Daily Interference Chapter 10
Guys! Where's all the reviews? Chapter 10 is here! Give a big round of applause and please, eat a cookie. Anyways, on with the fic!
Chapter 10: Knights
ARTHUR
When Merlin roared like that, Arthur did not expect a dragon- wait, the same bloody dragon that he has supposedly killed by a mortal blow- to appear like that. The Prince of Camelot was mostly shocked by the sight. He reached for his sword, only finding it not there. His eyes flew wide open when he realised that he was helpless to himself…and Merlin.
The giant scaled beast landed in front of Merlin, crushing a few trees , that appeared to only feel like pins and needles. The bronze beast was five meters away from the two helpless humans.
"So the Once and Future King of Albion is here at last. What a pleasure to meet you, Arthur Pendragon." The Dragon's sing-song voice bellowed with wisdom. Arthur's eyes suddenly seemed to get even wider with surprise. "Speak up, young Pendragon."
"You…you…can tal-talk." Arthur stammered. He felt embarrassed for stammering, it was not something a Prince should do.
"Oh please, you call Merlin a girl or an idiot and he reacted better than you." The Dragon growled lightly. Arthur's stance immediately changed from a shocked stance to a stance that said 'you-better-not-say-that-to-me'.
"Do you have a name?" Arthur asked.
"My name is Kilgharrah, not that it matters." The Great Beast said. A small whimper from the damp ground interrupted their talk.
"The Young Warlock summoned me to help, do you trust me? Kilgharrah asked.
"Yes!" A small croak from the ground answered instead.
"Shut up Merlin." Arthur muttered.
"Young Pendragon?" The Dragon called again.
"I trust you enough to help Merlin." Arthur replied.
"Fair enough, help the boy onto my back and climb on behind him. Make sure he doesn't fall off. I have one more mission to complete before we go." Arthur nodded and went to help the half-conscious Merlin to stand up. His manservant screamed in agony, and started to try and crawl away from Arthur's hands.
"Merlin!" Arthur called out, obviously shocked at his friends reaction.
"He is injured Arthur, you must be careful." Kilgharrah called.
"You don't say." Arthur snarled. He looked at Merlin and then to the advancing Prince Stephen. "I'm sorry Merlin." With that, Arthur picked up the servant and helped him onto the dragons' back.
As soon as Merlin was seated in front of the Prince of Camelot, the Great Beast beat his wings, lifting him up through the air, his wings swirling dust and leaves all around them.
"Hold onto the Warlock, Pendragon." Merlin's friend roared over the wind. The Young Prince had just enough time to grab his friend lightly as the scaled mammal swooped down over the North east Castle. Prince Twat was running for his life. Kilgharrah chuckled, and Arthur felt the scaled heat up. He began to get worried, thinking that Merlin and himself were in danger, that he shouldn't have trusted the dragon. Especially when it was this dragon that tried to take down Camelot. This proved everything, Merlin was going to have one heck of a story to tell when he was better.
Kilgharrah swooped down over the castle, a lava-like river of fire and flames rushing from the beats nostrils and mouth, destroying the whole castle, turning the sky black as night. Once the dragons' deed was done, he flew away, his icy laugh echoing through the valley.
PRINCE STEPHEN
The Prince of the North East stood on the hill watching his home go up in flames. His vision had gone red once he saw the dragon. That bloody kid. He was a Dragon Lord. Stephen wandered down through the forest, his sights set on two people in particular. He would make that Merlin kid pay. There will be revenge, but he will let the serving boy think he was safe…
…for now.
ARTHUR
They had landed an hour ago and Arthur had gone to find some firewood as well as something to eat. Kilgharrah was keeping an eye on Merlin while his task was in progress. When the Prince returned to their clearing, he found Merlin almost fully awake.
"Merlin!" Arthur cried out in relief, now not to embarrassed about showing his emotions. He dropped his things and rushed over.
"Arthur." Merlin simply said, as the tiredness in his voice took over. His eyes began to fall shut.
"How long has he been awake?" Arthur asked.
"He has been awake twenty minutes. Although, I can smell a lot of blood. He needs to be looked at. Whatever it is, it's not good." The Dragon informed. Arthur only nodded as he turned to Merlin once more.
"Merlin I'm going to take your jacket and your shirt off, okay?" Merlin only mumbled a response. Arthur couldn't blame him- he would be exhausted after two weeks of trauma too.
When Arthur finally managed to strip Merlin of his jacket and shirt, he immediately wanted to cover Merlin back up again then and there. From Merlin's right shoulder blade, the mark- if it was a mark- stretched down his forearm and to the front of his shoulder, ending at his collarbone. What scared Arthur was that there was no skin. It was red raw and it was bleeding.
"He's been flayed." Arthur gasped. He hadn't seen anything like this before. Although, he had heard of what happens when someone has been flayed, and he swore never to use this type of torture, even for the most offensive crimes. Basically, Prince Twat had skinned Merlin. It would of killed him, but luckily Merlin only caught the brunt of it.
"Yes Young Pendragon. He needs to be seen to and quickly. Merlin is in shock and the pain could kill him. Kilgharrah said.
"How am I supposed to move him without hurting him? How can I get him to Camelot?" Arthur asked.
"I can travel with you so far south, back to Camelot. The Knights are about four days ride away from you so I will help you and speed up the progress. " The Dragon suggested.
"How can we move Merlin though?" Arthur asked as he caught sight of the Young Warlock losing consciousness again.
"I can cast a spell so he can feel very little pain while moving him. I can't guarantee it to stay on him until you are back to Camelot but it will gain some time for you." Kilgharrah explained. Arthur nodded again.
"Do what you must." Arthur decided.
GWAINE
The Knights are now on the lookout for sorcery. Gwaine found this ridiculous. It was the bloody wind. It lasted five seconds and the knights immediately thought sorcery. Gwaine was not convinced. After all, he had experienced much stranger things, this did not count as strange. So Gwaine was now given the role of scouting the clearing along with Sir Leon.
When he was crossing paths with Leon after thirty minutes of circling, Gwaine paused.
"Did you hear that?" He asked the other knight. Leon looked confused and began to search through the trees.
"Hear what?" Leon asked. Gwaine listened harder, to be sure he was not mistaken. There it was again. The rustle in the bush.
"That."
"It'll be a rabbit. Don't worry about it. Come on, back to camp. It wasn't sorcery. There's no threat around us." Gwaine had to resist the urge to jump and whoop when the older knight finally decided nothing was wrong.
When it came to their evening meal, Gwaine decided he was becoming paranoid. The bushes all around them kept rustling, and he jumped every time the rustling was near.
"Have you been on the ale, Gwaine?" Elyan asked.
"I haven't as a matter of fact." Gwaine said sharply, his mind elsewhere. "I think something is near."
"What do you mean?" Lancelot asked.
"The bushes. There is no wind." Gwaine pointed out as the bush next to his rustled.
"It's just the little rabbits and insects that live around here." Percival smiled. Gwaine rolled his eyes and decided to give in.
That was until a twig snapped. Leon sat upright and alert. His eyes were fixed on the same place as the normally drunk knights' eyes were.
"Well, what I have been saying comes true after all." Gwaine smirks, unsheathing his sword and pointing it towards the trees.
"Show yourself." The twigs snapped in a hurry and Gwaine drew back in shock. There was their Prince.
"Arthur!" Leon called out in delight. Gwaine was thrilled but realised something. He pointed his sword back towards Arthur and narrowed his eyes accusingly.
"Where's Merlin?"
ARTHUR
Arthur stumbled through the wooded area. Once Kilgharrah had dropped Arthur and his wounded friend off in the clearing nearest to the Knights, Arthur found it very hard to move Merlin. He managed to get the boy stumbling part way through the woods, it had become much denser and hard to walk through. Merlin had stumbled and was unable to get back up.
"Merlin, I'll be back very soon. I'm getting help." Arthur said to his half conscious friend before rushing off to the knights.
He was being clumsy, rushing through bushes and snapping twigs. He knew the knights had sensed him. He spotted the, but was too exhausted to call out. Instead he continued run to their clearing. That's where he met an alerted Leon and a suspicious Gwaine.
"Arthur!" Leon called out. Gwaine's sheathed sword was lowered, until he looked even more accusingly towards Arthur and his sword was pointed to the Prince again.
"Where's Merlin?" He asked, a threat lacing on his words.
"He-He…" Arthur panted, jamming his thumb behind him. "Someone help! He's not looking good." Arthur began rushing back towards his friend. The knights had no choice but to follow.
(Time Break)
"So what actually happened?" Gwaine asked as soon as they got Merlin to the clearing safe and sound. He was pale and there was still blood rushing from him.
"Someone get some water, plenty of it. I need a clean blanket to rest him on for his wound and I need a blanket to keep him warm, he's getting a fever." Arthur said instead. "I need some water for him to drink too. He hasn't drank in days, or eaten." Arthur said as he began to take off Merlin's shirt again. The knights that were not helping Gwaine and Arthur just done that.
"Arthur, an answer please? What the hell done that?" Gwaine changed his question when he noticed the wound on his best friends shoulder.
"Prince Twat done that. He skinned Merlin." Arthur said bluntly.
"That son of a bas…"
"Yes Gwaine. Just help the other knights will you? Sort out the fire please, get it going. Needs to be warmer." Gwaine nodded, a tight line across is forehead. His anger was seeping out, and Arthur could feel it in the air.
All they needed to do was keep Merlin safe until they got back to Camelot. Things would get better.
"I promise you Merlin. Nothing like this will happen again." Arthur whispered.
Wow, this is a long chapter isn't it? I promised you Monday so here, Monday it is! This is probably the last fast chapter update for now as I have school and I'm going to be doing too much school work to actually write. But I have a twist in mind I think for when Merlin gets to Camelot. I don't know if I use it yet so I am not going to promise anything.
Did I do Kilgharrah right? It's my first time talking as the dragon so did I do alright? Please review! And thanks again, I will try to update on Sunday.