Chapter 8

Cald Anga

Disclaimer: I do not own either Danny Phantom or Merlin

Arthur sighed as he marched through the castle, red cloak billowing out around him in his chainmail. Merlin had asked for the previous evening off, claiming that Gaius needed more herbs. And Arthur had acquiesced; during the coming month it would be important for Gaius's stores to be fully stocked. He had not, however, said that there would be no consequences to Merlin for having made the request.

He opened the doors to the Physician's Chambers, loosely recalling that Gaius was spending the night out in the lower town. Thus he felt no compunctions in striding across the room and throwing open the doors to his manservant's room. The door slammed against the wall, but neither of the occupants stirred aside from a mumbled 'five more minutes, dad' from the younger boy sleeping on a pallet on the floor.

Arthur paused, taking a minute to study Camelot's newest resident. Daniel was young, looking around the same age as Merlin when he first came to Camelot. There was no doubt that there were similarities between the two, and far more than just superficially. Daniel seemed to possess the same incurable clumsiness that Merlin had, as well as a beguiling cheeriness that was almost as infectious as Merlin's. Within the week he had made strong friendships with the knights as well as many of the castle staff. Plus there was that strange extra... something... in his eyes that both Merlin and his new ward seemed to possess.

Yet for all their similarities there were some stark differences between the two. Daniel possessed a fighting skill that Merlin would never be able to manage. Arthur had yet to trial the boy with a sword, but he had showed remarkable adaptability with any weapon the knights put in his hands. And he wasn't just some tavern brawler, in every fight Arthur had seen him in he was carefully calculating, manipulating his opponent and learning both to emulate and counter their attacks. It was interesting to watch, but it did make him wonder about Daniel's past.

Arthur himself had deliberately forestalled challenging the boy himself. He was still taking his own notes of the young raven-head, observing his movements and judging them. The policy of granting a knighthood to anyone who could last a minute against him in a sword fight was still theoretically in place, but Arthur wanted to be sure of the boy's motivations before he afforded that opportunity to him. Given that the boy had managed to outlast Gwaine in combat, there was a strong probability that he could pass the challenge. Thus the only problem was that Arthur was still unable to get an exact read on what the boy actually wanted from being in Camelot.

He shook his head, clearing it of his musings before picking up the small water goblet from Merlin's side table and threw it across the dark-haired man's sleeping face. Merlin coughed, sputtering awake as he jerked up from the bed. Arthur concealed a smile as two drops of water trailed down his chin, a pair of disgruntled blue eyes blinking owlishly at him.

"We're going hunting." He announced, inwardly grinning at the way Merlin sputtered indignantly at his pronouncement. "Wake up your ward and be prepared to leave in half an hour."

"What?" Merlin complained, blinking owlishly towards him. "Arthur!" But Arthur was already leaving, smirking as he twirled around and strode out of the room. Behind him he heard a thump and a second groan, and his smirk widened as he heard the younger boy as he was loudly brought awake. As the wooden door swung closed behind him he couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him. If nothing else having the responsibility of a ward might help temper some of Merlin's most negligent habits. Certainly there could be no more full days spent in the tavern if Merlin had to be looking out for the younger boy.

Half an hour later he walked down the steps to the main courtyard, noticing the saddled horses and the smiling faces of Gwaine and Percival as they watched the two dark haired boys finish preparing the horses. Merlin's movements were well practiced, confident. But Daniel had the distinct beleaguered air of someone who'd never been around horses before. As Arthur watched, Gwaine walked over and showed Daniel how to tighten a strap properly.

Arthur coughed, grabbing the attention of the knights and the two dark haired boys. All of them standing to attention as he came down the stairs, Merlin respectfully handed him the reigns as Percival and Gwaine mounted their horses. The two were the only knights free to come out hunting this particular morning, the others all assisting with training the new knights to the garrison. Arthur needed the opportunity to get away from the bustle of the castle.

Arthur swung himself up onto his horse, and from a few steps behind him he heard Merlin copy the movement onto his own mount. He looked over his shoulder, noting that both Percival and Gwaine were smirking at the fifth member of the group. Daniel seemed to be having a staring contest with the pack-horse, the horse stubbornly not going moving, and Daniel tugging on the reigns in an attempt to make the mare move.

"You know," Percival suggested, and Arthur watched as the tall man slid off his own horse and took the reins out of Danny's hands. "Dragging her along won't help. Gently guide her; she'll go along happily so long as she's not forced."

"Thanks." Daniel replied, sending the knight a grateful, if overwhelmed smile.

Percival nodded, handing the reins back over to the boy as the horse started walking. Arthur noted Percival's subtle nod and gently pressed his heels into his own horse's sides, leading their party out of the main courtyard. It was a simple hunting trip, and the horses were mostly brought along to carry the weaponry to the forest's edge. As such it was quite acceptable for one of the party to be leading a horse, rather than riding.

"You haven't worked with horses before, Danny?" Gwaine asked lightly as they made their way across the drawbridge and towards the forest's edge. Arthur listened in keenly, wanting to know more about the younger boy.

"Not really." Daniel replied, and Arthur could hear the shrug in his voice. "Where I'm from, we don't really use horses. I mean... look at people in the lower town, there's not exactly enough room for it to be practical." Arthur frowned, hearing the slightest bit of uncertainty in his voice.

He must not have been the only one to notice because Percival was quick to follow up. "So you come from a large town?"

"Relative to what?" Daniel deflected, but Arthur wasn't sure if his fellow knights would notice it for that. "It's large enough to have more than one commercial area, but not so big that I don't know most of the faces on the street."

"You're being vague." Percival commented. By now they were a little way into the forest, and soon they'd need to tether the horses and try to spot a trail. But Arthur wasn't quite ready to stop the conversation.

"I guess." Daniel replied. "But it's also true that everything is relative. If I was to compare my home town to some of the other cities where I'm from, it's small. Compared to what Merlin's told me of Ealdor, it's huge."

Arthur set that piece of information aside, while it was clear that Daniel was being very deliberate in his vagueness, he had also told them something more. Arthur was sure that given time he could figure out exactly what the boy meant, and thus work out how he'd gotten lost in the first place. However this was not the time for contemplative pursuits, instead he called a halt to their ride as he saw the beginnings of a deer-trail going through the woods. All five of them tethered the horses and Arthur grabbed his crossbow before leading the way through the leafy foliage.

Danny held back a sneeze as they pushed through the forest. Arthur was leading the hunt, apparently having picked up a trail that only he (or maybe a practiced eye, given the reactions of the other two knights) could see. Danny cringed at the thought; it felt wrong on so many levels to be part of this sort of hunting party. Sure, back home he went ghost hunting every night, but that was a catch and send home sort of thing, rather than a corner and kill thing. And well, having been caught in Skulker's sights one too many times; he empathised with the prey a little too much.

Besides that, there was the fact that Sam would probably kill him herself if she found out that he'd been a part of a hunting party. He knew that it was common practice in this timeframe; that almost the chief source of meat was to go out and hunt for it. But he still couldn't wrap his head around it. Hunting to kill, taking life in that way, he couldn't do it. Probably it was too much modern conditioning; all the fresh meat he'd seen came in pre-packaged cartons in the supermarket. But something about killing an animal for food seemed incongruent.

Merlin seemed to have similar sentiments, given the raucous noise he made as he trampled through the undergrowth. Although... that could simply be down to the fact that Merlin was currently overloaded with an extra crossbow and two spare spears. Danny himself wasn't faring much better. Apparently the knights didn't usually have a second servant accompanying them, and so Danny had been roped into carrying two extra crossbows and enough bolts for all of them.

"Do you have any idea what he's looking for?" Danny murmured, stepping beside Merlin and taking one of the spears out of his hands. Danny didn't mind carrying it, not when Merlin looked like he was about to impale himself on the pointy end.

Merlin stared at the trail after Arthur for a moment, surveying it carefully before turning back to Danny. His face was deadly serious as he answered "Not a clue" but the blue eyed man couldn't hold back his smile. Danny bit his own lip to try and contain a snicker, but apparently Arthur had heard them if the disgruntled call to silence was anything to go by.

Danny shook his head and closed his mouth. Much as he didn't want to be there, he didn't want to antagonise the young king either. Arthur had been kind to him, given the circumstances, and Danny didn't particularly want to abuse his good will. Plus, he somehow got the feeling that something big had to happen before he could go home. He didn't know what that was, but he knew that hassling the king was not a good way to go about things.

So Danny gritted his teeth as he followed their party through the forest. This sort of hunting was both similar and different to what he was used to; similar because the knights were looking for specific markers in the undergrowth that would lead them to their prey, and different in the end game and the methodology. When Danny went 'hunting', he was following a distinct ectoplasmic trail, looking for hints in that spectrum as to the location of the ghost.

Not to say that he didn't understand the theory behind what the knights were doing. Countless run-ins with Skulker had taught him to tread very lightly and leave no visible trail of where he walked. Knowing that someone considered you prey would do that to you. So he sort of got what they were looking for; track marks, broken branches, given that the quarry was mammalian probably even droppings. But he didn't know exactly what to look for, and wasn't particularly inclined to even if he did.

An hour passed and the sun had well and truly risen. Beams of yellow light flickered through the leafy canopy, leaving the forest floor bathed in dappled green light. It was pleasant, even if the knights ahead had yet to catch anything. It seemed like they were following something large, given the whispered conversation that passed between the professional hunters, but Danny was happy enough following Merlin's lead. The man was telling him – albeit in muted whispers – about some of the different plants they passed, which Danny had to concede seemed a much more fruitful endeavour.

They took a short break around lunchtime, eating the bread and cheese that Merlin had had the foresight to bring along. Danny decided to forgo his share, subtly handing it back to Merlin. Neither of them had eaten that morning, but Danny now knew that he could last a lot longer than Merlin without something to eat. Arthur seemed a bit flustered by his non-success, and Percival and Gwaine both appeared to take it in stride. Danny just watched, curious to see what these men, men who would be legends, were like when they were just relaxing.

Half an hour later they set off again, Gwaine having picked up a clearer trail when he accidentally prodded a beehive with his boot. This part of the forest was thicker, and the bushes clustered together in dense bramble-patches, leaving only narrow trails that animals could wind through. Arthur was in the lead, and he paused to highlight a knot of soft brown fur that had been caught on a snarled branch.

Arthur gestured them on, grabbing an extra few crossbow bolts before he headed further into the forest. They seemed to be getting closer, if the freshness of the trail was any indication. But Danny felt something prickling on the edges of his awareness. The forest was quiet; not that that was all that unfamiliar to him, after all, most animals were at best wary of being so close to him thanks to his ghost genes. But this was a deeper sort of silence than even he usually inspired.

They pressed on for several minutes more, but the further they went into the snarled undergrowth, the more the hairs on the back of Danny's neck lifted. The silence was deepening, the only noise coming from their own group as they made their way through the thicket. It was clear that something had passed this way, but the eerie silence made Danny worry. The path they were on was the only way through the thickly knotted brambles, and to Danny it felt almost claustrophobic to have no human way out other than back the way they had come.

Suddenly up ahead Arthur tripped, and all five of them came pouring out into a small clearing. Leaf litter was thick on the ground, except for a slight indentation scraping away up and over the crest of the encircling embankment. Danny blinked, listening out for anything, and on the edge of his hearing he heard it. A scuttling sort of noise, like an insects legs was coming closer. But it was bigger and heavier than any insect Danny had heard before. He frowned, while it was clear enough to him, the noise was far too quiet for any human to pick up on.

"Arthur." He heard Merlin whisper warily to his master, an edge of fear in his voice.

"Quiet Merlin." Arthur commanded in a harsh whisper, silencing the man.

"Is it just me," Gwaine murmured quietly, looking around the embankment cautiously. "Or does this feel like an ambush?"

The scuttling noise was getting closer, and Danny's eyes widened as he saw the creature coming over the ridge closest to Percival. Suddenly things were happening very quickly, and with a tremendous cry an enormous stinger lashed out towards the tall knight.

"Percival, duck!" Danny exclaimed, shoving the knight out of the way as a dust of leaves leapt into the air where he'd just been. He felt a sharp sting lash across his arm, but his attention was drawn to the eight enormous scorpions that were encircling the entire clearing.

Percival grunted as he pulled himself off the forest floor. He would have yelled at the kid for attacking him, if he hadn't noticed the dark brown tail pulling away from where he'd just been standing. "Thanks." He murmured as the boy tugged him back up, but it was barely a second later when the two of them had to jump apart as the stinger came back for a second blow. Percival kicked aside the crossbow, useless now from the fall, and drew his sword, turning to face one of the gigantean creatures that were attacking.

"What are these things?!" The boy gasped as he dodged across the clearing.

"Serkets." He heard Merlin reply, but Percival found himself having to dodge as another stinger lashed out beside him. His sword flashed in his hands, feeling feeble against the massive creatures that had surrounded their group.

Sure he'd come across serkets before, but never in a group this large, and never this big. The last time he'd faced the beasts it'd been him and Lancelot across three who were no longer than three feet long. And he'd never been cut off like this before. If anything, this felt like a trap, the singular path in and out already cut off by an enormous hissing beast.

Blood pounded in his ears as he swung his sword, forcing his opponent back. The beast reared, spindly legs whirling menacingly in the air as its two pincers snapped towards him. He took the brief opening, plunging his sword into the beast's soft underbelly and withdrawing as a pool of dark blue blood pooled out.

Behind him he heard a shriek, followed by a sharp splintering noise, and suddenly a heavy tree branch crushed one of the serkets as it came crashing down. It was fortuitous as all the remaining beasts backed off for the barest moment, giving Percival the chance to breathe. There were four left now, the one he killed, one crushed by the branch, and two lying in oozing heaps beside Gwaine and Arthur respectively.

Percival realised he couldn't see either Merlin or Danny, and swung around quickly searching for a sign of either, but was distracted by towering screech beside him. His eyes widened as he saw the serket's tail lash out towards him, but his sword wouldn't move fast enough to stop it. His heart stopped, and there was a rush of air, and suddenly the body of the serket was flailing, it's tail pressed deep into the earth by a pale hand.

He blinked, and his heart started again. And Percival saw that it was Danny who had somehow managed to catch the beast by the tail before shoving it downwards. As he watched the boy elbowed the creature sharply in the head with his free arm, and the flailing body fell limp. The boy stood up, releasing a quick breath before glancing towards Percival. There was a beat, and then both of them turned to face the next serket.

Predictably the creature lashed forward with its tail, the sharp barb flying through the air like a whip. But this time Percival was able to watch as he saw the boy move around the attack, and once more clasp a hand firmly around the tail just before the sting. But this time instead of driving the tail into the earth the dark haired boy sprung up; somehow managing to lever the creature so that its weak underside was left pointing upwards. Percival took the hint and drove his sword into the beast's belly and pulling back quickly as once more thick blue blood spurted out at him.

He turned around to survey the rest of the clearing, watching amusedly as Gwaine pulled his sword out from the last serket's head and pick up a severed stinger. "Think this'll impress anyone back in Camelot?" The brunette asked, flashing a grin at them as the adrenalin of the fight flushed out of them. Percival just smiled and shook his head briefly turning his attention back to the younger boy.

Percival wasn't the smartest man out there, and he was the first to acknowledge that. He knew strength and he knew weakness, he knew what it meant to simply defend and he knew what it meant to protect what was right. He was often more quiet than his fellow knights, more reserved. He had been since he had watched King Cenred's men kill his entire village in front of him. But he often observed.

Danny was a strange boy, clumsy and controlled in equal measures. That first day when he'd fought against him, Percival had been quietly shocked. For all that Danny was slight and gangly; he packed a lot of strength into his muscles. But more than that, he'd known exactly how to use an opponent's weight against him. He'd seen it more than once during the week, Gwaine having decided along with the rest of them to give Danny a run at squire-come-servant. Danny hadn't expressed any inclination to become a knight, but Percival could see that the boy had fighting skill enough to be worth consideration.

But the fight just now had shown something more. It was a silent agreement whenever they went out that the servant with them – namely Merlin – would duck to safety and let the knights fight. But Danny hadn't followed that rule. Instead he'd fought right along with them, despite not having a blade to hand. Looking at the forest floor he saw the broken remnants of their crossbows, so clearly even the weapons he had been carrying had been rendered useless.

Danny had fought against those creatures bare handed, without even a sword for protection and seemed to have come out alright, if a bit shaken. But what really got to Percival wasn't the way he'd flipped over the second serket to let him have a go at it, nor was it the way Danny had somehow managed to catch two lashing stingers mid-strike. It was the impossible strength he'd shown in elbowing the serket, rendering the creature unconscious. He shouldn't have been able to manage it, not from that angle. But he had, and for the slightest moment Percival could have sworn that the way the light caught in his eyes made them flash bright green.

"I think the serkets got the deer before we did." Merlin commented, popping up from behind a tree and breaking Percival out of his musings.

Arthur scowled, cuffing Merlin on the head before declaring that they should head back. "Pity they didn't get to you." He commented, "We might have actually caught something without dragging your sorry behind along."

"I'm sorry, sire, but you were the one who decided to drag 'my sorry behind' along with you." Merlin retorted in his usual snarky way, and as usual even Arthur was biting back a smile at their usual bickering. Across the clearing Gwaine was still playing with the serket's sting, moving it through the air as though it was a claw.

"Put that away, Gwaine." Arthur barked before ordering their return to Camelot. The five of them set off, Merlin idly picking through the destroyed crossbows, but none of them were salvageable. And it appeared that only one spear had endured the ambush. It was quickly picked up and handed to Danny, who according to Arthur was less likely to impale himself on the thing on the way back.

The blonde king led the way back out of the briar patch, but with no weapons left there was little purpose in the absolute silence necessary for hunting. So Gwaine apparently felt quite content to start prattling on, and Merlin got into a bickering match about the pointlessness of hunting if every time they ended up being ambushed or attacked by magical creatures.

"Thanks for the save back there." Danny said as he sidled up beside him. They'd cleared the briar patch and could now walk three abreast if they wanted.

"It was nothing." Percival replied, feeling distinctly like it was the younger boy who had done the saving. He took a moment to look at the boy, like all of them he was a bit dishevelled from the fight, but the most noticeable thing was a long gash in the right sleeve of his shirt. Percival couldn't think of anytime when the boy could have been hit, well, other than the initial serket strike when Danny had knocked him safely out of the way. But that couldn't have been it; if he'd been stung then Danny would barely be able to walk by now. Serket venom was almost always fatal, and Danny would already be dizzy if not completely unconscious if he'd been stung.

"Your arm alright?" Percival asked, reaching out to touch the injured limb.

Danny pulled it back, and Percival saw an almost indistinguishable pained flinch in the movement, but it was gone in an instant. "Yeah." The boy replied. "One of the crossbow bolts must've slit the shirt when those things attacked. I'm fine."

Percival nodded, accepting the response. Danny had been fighting after all, and he definitely wasn't a seasoned knight. While the boy may be a talented fighter, it was a different skill to continue fighting after being wounded, and Percival honestly doubted that was a skill a boy that young could possibly have. Still, there was something about the boy, and Percival wasn't entirely sure what that meant.

The five of them eventually found their way back to the horses, and Percival was surprised with just how far out they'd gotten. It took them the better part of two hours to find the clearing where they had tethered the horses, and another half hour to get back to the drawbridge. By the time they reached the citadel the sun was just setting, and unfortunately they returned with nothing but a serket's stinger to show for their hunt. However, looking at the relaxed look on the king's face Percival realised that the exercise has been more to get out of the castle than a genuine need for fresh meat.

"So..." Gwaine said, easily dismounting from his horse as they entered the main courtyard. "We clean up and then meet in the tavern in half an hour?"

"You two can go," Arthur said, sliding off his own horse with equal grace. "Merlin and Danny here have a few chores to attend to."

"Oh, come on princess." The roguish knight beseeched, slinging a careless arm across the younger boy's shoulders. "Danny here has just survived his first battle with a nasty magical critter; surely you won't deprive him of the opportunity to regale the lovely maids at the tavern with the tale."

Arthur scowled lightly, but relented. "A couple of hours." The king acquiesced. "But if either Merlin or Daniel shows up so one minute late tomorrow it's on your own head."

"I'm doomed!" Gwaine exclaimed dramatically, but Percival saw the smile on Gwaine's face as they watched Arthur proceed up the staircase and into the castle. The brown eyed knight turned to face the three of them. "So... half an hour then?" He asked with a bright grin on his face. And Percival couldn't escape the feeling that he'd walked deep into something as his fellow knight all but dragged him back to their quarters to clean up.

Percival shook his head as he set aside the red cloak and changed into a slightly more casual shirt, slipping his lighter chainmail vest over the top. All week Gwaine had been talking about getting both dark haired young men into the tavern. Percival had been quite serious the night before when he said Gwaine would be disappointed if he found out Merlin was the first one to get young Danny drunk. Percival couldn't help a small shudder; Gwaine was going to be insufferable. Now he'd succeeded in convincing Arthur to allow not just Danny, but also Merlin a night off from servant's duties.

AN; Yep, they're going to the tavern. And Danny got hit by a serket and nobody knows. :P

Just a bit of fun, since I've been finding it really hard to write since I watched the Merlin Finale :(

Translations;
Cald Anga– Cold Sting

Adieu,

Bluerose