Prolog: Tundra

It is cold, so very, very cold. It burns my skin and freezes my insides. I believe my soul must also be frozen. My sight is blinded by the snow drifts as they whip that way and that across the white land- a wind howling, god forsaken, and hellish white abyss. I have no tell-tale sign of where I am heading. I had lost my sense of direction hours ago. There are no stars to guide my way, no moss grown trees, and no lights flickering from nearby homes. All I know is that I want to go home. I wrap my arms, numb as they are, around my torso. I had lost my cloak hours before. Oh yes, I had left it back in Ealdor in front of the hearth because I was in a rush to get home.

Yet, I may never make it there.

I trip over something covered in snow. I slide on my stomach as I register that I must have been on a hill of some sort. It is a fruitless effort as I try to use my hands as leverage to stop myself-useless as there is nothing to save me out here in this cold land. I close my eyes praying to the Gods for a swift death. I am flying. The world twirls as my body and head hit something solid. I hear a soft noise as I open my eyes. As I look at white turning a dark red I realize it is me. My groan is over powered by another noise. Howls: hungry, demanding howls. Tears pool down my face as I crawl arms over arm forward. I yelp in joy as I spy a short incline about a stone thrown away from me. I could climb then hide on the opposite side. I put all my strength into the climb. Arthur would have been stunned to see me move so fast.

Arthur…No, Merlin, don't think about him. Not now.

Grey darts to the far right of me. I look over my shoulder, stopping my ascent. Fear claws at my belly as yellow eyes glare back at me: the only real color in the world at the moment. A pack of wolves had made a U on the opposite embankment. They looked down on me. I could hear the lust for meat in their snarls. They were ravenous just as I was, but they had gone without food longer then I. They start to advance.

I am about to meet my death. I am to die here all alone and no one will know what became of me. My body will be found, my bones cracked and broken when the snow melts. Arthur will never know why I had left. He will think the worse I am sure. Arthur will never know that…that…

One of the wolves, a strong built alpha male soared off the embankment. It slid as it landed and came to a stop close enough to touch. I look it in the eye as it circles me. I raise my hand, trying to form words out of my ice-covered lips. A blue spark jumps in my palm. The wolf rushes forward. We tumbled. I screamed…

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