"We can't fall, either, because it could very wellactuallykill us.Shit, shit,shit."
Lancelot kept one eye on the dragon and the other on their immediate environment—and nearly laughed, from hysteria and relief, when he spied something that lookedjustout of place if you stared hard enough."There.A secret cave entrance."He dismounted, banished his horse, and the very moment Merlin had done the same, he ran like a thief from the Reds, not slowing down even as the wall got closer and closer, stamping down on the parts of him that screamedstop.
Then they were through, in a tingling rush of bitingly cold air.He'd barely stopped, heaving for breath, when the cave entrance slammed closed behind them.
Merlin groaned."Fuck me.Got away from the dragon, but now we're stuck inside the mountain.If this turns into someLord of the Ringsbullshit, I'm burning the whole goddamn game down."
"If I hear a single drum, I'm pissing myself, and it's every dumbass for himself."
Snickering, Merlin summoned up spheres of light and set them in various points by them, ahead of them, and behind them."Let's go see what kind of trouble we've gotten ourselves into now."
"Stay behind me," Lancelot replied with a sigh, drawing his sword as he led the way deeper into the dark.
"Nice katana, by the way."
"Fuck you."
Heart of Fire
The caves smelled.Not of the usual dank and damp of caves, not even of simply stone.No, there was something else, something fetid and smoky, faintly familiar, but try as he might, Lancelot could not place the stench."What is that smell?"
Merlin huffed a laugh and looked briefly over his shoulder."Do you truly not remember the smell of kobolds?"
"That's it," Lancelot replied, rolling his eyes."Don't know why it was eluding me."
"Maybe because the last time you tangled with a group of them, you wound up face down, ass up in that swamp."
Lancelot winced."Don't remind me.I think I forgot the smell because I tried to scrub that whole debacle from my mind."
Merlin snickered, because he was a jerk like that."Hopefully we don't run into them.The smell is a bit stale and faded, so I don't think they're in this part of the cave anymore."
"How does a stupid video game know the precise smell of kobolds?"
"Just one of many questions on my ever-growing list, but I feel the answer to most, if not all of them, will be 'Maleagant'."
Maleagant.He'd been their enemy, especially Arthur's, since long before Camelot.Prince Maleagant of Gorre, often called the Land of No Return because, well, no one ever returned, heartlessly slaughtered for any number of trivial 'crimes'.It had been one of those senseless murders, and the kidnapping of an innocent maiden living a peaceful life in a convent, that had first spurred Arthur into Gorre.He'd done plenty of killing of his own to avenge a murder and save Guinevere, who at the time was little more than a girl.After that day, they would not see her again for nearly seven years, when she'd journey with several other nuns to the newly made Camelot and decide to remain, forsaking the vows she'd never really wanted to take anyway.
That Arthur had later married her, made her his queen, had only enraged Maleagant further.Arthur had broken his power, won over his people, and stolen his woman.Even though none of that had ever truly been his, and he had only himself to blame for losing them—or, in Guinevere's case, never having her at all.
So Maleagant had obtained different powers, different followers, falling into a darkness from which there was, ironically, no return.He was little better than a demon now, and his driving force was wiping first Arthur and Camelot from the earth, and then razing the earth and remaking it according to his desires.
All because Arthur had freed his people and not tolerated the way Maleagant thought kidnapping was an appropriate way to court a woman.
The most depressing part was that, in all the centuries since, practically nothing had changed.It left him deeply worried about who Maleagant was in modern day…and where Guinevere was.Maleagant had already found and imprisoned Galehaut, and that boded ill for who else he might already have in his clutches.
Lancelot sighed."This is going to get so much worse before it gets better."
"Well, for that fuckhead, it's only going to get worse and worse, so chin up," Merlin said—then froze."The smell is growing stronger."
"Oh, goodie," Lancelot muttered."Can't wait to relive slicing apart kobolds and smelling like them for days, because with my luck, that damned stench will follow me right out of the game."
Merlin shuddered."I really prefer nothing follows us out, not least of all because that will mean all my efforts to keep our location secret will have been in vain.If Maleagant can find us in the real world this soon, we're fucked."
"Why does it seem like he's had longer to prepare for this, while we're waking up years behind with no chance of catching up?"
"It's how the magic works," Merlin replied."I asked for a delay, and that delay was one of centuries.Maleagant had his victory stolen and must fight for it anew, and so he gets the advantage."
"So we have to be heavily disadvantaged,andwe have to pay some unknown price."Lancelot made a face."Magic can be incredibly stupid."
