"No, no, no! Not like that!" Merlin passed a young squire that was putting a saddle on the horse, "Here let me. If you do it like that you're going to get yourself trampled."
Morgana was dressed in her old training cloths and holding the reins for her horse. Next to her Arthur was talking to Lancelot about something, his horse tied up a short distance away.
Leon was directing the filling of two supply wagons while Percival and Gwaine were checking their own personal supplies and weapons. Elyan was talking to Gwen a little ways away from them next to Arthur and Lancelot. Lance had been chosen to stay in Camelot with some of the knights as a defensive force
They were set to leave in half and hour and Merlin still had to run up to his room to grab his bag which he'd forgotten while taking care of Arthur's things. Once they had ensured that everything was almost ready, both Arthur and Merlin headed back up to their chambers to grab Merlin's supplies.
"I think I've got everything." Merlin called from his room.
Arthur walked in, "You sure?"
"Yes?" Merlin looked around, "I can't think of anything else."
Arthur's eyes flicked around the room, "Is that the box?"
"Yeah, I put most of my stuff in there so it wouldn't weigh as much." Merlin answered as Arthur walked over to him so he could wrap his arms around the warlock's waist which had become a habit of his recently.
"Are you okay?" Arthur asked quietly.
"You know me." Merlin said, "Tough as boot leather."
Arthur rolled his eyes, "You keep getting yourself hurt." He said seriously, his face falling.
Merlin sighed and leaned back into the king, "I know. It's no fun for me either but I'm getting the job done. When this is all over I'll actually take the time to rest up."
Arthur tightened his arms a bit, knocking some of the air out of Merlin's lungs, "You better."
"Arthur- Can I please- Breath?" Merlin gasped out. Arthur loosened his hold and Merlin swatted at him with a hand. "Jerk. Just because your strong doesn't mean-" Arthur tightened his hold again.
"If you actually minded you would stop me." Arthur said and let Merlin go, kissing his temple before heading towards the door, "Come on. We should head out soon."
Merlin grabbed his bag, "How do you do that?"
"What?"
"Be a complete ass and still have a valid point?"
"Talent." Arthur grinned. Merlin grunted and rolled his eyes but followed the king down to the court yard so they could start their journey to confront Heldin's army.
---
There were about half the knights accompanying them. They hadn't wanted to leave enough people to defend Camelot while still having an advantage and so they had divided the knights so they'd have a good number accompanying them. Then there was Morgana. The woman had become very respected among the knights and between her swords skills and her magic many of the knights were more than glad to have her along.
They had stopped after several hours of riding. The sun was beginning to go down and the horses needed water and time to rest, not to mention to graze. The knights split up into groups, making fires and cooking food.
Merlin made food for Arthur, Leon, Percival, Morgana, Mordred, Elyan, and Gwaine. The others were working on setting up their tents. Gwaine and Percival we're sharing one, Mordred and Elyan had another. Leon and Morgana both had tents to themselves while Arthur and Merlin also we're sharing.
"Morgana! Isn't that cheating?"
"Its a perfectly valid use of skill!" Morgana shot back at her brother as she used magic to assemble her tent.
"She's a Lady." Gwaine laughed, "She can do what she likes. If she doesn't want to do the tent herself so what? She's more than capable."
"Says the guy who let his friend do all the work." Elyan piped up as Percival finished his tent.
Percival shrugged, "Gwaine would get tangled in the tent before actually getting it correctly put together."
"Hey!" Everyone laughed and Gwaine pouted, "Come on."
Merlin looked up, "Dragons."
Everyone froze for a moment, not hearing anything. Then they saw Demon, Doros, Ektor, and Sethos fly by overhead, barely visible with how far up they were.
"Are they going to land?" Arthur asked.
"Yes." Merlin said, returning back to his pot, "They'll be down in a few minutes. Who wants soup?"
They gathered round, pulling bowls from packs so they could eat. Merlin dished out everyone's food. When he was finishing up with himself the dragons landed a little ways away.
Emrys
Four voices chimed at once and the warlock looked back in surprise, "Yes?"
Sethos flicked his tail nervously, May we stand guard tonight. I do not like the idea of you being without magical defense against such foes.
"If you want to. But it's not necessary. We're going to take turns on watch."
We have all agreed that we wish to guard all the knights. Even if you and The Lady Morgana have powerful magic many of the others don't. Demon explained.
"Alright. Just don't scare the knights."
Doros and Ektor nodded, Thank you.
The others also bowed their heads before trudging off on foot to take up guard positions. With Sethos being the size of a small house at this point and the others the size of small cabins, Merlin would feel bad if any enemies did happen upon them.
"They keeping watch?" Gwaine asked around a mouthful of bread.
"Yes." Merlin sighed and picked up his bowl, "They are nervous about this whole quest."
Morgana shifted, "That is worrying. You said that dragons sometimes have preminitions of the future."
"Yes. Well Killagarah also said Arthur would die by Mordred's hand. Mordred are you planning on killing Arthur?"
"No?" Mordred looked baffled, "Why would I?"
"Good question." Merlin said.
"We'll be fine." Arthur said, "Eat up and get some rest. Then we start again in the morning."
Several minutes later Arthur turned in for the night and the others followed suit. Merlin cleaned up everything before entering the tent he was sharing with Arthur. He looked down next to him on his bed roll, "This will be an interesting trip to say in the least."
"Only you could make it sound like some sort of holiday." Arthur mumbled as he struggled to get you chain mail off.
Merlin rolled his eyes and sat up to help the king. "You can't act so helpless sometimes." Merlin said as he released Arthur from the chain mail.
Arthur turned around and layed down so he was drapped over top of Merlin. "If you say so." He said before kissing the warlock.
Merlin sighed, "Get off you big lug."
"Hey! Are you calling me fat?"
"No I'm saying cut down on the sweets." Merlin pushed the king off and rolled into his side, "Now go to sleep."
"Hey Merlin?"
"Yes?"
"I'm the king. You can't tell me what to do."
"Really? I hadn't noticed. Are you sure?" Merlin grumbled, "Go to sleep."
"Fine Merlin." Arthur said , "Sleep it is. Sweet dreams." He kissed Merlin on the lips and nose before getting settled, arm slung around the warlock's waist, holding him close to him.
Merlin nodded and relaxed into the grip, falling asleep quickly to the steady sounds if the woods and Arthur's breathing.
"Goodnight Arthur." He mumbled right before slipping off into total unconsciousness.