Out of Time

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Well Happy Thursday my wonderful readers! So we're back on our regular scheduled episodes. And this right here, it's episode 13 and the end of season 1. This is it, the beginning of the end. Or in this case, the beginning of the angst. But guys… as I've already warned you, a bunch of shit is gonna go down in the next couple chapters and I need to know that you guys are still gonna love me at the end of it! So don't forget to leave a review, and I'll see you guys next Thursday.

Shoutouts: ForeverTeamEdward13, Padfootette, Murron Bartlett, lol11ladyd, and 4plywhenicry.

Chapter 37: Out of Folklore

Arthur needed to stop taking Merlin on hunts. He really did. Because the boy was useless.

"Merlin. Spear."

And then he dropped the spear. Not into Arthur's awaiting hand, but into the foliage at Arthur's feet. See, useless.

"Do you have any natural gifts Merlin?"

It was a rhetorical question. Still, he got an answer.

"No."

Well damn, now Arthur kind of felt bad. He wouldn't have drawn attention to such a defect if he knew Merlin was already aware of it. But Merlin wasn't done, the boy was never done talking.

"Well… let me think about it. I'm not naturally rude or insensitive."

Okay. Now he didn't feel so bad anymore because that comment was a pointed jab at him.

"Just naturally irritating," Arthur muttered just loud enough for Merlin to hear him as he started forward towards the prey they were hunting.

And that was the other reason he didn't want Merlin to come with him. Cause the boy was scared of anything that growled. Anything that could possibly gore him. In fact, he'd go as far as to say that boy would be frightened of a rabbit if it hopped towards him a little too quickly.

They were tracking something that was growling particularly loudly. They had been hearing it all through the forest that day. And with every growl Merlin got a little more nervous. At this point, Arthur was going to have to kill whatever it was simply so Merlin could rest a little more easily tonight knowing he was safe. Safe thanks to Arthur, of course.

He turned around to give directions to the soldiers he had with him. Orders to cut this creature off but his back had been turned less than twenty seconds when there was a terrible shaking of the ground and a roar.

Right so the creature wanted to play the scary beast to ward him off? Well Arthur wasn't afraid.

Then he turned around to see a giant beast with this hooded snake for a head and the body of a large spotted cat, with razor claws and just like that he was very, very afraid. Like hells bells, what the hell was that?

It roared once more at the group of trained me and every single one of them had the same idea.

Turn tail and run.

Arthur was practically sprinting away before he remembered Merlin and his propensity for tripping. He turned just in time to watch Merlin hit the ground.

What was that saying that Addison used sometimes? Christ on bread? Well whatever it was, right now it would have aptly expressed how Arthur felt.

Arthur practically slipped trying to turn around as quickly as he could and made a mad dash for Merlin. He got to the boy, yanked him up to his feet and dragged him away before this big miss-matched beast could gobble him up.

Then they all went back to running.

They got far away, was certain that the creature had stopped following him and only then did they realize that one of the knights was missing. They heard his death scream not much later and Arthur knew there was nothing they could do for him.

But this left them all with one very important question. What the hell was that thing? And how did one kill it?

It was a Questing Beast.

It was a mythical creature of old folklore, and according to all of Gaius' books it was supposed to herald in a time of great upheaval.

It was part cobra, and part leopard, which he was told was a large spotted cat from a far away land called jungle.

It was part of the old religion, and it carried the power of life and death. One bite from it and you die. And there is no cure.

Arthur was going to ride out against it at dawn.

Yeah wasn't that just… wonderful?

That night, before he was to ride out, everyone went to different people.

Merlin spent his time with Gaius, readying Arthur's weapons and armour while learning all he could about this creature.

Morgana had terrible dreams and screamed and thrashed, with only Gwen to attempt to calm her down.

Arthur spent the night with Addison gathering all the luck he could from her. And not just in kisses.

In the morning, he was ready to go. He had kissed Addison's sleeping lips softly before whispering a hushed good-bye.

He was giving a resounding speech to his men when a cry of his name flew from the castle. But it wasn't Addison who was flying down the stairs to him in just her nightgown. It was Morgana.

She was obviously quite frantic. Going on about seeing terrible things in her dreams, and how he couldn't possibly go, but he had the castle guards take her away, and back to bed. And also had Gaius called so he could look her over to make sure she was alright, that she hadn't hurt herself whilst in the middle of her hysterics.

He dismissed her worries as nothing but, and then ordered his men into the forest.

They had tracked the creature to a cave. Ominous, if Merlin did say so, but Arthur could not be dissuaded. Arthur had his men split up to check the other branches of the cave. Merlin stayed with Arthur. He was certain Arthur felt little comfort from Merlin's presence but Merlin knew he had to stay with him, to ensure that Arthur didn't get bitten by this beast.

They came across a room filled with nothing but the bones of many a fallen person.

Yeah this didn't bode well at all.

They could hear the growling as well. They couldn't tell where it was coming from though, so they both went quiet and stock still trying to figure out where the creature was before it attacked.

Of course, it had to appear from the shadows behind them, because that was the way it always was. Arthur spotted it first and pushed Merlin back and away.

Merlin scrambled away and up a rocky precipice so he could have a bird's eye view of the fight and to keep an eye on Arthur.

Arthur did quite well to begin with. He waved his sword about expertly, keeping the beast back before he lunged at it. The sword merely glanced off the beast though it should have run it through. The hide must have been too thick, much like the griffin they had once faced. Damn that meant Merlin would have to do some magic, but how was he supposed to do that with Arthur literally right there?

Arthur tried to lunge again but the beast came at him, slashing him with its massive claws, sending Arthur flying back. From where he stood, he could see that the claws were strong enough to rip through his chainmail and armour. Hot damn that wasn't good.

The creature moved closer to Arthur, standing above it. No! He couldn't let the thing bite him.

He screamed at it, getting the creature's attention on him and off of Arthur, and once it had turned away he was faced with a different problem. He was just one man with no weapon except a torch.

But he wasn't afraid.

Merlin knew a spell to deal with the likes of this creature. He got the sword floating and chanted the spell that killed the griffin and then sent that blue-fired sword straight into the creature's neck. It screamed in agony and eventually collapsed and died, but Arthur didn't get up.

Merlin hopped down off the rocks rushing to Arthur's side. "It didn't bite you," he kept repeating. "It didn't."

But even with him shaking Arthur and screaming his name, Arthur did nothing except bleed.

They had rushed Arthur to Camelot and straight into Gaius' care. Merlin had been so frantic about giving Arthur space that he had swept everything off of Gaius' work table so they could put the stretcher with Arthur's limp body there.

Gaius didn't even complain. He tried to ask what had happened but when he didn't get an answer right away he simply followed after and leant in to check Arthur's injury. He then turned on Merlin who was pretty sure he was about to cry.

"He's been bitten!" Gaius accused.

"I tried to save him, I did," Merlin cried. It wasn't fair, he had tried really hard, he had done everything he could think of but it hadn't been enough.

"You must tell the king."

But Merlin didn't want to do that. Uther would sense Merlin's guilt and blame him, he just knew it. Luckily the two soldiers who had brought Arthur in left to do as Gaius instructed leaving Merlin and Gaius alone.

Good.

"There must be something you can do."

"I wish there was…"

No. None of this no cure business. "I'll find a cure," he cried heading for the magic book he had in his room. Gaius called out to stop him, but Merlin wouldn't stop. "Trust me!"

He came back with the book not moments later and Gaius was furious. "The King'll be here any moment!"

That was true but Merlin needed to do something.

"He can't die. It is my destiny to protect him." But Gaius just stared at him, and all the words they spoke of the Questing Beast and its fatal bite came back to him. "We haven't done all the things we're meant to do."

"That is the lament of all men."

That may be true, but this was important. World-alteringly important. This wasn't just about Merlin or Arthur's goals. This was about the greater good for everyone.

"Gaius, he's my friend."

Gaius regarded him, no doubt remember how much Merlin complained about Arthur. How annoyed he was with him all the time, and how he hadn't wanted to work with him in the first place. In fact, less than a year ago he hated this prince.

"Then save him."

Oh, but that's the bit that won Gaius over? Really? Fine, he'll take it.

He used his powers to scan through the book looking for a spell to heal him. He found one, chanted the words. Nothing happened. So, he tried another, chanted those words, and yet again nothing happened.

Would he be pushing his luck trying a third spell? Especially so quickly after the first two?

He paused in his magic to approach Arthur. "Maybe the spells need time to take effect?"

"The bite of the Questing Beast is a death sentence that no magic can overturn."

Did he have to be so pessimistic? Did he have to remind him of what he already knew. Was he really saying that not even magic could save him once the bite had taken hold?

They said nothing more, for they could hear the king. Not just in footsteps but in his voice. He was calling for Arthur, asking where his son was.

Uther went for Arthur, saying his name and trying to shake him awake much like Merlin had done in the cave. While he was busy Merlin shut his book, hoping that Uther would be to distracted with his fallen son to notice it or recognize it for what it was.

"Do something, Gaius!"

"I am trying, your majesty."

Merlin noted that he didn't remind Uther that the Questing Beast's bite was a death sentence. Uther had already dismissed Gaius' stories as old wives tales, despite the fact that the last time a Questing Beast had been seen had been the night Ygraine gave birth to Arthur. And everyone in the kingdom knew how that turned out. Even if they didn't know that the Questing Beast was the omen that heralded that time of blood and fire in.

"Gaius will find a cure. He will not let him die."

Merlin had said that before he thought it through. That was a lot of pressure to put on Gaius. Especially when there was supposedly no cure.

"I will do everything in my power."

Uther took that in, and then turned back to his son.

"I'll bear him to his chamber" Uther insisted though his shoulder was not strong enough to carry the weight of his grown son in his full armour.

Merlin and Gaius followed after him. And for a while, Uther was doing alright. But then the weight of everything became too much for him. Arthur's weight became to much for him.

He crumpled on his way through the courtyard, fell to his knees. The knights came to take him from him, Addison, having just heard the news rushed to Arthur's fallen form. She didn't even spare Uther a second glance, she merely took Arthur's hands and the soldiers bore him onward and into the castle.

Uther was left to weep over his fallen son. His son who, if he had just listened to Gaius, might have been alive and well right now.

And from the window Morgana watched it all, her heart heavy. She hadn't wanted to be right, not about this.