Until forever comes

Song from the Depths

A whisper, like a breath of wind, brushed past my ear. I sat up quickly and looked around Gaius' chambers. Darkness. A loud sound, like wood falling on stone, made me jump and I heard my own sharp intake of breath. As slowly and quietly as I could, I pushed back the bed-clothes and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I pulled my sword from it's sheath by my bed and the metallic scrape made me wince. As I crept over to where the sound was coming from, sword poised in a defensive position, my feet in just socks made almost no sound. I reached the other side of the room and saw the broom lying on the floor. I frowned and looked around once more. I dropped my sword to dangle at my side, bent down and propped the broom back up against the table. As I began to walk back to my bed I heard a rustle by the window. I froze. ''Hello?'', I called softly. Behind me, I heard a soft snore from Gaius. In any other situation I would have laughed at his legendary timing but now was not the time. The silence was unbearable and terrifiying. I couldn't stand alone any longer so I quickly walked to Merlin's door and gently creaked it open. Reaching the side of the bed, I shook Merlin's shoulder gently. He woke instantly. ''Wha...what's going on?'', he asked sleepily, ''Am I late for work?''. I shook my head and whispered urgently, ''There's something in the main chamber''. Merlin rose quickly, crept to the door and peered round it. I hovered by his shoulder. ''Stay here'', he whispered. I nodded and he walked slowly into the main room. After what seemed like an eternity, I heard a sound. Glass smashed. Then silence.

I stood alone in the doorway of Merlin's room. ''Merlin?'', I called, ''Gaius?''. I crept round the door and surveyed the scene before me. As the situation sunk in, I began to panic. The window was thrown wide open, several bookshelves lay broken with their contents smashed. A small scrap of red material was fluttering in the wind, snagged on a shard of broken glass.  But what made made my heart sink was that there was no Merlin and no Gaius. A ran to the open window, where the cold night air was rushing in. As I stood staring into the darkness I suddenly saw several dark shapes slipping away into the night. I stood there for too long. I slapped myself hard on the cheek and brought me back to my senses. As I turned to sprint towards the door, a thought hit me in the pit of my stomach with a sickening thud. We had locked the door last night. Someone had been in the chamber all night. Creepy. I shivered at the thought, skirted past the broken glass and ran off to find Arthur.

Daylight had just begun to filter it's way through the trees in the forest, casting dancing shadows along the uneven ground. ''Here!'', came a loud shout from Percival. Arthur, Gwaine, Leon and I ran over to him. He was knelt on the ground. As we reached him, he pointed out three boot prints in the soft mud. ''It must be them'', said Gwaine. I nodded in agreement. ''Hey what's this?'', asked Leon. There was a word carved into a nearby tree. Arthur went over and ran a finger across the word in the bark. ''Merlin.....'', he muttered under his breath. The word read 'Gedref'.

Two hours later

''My feet hurt'', complained Gwaine, ''I don't see why we couldn't have gone back to Camelot and got horses...''. Arthur sighed irritably, ''Because Gwaine, we haven't got time, who knows what sort of trouble Merlin and Gaius are in." Gwaine opened his mouth to respond but thought better of it and resolved to suffer in silence. Suddenly the group reached a clearing. Out in the distance, barely visable through a veil of cloud, was the Labyrinth of Gedref. ''We made it'', said Leon triumphantly, ''It took ages but we made it.'' Then, as Arthur and the knights stood around congratulating themselves, an eerie tune floated up from far below them.They grew silent and simply listened for several minutes. The tune was enchantingly beautiful but held a sinister secret. As the song from the depths grew louder still, the knights stood like statues, their shadows lying still on the uneven ground and their every thought crumbling inside them.