Magic in Camelot

The Last Dragonlord

The fires caught the city by surprise. Merlynn made her way out into the courtyard just as the Great Dragon breathed his first attack over Camelot, fire raining down over the castle. The knights who were patrolling started to run and everything fell to chaos instantly. Merlynn ran over to one of the guards who was trying to rush inside.

She grabbed his arm. "You have to run up and sound the warning bell, we have to warn people we're under attack." The guard nodded at her and started running up through the castle. She grabbed another guard who was running past her. "We have to get the townspeople inside the castle. Make sure Morris gets Arthur up and that the Prince knows of the situation." The second guard ran up the stairs and by this time Merlynn had a small gathering of knights she knew waiting for orders. "If you're waiting for orders from Arthur, I don't have any."

The Knights ducked as the dragon swooped into the courtyard and followed Merlynn under cover. Sir Leon leaned over towards Merlynn. "The Prince trusts you, Merlynn, and so do we. Until we have orders from the King or Prince Arthur, we will listen to you." The other knights nodded, agreeing with Sir Leon.

Merlynn nodded. "Okay. One of you needs to go up and get Gaius. Help him carry whatever he needs down to the ballroom. One of you needs to start gathering emergency supplies. Clean water, mostly. Until we can figure out how to get rid of the dragon, there's no point in trying to put out the fires, but we can help the townspeople get to the ballroom for safety. If any of you see Arthur, tell him I've gone to the lower town to help people get inside the citadel."

The knights nodded and started out to do whatever Merlynn had asked of them. Two of the knights followed Merlynn into the lower town just as the warning bells started ringing. A few seconds later, the dragon's fire rained down over the city again, this time he targeted everything. Merlynn sent the knights in opposite directions with orders to help as many people as they could get out. Merlynn herself made her way down the main road, helping people out of their burning homes and gather whatever they refused to leave behind. As she escorted a family back into the castle, more guards reported to her, informing her that Sir Leon had told them that she was organizing the rescue efforts in town. She nodded and gave them directions. More and more knights came to help Merlynn with the rescue efforts and soon she found herself directing twenty-or-so knights through town, making sure people were getting into the castle safely.

The dragon attacked the castle once more before attacking the lower town again, his fiery breath going right down the main street causing Merlynn and a couple of knights to jump out of the way. Someone shouted at her from inside the castle gate, but she couldn't make out who. When they gathered themselves again, Merlynn saw the drawbridge on fire. The two knights rejoined her and she told them to start putting out the fire on the drawbridge as fast as they could as it was the easiest access point. As more knights returned with families, she ordered them to make their way through the forest surrounding the castle to check the other entrances until they found a safe way in. She had just sent another knight off with another group of families when she heard someone call for her again.

"Merlynn." the familiar voice shouted from behind.

Merlynn turned around and saw Arthur, followed by a group of knights moving toward her. "Arthur." She shouted back.
"What are you doing out here?"

"We've been helping get people to safety, whoever we could find. The outskirts of the lower town have been cleared out as far as we can tell."

"We?"

Merlynn nodded. "There are about twenty knights out here pulling people from the fires."

"Who's organizing this?"

A knight carrying a small child approached. "Merlynn is, Sire." The knight turned to face Merlynn. "The drawbridge on the main road is out, some knights are trying to put the fires out, but right now we can't get through."