Chapter 14

~Garnet~

"I can't believe someone might try to kill Arthur."

Garnet and Adrian left the meeting with Merlin about an hour ago and were now in one of the castle's guest rooms. Adrian tossed his bag on one of the beds.

"Believe it, kid. After all, we'll be the ones to stop it."

"How?"

"Just follow my lead and don't let the king get killed," Adrian smirked.

"No pressure there," Garnet murmured from his seat on his bed. "Is there anything to eat?"

"How about you go back to that bakery we were at earlier?" He tossed a golden coin to Garnet.

Garnet caught it and shrugged. "Ok."

He jumped off the bed and passed through the door, shutting it as he left. Once he was gone, Adrian opened his bag. Getting out one of his swords and a rock, he sat down on the bed and started to sharpen the blade.

.oOo.

The baker's young apprentice shyly smiled as he handed a loaf of bread to a pretty girl. "Come again," he said, his face red.

Once the girl had left, the apprentice frowned and let his head fall on the counter top. What an idiot he was! Stumbling over his words and bumping into furniture like a blind begger. He made a fool of himself!

He sighed loudly, lifting his head off the counter to straighten up.

The apprentice was about to go in the back to bring out more bread when the door swung open. It was a boy close to his own age that enter, the sound of the door closing behind him. He walked right up to the counter, needing to stand on his tip-toes.

"Hello," the apprentice greeted, smiling.

Garnet was about to speak, but he raised an eyebrow. "Um, you got some flour on you face," he said, indicating where it was by pointing at his own forehead.

The apprentice lightly touched his own forehead and saw that the boy was right. With a nervous laugh, he quickly grabbed a nearby strip of cloth and wipe the flour from his face. Once done, he thanked the boy for saving him from future embarassment. A shrug was given back in response.

"No problem. You looked silly with flour on your forehead."

"So, how can I help you?" he asked, tossing the cloth aside.

"I was wondering if I could get more of those cinnamon pastries that me and my friend purchase yesterday."

"Were you with the guy all dressed in black?"

"Yep."

"Yeah, now I remember you," the apprentice began as he moved away from the counter to retrieve Garnet's order. "So...," he started in an attempt at conversation, "Is that guy your brother or something?"

"No."

"Is he a knight and your his squire?" The apprentice placed the goodies on the counter.

"Not exactly."

The apprentice stuck his tongue out in confusion, contemplating other options. He perked up when one occurred to him.

"Oh, I get it. You guys are a, um..." He trailed off, feeling awkward.

"What? No, no!" Garnet's face flushed red, "We're just friends. He's helping me find my brother and sister."

"Oh," he twisted his fingers together nervously. "Your brother and sister are missing?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

Garnet looked down at his feet. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry. How long have they been missing?"

"A week? A month? I've kinda lost track of time."

"It must be hard; all the worrying," the boy said sympathetically.

"It is, and I miss them a lot. But me and Adrian, we'll find them. He's been really determined lately." Garnet thought of what he said back at the cabin.

"Sounds like you have a true friend there," the apprentice smiled to himself in consideration. "Well," he continued, clearing his throat, "I wish the two of you the best of luck. And, seriously, let me know if there's anyway I can help."

Garnet gave a grin before grabbing his purchase and exiting the bakery. The apprentice went back to his business, standing in the empty shop in solitude.

.oOo.

The following morning, Garnet was jostled from his sleep by Adrian the morning of the coronation, his shouts penetrating through the walls of his peaceful dream.

"C'mon Garnet, WAKE UP!" With a sense of urgency, Adrain gripped the end of Garnet's pillow and pulled it from underneath his head.

"Hey," a drowsy Garnet protested. He could hear the faint tolling up in the bell tower as he rolled onto his back.

"Garnet, GET UP! We don't have time for this, we're late!"

Adrian threw the pillow back at his head, it landed with a thump. Garnet let out an oouf when the silky texture of the pillow case hitting his face surprised him. Still groggy, sat up, rubbed his eyes, and left the warm covers to get his shoes on, letting out a large yawn in the process. Garnet's slowness irritated Adrian.

"Hurry Garnet, we need to get down there so we have enough time to look around," he remarked. "Or did you already forget what Merlin said about a possible assassination plot?" Garnet sleepily mumbled a response, but Adrian could not understand a word of it. After a few more minutes of Garnet dragging his feet and Adrian barking at him to hurry up, the two left the castle.

They soon arrived at the town square. Garnets first encounter of the quiet, empty square completely mirrored his experience the second time around. The previously empty lot was now tightly packed with hundreds of villagers, standing shoulder-to-shoulder and bumping up against each other. The deserted wooden platform now held several clergymen and a bishop. Standing slightly off to the side of this group was Merlin, a look of concern apparent across his face. His anxious disposition caught Adrian's eye.

"Oh no," Adrian whispered, bring in a short breath.

"What? What is it?" Garnet's posture perked up as he became more alert of his surroundings.

"They're starting early, before we've had a chance to look around." Garnet could hear the fear in his response.

Over across the crowd, the royal carriage came to a halt at the end of the purple and gold rug. That's when an idea popped into Garnet's head.

"Hey, what if we split up and patrol the crowd. You know, keep an eye out for anything unusual?" Garnet proposed his idea aloud.

"Well..." Adrian considered the thought, "I guess that would be alright." He glanced down at the kid before quickly adding, "Just keep your guard up, ok?"

Garnet made a face at this, "Yeah, yeah. I'll be careful." He turned and started walking in the opposite direction and disappeared into the crowd.

Adrian was able to move through the crowd easily, cutting through like a knife. Garnet, on the other hand, was being shoved and bumped into by the rambunctious townspeople. Constantly, there were people accidentally elbowing him in the sides and backing into him as they grew impatience of standing around. On several occasions, he lost his balance and almost fell to the ground. To keep himself from falling, he reached out a hand and grabbed onto someone's shirt sleeve to help steady himself. That person, a balding man, immediately shot him a nasty glare and muttered, "Watch it, kid." Garnet face would flush red as he stuttered out an apology.

When Garnet had manage to reach the front of the onlooking crowd, Arthur had emerged out of the royal carriage and began his way towards the throne. The sight of the nervous sandy-haired boy made Garnet's stomach clench. The threat of danger seemed so real suddenly and, as Arthur got closer to the platform, Garnet could feel what little time he had slip away.

Garnet watched as Arthur climbed the wooden steps up to the platform, moving towards the throne. He held with him the sword he pulled from the stone, the very reason he was here today to be crowned in the first place. When he sat down, you could see how small he was compared to the enormous chair. The bishop carried over to the throne a golden crown set with rubies, sapphires, and emeralds and held it just above Arthur's head, slowly lowering it. Garnet's heart skipped a beat when he saw the crown brush against Arthur's hair and was placed on top of his head. In Garnet's mind everything froze for a split second as he waited for the shouts and screams he expected to hear from the crowd as the assassin made his move.

Instead, the sound he heard was applause as the bishop announced Arthur king. Relief washed over Garnet's body as he let out the breath he had been holding in. Garnet turned to his right to see if he could spot Adrian, but his eyes landed on a much more sinister sight. Through the crowd, off in a darkened corner, Garnet could make out two familiar individuals. One was tall and slender,with skeletal hands, and wearing dark clothes. The other was much shorter, green, and had an eye that was bigger than the other. He recognized them immediately as the Horned King and Creeper from the movie, The Black Cauldron. A chill shot up Garnet's spine at the sight of them. They just stood there silently watching, waiting as if something else was supposed to happen.

The crowd behind Garnet was growing restless and, in an effort to get a better view at their king, started to shove at Garnet. They shoved him backwards easily, given his small size. The young boy fought against it, but it was like fighting against a tidal wave in a tsunami. Pointless. As he moved further and further to the back, Garnet lost sight of the two villains, and when he could no longer see what was happening up on the platform with Arthur, he shouted out.

"Adrian!"

The shoving persisted and he lost his balance again. This time, with nothing to grab onto, he fell to the ground and landed on his back. Just as the back of his head hit the cobblestone, the bell up in the tower sounded, ringing out a pulsating tone. Dazed with ears ringing, Garnet lifted his head up and looked to the source of the commotion when his eyes caught a blurred movement up at the top. Garnet was distracted so that he didn't realize someone was calling out his name.

"Garnet! Hey, get out of the way!" Adrian pushed his way through the crowd to Garnet, kneeling down when he reach him. "What happened? Are you alright?" His voice was urgent and was heavy with worry.

"Up there! Someone's up there!" Garnet lifted his finger to the tower. Adrian's eyes followed to where Garnet was pointing. He squinted his eyes just before realIzation and horror spread across his face.

"GET DOWN!" He shouted above the cheering, causing people around him to stop and turn. "DUCK!"

Adrian jumped to his feet and ran at the crowd which moved out of his way simultaneously. He tore through the crowd like scissors through cloth, and made his way up the platform towards Arthur. He jumped at him, bringing him down with him as Adrian crashed to the floor and sending the sword to fly off to the side. Masked by the screams and shouts of the surprised townspeople, Adrian did not hear the splinter of wood as the arrow flew into the throne. He only discovered it after turning his head to look at the spot where both his and Arthur's heads had been moments ago. The arrow had come from up in the bell tower.

"Whew, that was close," he breathed out a sigh of relief. He looked over to Arthur who was staring at the arrow with a frightened look on his face, no doubt still trying to process what had just occurred. Before Arthur could say anything, two armored guards pulled Adrian up off of him. "Hey!" Adrian stumbled as they forced him to his feet.

"Stand down," an annoyed Merlin commanded as he moved over to the group. By that time Garnet, too, had arrived through the panicked crowd of fleeing bystanders. "He just saved our King, and you want to arrest him?"

The two guards looked at each other in bewilderment before loosening their hold on the teen's shoulders. Adrian shot Merlin an appreciative look, then turned to face Arthur, who was getting up off the ground with Garnet's assistance.

Merlin let out a sigh of relief. "That was close."

"Yeah...a little too close," Adrian said, glancing up at the source of attack. He turned to Garnet. "Garnet, stay here with the king. I'm going up there."

"But-" Garnet started to protest when Merlin put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You two go with him," the wizard beckoned at the guards. The three of them headed for the bell tower.

Garnet didn't take his eyes off of the only friend he had in this world as Merlin started to lead him away, along with Arthur. Seeing Adrian run off to face some danger, reminded Garnet briefly of his dad, how he would rush to stop fires and save lives.

With pleading eyes, Garnet tilted his head back to face Merlin.

"Please, I have to help him. He's all I got left right now."

Merlin looked at the boy; really looked at him and understood.

"Better hurry if you're going to catch up," and he released his hold on Garnet's shoulder. Merlin watched as he scampered off, a smile apparent on his face. Arthur came up to him from behind, shouting anxiously.

"Merlin! Merlin!"

The wizard spun around on his heels. "What is it? What's happened?"

Arthur panted, "The sword. It's gone!"

Myst: So sorry to leave it yet ANOTHER cliffhanger

Freak: We figured you guys have waited long enough for this chapter so instead of writing the rest of this, we figured just split it into two chapters.

Myst: Please leave a review or comment of what you would like to happen next!

Freak: See you next time :)