Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Merlin crept cautiously through the dark forest, glowing white, spectral butterflies the only illumination to light the way under the dense canopy. He'd spun them small so they wouldn't draw attention. Hopefully.

He spotted some wild herbs and stopped to pick them. The plant was brittle and dull; hard to grow lush and vibrant when the sun hadn't been seen in twenty years. Only a dim gray light was able to suffuse the thick black cloud cover during the day, leaving the earth shrouded in darkness. This was the world Merlin had been born into, though he grew up hearing stories of the world that had existed before. One of light and color and peace. Not the constant threat of death they lived in now.

He moved on through the woods, gathering as many herbs as he could find. The pickings were as slim as any other resource. His breath suddenly began to fog as he exhaled and the temperature plummeted. Merlin straightened sharply and whipped his gaze around. He spotted a pair of phantoms moving among the trees, gliding right toward him. Wraiths. Faceless beings trailing tattered rags of shadow and mist. They let out blood-curdling shrieks and zinged toward him.

Merlin threw his hands up and gathered the glowing butterflies into a single shape, then thrust the newly spun shield up at the incoming Wraiths. They screeched and reeled away from the offending brightness. Merlin winked the light out and ran, whipping past scraggly branches and over ruts, making far more noise than was safe. After a distance, he dropped low to the ground and waited, scanning for pursuit. It looked like he had lost them.

Getting up, he resumed his trek home at a more careful pace, keeping a constant eye out for Wraiths. But he made it back to the safety of the underground fortress without further encounters and rolled back the stone that served as a gate. Once inside, he rolled it back and then made his way through the tunnel to the chambers deep within where torches lit up the rock with a bright orange hue. Most humans hadn't been able to live topside since the Darkness came and the Wraiths had overrun the earth—and those who did were a special kind of crazy. Wraiths fed on every living creature, sucking out their life force until all that remained was a husk. They rarely came underground, though, so that was the safest place to live.

If one could call this living.

Merlin passed rows of people sitting idly along the walls. In the larger caverns, some were cooking over fire pits what meager rations the hunters and trappers had managed to catch. It was a dangerous job, going out where humans were just as much prey as animals. Children huddled in dirty blankets, many sickly from malnutrition. In the beginning, there had been food stores groups had managed to live off of. But now those no longer existed and the staples of the past were long gone.

Merlin made his way to a large alcove in the rock that served as Gaius's work area. "I found some herbs," he announced and handed over the small satchel.

Gaius's brows rose in surprise. "Where did you…Merlin," he switched to exasperation. He shook his head but did add, "Thank you."

"How's Evie?" he asked.

Gaius's expression turned sober. "Her fever won't break. It doesn't look good."

Merlin's heart fell.

"I'll try these herbs," Gaius said in a conciliatory tone.

He just nodded; that was why he'd risked going out to find them.

Gaius was their physician. The only one Merlin had ever met, and one of the oldest people still living among them. So many from his time were killed when the Darkness first came. So many continued to die, whether from sickness or forced to venture out for necessities and never coming back.

"Merlin!" a voice called from across the cavern.

Merlin ducked out of Gaius's alcove and jogged over to the young king. "Yes?"

Arthur leveled a peeved glare at him. "What have I told you about going out alone?"

"I don't know what you mean."

Arthur rolled his eyes and started walking. Merlin fell into step beside him.

"It's too dangerous," Arthur went on.

"I can take care of myself."

"Even Lightspinners die out there," Arthur retorted.

Merlin grimaced in regret. His friend was just angry because he was afraid of losing more people. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to find some herbs to help Gaius treat Evie."

Arthur's shoulders sagged and he stopped. "It's my responsibility to look after everyone," he lamented quietly. "And I can't do it. Not against what's out there."

"None of us expect you to," Merlin replied. "And you've done a pretty good job looking after us otherwise. We'd be a lot worse off without your leadership."

"Gaius did a fine job when I was still a child."

"Gaius won't be around forever," Merlin put in gently.

"None of us will be for much longer," Arthur said softly, his gaze full of sorrow as he looked around at his people.

Merlin had nothing to say to that. Things were, indeed, dire, but it was more than that; Merlin knew the extra burden Arthur carried—the curse of being Uther Pendragon's son. Son of the man who had brought about the end of the world.

Gaius had been there, and so they all knew the story. Arthur's mother had died giving birth to him, and Uther had been so overcome with grief and rage that he had set out to bring his love's soul back from the dead. Everyone had warned him not to mess with powers and forces greater than he knew, but he hadn't listened. And in the process, he had torn the Veil to the spirit realm and unleashed eternal Darkness upon the land of the living. And the Wraiths.

Uther had lost his life and his kingdom had fallen into chaos and ruin. Gaius had fled with the infant prince and a handful of others, and they'd managed to survive until they'd found this underground fortress where they could eke out some semblance of civilization. Other refugees had joined them over time, like Merlin and his mother. He'd been a baby then and had no memory of the harrowing journey from Ealdor to his uncle's modest sanctuary.

He had no memory of the spirit seed that had given him the powers to later fight off the Wraiths. For in this world-shattering evil, there was a glimmer of light—after the Darkness consumed the earth, small shards like floating stars had begun to find their way to children and meld with them. No one had known what they were at first, not until the older ones began to develop the ability to spin light in the palms of their hands. Fate had given humanity a chance.

But there was no way to predict when or where those spirit seeds would be, and they'd only ever inhabited children under the age of thirteen, which made Lightspinners useful but not enough to change the state of the world. Not yet, anyway. Perhaps in a few more generations, they would outnumber the Wraiths…

Merlin continued walking with Arthur through the fortress as he took stock of their stores. They came across Leon, Arthur's right-hand man. Only a handful knew of the king's parentage and were loyal to him regardless, those who had grown up alongside him. The other refugees who came later viewed Arthur worthy of leadership by virtue of him being Gaius's ward. And of course he'd proven himself competent since taking the mantle.

"We only have two days' worth of food left," Leon informed them quietly.

Arthur sighed and ran a weary hand down his face. "We'll send the hunting parties out tomorrow."

"The Seeding Pilgrimage is tomorrow," Leon pointed out.

Arthur cursed under his breath. "I forgot." He shook his head. "I don't like it."

"None of us do," Leon agreed. "But what choice do we have?"

Merlin didn't say anything. The Seeding Pilgrimage was one of those necessary evils they had to do in order to continue their survival. For as much weight that Arthur carried on his shoulders as king, Merlin bore his fair share as a Lightspinner. They both wished they could do more.

Lancelot arrived. "Arthur," he said grimly. "Gaius wants to see you."

Merlin frowned and tagged along as Lancelot led them to the small alcove inhabited by little Evie and her parents.

"How is she?" Arthur asked.

"Not good," Gaius answered. "I fear she won't survive much longer."

The girl's mother let out a broken sob into her husband's chest.

"She should be taken on the Seeding Pilgrimage," Gaius continued.

Arthur looked astounded by that. "You can't be serious. It's dangerous."

Gaius nodded sagely. "If a spirit seed finds her, the infusion will heal her of this current illness. I'm afraid it's her only chance."

Merlin swallowed hard.

Arthur turned to the girl's parents and put a hand on each of their shoulders. "It is your decision," he said.

And it was a terrible decision. Keep their daughter close and be with her when she passed, or send her out in the hopes of saving her yet also risking a horrible death. Merlin didn't envy them.

They shared a few hushed murmurs and tears before turning to the rest of them and nodding their permission.

"We'll keep her safe," Merlin promised.

With his dying breath, if necessary.

The following morning, Lancelot and the other first generation Lightspinners prepared the children ages six through twelve to set out for the Seeding Pilgrimage. They garbed them in drab cloaks to blend with the gray scenery.

"I'm scared," one of the young girls whimpered.

Gwen knelt down in front of her. "We've done this many times and we'll protect you," she said kindly.

Lancelot noted she didn't tell the child not to be afraid; they were all afraid and were right to be. He didn't necessarily approve of this, but it was a ritual that'd been laid down years ago when the nature of the spirit seeds was fully realized and the previous generation knew they needed more children imbued with the power to fight the Wraiths.

Lancelot had received his own spirit seed when he was eight, right after he'd been orphaned. Before that, his family had survived so long in no small part to his little sister having been imbued with a spirit seed when she was still an infant. Even before she could understand her gift, she'd protected them.

Only to later be slaughtered by Roamers, men who lived above ground and plundered what they needed to survive. Like Wraiths, they killed without compunction or discrimination. Lancelot had only survived because his father had shielded him with his body, and the Roamers must have missed him. He would have fallen victim to a Wraith if a spirit seed hadn't come upon him and given him its light. He'd later been found by a hunting party and brought to the last house of the kingdom of Camelot.

"Ready?" Elyan asked.

Gwen and Percival nodded. Merlin looked anxious. The five of them were the oldest and most experienced of the Lightspinners among them, each of them barely at their majority or just over, the first children to grow up in this world of darkness, the first to receive the gift. There had been others since, but they were younger and still learning to master the ability to spin light, so they weren't entrusted with missions as serious as this.

Gwaine walked over, carrying a bundled Evie in his arms. Lancelot went up to him to take the girl, but Gwaine didn't relinquish her.

"I'll come along," he said.

The rest of them exchanged uncertain looks. It wasn't customary for a non Lightspinner adult to come on this trip, since spirit seeds wouldn't take to them. But Gwaine appeared resolute, and it would help to keep all their hands free if they did run into trouble.

So Lancelot stepped away, and they all began ushering the children out. Everyone in the settlement had gathered along the walls to watch the procession. Arthur stood at the very end near the exit, expression solemn. Those parents watching their children depart were in tears. They all knew this was their only hope, but it was still a heart-wrenching one.

Once outside, they shushed the children and began their quiet march across the wasteland with its gnarled trees and dry brambles. Lancelot and Percival walked in the lead, Gwen and Elyan on the sides, with Merlin bringing up the rear. All of their eyes were peeled for Wraiths. The children huddled together and tried not to sniffle and whimper. It was day, which only meant it wasn't pitch black. Everything was still dim and the sky an angry dark like charcoal.

Once they were a good distance out, Lancelot rubbed his fingers together and spun tendrils of light into a spectral lantern. It was their hope that spirit seeds would be drawn to fellow lights, though they also ran the risk of drawing the attention of Wraiths.

The group treaded a path along a stream, following it to a glade and a pool where they instructed the children to sit. Now they just had to wait and hope for the best.

Somewhere a crow cawed loudly, making them all jump. Animals had become as scarce as people, as Wraiths would feed on them too. The Lightspinners stood guard, watching and waiting and praying.

Finally, a pinprick of light bobbed faintly in the distance, and they all straightened. It floated into the glade, light and airy. No one moved.

"Gwaine," Merlin whispered.

The knight slowly stood up, Evie in his arms, and held still. The light glided toward them and hovered in the air for a moment, then sank down into Evie's sternum. The glow suffused throughout her, and she opened her eyes with a gasp.

"What's going on?" she asked in a small voice, eyes widening as she realized they were outside.

"Shh," Gwaine breathed, crouching back down and setting her on the ground. "We have to wait for the lights."

The adults shared relieved looks at Evie's instantaneous recovery. Lancelot remembered the burst of energy he'd received when the spirit seed had first infused his body with its light. Hopefully it would be enough to banish the rest of the infection in her. If not…then they would not only grieve her loss but the loss of another potential Lightspinner.

Nothing else happened for several long minutes.

"Is that it?" one of the children whispered.

"We'll wait a little longer," Gwen replied, equally softly.

Lancelot shifted nervously. With the way cobwebs hung in curtains from trees and mist curled over the ground, it was easy for the slightest movement to look like a Wraith. The only sure way to know one was near was the intense chill it brought with it. The chill of the dead.

"Look," someone hissed excitedly.

Lancelot looked over as another tiny light seed arrived and bobbed toward them. It circled the group of children before descending on one. There were gasps of awe and disappointment. Then a third came and melded with another.

A fourth was on its way when a chilling screech pierced the air and made Lancelot's blood run cold. His breath instantly began to puff out in white clouds, and the children screamed.

"Run!" Percival yelled.

They all rushed back to the children to usher them away. Gwaine scooped Evie into his arms again and ran with her, her terrified cries resounding like an alarm bell through the dead air. Lancelot took up the rear, whipping his gaze back and forth in search of the Wraith he knew was nearby but couldn't see yet.

"Arod!" a young voice suddenly yelled.

Lancelot whirled and spotted the boy still back by the pool, reaching out for that fourth spirit seed. And a Wraith was racing toward him.

Lancelot and Elyan both charged forward, shooting out bursts of light to intercept the Wraith. It shrieked and reeled away. The spirit seed made contact with Arod and sank into him. Elyan snatched the boy up in his arms and ran.

Lancelot spun a whip and lashed it over and over at the Wraith, trying to drive it backward as it attempted to pursue them. It screeched at him and zoomed up and over to come at him from behind. But then a spectral horse came charging in, placing itself in front of Lancelot and rearing up at the Wraith. Lancelot turned and scrambled to catch up with the others. Gwen had stopped ahead and was focused on fighting the Wraith. Merlin darted back and threw glowing disks at it. It was apparently alone and decided to flee in the face of so many Lightspinners.

They winked out their lights and hurried back to the fortress, thankfully arriving in one piece. Everyone was anxious to see them and quickly crowded the first cavern.

"Momma!" Evie cried and stretched out her arms.

Gwaine passed the girl to her mother, who was crying tears of joy.

"Did she receive a spirit seed?" Gaius asked.

Gwaine nodded.

The physician smiled and ushered the girl and her parents away so he could give her a full checkup.

Lancelot wove his way over to Arthur. "Three others received spirit seeds," he reported. "But we were attacked by a Wraith and had to flee."

Arthur nodded and shifted his attention to the three children as Elyan and Percival brought them forward.

"You were very brave," Arthur told them sincerely.

Their parents came to retrieve them, as did the ones for the other children who slogged home in dejection. As much as they feared the outside world, deep down they each knew what it meant to be a Lightspinner and hoped one day they would be gifted it before they were too old.

Four was a successful pilgrimage, though, considering. So in the meantime, it was back to the drudgery of surviving until the next one.

Chapter Text

Arthur was sitting in his alcove "chambers," sewing reused fabric patches to mend his coat, when Leon returned to report on the hunts.

"One buck, hardly any meat on it, and a couple of hares," Leon said dismally. "We'll try again tomorrow."

Arthur set his coat aside. "We will not last much longer like this."

Leon looked equally grim. "We've had rough patches before," he offered as a weak branch of hope.

"With each passing year, things grow more dire," Arthur countered.

"What else can we do?"

Arthur didn't respond; there was little else to do besides give up, which he refused to do. There was, however, one thing that had been on his mind.

He went to see Gaius.

"Evie is fully back to health," the court physician told him when he arrived.

"That's good to hear," Arthur replied sincerely, though that wasn't what he'd come to discuss. "Gaius, when my father rent the Veil, how did he learn of it?"

Gaius frowned at the question. "He searched through texts on magic."

"Then, could the way to close the Veil not also be found in those books? Or at least something to help us?"

"Perhaps," Gaius said carefully. "But we do not have them."

"They're still in Camelot."

"Yes." Gaius eyed Arthur carefully. "It's too dangerous to go back there, though."

"It's dangerous everywhere," Arthur pointed out. "And if we continue this way, the people will starve. If there is any hope to be had out there, I intend to find it."

Gaius's expression turned sympathetic. "The sins of your father do not fall upon you, Arthur."

A lump formed in his throat. "Maybe not, but I am king, and it is my responsibility to protect my people. I'm older now, Gaius; I no longer have an excuse to stay hidden away here."

Gaius sighed. "It's been a long time…I'm not sure I can remember which books to look through."

"I'm not asking you to come," Arthur cut him off. "You're needed here."

Gaius snorted. "You mean I will only slow you down."

Arthur canted his head in reluctant agreement.

Gaius sobered. "Be careful."

Arthur nodded and turned to go summon his friends to discuss his plans. Leon and Gwaine were his most trusted knights, and Merlin, Lancelot, Gwen, Elyan, and Percival were also part of that inner circle, the lot of them having spent most if not all of their youth together.

"I want to make a foray into the city of Camelot," Arthur told them. "I'll need some Lightspinners to have my back, but I also know you're needed here for the hunting parties. How many do you think can be spared?"

"Percival and I can handle the hunts," Elyan said.

Percival nodded in agreement.

Arthur turned to Merlin and Lancelot. "Will you accompany me?"

"Of course," Merlin replied.

"I'll come too," Gwen put in.

Arthur faltered; he didn't want to put her in danger, even though to be a Lightspinner was to lead the way into danger. So he held his tongue at her offer.

"As will I," Leon added.

"Me too," Gwaine spoke up. "I may not have the fancy magic, but I can read well enough."

Arthur nodded gratefully. With that settled, they went their separate ways to pack some supplies before heading out.

Gaius gave them directions to Camelot, but the landmarks were barely recognizable as they made their way across the country. Without a sun to navigate by, it was also nearly impossible to determine north from south. But Gaius at least remembered the right direction when departing the fortress. After that, however, the group was on their own.

They moved at a careful pace, always on the lookout for danger. They came upon a stretch of Rift, a black tear in the very fabric of the world with wispy edges of shadows. The Veil was opaque, and so they didn't know what lay on the other side, only that it was the way to death, and so they carefully made their way around it. Uther may have opened the Veil in one spot, but it had resulted in a fracture like broken glass across the land, leaving branches of Rifts forking out everywhere.

"Pst," Gwaine hissed, drawing to a stop.

They all froze, expecting danger. But Gwaine nodded to a pair of rabbits several yards off. He slowly drew his crossbow over his shoulder, the arrow preloaded.

"Left," he said quietly.

Leon carefully pulled his crossbow forward, both of them taking aim. None of the rest of them moved a muscle for fear of startling the prey.

"One," Gwaine murmured. "Two. Three."

The twang of the crossbows snapped the air, and both arrows struck true. They would eat well tonight.

Merlin went to retrieve the rabbits while Gwaine and Leon quickly reloaded, then they continued on their way.

Finally, Arthur spotted the city of Camelot in the distance, a pewter gray tombstone rising against the backdrop of charcoal clouds. They reached the lower town, its emptiness eerie. Empty but for the skeletons lying about.

They made their way up to the citadel and entered the castle. The halls were dark and musty, and they paused to pull some torches from their wall sconces, the heads covered in thick cobwebs. They lit a few, then ventured deeper into the abandoned castle.

Arthur roved his gaze around the corridors and faded tapestries. This was the home he had been born into, the place he was meant to grow up a prince. The kingdom his forefathers had built. Now it was nothing but ruins.

"Do you remember anything from here?" he asked Leon quietly.

"Not really," his friend replied in an equally subdued voice. Leon was only three years old when the world had ended.

"Gaius said the archives should be this way," Merlin spoke up, turning down an adjacent hall.

They found the room full of books, far larger than Arthur could have even imagined. Most of them looked awestruck as they took it in.

Arthur walked over to a large work table where a bunch of books had been left open. "These are probably the last ones my father had looked through," he said. "Before going off and destroying the world," he added with a touch of bitterness.

"You've got big shoes to fill, princess," Gwaine quipped.

Arthur's jaw tightened, but he refrained from snapping a retort. Leaning over, he blew away a thick puff of dust from the open tomes. After years of layers, some of it was practically caked on, making the ink faded and difficult to read, but Arthur pulled the book close and squinted at it. Everyone else took a book as well.

The pages talked about the Veil, and how tearing it open would unleash horror upon the world. Arthur couldn't understand why his father would go through with it. Yes, he was grieving the loss of his wife, but to ignore all the warnings, and for what? Foolish folly.

"Has anyone found how specifically he opened it?" Arthur asked.

Leon looked over, a hesitant expression on his face.

Arthur walked over to him. "What?"

Leon still hesitated before answering. "It involved a sacrifice, a life for a life."

Arthur looked away. He wondered who his father had murdered to commit this heinous deed. Uther's grief must have driven him mad, for what rational person could do such a thing?

"Would another sacrifice close it, then?" Arthur brought up.

His friends looked uncomfortable at the suggestion but returned their attention to the various book.

"Here's something," Merlin started, then faltered. "Oh. It would have had to been done before the next Samhain. Otherwise the Veil would remain open forever."

Arthur's heart sank. That was too many years ago. Perhaps it could still work, though. It wasn't like any of this information was based on fact, since no one had ever opened the Veil this severely before. At least not within remembered history. It could be worth trying; Arthur would gladly give his life to save his people, to save the world.

"No," Merlin said firmly.

Arthur looked over in question.

"I know what you're thinking, and no. Don't throw your life away on something that probably won't work."

"What if it could?" Arthur argued.

"No," Leon echoed. "It's not worth losing you on a 'could'."

"You're needed here, Arthur," Gwen joined in.

"I can't protect us forever," he rejoined, tone a touch sharp with desperation. "If there's even a chance—"

"We're beyond that," Gwaine spoke up loudly. He walked over and took the book with the sacrifice entry and slammed it closed, then set it aside. "We have to work with what we have."

Arthur opened his mouth to respond, because this discussion certainly wasn't closed, but Gwaine cut him off.

"I didn't take you for a coward."

Arthur sputtered with indignation. "I'm willing to give up my life to save everyone. That is not cowardly."

"It is when by most accounts, it won't even work. You're saving yourself from the situation and leaving everyone else behind to keep struggling."

Arthur blinked in dismay, his instinct to rail against that accusation. But as the words sank in, he found he had no rebuttal to it.

Merlin cleared his throat. "Closing the Veil isn't an option for us. We should keep looking for something else that might help."

Tension still hanging over them, they all split up to survey the various shelves. With the amount of books in here, Arthur had to believe there was an answer somewhere, and that no one had thought to search for before, what with running for their lives.

The day waned and the darkness deepened, so they suspended their search of the archives and ventured out through the castle to find bedding, firewood, and water. Then they found a room with no windows and barricaded themselves inside. Arthur would have preferred to keep working through the night, but they couldn't risk the light shining through the windows and attracting Wraiths. Even so, none of them felt very safe, and the Lightspinners set watches.

The next morning, they returned to the archives and continued poring over more books, searching for anything that might help their dire circumstances. They found lots of references to an Old Religion, but the magic described in conjunction with it was nothing any of them had ever seen in their lifetimes.

"I wonder if the shift in the fabric of the world destroyed the old magic too," Merlin mused aloud.

No one had a comment on that. Arthur found this whole excursion increasing the weight of the legacy he carried—just yet another thing Arthur's father had destroyed.

They spent a second night there and still hadn't found anything. Arthur had known not to expect immediate answers, but he also hadn't anticipated just how many books there would be to go through. They'd already eaten the rabbits, so they had to take a break from the reading and go out to scavenge for more food. They split up in pairs, each taking a different section of the castle in search of animals that might have made burrows within its walls.

As he and Lancelot traversed a corridor, Arthur paused outside an open door that caught his eye. A dragon was etched into the wooden door—the Pendragon crest. Inexplicably drawn to it, Arthur pushed the door open wider and stepped inside.

Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs, once vibrant tapestries and bed curtains now a faded shadow of a former life. A bassinet sat by the window. Arthur went over and touched the baby blanket draped over the side, now rough after gathering years of dust. This must have been his parents' room. He turned slowly and roved his gaze around, searching for anything of his mother's that might have been left behind. Nothing stood out to him.

He walked around the room, trying to imagine what his life would have been like had his mother not died giving life to him. He couldn't. He couldn't imagine a world that wasn't darkness and fear. He'd never known his father, but he couldn't imagine him as anything other than the destroyer of worlds. And, in a sense, Arthur was the reason for all of it.

"Arthur," Lancelot's soft voice shattered the silence. "I thought I lost you."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I got distracted."

Lancelot paused thoughtfully. "Was this your room?" he asked.

"My parents. And mine, I suppose." His gaze drifted back to the bassinet. "I was only a few days old when everything…" He trailed off.

Lancelot nodded solemnly.

Arthur gave everything one last look before tearing himself away. This wasn't his life; it never had been.

The two of them returned empty-handed to the archives, but Merlin and Gwen were cooking some stringy looking meat over the fireplace.

"What is that?" Arthur asked.

"Better you don't know," Merlin answered.

Arthur spotted a few dead rats piled on the hearth next to the pot and grimaced. Yeah, he shouldn't have asked.

After a tough, chewy meal break, they resumed going through the books. There was mention of dragons and Fae and other named beings of power, but they were all described as self-serving creatures, and they all figured that if any of those had the ability to fix the world, they would have done it already.

"Here's something," Merlin spoke up. "The Crystal Cave, said to be the birthplace of magic."

"How does that help since magic is dead?" Leon asked.

"Not all magic—there's the spirit seeds. Have you noticed we haven't come across anything about them in all these books? They didn't exist before the Veil was torn. A new form of magic, maybe from this Crystal Cave."

"So, what," Gwaine put in, "find this cave, find all the spirit seeds to create more Lightspinners?"

Merlin shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe we can bring the other magic back. Either way, I think it's our best lead so far."

Arthur looked around for consensus and received it. So they narrowed their research to the Crystal Cave and where to find it.

The air grew colder in almost indiscernible increments, until Arthur's breath puffed out white. The fire in the hearth suddenly bowed and cowered, and they all turned their gazes to the door as it rattled.

Merlin dropped the book he was reading and immediately spun strands of light into his palms. "We can't stay here," he said in a hushed voice.

Lancelot and Gwen began to weave their light together with Merlin's, forming a battering shield. Whatever was just outside, they'd have to go through it.

Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine took up position behind the Lightspinners, braced to run. Frost crept underneath the door.

"Ready," Merlin said. "Go!"

They surged forward, bursting out and slamming their light shield into the lone Wraith that was hovering outside. It screeched as the light pushed it back and over the edge of the balcony. They ran down the hall toward the stairs, the Lightspinners already weaving another defensive as they went. They made it outside where they found several Wraiths gathered. Arthur's heart leaped into his throat at the number of them.

Lancelot spun his light into a blazing sword and leaped forward to attack. Merlin threw arrows of light out in every direction, piercing the Wraiths through and through and making them jerk backward with shrieks. But the light only repelled them; it didn't vanquish them.

Gwen cupped her palms together and shot a column of light at two Wraiths, driving them back. But another came up behind her.

"Gwen!" Arthur shouted in warning.

She spun around, light still streaming from her hands. But the Wraith clipped her shoulder and she fell to the ground, her light winking out. She gasped from the shock of the cold contact and tried to roll over as the Wraith circled around.

Arthur bolted toward her, throwing himself between her and the Wraith. He'd drawn his sword and held it at the ready, even though metal was useless against the phantoms. The Wraith opened its maw wide and began to inhale with a reedy whistle. Arthur felt ice touch his face. But before the phantom could start sucking out his life, a glowing scythe came slicing down on the Wraith's head. It screamed and reeled away.

Gasping in shock, Arthur fumbled to grab Gwen and pull her to her feet. Lancelot and Merlin continued to attack the Wraiths, coordinating their shards of light to weave in and out in a constant bombardment until the Wraiths finally gave up and fled. The group took off in the other direction, making a hastened pace all the way back to the fortress. News of their return spread quickly, and Gaius hurried to meet them, along with Elyan and Percival.

"Are you all right?" Gaius asked urgently, taking in their winded stances.

Arthur nodded. "Ran into some Wraiths, but we're fine."

"Did you find anything?" Percival asked.

Arthur gestured for them to speak somewhere more private, and they made their way to one of the caverns designated for official business.

"There's a Crystal Cave, said to be the birthplace of magic," Arthur relayed. "But we need to go back because we didn't learn more than that before we were interrupted."

"I did," Leon spoke up. "Sorry, we were attacked just when I came upon it, but it said the Crystal Cave is near the Valley of the Fallen Kings."

"I know where that is," Gaius put in. "But that's an even more dangerous journey, Arthur."

"Could it help us?" he pressed. "Could it bring back the old magic, or show us more of the spirit seeds?"

Gaius pursed his mouth. "I can't speak of the spirit seeds, but as for the Old Religion…it died out when the Veil was torn. I was once a practitioner."

They all perked up in interest at that.

"So, if we brought it back, could it help us?" Arthur repeated.

Gaius looked reluctant to give an answer. "Perhaps. It was the old magic that made it possible to open the Veil in the first place."

Arthur nodded resolutely. "Then I must find it."

"It's a long journey, Arthur, much farther than Camelot."

"Sounds like you'll need all of us," Elyan said.

Arthur frowned. "What about the hunting parties?"

"Some of the younger Lightspinners are capable enough," Percival answered.

Arthur still hesitated. He wasn't comfortable leaving his people defenseless.

"We're doing this because if we don't try, we're all going to die soon anyway, right?" Leon pointed out.

Arthur's shoulders slumped, and he nodded. "Then it's settled; we'll all go, and hope it's not all for naught."

They headed off to prepare for the long journey, but Arthur paused and called for Gaius to hang back.

"Gaius, who did my father sacrifice to open the Veil?" he asked.

Gaius's expression was carefully closed, and he didn't respond for a long moment. "Does it matter?" he finally said.

Arthur returned the silence, the two of them in a sort of standoff. Gaius didn't continue.

"I suppose not," Arthur eventually said and went to pack for his quest.

Chapter Text

Arthur pulled his hauberk on over his shirt, then fastened on his sword belt. Only he, Leon, and Gwaine carried swords and crossbows, the only weapons available to them. Wraiths were the biggest threat outside, but that didn't mean there weren't other things to be prepared for. Percival and Elyan had longbows for hunting, but Merlin, Lancelot, and Gwen only carried small daggers, as their fighting skills were primarily via light spinning.

Again, Gaius had drawn them a rough map toward the Valley of the Fallen Kings, which wasn't really all that helpful for navigating the dark wasteland. The best it could do was reorient them if they came across a recognizable landmark that revealed they'd gone off course.

There was no solemn procession to see them off as there was for Seeding Pilgrimages; none of their parents were still alive to worry about them. There were some grieved looks from bystanders on their way out, and Arthur felt a pang of guilt for leaving and taking the bulk of their protection with him. He only hoped they would be successful and prove it wasn't a waste.

Gaius was the only one waiting by the cavern exit for them.

"Be careful," he said gravely.

They all nodded, and then filed out into the treacherous unknown.

No one spoke on the long march, each of them too busy keeping a keen eye out for threats. They picked withered fruit and berries when they came across them and ate on the move. When they spotted a Wraith out in the open, they ducked low to the ground and waited, hoping it didn't sense them. After several tense moments, it floated away into the distance, and they moved on.

Several hours later, they found a stream and Arthur called a halt for the day. It was getting close to night and soon it would be pitch black; a water source was a good place to make camp. They tried to be quiet as they gathered firewood and kindling, setting only a small fire. Gwen collected all their water skins to refill, and Arthur went to help her. They exchanged awkward smiles but no words in the heavy silence.

A couple of spirit seeds floated into the area, making them all stop and watch in awe. Arthur had only heard of them but never seen one for himself. One approached him, and he slowly reached out a hand. The tiny light bobbed around him, and then away. He felt a pang of bitter disappointment and let his hand drop. He knew he was too old for a spirit seed to meld with him now, but Arthur wished he had been given one when he was younger. It was random, though, and up to the fortune—or misfortune—of being outside and vulnerable in order to encounter one.

The seeds floated away and disappeared, leaving the group in growing darkness. Gwen wordlessly reached out and slipped her hand in Arthur's in sympathy. He turned away from the stream, and they solemnly got settled around the campfire, crowding close for warmth but also to shield the light from distant eyes.

As the black of night fully enveloped them, the meager embers of the low fire weren't enough to see by. A spark illuminated Merlin's face as he began spinning small bits of light. He wove it into a tiny, toy-size unicorn and sent it galloping around the campfire. Lancelot added a fox, and Elyan a hare. Percival wove a stag and sent it to join the miniature creatures running circles across the ground. It was mesmerizing.

Arthur felt another twinge of jealousy as it reminded him of his childhood, watching his peers play with their light powers and he couldn't join in. He knew his friends in this moment didn't mean to be insouciant about it in the face of such danger—they were keeping the lights so tiny that they wouldn't be seen outside their circle. No, it was a way to cope with the darkness that constantly weighed heavily on all of them.

Arthur gave Gwen's shoulder a subtle nudge, inviting her to join in. She twirled her finger and sent out several dots of light that swirled into a flurry of birds.

They passed an hour watching the tiny light creatures run and play in a carefree manner none of them had ever known for themselves. It was a wistful display of a childhood lost and mourned, and yearned to recover for future generations. Then Arthur finally called an end to the merry chase so they could get some rest. Not that he expected any of them to sleep well in the open like this, even with a Lightspinner on watch.

They slept lined in a row to conserve warmth and make it easier to wake if something happened. Gwen's back was to Arthur's, but he felt her shift as she turned over.

"You're not lacking for not being able to spin light," she whispered in the dark.

"It's a more valuable skill in this type of world than anything else," he replied quietly, but his voice carried easily in the dead of night.

"We all have strengths and weaknesses," she went on.

He shifted around to face her. "I'd be able to do more if I could fight off Wraiths." He paused and dropped his voice lower to the point it was barely audible, "I'd be able to fight alongside you."

Gwen's expression flickered with something Arthur couldn't quite name—equal regret, wishfulness…longing?

"My father was a knight," Gwaine spoke up from further down. "I was going to be one as well. But now there is no use for knights."

Leon murmured his agreement.

No one said anything after that, and they passed the rest of the night in fitful snatches of rest.

No Wraiths attacked, and the next day they resumed their journey. Around mid-morning, they were brought up short when Percival spotted a black bear foraging in the woods. He fingered his longbow as he held still and kept his voice low.

"That would feed everyone back home."

Arthur hesitated. It would, but they were over a day from the fortress. Plus, carrying a catch that large back would be slow and arduous, which increased the danger to them. Yet how could they pass up an opportunity such as this?

"We could split up?" Elyan suggested. "Some take it back."

Arthur's stomach tightened at the idea. Splitting their party would still endanger them. There was strength in numbers, particularly Lightspinner numbers. Better they stick together, so they'd all turn back or they'd all keep going.

But before he could make the choice, a pair of Wraiths came swooping down from the tree tops to swarm the bear. It roared and reared up as they dive bombed it, shimmering waves like a mirage peeling off its body as the phantoms sucked in huge gulps of life force on each pass. The bear took off lumbering through the woods, but it couldn't outrun the Wraiths as they flew after it. Its bellows echoed for a little longer before petering out into silence.

The group remained where they stood as futility and disappointment sank in. Dour from the lost opportunity, they carefully moved on away from the direction the Wraiths had gone. Carcasses drained by them weren't edible anyway.

They kept going, silent once again. Some dense fog lay ahead, giving them pause. The best Arthur could figure, they needed to go straight through, but they couldn't risk the light of torches. So they linked elbows and ventured in, taking it slow to avoid injury. Arthur's heart hammered painfully and blood roared in his ears; they wouldn't see a Wraith in this until it was upon them, and the vapor carried a natural chill that set them all on edge.

Arthur was jittery and sweating with anxiety by the time the fog began to thin. They could finally see more than a few feet in front of them, and they found themselves surrounded by strange spires curving upward to the sky.

Merlin stumbled backward. "Whoa."

They were bones, a massive rib cage arching up and inward dozens of feet above their heads. Arthur twisted around as he traced the spine to a gigantic dragon skull lying further down on its side. From there, a sweeping framework of wing bones lay across the ground, half covered in dirt and dark moss.

"Looks like the dragons were helpless against the Wraiths too," Gwaine remarked.

Arthur idly wondered how many it had taken to bring such a terrible beast down.

They trekked through the rib cage and down the slope of the tail. Just as they cleared the skeleton, a Wraith came floating over the crest of the hill. With a shriek, it charged.

Arthur leaped back, and the Lightspinners simultaneously blasted it with five blazing bursts of light. It screeched and fled, but now they had to hurry and get far away from this place in case it returned with a pack. They made for some tree cover and slipped into the woods.

Aside from these close encounters, the journey was mostly tedious and exhausting. Whenever they spotted small animals, they stopped to hunt, since there was no telling where their next meal would come from. The Valley of the Fallen Kings should only be a four-day trek, assuming they didn't get off track.

They came upon another section of the Rift, a large one that bisected the plain they needed to cross, which forced them to go a long way around. Arthur focused on carefully counting their steps so they could backtrack once they were able to get on the other side. By the time they found the end of the torn branch in space, they'd lost an hour, and the hour more it would take to backtrack. But they pressed on. Arthur almost lost count a few times on the way back, but they at least returned to the same general area they would have crossed from. They then turned north again.

Not much later, the terrain narrowed into a gulch, with rocky paths leading up the sides. Arthur considered their options and decided going through the gulch would be safer, more concealed. What he didn't count on was it would take a winding path, so that when they finally emerged, he had no idea whether they were still on track or not.

Frustrated, Arthur pulled out the crude map Gaius had drawn and studied it. The gulch wasn't marked on it. He scanned the surrounding landscape. If there were mountains nearby, they were shrouded in the inky darkness of a black sky.

"Damn it," Arthur muttered and crumpled up the map.

"Don't do that," Merlin protested and snatched the parchment out of his hand. He straightened it out and held it up to examine, then repeated looking out at the shadowy distance.

"We could climb up to the top of the gulch," Elyan suggested.

"Shh," Gwaine suddenly shushed, holding a hand up in warning.

Arthur tensed and looked around. He didn't feel the bitter chill of a nearby Wraith…

Several figures suddenly leaped out from behind the slope of rocks, brandishing blades and axes and faces painted black with charcoal. The Lightspinners reflexively responded with bursts of light before realizing these were human assailants, and their light didn't work on them. Arthur drew his sword and launched forward to meet them, as did Leon and Gwaine. So much for there being no more use for knights.

Iron collided in a raucous clang that made Arthur flinch. Such noise would draw attention, but there was nothing for it; they had to defend themselves. He blocked and riposted, parried and lunged. To his left and right, Leon and Gwaine fought with equal vigor. Percival had leaped in to fight with nothing but his fists, while Elyan wielded his longbow as a staff. Lancelot and Merlin had ushered Gwen back to shield her and were grabbing random rocks off the ground to throw. They were all holding their own well enough that way, but then a sharp whistle pierced the air, and all the attackers suddenly shielded their faces. In the next instant, an explosion of light from above blinded Arthur. He twisted around and lost his footing, going down to one knee. The light had only lasted for a moment, but before Arthur could blink the spots out of his vision, he was grabbed and his sword wrenched away. He heard the struggles and protests of his friends but couldn't see what was happening.

"Settle down or I'll slit the cute one's throat," someone snarled.

Arthur went rigidly still. His hands were pulled together in front of him and bound with rope. His vision started to clear, and he saw Gwaine and Leon being similarly restrained. Gwen and Merlin were being held at knifepoint, while Lancelot, Percival, and Elyan had been herded together to be bound as well.

A man who looked like the leader sauntered forward and bared yellow teeth in a wicked grin as he looked them over. "Five Lightspinners, we've scored big today, boys!"

Arthur stiffened. Roamers, he should have known. Who else dared to walk in the open? They were also known for kidnapping children Lightspinners and enslaving them to be their protection as they continued to live above ground.

The leader turned his attention to Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine, who visibly tensed. Roamers had use for Lightspinners, but not for anyone else. They left trails of bodies in their wake.

But the man merely grinned again. "And a bonus—fightin' men. They'll make good sport." With a nod of his head, his thugs began hauling their prisoners up the slope to the top of the gulch.

Arthur gritted his teeth as he was shoved along and shared a look of dread with his friends. There were some things worse than Wraiths out here…

Chapter Text

Merlin stumbled as he and his friends were roughly dragged up to the top of the gulch where a cart hitched to two gaunt mules was waiting. There was a cage in the back, and a girl wearing an iron collar inside. She kept her gaze averted from them all.

The door was opened and Merlin was pushed in first. Another man on the side reached in to grab his sleeve and yank him over to the edge of the cage, then forced his already bound hands through the bars and fastened them to the iron rod from the outside. Gwen was shoved in next, followed by Elyan, Percival, and Lancelot. They were all tied to the cage bars the same way, no doubt so they'd be able to spin light if they came under attack from Wraiths. Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon were kept outside. Merlin had the fleeting thought of pulling that blinding light trick on the Roamers, but that wouldn't get them free, nor would it incapacitate their captors for long and would just make the Roamers angry.

The cart lurched as they got moving. Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon were forced to walk alongside it. They traveled a short distance to the ruins of a village before making camp. There, the leader of the group stalked around the cage, inspecting his prizes.

"You're all far older than our usual catch," he commented. "You must be some of the very first. Like Freya here. We got her young, so she knows her place. You all might feel entitled to certain things, but that ends now. Any disobedience will be harshly punished, mark my words."

Merlin glowered at him.

"Freya?" Lancelot gasped from the back end of the cart.

Merlin craned his head over his shoulder to see his friend twisting as he tried to lean back and look toward the front where the girl sat next to Merlin.

"Freya?" he called tremulously again.

The girl finally looked up, expression pinched in confusion. The rest of them shared confused looks as well.

Lancelot's voice cracked as he said, "It's me, Lancelot."

Her brows knitted together. "Lancelot?" she breathed in question.

"I thought you were dead," he choked. He then turned and raged against the cage at the men outside. "You're the ones who murdered my parents!"

The leader came closer, canting his head in consideration. Then he laughed. "I remember the little welp. Didn't know you'd survived. That was an oversight, though it looks like it worked out for me in the end. Here you are with your own light seed." He smirked and cast a glance at Freya. "What a nice little family reunion."

Lancelot continued to fight against his bonds, which only served to dig the coarse rope into his skin.

"Lancelot," Percival murmured, which made him settle down before he hurt himself.

The Roamers turned away from their captives and began to make camp. Lancelot tore his gaze away and back to his long lost sister.

"Freya."

She slowly crawled across the cage, not bound to the bars like the rest of them. When she reached Lancelot, she tentatively lifted a hand to touch his face. He couldn't move his own hands to touch her in return, and the look in his eyes was devastation. Freya pressed her forehead to his.

"I thought you were dead," she whispered.

Merlin couldn't imagine what they were feeling. Lancelot had spent all these years believing his baby sister had died in the slaughter of his family, and Freya had spent all this time enslaved to the brutal men who had murdered her parents.

The leader passed by the cart and banged on the cage. "Get back to your spot," he barked, and Freya scurried back to the front of the cart like a frightened animal.

"Hi," Merlin said gently. "I'm Merlin."

She didn't acknowledge him.

"We're going to get out of this," he vowed. "All of us."

She peeked up at him through lank strands of hair but still didn't say anything.

When the Roamers had prepared supper, Freya was given a small dish to eat, but none of the rest of them were. Darkness had fallen, usually a time for silence, but the leader stood up and asked loudly,

"Who's ready for a little entertainment?"

A round of raucous agreement went up, and two men marched over to the three non Lightspinner prisoners and grabbed Gwaine, hauling him to his feet and over to a wide patch of grass. His bonds were untied, and the men formed a circle around him. He narrowed his eyes, subtly shifting into a defensive stance. One of the Roamers stepped forward, a yellow, gap-toothed grin on his face. Then he threw a punch. Gwaine smacked it away, which triggered a round of snickers from the audience. The Roamer glowered and attacked again, this time throwing a weak left that Gwaine again deflected, and following through with a sucker punch from the right. Gwaine grunted as it landed in the soft flesh of his stomach. He threw himself into the fight now, both of them exchanging blows as the rest of the men whooped and jeered.

Merlin twisted and craned his neck, trying to see over the tightly packed circle. He knew based on the tone of the cheers whether Gwaine was doing well or had taken a hit.

"What are they doing?" Gwen hissed in terror.

They were making a lot of noise, that was for sure.

Gwaine finally knocked down his opponent, who stayed groaning on the ground. The leader of the Roamers grinned in glee and waved for Gwaine to be tied up again. Leon was brought over next and pitted against another man. The fight proceeded just as the first but went on a little longer before Leon was caught in a headlock and couldn't break free.

"Let him up!" Elyan yelled but was ignored.

Leon's face was turning puce as his air was cut off.

"That's enough," the leader finally declared, and Leon was dropped like a sack of rocks.

The men dragged him back and tied him up, then released Arthur for his bout. Merlin and the rest of them in the cage were practically vibrating with fury as Arthur fought against a man a foot taller than him. The young king got a few good hits in before he was body slammed and thrown to the ground.

"Don't get up," Merlin quietly begged.

Arthur didn't, though whether because he was making a wise choice or because he was badly hurt, Merlin couldn't tell.

As he was being hauled back to Leon and Gwaine, a chill began to spread through the air. Merlin stiffened and whipped his gaze around. A Wraith came gliding forward into the light of the campfire, the void of its amorphous face turning to and fro in search of prey. Freya immediately rocked onto her knees and began to spin light in her palms, which she shot toward the Wraith. It hissed and reeled back, but three more came into view.

The leader of the Roamers threw a stick at the cage. "Get working!" he snapped.

They all hesitated. Any other time, they would have been jumping into action, but to protect the people who'd captured them?

Freya shot another beam of light at a Wraith, but it only veered away and came back around, undaunted.

Snarling in fury, the leader ran toward the other prisoners and grabbed Leon by the back of his coat, then tossed him out toward the Wraiths.

"No!" Arthur yelled.

That got Merlin and the others spinning light against the Wraiths, who eventually left the area. The leader of the Roamers smirked as he went to grab Leon and dragged him back to Arthur and Gwaine.

"Don't be slow to act next time," he warned the Lightspinners. "Or your friends will be thrown to the Wraiths as a distraction."

Merlin's jaw tightened with helpless fury.

Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine were brought over to the cart and secured to the wheels. Then the rest of the camp retired for the night. Merlin couldn't believe how easily they slept out in the open. But they were obviously hardened enough.

None of the rest of them could get comfortable, bound as they were sitting up. Freya slunk back over to Lancelot.

"Don't anger Cenred," she whispered.

"Is that the leader?" he asked, keeping his voice equally muted.

She nodded and kept flitting a nervous gaze around at the pitch darkness outside their camp.

"They expect you to keep watch all night?" Lancelot guessed.

Freya nodded again.

"You can sleep," he said. "We'll watch."

She bit her lower lip in hesitation.

"Sleep," Percival encouraged.

Freya shifted in discomfort but eventually snuggled in against her brother and fell asleep. She probably didn't get much rest at all normally.

The rest of them exchanged grim looks.

"Any ideas?" Merlin whispered.

"I can't get these knots loose," Percival replied.

"Anyone got a hidden knife they missed?" Elyan asked next.

No one answered in the affirmative.

"If they make us fight again," Gwaine spoke up, "maybe we can manage to get our hands on something."

It was the only plan they had, weak as it was, so they stopped talking and instead focused on taking turns on watch and catching snatches of rest.

When morning dawned with its pale gray hue, Freya skittered back to her end of the cage before the men woke. The Roamers rose and packed up camp, then got moving again. Merlin's stomach rumbled with hunger. They only traveled for an hour before stopping at a stream, and Freya was given a water skin with instructions to give each of the Lightspinners in the cage a drink. She did, timidly moving from each of them and holding the skin to their lips to sip. Afterward, Cenred had the cage door opened and Lancelot untied from the bars. Merlin stiffened when only he was taken out and pushed to his knees before Cenred.

The leader of the Roamers leered down at him. "Spin me some light," he commanded.

Lancelot hesitated, and Cenred backhanded him so hard he fell onto his side.

Merlin twitched with anger; next to him, Freya hid her face and whimpered.

Lancelot pushed himself upright, his hands still bound in front of him.

"Do it," Arthur said in a low voice but loud enough to be heard.

Lancelot's expression was tight but he spun some light into his bound hands, forming a ball.

Cenred smiled. "Good. Now, spin me a frog."

Lancelot faltered again at the request and Cenred struck him a second time. Eyes blazing with defiance, Lancelot nevertheless spun the light frog.

Apparently satisfied, Cenred waved for his men to take Lancelot back to the cage. One by one, he had each of his new captives brought before him to show off their abilities by spinning whatever random shape he demanded. And they grudgingly did so, even though Merlin knew it burned each of them to submit. They were in no position not to, however.

After the little show, Cenred brought a plate of food over to the cage and passed it through the bars to Freya. "Feed them," he instructed.

Freya demurely ducked her head and turned to Merlin first, picking up a piece of meat and holding it to his mouth. Merlin wondered if this was part of the submission lesson, because it sure was degrading to be fed like an animal. But all their hands were tied to the bars again, and it was either consent to being fed or go hungry. So Merlin accepted the food. It was only mildly better that it was Freya doing it. Had Cenred taken it upon himself, someone would have no doubt spat the food back in his face. Outside, Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine weren't given anything to eat.

They moved on from the stream. Freya drifted off to sleep on and off in the cart, often jolting awake and looking around in fright. When the faint light of day began to diminish, they stopped to make camp for the night. Once again, Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon were forced to fight for sport. They were given water as a reward, but still no food.

No Wraiths came to attack them.

The three knights were tied to the wagon wheel again as the men lay down for the night.

"Anything?" Elyan asked anxiously.

"No," Gwaine answered bitterly.

"No," Leon echoed despondently.

"I didn't get anything," Arthur whispered. "But this wheel spoke looks a bit jagged. Maybe I could cut through the ropes…"

It was too dark to see what he was doing, but Merlin could hear the scritching of rope fibers being sawed against something. They all waited in tense silence for several minutes, but Arthur wasn't making any progress.

"It was a nice thought," Gwaine sighed.

"I'm not giving up," Arthur rejoined staunchly.

The rhythmic sawing kept up as the night waxed on. Merlin struggled to stay awake, his chin repeatedly dipping low as he almost nodded off a few times. Then came an excited hiss,

"I got it!"

Merlin straightened, as did the rest of them. Arthur freed Leon and Gwaine first, who then stood up and started untying the Lightspinners' hands from the bars as Arthur went around and opened the cage door.

"Cenred!" a voice yelled suddenly. "The prisoners are escaping!"

"Arthur!" Gwen shouted as a Roamer came charging at the king from behind with an ax.

Arthur spun and ducked before the blade could take his head off. It clanged against the iron bars. Arthur scrambled away as the man swung again. The rest of the camp had woken and were charging in to stop them, and Gwaine and Leon were forced to abandon the cart and fight. The Lightspinners were still tied up and couldn't help. If the Roamers liked a good fight, though, they were getting one. Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine were making use of whatever they could get their hands on to bludgeon their opponents.

Freya suddenly let out a terrified cry and dropped face down to the cage floor. Merlin twisted around as Cenred strode toward them with a blazing torch.

"Stop!" he bellowed. "Or I set your friends on fire!"

Merlin's heart sank as Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon froze on the spot. Cenred was holding the torch next to Gwen, who couldn't escape its blistering heat. Arthur's nostrils flared with fury but he put his hands up and was seized. So were Leon and Gwaine. Cenred lowered the torch.

"You three are more trouble than you're worth. Good thing it's almost time for the market."

Merlin furrowed his brow in confusion. Market? There were no permanent settlements above ground. No one would dare.

Arthur glowered at Cenred defiantly. His shirt had been ripped, and the firelight glinted off the chain around his neck that was now exposed. Cenred canted a curious look at it, then came over and pulled it out to examine. On the chain was Arthur's father's ring.

"I recognize this," Cenred scowled. "This is the Pendragon signet." He shot a baleful glare at Arthur. "Where did you get this?" he demanded.

Arthur didn't respond.

Cenred reached out to grab a fistful of Arthur's hair, wrenching his head down and to the side painfully. "You're Uther Pendragon's son, aren't you? Yes, I can see it now."

The other Roamers shared looks and murmurs at that. Merlin and his friends looked fearful. Anyone who knew of Uther Pendragon knew what he'd done.

Cenred roughly released Arthur's hair. "That cur destroyed the world."

"Arthur didn't have anything to do with it!" Leon exclaimed.

Cenred sneered. "No, but he will pay for it nonetheless."

The men restraining Arthur pushed him to the ground. He caught himself on his hands and knees, but then the men converged on him, delivering a relentless barrage of punches and kicks. Merlin yelled and railed against the cage, as did the others. But they couldn't stop the brutal beating. When the Roamers had had enough and stepped back, Merlin's breath caught in his throat. Arthur was lying on the ground, moaning softly.

"You deserve to die at the hand of the creatures your father unleashed upon us," Cenred said.

With a nod to his men, they grabbed Arthur and rolled him onto his back, then pulled his arms and legs out in a spreadeagled position. Ropes were wound around his wrists and ankles and then staked into the ground. The rest of them were straining and shouting.

"No!" Gwen screamed.

"I'll kill you!" Gwaine snarled.

"Shut up!" Cenred barked. "You don't need tongues to spin light."

That made them all falter, though Gwen was openly crying as the Roamers packed up and moved on. And Merlin could only strain and watch in horror as they left Arthur helpless and stranded in the middle of the wilderness as an offering to Wraiths.

Chapter Text

Lancelot's wrists were chafed raw from all the futile struggling he'd done since their capture. His heart burned with equal measures of rage and grief. These men had murdered his parents, kidnapped his sister, and now condemned one of his closest friends to an awful death. And Lancelot couldn't do anything about it.

Gwen was still weeping quietly, and the rest of them were clearly wracked with devastation as well. But their attention was eventually diverted as the caravan arrived at a place where a bunch of other people were gathered. The market Cenred had spoken of. There were lit fire pits spaced around and men mingling about…and more cages with children of various ages. Lancelot's stomach churned with revulsion.

The cart came to a stop and Cenred ordered the prisoners be brought out. They were all untied from the bars of the cage and herded together with Leon and Gwaine.

Freya scrambled to the edge of the open cage door, prostrating herself on her hands and knees. "Please," she begged. "Let my brother stay."

Cenred strode over and smacked her. She cried out and recoiled in tears.

Lancelot pushed forward in fury but received a punch to the stomach that dropped him to his knees with a dry heave.

Cenred sneered. "Your brother's a bad influence." He slammed the cage door shut and left Freya crying inside.

The rest of them were pushed and shoved through the encampment to a corral. Seven children were already inside, huddled on the ground crying softly. Gwen looked at them in horror but didn't move toward them, frozen by the sheer inhumanity of it all.

Outside the fence, men meandered about, surveying the captives, pointing and making remarks, then bartering if they were interested. One of the young boys was traded for a slab of meat.

"These aren't children," someone said disdainfully. "What good are they?"

"Those two would make for good manual labor," Cenred replied, pointing to Leon and Gwaine. "Or Wraith fodder. But the rest are the very first Lightspinners, their abilities unparalleled."

Murmurs of intrigue went through the crowd.

Another man leaned against the fence and leered hungrily at Gwen. "What do you want for that filly?"

Elyan stepped in front of his sister to block her from sight, bristling with ire.

"We have to do something," Lancelot hissed.

"What?" Gwaine replied. "We're outnumbered, with no weapons, and light spinning is useless against fellow people."

"Then we don't target people," Percival put in, looking out across the encampment.

They followed his gaze to some horses.

"We startle them, we can cause a distraction," Merlin agreed.

"That won't buy us much," Leon pointed out.

Elyan's eyes were hard as he said, "It has to be enough." He flicked a look at Gwen, who was about to be sold like chattel.

"If we don't act now, we'll be split up and never get another chance," Gwen spoke up. "And Arthur is out there."

They all shared resolute nods.

As the Roamers continued to haggle over their "goods," the group crowded around Percival and Lancelot to conceal the fact they were spinning light. They formed a pair of snakes and sent them slithering across the ground, weaving them in and around objects to keep them hidden as long as possible. When they reached the horses, they made the snakes strike upward at the animals' faces. Startled by the burst of light and the illusion of a venomous threat, the horses shrieked and reared, then bolted. Shouts went up as men threw themselves out of the way and others got plowed into.

Men threw open the corral gate and rushed in to stop them. Gwaine, Leon, and Elyan leaped forward to hold them off. With their hands still bound, they swung their arms like clubs, able to hold their own against the bottlenecked influx of opponents. But more were climbing over the fence. Lancelot and Percival spun out more light snakes to intercept the fleeing horses and steer them back around. More yelps and cries went up as the animals trampled more men.

"Merlin!" Gwaine shouted and tossed a knife through the air.

It landed in the grass next to Merlin, who quickly snatched it up and turned to cut their bonds. Once Percival was free, he immediately launched himself into the melee, allowing the others to fall back so Merlin could cut them free as well. Gwen gathered up the children urgently and told them to send light into the bad men's faces. A few of them did, temporarily blinding the men climbing over the fence slats.

An arrow zinged into the corral, grazing Leon's arm. He cried out and staggered away from the man he'd been grappling with. As the Roamer went after him, Percival rammed him like a bull, picking him clear off his feet and flinging him into a group of men, bringing them all down in a heap. Gwaine managed to grab another knife and threw it, hitting the archer perched across the field in the chest. But there were plenty more men coming, with weapons too.

Lancelot squeezed through to the edge of the corral and slipped out between the fence slats. He ran to the nearest cooking spit and snatched up a burning log, which he held to one of the tent flaps. The canvas caught fire, which quickly began to spread. Lancelot darted to the next tent and the next, filling the air with a blazing orange glow and the harsh crackle of flames.

A sword came swinging out of nowhere, and Lancelot upset his balance as he threw himself backward. He landed on his back on the ground as a Roamer appeared above him and brought his sword down. Lancelot swung the burning log, catching the blade along the side and managing to deflect the strike instead of it cutting straight through the wood. He then chucked the branch into the Roamer's face before scrambling to his feet and away.

The others had finally broken free of the corral and found weapons and were engaged in combat while half the Roamers were running to put out the fires that were spreading rapidly. Gwen and Merlin were busy trying to herd the children away from the battle.

Lancelot spotted some wagon cages with captives nearby and bolted over to them. While Cenred kept his cage secured with wound twine, these required an actual key. He looked around frantically for a way to get them out.

A lanky teenage boy pointed through the bars. "He has the key."

Lancelot whipped around and spotted a man batting a blanket at some flames creeping toward bales of hay. His gaze shifted to a pitchfork lying on the ground at the other end of the bales, and he made a run to grab it. Coming up behind the Roamer, he bashed the man over the head, dropping him in an instant. Lancelot dropped down beside him and rifled through his pockets until he found the key. Then he hurried back to the wagons and opened the cages to let the Lightspinners out. The kids scattered in multiple directions.

An arrow flew past Lancelot's head, barely missing him. He ducked low and scrambled away. The thickening smoke spewed in his face, making him cough and his eyes water. He ran into Elyan, who was crouched behind a barrel and reloading a crossbow. With the arrow notched, he jumped up to shoot, then ducked back down. Lancelot chanced a look around the edge of the barrel. The Roamers were rallying, all of them armed with blades now.

"We're outnumbered," he told Elyan.

Elyan looked grim, then angled his head at something on the ground. He reached past Lancelot to grab a corked bottle of liquid. "Check that," he said, thrusting the bottle into Lancelot's hands.

He popped the cork and took a whiff, wrinkling his nose. "Liquor."

"Perfect." Elyan took it back and tossed it into some nearby flames. The fire exploded into a larger inferno that knocked several nearby men off their feet.

Lancelot frantically whipped his gaze around for the others. They needed to regroup.

But then a shrill screech pierced the air, making them both look up in terror. Several amorphous shadows were flying overhead, no doubt drawn by the raucous commotion. Angry shouts turned to ones of fear and alarm.

Lancelot and Elyan abandoned their cover to search for their friends. Gwen and Merlin were easy to spot with the group of children.

"Make a shield of light!" Merlin was instructing them urgently.

"Where're Percival, Leon, and Gwaine?" Elyan asked as they jogged up to join them.

Merlin and Gwen shook their heads helplessly.

"Protect the children," Lancelot told them. "We'll find the others."

He and Elyan ran off across the encampment again, trying not to panic at the blood-curdling screams sounding overhead as the Wraiths descended. Percival and Leon were still engaged in a sword fight, unaware of the Wraith swooping down toward them. Elyan threw his hand up and flashed a burst of light in its face, making it rear away. The phantom went after someone else, one of the Roamers who couldn't fend it off. He went down in a series of terrifying screams.

"Gwaine!" Elyan shouted.

Despite the blazing light of the burning fires, the smoke was inhibiting visibility. But Lancelot spotted Cenred go barreling into the light dome that was protecting the children. The light failed as Merlin was knocked to the ground with Cenred on top of him, and the children scattered in fright.

"Fight the wraiths you little cur!" the man raged, shaking Merlin.

The others were too far away, but then Gwaine came running over and tackled Cenred off of Merlin, then punched him in the face so hard the Roamer immediately fell limp.

"Merlin! Gwen!" Lancelot shouted in warning as more Wraiths came down toward them.

The two quickly re-spun the light dome, with Gwaine inside, and the phantoms veered away with enraged shrieks. Percival and Elyan began spinning their own light shield, but Lancelot remembered Freya. Cenred's wagon had been left on the edge of the encampment.

Lancelot took off, his friends' harried shouts fading behind him. He darted between overturned objects and stray licks of fire. Freya was cowering in the back of the cage when he reached her, and he frantically worked at unwinding the twine secured around the latch. A gust of chill air at his back had him spinning around just as a Wraith glided up to him. Before he could mount his own defense, a large burst of light exploded from behind him, and a massive light beast came leaping out of the cage to tackle the Wraith. The phantom shrieked and reeled away as the feral cat with bent wings clawed and gnashed its fangs until the Wraith turned and fled.

Lancelot turned back to his little sister in shock. Her wide eyes gleamed with a wildness that was almost frightening in that moment, but then the light winked out and she became a terrified girl once more. Lancelot shook himself out of his stupor and got the cage door open. Freya scooted forward and climbed out into his arms, then they ducked low to the ground beneath the cart as Wraiths continued to chase down defenseless Roamers, their captive Lightspinners no longer inclined to protect them.

They needed to get out of here, though. Hugging Freya close, Lancelot ushered her around the perimeter, ducking Wraiths and batting them away with brief eruptions of light. The fire was spreading through the encampment now that the Roamers had abandoned trying to put it out and were instead running for their lives. Lancelot found the dome light shield where Merlin and Gwen were. Spinning two whips of light from his hands, Lancelot shouted for them. The dome came down, and Lancelot wielded his light against nearby Wraiths as Merlin, Gwen, and Gwaine ushered the children his way. Then they formed weapons of light and the group carefully but hurriedly made their way over to where Percival, Elyan, and Leon were.

Reunited, they gave one last look around for any other children before making a run for it into the wilderness. Some Wraiths pursued them, but they easily discouraged the creatures with some well aimed bursts of light. Besides, there was plenty of hunting to be done back at the market.

"Keep running," Gwen urged the children.

Gwaine and Percival picked up the smaller ones whose short legs couldn't keep up. They ran until all was quiet, and only a plume of dark smoke was visible in the distance behind them. Only then did they stop to catch their breath.

"Is everyone all right?" Merlin asked anxiously.

"I think so," Gwen replied, looking over the young children.

"Leon's still bleeding," Percival said.

Merlin went to inspect Leon's arm, pursing his mouth in consideration. Their supplies and weapons were gone, save for the few swords and crossbow they had stolen in battle. Merlin tore part of his sleeve and tied it around Leon's arm to slow the bleeding until they could figure out what to do. Because they couldn't worry about that just yet—they had to get back to Arthur.

So with a dozen children in tow, they followed the wagon tracks back the way they'd come, hoping their friend and king hadn't been found by Wraiths already.

Chapter Text

Arthur coughed weakly, the shallow movement jarring his bruised torso. His hands and feet were numb from being tied so tightly to the stakes in the ground, and the chill of the earth had leeched away what little body warmth he'd had. He was going to die here, having failed everyone. His people would be left defenseless because he'd taken the most skilled Lightspinners from them—and those friends were going to be enslaved or killed because Arthur had led them out into this treacherous world. And what was it all for? A long shot to rectify his father's greatest sin and redeem Arthur? There was no redemption, only condemnation.

The temperature dropped several degrees, and Arthur knew a Wraith was nearby. He twisted his neck up and around in search of it. Off to his left, the phantom was gliding toward him, wispy tatters trailing behind it and bony, amorphous appendages crooked in front. Arthur renewed his struggles against his bonds, futile as they were. The horrific specter loomed over him, opening its void-like maw wide as it inhaled sharply.

But then multiple arcs of blazing light scythes came shooting forth, and the Wraith screeched and retreated. Arthur gaped in bewilderment as his friends arrived—all of them. Leon dropped down by his head and cut his arms free; Elyan freed his legs. Arthur grunted as he sat up painfully. Sharp tingles filled his hands and feet in prickly discomfort.

"Are you all right?" Gwen asked worriedly.

He gave a clipped nod. "Are you?" He noticed the bunch of children with them and furrowed his brows in confusion.

She nodded in return. "We managed to escape the Roamers."

"And brought some friends…" Arthur said.

"Cenred took us to a Roamers' gathering place," Merlin put in. "We couldn't leave them."

No, of course not, though that posed a complication. One of many.

Arthur pushed himself to standing, wincing as the stabbing in his feet intensified. He tried to shake out his hands, but it didn't help. Gwen wordlessly took one hand and rubbed it between hers vigorously.

"We should move," Percival said. "The Wraiths might follow."

Arthur gave an involuntary shudder after his own close encounter. "Wraiths?" he queried.

"A bunch attacked the Roamers' encampment," Elyan explained. "Which was good for us, gave us the cover we needed to run, but Percival's right, we should find a place to lay low for a bit."

Arthur nodded and turned the opposite direction, each step sending spikes of pain through his feet, and his ribs ached at the slightest movement.

"I know a place," one of the older children spoke up.

"How far?" Merlin asked.

The teenage boy pursed his mouth as he looked north. "Not that far."

The others looked to Arthur for leadership, and his heart twinged inexplicably. "Lead the way…" he said, trailing off in question.

"Haleth."

"Haleth. I'm Arthur."

They went around introducing themselves, and then set off, following the lad across the countryside to an empty village. When he brought them inside a hut, Arthur thought that was it, but then Haleth knelt down and pulled up a trap door in the floor, revealing a tunnel below. He climbed down first, followed by the other children, and then the adults. The boy had spun a ball of light to hover over their heads and illuminate the darkness.

"You don't live here, do you?" Gwen asked.

"The elders of my village dug a network of tunnels after the Wraiths came," he answered. "We live in the center of them. I'm not supposed to go topside alone, but I hate being stuck underground." He dropped his gaze in shame. "That's how the Roamers caught me."

"How far to your encampment?" Leon asked, and Arthur noticed he was holding his upper arm, his sleeve bloodstained.

"Less than a mile."

Haleth started down the passage, and they all followed. It was a long slog, and Arthur felt each of his bruises more poignantly with each subsequent, lumbering step. Gwen scooted close and braced his shoulder, as did Merlin on his other side.

One moment everything was still and quiet, the next they were met with a row of men holding weapons trained on them.

"Stop right there," a commanding voice ordered.

"Father!" Haleth exclaimed, running forward.

"Haleth?" the man gasped in shock. They embraced fervently. "I feared the worst," the leader went on, earnestly looking over his son. His eyes darkened at the collar the boy wore, much like Freya's.

"I'm sorry," Haleth said contritely. "I was taken by Roamers. These Lightspinners saved us all." He gestured behind him at the group.

His father regarded them shrewdly. "You have my gratitude. My name is Hamon."

Arthur stepped forward and proceeded with introductions again. "We had been taken captive as well. We're fortunate your son showed us these tunnels to take refuge in."

Hamon hesitated at that. "I'm afraid we don't have much to offer you in payment…"

"We don't require anything," Arthur interrupted. "Just a place to rest for a bit before we move on, if possible."

Hamon nodded. "Of course, this way."

His men had kept their weapons up this whole time but now lowered them and escorted the strangers through the tunnel to a section that resembled their own underground fortress—lit with torches and signs of habitation like blankets and cooking utensils.

"Hamon," Gwen spoke up. "I know how difficult it is to just look after your own, but would you be able to keep these children?" she asked.

The man's lips thinned at the question. A dozen extra mouths was a lot to ask.

"They're all Lightspinners," Elyan pointed out. "They'll be a great asset."

"Indeed. Then why do you not want to keep them?"

"It isn't safe where we're going," Gwen replied. "And unlike Roamers, we would never subject children to unnecessary danger."

Hamon considered it for a long moment, then looked at his returned son. "Very well," he said.

He showed the group to an empty section where they could sit and rest, then took the children to another location. He returned shortly with water, which they all took a drink of. Then Merlin used it to clean the wound on Leon's arm while Gwen wet a rag and gently tended to Arthur's bruised face.

"I'm fine," he told her, even as his ribs twinged and he couldn't hide the grimace.

Gwen gave him a skeptical look. "You were beaten within an inch of your life."

"Nothing's broken," he said. "I did grow up with a physician," he reminded her. "I know how to evaluate injuries."

Gwen simply rolled her eyes and stopped prodding at his abrasions.

"How's Leon?" he asked, turning his attention toward his friend.

"It's just a graze and I cleaned it as best I could," Merlin replied. "I wish we had proper bandages."

"We don't have any supplies anymore," Gwaine put in. "And half our initial weapons."

"We could go back to the Roamers' encampment," Elyan suggested. "See if there's anything that can be salvaged."

Arthur hadn't been there, but any place that'd been decimated by Wraiths wasn't something he wanted to visit. Not to mention any Roamer survivors might have the same thought.

"Later," Merlin spoke up. "The Wraiths will scavenge for a while anyway. We should rest while we can."

Arthur nodded in agreement. He was in pain and exhausted, and he knew he'd have to reevaluate the viability of this mission, which was a decision he was happy to put off for now.

Lancelot sat with Freya in a far corner, away from the others. After being cramped in that cage, she had quickly put as much distance as she could between herself and other people.

Hamon returned and walked over to the two of them, which caused Freya to shrink away from him. The man stopped.

"Here," he said and held out some lock picks to Lancelot.

"Thank you."

Hamon left, and Lancelot turned back to his sister.

"Let me get that ring off," he said, scooting closer.

Freya tilted her head so he could get to the key hole, and he tried his best to pick the locking mechanism, but he couldn't get it. He pursed his mouth in consternation.

"I'll be right back," he said and got up to get Gwen. "Can you help for a minute?" he asked her, holding up the lock picks.

Gwen's brows rose in understanding and she nodded. She and Elyan's father had been a blacksmith, so they were both skilled in metal work, but Lancelot figured another woman would be less anxiety inducing for Freya.

Gwen knelt next to Freya and gave her a kind smile. "May I?"

Freya once again turned her head wordlessly, and Gwen was able to get the lock to click open with just a little fiddling.

"I'll get rid of this," Gwen said, taking the collar off. She cast Lancelot a sympathetic look as she left.

Freya reached a hand up to touch her throat. She still looked shell shocked after everything.

"Are you all right?" Lancelot asked quietly, desperate for something to say. Because of course she wasn't all right.

Freya didn't respond right away, but then she slowly nodded. "I never believed I would be free of Cenred," she whispered.

Lancelot's heart constricted. "I'm so sorry. If I had known you were alive, I would have searched until I found you."

She lifted doleful eyes to his. "Are our parents truly dead?"

He nodded regretfully.

She dropped her gaze in sadness, then looked up again. "You have light now."

Lancelot nodded again. "After Cenred killed our parents and I thought you were dead as well, I ran. A spirit seed found me in the woods and saved me." He paused, not knowing what to say next but unable to bear the silence. "Your, um, light animal, when you saved me."

Freya looked away in shame. "It's ugly."

Lancelot suspected it resembled the state of her soul. Some Lightspinners had an animal spirit, a form their light would take in an uncontrolled outburst but also one they could learn to harness. Like Gwen's horse. Percival's was a lion. Lancelot didn't have one yet, nor did the others as far as he knew.

He shifted closer and tentatively put an arm around his sister. "I didn't see ugly," he said softly. "I saw fierce and strong—a survivor." When she didn't resist his touch, he held her closer. "I'm so grateful you're alive."

She turned and curled into his side. "So am I."

They spent the night in the tunnels, and in the morning, Arthur announced they would be moving on.

"You can barely move," Gwen protested.

"We said we wouldn't burden these people, and I won't," Arthur rejoined stubbornly.

Gwen's expression puckered but she didn't argue further. All of them understood Arthur's reasoning, even if it was obvious he was stiff and hurting. But this was his quest, in a deeper sense than it was theirs, and Arthur had always held himself to an unyielding standard.

So they made their way through the tunnel back to the trap door, and then on toward the Roamers' encampment. Freya pressed close to Lancelot.

"We won't let any of those men near you again," he promised. He knew that if any Roamers were still there, Arthur would evaluate whether it was worth an assault to find supplies, but Lancelot would have to remain out of it for his sister's sake.

But as they got closer to the trashed marketplace, there was no sign of Roamers or Wraiths. Still, they crept forward cautiously, eyes peeled. The encampment looked completely abandoned, and gray husks of dead men lay scattered about. If no Roamers had survived the attack, none of them would shed a tear over it.

They spread out and began to pick through the detritus of trampled supplies and scorched sections. They found all their own weapons and took some extras as well. There was also food, plenty for them all to carry.

"We should take some back to Hamon's people," Gwen suggested.

Arthur nodded. "Be quick."

"Sit down," Merlin told him. "We've got this."

Arthur reluctantly leaned against a wagon, one arm wrapped around his ribs.

There were no animals around to pull a cart, but Elyan found a smaller one that didn't hold a cage, and they started loading it up. Lancelot was distracted between helping and keeping a worried eye on Freya, who was hugging herself and looking around nervously.

But they got out without incident and returned to the abandoned village with the tunnel entrance. Gwen and Merlin went down to inform Hamon of the cart, which the rest of them stayed topside to guard.

"Lancelot," Arthur called and cocked his head.

Lancelot gave Freya's arm a reassuring touch before going over to Arthur.

Arthur lowered his voice. "What do you want to do about your sister?"

He pursed his mouth. In truth, he hadn't thought about it, he was too happy to have her back. But their mission was fraught with danger and he couldn't drag his traumatized sister along with them. Yet he couldn't ask them to abandon the quest after they'd come this far—which was the other problem: it was a long way back to the fortress they called home. But Lancelot was also loath to leave his friends on such an important mission.

Arthur didn't say anything, just shared a meaningful look, and Lancelot went back over to Freya.

"We'll be leaving soon," he said.

Her brows knitted together. "I know."

"But we're not headed home. We're on a quest to find something to save the world from the Wraiths, maybe even close the Veil if possible." His jaw tightened with regret. "And it's dangerous. I'm sure Hamon will allow you to stay here, now that we've brought them food, and I will return for you when we've accomplished our task."

"If it's so dangerous, you might not return," she said.

Lancelot faltered at an answer for that.

"We can't be parted now," she went on. "Not after we've found each other again."

"I don't want that either."

"Then will you stay here with me?"

Lancelot's expression pinched. "I cannot leave my friends, not when the stakes are so high. They need every Lightspinner at their disposal if we are to have any hope of succeeding."

Freya bit her lip and glanced around at them. Her chin quivered as she said, "Then I will come with you."

His heart clenched. "I will not put you in danger."

"I will not be left behind. Not with strangers." She swallowed hard. "I feel safe with you."

Lancelot leaned down to kiss her forehead, then went back to tell Arthur and the others Freya would be accompanying them.

Gwen and Merlin returned with Hamon and several men, who looked stunned by the spoils they were being given.

"Thank you," Hamon said. "I owe you my gratitude again."

"I consider it a fair exchange," Arthur replied.

The men started unloading the cart and taking the supplies below. It was time to leave, but Arthur looked downtrodden as he gazed out at the horizon.

"We're so far off course," he said. "I have no idea how to even retrace our route or which direction the Valley of the Fallen Kings lies."

"You seek the Valley of the Fallen Kings?" Hamon interrupted.

"Do you know it?"

He nodded and pointed. "There is nothing there."

"Hopefully that is not true," Arthur murmured in response. "Thank you."

They exchanged nods, and then the lot of them set off once again on their journey.

Chapter Text

Progress was even slower now that they stopped to take frequent breaks for Lancelot's sister, who'd spent more than half her life in a cage and wasn't used to trekking across terrain on foot. Arthur tried to conceal his impatience—in truth, he wasn't in any shape to be hiking without breaks either. He was probably more irritated with himself than the poor girl. He knew he wasn't the villain in all this, the Roamers were, but that didn't change the shame he felt from being Uther Pendragon's son. The physical beating was just a manifestation of the mental one he sometimes gave himself every time he was faced with the reminder that they lived in this horrible world because of his father.

They stopped for yet another rest, and Leon came to stand beside him. He held out a water skin.

"How are you?"

Arthur took the water and knocked back a swig. "Fine," he said, making an effort not to hold his ribs like he reflexively wanted to.

Leon took the water skin back but didn't move, just stood next to him quietly and watched Lancelot and Gwen hover near Freya.

"If you do find a way to close the Veil," Leon spoke up again. "It won't erase what Uther did."

Arthur bristled. "Of course not."

Leon turned a serious gaze on him. "It won't win the hearts of everyone in the kingdom, either."

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "What's your point?" he asked sharply.

Leon wasn't deterred, his expression still exuding sympathy. "I know your motive here is pure, Arthur, but I don't wish to see you fall into the trap of also hoping success will redeem you in the eyes of all people."

His throat constricted and he looked away.

"You don't need to redeem yourself," Leon went on. "None of this is your fault. But not everyone sees it that way. Uther is dead, and so you are a convenient target to blame, no matter how unjustified. So don't lose yourself there."

Arthur canted his head in grudging acknowledgement of his friend's wisdom. Leon was right, of course.

They moved on again. The terrain got rougher, which slowed them down even more. But in the distance, Arthur could make out the base of mountains, which must be the edge of the valley. They were getting closer.

A Rift rippled in the air up ahead across the flat portion of earth, which forced them to skirt around up a ragged incline. They were almost to the crest when a rock suddenly gave way beneath Gwen's foot. She cried out as she slipped and went tumbling down the slope.

"Gwen!" Arthur yelled.

She landed at the base of the incline, and in that split second where she was too close and skimmed the very precipice of the Rift, it sucked her in.

Several people screamed her name as they all scrambled down the hill after her.

"Stop!" Percival shouted.

They pulled up short at the edge of the Rift and stared helplessly into its void.

"Gwen!" Elyan yelled desperately.

Arthur's heart hammered against his rib cage. She couldn't be gone, she couldn't be. But the Veil was the realm of the dead, and no one who got sucked in ever returned…

Merlin suddenly spun light out into both hands and marched into the Rift. More startled shouts echoed behind him, but it was too late, he was gone. Arthur's lungs were squeezing too tight and he couldn't seem to breathe. Then the Veil rippled and Merlin staggered back out. Everyone gaped at him in bewilderment.

Merlin held up his arms wreathed in light to look at them. "Whoa."

"What happened?" Lancelot exclaimed.

Merlin doused his light, turning a stunned look toward the rest of them. "As soon as I stepped through, it was like my soul was being pulled from my body, but then my light became physical and held me in place." His eyes sparked with a determined fire. "Light can protect us. We can go in after Gwen."

"Did you see her?" Arthur asked urgently. "Shouldn't her light have protected her?"

He shook his head, mouth thinning. "No, I didn't see her. But she wasn't spinning light when she fell in."

"Merlin," Leon put in. "You said you felt your soul leaving your body…then wouldn't that have happened to Gwen?"

Arthur's heart dropped into his stomach.

Merlin lifted his chin staunchly. "I'm not leaving until I know for sure."

"I'll go with you," Elyan declared.

"As will I," Arthur said.

Merlin grimaced. "You don't have your own light."

"Then yours can protect me," he countered.

"I'm not sure it works that way…"

"Test it." Arthur held his hand up toward the Rift, ready to touch it.

Merlin shifted nervously but nevertheless spun a coil of light around Arthur's arm.

Arthur took a deep breath and plunged his hand through. He felt a tug, probably the same force that had sucked Gwen in, and he instinctively grounded his feet to maintain balance, but he didn't go flying as expected. Arthur pulled his arm back out and inspected it.

"That settles it," he said.

"We don't know what it's like in there," Percival put in. "We should make a light chain to keep us together, and anchor it out here."

They all nodded in agreement, and Merlin, Elyan, Percival, and Lancelot got spinning, weaving their light ropes together and around each other. But when it came time to anchor it, they faltered. They all cared about Gwen and wanted to go after her.

Lancelot flicked a look toward his sister, whose eyes widened in fright. Freya started shaking her head.

Lancelot stepped toward her. "You can do this."

"No," she hissed. "Please, don't go."

He placed his hands on her shoulders. "I have to. And I trust you to guide me home, back to you."

"Don't leave me alone," she begged.

"You won't be alone," Leon said. "I'll stay with you."

"Freya," Lancelot beseeched.

Her expression was distraught, but she nodded miserably.

The Lightspinners finished weaving their light around their waists and Arthur's, and Gwaine stepped in to join them. Then Merlin turned and led the way into the Veil.

Sticking his arm in had been strange, but it couldn't compare to fully passing through the Rift. Arthur could feel the air peeling off his skin like a sticky film. They emerged into a realm as dark as the one they'd come from. At first, it didn't look all that different—the ground was rocky and bare trees dotted the landscape, but upon closer look, Arthur could see everything was dead. The trees were gnarled and twisted, and crooked brambles stretched out bony, clawed fingers. Unlike the outer world with its opaque black sky, this one's was rife with lavender lightning deep within its murky brume, though no thunder echoed across the vista.

A compression on his chest made Arthur gasp, and he lifted a hand to see wisps of pale blue rising off him like smoke. He panicked and twisted around, only to see the same with the others.

"It's okay," Merlin urged. "We're not going anywhere."

Indeed, Arthur now recognized the feel of solid rope bound around him. He couldn't tell that it was the thing preventing his soul from being sucked out of his body, but he would trust it. For a moment, he marveled at the light made solid and tentatively reached down to touch it. It was warm. The others were briefly awed as well, but Elyan then whipped his head around and yelled Gwen's name. Arthur also twisted around in search of her. Why wasn't she near the Rift where she'd fallen in? Speaking of the Rift…Arthur could barely see it. Its edges were far more faint than on the other side, but the light rope suspended in its emptiness reassured them where it was.

"Over there!" Lancelot suddenly shouted and pointed.

Arthur spotted what looked like a body several yards away.

They all broke into a jog, the light rope keeping their pace restricted as they crossed the open terrain and came upon Gwen lying on the ground, eyes closed and skin ashen.

"Gwen!" Elyan cried and dropped down beside her.

Arthur hit the ground on her other side and grabbed her shoulder.

Elyan shook her, but she wouldn't wake.

Merlin knelt at her head and touched her mouth, then a point beneath her jaw. His jaw tightened. "She's not breathing."

Arthur's heart constricted painfully.

"We have to find her soul," Merlin added.

"Why isn't she here?" Arthur asked desperately.

"I don't know."

Percival nudged his way in and bent down to scoop Gwen's empty body into his arms. Then they looked around helplessly and called for Gwen. When there was no response, Merlin picked a direction and set off. Arthur wanted to ask how he knew which way to go, but deep down he knew Merlin couldn't know; he was just stubborn.

"Gwen!"

"Gwen!"

The further they moved away from the Rift, the more light rope Lancelot wove to keep it going. It looked like it was holding. But what if they couldn't find Gwen? What if this place was too big? What if once her soul was separated, it just…vanished?

Just as Arthur was feeling the devastation of lost hope, screams rent the air.

Elyan's eyes widened. "Gwen!"

They turned toward the sounds and picked up the pace. In addition to the human sounding screams, there were high-pitched shrieks almost like Wraiths. It wasn't Wraiths, though. As they came upon the scene, they found terrifying ghosts with pale yet distinguishable faces and opaque milky eyes. They were clawing at an almost translucent apparition of Gwen and dragging her away with them. She screamed and tried to get away, but there were too many.

The Lightspinners immediately responded with bursts of light as they charged forward. The ghosts screamed and scattered. Arthur ran to Gwen and dropped to one knee, reaching for her. His hands passed right through her shoulders, and he jerked back in alarm. She looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Arthur?" she gasped shakily.

"Gwen!" Elyan exclaimed, rushing to her side. His hand also fell right through her when he tried to help her up, and she stared at the pale blue contours of her arms in shock.

"Here," Merlin said as Percival came forward and laid Gwen's body on the ground next to her.

"Wh-what…?" she stammered.

"Um, try to…go back in," Merlin said uncertainly.

Gwen grimaced as she scooted close to her body and tried to…lie down in it. But when she sat up again, it was just her soul; her body remained limp on the ground.

"Your light powers are keeping us in our bodies," Gwaine put in.

"Right." Merlin's expression set in thoughtful determination. "Lay down again, Gwen."

She did so, and the overlay of her wispy soul with her physical body was rather unnerving. Merlin directed Lancelot, Elyan, and Percival, to help him weave a net of light, as tight as possible, over Gwen's body. Gradually, the residual sign of her soul vanished, and she physically opened her eyes with a gasp.

"Okay, easy," Merlin urged.

They then slowly re-wove the netting into a length of rope around Gwen's waist. Wisps began to waft off her, just like the rest of them, but she stayed firmly in her body. Gwen sat up warily and patted herself down.

"That was terrifying," she breathed.

Arthur reached down to grasp her hand and was relieved when he made contact. He pulled her to her feet as Elyan connected her rope to their chain. Arthur didn't let go, though.

"Are you all right?" he asked in concern.

"I think so."

"We should go," Gwaine said.

Arthur followed his gaze to a group of pale white phantoms flying not too far away, like circling vultures. Gwen shuddered, and Arthur pulled her close to him as they turned to follow the light rope back to the Rift.

The number of phantoms following increased as they went, making them all nervous and tense as they picked up the pace. Arthur saw some had clearer faces than others—some had no features at all, like Wraiths. The most frightening ones, though, were those whose expressions were twisted in anguish…souls damned to hell.

They finally reached the spot where their light rope disappeared through the nearly invisible Rift, only to pull up short when they found a ghost standing in their way. Unlike the flying phantoms behind them, this one stood erect, with clear features and fine garments…and a crown upon his head.

Arthur was stricken with a terrible thought as he stared at the older man. His voice slipped out in a tremulous breath,

"Father?"

Chapter Text

"Father?" Arthur breathed.

The ghost narrowed his eyes on them. "Who are you that you walk in this realm of the dead?" he demanded.

Arthur swallowed hard. "I am King Arthur of Camelot."

The ghost faltered. "Arthur? I had a son called Arthur. But surely he cannot be this grown."

Arthur pulled out the signet ring he wore around his neck and held it up on its chain. The ghost's eyes widened.

"My son…" The ghost took a step toward him, and Arthur recoiled. The ghost's expression shifted as though hurt. "I am your father, Arthur."

"You're Uther Pendragon," Gwaine said with clear disdain.

Uther straightened, eyes hardening as he shifted his attention to Gwaine. "I am. Now answer my question: how has the living come to be in this place?" His gaze dropped a fraction to the rope of light around them. "What sorcery is this?"

No one answered. Arthur, still stricken by suddenly coming face to face with his long-dead father, couldn't help but blurt,

"You destroyed the world."

Uther snapped his attention back to him. "I was deceived," he claimed. "And this is my punishment." He spread his translucent arms to encompass the wasteland around them.

"You knew exactly what you were doing," Arthur rejoined. "You were warned, and you went through with it anyway."

"I was trying to bring back your mother! Does that mean nothing to you?"

"No! Because in the process I lost both my parents, my home, and my entire future! Do you know what the world is like now because of what you did? It's darkness and death and Wraiths that feed upon every living thing." Arthur jerked his arm out at this realm his father considered a personal hell. "It's this!"

Uther's jaw ticked, but he made no response, expressed no remorse or regret for what he'd wrought.

Arthur went cold and asked in a hard tone, "Whom did you sacrifice to open the Veil?"

Uther narrowed his eyes at that.

"Whom did you kill?" Arthur pressed angrily. "Who was the life for a life?"

Uther still didn't answer, and there were several tense moments of a standoff between them.

"Arthur," Lancelot whispered.

Arthur flicked a look back at his friend and found him staring at something else. Following his gaze, he spotted another ghost that had appeared several yards away. It was a little girl, four or five years old, with dark hair cascading down her back. She was staring at them with unnerving intensity.

Uther turned to look as well, his expression shifting into distress. "Leave me be!" he yelled at the girl.

She opened her mouth and let out an inhuman shriek. Her eyes went black as pits, her jaw widening beyond humanly possible. In that moment, she seemed more Wraith than girl, and she abruptly launched herself at Uther. The two spirits turned to blurs as they tangled in bursts and spritzs of mist. Then the larger one managed to throw the smaller one away, and Uther reformed. He turned to Arthur urgently.

"Take me with you."

Arthur's jaw slackened in astonishment. …Was that even possible?

Uther moved closer. "Arthur, you must take me with you."

Gwaine stepped forward protectively. "We didn't come here for you," he snarled.

Uther sneered at him, but then shifted his pleading gaze back to Arthur. "Whatever brought you here, it was fate that we should find each other. Arthur, think about it. You were meant to save me."

"Why?" Elyan put in. "You destroyed the world. You don't deserve to be saved."

The flash of fury in Uther's eye was gone the next instant as he continued to plead with Arthur. The desperation was just as real, and Arthur found himself torn as to what to do. Did he actually want to be reunited with his father? This man he'd never known but who was still his father… But he couldn't forget what Uther had done.

Arthur drew his shoulders back and stood his ground. "Whom did you sacrifice to open the Veil?" he asked again firmly. "Tell me the truth!"

Uther's gaze flicked toward the little girl, now creeping along the outskirts and glaring like a crazed creature lusting for blood.

Arthur's veins froze at the obvious tell. "A child? You sacrificed a child?" he spat in horror and revulsion.

"It was necessary!" Uther snapped. "The sacrifice had to be someone important to me, or I would have taken any commoner off the street."

Arthur gaped at his father in stupefaction, as though being willing to sacrifice any random person was any better. But then it hit him—someone important. He shifted his gaze to the small child. "Who is she?" he asked tremulously.

Uther grimaced. "Your sister."

Arthur mentally reeled.

"Half sister only," Uther emphasized. "She was the mistake of a mistake, and one I regret for how much it hurt your mother. It was a necessary sacrifice."

"It was barbaric and inhumane!" Arthur yelled back. He stared at this man in horror, once again reminded of his shame for being of his bloodline. "You're a monster."

"You wouldn't understand," Uther scowled.

"I understand well enough what it means to lead people," Arthur rejoined. "To be responsible for them in a shattered world. And I would not sacrifice a single one to repair it."

Uther scoffed. "I think you would, if you claim to be so noble."

Arthur shook his head. "No. If it was as easy as sacrificing a life to repair what you broke, I would give my own."

"Arthur," Merlin put in quietly. "We need to go."

He glanced around and saw the other spirits were getting closer, still growing in number.

"They saw you put the girl back in her body," Uther said. "They want out of this place." He stepped closer again, making Arthur tense. "We must hurry."

"Yes, we must," Arthur agreed, chest tightening. "But you're not coming with us."

Uther's eyes blazed white with rage, and before Arthur could usher his friends around to the Rift, Uther grabbed the light rope that would lead them out. His ghostly hand didn't pass through, but appeared to become solid upon contact. The light rope flared and juddered, and Arthur looked at the Lightspinners in alarm.

The other ghosts swarmed in at that, plunging straight through their bodies and out the other side. Arthur doubled over with a gasp of pain as bitter frost coursed through him. Another ghost shot through him, bringing him to one knee. His friends tried to spin light in response, but every time they got a sliver formed, a spirit would slam through them and snuff it out. They were all brought to the ground as the ghosts bombarded them, pushing as though trying to dislodge their own souls from their bodies.

Gwen screamed as several fought over hers, and Arthur lunged to try batting them away. But of course his arms sailed right through their amorphous forms, and they turned their attention on him. The light rope was keeping their spirits in place, but the more the ghosts assaulted them, the more Arthur felt something fraying… They couldn't fight the intangible, and they couldn't move. Another spirit plunged into Arthur's chest, stealing his breath and making something inside him quiver. The mist wafting off his body thickened as though coming free. Several feet away, Uther was clinging to the light rope and dragging himself toward the Rift.

But then a blazing giant cat with webbed wings came charging through from the other side. It immediately swiped now corporeal claws at Uther, knocking him away from the rope. He screamed as he went flying. The cat then turned its nova gaze to the spirits and charged forward, snapping its jaws and batting massive paws at the ghosts. The light animal did not pass through the spirits but physically flung them away from the group. The rest shrieked and scattered under the assault.

"Run!" Percival grunted.

Arthur grabbed Gwen and they hobbled toward the rippling crack in the air, finally stumbling through to the other side. It was like coming up for air after being underwater too long. The cool air burned Arthur's lungs as he gulped in desperate breaths. Now that they were out, when he and Gwen collapsed forward to the ground, they fell through the rope of light that had been around their waists.

The others staggered out as well, followed by the winged cat of light, which also became incorporeal again. Percival kept urging them to move, and they scrambled away from the Rift, chests heaving as they watched fearfully. But nothing followed. Nothing could without a physical form to hitch a ride in, Arthur imagined.

"What happened?" Leon asked worriedly.

Freya ran to Lancelot, and the light animal dissipated as it returned to her.

Arthur was too shaken to answer Leon's question.

"We ran into the ghost of Uther Pendragon," Gwaine said. "Not to mention a bunch of other ghosts that attacked us."

Leon's brows rose sharply, and he turned to Arthur in concern. "Are you all right?" he asked tentatively.

"No," Arthur said, straightening. "No, I'm not all right."

He stared at the Rift, unable to see through to the other side where he'd left the ghost of his father, perhaps wounded by Freya's light animal, perhaps victim to the other spirits…tormented by the ghost of the little girl he'd murdered.

"I had a sister," he went on. "And my- he sacrificed her to open the Veil. I've always known he was a horrible man, but learning the full truth…" He couldn't say it. Gaius had to have known, and that was why he hadn't wanted to answer Arthur when he'd asked.

"Morgana," Leon uttered in surprise.

Arthur whipped his gaze up. "What?"

He blinked in shock. "I remember her now. We were the same age in the court. After the Veil opened…I must have just assumed she'd died in the chaos, like so many. I had no idea."

Leon looked just as devastated as Arthur felt.

"Her ghost was there as well," Merlin spoke up solemnly. "She couldn't have been more than five when…" He trailed off with a wince.

Arthur turned back to the Rift, grief-stricken. "I want to save her," he abruptly declared.

His friends exchanged dubious looks.

"Arthur, what?" Gwen said.

"We know how to get into the Veil now," he said. "We can find Morgana's soul, help her—"

"Help her how?" Merlin interrupted. "We can't take her out of the Veil without a body."

"Maybe we can."

"So she can be a ghost out here?" Merlin pressed. "For all we know, she'll just become a Wraith."

"I have to do something," Arthur insisted.

"That little girl's spirit already looked half Wraith," Gwaine put in. "She's probably beyond saving."

"She's not the villain!" Arthur snapped. "She's the victim!" He whirled toward Lancelot. "You of all people should understand—you just got your sister back after thinking she was dead!"

Lancelot's expression was pained as he met Arthur's eyes with regret. "But Morgana is dead," he said gently. "I'm sorry, Arthur. If I thought there was any chance we could help her, I would be right there with you. But she died twenty years ago. And what we saw in there…" He grimaced. "Gwaine is right. Besides, what would you do? Find a body for her to trade places with? Condemn someone else to the Veil?"

Arthur flinched like he'd been slapped. He looked around at each of his friends, beseeching them to come up with something. But no one said anything, and Arthur didn't have an actual idea. He felt his entire being sag in wretched defeat.

Gwaine cleared his throat. "At least it looks like she's going to be spending eternity tormenting Uther for what he did. It's the least he deserves."

Arthur didn't find that as comforting as Gwaine intended.

Gwen tentatively approached Arthur and slid her hand into his. "I'm so sorry, Arthur," she said sincerely.

His heart continued to break, but he squeezed back. "I'm glad we could save you," he replied softly.

And he was. He would not trade Gwen's or any of their lives to bring his sister's spirit back from the dead. That was the thing his father couldn't accept, the reason the world they lived in was one of death and darkness. Pursuing this would make Arthur no better than Uther.

So he nodded in mute resignation, and they moved on once more.

Chapter Text

The sky rumbled with distant thunder; a storm was brewing. Merlin mentioned finding shelter, and Arthur wordlessly nodded his agreement. No one had said anything since leaving the Rift and the terrible revelations that had been revealed within. There wasn't much to say in the face of such atrocity, no matter how much Merlin wished there was.

The deluge broke upon them before they'd found shelter, but soon after they came upon a cave. Thankfully, it didn't already have animals inhabiting it, so they settled in. Percival and Elyan tried to find some dry kindling to get a fire going while the rest of them shuffled around, sopping wet and cold. They were all quiet, each weighted down by morose thoughts. Gwen went over to sit with Arthur, so Merlin decided to leave her to handle him and he turned his attention elsewhere.

He dug out some of the food they'd taken from the Roamers' camp and brought it over to where Lancelot and Freya were huddled.

"Hungry?" Merlin asked with a smile, offering Freya the food.

She regarded him like a skittish rabbit before slowly taking the offering.

"Thanks for sending your animal spirit into the Veil after us," he went on. "We wouldn't have made it out otherwise."

Freya ducked her gaze at that.

Merlin quirked a brow at Lancelot, who just returned it with a sober look.

Merlin refused to be put off, though. "How did you know we were in trouble?" he asked.

"I felt something wrong through the light chain," she replied quietly.

"Uther was holding onto it," Merlin said. "I don't know what he was trying to do, but like I said, you came just in time."

Freya fidgeted. "I didn't even mean for it to go through like that. It just happened."

"Instinctive magic," Lancelot supplied.

She shrugged, still avoiding eye contact.

"Fortuitous magic," Merlin echoed. He cocked his head curiously. "When did you develop the winged cat?"

Freya flinched and looked ashamed. "I don't know," she said, voice even softer. "A long time ago."

Merlin continued to go on as normal. "I wish we knew more about light magic. Gwen and Percival developed their animal spirits a year or two ago. I haven't yet, and I've had light magic longer than most. It's just so interesting, when and why and the what. I'm very curious what mine would be. What about you, Lancelot?"

He nodded. "I often wonder the same."

"Do you- do you think it can change?" Freya asked quietly.

Merlin furrowed his brow in thought. "I don't know. It's all so new." He caught another subtle look from Lancelot that put up his guard. "Do you want yours to change?" he asked Freya carefully.

She still wouldn't look at him. "It's a monster," she whispered.

Merlin frowned. "Why would you think that?"

"When it first appeared, it frightened the Roamers, even though it couldn't hurt them. They called it an unnatural beast, a bastet."

"They were the monsters, not you," Lancelot said firmly.

Merlin nodded his strong agreement.

"They were alive before the Veil opened," she went on. "They knew about those things."

"They were wrong," Merlin said with as much conviction and compassion he could put into his tone. Inside, his heart ached for Freya. As if being enslaved for years as a child wasn't bad enough, they'd made her ashamed of the light inside her, something that was special.

"What's your favorite thing to spin?" he asked, changing the subject.

She looked at him in incomprehension.

"In those moments when there was no danger," he explained. "When it was just you and your light, what did you like to spin?"

Freya continued to look at him in confusion. Maybe she hadn't ever played with her magic while under Cenred's control.

"You used to spin hummingbirds," Lancelot spoke up. "Even before you could walk, you would spin them. It always amazed Mother and Father, because the two of us had never seen a hummingbird after the Veil opened, but you somehow knew what they looked like."

Merlin grinned. "Try spinning one now," he encouraged.

Freya hesitated. "I don't remember."

"It was instinct back then, it still is," Merlin coaxed. "Just see what happens."

Freya bit her bottom lip and drew up a few wisps of shapeless light, but she couldn't seem to get them to form anything.

Merlin rotated his wrist and twirled his fingers, spinning a vine that grew out over his palm and then blossomed into a strawberry hanging off the tips of his fingers. "Do you think hummingbirds like strawberries?" he asked.

Freya glanced up at him shyly, then tried spinning again. The light wisps twisted and darted, forming together and then splitting apart. Freya's expression settled into determination, and eventually she managed to form a small bird with a long thin beak and wings beating so fast they looked like solid fans. Freya's eyes lit up with the reflection of her magic as she flew the hummingbird around the light strawberry. Lancelot added a dragonfly to the mix, and the three of them shared bright smiles. Freya was captivated by the whole thing, and Lancelot shot Merlin a grateful look when she wasn't looking. He just gave a small nod and smile back.

Gwen sat next to Arthur on the cave floor by the meager fire, their clothes taking a long time to dry. She shivered from the chill, which seemed to pull Arthur from his morose stupor, and he wordlessly put an arm around her to draw her close for body warmth. He still didn't speak, though.

"I'm sorry about your sister," Gwen said again, her heart aching to see him in so much pain. "You've lost so much."

"I'm not special in that regard," he murmured. "We've all lost people. Family."

It was true; none of them had been untouched by the scourge of the Wraiths. Her mother had been pregnant with Gwen when her parents escaped Camelot with Elyan. She had survived giving birth in the wilderness, then died a few years later from sickness. Her father had passed six months ago, but there was little time or space to grieve, not when every moment was a fight for continued survival.

"But unlike the rest of us," she went on, "you blame yourself. None of this is your fault, Arthur."

"What if I'm capable of the same madness?" he rejoined in a subdued voice. "What if the capacity for such cruelty runs in my blood?"

Gwen reached up to touch his chin, drawing his gaze to meet hers. "You are not Uther."

His eyes welled with a wave of tumultuous emotions and intensity as he shifted toward her. "What about back at the Rift, when I was ready to forsake everything to bring back Morgana's soul? Wasn't that madness?"

"You were grieving and reacting, but you didn't go through with it. You listened to the counsel of your friends. That separates you from Uther," she insisted.

He dropped his gaze, shaking his head. "How am I supposed to just forget about her? Knowing her fate?"

"I don't know," Gwen admitted. "How have any of us gone on when there has been no hope? We just do, because to give up is to die." She took Arthur's cold hands in hers. "And I don't believe that is in your blood, either."

He gave her the barest ghost of a smile at that. "Thank you, Guinevere."

She leaned her head against his shoulder as they fell into companionable silence.

When the storm passed, they set off again, trekking across mud and damp grass. The mouth of the valley was visible ahead, and it gave them a burst of energy to keep going. As they drew ever closer, Merlin noticed faint dots of glowing light bobbing on the air, tons of them.

"Whoa," Elyan breathed in amazement.

They all stopped to stare out at the field filled with dozens and dozens of spirit seeds. They had never seen so many in one place; only a few had ever appeared on the various Seeding Pilgrimages.

"Do you think we could…catch some, to take back with us?" Leon postulated.

"What would we catch them in?" Lancelot replied.

They looked over their gear, but they hadn't equipped themselves for capturing light seeds. Gwaine held up a water skin in question.

"Not a very big opening," Gwen said to him doubtfully.

"That's all we got."

Merlin was still considering it when a gusty chill whipped across the field. He stiffened as dark shapes flew out from the distant shadows to attack the spirits seeds. Wraiths. Instead of being repelled by the small lights, the phantoms were…devouring them. Snuffing their lights out. Merlin stared in stupefaction. The spirit seeds were vulnerable on their own; perhaps that was why they melded with people.

"Move," Arthur ordered.

"Too late," Lancelot called and spun a shield of light that he pushed toward an incoming Wraith. It shrieked and reeled away, but several more had already spotted their group and were converging.

The Lightspinners immediately formed a protective circle around Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine, spinning their light to beat back the Wraiths. But there were so many, more than Merlin had ever seen in one place, even when the Roamers' encampment had been attacked. Though the bursts of light made the Wraiths veer away, they weren't deterred. They gathered together and a great shadow aura began to radiate from the massive group, like it was actively pushing back against their combined light. Percival sent forth his light lion, and Gwen's horse burst out as well. So did Freya's bastet, and the Wraiths did recoil from the animal spirits, but the others continued to descend on everyone else. Their screeches grated Merlin's ears until it felt like his eardrums were going to start bleeding. Frost crept over the ground and up their boots.

A group of Wraiths dive bombed from above, coming right at the center where the non-Lightspinners were. Merlin twisted and threw his arms up to fend them off, losing his balance in the process. He landed hard on his side, his grasp on his light wielding slipping for a moment. Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine ducked low as the Wraiths skimmed over their heads. Frost bit into Merlin's cheek as he rolled and managed to shoot out a dome of light over the three men. The Wraiths reeled away and turned to bombard the others. In a simultaneous strike, the phantoms knocked everyone off their feet, disrupting their light spinning. Gwen's, Percival's, and Freya's light animals automatically leaped in to shield them, but Elyan and Lancelot didn't have those. Elyan spun light around his fists like gloves and resorted to wildly punching at the Wraiths, who screeched angrily in response. Lancelot shot out a burst of light, streaming it past several Wraiths as he got back up onto his knees. But another was coming up right behind him.

"Lancelot!" Merlin yelled.

He twisted just as the Wraith opened its maw wide and began to inhale. Lancelot jerked, the light in his hands winking out. Wisps wafted off of him as the Wraith began to suck out his life force.

Merlin dropped the light dome in order to shoot a stream of light toward Lancelot, but other Wraiths were waiting to go after Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine, and Merlin had to twist around and spin it back into place.

"Lancelot!" Freya screamed, but her bastet was busy shielding her from the Wraiths still coming at her and the rest of them.

A second Wraith swooped down and sucked a wave of aura off Lancelot, and now two were feeding off him, and he couldn't recover enough to spin any light in defense.

Another Wraith descended on Merlin, and he couldn't do anything to protect himself without leaving the others defenseless. And he couldn't help Lancelot, who was dying right in front of him.

Merlin threw his head back and let out a raging, primal scream. His light flared inside his chest with a flush of heat, and then it exploded outward in all directions in a great, blazing white. Angular wings snapped taut, and a Saurian head lifted up toward the sky. Opening its jaws, it spewed waves of light like fire at the Wraiths. They shrieked and scattered, every single one of them. Merlin blinked in stupefaction at the dragon spirit looming over him. With a mighty flap of its wings, a ripple of light shot outward, catching the fleeing Wraiths in its shockwave and sending them careening out of sight. The dragon then lowered itself, wings folding down its back as it settled. Merlin stared up at it in awe.

"Lancelot!" Freya screamed again.

Merlin bolted upright, and his animal spirit dissipated back into himself. All of them hurried over to Lancelot, who was lying on the ground, eyes closed, skin gray like granite with veins standing out a stark white. Merlin's heart dropped into his stomach.

Freya threw herself over her brother, sobbing, and Gwen reached down to pull her away. Arthur moved into the space and reached to feel for a pulse. He swallowed hard.

"He's alive, but barely."

Merlin dropped to his knees and touched Lancelot's limp hand, only to recoil at how frozen his skin felt. He shared a helpless look with the others; no one had ever survived a Wraith attack. Those who were even partially fed upon but escaped still sickened and died later, and Lancelot looked more than halfway through death's door as it was.

Merlin straightened abruptly. "The Crystal Cave. It's our only hope."

"We have to be close," Gwaine said. "We're in the valley."

Percival hefted Lancelot into his arms and stood, looking around for which direction to go. None of them knew, but they picked one and set off in a hurry, desperately praying for a miracle in a land where none existed.

Chapter Text

The group moved quickly, spreading out a bit in their desperate search for this Crystal Cave, but they didn't know where exactly it was located—or if it even existed. Arthur could have risked them all on a myth, and the price been too high.

More spirit seeds appeared floating on the air, and Arthur worried they'd draw the Wraiths back.

"Maybe they come from the cave," Elyan theorized.

"Of course," Merlin said and sprinted off down the trail of them.

The rest of them hurried after him. It turned out there was a cave entrance nearby, not that it meant anything. Arthur hoped it was the right one as they ventured inside, Gwen and Merlin spinning lanterns to light the way. Lancelot was ashen and limp in Percival's arms. If they didn't find a miracle soon, he was going to die.

Then a light blue glow suffused the air up ahead, and they came into a chamber full of glowing crystals protruding from the rocks. Inside one of them, a stronger glow slowly rose up to the very tip, then formed a bead like a drop of water. It broke away into a spirit seed that proceeded to float out of the cave. Elyan was right; this was where they came from.

But how did that help them? They all stood there, not knowing what to do.

Elyan curiously reached out to touch one of the crystals, and it glowed brighter in response but didn't spawn a seed.

Percival moved forward at that, lowering Lancelot to the ground next to a large crystal formation and leaning him against it. At first, nothing happened, but then the natural aura in the crystal started to spread out into Lancelot, seeping down into his skin until he was glowing as well. Then when the light dimmed, his skin was back to its natural flush. His eyelids fluttered open.

Freya flung herself down and threw her arms around him.

He blinked in confusion as he hugged her back. "What happened?" His brow furrowed as he looked around at where they were. "This is the Crystal Cave?"

Merlin broke into a giddy smile. "Yeah, and it healed you from the Wraiths' kiss of death."

Lancelot paled as the memory seemed to return to him, and he tightened his hold around his sister.

While Arthur was thrilled their friend was saved, he was still at a loss as to what to do now. He didn't know what he'd been expecting to find, but how was this place supposed to help them? Should they try to collect a bunch of spirit seeds to take back for the children so they wouldn't need to continue the Seeding Pilgrimages? That only gave them better odds against Wraiths; it didn't solve their problems of slowly starving to death. Relocating wouldn't be an option—not only would the journey here be treacherous, but it seemed there were more Wraiths nearby, eager to devour the seeds that came from this place. The increased danger didn't justify the advantage.

Arthur looked around helplessly. Had this all been for naught?

A shadow moved in the back, and Arthur stiffened as a figure appeared. Gwaine and Leon immediately put their hands on the hilts of their swords, and the others shifted into defensive positions. Lancelot jumped to his feet and pushed Freya behind him. But the person that emerged into the light was a wizened and bowed old man. He roved cloudy eyes over them.

"Welcome," he said. "I am Taliesin."

Arthur exchanged a wary look with the others before saying, "I'm—"

"I know who you are, Arthur Pendragon," the old man cut him off. "I foresaw your coming many years ago, before the old magic was destroyed."

Arthur tensed. If this man knew his name, then did he also know his affiliation with Uther, the destroyer of the world? But Taliesin didn't seem angry as he regarded them calmly.

Merlin stepped forward. "We read this cave was the birthplace of magic."

Taliesin nodded. "It is."

"We came hoping it could help us fight the darkness," Arthur put in cautiously.

The withered man looked grieved at that. "The Old Religion is dead. A new magic was born in this age of darkness, as you know." He nodded to the Lightspinners. "I was once guardian of this place, and I have only stayed for this moment, the fulfillment of my last vision."

"Is that it, then?" Arthur asked desperately. "Is there nothing that can help us?"

Taliesin lifted an arm and revealed a crystal sitting in the palm of his hand. "This is the Crystal of Neahtid, hewn from this very place. Take it."

Arthur glanced at his friends uncertainly before stepping closer and taking the crystal.

"May strength never leave you," Taliesin said.

Arthur looked down at the small crystal, wondering what it could possibly do for them. But when he looked up to ask, the old man was gone. Arthur twisted around in search of him, but it seemed he'd vanished. His shoulders slumped in disappointment. For several minutes, none of them said anything, each of them looking let down by the lackluster conclusion of their quest.

"What now?" Leon finally asked.

Arthur sighed. "We go home."

"What about the spirit seeds?" Gwaine asked.

"Maybe that crystal will create them for us," Percival postulated.

Arthur wasn't encouraged, because, again, that didn't solve their problem of running out of means to feed and clothe his people. "We've been away long enough," he said resignedly and made his way out.

The others followed, postures heavy with defeat. Merlin caught up to Arthur and asked to see the crystal. Arthur handed it over, and the crystal flared as Merlin touched it.

"Maybe a Lightspinner can use it for something," Merlin theorized.

Arthur straightened at that. "Like what?"

Merlin shrugged and passed it to Elyan. Again, the crystal flared at the touch, but nothing else happened. Elyan handed it to Gwen.

"Oh," he then said, twisting around toward Lancelot. "You missed Merlin's animal spirit making an entrance—it's a dragon!"

"It was huge," Percival chimed in. "Not as big as that dragon skeleton we walked through, but still."

Lancelot shot Merlin an amazed look.

Merlin looked slightly sheepish, but then he turned to Freya. "Guess we both have some pretty intimidating light animals," he said with a kind smile.

The crystal made it back to him, and he handed it to her so she could take a turn with it. It glowed for her as well, but as she examined it, she came to a stop and stared.

"Freya?" Merlin called.

"I see something."

They all pulled up short.

Lancelot came to stand at her shoulder. "What?"

"A castle, and a beam of light."

Lancelot leaned over to peer into the crystal. His brows rose sharply. "It's Camelot."

"What?" Merlin crowded in to see for himself.

"I don't see anything," Gwaine said, looking over his shoulder.

Arthur inched closer to try looking as well, but all he saw was the crystal's smooth surface.

"It must only work for Lightspinners," Gwen concluded.

Merlin took the crystal back and squinted into it intently. After a few moments, he looked up again, eyes alight. "I know how this can help us."

"How?" Arthur asked impatiently.

"Should have kept it under wraps," Leon interrupted tensely. "We have incoming!"

They all whipped their gazes to the side and found a group of Wraiths coming toward them. The Lightspinners spread out into a line and whipped out cords of light to shoot at the phantoms. But instead of merely making the Wraiths recoil from the light, one band actually seemed to make contact. The Wraith screamed and contorted, half of its featureless face disintegrating where the light had touched it, as though it had physically burned.

Gwen drew her light back and reached up to touch it. Her eyes blew wide. "It's solid!"

Percival immediately spun a spear and grabbed hold of the handle. He arched his arm back and threw, piercing a Wraith through its middle. And instead of sailing straight through it, the spear embedded itself, and the Wraith suddenly exploded into ash.

Arthur stared in shock. Those things could be killed. They could now be killed.

The Lightspinners continued to attack the Wraiths, and after a few received physical wounds, they all turned and fled. Gwaine walked over to the light spear that had fallen on the ground after exploding the Wraith; it was melting.

"Looks like going to the Crystal Cave wasn't a waste after all," he said.

"Was it the cave or the crystal?" Leon asked.

None of them knew, but this was definitely a game changer.

"What about what you saw?" Arthur asked Merlin. "What did you see about Camelot?"

"We can install the Crystal of Neahtid and create a protective shield of light over the whole city."

Arthur frowned. It sounded impossible. But then again, before this moment, he would have said killing a Wraith was impossible too.

"A shield over Camelot," Leon repeated. "As in we would be absolutely protected from the Wraiths?"

Merlin nodded eagerly.

"So, it won't help us rid the world of darkness," Arthur said.

"I don't know, maybe eventually. But it's a place to start, isn't it? Taliesin gave us this crystal for a reason. We should trust it."

Arthur took a breath and nodded in agreement. It was something, and if it worked…it would be something huge.

So they continued their journey home.

Every time they passed a Rift, Arthur thought of his sister and father, somewhere in there. One doomed to restless torment by his own heinous actions, the other through no fault of her own. Arthur wondered if the crystal could do anything about that. But he didn't let himself dwell on it. He had the living to think about first.

The return journey ended up being less eventful than the first, and they arrived back at the fortress in a few days. Everyone crowded around them, looking shocked to see them back in one piece. Gaius pushed his way to the front.

"Arthur! Thank goodness you're back." He looked them all over anxiously. "What happened?"

"It's a long story, but the important thing is we've returned with hope," Arthur answered and showed him the Crystal of Neahtid. "Merlin believes this will create a protective shield over Camelot."

Gaius arched a brow dubiously. "Camelot…that's a dangerous gamble."

"It'll work," Merlin insisted. "I saw it. We all did." He gestured to his fellow Lightspinners.

"Why not use it here?" Gaius asked.

"We have no resources here," Leon put in. "It's this or continue to face starvation."

Arthur let the comments roll off him. In the end, it was his responsibility, his decision whether to uproot his people and risk it, or stay and change nothing. But then this entire quest would have been for nothing if he didn't seize the opportunity it presented. After all, it had always been the slimmest of hopes they'd set out toward.

Arthur turned to the people gathered behind him. "We have a chance to make a better life for ourselves," he spoke out. "It is not without risk. But I believe it is our best hope. Of course, any who wish to remain here can, and those who follow, we will do everything in our power to protect, as we have always done."

There were murmurs of fear, doubt, and questions, but in the end, everyone agreed to follow their king. And Arthur just had to hope he was leading them to salvation and not annihilation.

Chapter Text

Merlin held onto his stout confidence as they packed up their things and ventured from the safety of the underground fortress toward an abandoned city. It was a fraught journey, but thankfully shorter than the one to the Crystal Cave. As they went, Merlin brought the Crystal of Neahtid around to all the young Lightspinners for them to hold in the hopes it was the source of the increased powers.

Halfway there, they came upon a Wraith that sent screams rippling through the group. But Elyan spun a sword of solid light and stabbed it clean through. With a screech, it exploded like the other one had. Everyone exchanged whispers of astonishment, and then seemed invigorated to keep going.

When they reached the city of Camelot, they first secured everyone in an inner hall with no windows, then Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot, and Leon headed up to the highest tower in the middle of the castle. Merlin surveyed the open room, trying to orient it in relation to what he'd seen in the crystal's vision. That had been of the future, with the crystal already shining brightly.

Lancelot picked up a dirty lantern off the floor and attempted to wipe it off with his sleeve. Merlin then placed the crystal inside. There was a hook in the center beam, and since Leon was the tallest, he reached up to hang the lantern off it. The crystal simmered inside the old glass but otherwise didn't do anything.

"Merlin…" Arthur said nervously.

He pursed his mouth. Why wasn't it working?

"Maybe we need to spin it," Lancelot suggested.

Merlin nodded and stood on tiptoe to reach into the lantern and touch the crystal. He didn't quite know how to spin light from outside himself, so he focused instead on simply starting the light with his own. The crystal's aura grew brighter in response.

Lancelot climbed up and reached in as well, adding his own light. As the crystal's intensity grew, Merlin focused on the image of the shield he'd seen within its reflective sides. The light rippled up to the top of the crystal and then spilled out like a wave of water. Merlin and Lancelot quickly jumped back and directed the light to move upward and out. And once the process was started, Merlin felt when the light took control and expanded wider and wider, until it was cascading down in a blazing dome over the entire city.

He let his hands fall to his sides and stared out the tower gaps in amazement. Everything was brightly lit under the dome, and it was the purest light Merlin had ever seen.

The four of them turned and rushed down the steps and out to the courtyard where everyone else had ventured out to see as well. Merlin made a beeline for the very edge in the lower town. When he reached it, he tentatively held a hand out and touched it. The dome was solid.

A child appeared at his knee. "Will that keep the Wraiths away?" she asked tremulously.

Merlin beamed as bright as the radiant shield. "Yes, it will."

Lancelot pushed open a creaky door to one of the living chambers. It was huge, as far as he was concerned, with a large bed and several pieces of furniture. Everything was dusty and needed to be cleaned, of course, but they would get to that.

"This looks good," he said to Freya, who inched in behind him.

Her expression was equally stunned as she took in the luxuries. Lancelot gave her a moment and went to the window to look out. With the protective shield, they no longer needed to fear a view of the outside world. It was still surreal for him.

He turned back around as Freya reached out to touch the soft bed. Neither of them had ever slept on anything so nice in their lives.

"I can take the room next door," he said, leaving it open as a question.

Freya looked up and smiled shyly. "This feels like a dream," she said, mystified. "But I could never dream of something so magnificent."

Neither could he.

Gwen appeared in the doorway and knocked to announce herself. "We found a bunch of clothing trunks. Some have been eaten by moths, but so many more are intact!" she said excitedly. She had a dress in her arms, which she brought over to Freya. "Thought you might like to burn those rags."

Freya drew her hands in against her chest. "I can't touch that, it's too nice."

"You can wash first," Gwen replied. "We found a bath chamber and the well has plenty of water."

"But- this is for a lady…"

"You are a lady," Gwen said. "We are the lords and ladies of Camelot now," she said matter-of-factly and turned to Lancelot. "There's some nice clothes for men too."

He smiled in gratitude.

Freya looked unable to process it all as she reached out to touch the dress with the very tips of her fingers, as though afraid to sully it. Lancelot felt the same. They still had a lot to figure out, a lot of settling in to do, but for the first time in his entire life, he felt a sense of what he might call hope for the future.

Arthur stood with his closest friends in the old council chambers Gaius had shown them, where he said kingdom business was always conducted.

"We need to find some thick curtains," Leon was saying. "It's day all the time now."

Several of them grinned at that.

"I don't mind that," Gwaine commented.

Arthur also grinned. Having light at all was a novelty, but he knew eventually they'd have to prioritize being able to sleep through the night, so he added curtains to the list of tasks they were putting together. After another thought, he put down assigning a timekeeper to keep track of "night" and "day" and the passing of time.

For now, there were plenty of clothes and supplies in the castle they could use. Food, of course, remained the primary challenge, but with the Lightspinners' powers having been increased by the Crystal of Neahtid, it could be far less dangerous to venture out to hunt. And they were already looking at available space in the hopes of growing food.

"And herbs," Merlin put in. "Medicinal ones for Gaius."

Arthur wrote that down.

"In addition to hunting trips," Percival spoke next, "we should see if we can capture any game or livestock in the wild that we could keep and breed within the city."

Arthur nodded in agreement. "Have you found a way to pass through the dome without bringing it down?"

"Yes," Elyan answered. "A Lightspinner can individually manipulate a section to become transparent to pass through."

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief at that. He'd been worried they might be trapped in a cage in exchange for safety.

"We should send for Hamon and his people," Gwen spoke up. "We have the room, and we did dump a bunch of children in his care unexpectedly."

Arthur nodded his approval. With the city shining as brightly as it did now, he imagined anyone within miles would notice and likely be drawn here. Arthur would give shelter to anyone who asked…even Roamers. If they renounced their ways and agreed to work in conjunction with Camelot's residents. For now, there was much work to be done.

He concluded the meeting, and everyone set off to get started on their tasks. Gwen hung back.

"You did it," she said. "You saved your people."

Arthur nodded sagely, his outlook still sober. There was so much to do, and the fight to survive wasn't over, not by a long shot.

But they were safe. For now. That was a victory—and legacy—he could be proud of.