**DISCLAIMER** I DO NOT OWN MERLIN OR ANY CHARACTERS FROM THE TV SERIES. I AM NOT CLAIMING MERLIN AS MY OWN. THIS IS PURELY FOR LEISURE AND I DO NOT INTENT TO MAKE ANY MONEY OFF OF THIS. **DISCLAIMER**

Chapter 1

The sun is rising in Camelot, the birds are waking up and they start to sing their song.

'Tweet, twoo, tweet'

A hooded figure glides through the lower town, careful not to make a noise. Their silken black cape engulfs them like a cloak of hatred.

'Tweet, twoo, tweet'

Hatred for Uther Pendragon, hatred for what Camelot has become. Camelot was nothing but a dungeon now.

'Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet'

The birds grew ever more frantic. The clocked figure was ready to unleash their power, all of their revenge built up for one crucial moment.

'Tweet, tweet, tweet-tweet-tweet-tweet-tweet-tweet'

"Miere torr sweoloþhat"

'BANG!' An entire house tears apart from the fire. There is no hope for the inhabitants, they were only peasants, anyway.

"Brimstréam!" Water floods the pathway of the town, it intrudes every door and every cage.

A man come out of his house,

"Hey! You!" he calls "What do you think you're doing?" The sorcerer turns to meet his eye.

"The necessary thing," the sorcerer's evil tone rings amongst the water and fire.

"What?"

"Acwele seo mægþ!" Gold flashes over the sorcerer's eyes, watching the man fall to his death.

"You do realise that I could have you beheaded in a second, Merlin?"

The morning routine was in play in Arthur's chambers. Merlin was pushing his boundries, like usual, and Arthur was becoming increasingly annoyed.

"Yes, sire, but do you realise that you haven't got any trousers on?" Merlin's eyes looked down to Arthur's bare legs. He chuckled and picked up the trousers that were supposed to be on Arthurs body.

"Give me those." Ordered Arthur, embarrassed.

"What's the magic word?" Merlin's high pitched voice only aggrovated Arthur further.

"Merlin"

"It begins with a P..." He waved the trousers around, teasingly.

"You are such a prat!" Arthur threw his metal helmet at him. "I'll take those.." He grabbed the trousers off of a stunned Merlin and swiftly put them on.

"Alright, I'm sorry." He rubbed his head where the helmet had hit him. That thing was hard.. and heavy. If he got hit on the head whilst wearing it; it would probably cause more damage than if he wasn't.

"You should be, Merlin. You know sometimes you do forget that I am the Prince of Camelot and that you are my servant, not my friend." Merlin's face fell slightly and he attempted to change the conversation. He had no time for this now.

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"The mystery sorcerer stroke again this morning" This chaos had been going on for weeks now. Someone had been trying to destroy Camelot from the inside.

"What happened?"

"He apparently flooded the lower town, set a house on fire and killed an innocent man." Merlin listed. It was terrible.

"Oh, so not that much." Arthur replied sarcastically.

"Yeah. It's horrific, really"

"Horrific! That's a fancy word, where did you learn it?" Arthur was under the impression that Merlin was incredibly stupid and didn't know his left from his right. He was always overlooked as 'just a servant boy'. Merlin had saved Arthur's life countless times, he just didn't realise it.

"I have always known that word." Merlin replied, annoyed.

"Woah- calm down mister defensive." He didn't reply to that. Merlin walked over the table, picked up Arthur's breakfast and slammed it back down again.

"Breakfast." he pointed as he turned to walk out of the door.

"Hang on, wait!" Arthur called after him.

"Arthur!" Gwen and Merlin opened the door at the same time, causing them to bump heads.

'Two bumps and it's not even lunch time yet' Merlin thought. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. Is your head okay?"

"It's fine," Gwen brushed Merlin off of her. She seemed to be in a hurry. "Can you both come down to the council room?"

"Guenivere, I haven't even had breakfast yet." Arthur had no time for favours, especially not for a servant... even though it was Gwen.

"No, seriously, you need to come. The King said." Her wide eyes were truthful.

"What has happened?" asked Merlin.

"The Sorcerer, they've found him."

It had already been a long day and it wasn't even noon yet. The lower town of Camelot had been chaotic all morning due to the mysterious sorcerer who had been consistantly trying to ruin the people of Camelot's lives. Last night he took one.

A woman, around 22 years old was on her way to visit her older sister, Lily. The street was crowded and full of people working together to de-flood the town. It really was a shame to see them have their whole livelihoods ruined by just one wicked person.

"Alright, miss-" a young man approached the woman, hinting for her name

"Oh! It's Heather..." Heather seemed distracted, she wasn't 100% sure where Lily actually lived. They hardly ever kept in touch.

"You lookin' for someone?" he noticed her confused face

"Yes, actually" Heather gratefully smiled "I'm looking for my sister, Lily?"

His face looked even more confused than hers,

"Lily.." he sighed "Lily who?"

"Lily Pennant... she's my sister"

A flash of recognition crossed his face. "I know who you're talking about now!" He began to walk back down the path, where I had just come from, "You coming or what, beautiful?"

Heathers cheeks flushed red like they always did when anybody complimented her.

"My name's Rowan, by the way" his dimples showed when he smiled at her. He was extremely attractive. Heather wasn't used to seeing men so handsome. In Caerleon, where Heather was from, no man was under the age of 50. It was a baron town, very boring.

Heather followed Rowan down the path, past the house where the fire took place, past the house where the man was killed. The door was surrounded by a few flowers kindly donated by the neighbouring villagers.

"Those poor people" Heather took a moment to stop and pity them.

"I know, it's terrible." Rowan tutted "people just take things way too far."

"What do you mean 'too far'?" They carried on walking.

"People want revenge on King Uther because he forbids magic in Camelot," Rowan matter-of-factly stated "Uther thinks it evil and punishable by death."

"But that's not fair!" Heather proclaimed, "What if people want to use magic for good things? For entertainment and for healing?" In Caerleon they were allowed to use magic. Heather never had, though. It was all too confusing for her.

"I know- but the people who are protesting aren't doing any good for themselves" Rowan shook his head, "using magic in this way will only harden The King's heart furthur"

"Yeah" Heather nodded, "whoever did kill them should be punished, though."

Rowan abruptly stopped.

"Here we are!" he outstretched his arm in the direction of an old shack, hardly big enough to fit one person in it. "We have arrived at Lily Pennant's house, I have been your guide and this trip is now over.." Rowan kissed my hand and bowed.

"You're so full of it!" Heather laughed, "thank you, kind sir."

With a wink, Rowan left.

Heather took a deep breath. It had been a while since they had seen eachother, she couldn't even remember if they had left it at a good or bad note. There was only one thing for it. Three knocks on the door did it,

"Who is it?" a familiar voice called from inside.

"It's Heather, your sister!"

The door opened with a jolt, there Lily was.

"Heather?" Lily could hardly believe it. Her little sister? Here to visit? "Oh my goodness!"

Lily pulled her in for a massive hug. Obviously they had left eachother on a good note. "I can't belive you're here!" Lily's mind boggled with questions.

"So this is where you live?" said Heather, indicating the house.

"Yes, it's my pride and joy!" Lily smiled, "even though the rest of the town isn't." Lily referred to the havoc that occured earlier.

"I know, it's devastating.."

"I just wish that they'd catch the old coot that's doing this and then I could get back to doing my normal things."

"I really hope that they do" Heather sighed, "so what's new with you?"

"Umm..." Lily looked up, trying to think of something interesting to tell her sister, "I am growing my own vegetables!"

"Ooh, very nice. Let's have a look?" If truth be told, Heather didn't really like vegetables, but Lily was excited about it so she had to take an interest.

"They're just out here.." Lily lead Heather through her rickety house. Various incenses and flowers covered the shelves, it smelt really lovely for a place that looked so dirty. Suddenly, Lily stopped. Heather bumped into her.

"Hey, what was that fo-" Heather began to shout but Lily covered her mouth with a rather filthy hand. She pointed outside- someone was there. It was a man sitting in Lily's small garden, his hands cupped. Heather gave Lily a look that said 'What do we do now?'. Lily mirrored the same response. They eyed the man in the garden, his head was still down. Heather stepped forward, floorboard creeking as she placed her foot down.

"Sorry.." Heather mouthed at an angry Lily. Just then, the man looked up. Only for a second, but Heather recognised him instantly: Rowan. His cupped hands opened to show a ball of fire that he had obviously just conjured.

"Sorcery!" Lily whispered frantically, "He has to be caught! Go outside and find a knight." Heather looked hesitant. Rowan was so nice to her just a few minutes ago. "Heather! He killed that man, he flooded the town!"

"What about you?" Heather's concern turned to her sisters safety.

"I'll be fine, quickly! Go!" Lily seemed strong, at least. She didn't look like she'd give up in a fight. Running as fast as she could, Heather bolted up the pathway.

"Help me! Please!" she shouted, "I need a knight, please help!"

"Yes?" a knight came from behind her, he had come to her call, "I am Sir Leon, what do you need?"

"The sorcerer.." Heather breathed heavily, "we found him, he's down there, in the last house..." she drew breath "my sister is there, you have to help her!"

Sir Leon bounced at the chance to be one of the knights who arrested the sorcerer. He called apon two other strong-looking knights to help him. They all looked very noble. Heather supposed they had to, since they were, infact, nobles.

They strode down to Lily's house as Heather followed them, half running. Sir Leon kicked down the door and ran inside.

"Was that really necessary?" Heather asked, but no one listened.

"You're coming with us, son." All three knights grabbed Rowan and tied his hands behind his back. Lily and Heather watched as events unfolded. This was definately not the kind of thing that Heather was expecting to happen in Lily's house.

"No, I'm innocent, I swear!" Rowan protested, his eyes looked directly at her, pleading her to believe him.

"He was using magic." Heather responded. "I saw it with my own eyes." Lily nodded in agreement.

"I am going to have to ask you both to come with me to the castle," one of the knights asked, "We will need you to speak of what you saw to the king and his council."

"Absolutely!" they both nodded.

Rowan looked up with one more pleading gaze before he was dragged out of the house.

"I bet you didn't bargain for this when you decided to come and visit me?" Lily laughed, making light of the situation.

"I know! But at least I get to see the castle!" Heather was trying to be happy about this too, even though the idea of speaking to the king was making her feel almost faint.

"By the way, the king's son: 'Prince Arthur' is gorgeous."

"Great, thanks for making me more nervous than I already am!" Lily exclaimed.

"He's mine, though." There was that sister rivalry Heather didn't miss at all.

"Yes, yes. Of course he is."