Correction: Last chapter I credited the wrong person with the prompt. Sorry to PoisoningPigeonsinthePark - I'd had next to no sleep the day I was editing that!
... previously ...
The Horse and The Servant
He roared, and then shouted at the creature in a strange tongue and with the most spine tingling voice I have ever heard. Not even Arthur, not even the most ferocious warrior I have every fought, has made me feel that scared. Merlin!
Then the dragon bowed.
I can't say I blamed him!
They seemed to be talking. I had heard that the dragons could speak as men did but I was not close enough to hear any words. All I knew was that the boy, that insignificant servant, dwarfed by the huge dragon, appeared to be the one in charge. Would he kill it? He looked as if he was going to, but then three things happened in quick succession.
The dragon flew off.
Arthur woke up.
I fainted.
I'm not proud of the fact, but I had hit my head on about twenty trees so perhaps it wasn't that surprising.
So, I came round and headed back to Camelot to find Arthur being congratulated on dealing the dragon a mortal blow before it had flown off. He seemed a bit stunned too.
Merlin was nowhere to be found, having apparently just drifted off into the background. When I next saw him, he was dropping an armful of armour down a whole flight of stairs in front of a packed courtyard of amused citizens and I began to wonder if I had hit my head harder than I'd first thought and dreamt the whole thing.
But then the dragon came back ...
6. The Dragon Came Back
(Leon's reaction)
The attack had been going on since dawn. The army itself was realtively small but Morgana had unfortunately recruited some magical allies too and they were far more of a challenge.
Prince Arthur looked confused and he wasn't the only one. How were we managing to hold out for this long? Surely even just one sorceress throwing dark magic at the castle should be enough to defeat us – never mind the extra ones she'd managed to recruit. It was all very well Uther having banned everyone and anything with magic, but how could we survive a magical attack if we didn't have any magical defences of our own.
I found myself wincing as I thought this and I certainly wouldn't have dared say it out loud. Arthur might well be taking more control nowadays and be a little more laid back about certain things but, Uther was still in charge and still obsessed about all things magical and, nowadays, few people had the nerve to even mention the word 'magic' in front of him. The King was standing on the battlements with the Prince and a large group of us knights, dressed in full armour but looking very pale, whilst Arthur stood next to him looking furious. It was at that moment that Merlin ran up to our position, out of breath, his eyes flicking nervously between his master and the sky.
"Where have you been, Merlin," said Arthur in the tone he usually adopted when speaking to his servant. It could best be described as 'annoyance laced with ... affection'. Yes, I know that doesn't make any sense but ... that's just Arthur and Merlin.
Merlin?
What was it about that boy? He acted like an idiot but had commanded a dragon. I hadn't imagined that, had I? How did one go about commanding a dragon anyway? Weren't they magical creatures? Did that mean that ...?
At that moment another set of arrows was loosed by the enemy but, this time, they seemed to be heading towards our position. There is no way that they should have been able to reach us this high up on the battlements, but the faint blue light that flickered around the projectiles seemed to indicate that there was some magic powering their flight.
"Shields!" Arthur shouted, as he pulled his up to protect his father as well as himself. I, along with the rest of the knights, followed suit but was just curious enough to tilt mine very slightly in order to see what was happening to Merlin.
As usual, the boy wasn't wearing any armour but, he did have a shield. He raised it over his head very calmly, as if not considering the arrows to be any real threat, whilst turning his head away from me to look at the king and prince. Then he stood a little taller and muttered a few quiet words which I was unable to hear. Aware that the arrows were getting close, I braced myself for the impact only to hear something which resembled a bundle of sticks being thrown on the floor. Confused, we all stood up and lowered our shields to see every one of the arrows resting on the stone ramparts. Fifty arrows aimed at us with deadly accuracy and obvious magic, and not one had impacted on a shield or a person. Everyone looked around, now even more confused, whilst I found myself staring straight at Merlin. He noticed my scrutiny and swallowed hard, his face colouring - his expression slightly panicked.
Then he looked up at the sky again and, this time, I recognised the expectant expression and moved quickly towards him.
"Merlin, what are you doing?" I whispered.
"Me?" he asked with a look of total innocence that could easily be bought into if ... if you didn't know he could command dragons and – deflect arrows?
"Merlin ..." This time it came out as more of a growl than a question and the boy turned pale as he looked up at me.
"Not now, Sir Leon. We really should ..."
"Dragon!" Arthur yelled and there were sudden panicked cries from the knights and shouts from the citizens below.
"What have you done?" I hissed, grabbing his red neckerchief.
"He's on our side ... he's come to help ... honestly ..." the boy stuttered. "Look ..." I kept one hand on the material around his neck and turned to see the dragon fly once around the towers and then plummet towards the enemy army – breathing fire as he descended. Numerous knights, soldiers and citizens in Camelot ducked but, it seemed as if Merlin was correct, the dragon was attacking the enemy army instead of us. Several of the sorcerers' magical bolts headed straight for the creature and I felt Merlin flinch under my grip, even though the dragon appeared not to be particularly bothered by the weapons.
"You commanded him to attack, didn't you?" I whispered.
"I do hope those things don't hurt him or he's going to get very cross with me," he said in place of a reply.
"He is?" Curiosity got the better of me and I belatedly let him go.
"Arthur has the authority to command me – doesn't mean that I don't talk back, does it?" he said, adjusting his clothing. "And, believe me, that dragon knows how to talk back!"
"Merlin, who are you?"
"Me? No-one. No-one important."
"Right ..."
"Leon ... I'm only here to protect Camelot, honestly?"
"Does Arthur know?"
"No, he doesn't. Are you going to turn me in?" I stared at his pale, scared face for a moment and then looked back to the scene of the battle to see the enemy now retreating rapidly. Arthur and the knights were now starting to walk downstairs to help them on their way, whilst the King just stared gormlessly out at the scene in disbelief.
"You saved us?"
"And that surprises you because ...?" He actually glared at me and I glared back – wondering, yet again, how Arthur had the patience to put up with him.
"Leon, Merlin, what's wrong with you two?" Arthur shouted up from the entrance to the stairway. "Come on down immediately, we've got work to do."
"Yes, Sire," we replied in unison. As I started down the stairs, I turned to see Merlin looking back over his shoulder with a worried look on his face.
"What is it?"
"I'm just not sure we should leave the king out here by himself."
"The threat is over now, isn't it?"
"Well yes but ... the dragon ...?"
"What about him?" The boy dithered some more, biting his lip.
"Merlin!" Arthur shouted and his servant frowned slightly before raising his eyes at me in an exaggerated manner.
"Coming, Clotpole!"
A/N. So, as I've said before, that last line of The Horse and The Servant was always begging for a sequel. Of course, in some ways, I'd already partially written this plot in 'The Ice Palace' but this one is quite a bit different.
KittyO suggested that this could be a prequel to Chapter1 and so I went with that idea. In other words ... as Merlin leaves Uther up on the battlements on his own, Kilgharrah comes down and talks to the king about Emrys.