Arthur was hunting.

Well… Arthur was walking in the woods with a crossbow. Mostly he was thinking about what had transpired the night before last. The night Merlin had escaped.

Once the footsteps of the receding guards no longer sounded down the bare hallway, Arthur heard a voice on the other side of the door directly behind him.

"Are they gone?" the voice whispered "Can I come out?"

Arthur paused before he responded "…Yeah, Merlin. They're gone."

The door behind Arthur cracked open and an alabaster face with a black mop of hair on top peeked out, checking down both sides of the hallway before turning to look at Arthur. Arthur's back was to him, but Merlin could tell Arthur wasn't angry or regretting helping him so he stepped out from behind the door to stand next to Arthur.

Arthur had a small smile on his face. He knew he made the right decision. In the end, it was his mother's voice, often acting as his conscience, which won over, telling him to protect his new friend. Yeah, his friend. Seconds before the guards had found Arthur, he had pushed Merlin, who was frozen in surprise and possibly a little bit of fear, into the door behind him which he now knows was an old, dark, and practically abandoned servant's quarters.

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked the escapee "I heard you fall." There had been a great clamor when Arthur had closed the door, immediately after shoving Merlin inside. Arthur had pushed him a bit hard.

"Yep, I'm fine. I'm used to it" Merlin replied, subconsciously wiping off imaginary dirt from falling to the floor, jostling the bag of silver in his pocket and earning Arthur's attention. "So… you're letting me leave? Even after stealing from your people, escaping from prison, almost getting you in trouble, and making you look like an idiot?" Merlin said, smiling at the last one.

"Don't make me regret this" Arthur replied sternly, yet he was struggling to keep the corners of his mouth turned down.

Arthur smiled when he remembered that.

This had started out as a hunting trip. Arthur had requested his father allow a lone hunt, to clear his head. Arthur didn't want anyone, not even his servant George, to accompany him into the forest; not that Arthur really took George anywhere that he wasn't a necessity. For some reason, George had always irked him. Too much of a bootlicker, he supposes, and too… too perfect at his job. Anyway, having George around would only make thinking harder.

As Arthur was pondering this, he heard a noise to his left. Something huge was crashing through the forest. Arthur loaded his crossbow and stood at ready, planning on returning with the boar - or whatever it was – as a prize. Arthur was a good hunter; he could bring down large prey by himself. All he needed to do was get in a few well –placed shots. Arthur stood still, waiting for the animal to emerge. It was getting dark and the forest was thick so Arthur couldn't even see the creature he was waiting for.

About thirty seconds of silence later, Arthur started thinking that maybe his mind was playing tricks on him and he never heard anything in the first place. Just as Arthur was starting to relax his tense stance and he stopped white-knuckling the crossbow's grip, the enormous creature came crashing out of the woods and straight towards Arthur.

The creature was like nothing Arthur had seen before. Its nine heads connected to the body by thick, serpent-like necks that could reach double the height of any man. Its appearance was of nothing Arthur had seen before and assured Arthur that this creature was not of the natural world. The creature had large fanged teeth and reptilian heads that looked like they were for eating large dogs or possibly horses.

Or men.

Arthur released his lone arrow in a vain attempt to at least hinder the monster. The perfectly aimed arrow sliced through the air directly towards where Arthur hoped was the creature's heart.

Arthur's slight hope of disabling or even delaying the creature for long enough to escape was crushed as the arrow hit the outer layer of skin – or more accurately, scales – and merely fell away.

Sadly, despite the lack of damage done to the creature, it did take notice of the unsuccessful attack on itself and it did not look entirely pleased at its attacker. All nine sets of eyes focused on Arthur, almost glaring, and the head in the middle of the nine opened its mouth.

Arthur knows his limits. He knows when he can take on an opponent, and when he should cut and run. Admittedly, Arthur rarely had cause to use the second option, so he became fairly stubborn when it came to fighting and he never really backed down. Now was different, though. Arthur wasn't sword fighting another man. He wasn't even really fighting the beast. He was mostly just pressing his back up against the large tree he had dove behind to escape the vicious flames surging from the open mouth of the middle head of the dragon-like creature.

The heat of the flames surrounded him, suffocated him. Arthur squeezed his eyes shut, so as not to be blinded by the flames rushing by on either side of him.

Arthur didn't know how long he had waited there, teeth clenched and eyes tightly shut, but when he had sensed the sudden absence of the fire on either side of him, Arthur slowly opened his eyes, half expecting to see the creature directly in front of him. When Arthur's eyes finally adjusted to his surroundings, the scene around him nearly overtook him. Flames were spreading over the ground, reaching up the trees, disintegrating everything they touched.

The forest was on fire


A/N: I am so sorry. This last weekend I went camping and I couldn't use my laptop for two days, my teachers assigned an insane amount of hw, I had science fair (yeah, they still do that in high school), and an essay due today. How long has it been, two weeks? And this chapter isn't even as long as the others. Really sorry.

I love the poem "Hanging Fire". Read it, and try to catch where in the chapter relates to it. The first person who sends it in, I'll use you as a character or maybe I'll write in a word/phrase/name (within reason, I won't write in "walk with swag") of your choice.

Anyways, No Merlin here, just a flashback. Please review, guys. I want to know how people like the story and a "number of favorites" isn't as fun as a review. See ya.