Amhar looked lazily up at the ceiling. Lessons with Merlin were boring, so very boring. At the moment the young prince was banned from using his magic, anyway, so why did he have to learn about it? Merlin slammed a book down on the desk in front of him.
"Amhar, are you listening? This is important." He said. Amhar glared at Merlin.
"Important for who? Me or you? Feeling guilty about my father's death and so feeling like torturing, oops, sorry, helping me? With what exactly?" He shook his head. Merlin always annoyed him with how he acted. It was his fault that Arthur was dead, or so Amhar believed. The older warlock should have done more to save the king. Merlin looked at Amhar in disbelief.
"You have to learn how to control your powers, or chances are you'll lose control and injure yourself or someone you care about. I'm not torturing you."
"Oh, please. You've been torturing me since I was born, basically. You didn't save my father, which means that now I have to live my whole life without ever meeting him. As though that weren't enough, now you're teaching me how to control magic that apparently I would have been killed for having if my father was still alive when I was born."
"I know you blame me for Arthur's death, but it –"
"Wasn't your fault, yes, I know. You keep lying to me about that. I have better things to do than to waste my time here, learning nothing." Amhar took his feet off the desk and left the room, slamming the door behind him. He sighed and ran a hand through his wavy blond hair, walking down the corridors to the stables. Deep down he knew it wasn't Merlin's fault that his father was dead, but he needed someone to blame, and Morgana and Mordred weren't around. Merlin was the next best person to blame, because he didn't manage to save Arthur. Amhar entered the stables and looked around at the horses. He had grown up around them and loved the smell when he was near them or riding them. There was nothing quite like it, and generally it calmed him down quite rapidly. But not today. Today anger was running through his veins and all he wanted to do was destroy. Without realising it, Amhar slowly set fire to the straw in the stables. He was furious and wanted someone else to feel his pain. All he could see was the red of anger and frustration.
"Prince Amhar, stop! You'll hurt the horses!" A young stable hand, Efa, cried out from behind him. Amhar slowly turned on the girl whom he viewed as a friend, the fires going out and the horses slowly calming down.
"Leave me alone." He said, darkness edging his voice. Without thinking, he used his powers and sent her flying into the wall. There was a soft crack as she hit the wall, her neck at an unnatural angle. Amhar looked in horror at what he had done and rushed over to her.
"Efa, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" He pulled her into his lap and ran a hand over her cheek, willing her to breath, but knowing that she wouldn't. He looked up when he heard footsteps, meeting the eyes he knew so well.
"Merlin, please… help her," He implored, "I didn't mean to do it. I was just… I was so angry." Merlin didn't say anything, just looked at Amhar and the dead girl in his arms. Amhar looked back down at Efa and shook his head, brushing her brown hair away from her face and wishing that she'd open her dark green eyes again. All he felt was guilt and sadness. It was his fault. If only he had listened to Merlin, if only he had stayed in that room, then Efa would still be alive. Merlin stepped over and put an arm around Amhar's shoulders.
"It's not a nice thing to have someone you care about die. I wish more than anything that Arthur was here to watch you grow up, become the man you are meant to be, but he's gone and there is nothing that can be done about it. Those responsible for his death are gone, Amhar. I know what you're going through; I had to go through it myself. But please, learn from what you have done." Merlin's eyes glowed with the fire of magic and Efa groaned and screwed up her eyes. Amhar laughed and grinned at Merlin, thankful to the warlock for the first time in his life. Merlin smiled back.
"Someday you'll realise all that happened, and all that could happen. If Arthur were here with you, he'd want you to learn all you could to make yourself a better man. Don't let anger rule your decisions, Amhar. Arthur wouldn't like that." Amhar nodded and looked back at Efa. She was alive, and it was all thanks to Merlin. Maybe he wasn't such a boring person after all.