The Dragon's Reign

Chapter 3: River of Fire and Blood

Word Count: 1, 169             Song: "Don't Play" by Halsey

Merlin's POV

I stand atop the ridge, looking into the distance at the approaching army of black. I look back at Arthur, front of the line in the valley. He looks up at me and I smile and wave. He smiles back. Gods, I hope everything goes okay. I hear the first warning horn blast, one loud blast, and I know it's my time to take my leave. I get on my horse and ride off into the forest, hoping I can get to the clearing where I can call Kilgharrah.

Arthur's POV

I look up to get one final glance at Merlin, but he's already gone. I look at Percival, to my right, Gwaine, to my left, and Leon, behind. They look scared but ready to fight for Camelot. Two blasts come from the warning horn. The sound of chainmail and weapons moving fills the air. A battle-cry can be heard on the other side of the valley, progressively getting louder. I can see the faces of Morgana's soldiers hastily approaching. "Don't blow the third horn until we can see the whites of their eyes." is what was told to the horn-bearer. "For the love of Camelot!" I proclaim, thrusting my sword into the air. "For the love of Camelot!" thousands of soldiers reply back, their echo drowning out the battle cries of Morgana's army. The entire army waits for my signal; I can see Gwaine getting antsy from the waiting. The army is mere yards from us by the time I yell "Chaaaarge!" It's almost as if the army moved before I gave the order. A sea of red capes fills the valley, accompanied by the sound of horses. Three blasts ring out through the sky, and the Archers hiding along the ridge stand and begin shooting - thousands of arrows fill the sky, making it look like a stormy night. Morgana can be seen atop a giant... walking tree? I shake it off as I drive my sword into a few men I pass by.

Blood starts making a river and turning the ground into mud. My sword clashes with another, but I easily take them out. As I focus on another soldier, my horse gets stabbed and falls over. I luckily jump off before I can get trapped below it. I quickly slash the people around me and the fighting continues on. I glance up at the high-noon sun before arrows cover the sky again. I look over the valley, and there's a lot of dead - both for Camelot and Morgana, however, her forces appear to be larger than believed. Camelot cannot hold off an army of this size with the numbers we have. I focus back on the battle and pray that we survive.

Hours later the battle continues. We're all tired, but Morgana's army is still massive. "Retreat!" I scream, falling back to our second plan. Further back in the valley is a narrower path, and we turn and flee. Half of the archers stay to cover our escape, while the others go ahead to cover our spot while we regroup. As the army flees, I can see the literally streaming blood river. Red capes and black armor litter the ground as we make our escape. The green grass now red, stones are turned orange or brown. We make it to our rendezvous location and take phalanx formation. Morgana's army was not far behind, and most of the archers did not make it back. I only hope Merlin gets back in time.

Four blasts of the horn ring out through the afternoon sky. Merlin's back with the dragon. It's hard to see at first, but it's too late to notice when Morgana's army gets scorched in front of us.

Merlin's POV

I ride on the back of Kilgharrah, wind flying past me. Below me, the druids I managed to get the help of run through the forest. I see the valley up ahead and notice that Arthur has fallen back to the mass of black. "Fýrcynn." (Old English for Fire) I tell Kilgharrah, and he dives down - his scales glisten gold in the sun. Morgana's army appears to notice too late, fire falls upon the army and the screams of pain fill the air. Kilgharrah flies back into the air, dive back down, and burns another section of the army. I see Morgana in a giant tree that walks, and then I see the large boulder it slung at Kilgharrah. Kilgharrah, being the badass he his, already knows of the rock any he smacks it back with his tail, causing it to crash into Morgana's forces. Her numbers have clearly dwindled, but there are still much more to fight off. Hopefully, the help of the druids can get us victory.

Arthur's POV

I thought I was shook earlier. I am now quaking. I give Leon an awestruck look, and he's just as amazed as I am. We have encountered this dragon before when he attacked Camelot. But just watching its copper-gold scales dash across the sky and burn our enemy army is just... wow! Morgana's army begins to fall by large numbers. Suddenly, lightning, fire, and screams come from over the hill. I look up on the ridge to see an army of druids running down towards Morgana's army. Merlin must have convinced them to help, bless his heart. I can't let them fight this alone, I charge forward and my men follow. Fighting alongside sorcerers is something I never imagined happening, but I am grateful. Morgana's forces slowly dwindle as the onslaught washes over her army.

I look up to watch the dragon burn the giant tree Morgana was in, but also witness the dragon getting hit with a massive rock. The dragon's roar of pain fills the sky as it dives down into the nearby forest. I turn behind me in time to see Mordred raise a golden blade to strike me, and then an old figure step between me and the blade. It takes me a moment to realise whom my saviour was, but the old white hair and calm voice says it all

"Tell Merlin... he was like a son to me. And that I love him." Gaius weakly exhausts has he crumples to the ground.

A sudden rage fills me and I stab Mordred in the leg, pull the sword out, and stab him in the arm. "You're going to suffer for what you did to Gaius. He was a good man, and deserved a better death than this." I rip the cape of a fallen Knight of Camelot and gag Mordred with it. I look around and realize that everyone was watching me, Druids and Knights alike.

I look over to the tired Leon and slouching Percival. "Take him back to Camelot and throw him in the dungeon. Don't undo the gag to even feed him." Percival throws Mordred over his shoulder and walks back to the camp, Leon follows with rage clearly filling his eyes. I look back at Gaius' limp body, and then I remember-- Merlin.

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Merlin is a bad bitch at the end of the day, and I think this song really helps captivate how amazing Merlin really is. He rode a whole dragon into battle and used it as a weapon. I think the song really helped convey the conclusion to Merlin's insecurities in the short term, feeling confident in his newly found skin. Thoughts on the use of the song?

For me, this chapter was honestly amazing to write. I could visualize how I wanted it to go in my head perfectly, and I just wrote what I saw. The ability to just picture the moment and describe it in as much detail as possible is one of my favorite things as a writer because it really shows how you can put yourself into this world to get as much out of it as possible. I genuinely encourage your writing to almost exist as a continuous daydream when it comes to the thought process and visualization because being able to re-enter the story after hours or days or weeks is impressive in itself and shows that you know what you're looking for. Thoughts on this process?