I do not own any BBC Merlin characters!
Chapter Two
Arthur was becoming very tempted to slam Merlin across the head with his cross bow. Every move the boy made just seemed to send any possibly prey hurtling in the opposite direction. At the moment he was somehow managing to remain quite, crouched down in the undergrowth with the other knights as the King lined up a magnificent buck, which stood in a clearing about fifty yards away.
"Arthur." Merlin called softly, breaking the silence and startling the deer. With a flurry of hoof beats the creature fled into the forest, vanishing between the trees and leaving Arthur aiming at nothing.
Turning on his servant Arthur glared at him furiously,
"What Merlin! What could you possibly need to tell me?"
Merlin's reply was cut off as the forest filled with the sound of yells, the foliage around them erupting as bandits leapt up out of the surrounding area, swords drawn and advancing on the hunting party.
"That." Merlin said darkly, standing up with the other knights as they prepared to fight off the attackers.
The clash of steel against steel rang out as Arthur's weapon met with one of the bandit's, sending the man's sword back away from him and giving him the opportunity to finish him off with a quick jab to the stomach. These men weren't trained to fight, and the hunting party quickly finished them off, leaving one man stood on his own, swinging his sword wildly at the advancing knights.
"TRAITOR!" He screeched, pointing towards Merlin with the tip of his sword, resulting in a number of confused looks. "I KNOW WHO YOU ARE FRAENER! YOUR KIND THINK THAT YOU ARE SO MUCH CLEVER THAT THE REST OF US! BUT WE WORKED IT OUT! SEE HOW YOUR MOTHER FEELS WHEN SHE SEES THE CHILD SHE GAVE UP AS NOTHING MORE THAN A BLOODY CORPSE!" The man lunged forward, heading for Merlin, only to stop half way and fall to his knees.
He stared dumbly down at the arrow sticking out of his chest, the crossbow that Arthur had not had chance to fire at the buck cradled casually in the King's hands.
"Too late little lost Prince." The man croaked, looking back at Merlin, "The others already know."
His laughed, the chuckles catching with the blood seeping into his lungs until there was nothing but drowning gasps and he slumped down dead. His eyes stared out at nothing, his teeth still grinning and stained red.
"What the hell was that?" Gwaine asked, nudging the lifeless body with his foot before kicking the sword away.
"I have no idea." Merlin said, watching the body of the man with a fearful sort of curiosity, "Who did he think I was?"
The knights all shrugged, and Arthur simply ignored the conversation.
"He was obviously insane; there is no way you could be who he thought you were. He'd obviously been paying attention to too many tavern stories."
"Hey!" protested Gwaine, "I'll have you know that those stories can serve as a very reliable source for information. You just need to know where to look."
Shaking his head Arthur focused on heading away from the bodies, intending to find somewhere to camp for the night and then head home in the morning.
"Let's get moving." He ordered, "I want to be back in Camelot by tomorrow."
Gathering up their things the rest of the hunting party trudged after him, each of them shooting Merlin strange looks from time to time as they moved through the forest. Soon the sound of running water filtered its way through the noise of wildlife and rustling trees, pulling them towards a small stream that cut through a rather small clearing. The surrounding trees stopped inwards, creating a canopy which stained the sunlight a misty green. Surprisingly Arthur helped to set up camp with the Knights, and only the cooking was left to Merlin, while Percival fed the horses and checked that the bridles were securely tied. Even Gwaine fell silent, a look of deep concentration etched across his face.
"I think I know which story you meant now." He piped up, turning to face Arthur.
"Forget it Gwaine, there is no truth in it anyway." Arthur told him, not looking up from the fire that they were now all sat around, the remains of Merlin's stew haunting the bottom of the cooking pot.
"It's still a good story." Gwaine shrugged, "And it's not like anyone else is feeling talkative tonight."
"It might be a good thing to know why those men though they should go after Merlin, even if he isn't the person they were looking for." Chipped in Leon, agreeing with Gwaine, somewhat begrudgingly.
Grumbling slightly Arthur gave in, nodding to Gwaine to tell him that he could start the story, and leaning back against one of the logs to listen.
"I was in this tavern one night," Gwaine told them all, leaning forward as he spoke, enjoying the way they were all focused on him.
"And there was this old guy sat by the fire, just staring into the flames with all these men gathered around him, not saying anything. Anyway, I went to see what they were all up to and the old man just started talking.
He said that Uther thought all of the dragons were dead because there were none left in the land, but there are great Kingdoms far beyond the reaches of these shores, oceans too great to be crossed by most ships. For a dragon however, these distances offer no challenge what so ever."
"Like I said" interrupted Arthur, "a fairy tale." The knights shifted uncomfortably, unwilling to admit they were rather intrigued by the story.
"As I was saying." Gwaine continued. "This old guy was convinced that Dragons still existed in great numbers, hiding away in an island kingdom called Canicus."
"I'm sorry." Elyan butted in, "What has this got to do with Merlin being targeted by some crazy bandit, who can't tell the difference between reality and make believe."
"I'm getting to that!" Gwaine muttered impatiently, "You need to hear the background to understand the characters."
The knights shot Arthur a sceptical look, but returned their gaze to Gwaine when the King gave a shrug that very clearly said to shut up and just let Gwaine get the story out of his system.
"Canicus was also the home of the Dragon Lords." Gwaine informed them, noticing Merlin tense slightly at the title, but not really thinking much of it since Merlin had a tendency to act strangely as a matter of normality.
"There are supposed to be eleven families of Dragon Lords, and each generation a new Dragon Lord is born, ready to inherit his powers on his father's death. They were ruled over by the first family of Dragon Lords, who were called Fraener, but then Uther came along and started the great purge, and during the years of battle between Camelot and magic that followed the King of the Dragon Lords was killed.
When Uther claimed he wanted to make peace, the King's window sent her only son to Camelot as her ambassador,"
"You mean Balinor!" Merlin yelped, his eyes wide with shock, "Balinor was royalty!"
"It's just a story Merlin." Arthur laughed, "Balinor was no more royal than you are."
Scowling at being interrupted again, Gwaine paused before continuing.
"We all know what happened between Uther and Balinor, and that Balinor somehow escaped and vanished for years. At some point though, during the time between the Great Dragon's imprisonment, and its escape, a woman arrived in Canicus, carrying the Dragon Lord's unborn son."
Gwaine saw Merlin flinch more noticeably this time, the servant's hands curled into tight fists so that his knuckles were turning white.
"When the child was born there were celebrations, since there was once again a clear heir to the throne and the next generation of Dragon Lords was secured. However, Balinor's younger brother saw the child as the future of war against Camelot. The babe's mother overheard Balinor's brother speaking of how the child would one day be the perfect warrior to lead an attack on Camelot, that he could be shaped perfectly to hate the Pendragons and avenge his father. The woman did not want this for her son and feared what she had brought him into.
The next day the babe's mother locked herself and her son away in her chambers, claiming they had both fallen gravely ill and only allowing her most loyal lady in waiting to see to her.
Two weeks later they found the chambers empty, and the woman gone as well as her son. Guards were sent out to search for her but they found to sign, until the fourth day when one stumbled across the woman slumped against a small mound of stones. When she was brought back to the castle, and the babe was not with her, it became clear that the grave was that of Balinor's son. The sickness had spared the mother but taken the child."
Gwaine ended, and the hunting party remained silent.
"If the child died." Merlin said, "Why do they think that I was part of this family."
Gwaine offered Merlin a small smile, seeing the strained look across the boy's features, the servant never did cope well with other people's suffering.
"Some people think it was all a ruse. That there was no sickness, that she sent the child away with her lady in waiting and the grave is in fact empty."
"It's all rubbish though." Arthur assured him, "The bandits were fools to believe it."
"What if others do?" Merlin asked nervously.
"They won't." Arthur stated confidently, closing his eyes and preparing to go to sleep.
"If it were true though…" Merlin whispered to himself, trailing off. He shook his head forcefully, refusing to think of the implications such a reality would bring. Tomorrow he would be back in Camelot and he could forget the whole stupid thing.
"Merlin." Arthur barked, just as the servant lay down.
"Yes?"
"Wash that pot up! We don't want anything creeping up on us in the night because you left food lying around."
"Yes Sire." The servant grumbled. If he were royalty, he thought, it would at least make for a fantastic reaction off Arthur.
Updated 19/11/2012