Forbidden Love - Merlyn [2]

Chapter Seventy-Six: A Future Lost And Uncertain

Morning came calmly. Merlyn had been sleeping tucked under her blanket surprisingly comfortable when she opened up her eyes. Before her, lay a wooden log but it was what rested on top of the log that caught her attention. A beautiful simple wooden dragon stood on all four legs with its wings up straight!

It was the carving that Balinor had been making the night before. The craftsmanship was beautiful and the sight brought a smile to Merlyn's face. The burst of happiness the gift brought her was swiftly lost as she suddenly was grabbed from behind, a gloved hand covering her mouth. A moment before she reacted she heard a familiar voice in her ear.

"Cenred's men" Arthur warned her as he pulled her to her feet. Arthur swiftly pushed Merlyn behind him before he unsheathed his sword. Reaching down into her boots, Merlyn pulled her sai free. The pair of them scanned the surrounding trees for the enemy that they knew were there. It didn't take long for the men to show themselves.

Arthur immediately took on the first attackers whilst Merlyn took on the next couple. However, with the sounds of swords and blades clashing, Merlyn had missed the arrival of the rest of Cenred's men. They were dressed in there chainmail with the tree sigil of Cenred's kingdom with their swords drawn. But what worried Merlyn was the sheer number of men on patrol. It was three against twelve. Four were attacking Arthur, three had targeted Balinor and Merlyn was left to deal with the other five. With Arthur being so close Merlyn didn't dare use her magic so she was left defending against five blades by herself, all at once and she was struggling a lot.

Her blades clashed furiously and she dodged the blades as best she could taking down two of the men before she was caught between another two. She was holding her own, keeping the pair back and their swords from reaching her armourless body, however, she completely forgot about the last knight who had come to attack.

With a grunt, Merlyn was pushing off the blades that were dangerously close to her abdomen and was kicking back one enemy before focusing on another. All the while, the last knight drew nearer to her, creeping up behind her, his blade pulled back ready to stab Merlyn in her back. The two knights Merlyn was fighting both ascended on her at once.

The knight behind Merlyn smirked as he went to plunge the blade forward whilst Merlyn dodged the other two enemies' swords and pushed her own blades forward, one at each of the knights.

Three blades made contact with flesh.

Two of Cenred's knights fell with holes through their chests to the forest floor.

A gasp of pain echoed through the forest.

Merlyn quickly turned around at the sound only to find Balinor stood in front of her with the other knight before him. It took Merlyn less than a second to realise that Balinor was the one who gasped in pain ... and that he had taken the attack meant for her.

Merlyn's sai fell to the floor as she reached out and caught Balinor whose legs began to give way. Merlyn's heart beat irrevocably fast as the situation dawned on her. Her father was dying. Feeling pain and anger rush through her body she focused her attention onto the man that had caused it all. With a roar of anger and an explosion of raw magic, Merlyn threw back the solider sending him straight into a tree upon which his spine snapped. The solider fell to the floor dead instantly.

Meanwhile, Merlyn struggled to lower her father to the ground. She rolled him out to his back, her hands immediately trying to stem the flow of blood but Merlyn could tell that it was pointless. He was going to die.

"I see you have your father's talent" Balinor said through gasps of air, he struggled to not reveal his true pain in that moment.

"Please no, please, come on" Merlyn pleaded as she felt and saw Balinor's life pump out of his body bit by bit. The warm red liquid slipped through her fingers, mocking her as it did.