Chapter Text
Dark eyelashes parted, and blue eyes awoke. He felt the warmth of another's arm around his waist, it pulled him toward the stranger. Merlin took a breath to regain his consciousness. He trailed his hands down his body until he reached Athur's hands against his hips. His body was pressed close to him, so close he could feel the other's breath against his neck.
A sharp ache panged in his chest. His touch was so warm, so welcome, but he couldn't allow this. He couldn't let Arthur hold him like this...he needed to get up.
Merlin carefully wrapped his hand around Arthur's and moved it backward, but the king only tightened his grip and pulled Merlin closer. He drew one hand lower toward Merlin's inner thigh and caressed him gently as if he were made of fragile glass. His backside against Arthur's hips as he lay there with such comfort, that it was almost too much to bear. His hands were delicate as he stroked him, drawing his hand up toward his hip and then back down to the warmth of Merlin's thigh.
Merlin slowly turned toward Arthur, placing his hands over his to hold them in place on his hips. He looked so different when he was asleep. His blonde hair all rustled and his back, always tense, finally relaxed. Arthur slowly moved his hand back down toward his thigh and tucked his fingers under it to pull his leg a bit higher. Merlin let out a shaky breath as he was posed, he followed Arthur's hand with his own but didn't stop his movements. He felt the man's hips press between in legs to pull him closer, which only succeeded in giving Merlin a sensation he never planned on experiencing, especially not by Arthur of all people. Merlin grabbed the bed for dear life and hesitantly pulled himself away.
He sat himself up and allowed regret to fall down his form. He looked over at Arthur, luckily he seemed to still be asleep. As he pressed his feet into the cold floor though, he heard a voice behind him.
"Where are you going?"
He stopped and slowly turned his head to see the King again. His eyes were still closed, yet a tense expression painted his face. Merlin sighed and pressed his hands into the bed, "I have to do something." They were silent momentarily, "Come back to bed, Merlin."
He felt his eyes grow wet and his hands begin to tremble, he pushed himself off the bed and stood to his feet.
with hesitant breath, he spoke, "Everything I do...has been for you, Arthur."
He didn't give him a chance to stop him. He took a cloak from the closet and left without another word.
Down the stone steps of the castle and out into the town. He pressed his leather boots into the muddy streets, damp with rain, and pulled the cloak around his shoulders taught. It was a bright crimson, engraved with the pendragon crest. A painful reminder of the kingdom he left, walking through the tall wooden gates under the veil of night.
The forest beyond the inner city was large and wild, a place the former king could never control. The only king here was nature and its temperament.
Merlin hugged the cloak tight to preserve his warmth. He wished he had brought a lantern to light his way, but on second thought, that might have only alerted the creaking woodland to his presence. Trees of creaking black and leaves which under the glint of moonlight, had him checking twice to make sure they had not been eyes instead. They swayed in the wind like midnight dancers on a stage of moss and damp earth. If it weren't for his freezing body and guilty conscience he may have called it beautiful, but he could not focus on anything but getting through for now.
The skittering of a squirrel darted past him as he approached the end of the thicket he had been trudging through. A large clearing greeted him through the trees. Though, the expanse of tall grass flowing in the wind did little to ease his anxiety. It was at this moment he realized, he didn't know what he was doing.
How was he meant to call a dragon? He had no idea where Killgarrah was or where he would have gone, he hardly knew if a weak roar would suffice in bringing him lumbering over the hills.
He felt like a child who ran off on their own for the first time, lost in a forbidden land. Weakness succumbed to his knees and he came tumbling down to his shins. Merlin sat in the grass and dug his hands into his messy locks. "What am I doing..." he whispered to the wild lands.
He supposed if he was just going to sit here and cry he might as well attempt a roar, a call of some kind. So, Merlin took a deep breath and tried to relax. He tried to imagine his body changing shape, the elongation of his jaw into a muzzle, and a shimmer to his skin like snake scales. Merlin gasped in a breath of the cold air and let out a feeble caw. He tried again, and again, howling into the night like as wounded animal he was.
With every call his throat grew hotter and his jaw contorted to form the shape he wished, until finally...it sounded like a roar.
A violent, aching, roar of the most dangerous of beasts. A call to the pack that had long died.
Merlin stared off into the horizon, looking for any sign of movement, yet saw none. He sighed and pressed his palms into the muddy ground. You will hear me Dragon...
He roared once again, streatching his form high and calling to skies. A mighty, wounded, roar.
Suddenly, he heard a large woosh pierce through the forested trees.
The force of the wind knocked him on his back. His face was shoved into the grass and his legs were kicked high up into the air. Merlin scrambled to find his feet again and crawled toward the gust, blinking open his eyes to see...The great dragon.
He swooped in from below the clouds and made a spot for himself in the clearing. KIllgarrah dug his claws into the mud with heavy force and leaned in close, leering over the young warlock.
"Emrys," He whispered, "what are you...you are-"
"I'm a dragon!"
He saw a small twitch in the old dragon's scales. He then leaned in closer and placed his talons against Merlin's cheek, feeling dark scales return to soft pale skin. Yet, in his eyes, he could see this was no human. No longer the boy he once met many years ago, this was a beast, and he couldn't be happier.
"I know, you probably aren't too happy with me. You probably want nothing to do with me, but I need your help. My father, Balinor, died before he could tell me, well, anything about this! I didn't know being a dragonlord meant being a dragon-lord. I don't know the first thing about dragons! I can't control this at all and I-" Killgarrah closed his mouth with a long talon and gave him an odd expression, one Merlin had never seen before.
"Young Warlock, you have been given a great gift. I am saddened by your father's death but to see this gift has landed in your hands at long last is beyond fantastical prophecy. For I can't think of anyone better to bring magic back to Camelot than one of my own if, of course, that is still your goal."
Merlin pouted, "Of course that is still my goal! Just because I don't agree with Morgana's ways doesn't mean I don't agree with her reasons."
Killgarrah sighed and began to walk around him, circling. "There is no point to this hesitation of yours, her methods are effective. She is not evil...simply angry."
"You would know everything of that."
The great dragon growled, "Watch your tongue fledgling. You are a naive, devoted, child, but," he thought for a moment before speaking again, "I will help you."
Merlin turned to face him, he couldn't hide his wide smile from spreading across his face, "Really?...thank you."
He saw a faint smile approach Killgarrah's lips as he continued to circle him, "What do you need child?"
Merlin took a long sigh, the cold air filled his lungs as he paced over the past few days in his head. "I can't control it. I've nearly been caught by Arthur so many times, I'm glad he is such an idiot, otherwise, I'd be in the dungeons by now. I have these vivid dreams, where I'm flying through the air when suddenly they aren't dreams. I wake up halfway through to find I escaped the castle and running rampant through the streets. Gaius gave me something to keep me awake but it does little, I fear I cannot avoid dreaming."
The great dragon thought for a moment then darted into the trees, leaving a confused merlin alone in the dark. "Where are you-" As quickly as he fled he returned with a pale flower between his fangs. He stopped before Merlin once again and sat in the grass, taking the flower from his teeth and balancing it between his talons.
"Moonflower, the druids used to prescribe it dragon lords to aid in the transformation process. With the aid of a spell," he lifted it toward the moon and closed his eyes, "Gan olau y lleuad, a chusan y tywyllwch, gadewch i gwsg ddod yn feddal, ac mae graddfeydd yn symud yn ysgafn. Trwy nerth y dreigiau rydym yn arwain y ffordd, trwy nerth y dreigiau, rydym yn arwain y ffordd." The flower trembled with energy. The pale petals glistened and sunk into a deep purple, "It will be your medicine."
Merlin watched in silent awe, inching closer with each word. As the spell finished Killgarrah lowered his talons and pushed the flower toward him. The young warlock hesitantly took it in his palm, wrapping his hand around it. Magic fizzled and stillled against his palm.
"As for the young pendragon, do not trust him."
"What?! But Arthur-"
"You are different, you will always be different and he will never understand. When the time comes he may choose to spare your life, but I can not risk that. I have...lost touch with the prophecy. What happens now is crafted by your own hands, with no heir to carry your gift, you must survive. Do not let emotion cloud your judgement again Emrys."