The ride back had been long and silent. Nobody celebrated their victory... victory? Could it even be called that?
Gwaine had offered to lead the extra horse, which happened to be Trinket, back to Camelot. The horse he was riding, Vertigo, occasionally pinned his ears and looked back at the ruins, as if he knew they were missing someone. Trinket pulled back once the ruins were almost out of sight and managed to yank the reins out of Gwaine's hand. She galloped back the way they had just come from. Gwaine followed, telling the others to go ahead.
By the time Gwaine caught up to Trinket, the mare had already made it back to the ruins and had even managed to get inside. She whinnied loudly, the sound echoing around the room, and pawed at the ground. Gwaine picked up the rope but when he tried to pull on it Trinket didn't move.
"Come on, I don't want to be in here Trink. Just walk on," Gwaine said quietly. He didn't want to be in the ruins after what had just happened. The others had been so excited when they rode up to them, until they noticed Lancelot wasn't with them. Merlin and Arthur explained, Merlin especially since he'd been awake for the whole thing. Gwaine had stayed silent and just tried to keep his emotions under control.
Trinket nickered again before following Gwaine back outside. Vertigo tried to rush forward once they were clear of the ruins, but Gwaine held him back. As much as he knew he should get back to the others, he needed to clear his head before he could face them. They were already concerned when Gwaine was silent before; they'd been hoping he'd lighten the mood a bit like he always did, but he'd been in his own world, far away from the forest and the knights, almost-king and servant he was travelling with.
Eventually, Gwaine did catch up with his friends, though he was still quiet. Even Merlin, the only member of their group who knew about Gwaine and Lancelot's relationship, didn't even spare a second glance to his friend. He too was caught up in his own world. Most of them were. It didn't help to ride through Camelot, hearing the people cheer and celebrate. They were all congratulating the group, whispering about how brave they were, but barely anyone noticed Gwaine leading a white horse that had lost its rider. The ones that did notice, didn't realise what had happened and ran off to tell their friends and families about the men who had risked their lives to save them. Not the man who had actually lost his life to save them.
The horses miss Lance too!
