AM I THE ONE? | Arthur Pendragon [1]

A Wraith

*Annabelle's P.O.V.*

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Merlin asked skeptically as he, Gaius, and I started walking down the stairs that led into the underground royal and noble crypt. The place was built in order to bury the noblemen, noblewomen, and royals and their families of Camelot.
"You're not scared, are you?" Gaius joked dryly, and I knew that he was still hiding something.
"No, no." Merlin replied sarcastically. "Old crypts; will we be seeing dead anywhere else?" We all whipped around and I jumped slightly as the entrance door suddenly slammed shut behind us with a loud noise, leaving us in complete darkness, seeing as the only light was the one coming through the opening that let the strays of sunlight in.
"Must have been a gust of wind." Gaius stated. "We should have brought a torch." He said as we tried to see something in the darkness. I saw a dark shape from the corner of my eye, and realized that it was an unlit torch in a metal stand.
"Leohtbora." I said as I raised my hand in the direction of the torch, and my eyes flashed gold while the torch lit on fire.
"Huh." Gaius noted with a small smile and a slightly amazed voice. "Handy."
"Yes." I grinned, before Merlin grabbed the torch and led the way down, allowing me and Gaius to see where we were going.
    Gaius now led the way as we walked around the many graves in the royals' families section of the crypts.
"What are we looking for?" I asked as Merlin walked closely behind me.
"Bring your torch over here." Gaius ordered and we turned to see him standing by one of the crypts a meter or two away from us.
"We're breaking into someone's grave." Merlin said in a slightly disbelieving voice as we followed Gaius a little further. To be honest, I never thought we would ever do something like this either. Gaius suddenly slowed down and I walked over to stand on his other side as Merlin held the torch so that the light shined on the crypt we were looking at. However, this crypt wasn't like the others; it was shattered from the inside out.
"I think someone's already broken out." I said in a shocked voice.

*15 minutes later*

"Tristan de Bois was the brother of Ygraine;," Gaius informed me and Merlin as the three of us walked back into his quarters. "Uther's wife."
"Arthur's mother." I said, realizing that we might be facing Arthur's uncle.
"Ygraine died in childbirth." Gaius continued as he walked over to his shelf and grabbed one of the books that was on it. "Tristan blamed Uther, and came to the gates of Camelot and challenged him."
"To a single combat." Merlin said as he put the pieces together, seeing as that is exactly what the Black Knight is doing; he is challenging men to a single combat.
"Uther won." Gaius said as he placed the book on one of the tables. "But in his dying breath, Tristan cursed Camelot to, one day, suffer his return. I thought it was a ramblings of a dying man." Gaius said as he flipped through the pages int he book, while I walked over to stand on his other side.
"Well, men don't rise up from the dead though, no matter how angry they are." I said as Gaius stopped on a particular page in the book, which held a drawing of a skeleton, though it still had some muscles, holding a sword and a shield.
"It's my guess we're dealing with a wraith." Gaius said, making me and Merlin look at him questioningly.
"A wraith?" Merlin asked, having no clue what it is.
"The spirit of a dead man, conjured from the grave." Gaius explained while Merlin and I looked closer at the picture in the book.
"So this is the work of a sorcerer." I stated, seeing as Gaius said that the spirit had to be conjured, and he nodded.
"Powerful magic can harness a grief and rage of a demented soul and make them live again." Gaius informed us as he looked at us gravely.
"How do we stop it?" I asked determinedly.
"We can't." Gaius shook his head. "Because it's not alive, no mortal weapon can kill it."
"There must be something." I pressed.
"Nothing can stop it. Until it has achieved what it came for."
"And what's that?" Merlin asked, and I took a deep breath as realization flooded over me.
"Revenge." I said.
"In Camelot?" Gaius nodded as Merlin's shaky question left my brother's lips.
"What does that mean for Pellinore?" I asked shakily, afraid to loose another friend.
"I'm afraid it doesn't look good." Gaius replied.

*The Next Day, Noon*

    I cringed and my fists clenched as the Black Knight, or rather the wraith, slammed his sword against Pellinore's shield with incredible force. Morgana and I both jumped slightly as Pellinore collided his sword with the wraith's, but smiled, while the crowd cheered, as he slammed his shield in the Black Knight's face, which was covered with the old helmet. Pellinore attacked again, and jumped back slightly to avoid the slash that was aimed at his stomach. The swords collided again, and the wraith managed to push Pellinore back roughly with his shoulder.The two swords slammed against one another in the air, and the crowd gasped anxiously. Eventually, Pellinore pulled his sword back and slammed his shield against the wraith's sword, making the people in the crowd cheer. The Camelot Knight then pushed the wraith's sword out of his way and strongly moved his sword, nearly slashing the Black Knight's stomach, making the crowd cheer once again.
    The two Knights circled each other for a few seconds, before Tristan slammed his sword against Pellinore's. The Black Knight tried to slash my friend's stomach, but Pellinore, thankfully, jumped out of harm's way. He then blacked the wraith's attack, and stabbed the Knight in the stomach. However, the Knight showed no sign of harm.
"The sword went in, I'm sure of it." Gwen said to me and Morgana with confusion lacing her voice.
"I saw it too." Morgana nodded, but my eyes stayed glued to the two Knights. Pellinore, in his shock, was unable to dodge the blow, and the Black Knight managed to stab him, making some people in the crowd yelp. Pellinore collapsed, and the wraith walked over to stand in the middle of the arena, once again holding his sword by the hilt and sticking the sharp end of the blade into the ground.
    I suddenly heard urgent movement further down to my left, and turned to look in that direction, only to see Arthur standing up quickly ad throwing his gauntlet onto the ground before Uther could stop him.
"I, Arthur Pendragon, challenge you!" He called in a strong voice, and my eyes widened in fear. No. No, please no.
"So be it." The wraith's voice came from beneath the helmet.
"Single combat. Noon. Tomorrow." Arthur instructed, and the Black Knight simply grabbed his sword so that the blade would rest against his shoulder, before walking away.

*15 minutes later*

"You were right." I said to Gaius I walked into his head quarters after saying goodbye to Gwen and Morgana.
"I wish I wasn't." Gaius replied gravely.
"If Arthur fights that thing, he'll die." I stressed, walking over to stand next to Merlin.
"Well, he is Camelot's strongest warrior." Gaius said. "If anyone can defeat it, he can."
"You said it yourself; no mortal weapon can kill it." Merlin said, making Gaius look down.
"So that means we have to find a way to defeat the wraith ourselves." I said, agreeing with my brother.
"How do you propose we do that?" Gaius asked in interest.
"If no mortal sword can kill it..." I trailed off as I ran to my and Merlin's room and grabbed our book of magic before running back to stand next to Merlin again. "Then we will." I said and glanced at Merlin, before flipping through the pages of the book. "Immortal magic."
"Annabelle, it's too dangerous." Gaius said.
"We don't have a choice." I said as I looked up at him, and saw his worried gaze.