Lost in Phantasm (Merlin Fanfiction)

Part 2: "Merlin and The Gryphon"

When Merlin regained consciousness, the midday sun spilled it's light through the trees over him, and he could not move a muscle. He could feel, all right. His mouth burned as if he had just consumed the hottest spices in existence. There were several cuts about his limbs which stung almost unbearably. He was not sore; it only felt like he did not have the physical capacity to move. He wondered how Arthur fared.

"Arthur?" Merlin called. He half-expected the young king to be on his feet still, waiting just outside Merlin's line of sight, shaking with silent laughter at the pathetic predicament.
"Arthur, are you there?" When several minutes passed in complete silence, Merlin began to wish Arthur was there to laugh at his embarrassment, if it only confirmed he was there and alive.
"Arthur!"

The only response was the shriek of an eagle; or was it an eagle? This place had goblins and fairies, why would it not have a magical creature with an eagle's head—like a gryphon?

The cry sounded closer, but there was nothing Merlin could do. If he could have moved, he would have been trembling. He recalled only too well the gryphon that had attacked Camelot. There was no Lancelot to save him now. He barely glimpsed the form of the lion-sized creature as it landed near him. Merlin lay very still and hoped that the beast couldn't see him (or Arthur, but the young king could have been long gone by now).

The gryphon crept closer. Now Merlin could see its eagle's head. The gryphon suddenly turned its head from side to side, fixing Merlin with each of its eyes. It did not charge forward angrily and hungrily like the other gryphon had. Merlin could do no more than wince as the gryphon stood over him and brought its beak down to rest on his chest. The pair stared into each others' eyes.

Abruptly, the gryphon's head jerked up, and without warning, it pounced! Its claws dug into Merlin's shoulders, and as it secured its grip, Merlin guessed what it intended to do.

"Oh, no, no, no!" he begged, but to no avail. The gryphon reared on its haunches with Merlin firmly suspended from its fore-claws, and launched itself into the air. Merlin groaned in pain as the only things between him and a free-fall to certain death were the sharp claws digging into his shoulder. Yet his body still would not move. Was he somehow permanently paralyzed?

The gryphon flew over the edge of a mountain range and into a craggy valley. Merlin saw several caves equipped with outcroppings. The gryphon landed on one of these. Merlin almost wished that he was numb as well as paralyzed when the gryphon released him suddenly, sending the young man thudding in more or less a sitting position against the wall of the cave. The gryphon regarded him with each eye once more, then stalked toward the back of the cave, where there stood a large nest. The minute its head cleared the edge of the nest, Merlin heard raspy, grunting, peeping sounds. Great; so if he wasn't going to be supper for the great beast, he would be fodder for its babies.

The gryphon dipped into the nest and drew out several young gryflets. If the situation was not so perilous, Merlin might have laughed at their bulging eyes and wild, downy feathers sticking out in every direction from their scrawny heads. The gryflets stumbled and flopped their way over to this new creature their mother had brought back. They emitted pathetic growls and snapped their soft beaks at him. One little challenger clawed at his clothes, ripping Merlin's jacket. 

Something metallic clinked against the stone floor. Instantly, the mother gryphon stood over him, tipping her head back and forth, but Merlin did not warrant her attention. She bent down and picked up a long golden chain. Merlin watched it glimmer as it dangled from her beak. That was the other object the thief had carried! He must have slipped it into Merlin's pocket before he uttered the spell that brought them here. Now the gryphon carefully laid it over Merlin's head, and it dropped around his neck.