Hello readers of Were-Wyvern. Nope, this isn't Said The Liar 13 (aka STL13). This is her arch-nemesis, 13 Liar The Said (13LTS). You see, you guys have done me a huge favor. Apparently, all the reviews you sent her caused her to faint and she hasn't woken up since Monday. Muahaha! Now is my chance to take what is rightfully mine and...(various restraining sounds in the background)...
Whew. Sorry about that...he's a weird one that 13LTS. Anyway...
You guys are FLIPPIN AWESOME! Seriously, I came back from work and my review count shot up to 59 and then went to 60! So thank you: readernurse, Boxerbee, Leonarema (13 reviews for each chapter...Holy Crap!), and TheReinbachDragonlord.
Leonarema, sorry about the misinformation. At the Comic-Con 2011 panel, Colin Morgan said that the dragon tongue was in Old German. I don't know if there's a huge difference between German and Old German, but that probably explains why I couldn't translate some of the dragon tongue on the online translator (sheepishly grins).
Okay, I'm done ranting. Here's the chapter you wonderful readers deserve.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.
Chapter 13 - Of Ambushes and Traps
Anatol was getting annoyed. It had been a while since she left the cave in search of...what was his name again? Merlin... that's right. The red-haired sorceress didn't understand why the two sisters had such loathing for the man. She wondered what he could have done to tick them off so badly, but that didn't matter at the moment. He had to be found, something that was strangely proving difficult.
Anatol had used a tracking spell on Merlin and teleported herself to the approximate area. Since the connection with the were-wyvern was broken, it forced her to wander the forest thus why it was taking her a long time to find him. Speaking of which, Anatol wondered what had broken her control over the beast in the first place.
"Only extremely powerful magic, magic as old as the earth itself, could possible break the - what the hell is that!" Anatol exclaimed as a dark shape flew over her. She crouched into a near-by bush and after a few seconds, the sorceress' eyes widened in shock as she realized that the dark figure was a dragon.
"What's a dragon doing out here? I thought they were all dead" she whispered to herself. When it was finally out of sight Anatol sighed in relief, letting out the breath she didn't realize she was holding in.
Wondering what a dragon, of all things, was doing close to Camelot (and more importantly, why it wasn't attacking the kingdom), she headed in the direction where it was flying from. Retracing its steps (or flight pattern), the sorceress reached an open field.
To her utter astonishment, the were-wyvern and a young man stood in the middle of the field, looking like they were best friends having a conversation.
What's going on? Why isn't the beast ripping that other man to shreds?! Her eyes widened as a new thought entered her mind. Could the dragon have somehow done this? It wasn't attacking Camelot and they were known for their wisdom and awareness with all things magical - could it have somehow interfered?
The sorceress shook her head. No. This wasn't the time to be worrying about dragons, so she opted for watching and waiting for her opportunity to strike. Anatol still needed to collect the boy, but now she had to deal with the other man. Who is he anyway, she wondered to herself. At that moment, the were-wyvern and the man began walking and stopped several yards from the edge of the forest. Moving in closer, Anatol eavesdropped on their conversation.
"I blame you Merlin. If it wasn't for your hasty departure to get a kiss from your lady friend, then I would've remembered that Lancelot went to look for the horses" the other man said.
"My fault! Arthur, you were the..."
At the name 'Arthur', the red-haired sorceress smiled evilly. Of course, she should of seen it in the first place - the blond hair, tall stature, Camelot's insignia. This was Arthur, as in the Arthur Pendragon, standing right next to her target. This couldn't have been any better is she had planned it herself. To top it off, the sun was getting ready to rise. Everything was set up so nicely. This must be her lucky day.
"Got you" Lancelot stated in triumph as he caught Arthur's horse. It may have taken him a long time, but he finally found their steeds. Now all he had to do was find Arthur and Merlin.
"Great, I'm lost" the knight complained to no-one in particular. The horses nickered joyously as if making fun of him. Lancelot glared at them for a while until he realized what he was doing. "And now I'm glaring at the obviously conspiring horses. I must be losing it. When we get back to Camelot, I'm going to take a nice long break"
He tied Arthur's horse to his and tried retracing his steps. After a couple minutes of wandering the forest, the knight was startled by the frantic neighing of the horses. He looked around for the threat, but couldn't find it until he saw the Great Dragon flying away.
Seeing his chance to find his friends, Lancelot hopped on his horse and rode in the direction the dragon was flying from.
Arthur didn't know what happened. One moment, he and Merlin were arguing about him being fat (the prince had no idea how they got onto the subject, but he could take a guess), and the next, a ball of fire was being shot at them from somewhere in the forest. This got both their attentions pretty quickly and, before they knew it, more were being fired their way.
Too many to dodge, Merlin stepped besides Arthur and shielded himself and his friend with his wings. When the onslaught had stopped, Arthur unsheathed his sword and yelled, "Who's there? Show yourself coward!"
A few seconds later, a figure in a black hooded cloak stepped out. "Who are you?" the prince demanded to know. The figure pulled their hood down to reveal long, flowing red hair and green eyes. "You're a woman?!"
Merlin wanted to roll his eyes. Obviously you dollop-head, he thought. The witch rolled her green eyes too, apparently thinking the same thing.
"My name is not important. I'm simply here to take back what belongs to me" Anatol said, pointing to the were-wyvern, before whispering ''Drýcræft sylfum deorcnes aríseeþ!" in a low tone.
Arthur gasped in shock after her eyes flared gold. "You're the one who cursed him!" he said, pointing to his friend.
"I am"
"But why him? We don't even know you."
"True. But when the Lady Morgana and Morgause ask for your assistance...well, I just couldn't say no could I?" she said with a smug look.
At the mention of the witches' names, Arthur glared at her and would've stayed that way had it not been for Merlin's reaction. To his surprise, the wyvern was baring his teeth and growling at the sorceress. "Merlin..."
"Ah yes, Merlin. How are you enjoying my little gift? Don't worry, it'll be yours permanently soon enough" Anatol teased. At this, the warlock couldn't take it anymore. Ever since the witch attacked, Merlin could feel the dark magic that he thought was subdued, stirring wildly from within. Her presence here was aggravating it and every time she spoke, it seemed to rise and gain more power as if she was attracting it to herself like fire to kindling. He felt himself slowly losing control to the were-wyvern's animalistic instincts. Unable to fight the urge, he suddenly ran at her with all of his might.
"Merlin stop!" Arthur shouted but was too late. The red-haired sorceress raised her hand to the raging beast. "Brytengrúnd átæsaþ hine!" she yelled. Suddenly, bits of earth detached itself from the ground and struck the charging were-wyvern, causing a cloud of smoke to shroud the beast.
"Merlin!" Arthur yelled.
Before the smoke could clear, the were-wyvern shot out and continued running at the sorceress.
"Merlin, stop. Don't let it control you!", the prince said, but his plead was heard on deaf ears. To his dismay, Merlin kept going. Anatol raised her hand again. "Brytengrúnd átæsaþ hine! Brytengrúnd átæsaþ hine!" she chanted over and over. Despite the amount of times he was struck, the were-wyvern continued charging, only faltering slightly with every blow.
It finally reached Anatol and began slashing at her in similar way it did to Arthur. With ease, the sorceress simply dodged each blow. When she saw that it was getting tired, she raised her hand and uttered the spell again. This time, the earth hit Merlin on the side of his head so hard that it rendered him unconscious. Smirking, she looked at the were-wyvern and said, "Drisne betræppan hine!" With a flash of gold, tree roots erupted from the ground and wrapped themselves around his limbs.
Arthur, meanwhile, had been watching but was too stunned to do anything. The thing in front of him was not his friend anymore. There was no logic, no thinking, no love, nothing - only bloodthirsty hatred. It was only after his friend fell to the ground that the prince jumped in, his sword in hand, and attacked the sorceress.
Anatol had just finished trapping Merlin when she barely noticed the prince coming at her. She leapt out of the way, touched her hand to her face, and glared at the prince. Arthur smiled smugly when he noticed the cut on her now blemished face.
"I thought the Knight's Code said not to attack an unarmed person", she hissed.
"True, but evil sorcerers weren't included when they made up the rule. Besides, your weapon is magic. You clearly have the advantage." Arthur retorted, trying to stall her. The prince knew that bringing a sword to a magic fight wouldn't end in his favor. He would have to either get really lucky or she would have to be a pretty terrible sorceress for him to win, both of which were highly unlikely to happen. Right now, he needed his friend - not the were-wyvern, but Merlin - to wake up.
"Fair enough. Let's make this interesting" she said in an overly calm tone and pulled out her two daggers. "Let's see whose better."
"Daggers against a sword - really?"
"What's wrong? Can't handle these toothpicks?" Arthur didn't say anything as he mentally took her Blood Guard daggers and shoved them into her heart. If evil sorceresses have one.
"You don't trust me. My, what would give you that idea? Fine, I promise I won't use magic"
"Like you'll keep your word"
"Maybe. I guess you'll have to take that chance" and with that she lunged to attack.
Merlin was still out while Arthur and Anatol were fighting. It turned out she was pretty handy with her daggers. She could strike with one and defend with the other and it was very hard to keep a close eye on the smaller weapons. Several times the prince was forced to jump back in order to dodge a lethal blow.
However, after minutes of fighting, Arthur was proving to be more than the sorceress could handle. With a false move on her part and quick thinking on his, the prince had managed to hit both daggers out of her hand and held her at sword point.
Raising both hands in what looked like submission, she pleaded with the prince. "You can't kill me. Don't I get a trial or something?"
"Not for you, you don't"
"Then with my death, you have no chance of breaking his curse" she threatened.
"Oh, I don't need you to break the curse. We already know how". At this, her eyes widened. Arthur gave a triumphant look at calling her bluff. "Any last words?"
It was at that moment when the prince was about to kill the sorceress that Merlin decided to wake up. Finding himself in restraints (the strangest he'd ever seen), he began pulling against them thus making a lot of noise. This caught Arthur's attention, just enough to cause the prince to foolishly take his eyes off the sorceress.
"Yes, in fact I do." At this, Arthur looked back at Anatol, a tad bit too late. "Astrice!" she yelled and the prince was sent flying.
Merlin, who was now fully awake and now in control, began struggling even harder against the roots that bound him. "Arthur!"
The prince, in turn, was trying to get up. Seeing his pathetic attempts to rise, she shouted, "Aetsitteeþ!" and Arthur was harshly pinned to the ground. He couldn't help Merlin now.
"No! Release him now!" Merlin demanded.
"You are in no position to be giving me orders" she said, making her way to the cursed warlock.
"When I get out..." he threatened but was cut off by the sorceress' maniacal laughter.
"You'll what - kill me? Oh Merlin, you've forgotten something very important." He cocked his head in confusion. "You might have the power of the were-wyvern, but that's on borrowed time." Pointing to the sky, she smiled cruelly at her prisoner. "Tell me Merlin, what time is it now?"
Then it dawned on him. The sun was rising and soon he would change back to his old self -his magic would go back to battling the dark magic within him and he would be rendered defenseless.
"No!" Arthur yelled from the ground, reminding the other two that he was still there.
With a smirk she stole from Morgana, she looked at the sky once more. "Times up"
The sun's light peeked over the trees, its radiance waking up the slumbering forest. Normally, Merlin would've welcomed it with gladness, enjoying the feel of its gentle touch caressing his face. It was strange to think that he was now dreading this moment.
As soon as the light hit Merlin, the throbbing started up again. Quickly, it turned into a burning sensation that rippled through his body. The warlock scrunched his eyes and waited to welcome the bliss of unconsciousness...but strangely it didn't come. Something was wrong - the last times he had transformed he wasn't awake which meant he wouldn't feel anything. But now...
Pain. He thrashed in his bindings and roared to the sky - gods, he just wanted it to go away, he wanted the fire engulfing his being to end. He wanted to embrace the dark oblivion - anything rather than dealing with this.
A bone snapped, and another - they were repositioning themselves back to their normal state. And it hurt. It was as if every bone in his body was being ripped out of their sockets and placed in a different spot. What was worse was his skin - it was tearing into him, burning him alive from the outside like a bunch of flaming daggers plunging deep into his very being. Merlin wanted - no begged - it to stop, for anything to put him out of his misery.
Arthur could only helplessly watch his friend's agony. Not only could he see some of the bones reconstructing themselves under the skin (the crunching sound they made was horrible proof of that), but his wings, tail, and body began melting away, as if acid was eating away at him. At one point, Arthur could've sworn he heard a sizzling sound. Merlin then began frantically tearing at the skin his bound claws could reach, no doubt trying to rid himself of the source of his living torture. As bits of the black flesh of the were-wyvern peeled off, slowly revealing human skin underneath, the ironically gentle breeze lifted its shredded fragments into the air where they turned into ash.
What made everything ten times worse for Arthur was hearing Merlin's anguished scream.
When the wyvern started roaring, the prince could hear the pain behind it. As the were-wyvern's skin melted off and Merlin slowly began turning back (more like shedding) to his human self, the roar became under-toned with a human scream. Merlin's scream. In all the years they had known each other, Arthur had never heard Merlin scream in so much pain.
Come to think of it, he had never heard him scream at all. Slowly, the more human scream overpowered the roar and Merlin, now fully human, had slumped unconscious in his binding.
Arthur struggled to get up, but his attempts remained futile. There was nothing he could do as the sorceress approached him menacingly.
Wow. I kind-of feel bad for that. But don't worry Merlin fans, our young warlock will make it through...most likely.
Spell translations:
Drýcræft sylfum deorcnes aríseeþ - Dark magic arise!
Brytengrúnd átæsaþ hine - Earth strike him!
Drisne betræppan hine - Roots entrap him!
Astrice - Strike severely!
Aetsitteeþ - Down!
A reminder to all of you that this is my first attempt at character 'whump', so please be honest and tell me what you thought. Also, the next update should be Monday.
Until then,
-STL13