Lancelot sighed."Haven't missed your mind reading, you creepy bastard."Gawain couldn't literally read minds, but he was smart and astute in a way most people weren't, and that was enough to figure out what people were thinking in an often unnerving way.
Gawain laughed.
Thankfully, they pulled up to Merlin's house then, the car pulling into a garage that closed behind them.Merlin was immediately there, hugging them both before helping to get Mordred inside.
"Upstairs," Merlin grunted."Why are they so fucking heavy?"
"Stubbornness," Gawain said as he trailed behind them."Sorry about all the blood on your floors."
"Least of our concerns."
Upstairs, Merlin guided them to the room next to Lance's, where Morgan and Guinevere were waiting for them."Gawain!"Guinevere rushed across the room to hug him tightly."You're all right, thank the spirits."
"Dred and Lancelot would never let anything happen to us," Gawain said with a laugh.
Lancelot rolled his eyes."As though you ever needed anyone but yourself to protect you."Especially since Gawain and Guinevere both possessed the rare and highly prized skill of healing magic.Merlin could heal as well, but not at the level they could.
Pulling away, Guinevere hugged Lancelot."I'm so sorry."
"I honestly thought you'd punch me first," Lancelot replied with a laugh."Go take care of your brother, Your Majesty."
Scoffing at the title as she always had, taken up because it served the needs of the whole best and allowed her to be with Elaine, and Arthur with Morgan and Merlin, without issue.She'd been a magnificent queen, but she also would have happily lived in a cottage in the woods.The only thing she'd never wanted was the nunnery she'd been forced into for several years.Well, and Maleagant.She'd definitely never wanted him, or to even be on the same continent as him.
Lancelot helped get Mordred on the bed, then left the healers to their business.He was of no use here, and he needed rest himself, because the only thing they could be certain of right now was that trouble was coming, and it would come with a vengeance.
The Pendragon
"It's time," Merlin said from where he stood at the round table they'd gathered around, a digital display of the city and surrounding countryside in the middle."We have awakened enough of us that we have sufficient strength to wake Arthur.With him, we can more easily wake the others and deal with this problem once and for all."
"That means everything will just get harder from here on," Lancelot said, standing exactly opposite him on the other side of the table."We've been lucky so far.Maleagant knows this is coming, now or very soon.It will be more intense a race than ever to get to Arthur first."
"At least we'll be back in the game," Morgan said, shifting the map with a flick of her wrist, bringing up theEdge of Knightmap."That gives us advantages we definitely don't have out here, even if there are greater risks as well."
"I've had crawlers searching for Arthur, narrowed down to gamers who live in this city.We can't begin to guess what his name will be, as he'll be more buried than the rest of us."
"He's probably named Steve or Bobby," Dred said.
Gawain snickered."Or Walter."
"Richard," Lancelot added."Bet everyone calls him Dick and he hates it."
"I don't think that diminutive has been used for a few decades," Merlin said thoughtfully, "but I concede the possibility."
Morgan and Guinevere rolled their eyes, and Guinevere added, "I cannot wait to get Elaine and Iseult back, leave all you boys to your nonsense."
"You just want your beloved back, same as the rest of us," Dred retorted.
Lancelot couldn't bring himself to join in the laughter.The idea of living without Galehaut was unbearable, but he could not begin to fathom how they'd save him.If they couldn't…
Well, that was a problem to face later.
"So where do we start?"he asked, ignoring the shamefaced looks of the others as they refocused on the matter at hand.
"Tonight is our best chance at finding him.There's going to be a special event offering all sorts of rares as prizes.Just about everyone will be online.I've flagged the most likely players.We'll have to divide and conquer to examine them all."
Lancelot looked over the assembled group."We'll work in pairs, but never stray too far, so that if one group needs help, the others are close enough to provide it.Me and Gwen; Gawain and Morgan; Dred and Merlin."
"Yes, Captain," they chorused, provoking a roll of the eyes.He might have been captain of the royal knights once, but that was a long time ago and irrelevant now."Food and rest while we can, then.We start at…"
