Fate/Tyrants

Chapter 10 - The Star

"You seem uncomfortable." Sir Percival said to him, "You need to get some rest to be at your strongest."

"I don't need rest." Valentine seemed to be in a serious mood, "I need answers."

More than anything, he wanted to be wherever Halsted was. Being stuck at camp was frustrating him to no end.

"Answers? To what?" Percival asked.

Val sighed, scratched at a spot near his eyepatch, and took a drink of ale. Even the alcohol here was only ok.

"Why are we still here?" Valentine replied to him, "The phantasmal beasts have been pushed back, Goremund has resigned from the war, the black knight is dead, Vortigern has pulled back his saxons and not to mention that Halsted was sent off alone. Why are we here, Percy?"

The question lingered in the air, and Percival looked to be thinking it over.

"Well, Sir Terran is still asleep, and we hadn't made it back before Sir Halsted left." Percival spoke, but Valentine didn't seem to be listening.

Terran's condition was important to him. The prince of Ravenhill was the closest thing to family Valentine had left in this world. Arthur thought highly of him as well, and they had grown close over the time they spent together. But was Terran important enough that the whole army needed to stop here? No. It seemed far too unlikely.

To Val, it seemed like they were being kept in the dark about something. There had to be a reason they were here when they could be marching. Whether it was back towards Orkney or forward to Londinium, wouldn't it be best to move?

It was bothering Val, driving him into his current frustration. It felt like it was eating away at his mind. Just what was going on?

"You look like your brain will melt!" Merlin's cheery voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Shut up." Valentine's voice was low and serious, "I don't want to hear your voice right now."

With the wave of his hand, a wall of earth separated the two mages.

"That's not nice at all! This is how you treat your allies!" Merlin complained, "And just when I was gonna do you a favor."

The wall sunk back into the ground.

"Explain." Val ordered.

"You could be more polite." She pouted, "I just happened to overhear your conversation. You want to know why we're still here, don't you?"

"I think we're both curious, so please tell us." Percival said.

"Of course! How can I refuse such a polite knight!" Merlin seemed happy to be spoken to so nicely.

"Get on with it." Valentine shut her down.

Merlin sighed and sat down with them.

"So?" Valentine shifted on the log he was sitting on, trying to get comfortable, "like I said, get on with it."

"Right, right." Merlin mumbled, "The reason we're still here is because of Halsted's mission."

"Sir Halsted? He was sent to take a fort, wasn't he?" Percival asked, "He went alone, right?"

"Yep, that's right. He went alone on Arthur's orders." She said.

"Don't try to bullshit me. There's no fortress on this entire island worth enough to keep us here." Valentine had a lot of time to think about this.

"It's not the fort itself that we want." Merlin claimed, "But that's not important to you! I've gotta report in, see ya!"

Val would've called out, but he didn't want to lose too many brain cells talking to that succubus. Instead, he huffed and snapped his fingers. On his command, a raven descended from the sky and landed on his outstretched hand.