Ever since Morgana had returned to Camelot, Arthur had noticed the once friends, Merlin and Morgana had been less than friendly. He had caught them exchanging not so stealthy glares in the middle of court. He had asked Merlin about all the glaring but he replied that the sun had gotten in his eyes and promptly changed the subject. Arthur was worried about his manservant but figured that he couldn't do much until he learned the facts.

One day Arthur was stomping down the hall, looking for his lazy oaf of a servant who had still not drawn him a bath when he heard a loud smack and an angered cry. Arthur recognised the shout instantly and took off down the hall to help his servant. He suddenly changed his mind when he saw who was arguing and dove into an ancient tapestry hanging on the wall. Arthur's best friend and the woman he considered a sister were arguing. Merlin started storming off, angry red hand print throbbing when Morgana grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Let go of me Morgana" Merlin warned.

"No" She replied venomously. "You ought to be dead. I saw the serket sting on your back, just how did you survive a sting like that? It looks days old. I thought you were dead, there were enough serkets to take out the whole guard and somehow you managed to escape." Morgana started "How can such a measly boy manage to thwart me? You're no match for me. How do you do it?" She seemed to be trying to convince herself rather than Merlin.

"I think before I act." Merlin replied wisely. That only seemed to irritate Morgana further and she shrieked.

"I'll kill you! I swear I will. Once you're dead I can take out my dear brother whom you so selflessly protect and my stupid, pig-headed father."

"Kill me for all I care but harm one hair on Arthurs head and I will make you wish you were never born." Both Arthur and Morgana seemed taken aback by the power that seemed to be emanating off of the clumsy servant but neither of them doubted that Merlin would either kill her, or die trying.

Morgana sent one last evil smirk at Merlin, chuckled and stormed off leaving Merlin standing alone in a deserted hallway. Merlin cast a very sad look at the place where Morgana had been standing thirty seconds prior and sighed. Arthur had never seen Merlin look that sad in his life. Merlin always seemed so happy and to see him look so sad, made Arthur sad. All of the sudden Merlin spun on one toe and left leaving nothing but a highly confused Arthur behind.

Arthurs mind was reeling. All this new information to take in, firstly there was the fact that the woman he cared for as a sister, appeared to be threatening Arthurs best friend. Secondly, it appears she had left him to die by the serkets, thirdly, apparantly Merlin was protecting Arthur. Fourthly, Morgana had called Arthur her "brother", sixthly, Merlin appeared to frighten Morgana who (although Arthur would never admit it) frightened him. He didn't know what to make of all this new information. Finally after over an hour of pondering, he decided to confront Merlin when him, Gwaine and Merlin went hunting later on in the day. It was all very complicated and if he asks Merlin in the castle, he's likely to run away, or, he might actually do his chores to escape telling Arthur, therefore he will tell him in the woods where he can't run away. Arthur walked back to his room slowly. When he entered, he wasn't really paying attention and tripped and fell on his face. Merlin burst into laughter, he had never known Arthur to be clumsy in all his years of knowing him. He then caught sight of Arthurs face. It was distant and he hadn't seemed to notice that he had tripped.

"Arthur, what are you think about?"

"I heard you and Morgana." So much for waiting…

Merlin paled drastically. Arthur thought he saw the poor boy tremble. 'What's he so afraid of?'

"What did you hear?" He asked resignedly. Arthur proceeded to tell Merlin everything he heard in their conversation. Merlin was visibly relaxing with each word Arthur uttered.

"That's it then?" Merlin asked. He was pretty sure Morgana had mentioned his little sleepaway camp with the serkets but Arthur had said nothing about it so maybe he had said it during a different argument.

"I'll go prepare the horses for the hunting trip. Will you get Gwaine and meet me in the courtyard in half an hour?"

"Of course." Arthur said, unsurprised that Merlin was escaping.

Merlin walked out, scooping up the sacks that were lying beside the door on the way out.

They got out of the citadel in record time due to Merlins newly found efficiency and were already in the forest. For the past half-hour Gwaine had been chattering on about his numerous trips to the tavern. He was speaking so loudly and so animatedly that he hadn't yet noticed that his audience was completely tuning him out. Merlin was quiet. Oddly quiet for such a cheeky boy. He kept taking glances at Arthur and appeared very edgy. Arthur was also dead silent. He too was lost in thought, head bowed, letting his horse follow Gwaines. Arthur was still trying to work out the mystery that is Merlin. All of the sudden Gwaine stopped talking to grab a drink of water and both Merlin and Arthur were snapped out of their reveries by how silent the woods were. It was never this silent unless…

All of the sudden they were all surprised by a whizzing noise followed by the sound of an arrow embedding itself in someones flesh and a cry of pain. Merlin fell of his horse, clutching his bleeding wound and landed face first in the dirt. He didn't move. Merlin's reared up and took off. As soon as the horse ran off, mayhem ensued. The once silent woods were now swarming with bandits. They were everywhere. Arthur, Gwaine and the clearly unconscious Merlin stood no chance whatsoever. Arthur hadn't moved since Merlin had been shot. His mind was clouded with worry for his friend. Gwaine, realising Arthur hadn't been thinking straight all day, grabbed Merlin and swung him over his shoulders. He swung his long hair out of his face and took off at a great speed for someone carrying another human being on their back. Arthur snapped out of it and ran forward to catch up.

Arthur soon took the front. They had quite lead on the bandits and they would have enough time to all clamber into a hiding place. Now all they needed was one. They hadn't waited long when Gwaine grunted.

"Over there, the crevice." He said, nodding his head towards a small crack in a large boulder. They would be safe from flying arrows there and virtually undetectable. Arthur climbed in first and Gwaine passed Merlin to Arthur so he could climb in. Gwaine was barely in place when the bandits caught up. They were yelling and brandishing weapons. At first they thought that bandits had found them but the voices soon passed. They waited over an hour to leave their hiding spot. That's when the realised how serious Merlin's wound was. It was deep and had appeared to have hit a rib. It was bleeding a lot and it appeared his fall from the horse was no help as his right arm was sickeningly bent and appeared broken and he had a large red bump on his forehead.

"He needs Gaius." Cried Gwaine.

"We need to wrap and disinfect his wounds." Arthur stated calmly.

"All our medical supplies were on Merlin's horse when it spooked. We have nothing for it." Gwaine said, frustration lacing his tone. He was worried for his best friend.

"We'll use his shirt. Go get me some wormwood to disinfect the wound."

Gwaine Scrambled off into the forest to find the wormwood and left Arthur to strip Merlin of his shirt. When Gwaine finally returned, Arthur had strips of cloth in the precise right size.

"We need to set the wounds. We may need to re-break his arm in order for it to heal properly. It will be extremely painful but Merlin is strong."

Arthur busied himself with caring for Merlin. He disinfected the wound, rebroke the arm which was incredibly painful for Merlin and made Arthur's eyes "water." By the time Arthur was done wrapping all the wounds, he realised he had done it all by himself. Gwaine was staring transfixed at Merlin's chest.

"Gwaine, what..?" Arthur's voice was swept away by the wind when he saw Merlin. His upper torso was littered with small scars and right over his heart was a very large burn mark that appeared at least a year old but was as red as if it had happened yesterday. On his wrists that, come to think of it, Arthur had never seen before, had red scars running all the way around. He had been tied up for perhaps days on end in order for it to scar like that. Arthur, acting upon a hunch, ripped Merlin's neckerchief off. On his neck was a small thin scar. It looked as if someone had tried to slit Merlin's throat. Gwaine swore loudly.

"Bloody hell!"

Arthur was nauseated. Who would want to kill Merlin? He was so witty and kind. He seemed to brighten up a room just by being there. Arthur looked away. He therefore missed Gwaine flip Merlin onto his back. He didn't, however, miss Gwaine jumping up, swearing loudly, kicking a rock, roaring with pain, swearing even louder and more obscenely and hopping around, clutching at his most likely broken toe. If the situation weren't so grave, Arthur probably would have laughed. As it was his best friend was dying so he held it in. Arthur slowly turned around to face Merlin's broken body. His back was all but fine except for a large, deep, red cut going from his right shoulder to his left hip. It looked fresh, only days old. Merlin had been working with and injury as grave as this. He now knew what Morgana had meant when she said what she said. His nausea was replaced with something more foul on his tongue. Hatred. Morgana had something to do with this, he was sure of it. If he had been told three days ago that he would feel so strongly towards his "sister" (although he wasn't even sure that "sister" deserved air quotations) he would have become immediately defensive, she was just so good.

The two men, knight and Prince, sat in silence for a while, pondering their new discoveries.

"Where in gods name did Merlin get all those scars?" Gwaine suddenly demanded, furiously.

"If only I knew." Arthur trailed off menacingly. He may not show it but he thought of Merlin like the little brother he never had. Even though Arthur had only known Merlin for around two years, Merlin had wormed his way into Arthurs', and many others' hearts.

"We need to get him to Gaius." Gwaine stated after a pregnant pause.

"We're no more than a days walk from Camelot, I'll carry Merlin on my shoulders and you carry supplies. We'll switch off every hour or so." Arthur didn't wait for Gwaine to argue. He lifted Merlin carefully off the ground and onto his shoulders. He set off at a brisk pace, not knowing, nor caring if Gwaine followed.

They walked for half a day until they were halted by knights of Camelot, sent out by the King to find his son. The guards were frantic and didn't care much for the half dead peasant on the Princes' shoulders. They only paid him mind when Arthur ordered them to put Merlins needs ahead of his.

They reached Camelot by sundown and were met with a worried Gaius and a frantic Gwen. Gaius, upon seeing his ward, immediately gestured to the guards to follow him and all but ran up to his chambers. Arthur followed. Gaius was moving at a pace that seemed impossible for his old age, scurrying around his room fetching vials filled with odd smelling liquids and interesting looking plants. Arthur knew little about healing, what little he had learned, had been taught to him in knight training. It was one of the basic exercises, they needed to be able to dress and set wounds using the materials at hand. Arthur had always found it hard but seeing Gaius moving around preparing brews and fetching odd bitts and bobs made it seem easy, like a second nature.

Gaius was concentrating very hard on what he was doing, reaching over, around and occasionally under Arthur fetching ingredients and bandages and such. Arthur wanted to help but he felt the most he could do at the moment was to stay back. Arthur jumped violently as the door burst open, Gaius seemed hardly disturbed. Gwne had burst in, tears streaming down her face.

"How is he?" She demanded of her best friend.

"He may live but chances are slim." Gaius responded, with pursed lips. He looked almost angry but if you looked closer you would see a quaking in the experienced hands and tears pooling in the old mans' eyes. They who knew him best, could see that he was coming apart at the seems. Anyone in Camelot knew of Gaius' fondness for the boy.

Gwen collapsed on the floor as the words departed Gaius' lips.

"Gwen! Are you alright? I heard you crying from the hallway, is it Elyan? What has happened?" Morgana appeared in the doorways, looking lovely as ever. Her face appeared genuinely worried. Now that Arthur knew what to look for, he could see when Morgana was being genuine and when she was acting. When she saw Gaius tending to Merlin, Arthur saw her facade drop for a fraction of a second, her face falling but her eyes giving off an emoting he had never seen on her before. She was scared. Terrified actually. That fleeting glimpse into her soul was enough to divulge that one secret. She still cared, deep in there, the real Morgana, the one they all knew and loved, was in there waiting. That one thought gave him hope. The Morgana he knew would never let her friend die. Now all he had to do was hope that part showed.