⚔︎ Waking and Living ⚔︎
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Waking up was a nightmare in and of itself. Going from fighting for your life surrounded by dangers to opening your eyes and finding yourself in a completely different place was not only disconcerting but completely terrifying.
Renly had woken up screaming, throwing punches left and right at everyone and everything she came into contact with.
It had taken her several minutes to finally calm down and realize where she was.
Then she was left with terror in her heart and vague flashes of memories to decipher.
But one thing had been clear. When the sword would be drawn from stone, her fate would be set, and there was nothing she could do about it.
When Arthur awoke things were far less dramatic than when Renly had.
He stood on one knee, leaning his weight against the sword which he had shoved into the ground.
Then he fell.
He lay on the ground unconscious. Covered in scars and bruises.
Renly wondered how big of a part he had lost of himself in there, and she prayed that whatever piece of him he had left behind in the Darklands belonged there.
They sat on the boat on their way back home.
Margot was tending to Arthur's wounds, and Bedevere stood above them listening to their conversation carefully.
Renly had moved further away, she sat on the edge of the boat, looking down at the water that rippled beneath them.
"Did you see everything you needed to see?"
Margot asked Arthur.
The question echoed through Renlys voice as the mage girl spoke. Another voice was replaced with Margot's as it asked her the same thing over and over.
"I saw enough."
Arthur answered his voice tired and unusually serious.
His eyes flickered down at Margot's wrist where her bracelet shined in the sun.
"The mage tower. It's the same as the one in Camelot."
"The higher Vortigern builds it, the more powerful he becomes, and when it is finished, he will have the same power as Mordred."
Margot bit out trying to convey the importance of her words.
"That is why the sword has revealed itself now. Where there's poison, there's a remedy."
"What happened to your people?"
Arthur asked, his voice raspy and weak.
"They were murdered by your uncle."
With that, the mage rose walking over to Renly and sitting down beside her.
Renly reached out and grabbed her friend's hand, squeezing it tightly, not taking her eyes away from the water.
"It was Vortigen who started the wars. He was jealous of your father's throne. So he made a deal with Mordred that they share power once he defeated your father."
"Mordred murdered the mage king and took his staff to their sacred tower, where he unlocked the dark forces of their union."
She had heard the story a thousand times before, but her blood still boiled at the awful truth of it all. How one man's greed could cause so much destruction, so much grief? All so that he could make himself a king.
"But what they didn't account for, was the sword."
Renly spoke up from where she sat.
"Merlin stole Mordred's staff. He then forged the great sword, Excalibur, and destroyed the ancient tower. The sword was then passed to the lady of the lake, who bound it to the Pendragon bloodline."
She knew it by heart, having seen it in her dreams a million times.
Arthur's eyes were locked on the girl who sat by the edge of the boat.
Her brown hair flowed in the wind, her shoulders hunched and the fire in her eyes were dimmed. He hated how broken she looked, but he understood now. He didn't know if he would ever be the same again.
"Now,"
Bedevere spoke up.
"The sword is yours."
Renly fell down into the seat beside Arthurs, her eyes locked firmly on the water as they slowly made their way up the river.
Margot and Bedevere had gone to speak to Rubio.
"You were right."
Arthur spoke into the silence.
"It's not really something you can describe."
He chuckled bitterly, his hand pulling at a loose string on his blanket.
"You know, I never told anybody this, but when I was in there a huge rat almost bit off one of my toes."
Renly said her voice filled with mirth.
Arthur looked over at her, his eyes lighting up slightly as he straightened.
"Oh, really?"
He asked grinning. His eyes went down to her boot-clad feet eying them suspiciously.
"How?"
He asked amusement coloring his voice.
Renly gave him a big grin.
"Okay."
She took a deep breath preparing herself to tell the embarrassing story, the way his eyes were now shining with interest and light made whatever shame she would feel worth it.
"So I had been trecking up this mountain for hours when I reached this little stream. Things had been quiet for a while. Which should have been more of a warning but instead of carrying on, I decided that taking a break and putting my bare feet into the water would be a brilliant idea."
"And it was, at first. I mean, those first few seconds were heavenly. But then I heard them. They came from everywhere jumping from rocks, out of the water, I'm pretty sure one came flying out of a freaking tree!"
"And there I stood, in the middle of the stream, with no boots on, fighting off giant rats."
Arthur laughed at the visual.
"I finally got to my things and was running through the forest barefoot, when one of them got a little too close, and I swear, I felt its teeth graze my big toe."
Arthur chuckled but as their laughter trailed off they were left in a sobering silence.
"I don't know how I'm supposed to do this."
He admitted quietly.
"I don't think anybody in your position would."
Renly said back, her voice soft.
"I don't want to be king."
He admitted, to anybody else it would have probably sounded like he was whining, but Renly heard how tense his voice was and saw how his shoulders drooping with unwanted responsibility.
"Good."
She shot back causing Arthur to look over at her with an amused smile but she was serious as she answered him.
"The king we have now wanted to be king, that didn't make him a good one."
"You can't really be worse than that guy."
She said grinning.
Arthur studied her for a moment, her brown braided hair, her deep brown eyes that shined with gold in the sun, and her smile that seemed to light up every dark corner of the world.
She was beautiful.
"Plus I'll be there to punch you in the face if you do something wrong."
She added mischievously.