To the ends of the earth.

Chapter three.

     After a long journey of camping out in the wild, meals that would never be as good as those of Merlin, bland and tasteless in their opinions. Fire took longer to be set up and roar then Merlin would do it and know they know he used magic, or at least they think he did.

     They had spent last night in a tavern in the village that had send out the report and request for their stuff to be taken back from that dungeon of the doomed. They had provided the king and his knights with good meals and warm beds. And before the first light even showed itself passed the horizon, they had been up and on their horses towards the dungeon.

     The tavern owner had warned them about a wizard of great power guarding the place and leading the bandits to raid them. Some of the villagers had contacts with druids as they had settled in the village since the legalisation of magic. They told them that the wizard was so powerful that they believe it's Emrys who's gone mad with grief and revenge. But none of the knights or king believe those rumours to be true.

     "Percival and Elyan take the ground level of the dungeons, if you find nothing, guard this place and make camp by the river. While me, Leon, Lancelot and Gwaine take the underground to see how much stuff there is to bring back." Kijg Arthur instructs his knights.

     The five knights of the round table nod their head, before leaving in the direction as they had been told. Percival and Elyan walk around the place, seeming to find nothing but abandoned sleeping camps of bandits and extinguished fireplaces. Left over food which had gone rotten by the time its spend on that stone floor.

     Percival spots something of a cloth laying soaked on the ground, seeming to look familiar to them. Elyan picks it up from the floor to inspect the piece of cloth that he recognises as a neckerchief. He flips the cloth over and sees the insignia of his sister. Looking at the soaked and torn piece of fabric, they now know that either Merlin has been here or he's the one that is gone mad like the druids had told them.

     "It's Merlin's." Elyan explains with dread to Percival. Who looks over his shoulder at the piece of cloth himself and sees the same insignia that Gwen always uses on the clothes that she makes for the knights and people of Camelot. After Arthur and Gwen had divorced, Gwen stayed an advisor to the king but when she wasn't doing that, she was always making new clothes for the people who needed it.

     "So Merlin's been here." Percival acknowledges. Scratching his head, not understanding why someone as innocent and good hearted would end up here.

     Elyan nods his head feafully. "I just hope he isn't the mad wizard. Or we will all be screwed." He tells the other knight.

     They continue their round through the upper part of the dungeon, which is rather small with only a little tower and a main building with no stairs up, no ceilings as they had come crashing down duo to neglect. They find nothing more, not a single trace of stuff or sign that the bandits had been here in recent days. Maybe just weeks ago.

     Once done with checking everything out above ground, Elyan and Percival take the sic horses down to the stream. Binding them to three trees and start a fire by Percival getting the wood and Elyan getting the waterskins refilled with fresh water and a small cooking cauldron for soup as that is the only food he can make without giving anyone food poisoning.

     As the fire burns and the soup has been made and now cooks on the fire. Percival wraps the piece of neckerchief over his wrist, not wanting to lose the piece of fabric that would be the last thing they had of Merlin. They all miss the young goofy and innocent young man that would despite their teasing and mocking, still have a laugh with them. Who was their baby brother to them.