The Monster Under the Swinging Bridge

Arthur's heard all about the monster who lives in the cave under the swinging bridge. All the other children talk about him while they're in the sand pit or waiting in line for the monkey bars or before Miss Gwen comes and checks they're all settled for their midday nap. Of course, Arthur has never seen the monster before – during playtime, he's usually busy slaying dragons behind the equipment shed with Leon and George (except when he has to do extra reading, Arthur's not so good at reading) so he leaves Edwin and Nimueh to make sure the monster doesn't frighten others.

Today is different, however. Nimueh has been put in the naughty corner for putting yellow paint in Bayard's orange juice and Edwin says the monster is too scary for him to face on his own.

And, well, how can Arthur turn down a challenge like that?

George doesn't want to try anything different, and Leon decides he'd prefer to play with Gwaine instead, which leaves Arthur to find the monster by himself. That's fine. He's not scared. He's never scared.

So he steps up onto the raised platform and crosses the gap with the flying fox, wriggling to make it move forward since it's a bit rusty. He navigates the wooden labyrinth, footsteps crunching through the woodchips as he dashes towards the two tall towers. The chain-link ladder squeaks and rattles as he climbs it, and Arthur ignores the times when tiny bits of his skin get caught in the metal and pinch hard enough to bruise. He clambers across the swinging bridge, and there he stops suddenly. Arthur crouches and presses his ear to the floor, hoping to hear whatever growling and roaring sounds the monster makes, but he doesn't hear any. He closes one eye, squints, strains, peeks through the cracks and –

There! Something moves!

Arthur clings to the fireman's pole and grits his teeth against the burning behind his knees as he slides down and the ugly screeching sound. He lands with a thud and an oof but he gets up and searches for the monster. He saw it just before, he knows he did! So where did it go?

Then, he spies a pair of eyes blinking at him in the dim shadow of the cave. Arthur jumps and readies his imaginary sword as he creeps forward.

And then Arthur's eyes adjust to the dark and he realises what the eyes belong to: not a scary monster, just a boy, like Arthur himself. Well, not really like Arthur. He's littler than Arthur, and his hair is dark but he's definitely not a monster. He doesn't have the fangs or the scales or breathe big bursts of fire like the dragons Arthur fights every day. The boy is helping the little people who live in the woodchips with the fire engine and police car he moves back and forth through the dirt.

"Hello," the boy says.

"Shhh!" says Arthur very loudly for someone trying to be quiet. He crouches close to the ground and whispers just as loud, "have you seen it?"

The boy rests his hands on his legs. "Seen what?"

"The monster!" Arthur looks around again. "He's supposed to live here. That's what Nimueh and Edwin said."

"Oh." The boy pokes at the cars, thinking. After a second, "Are you an idiot?"

"I am not an idiot!"

"Oh," the boy says again, "okay."

Arthur hadn't expected that. He doesn't need to use his angry voice anymore. "My name's Arthur."

"I'm Merlin." Merlin holds the fire engine out to Arthur. "Wanna play?"

Well, there's no monster here. And Arthur likes fire engines; they're fun. So he plays.

But parents have started coming to collect their children and Miss Gwen calls Arthur and Merlin to come inside and wait with the other few children who've still yet to go home. Arthur climbs out of the cave first, followed by Merlin. Suddenly, though…

"The monster! The monster!" Nimueh is running at them, and for a minute Arthur thinks she's talking to him, but then she tackles Merlin to the ground and starts pulling at his ears and laughing as she plucks a lizard from her pocket and shoves it in his face, making him cry.

Arthur tries to pull her off, shouting, "He's not a monster, he's Merlin!"

And when he manages wrestle her away, Nimueh fights Arthur and says, "No, look at him! He's the monster!"

Arthur hasn't seen Merlin outside of the darkness of the cave, so he looks at him now. He stands up, brushing off his shirt and backside and collecting his police car from where it fell. Merlin's haircut isn't as cool as Arthur's, not spiked with the gel that Arthur finds in his sister's bathroom; Arthur hadn't noticed that before. And his ears are big, Arthur realises; he hadn't noticed that before either but they are huge! But his eyes – they're just weird.

They're different, not the same. The one on the left ('L' for left, thinks Arthur as he looks at his hands) is blue, like his own, but the right one is glowing bright gold and Arthur feels like it's staring straight through him, like his dad does when he's really angry. For the first time since he began his quest, Arthur does feel a bit scared.

"You're the monster?" he wants to know.

Miss Gwen is hurrying over, Arthur can see.

"I'm not…" Merlin sniffs and kneels down to pick up the fire engine Arthur dropped. "I'm not a monster!" he tells Arthur.

"What's going on here?" Miss Gwen asks, looking at Merlin who turns red in the face and goes quiet. Arthur and Nimueh go quiet, too.

"Well, Merlin, your Uncle Gaius will be here in a minute," Miss Gwen says, taking Merlin's wrist. "Why don't you come away?" She looks at Arthur like she knows what just happened, and Arthur knows she does. He hangs his head.

In the distance, he can see Merlin trying to shrug on his backpack. He gets it after a few tries and sits quietly at the art and craft table (which is empty now, since everyone is going home), placing the police car and fire engine neatly in front of him. Arthur doesn't like sitting quietly, usually, but he goes and sits near Merlin. Maybe they can play some more before he goes home.

But Merlin's nose is running and his eyes are red. When Arthur comes closer, he Merlin hands to his ears and looks at the floor.

"I'm not a monster," says Merlin quietly, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

"Okay," Arthur replies, and Merlin looks up at him. Arthur looks at Merlin's golden eye, and finds that it's not as scary when Nimueh's not around. He eyes the two cars on the table and pushes one forward. "You can play with the fire engine this time, if you want."

Merlin smiles, takes the fire engine and replies, "Okay."

Thanks for reading, guys! Any and all criticism is always welcome~

This fic is second in the 'Prince and his Sorcerer' series, which I hope to continue. At huge intervals, maybe, but still! Be sure to check out 'The Prince and his Sorcerer' if you liked this fic ^_^

Thanks again~