Merlin Vs Aliens
Night had fallen across the kingdom of Camelot, yet no one was sleeping. Arthur stood on the balcony of the castle with Gwen at one side, Merlin and Gaius stood on the other, and the knights either side of the group. The courtyard was full of people, but none of them looking at their king and his selected family, instead, their gaze like the gazes of Arthur, Merlin and the others were all turned towards the night sky, beautifully lit as the meteor shower continued in earnest.
"Its beautiful" muttered Gwen as they watched the streaking colours. At first the people had thought they were under attack, until Gaius had explained what it actually was, having seen one before I his childhood. It was as wonderful and captivating now as it had been back then.
"It's like the stars are falling" Merlin whispered. Arthur looked at him, an eyebrow raised.
"I never took you to be the romantic type" he said. Merlin grinned.
"I do romance, not soppy" he said, even as the two men turned their faces back towards the heavens. The shower continued for another fifteen minuets before it tapered out, and the sky became quiet once again.
"Astounding" said Gaius as it ended.
"And beautiful" Gwen added. Gaius nodded.
"no doubt about that" the physician agreed. Arthur took one last look at the sky, then turning he led the others back into the castle.
For once it was nice, he thought, to see something so wonderful that wasn't trying to attack the city.
And little did he know that by the end of the week he would be proved so very very wrong.
The following day the talk of the city, was of course, the meteor shower from the previous night. So as Arthur walked through the hallways of the castle, he wasn't surprised to hear the people talking about it.
"seriously, you think it was a sign from beyond or something. Yes it was nice to watch, but that was about it" Arthur grumbled as he led Merlin out to the training grounds. Behind him Merlin grinned.
"Yeah, but you have to admit, it was different" Merlin replied. Arthur looked at him.
"Merlin, those things on your head called ears are different, yet we don't go around all day chatting about them do we?" Arthur teased, the knights laughed having heard the insult and Merlin went a slight shade of red.
"Yes, well we don't go around talking all day about your royal pratness either" Merlin shot back.
"oooo Good one" Gwaine said with a grin. Arthur turned around, staring at Merlin.
"Royal Pratness?" asked Arthur slowly. Merlin nodded then backed up as Arthur began to approach.
"come on Arthur it was joke" Merlin tried. Arthur continued to advance, when suddenly Merlin grinned.
"I don't believe it" he said.
"What?" asked Arthur, stopping.
"Six years.. it's taken six years and you can't think of a retort can you?" Merlin asked. Arthur rolled his eyes, and Merlin backed up again, suddenly feeling the unyielding wall behind him. Arthur stepped closer and closer until the two men were standing practically nose to nose.
"Arthur" Merlin said quietly.
"Yes Merlin?" Arthur asked, almost casually.
"You're standing on my foot"
"Am I?" Arthur replied looking down. "Oh I am sorry-" He lifted his foot up then stamped down hard, Merlin yelped. "-Merlin" finished, then turned away walking back towards the knights who were laughing at a hopping mad Merlin.
Across town, in the tavern a group of men had met up, intent on seeing what riches might have fallen from the sky the previous night. Their leader, a barrel chested bald headed man called Jonathan leant on the table, knuckles folded over as he gazed at a map on the table before him. Slowly he pointed to a blank area.
"The farmer's lad said they fell not more than a quarter days travel from the Havidge Farm" Jonathan said. "So if we leave now, we can be there and back before nightfall" he continued. "Jack?" he prompted to a small man, with a nose far too long. And beady little eyes.
"I got the horses for us, so travel is no problem" his voice sounded like that of a timid mouse. Jonathan nodded and stood upright and nodded.
"Right then, lets go get us some moon rocks" he said, leading the five other men out.
"I'm sorry Merlin, I didn't think it was that bad" Arthur muttered as he helped Merlin hobble towards the physician's office.
"Arthur its okay, I asked for it" Merlin said.
"Yeah but-"
"Arthur!" Merlin practically shouted. Arthur sighed as he opened the door to the Physician's office. Gaius looked over at them.
"What's happened now?" he asked wearily looking over towards his ward.
"Nothing, Arthur just stepped awkwardly on my foot" Merlin said, Arthur shot him a grateful look.
"total accident" Arthur agreed. Gaius rolled his eyes and motioned for Merlin to sit on the stool, while he removed the boot and sock with a hole in it.
"Don't you have a decent pair of socks?" asked Arthur. Merlin looked up at him.
"That is my decent pair" he said, then winced as Gaius inspected the bruise.
"Well, it doesn't look too bad, we'll need something to bring the swelling out though" he said absently.
"It's not broken then?" asked Arthur.
"No, just badly bruised, he'll be fine if he keeps off it for the rest of the day" Gaius said.
"I can't keep off it for a day" Merlin protested. "I'm the kings manservant, I do have duties" Merlin stated. Arthur smiled, despite his guilty mood, but quickly made his face neutral when Merlin looked at him.
"If Gaius says that's what you need, then who am I to argue?" asked Arthur.
"You always argue" Said Merlin.
"I do not" Arthur protested.
"Gentlemen, please, if I might work in peace?" Gaius said with a sigh.
"Gaius is right Merlin, take the rest of the day off, but I expect you to catch up on your chores tomorrow" Arthur said. Merlin grumbled.
"Fine" he muttered. Arthur nodded, then with a smile at Gaius, turned and left the room.
"you know Merlin, as much as your friendship with the king keeps me amused, sometimes I do have to wonder when you'll push just that little too far" he said. Merlin sighed as winced as Gaius applied a cold salve to his foot.
"Well sometimes he asks for it"
"Merlin it's your duty to protect him, not insult him" Gaius reminded.
"And sometimes that duty extends to making sure his head doesn't get too big for his shoulders" Merlin replied. Gaius smiled and stood up.
"There, that should do it, just keep off it for a bit and we'll see how it feels in an hour"
"Fine" Merlin muttered. Gaius made them both a hot drink, then sat down opposite Merlin who had started reading through one of Gaius's old medical texts.
"I hate being hurt" Merlin admitted at last.
"No one likes being hurt Merlin" Gaius said. Merlin shook his head.
"I know, but is it a coincidence when something happens to me, it usually mean's someone somewhere is going to try something to take over the kingdom" he stated.
"Merlin, I assure you, nothing bad is going to happen" Gaius told him.
The first sign something wasn't right was when Jonathan led his small band past the farm. It was the middle of the day, so someone should have been out working. Instead there was nothing but silence. Even the cattle was missing.
"Where is everyone?" Thomas, the youngest of the group wondered aloud. Jonathan held up his hand, gesturing for the rest of the group to stop.
"John?" asked Jack, watching the large man slowly approach the farm house. John didn't reply, instead he pushed open the door and peered into the small one bedroom house.
The house was empty, but he felt a shiver down his spine, the atmosphere was tainted. The table was laid out, cold food lying untouched, the windows closed. Slowly he entered, and walked around, nothing was out of place, nothing was touched, except for something in the far corner. Slowly he moved to it. It was sat upright on the counter, and looked for all the world to be a large, veiny green egg. Except whatever had been in this one wasn't any more. The top of the egg had three flaps that had curled back. Slowly he backed away, not touching the stinking object, before he moved quickly from the house, and back to his group.
"John?" asked Thomas.
"Lets go" John replied, not telling them of the feeling he had suddenly got.
They rode for another twenty minuets or so, before they came to a wide open field. It's grass was dotted with rocks from the shower the night before, all of them glinting in the sunlight all of them possibly full of un-tapped riches.
"I think we're gonna be rich" Jack said as he dismounted. The others doing the same. Jonathan however continued to remain silent, instead leading the way forwards. They had gone perhaps twenty yards when Robert, another member of the group suddenly yelped. The others turned to see him pointing. They followed his gaze to the remains of a horse.
"What in the hell happened to it?" asked Jack. The horse was quite dead, the gaping hole in it enough to testify to that, the more frightening aspect of what they were seeing however was the fact the hole had been created by something leaving the horse.
"Don't touch it" Jonathan suddenly said.
"Sure as hell I ain't touching it" Eric, the last member of the group said.
"John, look!" Jack said, John turned and saw Jack had found another corpse, this time a dog, in the same sate as the horse. Jonathan stepped towards it.
"That's the Havidge's dog" he said sadly as he knelt down.
"John, I think we should go now" Thomas said softly.
"Yeah. Me to" the big man agreed as he stood up. He turned back towards the others, when Jack suddenly screamed from behind him. John turned seeing Jack on the ground, he ran towards his friend, staring in horror at the thing that was now attached to his face.
"Jack!" he called, which was when another of the things launched from the tall grass and the world went dark.
Gwen looked up as Arthur walked into their chambers, night had finally fallen and she was already in her nightclothes. She smiled as he pulled her into a hug.
"And how is my King today?" she asked playfully. Arthur grinned at her as he kissed her.
"Fine apart from the guilt factor Merlin managed to pry on me" he said.
"What happened?" asked Gwen.
"The usual, he said something, I went a little overboard and left him suffering with Gaius for the rest of the day" Arthur said.
"Arthur? What did you do to him?" she asked.
"Just trod on his foot, just a little too hard was all" he said. Gwen slowly began to smile and then laugh.
"What's so funny?" Arthur asked.
"You two, you're worse than children sometimes" she said. Arthur looked slightly shocked at the implication.
"Not, that that's a bad thing" she hastily added. "Is he alright?"
"He's fine, but he lied to Gaius and said it was an accident" Arthur said. Gwen smiled.
"Your hero" she teased.
"No, that would be you" Arthur said as he leant forwards. They were interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. Arthur sighed as he turned while Gwen composed herself.
"Enter" he said. The door opened and Leon walked in.
"Sire, forgive the intrusion" Leon began.
"Is there a problem?" asked Arthur.
"Not yet, but a group of men left Camelot this morning to investigate the area where the meteors fell" he said.
"And?" prompted Arthur.
"They've not yet returned"
"I see. It could be they stopped for the night in a tavern somewhere" Arthur said. "I take it their families are worried"
"Yes sire" Leon replied. Arthur took a deep breath, then nodded.
"Tell them if they have not returned by sunrise I will personally lead a team to go find them" he said. Leon nodded and bowed.
"Yes sire, my lady" he added, before he turned and left the room. Arthur rolled his eyes and looked at Gwen.
"you think they're alright?" she asked. Arthur nodded.
"Yes, and as I said, if they're not back by morning I'll go look for them" he said. Gwen smiled, then kissed his nose.
Jonathan awoke to a pounding headache, he was still in the grass where he'd fallen, but couldn't for the life of him remember what had happened. He squinted in the darkness, seeing Jack slowly sitting up not far from him, and across from them, Thomas, Eric and Robert were also coming around in similar states. The horses however, were nowhere in sight.
"Is everyone okay?" Jonathan said, suddenly cringing at a pain in his chest. He took a deep breath and it slowly passed.
"Apart from my head" Jack groaned. Over from them, Eric began to cough, Robert and Thomas moving to him.
"Easy there" Thomas said as Eric took great lungful's of air, the coughing subsided, but he was a little pale.
"Anyone remember what happened?" asked Robert.
"I remember finding the horse, and the dog" Thomas said. "then Jack yelled, then I woke up" he finished, reaching over as Eric began to cough again. Jonathan nodded and stepped forwards, then fell to his knee as the pain in his chest returned.
"John?" asked Jack running over to him. John looked up at him, then screamed as something suddenly began to thud at his ribs. From the inside. Jack watched in horror as a splotch of blood appeared on the man's tunic. Jonathan rolled onto his back, staring up at the sky wide eyed Jack kneeling over him, calling his name, and falling back as whatever was in Jonathan thudded again/ this time however there was more blood and the sound of tearing flesh, the tunic tenting upwards as it ripped. The thing emerging from Jonathan was disgusting. It was small and pale, with sharp teeth that snapped open and closed in the night air. Jack stood to move away, then faltered as he felt something begin to move within his own chest. He looked over, seeing Eric on the ground, another creature drawing itself out of his remains, while Robert and Thomas both gagged and screamed, withering on the floor. The creature on top of Jonathan hissed then shot forwards with inhuman speed and into the darkness. Jack falling back a moment later as his own chest exploded open.