My first fanfic on this account and my first fanfic that I've written in a very long time. I'd appreciate any constructive reviews to help me improve.

Quote Prompt from Method in Madness: "An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may would your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind." –Buddha

I warped the world to my own twisted needs. Please forgive me.

Disclaimer I do not own Merlin or any of the characters, storylines, or anything.

Chapter One: The Sound of Silence

Traveling in the woods was never one of Merlin's favorite actives. Not only was it boring but it always seemed to put him more on edge than anything else he could currently think of.

Maybe that was because it felt like bad things only ever happened in the woods, or on their travels. He announced to Arthur that he thought as much. In return he was scoffed, called a girl, and told to move on.

All the same Merlin couldn't help but feel his ears prickle at ever sound the woods made. The birds chirped, and on occasion Merlin could hear a rabbit in a bush.

The wind whistled in the leaves, and Merlin thought, these sounds of nature would have to be one of the only good things about the woods. Only for as long as Arthur didn't try to kill something…

Everything was well in Albion. Morgana had been sacrificed at the veil, which, to the King had been a run of spectacularly good luck. Merlin on the other hand knew better, and had been exhausted for the entire following week.

The King and Queen were soon due to have their firstborn child, and all the Knights of the Round Table were eagerly awaiting the King's return from his travels of which Arthur had insisted he go alone, (if by alone it meant only with Merlin.)

The only thing that could make these times greater, according to Lancelot, was if magic was truly return to the Kingdom so that Merlin could receive the credit he so well deserved.

Merlin had long ago, however, given up on ever getting the credit that Lancelot insisted that he deserved. He was just set on keeping everyone else happy and safe.

Merlin was never scared. On edge maybe, and alert, but never scared despite what Arthur said. No, Merlin, did not, get scared. He was the last Dragonlord after all, and Emrys. What could he ever possibly be afraid of?

"Merlin" Arthur shouted, a few yards away. Merlin, who was lost in the sounds of the woods jumped to attention. He turned his head to look at Arthur. "Hurry up, it will take us all year at the rate you're riding at to get back to Camelot."

Merlin rolled his eyes, muttering, "clot-pole" under his breath before he dug his heels into the horse's sides and trotted to catch up.

"I heard that"

Merlin began a retort, but before he could manage to get the words out of his mouth he felt his stomach drop. He sat straighter in his saddle and listened even harder than before. Something wasn't right.

The wind had died completely, the birds were gone, and Merlin could sense no life anywhere. He jerked his head to the left, straining his ears.

"Merlin, what are you doing?" Arthur started but Merlin raised his hand to silence him.

"Shush" Merlin whispered. Arthur rolled his eyes,

"Did you really just shush me? You can't-" but Merlin turned to face him staring at Arthur intently and as softly as he could he asked,

"Can you hear that?" Arthur paused and listened. He frowned, opened his mouth to argue but closed his mouth once more. A look of comprehension dawned on his face and he looked around before slowly climbing off his horse. Merlin followed suit.

A moment passed as they walked through the silent woods before Merlin heard it. The only way he could begin to describe it was as heavy thumping against the ground, as if a giant were coming their ways.

Merlin looked over to Arthur, but it seemed apparent that he heard none of this. He still gazed around the woods as if looking for the reason the birds had vanished.

Turning around Merlin listened harder and it was as if the sound changed before his very eyes. Which made as little sense to him as hunting for sport did. Still he listened and the thumping shifted into the sound of drums, which shifted again to the sound of padded footsteps, and finally to soft wailing.

Merlin stepped back, on instinct and was surprised when he felt long deep claws dig into his chest. He gasped in shock and in pain but still could not see what was causing his pain. The clawing pain came again and again and although Merlin looked down at his chest but he did not bleed.

He staggered back a few more steps before he stumbled to the ground. The pain intensified and his vision swam as tears of pain watered his eyes. He saw Arthur walk towards him, and Arthur was saying something but Merlin was in so much pain he couldn't understand what it was Arthur was saying.

For a moment the pain subsided, Merlin had hopes that it would stop altogether but in the next moment the pain exploded and Merlin was certain that his chest had been cracked wide open. That was his last thought before his world went black.

When he opened his eyes, his confusion didn't end. He saw Arthur kneeling over him frowning, and although Merlin was disoriented he was no longer in pain. He sat up and saw that Arthur was speaking to him, but could not comprehend what Arthur was saying.

Arthur stood and turned away, and Merlin was still attempting to make sense of what had just happened by he couldn't connect the dots. What had just happened? What in the world was that pain? For a brief moment Merlin wondered if he was ill.

Immediately he tossed the idea aside. That sound he had heard before his attack had been real. The silence of the forest had been something Arthur had heard as well. The pain had been from something very real. And invisible?

Merlin dusted himself off as he rose to his feet, his eyes wide; he searched around for any source of sound. Gaius would know, Merlin decided, and hoped that it was true.

Arthur looked back at him and half smiled, half frowned and shook his head. Merlin could hear blood pounding in his ears. Arthur asked him something but Merlin hadn't been paying much attention.

Merlin asked, "Sorry, what was that?" Arthur sighed,

"I asked if you'd be okay until we got back to Gaius. You were screaming like a girl earlier." Arthur grunted and Merlin's brows furrowed.

"I wasn't screaming" he deflected and Arthur laughed and climbed back onto his horse.

"Sure you weren't, come on. Let's get going."

Before Merlin could respond however he doubled over in pain. He felt a clawing sensation from inside his gut as if the paws of a giant beast had just dug into him.

Merlin gasped in pain and blinked furiously as tears filled his eyes. He reached down expecting to feel the sticky wet of blood on his stomach but only felt the rough texture of his tunic.

Gulping air down, the pain subsided; he realized that Arthur was off his horse once more and by his side. He attempted to stand and Arthur helped pull him up. Merlin looked up at Arthur.

Arthur asked "You okay?" but Merlin wasn't sure.

He felt the claws dig into him once more and gasped collapsing into Arthur who carefully placed him back onto the ground.

The pain was too much from Merlin to focus on anything for too long but he felt Arthur check him for wounds, and upon finding none stepped back and looked around as if to get help.

Merlin curled himself up into the fetal position praying that the pain would stop. Before Merlin could tell him it was no good, his world turned to darkness.

Merlin could feel the beast inside of him. The creature was not a physical thing but it still gave Merlin serious physical pain. Although it had no physical body Merlin could imagine exactly was the thing looked like.

It was nasty and large; its movements were fluid and fast. It has large black wings and long sharp teeth. Merlin wondered how he could have such a vivid image of what the creature looked like if it wasn't a real physical thing.

The thing pawed his insides like he was nothing more than mossy tuffs to sharpen its claws on. Despite it's large intangible size it seemed to fit comfortable within Merlin and he thought it hateful.

Merlin, until then, could honestly say that he wasn't frightened, but in that moment dread came upon him that he could not hold back.

He wanted to scream, he wanted to reach in and pluck the beast from his chest. He didn't even know what it was, or how it found him, but it was there, and it was, with no uncertainty, up to no good.

For hours Arthur sat by Merlin's side and waited. The natural sounds of the forest had come back around the same time Merlin had collapsed screaming in pain. Concerned Arthur knew the best thing would be getting back to Camelot as soon as possible.

Confident in this, once Merlin had woken he said, "You're always such twitchy idiot. Come on. We need to get back to Camelot before tomorrow. I need to get back to my Queen and you need to see Gaius. Are you feeling alright?"

Merlin asked, "What was that?" And at first Arthur had thought Merlin had been joking earlier that day but realized that he was serious.

Something about the woods had done this. For the life of him, Arthur couldn't imagine why anyone, or anything would harm Merlin.

Certainly it was sorcery, no doubt, or something of that nature. What else could it be, to steal the sound of the woods, and cause his servant such agonizing pain?

Arthur looked around, a little helplessly, unsure of what to do when he heard the gasp from Merlin. Seeing Merlin fall to his knees Arthur's first instinct was to draw his swords.

The problem was, what was he to draw his sword on? Was he to fight thin air? There was nothing attacking Merlin. He hurried over to Merlin uncertain if he should help him up and onto the horse, or to force him to lie down.

Arthur had experienced many injuries. He had seen men, fierce knights, die in the most painful ways. Yet it was only in moments like these when he felt helpless.

Against magic, when the pain of another was something he could not help. It was something he had always envied Gaius for.

Somehow, it was worse when Merlin was hurt. It was as if Arthur could feel the edges of his pain. Even if Merlin was miles away from him, somehow Arthur could always sense that pain, and he always felt the need to fix it.

The pain was so awful that Merlin had passed out. Arthur set up camp knowing that they could get nowhere before nightfall. The ebbs of pain washed over him like the soft waves on a beach.

As Arthur stared into the fire he had created, he reflected on the first time he had felt this unusual pain. The poisoned challis, from the moment Merlin gasped for air Arthur felt his own breaths become shallower.

At the time it was strange and foreign and it was something that made Arthur felt as if the whole world was ever so slightly off balance. He had fought hard to get the flower. Yes, to save Merlin, the servant that had sacrificed himself for Arthur, but also to get back his equilibrium.

Now that off balance feeling was back. Arthur still didn't understand it, nor did he much enjoy it but he did depend on it.

Arthur knew that as long as Merlin was alive and well, that he was safe. Now, however, that was not the case -and although if asked later, Arthur would deny vehemently- he was worried.

Merlin was lying in the fetal position and his body was covered in sweat. Ever once in awhile Arthur would rest a small wet cloth to Merlin's forehead but it didn't seem to do him any good.

The longer Merlin was unconscious the more off kilter Arthur felt with the world. He was certain that if he were to get up and walk he would be walking at a ninety-degree angle.

"Come on Merlin." Arthur murmured as he stared into the fire pit.

The night passed slowly and Arthur couldn't sleep. Instead he continued to keep watch over the ever-dimming fire. In the earliest hours of the morning, however, he dozed off into a light sleep.

When he next woke, it was with a jolt. It felts as if he had been hooked from beneath his navel. He jumped to his feet, however, to see no one but Merlin, who was finally waking up.

Mini edit correction of the spelling Albion if there are any more spelling mistakes I missed please message me. My word tends to either 'correct it' wrong, or I end up being too blind to simply catch my stupid mistakes. Please, Thank you, and So sorry for the errors.