Dragon Tales. The tales of Aithusa.

Before Hatching.

For the most part of my life I saw nothing but the darkness of the inside of my egg shell. I could feel every movement I ever made. But to the outside world; I was oblivious. The first ever real threat I knew was when I felt my egg being lifted up. I had no idea where I was going or who was holding my egg.

I swayed from side to side as the person holding my egg began to run. My egg was placed downwards, I had no idea what was going on; my nose bumped against the inside of my egg. It really hurt. I tried to get some sleep but all the bumping and jostling really hurt, as almost every part of my body bashed against the inside of my egg. I had lived inside this egg for ages undisturbed and now this had come about.

I had never met any of my parents. The only two things I had ever seen was the inside of my egg and my eyelids as I slept. How much time had passed? How many years/ months/ weeks/ days had I slept? I was always and had always been inside this world of obliviousness; the world between consciousness and sleep. Unaware to everything and everyone. The first thing I had ever really felt that wasn't to do with myself moving around it came from the outside but I felt the power deep inside me. Whoever or whatever was on the outside of this shell, they were kin. Then all of a sudden the clearest noise from outside this tear drop shaped dome came clearly into my ear as though the person who spoke it was stood right next to me inside my egg.

"Aithusa." the voice spoke. I became fully awake now. I felt as though I had been filled with a golden light. I hit my foot with as much strength as I had in my little body, against the shell. A cracking sound echoed through the shell and crack appeared on it. I could see a sliver of the moon through the crack. I hit the shell with my talons again and the crack grew bigger and wider. I flexed my wings which pushed against the cracked shards of the shells. I poked my head through the shell. I pushed even more with my wings and talons. Eventually I broke through the entire egg. I stretched my wings wide and looked at my surroundings. An older dragon stood before me, on my other side a young boy. The power I had felt earlier had obviously come from these two beings in front of me. I could feel it even now but much stronger now that I had come out of my egg.

I heard the old dragon speak. He said: "A white dragon is indeed a rare thing and fitting. For in the dragon tongue you named him after the light of the sun. No dragon birth is without meaning. Sometimes the meaning is hard to see, but this time I think it is clear. A white dragon bodes well for Albion, for you and Arthur and the land that you will build together." The boy grinned, tears of happiness in his eyes. I didn't know what Albion was or who this boy and Arthur were...... or even who the dragon before the was. But I didn't care. I was just happy to be able to see the world after all these years. The boy looked back at me. I sat on my haunches and stretched my wings out fully. I tilted my head to the side and opened my blue eyes wide. I chirped happily. After a while, the boy went back to the place where I assumed he lived.

Life with Kilgharrah.

I flew off with the older dragon. We landed in a cave high in the mountains. I soon learnt that the older dragon's name was Kilgharrah. I thought he was nice if not a little strict. He taught me loads of things such as the boy's name - Merlin. I was also taught that Merlin lived in the white castle that I could see from the cave, the castle was called Camelot. The person called Arthur ruled that kingdom. Merlin and Arthur had a destiny to unite the land of Albion, which was a future world filled with peace and prosperity, as Kilgharrah had told me.

I was taught about friends and enemies, what our food to eat was. I was taught about sorcerers and witches, druids and seers. Unicorns, dragons (me and Kilgharrah were the last of our kind.) I learnt about The Great Purge too. That was one of my least favourite subjects. I learnt that Merlin was a dragonlord and that dragonlords were people who could to the dragons and tame them. Kilgharrah told me that if Merlin ever told me to do something then I had to obey it. I couldn't yet speak human as Kilgharrah could, but he said that he would try to teach me how to speak human. But even if I didn't learnt it, Kilgharrah said that Merlin would be able to understand almost anything I said in 'our' language. Kilgharrah taught me certain words every day.

I was starting to get fed up with lessons and lectures. I wanted to explore, I wanted to find new friends and new adventures. I could already fly, so whenever I felt like it I could fly off and explore and get away from this acient boring old dragon, who was more bothered with my studies than adventures. I hardly understood the 'human' language and each day I put less and less effort into the lessons Kilgharrah gave me.

'Enough is enough.' I thought, scraping my talons aong the floor. 'I want to explore I don't want to be stuck in this boring cave all my life, hidden away from the world. I like living here with Kilgharrah. He's like me, but I haven't seen any of the world, unless you count the bit that I can see from the entrance to the cave.' I hadn't seen Merlin for weeks, and each day I grew up, the more impatient I got. Kilgharrah was allowed to fly out and see Merlin when Merlin called. I asked to come with him, everytime Merlin called for his help. But Kilgharrah always said no. He hardly let me leave the cave except on those ocasions when he taught me how to hunt without being seen by humans, and when he took me on flying lessons. Although I was a brilliant flyer, well........ I thought so.

I had decided. The next time Kilgharrah got called to see Merlin again. I would fly off on my own and explore. I didn't haved to wait long. As the night before, Kilgharrah had been called by Merlin, I was asleep at the time, but I heard the call and heard Kilgharrah flying off. But I was in luck, he got called again the next day, just a couple of hours before midday. That's when I took my chance out in the big wide world on my own. I flew off. There was a strong north- eastern breeze, which almost blew me off curse a couple of times. I didn't have a decided destination; I just flew where my wings and the wind took me. I did loads of loop-de-loops but then had to stop as I had made myself dizzy. I felt as though nothing could stop this ecstatic feeling that filled me from the tip of my tail to the top of my head. I wasn't old enough to breathe fire yet, but it felt like I could, I was that happy. Instead I just chirped as I still couldn't roar either.

I flew over field after field, forest after forest, lake after lake. I even dared to fly over Camelot. But I hid myself in the clouds, the thought of what had happened to Kilgharrah there, still scared me. I ever flew over the clearing where Merlin and Kilgharrah were talking. I could heard Merlin asking Kilgharrah how to make Arthur believe in himself once more and how to find the people of Camelot who escaped from Morgana when she stormed the castle. I hadn't a clue who Morgana was. Kigharrah had never told me much about her, he had only said that she was Arthur's half sister and she wanted the throne of Camelot and would do anything to get it. I hadn't met half the people Kilgharrah had told me about. I had only met Merlin, and even that had only been once.

I was going to have to land soon. I was still only little and I was starting to get tired but it would have to be somewhere hidden and out of sight, otherwise Kilgharrah would find me and make me go back to the cave. I flew on for a bit longer but didn't spot any other caves. I had to land in a tree which was entirely covered in leaves. I didn't like landing on the tree. It was dangerous, the branches got in my way and when I tried to land on the thickest branch I almost slipped off twice, but the third time is always the luckiest. I landed right on the branch and didn't slip off. I crawled right up towards the trunk of the tree and clung on with my talons.

The birds that had made the tree their home, didn't like me being there, but I was too tired to find anywhere else. I fell asleep after a while. It was the first time I had slept on my own, I didn't like it much, but I wasn't about to lose this freedom and go back to Kilgharrah.

Saving Morgana.

I woke just a few hours into the evening. Had Kilgharrah even noticed I was missing by now? Iyawned and stretched out my stiff body. After my rest, I felt loads more refreshed and ready to explore again. I flew off from the branch ducking and diving under the branches of the tree.

I flew below a branch an something dropped on my head, I looked up. In the tree there was a squirrel, it was holding an acorn between its paws. It threw the acorn and it hit me on the head. I shook my head and bared my teeth at it, a growl rising in my throat. So that was what had hit me on the head. The squirrel had thrown an acorn at my head. I flew off, leaving the squirrel alone.

I carried on wth my journey. I flew over a clearing in the forest, when I saw a young woman limping through the clearing. She looked injured; she was clutching her side, her fingers covered in blood. I swooped down lower to get a better view. She was wearing a black gown. She had raven black hair, pale skin, with high cheekbones and grey-blue eyes. I didn't know who she was but I could feel the power of magic emanating from her, deep inside me. So I knew she was a witch.

She collapsed, gasping for breath. I swooped down towards the ground. I couldn't just stand there and watch her die. It wasn't in my nature to watch someone suffer. As I drew nearer, I saw her eyes close and her breathing stopped. I had to hurry. I folded my wings into my side and plummeted towards the ground. Just before I was about to hit the ground, I stretched out my wings fully, catching a upward draft in my wings and flapping my wings gently, I fluttered down onto a rock, covered in moss, in front of her. I had been taught by Kilgharrah how to use our breath as a way of healing, so I used that. I breathed on her,her hair being whipped back from her face; small silver sparkles came out from my mouth with the cold draft of wind. The leaves on the floor by her, flew up into the air on my breath. I stopped breathing on her, and watched.

Just when I started to think I was too late. Her eyelids fluttered and slowly opened. It had worked. She looked straight at me. I decided to do my cutest expression for her. So I tilted my head to one side, opening my eyes wide, stretching my wings out fully and chirped happily. She slowly raised herself up using one hand and stared at me. I leapt into the air and flew off, chirping. I could feel her eyes still on me. I had done it. I had done something good.

But she wasn't fully healed yet. I spotted a rabbit in the tall grass. 'That will be enough for her to eat.' I thought. I looked back over my shoulder at the clearing; she was still sat there, watching me. I swooped down silently, a deadly assassin in the air. I stretched out my talons and caught the rabbit between my talons. I flew back to her, clutching the rabbit in my talons. I dropped it in front of her and fluttered back to the rock. I tilted my head to the side again.

She looked back at me. Confusion and surprise still clear on her face. I nodded my head towards the rabbit, then nodded back up at her and mimed taking a bite out of it. She suddenly understood that I wanted her to eat it. She smiled gratefully. She waved her hand and a bunch of sticks flew through the air towards her and piled them on the ground. Her eyes flashed and the sticks were set on fire. She used the biggest one to spear the rabbit; she then held it over the flame for it to cook. "A-A-Ait-Aithusa. Aithusa." I said. It was the one word which I had wanted to learn in human language as it was my name. She looked at me in surprise. "Is that your name?" she asked. I nodded. She smiled. "My name is Morgana." she said.

I sat there and stared at her. So she was Morgana. I watched her as she finished cooking the rabbit over the fire. She tore the rabbit in half using her blade that was strapped to a belt by her side. he offered half to me, I took it gratefully. She smiled. She seemed happy to have me as company. I was confused. 'Kilgharrah must have been mistaken. Morgana's nice; she's not mean at all.' I thought as I nibbled on my half of the rabbit. We slept in the forest hat night. Morgana was shivering due to the cold, so while she slept I crept up and curled up beside her. I looked at her. She was smiling, so she was happy for me to lay there beside her. Her arm draped over my side, and I rubbed my head against her hand. Soon I fell asleep also.

Captured by the Sarrum.

After that day when I had saved Morgana's life. We lived together in peace all the time. Little did we know we were being hunted by an unseen foe. It was tracking our every move. Our very lives were in danger.

We had lived in an old abandoned fortress in pace for a while. Just me and Morgana. But one day I had gone on a hunt to get some food for me and Morgana as the only nearest village where we could get food was in Camelot and neither me nor Morgana would want to risk our safety at a moment like this. So I went out hunting and found a deer. I was growing bigger and stronger every day and had gotten more experience at hunting every time.

But while I was struggling to drag the deer back to Morgana, the unseen foe which had been tracking us, had finally caught up. The man crept up with a few other people they were holding a chain link net in their hands. The man gestured silently, and the other men threw the net over the top of me. The large iron balls attatched to the end of the net, hit the ground trapping me underneath.

I roared in anger and fright. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Morgana running out of the fortress towards me. She was coming to help. I tried nudging the net with my head to get it off me, but I just got even more tangled up in it. I looked at the man who had captured me, he looked at Morgana running towards my roars, a steely glint appeared in his eyes and he smiled a cruel smile. This was what he wanted. I was a target but Morgana was the prize. I looked in fright towards Morgana. I tried to tell her to turn back and save herself. But I couldn't get the words to come out of my mouth in human language. 'Oh why didn't I pay more attention to Kilgharrah when he was giving me lessons on speaking human?'

Morgana used multiple spells, but the man who was the leader held a dagger to my throat and Morgana stopped casting spells. I heard the man speak. "Now witch." he said. "If you don't want me to kill your little friend here then you will release my men from your spells." Morgana looked at me. She bowed her head and released the men from the spells. So the man knew of Morgana's love for me.

"Who are you?" Morgana asked, hate clear in her voice.

"I am the Sarrum." the Sarrum said. "And you Morgana Pendragon are my prize." The men grabbed Morgana by her arms. I roared and tried to fight again, but I was still only little. "Tell your pet. To calm down." the Sarrum said. He nodded for the men to let go of Morgana. She took the net off me slightly,  she lifted my head in her hands. "Aithusa." she whispered. "Don't try and fight. Just let them do this. I don't want to see you hurt." I could see the Sarrum smirking. I chirped and nodded. Morgana smiled a small smile.

"Pick it up." he ordered his men. The men came and picked me up still caught in the net. The others grabbed Morgana again and they lead us away. Morgana kept glancing back at me along the way. I bared my teeth at the Sarrum to let him know that no one on his side was a welcome friend and that we would reap revenge for this. The Sarrum kept me next to Morgana as we were marched away. All the way Morgana whispered words of consolation to me. Eventually we reached this tower, which was more like a pit. It was built into the middle of a small citadel. If you went to the floor below there was a door, where the Sarrum took us through to the inside of the pit.  

"Now." the Sarrum said. "On the floor above is the hatch to this pit. The door will always stay locked. Your food will come through at the top. You will receive no light, while you are in here." his men chained Morgana to the wall, her arms above her head. They then threw me in with her. "If you dare to use magic I will kill you and your little pet." The Sarrum laughed a cruel laugh as he walked away, locking the door behind him.

Captivity with Morgana.

I lost track of how much time we spent in that pit. Morgana had become a shell of her former self. She daren't use magic for fear of my life. Each day we spent in that pit was the same. The Sarrum opened the 'lid' every morning to check we were still in there and to check that Morgana hadn't used magic to escape. He would speak as though he meant no harm to us, but we all knew that it was a mask. He would drop food through the hole at the top. Then close it and leave us in darkness.

Soon, as everyone does, I began to grow bigger and soon the pit became too small. The Sarrum refused to move us to a bigger pit to allow me room to grow, no matter how much Morgana begged him. Pitiful cries escaped my mouth every night and day as my body began to grow in on itself, due to the cramped space of the pit. Still the Sarrum showed no remorse for my pain. Morgana and I slept little each night. I could tell Morgana was growing wearisome of this treatment, I thought she was annoyed at me for keeping her awake all night. But I soon found out she was annoyed at the Sarrum for letting me suffer after he said he wouldn't harm me as long as Morgana didn't use magic to try to escape.  

Freedom.

One night Morgana whispered a spell and her shackles unlocked. I stared at her in shock, what was she doing? "We are escaping." she whispered in my ear. "I won't let you suffer any more. I promise."

I looked towards the door, where there was doubt t be some of the Sarrum's men, who will attack us. I looked back at Morgana, she shook her head. "Not through the door. Up." she said, nodding towards the hatch. I looked back at her quizzically. I could getup there easily. But Morgana? How would she get up there? "I'll have to ride on your back Aithusa." she said. "You don't mind?" I shook my head, if it meant saving her then I would do whatever I could.

She cast another spell and the hatch's lid was blasted off. It clattered to the floor outside of the pit. I lowered my back for Morgana to climb up and then started to climb up the inside of the pit. I looked back at her and she smiled, she looked slightly frightened. I rubbed my head against her hand and climbed up to the top of the pit.

We reached the top of the pit. She leapt off my back and a bunch of the Sarrum's men came towards us. Morgana blasted one backwards using a spell, making him drop his sword. She summoned the sword towards her and then began fighting the men off. I got in front of her and she tried to get me to move but I refused I then belched out a long stream of flames at the men. I engulfed them in flames and I and Morgana ran.

We ran out of the tower and hid in the forest. We could see the flames engulfing the tower and the Sarrum and his surviving men running from the burning tower. We could see the Sarrum looking around the clearing or us and then he too gave up and headed in the direction away from the tower. Morgana looked at me. "You did it Aithusa. You breathed fire!" she whispered happily.

Morgana led me in the direction of a place called Ismere. She said we couldn't return to the fortress we had stayed in once before as the Sarrum knew that area and he would most probably expect us to return there. She said she had been meaning to go there for a long time so that could find something called the Diamair. So we began our journey towards Ismere.

A crippled dragon life.

Along our journey to Ismere I had to put up with the pain that my crippled body was giving me. Morgana cast many healing spells to try and heal me and to make the pain go away. But nothing worked. The pain got a lot worse as my body was still growing. But instead of growing long ways it grew crippled as it had in that pit.

I found it hard to stretch out fully now and I always got quite a lot of pain. But I was just going to have to learn to live with it. There was no way we could turn back time n matter how much myself and Morgana wished we could. Morgana apologised multiple times and often blamed herself for what happened to me those days when I became crippled in the pit.

Morgana offered me herbs sometimes. She wanted to help and yet we both knew that there was nothing she could do. I was stuck like this now. "I wish there was something I could do." Morgana said to me. But there was nothing. We were almost halfway to Ismere now. The ground had changed from grass and rocky terrain to snowy and icy terrain. After a few more days we had arrived at Ismere.

Life with Morgana in Ismere.

For a while me and Morgana, lived in peace from that day when I had saved her life, we lived together always. We had found an old abandoned fortress in Ismere to live in. But little did we know that we were being tracked day by day as that one fateful day drew nearer and nearer. I and Morgana had many adventures together. We lived in Ismere in peace. But then came the day when Arthur sent his forces too close to us. So Morgana had gone out to capture the knights and had told me to stay inside the fort.

She came back after a while with the knights. I watched her from the tower where me and her rested at nights. Morgana had told me that she was just living in Ismere, just while she looked for the Diamair. She said that she needed the knights to help her. But word had got back to Arthur that Morgana was holding the knights at Ismere so he decided to come up here and 'rescue' them. Morgana was preparing for Arthur's arrival. Also her friend from many years ago had come to visit her as well- Mordred. I didn't like Mordred at first, the way he just stood there staring without speaking but I soon got used to him being there.

"Aithusa. You go down into the tunnel where Arthur and Merlin are trying to rescue the knights and you scare them off. I'll prepare the Saxons." Morgana said. I nodded and ran off down the corridor. I was running along the corridor, when I got my first sight of Merlin and Arthur. Morgana had told me what Arthur looked like so I knew that the man with the dirty blonde hair and blue eyes was him. I roared at them and blew a small flame. They ducked out of my way as I ran past.

I headed further down the tunnel. I had seen Merlin and I didn't want to hurt him. I could hear their shocked voices echoing down the tunnel. "Where'd Morgana get a dragon from?!!!!!" Arthur yelled.

"I don't know." Merlin replied, he was looking in my direction. "I'll go and divert it. You get Gwaine out of here."

"Merlin. Don't do anything stupid." Arthur replied.

"Me?" Merlin replied sarcastically. I could hear him heading down the tunnel after me as I turned the corner.

He followed me round the corner. I roared at him. Warning him not to come any closer. But a feeling deep inside me said I couldn't harm him even if I wanted to. He came forward even more, and I breathed fire. He stuck his hand out in front of him and the flames stopped halfway between us. I stopped blowing flames. He stared at me. "What hapened to you?" he asked. I chirped in a way of replying. Confusion flickered across Merlin's face. "What does that even mean?" he asked. I chirped again but I don't think he understood it. "You can't talk!" he whispered shocked.

We could hear Arthur calling him from the end of the corridor. "Go." Merlin whispered, flapping his hands at me in a shooing motion. But I didn't want to leave him. "Ithi!!" Merlin said, and I knew that I couldn't disobey this. I headed down another tunnel. Merlin headed back to Arthur's calls. I headed back to the room. I had done my bit. The knights had escaped Ismere and Arthur and Merlin had gone with them.

Morgana gave up on searching for the Diamair after Merlin and Arthur escaped. We found a new place to live after leaving Ismere. Morgana had been stabbed by her friend, Mordred. But she had healed herself before we left Ismere. We found an old abandoned Saxon fortress where we stayed for a while.

Cauldron of Arianrhod.

Morgana received a letter from someone called the Dochraid who had told her that Merlin, Arthur and Guinevere were heading towards the Cauldron of Arianrhod to get the Triple Goddess to heal Guinevere- Arthur's queen. Morgana had received the note by raven. I was a litlle indignant at this fact as a dragon could have done this task a whole lot faster.

I was going to have to come along with Morgana as she didn't want to leave me alone in case the Sarrum found me again as Morgana had never realised that the Sarrum had died. I didn't want to meet with Merlin, not after last time when we were in Ismere. We reached the Cauldron of Arianrhod one day before Arthur, Merlin and Guinevere was due to arrive there. But luck was on our side. As due to the help of Mordred; Arthur and Merlin had managed to get Guinevere to the Cauldron of Arianrhod a lot quicker.

Morgana climbed to a hill and she sent me to scour the skies for a sign of Merlin, Arthur and Mordred. We caught sight of them. I swooped down towards them and blew flames in their direction but they ducked under a stone archway. Morgana didn't want the spell she had put on Guinevere in the dark tower broken.

I could hear Merlin and Mordred telling Arthur to go on and that they would hold me off. Arthur ran off in the direction of the Cauldron of Arianrhod. Merlin ran out from under the archway and Mordred stayed where he was but drew his sword. Merlin looked up at me, I looked around for Morgana but she was gone and out of ear shot so Merlin dared to use his his magic. "Nun de ge dei s'eikein kai emois epe'essin hepesthai!!!" he yelled. I roared and flew off. Merlin always knew how to make me obey. I flew over the pathway as Merlin ran back to get Mordred. I spotted Morgana as I flew over the hll which she had stood on before.

She used a spell and Merlin and Mordred went flying through the air. They hit the floor and Merlin ran off. Mordred stayed on the floor. Morgana went up to him and stroked him along his jaw line. Mordred opened his eyes and he and Morgana began talking. But I wasn't prepared for what happened next as Morgana went flying through the air and Mordred ran off towards Arthur and Merlin, who were at the Cauldron of Arianrhod.

Morgana lay on the floor. I swooped down and lay by her side; she was unconcious but not injured. I lay there until she woke up. By the time she had woken Arthur, Merlin and Mordred had already headed back to Camelot with a fully heaed Guinevere. "I give up." she whispered. "We'll just have to strike back at Camlann." So that was what all of this was leading to. A war at Camlann.

At Camlann.

I knew one day that I would have to return to where I had once come from. But I had no idea that the time had drawn so close, so soon. The battle at Camlann was nigh. I was again expected to go along on the journey with Morgana and Mordred who had once again teamed up with us after Arthur killed his childhood love Kara.

Morgana planned to outflank Arthur and his knights by going through a path hidden in the mountains. The path would lead her enforcements behind Arthur's camp and there they would strike before the night was out. She had used the Gean Canach to devour Merlin's magic. Morgana had received word that Merlin was heading towards the Crystal Caves, which was lead to believe that the caves were the birth place of magic itself.

She had trapped him in there and then returned to the fields of Camlann. She had ordered me to make Mordred a blade forged in the dragon's breath- my breath, just a few days ago. But the battle of Camlann drew nearer and so I was expected to fight. During the battle I breathed fire on many knights of Camelot. I caught sight of Merlin on top of the cliff. He was staring straight at me and yet he didn't look like himself. He looked older and much wiser but I also knew it was just a spell. "Nun de ge dei s'eikein kai emois epe'essin hepesthai!!! Weas!!!!" he called. I flew off again. I couldn't disobey a dragonlord even if I had wanted to. I could hear Morgana screaming in rage. "EMRYS!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed.

I turned round and flew aay from the battle field at Camlann. I couldn't stay. Merlin would be so disappointed in me, as would Kilgharrah if he ever found out the stuff that I had done. I didn't feel like me. I couldn't return to Camlann and I couldn't return to Kilgharrah. So I flew off on my own to find a home where I could live undisturbed for the rest of my life.

I flew over forest after forest and never once turned round or looked back. I was unsure if I'd ever be wanted or loved as much as I had when I spent time with Morgana. I found a cave where I would sleep until that great time when we would be needed once more. I found a lot of food before heading into that cave to sleep. I felt a great pain inside of me and I realized that it would have something to do with Morgana. I looked deeper inside myself  and found that the pain was because Morgana had died. I ate a rabbit to try and keep my spirits high. But I would have to face the facts of what I had done one day. I would sleep for many years  as I knew Kilgharrah would when Merlin had called him for the last time. And when we were needed once more, we would rise again.

Finish.

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A/N: maybe just one day. You might explore a cave and find the sleeping Aithusa in there. I hope you liked reading this fanfic and liked the ending. When Albion needs them most they will rise again. Hold that in your hearts Merlininians and believe and one day it will come true; Arthur will rise again. :D MerlinDragonLord.