The Warlock and the Dragonlord

Summary:

Let's find out what happened after Merlin was kidnapped!

Notes:

You guys can check out my Star Trek fanfic that I posted last week! It's just a one-shot from Sulu's perspective.

Also, if anyone has discord, I made a server where you can find any writing that I have or do in the future (whether novel of fanfiction). Feel free to check it out and join. It's still new, but we'd love to see anyone new! Check it out!

https://discord.gg/q9hsNQBP5v

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Arthur hadn't lost his determination, but the next morning put it into perspective for him. He truly had no way of reaching anyone magical except for his sister. He hoped she got his letter soon and responded even quicker, but the longer Merlin was held by… whoever it was, the more Arthur found himself worrying. Anything could be happening.

In fact, the panic in Merlin had spiked quite a few times, the overall stress in him a constant, and Arthur could only hope that his endeavors at sending encouraging emotions and thoughts worked, even if it was only a little.

All in all, Arthur was a useless bystander at the moment, but he knew one thing he had to do that he didn't really want to.

So that afternoon, after calling his school and telling him that he was sick — he wasn't worried because he'd never missed a day of school in his life, and all his teachers and principle knew him as a hard working kid, so they wouldn't doubt him — he set out for the emergency clinic.

Trying to ignore all the people around him, some injured, some obviously sick, or holding onto hands of kids, he approached the front desk. The lady smiled at him. "Hi. What can I help you with today?"

"Hi, um…" Arthur swallowed hard. He didn't even know if Gaius' last name was Emrys or not. "Does Gaius work here?"

"Dr. Gaius Emrys does in fact work here. He is in an appointment."

"Um, could you… could I please see him?" Arthur looked at the counter, unable to meet her eyes. "It's… it's important. An emergency. Please, can you call him down, or… show me where to go? I can wait for him to finish if needed."

She eyed him a long moment, as though trying to figure out what was going on. "He's already had a hard night," she said suddenly, causing Arthur to look up. "Something about his nephew."

"Yeah, it's…" He swallowed hard. "Yes, I really need to talk to him."

She finally nodded. "Down the hall, take a right, door seven. You can knock and ask him to come out when he's able, then wait for him in his office that is across the room."

His shoulders fell in relief, even as more anxiety ate holes in his stomach. He hated that he would be coming to Merlin's uncle with terrible news. Clearly Gaius already knew something was off, but he probably lived with hope that maybe Merlin had just stayed the night at Arthur's.

He wanted to puke.

He made his way as quickly as he was able to make his feet move, the dread filling him with each step. When he reached the door, he knocked on it lightly, and only a few seconds later, it cracked open. "Yes? Arthur! What are you doing here? Where's Merlin?" There was a hope in Gaius' eyes as he looked behind Arthur, as though for his nephew, but they shuttered a bit when Merlin was nowhere to be seen.

"Gaius, uh… I need to speak with you, if you have a moment." He forced himself to keep eye contact, feeling twitchy as he did so.

Gaius' jaw clenched. "Is he okay?"

Arthur shrugged, hands hanging at his sides and fingernails picking at the palms of his hands. Gaius took a deep breath. "I'll meet you in my office in just a moment." And before he could respond, the door was shut.

Arthur turned and immediately spotted Gaius' office. He pushed in, mostly shut the door. He chose not to sit, but to stand by the wall so he could lean on it, arms folded. It wasn't even a minute before Gaius walked in and immediately honed in on him as he shut the door. "Alright, what's going on? Merlin didn't come home last night. I hoped he just fell asleep at your house, but it wasn't like him to just not show up at home without some word of his whereabouts. And your face is definitely not one of good news. Is he okay? Injured? At your house still?"

Arthur opened his mouth a few times during his tirade, not sure how to interrupt, so he was glad when he finally finished ranting and waited for Arthur to speak. But then he wasn't so glad, because how in the world do you tell someone something like this about their nephew?

"Arthur?" Impatience and fear was evident in his tone.

"Yeah, right." Arthur ran a hand through his hair and sighed, deflating to sit on the couch. "I was walking home yesterday, got to the place where Merlin usually meets me, and… well, as I turned the corner I saw some guy standing over Merlin. I was just about to call out when suddenly they both disappeared."

Gaius froze and eyed him warily. "Disappeared? With Merlin?"

Arthur nodded, seeing the same terror and hesitancy on Gaius face that Merlin always had when magic was mentioned.

"I already know about Merlin's magic, Gaius. My sister has magic too. I mean, I think her magic is a little different than Merlin's but it is no less amazing." At Gaius amazed look, Arthur continued; "And, more than that… it appears that I sort of… have a part of Merlin's magic."

"You what?" Gaius blinked, stunned. "You have his magic?" He lowered his voice to a hiss, as he spoke, looking around even though they were alone in the office.

"Not fully, and not… well, I'm not sure exactly how it works. When I first met him, it felt as though his magic… I don't know, it sort of accepted and enveloped me. Now I've always been able to pinpoint certain emotions in him, the magic moves in me, even though I can't necessarily use it or anything." Arthur shrugged, looking down to avoid Gaius' eyes.

Gaius ran a hand down his face. "So Merlin is… Someone with magic took him?" Gaius surmised from the details. "Or did Merlin use it?"

"No, the guy had magic. He was holding a wand, like what my sister has. The school my sister went to should have known about Merlin. He should've been invited to go to school as well, but he never did."

Gaius shook his head. "We've only known two people that had magic, Merlin, and Merlin's father. I've studied up on magic as much as possible, I talked to Merlin's father before he was taken—"

"Taken?" Arthur's attention perked. "His father was taken. Is that why Merlin is always so terrified about other people knowing? About being taken in himself?"

"Well… sort of. Merlin doesn't really know anything about his father, or that he was taken. Hunith hadn't wanted him to know, so I respected her wishes. However, because of Balinor being taken, Hunith has been terrified for her son. She left the town, to protect and hide Merlin. I went with her." Gaius sat in the chair. Arthur felt sick as he saw the look on his face, the sorrow and fear.

"I…" Arthur swallowed hard. "I told my sister about Merlin — after he was taken, I mean. I told her about his magic and the guy that kidnapped him. I'm waiting to hear back from her, to see if she can get me some help. My sister, Morgana, goes to a school for magic. It's a really great place. Good people. And I trust my sister. At first I'd wanted to contact her to see if Merlin could get in, but he didn't want me to. But now that Merlin was taken… well, I don't have any idea about what to do against someone with magic. So I hope she can find someone to help."

Gaius reached out to put a hand on Arthur's arm. "Thank you, my boy." He smiled sadly at him. "And I need you to keep me updated on everything. We've got to find Merlin." He swallowed hard. "Please, Arthur."

"Of course, Gaius." He gave a small smirk. "Merlin would kill me if I didn't keep you in the loop, once I find him."

Gaius chuckled roughly, then stood to approach his desk and handed Arthur a business card. "Here, my personal cell on this card. Call me anytime at all. Call me when or if you get help… I want to be there for all of it."

"I will," Arthur assured him again.

Gaius stood as Arthur went to leave, surprising Arthur by wrapping him in a hug. He automatically hugged him back, feeling awkward. He couldn't remember the last time his own father had hugged him. Morgana was the only one who really gave him hugs, though Merlin did occasionally.

But Gaius didn't even feel awkward to hug. It was like hugging a grandfather almost. He was probably about ten years older than Uther.

Gaius patted his shoulder as he pulled away. "Merlin has talked about you a lot. He really likes being your friend."

"I like being his friend too. He's great."

"Yeah. Yes, he is." Gaius forced a small smile as he walked to the door, though it looked almost more like a grimace. "I hope that you hear something from your sister."

Me too. He was out of the room before Arthur could respond, so Arthur followed him out to head home.

Merlin couldn't seem to get his breathing to work correctly. The ragged sounding, shallow breaths were interspersed with some stifling gasps, until Merlin really really wanted to scream at the fear that was clawing at his insides. He could feel the magic that had been put around him, like a bubble that forced him to stay put. The person was using a want, like Arthur had told him his sister had, but it was strange to see it, like someone was using a stick to use magic. Maybe that's what he needed in order to actually use his own magic.

He couldn't leave the cell they'd put him in. Maybe if he could use his magic for something useful then he could.

Merlin's one consolation, so far, was that they didn't seem as though they were intending to hurt him. When Merlin had been… moved here, a lady had greeted him. She had talked to the man who had kidnapped him (he claims it wasn't a kidnapping, but it certainly felt like it), and neither of them seemed as though they were particularly evil. Yet Merlin was still locked in a room behind a door with bars with barely a word of explanation. All he knew so far was this was some sort of Ministry, and that Merlin had broken rules and should be in school right now. He remembered Arthur mentioning something like that when they first met.

Then they'd left him alone for the night.

Merlin had tried to sleep, and knew that he had a little, out of pure exhaustion because of the fear that was draining him, than actually being able to fully settle to sleep. He'd startled at any sound, and his neck and shoulders felt as though he'd been sitting tense all night, which wasn't so far off the truth.

The trembling seemed to come in waves at this point, like his body would start to calm down, but then remember where it was, and it would jump back to trembling as though it was kicked.

But his magic was acting restless, as though it wasn't quite sure what to do with itself, and many times he'd feel it flare up in response to his fears. The weird part, though, was that he felt as though something or someone — Arthur, his mind supplied — seemed to calm him. He didn't understand it, but he was grateful for it. Especially when he felt his friends' determination, and knew exactly what it was for.

He held onto that thin hope, even as his mind panicked.

Finally, the next morning, Merlin heard footsteps come down the hall. He was terrified, and definitely didn't want to talk to anyone… or worse, but he also wanted to know what in the world he was there for.

Maybe it was just a misunderstanding.

He forced himself to take some deep breaths, though he couldn't convince himself to pull out of the ball he was in, sitting on the corner of the bed.

"Merlin Emrys?" His name had been one of the few things they had actually asked him last night. "You said your name is Merlin Emrys."

"Y-yeah." Merlin tightened his fingers, somehow knowing that the tone of voice showed that he didn't believe Merlin or something.

"We have no record of any wizard by the name of Merlin Emrys."

"I…" Merlin swallowed hard. "I've never really told anyone that I have magic. Neither has my mom or Uncle."

"Are your parents magical?"

"Not as far as I know." Merlin looked up at the man.

"As far as you know…" He gestured Merlin to explain.

"I don't know my dad. My mom never talked about him. He left when I was a baby. My mom doesn't have magic. She just always told me it was dangerous to share the information…" Merlin trailed off. A part of him hated that he was talking so freely about this with someone who kidnapped him, but he also didn't see the harm in it either. He just needed to get out of here, and if he answered, maybe they'd let him go.

"But this still doesn't make sense to not have record of you."

Merlin shrugged, slightly irritated by the words. "Well, I don't know, okay? I doubt my mom would have registered me or something."

The man studied him a long moment, then chuckled slightly. "No, you don't understand. We have a book that magically lists every witch or wizard. Can't find anything on a Merlin Emrys though. Not that would be your age anyway."

"I think a friend said, uh… said something like that about the school too. He was confused as to why I didn't get an invitation."

The man's eyes sharpened. "What is this friends name of yours?"

Merlin clenched his jaw. "Why, so you can kidnap him too?"

"I didn't kidnap you—" The man said in a placating tone, but Merlin cut him off.

"Sure looked like it to me. You attacked me, froze me, then brought me here and put me in a cell."

He took a deep breath to calm himself. "You broke the law."

"What law?!" Merlin snapped at last, standing from the bed to pace. "As far as I know, I've been the only one my whole life that has these… abilities, and now all of a sudden someone comes telling me there's these laws in place? That I can't do magic outside of some stupid school, being underage. Well, newsflash, it's not like I can even control the magic anyway, and your all-knowing school didn't accept me, and I've been all alone in this for years! What do you expect from me?"

It wasn't until Merlin finished his rant that he felt his magic that had risen to the surface and he noticed the few things — like the blanket, soap, and toilet paper — were floating in the air around him.

Which also meant that his eyes had changed color; which was one of the main things that Arthur had been surprised about with his magic. And by judging how the man stared at Merlin's face, so was he.

Crap.

Merlin took a step back, shaking hands finding the wall behind him, all the stuff in his room falling to the floor as the man gaped. The silence seemed long, until finally the man managed to stumble through a question:

"What are you?"