The big, bright full moon basked it's light down at the forests surrounding Camelot. A peculiar blue-eyed wolf, looked up at the moon, thinking about who it was and how it came to be here, in this place at this moment. A deep hunger burned in the wolf's stomach but the wolf didn't want to pay notice to the burning inside him. He laid down at the soft, green moss and sighed. He couldn't remember who he had been before he found himself waking up here. Why? He asked himself and looked up to the moon again, wondering while the hunger spread it way through his body, slowly starting to poison the wolf's mind. Some minutes later, the wolf raised himself up from the ground on unsteady feet and started to walk towards an unknown goal. He sniffed at the ground and found some rags of some sort, he sniffed at them and it was like a lightning had struck the wolf's mind. He, the wolf was Merlin and he was a servant to prince Arthur and they had a great destiny together and his purpose was to save Arthur from danger. Memories of the last days flashed before his eyes, Arthur's birthday preparations - him in the forest, seeing the werewolf for the first time - the big black werewolf, mauling him in the paddock – his first transformation pain blood screaming... Merlin closed his eyes and tried to shake the memories off but they still flew around in his head. He started to run through the forest while thoughts of why he had been so careless flew out and around in his mind. Merlin felt the weird hunger starting to burn stronger inside him, his long nose suddenly raised itself up in the air and he heard how it scented by itself, suddenly he was standing almost upright but in a hunched position. Before him was a small boy, frozen in fear. He recognized the boy from Camelot. It was like he saw himself from behind or from a window, he saw a big, muscular, black furred wolf, standing on it's hind legs with blue eyes burning with rage before the small boy. The werewolf stretched out it's long arms with sharp claws and grabbed the boys shoulders, opening it's large jaw and tore the boys head off, sucking the blood that poured from the beheaded neck. Merlin felt sick, wanting to throw up but he couldn't, the hunger inside him was too overwhelming and he heard himself munching on the boys flesh, felt the still warm blood spewing in his furred face. When he was finished, he licked the blood away from his nose and landed on all fours. He started to run again.
"Very good job little one... That was your first prey that I had prepared for you." a dark voice spoke inside Merlin's head. He recognized the voice from the werewolf attack.
"Why have you turned me into this monster?" Merlin shouted back to the voice and stopped with his running.
"Hush now little one, I want you to come to me. We need to speak as I have much to tell you." the voice said and Merlin couldn't refuse, the authority in the voice was too much, he felt his legs turning into jelly by the power of the voice.
"How do I come to you?" Merlin asked with disgust.
"No worries." the voice answered and Merlin could see a wolf's silhouette coming out from a grove filled with moonlight. The wolf, now fully seen, had a bright sand colored fur and golden eyes with long sharp teeth sticking out from it's mouth. It was much bigger than Merlin with fully seen muscles and Merlin saw at once that it wasn't the same as the wolf that had attacked him. The sand colored wolf walked up to Merlin and jerked it's head, wanting Merlin to follow it.
"Who are you?" Merlin asked the sand wolf inside his head before started to follow it, thinking this was the way to communicate.
"I'm Aren, a subordinate to the leader." the sand wolf Aren answered, his voice was more soft than the black wolf's.
Merlin nodded to his answer, didn't know what to say. After a while he said:
"I'm Merlin, a wizard..."
Aren seemed to think this was very funny since his straight mouth turned into a funny looking wolf grin.
"Do you know why he turned me into a werewolf?" Merlin asked Aren, referring to the werewolf he thought was the leader.
"You will get everything explained to you when we get there." the sand wolf answered and together the two werewolves walked in silence.
Arthur was kneeling before his father, asking permission to search for Merlin once again.
"Son, we can buy a new servant for you. A servant is just a servant, nothing more." Uther said and looked sternly at his son. Arthur bit his lip and raised himself from the floor while his gaze rested on his fathers eyes.
"Merlin isn't just a servant father, he is my friend and I want to find him and get him back to safety!" Arthur said, pitching his voice a little but still keeping it calm.
"A servant? Your friend?" Uther said mockingly and laughed a bit.
"No Arthur! I don't want you to go out in the forest, period!" Uther growled to his son and Arthur nodded immediately.
"Yes father..." Arthur said with a fast nod and then exited the kings throne room. He went to his room and sat down on the bed, sighing deeply and ran his fingers through his golden hair.
"What should I do?" he thought angrily and punched himself on his thigh. Suddenly he heard that someone knocked on the door. He sighed once again and opened the door.
"Yes?", he said and looked at the person in front of him. It was Morgana and Gaius.
"Morgana and Gaius? What are you doing here?" Arthur asked a bit shocked and looked at them.
"We are just as worried for Merlin as you are and we want to help you Arthur!" Gaius said and Morgana nodded, agreeing with the old man.
"So, what do you intend to do? Father will have his eye frozen at me now because you know and he know that I have sneaked out before." Arthur said and closed the door behind his friends.
"We know Arthur but we can easily help you to sneak out. I can make a potion that will make you appear spectral for two minutes. That time would be enough to get you out of here." Gaius said and smiled shortly.
"Make me appear spectral?" Arthur said and frowned. "You are not using magic, are you?" he said suspiciously and frowned. Morgana sighed.
"Of course he is not using magic Arthur!" she said. "He can't even use magic!" she added and Gaius nodded.
"Do you want this bait or not? We will make sure you get out from Camelot's walls safely and Morgana will join you in your search." Gaius asked. Arthur thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes... but what will you say to father if he suspect something?" he asked. "I will tell him you got to bed early and me, myself, will stay here to make sure he doesn't sneak around in your room." Gaius said. Arthur nodded for an answer and then turned to Morgana.
"Can you go and prepare the horses?" he asked and she nodded. "Of course." she said and hurried her way out to the stables.
"Gaius, how long will it take to make the potion?" Arthur then asked and looked at the old man. "I've already make it." Gaius said with a grin and Arthur smiled at him. "Great!" the prince said and Gaius took out a blue potion out from his inside pocket of his robe and gave it to Arthur.
"You need to sit down while drinking the potion." Gaius said and carefully helped Arthur down onto the bed. Arthur nodded and opened the cork, putting the opening of the potion to his mouth and started to drink it. The taste was very bitter and Arthur felt his stomach wince by the gross taste. All of a sudden Arthur found himself feeling more light than before, it felt like he was sitting on clouds and he looked at his hands, seeing right through them. The sight startled him.
"Now take it easy my prince, sit here for a few seconds more..." Gaius said and Arthur nodded, waiting a few more seconds before raising himself.
"Thank you so much Gaius, I will be in your debt." Arthur said before he sheathed a sword in it's scabbard and put a red cloak around his spectral body.
Arthur made a successful way out from the castle, when he arrived at the stables where Morgana waited, the potion had stopped working just in time.
"I see that you made your way out." Morgana smiled and Arthur nodded. "Indeed I did." he said and sat up on his horse and Morgana did the same.
"Let's make our way out and look for Merlin." he said and Morgana nodded. Together, they started riding out to the werewolf infested forests on the full moon night.
