Thanks to readernurse and MerlinFan1996 for reviewing. It meant a lot to me and I hope all y'all who are reading this enjoy the chapter. :)
FYI: there will be, what everyone refers to as, "Merlin Whump" in this chapter. This is my first attempt, so tell me how you liked or didn't like it.
Disclaimer: As always, I don't own Merlin
Chapter 3 - Hunting Gone Wrong
The Knights of the Round Table, Merlin, and Arthur were hunting. So far, all they had caught were a few rabbits... nothing that would be the envy of the Five Kingdoms to say the least. It was only a little past Midday, so the young prince decided to test their luck some more.
"Arthur, can we go back please!" Merlin groaned.
"What's wrong Merlin? Is your little bottom sore again?"
"Well, unlike some prat princes I know, I don't have 'extra padding' to cushion the seat" Merlin replied. At this, all the knights stiffened and held in their laughter...well except for Gwaine who, having no inhibitions, began laughing in Arthur's face. All of them were present when the Prince of Camelot practically screamed that he wasn't fat in front of the throne room. They all silently agreed that that was a priceless moment.
"Merlin!"
"What?"
"Shut up!"
"Prat"
"Idiot"
The banter continued for some time. Leon and Percival ignored them and started their own conversation. Elyan, Lancelot, and Gwaine's heads kept shifting from Merlin to Arthur as insults were exchanged from both sides. It wasn't until a twig snapped that the men stopped talking.
"What was that?"
"Shut up Merlin!" Arthur hissed, keeping his voice as low as possible. If these were bandits, Arthur wanted to keep some sort of element of sur...
Before he could finish his thought, thirty or so bandits came charging through the trees.
"Great, just what we need. Can this day get any better?" Merlin said to himself before the fighting began.
Oh, how he was going to eat those words.
The fighting had started and the sound of metal against metal filled the area. Half of the bandits were attacking Leon, Elyan, Percival, Lancelot and Gwaine. The other half decided to go after Arthur and Merlin. Seeing the bandits charging at them, Arthur instinctively pushed Merlin behind him and stood his ground to defend himself and his best friend.
Merlin was helping Arthur with his magic whenever he could. The young prince didn't question the occasional falling branch or how some of the bandits tripped over themselves mysteriously. He simply shrugged it off as a coincidence and focused on the task at hand.
The fighting continued and with each passing second, the bandits slowly separated Arthur and Merlin from the rest of the knights. The two men only realized this when the last bandit was killed.
"Great! Now we're lost" complained Merlin.
"Don't be such a girl Merlin. At least we're still alive...thanks to yours truly" Arthur replied, pulling a smug grin that screamed, 'I-just-defeated-all-of-my-enemies-singlehandedly-without-any-help-whatsoever'.
"Yeah, if it wasn't for me" the warlock mumbled as if reading the prince's mind.
"What does that mean Merlin? What could you have possibly done?"
"You know...I was...um...helping you like I always do."
"Sure Merlin. I'll believe it when I see it". Arthur said before playfully punching his best friend on the shoulder.
"I still don't see how that's suppose to cheer me up" the young warlock complained, rubbing his bruised appendage.
"That's because you have the strength of a wounded kitten", the young prince said in a matter-of-fact tone. Merlin decided not to grace that remark with a comment. "Anyway, we're not lost. I know these woods like the back of my hand. I'm sure we'll find the others in no time". Not surprisingly, this failed to comfort Merlin at all.
After walking for bit, the two men wandered into a beautiful clearing with a small river. They decided to rest here before trying to find their friends again. It was while taking a drink of water that Merlin felt it - the sudden jolt his magic sent him whenever there was danger. He frantically looked around trying to find the source, but he saw nothing.
"Merlin, what are you looking at?" Arthur asked after noticing his friend searching the area.
"I just thought...I mean...I thought I saw something".
"It probably was nothing" Arthur said. Though he didn't want to admit it out loud, he did feel that something was watching them. However, Arthur knew that worrying his friend further would not help. I'll just have to stay alert, he thought.
"I think we should just leave" the young warlock finally said.
"Merlin, don't be such a..." but the prince couldn't finish his sentence. A blood curdling screech rang through the forest around them. At this, both men immediately got up and stood back to back, frantically looking for the unknown threat.
"What was that?" Arthur asked, only to have his question shortly answered when a dragon like creature rushed out from the forest opposite them.
A wyvern? That's a wyvern? What's a wyvern doing way out here?, Merlin thought. He studied the distant cousin of the dragons curiously. Something was wrong. The wyverns he had encountered in the Perilous Lands were grey, had red eyes, and were just a tad bit bigger than him in size. This one was completely different. Instead of grey, it's body was pure black, its eyes were white, and it was one and a-half times bigger than a normal one. The most prominent difference was the dark energy that emanated from the creature.
"It's a wyvern!" Arthur shouted, to which Merlin rolled his eyes. Took you long enough to figure it out. The wyvern bore its fangs as it slowly began circling them.
Merlin began thinking of the best way to confront the beast so he could command it to leave. Maybe I can draw its attention from Arthur or I could-, but before the warlock could finish his train of thought, Arthur unexpectedly ran at the wyvern, sword flailing.
Or he could charge the beast head on...Wait! He's charging it head on! Before Merlin could do anything, Arthur was flung back several yards and knocked unconscious. The wyvern started creeping towards the prince when a wave of magic hit it, its power making the beast slightly stumble.
It looked over at Merlin, who now stood between it and his friend. One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to let the wyvern hurt Arthur. The winged beast kept glancing back and forth from the prince to the warlock in a look that could only be described as confusion. It was when another blast of pure magic (stronger than the first but not fatal) hit the wyvern that the creature roared, its focus now on Merlin. After a few seconds, ones that felt like eternity to the young warlock, the beast charged.
Facing the beast, Merlin stared it down. He knew what he had to do. "Dragon!" he called out to it. Instead of stopping in its tracks, the beast ignored his words and pressed on. At this, the young warlock panicked, stretched out his hand, and tried again. "Non didlkai..." he began, but was cut off as the great beast tackled him to the ground.
"Ah!" he yelled. The strange wyvern had him pinned by the arms. Merlin tried kicking his way out, but it had no effect on the smaller dragon's bigger body. He tried using magic to throw it off, but his attempts proved futile as his magic seemed to barely effect the beast at all. He even tried calling Kilgharrah when he grew desperate - but for some reason he couldn't contact him. At this point Merlin realized that his magic was rendered useless. He panicked - there was no way of escape now.
Eventually, Merlin had no more strength left in him to struggle. He gazed at the wyvern, knowing that these would be the last moments of his life. The wyvern, in turn, stared at the captured Dragonlord, its gaze burrowing deep into the warlock's soul. For what seemed like an eternity, both Dragonlord and wyvern just stared at each other.
It was only when something moved on the side that the trance was broken. After roaring towards the sky, the wyvern bent its head down and bit Merlin on his right shoulder.
Merlin never knew so much pain. To say that it was excruciating was an understatement. At the moment of the wyvern's bite, Merlin could feel the dark magic slowly entering his body. His own magic, pure in essence, fought with the dark poison for dominance - unfortunately for him, it was winning.
He vaguely heard a voice yell his name before he let the darkness consume him.
The dragon language was taken from the Eye of the Phoenix and The Last Dragonlord episodes. In all honesty, I have no idea what it literally translates to or if I spelled it correctly - all I know is that it's German.
Feel free to leave a review and tell me what you thought.
Until later,
-STL13