The Fire Inside- A Merlin BBC Fanfic

Gaps in the Words

"The scouts have returned, sire," Peter announced as he bowed to King Lot.

"Any news?" The king replied, his voice huskier than usual- this whole operation had set his nerves on edge.

"The party is heading south next is what all the Druids told us before the scouts burned their village," Peter replied with a wicked smile.

"We'll be the last stop then. Send more scouts to find the Druid colony they will visit after the southern clan and burn it before they arrive. Send some after to burn the southern colony behind them as planned," King Lot ordered, a ghost of a smile on his lips. Not only would he get rid of the prat, he would exterminate the filthy Druids and make it seem to be the young king's doing. His plan could not fail.

~

"Milady!" Sir Ulric yelled as he slammed the meeting room doors open, startling the farmer who was reporting on the crops to the Queen the most.

"Sir Ulric, what is the meaning of this interruption?" Queen Guinevere asked, lurching to her feet. She shooed the farmer away as Ulric hurriedly bowed in front of her.

"The Druid colony to the east has been burned down, my Queen. Nearby villages reported it to us, but it was already too late to save it,"

"The east? What of the Druids? And what of Arthur and his party?" Gwen asked, trying not to panic in front of an audience.

"They say it was during their worship time, milady, and very few survived the flames. The survivors are being looked after in neighbouring villages. We are unable to find any proof that Arthur was still there when it was set aflame, but we will keep looking," Ulric reported, trying to catch his breath.

"Thank you, Ulric. See to it that the survivors are cared for, court dismissed," Gwen announced, rushing off to her chambers. Arthur surely had moved on by that time, right? Merlin and Cyra could protect him, they're completely safe. But even with the constant self-assurance, Guinevere paced the room in nervousness. Maybe she could send Cyra a letter, just in case.

Scribbling down a letter, Gwen quickly sealed the envelope with the wax seal given to her. She slipped on a more simple gown and rushed into the lower town, placing the letter on the porch of her old home.

Gwen sighed and turned around to see the flowers that always had grown outside of her home had started to die, the petals drooping, this stroke Gwen as really odd as no matter what has happened the flowers had stayed bright and fresh. She shook her head- if the most consistent thing in her life was changing, who knew what lies ahead.

~

The trio rode in silence for most of the day. Merlin was daydreaming, Cyra was trying to breath fire without producing scales (her horse was not a fan of this), and Arthur was still brooding over his dream. The prat really needs to get over it, but whatever.

Cyra tried once again to shoot fire, but this time accidentally catching Arthur's horse's tail on fire. The horse jumped, knocking Arthur and all of his supplies off the saddle, which caused Cyra's horse to almost stomp on Arthur. Merlin, completely oblivious, ran his horse right into Cyra's causing him to slide out of his saddle from the impact.

"What was that?" Arthur asked, scowling at Cyra as his horse ran off, trying to extinguish its tail.

"Sorry, I was just trying to practice..," Cyra cringed. Arthur and her weren't on the best terms, for reasons unknown to her, and this definitely didn't help.

"Well that's great. We've just lost a horse!" Arthur was visibly pissed at this point, standing up and trying to untangle his cape from the foliage.