Merlin's magic (Oneshots) 1

Preening part 2

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P.S.: I'm sorry I didn't involve Freya more in this. It would have made sense to work with her. But this would have spiraled out of control again. And ... I kinda didn't want that :)))
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Merlin roared at the man in front of him. The white of his feathers glittering with gold, with each spell he shot at the sorcerers.

Arthur was so enraptured by the view and so distracted by his own fight, he kind of forgot what all this was about. What it really meant.
Until his opponent managed to slice into one of his own wings. Arthur screamed, which in turn distracted the warlock in the air.

It took one blast of the sorcerer to throw Merlin against the next tree.
A few loose wings fell from Merlin's wings. White ones. Expensive ones. The bandit beneath him tried to grab for it, distracted by his own greed, giving Lancelot the time to stab him dead.

Arthur was lucky that the hit didn't make him loose his sword. Or else he wouldn't have been able to parry his opponent.
And he was glad Merlin was on their side. Being a warlock and all.

Wait a second.
Arthur almost paused, almost gave his opponent an opening. But Merlin had gathered his thoughts again and shot a magic blast at the bandit before he could even make a move at Arthur. The bandit fell backwards and gave Arthur more than enough time to get rid of him.
Merlin was a warlock. And!
He was on their side.

A most powerful, rare magical creature. And he was on Arthur's side. Had hidden in the dirt to protect himself.

Arthur frowned. THAT'S why Merlin didn't let anyone preen him!
Arthur was furious! And if Merlin was the frigging epitome of evil! The least he could do was take care of himself!
Let him rephrase that: How could someone who was supposed to be the epitome of evil be so careless?

Preening was considered a basic need. If Merlin was stupid enough to deny himself that much, if he believes he doesn't at least deserve that much – then Arthur seriously needed to speak a word with him.
Wait. No.
That's not all it was.

Merlin deliberately chose to neglect those duties. He deliberately chose to cover his wings ('beautiful wings, holy crap', Arthur had never seen such beautiful wings before) with dirt and sand and rocks. Granted, he needed to, to protect himself from the pyre.
But god damn it, Arthur was his friend! Didn't he trust him?

Do you even know how much it hurt to have a single rock inside your wings? Can you imagine what it must feel like to lie down on a fucking stone road and keep those rocks inside your wings for days? And he did that, voluntarily?!

If they're stuck between the feathers, that's one thing. But to actually have them sticking into the thin skin that's stretched over delicate bones – that's a whole different story!
There are nerves everywhere. Merlin was living with this?! Living like this! And right under Arthur's nose.
All while Arthur's feathers were always cleaned, always soft, always cared for.

"MERLIN!", Arthur yelled over to where Merlin was shaking off his own fall and began attacking another sorcerer.
"When you're done up there, get the FUCK down, so we can FUCKING talk!"

Merlin literally almost fell from the sky right where he was. While Arthur had trouble keeping up with the second person who now tried to attack him.
He could see Merlin shiver from the corner of his eyes. But Arthur didn't really care about that.

"Yes Sire.", he heard a solid reply and Arthur felt enraged enough by that to pierce right through his next opponent.
Merlin was no soldier. He wasn't a knight. He didn't even know self defense (all things considered). Even as a servant he had never addressed Arthur like that. That – formal.
How dare he talk to him like this now!
It felt like somehow Merlin was distancing himself from Arthur. And Arthur seriously couldn't have that.