The Forgotten Fires

[pie]

Merlin was walking through the city with Arthur, a frequent thing in the casual days he spent beside the Prince. So what made this time any different than any of the others? Well, they were preparing for a hunting trip. So it wasn't that uncommon, but that was what was happening. They hadn't left the city yet, and were actually heading back to the Courtyard to meet up with those guards and knights that would be coming along to protect their Prince.

He didn't particularly like these hunting trips. After all, he really wasn't of much use in them, but he was Arthur's manservant, he had to come along unless ordered otherwise. Not that he would have it any other way, of course. He would insist on coming along if he was told not to. Arthur was his friend, and Merlin wanted to protect him. Though Arthur wouldn't ever know that he actually did on quite a few occasions -- using magic, of course.

And so, he didn't complain about this trip, and nor would he, even though, secretly, he felt that they shouldn't be going on it. Somehow, something always happened. At least, most of the time it did. And this time, he had a really bad feeling about this. There was just something in the pit of his stomach that told him that this wouldn't be a normal day, hunting trip or no. But what could possibly go wrong? Surely nothing would happen! Nothing had happened in a few days, so surely that peace wouldn't be ended now, would it?

That thought didn't ease his worry. . .


_{Place: Many places, but for now the City
Time: High noon
Timeline: One year gap
Tagged: Arthur Pendragon, Brynn Reade, Uther Pendragon, Richard Vawdrey II, Ysoria de Rysme, Amerante Patrizo, Gaius, Alegra Silvertongue, Alexander, others who want to join}

[Arthur Pendragon]

Arthur was not dressed in his armor. He seldom did when going hunting. While that was really the purpose of their trip, there always that underlying hope that they would stumble across a clue in finding Morgana. More and more time was passing and her absence was having more of an impact on the king, and Arthur, and the others who gravely missed her. But for the time being, it would be hunting that would be the main purpose of this trip; she was never far from his mind though, and would never be. It helped some of his men were accompanying them so that this way, if something were to happen . . . they would not be massively outnumbered. Tensions with Cenred were also rising and it was only a matter before official war was declared. With that in mind, and the reparations that the city was still undergoing following the dragon attacks, Camelot had is hands full. And it certainly did not need what was about to happen.

As they were walking towards the courtyard, Arthur heard a blood curling scream. It was a high pitch shrill, as if someone was crying bloody murder. Arthur spun around, pulling out his sword, a natural and instinctive action to be prepared for whatever the source was. It had not stopped there, many more screams and cries followed and this was extremely alarming. It had caught the attention of the entire town and every was racing towards the source of it. Was it the dragon again?! No! It could not be. Merlin had assured Arthur that he had killed it . . . so what? Arthur glanced at Merlin for a brief moment before running towards the source of it, completely unprepared for what he was about to witness.

[pie]

Merlin heard the cry, and his gut felt like it was wrenched. What was that noise -- surely it wasn't human! --? The dragon had left, he had ordered it to leave and not come back, so it would have disobeyed a direct order from a Dragonlord, right? Then, what was it this time? He could tell Arthur was thinking the same thing, or similar to it. If the Dragon was back, he didn't know what he would tell Arthur -- he had told him he had killed it!

He exchanged glances with Arthur when he looked his way, then started running off with him, towards the creature. From the distance, he caught flashes of the creature. It wasn't as large as a dragon, so it wasn't Kilgarrah, but it was still large enough to prove a threat. He saw smoke rising from the buildings, heard the monster's cry, heard screams of terror begin.

From what he could tell, the monster was large, frightening, and definitely dangerous. Camelot did not need this -- didn't need another attack from a magical creature so soon after the dragon attack! What he would see when they would reach the scene was not pleasant. . .

[ The "Unknown" creature - LINK
Note: People can start joining in now! ]

[Brynn Reade]

It was a nice day so far, Brynn observed, lazily keeping an eye on her geese as she sat on the grass, making one of her usual flower wreaths. You should think that the whole meadow might be deserted of flowers by now, but indeed this was far from the truth. Brynn earnestly looked after not taking too many and even had days where she didn’t touch a single flower. The beauty of nature was for everyone to admire and enjoy after all, not just for a sole goosemaiden!

Things had finally started to calm down again in the city. Most of the damages the Great Dragon had caused had been repaired and the guards finally were able to step down from double-shifts as well. Brynn and her family, who had almost seen neither hide nor hair from her father in weeks, deeply rejoiced in that particular fact. Of course, things were still tense, what with this foreign king wanting to stir up trouble, but so far that was no big concern for Brynn’s little world. As long as her beloved ones were safe, there was no need for her to worry.

On the other hand, there were some things on her mind that might need a bit of consideration, though she rather had not dwelled on such confusing thoughts. They were centered around a particular young man she had come to know a little while ago…
Suddenly one goose started to cackle and darted around in the little fence they were kept in frantically, soon infecting her fellow geese with her behaviour. Angrily Brynn rose to her feet. “Ditha, Joe, what’s the matter with you?” she scolded the main troubleshooters, grabbing for her whip. “How dare you make such a –“
SCRREEEAAACHH!

The inhuman high pitched sound made her freeze on the spot, her heart missing several beats. The next instinct was to dive down, as suddenly some big shadow flapped over her head, and when she raised her gaze up to the sky, she had a hard time not screaming in horror: Some…thing, not as large as the dragon had been but surely as scary looking was heading towards the city of Camelot. For a moment Brynn’s only emotion was relief it had not seen her, but then… it dawned on her! The city… the people!
Without any proper thinking at all, she started to run, her geese forgotten and the wreath on the ground. But oddly enough, she was not running from the city, away from danger. She was running towards it at full speed!

[Alexander]

Alex was not exactly sure what had him making his way out of the kitchens. He knew he would have to be back in no more then an hour and a half, but he was to fidgety to stay indoors. He instead found himself leaving through one of the castles many doors and toward the meadows. If anyone were to ask, he was simply getting fresh air. It of course had absolutely nothing to do with who he knew spent much of her time in the meadows. That would simply be a large illogical leap to make.

He couldn't help but whistle to fill the abnormal silence that surrounded the grounds. He could see the lower towns from where he walked and didn't pay it much attention as he let his thoughts wander. He tried not to think of the politics that one couldn't help but catch onto while working in the palace. Even people who didn't follow them knew that trouble was rising with that King Cenred fellow. If you asked Alex, that man was looking for trouble and Camelot certainly didn't need any more of that. A dragon and a missing ward was quite enough.

Alex paused as the first waive of noise hit him. At first he figured it was a commotion or arguement that would blow over quickly, but then he heard the screams. His first thought was to look quickly toward the towns. It was chaos. All he could seeing were people running in every direction.

Alex could not see the cause from where he stood, but made no move to wait to see what it was. Instead he took off towards the center of whatever was going on. It was a bit too near to his step-father's bakery for him to not start to inwardly fret. His only thoughts were for the safety of his family and friends. Sure it wasn't a great idea, but Alex was nothing if not recklessly protective of those he loved.

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther had not let himself get too complacent, he knew that he could not. Still, the chaos outside was rather unexpected and jarring. It had been a relatively quiet time for Camelot with the exception of the fact that they still did not know what had become of Morgana and had not stopped searching for her. The city had been badly damaged by the dragon's attack but by now rebuilding was well underway and the signs of the ravage were slowly beginning to fade.

The sounds of the unearthly screeching and the cries of the people below. He could see the strange creature, and knew right away it had to be a creature of magic. No natural being could look like this thing did. Instinctively, he ordered his armor brought and put on him. He would not risk going out into the fray just yet, but if the city was under attack, he needed to be prepared for battle at any moment. He knew the wisdom of protecting himself as the king, but he was also not a man who would stand idly by while his people were attacked. If it came down to it, he would not hesitate to help defend the city.

He gave an order for one of his knights to go find Prince Arthur, they needed to communicate and coordinate the defense. Uther ordered, though, that they would communicate by messenger if Arthur was unable to leave the battle to speak with him directly. He also got his guards into place to try and defend the castle if the creature turned its wrath on it directly.