The Shadow of the Moon

Chapter 4

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The midday sun was rising high in the cerulean sky, shining as brightly as the golden hair on Arthur's head. Merlin's traitorous heart skipped a beat as he watched the king riding in the sunlight, while Merlin's gelding rode behind, hardly feeling the warmth of the sun compared to the dizzying feelings he felt for the man. Arthur sat firmly in his saddle joking with Gwaine about food, as he turned his head he glintered in the sunlight that made a bolt tingle through Merlin's nerves.

"You're lying!" Gwaine exclaimed as Merlin focussed on their conversation.

"Accusing me of lying is treason" Arthur answered with a grin.

"So you'd rather have blueberries - blueberries! - than a juicy hunk of fresh venison?" Gwaine asked: clarificating.

"Yes. It's a hot day!" Protested Arthur. Gwaine burst into a happy laugh.

"You don't need to defend yourself to me Princess!" Gwaine laughed, his head thrown back, hair waving in the sun.

Percy pulled his stead next to Merlin's and called to the men in front.

"All this talk of food has made me hungry." He glanced to the sky.

"It's well passed noon. Surely it's time for lunch?" He asked, face brimming with earnest hope.

"At the next clearing." Said Arthur agreeably, not much looking forward to the dried rations in his stachel.

"You never know, we might even be able to find you some blueberries." Gwaine gauffed jokingly. As the words left his lips, Merlin felt his eyes burn a familir gold as a burst of power trickled through him and out into the forest ahead. A spike of panic followed it. He knew what was coming before the words even left Gwaine's mouth.

"I see a clearing! Lunch time!" He shouted in mirth.

"I'm famished!" Add Percival speeding his horse up to the clearing.

"About time!" piped up Elyan whom was there too. Even Leon and Mordred smiled and sped up a little. Merlin grimaced and shrunk back into his saddle, head hanging low. He held his baited breath, fase twisted, until he heard the gasps of the others. Biting the bullet, he held his head up as he entered the clearing to Arthur's handsomely shocked face.

"How on earth...." To the side of the road, there was a blueberry patch. In full fruit and completely untouched by any animals that lived in the forest. Arthur noticed Merlin's guilty expression and put the pieces together.

"Blueberries?!" Leon asked the air picking one from the plant and inspecting it.

"They don't grow here...." Elyan mentioned crouched by the patch in puzzlement.

"How did they get there?" Gwaine laughed, immediately putting one in his mouth to eat.

"Yes Merlin, how do you think they got here?" Arthur asked venomously, glaring that the werewolf as if he could will him into spilling the beans by staring hard enough. Merlin shrugged cluelessly.

"Birds?" he questioned simply, chewing on a berry.

"Ah, the fabled giant owls of the Darkling Woods no doubt." Arthur's tone was as sardonic as his words.

"What? No, don't be stupid. Owls are carnivores. It was probably a sparrow." a chorus of 'oooooooh!'s echoed from the knights around them, happily chewing on fruit and dried meats they had brought as provisions.

"You can't talk to me like that!" Arthur spluttered incredulously.

"I'm sorry. Don't be stupid, sire" Merlin grinned up at him toothily, slightly elongated canines showing clearly, and Arthur felt his heart skip at the somewhat familiar sight. The changes to Merlin's appearance, the wolfish quality he had now, made Arthur's heart pound slightly harder in his chest.

"At least I'm not a cabbage head" Arthur strangled out caught off guard.

"You're a bimble." Merlin said childly, light dancing in his eyes.

"A what?!" cackled Leon, usual composure broken as the gang of knights laughed, Mordred letting out a high pitched giggle.

Arthur glared at his men and opened his mouth. He paused a second before thinking better of it, and with a little glare he reached a handful of blueberries, churlishly popping one in his mouth.

Merlin watched him, as the man leaned back on his hands and turned his face to the sky. He was unable to help the burst of joy that cut through him and wormed its way to his face in a radiant grin that shone like pale moonlight. Quelching his churning and burning doubts about the mission and the lurking fear of himself around these people he loved, this man he loved, he allowed himself to relax for a moment and took a long deep breath of the fresh spring air as he let the knights' banter wrap around him, he reached for a bleuberry.