"You seem uncomfortable." Sir Percival said to him, "You need to get some rest to be at your strongest."
"I don't need rest." Valentine seemed to be in a serious mood, "I need answers."
More than anything, he wanted to be wherever Halsted was. Being stuck at camp was frustrating him to no end.
"Answers? To what?" Percival asked.
Val sighed, scratched at a spot near his eyepatch, and took a drink of ale. Even the alcohol here was only ok.
"Why are we still here?" Valentine replied to him, "The phantasmal beasts have been pushed back, Goremund has resigned from the war, the black knight is dead, Vortigern has pulled back his saxons and not to mention that Halsted was sent off alone. Why are we here, Percy?"
The question lingered in the air, and Percival looked to be thinking it over.
"Well, Sir Terran is still asleep, and we hadn't made it back before Sir Halsted left." Percival spoke, but Valentine didn't seem to be listening.
Terran's condition was important to him. The prince of Ravenhill was the closest thing to family Valentine had left in this world. Arthur thought highly of him as well, and they had grown close over the time they spent together. But was Terran important enough that the whole army needed to stop here? No. It seemed far too unlikely.
To Val, it seemed like they were being kept in the dark about something. There had to be a reason they were here when they could be marching. Whether it was back towards Orkney or forward to Londinium, wouldn't it be best to move?
It was bothering Val, driving him into his current frustration. It felt like it was eating away at his mind. Just what was going on?
"You look like your brain will melt!" Merlin's cheery voice broke him out of his thoughts.
"Shut up." Valentine's voice was low and serious, "I don't want to hear your voice right now."
With the wave of his hand, a wall of earth separated the two mages.
"That's not nice at all! This is how you treat your allies!" Merlin complained, "And just when I was gonna do you a favor."
The wall sunk back into the ground.
"Explain." Val ordered.
"You could be more polite." She pouted, "I just happened to overhear your conversation. You want to know why we're still here, don't you?"
"I think we're both curious, so please tell us." Percival said.
"Of course! How can I refuse such a polite knight!" Merlin seemed happy to be spoken to so nicely.
"Get on with it." Valentine shut her down.
Merlin sighed and sat down with them.
"So?" Valentine shifted on the log he was sitting on, trying to get comfortable, "like I said, get on with it."
"Right, right." Merlin mumbled, "The reason we're still here is because of Halsted's mission."
"Sir Halsted? He was sent to take a fort, wasn't he?" Percival asked, "He went alone, right?"
"Yep, that's right. He went alone on Arthur's orders." She said.
"Don't try to bullshit me. There's no fortress on this entire island worth enough to keep us here." Valentine had a lot of time to think about this.
"It's not the fort itself that we want." Merlin claimed, "But that's not important to you! I've gotta report in, see ya!"
Val would've called out, but he didn't want to lose too many brain cells talking to that succubus. Instead, he huffed and snapped his fingers. On his command, a raven descended from the sky and landed on his outstretched hand.
"Be my eyes." He said simply, "I need to see exactly what's going on."
The black bird cawed and flew to the sky.
-------
Halsted pushed open the large double doors that led inside the keep. Immediately inside was what looked to be the main hall. It was a large open room where court was likely held. It might have once been decorated nicely, but the saxons seem to have mistreated the old place. The only thing that seemed to have remained was a large wooden chair that sat upon a dias. It would have once served as a throne for a lord. That was likely before the war began.
He wandered inside, looking around the room. The carpets that covered the ground were tattered and dirty. It was more than obvious that this place hadn't received proper care for a long while. It was nothing like the grand castles he had been inside.
When he reached the end of the hall, he walked up the steps of the dias and put one hand on the chair. Dust had settled onto its surface, but Perugias didn't care about that. He tightened his grip on it before tossing it out of the way. The wooden throne crashed into the ground and broke apart.
The wall that stood behind where the throne was wasn't decorated. If it was, it had long since been robbed of anything that might have been valuable. But the wall was also clean, unlike the rest of the room that was covered in dust. He put his hand flat against the wall. He got the feeling that something was behind it, just as Merlin told him.
Mana rushed to his hand, and a burst of power made the wall blow open. Behind it was a staircase leading down.
"This place is interesting." As Halsted took the first step down, a familiar feeling ran down his spine. "Hm? I suppose I'll know soon enough."
At the bottom of the stairs was a small doorway that led into a long room. All sorts of things lined the walls. There were bookshelves filled with books and all sorts of weapons, but only one thing truly caught his attention.
"Hey! Let me out of here!"
A small child like figure with multicolored wings stood inside a cage on the opposite side of the room.
A fairy? Why would they have him down here?
"What are you doing here?" Halsted approached the fairy.
"I could be asking you the same question!" The fairy exclaimed, "Wait no, that's not right... Please just let me outta here."
Halsted sighed but approached. Sticking both hands between the bars, he bent them out of shape just enough for the small creature to fit through. The fairy gladly slipped through and flew into the air.
"Wow! You're real strong! Oh! And those eyes! You're a dragon, aren't you! Are you some sort of king? Right! I'll call you 'your majesty' from now on!" He ranted, "My name's Fern, I'm a fairy."
Fern seemed full of energy. He had bright blue hair and eyes to match.
"I'm no king." Halsted answered simply while looking around the room.
"What! That totally isn't right!" Fern flew around Halsted while he wandered around the room, "You're really strong! I can tell! Don't strong people become kings!"
Halsted opened up a display case and picked up the sword that was held inside. The longsword was dark and had a ripple pattern that seemed to dance across the blade.
"That one is called Varig! According to what I read, it was forged in dragon fire! It's really cool, right, your majesty?" Fern flew in a figure eight pattern above Halsted's head.
"I'm not a king." Halsted said before realizing something important, "Where did you read about this?"
"Oh, it was in this book over here!" The fairy excitedly flew over to a desk where a few books were scattered about. He picked up the specified book and brought it to Halsted. "Come to think of it, I never got your name."
"I am Perugias." He stated, "A knight in service to King Arthur."
When it came to inhuman creatures, he found it best to give his second name. It was the name he inherited from the creature that saved his life.
"Your majesty is serving another king?" Fern scratched the side of his head.
Halsted just sighed and flipped through the book. It seemed to be an inventory of the weapons and valuable items that were held down here. It was strange to him that all this stuff was down here when the rest of the keep looked like it had been stripped clean of anything remotely valuable.
"Fern, how long has it been since someone came down here?" He asked as his spine tingled again.
"About a day... maybe?" Fern tilted his head in confusion.
Halsted huffed. He looked over Varig once more and felt that it would probably be ok if he held on to it.
"Hold on to this."
He lifted the inventory book into the air, letting Fern take it into his small hands and hug it to his chest.
"Why am I holding this?" Fern asked, "Wasn't it important to you?"
"It is. That's why I want you to hold on to it for now."
"All right then! I'll hold on to it for your majesty!" He exclaimed, "But why?"
Halsted walked back towards the stairs that he had used to get down here, Varig held in his right hand.
"Because someone is upstairs waiting for me."
-------
He felt that he was drowning. He was sinking into a sea and he had no clue how he got there. He was panicked, and no matter how much or how hard he kicked, he couldn't seem to reach the surface. It was as if he was weighed down. He wanted to scream out, but water would fill his lungs. There was no one to help him. He was alone in the dark depths of this sea.
Was this hell? Everything he had been told about hell suggested more fire and brimstone. But rather than heat, these deep depths seemed to freeze him to his core. There were no devils here to make him suffer, only the feeling of being alone.
"Terran."
The deep voice he heard belonged to Halsted. It was the first thing he had heard down here other than his own inner monologue. It was the first noise to push through the darkness. It was a simple thing, just the voice of his friend calling out to him. But it was enough for him. He began kicking his legs again and trying to swim up. But his body felt so very heavy.
"...Our rogue prince."
Merlin's gentle voice called out his nickname as if in idle conversation. Who was she speaking to? His arms moved faster, as if he was trying to force the water out of his way.
"You'll be up soon enough."
Valentine spoke to him. Was he asleep? That was relieving. But he was still sinking. He didn't know what it meant, but he knew he didn't want to reach the bottom of this sea.
He suddenly felt a soft feeling on his forehead, and with it came a surge of energy. In the moments that followed, his body felt lighter.
"Wake up soon, sweet prince."
Lady Morgan spoke softly into his ear, yet she was nowhere to be found in this darkness. Which was probably a good thing. Terran wouldn't wish for any of his friends to be in such distress.
"How can you be so brave and so foolish. How could you of all people end up like this?" This voice was Arthur. A sad sigh followed his statement. "My lion knight."
Did Arthur hold him in such high regard? They were friends, sure, but to sound so concerned over him seemed useless when there were other knights to take his place. It hurt his heart to hear the beautiful king sound like that.
Suddenly, the dark sea he had been swimming in was lit up. Above him, no, over the surface of the water was a white light. A ball of pale light that resembled the sun. No, that didn't feel quite right. The light that warmed his body was familiar. Very familiar.
His body didn't feel so heavy anymore. Swimming wasn't such a burden. Finally, he could feel as if he was making progress. He needed to reach that light. And he would.
As he breached the surface of the water, his right hand was outstretched to take hold of the light.
"Oh, it's you."
He held something familiar in his hand. The longsword was right where it belonged. The guiding light that had led him to the surface was Solis. He held a star in his hands as this dark world faded into the light.
_______
We got a pov from all three friends this chapter.
I thought that Valentine would actually get along with Percival pretty well, so they're hanging out.
Halsted is up to some pretty interesting stuff. I liked writing the dynamic between him and Fern. 'Fairy King Perugias' lmao.
Terran is waking up, and it'll probably be someone's problem eventually.
There's only 1-2 more chapters before the next time skip. I'll probably write an extra chapter before then. Most likely about Halsted.