Arthur was leading the nights in a good old hunt, but this was not for any animal, the King had received word of thieves lining the trees of the forest, but unlike those who would rob you and leave these would kill the men, violate the women and torture the children, they deserved their death! Merlin lingers back, just behind his king as he signals for silence and stillness, the sounds of laughter and a men's screams come from the west. They quickly dismount and stealthily, hurriedly make their way over to the echo's only to see a carriage of cargo being ravaged by around sixteen, eighteen men, the bodies of the drivers thrown to the ground lifelessly, except for the third, the driver who they continued to torment! They attacked quickly, needing to save the man, cargo was replaceable but a man's life is not!
As Merlin fights at his friends sides, slyly using magic when needed he sees figure descend from the ridge above them, immediately thrusting themselves into the fight, saving Elion from one of the brutes with a swing of the curved swords in their hand, another large dagger in the other, the handle a white pearl ivory, carved into the head of wolf at the end, the blade a shimmering black, as she briskly moves onto the next kill before the knight can witness his savior. As the long silver haired warrior fights Merlin sees the others doing much better with the thieves, but then sees the black leather, bright metal covered rouge is about to be struck with an axe and mutters under his breath, watching as the man is suddenly thrown into a tree.
Silver hair whips around to see what had happened, giving the sorcerer his first glimpse of her face… her skin is moonlit white, her lips petal kissed pink and her right eye is a ashen iced blue, but her other is cloudy white, a long claw scar racing from her brow, across her eye, to her slender neck, distorting her blatant beauty, but to Merlin, as a small smile graces her face and she gives a nod of thanks he swears he's never seen anything more beautiful while she continues in the battle, they both do!
Merlin Looks to Arthur reaching for his sword as he had fallen, about to be attacked and before Merlin can react a wolf lunges from the trees, ripping the man's throat from his neck. Arthur grabs his sword and ready's himself for the hounds attack, but it never comes, the wolf just looks from the king, blood dripping from his gray fur and sharp fangs and… leaves, returning to his woodland home. The king blinks in a state of shock then quickly returns to dispatching the bandits.
As the knights and manservant seem to be winning the battle, Merlin finds that the female warrior has vanished, the battle won and man saved, but the only thing on the young warlock's mind is this 'who was that?' As the knights busy themselves with checking on each other, Arthur having already looked to the boy, sharing a smile signaling 'I'm fine', and tending to the man and each other's wounds, not noticing as a clothed hand covers the raven haired man's mouth, slipping him into darkness and three of the cowardly thieves caring him out of site.
The last thing he hears before tumbling into forced slumber is the cry of his distressed King, his worried friend "Merlin?"
When the warlock awakens its dark and he's tied to a tree, he sighs in annoyance "oh, bloody brilliant!"
He then see's the campfire and two men discussing him "it's a known fact the king's got a soft spot for the boy, he'll pay!"
"Well if he doesn't I'm giving him you!" the other man retorts, Merlin watching them as he magically unties himself from the tree and quietly backs away from them, and into something hard!
He turns to find a built man glaring down at him, Merlin smiles and wave innocently "Hello there!"
Only to be punched hard in the face, then again in the stomach, the other men seem to notice their ransom being violently beaten and run over "Trevor stop, we need him alive!"
The giant ogre also known as Trevor hits Merlin in the side, forcing him to topple over onto the ground, bruised bleeding and in pain "alive don't been intact!"
As the three share a laugh Merlin quickly mumbles the words for a sleep spell, making each man fall to the floor, one on top of him, he's just grateful it's not Trevor! After rolling the man off him he stands and runs with all he can, fighting off the pain, but he has no idea where he is, what way he's going, but he soldiers on through the dark unforgiving forest… because he had to.
After about two hours Merlin falls to his knees, hand out to steady his broken gaze, what he sees with hazed eyes makes him fight exhaustion to want to defend himself, not ten feet from him is a grey and white wolf, looking at him with its head tilted as he can't fight any longer. The wizard falls to the soft ground beneath him as he sees an outline of another figure, one with silver hair "hush young warlock, you are safe… rest now"
And he finds himself the next morning, the sun warming his tender skin and sits up, gasping in slight pain, but finding not only is he covered with a blanket, a burnt out fire beside him and a horse tied to a tree but the major of his wounds vanished or lessened into meager scrapes. He looks around in wonderment only to see a dagger resting against a piece of parchment that reads 'Camelot lies east of here, a half days ride, take the horse. You may also take the dagger for protection… Safe travels my friend'
As Merlin looks to the dagger he remembers it, the wolf handle and coal black curved blade, this belongs to the woman from the battle! He stands carefully and looks around the empty trees, searching for his rescuer but finds no sign of the girl. He folds the letter, placing it into his pocket and slipping the blade into his belt as he mounts the horse, before he leaves he once again looks to the forest that are just as empty as before and shouts "thank you… whoever you are!"
As he rides off the scarred beauty peers out from behind the tree, no longer in her armor but dressed in a simple pretty green dress, a small smile on her face, a gray and white wolf at her side, nuzzling into her stroking hand on his head "your very welcome… Emrys"