England 1993

The people were gathered outside Buckingham Place waiting to hear news of the Royal birth. Queen Ygraine had been admitted to hospital that morning and as the day had progressed more and more people had gathered. The King and Queen had been married for over ten years and there had been speculation that there wouldn't be any children, so when the Royals had announced the pregnancy it had been greeted with joy, especially when it became known that there would be twins. In recent years the popularity of the monarchy had been slipping, the news that there were to be royal babies had caused a boast in interest in both King Uther and his Queen. Although they were now constitutional monarchy only, and had no political power, they still held a special place in the vast majority of the people's hearts in both the UK and in the commonwealth.

The Queen was loved by many for her kindness and charity works, although many couldn't actually see what the Queen had ever seen in Uther. Uther was outspoken and privately resented that he no longer held any real power. However that had been lost centuries before and he had no chance of ever regaining it. He had been overjoyed when his queen had finally become pregnant. The couple had secretly undertaken IVF and finally Uther was to have an heir to the throne. The past nine months had seemed to take an eternity, he had sat beside his wife as she gave birth to heathy twins. The first by ten minutes was a daughter, the son was born ten minutes later. The couple had known the sexes since the early scans and Uther was livid that the boy had been born last. He had wanted his queen to have a caesarean to make sure his son was born first. But his wife and doctors had overruled him. Uther had also fought hard a few years before against the change in the law, to make the first born regardless of sex, first in line. But the Commonwealth and British Governments had insisted, Ygraine had laughed at him and told him he needed to try to be more modern. But he was a traditionalist and although Ygraine would never say it in public, a chauvinist.

The children's names had long been decided and soon the notice went up outside the palace telling the world of the birth of Princess Morgana Ygraine Elizabeth Pendragon and Prince Arthur Uther William Pendragon. The party's and celebrations began all over the country.

Immediately Uther set to work to see if he could either get the law changed back or somehow get his son what he considered a better position rather than that as the spare to the heir. It was to take up years of his time and from the beginning he insisted that Arthur have everything his daughter had if not more. Uther felt it was a disgrace that his son was not his heir.

1997

Four years later in the small island Kingdom of Essetir another baby was born. King Balinor was a popular monarch and when it was announced that he and his Queen Hunith were to have a child it was greeted with joy throughout the Kingdom. When their son was born he was named Merlin Balinor Emrys and the couple's happiness was complete. It wasn't until a few weeks later that Hunith noticed the first strange occurrence. Her son was crying and clearly wanted something but she couldn't work out what. Hunith had already sent the nursery nurse away wanting some time alone with her son. So she checked his nappy and then offered him some milk from her breast, but he wasn't interested. Hunith wondered if he was cold. Her son had been born on New Year's Day and it was a cold winter. The palace had all the modern amenities but being an old building it could be cold. As she was about to order a fire to be lit she noticed her son's eyes flash gold and the fire that had been led in the grate waiting to be lit burst into life.

In her surprise the Queen almost dropped her son, but instead clasped him tighter to her bosom. She couldn't believe what she had witnessed. From her history lessons she knew that Essetir was the place where magic was last seen in the world, some two hundred years before, and that it was said it would return when needed but she had always thought it was folk lore. Taking a deep breath Hunith pulled the bell and asked if someone could ask her husband the King to join her as soon as he could. Hunith sat down and hugged the small boy in her arms. He was such a small and fragile boy, they had been worried when he was born, but the Court Physician had assured them that although small he was healthy. Now this had happened.

When Balinor got the message he was in a council meeting, Essetir was one of only a handful of Countries left in the world where the Monarchy still held absolute power. That was one of the reasons the people had been so pleased to have a Prince. The people loved their royal family and in return the King did his very best for his people. Balinor had chosen his council carefully and had people he could trust to advise him. There were very few places held on family ties rather than merit. His cousins the Cenred, the Duke of Lot and Valliant the Duke of Mellor where two of the members he would like to remove, but couldn't, as they were next in line after his son. The only other person he would like to remove was Nimueh the Religious head and High Priestess of Essetir, she was said to be a descendant of the last High Priestess to have had magical powers. Unlike most western countries Essetir still followed the Old Religion, even if magic itself had long since left the land.

Balinor stood up and the council fell silent, Balinor was an imposing man who would have commanded respect even if he hadn't been a monarch. "I am calling a recess. We will meet again after lunch, two o'clock"

With that he walked out and made his way to the private wing and into the morning room where he understood his wife was waiting for him. Walking in he saw Hunith sitting with their son, she was clasping him tightly. He could see she was worried. As the Queen was normally as very calm and serene person, and could be relied upon to calm her husband down, so the expression worried Balinor.

"What's the matter my love, I came straight away" He sat next to the Queen, she was such a gentle woman, not a classic beauty, it was her inner beauty that had attracted the King and made him fall in love. Like many of his ancestors he had married a commoner for love, rather than a political match. "Is our son well?"

Hunith looked up at her husband "I didn't see things I know I didn't" she murmured.

"Hunith explain yourself" Balinor demanded.

"I couldn't stop Merlin from crying. He wasn't wet or hungry, I was about to call for the maid to light the fire, it was a bit chilly in the room, when my babies eyes went golden, and the fire burst into life" she looked at her husband fear in her eyes "I'm not going mad am I?"

Balinor looked at his wife in shock "Are you sure?"

"I know what I saw Balinor! But it couldn't have happened could it? I was going to check with the maids but they would think me mad"

Balinor put his arm round his wife "If you saw it then it happened." He told her gently. "I don't doubt you woman, so don't doubt yourself." He smiled at her "It's certainly warm enough in here now" he paused "I will call the court physician he can look at our son. You know how he loves investigating the past, if anyone can tell it will be him" Balinor didn't mention that Nimueh had been telling him that the time for magic to return was upon them, that she had seen it in a vision. He hoped for his son's sake that it wasn't true. He would like his child to have as much of an ordinary life as he could. But his hope disappeared as he looked at his son and saw his eyes change to a golden colour as he found his other arm going round the body of his small son and Balinor found he had taken Merlin from his mother without intending to. He had moved not of his own account but through magic. Merlin smiled up at his father in a knowing way, which no three week old baby should be able to.

Balinor looked at his wife. "You are right he has magic and is powerful, I am sorry love Nimueh warned me that magic was making a return but I didn't believe her. It seems our son is destined to bring peace and magic to the world once more. But until he is older we will allow him his childhood I promise you"

2013

For the next sixteen years the two princes lived as normal a life as it was possible for their positions in their respective countries. In Britain Uther's increasingly old fashioned ideas had at one stage seemed to threaten the very existence of the monarchy. But it was the Princess who was proving to be the saving of it. She was now incredibly popular, and much loved, although she could be head strong and opinionated, most thought she was everything a modern woman should be. However at twenty Arthur appeared to be following his father, he was arrogant and a bully with a large chip on his shoulder. His father frequently told him that he should have been the next in and Arthur believed him. But luckily Arthur's stint in the Army seemed to be maturing him slightly. It was also allowing Arthur to see more of the world and how other people lived. His mother's influence was also believed to have helped. But he still felt bitter about the fact that Morgana would be Queen due to a ten minute difference in birth.

Outside the Royal families the world was becoming a far less safe place as conflict seemed to become more common everywhere. There were worries about global warming and concerns that global resources were become scarcer. Britain like most in the world had hit a slump with shares falling and recession hitting the people. Wars were going on in several countries and the fragile world seemed in increasing danger. Added to that the last few years had seen oil production falling worlds wide. This had in turn made the cost of living go up. The argument for green energy against nuclear was happening in many countries as the fight to keep the power flowing continued. The G8 countries debated the issue and the green movement pushed the message for truly sustainable management of the earth's resources. Then the largest source of oil to be found in over twenty years was discovered in the Atlantic Ocean. This caused many governments to breathe a sigh of relief, they thought it would give them more years before major decisions needed to be made.

But the company who discovered it then found that although they had found the oil, they could not drill for it. The area of the oil field was not in international waters as first thought but in Essetir's territorial waters and the King there refused the right to drill. Even though it would make his country richer than their wildest dreams. Essetir's policy for the past twenty years had been to be as green as they could. They were the most environmentally clean country in the world and intended to stay that way. Nothing anyone had tried would change their view. Their oceans were the most pristine in the world, as was the land mass and they wouldn't risk that for anyone. Pressure was out on King Balinor but he would not budge and he had the backing of his people.