Merlin sighed as he plopped down on a stool in Gaius's chambers and looked over to his mentor. "How will Arthur ever accept me if he still hates magic?" he questioned. Merlin had just come back from a long journey on which yet another sorcerer had attacked their party, and Arthur had spent the rest of the way home lecturing them all on the evils of sorcery.
Giaus smiled at his young ward, "don't worry my dear boy one day Arthur will be ready to hear the truth and accept you for what you are" he said comfortingly, Sitting down opposite him.
Merlin smiled tiredly at him, "you're probably right" he smiled and let out a huge yawn.
" You should get some rest, did you sleep at all on this venture?" Giaus asked glaring at the boy.
Merlin smiled sheepishly "well, between the evil sorcerer and Kilgharrah wanting to talk to me in the middle of the night I didn't really get much chance to sleep", he said a little sarcastically.
"Well you'd better get some rest then" Giaus said ushering him towards his bedroom door, "you know Arthur will want you up in the morning for something or other and we would want you to miss out on getting his majesty out of bed when he doesn't want to be". He said finally getting him through the door.
Merlin rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to protest that he wasn't that tired, Giaus quickly interrupted him "No more talking now, bed. And don't worry your self about Arthur he will be ready one day", Giaus quickly shut the door before Merlin could say another word.
Merlin smiled to himself and begun getting ready for bed, Giaus was probably right, there was no point worrying about it anyway, slowly he lay down and his eyes drifted shut.
A little boy with astonishingly blue eyes that held wisdom beyond their years and messy raven hair ran towards the stream, just behind him ran a little boy with blonde coloured hair slightly shorter than the other child but better filled out. The two little boys raced through the village, dust from the beaten road rising up every time they took a step, a sign of a hot summer meaning difficult times for the village. Neither boy cared about this though being to young to truly understand what hardship ment. As they neared the edge of the village the boy behind called out to his friend " Wait for me Merlin" desperately trying to keep up with his quick pace.
Merlin simply laughed "No way Will, I told you last one to the stream is a rotten egg". The villagers they ran passed both smiled and frowned in equal measures. The smiling people were laughing at their antics, pleased that they were enjoying themself's, the others were scowling as they believed the boys were too old at 8 to behave in such a way and should instead be working hard in the field. Luckily for the boys it was jot up to the scowl ears to decide how they spent their day, it was their mothers who had sent them off to play in the stream, to cool off from the scorching summers heat.
Finally escaping the confines of the village Will put on an extra burst of speed taking over Merlin and racing just ahead of him. Unfortunately just as he turned round to gloat the boys reached the stream. Merlin looking forwards tried to warn him but to no avail, Will tumbled over the edge of the small cliff and into the stream bellow, that was too fast for him to stop himself being swept away.
"Will!" shouted Merlin scared at seeing his friend disappear so quickly.
"Merlin, MERLIN! HELP!" Screamed Will being swept down the stream his screams beginning to get further and further away.
"Hang on I'm coming". cried Merlin racing down steam to find somewhere to rescue the other boy.
Merlins heart pounded as he raced after his friend watching his friends head bob above the water, and heard him gasp for breath. The young boy ran faster as Will was swept quicker and quicker down the stream.
Suddenly merlins heart stopped, in the distance he could see a white mist , where he knew there was a cliff...and a waterfall. "Will grab onto something!" He screamed terrified he would get swept over the edge.
Merlin could see Will desperately scrabbling at the edge of the river but his hands were finding nothing to grab onto. Merlin finally over took him and looked around for something for Will to grab onto. He bent down quickly whilst running and snatched up a branch, forcing himself to run faster still he drew a little further ahead and swung the stick out over the river.
"Grab on" he called. Will nodded and pushed away from the edge of the river and grabbed onto the branch.
Both boys sighed in relief and Will let out a trembly laugh, "I thought I was done for". Merlin smiled and began to pull him toward the edge.
Suddenly the branch snapped, time seemed to slow down for Merlin as Will, just meters from the edge of the fall began to be swept towards it again. Their eyes were locked and the panic in Will's eyes scared Merlin to his very core.
"NO!" He screamed and desperately threw his hand out to his friend. Suddenly Will stopped moving and began to rise out the water, Will watched Merlin with wide eyes as Merlin directed him towards the bank. Finally he was put down and collapsed to the floor. Merlin stayed frozen to the spot, eyes on the ground frozen with fear at what he'd just done. Every one of his mothers warnings raced through his head, about how he must not show anyone his gifts and how they must remain a secret or bad people would take him away.
Will looked up and slowly lifted a shaky finger to point at Merlin "yo..y...your a sorcerer?" He asked. Merlin slowly nodded refusing to look up.
Will pulled himself to his feet and walked towards him. Merlin's head was still so full off thoughts on what his mother would say and what would happen to him now.
When Will was stood right in front of Merlin the raven haired boy looked up towards his best friend, waiting for him to run off in fear. Suddenly Will threw his arm around him, "this is brilliant!" He cried "do you know how much fun we can have with this, Ooo we can play so many pranks and..." As Will carried one speaking excitedly getting faster and faster as he went, scheming on all the things they could do together understanding finally grew on Merlin. He wasn't scared, he wasn't planning on giving him up, he wasn't going scream and shout, he thought it was a good thing.
Will eventually ran out of ideas and looked back at his friend as he had started pacing when he began talking about ideas and noticed his friends wide shocked eyes. "Merlin, are you okay?" He asked now slightly worried for his friend.
Merlin finally spoke " y...your not afraid?" He asked.
"No why would I be?" Replied Will now looking confused.
Merlin now looked shocked the whites around his blue eyes were glaringly obvious "But...don't you think magic is evil?".
Will finally understood his friends confusion. "Merlin, your my best friend you could never be evil". Will grinned at his friend sure that he had inspired confidence in him. "Now come on we need to go home I'm freezing" he grabbed Merlins hand and began to pill him back towards the village still chattering on about Merlins powers and what they could do with them. Merlin let himself be dragged along with a huge grin on his face.
Slowly the sun streamed in on Merlins face, his eyes opened and he smiled. His face was 10 years older but his eyes still held the wisdom from beyond his time that he had ten years ago. He remembered the day when Will had found out his secret well, it was when he knew he had made a friend for life. Suddenly through the castle came the faint shout of "MERLIN" from Arthur. Merlin rolled his eyes then smiled again. Although he was not fool enough to believe Arthur would accept his magic as quickly as Will had, Giaus was right, one day he would accept it and become the once and future king he was destined to be.