Thank you: Revenge of the Red Pen, Boxerbee, and TheReinbachDragonlord for your awesome reviews. I'm glad y'all are enjoying the story.

So, onward with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin

Chapter 18 - Escaping Unhindered and Unharmed

Arthur and Merlin braced themselves for the impending attack. The growls of each Dægar resonated in the once empty hall and the moon's light illuminated the corridor enough to see the snarling faces of each beast, including that of the were-wyvern.

Seconds turned to minutes and minutes, to hours. The faint sound of running footsteps was barely heard over the beasts until it skidded to a stop in the darkness.

"Arthur Pendragon stand down. This is your only chance or I will send the Dægar after you", a voice called out.

Merlin and Arthur shared a knowing look and the prince put down his sword. That surprised the sorcerer a bit, who was expecting defiance and hostility from Arthur and his no-named friend'. The young man pushed through the crowd of the still snarling Dægar and raised his hand to incant a restraining spell on the prisoners.

"Merlin now!" Arthur yelled and before the sorcerer could comprehend the command (or who the heck was 'Merlin'), a tail struck him in the chest, sending him flying into the horde of dog-like creatures. "Arthur run!" Using the confusion to their advantage, the prince and wyvern ran towards the exit, Merlin managing to hobble on three legs instead of four.

"Get them!" the sorcerer yelled angrily. At this, the Dægar took off after the prisoners.

Arthur didn't realize how fast the beasts were until one of them attempted to nip at his heel when they were only half way to the exit. Turning around, Arthur drew his sword and slashed its arm. The Dægar fell back only to be replaced by three more. All three lunged at him but were thrown back when another collided with them from the right. The prince looked in that direction to see Merlin wrestling another Dægar off his back.

"Arthur, you need to go on without me! There're too many of them."

"I'm not leaving you Merlin" the prince yelled as he thrust his sword into the back of the dog-like creature.

"No-one's going anywhere!" the sorcerer interrupted. "Clústor ætíewan!" he shouted, his hand raised at the prince. Merlin's white eyes raised in recognition of the man's words. With no time to think, the wyvern swung his tail and knocked Arthur to the ground a couple of yards behind him.

Annoyed and a bit angry, the prince groaned in pain, got up and immediately sought out his friend. "What the hell was that for Merlin?!" he yelled and marched over to said warlock, only to be stopped by an invisible force.

"What the heck?"

Sensing the prince's confusion, Merlin looked over his shoulder at Arthur, refusing to make eye contact with his friend. "Arthur, get out of here now!" he said in a solemn voice.

"NO!" the sorcerer screamed.

A Dægar suddenly lunged itself at the baffled prince only to be stopped by the same invisible force. Understanding came within moments. The sorcerer had put up a shield of some sort so nothing could get in or out. That's why Merlin had pushed him back, so that he wouldn't be trapped insi...

Oh no! Eyes widening, the prince verified his suspicions by slamming his sword against the barrier as hard as he could, only to have it bounce off. "No. Let me through!" he demanded before futilely attempting to break through the shield again.

"You'll pay for that!" the sorcerer, ignoring the prince, hissed at Merlin. "Get him!"

Immediately every Dægar rushed at the worn out wyvern. With renewed strength, Merlin stood up to defend himself from the onslaught of snarling beasts.

"Arthur go!"

As if out of a nightmare, the prince stood in horror as the Dægar viciously attacked the were-wyvern. The worst part was that he was helpless to aid his friend. Part of him wanted to run, saying that he couldn't do anything to help and that that was the logical choice, but the other part of him wanted - no needed - to stay with Merlin somehow. "But you'll..."

"I'll be fine" Merlin said while throwing another Dægar off of him. "It'll be no good if both of us are captured again. You have to go to Camelot and warn them of Morgana's plan!" he yelled before painfully ripping one beast off his bleeding shoulder. Arthur looked at him, still debating what to do.

"Trust me. I'll be right behind you" the cursed warlock said. If the prince didn't know his friend better, he would've believed him.

"You better" Arthur commanded and hesitantly ran to the exit.

"No you don't!" the sorcerer yelled and raised his hands. Before he could remove the shield, Merlin forced his way through the ocean of Dægar and slammed into him, rendering the sorcerer unconscious. His selfless effort, unfortunately, left him vulnerable and before the were-wyvern knew it, the Dægar were upon him once again.

Despite his brave attempts, Merlin wasn't able to defend himself from their combined strength. By the time he struck one down, several more would take its place. With each bite, each cut, and each blow, he knew he was losing the battle. Within a matter of minutes, the wyvern fell, wounded and barely holding on to consciousness.

Everything turned into a blur of pictures played in slow motion when the Dægar finally stopped their attack. He heard the faint sound of footsteps as more sorcerers entered the scene. He felt them surrounding him like vultures to a carcass. He saw their raised hands pointing towards him. He heard the chanting of an elaborate spell. He was powerless to stop them.

A sudden bolt of pain hit the cursed warlock.

All Merlin could do was scream.

Arthur hated himself.

He had just left his best friend - his brother - behind to fend for himself while he was running to safety. What kind of friend am I? Yes, there was no way to actually physically aid Merlin but...but...I should've found a way. Merlin would've.

When the prince reached the exit, he was welcomed by the breeze of the night air. He took a nice deep breath - freedom. There was just one problem though. The exit turned out to be a balcony off of one of the high towers. Looking over the edge, Arthur saw a bottomless drop with large jagged rocks protruding from the ground. If he wanted to get out, he would have to carefully climb down and hope not to fall. Still not a good idea. The other option, of course, was going back.

Thinking about backtracking only reminded the prince of Merlin. I shouldn't have left him, the prince scolded himself again. After moments of indecision, Arthur made up his mind and turned around determined to go back to his friend. I'll think of something, he convinced himself. Just as he was about to exit the balcony, a strong whirlwind blew in front of him forcing him to step back.

"Where are your manners Arthur? Don't you know it's rude to leave without saying goodbye to your dear sister?"

"Morgana" Arthur spat and raised his sword. Eyes flashing gold, the weapon was ripped from his grasp and fell to the darkness at the bottom of the castle, cashing loudly as it smashed against the deadly rocks. The sorceress stayed blocking the entrance, her dark dress blowing behind her and making her almost fuse into the blackness of the castle. "Get out of my way Morgana"

"Why should I? What the rush?" she asked innocently before the sound of a painful roar echoed through the hall. Merlin!, Arthur mentally shouted. The prince's eyes darted from Morgana to the corridor and back to his half-sister in anxiety.

"Well, looks like your pesky servant has been captured. Don't worry, you'll join him soon enough".

Merlin was barely holding onto consciousness. The pain that was shot at him was almost unbearable. Almost. The warlock knew he had been through worse, a good example being his recent transformations. Yes, it had hurt but, looking at the bright side, at least his threshold for pain had grown. And Arthur calls me a pessimist, he thought smugly despite the pain he was in.

Not letting this stop him, the were-wyvern, to the dismay of the five sorcerers casting the spell, began to pick himself up. Seeing this, the sorcerers poured more of their magic into the enchantment to keep him contained until Anatol had arrived, causing him to fall back down.

Merlin didn't bother moving for quite some time. Just when he was about to give up, he heard something - almost like a faint ringing in his head. He didn't know what it was exactly. It wasn't a bell nor was it the ringing he heard when another magic-user was communicating telepathically. It didn't hurt but it tickled his magic and made him alert of... something else, despite the pain he was feeling at the moment. He looked around at his surroundings. There was nothing there that could possibly be the source of the ringing. He looked towards the light radiating from the exit and felt it again, stronger but not overwhelming. A strange feeling.

The cursed warlock didn't know if it was destiny that caused it or if it was friendship - maybe a bit of both. He didn't know. Whatever it was, Merlin somehow knew that Arthur was in trouble.

With renewed vigor and purpose - forged by the unbreakable fire-tried bond they had formed over the years - the were-wyvern powered through the immense pain, not just from the spell but from the wounds the Dægar had inflicted on him, and stood up. The sorcerers, eyes widening in fear, pushed harder with their magic and the Dægar stood their ground. He knew they would attack once he got up - but that didn't matter.

Merlin was not going to abandon destiny. He wasn't going to abandon his friend.

A group of men suddenly flooded the balcony. Arthur tried to distinguish sorcerer from soldier, but right now, that was the least of his concerns. He was surrounded and the odds of him escaping were now greatly against his favor.

"My Lady" one man addressed Morgana. "We have captured the beast as you have instructed. What do you want us to do with the prince?"

Morgana looked up thoughtfully before flashing her signature grin to her half-brother. "As much as I would like to deal with you now, I do like the ripping-to-shreds bit I had promised. Send for the Dægar, they can deal with him"

The same man bowed to his queen and his eyes flashed gold. Arthur may have been ignorant on all magic-related topics, but he figured that the man had somehow contacted the Dægar. His suspicions were confirmed when the crowd backed away from the prince and the sound of heavy-footed running came from the lighted hall. All eyes turned to the prince, their faces plastered with an evil grin. Arthur braced himself for the pain that was soon to come.

"Any last words?" Morgana taunted.

And then, several things happened before Arthur could even think of an answer.

"Stop him!" a panicked voice yelled from the hall. Morgana's men were scrambling in the tight space of the hall leading to the balcony, clearly trying to push themselves out of the way of whatever was freaking them out. Those who were on the balcony, including Morgana, turned around to see what the commotion was. A black figure jumped over the crowd and ploughed into Arthur, causing them both to fall over the edge.

Morgana ran to the railing and peered into the black abyss. Not seeing anything, she turned to her men. "What was that? What the hell happened?!" she demanded to know. She really wanted to see Arthur torn to shreds.

The men just stared at her in shock. "What are you all just staring at? I demand to know what just happened!" she yelled. Her soldiers didn't move except one who, bravely but still with a shaking hand, pointed to something behind Morgana. The witch suddenly stopped. Slowly turning around, she made out the sound of flapping wings. There, right in front of her, not dead and very much alive, was the were-wyvern carrying the prince.

Arthur was sure he was dead, especially when the black figure slammed into him causing him to fall over the balcony. He had closed his eyes, hoping that if he did, there would somehow be less pain when he hit the sharp rocks. After a couple moments of realizing that he wasn't falling but was slowly moving up, the prince bravely opened his eyes to see two claws holding him by the armpits. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but he was still alive.

"I got you" a pained voice sounded.

Arthur's looked up at the familiar voice. "Merlin!"

"You're a lot heavier than you normally look Sire" Merlin complained.

The prince would've gave into the banter had it not been for hearing his friend call him 'Sire'. Merlin never called him sire unless he was in the presence of nobility or if something was seriously wrong. There was no nobility around so that only left the question: what was wrong?

"Don't just stand there, attack!" Arthur immediately snapped out of his train of thought at the sound of Morgana's angry voice. The prince turned his head around to see the men on the balcony fumbling around.

"Merlin, get us out of here!" Arthur called up.

Merlin wanted to slap his friend on the head for the inconsiderate tone of the command but decided to concentrate more on flying. The were-wyvern had no clue how to properly fly and with the added weight from supporting Arthur (yes, he wasn't completely joking when he called him fat), he was barely managing to keep them both in the air - not to mention that with every movement he made, his injuries from before felt like they were on fire.

The cursed Dragonlord closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He pictured Kilgharrah flying - how his wings moved, how his body contorted to give him an extra burst of strength, everything. With renewed determination, the were-wyvern flapped his wings harder and more deliberately and after a couple seconds, he was finally able to steady himself.

His accomplishment, however, was short lived when an arrow whistled by followed by several more (with a couple of fire balls thrown in for good measure). The soldiers on the balcony were relentless in their attack, none of them wanting to be the recipient of Morgana's wrath if they failed.

"Merlin..." Arthur called out worriedly.

"I'm working on it! Just hang on"

Merlin was attempting to maneuver through the various attacks heading his way while trying to escape. His efforts were proving successful until an arrow nicked his left arm, causing him to instinctively let go of his grip of the prince. Arthur yelped in surprise but quickly latched on to the were-wyvern's right claw.

"Ahh!"

"Merlin, don't you dare drop me!"

"Wouldn't think about it Sire" Merlin replied in a strained voice. Pushing through the pain, he grabbed Arthur securely and continued on his way.

Morgana, who was growing more and more impatient, finally had enough. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself! "That's it!" she said before grabbing an arrow from one of the archers. "Arwe, bryneond dynt!" With a flash of gold, the arrow lit with a green fire. Rising from her hand, it sailed through the air at its target.

Arthur yelled in frustration as he swung himself out of the way of another arrow. They were so close to absolute freedom that the prince could taste it. They only needed to go a little further before being out of range from any arrow or fire ball or whatever else that Morgana's men were throwing at them. Midway into his thoughts, Arthur yelped again (in a manly way of course) when both he and Merlin dropped a couple feet in the air. Heart still pounding, the prince was about to yell at his friend but stopped when he saw the exhausted look on his face.

"Merlin, you okay?"

The warlock didn't answer. Instead, he grunted in pain and strengthened his efforts. Within a few moments, both he and the prince were finally out of range and sailing through the air to their freedom.

If only things were that easy.

Spell translation:

Clústor ætíewan! - Barrier appear! Arwe, bryneonddynt! - Arrow, burn and strike!

Aw, I'm being mean to poor Merlin again. Rest assured, this story will have a happy ending...most likely. Anyway, I'm almost done writing this story so that it will be finished before the Series 5 premiere on September 29th.

As always, drop a review please. A virtual, metaphorical (insert favorite dessert) for you if you do. :)

Until later,

-STL13