Lady Hunith and Lady Vivienne rode furiously through the night. Dragonlord Balinor, who Lady Hunith had wed not two years ago, was also fleeing for his life. Ever since the queen of Camelot had died, King Uther had been persecuting all those with magic or who were associated with it. Balinor was the only dragonlord still living. With the help of an old friend of Lady Hunith, Balinor had managed to escape Camelot's dungeons and return home to spend one last night with his wife before they both left, heading apart, perhaps never seeing each other again. Lady Hunith's sister had been visiting and went with her to help her settle into her new life as a peasant. Uther would never think to look for such a fine lady in a peasant village outside Camelot. When dawn broke the two ladies reached a village where they had agreed to meet with Balinor's sister, Lady Nimueh, who had Lady Vivienne's daughter Morgause in her care. Lady Vivienne's husband was a good friend of the king and it would be safer for Morgause not to be in the king's presence. Just in case. Better safe than sorry after all. The three high priestesses of the old religion entered the town on foot and purchased clothing suitable for peasants, course and dull, very different from the fine silk dresses they had worn at court. Having sold the horses the three women continued walking on across the border until they reached a village called Ealdor. Once there the women used their skills to construct a house right on the edge of the village and to make the villagers believe the house and its inhabitants had always been there. Life in Ealdor was peaceful and the three women quickly adapted to their new lives as peasants. However, when they had been living there for two months it was discovered that Hunith was pregnant. Since the women were all claiming to be unmarried she received some censure from the other villagers. Hunith didn't care though. Hunith gave birth, seven months later, to twins. One boy and one girl. With the help of her sisters, the mother chose names for her children – Merlin and Morgana. Then the new-borns opened their eyes. Morgana's eyes were the colour of grass when the rain has just fallen, Merlin's were like an ocean. Suddenly Merlin's eyes were as golden as the ring Hunith kept hidden beneath her dress. The three high priestesses stared at each other in shock and awe. Only one person could have magic at such a young age – Emrys.

Growing up with the knowledge that you're the most powerful warlock ever to walk the earth and that you're immortal could make one rather arrogant. Luckily for the prophesised Emrys, whose actual name was Merlin, his friends were always willing to knock him down a peg or two if he started to get too big for his boots. The peculiar thing about Merlin's friends was that he'd only actually met one of them in real life. Will was Merlin's next door neighbour and their mothers were good friends. The boys spent every waking moment together.

The rest of Merlin's friends, well, that was complicated. It had started on Merlin's fifth birthday, when he'd gone to bed. He had been dreaming that he was walking through beautiful woods when he saw a girl about his age. She even looked like him though her eyes were green whereas his were blue. She was sat on the stump of a fallen tree weeping quietly and didn't seem to have noticed Merlin.

"Why are you crying?" Merlin asked with all the tact of a five-year-old boy. The girl stopped crying and looked up at him.

"I'm crying because it's my birthday," she told him. Merlin was rather confused by that.

"But birthdays should make you happy. Mine does. Oh, it's my birthday today too! Do you want to have a party?"

"But there aren't any other guests."

"Doesn't matter. We can have a party just the two of us." Forgetting his mother's warnings about using magic in front of others, Merlin waved his hand causing his eyes to turn momentarily gold and a picnic blanket appeared laden with food of all descriptions.

"How did you do that?" the girl asked in awe.

"Umm, well, I, I'm sort of like, well, possibly the most powerful warlock ever."

"Emrys?"

"Yes. How did…" Merlin was cut off as the girl threw herself at him and flung her arms round him. Caught off balance the little warlock fell onto the blanket, confused at the girl's actions.

"What are you doing?" he asked her at the same moment as she spoke his name in a pleased tone. Suddenly everything clicked into place.

"Morgana?" The girl nodded, too chocked up to speak anymore. Merlin returned the hug fiercely.

The reunion was suddenly interrupted by a popping sound. Will stood across the clearing looking around in utter confusion.

"Will!" Merlin exclaimed in delight. "Come and meet Morgana. She's my twin sister and we're going to have a birthday party. You can be a guest."

"You don't have a sister Merlin." Will spoke with confusion.

"She's a secret," Merlin told his friend.

"Why?" questioned Will, who couldn't understand the need to keep a sister a secret.

Before Merlin could explain exactly who he actually was to his best friend another popping sound was heard. The three children turned to see a blonde boy with a rather haughty expression stood on the other side of the clearing to them.

"Who are you?" the boy demanded to know.

"Who are you?" retorted Merlin in annoyance.

A third popping sound announced the appearance of a third boy, this one older than the others were. His hair was brown and curly.

"Leon, where are we? Who are they?" the arrogant blonde boy asked the new arrival.

"I don't know Prince Arthur," replied Leon. 'Prince Arthur' could only be one person, Merlin realised. Uther Pendragon's son.

More popping noises herald the arrival of others, four boys and a girl. The girl is clearly the sister of one of the boys. Leon apparently knows the girl and her brother.

"What is happening?" demands Prince Arthur.

"I think this is a dream. Somehow we're all sharing a dream," replied Merlin.

"That's not possible," scoffed the prince.

"It's magic," retorted the warlock.

"Father says magic is evil," Arthur stated with the slightly uncertain tone of someone who isn't quite sure if they believe what they've just been told.

"He's lying," Merlin told the prince. "He made a deal with a sorceress and it didn't go the way he wanted so he's killing anyone with magic because he's angry."

"Oh." The prince looked thoughtful. "How do you know that anyway?"

"My mum and dad used to live in Camelot Castle but they had to leave because they had magic."

"Do you have magic?" Merlin gave a terse nod.

"Tell me about it. Please," the prince added as an afterthought. Merlin guessed he probably wasn't used to saying please.

"Alright." Everyone gathered around Merlin and sat down on the rug he'd conjured earlier. Morgana handed out the picnic food. Whilst everyone ate the party picnic, Merlin told them everything he knew about magic, and about being Emrys.

After that, the ten children met in the dream woods every night. These were the friends of Emrys and he would do anything for them.