"Actually it's a wyvern," Merlin said as the now calm creature followed them back to camp.
"Oh, and you can control them. You didn't do that with the serkets."
"No, I did read somewhere that wyverns are a distant cousin to the dragon. We have some information on them, and dragons. They can be controlled, and I sort of know some of the commands."
"You sort of know?! So you had no idea if that would actually work?" Arthur said, he turned his head to look at Merlin in shock. Merlin grimaced a little.
"Well, you had the gun but I would have had enough time for a follow up spell."
"Like what?" Arthur asked. "You set fire to one of the serkets."
"Actually, you see that log there?" Merlin said. He pointed to a section of tree about six foot in length, and half a metre or so in diameter. It looked to Arthur to be part of the remains of a fallen tree, it had rotted a little but still looked sturdy enough.
"Yeah," he said. Just in time he saw the flash in Merlin's eyes and the section of tree flew backwards into the air, slamming hard into sturdy oak and the partially rotten log smashed into two pieces, splinters flicking off in all directions. Arthur flinched back at the impact and his eyes widened.
"Wow!" he said.
"Always a good one to have in reserve, and that one is instinctive, although I do have to make an effort to control it, otherwise not much would survive around me when I got mad."
Arthur blinked, looking at Merlin in surprise. Then he glanced back at the shattered wood, which the wyvern had wandered over to, sniffing curiously, it's head rearing back after a moment, and it lifted it's nose to the air, turning it's head at the sound of footsteps.
Lancelot and Leon ran into view pausing as they saw Merlin and Arthur, then both of them glanced at the wyvern, who gave a light snarl. Merlin turned and said something to the beast and it docilely lowered it's head again, slinking to Arthur's side.
"We heard a crash."
"Me," Merlin said pointing at the log as the others came into view. Arthur tried to shuffle away from the wyvern as it sniffed his ankle again. It glanced up and gave a disgruntled murmur, lowering it's body and waiting. Lancelot stared at it.
"What's happened?"
"Arthur's made a friend," Merlin said with a grin.
Arthur huffed. "Well, that makes a bloody change."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"You said it was sniffing you?" Gwaine asked. Arthur glared at him, feeling a dull flush run up his face and he concentrated on filling his rucksack.
"I was having a piss when it interrupted me. It sniffed the puddle then followed me."
Gwaine smirked.
"I wasn't sure if it saw me as a threat, as breakfast or... as a mate!"
Gwaine giggled. "I have such a mental image now. Thanks for that Arthur." He frowned a moment. "Actually no, really, no... Merlin!"
Expertly Merlin dodged around the camp to evade his boyfriend. The wyvern raised it's head to watch the people darting about with great interest but it didn't move. In the end though it stretched it's neck out to try and reach Arthur to sniff him again. Arthur stepped back and the wyvern stretched it's neck to follow him. It gave a low growl, not sounding aggressive but it didn't seem entirely friendly either. The wyvern stared up at him, but as Merlin turned and snapped a command at it the wyvern stayed sitting, giving a moan of discontent. After that it continued to flare it's nostrils in Arthur's direction.
"It really seems to like you," Leon said.
"Or not, as the case may be," Percival countered. "Although, wyvern's are creatures of magic, perhaps it's sensing something from Arthur."
"I am the Once and Future King."
"True, but I don't think anyone sent it to attack you. Even before I got it under control it seemed more fascinated than aggressive," Merlin said, finally losing Gwaine in the chase. Merlin moved closer and murmured at it. The wyvern lifted it's head, snorting and giving a growl, although again, there didn't sound to be much aggression in the tone.
"What does that mean?"
"That it can't talk," Merlin said with a shrug.
"Okay, does it know sign language?" Arthur asked. Merlin glanced up at him.
"Don't be silly."
"And it talking is not?" Arthur asked.
"No, although it can understand me."
"What do we do with it?" Morgana asked. "I don't think we can keep it."
"Why not?" Gwaine asked as he stalked Merlin again. Merlin glared at him and Gwaine paused raising his hands.
"Is it housetrained?" Percival asked.
Morgana raised her eyebrows. "Seriously? You ask that?"
Percival blinked. "Well, yes. Arthur said he wasn't entirely sure that it was attacking him, it sounded like it was sniffing him out."
"Like a magical bloodhound?" Leon mused. "But why?"
Everyone looked confused, staring at each other and then at Arthur, Merlin and the wyvern. Merlin frowned and said something else to the wyvern. It snorted at him but appeared to obey the command, it turned to lumber into the forest and then after a while it paused, it's head tilting to the side and it shuffled round, it's tail brushing a sapling. The tiny tree bent with the pressure and snapped back up as the tail passed over it. The swift movement caused the wyvern to shuffle sideways, snarling at the innocent tree, but then it came back down the path and stopped, sitting back on it's rump again, settling down six feet away from Arthur.
"What did you tell it to do?" Arthur asked.
"To go back to where it came from."
"So why is it sitting next to me then?"
"No clue."
"Shall we just carry on," Morgana said. "We are staying off the main paths so we don't need to worry about Arthur's new friend,"
Morgana smirked as Arthur glared at her.
"But, the thing doesn't seem to be a danger, and apparently Merlin seems to be able to keep it to heel and let's face it, if anything else turns up it might actually help us out."
"Are you saying we can keep it as an attack wyvern?" Gwen said. Morgana shrugged.
"We are heading somewhere on a hunch of Arthur's and we have no idea what might face. This is the first thing and we still have half a day's worth of travelling before we reach the point we want to get to."
"This one seems on our side though, so maybe what else we meet might be the same," Leon said.
"Or something will stop us getting there," Lancelot mused.
"We have to bear in mind that this thing could be part of that, however docile it seems," Uther said.
"Well, debating it is getting us nowhere," Arthur said closing the drawstring of his rucksack and snapping the clasps together. "Give me a hand with this Percival."
Raising his eyebrows Percival did as he was told, lifting the rucksack to allow Arthur to slide his arms through the straps and settle it on his back.
"We might as well just head on and deal with things as we find them. How long do you really think it will take us to get there?"
Morgana and Leon shuffled the maps, compass and GPS device around.
"If we make good time about three to four hours," Morgana said. "We are taking a longer route to avoid the main trails and we could make it quicker heading that way."
"There is a main pathway there, and it's exposed along that section. We wouldn't be safe walking down there if we have the wyvern. This section of trail is shorter so we can use that to intersect here and head deeper into the woods."
"That will be longer, Leon, over well five hours."
"So we'll make it by early afternoon at the latest. That gives us some time to have a look around," Arthur said.
"Sunset occurs at 6:37 tonight, so yes," Leon said.
"Let's just go and get on with it then," Arthur said shrugging and then wincing as the straps rubbed against his shoulders. "Ow."
As Arthur turned the wyvern got to it's feet and trotted off down the path it had already forged. Arthur turned and looked at Leon and Morgana.
"It's heading the right way isn't it?"
"Yes, it's it."
Arthur trudged after it, slipping on some wet leaves as he did so and grunting as the straps rubbed again.
"Let's just keep an eye on it though, just to make sure it keeps doing that."
"Yes Sire," Leon said, with some sarcasm, and then blinked in surprise as he found that didn't seem an entirely strange thing to say.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"Wow," Arthur said, forgetting his sore feet and shoulders, as he looked down at the island that wasn't entirely an island. From the other direction it probably did, the water surrounding it on three sides; but they had taken the less travelled route.
"That kind of ruins the romance," Gwaine said as beyond the lake several large trucks trundled to and fro along the road that curved around the
water's edge.
"A little," Gwen said. "What is this place?"
"Those who know the legend call it Avalon. It was where Arthur's body was laid to rest after the battle of Camlann," Uther said.
"But I'm now stood here, kind of. Presumably what we need is here. Boris seems to think so."
The wyvern raised it's head and grunted before heading down the pathway.
"Boris?" Percival asked.
Arthur shrugged. "It's a name, I am not going to keep calling it 'it'. Boris will do."
With that said Arthur resolutely started down the slope. The incline deepened as he moved down, so he gripped onto the nearby trees and wedged his feet against roots and rocks as he slithered down jerking slightly as the weight of his backpack shifted. Behind him he heard the rest of them making their way down until they reached a flat area, below which the forest spread out, the thick canopy shielding the depths of the forest with shadows.
Once they had all paused and looked around, staring at the long stretch of ragged rock that led to the island.
"It's not quite how it looks in the picture," Arthur said he fished into his pocket an pulled out a piece of paper. Gaius had carefully scanned and printed out a copy of the small watercolour that Arthur had bought, which presumably now, was meant to be this island.
Gwaine sniggered. "Never is."
"Let's not be rash," Uther said. "Spread out and search through the surrounding area, and see if there is anything else. Percival, Leon and Morgana take to the higher ground. Gwen, Lancelot make a base here until we can report something more. I cannot allow you to walk anywhere close to danger, you are not trained," he added forcefully to Gwen.
"Arthur, Myself, Gwaine and Merlin will head lower and scout the bank and causeway. Boris too I presume."
"I guess," Arthur said as Boris grunted. Then Arthur glanced at a tight-lipped Gwen. "Dad's right, you shouldn't come, I don't want you in danger."
"Aren't I just by being here?" Gwen snapped.
"No need to provoke destiny if you don't have to. Lancelot will look after you, just stay here, please." Arthur took her hand and held on hard. "Please."
"Okay, okay, it's fine. I'm the housekeeper so I might as well set up."
"It's not why I asked you to, Gwen," Arthur said to her tense filled back. he turned away and plodded off down the slope, stalking off with the rest of them rushing to catch up. The three ordered onto the high ground went upwards and Gwen dumped her pack and started to yank things out of it.
"He's not doing it to exclude you. They get to move around, we are sitting ducks."
"Lancelot, how is that going to make me feel better?"
"It's not, do we need firewood?"
"Yes, don't go far."
"Right, no I won't."
"Stop bickering," Arthur announced as he went down the hill and headed onto level ground. He trudged a few steps forward and then looked around. Boris headed down the slope easily, using his tails and wings for balance.
"That is annoying," he informed the wyvern. Boris paused and turned look at him, waiting patiently until Arthur slowly followed him. Uther touched Arthur's shoulder.
"Is your gun loaded?"
"Yes."
"Keep it to hand and stay with Merlin," Uther ordered. Arthur blinked as he watched his father pull his own gun, check it and then keeping that in his right hand make sure that the sword he carried was easily accessible by his left.
"Be careful," Uther added as he looked around. "Take the left flank."
"Arthur that's the right flank," Leon said as Arthur ambled off, Boris on his heels.
"I'm directionally dyslexic," Arthur informed him determinedly heading the way he wanted to go. Uther frowned at Merlin.
"Something's leading him."
"Merlin, stay with him, just keep him safe. If there is any danger then the three on the higher ground should see it coming."
"Don't worry," Merlin said, gold slivers slowly starting to flash in his eyes. "I'll look after him."
He went after Arthur and Boris fully intending to keep that promise. He jogged to catch up, causing Boris to turn and glance at him, but the wyvern only huffed and turned back, keeping level with Arthur as he walked along.
"What's over here Arthur?"
"This bit I think, just over there."
He pointed at the sheet of paper again, looking at the drawing that had somehow drawn him. When he had found the picture he had been fascinated by it, and it wasn't even that good. Gaius had criticised the picture, not only the technique that the artist had used but also the perspective. Nothing seemed to match and the shadows looked wrong. Once the physician had pointed it out, it had bugged Arthur, and was continuing to do so. He looked at what seemed to be part of the causeway, but in the picture had smooth clear lines, like a bridge. Arthur trudged around the lake, his feet slipping as the incline increased and he turned and looked down the stretch of causeway.
Glancing at the picture again he compared the two of them, staring at the shadows on the picture, peering it at intently. He looked up and around, frowning as he saw the slight dip, and short crevice, from where, he realised, he could clamber up onto the rocks. Tucking the picture back into his pocket again he stepped carefully, slipping a little as he worked his way down and then he scrambled up the rocky incline carefully planting his feet on the jutting sections of stone as he hoisted himself up.
Once he was up Arthur looked around, frowning as he realised neither Merlin nor Boris appeared to be behind him.
"Merlin!"
Arthur frowned when the only thing he heard was his own voice echoing into the forest. Merlin hadn't been that far behind him, and Arthur had been fairly certain that the wyvern had been sniffing at his heels. He almost started to step down the slope to head back the way he came when he turned, and looking around assessed the short length of causeway. Now he was on it, looking at it from an entirely different angle it looked more like it did in the picture. Arthur pulled the paper out of his pocket again and looked at it. He was no expert on art, but he stared at the oddities that Gaius had pointed out.
"It's like they painted the bits from all different angles and just put it together," he mused, then looking up and down again decided it would be easier to look for Merlin along the bank if he went a little way out onto the causeway.
Arthur carefully placed his feet as he walked along the uneven stone, tufts of grass jutting out in places, pausing to turn and glance around to try and spot Merlin.
"Merlin!" he yelled again.
Arthur huffed and carried on walking, hesitating as he heard a whistle and he stared further down the stretch of rock to see someone perched on the edge staring down into the water. Slowly Arthur blinked, staring intently at the man, just to make sure he was really there. Reaching around to his back he loosened the gun in his belt, it was already loaded but Arthur wanted to make sure he could get it quickly. He scrabbled for the side of his pack and also put his hand on the long knife that had been strapped to the side tugging it gently to make sure it could be easily pulled from the sheath. As he did that the old man who perched a little way down the causeway seemed to realise he was there, as he turned and gave a friendly wave.
Without much else to do Arthur trudged the short distance towards him, assessing the old man as he did so. He looked to be layered up in old, ragged clothes, like the tramps Arthur had known while working the streets. That consideration made Arthur's wariness increase. Most of them were harmless, but some could be violent and rather mentally disturbed. Not that Arthur thought that he was much better, he had some odd mental quirks of his own, he knew that.
"Hello?" Arthur said, a little tentatively. The old man looked up at him and chortled.
"No need to sound so nervous lad. I'm sure a strapping boy like you can take care of yourself, especially against an old fart like me."
Arthur did smirk slightly but said. "Appearances can be more than a little deceptive."
The old man's eyes narrowed shrewdly. "That's true I suppose," he conceded before casting his crude fishing line out into the lake. Arthur looked around again, feeling more than a little bemused. He turned back to study the scenery. There was, he knew after two days of hiking, no easy way to get to this section. So how had the old man got here?
"I wouldn't have thought anyone would have been out here," Arthur said. The old man looked up at him.
"It's not that well travelled, lad," he agreed. "But you and me are here."
The old man sounded quite pleased about that. Arthur watched the man assess him again, not intently, he just looked him up and down, smiling in a friendly fashion. There was nothing calculating about his eyes or expression. He just seemed pleased to see Arthur, which was rather ridiculous.
"I was with a friend, I don't know if you saw him, about my height, dark hair, kind of skinny," Arthur asked, waving his hand at the right level to indicate Merlin's height.
'And a wyvern,' Arthur thought to himself, looking around, just to check Boris hadn't suddenly appeared. It wasn't the most normal thing in the world to have following along behind you. Realising that the wyvern was nowhere in sight Arthur turned back to his companion. The old man watched him, looking mildly amused, his eyes shining. Arthur frowned at him.
"Excuse me, do I know you? You look familiar."
Arthur could feel the heat building in his cheeks as he asked the question, realising how stupid it sounded. How the hell would he know the old man? Although, in his own mind the question didn't seem entirely remote, what did the old man think of the random question?
"I wouldn't have said so lad. And I'm sure your friend isn't far away."
Again the old man seemed to find that highly amusing. Arthur wondered if the nearby towns, or villages, had a hospital with a mental health ward, and if they did, it still didn't explain the old man getting so far out into the wilderness. The old man chuckled and pulled the line from the water before casting it out again. Tentatively Arthur leant over and peered into the smooth, dark-looking water. The only movement came as a gentle ripple, where the line had dropped into the depths.
"Are there even any fish in there?" he asked.
"Oh, you'd be amazed what you could find if you are patient enough."
There was an almost wistful tone to the man's voice now, as he leant forward and peered into the water, clearly looking for something that only he could see. Arthur stared at the dark, forbidding water again, frowning as he saw a flicker of something. He guessed it was some kind of fish as it flashed a golden colour. The old man leant back and looked up at him.
"You should give it a try while you're here."
"I guess, I need to find my friends first though," Arthur said looking around again, scanning the bank and then he glanced up towards the island and the low, ruined structure that lay in the centre.
"What was that? A castle or something?"
"So the legends say. Although I've heard a few debates on it's origins. Some say it was already here when the king was brought here, others say the guardian built it while he waited."
"The guardian?" Arthur asked, his mind frantically ran over what he had read. That reference had never been mentioned, he was sure of that. Although, he was the one who had found mention of Gwen, when it was quite clear, considering all the information he had brought to light, that her involvement should have been noticed sooner.
"So I heard, one who was watching over the Once And Future King, until he returned. Only those with special sight should ever see it. What are you seeing?"
"Arthur?!"
He paused in contemplating the island as he heard Merlin's stressed tone from somewhere in the trees.
"Finally!" Arthur muttered before raising his voice. "Here, on the rocks. Have you seen Boris?!"
"That's my friend," Arthur said turning back to the old man and taking a startled step back as he realised his companion had vanished. The old, makeshift fishing rod had been wedged into the rocks, the line still trailing downwards into the water. Arthur turned a full circle, staring about in shock, his stomach felt cold, butterflies flickering about inside it and he rubbed his damp palms against his coat before bringing his right hand back to pull the gun.
"Merlin, be careful!" he warned, lifting the gun as he watched the fishing line jerk, pulling to the right, it had clearly snagged something. The long length of branch bent with the movement and Arthur inched forward to try and see what could be caught. And to also work out if the old man had fallen in, although Arthur surely would have heard a splash. Glancing right he looked at the island again, seeing no sign of him, unless of course the man could move like an athlete to get out of sight in seconds.
"What?" Merlin said, his head popping up as he hauled himself up the rocks. His eyes widened as he saw Arthur, close to the edge of the rocks, which looked worn and unstable.
"Arthur be careful!"
"There was someone here," Arthur said in bemusement.
"Arthur, watch your step! Uther!"
It made Arthur look down, staring at the mossy, crumbling edge that looked far more unstable then it had a minute ago. As he assessed that he heard Uther's voice as he reached the water's edge, Arthur looked up and suddenly he felt something move behind him as his rucksack shifted on his back, tipping his weight forward. The rocks under his feet shifted, clumps falling away as Arthur tipped forward, flailing out to try and grab something before he suddenly became airborne and he crashed into the cold, dark water.