Gaius scolded me off that night and after eating he rubbed an herbal remedy into one of my shoulders and I fell asleep soon after.

Starflame dreams

That night I had a strange dream.

Every thing was blurry except Merlin, who in my dream walked out the room and down a dark corridor.

I followed him and watched as he talked to a dragon. A live, giant dragon.

"There is a presence in this room. There Is someone watching us!" There was a roar and the dragon looked directly where I was and breathed fire towards me and I woke sitting up with Gaius next to me.

Starflame awake

"You ok Starflame?" He asked.

"Yeah, just a nightmare. Next time I pull a muscle, I don't think I'll use herbs to get it better." I told him.

"Ok then, but you and Merlin need to go down to the stables and get the horses ready for your journey." Gaius said.

I looked out the window and groaned. "But it's not even morning yet!"

"You've got a lot to do. Merlin's down there already."

I got out of bed and put an clean pair of clothes on.

Gaius handed me some saddle bags and gave me a hug.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"Don't get yourself killed while out with Arthur. And it was for if you do, then I at least managed to say goodbye to you." He said.

"Oh. That makes sense." I laughed. "Take care yourself."

Carrying the saddlebags with me I got down to the stables and found my horse waiting for me with her head buried in the feed.

"What you naming her?" Merlin asked me as I stroked her neck.

"Spirit" I said and she snorted.

"Don't you laugh!" I said to her.

"Alright. She's already been groomed, just need to tack her up." Merlin said.

"Alright." I got her saddle and walked over to her.

The dun horse stepped away from me prancing on her black legs.

"I don't want any trouble now!" I warned Spirit.

After the feed bucket had been knocked over and all the other horses had been woken up I finally managed to get Spirit ready to go and stolen by Carrot next to Arthur's horse which was white and named Prince A which I snorted at along with Merlin.

Arthur came after the sky had brightened and we went over what we had in the saddlebags which Merlin had to show me how to attach them and we tied the horses up with a stable hand to look after them and walked to the armory.

"You need an sword of your own." Arthur said and got me to choose my own sword, 'dont worry about the price' he said.

It didn't take me long to find a sword and we soon got on our way.

Sir Lancelot, sir Shoshone, sir Edmondson and sir Odin were traveling with us on their own horses.

Spirit and I fought for the morning as she wanted to lead, not be led and wanted to go out in front rather than behind Prince A.

More than once I had to turn her behind the others and run her away and then back again to get her to calm down.

I found however, she did her best not to frighten or make me fall off so if I played panic than she would stop and behave.

"Starflame" Arthur called back and Merlin gave me the nod to go forward.

I urged Spirit to a trot and walked by the side of Arthur.

"Sire?" I said to him.

"Do you recognise anywhere?" He asked me.

"No sire" I answered.

"Alright, well, if you find somewhere familiar, tell me and you can go." He told me.

"Thank you sire" I said and rode back to Merlin.

"What was that about?" Merlin asked me.

"He said I could go if I found somewhere that was familiar to me." I told him.

We walked in silence for a while listening to the peaceful sound of birds and the thudding on the ground in a familiar rhythm and I felt Spirit relax and become more happy to do as I said.

A horn blew from somewhere and Spirit, caught off guard, reared up frightened and bolted away from the others, leaving me to hang on unable to stop her.

Jumping over a fence I fell and clung on to Spirit's neck which was already damp with sweat and felt her slow down.

Letting go I got up from the floor and caught Spirit's reins and walked her down in circles to calm her down.

Thundering hooves signified Merlin's and one of the knight's arrival and they got down and helped me.

"Are you alright?" Merlin asked me.

"Yes" I nodded out of breath.

"Spirit runs fast." The knight commented. "You've gone a long way from the others. Do you think she's ok?"

"Yes, she just bolted cuz she was scared." I told him as I led Spirit to a stream near us and letting her drink and I flicked some water on her neck to cool her down.

"Ok, let's get back. I feel uneasy that we've had to go from Prince Arthur." The knight told us.

"As do I," I told him. "It was as if the person blowing the horn near Prince A was supposed to make him split from the group, not I" I said then stopped when I said it looking at the others, they had the same thought.

Jumping back on Spirit I got my sword out and we galloped back to the others, me just behind the knight as he knew the way.

The sounds of swords clashing and yells spurred us on towards the others and seeing Arthur fighting two people I wished I could do something to stop him being beaten like he was.

Hfiso dbjfte these words shouted in my head as I thought to myself and the two enemies that Arthur was facing flew away from him.

Gasping I urged Spirit to go faster thinking id done magic! It was forbidden Gaius said to me and I'd done it.

The battle had finished by the time we'd got there and Arthur got looked at before any others much to his protests of course.

I tied a strip of fabric onto one of his arms that had been injured.

"We must carry on before nightfall, those people might come back." Arthur told us after a rest for the horses and us.

No one protested however it was clear that no one wanted to ride through the night and it was hard for people to stay awake. Except for me. Somehow I was fine with the sleep loss though by the time we got to the village nearly the next  morning I was feeling the consequences.

The stable hands in the village took our horses and I warned the one who'd taken mine that she was a lively one.

Collapsing onto one of the two beds in the room me and Merlin had to share I fell straight asleep.