Another Merlin fic. I don't own it, BBC does though. This came to me after much reading of Merlin fanfiction. (I've become obsessed with Merlin fanfiction.) It will be slightly dark, not sure how dark, but there will be some violence and of course lots of smut, though that's later in the story. [sigh] I just love this pairing. Again I don't own these Merlin characters and be warned that this is a YAOI story, so don't read if you don't like that style.
Until Next Time
~Reiya
Chapter 9.
Merlin woke slowly to the sound of the forest around them. He was warm and comfortable and didn't want to move. So he just lay there listening to the trees and animals around them waken to a new dawn.
He listened to the birds whistling and chirping happily as they flew from branch to branch. At the same time, he was listening to the beating heart underneath his ear, the chest rising and falling with each breath. It was a soothing rhythm and made him smile.
He should have noticed Arthur was awake, but he was too busy listening to his heart beat to notice his change in breathing. He was startled into opening his eyes as arms encircled his waist. Looking up, he was met by sky blue eyes.
They appeared guarded, waiting to see what he would say. Merlin just smiled though, stretching his head up to brush his lips against Arthur's. Arthur seemed to have caught onto his mood, because he was smiling right back, pulling him up so Merlin didn't have to stretch so far to reach him.
They lay like that for about ten minutes, just kissing…but eventually hunger forced them to part. Arthur just smirked at the noises Merlin's stomach was making and sat up. Merlin glared at him in annoyance, but copied all the same.
Standing, he went to stretch and was pulled up short by aching muscles in places he didn't know could ache. It wasn't like a stabbing pain. It was dull enough to ignore mostly, but he knew it was going to make itself known at some inconvenient moments
Looking around, he started hunting for his clothes. He found his shirt and pants on opposite sides of the tent, his shoes were where he had left them. He also found Arthur's shirt on top of the boots, and his pants had somehow been thrown half out of the tent in their rush last night.
Handing them to Arthur, he started to dress, pulling on the clothes without too much difficulty. He finished and left Arthur to finish dressing. Walking outside, he saw that the fire had died down to a few glowing embers.
Setting a few twigs and dried leaves on them, he blew until a small flame appeared. By the time Arthur exited the tent, dressed and groomed, he had the fire going and was digging through their supplies to cook breakfast.
"After we eat, there's a small stream that way we can use to clean up." Arthur said aloud as he helped Merlin get food out. It was just some bread, a hunk of cheese and some dried pieces of meat. Cutting the bread, cheese, and meat into fat slices , they combined it all together and toasted it all lightly with the fire. It wasn't much, but by the time they finished, their stomachs were happy.
Deciding that they couldn't eat anymore, they went off to the stream to clean themselves of last nights evidence. As Merlin crouched there in the water, he felt like there were eyes watching him. Turning, he saw Arthur watching him. There was a gleam to his eyes and a proud smirk on his lips that made Merlin flush slightly, but he didn't try to hide himself from it.
Standing, he walked over to wrap his arms his neck and pull him down for another kiss. He obliged, wrapping his arms around Merlin's waist and pulling him close as their lips locked. Eventually, they pulled apart, needing air, but they spent the rest of their bath washing each other.
They set about cleaning up their camp, stowing their tent and things away in the packs atop the horses. Soon finished, they mounted up and left, following a thin ribbon of trail as Arthur continued the hunt that they had left off yesterday.
They were supposed to be hunting…well Arthur was. Merlin had been dragged along for the ride, though he didn't really mind, contrary to all his mumbling and grumbling the whole ride. They were supposed to be hunting, but instead Arthur had him pressed up against a tree, attacking his neck like it was some bizarre treat. Merlin of course didn't mind, but really, if you say your going hunting, you should at least stick to it.
Through half lidded eyes, he could see the horses some feet away, with all of their things tied to the saddles as the horses grazed and waited for their masters to finished what they were doing. Arthur bit down on the spot on his neck from last night and he felt his knees weaken marginally, drawing his attention back to Arthur.
It was the horse's scream of fear that brought them back to reality and were exactly they were. Arthur spun around and than they both got a look at what had come into the clearing they stood in. Even sinking low to the ground, it still came up to waist height. Black, gray, and brown tattered fur covered it's body, though patches were missing were ugly scar tissue marred it's rail thin body. The scar tissue came as far as it's face, cutting across to split it's right eye in half, leaving even more scar tissue were a bright red iris should have shone out from.
It looked like some cross between a bear and wolf. It had a bear's huge paws and muscled shoulders, but with the lithe body of a wolf and both heads combined to make it appear warped. It had the wolf's long muzzle, the bear's beady eyes and rounded ears. The canines appeared to be a combination of both, sticking down a few inches from it snarling maw.
Arthur went to reach for his sword and was met with air. Glancing over to the left, he saw his sword and bow resting with the horses. Kicking himself mentally, he pushed Merlin behind him and reached for his boot knife. It wasn't much, but he would need everything he had to keep the creature from getting a hold of Merlin.
He was just about to take a step forward when the thing stepped back, something making it appear wary. Thinking it was himself, he was justifiably surprised when a black blur sprang out from behind him to head straight for the creature. It took him a moment to figure out what attacked the monstrosity. It was a wolf, or it looked like one. It was certainly larger than the wolves around here.
It's fur rippled with blue highlights when ever sunlight struck it and it was thin though not as thin as its foe. For a moment, Arthur thought he saw pale skin exposed by a scar around it's back leg, but it soon moved away, drawing his eyes back to the fight.
Deciding that now was a good time for them to leave, he went to reach behind for Merlin and was met with air. Looking, he saw an empty spot where the paler man had stood. He looked around and saw no sign of him. Looking down to see if there were any foot prints to give away which way he had run, he found his boots and clothes thrown haphazardly on the ground. He was about to look for a streaking Merlin when he saw the foot prints. For a second they were human, long with small toe indentions at the end…but the next instant he found wolf prints where there should have been more human…and they led towards the creature.
A loud yelp drew him back, having him whirl around to see what had happened. The wolf was picking it–no, himself, off of the ground. He took a step forward and a slight limp seeming to affect its back leg.
Merlin, for he realized that it was Merlin that stood before him, edged sideways, putting himself between Arthur and the creature. Merlin lunged forward, nipping dangerously close to the creature's remaining eye. It pulled back, putting space between them.
Merlin just followed, harrying it from all sides, wearing it out. He was just about to run for the horses to grab his sword when he was brought up short by the appearance of more wolves. They poured into the clearing, almost a dozen of them. They were not like Merlin though, these were regular wolves.
They flanked him, circling the creature and slowly driving it off. As the new arrivals continued to herd it, he stayed, back turned to Arthur as he sat there, panting heavily.
"Merlin?" Arthur asked softly. He stood stiffly and turned. Arthur was met with bright blue eyes.
xXx
Well now. This is an odd development. Arthur knows about Merlin's magic now. Just wait till the next chapter to see how he takes it. Also, the bear/wolf thing has no name so don't ask me for it. It was just made up on the spur of the moment…and no, Merlin is not a werewolf in this. He can just shape change. Don't get the two confused.
Until Next Time
~Reiya
