Chapter 1

Arthur took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, turning his head to watch the kingdom he built below. Over the years he had shaped and moulded Camelot into the land that he had always dreamed he would rule with his most trusted advisor as ever by his side.

The cool breeze floating over the battlements gently waved the flags above and made the smoke from the buildings in the town drift slightly below. He smiled as he watched the children run laughing on the streets, safe in his peaceful kingdom – safe from magic.

"You've done well." Came the all too familiar voice from behind, "Camelot is prospering and you are well on your way to being the greatest leader this kingdom has ever seen."

"Do you really think so Merlin?" He asked, turning to face his friend.

"It's your destiny." Merlin said with surety.

"You know what, Merlin? I still don't understand how sometimes you're the complete idiot that you are and others..." He trailed off, shaking his head at the other man who looked half-insulted and half-amused.

"I don't know. There's always been something about you, Merlin. I'm just not quite sure what it is yet."

"I'm a riddle wrapped in a mystery."

"Indeed."

"And you're just a prat."

"Hey!"

"Fine, you're less of a prat than you used to be – happy?"

"I am not a prat!"

"Sure, but you were a lot thinner back then!" He half shouted, already breaking into a run just in time to hear an angry King shout "Oi!" and come tearing back into the castle after him.

Gwen smiled as she watched Merlin and Arthur race by in the corridor, Merlin laughing whilst her husband was shouting "I am not fat!" For the skinny thing that he was, Merlin could fairly move when he wanted to, even after the all of the work Arthur put him through in the day.

Despite being made Personal Advisor to the King, he still insisted that he kept his role as Arthur's manservant, much to everyone's surprise. At first, some of the court were against a servant being made an advisor to a royal but after a short reminder that she, as the current Queen, used to be a servant from the King himself quickly stopped any protests to the idea, and so Merlin remained forever faithfully by Arthur's side, just how he liked it.

She walked out into the sunshine of the courtyard and into the bustling streets of the market in the town. There she spied her daughter, Eve, by the jewellery with her best friend Clara, Leon's girl. Her beautiful daughter was the joy of her life and so far her child but that didn't matter as she was perfect in every way.

She had mainly taken after her father in looks with long blond hair that matched his perfectly but she shared her own chocolate eyes and slight curls. Despite being a excellent fighter, she always did have a weakness for jewellery – unfortunately meaning the more expensive the better.

"Hello Mother," the young Princess greeted, still keeping a careful eye on a particular gold necklace she had spotted.

"Good morning Gwen," Clara chimed in – Gwen would have none of the 'My Lady' nonsense and preferred to be called by her own first name.

"Morning girls." She smiled, approaching the two 14 year olds.

"I'm glad you're here mother, look what I spotted!" Eve grinned as she lifted the delicate piece.

It had a thin gold chain with just one blue jewel at the bottom, but it was unlike anything that she had seen before. It was as clear as a pure pool of water but a striking deep blue colour that glittered and shone in the light with an effect like flames. As expensive as her daughters choices were, at least she had taste.

"Ah, my ladies, I see that you have found one of my rarest and most precious necklaces" said the stall holder coming over to the three women.

"From further away than the White Mountains as one of only three pieces of jewellery made with the rare ore of a Blue Flame Stone, it truly is my finest and most exquisite piece on offer - a beauty worthy of a Princess as beautiful as yourself, my Lady." He grinned, bowing slightly. Eve's cheeks flushed a light pink at the compliment.

"It is a beautiful necklace..." Gwen began. She was trying to resist giving in to her daughter's pleading eyes but then realised that it was futile to try and sighed in resignation.

"Alright, we'll take it." The stall holder widened his cheesy grin while he placed the necklace in a beautiful wooden box, sealed it with a key and then handed it to Eve.

"It is an honour to have done business with you your majesties!"

As the women left, no one noticed the slight smirk that played on his lips.

~Merlin~

The warlock rounded the corner to hear a commotion from a neighbouring corridor. He frowned as he heard something like a vase shattering as it hit the floor followed by raised voices and the sound of running footsteps.

Warily, he tiptoed quietly to the turning where he heard the voices coming from but just as he stepped out to see what was going on, a small boy collided with him head on.

"Will!" He exclaimed, as soon as he had regained his senses after the crash "What in the world are you doing? Are you ok?"

"Father! Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Got to run, see you!" the boy replied before continuing to sprint down the empty corridor.

Confused, Merlin slowly walked to where he had heard the commotion before but now it was quiet – too quiet. Before he knew what was happening, four more boys came pelting down towards him but with his quick reflexes Merlin was able to grab two of them by the scruff of their collars.

"Whoa! You're going nowhere you two." He said, letting them both go "Rowan, Mark – what were you all doing?" he questioned "First I hear vases breaking and raised voices and then I get attacked by a mob of teen boys running around the castle!" The two looked at each other and grinned cheekily. Merlin gave raised an eyebrow at them that Gaius would've been proud of.

"We were just messing around..." the older boy, Rowan began "We were having this pretend battle between me, Mark and Dylan against Will and Luke and we were winning but then Will and Luke went down a passageway that we didn't know about so by the time we caught up with them, Will was able to get away and Luke tried to follow but we were already there and so we started sparring and then Dylan accidently knocked over the vase and then Luke legged it and we rand after him so... yeah... that's what happened..." he trailed off

"We cleared away the pot, by the way. I'm sure no-one would mind, it was a horrible vase anyway." added Mark, grinning like his father – Where was Gwaine anyway? He thought, he didn't see him this morning - must be at training already. Merlin shook his head with a small smile.

"Well off you go then, just don't break anything else!" he told them, "Oh and Rowan, I think that your brother went that way" he said, pointing to where Will had ran before "See you boys!"

After watching them laugh and run off, Merlin continued on his way to the training field. He wasn't at all surprised to see Lancelot's daughter Florence and Percival's Robin, training across from the knights - they were probably more eager than any of the knights anyway. They were always sparring with each other and together could probably be a match for any of the grown men currently attacking each other with swords across from them.

He walked over to watch Arthur and the knights as well as the two girls training hard and sat down next to seven year old Ava who was watching her friends and father, Elyan, also. She and her brother Luke were adopted by the knight many years ago but had always been accepted as part of the family. Ava was the youngest of all the children of the knights and Royals but her age definitely did not hinder her confidence and determination. She wasn't scared of anything and although she didn't look like much, her bite was much worse that her bark.

"Hello Merlin!" she said happily, swinging her legs under the weapons stand that she was currently sitting on.

"Hello Ava – how's training going?"

"Robin's winning against Flo by two and daddy's neck and neck against Uncle Percy but I think he's going to win" she stated "Oh and Uncle Artie was looking for you before – he said something about the stables and two months or something like that..." Merlin groaned

"Thanks Ava" he said before heading towards the knights and the prat.

"Ah, Merlin, how nice of you to join us – I was just telling the Knights here how you had volunteered to muck out all of their horses as well as clean all of their armour!" Merlin opened his mouth to protest but before he could Arthur slapped him on is back and added "Well! Glad that's all sorted! Now, don't we have a council meeting to be attending?"

Merlin groaned once again, could his day possibly get any worse?

~Merlin~

"...and so the next patrol should be extra careful because of the more frequent bandit attacks - especially around the borders of Merris where most have been reported." Arthur warned the court at the round table. The surrounding nobles nodded and murmured in acknowledgement unaware of the presence of the four children eavesdropping from above.

"I told you it would be boring!" hissed Robin to the others.

"Shhh! Or we'll get caught!" whispered Mark in response.

"Why are we doing this anyway?" complained Rowan.

"Because I overheard father talking to Uncle Gwaine about a possible attack on Camelot" replied Dylan.

"Did you really hear Uncle Leon say that?" asked Robin quietly.

"Yes, that's definitely what father said – ask Clara if you don't believe me!" confirmed Dylan.

"Well if you're sister was there as well then..." said Rowan.

"See, I am telling the truth!" said Dylan.

"Will you all shhhh! They'll hear us! We're not meant to be here and I can't hear what they're saying!" whispered Mark, moving closer to the edge of the balcony to hear better.

"Are there any more issues that need to be discussed?" asked the King. The knights looked at each other before Sir Leon replied

"Sire, there have been reports from around the Kingdom of some unrest... People – well, sorcerers – have been reported to have gathering near Lot's kingdom. Rumours of uprisings and rebellions have been spreading around the towns and cities that are causing some panic. There are apparently meant to be a very large number of them – Sire, it could be an army."

"An army? Led by who?" thundered Arthur

"Morgana, Sire"