Chapter Two

Arthur's head felt like it had been bashed in by a giant rock. He slowly opened his eyes, wincing as the light from the setting sun struck pain through his temples. But the pain receded and at last he was able to open his eyes fully without any additional pain.

"Good evening, Your Highness," a now-recognizable deep voice said from in front of him. Arthur looked up, straight into the eyes of the man—the sorcerer—who had attacked him. The man was large and muscular, with a short, dark beard covering much of his face, his dark eyes framed by heavy eyebrows. Arthur would have moved to kill him, but he soon discovered he was tied to a tree.

"You won't get away with this," Arthur informed him. "My father will not rest until he has found me and killed you." The man shrugged, seemingly not at all concerned. But a thought occurred to Arthur. "Why haven't you killed me yet?" he asked.

"My boy, do you always assume everything to be about you? That must be an annoying quality for those around you."

The words sunk into Arthur like ice, but his expression didn't alter. "You're after my father then. Or perhaps all of Camelot?"

The man simply laughed. "Which are still indirectly about you," he pointed out. Arthur frowned.

"What do you want then? Money? Power?"

"You'll find out when Emrys gets here."

"Emrys," Arthur turned the name over in his mind. "Who is that? Your accomplice?"

The man barked a laugh, much more sincerely this time. "So the rumors are true! You really don't know!"

"Don't know what?" Arthur asked. He was trying to sound sure of himself and calm, but it was quite difficult when he didn't have the first clue what any of this was about.

"You have a sorcerer who lives among you," he answered, with that annoying, knowing smile, "in the castle."

Arthur's eyes widened. "Impossible," he said at last, concluding that this man must be lying. "My father would have found him and had him executed. No one can use magic in Camelot without getting caught."

"It is for that reason, dear prince, that I wish to meet this Emrys." His eyes grew dark.

"You want to team up with him." Arthur didn't even realize that he'd gone from assuming this man to be outright lying to accepting this horrible truth in but an instant. But everything sunk into place before his eyes, like a giant, mental puzzle. Or so he thought.

"Ha! Team up with that traitor? I wouldn't dream of it." Arthur was more confused than ever. "That traitor has been protecting you, your father, and all of Camelot for months now! And I want to find out why. He knows all too well that you and your father would have him executed the moment you discovered him—even if you realized he'd been protecting your sorry selves! Why would he protect someone who would murder him in an instant?"

"Protecting us?" Arthur repeated disbelievingly. No sorcerer would protect anything. Sorcerers were evil—all of them.

But…did he really believe that? A few months ago he had. But everything seemed different now—more complicated. He was starting to wonder if this whole war against magic was as black and white as his father made it out to be.

"Protecting you, more specifically. That seems to be his main agenda. Though he has been known to save your father as well. That's why I took you, you see. You're bait."

Arthur took a moment to process this information. But it couldn't be true. Could it? A sorcerer could not be watching him, a silent guardian, without him knowing. A sorcerer would not be protecting him. Why would he?

Immediately the blue orb of light floated to his mind. He had yet to find an explanation for that. But he could not deny that someone had summoned it to guide him out of that cave. Could it have been this Emrys person?

But why would any sorcerer protect a Pendragon?

-

Merlin stared out from his hiding place. Due to Arthur's disappearance, Camelot was now under lockdown, which meant sneaking out to meet a mysterious sorcerer more than a little difficult. So Merlin resorted to one of his simple little sneaking-out moves. With a mental nudge he sent a box in the further alley tumbling from its sitting place. One of the guards immediately went to check it out.

"Your turn," Merlin whispered under his breath. His eyes glowed gold again as he carefully moved a rock into the first guard's path, making him trip and let out a slight cry of alarm. As predicted, the second guard followed at a run to see what was wrong. Leaving the gate free.

Why was sneaking during a lockdown so easy? That didn't say much for Camelot's security.

Merlin took his opportunity and sprinted as silently as he could through the gate, continuing until he reached the tree line. Once there, he looked back to make sure he hadn't been noticed before taking a deep breath and striding into the forest with as much confidence as he could muster. He wore very indistinct clothes and a long traveling cloak with an oversized hood he kept up to conceal his face. He wanted to get out of this without revealing anything to Arthur if at all possible.

He had informed Gaius of what had happened.

"If Arthur's conscious when you confront this man, he'll know the truth," his mentor had pointed out.

"I can't just leave him, Gaius," Merlin answered out reasonably. "I'll…wear a cloak. Arthur won't know it's me."

"I'm afraid that won't be enough, Merlin. You have been Arthur's servant for months now. He knows your voice and your mannerisms. You'll have to hide more than your face."

Merlin nodded slowly. "I'll talk as un-Merlin-like as possible, then. Simple as that," he said.

"And how do you expect to do that?" Gaius asked incredulously.

Merlin shrugged. "I'll think of something."

Gaius didn't like it, but they had no choice in the matter. It was either go after Arthur or let him die.

So now Merlin was striding through the forest, quite convinced this was a stupid idea, but not knowing what else to do.

When thirty minutes later he at last walked into a clearing to find two people—one familiar, one unfamiliar—he paused, holding himself tall, trying to look as intimidating as possible. Arthur knew him as the bumbling servant who messed everything up. So if he appeared to be in complete control, Arthur would be less likely to recognize him.

He starred at Arthur for a moment, assuring himself that he was not harmed in any significant way. Then he turned back to the sorcerer.

"I'm here," Merlin said simply, trying to keep his voice a bit lower-pitched than usual. "Now release the prince." Sounding regal was difficult when you didn't have a clue what your enemy was up to or capable of.