Written for Merthur Week 2020.

Day 3

"You're hurt. Please, just let me heal it." + Hurt/Comfort

If one were to ask Arthur Pendragon how he would like to die, he would have answered with 'of old age' for ideally and 'fighting for what was right' for realistic approach.

He never thought it would be by a bandit attack, though.

But here Arthur was, surrounded by a dozen men, weaponless and bleeding heavily through a lucky cut on his leg and a stab on the side after being ambushed and overwhelmed during a patrol.

He'd been separated from his men, tried to outrun his pursuers and cornered like an animal, fought with all his might-

And yet, the end was here.

"Any ideas on what to do with him before he bleeds out?" the leader asked with glee, "Cut his fingers and sent them to the King? Trick 'im for a ransom?

"We could do that!" the rest of the bandits excitedly agreed on.

"Cut the one with the pretty ring! That way he'll know!"

No.

Not his mother's ring, no-

Arthur tried to crawl away, but the leader kicked him where he'd been stabbed, and he let out an involuntary howl of pain-

That was drowned by a roar in the distance.

Breathing heavily, the Prince frowned, not recognizing the animal.

And then one of the bandits screamed, pointing at the sky, making everybody look up-

Arthur's breath hitched.

A dragon.

A real, honest to the gods, dragon, soaring to their location.

The creature was perhaps as large as a war horse, with dark scales that were glittering under the sunlight while its wings were widely extended in flight, letting out another roar-

Before it swiftly swept through near the ground, firing a torrent of flames unto the terrified shocked bandits that surrounded Arthur, who were quick to drop their weapons in clear terror as some of them were caught in the way of the fire.

The dragon circled around the injured Prince like a vulture until all of the mercenaries had gone running for their lives, and then, it flew down, landing on the ground with a soft thud-

And golden eyes burning with intensity stared at Arthur, at the same time the creature began to advance towards him.

Oh gods.

Why-

Why was it looking at him like that?

Was it going to eat Arthur?!

Panting with effort, the Prince did his best to crawl away in panic, knowing it was futile to escape but damn it he refused to go without some semblance of a fight-

"Stop moving, you clotpole"

Arthur stilled, staring at the dragon with numb induced shock.

No way.

"Unless you want to lose more blood, that is"

Arthur blinked the spots in his vision.

This had to be a hallucination thanks to the blood loss. There's no way a dragon just spoke to him.

Absolutely no way.

And yet-

The dragon kept approaching, almost carefully.

"St-" Arthur fought against the dizziness that threatened to overwhelm him, "Stay a-away-" he pleaded, trying to raise his hand for- for what? It's not like he was a dragonlord- but the little strength he had left was being quick to leave him and the blond felt his body beginning to shut down.

The creature, however, surprised the dying Prince by doing so, stopping at a respectable distance from him.

For a moment, they simply looked at each other, the golden eyes almost looking hurt.

Arthur swallowed and looked away.

"You're hurt" the dragon finally whispered in a soft rumbling tone.

Arthur weakly rose his head from the ground to stare at the creature, feeling wary.

"Please, just let me heal it" it- he, it was definitely a he, added with concern.

Perhaps it was the fact that Arthur wasn't ready to die, or maybe it even was the fact that there was something strangely human about a creature of magic wanting to save his life…

With little strength left, he gave the dragon a nod.

The creature smiled, leaning over the Prince, opening its mouth and releasing a golden mist on top of him, just as he began to lose consciousness-

Before everything went dark, Arthur swore the dragon's features shifted into something more human-like.

Arthur woke up in an unknown rock-lined chamber.

Wary, he rose his upper body from the pile of comfortable furs that made up the bed he currently lay on, surprised to not feel any discomfort from where he'd been wounded in the attack.

At first, he throws away the quilts covering him, but hurriedly puts them back on when he realizes he's naked.

Oh gods, this was not up to a good start.

Arthur tries to look around for his clothes, but the bedchamber he's in lacks his garments. He does, however, finds other set of clothes in a small wooden chest, but those are too tight when he tries them on.

Just when he was thinking about making a makeshift toga with the bed quilts, Arthur heard the distinctive sound of a person humming, the unknown melody becoming louder as the singer approached the chamber.

For a moment, the Prince panicked. Was it the dragon?

But the steps sounded too light to be from a heavy creature of magic-

And then, a young man entered the chamber.

Arthur will admit that he was momentarily stunned by his appearance. He was tall, lanky perhaps being a better descriptive, with fair marble skin and raven black hair. His facial features were almost ethereal, with sharp and high cheekbones and large ears.

The Prince didn't realize he was staring until the stranger let out a small startled gasp, nearly dropping the basket he been carrying before smiling at him, his azure eyes crinkling at the corners.

"Oh good, you're awake" he said, approaching the bed.

And-

"I was a little worried that you weren't waking, but then again you did lose a lot of blood" the stranger continued to say, coming to a stop as he placed the basket at the feet of the bed.

Something in his voice- his words- were disturbingly familiar.

The realization left him gasping in shock.

"You" Arthur whispered, gripping the furs under him.

"Me" the dragon- human? (The Prince doesn't know what this creature is)- smiled at him again, gentler this time.

"You!" he couldn't help but say again.

"Me indeed"

Was it Arthur, or the creature seemed to be having fun with his state of shock?

"YOU-!" the blond yelled, angrily pointing at him.

"You know what? I'm starting to think you were injured in the head when you were attacked" the creature said, the easy smile he'd been giving Arthur disappearing in favor of a frown, "I didn't sense any head trauma when I found you, but you never know…"

It- he? Began to approach him-

And the Prince finally got his body to cooperate.

"Stay away from me!" Arthur did not screech, thank you very much.

The creature stopped, a look of hurt flashing on his fey features.

"Who are you?" Arthur questioned, squinting at him, "What are you?"

"My name's Merlin" the creature said, putting his arms up in a placating manner, "I mean you no harm"

'What an unusual name', Arthur thought briefly.

"You're not answering my last question, Merlin" the Prince shot back, feeling too confused and scared to care about his manners.

"I thought you figured that one out. Are all princes this idiotic?"

Arthur decided to ignore the insult.

"Dragon's aren't supposed to pass as humans" he said, opting to glare at the raven.

"Know many dragons, don't you?"

"Answer the bloody question!"

Now it was Merlin who was glaring.

"Gods, has anyone ever told you that you're a prat?" he said, anger clear in his eyes, "I save your life, I bring you to my home so you can be safe from further threats, and this is the thanks I get?"

"Where are my clothes? My armor?" Arthur questioned, ignoring the reprimand. He needed to get out of here damn it-

Merlin gestured to the basket he'd been carrying.

"Here" he replied, "They were bloody, so I washed them. Also, there should be like, an inscription in your armor warning how difficult it is to clean. It took me three tries by hand and two spells to get it into pristine condition"

Arthur froze at the mention of spells.

"You're also a sorcerer?" he whispered with growing horror.

Oh gods.

He was fucked-

"Yeah" Merlin replied as if he were merely discussing the weather, "Although, I think I'm actually a warlock? Some Druids I've encounter like to call me that and another name that it's definitely not my own" he scratched his head, completely ignoring the panicking Prince in front of him, "I must have a secret twin or something, but ignoring that, it must be warlock, I mean- my mother claimed I was doing magic hours after being born, and I don't really have a memory of not doing magic-"

As the dragon-sorcerer-warlock- whatever the hell Merlin was continued to ramble, a realization came to the Prince.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?" Arthur said, mind reeling.

Merlin stopped his ramble, looking at him with sudden uncertainty.

"Er… you're a Prince"

"From…?"

"A kingdom" Merlin said with an eye roll, crossing his arms.

"Which is?" Arthur stressed.

"Do I look like I care?"

The blond gaped at him.

"I- you-" he stammered, "You really don't know?"

He got his answer when Merlin remained silent.

"I am Arthur of Camelot" he finally declared, holding his breath for the man's reaction.

"Oh" Merlin whispered, face losing all color.

"Yeah, oh" Arthur said, feeling uncomfortable and guilty at the sudden fear in the warlock's features.

For a moment, there's silence.

"Well then-" Merlin stammered, "We're not far behind your home? I can drop you off where I found you and you can forget you ever met me?"

The Prince gaped at him in astonishment.

"You're-" Arthur looked around in bewilderment, "You're not going to kill me?"

"I'm pretty sure it's me who should be asking that" the raven replied in a thin voice.

"Out of the two of us, who's the one with magic?"

Merlin pressed his lips.

"Me, but I don't want to kill you" he revealed, shuffling in his spot.

"No?" asked the blond, taken aback.

"Well, excuse me for not wanting to participate in the vicious killing cycle that Camelot created" Merlin shot back.

Arthur had no initial response for that, rubbing the back of his neck.

Honestly?

Merlin had a point.

"Fair enough. Er… I don't really want to kill you, either" he finally admitted. Now it was his savior who looked taken aback.

"Oh, er, good. Thanks" he nodded, "I like my head attached to my shoulders"

"It's a very pretty head" Arthur said, nodding along.

And promptly wished for death as he took in Merlin's look of shock.

"What"

"What"

"You-"

"You said you could drop me off where you found me?" Arthur asked, desperate to get out of that awkward moment and pretend it never happened.

Merlin seemed to think the same thing, since he nodded, looking relieved.

"I can"

"Good"

"Good"

The silence took over them once more.

"Er-" Merlin shuffled in his spot again, looking nervous, "Are you hungry? I have fresh fish, if you'd like to eat something before leaving"

"I-" the blond hesitated for a moment. He was starving, really, and Merlin wasn't really a threat.

Sure, he was a dragon, but Arthur didn't really feel unsafe in his presence. And it's not like spending a little more time in Merlin's company was going to incite something in him.

"Alright"

It's not until later, when Arthur is finally clad in his clothes and they've nearly finished eating the meal Merlin prepared in the 'outer' place of his cave home (and Arthur would be lying if he said that wasn't the best fish he'd ever eaten), when he realizes Merlin still hasn't answered the question in regards of his dragon-human status.

"Were you cursed?" Arthur couldn't help but ask bluntly.

"No" Merlin wrinkled his nose, "Er, it's a family trait. From my father's side" he mumbled, toying with his food.

Arthur blinked.

"Er… I don't mean to be rude-" he began to say while his host raised an eyebrow.

"More than you've already been-?"

"But… how? I- did your mother and a dragon-?" the blond struggled to phrase his question, awkwardly pressing his fingers together as he looked pointedly at Merlin, who busted into hysterical laughter.

"Oh, no, gods no" he said between huffs, "Nonono- there was absolutely no bestiality involved in my conceivement"

"… Are you sure you weren't cursed" Arthur asked again in bewilderment, feeling a little embarrassed for his earlier assumption.

"Pretty sure, my Lord" Merlin confirmed, rolling his eyes at him. The Prince couldn't help but notice that he'd said his title with little respect, "I shift at will"

And he proceeded to do so.

In the blink of an eye, Merlin the human had been replaced by Merlin the dragon.

Under close proximity, Arthur could see that the scales were a dark blue, with some golden details, and that indeed, Merlin as a dragon was the size of a war horse. His now gold eyes (and a part of the Prince wondered if his eyes glowed that same starlight shade when he did magic) looked nervous, but also amused at the stunned state of the blond.

"This is a dragonlord trait" he revealed.

Arthur blinked again.

"I thought the dragonlords were a myth" he admitted slowly to the warlock, who laughed once more.

"Well, you were mythtaken" Merlin cheekily replied, changing back. Arthur refused to smile at the joke, no matter how endearing it was.

And yet, he could feel the corners of his lips twitching upwards.

"So… are you all like, hidden?"

Merlin rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable.

"I don't know much" he began to say, "But I do know that a good portion of the dragonlords and dragons were killed on a trap by-" he pressed his lips on a thin line, looking conflicted at the Prince.

Arthur felt his stomach fill with dread.

There was only one person what he knew who could have done it.

"My father" he supposed in a monotone voice. Merlin nodded.

"Yeah" he confirmed, "But my father managed to escape, and he fled to a little village by the name of Ealdor, in the border between Essetir and Camelot, where he took refuge with a woman" the raven bit his lip.

"Your mother?" Arthur guessed softly. The warlock nodded again.

"They fell in love" he quietly revealed, closing his eyes, "But… word got around that there was a dragonlord hiding in Essetir, and soon there was talk about an entourage of knights from Camelot approaching Ealdor" he breathed deeply, "My father fled, and left my mother behind thinking that he was protecting her"

"Knowing he had sired a son?" the Prince asked, frowning. If your kind has been massacred, wouldn't one want to also take the future of your species with them?

"My father didn't know" Merlin revealed in a quiet voice, "And neither did mother at the moment" he took another deep breath, "I know all of this because she confessed it all to me on her deathbed a few years ago. I had begun shifting shortly after turning six and ten, I was panicking and she had been bedridden with a fever and knew she wasn't going to live longer"

"And you didn't try looking for you father?" Arthur questioned gently, feeling guilty about sending him down the memory trail.

"I did" Merlin said, shoulders sagging, "But- I haven't been able to find him. Dragons hide well" he added with unamusement.

"I'm sorry" the Prince whispered.

"Why are you apologizing?" Merlin asked with confusion, to the blond's disbelief, "It was not you who forced my father to flee"

"You have a kind heart, Merlin" Arthur said quietly. Most people would have found a way to shift the blame to him, so the warlock not holding him responsible was a nice feeling.

"Thank you, I guess" the raven replied with a small smile, gesturing to Arthur's empty plate, "Are you ready to go back home?"

Arthur hesitated again.

He wanted to be back at Camelot, but honestly? He'd enjoyed-

A deafening sound filtered through the cave, disrupting his trail of thought.

Both young men jumped out of their seats when another sound rolled in, this time a distinctive thunder, and they turned around to the entrance of Merlin's lair, where they could clearly see a vicious thunderstorm had befallen on them.

"Fuck" they both exclaimed.

"Please tell me you can manipulate the weather" Arthur said, wincing when a thunder rumbled hard enough to make them jump by the intensity.

"Not a good idea to do" Merlin replied, massaging his ears in clear discomfort, "Unless you want the land to suffer a draught. The laws of magic are a little weird"

"Bloody magic laws" the Prince mumbled, "It looks like it will go through the night" he pointed out.

"It will" Merlin confirmed, looking apologetic, "I guess you'll have to stay one more night"

"I suspected"

"Well then, that brings us to a problem, my Lord"

"What?"

"I only have one bed"

Turns out that dragons are very territorial of their beds, and Arthur having already slept in Merlin's comfortable pile of furs had been the one and only exception to lending the bed to someone else.

"Oh, name of the Mother" Merlin grumbled, "Let's just fucking share, alright? It's big enough to do so"

Arthur is honestly too tired to argue, so he gladly accepts it.

"Are you comfortable there?" Merlin asked once they've settled and he'd blown off the candles, the only light in the room being a hearth that was lit by the dragon. It settled nicely in the room, heating it up at the perfect temperature.

"Yes" the Prince replied, snuggling into the bedding, "Where did you even get these furs?"

"I found them" the raven admitted, "I like to explore abandoned places, and decaying castles are stocked with lots of treasures" he said with a smirk.

"Sounds like you have fun" Arthur teased.

"It is very fun" Merlin confirmed, but then his smile died down, "But… well, unless I decide to go down to trade some things, it's a little sad that I don't have someone to show my things"

"You don't have friends?" the blond asked, not bothering to hide his shock, "But... you're… friendly"

"Some people don't think so" the raven whispered, "I'm too odd"

"I don't think you're odd" the Prince said. Merlin gave him a look, "Really! You're- well, you're Merlin" he added, cringing at the wording.

The warlock, however, didn't seem to mind, laughing lightly.

They settled into comfortable silence, staring at each other.

In the faint light, Arthur could see flecks of gold in the blue of Merlin's eyes.

"Is it wrong of me to admit I don't really want you to go?" Merlin murmured, eyes bright, "You're nice to talk to when you're not being a prat"

"I don't think so" Arthur admitted, feeling oddly vulnerable, "It is nice talking to someone who's not treating me like a Prince"

"Sound like a lonely life, yours" the raven said with sympathetic eyes.

"Yours sounds lonelier" the Prince softly pointed out, "Have you never had a friend come up here?"

"I had one" Merlin admitted in a quiet voice, "His name was Will. He was my friend back when I lived in Ealdor"

"Was?" Arthur questioned with worry.

"He died in a bandit attack" Merlin gave him a watery smile, "The idiot came to me, asking for my help, and we had practically archived victory over them when the leader took aim at me with a crossbow while my back was turned"

By the sorrow in his tone, Arthur could guess what happened next.

"He took your place"

"Yes" the warlock said, "And after the funeral- I was thrown out. Forbidden to come back"

"Why?" the Prince asked, feeling a small fire of anger in his belly on behalf of him, "You helped save them"

"Bastards have no place in Ealdor" Merlin spoke as if he were reciting the exact words, "Nor do winged, monstrous freaks" tears came out of his eyes.

Arthur slowly reached out, wiping them out, heart beating loud on his ears as Merlin's breath hitched.

"Come back to Camelot with me"

The request was out of his lips before he could stop it.

Merlin stared at him, mouth slightly agape.

"Are you serious?" he asked in a quiet voice, cheeks flushed.

"Yes" Arthur confirmed, cupping the warlock's face, "I- it won't be easy, with my father's laws and me being a Prince and you a secret sorcerer, dragonlord, dragon person-"

Merlin chuckled, mouthing "Prat" at him.

"But-" the blond swallowed, "I want to have you near me. I would like to know you more, and I also want you to not live in isolation. You deserve to be around people"

"I feel like you have an ulterior motive here, my lord" Merlin softly chided, but he didn't look mad.

"I may think you a little too pretty for my liking" Arthur admitted, feeling his face heat up.

Merlin didn't say anything at first, but just when the blond was about to apologize, he surged forward, placing his lips on the Prince's.

"I may think you a little too pretty too" the raven said with a chuckle.

Arthur simply kissed him again.