Merlynn

Lancelot

Since the poisoned chalice incident, Morris had picked up more and more chores allowing Merlynn to have some free time, which she used to help Gaius more by doing the labor that he had started struggling with. The past few weeks had been strained and awkward between the three of them, Morris, Arthur, and herself. Morris had come forward about feeling guilty about allowing Merlynn to drink from the goblet when he should have stepped in himself. Merlynn tried to assure him that it was fine, that she didn't expect him to risk himself just because she had, but it hardly seemed to help. Morris had become cold towards Arthur, Arthur of course never notices, but Merlynn had. She had tried to ask him about it once, but he just chalked it up to Arthur's arrogance and changed the subject. Merlynn knew there was something more to it than that, but she never brought it up again. Arthur had relaxed around Merlynn a little, but any time she thought they might be becoming friends, he retreated and Morris stepped in to relieve her of whatever she was doing to go complete her other chores.

Even with Morris doing more of Arthur's jobs for them, she still had plenty to do for Gaius to make up for it, which is why she found herself alone with her thoughts in the woods as she gathered more herbs for Gaius. She had just found a nice patch of decent sized mushrooms Gaius had her looking for when she heard a screeching from behind her. Merlynn turned her head to look for the source when she noticed something approaching her quickly. She stood up to see what it was and assess the situation when she noticed it was unlike any normal creature she had ever encountered.

Merlynn backpedaled a couple of steps before turning and dashing away from the creature and back towards Camelot. She turned to look at the creature and tripped on a tree branch that had fallen. She tried to scramble away, but was too slow. She turned to face the creature who was now above her, reared up on its back legs ready to come crashing down on top of her. She closed her eyes and felt her magic bubble up inside of her ready to lash out at the creature when she heard someone shouting behind her. She heard the clanging sound of a sword against something hard and opened her eyes, dispelling the magic.

Merlynn saw a man trying to fight the creature head on, distracting it from her. He swung his sword at it and took a couple of jabs before the hide of the creature broke it. Upon realizing his sword had just shattered in his hands, the man turned back towards Merlynn and started running. 

"Run, run!" he had shouted at her as she began pulling herself up off the ground. He grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her along as they ran from the creature. Once he was sure she could keep up, he let go of her and they ran together for a fallen tree they hoped would give them cover. They jumped over the tree and ducked down behind it, the man pushing her down to cover her. They heard the sound of the creature's screeching getting farther away and Merlynn looked up and over the log as it flew away.

"It's gone." Both of them were panting heavily, trying to catch their breath when Merlynn looked back down at the man. "You saved my life. I'm Merlynn." She held her hand out for him.

The man looked at her a little funny before taking her hand. "Lancelot." Merlynn nodded at the man, who grew pale as exhaustion took hold of him. Lancelot laid his head back and closed his eyes only for a moment before his head rolled and he went limp. Merlynn looked at him for an explanation when she noticed the blood on his tunic on his side.

Merlynn used a levitation spell to carry him to the edge of the forest where they couldn't be seen. When she couldn't risk it anymore she gently lowered him to the ground and started tugging him out of the forest to where the Camelot guards stood.

"Help me!" She shouted at the guards who were currently posted at Camelot's gates. A couple of them ran over to her. "He's wounded, he needs to be taken to Gaius. Please, help me." The guards nodded at Merlynn and picked Lancelot up and took him to Gaius for her. As soon as he was settled on the cot, she thanked the guards who left to resume their post. She briefly told Gaius what had happened and Gaius sat down to take a look at him. Merlynn took a seat at his side.