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No young woman, no matter how great, can know her destiny. She cannot glimpse her part in the great story that is about to unfold. Like everyone, she must live and learn. And so it will be for the young sorceress arriving at the gates of Camelot. A girl that will in time mother a legend. Her name... ...Merlin."Merlin?" someone called from outside the door. Her mother, Hunith, walked in with a backpack in one hand, some bread in the other one. "I've packed some more food for you, just to be on the safe side." "Thank you," Merlin smiled softly at the older woman. "Let me help you with that," Hunith said, motioning towards the piece of cloth her daughter was holding between her hands. Handing over the cloth, she held up her blue, slightly too big tunic so her mother could more easily get access to bind her breasts tightly. That particular day had been planned for some time now – ever since Merlin's best friend, Will, had found out about her having magic. She knew her friend would never tell anyone, but how long would it take for someone else to figure it out – someone who might not be that nice about it? Though Ealdor wasn't the most magic-hating place in the lands, such practises were still heavily frowned upon. That was why she was now getting ready to leave. Being a young girl – barely sixteen years of age – travelling alone so far along practically deserted roads could be dangerous. Because of this she would dress up as a boy, to keep any men she might meet along the way from getting any ideas by the sight of a lone and seemingly helpless young maiden walking along the road. With the bindings in place, Hunith started to work on her girl's long, somewhat curled dark hair. She brushed it back and made a knot at the back of her neck, revealing her larger than average ears, which she had kept hidden behind her long tresses for years to escape the merciless teasing from the other children in the village. When her hair was done, Merlin turned around to face her mother, who drew her into a warm and firm embrace. After pulling back, Hunith placed her palms on each of her daughter's cheeks and looked straight into her eyes. "Now, you take care of yourself. Be careful with your magic, and try to stay out of trouble," she pleaded. "I'll do my best," the young girl replied, putting on a brave face for her mother's sake and raising her hands to hold the ones on each side of her face. A few moments later she grabbed her backpack and flung it over one of her shoulders. "Here, take this as well," Hunith handed her a newly forged dagger. "Just in case." "Thank you," Merlin said gratefully and placed the dagger in the belt keeping her almost black, manly breeches in place. "I'll send word as soon as I've reached Camelot and settled in."The morning sun had just started rising in the horizon when Merlin made her way along the road over the hilltop, lighting up the castle in the distance in an ethereal glow. It truly was a magnificent sight, especially for a village girl who had never seen any buildings grander than old Bran's stable. The journey from Ealdor to Camelot had been long and tiresome, but finally seeing her goal brought her new energy and a tired, but genuine smile to her face. In her hurry to finally reach the end of her journey, she managed to stumble over quite a few loose pebbles in the road, but never quite falling down. When she entered the city walls she almost wished she had a few more heads, or at least eyes in her neck. With a grin so big it almost split her face in half, she whirled around for her blue eyes to be able to take in as much as possible of the sights greeting her. The streets were full of life. There was a markedplace where people – both young and old – were rushing in every which direction. Distracted and in awe by her surroundings, she walked straight into a customer standing in front of one of the stalls, but even that couldn't put a damper on her good mood. Apologizing profusely, she helped the old woman pick up the basket she had made her drop by bumping into her. "Don't worry, my child. I may not look like it these days, but I know how it is to be young and carefree," she said with her creaking old voice, before continuing down the road in the opposite direction. Merlin was left staring after her, wondering what that was supposed to mean, but after a few moments she just shrugged her shoulders and continued on her own way. Soon she arrived at a large open place filled with people that were not moving around, but rather seemed to be waiting for something. There was an eerie feeling hanging over the area, making her ever-present smile fade into nothing. Merlin made her way through the throng towards the centre of the square - accompanied by the sound of trumpets and drums - trying to figure out what was going on there to catch the attention of so many. What she saw filled her entire being with dread. There, in the middle of the main square of the city was a platform where people gathered around, on top of it was something that reminded her strongly of the chopping block behind her mothers house in the village she left only a few days previously. This one, however, clearly wasn't used to something as practical and meaningful as chopping firewood, even though a large, bulky man wielding an axe was standing beside it. A pair of guards was manhandling some poor, scruffy-looking bloke towards it. Merlin's eyes widened when her brain added up the implications of exactly what was about to happen. She hadn't ever really seen a man die before. Her mother had always made sure to shield her from as much as she could of the cruelties of the world. She certainly hadn't ever witnessed anything like an execution. She wasn't stupid, though, she knew such practices existed. Being the curious person she was infamous for back home, she went to ask the person next to her, but before she could utter a single word a strong, unwavering voice started speaking with twice the amount of authority the village elder of Ealdor could ever hope to muster up. "Let this serve as a lesson to all." Merlin's gaze was pulled towards the source of the words. Standing tall and proud upon a balcony facing the crowd were an middle-aged man, clad in royal garbs in the red colour distinctive of Camelot, with a golden crown on top of his head, demanding the attention of his people. "This man, Thomas James Collins, is judged guilty of conspiring to use enchantments and magic." Merlin bit her lip and swallowed nervously, waiting in suspense to hear what the man had done. "I, Uther Pendragon, have decreed that such practices are banned on penalty of death." The king inhaled deeply. "I pride myself as a fair and just king. But for the crime of sorcery, there is but one sentence I can pass." The king of Camelot nodded to the guards, and they brought forth the prisoner and harshly put his head down on the block. The man with the axe proceeded ro lift it over his head, aiming for the kneeling man's neck. Her eyes widened even further and her mouth fell open, her jaw going slack in shock. The man hadn't actually done anything! He was to be executed for planning to use magic. He could have been planning to use magic for evil, against the crown, but still. Why had her mother sent her here? Didn't she know about the law? How could the young sorceress be any safer here than she had been at home? Even back there she'd had trouble keeping her secret - prone to act without thinking as she was – how was she going to survive here, where they were actively searching out people like her to execute as examples? The ominous sounds coming from the drums sent shivers of dread down her back, making her shudder and tighten her arms around her chest, hugging herself in an attempt to find some thread of comfort. There seemed to be a certain chill in the air as well, in the breeze that ruffled the leaves on the ground. King Uther raised his arm, signalling for the executioner to get ready to strike. The drums picked up their rythm, the silence spread over the crowd, the people holding their breath for a fellow citizen. The mighty king's arm cut through the air, just like the arm that followed, ending with the horrible sound of metal forcing its way through flesh and bone, before meeting wood, marking the end of a man's life. There was a collective gasp from the audience as they turned their heads away, a few of them whispering a quiet prayer for the unfortunate man's soul, or perhaps the soul of the hateful king. The head had barely stopped rolling when Uther continued his speech, like there had been no interruptions. "When I came to this land, this kingdom was mired in chaos, but with the people's help magic was driven from the realm. So I declare a festival to celebrate twenty years since the Great Dragon was captured and Camelot freed form the evil of sorcery. Let the celebrations begin," he stated and looked down upon his people with a tight-lipped expression that was probably trying to pass as a smile, yet somehow failing to do so. People scattered about to leave the main square, when an awfully long and sorrowful wail pierced through the air. Everyone drew to the sides to reveal an old and wrinkled woman, crying out her heartache. "There is only one evil in this land, and it is not magic! It is you! With your hatred and your ignorance! You killed my son!" The desperation was prominent in her voice, bringing forth Merlin's sympathetic side. When the old mother continued, her voice had hardened, letting everyone feel her anger and hatred towards the king. "But I promise you, before these celebrations are over, you will share my tears. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son," her voice broke at the end of the sentence. "Seize her!" the king roared at the threat towards his only son and heir. Before the guards had any time to react, the woman gripped her necklace in one hand and a whirlwind started whipping up dust around her, seeming to be controlled by her chanting. Soon she couldn't be seen behind all of it, and when the whirl of dust and smoke disappeared, so had the old witch. The crowd was left with their jaws all the way down to their chests, fearful of the magic-hating king's reaction. Not wanting to stay behind and watch the king ordering a search for the witch, in addition to the way the body of the executed was surely to be treated, Merlin left to continue her search for the man her mother had told her to find. Apparently this man, Gaius, was her mother's uncle, but she could vaguely recall meeting him once a long time ago, and having him tell her he could be her uncle too. Not really knowing where to find the man, she gathered all the courage she could muster and strode up to a couple of red-clad, armour-wearing guards keeping watch at one of the doors into the great castle. "Excuse me, where would I find Gaius, the-the court physician?" she stuttered to the one standing closest to her, not managing to appear as confident and nonchalant as she would have liked. The guard just grunted something unintelligible and waved his hand at the door behind him. "Thank you," Merlin said and sent the man a grateful smile. Walking through the door she found herself at the bottom of a staircase spiraling up through the tower, and a sign on the wall told her she was on the right path for finding Gaius' residence. Of course I wouldn't find the sign until after I've asked for the way. She ascended the stairs at a slow pace, anticipating meeting the physician again after so many years. When she reached the top she found the door wide open, but knocked carefully anyway. "Hello?" she called softly, peeking her head around the door, but not seeing anyone. Having a look around the quarters - taking in all the smells and the sight of various herbs and different coloured liquids, and walls covered with shelfs containing books as well as bottles of potions - she called out out again. "Gaius?" Still she did not get any reply, but the young girl spotted an old white-haired man rummaging through books on the bookshelf on a balcony further up the wall. Trying to attract the attention of the court physician, Merlin cleared her throat loudly. Finally the older man noticed he had company, but at the same time he tripped and fell at the creaky old railing, which couldn't take the pressure and allowed him to fall backwards straight through, headed for the floor more than a man's height further down. Automatically Merlin slowed down time and quickly sent her eyes on a search through the room for something soft for the man to land on. Fixing her eyes upon a bed at the other end of the room, she mentally moved it into position beneath the physician frozen mid-fall, all the while her normally sky-blue eyes were glinting a deep amber. Then she started time again and let him fall and land safely on the cot, but the impact still left him winded. When he got his bearings back, he shot up to his feet and started shouting at her. "What did you just do?" he exclaimed in equal parts anger and shock. There was also an underlying hint of confusion. Merlin stammered and spluttered, trying to make up a quick – and hopefully believable – excuse, not wanting to end up beheaded on her first day in Camelot. "Tell me!" Gaius demanded urgently. Merlin hesitantly went with the first explanation that popped into her head. "I - I - I have no idea what happened." But Gaius wasn't listening to her, being busy talking to himself. "If anyone had seen that..." he shook his head in exasperation. "Er, no!" the dark-haired girl protested. "That – that was – that was nothing to do with me!" she denied hurriedly. "That – that was..." She was saved from finishing that sentence – and most certainly making a complete fool of herself with some ridiculous excuse – by Gaius, who cut her off mid-sentence. "I know what it was," like it was the most obvious thing. "I just want to know where you learned to do it!" "Nowhere," she answered truthfully, but still a tad too quickly to be believable for someone who was already doubting her. "So how is it you know magic?" the physician inquired, clearly not believing a word she was saying. "I don't," she denied again, knowing already when the words left her mouth that this was not so truthful. "Where did you study?" He took a step towards her, eyeing her suspiciously. "Answer me!" he barked. Quite intimidated by the little old man, the sorceress didn't manage to keep her voice firm. "I – I've never studied magic or – or been taught." "Are you lying to me?" There was a hint of threat in his tone of voice now. "What do you want me to say?" she sighed in defeat. "The truth," he said in a way that demanded a straight answer. "I was born like this!" she shouted in frustation. "That's impossible!" the man yelled at her, getting angry. "Now, boy, tell me the truth!" She exhaled loudly to calm herself, before she realized exactly what he had just called her. "I'm not a boy, I'm a girl!" she exclaimed, feeling gravely insulted. The aging physicians expression morphed into one of confusion. "Who are you?" he asked incredulously. "Oh... I have this letter," she said while pulling her backpack from her shoulder and searching through it for the aforementioned letter. After finding what she was looking for all the way down at the bottom of the bag, she handed it to Gaius. "I – I don't have my glasses," he said expectantly. "I'm Merlin," she revealed brightly, giving him her widest smile. "Hunith's daughter?" he asked with a spark of recognition in his eyes. "Yes!" she replied eagerly. Gaius furrowed his brows and acquired an expression of confusion yet again. "But you're not meant to be here 'till wednesday!" "It is wednesday," she frowned and started to wonder whether it was her or him who hadn't kept track of the days right. "Ah. Right, then. You better put your bag in there," he pointed towards a door directly opposite the one she arrived through. Merlin made her way across the floor, trying desperately not to stumble in the process. Before she went through the door she suddenly remembered something important, something that could mean life or death for a person like her. "You – you won't say anyhting about..." she trailed off, leaving the half-finished sentence hanging in the air while gesturing towards the balcony with the broken railing and the bed now covered in pieces of wood. "No," he replied firmly. "Although, Merlin, I should say thank you," he thanked her gratefully. She smiled and went back to the task of finding her new room, when Gaius called for her one last time for the day. "Hey, Merlin? You're still allowed to call me uncle Gaius, you know." "Thank you, uncle Gaius," she added cheerfully, her smile stretching so wide it threatened to split her face in two. That smile was dangerously contagious, and her uncle couldn't have kept the grin off of his own face even if he wanted to – which he didn't. She turned back to the door in front of her, entered, and ran the last few steps up to her own room. Her new bedchamber might not be very luxurious, but it was a lot more than she had ever known. There was a small bed, a bedside table and a cupboard in the corner. She set about unpacking the few items she had brought with her from home. It wasn't much, but it was a simple life living in a small village like Ealdor.The dark of night spread like a blanket over the lands, bringing with it a peaceful silence. Merlin opened her window and admired the sight of Camelot, her chin resting on her folded hands on the windowsill. The city was swathed in darkness, a bright full-moon and the sparkling stars the only sources of illumination, the reflections glinting in the girl's eyes. When her eyelids started to slip shut, she took a deep breath and closed the window. Fully clothed she instantly fell asleep on her bed, not even removing her boots.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Merlin."The young sorceress thought she heard an unfamiliar voice calling for her in her sleep, but her weary body wasn't quite ready to wake up just yet."Merlin," the voice called again, gaining both strength and volume with each of its rattling breaths.Her eyes shot open wide in search for a face to connect with the voice, but there was no one but her in the room. Just as quickly, she had to close them again, as her sleepy eyes was assaulted by the rays of sun invading her bedroom at such an ungodly hour of the day.When she finally won the battle against her eyelids, she found herself sitting upright in bed, staring mindlessly out through window, writing off the memory of the voice as some dream made up by a mind hazy with sleep.When her head had cleared a bit, she became aware of the jangle of bowls and cutlery coming from Gaius' chambers downstairs, and decided to get up and make herself ready to greet the new day. All she needed to do was put up her hair, which had come undone during her restless sleep, having fallen asleep in all of her clothes the day before - after all, she didn't have all that many changes of clothes.When she entered the physician's quarters, she saw him ladling a generous amount of something atrocious-looking into a brown bowl."I got you water. You didn't wash last night," was her uncle's so very nice greeting for her this morning."Sorry," she murmured."Help yourself to breakfast," Gaius offered, indicating a bowl containing something white and lumpy, drenched in liquid placed in front of a chair on one side of the table. Wrinkling her nose in distaste, she passed the man and took her seat on the chair.Merely picking at the strange food situated in front of her with the spoon she found to the right of it, she tried to conjure the will to actually raise the spoon to her mouth, almost loosing her appetite entirely in the process.All of a sudden Gaius' hand connected with the bucket of water he earlier had placed upon the tabletop for his niece, sweeping it straight over the edge of the table. Without giving it any thought Merlin leapt to her feet and magically stopped the bucket's fall. Hearing the physician's small gasp of surprise, she realized exactly what she had done and severed the magic's hold on the bucket and water, allowing gravity to inevitably make a mess out of it all.When the old man had regained his ability to talk, he restarted his interrogation about her magic from the day before. "How did you do that?" he inquired curiously. "Did you incant a spell in your mind?""I don't know any spells," she answered firmly but hurriedly."So what did you do?" Gaius asked her in resignation. "There must have been something.""It just happened," Merlin replied with conviction, then left Gaius to his thoughtful silence to go clean up the water now staining the floor."Well, we better keep you out of trouble," he stated, giving up on the subject for the time being. "You can help me until I find some paid work for you," he offered while searching through his shelves loaded with medical supplies in all shapes and colours. "Here," he placed several small bottles upon the tabletop. "Hollyhock and Feverfew for Lady Percival, and this is for Sir Olwin. He's as blind as a weevil, so warn him not to take it all at once," he stressed for emphasis."Okay," Merlin answered dutifully, moving closer to pick up the medicines, all the while paying close attention to his every word not to miss any of it, not wanting to muck up anything already on her very first day as the assistant of the Court Physician of the kingdom."And here," her uncle handed over a plate with some real breakfast for his only niece. A fond and ever so slightly relieved smile made it's appearance on her youthful face at that, and she gratefully accepted the food."Off you go," he huffed, trying very hard to sound dismissive.Taking a bite out of the sandwich and humming in appreciation, she hurried for the door to get started on the work of the day."And Merlin!" Gaius hollered after her retreating back. When she spun on her heel to give him her full attention, he gave her some – hopefully not needed, but perhaps vital – advice in a serious kind of voice. "I need hardly tell you that the practice of any form of enchantments will get you killed." He raised an eyebrow with an expectant look, which she answered with a quick nod of the head, before striding out the door.Munching on her sandwich she trekked through streets and corridors in her search for one Sir Olwin. Three times she had to admit to be utterly lost, and grudgingly ask for directions. The first time, she approached a large and severe-looking knight marching down an empty alley. Before making her request she hastily swallowed to remove any remnants of her newly-devoured breakfast, but got a tiny breadcrumb stuck in her throat, and ended up with a severe fit of coughing instead.Blushing a deep crimson in mortification, parts of the directions delievered by the man was lost on her, but she merely said her thanks and left, before she could embarrass herself any further.Arriving at the right door, at long last, she knocked firmly while searching her pockets for the bottle of potion. The door opened after a moment, presenting an old man who greeted her with silence while squinting at a spot slightly to her left."Erm, I brought you your medicine," she told him uncertainly, providing him with the bottle of viscous, yellow fluid. The man reached for his medicine with one of his old, wrinkled hands, missing his intended target by several inches. Unsure how to proceed, she hesitated in bewilderment for a few moments, before simply seizing his hand and leading it to the bottle for him. With shaking hands Sir Olwin unscrewed the cap of the bottle and gulped down the contents at a rate that belied his age.About to leave the man to his own, she suddenly remembered Gaius' emphasised warning about this particular patient and turned back around to present him with it."Oh, and Gaius said don't drink it all at..." she trailed off when realizing he was done already. "I'm sure it's fine," she finished hesitantly, but giving the man a kind smile, all the while contemplating whether or not she should alert the physician. She didn't really fancy being convicted for murder – after all, she had promised her mother to stay out of trouble.Wandering down the cobblestone road at a slow pace, she tried to remember whether there was anything more Gaius had told her to do before returning to his quarters. Some commotion further down the road caught her attention as she approached."Where's the target?" a fair-haired young man asked almost mockingly."There, Sire?" a young, dark-haired servant boy, standing in front of him answered uncertainly, his gaze flickering between the gang of armoured young men laughing in the background and the one in the forefront who seemed to be their leader."It's into the sun," the leader stated matter of factly, an arrogantly expectant expression covering his face."But, it's not that bright," the servant uttered in confusion, clearly not understanding what he was expected to do."A bit like you, then?" the blonde quipped with a complacent smirk, receiving roars of laughter from his gang for his quick wit."I'll put the target on the other end, shall I, Sire?" the boy sighed in defeat, getting a look from the young blonde which plainly showed what he thought of the brain capasity of the servant.Complying to his orders, the dark-haired servant fetched the target to put it against the wall. The gang started talking to the leader in hushed voices – too low for Merlin to hear from where she was standing, but it looked like they were goading him into doing something."This'll teach him," he muttered - just loud enough for the young sorceress to catch - sharing a mischievous smirk with the other boys.Grabbing a decent-sized dagger from his belt, the blonde took a quick look around the area to make sure the crowd were with him – quite a few people had stopped on their way to wherever they were going to watch the scene unfold. Apparently satisfied with the size of his audience, he flung the dagger at the target still in the hands of the retreating servant boy, hitting the target at its very centre.The boy stopped in confusion, lowering the target to check what hit him."Hey! Hang on!" he exclaimed, having caught sight of the dagger."Don't stop!" the show-off of a man bellowed, throwing his arms to the sides in irritation."Here?" the boy asked after moving a few steps backwards."I told you to keep moving!" the blonde demanded, moving his arm into position to throw another dagger.The servant's eyes widened in fear, and he ducked his head behind the target to avoid taking a hit to his head."Come on! Run!" the blonde laughed with malicious glee, continuing to throw daggers at the poor boy running back and forth for their amusement."We want some moving target practice!" he continued, egged on by the others' appreciating whistles and encouraging comments.Merlin surveyed the crowd, searching for someone who would intervene and help the poor guy – instead she saw a flock of girls giggling amongst themselves and checking out the blonde, dagger-throwing bully. Taking another look at the guy, she noticed that he actually did look like the type most girls would swoon just at the sight of.Merlin had never understood what all the fuzz was about regarding those types – personally she could never admire anyone's appearance at first sight. Though, she had thought the stranger passing through her village on his travels the year before to be cute, but that was only after he so kindly helped her pick up the firewood she had dropped when she ran into him. All the girls her age home in Ealdor always gushed excitedly about how handsome the blacksmith's son was, but she herself could never see it – the guy was extremely rude and a total bully!Apparently, so was this guy.After a while the servant boy couldn't take it anymore, and stumbled and fell flat on his face under the weight of the target and the constant fear of being hit by one of the flying daggers. The target rolled away from him, and Merlin stepped forward and put her foot on it, preventing the boy from picking it up again when he scrambled to get up and keep going."Hey. Come on, that's enough," she said firmly, a steady gaze directed at the bully."What?" he exclaimed incredulously, like it was the first time anyone had ever spoken a word against him."You've had your fun, my friend," she remarked calmly, trying to stay polite."Do I know you?" he inquired haughtily, approaching her with his nose posed at the sky above."Er, I'm Merlin," she introduced herself with a tentative smile, holding up her right hand for him to shake."So I don't know you," he stated, completely ignoring her offered hand."No," she replied, hesitantly lowering her hand to hang limp and useless by her side, surprised at the young man's incredibly rude behaviour."Yet you called me 'friend'," he noted, his tone now practically reeking with arrogance."That was my mistake," she confessed almost timidly, breaking eye-contact and bowing her head a bit to give the apperance of submission."Yes, I think so," he agreed victoriously."Yeah," she said with a regretful tone. "I'd never have a friend who could be such an ass," she retorted smugly, before turning to walk away, but the guy just wouldn't let her have the last word.He scoffed and shook his head in bewilderment at how this peasant dared to speak to him."Or I one who could be so stupid," he parried, causing Merlin to stop in her tracks, but remaining with her back to him.He strolled up behind her, and led their verbal sparring in an entirely different direction. "Tell me, Merlin, do you know how to walk on your knees?""No," she turned back to find him invading her personal space."Would you like me to help you?" he asked in a mockery of what normally would be perceived as a kind and thoughtful offer of a helping hand.Refusing to be intimidated by some bully, no more than a few inches taller than her, she held her ground steadily."I wouldn't do that if I were you," she warned him, knowing fully well she could easily defeat him if she used her powers."Why?" he chuckled in amusement. "What are you going to do to me?" he was outright laughing at her at this point, believing he would be far superior at anything she could throw at him."You have no idea," she warned darkly, planning out ways to win against the prat."Be my guest!" he invited, spreading his arms to emphasise the invitation. "Come on!" he glanced at he surounding people. "Come on! Come on!" he continued, making her want to wipe that smug expression clear off of his stupid face.Merlin was no stranger to fist fighting, what with having grown up amongst a lot of boys with a ridiculous need to prove themselves to be the biggest and baddest 'warrior' of the village. With this in mind she took a swing at the blonde, aiming for the jaw on the left side of his mouth.Averting her attack with ease, he grasped her arm, spun her around and twisted it behind her back, holding her in a grip of iron."I'll have you thrown in jail for that," he announced close to her ear, not even the slightest out of breath."What, who do you think you are? The King?" she questioned waspishly, wanting more than ever to knock the bastard down a few notches."No," he denied vehemently. "I'm his son, Arthur," he forced out between gritted teeth, and with that he brought her to her knees on the dusty cobblestones with a swift kick to the back of her kneecaps.When he finally released her he ordered for some knights to 'arrest the peasant' and have her thrown in jail.The two armoured and heavily armed guards – one of which she recognized from earlier that day – hauled her none too gently down the stairs to the dungeons. At the door to the first cell they threw her inside, making her crumble to the hay-covered floor in a heap, whilst they slammed the cell door shut and locked it securely.Merlin sat up in the middle of the floor, bringing her knees up to her chin, then allowing her forehead to bump repeatedly at the top of her knees, feeling the cold from the stone floor creep into her. How did she manage to always land herself in those kinds of situations?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

For the second day in a row, Merlin was woken by a deep and rumbling voice repeatedly calling her name.

She had been sleeping quite peacefully, the circumstances taken into consideration; her body curled tightly in on itself with her cheek resting on one of her palms, on the hard and filthy floor covered in old and mouldy hay – even with that stubborn straw which insisted on tickling her nose every few minutes – with her worn brown jacket covering her slender shoulders.

The night before she had fallen asleep cursing her severe and ever-present bad luck and made a promise to herself to make more of an effort to stay out of trouble, and – if she ever saw him again – ignore the arrogant prince.

"

Merlin

."
She furrowed her brows slightly in her sleep, trying to ignore the insistent voice disturbing her sorely needed rest.
"

Merlin

," the voice repeated, the volume steadily increasing.

She jumped to her feet, immediately awake and alert.

Am I loosing my mind?

She thought to herself puzzled.

"

Merlin

."
The voice seemed to come from the exact spot where she had been lying only moments earlier, but from underneath the ground. She warily backed away, almost in fear, but the fear quickly subsided and she stepped forward to investigate. She put her head down towards the frigid floor, her ear mere inches from touching the ground, listening intently for the voice calling her name.
"Merlin!" she heard moments later, but it wasn't

that

voice this time, and it certainly didn't come from the ground, but rather from the other side of the cell door.
She turned her face to the door, just as it swung open, revealing the identity of the one calling her name the last time."Gaius!" she smiled with joy, all thoughts of the deep, ominous voice instantly forgotten.Her smile faded a bit faced with her uncle's obvious agitation. He was pacing back and forth in imitation of a caged tiger, before finally stopping in front of her to give her a piece of his mind.
"You never cease to amaze me!" he exclaimed loudly, letting her know

exactly

how agitated he really was. "The one thing that someone like you should do is keep your head down, and what do you do?" he questioned rhetorically. "You behave like an idiot," he finished firmly.
"I'm sorry," she apologized quietly, feeling properly chastised by her uncle's stern voice and words."You're lucky," he continued in a more gentle manner. "I managed to pull a few strings to get you released," he informed her neutraly.
"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" the young – now formerly – imprisoned sorceress cried excitedly, overjoyed at the prospect of getting out of the cold and dreary prison cell, and only barely managing to refrain from bouncing up and down on the spot.
Gaius raised one of his white, bushy eyebrows, giving her his most unimpressed and disapproving look, which quite effectively subdued her joyousness."I won't forget this," she said much more calmly, laying bare her huge amounts of gratitude in both her words, voice and clear, blue eyes."Well," he drew out the word, making it sound like a sinister 'but' to her ridiculously easy escape from jail. "There is a small price to pay," he acknowledged hesitantly, making his niece feel ever so slightly unnerved.Her walk up and out of the greatly disliked dungeons went by in a blur of foreboding feelings and speculations, and all of a sudden she found herself with her head and wrists stuck in the stocks, being pelted by an assortment of rotten fruit and vegetables, thrown by a vicious gang of small, deceivably innocent-looking children."Oh, no," she choked out plaintively when a relatively large piece of fruit came soaring through the air at her face, the normally pale skin on her face and hands already smeared with the different-coloured juices of at least five different kinds of rotten food.In her peripheral vision she caught sight of Gaius coming over to watch the show, then giving a hearty laugh while walking away again."Thanks!" she shouted sarcastically after the retreating back of her only uncle.
The children ran out of ammunition and ran off – very likely to fetch some more. Taking the opportunity while the air was free of flying foor, she spit and furiously tried to get rid of any pieces of a foul-tasting, old tomato which somehow had managed to find its way into her firmly closed mouth.
Tilting her head to the left, she noticed a girl with curly, dark hair approaching her with hesitant steps. Seeing she had gotten Merlin's attention, she uncertainly began introducing herself. "I'm Guinevere, but most people call me Gwen," she provided with a tone of voice that was close to being questioning. "I'm the Lady Morgana's maid.""Right. I'm Merlin," the unfortunate sorceress introduced herself and extended her hand as far as it could reach with the shackles in place. The maid shook the offered hand awkwardly, but with a amused smile at the girl's antics, while the sorceress continued speaking. "Although most people just call me idiot," she admitted lightly."No, no, no. I saw what you did. It was so brave," Gwen complemented hurriedly."It was stupid," Merlin countered with a humourless laugh, turning her gaze on the ground by her feet."Well, I'm glad you walked away. You weren't going to beat him," she said like it was given, while she gave a breathy laugh."Oh, I... I could have taken him," the girl currently restricted by shackles in the stocks snorted in her own defence."Right," the curly-haired maid said sarcastically, taking her statement as a joke."Sure, I could! And one day I'm going to prove it," the girl dressed as a man uttered with determination."You think?" Gwen asked her with a disbelieving look. "Because you don't look like one of these big, muscley kind of fellows," the maid stated, looking Merlin up and down to prove her point."Thanks," she replied, feeling slightly insulted at Gwen's insinuation of her lack of strength."No! No, I'm sure you're stronger than you look," Gwen backtracked almost desperately. "It's just, erm... Arthur's one of these real rough, tough, save the world kind of men, and... well..." she trailed off hesitantly, searching for the most polite way to get her point across."What?" Merlin questioned, trying to keep up with the stream of words coming from the other girl."You don't look like that," the royal maid finished lamely, shrugging her shoulders lightly.The dark-haired sorceress decided not to take offence of the other dark-haired girl's words. She seemed nice, even though she had some problems with expressing herself. She motioned for her to move closer, then looked around her to make sure no one was eavesdropping for what she had to say."I'm in disguise," she relayed in a mock-whisper, rendering Gwen speechless in her confusion, before they both started to laugh."Well, actually, I'm a girl," she admitted sheepishly when the laughter had died down, leaving the other girl stunned for a moment."Oh. Oh! I'm so sorry!" she apologized profusely. "I didn't notice, it's just that you're wearing men's clothes, and you were challenging Arthur, and you were so far away earlier, and now you're covered in rotten fruit, and..." her rambling trailed off when her pool of good reasons ran dry.
"It's okay, really," Merlin assured her. "You're not the first one to mistake me for a boy since I arrived here yesterday. And I

am

dressed like one," she continued.

"Why

are

you dressed like that anyway?" the maid inquired curiously.
"Oh, I had to travel here alone, so it was for protection against less honourable men I might meet on the journey, and I haven't got any dresses with me," she explained."Well, it's great you stood up to him," Gwen commented warmly."What? You think so?" the sorceress questioned, having a difficulties believing that statement after all the talk about tough guys."Arthur's a bully, and everyone thought you were a real hero," she informed her sincerely."Oh, yeah?" a small smile started blossoming on her sticky face."Mm-hmm," the maid nodded happily.Suddenly the shackled girl noticed the vengeful band of children returning, loaded with more ammunition."Oh, excuse me, Guinevere. My fans are waiting," the sorceress warned the maid.Gwen ran past her in a hurry, wanting to avoid being subjected to the same fate as the new girl. Merlin lifted her hand in a wave of goodbye, before ducking her head to keep her eyes, nose and mouth free of the new batch of rotten food now flying again.Finally being released from the slightly humiliating and quite disgusting experience of the punishment for acting with disrespect towards a prince, Merlin arrived back in the physician's chambers sticky and practically dripping with the filthy stuff. After washing up and changing out of the dirty clothes, she neither looked or smelled like rubbish anymore, and sat down for the meal Gaius had made for the two of them."Do you want some vegetables with that?" he asked her, infusing the words with a mocking lilt."I know you're still angry with me," she conceded with a bright smile."Your mother asked me to look after you," her uncle remarked sternly, giving her a look that showed his concern for her, as well as underlining the seriousness of the situation."Yes, I know," she agreed quietly in understanding, lowering her gaze to the plate where she was picking at her food."What did your mother say to you about your gifts?" he steered the conversation onto the subject of her magic once again."That I was special," she told him, smiling ruefully."You are special. The likes of which I have never seen before," the old and wise physician confessed gravely."What do you mean?" his niece frowned in confusion, totally forgetting the food she was supposed to be eating."Well, magic requires incantations, spells. It takes years to study. What I saw you do was..." he trailed off in search for the right way to put it. "Elemental, instinctive," he finished his explanation."What's the point if it can't be used?" the girl sighed in defeat.
"

That

I do not know. You are a question that has never been posed before, Merlin" he revealed to the young, untrained sorceress.
"The dark-haired girl resumed picking at her food thoughtfully, until a particular thought suddenly struck her."Did you ever study magic?" she asked, lifting her gaze to meet her uncle's again."Uther banned all such work twenty years ago," he told her, avoiding to answer the original question."Why?" Merlin wondered, seeing no logical reasons for the king's actions towards her kind."People used magic for the wrong end at that time. It threw the natural order into chaos," he elaborated to the girl born with magic, who was currently listening attentively, hanging onto his every word. "Uther made it his mission to destroy everything from back then, even the dragons.""What? All of them?" the sorceress exclaimed, shocked at how barbaric the king ruled against any creatures in possession of the gift of magic."There was one dragon he chose not to kill, kept it as an example. He imprisoned it in a cave deep beneath the castle where no one can free it," he told her in more detail, before declaring the subject of conversation ended, to bring up something else. "Now, eat up," he commanded, pointing at her hardly touched share of the meal. "When you're finished, I need you to take a preparation to Lady Helen. She needs it for her voice," he concluded, letting the physician in him take over.And with that they lapsed into a comfortable silence that lasted for the rest of the time it took for them to consume their meal.Merlin followed the physician's directions up a spiraling staircase and through a corridor - where one of the walls were gone in favour of a balcony - all the way to the Lady Helen's residence for her stay in town.Putting the bottle of potion down on top of the vanity table in the room, she let her ever-curious eyes wander around the chambers and over the table's contents. During this activity she noticed a couple of objects that stood out from the rest of the highly lady-like and probably dreadfully expensive items that adorned the Lady's guest chambers. The first object was some kind of doll made entirely out of straw, kept together by strings. Puzzled, the dark-haired girl picked it up to take a closer look, and that was when she noticed the second conspicuous object on the table. Mostly covered by some papers were a quite strange-looking book, filled with poorly-shaped, loose pages, held together only by a short length of moth-eaten, old rope.
Hearing a set of footsteps approaching the entrance to the chambers at a fast pace, the physician's assistant hurriedly put down the book and tried to cover up any evidence of her snooping around in a Lady's belongings – something like that would most likely end with her in the stocks again, unless even stronger punishments were required for such an offense. She turned around just as the Lady Helen herself entered, giving the girl intruding on her quarters a coldly questioning look.
"What are you doing in here?" the Lady asked suspiciously, her beautiful voice like ice, sending chills down the younger girl's back."Um... I - I was asked to deliver this," Merlin stuttered hurriedly, reaching for the bottle placed on the table behind her, all the while trying to avoid eye-contact with the older woman's cold and calculating look, at the same time as she handed it over.With that the youngest female in the room left with haste, but paused further down the corridor, looking back and furrowing her brows in confusion, wondering why something seemed off with the well-renowned singer.
On her way back to Gaius she crossed the crowded main square and went down an even more crowded alley, when she suddenly caught sight of the bully that got her thrown in jail barely a day earlier. Keeping her head down, hoping neither him nor the rest of his gang would spot her, they passed her, the prince himself prancing down the street with his head raised high like he owned the place – which he technically did, but there was no reason to gloat about the fact!
Thinking she had actually managed to escape their attention, the girl let out a sigh of relief."How's your knee-walking coming along?" a smug voice called after her, making all feelings of relief instantly vanish, but she kept on walking in the hope that the irritating prince would let her go peacefully. Of course, she didn't have that kind of luck."Aw, don't run away!" he persisted, finally making her walking come to an abrupt stop."From you?" she asked in irritation, keeping her back to the prince."Thank God," he sighed in relief. "I thought you were deaf as well as dumb," he continued."Look, I've told you you're an ass," Merlin said, turning around to face him at last. "I just didn't realise you were a royal one," she snarked, taking a look at the blonde prince and the men flanking him. "Oh, what are you going to do? You got your daddy's men to protect you?" she suggested tauntingly."I could take you apart with one blow," he gloated with a small, humourless laugh."I could take you apart with less than that," the young sorceress assured him confidently, lowering her voice in warning."Are you sure?" he inquired mockingly."Fight!" his men yelled in encouragement, they were all eager to witness a proper fight. There seemed to be gathering a rather large crowd as well.Merlin pushed up the sleeves of her jacket in acceptance of the challenge, making the challenger throw his head back in laughter."Here you go," he offered, tossing a mace at the unsuspecting sorceress, causing her to react too late to catch it. She picked it up from the ground as Arthur began to swing the mace with obvious skill that spoke of years of practice."Come on, then. I warn you, I've been trained to kill since birth," he gloated, still swinging his mace in circles above his head."Wow, and how long have you been training to be a prat?" the raven-haired girl quipped with a smirk."You can't address me like that," the superior prince snorted, a hint of frustration in his voice now.
"I'm sorry," the girl bowed her head in respect for the royal, pretending to be an obedient servant. "H-How long have you been training to be a prat,

My Lord

?" she corrected herself smugly, giving the befuddled prince a triumphant glance from beneath her eyelashes, while delivering a little bow of mockery.
Arthur once again found himself smiling at this strange boy's impudence. It had been a long time since he had been challenged outside the training grounds, but never had he ever encountered anything quite like this. It truly was amusing, but he couldn't really see why anyone would act like that. Was there something wrong with the boy? Did he wish to die?
Either way he was now going to teach him a lesson, and with that in mind he took his first swing at the peasant-boy – who in all reality was a peasant-

girl

.

"Come on then, Merlin! Come on!" he goaded, eager for at least a

little

competition, even if the peasant hardly stood any chance against someone like

him.

Merlin got her mace stuck at one point and threw herself over a marked stall the next, never getting any chance to actually fight back, only to jump away and hide behind anything in her reach to avoid being hit. Eventually she ended up with her backside firmly planted on the dusty ground, with the prince right in front of her, making himself ready for the final swing."Ha-ha, you're in trouble now," he laughed with glee.
"Oh God," the young sorceress breathed in panic, her gaze frantically sweeping over her surroundings to find something –

anything

– to help her in the seemingly helpless situation.
A couple of large hooks hanging directly behind the prince's rotating weapon gave her an idea. Using her illegal magic powers, the young sorceress moved the hooks a little, just enough to cause the mace to get entangled in them, which again allowed her to get out of his range.After untangling the mace, the blonde attempted to attack her again, but managed to put his foot into a box that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, causing it to smack his shin instead."Ow! Argh!" the prince cried in pain and anger, coming at her with more fervour than ever.
Magically tightening a rope lying limply on the ground, she tripped the arrogant prince – which made him fall flat on his royal face – giving her enough time to pick up her mace and start swinging right back at her opponent when he had gotten back onto his feet.
"Do you want to give up?" the dark-haired girl offered, having gotten back every bit of her confidence, and some more."To you?" he scoffed, already feeling a fair amount of humiliation for his sudden bout of clumsiness."Do you? Do you want to give up?" she offered again, just as the great prat stumbled over a bucket and fell on his back on top of a pile of sacks.
Thrilled at her victory, Merlin looked at the crowd triumphantly – until she caught sight of Gaius in the swarm. Her uncle gave her the eyebrow – much like earlier in the day – indicating exactly how much he did

not

approve of her most recent actions.

Her distraction rendered her defenceless against Arthur's next and crucial attack. This time the weapon was a broom which the prince handled expertly, delivering hits to her back, stomack and head, knocking her to the ground. A pair of guards stepped forward and firmly gripped her arms, hoisting her to her feet – most likely to throw her back in jail.
"Wait. Let him go," the prince commanded quite surprisingly, keeping his eyes locked on the defeated sorceress. "He may be an idiot, but he's a brave on," he explained, managing to both insult and complement her in the same sentence, before he addressed her directly. "There's something about you, Merlin. I can't quite put my finger on it."

Perhaps it is that I'm a

girl

?

the girl thought to herself sarcastically.
Then he left, leaving her at the mercy of one very irate-looking physician.The trip back to the physician's chambers was spent in a most uncomfortable silence, but the moment the door to the quarters closed behind them, all hell broke loose."How could you be so foolish?" the physician scolded."He needed to be taught a lesson," Merlin insisted fervently."Magic must be studied, mastered, and used for good! Not for idiotic pranks!" her uncle exclaimed furiously."What is there to master? I could move object like that before I could talk!" the young sorceress yelled, tears gathering in her eyes and her voice starting to quiver."Then, by now, you should know how to control yourself!" Gaius retorted, turning her argument against her."I don't want to!" his niece yelled desperately. "If I can't use magic, what have I got? I'm just a nobody, and always will be. If I can't use magic, I might as well die," she declared, distraught and fighting to keep her tears at bay.
Then she ran for her bed chambers, a few tears slipping unbidden down her pale cheeks – leaving her uncle stunned speechless in her wake.
When the physician entered Merlin's bed chambers some time later with a basket of various medical supplies, it was to see a still upset girl sitting slumped on her bed, staring at the bare wall."Merlin?" he sighed gently, moving to take seat beside her on the bed. "Sit up. Hoist your shirt up so I can examine the wounds on your back," he demanded, but kept the gentle tone of voice.
Hoisting her shirt from her back, but making sure to keep her front covered – even though the binds were still in place – revealed several painful bruises.
"You don't know why I was born like this, do you?" the young girl asked her uncle weakly."No," he replied simply while tending to her wounds."I'm not a monster, am I?" the sorceress questioned, fearful of what the answer would be.Halting his movements, Gaius looked his niece straight in the eyes before replying. "Don't ever think that.""Then why am I like this? Please, I need to know why," she pleaded urgently, grabbing her uncle's hand and clutching it tightly."Maybe there's someone with more knowledge that me," he suggested uncomfortably, breaking eye-contact and turning his gaze away."If you can't tell me, no one can," she sighed in defeat.Gaius refrained from answering, switching his attention to his medical potions."Take this. It will help with the pain," the physician offered, handing her a tiny cup of medicine.
Merlin obediently drank the potion before settling down to sleep for the night - her head filled with unanswered questions and distressing thoughts.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The night really wasn't good to Merlin this time. Her dreams was dominated by vivid recreations of the execution – alternately starring that poor man or herself. When she had finally gotten some real rest, it was already in the early hours of morning. Of course it wasn't long after that the voice started plaguing her again."Merlin. Merlin."Resigned she lay awake for a while, staring at the ceiling, thoughts racing in search of a solution to her sleeping problems – at least the part caused by the voice – once and for all.Finally concluding that the best choice of action would be to simply go and find the source to her problem, she got up, slipped on her boots, fetched her only jacket and exited the room. Passing through the physician's chambers, she spotted her uncle sleeping soundly, snoring away louder than anyone his niece had ever witnessed in her entire life.Tiptoeing across the floor of the quarters which was shrouded in darkness – except the small, flickering flame of a candle on Gaius' bedside table – the clumsy girl stretched her arm to get it through one of the sleeves of her brown jacket and managed to shove something straight off of a table and onto the floor. What this 'something' was, she couldn't see in the dark, but it certainly made a lot of noise when it hit the stone floor.All the commotion made the sleeping, old man's snores halt in their pattern – making Merlin freeze on the spot – but he just turned from his back onto his right side, resuming his snoring. She sighed in relief and made sure not to knock over anything more when she put her jacket the rest of the way on.Seeing her uncle sleeping so peacefully brought a fond smile onto her lips and made her magically tuck the quilt more securely over him, to make sure he wouldn't get cold before he woke up. Smiling contently of her work, she left the chambers without making any more racket.She snuck out of the tower and across the empty square in a hurry, following the mysterious and ominous voice."Merlin."It led her through another door and to the top of a wrought iron staricase that curved slightly so the bottom of the stairs couldn't be seen from the top, even with all the torches lighting it up. Walking down a few steps the curious young girl took a peek over the banister to assess the situation at hand. The room downstairs were empty except a few torches along the walls and two guards sitting at a table playing some kind of game that involved throwing a couple of dices.Taking all of this in, the young sorceress tried to figure out the most effective way to get past the guards. After a few moments of careful thinking on her part, she decided a distraction would be her best choice of action. And with that she proceeded to magically send the dices to the floor and make them slide further away each time one of the guards bent down to pick them back up to continue their game. She released a soft sigh of relief when the second guard followed the first with a confused look upon his face.When they disappeared out of sight she rolled her eyes at their stupidity and hurriedly – but silently – ran down the rest of the steps. Grabbing a torch, she held it to one of the ones hanging on the wall – then she took a brief break to breathe deeply a couple of times, gathering all of her courage – before embarking on another set of stairs, that descended into total darkness. Even with the light she brought with her she couldn't see more than a few feet in front of her – the light form the torch could only reach so far."Merlin."The voice sounded much closer than before, bringing forth a strong sensation of anticipation to finally figure out who exactly was calling for her, why and how he knew her name in the first place."Merlin."Trying to keep an eye on both what may lay at the end of the tunnel stairway and her feet – to remain upright by avoiding to stumble over anything – she carefully kept going forward at a steady pace until finally the tunnel culminated in a gigantic cave."Merlin."The voice sounded so near then that the sorceress was sure the one speaking had to be inside that very cave. Looking around curiously, she took a few steps closer to the edge of the stone shelf, raising the torch over her head so that the flickering light from the torch could stretch it's light further away from her – still she could not see anyone.A deep, rumbling laugh – definitly the same voice that had been calling to her for days – filled the entirety of the cave, being thrown back from the walls to create a cascade of sound."Where are you?» Merlin shouted out the question, straining to catch sight of the one now laughing at her.Suddenly the laughing stopped and the sound of flapping wings – magnified hundreds of times – took its place and an enormous dragon came flying from above to land on a pile of stones in front of the shocked human."I'm here," the Great Dragon declared, leaving the girl speechless with both awe and fear at being so close to such an old and unique individual. "How small you are for such a great destiny," he remarked, almost offhandedly, bringing the dark-haired girl out of her daze."Why? What do you mean?" she inquired, curiousity taking over any part of her that had only seconds earlier been filled with fear. "What destiny?""Your gift, Merlin,, was given to you for a reason," the magical creature told her gravely."So there is a reason," the sorceress stated, brightening up notably."Arthur is the Once and Future King who will unite the land of Albion," he declared as if that explained anything."Right," the girl remarked sceptically, seriously doubting the possibility of such a future when thinking back on her two encounters with the arrogant prat."But he faces many threats from friend and foe alike," he continued, like it would be of any interest to the young sorceress."I don't see what this has to do with me," she stated in utter confusion."Everything," the dragon exclaimed, raising his voice to echo through the cave. "Without you, Arthur will never succeed. Without you, there will be no Albion," he carried on, seeming to Merlin to be overly dramatic about her own role in what sounded like an impressive future."No. No, you've got this wrong," she protested fervently."There is no right or wrong, only what is and what isn't," the dragon said firmly, demanding belief in his words."But I'm serious! If anyone wants to go and kill him, they can go ahead. In fact, I'll give them a hand," the girl exclaimed incredulously, gesturing wildly with her free hand, making the Great Dragon laugh in amusement at the little human's antics."None of us can choose our destiny, Merlin, and none of us can escape it," he informed her gravely, willing her to understand the seriousness of the situation."No. No way. No. No. There must be another Arthur because this one's an idiot," she denied fierily."Perhaps it's your destiny to change that," he concluded, then spread his mighty wings and flew away, up so far above Merlin's head that she could no longer see him in the darkness."Wait! Wait! Wait, stop! No, I, I need to know more!" she yelled after him, but her small voice only bounced back from the walls of the huge cave without bringing her any kind of answer."Hoy!"Merlin woke abruptly by the physician's voice and his shuffling about the room, picking up some of the clothes strewn all across the floor of the girl's messy bedchambers.How she had managed to get back to bed from the cave without getting caught by either guards on duty or her uncle sleeping downstairs, she would never know, but – as miraculously as it was – she had."Have you seen the state of this room?" Gaius exclaimed disbelievingly, holding up the clothes he had gathered off of the floor."It just happens," she shrugged helplessly, bringing up her hands for emphasis, but not bothering to get up from under the sheets and actually do anything about the problem – she was far too content with staying exactly where she was for the time being, with her clothes ruffled from sleep and her hair standing up every which way."By magic?" he asked, his words laced with sarcasm."Yeah," she agreed innocently, bringing a hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn."Yes. Well, you can clear it up without magic," he decided, putting down the pile of clothes in his arms. "And then I want you to get me some herbs: henbane, wormwood, and sorrel. And deliver this to Morgana," he continued, handing over a bottle of potion to Merlin, then bent over to grab another piece of clothing from the still messy floor. "Poor girl's suffering from nightmares," the man added, almost as an afterthought, tossing a dirty shirt at the sleepy girl before leaving the room."Mmm, I know the feeling," she mumbled, letting her dark-haired head fall back on the lumpy, old pillow.Merlin jogged lightly up some stairs and along a corridor well lit by the sunlight streaming through all the windows of the grand castle. Having stayed in Camelot a few days by then, she didn't get lost quite as much as on the first day, and arrived in the chambers of the King's ward in good time.The door was open and she could see the Lady, so she just entered the room without knocking, but the King's ward only walked behind her changing screen without sparing the physician's assistant a glance."You know, I've been thinking about Arthur. I wouldn't touch him with a lance pole," the Lady Morgana informed, leaving her confused as to why she was being told this, but agreeing wholeheartedly. "Pass me that dress, will you Gwen?" Oh, well, that explains it, the young sorceress thought to herself while fetching the dress in question."Pardon me, My Lady, but I think you're confusing me with someone else," the dark-haired girl in men's clothes told Morgana while handing the dark purple gown over the changing screen."Oh, excuse me, but who are you then?" the Lady asked, taking a look at Merlin from over the screen."I'm Merlin, Gaius' niece," she said, giving her brightest smile. "Oh, he asked me to deliver this to you, for your nightmares," she explained, holding up the potion bottle."Thank you. Could you just put it on that table over there?" the Lady requested, and Merlin stepped back to do just that. "I have to apologize for badmouthing the prince, I'm sure you wouldn't like to hear that.""No, no! I think I might like him even less than you seem to do," the young sorceress exclaimed hurriedly, receiving a questioning raised eyebrow. "I've met him twice now, and he was a total prat. The first time I ended up in jail for the night and then in the stocks, and the second time he fought me with a mace and beat me up with a broom," the girl elaborated."Oh, I saw that!" Morgana exclaimed, then paused. "He doesn't know you're a girl, does he?" she inquired knowingly."I don't think so. Well, so any badmouthing you feel like doing, I'd love to hear it," Merlin grinned widely."Since my maid's not her at the moment, could you perhaps assist me in dressing?" the dark-haired Lady asked kindly, a bright smile playing on her lips."Of course, My Lady," the other dark-haired person in the room replied hurriedly, straightening up her stance, ready to help."None of that – you can call me Morgana," the older female insisted with a casual wave of her hand. "Now, could you help me with this fastening?""Yes... Morgana," the younger one agreed hesitantly, unsure whether it really would be acceptable to address the King's ward by her first name – the only other royal she'd ever had the (mis)fortune to speak to had been very adamant about how he should be addressed."Arthur's a total jouster," the King's ward stated to the girl currently tying the back of her dress, as if she had been reading her thoughts. "And just because I'm the King's ward, that doesn't mean I have to accompany him to the feast, does it?" she asked pleadingly, sounding almost distressed at the mere thought."I wouldn't say so," the physician's assistant said, giving the strings a stronger tug to tighten it properly. "Though, I'm not well-versed in the ways of royals," she added thoughtfully."If he wants me to go, then he should invite me, and he hasn't, " Morgana bemoaned."He does seem like the kind of guy who would take something like that for granted, if I may say so," the other girl remarked with a very unladylike snort."Yeah... So do you know what that means?" the Lady questioned with a smug grin."Mm-Mmm," she answered with a shake of her head, trying to follow the words as well as struggling with the last bow on the fastenings of the dress at the same time."It means I'm going be myself," the Lady declared triumphantly, her face practically glowing with satisfaction at the perfect solution she had come to.Merlin's own face held a sense of victory too when she finally had gotten all of the strings right and straightened the shoulders of the glorious garment to make sure it flowed the way it should. Morgana grabbed another gown and left the changing screen to stand in front of the mirror, spinning around to see the dark purple skirt swirl around her."So, it's whether I wear this little tease..." she trailed off, studying her reflection intently before holding the other dress – this one a deep maroon colour – in front of her. "...or give them a night they'll really remember," she turned her head to look at her helper with a smirk that bordered on dangerous.Merlin truly wouldn't envy those stupid enough to make an enemy out of the Lady Morgana of Camelot.Merlin entered the great feast in the banquet hall at the heels of her uncle to the sound of trumpets, feeling slightly uncomfortable by the appreciating look one of the knights was giving her. When she had come back from Lady Morgana's chambers, Gaius had stood there waiting with a dress for his niece to wear to the feast that night. It was just a simple, light green dress, but is was quite pretty anyway, and at least no one could mistake her for a boy anymore.Turning her gaze away to ignore the staring knight, she thought she heard someone say her name somewhere at the other end of the room. Directing her searching gaze that way, she suddenly caught sight of Arthur – the royal prat – just as he was feinting a punch to the stomach of one of his mates to laughter of the rest of them.The prince took a look at the Lady Morgana at the entrance of the hall and did a double take at her choice of dress for the evening. The King's ward was striding forward in a dress made of cloth of a deep maroon colour, and added to the fact that her hair was tied up, she was proudly showing off both her well-shaped neck and shoulders. A self-satisfied smirk plastered itself across her face at all the attention she received for her bold outfit, as the eyes of every warm-blooded man in the hall was glued to her regal shape on her walk through the crowd that parted for her."God have mercy," Arthur whispered to himself. What is she wearing?Excusing himself from his friends, he made his way through the crowd to talk to her."I didn't know you were this desperate," he stated offhandedly with his hands behind his back and a fake smile stretching his lips in a gesture that definitely felt forced to him, while appearing to anyone else to be making plesant conversation with the Lady. "I'd have thought you'd at least be a little more discreet about it.""At least I look like I've made an effort, unlike someone I am unfortunate to say I know," she shot back at him venomously.Throwing a look about the hall while thinking of a witty retort, he got distracted by a dark-haired girl talking to Morgana's maid. There was something slightly familiar about the girl in the green dress, he just couldn't place it, but he didn't think he'd ever seen a girl looking like that in the castle at any point."Who's that?" he asked the Lady in front og him, still looking at the new girl with a frown of consentration."That? Oh, that's Merlin," she said after following his line of sight. "Gaius' new assistant.""Merlin?" the prince repeated in confusion."Yeah, you know, the young girl you beat up the other day," she replied, looking very smug at the flabbergasted look on the face of the blonde prince – he was gaping in absolute shock. "A most honourable move on your part, I must say," she commented sarcastically, thrilled at the chance to peg the arrogant prince down a few notches."I just- I thought it was just a very feminine servant boy," he stammered quietly, still struggling with the shock of the unexpected revelation."Well, you never were a good judge of character, but I think this is an all time low – even for you," she told him, enjoying his predicament perhaps a bit too much."But- She doesn't even speak like a girl!" he exclaimed, grasping for anything to make his actions acceptable. "You know, that annoying, giggly and girly voice all normal girls have," he elaborated, gesturing wildly with both hands, as if it would actually help him in his current situation."Finally we've found a girl who doesn't fall at the Great Prince Arthur's feet. It's refreshing, don't you think?" she inquired pleasantly, but the words very underlined with both triumph and a great deal of smugness."She was wearing men's clothes! And she wasn't acting like a girl! She's too tall to be a female!" he continued desperately, knowing he was loosing, but not quite willing to admit he had made a mistake yet."That's all just excuses," Morgana said with finality, leaving to find a new and better conversation to partake in.The blonde and stunned prince was left to his own thoughts, trying not to stare at the boy who wasn't a boy after all – he just couldn't wrap his head around it.When Morgana had made her spectacular entrance Merlin couldn't do anything but stare and admire the Lady for her confidence, even when her uncle tried to remind her that she was supposed to be working."She looks great, doesn't she?" Gwen had asked as she sidled up next to the young sorceress, at the same time as Morgana had been approached by Arthur."Yeah," she had agreed whole-heartedly."Some people are just born to be queen," the maid had said almost wistfully, which somehow had ended in a weird discussion about what the definition of an 'ordinary man' was in reality.Now there were celebratory horns signaling the entrance of the King, which caused everyone to find their place at the tables and quiet down. The King strode proudly across the open floor in the middle of the room until he reached the front where he turned to face the people and give his speech."We have enjoyed twenty years of peace and prosperity. It has brought the kingdon and myself many pleasures, but few of them can compare with the honour of introducing Lady Helen of Mora," King Uther presented grandiosely and everyone's attention switched to the singer standing on a stage facing the table where the King, his son and his ward were sitting, partaking in the applause.The Lady Helen started singing a haunting melody in a foreign language – her voice exquisite. Soon the members of the court began to nod off in their seats, leaving Merlin bewildered for a few seconds before she caught on to what was happening and pressed her hands over her ears to shut out the song.Not long after, every sleeping person was covered in a thick layer of cobwebs as the singer herself walked forward between the tables on the sides in the direction of the sleeping royals. Merlin noticed the Lady's gaze being trained on the prince as she approached them – still singing - and pulled out a knife from her sleeve with nothing but murder in her eyes.The young sorceress wildly scanned the hall with her eyes in search for help, but found none. Taking on the problem herself, she magically made the large chandelier fall on the mad singer, ending the song, and thus the enchanted sleep. As people began to wake up and remove the cobwebs, all with puzzled expressions upon their faces, they noticed the woman who now had changed to look like the witch who had sworn revenge upon the King at the execution only days previously, laying motionlessly on the floor beneath the fallen chandelier.Suddenly the witch raised her upper body from the floor – looking furious and murderous – then lifted her hand and threw the dagger with all her might at prince Arthur's heart.For the second time since arriving in Camelot, Merlin used her magical abilities to slow time to prevent someone's death. She raced to the paralyzed prince, grabbed his arm and pulled him with her to the ground as the blade of the dagger sank deep into the back of his chair.When the dark-haired sorceress lifted her head after standing back up and brushing any dust from the floor off of her new dress, her gaze was met with the stares of both the King and the prince, making her self-conciously bring a hand up to rub at her neck in nervousness."You saved my boy's life," the King exclaimed with stunned awe and gratefulness. "A debt must be repaid," he declared."Oh, well..." the girl stuttered reluctantly."Don't be modest. You shall be rewarded," Uther insisted."No, honestly, you don't have to, Your Highness," she tried to deny politely."No, absolutely. This merits something quite special," the King explained, while his son continued to stare in disbelief at the girl he had beaten only a day previously, but despite that now had just saved his life."Well..." Merlin uttered, on the verge of accepting the reward."You shall be rewarded a position in the royal household. You shall be prince Arthur's personal servant," the King announced merrily, to the applause of the people."Father!" prince Arthur cried indignantly.Trying to stifle a groan in case one of the royals would hear it, feel insulted and decide another round of punishment would be in order – she might have gotten away lightly with insulting the prince, with the help of Gaius, but doing the same to the King himself would probably not end well.Her eyes met Gwen's from across the room, and the maid shrugged with an apologetic smile at her.The girl and the prince shared a look before turning in opposite directions, feeling none too happy with the results of the evening.Later that night Merlin sat in her chambers in deep thought, as the old physician knocked on her door and entered without waiting for an answer."Seems you're a hero," her uncle remarked with a small, but proud smile."Hard to believe, isn't it?" she chuckled darkly, but with a smile of her own back in place."No. I knew it from the moment I met you," Gaius insisted. "When you saved my life, remember?""But... that was magic," the sorceress stated in confusion, leaning forward curiously."And now, it seems, we finally found a use for it," he nodded."What do you mean?" the girl inquired, furrowing her brows."I saw how you saved Arthur's life," he revealed gravely, crossing his arms over his chest."Oh, no," she denied, trying to think of a good excuse."Perhaps that's its purpose," he cut her off insistently."My destiny," Merlin sighed with a wry smile."Indeed," the old man agreed, then held up the thing covered in a piece of red cloth he had been carrying with him since entering her bedchambers. "This book was given to me when I was your age, but I have a feeling it will be of more use to you than it was to me," her uncle told her, handing it over to his only niece.Unwrapping the cloth hiding the book from view, she paused to admire the beauty of the old thing, then unlatched it and started leafing through the pages."But this is a book of magic," she remarked in wonder, a look of complete awe in her eyes."Which is why you must keep it hidden," he commented smartly."I will study every word," the dark-haired, young sorceress swore, throwing herself at her old uncle to give him a bone crushing hug in her delight, until they were interupted by a knock on the door and someone calling."Merlin, prince Arthur wants you right away," a guard informed them before departing again."Your destiny is calling. You'd better find out what he wants," the physician stated and gave her a light shove towards the door.With a bright and beaming smile on her face, Merlin left to do just that.
Dear Mum

I hope this letter finds you well. I arrived here in Camelot a few days earlier and have now settled in quite well. I won't lie to you: I did manage to get myself in trouble pretty fast – the first day actually. I kind of insulted this bully who turned out to be the prince himself, so I ended up in jail – but don't worry! Gaius helped me out. Even though I had to stand in the stocks a few hours for it anyway... The next day I got into a fight with him, and to my embarrassment I got thoroughly beaten, but I did not get any sort of punishment.

I won't go much into details, but there was this witch who tried to kill prince Arthur (in revenge for her own son who the King had executed), and guess what? I used my gifts to save him! Something is truly wrong here, though: my reward was to become a personal servant to the prince... Gaius thinks it's good that I got the job, but I can't picture it as anything but utterly dreadful. He did apologize for how he treated me though, in his own way: "I would never have fought you if I knew you were a girl. But it's your own fault, you know, disguising yourself as a boy". Prat...

It's not all bad here, though, I have got a new friend! Her name is Guinevere (but everyone calls her Gwen), and she is really, really nice.

I miss you very much.

Your daughter

Merlin

PS: Gaius wanted to say 'hi'.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

In a land of myth and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young girl. Her name: Merlin.
It was a fairly nice day in the kingdom of Camelot; the sun was just peeking over the horizon and the sky was clear, but Merlin was in no position to enjoy it properly. She had been rudely awoken from her peaceful sleep by her usually quite kind uncle's incessant nagging about getting up already to avoid being late for work on her very first day as the Prince's personal servant – a job she wasn't particularly thrilled about in the first place.She was back in her normal, male clothing, her dress had been carefully folded together and placed on one of the shelves in the closet in her room – as opposed to her other clothes that were still strewn all over the floor – and was to be saved for special occasions.As it turned out, the Prince needed her to help him train for some kind of tournament being held in the kingdom over the next few days. She had thought she would only be required to fetch his armour and what else he would need, and perhaps help him put it all on – she had not expected to be ordered to act as his practice dummy. That was how she now found herself outside dressed up as a knight and feeling severely out of place.The armour-clad Prince himself had left his helmet behind on purpose, deeming a fight with his new female servant to be far from any danger to his health – a conviction that was only further strenghtened by his first glimpse of the terribly clumsy girl stumbling around the field in full armour – shield and helmet and all – that she had borrowed somewhere for the day's training."Ready?" he asked her impatiently, starting to swing his sword around restlessly while waiting for his servant to stop fumbling with her sword so they could begin."Would it make any difference if I said no?" she questioned, barely refraining from rolling her eyes at the agitated Prince, all the while struggling to put on her helmet with her untrained hands."Not really," he admitted as Merlin uncertainly drew her too big sword from its sheath, and he attacked without a moments notice."Body. Shield. Body. Shield," he called out as he aimed for the aforementioned parts in a rapid sequence, leaving the poor girl with hardly any time to react. "Head.""Head?" she inquired in confusion half a second before her opponent brought his sword down upon her helmet. "Ow!""Come on, Merlin. You're not even trying," the blonde Prince complained to his now dizzy servant, tagging her in the back with his weapon when her back was turned on him."I am!" she insisted stubbornly while staggering around on her unsteady feet, trying to at least get some semblance of stability back."Once more," the war-ready Prince demanded, swinging his sword for good measure."Oh, no," the servant uttered with slight trepidation, holding her shield up in a practically useless defence, steeling herself for his next vicious attack."To the left. To the right. And left," he continued, the speed of his hits increasing with each one reaching its intended target. "Head," he finished again with a swift hit to the girl's iron-clad head."Ow!" she cried again, grasping her head between her hands."Come on, Merlin! I've got a tournament to win," the arrogant Prince complained, getting more and more agitated by the second."Can we stop now, please?" the girl virtually pleaded, struggling to actually see her opponent through the restricting and overly large helmet that continuously slid too far down over her face, inhibiting her sight to such a degree that all she could see of the Prince was his shiny boots – which she herself had polished just the night before – covered in mud.Ignoring her pleas he attacked again, with as much fervour as ever, not stopping until he had successfully struck another blow to the young servant's head."Ow," she groaned brokenly, before toppling backwards to end up sprawled on her back in the gras, causing her irritating helmet to roll off."You're braver than you look. Most servants collapse after the first blow," he almost complimented her, something that was lost on the girl as she tried to figure out which way was up at the same time as desperately fighting to get rid of the terrible ringing that was constantly in her head."Is it over?" the thoroughly defeated girl asked almost hopefully, not bothering to stand up from the ground, prefering to just lie there for the rest of the sunny day."That was just the warm up. How's your mace work coming along?" the insufferable prat inquired, swinging his own mace experimentally, with a wry smirk showing his amusement as the girl sighed in defeat and let her head fall back to thump against the ground."Why don't you just practice with one of your knights? I'm just a servant girl, I've hardly even touched a sword in my entire life!" she whined, showing no signs indicating she intended to get up again anytime in the nearest future."You were eager enough to fight me like a man the other day," he reminded her pointedly, arching his eyebrow as if to ask what she thought she was doing down there when he had given her specific orders that did not involve resting. "Now, come on."Hours later Prince Arthur finally took pity on his exhausted servant and let her retreat to the physician's chambers - though, he would never admit to doing such a thing, rather excusing it with adding a few more chores to the girl's already endless list.After a bit og trouble with the annoying doorhandle, she made her long-awaited return to Gaius' quarters, holding onto the doorframe to keep her weary body from falling into the room. Her arms were sore, her knees were wobbly and her head felt like it was ready to leave her aching shoulders behind; basically her every limb felt like someone had attacked her with a sledgehammer in a frenzy – which really wasn't that far from what had actually happened.Pieces of armour hitting the floor alerted her uncle of her ungraceful entrance. "So, how was your first day as Arthur's servant?" he asked with a chuckle, observing as the girl's vambrace loosened and plummeted to the floor, giving off a dull thump upon impact with the wooden floorboards."Do you hear clanging?" she questioned in light confusion, tapping her helmetless head experimentally with one of her hands.While removing the rest of her armour, she forced her complaining feet to lead her over the floor to slump in a chair at the table."It was horrible," the hardworking, young servant complained vehemently, letting out the occational whine or groan as her uncle gave the sore muscles in her shoulders and arms a firm massage. "And I've still got to learn all about tournment etiquette by the morning," she exhaled heavily before uttering an incantation that summoned a book from the other end of the table – where it had been laying just out of her reach – and made it magically open up on the side the sorceress planned to read."Oh!" the old physician cried in surprise and slapped the back of his niece's head in admonition."What've I told you about using magic like this?" he scolded her loudly, exasperated at the girl's reckless ways – gambling with her life for a book that would only take her a few seconds more to get manually."If I could actually feel my arms, I'd pick up the book myself," she whined pitifully, longing for some well-deserved rest, but knowing she still had far too many chores to complete before she could even think about resting."Never mind your arms. What do I do if you get caught?" he asked, but it was more like a statement, letting his niece know how much he worried about her."What would you do?" the dark-haired girl wondered curiously, looking up at the man, momentarily distracted from her own ailment."Well you just make sure it doesn't happen, for both our sakes," he nearly demanded, then went back to treating her shoulders with a rough massage."Ah!" she groaned painfully at the harsh treatment of her poor, mistreated shoulders. "I save Arthur from being killed and I end up as a servant. How is that fair?" she complained heatedly, aggravated at the unfair logic in all situations involving any royal person."I'm not sure fairness comes into it. You never know, it might be fun," Gaius suggested optimistically - a characteristic the cynical physician in all his years in the kingdom never had been known to possess."You think mucking out Arthur's horses is going to be fun?" she scoffed in disgust at the mere thought of working in the stables in their current condition. "You should hear my list of duties," she added with a groan at the reminder – she had actually tried not to think about it for a while, just to get a few moments peace of mind."We all have our duties. Even Arthur," he informed her, continuing his ministrations on her shoulders."It must be so tough for him with all the girls and the glory," the servant girl muttered bitterly."He is a future king. People expect so much of him. He's under a lot of pressure," the old man explained, feeling a little defensive of the little boy he had watched grow into a proud and strong man."That makes two of us," she gritted out between her clenched teeth ad the court physician stretched her arm backwards, putting more pressure on her sore joints.Knowing little to none about armour, Merlin came to the conclusion that it would be best of she went down to Gwen's home to ask for assistance. Balancing all the pieces of the armour in her arms as she made her way through the streets of the lower town, she would be eternally grateful to all the people who had lent her a helping hand each time she dropped something – which was understandably quite often.Gwen – being her normal, helpful self – was more than happy to help the clueless, new girl with anything she might need."So, you've got voiders on the arms," the maid explained, patting said item of the armour in emphasis, then stepping in front of the girl to do the same on the piece of iron covering the servant girl's chest. "The hauberk goes over your chest.""The chest. The arms. The chest," the girl repeated to herself, touching the different pieces of armour and her brows furrowed lightly in concentration, struggling to memorize it all."I guess you know what to do with the helmet," the curly-haired maid inquired expectantly, handing over the Prince's helmet to his personal servant."Erm, yeah. Yeah, that was the only bit I'd figured out," the sorceress admitted with a small, almost embarrassed chuckle as she put on the last item of the armour – causing Gwen to giggle at her in amusement. "How come you're so much better at this than me?" she questioned in light confusion."I'm the blacksmith's daughter," the maid told her, making the other girl want to hit herself in the head for not thinking that far before talking – an act that of course, wouldn't be much of a punishment, as her head at the moment was very much protected against anything she might decide to attack it with. "I know pretty much everything there is to know about armour, which is actually kind of sad," she elaborated, her cheery mood fading rapidly with the increasingly depressive thoughts."No, it's brilliant!" the young servant exclaimed hastily, giving her a reassuring grin – which's effect was mostly destroyed by the helmet obscuring parts of it, but the blacksmith's daughter was thankful for the gesture anyway.A while later the newly hired servant found herself helping the Prince to get properly dressed for a sword fight – though how 'properly' he would be dressed with her inexperience was questionable."You do know the tournament starts today?" Prince Arthur inquired his dark-haired servant, who was currently struggling to get the vambrace on his lower arm."Yes, Sire," she replied with a sigh and a hidden roll of her eyes at the impatient Prince's obvious irritation. "You nervous?" she asked conversely as she fixed the buckle on the gorget."I don't get nervous," he bit out harshly, he absolutely refused to show any sign of weakness, even if it was only in front og his own servant."Really? I thought everyone got nervous," the servant girl remarked with traces of confusion in her voice, oblivious to how she was grating on his nerves. "Will you shut up!" he snapped, losing his calm for a second.Obeying the irate Prince's demand, she fetched his brilliantly red cape and tied it over his shoulders in complete silence, then grabbed his helmet and handed it over too."Great, yeah. I think you're all set," she said, standing back with her hands on her hips, letting her gaze sweep over her work proudly."Aren't you forgetting something?" he forced past his clenched jaws, staring angrily at the perplexed girl, before reminding her. "My sword.""Oh, yeah," she exclaimed, turning to get it, baffled by the fact it was that – of all things – she managed to forget. "Yeah, sorry. Guess, uh, you'll be needing that," she tried to joke it off weakly as she granted him his sword, but he just grabbed it and marched off, without looking back. "That went well," she said to herself, taking comfort in the thought that it could have gone so much worse.Merlin peeked her dark-haired head around a corner on the sidelines as Prince Arthur and the other knights on the competition proudly strode into the arena to stand in front of the cheering people filling up the stands. King Uther strutted onto the tournament grounds, past the front line of knights, to stand before them and the rest of the people to give his opening speech."Knights of the realm, it's a great honour to welcome you to a tournament at Camelot," he announced grandiosely. "Over the next three days, you will come to put your bravery to the test, your skills as warriors, and of course, to challenge the reigning champion, my son, Prince Arthur," the King gestured towards his blonde son with a flourish of his hand, before continuing. "Only one can have the honour of being crowned champion, and he will receive a prize of 1,000 gold pieces," Uther revealed, and a brown box was opened, showing everyone its contents - which was indeed gold, and lots of it. "It is in combat that we learn a knight's true nature, whether he is indeed a warrior or a coward," he said gravely. "The tournament begins!" he announced to loud cheers and applause from the crowd.Most of the knights left the arena to allow Prince Arthur and his first opponent space for the opening match of the tournament.On his way to his seat in the stands, King Uther stopped by his son's side. "I trust you will make me proud," the King stated, slapping the blonde on the back, heightening the pressure on the Prince with his words.A pair of guards took the cape's off of the Prince and the other knight, and they both put on their respective helmets, breathing deeply and mentally getting ready for the potentially deadly sword fight. The volume of the cheering from the specktators increased drastically with the first clang of iron against iron that rang through the air."Yeah! Come on!" Merlin yelled her encouragements, totally carried away as her master seemed to be the one in control of the fight.The Prince of Camelot was indeed the one to leave the arena as the victor, to wild applause from the audience, as well as a triumphant shout of 'Yeah!' from his – at the moment – overly enthusiastic servant.Afterwards, the young sorceress stood by the blonde Prince, watching other knights compete, including a knight called Valiant, who stood out amongst all the others."Knight Valiant looks pretty handy with a sword," she commented to Arthur as the topic of her comment exited the arena – but silently, so as not to overheard by anyone else."May I offer my congratulations on your victories today?" knight Valiant offered as he stopped near the Prince."Likewise," he replied galantly, ever the honourable knight."I hope to see you at the reception this evening," the other knight remarked smoothly, but with some trace of something the observant girl couldn't quite place, but knew she didn't like, before he left with his own servant at his heels."Creep," she spat with a shudder of disgust when Valiant was out of hearing range.Prince Arthur snorted in amusement, eliciting a similar sound from his servant as well, brightening both of their moods considerably for a brief moment - before he chose to bring forth his inner prat once again. "Uh, for tomorrow you need to repair my shield, wash my tunic, clean my boots, sharpen my sword, and polish my chainmail."That night Merlin retreated early to her bedchambers to take on her extensive list of chores to complete before the next morning. The dark-haired girl figured out pretty soon that there was no way she would be able to do it all without a little help from her unique talents.When Gaius entered the room some time later, all of her chores was magically washing or polishing themselves, while the girl herself was laying comfortably on her back on the old bed, reading a huge book on tournament etiquette.Noticing the door open, the sorceress let all the objects drop to spread across the already messy floor."Are you using magic again?" the old man accused sternly."No," she answered as an extremely fake innocent expression plastered itself over her whole face."What's all this, then?" her uncle inquired, curious about what excuse she could possibly deliver in that situation, but only received an seemingly unknowing shrug in return from the girl on the bed. "I just came to tell you that supper's ready," he sighed in temporary defeat, then left to pour soup for the both of them.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Early in the morning, as the first rays of sunlight crawled over the lands of Camelot, Merlin once again found herself up and about way too early for her own preference, but it was Arthur's orders, and she could not so blatantly disobey the orders of the Prince.She was in the gloomy armoury, mentally going through the list of everything she would need to dress the prince, to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything – she really didn't want to face Arthur's wrath if she forgot something again – when her ears picked up a hissing sound, coming from behind her. She quickly straightened up and spun around, her weary eyes scanning the room, intent on spotting the culprit."Hello? Is there someone there?" the dark-haired girl called, her voice echoing ever so slightly in the deathly silent armoury.She walked in the general direction of where she thought the noise came from – walking as silent as possible on her tiptoes - ending up right in front of the creepy Knight Valiant's shield. The shield was adorned with three large, intensely green snakes.The girl was startled and her breath caught in her throat when one of the painted snakes blinked one of its shiny eyes at her. The young sorceress crouched down in front of the strange shield, reaching out a hand to touch it – practically burning with insatiable curiousity - but before her fingers could reach it, someone put the sharp end of a sword to her chest. Shocked, her gaze snapped to the wielder of the sword – it was none other than the owner of the very shield she had been inspecting – and she slowly got up to her feet."Can I help you with something, boy?" the knight leered at her, and if the situation hadn't been so uncomfortable, she would have rolled her eyes at yet another person mistaking her gender, but with the way he looked at her, she was glad he didn't know she was really female."Nope. I'm good. I, I was just..." she hesitated, frantically searching the area for an acceptable excuse for being there. "I was, erm, gathering my Master's armour," she finished, feeling suitably triumphant at her quick thinking."Then you'd best be on your way," the large man suggested darkly, keeping his eyes fixed in her the whole time, the underlying threat in his voice prominent."Right, yeah. No problem," she rambled, turning her back on knight Valiant to pick up the armour she was there for in the first place.In her rush to get away and out of there as fast as possible, she stumbled over some scrap on the floor, knocking over at least three other shields resting against the wall, but was in too much of a hurry to bother to make time to put them up in their proper places again.When Arthur entered his chambers, dressed in his gambeson, his armour was laid out on the table – blank polished, reflecting the few rays of sunlight streaming between the curtains perfectly."You did all this on your own?" he inquired, his disbelief ringing loud and clear."Yes, Sire," Merlin replied hastily, using every bit of her terrible lying skills in an attempt at sounding truthful – the truth would kill her, but being accused of getting help could either earn her a reprimand or a day in the stocks, depending on the Prince's mood."Now let's see if you can get me into it without forgetting anything," he said sternly, the warning in his voice was not to be taken lightly: no mistakes would be accepted that day.Merlin turned her back on the blonde, trying not to let her embarrassment at the reminder of the last time show on her face as she picked up his hauberk and surcoat and started the process of dressing the royal knight. The servant proceeded with the gorget, mail coif, belt, sword belt, dagger and sword, before she handed him the helmet, and could finally step back to receive the verdict."That was much better," the armoured young man uttered, pleasantly surprised at the clumsy girl's improvement. "Not that it could have gotten any worse," he added, because, God forbid that he would actually pay his personal servant any kind of compliment."I'm a fast learner," she offered with a brief grin, discreetly crossing her fingers behind her back, hoping he wouldn't question her about when could have had time to learn that, since it was clear polishing all og his armour would have taken at least half the night."I hope, for your sake, that's true," he threatened, giving the dark-haired girl a stern look, but fortunately not catching on to the lack of logic in her words."Good luck," she called after him as he strode out of the chamber, his head raised high with pride.Arthur marched proudly onto the arena, accompanied by the cheers and calls of good fortune from his admiring audience – everyone excited to watch their own prince defend his honour once again.The Prince himself dutifully resumed his stance on the tournament grounds, his attention focused solely on the upcoming match – in doing everything in his power not to disappoint his father – only allowing a brief moment to acknowlegde the noisy crowd.At the entrance of the tournament grounds, his young servant was eagerly watching, her whole face bright with excitement."Is it my imagination, or are you beginning to enjoy yourself?" Gaius inquired pointedly, joining his niece in watching the match."It..." she sighed heavily, but there was a small grin barely hidden in her fake dejected expression. "It isn't totally horrible all the time," the dark-haired girl admitted reluctantly before going back to consentrate on watching her Master fight his opponent."Yes!" she cheered loudly, clapping enthusiastically as Prince Arthur got in a good hit.Afterwards, when the Prince's immediate needs after the fight had been taken care of, Merlin stood by him to watch Knight Valiant fight his own match for the day.His opponent was one of the knights of Camelot – a brave and loyal knight carrying the name Sir Ewan – but his bravery didn't seem to help him where he was laying motionlessly on the ground as the fight came to an end."I think he's badly hurt," Merlin commented to the Prince, voice laced with concern as opposed to the cheering of the crowd for the victory of Knight Valiant.Apparantly she was not the only one worrying about the severity of the situation, seeing as Gaius entered the arena only moments later with his medical bag at the ready to take care of the fallen knight.Later that night Merlin entered the physician's chambers, her arms laden with Prince Arthur's armour, to the sight of her uncle leaning over the still-unconcious Knight Ewan, fully consentrating on his examination of the patient."How is he?" the servant girl asked as she put down the armour on a nearby table."It's most odd," he replied, obviously puzzled by whatever he had found. "Look at this . See these two small wounds," he continued, pointing out the wounds on Sir Ewan's neck, and his niece stepped forth for a closer look. "Looks like a snake bite.""How could he've been bitten by a snake?" she wondered aloud, thoroughly confused by the turn of events. "He was injured in the sword fight.""But the symptoms are consistent with poisoning: slow pulse, fever, paralysis," the old physician informed, still quite baffled by the curious predicament."Can you heal him?" she questioned, both voice and facial expression full of hope."Well, if it is a snake bite, I'll have to extract venom from the snake that bit him to make an antidote," the physician explained gravely with a hopeless shrug."What happens if he doesn't get the antidote?" the girl asked curiously, but showing her overwhelming need to help anyone in need."Then I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do for him. He's going to die," he stated helplessly."He was fighting Knight Valiant," she mumbled to herself, pondering a thought that only just evaded her concious mind, but still wouldn't leave her alone."What's that?" her uncle inquired lightly."Nothing," Merlin replied hurriedly, then swiftly turned on her heels and exited the chambers without another word.Gaius was too distracted working on his patient to put much effort into understanding what his niece was up to this time – he could only hope it was nothing foolish that would get her in trouble once again.There was something alarming going on around there – Merlin didn't know what it could be, but she was pretty sure Knight Valiant was right in the middle of whatever it was. That was why she found herself sneaking along the dank corridors of the citadel, spying on said knight.Carefully peeking her dark-haired head around the corner, she spied her target marching resolutely past her hiding place on his way back to his chambers. As the bulky knight disappeared from the girl's sight, she silently followed him – making sure not to bump into anything on her way.The door to Valiant's quarters were not quite shut, leaving a thin slit allowing the spying girl a narrow view of the room inside.She didn't really know what she expected to find during her investigation, but it was certainly not what she did find. The suspicious-looking knight pulled a white mouse out of a cage, acting like it was the most normal thing in the world for a knight to be doing."Dinner time," he announced to the empty room, navigating the poor creature in the direction of his shield by its long tail – which confused the peeping sorceress into thinking the man had to be quite mad. "Come on."All of a sudden the three painted snakes on the man's shield came alive, shoving each other to get the mouse for themselves.Too shocked to react in any way, Merlin froze to the spot, unable to think past the blatantly obvious proof that there was magic in the works. Finally getting back the ability to move, the dark-haired girl scurried away, none too careful about being silent anymore – something Knight Valiant would have been deaf not to notice, and of course had to follow.Having finally managed to shake off her big, intimidating pursuer, Merlin barged into the physician's chambers, startling her old uncle from his work on the patient."I've just seen the snakes in Valiant's shield come alive," the girl announced loudly, out of breath after her highly unwanted session of exercise. "He's using magic.""Are you sure?" Gaius asked, needing confirmation that he did indeed hear what he thought he'd heard."The snake ate a mouse - one swallow, straight down," she elaborated frantically, gesturing wildly with both hands. "Sir Ewan was fighting Valiant when he collapsed. It must've been one of the snakes from the shield," the young sorceress mused, trailing off to think of the implications of such a thing, before coming to a conclution, "I have to tell Arthur.""Is there any chance you might be mistaken?" the old man wondered, halting his niece in her hasty - and most likely foolish – retreat back out the door."I know magic when I see it," the girl exclaimed, feeling slightly insulted."Perhaps, but have you any proof?" he continued insistently."Don't you believe me?" she asked uncertainly, but not wanting to show how his distrust hurt."I fear you'll land yourself in trouble. How will you explain why you were in Valiant's chambers?" the physician reasoned, allowing his voice to soften, hoping to dissolve the hurt he'd seen flicker in those clear, blue eyes."What does it matter? He's using magic to cheat in the tournament!" the upset, young sorceress cried in exasperation."But you can't go accusing a knight of using magic without proof," he told the girl sternly. "The King would never accept the word of a servant over the word of a knight,""What? So what I say counts for nothing?" Merlin exclaimed harshly, fighting to hold back the tears of anger and frustration that threatened to spill from her eyes."I'm afraid it counts for very little as far as the King is concerned," Gaius informed apologetically, wishing he had a better answer for her. "That's the way it is."Angry and dejected at the unfairness of everything, Merlin left her uncle to go upstairs to fume in her bedchambers by herself.

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The third day of the tournament started more or less the same as the previous. At least as far as the weather was concerned. Merlin, fortunately, had avoided any more creepy ancounters in the armoury – or elsewhere, for that matter – with the sleazy Knight Valiant. The young girl's gloomy mood from the night before had all but disappeared with a good night's sleep, and her usual good spirits were back in full vigour. Even with the prospect of another day watching grown men maiming each other with sharp blades just for the fun of it looming ahead of her.At that exact point in time, the girl in question found herself on the tournament grounds, making the final few – but tremendously important – adjustments to Prince Arthur's impeccably polished royal armour. Both of them watched as a serving boy of average size had to use a step ladder to put the helmet on the head of the Prince's next opponent. It was the tallest knight – or man in general – Merlin had seen in her whole life."You're telling me you've got to fight that?" she exclaimed in absolute disbelief, without pausing her action of tightening yet another strap on the gleaming armour. No need to give His Royal Pratness any reason to tell her off again."Yes," the Prince confirmed gravely, his expression a portrait of seriousness. "And he's strong as a bear. But he's slow," he remarked with a confident glint in his eyes as his personal servant handed him his stately shield."Ah," the girl uttered as comprehension dawned on her and a bright smile spread across her pale face. "And you're fast.""Exactly," Arthur agreed, as serious as ever.They spent the rest of the time in silence as she helped him with the rest of the armour and handed over his newly sharpened sword and impenetrable helmet.Arthur and 'the bear' were assuming their positions to start their match. A frown creased Merlin's dark eyebrows as she glared lightly at Knight Valiant putting down his shield further down the side of the field. She fervently wanted to have him removed from the competition. And preferable from the kingdom as well. If only she could find a way to make people believe her.The sound of approaching footsteps broke her defiant glare at the cheating knight, alerting her to the presence of her guardian."How're you getting on?" the physician inquired calmly, referring to her distress from the night before."Fine," the young sorceress replied shortly and dismissively. "Just doing my job. Minding my own business."With that she left the old man behind to find a spot with better view of the fight about to commence.Watching Arthur fight the giant of a man was quite nerve-wracking. Despite the undeniable confidence he had shown while getting ready for the match, she couldn't help but worry. If she were sitting, she would have been at the very edge of her seat. Since she was standing, she was doing so at the very tips of her toes instead, as if ready to take action at a moment's notice, should it be needed. Doing what, she was not completely sure. That was to be determined if or when such an action was indeed needed.As it turned out, no interference of any kind was required. Luckily. The Prince won the fight against 'the bear' to the deafening roar of the cheering crowd of people, proud of their prince's accomplishments.The applause for Knight Valiant's win later in the day was rewarded with cheering as well. Though, not nearly as loudly as for Prince Arthur.The mood might have dampened a little by the fact that the opposing knight seemed to be in need of medical attention and unable to leave the arena on his own.Yet another one of Valiant's opponents had to be carried off on a stretcher following a lost match against the foreign knight. Gaius stopped by Merlin on his way back to the Physician's Chambers to check if there was anything else he could do to ensure Knight Ewan was as comfortable as possible, considering the circumstances."Valiant's going to fight Arthur in the final," the dark-haired girl stated somberly as they looked upon the final brackets. "He'll use the shield to kill him."The young sorceress spent the next few hours walking aimlessly around the grounds of the castle, trying to expel some of her frustration caused by the hopelessness of the situation. In the end, she returned to the chambers of her guardian without being any closer to a solution to the situation.Seeing the lifeless state of the unfortunate knight renewed her determination to solve the problem at hand. The young man didn't deserve the fate he had been pushed into. And Prince Arthur did not deserve to die either. And what for? The greed of another? The Prince may be a prat more often than not, but he was not all bad. There had to be something she could do!Deep in thought with her chin resting on her folded hands, the girl almost didn't notice the owner of the chambers' entrance."Merlin, about what I said yesterday," the physician began, dragging her attention from her circling thoughts and the unmoving patient in front of her. "Look, Uther wouldn't really listen to you or me, but you are right. We can't let Valiant get away with this.""But we don't have any proof," Merlin pointed out, half hopelessly, half hopeful that Gaius would have a suggestion as to how to do exactly that."Well, if we could cure Ewan, he could tell the King that Valiant was using magic. The King would believe another Knight," Gaius explained haltingly. "But how we get the antidote...Well, that's another matter."Merlin wasn't really listening anymore at that point. About midway through the physician's musings, an idea had started to slowly but surely take form in her mind.Almost before coming to the decision to act, the young sorceress had stood up from her chair and was out the door."Merlin?" the bewildered old man called after her, but the girl neither slowed down nor stopped at his call.There was no time to lose.Merlin approached the Council Chamber on light feet. It wouldn't do to get caught before she'd even started on her half thought out plan to expose Knight Valiant as an enemy of Camelot and save the day. Again."So, Valiant," she heard the King talking as she peeked around the doorframe. "Do you think you stand a chance of defeating my son?"They were all present – Arthur, King Uther, Valiant and all the other knights in the competition – dining on fine food and celebrating another day of beating each other over the head with heavy objects made of steel, while one of their fellow knights was possibly dying at that very moment down in the Physician'c Chambers at the other end of the castle."He's a great warrior, My Lord," Valiant began in his smarmiest tone of voice. "I do hope to be a worthy opponent."He was really laying it on thick, charming the vain King with his flattery. The whole thing was turning her stomach. How could anyone fall for it? To Merlin, it felt like every word coming out of his mouth was coated in a layer of poison."You should stay in Camelot after the tournament," Uther stated with a pleased smile. It was not a question. He was clearly taking the Knight's act at face value. "I could do with more knights like you."
You won't say that when he tries to kill your son!
The only silver lining was that Valiant was entirely too busy listening to his own poisonous tongue spinning tales for the royals and nobles to be likely to stop anytime soon. She felt a small trace of pity for Arthur who had to endure listening to him, though.Merlin turned and left as the Knight was expressing his unlikely honour at the King's generous offer. Carefully checking around every corner to avoid any lingering servants, she hurried towards his guest chambers in the west wing.The feasting nobles were likely to enjoy their goblets of wine for a while longer, but she wasn't going to take any chances. Not only would it jeopardise her plan to expose Valiant, but Knight Ewan's life was depending on it.Soon she reached the heavy wooden door that barred her from her investigation of his temporary chambers in the castle. Taking a deep breath, she looked up and down the deserted corridor, listening intently for signs that anyone might be coming her way. There was not a soul close by, only the sound of a torch flickering and the movement of its shadow on the wall.Leaning close to the locked door, she whispered a useful little spell from Gaius' old book of magic. It unlocked with a sharp click that echoed in the empty hallway.Taking another calming breath, the young sorceress entered the sparsely lit chambers. She grabbed a sword from the conveniently placed rack in the room, not entirely sure what she would have done if it hadn't been there. While being attacked by poisonous snakes, probably wasn't the right time to find out whether or not she would be proficient at cutting spells.She drew near the shield with cautious steps. If it weren't for the ominous auro hanging over it, the shield would have looked as harmless as any of the others in the castle armoury.The sound of footsteps in the distance broke her intense staring contest with the seemingly lifeless object. Her heartbeat sped up, slamming uncomfortably against her ribcage, and her grip on the sword handle grew slippery with anxious sweat.Please, don't come this way. Please, don't let it be Valiant.A soft hiss accompanied her sudden awareness of a shadow stirring at the corner of her field of vision. The snakes had awoken. This was her only chance. Holding her breath, she whirled around, swinging the heavy steel clutched in a tight grip with all her might. At the last second she clamped her eyes shut, not opening them again until the dull thud of something hitting the floor signalled that her wild and desperate strike had certainly hit something.The severed head of a snake rolled to a stop at her feet, while its twitching body slithered to the ground by the shield.She couldn't believe she had done it. Actually used a sword to cut the head of a snake. And a magical one at that!But there was no time to celebrate. The footsteps outside were getting closer with every second that passed. She might have accomplished her impossible plan, but it would mean nothing if she was caught before she could hand over her prize to Gaius.Staying in the room and waiting in the hope that whoever was out there would pass was out of the question. The other snakes were coming alive, clearly bent on revenge for their comrade's unexpected demise.Dropping the sword – now covered in slime and snake blood – and picking up what she came for was more an instinct than a concious thought. Adrenaline was pumping and her dormant survival instinct kicked in. She needed to get away. And without being seen.Wrenching open the door, she ran out of the chambers, not bothering to check to see whether it closed behind her or not. Not being caught breaking into a knight's chambers was more important than hiding the fact that it had been broken into at all. It would be quite obvious that someone had been there when the Knight himself entered to find the sword on the floor beside a headless snake that no one was supposed to know about.They were closing in on her now. There was no choice but to slip around the nearest corner and hide, even though it was in the opposite direction of where she needed to go. There was little doubt that the person would turn out to be Valiant. He had the heavy gait of a knight, always weighed down by an impractical amount of armour. It was certainly too brash to be that of a servant, who would have had years of practice in being silent and near invisible to their masters.She pulled back out of sight quickly when at last he stepped into the hallway, revealing himself to be the knight Valiant.He stopped in front of the door, his hand resting on the handle. Looking around suspiciously, listening. Or so it seemed to her. Did he suspect something before even seeing the state of his chambers? Or was it merely the usual paranoia of one with ill intentions always expecting the same treatment in return?At last, he entered the room and the door slid shut behind him.
Now!
The young girl ran as fast as her legs could carry her out of the corridor and into the next.A door hit the wall with a bang as it open behind her.
He was after her!
There was no way she could outrun him. She was out of breath already. And he clearly had the training of a proper knight, even if he didn't have the honourabiliy of one. It was like a game of cat and mouse, with the young girl as the unfortunate little rodent running for its life. Straight out sprinting wouldn't keep her safe for long. The only other option was to find a hiding place and hope he would run right past her in his determination to catch up.She slid to a halt behind one of the pillars situated on one side of the hall she had just reached. Her pursuer's steps were coming closer at a fast pace. The pillar at her back was not as wide as she could have hoped. It would be a miracle if he didn't spot her on his way past. She gathered her skirts close to her body, in a feeble attempt to make herself smaller.Valiant slowed to a stop as he entered the hall. She didn't dare breathe, willing her galloping heart to calm down. The rhythm was a constant throbbing in her ears, drowning out the unexpectedly quiter tread of her deadly pursuer. He was getting too close for comfort, and she had no way of knowing which side he would be coming from.Flicking her gaze around for ideas, she caught sight of tapestry further down the hall. With all the focus she could muster, she pushed at it with her magic. It crumpled to the floor with the muted thumping sound of heacy fabric, and the knight hurried off in pursuit.When the footfalls finally faded in the distance, she hurried back to Gaius.Merlin watched in fascinated silence as drops of snake venom dripped into a jar."I'll get started on preparing the antidote," Gaius informed her as he gathered the rest of the ingredients.It was such a relief to be back in the safety of the Physician's Chambers after being chased around the castle. Though, she couldn't stay there. One obstacle might be out of play, but there was still a treacherous knight and another two poisonous snakes left to deal with. And the Prince was unknowingly set to face them all in the morning."I'm going to tell Arthur," she said firmly, as much to brace herself for the delicate conversation that was to follow as to inform her guardian where she was heading off to."You'll need this," he replied calmly, offering her the newly drained snake head.She grabbed the skull gingerly, making sure not to cut her fingers on the razor sharp fangs in its gaping mouth."And Merlin," the old man called at her retreating back. "What you did was very brave."Despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn't hold back an answering grin at the praise.Maybe everything would work out fine after all.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"You? You chopped its head off?"The Prince's disbelief was nearly tangible. His royal dinner was forgotten and growing colder by the minute on the plate in front of him.In hindsight, barging into Arthur's chambers, interrupting his meal, and blurting out that she had fought a massive magical snake and won probably hadn't been the best way to begin her plea for the Prince to believe her improbable story.In Merlin's own defence, though, there most likely wasn't any right way of doing it at all.The young girl should be offended by how little faith he had in her abilities. But to be fair, he didn't actually know about her real abilities. And though it would have been nice to be acknowledged for her deeds for once, now was neither the time nor the place to work on anyone's vanity. Least of all hers."Ewan was bitten by a snake from the shield when he was fighting Valiant," Merlin explained impatiently, waving off Arthur's incredulity. "You can talk to Gaius, you can see the puncture wounds in Ewan's neck where the snake bit him," she continued when the Prince seemed reluctant to take her word for it. "Ewan was beating him, he had to cheat!""Valiant wouldn't dare use magic in Camelot," he parried with a dismissive gesture.Merlin felt like hitting him over the head with one of the candles burning brightly on the table. The argument was a waste of time. Time they didn't have."Ewan was pinned under Valiant's shield," she went on insistently, leaning over the table to regain Prince Arthur's waning attention towards the topic under discussion. "No one could see the snake bite him.""I don't like the guy," Arthur admitted with a shrug, before his voice hardnened in warning and he pointed at her with his fork for emphasis. "But that does't mean he's cheating."The young servant was sorely tempted to tear out her own hair out at his stubborness – or better yet, his."Gaius is preparing an antidote to the snake venom. When Ewan's concious, he'll tell you what happened," she promised with all the conviction she could cram into her frustrated voice. "If you fight Valiant in the final he'll use the shield, It's the only way he can beat you."The infuriating prat merely raised his eyebrows at her proclamation."Thanks for the vote of confidence," he commented, the beginnings of a conceited smirk lurking at the corner of his mouth. "Good to know you believe in me.""I'm serious! Look at it!" she exclaimed in exasperation, shoving the severed snake head in the Prince's smug face."Have you ever seen any snakes like this in Camelot?"Arthur finally seemed to grasp the seriousness she'd been trying to convey for the last five minutes. Taking the skull she was still holding out, he studied it closely until she started talking again."I know I'm just a servant and my word doesn't count for anything," she said earnestly, her voice on the verge of shaking by the need for him to accept the gravity of her message. "But I wouldn't lie to you."The Prince sighed heavily, an air of defeat in his weary expression."I want you to swear to me what you're telling me is true," he said forcefully, holding her gaze as if to find the truth in there rather than in her verbal reply."I swear it's true," she said firmly, maintaining eye-contact."Then I believe you," the Prince finally conceded, and a tremendous weight was lifted from her narrow shoulders."No matter what happens, stay back, leave the talking to me," Arthur instructed Merlin quietly as they were waiting in the Council Chambers for the King himself to arrive. The young servant barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him.It was the third time he had repeated the command since she'd told him about the magic shield.After finally acknowledging the seriousness of the situation and the need for immediate action, the Prince'd had the whole court alerted and gathered within the hour. The crowd was talking amongst themselves while waiting for the meeting to officially begin, discussing their theories about what had happened for their Prince to arrange the unexpected meeting.The young sorceress didn't have a chance to spare her master more than a quick nod in reply before King Uther came swooping into the room, wasting no time on pleasantries."Why have you summoned the court?" he asked briskly as he came to a halt facing them all.Arthur threw his servant a brief look, as if to confirm she was still standing by her earlier words."I believe Knight Valiant is using a magic shield to cheat in the tournament," the Prince announced to the assembled people, his voice ringing out loud and clear in the expectant silence. A few muted gasps – no more than quick intakes of breath – was the only sign that the words were the last any of them had expected to hear."Valiant," the King said after a short moment of processing his son's grim words. "What do you say to this?""My Lord, this is ridiculous. I've never used magic," the accused Knight denied at once, not showing even a flicker of fear. "Does your son have any evidence to support this outragous accusation?""Do you have evidence?" Uther repeated as his gaze swivelled from an honoured guest to his trusted son and heir."I do," he assured, motioning for Merlin to perform her part.She moved forward confidently and handed the King the snake head. As soon as he tok it, she curtsied respectfully and retreated to her place behind Arthur."Let me see this shield," Uther demanded after studying their evidence for some time.
Oh, that's not good.
Would Valiant take his chance and kill the King?"Don't let him get too close," she whispered in warning, stepping closer to the Prince.Who knew what Valiant would do if he felt cornered? If he saw no way out, he might try to take the King out with him."Be careful, My Lord," Arthur advised, drawing his sword, ready to defend his King and father if need be.Uther examined the shield with a sharp eye, alert, but clearly not convinced there was anything unusual to find on the shield's polished surface. He was reluctant to believe that anyone who was capable of getting past his trained instincts – let alone having earned his approval and respect – could turn out to be an enemy of the Kingdom, a sorcerer.The young sorceress was torn between a wish for the snakes to reveal themselves and confirm Valiant's guilt and the ever pressing need for everyone to stay safe."Merlin!" came an urgent whisper from the back of the room.Gaius was finally there.And not a moment too soon. The King was far from convinced by their report."We need Ewan," Arthur commanded in a low voice, having caught on to the physician's arrival. "Find out what's happening.""As you can see, My Lord, it's just an ordinary shield," Knight Valiant said slyly – or perhaps it just sounded that way to Merlin's biased ears.She gritted her teeth in annoyance as she scurried away from the room's centre."He's not going to let everyone see the snake come alive," Arthur said loudly, letting his mounting frustration towards the other knigth and his father's unwillingness to take him at his word shine through.Silently, Merlin agreed wholeheartedly with the Prince's words. It might be too much to hope for the Knight to make it easy for them and incriminate himself beyond any doubt in front of the King and the entire court and be done with it.And while he was at it, obediently place his head nicely on the executioner's block."What is it?" she asked the physician when she reached him, letting the words between father and son – King and Prince – fade into the background. "Where's Ewan?"The physician looked as grave as ever, and maybe even a little apologetic, as he met her worried, yet hopeful eyes."He's not coming," Gaius said quietly."What?" asked the young girl. She couldn't have heard that right. "Didn't the antidote work?""It worked just fine, he even woke up and spoke to me," the physician paused, throwing a look towards the arguing nobles at the other end of the room hesitantly."Then what happened?" Merlin implored when the old man seemed to be holding something back. "Gaius, tell me.""I left him alone for just a moment," he explained, pitching his voice so low that the girl had to lean in to catch the words. "He was bit by another snake. Ewan's dead, Merlin."Her eyes widened in shock and dismay."Where's Ewan?" Arthur interrupted before she could react any further, unknowingly echoing Merlin's own words to Gaius just moments earlier."He's dead," she responded bluntly, too stunned to find any gentler words, let alone another way to prove Valiant's guilt."I'm waiting!" the Kind pronounced loudly, the impatience practically oozing from his very person."I'm afraid," the Prince began hesitantly, his voice subdued with discouragement. "The witness is dead.""So you have no proof to support these allegations," Uther stated heatedly, losing patience with the matter at hand. "Have you seen Valiant using magic?""No," Arthur admitted shamefully, then made a last ditch attempt to prove the validity of his statements. "But my servant fought one of the snakes from-""Your servant?" Uther cut him off in disbelieving rage. "You made these outragous accusations against a knight on the word of your servant?""I believe she's telling the truth!" Arthur exclaimed in defence of his actions.Merlin could only think that Gaius had been so completely right, the King would never believe her words over Knight Valiant's. Not even with Prince Arthur backing her. It shouldn't be such a surprise, but she couldn't help the sting of unfairness about the entire situation."My Lord," the treacherous knight interrupted with barely concealed smugness, making her want to unleash some magic on him to make him stop making everything worse. "Am I really to be judged on some hearsay from a maidservant?""I've seen those snakes come alive!" Merlin shouted as she stepped forward, unable to stay out of it any longer.She knew, deep down, that it was a bad idea, that it wouldn't do any good. But she could no longer hold back her awakened fury at the lying Knight, who was about to get away with cowardly, cold-blooded murder."How dare you interrupt?" the enraged King thundered. "Guards!"Within seconds the young girl was being dragged away with unyielding grips around her slender arms.The thought that she might be locked up tight in the dungeons while the snakes from the magical shield devoured Prince Arthur started creeping in as she looked back over her shoulder at the assembled nobles. It might be the very last time she ever saw him alive."My Lord," Valiant said calmly."Wait!" Uther's words halted the guards' movements, as he motioned for the Knight to speak his mind."I'm sure she was merely mistaken," he said with false generousity, voice smooth as silk in the King's willing ear. "I wouldn't want her punished on my account."While Merlin was grateful for the chance to help Arthur in the tournament the next day – though, how she would do that, she had no idea yet – his words only deepened her dislike of the man. He was being all knightly and saying exactly the right things – no matter how insincere - to impress the King and his court, while at the same time putting the Prince in a bad light."You see?" Uther said proudly, taking every poisonous syllable uttered by the Knight as irrefutable fact. "This is how a true knight behaves – with gallantry and honour."Merlin could see Prince Arthur tense, supressing his reaction to the implied slight against his own honour."My Lord," Valiant began, the almost gleeful glint in his eyes a warning that he was about to rub salt in the open wound that was the Prince's remaining tatters of honour. "If your son made these accusations because he's afraid to fight me, then I will graciously accept his withdrawal.""Is this true?" Uther whipped his judgeful gaze back to his son, frowning deeply in disappointment. "Do you wish to withdraw from the tournament?""No!" Arthur yelled without hesitation."Then what am I to make of there allegations?" the King questioned in anger, looking to Arthur to sort out the still spreading stains on his honour."Obviously there has been a misunderstanding," Prince Arthur started in a more restrained voice, knowing there was no escaping with his pride intact. "I withdraw the allegations against Knight Valiant. Please accept my apology.""Accepted," Valiant responded with a respectful bow to the King.Arthur tore out of the Council Chambers without sparing as much as a glance in his servant's direction. The girl threw a last narrow-eyed look at the murderous Knight, gritting her teeth against the ruinous words that fought to be let out.There was nothing more she could do there at the moment.With quick steps she followed the Prince down the hall.Merlin barely managed to slip into Arthur's chambers before the man slammed the door shut behind himself. He was unmistakably in a bad mood, and, for once, his servant thought he was quite justified to be.The young girl felt that she should be saying something. Anything. But what? What could possibly help? And she didn't particularly want to make it worse, or set off his temper."I believed in you, I trusted you," he said in a voice filled with restrained anger. "And you made me look a complete fool.""I know it didn't go exactly to plan," she said uncomfortably, then winced at glare she received for her weak attempt at comforting."Didn't go to plan?!" the Prince exploded in disbelief. "My father and the entire royal court think I'm a coward! You humiliated me!""We can still expose Valiant," she proposed, trying hesitantly to salvage the last remaining threads of a continually fraying situation."I no longer require your services," the Prince said formally, having temporarily reigned in his anger."You're sacking me?" Merlin asked in shock.She couldn't believe he would get rid of her just like that. It wasn't her fault the deplorable Knight sent his poisonous pets to take care of their witness once and for all!"I need a servant I can trust," the Prince announced with unshakeable resolve."You can trust me!" the young girl burst out pleadingly."And look where it got me this time," he retorted sharply. "Get out of my sight!"There was nothing she could say that wouldn't anger him further. A feeling of helplessness settled in the pit of her stomach as she left the Prince's chambers – possibly for the last time.The sting of having been losing her position at Arthur's side was sharper than she would have anticipated. A mere few days earlier, she would have been more than happy to be released from his constant overbearing presence – even with the ancient dragon insisting the stubborn Prince was her destiny. Now it simply tasted like failure."Where are you?" the young sorceress shouted as she entered the extensive caverns beneath the castle, brandishing her torch with determination to tell the batty, old creature her mind. "I just came to tell you, whatever it is you think I'm supposed to do, you've got the wrong person!"Her voice echoed in the vastness of the caves, lingering in its empty silence."That's it," she said softly, the irate energy draining out of her like grain from a damaged bag when no argument seemed to be forthcoming. "Goodbye.""If only it were so easy to escape one's destiny," the dragon declared as he arrived with a flap of his enormous wings."How can it be my destiny to protect someone who hates me?" the girl asked miserably."A half cannot truly hate that which makes it whole," the gigantic, magical creature pronounced cryptically. "Very soon you shall learn that.""Oh, great," she said sarcastically, with a annoyed roll of her eyes. "Just what I needed, another riddle.""That your and Arthur's path lies together is but the truth," the dragon stated importantly."What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, rubbing her temple in hopes of dispelling her burgeoning headache."You know, young witch, this is not the end," he said as he started moving his immense wings in preparation of departing. "It is just the beginning.""Just give me a straight answer!" the young girl yelled after him in frustration as he took to the air and left her alone with her unanswered questions.
Infuriating creature!
Why did he always have to be so unhelpful?She heaved a despondent sigh as she started on the way back to the surface. There was no solution to be found down there either.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Merlin sat on the stone steps leading up to the castle, overlooking the main square. Even though the light of day was waning, there was still a myriad of people milling about.She had found her way out there in the hope that some fresh air would shine a light on the hopeless situation regarding Knight Valiant and his magically conjured snakes.So far the air had unfortunately not been of much help at all. She almost wanted to give up completely. The only reason she hadn't, was that she refused to give the Knight the satisfaction of winning.Couldn't allow Prince Arthur to die either. No matter how stubbornly he declined her offer to help him.There had to be something that could save him!Preferably a way that didn't include the young sorceress exposing her powers and earning an execution for her troubles."Hello, Merlin," a soft voice interrupted her increasingly depressive musings.Gwen."Allright?" Merlin said absentmindedly as the other servant sat down on the cold steps beside her."Is it true what you said about Valiant using magic?" the other girl questioned carefully.Merlin nodded miserably. There really wasn't anything more that needed to be added to the question. She had said all she could say about it already."What are you going to do?" the young maid asked worriedly."Why does everyone seem to think it's down to me to do something about it?" the young sorceress exclaimed in exasperation.The dragon, Gaius, and now Gwen. Why couldn't they just sort it out themselves?!"Because it is! Isn't it?" Gwen stated, wavering between decisiveness and uncertainty. "You have to show everyone that you were right and they were wrong.""And how do I do that?" Merlin inquired without much hope of a good answer."I don't know," the other girl said with a sigh, deflating and falling silent.The young sorceress cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes in thought as she caught sight of statue of a dog."That's it!" she exclaimed in excited relief, jumping to her feet and grinning with renewed hope."Where are you going?" Gwen asked, confused by the other girl's sudden change of attitude."Do you have a wheelbarrow?" Merlin asked, seemingly out of nowhere."I might have," Gwen said hesitantly. "Why?""I need to move that statue," was her reply, pointing at the statue in question.Gwen stared at her as if she'd completely lost her mind.Gaius' reaction wasn't much better when she wheeled the heavy block of stone through his chambers half an hour later."Where are you going with that?" he demanded to know."I'm going to let everyone see the snakes for themselves," she replied with a big grin.The hope of a solution truly did wonders for one's state of mind. And the old physician could make his own conclusions about that, she was sure. She could certainly be cryptic as well, if the mood struck.After a bit of a battle against the inconveniently sized doorframe, she finally dropped down on the bed to catch her breath for a moment. But it couldn't be helped. She was far too restless to relax, even if just for a minute.She pulled the magic book out from under the loose floor board, and started flipping through the pages in search of the appropriate spell. As she had vaguely recalled when coming up with the plan, there was a spell in there to animate inanimate objects.
Bebay odothay arisan quickum.
Taking a deep breath, she tried out the sounds of the foreign words on her tongue.At least the hardest part was over.The hardest part was not over.Merlin threw herself down on her bed in frustration after repeating the spell for what felt like the thousandth time.The statue remained stubbornly lifeless.The sorceress wished she had thought of the spell earlier. Time was running out, and she didn't seem to have made any progress on getting it to work.If only there was more time. If only Arthur wouldn't be fighting Valiant first thing in the morning.The door to Prince Arthur's chambers was open when the young girl got there."I thought I told you to get out of my sight," he said when he noticed her entering.His voice was not as harsh than when she spoke to him earlier that night. Perhaps she stood a chance of talking some sense into him after all. It was worth a try."Don't fight Valiant in the tournament tomorrow," she pleaded, keeping her voice low and even. "He'll use the shield against you."To her surprise, the Prince didn't get angry and accuse her of lying, as she had expected."I know," he sighed, almost as if he had already accepted his defeat.It wasn't right."Then withdraw," Merlin insisted, wondering why he hadn't already done so. "You have to withdraw!""Don't you understand? I can't withdraw," he burst out in mounting agitation. "The people expect their prince to fight. How can I lead men into battle if they think I'm a coward?"It was beginning to dawn on the girl that this was what Gaius had been referring to the other day when he said Prince Arthur had as many duties and responsibilities as her. If he didn't fight, he would lose the respect of the people. And one couldn't lead a country without a people that believed in them. But if he fought, he would die. Surely that was the worst option of the two?"Valiant will kill you," she said shakely, but with unwavering conviction. "If you fight, you die.""Then I die," Arthur replied decisively, pushing down any lingering inner turmoil he refused to admit to having."How can you go out there and fight like that?" the young girl questioned, unable to comprehend his motivations."Because I have to. Its my duty," the Prince declared with finality, and no further pleading on her part could change his mind.Disheartened she fled his chambers, but with a renewed determination to handle the unwieldy spell.There was no other options left. She had to make it work before sunrise.By the time the sun's early rays found their way through the window and into her little room, the untrained sorceress had repeated the tricky spell so many times that she would be able to recite it in her sleep. Which was lucky, as she was more asleep than awake at that point.The syllables she'd pronounced so carefully the night before, were slurred almost beyond recognition as she struggled against the welcoming embrace of sleep. Her eyes had long since lost their own fight against their increasingly heavy lids.The sleepless night had rendered her awareness of her surroundings to such a low level that not even the entrance of the magic-persecuting King himself would have stopped her from repeating the vital spell one more time.It took a loud bark from the newly animated dog to notify her to the long awaited success of her hard night's work.The girl couldn't believe her eyes when she was shaken out of her stupor. There was a living, breathing dog in her bedroom."I did it!" she shouted in overwhelmed joy.Even the animal's ungratefulness at being brought to life so abruptly couldn't put a damper on her cheerful mood.She closed the door to her room firmly before the dog had a chance to follow her out. She told herself that it would have to be a problem for another time.
She had a prince to save!
Bounding down the few steps to Gaius' chambers, she almost ran into the old man himself in her haste."Arthur's fighting Valiant!" he informed her urgently, his forhead creased in worry.His whole demeanor seemed to be questioning why she wasn't down there doing something about it already."I know, I'm on my way," she replied without stopping, taking advantage of the regained energy from her recent magical victory. "Oh, whatever you do, don't go into my room," she cautioned her uncle in a rush. "We'll deal with it later."The door slammed behind her before the physician had a chance to respond to her rather vague warning.When Merlin reached the tournament grounds, it was to the sight of Arthur being stupidly chivalrous – taking off his helmet and pulling down the chainmail that covered his head. Seemingly with no thought to how he was providing the snakes with perfect access to the most vulnerable spots on his now unprotected, royal neck.The sorceress could barely restrain herself when Valiant knocked the Prince to the ground and stepped on his shield. Then just moments later, robbed him of his sword, leaving him completely defenseless against the other knight, even without counting the illegal shield tipping the scales in the other's favour.The Prince clearly did not allow himself the shame of being defeated in such a way. Even with just his bare hands to protect himself, he managed to hold his own in the unfair fight.With her heart pounding away in her throat, Merlin watched as Valiant pinned Arthur against the wall, his shield dangerously close to the Prince's unprotected skin.If ever the cheating Knight had a perfect opportunity to strike with his secret weapon, that was it.But the Prince was unwilling to let his life end that way. With a mighty push, he was free once again.The sorceress didn't dare wait any longer. Every moment the fight went on was another chance for Valiant to end it for good."Bebay odothay arisan quickum," she whispered from the sidelines.The snakes woke up as if the Knight had called upon them himself.The crowd gave a collective gasp of astonishment and stood up in outrage, but Merlin only had eyes for the ongoing match.It was not over yet."What are you doing," Valiant hissed at his disobedient pets, as if his sheer disbelif would make it so. "I didn't summon you!""And now they see you for what you really are," Prince Arthur stated seriously, slightly winded from essentially fighting a fully armed knight unarmed, and sounding less triumphant about the fact than Merlin would have expected.The stands were in an uproar, screaming at the dishonourable Knight.Valiant had pulled himself together and released a dark chuckle that sent chills down the sorceress' back. Something told her the man wasn't quite defeated yet."Kill him!" he demanded.With a simple command, he took charge of his wayward snakes again.Arthur backed up towards the stand where his father and the nobles were watching the events unfold. He was still weaponless and searching the ground for anything to defend himself aginst their sharp fangs with.Merlin stretched her hand out in preparation of throwing one more spell, when suddenly, help came in the form of a sword from the Lady Morgana.Arthur didn't waste time stopping to question where the weapon came from. It was a mere seconds from it was firmly in his strong grip until both remaining snakes had been decapitated with a single, well-aimed stroke. A moment later Valiant was disarmed and impaled on the Prince's sword."It looks like I'll be going to the feast after all," he said quietly to the dying man, then let him crumble to the ground, never to endanger the throne of Camelot and its people ever again.The crowd erupted in cheers for their victorious Prince, and Merlin joined them just as excitedly, with a wide smile of relief.Arthur didn't linger long in front of the crowd before departing, and the companionable clap he bestowed on her should on his way past almost felt like a thank you. Or, at the very least, forgiveness.The Banquet Hall was filled with mingling courtiers and the servants seeing to their every need that evening."My honourable guests," King Uther announced when his son entered the room at long last. "I give you Prince Arthur, your champion.""See," she aimed her comment at her guardian standing beside her as the court broke out in applause and Arthur gallantly offered his arm to the Lady Morgana. "I told you he gets all the girls and the glory."Apparently, the Prince had managed to dress himself without Merlin's help, for once. Or perhaps – and more likely – he had found someone to replace her already. It shouldn't be too hard. The servants seemed to be unreasonably eager to work for him. The young girl couldn't understand it. The only explanation was that they hadn't spent any significant amount of time in his presence."And he owes it all to you," Gaius said kindly."No one knows that, though," she said with a wry smile."It's for the best," the old physician replied, trying to be comforting. "We wouldn't want Uther to catch wind of the truth."Merlin grunted noncommittally, popping an appetizer from the lavish table into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully."I bet you a mug of ale that that won't last long," the currently jobless servant changed the subject with a nod of her head towards where Arthur and the King's Ward was conversing amicably. "Any moment now, they'll start fighting again. Just wait and see."The two of them reminded her strongly of their neighbour's twins back in Ealdor – always squabbling about one thing or another, hardly able to stay civil towards each other for more than a few minutes on end.She kept watching them, curious whether she'd be proven right or wrong. She could tell the moment Arthur transformed from chivalrous knight to prattish prince by the expression on his face and Morgana's increasingly polite grimace of a smile.Merlin wasn't the least bit surprised when the two of them parted ways barely a moment later."Told you," she said triumphantly, and received a fresh mug of ale from the physician.At least she got something out of the whole thing.Taking a sip of the brew, she quickly schooled her facial expression to hide the grimace that wanted to break out at the bitter taste. No need to advertise the fact that she didn't actually even like it."Can you believe Morgana?"Merlin hurriedly put down the mug when Prince Arthur sidled up to her. It wouldn't do to be caught drinking on the job. She might not be Arthur's personal servant anymore, but she was employed by the palace kitchens to serve at the banquet."She says she saved me," he continued, too busy looking for sympathy for the slight to his pride to notice what Merlin was doing. "Like I needed any help."Apparently, the day's victory – the one she was personally responsible for – had gone to his head.The girl didn't say anything. It was clear he didn't require any input. And it wasn't like she could argue his point without revealing her own part in it."I wanted to say," he started in a vastly different tone of voice, sounding more serious and sincere. "I made a mistake. It was unfair to sack you.""No, don't worry about it," she assured him, surprised at his candid delivery of an actual apology, searching her mind for something to add and landing on the mug hiding behind her back. "Buy me a drink and we'll call it even.""Uh, I can't be seen to be buying drinks for my servant" he said, firmly back in the familiar area of arrogance."Your servant?" she asked in delighted surprise, honing in on the one word and ignoring his superior ways. "You sacked me.""Now I'm rehiring you," he stated simply, as if it was as easy as that.Merlin couldn't hold back a snort of amusement, happy to have earned back his trust, even if he was being rude about it."My chambers are a complete mess," he started haughtily. "My clothes need washing. My armour needs repairing. My boots need cleaning. My dogs need exercising. My fireplace needs sweeping. My bed needs changing. And someone needs to muck out my stables."Merlin gaped in disbelief, horrified as the list of chores went on and on. He couldn't be serious. It was going to take her a whole week to do all that!Why did she want that job back again?"Careful," he said with a smirk, pushing her jaw back in place. "You're going to catch flies."Then he just left to strike up a riveting conversation – if the grand hand gestures were anything to go by – with the other knights.She grabbed blindly behind her for the drink, then brought it to her mouth for a big gulp of the disgusting brew.He was not going to ruin the celebration for her.Merlin was decidedly not in a good mood when she showed up to serve the Prince breakfast the next morning, for the first time since regaining her position as is personal servant.Firstly, she had been rudely awoken that morning by a slobbering tongue poking around in her ear, courtesy of the former dog statue that she hadn't even noticed when she poured herself into bed the night before.Secondly, she had quickly become aware of a pounding headache and a mouth so dry a bucket of water hadn't been able to restore its previous stores of saliva. This second reason for her bad day she blamed entirely on her fellow servants. For no discernible reason, they had quite suddenly started plying her with ale some time after she finished her first one, and kept doing it for the rest of the night. It had all been a bit unclear from that moment on.But one thing was very clear – she would never touch another drop of the foul brew ever again.After all that she ended up being late, and Arthur was already dressed and sitting at the table, impatiently waiting for his meal.She could tell he was working up to a thorough lecture about not keeping royals waiting when she entered his chambers. That is, until he looked up and was greeted with the sight of her furrowed brow and squinting eyes, and subsequently broke into loud, rolling laughter at her expense."Shh, not so loud!" she moaned as his voice resonated in her poor head, quickly putting the tray of food down in front of him none too gently."That's what happens when you overindulge," he got out between bouts of laughter."You!" she exclaimed as it dawned on her. "You did this!""Well, you did ask for a drink," he sniggered."A drink!" she protested. "Not a whole barrel!"Why had it been so important to save him again? If she'd simply let Valiant have it his way, she wouldn't be in such agony right then."I'm glad I took you back," the Prince said sincerely, surprising her by putting his hand over hers where it was still resting on the table. "If only for the entertainment value."The young servant ripped her hand away away with a scowl and set to make the bed with her back turned on the man. If she kept looking at him, there was a big chance she'd act on her current fantasy of smashing the tomatoes from his silver plate and smearing them all over his smug face.It was going to be a long day.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

In a land of myth and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young girl. Her name: Merlin.
A whole week went by before Merlin finally got some respite from Prince Arthur in the form of a morning free from her duties.More likely than not, he had simply forgotten to give her the usual long list of chores before rushing off in his eagerness to take out some restless energy on the knights in the guise of training them.Or, she would have had the morning free, if it weren't for the fact that Gaius had taken one look at her returning from the Prince's chambers with a big smile and a spring in her step, and promptly decided that he could use an assistant for the day.Which was how the young servant found herself standing in the middle of the street in the lower part of town, staring down at the corpse of a man. It seemed that he had just fallen over dead, for no discernible reason. At least to her untrained eyes."Aren't you scared?" Merlin asked curiously as Gaius approached the dead body with the intention of examining it and finding the cause of the man's death."Of what?" Gaius inquired distractedly, his experienced eyes taking in every detail of the scene."That you might catch whatever it is," the girl replied.Her mother had always cautioned her against stepping too close to anyone's sickbed. Medicine was hard to come by in a small village like Ealdor, and recklessly interacting with an individual with a contagious disease might very well be the last thing one ever did."I'm the court physician, Merlin. This is part of my job," he replied calmly. "Most of the time there's nothing really to be scared of."On the other hand, as a physician, Gaius probably knew how to cure himself of more illnesses than most people.Gaius turned the corpse over to have a better look, and immediately pulled his hand away as if burned. It didn't look like any human being Merlin had ever seen before, either sick or healthy. The poor man's skin was unnaturally pale with an almost blue sheen to it. His eyes were open and glazed over with a film of white.Something was very wrong."You were saying?" the young girl said dryly, pushing aside her discomfort at the gruesome sight."People mustn't see this," the physician said in a low voice, his eyes darting quickly from side to side to check if anyone was paying attention to them. "They'll panic."It didn't take them long to find a cart to transport the body back to the physician's chambers for further examinations. An old, worn sheet had been carefully placed over it, to ensure that their cargo would stay hidden from curious onlookers."What are you doing?" asked a wondering voice as they crossed the castle drawbridge.Gwen looked her normal, cheerful self, despite her confused tone. She held a bouquet of newly picked wild flowers in a gentle grip."Er," the young sorceress searched for a good excuse, while at the same time trying to cover their load from the other servant's line of sight – without being obvious about it – by the use of her own body. "Just moving something.""Looks heavy," the other girl commented idly, fishing for more information."Er, it's nothing really," Merlin hedged, wracking her brain for a way to distract the other girl from her light interrogation. "Er, someone got you flowers?"Perhaps not the most subtle change of subject, but it would have to do."Oh! No," Gwen denied with a nervous giggle, embarrassed by the implication that she might have an admirer. "Would you like one? A purple one. Purple suits you," the girl rambled on, then her eyes widened as she looked at Merlin's dress. "Not that I'm saying red doesn't suit you.""The thought didn't even cross my mind," the sorceress assured the flustered girl with a grin, and accepted one of the delicate, little flowers. "Thanks!"Unsure what to do with the gift, as she needed both hands to pull the cart, she stuck its stem behind her ear."See?" the maidservant said genuinely as Merlin showed off her now decorated hair. "It looks lovely with your dark hair.""Thanks," Merlin said again, then looked over at Gaius, who was impatiently waiting for her to finish chatting and keep moving. "But I've got to go. See you!""Bye," she heard as she started pulling the cart with the dead man towards the castle again."You don't think she suspected anything, do you?" the young girl asked her guardian as soon as the other maid walked out of sight and hearing range."She would be both blind and stupid not to," the old physician said sardonically with one raised eyebrow. "Hopefully she just thinks it's you being you, and not a sign of impending doom.""You think we might be seeing more of this, then?" the dark-haired girl questioned worriedly, and stopped her forward motion once again.She held his gaze inquiringly."I fear it might not be an isolated case, no," Gaius said solemnly. "Now keep going!""I've never seen anything like this before," the bewildered physician said to his young assistant after an in depth study of the dead body."Do you think it could be some kind of plague?" the girl/Merlin asked when he lowered his magnifying glass."No. I fear that something like this could never come from nature," he said with the reluctance of a man who did not like the conclusions he was coming to. "But who has this kind of power?""You think it's caused by magic?" the young sorceress asked in surprise.Attempts on the King's life – and by extension, his son's – by wielders of magic was not entirely unexpected, and to a certain extent understandable. But who would want to attack the innocent population of Camelot? Unless it was simply some kind of personal grudge against this unfortunate dead man in particular, it made no sense."Merlin!" came the unmistakable shout of a vexed Prince Arthur from the other side of the door, interrupting the physician just as he was about to confirm her words.Merlin hurried to open the door before the impatient Prince burst into the room and spotted the corpse."Erm, I'm on my way," the girl defended herself when faced with his expectant expression. "Sorry I'm late.""Don't worry," the blond-haired, young man said dryly (meaning anything but). "I'm getting used to it."Arthur stared at the side of his servant's head with a furrowed brow, making her raise a hand self-conciously to tuck her hair behind her ear.
Oh.

The flower.
"I didn't know you had an admirer," the Prince said with a raised eyebrow. "Though, I fail to see how anyone in their right mind could admire you.""And what business is that of yours?" she spluttered in indignation at the insult."It is my business if you're giving your duties a miss because you're meeting up with some boy," he explained mock-patiently, his stern tone promising nothing good if that should be the case."If you must know," the young girl said tartly. "Gwen gave it to me.""Sure it was, whatever you say," he said sarcastically, clearly not believing her words. "I'm sure the poor girl appreciates being your scapegoat.""Did you want something?" she questioned impatiently, not in the mood for any more of their usual mix of teasing and mocking with a dead body hiding behind her and a possible outbreak of a magical plague to keep her busy."Tell Gaius my father wants to see him now," he said stiffly, all traces of the earlier mocking gone from his bearing."Okay," she acquiesced and closed the door as he departed."Gaius-" she started as she went back to his side."I heard," he replied, moving over to the wash basin to clean his hands."Wait," the girl said in confusion. "Why couldn't he just tell you himself?""'Cause that's the way it is," the physician answered easily while drying his hands on a piece of cloth. "You're a servant.""If he knew who I was, what I've done," the sorceress grumbled petulantly."You'd be a dead servant," he retorted stony-faced. "Right, get this covered up.""Hey, I'm not your servant!" she pointed out sharply."No, you're my dogsbody," he countered with amusement. "Come on, hurry up."The girl grimaced when the door shut after the physician, but set to work. They really didn't want to scare anyone that might stop by to look for a simple remedy for a headache, or something equally innocent.Merlin and Gaius stepped out of the way when a squad of armed guards, led by Prince Arthur, rushed past them as they were walking through town.After the physician's meeting with the King, there had been at least twice the amount of guards in the streets of Camelot. Despite their efforts to keep the mysterious sickness under wraps, there had been another fatality that had come to his royal attention. King Uther would not risk having a sorcerer slip through his fingers and do more harm to his kingdom and its people, so the Prince had been instructed to conduct thorough door to door searches."Gaius?" Merlin called out when she caught sight of another sick person leaning heavily on an empty stall a bit further along the road. "Gaius, he's still alive."The girl knelt on the ground by his side when she got there, torn between wanting to reach out and help the poor man or staying safely out of arms reach. She would most certainly have nightmares about pale faces and clouded eyes after this was all over."I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for him," the physician replied when he caught up to them."But we haven't even tried," she said pleadingly, looking down at the man who was barely concious."If we don't know what a disease is, then how can we cure him?" Gaius asked the distraught girl."With magic," she announced with conviction.If there was anything she could do to save those people, wasn't it her duty to do so?"Have a look around," he said in exasperation, indicating where the Prince and his men was currently stamping into yet another unsuspecting family's house, "They're suspicious of everyone."Merlin looked at the dying man with a heavy heart. If only magic wasn't outlawed, the problem could have been solved already. She was sure of it.Releasing a sigh of defeat, she got back to her feet."This is not the time to be using magic," Gaius continued gently, but firmly. "Science will lead us to the source of the disease."The young sorceress followed him back to the castle with a hanging head and a heavy heart.She could only hope science would hurry up before any more innocent people lost their lives to the illness.When Merlin got back to the physician's chambers after fetching a new bucket of water to fill the wash basin, Gaius was heating up a vial of a murky kind of liquid."What are you doing?" she questioned, since her eyes alone could not make sense of it."I'm examining the contents of that man's stomach," he replied simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world to be doing, and perfectly normal as well."Will that tell you who did it?" she asked, both to distract herself from thinking about the origins of the liguid and exactly how her uncle had acquired such a thing, and because she hoped it actually would."No," he denied without taking his eyes off the vial. "But it might tell us how it's spread," he continued while jotting down his observations on a piece of parchment. "One thing I do know, this is magic of the darkest kind.""Why would someone use magic like that?" she asked, unable to comprehend how different it was from her own experience with using it."Magic corrupts," the old man explained wearily, and for a moment he looked older than she had ever noticed before. "People use it for their own ends.""But not all magic is bad," the young sorceress argued. "I know it isn't."She couldn't be the only one who didn't want to kill anyone, could she?"It's neither good or bad," he stated calmly, putting down the vial and giving her a meaningful look. "It's how you use it."Both of them fell silent from their incriminating discussion when Arthur and his guards burst into the room without warning."Over there," the Prince commanded the men before turning to the owner of the chambers they were invading. "Sorry Gaius, we're searching every room in town.""What for?" the physician demanded incredulously."A sorcerer," the younger man replied simply."But why would he be here?" Gaius inquired in irritation, putting on a convincing show of confusion."I'm just doing my job," Arthur defended his actions against the older man."We've got nothing to hide," he declared dismissively. "Go on, then. Seach.""All these books and papers?" the Prince asked when he joined his men in a thorough ransacking of the rooms."My life's work, dedicated to the understanding of science," the physician replied proudly and defiantly. "You are quite welcome to read through them, if you wish."Prince Arthur quickly put down the book he'd been holding, as if he couldn't imagine a worse form of torture than having to read the heavy tome, and moved on to the next object of interest."What's this room up here?" he asked, pointing to the door at the far end of the chambers."Er, it's mine," Merlin piped up from her position beside her guardian."And what do you expect to find in there?" Gaius demanded an answer steely, his disapproval of the men rummaging a young girl's personal bedroom practically dripping from every syllable."I'm looking for material or evidence suggesting the use of enchantments," the young man clarified to justify the grievous breach in privacy and decorum, not to mention common decency."What've you done with the magic book I gave you?" the physician asked the young sorceress in a whisper after the Prince entered her room and out of view.The girl's bright eyes widened with alarm, and a chill of pure anxiety trickled down her spine."Merlin, come here," the slightly muffled command came drifting from the other room. "Look what I found."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Merlin couldn't help but drag her feet as she followed Prince Arthur's voice into her room. It felt eerily like walking to the gallows. Which she very well might be."I found a place where you can put things," he said mockingly over his shoulder as he heard her enter. "It's called a cupboard."The young sorceress released a quiet breath of relief, grateful that the Prince was merely being his usual condescending self, and hadn't actually found the damning evidence of sorcery that he could have found in there.
Yet.
The book in question was right there on the floor, in plain view for anyone who cared to look. She immediately directed the bedsheet from the bed to fall to the floor and cover it, before Arthur turned back around to face the bed."How did you manage to mess up your room this bad?" he exclaimed incredulously. "You haven't even been here a month!""Too busy cleaning up after you," she retorted under her breath.The Prince gave up his search after a quick look under the bed – the area lent a whole new meaning to the word 'messy' – and went back out to speak to Gaius."How long do you think it may be before you find a cure," he asked the physician."It depends on how many interruptions I get," the old man said, piercing the younger man with a stern look and an eyebrow raised in disapproval."Of course, I'm sorry," the Prince relented, then gathered his guards and left."We have to hide that book," Gaius announced as soon as the door closed behind their uninvited guests."No," Merlin countered. "We must use it.""Don't be stupid," the physician scoffed, brushing off her words without hesitation."If I have this legacy then what is it for?" the young sorceress asked, throwing her hands up in frustration. "You keep telling me it's not for playing tricks.""You want to practice magic when the King is hunting for sorcerers?" he questioned incredulously, trying to stare her down into seeing sense. "Are you mad? Merlin, your life is destined for more important things.""But if I don't practice, then how will I get to be this great sorceress?" she demanded loudly.It made complete sense to her. Someone needed her help, and she had the means to do it, then she should. Besides, practice makes perfect, right?"There will come a time when your skills will be recognised," the old man said with conviction, but some time in the distant future wasn't of much help to her now."When?!" she exclaimed impatiently, dissatisfied with his refusal to see her side. "How long do I have to wait?""Patience is a virtue, Merlin," her guardian said calmly."Sitting by and doing nothing, that's a virtue?" she rebutted doubtfully."Your time will come," he said, not wavering the slightest from his opinion."I could cure that man we saw," she said in a lower voice, fighting to keep it from breaking."I know it's tempting to use the way you find easiest, Merlin," he began with sympathy for her moral dilemma."It is when it would save a life," she interrupted insistently."It's no good saving just one person," he explained, trying to reason with the impulsive, young girl. "We have to discover how this illness is spreading."Arthur is out there right now looking for the sorcerer," she exclaimed, convinced he would have to find something. He had even searched Gaius' chambers, after all."A sorcerer who's powerful enough to do this will never be found searching the town," Gaius shouted, finally losing his composure.Then again, Arthur had completely missed the book of spells right in front of him and in plain sight in her room, so maybe her faith in his chances of finding the sorcerer responsible for the disease was misplaced."So what can we do?" she sighed, conceding to his reasoning.For now, at least."Hope that science can find the answer before it kills us all," he said with his usual lack of optimism.Dawn broke, bright an early.Another day, another dead body brought down by the mysterious disease."What's different about this victim?" Gaius asked his young assistant as they bent over the corpse of a young lady."Er, she's a woman," Merlin tried, not really seeing what the physician was getting at."Sometimes I do wonder whether your magical talents were given to the right person," he commented, paired with a look that said he thought she was being particularly dense that morning. "Anything else?""Erm," she gave the unfortunate woman another searching look before trying again. "She's a courtier.""Ah," Gaius nodded, letting her know she was on the right track."How does that help us?" Merlin asked, not sure where the old physician was going with his hints."Courtiers seldom go down to the lower town," he said unhelpfully. She already knew that. "So what does that mean?""Erm... That, that she hasn't spoken to any townspeople," she said, offering the first thing that popped into her head."Yes," Gaius said with a long-suffering sigh, looking pained at her failure to understand his point. "It suggests that the disease is not spread by contact.""Oh," she said in realisation. It did make sense when he said it like that. "And they probably ate different food.""Good," Gaius said, a smile of approval lurking at the corner of his mouth. "Anything else?""Erm, I doubt they breathe the same air," she suggested hopefully."So what's the only thing they do share?" the physician asked."Water," she said slowly, then lit up with excitement. "Water? You think the disease is spread through water?""Merlin, you're a prodigy," Gaius declared proudly, then handed her a bucket to go and get some more of it.The young girl grabbed the bucket and practically ran out of the room to complete her task of getting fresh – or, evidently, not so fresh – water.Finally they had a real lead to work from.Merlin's newfound optimism all but evaporated when Gwen ran past her by the well on the lower town, tears streaming down her face. And she could do nothing but listen as the other girl pleaded with the court physician to save her father's life.The young sorveress had no choice. She could not let Gwen lose her only remaining family. Not when she could so easily spare the kind maid the pain. Even if Gaius didn't approve. He was wrong. Letting an innocent man die could only ever be wrong.After a failed attempt at making the physician see sense, Merlin returned to her room.The book would have an answer. She was sure of it.The girl listened carefully at the door, making sure her guardian was still puttering around at the other end of his chambers, and not on his way to check up on her.Taking care not to make any suspicious noises, she got out the book of magic and started flipping through the pages in search of a cure.Gwen's father had less than a day left to live. There had to be something she could use in there.Making a healing poultice following the instructions from the book was easier than she'd thought it would be.Gaius seemed to have all thinkable ingredients available in his rooms already, and then all she needed to do was to infuse it with some of her magic.Even the guards upholding the newly instated curfew were simple enough to distract. There was one guy she'd had to knock out, but that worked out fine in the end too.And the relief and pure, unabashed happiness in Gwen's voice when her father woke up, free of the dreadful disease, made it all worth it.She had been too excited to sleep when she got back to her room, drunk on their happy reunion and her own victory.The next morning she was walking on air. Brimming with optimism and the answer to everyone's prayers.Even Gaius giving her suspicious looks and questioning her sudden change of mood could not bring her down.Nothing could that day.Until it all came crashing down around her in the form of Gwen being dragged through the corridors of the castle, begging for her life and pleading her innocence.The sound desperation in the young maid's voice was still echoing in Merlin's head as Gaius led her firmly into the physician's chambers and closed the door behind them with the expression of a man who thought it would have been more fitting to slam it shut."What've you done?!" he demanded as he turned back around to face the young sorceress."What?" she asked in confusion."I warned you!" he shouted. "Oh, I understand you thought you were doing good.""I couldn't let her father die knowing I could cure him," she explained defensively.Remembering her friend's tears and distress from the day before compared to the relief after her father's remarkable recovery, Merlin could not find it in herself to regret her choice to heal the blacksmith."Didn't you think it might look a bit suspicious, the curing of one man?" the old man questioned, the volume of his voice steadily increasing with every word he uttered."Well, then all I have to do is," she trailed off, searching for a solution to the problem she had inadvertently caused through her actions. "I'll save everyone! No one will ever have to know it was magic.""It's too late!" Gaius barked, frustrated by the girl's stubbornness and refusal to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation. "They think Gwen's the sorceress! They think she caused the disease!"The young girl felt a chill run down her spine."But she didn't!" she exclaimed, horrified at the remembrance of what had happened to the person she saw being accused of using magic on the day she arrived in Camelot for the first time.The chopping block.The very public spectacle of ending a man's life.She could not let that happen to Gwen.She had to stop it. Whatever it took. Gwen was not to blame for any of it. She was entirely innocent."Oh, and how are you going to prove that?" Gaius called after her as she rushed out of the room.She didn't answer him. She had no answer to give.What could she do? How could she possibly convince the King of Gwen's innocence?