I ran. It's all I could do. An instinct. If you see a sorcerer, kill it. It's evil. If you can't beat it by yourself, run. That's what I had been taught. What if you were taught wrong? I silently asked myself. What if your father is wrong Arthur? I went on. What if it isn't evil? What if it's the person that wields it that makes magic evil? I stopped. I would be committing treason if I didn't tell King Uther. The crown prince against the King's laws? Insane.

I slowly sat down. Where was I? I remember running down. Past the dungeons, and past the gate. I looked around. I was in a cave. The walls were roughly made in the tunnel I came through, and the caves natural formations provided hazards all around; I was on a ledge that had stairs heading to the rock in the center of the room. The rock was scratched, like some animal had rested there for years. I slowly started to go down. I had to get a closer look.

Then I saw it. The chain. I realized where I was. The Great Dragon's cave. Its prison thanks to my father. When he came to this land, it was overrun by magic. He hunted down even the slightest magical being, and killed all of them, except for this one, which he kept locked under the castle as an example. The dragon had somehow gotten out of this cave last month, we were still recovering from the damages it caused in its fight for revenge. For some reason, the hate that rose to my mind was not for the dragon, nor was it for the sorcerer that had let it loose. No, it was for the man that had started it all.

I heard footfalls, but couldn't turn my head away from the chain. It was broken in the middle of a link. It was such a heavy chain as well. Was the dragon able to fly at all the last twenty years? Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I slowly turned away and looked at the person who followed me here. The feeling of betrayal rose in my throat. Merlin. The man had been with me for years, yet he never trusted me enough to tell me. He had magic. He used it. He had saved my life with it.

He still looked the same. Wearing his always present neckerchief, and his ebony hair disheveled. Skinny as a twig, his eyes still full of emotion. Nothing shouted, "I'm different! I'm evil! I use magic!" Nothing had changed about the useless manservant, except for what I know about him. His eyes followed my every move. He didn't know how I would react. I didn't know how I would react.

"Arthur. . . . I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have found out this way. I should have told you long ago," he said his voice heavy with regret. My first instinct was to lay it off as a lie. Sorcerers can't feel anything but hate. My second thought was that this was Merlin. He couldn't hurt a fly, let alone hate someone completely, and he is the worst liar in the world. Or at least, that's what he acted like. It was unfathomable. He kept this from me for so long, and yet he can't lie about me missing training. So was the thought of him being able to kill something with a couple of words and a flick of his wrist. I had seen that with my own eyes. Maybe the unfathomable isn't all that unfathomable.

"I. . . . . . I don't. . . . . . Should I?" I said slowly. He looked at me. I could tell he knew how confused I was, that I had to chose between my friend and the laws of my kingdom.

I looked up when there were more footsteps. A shadowed figure came into my line of sight. Merlin tensed while I reached for my sword. He hadn't seen it. Did he really think I would attack him? After all he had done for me without any credit?

"So the prince has finally found out about your gift Merlin?" the figure said in a woman's voice, "did you tell him about mine? Or will I have to demonstrate?" She slowly raised her hand. "Claovern wasilek foresen-"

That's when Merlin reacted. He looked at her with such anger; even my bravest knights would have frozen in fear. "Reaixon foeris lerona!" he yelled out. The woman flew back into a wall. I froze. The hood had fallen off. It was Morgana. Her black hair in the usual curls, her green eyes glaring out from under her raised eyebrows. She, the king's ward, practiced magic? She was going to use it on me?

He slowly walked forward. "You may plot to kill the king. You may try to cast a spell to make him worse then he is now. But you may never, ever, try to harm Arthur. That's too far Morgana. It's not him that's trying to get rid of our kind," he said quietly, but the words scared me all the same. I knew she was going to use it on me, but to harm me?

She laughed. "You think you scare me? You can't do anything to me. Uther would have you killed!"

"No," I started slowly," He can't do anything, but I can. I, Arthur Pendragon, arrest you, Morgana Le Fay, for acts of treason, and attempts to harm this kingdom, and its subjects. Merlin, fetch the king."

He did as I said. As soon as he left, I looked at her. The woman that had grown up as a sister. The one that I always felt I needed to protect. Yet my sword did not waver from its position in front of her. I didn't feel like I needed to protect her anymore. She had tried to harm Camelot, and for that, all pretenses were dropped. She was a threat, and needed to be contained.

We heard rushed footsteps heading for us. Morgana sat up slightly, only to have my sword stop her.

"Do not move or I will not hesitate." I heard myself say.

"Poor Arthur. You think that a sword can protect you from magic?"

Then the last things I heard was her speaking in a different language, the yell of pain escaping my throat, and the footsteps stop as the rounded they corner just in time to see it all play out, before my world went black.