Disclamier: I don't own any of the characters but I live in hope.
A/n: If anytime in the story you are confused by any horsey terms, or just what is generally going on, feel free to message me.
A/n 2: You need to remember that Merlin is a horse in this chapter, otherwise it'll sound really weird.
A/n 3: Merry Christmas everyone! Didn't get round to posting another chapter yesterday (it was my sister's b-day) so two chapters going up today.
Merlin woke that morning to the noise of men shouting and horse's neighing. An empty bucket on the ground suggested he had already been fed. A couple of clicks indicated that someone was about to enter the stall. Blinking in the sudden light, Merlin missed the boy slipping to his side. The shock of leather straps being thrown around his head caused his mouth to open, and the boy took the opportunity to slide a bit into his mouth. The cold, hard metal tasted strange and the warlock was too busy trying to get it out to notice the boy undoing the ropes which had restrained him all night. He began to struggle as the boy lead him outside, but a couple of hefty stable hands came to help him. One held onto his reins as the other slung a blanket, then a saddle onto his back, tightly fastening the girth under his belly before dodging out of the range of the kick Merlin aimed at him. Then the man who had tacked him up disappeared, leaving the other man holding Merlin's head. About half a dozen other horses were in a similar situation and more were being brought out all the time. The warlock stood quiet (sort of) as he watched familiar people walk past. He tried calling out when Gwen went past, but only came out with a loud whinny that earned him a reprimand from his handler.
Ten minutes later Arthur and a dozen other knights swaggered out of the castle, slightly worse for wear but laughing. Passing shields to the handlers, they all swung up into their saddles. Merlin side-stepped as Arthur mounted, displeased at the weight on his back. At that moment he hatched a plan; in this form he could get away with teaching Arthur a bit of respect. The prince treated his mounts worse than his servants, but Merlin knew how he could change that. While thinking it through, he obediently responded to Arthur's commands, much to the prince's surprise.
As they exited Camelot, they were joined by a score of guards, all on horseback. Arthur and his knights moved to the front to act as vanguard, joking and exchanging banter. Merlin was getting a bit annoyed; his back was starting to ache and he hadn't been able to implement his plan. But the opportunity soon arose. Two of the knights started an impromptu race along the road they were following, and soon the whole lot of them were galloping, whooping and yelling. Merlin was surprised at the spurt of speed he put on and he and Arthur were soon well in the lead, but the warlock quickly began to tire and dropped back. Arthur, uncaring as usual, began to whip Merlin with the spare length of rein. The blows only stung slightly, like a flea bite, and if the horse mind had been in control he would have raced on again, but Merlin overrode this instinct and skidded to a halt. He just stood there as Arthur whipped and kicked him, the warlock's control over his current body growing as he controlled the irritation. The prince got angrier and angrier, even dismounting to try and drag Merlin along, cursing all the time. His knights were long gone and even the guards had trotted past, hiding sniggers behind their hands, not wanting the prince to take his temper out on them.
Eventually Arthur gave up, slumping down on the ground exhausted. Merlin trotted over to check on him. Arthur opened his eyes to see a great black muzzle obscuring his vision.
"Okay, you win." He said, using Merlin's neck to pull himself up. "You know? You remind me a lot of my manservant. He doesn't let me push him around either." Merlin whickered back and allowed Arthur to mount him.
"We'll do it your way, okay?" Arthur said, squeezing with his legs to ask the black stallion to move off. They cantered to catch up with the rest of his army, with only a couple of interruptions when Arthur (being Arthur) couldn't help overstepping the bounds.
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