judgment. If Gwaine was friends with this prince, I would try to be nice.
My thinking over, I winkled an apple out of my travel sack and crunched it, savoring the juices that burst in my mouth. I scanned the trees happily, waiting for them to arrive. They did, and I stood up, eating the rest of my apple, and following them as they walked by me.
"Hard work, this quest business." Gwaine remarked as I fell into step next to him.
"Trust me, it's a great deed we just did today." Arthur said, lifting up a golden cup for a second.
"You sure the cup wasn't safer with the Druids?" Merlin asked.
"Can't be trusted Merlin, no one can."Arthur said. "The only safe place for the cup is the vault of Camelot." I was the only one who heard Merlin's next words.
"Yeah, well we have to get it there first." He said. I smiled, and then caught up with Arthur.
"So you're the Prince of Camelot?" I asked, looking at him, trying to gauge his reaction. He glared at me for a moment.
"Yes." He said.
"Funny, I always pictured the prince as a more…" I trailed off, as if in thought. Arthur looked at me expectantly. "Handsome fellow." I finished with a serious nod of my head. Gwaine snorted behind me. Arthur looked at me for a moment, and then ignored me.
"We're approaching the border of Cenred's lands." He said, pointing his sword in front and to the right a little ways. "Beyond the forest lies Camelot." The sword went back to his side.
"And food and water and a nice hot bath." Gwaine remarked. I grinned, not able to resist. I pinched my nose and said in an exaggerated voice;
"Pee yew, you need one." Gwaine sniffed, feigning his feelings getting hurt. Suddenly, I grabbed Arthur's tunic. Gwaine stopped with me.
"Quiet." I said. Arthur looked at me quizzically before furrowing his brow, and then his eyes widened in understanding. I could hear nothing. The others were obviously not getting it.
"Listen." Arthur said.
"I don't hear anything." Merlin said. I slapped him on the back of the head. I ignored the kicked puppy look on his face.
"When walking down a trail, the first warning you get when bandits are nearby is that there are no sounds of wildlife." I remarked. Merlins' eyes widened.
"Exactly." Arthur said. My hands curled into fists.
"Never satisfied, you city types." Gwaine remarked, though he looked to be on guard. "It's too noisy, its too quiet…" He trailed off as men in chainmail with swords in their hands leapt out at us, making no sound. We all stared for a moment, and then ran. I found myself running side by side with Arthur.
"Nice day for a run in the woods!" I yelled out between breaths.
"We're running for our lives, cease the pointless chatter!" He yelled back.
"That's the most you've said to me since we met! Can I celebrate with an apple?" I said, pulling out a nice green apple.
"NO!" He yelled. "In case you haven't noticed, they're on our trail!" I sighed and threw the apple over my shoulder, smirking as I heard the person chasing us cry out in pain. I looked over my shoulder, and my eyes widened as the person whom I had named Bobby recovered and took out a crossbow, aiming it at Arthur. I slammed into him, knocking him out of the path of the arrow. Unfortunately however, I took the arrow in my leg. I let out a cry as I fell.
"Run Arthur!" I shouted. He looked uncertain for a second, and then his face steeled as he held up his sword. Another arrow hit him in the leg, and he fell as well.
"IDIOT!" I shouted, scrambling for cover as I heard our attackers footsteps grow closer. I managed to slide myself under a bush, and cursed my inability to stand as the man reached Arthur and took his pouch, relieving it of the cup. I noticed that Arthur's eyes were closed, most likely knocked out from the shock. I took out another apple, and threw it. I heard another grunt of pain, and the footsteps grew closer to me. I knew that he probably wasn't able to see me through the foliage, and I used that to my advantage. I continued to lob apples at him from different points in the bush, serving to confuse him until help arrived. I just hoped that it was help for Arthur and I.
Merlin ran up, and I was surprised to see him hold out his hand, and see his eyes glow gold. The man flew backwards, and the cup flew through the air. Merlin immediately followed it, disappearing through the trees. I sat there in shock. Merlin has magic, and lives in Camelot…I thought. I didn't have anything against magic, I was just surprised that he managed to live in Camelot without being killed for magic. I crawled out of my hiding place and over to Arthur when Gwaine appeared.
"Merlin?" We called. He ran back to us.
A few hours later.
"It doesn't look too bad." Gwaine said as he examined Arthur's leg. Mine hadn't gone in as deep as Arthurs had, and it didn't require stitching, though I thought that Arthurs might. I did feel funny though, like sleep was trying to overwhelm me.
"Arrow must've been poisoned." Merlin said, placing his hand on Arthur's brow to feel for a fever. I had long since become immune to most poisons, so there was no fever for me, just unnatural tiredness.
"What about you?" Merlin asked me. I shook my head.
"There is no poison in this land that can kill me." I told him. He looked at me oddly. "What?" I asked. He shook his head and looked back at Arthur.
"He's got a fever, we need to keep him warm." He said, taking off his coat. Merlin laid his coat over Arthur as I opened my satchel and rummaged around for the wool blanket I always carried with me.
"I don't get it." Gwaine said seriously. "Why all this trouble for a cup?"
"Because in the wrong hands, it could become a terrible weapon." I said. A/N: Yes, I stole Merlins' line, that will happen sometimes…this is a fanfiction, I can do what I want. :P
They looked at me before Gwaine spoke up.
"I forgot you lived with the Druids for a while." He said. I smiled at him and Merlin.
"I also lived with slave traders, merchants, bandits, you name it, I've been it." I said, and then pointed a finger at Gwaine, who looked like he was about to say something that would make even a sailor blush. "Except for a doxie. And I will never be a doxie, so don't wait up nights." He pouted comically.
"Not so great Cenreds' got it then." Gwaine said instead. It took me a minute to realize that the conversation had gone back to the cup. Merlin stopped staring at me, and looked at Gwaine.
"It's worse than you can possibly imagine." He said, taking the wool blanket I offered to him and tucking it around the prince.
"I can imagine the world exploding into the universe, and the universe just going on as if we never existed." I said, ignoring the looks they gave me. "More importantly, Merlin, I need to speak to you in private." I indicated the trees around us. After some arguing, and then walking for two minutes or so to make sure that Gwaine couldn't hear, I turned to face Merlin.
"You do magic." I said. My tone wasn't accusing, but Merlin flinched as though it was.
"No I haven't." He said. I sighed.
"You are a terrible lier." I said, shaking my head. "Don't worry, I wont tell. Lived with Druids, remember? Just a warning though. If I could figure out you have magic, others can too." I placed a hand on his shoulder. "I would hate to see you have your head chopped off, or worse, in flames." I said this seriously, and Merlin seemed to tense up.
"What do you know?" He asked tensely.
"Only that you have magic, and I think of you as a friend, and worry about you as a friend." I said. "I think that Gwaine has been left alone with Princey man for too long, we should go back." I walked by him, and then stopped. "I swear on the life of these woods that I will do nothing that will harm either you or Prince Arthur." I said, and then walked away. We arrived back at the campsite, Merlin more subdued than he had been since the morning. It was strange that I considered him a friend already, having just met him, but life threatening situations tended to do that to a person. Merlin was sitting at the opposite end of the fire from Gwaine and I, and the fire was now down to coals. Arthur was shivering with cold despite the blanket and jacket sacrificed to keep him warm.
"We need more firewood." Merlin said. Gwaine and I looked at the fire, then at each other.
"You're right about that." We said in synch, both of us looking serious. Merlin figited for a moment.
"Do you want to go and get some?" He asked. I assumed he was talking to Gwaine, so I continued to stare at the coals.
"Not really. Thanks for asking." Gwaine said. I snorted in amusement.
"Do you?" Merlin asked me. I smiled sweetly at him, and pointed at my bandaged leg.
"Sorry." I said.
"Wolves out there." Merlin said, looking at Gwaine again. "Bears…boars."
"Exactly." Gwaine said.
"I'm not a warrior, I can't defend myself like you." He was trying to guilt trip Gwaine. Good luck with that. I thought, mentally tipping an imaginary hat to Merlin.
"Never too late to learn." Gwaine said, proving my point. I looked at Gwaine's face, and noticed that he was thinking. I felt astounded. The guilt trip was working!
"Merlin." Gwaine said, catching the eye of the slightly panicked youth. "Don't you know when someone is joking with you?" Merlin laughed a little. Gwaine picked up his sword, and pointed it at the both of us.
"If I die collecting firewood, keep it to yourselves." He said. "I got a reputation to consider." I laughed heartily. Merlin looked at me expectantly. I rolled my eyes.
"You're going to do magic, and you don't want me to watch, right?" I said. He nodded. I sighed and turned away. I heard him recite an incantation twice.
"Come on." He said, in a slightly panicked voice. I turned back around. He was lightly shaking Arthur. "Arthur, come on." Arthur lay there, shivering with cold. Gwaine came back with the firewood, and built up the fire again, and I watched as sleep overcame the two of them.
Several hours later.
I was looking up at the trees when I heard a slight cough. I looked back down at the sleeping trio, and saw Arthur roll over, his eyes open. He was looking around, confused. I saw him reach for his long gone bag, and then look at Merlin.
"Where's the cup?" He asked in a commanding tone. Merlin jumped at his voice and woke up while I jabbed Gwaine's side to wake him. I was still fighting off the effects of the poison.
"Where's the cup?" He asked again, in a slightly more panicked tone.
"Cenred's men, they took it." Merlin said, sleep still in his voice.
"Then what are we still doing here?" Arthur demanded. I rolled my eyes. It was too early in the morning to be so energetic.
"You were unconscious." Merlin said, as if talking to a small child who was throwing a fit over a glass of spilled milk.
"Always an excuse, Merlin." Arthur sat up, and then almost fell over as he tried to stand. Merlin and Gwaine got up to help him. I still sat, stretching the stiffness out of my own injured leg.
"We have to get back to Camelot before it's too late." He said. I sighed, and used the tree to stand up.
"It's already too late." I said. They all looked at me as I examined the branches of the tree I was leaning against.
"What do you mean?" Arthur asked in a strained voice. I tugged experimentally on one branch, and smiled slightly as it gave way for me to use as a walking stick.
"I mean that they can use the cup to create soldiers who can never die." I said. They were still looking at me.
"Do you use magic?" Arthur suddenly asked wearily. I snorted at him.
"No, I just lived with the Druids for a while. I also lived with the wandering tribes in a desert far away from here, and they use magic on a regular basis. I know a lot of magical lore, but no. I can't use magic." I said. "I'm also a treasure hunter. I was looking for the cup myself." I added.
"What would you use it for?" Merlin asked. I looked at him askance.
"I would never dream of using it for selfish purposes. Once I had it, I meant to throw it into the place from whence it came. To rid the world of something that could be so easily used to create an undead army." Arthur looked at me, an eyebrow raised.
"And how much more do you know about the cup?" He asked. I shrugged.
"I know that it can be used, in the right situations, to heal fatal injuries if you drink water from it. Not much else though." I twirled my newly acquired stick in a hand thoughtfully. "Apple?" I asked, holding out a green apple. Gwaine tried to take it, but I made a face at him and bit into it with a crunch.
Wooo. So now we know that Anora likes to travel. ;) Next chapter will be up next week. See you then lovies!