Prologue
Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to BBC. This fic belongs to me.
35 years prior to MERLIN's season 1
The young Uther Pendragon heard a noise coming from his right side, outside of his field of vision. It sounded like something small entering the water. Obviously, whatever piqued his curiosity was not important enough to get his attention, but something inside him urged him to investigate that noise.
With two options to choose from, the future king of Camelot stopped his horse.
This is the story of what happened when he gave into the urge to find out what was happening around him. To find out what happened when he just decided to ignore the sound and moved on, see all the seasons of MERLIN series, from BBC.
Uther tied his horse to a tree not far from the road, so that passers would only see the animal if they left the main route and entered in the forest that bordered the trail.
Sneaking in to go unnoticed by the thing that piqued his curiosity, the young man was approaching the lake, silently. He stopped behind a rock, next to bushes, which served as the perfect cover for his body.
Then, he was finally able to see the source of the noise. It was a little fairy Sidhe, who was doing a kind of water ballet thingy on the lake surface.
Looking at the scene, a smile formed on the lips the future king, who, seeing no harm in watching her, continued to admire the movements of the mystical creature above the water.
Suddenly, Uther heard something like a loud grunt. Alarmed, the young man returned his gaze to the noise and came across another Sidhe, definitely male, who gazed at him with red eyes.
The fae launched a ray of his staff in the direction of the future king, but the magic hit a bird that was passing between the two at that exact time. The animal exploded into several pieces.
With a growl, the Sidhe let out another death ray, however a leave came off a branch, shortly before his action, pushing the magic being with its weight, changing the trajectory of the magic.
Possessed by anger, the fae once again tried to hit the young Pendragon, however, at the moment it would release its magic, something reflected sunlight directly into his eyes, causing him to instinctively move the arm holding his staff, as he was momentarily blinded.
Heaving a sigh, the Sidhe resigned to his inability to exterminate the Pendragon and spoke:
"Uther Pendragon! You enter these sacred lands and overhear a mystic ritual of the Sidhe, ruining it completely, causing my daughter to fail in her sacred duty, bringing shame on all of my name! Such defamation could only be matched with the life of the offender, but for some inexplicable reason, you have destiny on your side and your life can not be taken by one of the People. However, do not think that your offense will go unpunished! You will experience the shame I feel now, no matter how long it takes! An eye for eye, a tooth for a tooth! The shame of my daughter for the shame of yours! When this happens, you'll know that the debt is paid! "
And, in a flurry of lights and colors, the fairies disappeared, forcing Uther to close his eyes. Rationalizing the situation, the future King concluded that what he saw was just a dream, because when became aware of his surroundings, he found himself lying on top of leaves with his head leaned against a tree, as someone who had just awakened from a nap.