Chapter 17 A Brief Respite
A Brief Respite
Arthur and Dred returned shortly after sunrise, them and their horses loaded down with goods, more than enough to keep them going for however long they were in this pocket universe.
Lancelot helped them unload everything. "Why are you carrying all of this like you don't have veritable bags of holding?"
"We filled those too, that's why," Dred said. "Plus, a lot of this can't be stowed in inventory because shit would get way, way too easy."
"It's already way too easy with Merlin hacking everything. Surprised he hasn't been banned yet."
Merlin scoffed. "As if I would ever get caught. Maleagant can keep trying all he likes, but we're not going anywhere."
Arthur sat down and took the soup Gwen gave him with a warm thanks. "I've missed your cooking, dear wife."
"Shush with you," Gwen said dismissively, but smiled as she bustled off.
Arthur and Gwen's marriage had been political, convenient, but they'd always been good friends and back in those days, that was a perfect marriage.
Arthur handled the military, the fighting, the traveling.
Gwen had kept the castle, handled the nobles at court, managed the day to day matters of running a kingdom.
They'd made a good team, all the stronger with their respective lovers alongside them.
Arthur, Merlin, and Morgan, as tempestuous a triad as could be; Gwen and Elaine, who'd never wanted to be amorously touched by anyone, but were as hopelessly romantic together as any other couple at court.
Not that Lancelot could talk about hopelessly romantic when the story of how he and Galehaut had come to be together had been one of the most popular tales at court.
The court bard had wasted no time composing that ballad, and Lancelot had always made certain to be far, far away whenever it was performed.
An ache twisted through him, sharp and deep, but he pushed it away. His reckoning with Galehaut was coming, and until then, dwelling on it would only hurt him and everyone relying on him.
Lancelot thanked Gwen as she brought him food, and dug into it with relish. Dred sat down next to him with a bowl of their own and a great deal of the freshly baked bread. "You have to share the bread, asshole."
"Make me," Dred said cheerfully.
On the other side of the cookfire, Morgan rolled her eyes. "We made extra with them in mind."
Smirking, Dred dug into their soup with zeal, using bread more often than spoon.
By the time they were all finished eating, Lancelot felt mostly human again. More sleep wouldn't hurt, but there was simply too much to do. "So what's the plan? Do we have one yet?"
"We're going to try for the Kingdom of the Lost again," Merlin replied, sitting down next to Morgan on the log to Lancelot's right. "I want to reach it, secure it, and make it our permanent spawn location."
Lancelot made a face. "The last time we tried to go there, we had to find our way out of a temple, fight a dragon, and got stuck with them." He jerked a thumb at Dred beside him, then jerked away with a laugh when he was jabbed in the ribs.
"Nevertheless," Arthur continued, amusement in his voice, "we make for the Kingdom of the Lost. I feel once we banish the fog, it will look familiar."
"Merlin posed that before," Lancelot said. "It's purposely obscured though, and a late game location, so we have to be prepared to put up one hell of a fight."
"We will be," Arthur said. "The plan is to travel to that location today, rest up, and then tackle it overmorrow."
"Overmorrow," Dred replied with a snort. "Artie, we're not in ye old centuries anymore."
"Fuck off."
"Yes, King Overmorrow."
"I see there is still neither kingly respect nor soldierly discipline in this sad excuse for an army," Arthur said. "Pack up camp and let's get moving."
Lancelot gathered up all their waterskins and went to the nearby creek to retrieve and further replenish himself by sinking into the water for a little while. What he wouldn't give to have the time to sink to the bottom of a lake and sleep for a few more hours. He'd feel like a brand new person.
Galehaut had been absolutely terrified of water when they'd first met, and he still hadn't loved it by the end, but he'd always enjoyed soaking up the sun on the bank while Lancelot swam to his heart's content. Then they'd fuck like animals until the sun went down before returning home for dinner.
A rock broke the surface of the water, and Lancelot swam up and climbed out, drying off quickly with an unused tunic from inventory before dressing again. Merlin waited patiently nearby, helping to gather up all the waterskins once Lancelot was ready. "Feeling all right?"
"Still tired, but I'll be okay as long as I don't have to transform in the next few days, waters willing."
"I'm impressed you're as functional as you are, to be honest," Merlin said.
"You've been through more than any of us, from the first fight with Gale through to the second, transforming, poisoned waters…
the burden of being the one who must start this whole affair, Gale…
If you needed a break, nobody would blame you. We can get Elaine on our own."
"You don't know that, and I won't falter now when things are starting to get truly difficult," Lancelot said.
"All we're doing today is traveling, right?
So I can take it easy, and tonight I should be able to get plenty of rest." He scrubbed at his face.
"If I start to feel like I can't handle it, I'll tell you. "
"All right." Merlin nudged his shoulder in lieu of a hug. "I'm here for you always. You're my best friend."
"That's good, because we're kind of bound up in dark magic together still. Would hate to be stuck with somebody who only considers me his second or third best friend."
Merlin laughed.
Back with the others, waiting for them on the road, they dispensed the waterskins and mounted up.
"What's so funny?" Dred asked.
"Your face," Merlin said.
Dred rolled their eyes. Lancelot gave Merlin a look and explained the actual reason.
Arthur, ever attentive, even when people thought he wasn't, said, "You're certain you're all right, Lancelot? This burden never should have fallen to you."
"I'm fine," Lancelot said, trying not to get annoyed, because it was nice to be fretted over, he'd always appreciated that, in this life and his first one. "We've all fought our way through worse."
"I feel these circumstances are slightly different," Arthur said, "and let's be realistic, most of us in the real world are overworked, underpaid, underfed, and otherwise unhealthy. Those concerns don't magically vanish in here, much as I wish they would."
"The pocket universe is a bit more ambiguous about that, as it must work with a combination of real self and the avatars we built," Merlin said, "but your point stands. So what do you do in the real world, Arthur?"
Arthur grinned, bright and mischievous and captivating.
"I'm out on parole, of course. Hard labor in the sewer systems, night shift.
" Where it was hard for robots to go because signals were dropped and the confining spaces were difficult to get them in and out of, no matter how sleekly they were designed. Disgusting work.
"Impressed you made it out of jail," Lancelot said. Usually when someone went into the system, they were never seen again. Exceptions were rare. "What did you do to go in?"
"I was wrongly arrested for murder, and they tacked on other charges like usual. I was cleared after ten years, but they refused to drop all of the additional charges, like resisting arrest, so the compromise was to kick me to parole."
Dred gave him a look. "The justice system working? Like it's supposed to?"
"Barely," Arthur said. "The man seeking justice for his son was beyond angry at the fuck up in justice, and felt bad I'd sat there rotting for ten years, so he made certain I got out.
I think he's from a minor off shoot of one of the big families, but he's never said, and I never pressed.
Just glad to be free. I bought the gaming rig with some of the money from my compensation package. "
Lancelot smirked, "And you probably always pick an avatar that looks like the child of Merlin and Morgan."
"Obviously," Arthur said, smiling happily. "What else could I possibly choose?"
For a moment, Arthur, Merlin, and Morgan all looked happy and sad at the same time. They'd always wanted kids, but hadn't wanted to have them until they could settle at Camelot full-time. Arthur especially was always traveling about settling conflicts, making allies, signing treaties, and more.
Everyone had thought that after Camlann they'd all be able to settle down, move away from lives of constant violence.
A foolish hope, in the end, but all they'd ever wanted from the very beginning was safe, stable lives for themselves and their children.
Which Lancelot and Gale had also wanted, eventually, though first they'd wanted to travel in peace, just the two of them.
He hated Maleagant already, but one more scorching drop of it was added to the pool at the realization that he'd never get to hear and accept the marriage proposal Galehaut had planned for after the battle.
It just gave him something of his own to ask when Galehaut was back in his arms, safe and healthy and happy.
However this ended for them, if they wound up back in the slums or in a labor camp or somehow lost forever in the pocket universe, they would be together, and that was all that really mattered.
They traveled along a wide road, passing the occasional NPC that Merlin always insisted on speaking with, to the vexation of his lovers, and the infrequent monsters that Arthur and Dred made a game of defeating, Merlin keeping track by way of a point system that Lancelot did not comprehend at all.