Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I was shocked to get such a large reply to the first chapter so thank you all for making my week :D

Here is the next chapter, a little earlier than planne due to the amount of favourites and reviews I got for the first chapter :D

Enjoy

Chapter 2

Arthur stared back down at Merlin, who was standing twenty metres from the wall, facing outwards. He lifted his hands and stretched them out to his sides, and began speaking, but Arthur couldn't hear what he was saying. A few seconds later and a golden shield appeared around Camelot, flickering into existence then disappearing again. Seconds later a huge ball of lightning appeared and hit the invisible barrier, being absorbed by the shield and leaving Camelot protected.

Arthur stared in shock at Merlin. He had magic. His manservant had magic.

His knights had joined him on the wall, and were staring in shock as well. Gaius was on the wall, tending to injured soldiers, despite the danger to himself. He was the only one not staring in astonishment at the manservant.

"Sire," Gaius began, when he approached him.

"Gaius, you knew, didn't you?" Arthur whispered, staring at his manservant in shock.

"I did, I've known since he came to Camelot. He saved my life when he walked in my door with his magic." Gaius informed Arthur. "I taught him all I could, but a lot of what he does is still instinctual."

"Instinctual?" Gwaine asked, as Arthur was staring in silence as Merlin waited at his shield.

"He was born with his magic; he never learnt how to use it until he came to Camelot and couldn't control it himself any more. He never had a say in whether he committed treason or not." Gaius told the group. "He came to Camelot to learn control, because his mother is my niece, but when he turned up, he found his destiny."

"Destiny?" Leon asked this time.

"There is a prophecy, one that all druids know, and one that anyone magical should know." Gaius began.

"The once and future King will reunite Albion and all creatures, magical and non-magical alike will live in harmony and peace." Arthur recited. "He will be helped by Emrys, the most powerful warlock of all time, and Emrys is his protector."

"Yes," Gaius paused for a moment then continued, "You are that King sire, Merlin is Emrys."

All the knights stared in shock at the old man, then at their friend, waiting in the field. They jumped to suddenly hear his voice as if he was standing next to them.

"Talking about me behind my back, Gaius? That's not very nice." Merlin's voice sounded normal, but anyone who knew him could detect the nervousness in his tone. "You should get off the wall, Morgana is coming, and she'll be annoyed that Kilgharrah is destroying her shadow."

"And if you need help?" Gwaine asked, hoping the man could hear him.

Merlin chuckled a little and said, "I appreciate the offer, Gwaine, but it's safest for you to move."

There was a final roar from the dragons, as the Gold one ripped the head off of the shadow one and the shadows dissolved into nothing.

"Just, move if the shield fails." Merlin warned, before they heard Morgana screech and appear at the edge of the forest, opposite Merlin.

She spoke, but none could hear her. Then, all of a sudden, they could.

"You insufferable, interfering nobody! I am sick of your face." She ranted, throwing her hand up and sending a bolt of lightning at Merlin. It hit the shield and disappeared. Merlin didn't even flinch.

Morgana paused, confused at the appearance of the shield. Then she seemed to realise why. "You traitor," she hissed, "You stood there and poisoned me, you stood there and watch me suffer under Uther's rule and said nothing. You've killed your own kind, you've stood by and let the rest of us be slaughtered and suppressed, and done nothing? And you call me the murderer?" Morgana's hatred was clear in her tone and stance, as she stalked up to the shield and stood there in front of Merlin.

"I did what I had to, to protect my King." Merlin sounded calm, and dead serious. "I have killed, yes, but I haven't killed innocent people in a misguided attempt at revenge on a dead man."

"He killed thousands of innocent people! He does not deserve your protection, nor does his son!"

"You are the exact replica of Uther, Morgana, do what you want, but do not lie to yourself about that." Merlin kept his calm and serious tone, as Morgana grew more agitated.

"I am not like him!"

"You are. You think I don't know Uther ordered the death of innocents? I grew up without a father because of him. I watched the midwife who delivered me burn for protecting me, while my mother and I hid from the soldiers. Did you ever go out to the outlying villages? While the purge was happening? Uther slaughtered whole villages for hiding one sorcerer, and piled their bodies in the squares, babies, children, women and men alike, and left them there as warnings. My mother fled our village with me as a child, because our neighbours were suspicious of us, not because they had seen me, but because I was a bastard child without a father because of Uther hunting him down. Friends turned on friends, hell, family turned on family, and you couldn't trust anyone, regardless of whether you had magic or not. God help you if you were caught. People would kill themselves on the soldiers' weapons, because they didn't want to be taken in for trial and the pyre. Do not talk to me about Uther's treachery. He was a misguided old fool who could not admit he was wrong and thought he was doing the world a favour by removing magic. He may have killed innocents, but he also killed a lot of guilty sorcerers and witches, ones who were trying to steal all magic. You should know the stories as well as I, you've spent more time with the druids then me. That does not mean Arthur is his father. I will not let you harm him or Camelot. Leave."

"You and what army? You have a dragon? I'm impressed you had enough magic to enslave him. And I bet all of that magic is focused on this shield of yours, isn't it? You'll break eventually, especially when it's bombarded with my attacks. Do you understand how shields work? They are directly tied to the strength of the sorcerer who cast the spell." Morgana taunted.

"I am warning you Morgana, leave, now and take your army. I won't be so merciful after this." Merlin warned.

"Merciful, you make me laugh. You are nothing but a servant, one who after all this, even if you win, Arthur won't look at you twice. You've lied to him, learnt magic behind his back."

"I'll accept whatever punishment he deems fit for my treason, I did lie to him for 6 years, but you won't be here to see that." Merlin said. His voice was tired and almost regretful. "I am sorry it came to this, Morgana. I really am."

"You shouldn't have tried to poison me then." Morgana spat.

"I did what was necessary to protect Arthur and Camelot. And I will continue to do so." Merlin shrugged, and a roar interrupted their conversation. The shadow dragon as reforming, and the golden one was preparing to fight again.

"You don't have long left to live; you really want your last words to be that?" Morgana laughed. "You are nothing but a servant with a few drops of magic."

"No Morgana, I'm not. You already knew I had magic, but you didn't realise it was me because I looked different." Merlin interrupted.

"Really, do tell, who were you then?" Morgana waved a hand, clearly expecting the boy to have no magic that could harm her .

"Emrys."

Morgana's shocked look was evident to Arthur, even as he stood on the wall watching.

"Impossible. You cannot be that old fool."

"Looks are deceiving Morgana, and I warned you. I warned you and you didn't listen." Merlin sighed, then lifted a hand, sending Morgana backwards.

"You are nothing but a servant!" Morgana screeched, getting to her feet.

Merlin stepped forward, leaving the safety of his shield. The shield rippled where he walked through, but stayed in place. "I am Merlin, son of Balinor, the last Dragonlord alive. I am known as Emrys to the druids, and I will serve the Once and Future King to my last breath. You, Morgana, have nothing compared to me, and you should've left when I gave you the chance."

"O magni, urere potest hic ades. Ignis ad comburendum igni datum des traditoris sui populi nostri. Dignus dignus est vita–" Morgana began chanting, but whatever Merlin did when he lifted his hand cut her off. She choked on her words, and fell backwards.

Arthur stared in shock as the shadow dragon disappeared mid-flight, and as his sister's body convulsed. It stopped after a few moments, and Merlin's shoulders slumped down. The spell he had cast so they could hear stopped, as Merlin began talking at Morgana's body but no one heard.

Her body lifted into the air, Merlin controlling it, and the pair disappeared, seemingly blinking out of existence.

"He'll be back sire, to face you." Gaius told the King who was still in shock, "But there is a lot of work to do here until then."

An hour later, a soldier came running into the throne room where Arthur was listening to reports of damages and trying to sort it all out. The soldier was babbling about flying wood and rocks, causing Arthur and his Knights to walk outside, only to find Merlin standing on the castle wall, hands waving about as the city fixed itself. Houses righted themselves, roofs, walls and glass rebuilding. The wall was already patched up, looking like nothing had ever broken it. The fires were extinguishing themselves, and the burnt material underneath was re-healing.

"Merlin." Arthur called out, approaching the stairs.

He climbed up them, his knights following, as Merlin turned to watch them approach, hands dropping, while the work continued. They were all shocked to see his eyes a shocking bright gold. A few minutes later, the entire city was fixed, and his eyes faded back into his normal blue.

"Merlin." Arthur repeated, seeming to be lost for words.

Merlin smiled sadly and knelt, bowing his head to his King.

"Don't." Arthur gripped the man's arm and pulled him up.

"Sire?" Merlin asked, confusion in his eyes. "I understand, really, I do, I committed treason, I lied to you and I've lied to you the whole time I've known you. I would appreciate it if you didn't kill me, but I understand that I deserved to be punished."

"You have committed treason. You lied to me, all the time. I have no idea what was actually the truth, all those times we've joked and teased and laughed. All the times you've offered me advice, or told me something is wrong, I don't know if any of that was true. You lied about the dragon, you lied about your father. You lied to me." Arthur agreed. "And I'm hurt, and angry and upset you didn't trust me. And I, I can't believe you'd practice magic, it's evil." Arthur frowned.

Merlin stayed quiet, just lowered his head and eyes away from the King.

"And I want to punish you, I want to send you to the stocks for months, I want to yell and scream at you and I want you to confess to everything. But I don't want you gone, or dead, or banished or anything like that." Arthur continued. "Why is that, Merlin? I trusted you, I told you things that no one else knows, I've asked for your advice, and all that time you've lied to me. I have every right to be pissed with you, I have every right to punish you. I am King and you have committed treason."

Arthur sighed, as Merlin didn't speak.

"Why, if I have every right to do so, why don't I want to?" Arthur asked the man, who carefully looked up at the King.

"Sire?" Merlin asked, confused.

"Now you're all respectful? When your fate lies in my hands?" Arthur snapped, all of a sudden, appearing angry.

"No sire, I did not think I had any right to treat you as my friend, not until you had made up your mind about me. All you've said is true, I lied, all the time, to protect myself and you. I've committed treason, albeit, it is a stupid law, I had less say in having magic then you did about being royal."

"How does that work?" Gwaine asked, a little confused.

"Arthur could leave, he never would, because his sense of duty is too bloody strong, but if he truly hadn't wanted to be prince and king, he could've ran away, left the city and became a farmer out in the middle of nowhere. I can run from my magic, I can't get rid of it." Merlin's face tightened with grief and pain, "Trust me, I've tried."

Arthur was silent for another moment, before he pulled his sword out, resting the point against Merlin's chest. Gwaine stepped forward to protest, but Merlin shook his head at the knight, and Leon gripped his arm.

"Tell me why." Arthur demanded. "Tell me why I shouldn't run you through like the traitor you are. Tell me why you don't deserve it."

"I can't." Merlin told him.

"Why not?"

"Because I deserve it." Merlin shrugged slightly, the point of the sword shifted with the man's movement.

Arthur held it there for a few more minutes, then lowered the sword and put it away.

"You aren't banished." Arthur declared. "But you need to leave. You can come back, just, I need you to go."

Merlin studied his king for a moment and then nodded once. "I'll come back when you're ready." Merlin told the blond. "Tell Gaius and Gwen I said bye." With that, Merlin nodded at the knights, bowed to his King and jumped off the wall again. He never hit the bottom, he disappeared halfway down.

"Was that the smartest thing to do? What if we're attacked?" Gwaine asked.

"Whether it was the smartest or not, I need to think." Arthur muttered, before storming off.

The knights all shared a look then followed their King.

TBC