Merlin reflected that the day hadn't exactly gone according to plan. At all. Not seeing any other option, he, Gwen, and Elyan had reluctantly agreed to join the Career pack and had helped in claiming and fortifying the castle all afternoon. Now, the three allies lay side-by-side on blanket rolls on the floor of the main hall, not having quite earned the trust of the rest of the group enough to claim their own rooms. The Careers, namely Arthur, had made it quite clear that they were being watched closely at all times and that a nightly watch had been posted at the castle gate to ensure their loyalty. If they were to run away or proved useless to the alliance, they would die. Plain and simple.

He rolled over onto his side, examining the mark on his arm. At least this way he could protect Arthur more easily, seeing that it seemed to have the painful side-effect of burning whenever the other boy was in danger. And there was that strange instant when Merlin could have sworn that he could feel Arthur's fear and turmoil. But he must have been imagining it. Sighing, Merlin reasoned that he would likely have plenty more opportunities to find out. He had a feeling that the threat from Helen was only the first of many on the prat's life.

Even though the castle was surrounded on three sides by sheer cliffs and the portcullis shut automatically at sundown, Arthur had still insisted that a guard be posted at the gate to keep watch. It was a perfect excuse to be alone in the crisp, clear night air where he could think, so Arthur had volunteered to take first watch.

He looked down at his forearm in the dark, tracing the design with the tip of his dagger. Why did he have a magical mark on his wrist? Maybe he'd been cursed. Or maybe he was having some strange reaction to the tracker injection. No, that was extremely unlikely… magic was the only explanation. A desperate idea occurred to him. If he could just cut the skin with the mark on it, maybe he could get rid of it. He brought his dagger down onto his bare skin with shaking hands only to have an unseen force make his knife bounce harmlessly from his grasp at the last second before impact. He stooped down to retrieve the blade and tried again with the same result. If that patch of skin was invincible, so to speak, perhaps having this symbol on the inside of his arm wasn't all bad. He'd just have to be careful to keep his sleeves over the area and to wear gloves.

The anthem blared across the arena as the Capitol seal appeared in the clear night sky. Three deaths; Helen, the girl from Nine, and the girl from Ten. That must have made it the smallest bloodbath in the history of the Games. Arthur lowered his eyes. His picture should have been up there tonight with the rest of the vanquished, yet it wasn't. Why had Merlin, hapless, cheery, mysterious, and apparently deadly Merlin chosen to save him from the girl's dagger? Guiltily, he acknowledged that the boy should hate him, yet he had saved his life, and Arthur felt somehow drawn to the raven-haired boy despite his best efforts.

Again, "There's something about you, Merlin. I just can't quite put my finger on it."

The flagstone floor was cold and hard to the touch as Merlin lay shivering, the last awake in the shadowy throne room. He knew he should be long asleep, yet he felt more awake than he ever had in his life as he listened to Gwen's soft, slow breathing next to him.

"Merlin…"

He sat bolt upright, flinging off the threadbare blanket he had been given and casting about the hall in search of the phantom voice.

"Merlin…"

It was coming from beneath him. Merlin rested his ear to the icy stone and waited.

"Merlin…"

Some instinct or impulse had now had him running through torchlit corridors buried deep below the castle, searching for an answer. Who was calling to him at this time of night that wanted to meet him alone in the bowels of the fortress? A tremor of fear tingled down his spine, but he shook it off, grabbing a torch off the wall and turning to jog down a short flight of stairs, where he found himself at a dead end. He pulled up in shock. The floor dropped off and he now stood on the precipice of a cleft hanging out into the middle of a cathedral-sized cavern, giant crags of rock towering higher than the castle walls.

"Merlin."

A gale of wind swept through the tunnels, ruffling Merlin's hair and making the torch flicker dangerously. What he saw next was a sight that he would never forget as long as he lived. With a thundering boom that seemed to shake the very foundations of the castle, a mountainous dragon alighted upon a rocky spire in front of him, bending its scaly neck in order to stare its molten gold eyes directly into Merlin's blue ones. A throaty chuckle escaped its toothy maw, and it was so close that Merlin could feel its hot breath blowing the hair from his forehead. His magic rose to the surface, crackling along his skin and to his fingertips, futilely preparing to protect him from this new, perceived threat.

"Ah, at last. The great warlock appears. How small you are for such a great destiny."

"And what would you know about my destiny?" Merlin called.

"Everything."

Suddenly the deep, rasping voice sounded undeniably familiar. "You! You're the one who sent me those dreams!"

The dragon lowered his head in acknowledgement. "It was I. Your gift was given to you for a reason. Arthur is the Once and Future King, who will reunite Albion."

"Right." Merlin him on impatiently, his fear turning to frustration with the creature's repetition and ambiguity. "I know that."

Blinking in amusement, the dragon continued. "Patience, young warlock. The young king will face many trials along the way with threats from friend and foe alike. Without you, Arthur will never become king and Albion will never be reunified."

"I've got that part, but how on earth is Arthur the Once and Future King? There must be another Arthur, because this one is a complete idiot. Not to mention an arrogant, supercilious prat. And how am I supposed to protect someone who hates me?"

"You know he's the one, young warlock. You and Arthur share a mark do you not? That your and Arthur's paths lie together is but the truth. And the bond has already been formed, your task begun. Your efforts have already saved Arthur's life once, and this is only the beginning of the road to a great destiny."

With a single thrust of his wings, the dragon disappeared from sight, chains clanking as he pulled them upward.

"Wait! Come back! I don't need another riddle, I need information! I don't even know your name!"

"My name is Kilgarrah," was the sardonic reply, and the cavern was silent save for the wound of Merlin's heavy breathing, blowing out of his mouth in small, silvery puffs. He sank to the floor, overwhelmed.

"There's a dragon, a real dragon, under the castle," was all he could manage. He pulled himself upright and staggered back the way he came, finally ending up back in the throne room after several wrong turns. He sank gratefully onto the floor, not even bothering with a blanket, and immediately fell into an exhausted and dreamless sleep.

A/N: So here is a much longer chapter to hold you over until I can miraculously find time to write again. Tomorrow school starts, and it's back to reality. :p I will try to update on weekends, but I can't let this get in the way of schoolwork, or my parents will kill me, and I already have VERY limited time due to band and swimming. So sorry for the backstory, but bottom-line is that the next chapter hasn't been written yet and will be at least a week if not two. Thanks and sorry! And if you have any ideas about how to introduce Valiant's threat toward Arthur with his snake-shield-thing than that would be great... not sure yet what I'm going to do.

h2ofalcon