David held his breath. Something about this guy was strange. Even now, after several days since Ariel had pulled him from the ocean, Arthur had a soft glow about him. Like a halo, as if the the magic that brought him back to life was still shining from inside him.
Arthur stood at the front of the line with the seasoned patrol guys. David didn't argue with it. However, Grumpy had questions.
"Hey, don't take it personal, undead guy? But usually the new guys have to train for a while before they become expert patrol duty personnel." Grumpy glared at Arthur.
"Good job I've been trained to kill since birth. You needn't worry." Arthur smiled at Grumpy, and picked up a large stick.
"What's that for?" Sneezy wasn't sure about this guy. The other dwarves were a little uncomfortable with someone who just materialized out of thin nothingness in the ocean being in their group.
"Well, they've not fitted me with a sword yet. This will work in a pinch, mm?" Arthur tapped the staff with a finger to indicate he meant to weaponize it. He was oddly chipper for someone who had literally risen from the dead less than a week ago. The dwarves looked at each other, but decided not to argue the point anymore. David had come back, and he would not be expecting nonsense.
"Right...okay, then. Dwarves, you go to the eastern end of the woods. Robin, you take your band of merry men and go west. Arthur and I will go north and south. Remember, we're scouting for any signs of potential danger while the magic bearers are away. If you see something, don't try to be overly courageous. Come back to report it. Everybody understands the objective?" David looked at Arthur. Arthur stood up taller, and flicked the staff with his wrist in a motion that made Grumpy nearly jump out of his skin.
"Yes, sire. Perfectly clear." Arthur eyed Grumpy who coughed nervously.
"Yes?" he noticed the dwarf looking at him a beat too long.
"You just...seem like really super happy about the idea of patrolling the woods looking for people to beat with that stick.."Grumpy's hands balled into little fists.
"Quite right. Do you know how long it's been since I've given someone a good thrashing o'er the head?" Arthur smirked. Grumpy spluttered.
"You weren't meant to answer it. I haven't the faintest idea myself." He winked and then followed David.
"I don't know whether to like or hate that guy," Wheezy scratched his head, watching Grumpy fume.
"I think ,for now, I hate him. We'll see if he gets any better..."Grumpy snapped his coat collar up. The dwarves followed each other on patrol.
"So, I know you don't remember a lot, but...what do you remember?" David found himself strangely curious about what coming back from Death might be like.
Arthur walked along beside him, slow and quiet, as if he was struggling a bit with the concept of putting one foot in front of the other.
"About life or about death?" Arthur looked at David intensely, and David felt a shiver pass through him at the thought that came next.
"You mean you can remember them both?" David clenched his teeth. Arthur's eyes said he did, in fact.
"I remember Death better than Life at this moment. It still isn't abundantly clear. For me, Death was like moving through smoke and water all the time. I was swimming through haunted lakes, and then I was fighting poisonous beasts. But, you see...I was sacrificed by a witch. This is why I died. And so, my death was an evil one. I don't expect it should be the same for you, m'lord David." Arthur clapped a hand on David's shoulder.
David smiled. He shivered then, and the question came before he could weigh whether or not it was proper to ask.
"Why were you sacrificed by a witch? You told my wife and daughter you agreed to it?" David halted. Arthur turned to look at him, eyes suddenly extremely sad.
"I only remember that another witch had created a dark curse to poison the natural-born magic of my dearest friend. By doing so, she would use his powers to poison my entire kingdom, transforming them all to wraiths. It was my life for the life of Merlin and the people..." Arthur twisted his mouth to the side.
"Wasn't a hard decision,really. Tell me, one man to another, if you were in the same position, what would you have done?" Arthur tilted his chin up as he studied David.
"Well, no contest. Save my family." David smiled. Arthur nodded.
"The love of Camelot was all I really ever lived for. That, m'lord David, is the only thing I can, at this moment, clearly remember about my life." Arthur suddenly turned to look in wonder at a bright, blazing spot of sunbeam in the treeline.
"Aha! look at this!" He ran forward. David, curious, chased after him.
Arthur slowed to a jog, cast aside the staff, and marched up to a stone. A sword was encased in it, wrapped in vines, cold and immovable.
"Oh, that old thing?...Regina says it's a cursed sword. No one has ever been able to pull it from the stone." David leaned back on his heels.
Arthur went up to it and yanked it free, brandishing it above his head. A pop of magic flowed through it and it licked up flame.
David felt his heart stop for a second. His ears were ringing, and his jaw had dropped. The surge of power through the sword and the ease with which this guy had pulled it free left David with a strange, terrible feeling. The feeling one gets right before they are plunged into a deep, dark wellspring of magic.
Arthur turned to David, holding the sword aloft.
"Well, but don't you see? Yes, it is old, and a bit blunted too, I'd wager, but it...Why, it-it's mine! I mean, I don't know how it came to be here too, but...The sword was forged for me in the Dragon's breath. See? It's engraved here..." Arthur skipped over to David, indicating with his finger the runes along the blade.
"I...I'll take your word for it. I can't read that script." David swallowed, still unnerved by the surge of magic he'd just felt.
Arthur let a cackling sort of laugh, beaming as he admired the blade.
"It is very powerful. Slices through hosts of the dead as if they were butter. Truly a magnificent blade. It was Merlin who had it forged for me. He was a great man, t'was Merlin..." Arthur got sad all of a sudden. He shook himself and looked back at his sword.
"I wonder where its scabbard is? You say it has always been in the stone like that?" Arthur looked back at the solid stone it was pulled from.
"Uhh...yeah. Yeah, the dwarves tried to blast it out with dynamite and Regina tried to blast it free with magic...and it would not come clean. No one really knows how long it's been here. It came over in the Curse that brought us all to Storybrooke, and was in our original homeland, the Enchanted Forest, before..." David looked up at Arthur who was studying him now with piqued interest.
"I've heard mention of that place before around here...You wouldn't be speaking of the Enchanted Forest that lies along the outlying edge of the Druid Lands, would you? That's the outside edge of my kingdom in Camelot. Your ancestral homeland and mine would have been near countries, then. Well, I suppose that explains how my sword came to be in your country and later here." Arthur looked at the sword, and nodded.
"Well, better this than that staff. Should we run into any great evil out here, while the sorcerers you say guard these lands are gone, we will need a demon-slayer. This will work nicely! I know first hand." Arthur laughed, swishing it around for a moment, before patrolling ahead as he had been doing before.
David leaned back on his heels and watched him go for a moment wondering how long ago he must have been alive, and what on earth dark mysteries were lying in the shadows of the Enchanted Forest.