Defeating the Darkness (A Merlin Fanfiction)

Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, credit to BBC 1

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A pleasant breeze wound through the branches of the trees as the knights, Merlin, and Arthur made their way through the northern forest. They had been travelling for a few hours since the rest stop and it was much more enjoyable than the previous day in the desert; no sand blowing in their eyes, no harsh sun beating down their necks. The trees of the forest shrouded them from the sky and it was pleasantly cool.

Merlin was dazing off, his horse trotting leisurely behind Arthur, when something caught his eye in the shrubbery to his right. Jerking his head back, he saw a shredded piece of cloth hanging off a branch. He veered out of the line of knights and rode up to the cloth and touched it.

"Find something?" Gwaine followed Merlin and saw what he was looking at. "Did someone just run by and snag on the branch?"

Arthur saw the cloth and drew his sword, looking around.

Merlin shook his head. "No, this has been here for a while. The fabric is really old." He rubbed it in between his fingers and it nearly crumbled.

"We might be nearing the site on the northern boarders. It is an old battle site, and because of the superstition, people don't usually come here. It was littered with signs of previous civilization the last time I visited," Arthur said.

"And that's where you think the de industria petram is?" Elyan asked.

"Exactly. Let's keep moving." Arthur maneuvered his horse around and continued west, followed by everyone else.

As they continued along the borders, more signs of the battlefield were showing up; pieces of rusted metal, that Merlin assumed were fractured pieces of swords and shields, were sticking out of the dirt in various places, sunlight reflecting off of the surfaces. Merlin could tell Arthur was growing apprehensive, his eyes darting around for any sign of a bright blue rock.

"Arthur, if the de industria petram is at this site, I would think it would be located at the heart of the battlefield, not the outskirts. Let's keep moving and focus our energy on finding it there," Elyan suggested.

"Yeah, alright." Arthur nodded and sped up his pace.

Finally, the trees thinned out and the terrain become flat and turned into a wide field.

"Whoa," Gwaine muttered, looking around.

Obviously no one had bothered to clean up the field after whatever previous battle had taken place last; swords, armor, tattered clothing, and decaying bones cluttered the ground, with tall sprouts of grass occasionally shooting up between broken shields.

Arthur slid off his horse and looked around. "Let's start looking." He strode off into the field.

Gwaine warily glanced at Merlin. He knew what the knight was thinking; Arthur was now in his all-business mode, meaning he would be grumpy and stern until he found what he was looking for.

The knights followed Arthur while Merlin secured the horses and gave them drinks. He then joined the rest in the field.

"Now, remember, this rock is bright blue and about the size of a fist. Look closely, it might be hidden," Arthur ordered.

"You think it's just laying among the debris?" Percival questioned, kicking a dented helmet across the parched grass.

Arthur sighed. "I don't know, but it's a start."

They looked for a good few hours, moving aside broken swords and bones and prying open clumps of grass, but no one had any success in finding a bright blue rock. Soon, the group was getting restless and sore from bending over and looking at the ground.

"Break?" Gwaine called exasperatedly.

Arthur looked around desperately as though he needed to find see the rock just then.

"Arthur, let's get some food," Merlin said.

The king looked up and hesitantly nodded. They all retreated to under the trees where the horses were stationed and sat down while Merlin gathered food and their pot from the packs. Percival helped him set up a fire and soon they had a bowl of vegetable soup heating up over the flames.

As the knights chatted happily, eating their dinner, Merlin noticed Arthur had distanced himself from the rest of the group. He got up and walked over to him, sitting down.

"Arthur, you alright?"

The king lifted his sullen face. "I need to find this rock, Merlin."

"I know, and we will."

"But what if it's not even here? We've come all this way, and it could be anywhere, the only reason we are looking here is because of a hunch-"

Merlin interrupted him. "Yeah, but it's the safest bet. The book said it's located where disaster has struck the most frequent, and more battles have taken place here than anywhere else..."

Arthur sighed. "I know, but I feel like it's not here. Maybe someone else took it already... I mean, we've been looking for hours..." Arthur rubbed his forehead feverishly.

But Merlin wasn't paying attention to him anymore. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a bluish glow resonating from under the loosely packed dirt at the base of a tree behind Arthur.