Chapter 1:
Merlin was picking flowers on the day it happened. he picking flowers for Gaius's herb stock, flowers that could only be found in a remote part of Camelot's lands, threes days journey from the castle. Merlin had not wanted to leave the king for that long but with Guinevere restored from the Mandrake root curse which poisoned her mind, he doubted Arthur would even notice him leaving.
He was happy for the couple, they made the perfect king and queen. Merlin had found a full meadow of the flowers he was looking for and had just finished picking a basket-full. He carefully placed his root into a cloth bag to dry out before packing up his makeshift camp and heading back along the road to Camelot.
He had only been walking for a short time when a flash of silver caught his eye. He stopped, thinking it was a bandit, and prepared to knock it unconscious with a falling tree branch overhead. But after a while, when the silver remained un-moving, he moved off of the road and into a clearing filled with a strange plant where he quickly discovered a silver shield.
The clearing had obviously been the site of a battle of some sort, however, what puzzled him more was the black scales littered every where and the lack of dead bodies. Picking up the shield, Merlin examined it for more clues. It was made of metal, however it was extremely lightweight and somewhat hollow. he hit the front of the shield and an echoing sound told him it was definitely hollow.
The front of the shield had a dragon painted onto it, but it was black with half of it's tail painted red, more feline than Camelot's and curled around the centre bulge of the shield. Suddenly a loud thump came from behind him, then two more either side of him. a snort that sounded much like a large wyvern behind him startled Merlin into movement. Dropping the shield and whirling around, Merlin glimpsed a flash of blue behind a large tree at the edge of the clearing. Bandits!
He turned to run but tripped over the shield he had dropped. The shield gave a loud click before firing something at him, and when he slowed time reflexively he recognised it as three large stones trailing thick rope behind them which were all attached somehow in the middle. It looks like something Arthur would use to catch a bear he thought before his magic slipped and the ropes wound around him, snapping his arms and legs together.
Quite effective though Merlin who was still surprisingly calm as he toppled over. he hit the ground face first and heard a snapping sound before he felt a blinding white pain in his nose and tasted his blood as it trickled into the dirt. He rolled back over as quickly as he could, searching for a tree branch he could drop on his attackers but they were already too close, they would see his eyes change if he tried anything now. He took a good look at his attackers as there was not much else he could do, he was still tangled in the rope contraption.
There were three of them, queerly dressed in steel and a weird looking leather, was it yak? He opened his mouth to say something smart but stopped. They were looking behind him, which confused him as he had only heard three thumps... a weird green dragon-wyvern hybrid with two heads of all things poked both of its necks out revealing two saddles on its necks. oh..? they rode the dragons, but that would mean...someone grabbed his hair and yanked his head forcefully back, and he felt the cold sting of steel at his throat.
Merlin had time to think oh no and So there's four of them, before a decidedly female but extremely terrifying voice shouted in his ear.
"WHERE HAVE YOU TAKEN HICCUP! WHERE IS HE!"