The air the next morning was crisp and fresh as the noise of the knights jostled Arthur from his slumber. Opening his eyes, the sky above him was a pure cloudless white of an early morning dawn, the sun still low amongst the trees. He sat up and shook off the sleep, taking note of the activity around him.
"Percival - where's Merlin?" He asked blinkishly. Percival looked around and, failing to see the other man shrugged.
"I don't know, haven't seen him all morning" he shrugged. Arthur was not amuse.
"He's gone to collect herbs. Said something about us being dangerously low on feverfew" said Elyan over his shoulder as he geared up his horse with a point between two cavernous beeches. Arthur grumped and stood up and stretched.
"I'll get him. We'll be leaving soon." he said and the knights all nodded. Arthur stalked through the woods leaving the knights behind him clattering and banging as they ate breakfast and packed up the camp for the day.
He came on Merlin crouched under a tree, lost in a day dream as he was plucking leaves from the ground and carefully placing them in his back - the knights own medicine bag he noticed. A twig snapped under his leather boot as he approached.
"Merlin!" called Arthur regally.
As soon as the words left his lips, the dark haired man jumped, spilling the leaves from the top of the bag. At the same moment a humongous creaking crack split through a birch tree on the other side of the clearing, and a massive branch, crashed from the bough to the ground between them with a deafening thud. Wildlife scurried away around them in the bush. Birds squawking in panicked flight.
"Merlin! What did you do?" scolded Arthur looking at the dark hair man in skance. Merlin stared at the tree in panic.
"Oh my god! It must have been....lightning!" Merlin said, wild eyed and thinking fast, his panicked face as white as a sheet of ice.
"Lightnening?!" Arthur cried before he was struck by a dawning realisation. Merlin didn't know. He still thought Arhur didn't know about his magic. But then why - why would he stay away? Just to punish Arthur? He scowled, irritated.
"Lightning." Merlin affirmed.
"It's a beautiful day, Merlin: cloudless" Arthur pointed out.
"Yes. Old lightning.... Gaius told me it can happen. If it was hit in the last storm...it was probably hanging on by a thread and then if a, uh, big bird landed on it..." Merlin trailed off, looking at Arthur's unconvinced face.
"Maybe a really heavy owl." He suggested in a last attempt to convince the king. The king sighed dramatically and tolled his eyes with tact.
"Is that a common problem around here?" He asked voice laced with sarcasm like fine wine.
"Oh yeah. The owls around here are huge." Merlin announced with wide eyed innocence.
The pair stared at each other, the air between them pregnant with electricity.
"Are you out of your goddamn mind I-" suddenly Arthur was cut off before he could start his tirade by an emergence of Sir Leon at his side, from the boughs another branch shook threateningly. Leon quirked an eyebrow before speaking.
"Sire, we must be moving on" The curly haired head knight said respectfully. Arthur sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Fine. Merlin could tell him in his own time then. He could wait. He'd waited this long for his trust.
"Right. Come on Merlin" With that he turned on his heal and left the other men to follow behind him.
Behind him Merlin lets out a quiet sigh before following back to the camp and mounting his horse. That was too close. Ever since he'd been turned his magic had become more and more jumpy the closer it was to the full moon every month, and he couldn't control what it did or when it did it any more. His heart fluttered in concern. He had never considered it problem in a cave by himself, but now it would be a big one. He resolved to be careful, to keep his magic tamped under control.
----
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.