The Rise of Arthur Pendragon

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"So, oh great and mighty Merlin, how do we find this vessel then?" Arthur caught up to his friend and nudged him teasingly. Rolling his blue eyes Merlin replied; "Well, your royal pratness, I suggest we head down to the lower town and wait until it gets dark." "You're joking right? You want us to run around out there at night with a giant, black dog that could kill us both with a single blow and no way to stop it." Arthur gave Merlin that look he always gave him when he thought he was being stupid. "I never said we had no way to stop it did I?" ,Merlin gave Arthur a sideways grin; "Have you already forgotten that I am a, and I quote, "great and mighty" sorcerer?" Then," Ow! Oi what was that for?", for Arthur had just cuffed his servant round the head. "That, my friend, was for your inflated ego.", the King stated, looking very pleased with himself. Pulling a face at his friends back, Merlin hurried after him.

When they had reached the gates to the lower town Arthur turned to Merlin his young face suddenly serious and said; "Right, here's the plan. As soon as it gets dark and our errmm puppy comes out to play we follow it and you do your magic thing or whatever it is that you do and then we ummm, we ummm...", Arthur stopped, all of a sudden noticing he didn't know how to find the object containing the hellhounds power. Smirking Merlin told him; "Then you let me use my magic to track down the vessel." "Of course. Alright, lets g-... hang on! What part do I play in all of this?" "Oh you'll see...

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"This was not what I had in mind, Merlin!!!",Arthur yelled at his manservant, as he backed into a wall in a deserted ally of Camelot's lower town, "Hurry up! I can't hold it much longer!" The King cursed under his breath as he swung at the beast with his sword. Meanwhile, Merlin was standing a few feet away, his eyes glowed a luminous gold, and he muttered an incantation under his breath with his hand outstretched before his slender body. Arthur wished he could understand the language in which the sorcerer uttered his spell. He had now reached the wall and had no where left to turn. He was trapped. The creature was slowly advancing on him, his massive paws making no sound as he stepped ever closer and his enormous fangs bared. "Merlin!", Arthur called out, "I'd really appreciate it if you would HURRY UP!" There was no reply from Merlin but all at once the hound stared to glow. It grew brighter and brighter while Merlins chanting got louder and louder until finally, the monster burst into a cloud of glowing dust. Arthur breathed a sigh of relief; "Thank god! I thought you were going to let me die back th-" "Shut up Arthur we need to follow the last bit of the hounds power.", Merlin gestured at the glowing dust which had begun to float away from them, back toward the palace. "Oh right yes silly me! Let's go chase some sparkly monster ash though the city.", snorted a very indignant Arthur. But Merlin didn't heard his friend. He was already running after the last of the hounds energy. Arthur rolled his eyes once more and took off after Merlin.