A Fated Meeting?

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For being a usually warm week, it was a fairly cold morning. In fact, the sun was still set, and would be for a few hours to come. So why, you ask, was Merlin Caradoc out, alone, so far from Camelot, in the middle of the night? Simple... He had gone for a ride. Yep, he had taken a nice, brown mare from the stables and gone and left Camelot, just to get some time out of the city, and explore the surrounding areas. Had it all gone wrong? Yes, when didn't it? In fact, he had been forced to take an alternative route when he spotted a group of bandits camping on a roadside, looking for any traveler foolish enough to venture close enough.

And now he was lost. Not only that, but his horse was being a terrible pain! It seemed to not want to go anywhere at all. In fact, it had gotten stuck in a rather deep puddle of mud that Merlin was more than ready to assume was some sort of quick-sand-mud substance as he thought more than a few times him and his horse were growing shorter. Could have been his imagination, though. Either way, the horse wasn't helping at all. Merlin tried more than a few times to pull the horse out, him stuck knee deep almost in the mud, but the horse would not budge!

"Oh come on you stupid horse!" he hissed at it quietly, pulling frantically on the reins. This forest was crawling with bandits! What if he were caught by a group of them? Or even just one! He would be useless, with only magic to aid him, which would go better if there were only one or two of them. But could he outrun all of them? He'd also have to leave the horse behind! And was lost! It would be rather inopportune if bandits found him struggling to remove the horse from the mud. And so far, all he was successful in doing was falling over in the mud a few times as the horse swatted at him with its head!

This wasn't working well, and he was about to give up! He had to be back in Camelot by morning! What would he tell the Prince if he were late? "Yeah, sorry Arthur, I left Camelot without anyone's knowledge, for absolutely no reason, to take a ride, nearly got caught by bandits, and in the end, my stupid horse got stuck in mud!" he said this aloud, bitterly, near the end of his patience! If it took any longer, he would have to think of some kind of spell that could get the horse out, and he wasn't sure he knew any!

As time dragged on, he had even pulled the sword he brought with him -- though he wasn't very good at using it -- out of its cover under the saddle so that it would be within easy reach if he needed it.

_{Place: In a forest
Time: Early morning, before the sun has risen
Timeline: One year gap
Tagged: Lancelot}

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Lancelot did not like to travel so close to Camelot, but at least it was a good time of day for it, being so early that it was unlikely that he would run into any of the citizens of that fair city or any of Arthur's Knights of Camelot. It was indeed a brisk morning, with a light cutting breeze, but Lancelot did not mind it terribly. Over the past year he had grown used to living out-of-doors, as opposed to he inner rooms of a manor or a castle. He had been serving the kingdom of Wessex as a knight for some months now, but he had his doubts whether King Uther Pendragon would recognize him as one.

He had served in battle and was now serving in hunting down some bands of bandits that had been making themselves felt in the southern reaches of Wessex, but had been traced to the Forest of Balor, where it was thought that there hideout might be. Despite these duties that he bore for the sake of Wessex, and its King Theodred, Lancelot served as a knight on call, a wandering knight. He had not really any place that he was comfortable in calling home. Camelot, for instance, for the shortest of times, had been one of those places that he had called home. There was only one way to investigate, he thought, and that was to plunge right into the Forest of Balor himself.

As soon as Lancelot entered the Forest, even following a well-worn path as he was on now, involved the slowing of he and his horse, Sher-Fore by the forest growth. As he came through a thicket, he dismounted, walking his horse through and entering a wide clearing. At some distance, he could both see and hear some people near a campfire. it was quite unusual to find anyone in this part of the Balor Forest, and since it was unlikely to be any of the local population, Lancelot wondered if it was likely to be any of the bandits he had come to seek out As a result, he took extra care to move slowly across the clearing so he wouldn't be heard or observed.

As he walked in a round-about way around the clearing so that he thought he could come up behind the men on the hillside, he passed through the lowest part of the gully beneath. He thought that this was wise because there was some intervening brush on the lower hillside that would hide his movements from the potential bandits above. However, Lancelot, being knowledgeable of this part of the Balor, knew that the lowest part of the gullies was where one was the most likely to find bogs or even pockets of quicksand, To his surprise,as moved carefully through this particular low spot he came across what appeared to be a horse stuck in one of the soft spots, with an owner,it appeared who was not being entirely successful at pulling him out.

Lancelot came up behind the pair of horse and apparent former rider, just as he heard a familiar voice say in low tones: "Oh come on you stupid horse!" the voice hissed. The horse to its credit, was fighting back, and as he watched the young, but now familiar young man fall down into the mud,not once but twice, it was all he could do was not chuckle out loud. "Yeah, sorry Arthur, I left Camelot without anyone's knowledge, for absolutely no reason, to take a ride, nearly got caught by bandits, and in the end, my stupid horse got stuck in mud!" Lancelot stood there shaking his head at his old friend and acquaintance, wondering whether he should enjoy the entertainment much longer. The possibility of nearby bandits meant that he would have to cut it short quite quickly.

Lancelot watched his old friend Merlin draw out a sword,realizing how serious that the boy with magic took the situation that he was confronted with. "Belay the sword Merlin. You are not expert with it enough to do you much good I would think. By the way, the horse is not so much stupid as knowing what it doesn't want to do and what it is afraid of. Some patience and soothing words are what are required here, and a little help from my stallion here. I'm afraid, if any harm came to you, Prince Arthur would never forgive me, and more importantly, would never let me forget it, and I have no desire to travel to Ealdor to give your mother news of your demise. Gaius wouldn't be too pleased either, and what would Gwen and Morgana say? So, given our friends on the hillside over there, why don't we quietly pull your horse out of this morass, and be on our way, eh?," he said with the slightest of smiles and a wink in the steadily receding darkness of the early morning.

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When a voice sounded -- which somehow knew his name! -- and told him to put away the sword, Merlin jumped and, as best as he could in the thick mud, spun around, swinging it outwards as if to defend himself from some oncoming weapon. He blinked a few moments as the man continued on, and gradually, as his eyes focused and the voice came more familiar to him, grinned. It wasn't one of the bandits, but someone he knew quite well and hadn't seen in a long while! Lancelot!

He sighed though, and glanced back at the horse. Okay, Lancelot was probably right, cursing at the horse wouldn't help get it out of the mud, as it didn't want to move for some nefarious reason. Perhaps he was right, maybe kind words would work better to make the horse listen?

The man was also right about the whole list of what the others would think. Well, he wasn't too sure about Morgana, as, well... Morgana wasn't in Camelot, she was with Morgause, wherever she was, doing who knows what. But yes, Arthur might be a little unhappy if he died, he doubted his mother would be cheery about it, Gaius would also probably be upset, and Gwen, as one of his closest friends, also wouldn't be quite too pleased, he was sure. He lowered the sword with a chuckle, and turned around to put it back on the horse. Of course, if the bandits came, he would withdraw it again to try and help fight, but he knew he had a better chance at it with using magic -- and didn't have to be afraid of Lancelot finding out, as he already knew.

"Lancelot! It's so great to see you!" he exclaimed -- though not too loudly. "It's been quite a long time!" Stepping back from his horse and turning around again, he walked out of the mud and closer to his old friend. "I'd ask what you have been up to, but you're right, we should probably get out of here. You can get my horse out of the mud?" Even though Lancelot had already said he could, Merlin's voice still held a hint of hopefulness. He didn't really want to encounter the bandits.

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Lancelot sensed that Merlin was on edge anyway, probably as the result of the problems he was having with his horse. It was possible that he was aware of the bandits that roamed this part of the kingdom as well, which might make traveling alone not the wisest of courses. So Lancelot did not know if there was a way to greet his friend without scaring him half-to-death. He decided there wasn't an easy way, and besides, it was important to get his attention as quickly as possible, especially with bandits so close. True to form he saw that Merlin did fairly jump out of his skin, with his sword drawn, but clumsily, almost falling over in the mud that he was ankle-deep in.

Fortunately, either because of Lancelot's appearance, or more likely, the familiar sound of his voice, he recognized Lancelot, he thought about to shout out his name, so Lancelot responded by putting two fingers to his own lips and saying, "SHhhhhhh!." Lancelot could see even with all of the mud that was covering Merlin his old familiar smile shown through like a beacon. As Lancelot walked toward his best friend in the world .... at least in Camelot .... he wondered how much of the advice that he was giving about the horse that he was actually listening to. He would be wise to listen to everything he said, Lancelot thought, since that would be the fastest path to a quick retreat from this place.

Lancelot had never unsheathed either of his swords. So he had no reason to put them back in their sheaths. It would have been a waste of energy, and besides, the noise it would make might alert some of the bandits of his, and Merlin's presence. Lancelot had no wish to draw attention to their presence. Thankfully, Merline lowered his sword, while keeping up his broad smile, enough so that Lancelot felt comfortable in taking him by one and giving Merlin a light hug. "Now, let's get to this horse. Yes ... yes ... I see you have gotten bogged down in some deep mud, but definitely not quicksand." He moved around to the front of the horse, after handing the reins of his horse, Sher-Fore, to Merlin.

Lancelot took Merlin's horse by the reins and looked deeply into its eyes, and began talking softly to it, with a voice of great patience. He just wanted the horse to feel comfortable enough and trusting enough to do what Lancelot told it. Over the first few minutes the horse's progress could be measured in fractions of an inch. However, over the next few minutes the horses made more and more progress, until it was totally out of the mud-hole. Lancelot's patience, and monotonously tranquil voice, had calmed it enough to move out of the spot where it could have easily met its demise if discovered by one of the groups of local bandits.

While the horse did not realize what Lancelot had accomplished, it was clearly obvious to Lancelot, and he could no longer contain his emotions. "Lancelot! It's so great to see you! ..... It's been quite a long time! .... I'd ask what you have been up to, but you're right, we should probably get out of here." They had already accomplished the most difficult part. However, Lancelot's primary mission of locating the home of the bandits and decimating it would have to wait for another day. Merlin was probably his best friend in all of the world, and one of his few. He took it to be his primary responsibility to see him and his horse safely back to Camelot.

"As soon as we get our horses into the brush, I think it will be safe to mount and ride back to the gates of Camelot. On the way, Merlin, you can educate me on some of the things I have missed. And yes, I've missed you and its great to see that you are whole and well. I hope Gaius is well too. By the way, I trust that Arthur and Gwen are getting on well?," Lancelot asked without looking Merlin directly in the eye. "I trust that Camelot is safe and well too, protected by the Knights of Camelot," he said, changing the subject slightly.