Once & Forever

They all waited in silence, lying low to the ground, for what seemed like ages. Arthur finally began to shift, when Katrina's arm shot out and she grabbed him by the collar of his chainmail and yanked him back to the forest floor. He started to protest but she quickly 'shushed' him.

"I'm pretty sure no one is out there at this point," Arthur whispered. "They probably think that giant over there took care of us."

"If that were true, then why hasn't he returned back to them by now? Oh right, because he is dead," Katrina hissed. She still held onto Arthur, keeping him strictly in place. "They're out there, waiting for us to do exactly what you just did."

"Which is what?"

"Assume that everything is safe!" She finally let go of him, but not without a small shove.

"So," Merlin interjected, crawling between the two. "Are we just going to lay here and waste all of our daylight hours; play chicken and see who moves first?" He sounded irritated. Arthur couldn't blame him, after all, he felt the same. Arthur cast Katrina a look, one that nearly screamed 'See?'

She sighed. "If you're fully ready to go into battle now, you better be one hundred and ten percent sure, because once we engage them, it's 'til the death."

Arthur snorted. "Aren't all battles until the death?" It was a somewhat facetious remark. One, he saw, that rubbed the mercenary the wrong way.

"Not with these men. It's a prolonged, painful death. One that will have you trying to take your own life, before they end it for you."

"You sound like you've lived to tell quite a tale," Arthur mused.

"Yeah, one for another day. Are you ready, Pendragon, or not?"

"Haven't you heard the saying? I was born ready." And with that, he was off running. She could hear the trees rustling like a big wind was sweeping through. But she knew better; she knew it was the bandits announcing their presence.

"Well, fuck," she growled, before shoving off the ground, and running into the mayhem was swarming Arthur like unrelenting, deadly wasps. He was surprisingly still on his feet when she got there, and she was able to cut a few men down to size, as she made her way to the center of the mass. "Are you mad?" she yelled over the roar of at fifty men.

"Pissed off is what I am!" he shouted back. They were back to back, fending off mad bandits left, right, and sometimes, even from above. The patrol soon showed up, with Merlin hanging back, along the tree line. Arthur might have yelled something about him being utterly useless, if he wasn't already too busy fending off man after man.

"Remember, their weapons have been coated in some sort of toxin! Avoid all contact!" Katrina's voice came from somewhere behind Arthur, a little farther off. His smarting cheek reminded him of such, and he made an extra effort to dodge the weapons that were continuously assaulting him. He could hear the shouts of his men as they began to fall, one by one. Occasionally, there seemed to be a miracle, and there would be a break in the onslaught, only for more of the bandits (who he was starting to believe were much more than just mere thieves) to jump over their fallen comrades, and attack.

"Will this ever let up?" he shouted, somewhere vague over his shoulder. There was no response, and he whirled to check to see if Katrina was still on her feet. He couldn't see her. He was surrounded in a sea of dark cloth, and even her golden beacon of hair was nowhere to be seen. "Katrina?" he called. He was about to shout her name again, when a blow to the back of his head sent him swirling into a void.

When Arthur came to, he could hear the awakening groans of his men all around him. He tried to open his eyes, but his head was throbbing; threatening to split open at any minute. He let out the loudest groan yet, as he rolled from his side, onto his back.

"Arthur! Arthur, you awake?" Merlin's voice was close by.

"Give me a minute," he groaned. "Where are we?" He finally began to open his eyes, and take in his surroundings.

"Some sort of cage... dungeon... thing," Merlin said slowly, as he looked around them.

"Your descriptions are absolutely vivid, Merlin," Arthur replied, sardonically. "Please, tell me more."

"Arthur..." Merlin's voice trailed off, sounding of disappointment and bad news. "Not all of us made it here, alive."

Katrina!

"...just three men left, aside from you, and myself." Arthur was having a hard time focusing on Merlin's words.

"Kat... Er, Katrina, where is she? Is she alive?" Merlin stayed quiet for far too long. Arthur's eyes narrowed in on Merlin with a searing glare. "Is she alive, Merlin, yes or no?"

"I... I don't know," he finally admitted.

"Well, she's not here, with us. So either they're keeping her locked up elsewhere, or..." he trailed off, not wanting to even finish the thought.

"I'm sure she's fine, Arthur, you've seen her fight!" Merlin's optimism was... nauseating. Arthur could only slightly roll his eyes, before pushing himself to his feet. He stumbled over to the bars that kept them in the cold, damn dungeon.

"Katrina?" he called out into the bleak hallways of the underground maze. "Katrina!" he yelled again. He strained his ears, trying to see if he could hear her respond. He could only hear the faint whistling of the wind. And then footsteps. He took a step back.

"Oy! Shut up in there!" a guard barked, gruffly, smacking a sword against the bars Arthur had just been pressed against. "Least yer awake. Gon' let Balrad know." The guard turned to leave, but paused, and turned back to the prince. "Oh, and that girl yer shoutin' for? She ain't gon' hear ya for a long time." He laughed, and walked off.

"Dammit!" Arthur smacked the bars, setting off a loud clang!

"Arthur..." Merlin reached out to rest a hand on the knight's shoulder, but Arthur angrily shook him off.

"This is her damn fault! I thought she knew what she was doing!" He gripped the bars tightly in his fists. "She got Camelot's men killed! She got me... us captured!" Arthur was seething. But he knew his anger was misplaced. He wasn't really mad at her... He turned back to Merlin and leaned against the bars, slowly sinking until he was sitting, again. His head was throbbing.

"Anyone would be overwhelmed with all those bandits! But she bartered our way out of there alive."

Arthur raised his head and looked up at Merlin. "She did?" He must have been unconscious by then.

"I think... I think she saw what happened to you, and quickly made a deal with them, to save you."

The prince of Camelot snorted. "I doubt that's why." But he couldn't help but wonder.

"Ar-" But before Merlin could finish, the gate shifted and Arthur almost fell over. He jumped to his feet, though it made him a bit dizzy. Whenever he got back to Camelot, he was going to have Gaius take a look at his head.

"C'mere, you." The same guard from moments before was dragging Arthur out with him.

"Wait!" He quickly pointed at Merlin. "He's... Camelot's Court Physician. He's important." Merlin shot Arthur a look as he, too, got dragged from the confines of the cell.

They were roughly escorted up several landings before stopping at what, Arthur presumed, was the main floor of the... well, it wasn't quite a castle. In fact, it wasn't a castle at all. More like an abandoned tower, that the bandits had taken up in.

There was a man with one eye sitting on a makeshift throne in the middle of the room. Behind him, off to the side, was someone hanging from their wrists; their feet barely touching the ground below them. There was a blindfold over their eyes. But Arthur immediately knew it was, by the frayed blonde braid that fell over their shoulder. Katrina wasn't moving and her attire was torn in various places, with gashes marring nearly all her visible flesh. There was even cracked, flaking blood staining her face, from underneath the blindfold. Arthur was almost afraid to see her without the concealing fabric.

"Katrina!" he yelled. He just wanted her to know she was there. She didn't move at the sound of his voice.

The man, who Arthur deduced was Balrad, laughed. "The great Arthur Pendragon! What a delight." His smile settled into a dark smirk. "Uther will pay a heavy price for you, I am sure."

"Not just me," Arthur growled as he was forced to his knees. Balrad raised his eyebrows and leaned forward in his chair. "My father will want me, my men, and her back, safely. He will gladly pay whatever." Though that might not have been entirely true, Arthur wasn't leaving there with everybody he had come with... at least, everybody that was still alive.

Ballad laughed, fully, loudly. "The girl?" He shook his head. "No, she's been giving us grief for some time. She will not go. At least not all in once piece." He laughed again. One of the bandits walked back to where she hung, and rattled her chains. She didn't move, but Arthur saw her lips twitch into a grimace. Good, she was still alive.

"She comes with us."

The bandit unhooked her, and drug her over to Balrad. Though she fell at his feet, she didn't stumble past her knees. Though, it looked like she was trembling.

Balrad removed her blindfold, and Arthur heard Merlin gasped. Her right eye was swollen shut, and the source of the blood seemed to be mostly from that, and various gashed on her head.

"This bitch took something of mine," Balrad said as he stood up. He pulled a knife from his belt. "I figured I should only return the favor. Arthur swore he could hear her whimper as he pressed the point of the knife right under her eye.

"Don't!" he shouted. "My father paid a fortune to hire her. He won't be pleased if he gets her back, damaged."

Balrad pressed the blade into her cheek. "Your father will be lucky if he gets her back at all." He raised the blade back up to her eye.