Work Text:
“Hello, brother dearest.”
Arthur realized he was grasping at his side for the sword he wasn’t wearing, and stopped himself. None of the reports brought to him had done the construction justice. It was massive. Arthur had always thought that its name was an exaggeration, but it was larger than any village cottage or farmhouse. Taller than it was wide, it was more a tower than a full castle, and it rose in a jagged point towards the sky. There, any resemblance to any structure Arthur had ever seen ended. Nonsensically, it had tiny legs underneath the bulk of the castle. It didn’t float like the war balloons, it crawled across the hills of the Wastes.
Merlin skid to an ungraceful stop when he saw Arthur. He shot Gwen a betrayed look.
“The Wastes in the middle of the night, Merlin?” she asked. “You thought that was going to happen?”
“You could stay here,” Merlin said, the words dragging into each other and getting lost as his eyes fluttered open. Arthur looked around the room and snorted.
“There’s nowhere to sit,” he replied.