Defeating the Darkness (A Merlin Fanfiction)

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Only the plot belongs to me, credit to BBC 1's show Merlin.
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Merlin trotted behind Percival as the group made their way steadily towards the northern boarders. It was nearly noon, and they would soon be out of the forest. Merlin sighed as a breeze washed over him, dreading the time when they would leave the shade of the trees and be exposed to the hot sun in the desert.

Merlin took a swig of water from his flask and then secured it in his pack. Looking forward, he saw Percival's eyes darting to his leg nervously, like he was scared it would jump off of his body. It was fully healed now, but Merlin could tell the knight was still skeptical of the magic that had been used to heal it.

A clear drop of water landed on Merlin's arm. He looked into the sky and saw a large, grey storm cloud moving swiftly in from the east. Before he could alert the others of the impending storm, a deafening clap of thunder erupted from above and Merlin saw a thin streak of lightning illuminate the dark cloud.

Leon, leading the group, examined the sky and cursed under his breath before calling, "Let's move!" He yanked on his horse's reigns and galloped ahead at full speed. The rest of the group followed suit, and by the time everyone was moving fast through the forest, buckets of rain were falling hard, splattering on the mens' backs.

Merlin frantically wiped at his eyes, his vision clouded by the rain. He bounced up and down on his horse, which was tearing through the trees and ripping up chunks of dirt and grass with its hooves as it moved. Merlin urged the horse onwards and called to the others to move faster as well; they needed to get out of the woods quick in order to outrun the worst of the storm.

Finally, the trees thinned out and the forest lost its density. The group was nearing the exit of the Darkling Woods, and the sunlight at the border was urging them onwards.

Merlin burst out of the trees, sunlight blinding him for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the abrupt change from the dark woods. The ground had changed from grassy to sandy, and dunes stretched forward as far as he could see. He relaxed his shoulders as the sun started to warm him up, drying his thoroughly-soaked clothes.

Gwaine pulled up next to him and stopped his horse, sighing in relief. "Glad we're out of there."

Merlin nodded his agreement. But just as he was starting to wring out his seeping shirt, Arthur galloped up next to the two, his blond hair plastered to his forehead. "We need to keep moving. The sun will dry your clothes. I want to get to the border before nightfall, or we will be trapped out here overnight. Believe me, sleeping in the sand is not fun."

Gwaine and Merlin looked at Arthur before nodding reluctantly, eager for a rest. They both settled back onto their horses and grabbed the reigns again, pressing on through the desert.

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After a few hours of nonstop travel, the knights, Arthur, and Merlin were weary, hot, and covered in a fine layer of sand due to hours worth of the horses kicking it up onto them.

"Arthur," Merlin breathed to the king, who was riding a few yards behind him, "we need to rest."

Arthur, just as exhausted as the rest of them, hesitated but shook his head. "We've got to keep moving. We will come to the border soon, where there will be areas to wash up. The desert will turn to trees. Then tomorrow we can move west."

Elyan said, "Why can't we just cut across the desert and move northwest?"

"Bandits. And the terrain gets much rockier; it's hard for the horses, and we don't want to get caught up there," Gwaine answered.

So the group kept moving forward, the harsh sun beating down on their backs. Finally, as the sun started to set, the sand dunes flattened out, trees dotted the landscape, and grass sprouted from the ground, replacing the grainy sand.

"There!" Leon yelled. He burst forward, horse galloping past everyone else. He slowed down 100 yards up, and leapt to the ground. It was stream he had found, and the rushing clear water was enough motivation to give the men a burst of strength to follow Leon.

After a good long drink where all the flasks had been filled, the knights sat back contentedly eating whatever scraps of food Merlin had thrown out of his pack. They were all ravenous, and didn't want to wait for Merlin to heat up stew.

"It will be dark soon, and with water here, this seems like a good area to camp for the night," Elyan suggested.

Gwaine looked around. "Yes, but it's not really shrouded from view..."

Arthur brushed his hands off, swallowing the last of a carrot. "I think it's fine; the trees won't get thicker until we start moving west. This is as good a place as any."

Merlin secured all the horses to a log for the night and collapsed with everyone else next to the stream, exhausted. A light breeze swept a layer of sand off his forehead, and before he fell asleep, he had a vague thought that he should have washed before lying down.

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"Ow!"

It was well into the night when Merlin was awoken by the sound. Through the darkness, he could barely make out Eylan's figure sitting up.

"Who just threw that at me?"

No one responded. Arthur stood up sleepily. "Anyone there?"

As Merlin's eyes adjusted, he looked around and saw them. About 20 people, armed with longbows from what Merlin could see of their dark shadows, standing in a circle around the knights. They were surrounded.

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Sorry this chapter was boring, it was just kind of a filler, the next one will be better.