Chapter 1
The night air was warm and damp as Arthur Pendragon stepped off the plane, followed by his half-sister Morgana Pendragon. The pair of them looked suitably imposing as they surveyed their surroundings for a few moments.
"Uther said that someone would be here to meet us. I don't see anyone waiting." Morgana said disdainfully.
"No." agreed Arthur. "We'll just have to wait, then." He set his suitcase down with a sigh and began to flip through his emails on his Iphone. Who knew if the ruins even had reception? Morgana took out his ear buds and started to flip through her music. Arthur could hear a tinny Lady Gaga singing through her speakers.
Two Lady Gaga songs, one Imagine Dragons tune, and some Tinie Tempah later, a roofless car turned up. It bounced along the road with its wheels jangling it its sockets. It was a perfect picture of quaint, half-broken down industry. It abruptly came to a stop a few metres away from Arthur. A tall, skinny man nearly launched himself out of the car, stumbling over his own feet and losing his balance.
His arms wildly pin wheeled and Arthur was sure he was going to end up flat on his face. Miraculously, the man came to a stop right in front of Arthur with his hand extended and a ridiculously happy smile on his face.
"Are you Arthur and Morgana? I'm supposed to pick you up." He leaned around to smile at Morgana. "You look like an Arthur and Morgana. Not that I have a frame of reference. But still."
"Yes, are you Merlin?" Arthur asked quickly, before the man could keep talking.
"I am him. Sorry I'm late, Gaius made me clean out the lizard tank before I left." Merlin flashed them a brilliant grin.
"Gaius, as in the overseer of the dig?" Arthur asked. A man called Leon was the official overseer, but everyone he had talked to said that Gaius was the one who was really in charge.
"Ya. He's my uncle. He seems to think that means he can make me do chores whenever he wants." Arthur chuckled. Merlin stepped around him and took Morgana's suitcase from her and started loading it into the back of the car. Morgana tugged it out of his hands.
"I'll do that for myself, thanks." Morgana said coolly. Merlin didn't seem to be offended by this; in fact, his grin increase by a fraction of an inch. Arthur shoved his own suitcase into the back of the car and they took off. He had already started to tune out some of Merlin's chatter.
Merlin's driving would be called erratic at best. He swerved randomly around the trees and animals that seemed to pop up everywhere. As Merlin took a particularly sharp corner Arthur turned visibly green.
"So what are you two doing at this dig?" Merlin asked cheerfully. Arthur just nodded weakly; If he opened his mouth he would probably puke.
"Oh, are you feeling queasy? Don't worry, the nausea should wear off once with hit the highway." Merlin told them sympathetically. He kept chattering mindlessly at them until they reached the highway and his companions were able to speak again.
"What are you doing at the dig, then?" Merlin asked again.
"I'm working on translating some of the texts that they've already excavated. Arthur is working in mapping and inventorying the inside of the temple." Morgana answered.
"Hey, that means that Arthur will be working with me and Lance, and you'll be working with Freya and Will." Merlin told Morgana. Arthur marvelled inwardly at Merlin. He hadn't stopped smiling once since they had met him. Arthur reminded himself to keep his mind on task.
"How much of the temple have you already gotten through?" he asked.
"We've only done the first few rooms. There are traps in some of them, so we need to be careful. Lance nearly got hit with a poisoned blow-dart earlier today. Hunith is going to kill me when she finds out." Merlin told him.
Arthur was desperately trying to keep the names straight. There was Merlin, Gaius the overseer/uncle, a fellow named Lance, and a woman named Hunith so far. He had mentioned two others, who Morgana was going to work with, but he couldn't recall their names.
And Merlin just kept talking.
"Remind me to introduce you to Gwen. You'll like her. She works in artifact preservation. Then there's Leon. He basically makes everything happen around here. You'll like him too. There's Gwaine. Don't let him get too close to your work, Morgana. Geoffrey is our archivist. If you have any questions, ask him. Then there's Percival, Morgause, Elyan and Mordred…You'll get to know them all eventually." Merlin prattled on. Desperate for the names to stop coming at him, Arthur made a stab at conversation.
"So, why are you here?" Arthur asked.
"Gaius asked me to drive you." Merlin deadpanned.
"No, I mean what are you doing at the dig."
"Mapping the inside of the temple. And lots of inventory."
"I meant- Oh, never mind!" Arthur growled.
"Don't be a prat." Merlin told him. A few seconds later, they pulled into a small parking lot not far from the jungle.
"The temple is inside the jungle. We need to walk the rest of the way. It's a good thing you didn't bring much luggage. Want me to take yours, Morgana?" he teased. Before she could answer, he had hopped out of the car and taken it, walking towards the dark forest.
"Come on then!" he yelled, turning back to look at them for a second.
Arthur gulped. The forest was very big. And he was so very, very small.
Grabbing his own luggage, Arthur started to run after the boy.
"Merlin!" he yelled.