Hi, this is the requested sequel to 'Determined To Carry On.' I sadly do not own Merlin. I hope you enjoy this. This is kind of an introductory chapter to build up some background and to set the scene. The main plot with anti-Uther conspiracies will begin in Chapter 3.

Merlin was grinning widely, drawing in the sights and smells all around him. Trees were rushing past him as he bounced up and down on a pure white horse, Arthur sitting behind him with one arm wrapped around the child. The smell of damp earth was blissfully fresh in comparison to Gaius' stuffy chambers and Merlin was incredibly thankful that Arthur had eventually agreed to take him on patrol that day with the other knights. He was having the time of his life. Gwaine was galloping ahead waving his arms and singing gleefully;

I am sir Gwaine the gallant knight,

Riding through forests with great delight,

Barmaids and courtiers would fall to their knees,

If they ever saw someone as handsome as me!

Percival and Arthur exchanged dark looks when Gwaine began to improvise another verse, something about the tavern and a woman called Rosemary, but Merlin was humming along cheerfully enjoying the break in the monotonous silence. Gwaine was unperturbed and continued on, ignoring the metaphorical daggers that Percival was throwing at him.

And any woman who spends time with me,

Will be grateful and happy, dancing with glee,

Because I am sir Gwaine, gallant and handsome,

Brave enough to hold a huge thug at ransom!

So be you blonde or brunette, dark or fair,

If you want a good time, you need me there,

If mead is on offer we'll have a great time,

Because I am handsome….bugger that doesn't rhyme

The others burst out laughing at Gwaine's failed attempt to end his song, clearly Gwaine didn't notice that he had inadvertently rhymed time with rhyme, but they did not inform him. He didn't need to be any more big headed!

"Are you going to be quiet up now?" Arthur smiled, relishing in the short moment of silence.

"What, we all know you love my singing Princess!" Merlin burst out laughing at Arthur's pet-name and was rewarded with a sharp poke in the side.

"Hey!" He turned around and scowled at Arthur, but failed to pull off an angry look, he was far too cute and his eyes too bright and wide to be threatening.

"Anyway, my song wasn't that bad considering I made that up on the spot! You are just jealous of my many talents!"

"Oh really, somehow I think that…" Arthur was suddenly cut off by a loud battle cry coming from his left. He immediately sprung into action, dismounting his horse, pulling Merlin onto the ground, shoving him behind a bush and drawing out his sword in one swift motion. Merlin grumbled in protestation but kept his head down, wincing when he watched Arthur take on three bandits at once. Gwaine was fiercely battling a huge dark haired brute and Percival was looking bored whilst attacking two more men.

Everything seemed to be going well for Camelot's knights, Arthur had already killed two of his opponents and the third had a deep gash in his shoulder. Gwaine had already overpowered the hulk of a man and had taken on one of Percival's opponents, grinning at his friend and passing weapons between them, jumping back and avoiding jabs almost gracefully.

Merlin was still huddled behind his bush, eyes wide and breath quick. He thought it would soon be safe for him to come out when his face contorted with fear. Behind Arthur were at least twenty more oncoming men, the knights were well and truly outnumbered. Standing up quickly Merlin moved forward to see if he could help, the colour draining from his face when he saw Arthur being knocked to the floor by another bandit brandishing a star spiked mace. Gwaine was also backed up against a tree and Percival had been thrown to the ground by four bandits, one of whom was snarling with a sword biting into Percival's neck. Merlin could see a small cut on the knight's neck, a rivulet of blood trickling down his armor. Anger blared through the child and he thought back to his spell book, remembering a spell that he had only used once.

"TERGUM"* Merlin screamed the spell at the top of his voice and grinned when all of the bandits flew back against the ground unconscious. Arthur looked up through bleary eyes, he was clinging on to his chest and grunted in pain when he turned to see Merlin standing up and swaying ever so slightly from exertion. He had never performed such powerful magic and it had cost him a lot of energy. The boy however ignored this fact and sprinted over to Arthur, dropping down to his side and pulling off Arthur's armor the way George taught him, being incredibly careful and gentle. Despite Merlin's best efforts Arthur groaned, wincing and biting down on his lip. He had to stay strong. Merlin had summoned some strange leaves over and was currently chewing them into a thick paste and after he had vanished away most of the blood he spat it out and rubbed it into Arthur's chest. Rolling over slightly Arthur gagged, the pain was unbearable, he had probably faced worse but at the moment his eyes were stinging and his body was protesting. It was taking all his will power to prevent his body from emptying the contents of his stomach.

Percival and Gwaine came over, Percival rubbing his throat subconsciously and supporting a limping Gwaine.

"T-thank you Merlin! You really saved our skin." Merlin smiled weakly and began to mutter spells under his breath until Arthur's breathing evened out and the pain had almost vanished, reduced to a dull throbbing. He noticed that his hands were shaking so stuffed them in his pockets.

"Gwaine, are you hurt?" Sharp as ever, Merlin had noted Gwaine's limp and moved over to the ragged knight. Although Gwaine was trying to hide it Merlin could sense that he was in a lot of pain, the wide grin had been wiped from his face and the knight was much paler than usual.

"Nothing too bad…"

"Don't lie to me!" Merlin scowled when the knight tried to conceal the truth from him, too many people had lied to him in the past, saying everything was alight when in reality everything was far from ok.

"Really Merlin, it doesn't hurt too much." Merlin's brows furrowed further as he watched Gwaine grit his teeth.

"Let me see!"

"Fine." Gwaine reluctantly allowed Percival to let him down and pulled up his trouser leg to reveal a blackened ankle.

"That definitely cant be called not too bad. It is broken." With a momentary flash of gold Gwaine's ankle snapped back in to place and the bruising vanished, causing the knight to scream in agony.

"Ah- Merlin couldn't you have numbed it first?"

"No, I haven't got the hang of that spell. Last time I tried Gaius complained that he couldn't feel his toes for a week!"

"Well that's just brilliant!" Gwaine began to grumble under his breath but Merlin took no notice, muttering the same spells as he had used on Arthur until Gwaine's facial muscles relaxed and the pain had been banished. Now, Merlin's hands were shaking even more and his vision was going slightly fuzzy, he had ignored his bodies' protests and had continued using magic, ignoring the warning signs that all was not well.

The knights, now free of pain went back to their horses and thanked their lucky stars that Merlin had been around to save them. The boy had been awfully quiet, yawning widely and looking pale. He seemed to be more worse-for-wear than they were. The knights decided it would be best if they turned around and headed back to Camelot for all of their sakes.

When they were 30 miles away from Camelot's gates everything went to hell. They had all thought that they had faced enough bandits for one day, but clearly the fates disagreed. The odds were not in their favour. Arthur visibly paled when he saw at least 40 bandits, some seemingly the same as those they had faced earlier. They must have finally woken up and gathered more men. Gwaine swore under his breath and dismounted, immediately joining Percival who was at loggerheads with five men at once.

"There's too many of them!" Arthur realised with horror that there was no way three knights would be able to take on these men, it was over ten-to-one and they didn't stand a chance. However, that statistic did not take Merlin into account, and despite Arthur's constant insistence that Merlin was a woman's petticoat or a wimp; he was far stronger than even he knew. With another burst of energy the three knights found themselves being pulled through the air, collapsing to the ground by Merlin's feet. When they looked up they saw the world through a shimmering veil. By the looks of things Merlin had cast an invisible, bubble-shaped force field around them, which was iridescent and shimmering in the sunlight. The bandits were all staring at each other stunned and the knights could hear muffled shouts.

"Sorcery!"

"…using magic."

"Kill…"

"Cant get through… what should I do?"

The knights looked in amazement at Merlin, who was trembling violently and looked close to collapse. His brows were furrowed, his breath heavy, his tongue poking the corner of his mouth. Merlin had curled both his hands into fists and he was tapping his foot on the floor, deep in concentration. Arthur quickly went over to the boy who had begun to sway and sat him down on his own lap. He gently stroked the child's sweat-drenched hair and squeezed one of his hands comfortingly. Merlin took up a vice-like grip on Arthur's hand and let out a low groan.

"Keep at it Merlin. You are doing really well. They will give up and leave us alone soon, just a little longer." Merlin grimaced and did not reply, he was almost completely breathless, gasping in air desperately. He buried his head into Arthur's shoulder and closed his eyes. Gwaine pulled out his water skein and pressed it to the child's lips, gently tilting it to encourage Merlin to drink; with his other hand he rubbed the boy's back in small circles.

"You are doing really well. Well done. Just a bit longer. I am right here for you. You can do this." Arthur continued to quietly reassure the boy, his voice low and quiet so that Merlin could focus on the spell.

"C-can't." Merlin slumped down further into Arthur's arms and Arthur began to cuddle him tighter.

"Yes you can. Yes you can! I believe in you Merlin." Merlin gasped at the effort maintaining the spell was causing him. His body felt like it was on fire and an unbearable ache had taken hold of him.

"H-Hurts." Merlin was in so much pain that he had begun to stutter again, a habit that he had just about managed to kick now that he had settled down in Camelot and felt relatively safe.

"I know Merlin. Just breathe for me." Merlin had begun to cry softly and Arthur saw in horror that the bubble surrounding them had receded slightly when one of the bandits had bought a sword down on to it.

"M-make it stop!" Arthur sighed and pressed his lips to the child's forehead to try and offer a bit more comfort, there was nothing else he could do. The knights formed a protective ring around Merlin and all offered him whatever comfort they could.

Percival was frowning deeply, eyeing the bandits, who appeared to be finally giving up.

"They are going." Arthur, Gwaine and Merlin all looked up and smiled when they saw the bandits retreat, and when they were well out of sight Merlin allowed the protective bubble to disappear.

In all of the commotion the horses had run away so they would have to walk back. Gwaine and Percival stood up first, Gwaine gently lifting Merlin to his feet so that Arthur could rise.

"Come on Merlin, not far now." Merlin wobbled precariously on his feet but dragged himself forward a few steps. He let out a small grunt when the effort got too much and wiped the sweat from his face. He managed to continue walking for about 10 minutes before he began to fall behind. Linking hands with the boy, Arthur slowed down slightly and felt concern wash over him when he felt how clammy the child was. Percival had also seen how weak Merlin was and went forward, eyes asking for permission from Arthur to carry the boy. Arthur gave him a small nod and Percival scooped Merlin up in one arm. He was still ridiculously light and skinny despite all he ate and Arthur was convinced that Merlin had hollow legs. The child was now dozing and all of the knights looked exhausted.

"Sire, do you think we should set up camp? It is getting dark and it is clear that Merlin cannot carry on much longer, he needs food and rest. Those spells clearly cost him a lot, he healed both me and you, knocked out those bandits before and then kept that bubble thing going for ages." Gwaine was looking concernedly at Percival, who with the added, if minimal weight of Merlin, was slowing down. He knew that they all needed to stop soon before someone collapsed.

Arthur looked miserable, they were so close, but eventually he listened to the voice of reason and agreed. Percival settled Merlin down against a tree and began to collect firewood with Arthur whilst Gwaine kept a close eye on the child and began to prepare some rabbit that he had in his bag. Once a roaring fire was raging and the rabbit had been cooked Arthur walked softly over to Merlin and shook him gently.

"Merlin, you have to wake up now."

"W-what. Tired. Sleeping." Merlin turned his head away again and almost immediately dozed of.

"Merlin." Merlin jerked awake and scowled.

"Leave me a-a-alone." Merlin yawned widely mid sentence and glared at Arthur.

"You need to get your strength up and eat."

"Mmm…" Merlin accepted the rabbit he was handed and ate it quietly. Half an hour passed and the others had all fallen asleep and Merlin soon followed suit. As soon as he fell asleep he was plagued with nightmares about his mother, Arthur and bandits. He woke with a start and tried to get comfortable again, but the ground seemed harder than usual and there was a rock digging into his side. Merlin silently stood up and made his way over to Arthur, dragging his blanket with him. He cautiously settled against the Prince and nustled his face into the older man, breathing in his comforting scent.

Arthur felt a source of warmth pressed up against him and when he opened his eyes he saw Merlin's pale face staring straight at him.

"Merlin, why are you awake? Get some sleep." Arthur groaned and blinked some of the sleep out of his eyes.

"I kept having nightmares."

"Oh… Um…"

"Can I have a hug?" Merlin sounded uncertain and was relieved when Arthur cuddled him gently. They lay in silence for a while, Merlin clinging onto Arthur's shirt, an action which made him feel slightly more grounded.

"Arthur?"

"Yes?"

"Why do bad things always happen to me?" Arthur was slightly startled by this question and didn't know what to say.

"Um, I cant answer that. But things will get better, I am sure of that!" Merlin nodded and immediately accepted Arthur's answer.

"Ok."

"Merlin you should try to get some sleep."

"Will you stay with me? I don't want to sleep on my own, it is too dark."

"Of course, you can sleep here with me." Arthur sighed internally but decided that for once he wouldn't be selfish.

"Arthur, I'm scared."

"There is nothing to be afraid of Merlin. Just get some sleep." Arthur rolled over slightly and felt a twig crack beneath his weight, emanating a loud snapping noise. He felt Merlin jump next to him and tightened his grip around the boy.

"Sleep Merlin. I will look after you." With another small nod Merlin wriggled slightly and soon fell asleep next to Arthur, who gave him a quick kiss and drifted off as well.

I hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter will be posted tomorrow or the day after depending on reviews :)