Title: The Taste of Ash
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/s: Merlin/Arthur
Character/s: Merlin, Arthur
Summary: Merlin has to watch another innocent burn.
Warnings: none
Word Count: 100
Camelot_drabble Prompt: 414: Flavor of the Month
Author's Notes: Just FYI, Sitting in the dark is on AO3 and finished. I wrote a lot more chapters so I didn't want to wait for prompts to publish.
Disclaimer: Merlin characters are the property of Shine and BBC. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
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The taste lingered.
Another innocent who’d not escaped Uther’s madness, screaming on the pyre, burning, melting, then awful silence. Merlin wanted to vomit, to cover the flavor of burnt meat and despair on his tongue, but instead, Arthur’s hard grip held him captive.
A moment later, released, Merlin was free to scurry away, to wash his mouth with bitter herbs and guilt. He should’ve found a way to help, but too much of a coward, he’d stood there, watching.
Tomorrow, next week, next month, there would be more fires. More meat roasting, more ash on the wind.
The taste lingered.