It had been a very long few days for Merlin and he found himself utterly exhausted as the first rays of sunlight woke him from his restless slumber. He wanted only to pull the blankets over his head and never leave the safety of his bed.

What he had seen in the crystal had shaken him to his very core and he felt terrified at what his future held. Thoughts of Camelot in ruins streaked across his much abused mind.

In the past three days he'd had druids talking much too loudly in his mind, the power of the crystal searing his brain, and now an angry dragon yelling at him while he tried to get some much needed sleep.

The headache that had started three days ago was monumentally worse and Merlin felt sure that it would plague him for days to come. With that pleasant thought he slowly dressed and tried calm all the horrible thoughts raging in his head.

He was hoping that Gaius would have left for his morning rounds already because he was sure he could not force himself to eat breakfast. His appetite had been nonexistent since he held the crystal and his headache was making him feel slightly nauseous.

Of course he had no such luck. Gaius watched him like a hawk as he stumbled out of his room, squinting at the bright light coming through the window. Merlin could not help the hand that went to his head in an attempt to stave off the suddenly much worse headache.

"Merlin, you look awful. Did you not get any sleep again?" Gaius asked with concern etched across his features.

Merlin folded himself in a chair and quietly replied, "Not much."

"What is it? Were you hearing voices again?"

Merlin had never told Gaius about his promise to set the great dragon free so he squinted his eyes shut in the hopes that this would help him lie better.

"No, just nightmares, about what I saw in the crystal." Merlin replied. He knew that this would have been true enough had he been given the luxury of sleeping.

Gaius looked sympathetic but did not press him for any details for which Merlin was very grateful. He was having a hard enough time eating his breakfast while his head threatened to split in two.

"Maybe you should stay here and rest today. You look rather pale."

A shiver ran down Merlin's spine. As tired as he was the thought of spending the day alone sounded horrible. He wanted to stay busy so his thoughts would not dwell on the future he had seen.

"I'm alright, I'm sure Arthur has a lot of stuff for me to do..as usual." Merlin replied.

"Alright, just remember what I told you last night. The future that you saw in the crystal is not absolute. You can change it for the better," he said kindly.

Merlin felt more weight added to his already burdened shoulders at this. He knew Gaius was only trying to comfort him but he felt so tired and worn and wished for once that he could be anybody else.

Why did his life have to be so difficult?

He knew the answer to this of course. His destiny to protect Arthur from all harm was never going to be easy. He figured his destiny was probably getting hungry so he forced himself out of his chair and to the kitchens to get Arthur's breakfast.

Of course he found the prince sitting at his table thrumming his fingers impatiently, just as he did almost every other morning. "Nice of you to join me Merlin, would it kill you to be on time just for once?"

"No, but the shock of it may just kill you sire, and I don't want to take that chance." Merlin replied with a cheeky grin.

Merlin began busying himself tidying up Arthur's chambers while the prince rambled off the long list of chores that needed doing for the day. Suddenly, a much louder voice interrupted everything else.

"Merlin....Merlin....I know you can hear me, and it is foolish of you to think that you can ever ignore me."

With a gasp Merlin dropped Arthur's armor as both hands flew to his aching head. "What do you want," Merlin whispered as his eyes watered from the pain.

"Merlin, what on earth are you doing?" Arthur's voice cut through the haze of pain.

Merlin slowly lowered his shaking hands from his temples and tried to look normal as he answered the prince, "Sorry, just tripped a little and dropped the..." Merlin's reply was cut off as the dragon spoke again.

"You know exactly what I want and I will not let you rest until you keep your promise. Now set me free!"

"No! No I can't. Not now, Camelot is not safe!" Merlin replied in a pained whisper. The pain from the dragon's yell made it hard for him to think. He forgot that he was not alone and was probably looking quite loony to the prince.

"Merlin! What is wrong with you? Are you ill?" Merlin opened his eyes to see Arthur standing very close. He was looking at Merlin with concern.

"I'm fine..I...eh" Merlin finished with a groan as the dragon invaded his mind once again.

"I will get what I want from you young warlock. I will break you down until you have no choice but to set me free. That is my promise to you."

Then, the dragon began to hum. It was a horrible, heart wrenching tune that made Merlin want to weep. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he was sure that this song was a song for his people, followers of the Old Religion who had died at Uther's hand.

Merlin felt lost in a sea of agony from his heart and his head. The humming was causing him unbearable pain. He vaguely felt himself being pushed onto Arthur's bed and immediately curled in on himself as much as he could, hands gripping his head.

"I'm going to find Gaius," he thought he heard Arthur say.

"Please...please make it stop," he begged the dragon weakly. Tears were coursing down his face. "Please, don't do this to me, I'll help you as soon as I can."

"I have waited long enough. Now you will feel the pain that I have felt all these years, as my kind and your kind have been killed by that tyrant that imprisoned me here. You will not rest until you do as you promised me Emrys."

The humming started again, much louder, and Merlin's mind could take no more abuse. He let himself sink into unconsciousness.

He awoke, sometime later, to find himself back at Gaius'. He must have been asleep for quite some time, because he felt somewhat rested. The humming continued and his head was still throbbing, but the absence of the exhaustion he had felt earlier helped him to combat the heartbreaking song in his head.

"Merlin! You're awake," Gaius said as he came into the room.

Merlin winced from the volume of his voice and said, "Sorry to worry everyone."

"What on earth happened? Arthur just said you looked like you were having some kind of fit. We found you unconscious in his room."

Merlin decided that now was the time to confess the deal that he had made with the great dragon. He was going to need Gaius' help to figure out a way to stop the dragon from tormenting him. After what he saw in the crystal, the last thing he could bear to do was set it free.

"There's something I must tell you, but first, could I have something for my head?" Merlin wasn't sure the pain relieving draught would work, but he was desperate for some relief.

"Are you in pain?" Gaius was back in physician mode, but Merlin waved him off and drank the draught.

"Yes, but it's connected to what I need to tell you."

Gaius sat down to listen to Merlin's story.

"It started when Sigan was trying to destroy Camelot. You told me to go ask for help from the great dragon. As we had no other choice, I did."

Gaius nodded, "And it was a good thing you did, Camelot was doomed."

Merlin nodded, "Yes, but what I didn't tell you was that the dragon had a condition for giving me the knowledge to kill Sigan."

"He made me give him my word that I would one day set him free."

Complete and utter silence followed this statement. Merlin looked up to see a shocked look on Gaius' face.

He eventually recovered, "Merlin! How could you make such a promise!"

"I had no other choice! It would have been impossible to kill Sigan without him and I could not let Arthur die!" Merlin replied in a hurt voice. How could Gaius think that he would ever agree to something like this had he another choice?

"I'm sorry Merlin, you're right. This is just very disturbing. Setting the dragon free would be terribly dangerous for Camelot. That dragon does not forgive or forget. Uther would surely be killed!"

"I know that." Merlin paused as he just realized that the horrible humming had stopped. It seemed that the dragon was listening in. As soon as Merlin began to breath a sigh of relief he heard a chuckle and the humming continued. Merlin pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned.

"What's wrong Merlin?"

"The dragon is impatient and is demanding that I set him free now. He's in my head Gaius, always. I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean he's always in your head?"

"Whenever he wants a word with me, he'll call to me in my mind. But last night, he began yelling. He stayed in my head all night, I couldn't sleep. And today, in Arthur's chambers, I told him that I could not set him free now, so he found another way to torment me."

"How?" Gaius asked quietly.

"He's humming. He's humming the most terrible song I've ever heard. It's a song for the dead. The dead followers of the Old Religion. He said he won't stop until I've kept my promise to him."

Merlin laid his aching head on his arms, "It's going to drive me mad. It affects me, it feels as though I knew these sorcerers, as though I have many dead brothers and sisters."

"And it causes you actual pain?"

Merlin nodded slowly. "Yes, it's always painful for me to have voices in my mind. But this is constant, I've got to find a way to stop it. Can you help me find a way?"

Gaius was looking at Merlin with such pity in his eyes that it was staggering. He hated to see his nephew hurting in any way and he could see the haunted pained look in his eyes that he would find any way to stop.

"Yes Merlin, of course I will help you. Now please, take this sleeping draught. I'll begin my research at once."

Merlin was so grateful to his uncle and took the draught at once. He fell asleep with a small amount of hope in his heart. Tomorrow was after all, another day.

To be continued....