Fallenreaper
Arthur Pendragon rose his hand, the knights at his back coming to a sudden halt. The forest quietly sung around them, and up ahead, in a small clearing down a hill, was a beautiful deer. It was nosing at the ground, its tail whipping and sides heaving. Arthur swallowed, shifting just enough to lift his crossbow. He was taking his aim and what would have been a deadly shot and an amazing trophy was interrupted by a sneeze that came from behind him. The deer didn't hesitate to run off in the opposite direction, disappearing into the trees. Arthur let out a long sigh, straightening himself up. He turned around slowly, eyes narrowing. The few knights with him all glanced between one another.
"Now, who was the idiot that couldn't hold in a simple sneeze?" he asked, holding the crossbow in a way that made the knights shift. Arthur looked ready to use it on one of them.
"I-it was I, sire!" a younger knight admitted, staring at the ground, "the... the outside makes my nose itch and-"
Arthur stopped listening, because a piece of fabric attached to a tree near him caught his eye. The light breeze in the air made the dark piece of clothe shift against the lighter bark of the tree. He had been so intent on following the deer tracks, he hadn't noticed it before. "Shut up," he told the knight without a care of what he was saying, moving forward.
Now that he saw the clothe, he began thinking what he originally thought was deer tracks not actually being so. The knights observed their prince kneeling down, staring at the ground, and then doing it a few feet away again. At the top of the hill, Arthur looked down the grassy decline, then turned to them.
"Not all these tracks belong to deer," he informed them, holding out his crossbow while looking back down the hill.
Immediately, the knight that had sneezed rushed forward to grab it. Arthur didn't look back as he easily slipped down the hill, giving the clearing a good look around. He noticed more tracks, and ah, blood. He touched it. It wasn't exactly fresh, but it was fresh enough to let him know this had happened earlier today or late last night. He followed the tracks, the knights having joined him, and was led to an overhang. He pushed the thick foliage back, and let out a small gasp.
A young man laid there, an arrow sticking from his shoulder. Arthur was briefly caught by the peacefulness and beauty of his face, before he came back to himself. He scolded his own behavior as he called the knights over to help. They carefully dragged the man out. Arthur couldn't tell if he had anymore injuries, and he noticed not only the blood on the arrow's tip, but the green liquid as well. Poison.
"We have to get him to Gaius immediately," Arthur demanded; he would not leave somebody out in the forest to die. They had been getting word of bandits in the forests near his home. Perhaps this boy was an unfortunate victim of theirs. But, who could really be sure, unless Arthur asked the injured lad himself. Which, the young prince was determined to make possible.