Thank you for people putting this story as a favourite already =) Made me smile a lot!

I know this story has a bit of an iffy start but in later chapters it'll be better, especially when Arthur starts getting more involved.

Enjoy and please review, it's what keeps the story going

A few days had passed since the last dragons attack and refurbishment was well on its way to being completed. After being attacked so many times the people of Camelot had gotten quite good at fixing things that had been destroyed. Mainly their homes.

Now the villagers got on with their daily lives as they waited for the next attack. For it was what many looked forward too as their normal activities did nothing to excite them and you often spotted them staring into the sky in hope of spotting a dragon.

Merlin on the other hand had other things on his mind.

"I'm telling you I hit it! I aimed, shot and fired that dragon down. It landed in the forest somewhere, if you could just come with me and I'll show you." Merlin had been begging the Prince for days to come with him. He wasn't the strongest of men and he needed someone there incase the dragon attacked but apparently it was a waste of the Prince's time.

"I have better things to do then chase after a dragon that doesn't exist," Arthur explained as he went through some paperwork at his desk. "Would you leave me in peace? I have work to do and you still haven't cleaned my boots. I asked you to do that days ago."

"I'm not your servant!"

"Gaius said you could help me out with smaller jobs when he didn't need you and you're not exactly busy. Clean my boots. That's an order."

"Fine! I'll go find the dragon myself!"

Picking up the abandoned boots, Merlin stormed from the room and made sure to slam the door on his way out. If Arthur thought he was getting his boots back he had another thing coming. Gaius may have offered Merlin's services but that didn't make him a servant, he was a blacksmith for god sake, he had plenty of other jobs to be doing. Like finding his dragon.

Once he was on the outskirts of the town, Merlin changed his boots over for Arthur's since they would give him a better grip on the ground and left in a run so he could search quicker. There were only so many hours he could be gone before people asked questions.

Searching over ledges and near boulders where the dragon might have sought for some form of protection, Merlin was well into his third hour of searching when he finally stumbled upon the dragon. At first he hadn't spotted it as it was hidden in the shadows of a nearby tree but when it's eyes had opened, as it sensed Merlin's presence, the light emitted from the pupils had caught Merlin's attention.

Now he stood looking at the dragon that didn't appear that dangerous. It's scales were as black as the night sky, the texture looked so smooth that Merlin was even tempted to reach out and touch one but as if reading his thoughts, the dragon glared at him intently. Maybe he wouldn't be doing that anytime soon. Looking at the rest of the dragon, he saw that it's claws were massive and sharp enough that he put a hand to his throat at the thought of his head being sliced off. He would be avoiding those claws for sure. Next he looked at it's head. It wasn't long and thin like the fire dragons he'd seen, it was wider and it's ears flattened when Merlin took a step towards it.

"I knew I'd hit you," Merlin muttered and smiled. Arthur would be eating his own words when Merlin told him about this.

Turning to leave so he could go and tell the Prince, he heard a slight noise of the dragon moving and he looked to see that its head was now on the ground with its eyes closed. Frowning, he walked over to the dragon and knelt down beside it. "Are you okay?" Merlin asked but obviously got no response. Only when he reached forward did one of its eyes opened to warn him off. "Okay, no touching. Got it."

Merlin looked down at the rest of the dragon and saw the net that had shot out of his contraption, it had the dragon bound tightly. Feeling a sense of guilt creep over him Merlin crawled down to where its tail lay and gently began to undo the knots that held the net together. "I'm sorry. I didn't think … I just wanted to show him that I'm not just some idiot."

Whilst undoing the knots he got a small chance to feel the scales and he smiled at the smoothness of them, "You are beautiful. Did you know that?" Merlin got a little nervous as he undid the net around its claws but it made no movement to harm him. If anything it got more interested in Merlin himself. "You are unlike anything I've ever seen before. Arthur would love to see you … or capture you depending on what day it was."

Apparently the dragon had understood some of that since one moment Merlin was helping the beast, the next he was being tossed through the air and smashed against a rock. The dragon leapt across the gap and came within an inch of Merlin, its breath hot on his face as it glared at him. Merlin could only close his eyes as it opened its mouth and he hoped that death would be less painful than people claimed it would be.

Except instead of burning him to ashes, the dragon roared as loud as he possibly could and then flew into the air to vanish between the trunks of the trees. At least that's what Merlin hoped when he opened his eyes to find the dragon gone. He was alive. Why, he didn't know.

Taking his chance to escape, Merlin ran as fast as he could back to the castle, determined to tell Arthur exactly what had happened. In all of history no dragon had ever spared a human. Maybe they were wrong about other things as well? With a smile on his face he passed some of the villagers who looked at him with a confused expression and it was only when he flew through Arthur's bedroom doors that he gave himself a chance to breathe.

"Arthur! You'll never believe … what I saw …" Merlin's voice drifted off as two people sat up in the bed, one who looked extremely annoyed and the other simply embarrassed. "Gwen …"

"Have you not heard of knocking Merlin? Get out!" Arthur demanded and Merlin retreated through the door, making sure to close it. However his hand gripped the door handle as he glared at the door. He knew Arthur liked spending time with the ladies but he never thought that Gwen would be one of them. Merlin had grown up with Gwen, knew what type of men she liked, Arthur wasn't one of them.

Merlin didn't know why he was feeling … what he could only think of as angry. Just the thought of those two being in that bed, doing what they had, it made his blood boil.

"Merlin? Can you let go of the door?" Gwen's voice broke his thoughts and as his grip lightened, the door swung open to reveal the blushing woman. "Thanks. I'll see you later?" She didn't wait for an answer as she brushed past him and hurried off home.

"You can come in now." Arthur's voice sounded annoyed and Merlin came inside the room to see him now dressed with an expression of anger across his face. "Why did you think you could just come in here without knocking? I am the Prince. You may not realise that but I should have some sort of respect from you."

"I just … I wanted to tell you about the dragon I said I shot down. I went out-"

"Is that seriously all you came to tell me? About this notion that you took down a dragon none have ever laid eyes upon."

"Just come down to the forest! I can show you where I found it and we could search for it together."

"Search for it? I thought you'd caught it."

"Yes, I had but I let it go because-"

"For God sake Merlin, are you just making this story up to amuse yourself? You talk of a dragon that has never been seen, say you shot it from the sky and then let it go. That makes no sense. Not unless you're an idiot." Arthur grabbed a top and pulled it over his head. "Go back to being a blacksmith Merlin. Being a storyteller isn't your thing."

"I'm not making this up! I caught it! I did!" Merlin went over and grabbed Arthur by the hand as he turned to grab a jacket. The Prince instantly spun and pinned him back against the wall.

"Touch me again and I'll have you in the stocks. You will stop talking about this and get on with your job. Otherwise I will not be the only one calling you an idiot. Am I clear?"

Merlin glared at him and gave a small nod, "Crystal."

He would never be taken seriously by Arthur. Nobody in this damn village did. He was just the guy who sharpened the swords and got in the way. Not one of them would believe in the dragon he had just seen with his very eyes unless they saw it for themselves.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm just trying to help you fit in, after all, you need to do the best you can if you're not going to fight dragons with the rest of us." Arthur ruffled his hair and walked out of his chambers with a smile on his face. Obviously thinking he'd settled the matter. "See you later Merlin," he yelled back and shut the door.

Lifting his head, Merlin smirked and decided that if Arthur didn't want to believe in that dragon, let it stay that way. Merlin would keep the dragon all to himself. If he couldn't fight dragons, he'd train one.