A/N: Salutations.
His chapter is almost twice the length of anything I've ever written that wasn't an essay. You lot should either be proud of your selves or ashamed as now I will have to try and match it. :D
There is more transformation oddness from our favourite Dragon lord in this chapter. And more characters than Gaius, Merlin, Arthur and Gwen although I do feel slightly guilty about what I do to one of them. Speaking of characters, there's going to be a cameo in the next chapter. You are welcome to guess who it is (except KRIPKEISGOD.Don't you dare spoil it beta!). Winners will get the fabulous prize of the feeling Smug Satisfaction that you were right. :D
Anyone familiar with DreamWorksHow to Train Your Dragon (I don't own unfortunately) will recognise a bit in this. I admit I was watching the film as I was typing and the idea wouldn't leave me alone.
Once again thank you for all the reviews, favs and alerts. They keep me going.
Now Milord's and Gentle ladies, Chapter 3.
Chapter 3
"Merlin, what's that in your hand?"
Said young man jumped at his king's question. Bringing his clenched fist up to his face, Merlin opened his hand and shot a confused look at the lump of crystal shining innocently in his palm.
Trying to cover up his confusion, Merlin's lips quirked in a cheeky grin.
"It's a crystal Arthur. You know pretty rocks that can be considered valuable, depending on the quality and where they come from? Why? Do you want it? I thought only girls liked sparkly things. Were all those times you insulted my gender just your attempt of telling me something?"
"Oh ha, ha, very funny Merlin. Although, now that you mention it, I think Gwen will love it - it's small enough to fit into a simple setting, so should make a fine necklace."
Arthur reached out to snatch away the rock, not expecting what was to come.
"NO! It's MINE! Keep your grubby toad-slime fingers to yourself!"
Merlin's response slightly frightened Arthur, not that he would ever admit it to his normally goofy, good natured friend. Although there seemed to be nothing left of that man in the familiar form of the servant. Merlin's face was set in a fierce snarl; teeth bared in a threat at the royal, his body hunched protectively over his treasure. The fierce animalistic glint that was in the man's eye caused Arthur to take an unconscious step back.
This only lasted one long, tense second before the manservant he knew was back, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head with his free hand.
"I mean ... that is to say ... It belongs to Gaius. He asked me to pick it up for him for the vendor in the market."
Willingly overlooking the fact that the markets did not open for another hour, Arthur decided to ignore his friend's odd (well odder than usual) behaviour. Striding towards the door to his chambers, Arthur threw over his shoulder:
"Come along Merlin, we have a council meeting to get to and you're going to love the topic, it's about preparation for the next tournament. Oh, and if I catch you nodding off, I'll throw you in the stocks. Then again, I might do that anyway, the people need cheering up."
With that, the king strode happily out of the room leaving his manservant spluttering behind him.
Although still unsettled by his earlier outburst, Merlin couldn't help but be cheered by the easy banter between him and his master. Shaking his head, Merlin quickly followed after the blonde king, tucking the crystal into a small pouch at his belt, he resolutely ignored the comment that ran unbidden through his mind:
"Arrogant human"
"Merlin set up those targets over there."
The knights and Arthur were training, and as was typical for such sessions, Merlin was the poor bloke suckered into being the dogs-body/moving target. Fortunately, it seemed that the secret warlock was in luck today, the training session had been going on for an hour and a half already and so far Merlin hadn't been used as a target, a shield or a punching bag. A productive day if he did say so himself.
Used to this task, Merlin allowed his mind to wander as his body worked. Today had been . . . odd so far. Ever since he growled at Arthur earlier, Merlin had felt that there was something inside of him fighting to emerge, and when the thing would momentarily win control, Merlin would catch himself acting peculiar.
Earlier, when delivering Arthur's spare shield for repair, Merlin had passed the herb stall in the market. Now this was quite a usual and common occurrence, seeing as Gaius had him collecting orders from all over the market and delivering medicines to the lower town on a regular basis. However, this time, when the aromas of the various herbs hit the young man, instead of just carrying on, Merlin was stopped in his tracks by an intoxicating scent.
The woody aroma had wrapped itself around him, relaxing his muscles and causing him to grin foolishly. All coherent thought fled from his mind as he wandered towards the stall in a daze. It was only when the vendor greeted him and asked what he wanted that he snapped out of it. Stuttering out a salutation and apology, Merlin practically flew down the street.
This wasn't the only incident either; getting odd cravings for raw meat at inconvenient times, growling at people who irritated him (Arthur, Guards, Arthur, the snobby councillors, Arthur to name a few), that alarming incident on the battlements where he wanted to jump just so he could reach the sky. If Gwaine hadn't distracted him...
Merlin was frightened - he didn't know what was going on with him, he felt cursed, and his rash had started to itch again, further up his arm this time. He really needed to talk to Gaius. Maybe he could make a run for it when Arthur wasn't looking – he just had to wait for him to .. . . "Oh, look, pretty! Shiny!"
The light glinted off Arthur's sword, the same one that Merlin had burnished in Kilgharrah's flame all those years ago. The runes of the old tongue carved into it's blade broke the light and cast beautifully twisted reflections on the ground and each twist and turn of the glorious sword created rainbows. A strange greed filled Merlin as he continued to stare.
So absorbed was he that he didn't hear a certain ale loving knight approach from behind. Gwaine was slightly worried about his first and greatest friend. While he knew the young man was very eccentric, his behaviour had been weird today, even for him. When he was behind the man, the rouge spotted the object Merlin was focused on, or more correctly the man holding it. Slapping on a large grin on his face, Gwaine grasped a hand on the slim shoulder in front of him.
"Careful Merlin, people might get ideas that you've got a crush on the Queeny with the way you're staring."
Startled Merlin grabbed the knight's wrist and lent over, propelling the surprised knight, armour and all, over his shoulder and onto the floor in front of him. As Gwaine landed with a crash and 'oomph' of pain, the entire field, from knights to servants to passer-by's stopped to gawp at the surprising scene.
Silence reigned as minds tried to absorb the surreal scene. Merlin, scrawny, weak, coltish, wouldn't hurt a Serket, Merlin had just winded and downed Round Table Knight, Sir Gwaine, one of the best Knights Camelot had to offer. Even the sorcerer himself was wide-eyed. Sure he knew he could throw people much larger than him, but never without magic!
Unexpectedly Gwaine started to laugh. Bewildered eyes turned from the frozen Merlin to the ale loving man. "Wow Merlin. What has Gaius been feeding you? Maybe you should start serving it to his royal highness and then he might actually win in a fight against me once in a while."
"Oh, you know, just rat stew. Tried to give it the Prat once but his delicate taste buds couldn't handle it."
"Merlin!"
Just like that the tension broke. Percival wandered over to help his fellow knight to his feet. Everyone ignored the pained wince Gwaine let out, just as they ignored the display of strength Merlin had shown. Like many incidents that had occurred around the man since he had first arrived in Camelot, it was just waved away as one of his many contradictions and peculiarities surrounding him. So what if the man road into battle without armour and emerged without a scratch, or that there happens to be an increase in falling objects landing onto of enemies of Camelot when the servant was in the area, it just meant that the boy had the luck of the devil. That thought was enough to make said servant roll his eyes.
All of a sudden, Merlin noticed a dragon emblazoned shield flying towards him. Reflexes, trained from nearly five years as the Prat-dragon's long-suffering servant allowed him to catch the projectile, although not without a stumble that was now characteristic to him. Scowling, Merlin looked up at his master, his face rapidly paling at the smug look and the raised mace. It seemed his luck had run out.
"Oh gods"
It was a battered and bruised Merlin that returned to the physician's quarters after delivering lunch to the two royals, (and an embarrassing incident in the kitchens involving a raw chicken and Mary, the head cook). The unusual burst of strength didn't hold out through the tourt ... erm training session where Merlin was drafted as an 'enemy knight'.
"Hey Gaius, you know that rash? . . . What happened in here?"
Books were piled up on the floor, pots scattered here and there, Gaius was riffling through his cupboard. Hearing his wards question, the old healer looked over to the door.
"Ah Merlin, have you seen a crystal about this size. I need it for an important experiment. I want to see if it will stabilise that new medicine mixture for the flu I was working on"
Merlin felt guilty, he knew how much Gaius loved to experiment and how hard he tried to improve treatments for aliments. Merlin's hand creeped towards the pouch before freezing. Why should he give back the crystal? He found it, why shouldn't he keep it? Anyway, such a beautiful specimen of crystal should be put to better use then being covered in foul smelling concoctions. The glittering, shimmering crystal would make a prefect courting crystal; if he ever chooses to take a mate or if he chances to see his beloved Freya again.
"No Gaius, I haven't seen it. Have you got the brains of a goat along with the face?"
Realising that he had once again had insulted someone beyond his normal insolent remarks, the warlock quickly apologized.
"Sorry Gaius. I don't know what's come over me today. I've been growling like at animal at people, craving raw meat, threw Gwaine onto the floor and I wanted to jump of the battlements at one point! I think I'm possessed!"
Merlin cried out in distress. Feeling the familiar itch starting again, he added
"And my rash is itching again!"
Concerned Gaius decided to focus on the recurring, and by far the easiest to deal with problem, the healer ordered his surrogate son to roll up his sleeve. The black mass had grown, the scale like growth completely covering the lower arm. Highly worried, Gaius tugged at Merlin's shirt as a signal to remove it. Merlin complied.
The shirt dropped to the floor as the two men gasped. The rash had grown quicker than normally possible. The whole right arm of the younger man was covered, only his hand was spared for now. Vine like patterns were created across his chest, a swirl of a curl starting to rise to the base of his neck. They coiled down to the belly button and over to the left side of his body like a living tattoo. The older man locked eyes with the younger as he gasped out the obvious.
"It's spreading!"