Defeating the Darkness (A Merlin Fanfiction)

Chapter 18

The knights and Merlin were in surprisingly high spirits the following day; after a quick breakfast they crammed the supplies onto their horses and prepared to set off.

"Alright, Merlin. Where to?" Gwaine said and he plopped onto the saddle.

"Okay, well, I saw Daniel in the woods the day before we got to the place where the rock was, I think. So that means we have to keep going straight and get through the desert first," Merlin recalled.

"And we're off!" Percival took the lead, more cheerful than the others with the knowledge that their odds were increased by whatever magical miracle Merlin would cook up once they got to Morgana.

It was a pleasant enough day, and the group made their way through the Darkling Forest at a quick pace. Soon, though, the minimal sunlight that got through the treetops disappeared completely to be replaced with ominous storm clouds, crackling above them.

"Uh, guys," Gwaine looked up. "That doesn't look good."

"Didn't this happen last time?" Elyan wondered.

"Let's just keep going. Maybe we can outride the storm." Leon pushed ahead, the others following.

Leon, however, was soon proved wrong, as they were drenched within minutes. 

"Look!" Leon called. The rest of the group pulled up next to him; they were at the border of the forest and desert. 

"We should get more water; there's a stream right there," said Merlin, looking over to the small body of water on their right, "and remember how dehydrated we were last time?"

The knights agreed and they jumped off their horses, letting them drink while Merlin unpacked a bunch of water satchels. They crouched in the pouring rain next to the stream, collecting as much water as possible and filling up themselves.

Once they had filled every container they had to the brim with water, the group returned to their horses and set out into the desert.

It was not as terribly hot in this area as the first time they had passed through it due to storm clouds above, but they soon passed and the knights and Merlin were left in the same uncomfortable heat that they remembered from before. 

Fortunately, the remaining time in the desert was uneventful; no bandits this time, no need for Merlin to use his magic to throw men to the ground and convince Arthur he did it with a simple dagger.

A day later, Merlin led the group into the trees and the only sign they had been in the desert were the small piles of sand their horses had kicked up.

"This seems familiar," Merlin said, looking around.

Gwaine cocked his eyebrows. "Really? It just looks like trees to me."

Merlin sighed. Quite honestly, that's what it looked like to him too, but he was trying to convince himself that he was on the right track. It would be so stupid if he had just led the knights into the woods with no idea where he was going, and Merlin wanted to seem confident that that wasn't the case.

"No, I think Merlin's right," Eylan chimed in. "I'm pretty sure this where we got out of the desert, and we rested a little ways down there because we were all exhausted."

Merlin breathed a sigh of relief. He lightly kicked his horse's side and pushed through the trees to where Elyan had motioned. 

"Yes!" Merlin felt so relieved as he recalled the scenery of the place where he had seen Daniel. "Look." He kind of clumsily toppled off his horse and scrambled over to a log, pointing at it. "This," he said, a little out of breath, "is where I had the dream about Daniel and Morgana. And here," Merlin hurried across the clearing, "is the bush that I saw Daniel run behind."

"Which way did he go?" Gwaine walked up next to Merlin.

"That way." Merlin pointed. "North."

"North?" Leon asked. "Straight north?"

"Yeah, looked like it."

"Well, that's Cenred's land. Is Morgana--"

"--working with Cenred and his men." Gwaine sat down on a log. "Damn."

They stood there for a few minutes, trying to take this in. 

"Well.." Merlin stuttered. "Maybe she's not working with Cenred; maybe she's just taking refuge in his land, since Camelot isn't very safe for her--"

"Yes, but neither is Cenred's land; unless she's working with him," Gwaine said. "And why wouldn't he want to work with her? He hates Camelot as much as Morgana does, and she probably lured him in with some empty promises if he helped her. Think about it; where else would she get a small army?" Gwaine chuckled dryly. "Morgana's got Cenred wrapped around her little finger."

"Well. One way to find out," Elyan said, grinning slightly. "Let's go."

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So so so so so so sorry for not updating in like three weeks. I finished my summer class so I PROMISE I will update more. I'll do a double or triple update today to try to make up for it:) Thanks for the reads/votes/comments!