Thaumaturgy

Chapter 4

Sprawed like an eagle in the dirt on his back, he looked up from hims dropped bucket and into Dirk's intense blue eyes that pierce his hear with their fury like an arrow shot from the bolt of Cupid's bow. A drip of water dripped from Dirk's sudden blond fringe and onto Merlin's nose, which he scrunched up.

"You need to learn so respect, theig" snarled Dirk, face so close to Merlin's that he could feel the angry man's breath. It send a shiver down his spinal chord.

"Your cute when your angry" Merlin smirked his eyeslashes looking up at the larger man croqettishly. He used his secret magic to flip Dirk onto his back, and sat astride him, pinned the bigger man's hands to the ground above his head, leaning over his lean hulking body.

"I like you when you're angry." Merlkin whispered into his ear. The stronger man grunted deeply in respose angry at being pinned to the floor like a dog in the dirt. He rallied his strength and flipped the pair of them again, Merlin's legs flying akimbo as Dirk pounded him into the groud. The slight man squirmed and wiggled his way from Durk's grasp, knocking part of the rickety wall over into them in his haste to get away from him. He turned on the other man arms spread wide and body low ready to fight him. Dirk pulled himself to his feet caked in mud straw tossling his hairs: his eyes twinkled with a mad glimmer.

Merlin dove towards him, fainting left pretending to go that way, before approaching to the right, glancing a blow into Dirk's ribs as the other man grabbed his wrist and pinned him close against the wall, arm twisted behind his back, just like in the forge the day before. Both men ponted hard. Dirk's breathing tickling Merlin's flushed ear.

"BOYS!!" Merlin and Dirk froze. Hunith stood athe side of the pinpen staring in schock at the mess they had made, glad the pigs where elsewhere.

"Mum!" MErlin said and scamblred out of the mud. Dirk stood up as well next to him.

"Hunith. Allow me to apologise. We were carried away with ourselves." He said earnestly and Merlin rolled his eyes. Hunith smiled at him sweatly but Merlin recofnised a glint in her eyes.

"Apology accepted, Dirk. Now I expect both of you to fix this up. WITHOUT magic Merlin!!" she firmly said pointintg at her son, who's mouth dropped open in shock. That was so unfair!! Hunith turned and left.

"Hmph." Merlin huffed and cleaned himself off with magic sending mud flying everywhere and landing all over Dirk who was stood next to him. Merlin grinned at him cheekily and he scowled.

"Come on muscles it's time to put those guns to good use" Mrlin said and smacked him in the arm playfuly.

He twirled off and picked up one of the broad planks of wood that now lay on the ground and Dirk headed towards him to pick up a different, bigger, plank. They worked in silence for a while restruturing th pigsy.

"Im not really a theif, you know.!" saip Merlin without any reason for saying so in the silence between them.

"You literally steal thing" pointed out an indigant Dirk. Merlin was beginning to think that the scowl lived permanantly on the blonde's chiselled face. He grinned in a response.

"Yeha, but only from the rich and cruel lords" Merlin said back, scooping a pile of clean straw in his wiry strong arms as he spoke. Dirk quirked an intrigued eyebrow and lifted one of the large stones that formed the base of the pig sty wall. He didn't missing the way that Merlin's eyes widened a little bit at his tort mussles. He hid the small smile that was darring to sneak onto his blond face.

"There are lords who treat their tenants awefully - they take so much in rent that they charge the poor have nothing left to feed themselves with or clothe their children with. All we do is rebalance things slight" Merlin explained nonchalently with a small shrug.

"You stole from me." Pointed out Dirk quickly.

"I knew you'd catch me" Merlin responded flirtily smiling again.

"You are very cute when you're pessed" he carried on: smilige the width of his pale face. Dirk was unable to opress the eye roll and responding smile that cross his treachoruous mouth. He paused, thinking of the words before talking.

"I can identity with that. It would have been nice to have had help like that. We didn't have much, when I was young, with just my dad and the three of us. Especially as Elyan's so wild an incontrolable" Dirk said slowly. He had stopped his working to converse. Merlin looksed at him genuinely and Dirk felt a little bit of the wall around his head cerumble at the signt of the black haired mans shingin eyes.

"It's people like you and your family we want to help" He said softly, resting his hand on Dirks' exposed forear. Their eyes met, blue joining with blue, and a gentle breeze ruffled their fringe. Merlins thumb stroked idally over the inky black letters of Dirks arm.

"I bought lemonade!" Hunith voice shatted the destitute quiete between them and they tore there eyes away from eachother.

"What a good job you've both done. I'm sure it's better now than it was before!! Merlin smiled at his mum and both him and Dirk took drinks from her gratefuly for the day was hot even in the sahde of the barn.

The three of them stood in the newly recomstricted pig sty sipping the blessedy cool drinks. Hunith smiled slightly behind her glass, happy the her recoltrient son had made a new friend in the handsome blacksmith. As they drunk, Morgana appeared at the pig sty door, long floing white chifton dress wafting behind her in the light spring breeze. Her face smiled when she saw the three of them.

"Ooooh, Hunith. Is that your lemonade?" she enthused enthusiasticly. Reaching out and taking the bearker that Merlin's talented mother now hel dup for her with a smile.

"Here you, go, love. You look so pale you could do with the sugar." Said Hunith: maternally.

"Thank you," replied Mogana to her, setting herself down delicitly on an upside down barrow.

"I was plauged again, last night, by dream visions" She said into the air, staring into that nothing as she spoke those words. There was a hushed silent among her small audience.

"I dreamed of the two of you; Dirk, and Merlin too. There's great forces at play that I can't yet understand. Some things are obfuscated to me. But they are all clear in one thing. You two shall depend upon one another for all your remaining days. Your are two sides of one coin." She itoned. The trio was stunned. Silence rained breifly between them. The Morgana came back to herlsf with a shudder, like her body was there but her spirit had been removed from her body, but had now come back.

"I must leave!" the seer announcced. Placing her beaker delicately back on Hunith's tray before leaving sharplu. The trio remained stunned.

"A great destiny? Us? You and me?" Dirk asked, incrediculous, at Merlin as he rolled up his shirt sleeve. In his scathing, he missed the knowing glint that flickered through Hunith's brown eyes as she saw the name emblased there: his soulmark, a single word in an inky black scrawl: Emrys