"I ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴛʜɪs!"

You kneeled down and ran your fingers through the leaves that had fallen on the ground. One by one they covered the place where the Hunters found his necklace. There was no sign of blood. It might have all been washed away.

I had been almost five months since your father died. Your life had changed completely. The first weeks, you just sat inside by the window. Sometimes crying, but most of the time you were just watching the happy families that were lucky to still have their father. You barely came outside those first weeks. You only went outside to muck out Mara' s stables and to take good care of her. She was a piece that was still left of your father. You grew closer to that horse every day.

Weeks passed. You started to go outside more often. You made long rides with Mara to the forest where your father was last seen. The first time you went there, you just saw all was that red blood. It made you feel horrible, but still you came there every week. Something was not right about the whole scene. You were sure of it. The ground was barely touched. Your father had fallen over, but you were sure that there was no fight. There was no sign of a beast and no sign of a fight.

Slowly, wild theories started forming in your head. You eliminated them one by one. It was not a hunting accident, because there was no sign of a beats. He didn't only get hurt. He was dead for sure. There was to much blood for him to be alive, unfortunately.

Only one theory remained. This was not an accident. Someone killed him. Quickly, without giving him a chance to defend himself. This was murder.
You grabbed some leaves from the ground and put them aside. All the blood disappeared. Like nothing ever happened. You knew what happened here. You would never forget.

You sighed deeply and slowly got up. There was nothing left. Nothing to prove your wild theory and nothing to mark this terrible place.

Proof was the only thing you needed. It became clear to you that your father was murdered, but nobody wanted to believe you. You tried to tell the Hunters, the farmer, the blacksmith and all the other villagers, but they just thought you were crazy. The weeks only got harder. They treated you like an outcast. Like you didn't belong in Ealdor. They called you names, threatened you and sometimes even attacked you. You had become shy and insecure. Something that was the complete opposite from what you once were.

'Let's go back, Mara,' You said while walking towards her. The leaves cracked under your boots. Mara was standing behind you. Her beautiful gray manes fell over her eyes. She looked at you with her sparkling blue eyes and turned her ears to the front. She slowly walked towards you and bowed her head. You smiled and petted her.

'You seem so happy today,' You smiled, while walking to her saddle. You grabbed the saddle and quickly climbed on Mara's back. You took her bridles in one hand and stroked her manes with the other hand.

'Let's go.' You grabbed the bridles and prompted your horse. Mara whined in protest, but slowly started walking. She sighed deeply and her ears turned towards her neck.

'What's up with you?' You asked, while frowning. Mara snorted. She shook her head wildly while standing still again. You growled in frustration.

'Come on, Mara,' You looked annoyed, while trying to get her moving again. 'I don't have time for this!' Mara didn't seem to care. She just stood there. Like a statue. You hopelessly tried to get her to move, but Mara didn't care.

'Mara!' You screamed in frustration. You grabbed the saddled and jumped off her back. You wanted to grab her bridles, but she started moving. She tilted her head away from you, so you couldn't get it.

'So we are playing games now?' You asked while lifting your eyebrows. Mara turned her ears forward and moved backwards.

'I don't really feel like playing games,' you sighed. 'Ride me home please.' Mara snorted again. She moved her hoofs and piked up the speed. So rode through the forest in a fast gallop. You growled and stamped your feet.

'Mara!' You screamed. You were furious. You started running. Mara ignored your screaming and rode through the forest. You ran after her, trying not to fall over the loggs and branches. You avoided every tree and started running faster. Your breathing got heavier and your heart began to beat faster. Mara slowed down. She just stopped and stood there again. Frozen. Without making a move. You catched up with her quickly. You panted as you stopped running. It took a few minutes until you could breath again.

'Look who decided to listen,' you said, while rolling your eyes. Mara tilted her head and pushed her nose against your shoulder. You grinned while stroking her head.

'Sometimes you really are a mystery,' You grinned. Mara pulled her had away and tilted her ears forward. You looked around. You had never been in this part of the forest before. It didn't look any different to the part where you always went. The trees stood a bit closer to each other. The sun couldn't get through their leaves easily, but you could still see rays of sunlight coming through. This part of the forest was quite. The animals didn't make a sound. Only the sound of leaves in the wind.

You slowly let go of Mara and started walking. You were curious about what This part of the forest had to offer. It was darker, but not hard to see.

'Stay here, Mara,' you said while looking around. Your eyes went passed the trees, to the ground and to the plants. The plants were big. There were a lot of bushes with big thorns. You knew these thorns could seruously damage your skin. Your mother always warned you for them "stay away from those thorns, dear. I don't want you to get hurt."

You slowly walked towards the bushes. Beautiful pink flowers grew between the thorns. Their stems didn't seem to damage by the thorns. The stems were thin so it wouldn't cause any problems. The flowers were a beautiful colour.

You reach for one of the flowers. It was to beautiful to leave behind. You had never seen such a beautiful flower. You wanted to take it to your mother. She needed some love in these dark times.

You carefully grabbed one of the flowers. Your fingers almost touched the thorns, but you managed to avoid them. Slowly, you pulled the flower away from the bushes. It came out easily. You stepped away from the bushes and held the flower in your hand. It was perfect. A smile crossed your lips. The thought of making your mother happy did wonders.

You held the flower in your hand while looking over the bushes again. Your wanted to pick more flowers. A whole bouquet for your mom. You began walking past the bushes. Your eyes never left them. You saw a lot of flower. Small, yellow ones, tall red ones, you could even find roses! Unfortunally, the roses were to small.

You walked passed all the flowers. No flower was as beautiful as the pink rose in your hand.

Suddenly, your eye felt on something brown. It was no flower nor plant. It was flat and it looked like it was ripped apart. You frowned while stepping closer to it. It was stuck in the thorns. You wanted to get it out.

'Mara!' You called. You needed two hands for this. The flower needed to go in your bag. You hoped it wouldn't damage the flower. You really wanted to get it home safely.

Mara rode over to you. She winned and pushed her nose against your cheek. You stroke her nose and chuckled. Mara slowly took away her nose and stared at you. You walked to her side and grabbed your leather bag. You opened it and put the flower in the bag. You were very careful.

'That's it,' You said, while putting the bag over your shoulders. You walked towards the bushes again and kneeled down. Slowly and carefully, you brought your hand towards the thorns. You grabbed the brown thing that was stuck. It felt like paper. Parchment, to be exact. You frowned in confusion. How did parchment end up in the forest?

You pulled the parchment from the thorns and stood up. There were a few tiny holes in it now, but you could read it perfectly. It was a piece of a map. It was just a small piece. Only the forest you were in and a kingdom named "Camelot" were on this piece of the map.

You had heard of Camelot before. It was a big kingdom that was located west from Ealdor. King Uther Pendragon ruled over Camelot. You heard the rules about magic there from Merlin. He travelled to Camelot to live with the older brother of his mother: Gaius. Merlin wrote you letters. Tons of them. He wrote you about everything he went trough, everything he felt and everything he wanted to share with you. You wrote him letters to, but never told him about your father.

On the map, an area was marked with red in the forest you were right now. You used one of these maps before. The first time you used it was to locate the place where your father died. You knee exactly where that place was located on the map. You immediately recognised the marked area.

A large area was marked. The place where you father died was in the middle of the marked area.

Your jaw dropped as you stared at the map. You saw a few of these maps before. Your father used to bring these home. "We are going to investigate the marked places tomorrow" he always said. Everytime he came back, he brought a body with him. A dead man or woman. "Hunting accidents."

This couldn't be a coincidence. Or could it be?

'Mara!' You called, while lowering the map. You held it in your hand. This could be the proof you had been waiting for. If you could find the old maps your father found, they would believe you!

Mara rode over to you and stood still. You immediately grabbed her saddle and climbed on the back.

'No more fooling around,' You said sternly. 'It's time to go.' You grabbed the bridles and prompted your horse. Mara whined stubbornly but started riding on full speed. Back to Ealdor.

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