#arthur is going to execute someone for owning red string

[kissme-withyour-cherrylipstick]

Insane parallel

Merlin 1x05 Lancelot and 5x07 A Lesson in Vengeance

Thanks @godmerlin for bringing this to my attention

[aldreusreinhold-blog]

Pale Moon Rising (NSFW Warning - Blood, gore)

Six Years Ago…

It was one of those rare days in Gilneas where it was not raining; that was a bad sign. Aldreus loved the rain, the smells that accompanied it, the sight of drops glistening on the leaves; the rain was perfect. On this day, the pavement was not wet from the heavens, but from the blood of his people. Cries could still be heard, mothers screaming for their sons, fathers crying over their daughters, torn apart in their arms. The worse sounds though, were the howls. They came from the rooftops, from the darkened alleys, from the inside of homes. Monsters, all of them the young huntsman thought as he pulled on his bowstring, “Sweetie, they are starting to talk.” Katherine Reinhold, pulled on her sons arm, “We have to hear what the plan is. We are the last of our house, we have to survive.” Katherine had always been a driven woman. His father, Gideon compared her to a she-wolf when it came to protecting her family, and he was right. Even in her fifties, she still looked as young as thirty; save for a few strands of grey that were brought about after the death of her husband. Aldreus gave his mother a simple nod, there was nothing more to say. It had been a miracle that they had come this far, running from the headland to the city had been a horror. Seeing their home burning, the cries of their servants, and the Worgen in the fire. No smile would rise to his face, no matter how hard he would try, he would not be able to comfort his mother. Aldreus stood up, his right had still firmly grasping his weapon of choice; his father’s oak longbow. Slowly, they made their way over to the crowd forming around their king.

”…The Worgen would not have stood a chance….” Those were the first words that the last of the Reinholds heard come from their ‘king’. Clearly, they had missed something rather important, and the crowd began to disperse, “Boy! You coming or not?! You’re one of our best archers!” Arthur Cromwell, one of his father’s best friends called out to Aldreus. The huntsman walked over to his last father figure, embracing quickly, “What the hell is going on Arthur? What is our next move?” The old noble bit his lip, the words in his mouth fighting to come out, “The Northgates are to remain behind. We’re going to light those dogs up like it’s fuckin’ Hallows End. Hopefully, the rest of the survivors will get to Duskhaven. If we’re lucky, we join them soon.” Arthurs words though betrayed his true thoughts; he sounded terrified. Aldreus could only place his hand on the man’s shoulder, “I-I will join the rest in a moment. Just…give me time to say goodbye to my mother.” As soon as he released Arthurs shoulder and turned to face his mother, he was greeted by the sting of her strike which brought a fine mist to his blue eyes. She looked broken, as though she had lived through Gideon’s execution again, “Do not even think about it! You are not dying for this old woman!” She screamed at him, almost causing a silence to rise in the square, “If you think I am going to let two children die on this day, then you are gravely mistaken! Please, Al! You are the future Baron of your house! Do not throw away your life and become a feast for wolves!” She was right, he knew that much. With the death of Brianna, and now Aldreus choosing to die with the rebels; their line would end. Aldreus looked to his mother, and he quickly embraced her. It was if he was a boy again, holding his mother close as if he had just been bullied, or lost a game, “Mother, father would stay behind. I promise, I will come back to you. I always come back home.” Aldreus placed a small kiss on his mother’s forehead, “Honor before duty. On my honor, I will come home to you.” There was no point in a long goodbye, as much as he wanted to tell her how much he cared for her. Though his father was his hero, Katherine was always the one to protect him. She was his greatest defender, and he was hers. Nothing would stop him from protecting her. Not even the packs of Alpha Prime. He parted from her, his grip lingering on her shoulder for a moment before releasing, “I-I am sorry I was not fast enough to save Bri. I am faster now. Mother, I love you. Please, go.” With that, Aldreus finally released his mother, and made his way to the other rebels. Reaching behind his back, he pulled an arrow from it quiver, his fingers dancing along the feathered end, “For the Northgate! Aldreus is with us!” Arthur cheered as the huntsman made his way over, “Hopefully we will bag a few turned royalists while we hold them back!” That line caused him to grin, ever so slightly.

As the survivors made their way out of the city, the men of the Northgate made their charge with fire, bullet, rapier and arrow. Worgen hated fire, as if some base instinct told them that the dancing light was their greatest fear; the rebels capitalized on this. As Aldreus loosed arrow after arrow, the voice of his father entered his mind, Do not aim with only your eyes, they will betray you. Aim with your mind, think were you want it to go. The advice had done the man a great service as another Worgen howled in agony, a shaft buried in his heart. “This is almost too easy! Some wolves there are, more like lambs to the fucking slaughter!” Arthur cheered gleefully as he buried a lead round between the eyes of a beta male. The fire was doing wonders, the Worgen could not even get close to them, “I’ll make a fucking doormat outta you doggy!” The old noble cheered again, stabbing and slashing wildly at Worgen who tried to make their way through to him. Again, Aldreus loosed another arrow, which thudded into the eye of a particularly large female, “Arthur focus! These are not mere beasts! They have the minds of men!” Aldreus cried as he drew another arrow, nocking it in the bowstring. Arthur turned to look at him, a grin still wide on his face, “Well they fight like the bitches that birth the pu-…” Something cut him off, brining an uncharacteristic fear to his eyes. Aldreus turned to where he was looking. There, stood a massive black furred Worgen, his eyes a deep crimson red and claws dripping with blood, “This one’s mine!” Arthur screamed as he charged towards the beast, firing a shot at the monster. The bullet seemed to have little effect on the creature, who simply snarled as the round made contact with his left shoulder. In what seemed like an instant, the creature dropped to all fours, charging at the crazed Gilnean. To say the fight was one-sided was an understatement. Arthur barely had time to scream as the monster collapsed onto him. Aldreus lost sight of his friend under the hail of gore and blood that followed the attack. He could not shout, he could only just stand there as Arthur Cromwell, his fathers friend and someone he thought was an uncle was ripped apart by an Alpha Worgen. The arrow fell to the ground, and he nearly dropped his bow.

Aldreus clenched his fist and his body was racked with shakes and breaths. His eyes focused solely on the blood soaked Alpha, standing over the broken body of Arthur. Without hesitation, he reached for his back, pulling out another arrow and nocking it in an instant. Aim small, miss small, aim big, miss big. Gideon’s voice entered his head again as he drew and loosed the arrow. With frightening swiftness, the Worgen dodged the arrow which slammed into the back of another one of its kind as it fed on the corpse of a fallen rebel. Do not spend to long on the draw. You’ll wear out the string and your arm. Aldreus nocked and loosed another arrow, this one finding its mark. The Alpha roared as the arrow buried itself in his right shoulder, causing the creature to falter in its movements. It was too close now to keep shooting, he would risk death if he was to lose another arrow this close. Aldreus threw the longbow across his back, drawing his rapier and dagger, “Come on you bloody beast! Taste the steel of the Reinholds!” Aldreus charged in as the creature stood up, roaring at him to meet his challenge. The huntsman lunged at the Worgen with a piercing strike of his rapier, the blade sung as it cut through the air. However, no matter how fast he could have moved; Aldreus was no match for the speed of the Worgen. The creature easily dodged the strike, sliding to the left side of the human. Claws dug into his flank as the Worgen followed through with a strike of his own, causing Aldreus to scream in pain. He slashed wildly at his right side, the steel of his dagger connecting with the flesh of the beasts clawed finger, causing it to release a howl of pain of its own. This provided him with some small measure of rest and Aldreus capitalized on it as he jumped backwards and paced around the creature. All around them, rebel and loyalist fought against tooth and claw. For the these two though, it was as though all else was meaningless. Two predators, fighting to prove who was the greater hunter. The Worgen matched Aldreus’ movements, walking on its hind legs and snapping at the air. Aldreus switched grips on his dagger, facing the blade downwards and taunted the beast, “I thought Arugal’s prized monsters were the greatest predators on Azeroth?! You fight like a mastiff pup!” The last word was almost spat out. He knew that the creature would not be able to grasp at what he said, but the sound of his voice seemed to make the creature angry enough to charge again. Something that resembled a grin crossed his face. He had hunted wolves before, and knew to aim for the head when they were charging. He aimed a downward stab at the Worgen, attempting drive down at the air where the creatures head would be. However, Aldreus had completely misjudged the timing; the Worgen was simply too fast, and the beast locked his jaws over his lower left torso. To say that it was painful was an understatement, something seemed to trigger in him as soon as the teeth pierced his skin. However, he saw his opening and took it, driving the dagger into the skull of the Worgen. The sound of bone breaking was almost satisfying to him, and to see the creatures eyes roll up into its skull made his almost laugh. But then, the agony hit him; causing Aldreus to fall to the ground, falling unconscious instantly on top of the dead beast.

By the time he came too, the sounds of battle inside Light’s Dawn were almost deafening. Fingers digging into the cobblestone, Aldreus pulled himself to rest against the wall of a house. He felt ill, violently ill. As if he had caught ever pestilence that existed under the sun and moon. He pulled up the leather jerkin that he was wearing, looking at the wound and in an instant; his eyes went wide. The flesh was turning green, and small hairs had begun to sprout up around the edge of the wound; white, thick hairs. Bile rose to his throat, and he threw up both blood, and the contents of his stomach. Without warning, he screamed in pain as he felt his spine crack and bend under some foreign strain. Tears filled his eyes, and he began to sob in agony as the joints in his feet grew and stretched. As he opened his mouth, he felt the roots of his teeth pierce further into his gums. This was the worst pain he had ever felt, as if the titans themselves were pulling his body apart. Aldreus tried to scream in agony but all that could be heard was the monstrous cry of something that was not human. I-I was not fast enough…mother, Bri…I-I… Aldreus thought no more, the rational mind of a human being replaced by only a singular drive. It could hear everything, smell even the smallest change in the wind and see farther than it could ever have done. Tattered shred of fabric that had once housed the body of a man fell away from the white fur as it ran on all fours into the forests outside of Gilneas. It had caught the scent of something…

@ludlowvineyards