Echo: Chapter 2 is up! Hope you enjoy.

Goldfish: Again, Merlin belongs to the BBC not EchoGirl319.

Echo: Exactly. What a shame.


The Dragon Child

Chapter 2

~ Kescandria ~

The first thought Merlin had when he woke up in his own bed in his own tip of a room in Gaius' quarters was that last night had all been a dream. A rather strange, somewhat puzzling dream but a dream nonetheless. At least that was what he hoped.

His wishful thinking, however, was dashed when he noticed the puddle of tangled golden hair and the tiny figure curled up, snoring lightly, in the corner of the room. He was tempted to bang his head against a wall. Why, of all people, did this sort of thing always happen to him? Gaius was not going to be happy.

He grumbled as he pushed himself up into a sitting position and swung his legs over the side of the bed. That was a good point. What was Gaius going to say when he discovered that Merlin was playing host to a – what was it? Dragon child? What exactly was a dragon child?

"That, evidently," he muttered as a snort sounded from the corner of the room where the girl was sleeping. She really was filthy, Merlin noted. There was a trail of muddy footprints leading all the way over to the spot where she now lay. Just fabulous. More work for him; it wasn't like Gaius was going to do it.

As if on cue, the court physician's voice echoed from the other room.

"Merlin! What are these footprints? You haven't been sleepwalking again, have you?"

Well, Merlin thought with a sigh as he stood up and made his way over to the door, there's no time like the present. I just hope he takes it okay…

"Ah! Merlin," Gaius greeted as the young sorcerer entered. He straightened from where he stood, examining one of the footprints by the table they normally ate at.

"Morning," Merlin responded.

"Whose footprints are these, Merlin? They're far too small to be yours."

"Uh, Gaius…" Merlin began nervously.

"What?" the old physician asked.

"What do you know about dragon children?"

"Dragon children?" Gaius repeated, "well… why do you want to know?"

Merlin shrugged unconvincingly. "Just curious."

"Well, they're ancient the dragon children," Gaius said, sitting down, "almost as old as the dragons themselves. They are believed to be dragons born with the bodies of humans. They were very powerful, Merlin, and lived for thousands of years."

Merlin frowned as he also sat down. "Dragons," Gaius nodded, "born as humans. How does that work?"

The much older man shrugged. "It's magic, Merlin, no one knows."

"Is there anything else?" Merlin persisted. "Anything about how they lived? Are there any ways that you can tell if someone's a dragon child?"

"Well, I personally have never seen one before but they are said to have the eyes of a dragon and they carry a mark of their guardian dragon somewhere on their body."

"Guardian dragon?"

"For each dragon there was a dragon child. At some point in their lives each dragon was guardian to one; they raised them, like a parent would." Gaius was confused. "Merlin, why are you asking me this?"

Merlin drew a breath and inhaled deeply before asking: "are there any dragon children still alive?"

"I don't believe so. Uther killed any dragon children when he killed the dragons."

The dark-haired young man sighed at the mention of Uther driving another species to the brink of extinction. At last he turned his gaze to Gaius.

"I have to show you something."

Merlin stood up and walked over to the door leading to his room and pushed it open. He entered and Gaius followed obligingly, albeit more than a little confused. When he noticed Kescandria, curled up under her thick, dirty hair in the corner, he was across the room in an instant, his eyes wide and disbelieving.

"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed quietly when he caught sight of the black tattoo on her exposed arm, "is that what I think it is?"

Merlin nodded solemnly.

"Where did you find her? They're supposed to be dead. All of them."

"She was with the great dragon. He wanted her to go with me. To guide me or something."

"The great dragon?" Gaius repeated and Merlin nodded. "Well, I suppose Kilgarrah must have been a guardian at some point but why wanted she executed? Uther hated and feared the dragon children as much as he did the dragons themselves."

"I don't know."

"Don't you know its rude to talk about people behind their backs?" a muffled voice sounded from beneath them. Both physician and sorcerer leapt back in surprise. After a moment Kescandria's pale, gaunt face emerged from behind her mask of dark golden hair. The physician let out an almost inaudible gasp at the sight of her massive, doe-like golden eyes. After a second of glaring at them, the girl sat up and stretched her stick-like arms out in front of her.

"As for your earlier question," her topaz gaze flitted towards Gaius, "Uther doesn't know I exist. I went with Kilgarrah when Balinor – yes, your father, Merlin – summoned him summoned him to the castle. I was disguised to appear as scales on his back and, once Uther sentenced us, I dared not reveal myself. Balinor had sworn not to mention my presence to the king so, as a result, I spent twenty-two years in that cave." Idly, she examined her bony hands and spindly fingers. "I don't think it really did me much good."

Merlin was shocked. She had spent twenty-two years under the castle as well? So it wasn't only his own freedom the dragon had bargained for… Then another thought struck him.

"How could you have spent twenty-two imprisoned? You're not even twenty yet!"

She rolled her eyes. "Honestly. I'm a dragon child, warlock. We age slowly. I'm really over a hundred."

Oh yeah. Gaius had mentioned that. Through the corner of his eye, Merlin dared a glance at the white-haired man. He was frowning.

"Why exactly are you here?" his question was directed at Kescandria and the girl pointed at Merlin.

"I'm supposed to help him. With his destiny. And maybe annoy the witch a bit – just for fun."

At her words Merlin was instantly reminded of the goblin wreaking havoc across Camelot with his pranks. He did not want another re-enactment of that.

"And you expect to stay here? Right under Uther's nose? He'll have you executed if he finds out what you are."

Kescandria shrugged. "I'm at the same risk as Merlin. If he can do it so can I?"

"Yes, but I'm actually human," Merlin piped. Kescandria shot him a dirty look.

"And I have a human body," she snapped, "it doesn't make a difference whether I'm human on the inside or not, just on the outside."

"How do you expect to me to explain this? I can't just take on another ward; I already have Merlin."

"Not to mention your eyes," Merlin added, "they're definitely not human or even natural. Uther may be a bit dim sometimes and execute all the wrong people but your eyes are unmistakably magical."

"Well then," Kescandria said as she got to her feet and walked towards the bed. She jumped onto it and the young sorcerer winced at the sound of created wood. She gestured for Merlin to come towards her. "Closer," she demanded, beckoning him until they were almost nose to nose. "Let's kill to birds with one stone."

It strange what happened next. He didn't know that magic could be used to change one's eye colour. For all the shape-shifting magic he had ever seen the sorcerers in disguise had never changed their eyes so he watched fascinated as Kescandria's eyes grew darker and dimmer until they were mysterious dark blue. His eyes.

She leapt off the bed once the transformation was complete, the bed groaning again in protest, a pleased smile on her face. It was really amazing the difference the different eye colour made or maybe that was just on Kescandria whose eyes, as a result of malnourishment during her imprisonment, seemed to take up her entire face.

"I'll be Merlin's sister," she announced, "come to keep my darling big brother company in Camelot."

"B-but Arthur, Gwen and Morgana have been to Ealdor. They know that I don't have a sister."

"Our mother sent me away to stay with our uncle nearer to the capital of Cenred's kingdom for my protection when our home was being threatened by the rogue Kanan and his men."

Merlin cocked his head to one side and thought for a moment. At last he nodded. "That would work. But how did you know all that? About my village being attacked?"

"Eternal knowledge, warlock. A rare gift, even amongst the dragon children. The dragons have it – or should I say had it – as you probably know. I have some foresight as well," she boasted. Merlin just nodded.

"So you're my sister then?" Kescandria nodded.

"If that's alright with Gaius." The old man just shrugged.

"I don't really have much choice in the matter. What will you do while you're here? You need to earn your keep somehow," he told her as her mouth began to open in protest, "you could do some chores for me… or maybe you could help Gwen."

"And you need to change," Merlin added. "And get a haircut. You're filthy."

"Fine," the dragon child sighed. "We can talk work later."


She looked better after a bath, Merlin noted, though seeing her not caked in mud, dust and grime only emphasised how thin she really was. It was a wonder she could even stand she looked that frail. Her dress was a bit cleaner too, though still ridiculously dirty and stinking, like she'd been rolling around in the stables. The style, he noticed however, was one that he'd never seen before. It was white and looked like it had been made out of some fine material he couldn't name and was sleeveless, held together at the shoulders by two gold clasps. The skirt was slit down both sides revealing too pale legs but allowed easy movement. There was a thin belt loosely tied double around her waist and from it hung a sheathed silver knife. Her hair was washed too and was a wavy dark gold almost brown. He was sure that it was been brilliant blonde once but years in darkness had caused it to dull and darken. She had cut it sloppily after her bath, either with her knife or one of Gaius sharper tools, and now it only reached just above her elbow where before it tumbled almost to her knees.

"Better?" she asked.

"Much," Gaius replied, "now as to work, I want you to go with Merlin to see Gwen. Gwen is–"

"I know who Guinevere is," Kescandria interrupted, "and yes, I will go to see her."

"She could probably get you something to wear too," Merlin told her, "you can't go around wearing that."

Kescandria nodded, "Uther would recognise the style; its traditional for the dragon children to dress like this. Let us go and see the queen of hearts, brother."


Gwen, who had been sitting alone in her house working on a new dress before she had to leave for work, answered the door on the first knock wondering who on earth would be wanting to see her this early in the morning. For some reason the sight of Merlin didn't surprise her.

"Merlin," she greeted with a smile.

"Hi, Gwen," Merlin smiled back before gesturing to the door, "can I come in."

The maidservant nodded, "of course."

After Merlin stepped inside however, much to Gwen's surprise, he was followed by a small, cloaked figure. She turned to Merlin, her eyes questioning. The dark-haired manservant simply smiled.

"Gwen, I want you to meet Kescandria, my, uh, sister."

On cue, unnaturally pale, thin fingers emerged from the blue cloak and pushed back the hood, revealing dark eyes, a gaunt face and long blonde hair.

"I didn't know you had a sister," Gwen said, still staring shocked at the girl. She looked like she hadn't eaten in years or even seen the sun. Had she suffered from some deadly illness? It certainly looked like it.

"My mother's always wanted to keep her close; she was very weak when she was born and the fact that she's even made to this age was described as a miracle by the local physician."

"We never saw her when we went to Ealdor…"

"Mother sent me away," the frail girl spoke for the first time, her voice was soft and quiet but, though almost undetectable, it had a disguised steel edge to it, "Kanan was dangerous and if I got hurt it was unlikely I'd survive… I've never been good at fighting illnesses or wounds."

Gwen nodded in understanding and Merlin continued for his sister.

"But there have been some bad winters in Ealdor the past few years and if she gets sick again…"

"It's alright," Gwen interrupted, "I understand. You can look after her here in Camelot."

Both Merlin and Kescandria nodded and Gwen smiled. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could maybe make my sister some clothes. This was all she brought with her."

Gwen nodded, "absolutely. I'll just need to take some measurements, give me a moment."

She left and returned with measuring tape. She gestured for Kescandria to step forward.

"You'll need to take the cloak off," she told her. When Kescandria unclasped and removed the cloak, handing it to Merlin, Gwen's eyes widened in shock and horror. The girl was more than unhealthily thin, she was skeletal. Gwen could understand what she meant about fighting illnesses, a common cold looked enough to kill her. She looked like one of the poor beggar children in the lower town, the way the skin was stretched across her bones. Her flimsy dress also did nothing to protect her, though it was fairly warm outside, and was far too revealing to be considered decent. Even a simple nightdress or slip covered more.

Once her measurements were taken and the cloak was back on, Gwen announced that the dress might take a couple of days and offered Kescandria one of her older dresses that she had worn as a teenager and no longer fitted her. The girl shot her a grateful smile.

"Thank you, Guinevere."

"Oh, it's no problem, Kescandria, my pleasure in fact, I've been meaning to get rid of those dresses for a while now. And call me Gwen, everyone does."

Except Arthur, she thought but he was really the only exception. Kescandria smiled in smug kind of way, one corner of her mouth reaching further than the other, as if she knew something Gwen didn't.

"Only if you call me Kes," she told her before picking up one of the old dresses – the red one with the long-sleeved white under dress – and going behind the curtain to change.

"Your sister?" she commented to Merlin, "strange girl."

Beside her Merlin chuckled.

"You have no idea."


Echo: Well, how was it? Please review!

Goldfish: Yes, do! Review!