The Third Sister

39 - The Quest

"What are you doing?"
Taylor jumped in surprise and turned around to face Lancelot, hiding the map behind her back.
"Nothing" she quickly said.
The knight was staring at her suspiciously, and slowly shook his head.
"You may have grown up" he said. "But some things never change."
"What do you mean?" Taylor asked, frowning.
"I mean that I still know when you're lying. Tell me Taylor. What are you hiding?"
With a sigh, Taylor revealed the map she was hiding.
"The map ?" Lancelot asked.
"Yes. I may have found a way to save my sister."
Lancelot looked at her with compassionate eyes.
"Taylor, we will find Merlin very soon."
"But what if it's too late ? What if Merlin can't do anything? I don't want to take any risks."
"Taylor..." Lancelot started.
"She's my sister" Taylor interrupted him. "And she's a mother."
"And what did you find?" He asked, looking at the map.
"The Holly Grail."
"The Holly Grail?" Lancelot asked, surprised. "So it's not just a legend"
"No it's not" Taylor said. "And it can save my sister."
"But Taylor, if the whole legend is true, getting it won't be easy."
"You won't stop me from doing it."
"I know" Lancelot said. "But I can't let you go there alone. Let me come with you."
Taylor raised an eyebrow, a little smile on her lips.
"Okay" she said.
"We will go there tomorrow, first we have to get some sleep. We're all exhausted."

The next morning, Taylor was woken up by Lancelot.
"It's time to go" he said in a whisper, to make sure to wake up nobody else.
Taylor nodded and sat up, removing carefully Lily's arm that was wrapped around her.
"I love you" she whispered, looking at her lover's face.
Then she removed the ring she had on her finger, a golden ring with a T and a S, and put it on Lily's hand, with a letter she wrote the day before. She slowly kissed her lover's forehead, and quickly stood up to join Lancelot. They both walked toward the horses, when they saw that three persons were waiting there.
"What are you doing here ?" Taylor asked.
"Percival?" Lancelot asked. "I only asked you to come."
"I know" the knight said. "But they heard our conversation."
"Sel ..." Taylor started, but was quickly cut by her best friend.
"Don't." She said. "Do you really think I would let you go there alone?"
"I'm not alone."
"I come with you." Selena said. "We take the risks together. That's what friends are made for."
Taylor sighed, a little smile on her lips.
"And you, what's your excuse?" She asked, looking at Merida.
"Well I can help!" The princess said. "The place where you're going is dangerous. You need someone who knows how to fight"
"Yeah two knights it's not enough " Taylor said, rolling her eyes.
"We should go now," Lancelot said "Before everyone wakes up."
They all climbed on their horses, and rode them away.
"Where are we going?" Merida asked.
"This way" Lancelot said, pointing to a direction with the map.
They started to move away from the camp, when a noise behind them caught their attention.
"What are you doing?" Taylor asked, surprised.
"What do you think?" Anna exclaimed as she was riding her horse towards the singer, followed by Kristoff. "We're coming with you."
Taylor rolled her eyes.
"I'm sorry" Kristoff apologised. "I can't stop her from doing something stupid, so the least I can do is to go with her."
"It will be dangerous " Taylor complained.
"We know" Anna said. "But don't worry. We're used to this kind of situations."
As she perfectly knew she couldn't convince them to stay, Taylor made her horse move forward, when a "Wait!" made her stop.
"Oh no. You're not coming." Taylor exclaimed authoritatively. "Go back to the camp now."
But Henry didn't listen, and rode his horse ahead of Taylor.
"What an authority!" Selena exclaimed. "You're ready to be a mom"
"Shut up" Taylor said, more aggressively than she wanted. "Henry listen to me. You can't come. If you want to impress your girlfriend, you're doing it wrong."
Henry looked at his aunt, frowning.
"She's not my girlfriend" the teenager said. "And I don't want to impress her. I want to help"
"You don't even know where we're going."
"I do. You want to find the Holly Grail to save my mom, and I want to help."
"Henry..."
"Look" Henry interrupted her. "I survived Neverland. I think I can handle this."
"I hope you're right" Taylor sighed, and she made her horse move, followed by the rest of the group.

"Lily!" Emma called, slowly shaking her sleeping friend. "Lily wake up!"
Lily opened her eyes, to see that Emma was kneeled next to her, Elsa was by her side. Everyone seemed stressed, and Lily frowned when she saw Arthur, David, Killian, Robin and some others knights coming in the camp from the woods.
"Where is Taylor?" Emma asked.
Lily sat up.
"She's ..." She said, looking next to her.
As Taylor wasn't by her side, Lily looked at Emma worriedly.
"She's missing" Emma said. "And so are Henry, Selena, Anna, Kristoff, Lancelot, Percival and Merida. Do you know where they are ?"
"No" Lily said, shaking her head. "I ..."
Then she frowned when she noticed there was something in her hand. She lowered her eyes, and noticed the ring and the letter.
"What is it, Lily?" Elsa asked.
"A letter" she said, and she unfolded the piece of paper. "Lily" she read. "I'm sorry to leave without telling you goodbye. But I know that if I told you where I was going, you would have tried to stop me. I found a way to save my sister, it's by getting the Holly Grail. It's a dangerous journey, and I'm not sure to come back. But I have do everything I can to save my sister. Lancelot decided to come with me, so I won't be alone. I love you, more than you can possibly imagine. T."
A tear fell on the piece of paper, and that's how Lily noticed she was crying.
"How can she be so stupid " Regina exclaimed weakly behind her.
"Regina!" Zelena exclaimed. "She's doing this for you"
"I know. But I never asked her to risk her life for me."
"Regina" Mary Margaret said. "You know her. She would do anything to protect her family."
"And so does Henry" Emma sighed.
"We have to try to find them" Arthur said. "If something goes wrong for them, a group should be there to help them while an other continues the journey to find Merlin."
"No we can't do that" David said.
"Look" Arthur said in a sigh. "I know you don't trust me, but if we don't move now, Regina will die."
"No that's not what I meant." David said. "We can't do that, because they took the map. We're stuck here."
"But there is something I can do" Mary Margaret said. "I can track them down."

The group was riding their horses through the forest, following Lancelot. A bit confused to see that Merida decided to come with them, Taylor approached her.
"So huh, why did you come?" She asked.
"As I said, I can help" Merida said with a little smile.
Taylor slowly nodded.
"But there is something else, right? I mean, you told me the clans didn't want you to be their Queen. But it's not only because you're woman, right?"
"What makes you think that?" Merida asked, frowning.
"I don't know" Taylor said with a shrug. "But there is more isn't it?"
Merida sighed.
"Fine, if you must know." Merida said, turning her head to look ahead of her. "Not long ago, DunBroch was attacked. It was an enemy from another land. My father fought side by side with all the clans, and I with him. As he brought us toward victory, I saw a helmed knight heading straight for him, his sword raised. My father didn't see the knight. It was up to me. I had the enemy in my sights. I notched an arrow, pulled back the bowstring, I took a breath, steadied my hand, and let the arrow fly. But I missed. And the knight ran my father through. My father is dead because of me." She turned her head to look at Taylor, her eyes full tears. "Since that day, the clans doesn't approve me to be their Queen."
"So you want to prove them you can" Taylor said.
"Aye"
"And you also want to prove it to yourself"
Merida kept silence, staring at Taylor.
"Merida your father's death is not your fault."
"How do you know that?"
"You did everything you could"
"Well, it wasn't enough"
Before Taylor could reply, Lancelot stopped is horse.
"We're arrived" he announced.
In front of them, there was a circle of short stones, and in the middle there were two tall stones, and a third one was put above them, making a kind of door that leaded nowhere.