Author's Note: Alright, so, just to let you know. I've got a sort-of plan for updating from now on. I'm going to update all of my fan fictions every other week. The week in between, I'm going to update stuff for another website. Anyway, I'll do my best to keep to my sort-of plan, and read, review, and enjoy!

PS: I'm hoping that this will be somewhere between one to five (and yeah, I know that's a huge range) more chapters. We'll see though. I feel like I've been dragging this on a bit too much.

Disclaimer: There is an element in here that is from the Dune series by Frank Herbert (see if you can spot it), so I don't own that either.

AAAAAA

When Arthur woke again, it was to the sound of the rain pounding on the tent, thunder rumbling through the air, and wolves howling. He bolted upright and scrambled for the sword that wasn't there before grabbing something that could be used as a weapon and creeping out of the tent. A different wolf howled and Arthur realized that they were in the camp right now.

By that time, the other knights had woken and were doing much the same as Arthur. He led them all out of the tent and stalking towards the sound of the wolves.

Arthur and the knights reached the place the howls were coming from and stopped short. In a loose circle around the two creatures, the rest of the bandits were standing, cheering for one or the other, getting soaked to the bone. The king noticed Loren attempting to get everyone to back away and stop the fight (how were they supposed to do that with two hungry wolves?), but he eventually just turned and walked away.

For a few more moments, Arthur and the knights continued to sit there and watch the battle occur, listening to the thunder roar. Then, Merlin's voice cut through the rain, "What is going on here?!" And she sounded mad. Quite frankly, if Arthur had just a smidge less pride, he would have shrunk back from that tone of voice. He never wanted to be on the receiving end of it.

The rest of the bandits cringed away, but the wolves continued on, oblivious. Arthur didn't understand when Merlin called out to the wolves, "Matt! Joshua! What do you two think you're doing? Stop this fighting right now!"

His confusion only increased when Loren leaned over and shouted to be heard above the pounding thunder, "They're too far gone into wolf form! They'll never listen to you like this! You have to hurry! They'll tear each other apart if this goes on any longer!"

Before the blonde prisoner could react, Merlin stared at Lancelot and gave him an apologetic look. His eyes opened wide and then Arthur saw Merlin fall onto her hands and knees. The king tried to rush forward to help her, but Lancelot of all people held him back. That's when the bandit queen started to… change.

Within seconds, her bones had elongated and morphed into something different, muscles becoming more pronounced in different places, and hair (no, fur) growing all over. Within seconds, their captor was a wolf.

Arthur couldn't believe his eyes as Merlin… the wolf… the sorceress… the bandit queen ran towards the fighting wolves and snarled at them. They curled into themselves and whimpered. She nudged her… snout against first one wolf, then the other. They lowered their bellies to the ground and whimpered again and she barked at them. The two smaller wolves barked happily back and gave what could only be described as a wolfish grin.

Merlin rolled her golden eyes and gave a wolfish smile back. The two smaller wolves started to play wrestle while she lay down and rested her head on her forepaws. Arthur took that moment to really get a good look at her. In wolf form, she had the same raven black coloring of her normal hair, but with strange designs etched into it in a deeper black. From behind him, Gwaine said quietly, "What was that?"

The other knights nodded solemnly in agreement, not even noticing the rain pouring down around them anymore. Arthur looked up when he heard footsteps coming closer. He saw Loren standing in front of them. Loren smiled slightly and said, "Come on. We can't have you standing out here and catching a cold. We want you in peak condition when we ransom you off." Arthur knew the second in command was going for light-hearted, but he couldn't quite hide the way he was suspiciously eyeing their obvious glances in Merlin's direction.

Arthur nodded jerkily and started to move back towards their tent, waving his hand for them to continue forward. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Loren stopped Lance and motioned for him to stay. Lancelot nodded woodenly and grabbed the blanket offered to him, not once taking his eyes off his sister's wolf form.

Arthur and his knights stayed in their tent for almost a half an hour before two thoroughly soaked forms walked in through the tent flap. Merlin and Lancelot sat down next to each other with Merlin leaning tiredly on Lance's shoulder. Elyan couldn't contain his outburst, "What was that?!"

Merlin sighed and said, "That is what happens when the gods give someone the Curse of the Wolf. And don't ask me what that is because it's pretty self explanatory." Elyan looked like he was going to say something, but he ended up just sitting back in silence.

Leon addressed his question to Lance, "Did you know?" Lancelot just shook his head and Arthur saw Merlin wince out of the corner of his eye. No wonder Lancelot had seemed so shell-shocked when she… changed.

"How long… has it been like this?" Percival asked hesitantly.

Merlin smiled at Percival (you really couldn't help liking him) and answered, "I don't know. I was about, nine maybe. It's been a while."

Gwaine raised his hand and Merlin smiled and pointed at him. He grinned at her and asked, "Do you like being in… in, um, wolf form?"

This time, when the bandit queen smiled, it was a sad, pained smile and she answered quietly, "Very much." And her voice filled with such longing that it filled Arthur's heart with agony. He didn't know when he had become so attuned to her feelings. They talked for a while longer, until the rain stopped and someone came in and told Merlin that they were almost ready and they just needed her to do some finishing touches. She rose gracefully from the ground and bid them all a farewell, kissing Lance's forehead as she went. After a moment's hesitation, Arthur followed her.

When he finally caught up to her (with some helpful smirk-pointing from Loren), Arthur commented idly, "You know, we never did finish our conversation about your jewelry."

"No. We didn't." Came the completely uninterested sounding reply. Arthur sighed inwardly. He had hoped that he would at least have startled her a little bit. No such luck.

He tried again, "Well, I was thinking that maybe you could continue telling me about it. Like, um, why do you wear those hoop type things in your hair?" He had been about to say hoops, but he saw that they were more like coins with holes in the middle of them.

Merlin shook her head and huffed out a laugh, finally answering, "We spent some time in a desert clan and they got me into the habit of this. It doesn't say anything about my story, other than the fact that I did live with that desert clan for a little bit. Basically, water is scarce and quite frankly is hoarded more than money. When someone wants something from you, or when someone dies, they give you water. The person's water. You can win it in tournaments or in battles. Your best friend wills it to you when they die. Things to that effect. The different sizes represent different numbers. The smallest are ones, the next size up are fives, then tens, and finally twenties. Each number represents a centiliter. What is residing in my hair right now is the amount of water I would be able to get if I were ever to go back to the clan."

Arthur was surprised. He hadn't even realized that they had some place so dry in Albion. Before he could ask for more information, Loren slunk up behind them and said calmly, "The camp is ready for departure." Arthur jumped (though he would deny it later) and turned to look at the camp. It was, indeed, ready for departure. Everything was packed onto wagons that Arthur hadn't even realized were there and the knights were all tied to the back of one wagon, pulling up the rear of the caravan.

When Arthur turned back to Merlin, she was holding out the rope to tie him to the wagon as well. He smiled wryly at her as she started to tie it around him. He had no idea, none at all, why his heart started to pound and butterflies took flight in his stomach when Merlin smiled back.

Author's Note: And ta-da! Their romance is really started to flourish (it only took me until the tenth chapter!).