The Best Man

by CJBH

When Arthur and the knights of Camelot are invited by Bayard to participate in Mercia's annual tournament, all seems set for an enjoyable, friendly contest. But Arthur's decision to take Guinevere along is to have devastating consequences and when old rivalries between Arthur and Mercia's prince resurface the contest turns into something far more deadly. Set between S3 and S4.

19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Merlin's chest was killing him, and he was gulping in great lungfuls of air as he ran as fast as he could. He'd been discovering just how difficult it was to run in one direction in the dark whilst performing magic in the other. The pack of dogs had been closing in on him for a while, and he was increasingly having to throw out spells left, right and centre behind him as he careered through the dense wood, and more than once he narrowly avoided running headlong into a tree as he looked over his shoulder. The dogs didn't seem to be put off by the fact that at regular intervals one or other of the pack would suddenly find itself thrown backwards through the air or lifted inexplicably to a branch fifteen foot up a tree. One even found itself suddenly transformed into a cat, which did at least divert one or two of the other dogs from chasing Merlin for a while.

And when the dogs were almost upon him, Merlin finally found what he was looking for – a clearing in the woods – and a broad smile suddenly came to his face as he looked ahead. The dogs suddenly stopped baying and started yelping instead, and began to scatter in all different directions. The reason was a simple one – there was an enormous dragon sitting in the middle of the clearing, with its head cocked, almost as if it was mildly amused by the scene it was witnessing. Merlin slowed up as he approached Kilgarrah, grinning as the dragon playfully sent off a jet of fire in the direction of one of the dogs, which yelped even more loudly as it scurried off with its tail is singed.

The young warlock smiled at the dragon: "I knew you'd come….."

And in the deep voice that Merlin knew so well, the dragon replied, "Don't I always, when you call?"

And about an hour after this encounter, a group of Mercian knights were standing in the main square near the platform on which the execution would be performed, talking quietly between themselves. Sir Gethin suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder, and when he turned around he found himself facing a young man dressed in a blue cloak. And Merlin was the first to speak.

"I'm sorry to bother you at this time of night, but I'm Prince Arthur's servant and, if it's not too much of an inconvenience, I'd like to hand myself in."