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It had been too long.
Merlin had gone into the tomb of Ashkanar, having allowed Boren to lead them to it with his triskelion key. He'd warned that the tomb would be dangerous, and that it would be best if he went alone, to retrieve the egg to be hatched in peace.
But an hour passed, and Merlin and Boren had yet to emerge from the looming structure. The knights all waited anxiously for a sign or signal, but nothing came.
Until the building began to crumble.
The whole earth shook as the tomb seemed to kneel, bowing down as its foundation was crushed under its own weight. Arthur's men all shouted, frantically calling into the cloud of debris for their friend.
"Hold back!" Arthur ordered, his own heart pounding with fear. He had to fight every instinct in his body not to leap into the rubble and search for his court mage but he knew that doing so too soon would just see himself crushed beneath the falling bricks and shingles.
When the dust settled, it was deathly silent, the only sound that of the knight's coughing through the haze. Immediately, Arthur hopped over a toppled pillar, climbing across the carcass of the legendary tomb. "Merlin!" he called, voice shrill and panicked.
His knights soon followed, all sifting through the wreckage with urgency, careful not to let any piles collapse any further.
A hand poked out of a rather hefty mound, and Arthur's stomach dropped. He scrambled towards it, throwing rocks and timber aside until the dirtied face of Julius Boren was uncovered. A sigh left him then, and he continued on without checking to see if he still breathed.
"Arthur!" Elyan called, his head popping up over a large piece of masonry.
The knights all gathered, helping him to lift a large, jagged slab, and letting it drop onto an already cleared area. Beneath several more bricks and a thick layer of building reduced to sand, the greyed silhouette of their friend was curled up in the fetal position, encompassing a large, pale, pointed egg.
"He found it," Arthur uttered, as they continued to unbury him. Scrapes and gashes littered his body, and his legs and left shoulder seemed to have suffered from the crushing. His face was drawn up in a slight scowl, clutching the egg close to his chest and face. His veins stood out sharply on his hands, where he held on tightly, keeping the prize barely visible from view.
Gwaine hurried forward, moving to check his pulse, but the moment his hand brushed his skin, Merlin tensed, a low rumbling noise coming from deep within his throat.
Gwaine's eyes widened and he, along with all of the other men, staggered back. They knew of Merlin's dragonlord powers, had heard his roar when he'd directed the great dragon during the battle against Morgana's siege shortly after he'd revealed himself to unveil the sword stuck fast in stone– but to have it directed at them was another matter. Chills went up their spines and Percival audibly gulped. Merlin curled in tighter around the egg, breathing heavily onto its smooth, frosty surface through his nose.
"Well, he breathes," Gwaine said with a shrug, the knights all exchanging wary looks with one another.
"Merlin?" Arthur said gently, taking a step closer over the uneven ground.
Merlin didn't respond, didn't open his eyes– just sat perfectly still and tight around the unblemished egg.
He chanced bending down, inching closer to him whilst holding his breath. Slowly, ever so slowly, he hovered his hand over Merlin's shoulder. "Hey," he whispered, hoping his voice would be recognized. Carefully, he lowered his hand until it came into contact with his arm.
Merlin growled again, mouth even snarling slightly as though he were in pain, and Arthur moved his hand away from the injury to his more intact back, keeping a light, but constant pressure.
"Hey," he said again. "It's just us." His voice was shaking. He knew that Merlin was powerful, a man of legend, but he'd never seen him lose himself so fully in a cause before this. After a tense moment, not knowing if his friend was about to launch an attack at him, or send him flying backwards and away from his precious item, Merlin let out an uneven breath, frown turning into an exhausted expression of woe. He let out a whimper, the strength leaving him as he recognized the touch of his king, the survival of the egg, and Arthur moved to straddle him, and asses his injuries.
He first went for the egg, to take it from his grasp so that they could look over him better, but Merlin whined and used what little energy he had to keep hold. "No," he said feebly, desperation clear on his face, despite not once opening his eyes.
"Okay," Arthur said, letting it nestle back into his hold. "It's okay."
Gwaine and Percival moved in to help move Merlin away from the disaster. Careful not to jostle his injuries too much, they lifted him out of the pit, Percival cradling his head and torso so that he could continue to hold the egg, as Elyan lifted his legs, trying to keep his gnarled ankles steady, and Arthur supported more of his weight in the middle.
When they made it far enough away from the unsteady ground and the shifting pieces of rubble, they laid Merlin gently down, beginning to set up camp around him. Percival and Gwaine retreated to their previous camp to rally supplies, whilst Elyan and Leon stayed to look over Merlin's injuries.
They propped him up against a felled log, the egg sitting loosely in the crook of his uninjured arm.
"How is he?" Arthur asked from over their shoulders.
Elyan tsked. "His shoulder is dislocated, looks like. Might be splintered too but I'm no physician, and there's a lot of swelling."
"One of his ankles is fractured," Leon added, biting his lip in concern. "The foot is pretty badly crushed, actually. I left his boots on because Gaius says it helps with swelling."
Arthur nodded.
"His other ankle is better , but not great. Probably not broken. His shin is broken though, but it's a clean break."
They continued treating him; splinting his leg and wrapping his feet over his boots for added pressure. They weren't sure if it was the right thing to do, but they hoped it at least left him better off so that Gaius could do the real healing when they returned. Then, they moved to his torso, cleaning it off as they did his legs, to try and ward off infection.
Merlin's eyes finally fluttered open then. They'd barely noticed, sponging at his chest and neck with wet cloths, but Arthur eventually caught the sliver of light reflecting in his eyes and tried to meet them.
"Merlin?"
Merlin didn't answer, his gaze fixed on the egg by his side. His face was no longer contorted in pain though. He seemed so distracted by its presence that he didn't notice the throbbing of his limbs or the ache in his back.
It was time for them to relocate his shoulder though.
Elyan was the most confident in his ability to fix the joint, so he knelt down beside Merlin, and talked him through what he was about to do, in case he could hear him.
Merlin made no protest.
So he began.
He didn't so much as notice Elyan's presence until he lifted his arm. Suddenly, his calm, trancelike state vanished and he scrunched up his face with a yelp. His breathing came stuttered after that, and he winced periodically as Elyan rotated his shoulder back into place with a pop. He cried out at the final movement, panting with his head bowed, his grip on the egg tightening, holding it up closer to his chest. The moment his arm was back in place though, he brought it forward to help hold the egg, as he'd done before. Sweat beaded on the back of his neck as he hunched over it, obsessed with keeping it in his custody.
"Merlin," Arthur tried again after a beat.
Percival and Gwaine snuck back into the area with their supplies, careful not to disrupt the interaction.
"Merlin, can you hear me?"
Merlin didn't respond, simply sat there, frame trembling slightly.
"It's alright, Merlin," he continued. "You've got the egg. It's safe."
Merlin brought his knees up towards the egg, to protect it further, the movement looking difficult and clumsy.
"Can I see it?" Arthur leaned in, wedging his hands between Merlin's arms and the egg. His hold tightened, pinching Arthur's fingers against the hard shell. "Okay. I'm not going to take it." He left his hands in place despite the pressure, but didn't move any further. Merlin was breathing deeply and heavily against the egg. After a long moment, the pressure subsided, and Arthur was no longer pinned in place, but still didn't proceed. "Merlin?"
Weakly, and at last, Merlin nodded.
Arthur reached his hands further, until he was able to cup them around the egg and draw it out. Merlin maintained contact with it, his hands softly resting on its front as he leaned forward with it.
"It's beautiful," Elyan said from behind him.
A wet laugh leapt from Merlin's throat then, and he poorly attempted to blink tears from his eyes. "Yes," he agreed. Arthur let go, satisfied that Merlin was beginning to climb out of his fixation, and Merlin loosely wrapped his limbs back around the powder blue egg.
The clearing they had settled in felt brighter than it should at the late hour, Merlin's pained smile illuminating the somber forest. His ribs bruised, his shoulder throbbing, and his mangled legs pulsing with each beat of his heart, Merlin couldn't help but continue to laugh joyously, with a proud mirth his friends had never seen in him before.
"I have to–" A laugh bubbled out of him, and he fought to catch his breath. "I need to ha–"
Arthur lurched forward, stopping Merlin from climbing to his feet. He pinned the man down to the log by his chest and good shoulder. "Merlin!"
"No," Merlin argued, still smiling through a grimace of pain."I need to– get off."
Merlin shrugged Arthur off of him with unexpected force, and he staggered to his feet. He gasped as he stood, the weight on his injuries disturbing them to such an extent that he immediately fell forward onto his knees, head almost knocking into the ground as he curled around the egg again.
"What are you thinking?" Arthur scolded, as the knights all exclaimed in kind.
A breath caught in Merlin's throat as he despaired, and he brought a leg forward to try and stand again. He couldn't force himself to put pressure on it again, however, and gasped out a plea. "Help me."
"Merlin . . ." Gwaine mused in pity.
"Merlin, what–"
"Help me," he said again, holding the egg aloft, as though trying to reach out to something. "He needs to– he– he–" His breath hiccuped and tears fell more freely down the sides of his face.
Arthur stared wildly down at him, not sure what to make of this side of Merlin. He seemed manic, desperate, enough so that he would try to stand on broken bones.
In an instant, he made a decision, dropping to his knees and wrapping his arms around Merlin's torso and aiding him in taking weight off of his legs. "What– Merlin, where do you–"
Merlin cut him off. "The sky!" he cried, sounding high. "He needs the sky."
"Alright." Arthur hoisted him into the air and carried Merlin forward as he mimed walking. Arthur followed Merlin's gaze up to the canopy above them, seeing the rising moon peeking through the leaves. He brought them away from the cover of the forest, weaving between the bushes and branches alongside Merlin's scrambling motions.
When they breached past the treeline, Merlin wriggled in his hold and Arthur had to calm him with promises and firm holds. He managed to gently slower Merlin to the ground again, the moonlight shining down on them in a vibrant glow.
Merlin sat in the grass, legs folded haphazardly beneath him, and held the egg skyward, mouth gaping open in awe. His eyes reflected the light of the moon, big white circles covering the most of his pupils, and they glistened as he took in the night kissed image of the dragon's egg.
Huffing a few times as he got his breathing under control, Merlin licked his lips and relaxed his expression.
"Aithusa."
The word left him like a pur, and he sucked in a breath as it floated in the air.
For a moment, it seemed like nothing happened, the night growing still and quiet. But then a faint sound was heard from atop the egg; a scratching sound, accompanied by a hairline fracture in the shell.
Arthur's eyes widened, fear for the egg coursing through him, before he remembered that cracking open was, in fact, what an egg was supposed to do.
The crack grew, veins of little crevices spreading down from the peak like vines until a small piece flecked off. Then another. The light fragments fluttered down from Merlin's hands and he sucked in a breath in amazement. After a moment, a small, white head poked out and cooed as it wormed around inside, pressing the rest of the egg open with an unfurl of its wings.
Before anyone could say anything, a distant cry echoed through the sky, and Merlin let out a proper laugh as the silhouette of the great dragon eclipsed the moon, celebratory calls raining down from the sky.
The knights behind him, stood wide eyed and stunned, but Arthur had never seen such relief in Merlin's face before. This, he realized, was what Merlin called family. Such a creature, he was.
Later, Merlin would be dragged back to the castle to have his injuries seen to, but tonight, the stars shined twice as brightly for him, and the hatching of his honor bound son.
The future looked bright for Albion.