King Arthur: Battle for the Sword

Chapter 23

Arthur and I fell asleep shortly after our conversation by the fire. My dreams weren't filled with the woman who claimed to be me, which both comforted and worried me at the same time. 

I woke up before Arthur, daring not to stray further than a few feet fearing that we would or could get separated again. I wanted to figure out more than anything what was the cause for the strange doppelgänger situation from the day before. I was terrified that something desired to not only make our trek harder, but wished to make us think that the other was dead. As much as I wanted to figure out what happened, I equally wanted to forget it. I was just glad that Arthur and I were still together. 

I came back to sit beside the fire, looking at the embers as they died with lack of attention. I chewed on my lip anxiously, waiting for Arthur to wake up. After some time, he finally stirred, groaning and leaning up to look at me. "Good morning," he grumbled before stretching his muscles, "you're up early." I rolled my eyes, "I believe I've been up before you each morning since we met, nearly." I shrugged, nudging him. "So, what now?" I asked, glancing at him. "Mr. Adventurer." I teased, making him chuckle. "Well, from what we've gathered, we still have more challenges to prove yourself, right? We've only done a few. Which means there's still more to come. I'm sure we'll run into our next one soon." He breathed, looking at the rising sun. 

"But," he leaned back on his elbows, "for now, let's rest. Traveling and going through all this must be stressful for you." He spoke, his sudden words about my mental well being taking me by surprise. Before now, Arthur hadn't mentioned how stressful all this change was for me. To be truthful, it was. I was something more than just a little maid. I was daughter to two of the most powerful magical beings in the known world. I was so much more than just a normal woman, I was more. 

I am more. 

After spending the early morning resting by the fire, we finally gathered ourselves and began our trek forward. Not knowing where we were going, Arthur decided heading in the direction we were going was probably the best since we were making progress. 

Our little belt that connected us was securely in place, not that we dared stray much further than a couple of feet at most. I held a bunch of wild flowers in my grasp, gathering more as we wandered through the trees toward an unknown location. Arthur appeared to be focused on something, so I spoke up, "Whatcha doing?" I asked, earning a hand in my face. I scowled, "What the-" He covered my mouth, panic in his eyes. My orbs widened, realizing that there was something going on that I hadn't noticed before. His eyes moved back to the forest floor, mine following. 

There was intestines on the ground in a perfect pile, much too perfect for a predator to have done that. I gulped, looking up to Arthur who looked just as concerned. "Why would a predator not eat all of its prey?" I whispered. "It would have." He muttered, pulling out his sword. "Stay close to me, Rose." 

I stayed by his side, on full alert now, terrified that there was something hunting us now in these woods. I shivered, fearing making my body convulse. "Is it cold?" I whispered, making Arthur nod. "It's much colder for some reason." He agreed. I felt a breath on the back of my neck, making me gasp, "What was that." I yelped, spinning around to look around wildly. "What?" 

"Something just breathed on me." I whimpered, pressing against Arthur in fear. Arthur wrapped his arm around my front, pulling me to his chest. I felt a little safer in his arms, but the threat of something near us both made me terrified still. The air began to get thicker, my head beginning to pound. I groaned, "Ugh, my head." I clutched my forehead, feeling suddenly sick to my stomach. "What's wrong, Rose?" A sickly sweet voice sing-songed from the trees. "Who's there?!" Arthur demanded as I groaned, my headache seeming to worsen. "Show yourself!" 

"Oh, we shouldn't do that, now should we?" The male voice spoke, chuckling evilly. "Please stop." I pleaded, knowing that whoever, whatever this was was the cause of my sudden onset sickness. I clutched to Arthur's arm, holding on to him in fear that I would collapse at any second. "Stop what?" it hissed. I lulled in Arthur's arms, "It's got some power over me, Arthur. I- can't." I shook my head, my vision growing foggy. "I can't." I repeated, the last thing I saw was the ground. 

I had no idea how long I had been out for, but it wasn't normal. I hadn't seen anything, I almost thought I was dead. But I knew I was conscious, so I couldn't be, right? "Rose!" Arthur's voice called, slowly drawing me out of the darkness. I groaned, stirring, "Rose? Rose! Rose, are you ok?!" He whispered, for some reason he was quieter now. "Hmpf, ow." I grumbled, holding my neck and head. "What's going on?" I leaned up, looking around the strange place we were in. "Those things, in the forest... When you pass out, I tried to catch you- I dropped my sword, they jumped and took you, over powered me." He rushed through his story, "God- are you alright?" He asked. I looked up to see him tied to a chair in the corner of the room opposite of me. 

"Why are you tied up?" I asked, sitting up, realizing that I was on a bed. "Why am I on a bed?" 

"They think you're some sort of god, or something. Rose, these things are crazy-" 

"Things? What are you talking about?" 

"They look like us, but they aren't, ok? They're fast, huge and I have no idea what they are capable of." He whispered, looking around. "I cannot protect right now, Rose. I'm defenseless. Please, if you have the chance, run. Don't worry about me, ok? If you have the opportunity, get out of here." His words frightened me with how frantic he was. 

"What-" 

"Shush. They're coming back." He hissed. He looked toward the door, my eyes following. "Well, well, well, someone is finally awake." The door opened, revealing a tall figure. "About time."