A/N: Nice and fast updates for you guys! But before we do anything else, I must say thank you to IdleWolf, CHARLES CHUKU, Firebird08x, BreakingFree2015, mersan123 and Garrek for reviewing the first chapter of the story!

Now, I want to make sure that you understand that not all updates will be this fast, but I will do my best to keep it consistent with at least one chapter a week. If you got any ideas or a specific episode that you really want me to write, you can tell me in a PM or in a Review. I got the majority of the story planned and it will detoriate from the canon storyline in a very near future, but I can still try and adapt it to fit your desires. It is after all you, the followers, that are going to be reading it so it would be foolish of me to ignore your wishes. But enough chit-chat; Enjoy Chapter Two!

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin the TV Show. It belongs to BBC.

Chapter Two: Arrival in Camelot

A terrified scream echoed through the woods in the vicinity of Camelot, as Merlin ruthlessly pierced the chest of the last bandit. As the body of his last opponent fell to the ground, unmoving, Merlin swallowed and looked away. The ring of fire that he had summoned to keep the bandits from escaping slowly died out, leaving only the bodies of the six men that had attacked him in its wake. The young man stared at his handiwork grimly for a second, before he tossed his sword to the side and fell to his knees. Closing his eyes, he intertwined his fingers with each other and drew a deep, calming breath as he began whispering to himself, praying for the souls of the ones he had just been forced to kill.

He always did this when he had taken a life. Ever since the first time he had killed someone, Merlin had always taken the time out afterwards to show his respect for those he had killed. He wasn't sure if the Triple Goddess really listened to his prayers, but at least it helped ease his concience a little.

Once he was done paying his respect, he let out a sigh of relief and stood up. Looking around, he couldn't spot his horse anywhere in the vicinity, suggesting the poor animal had run off when the fire started, or when the bandits attacked. He frowned as he contemplated the possibility that the horse was still close by. After all, it had taken an arrow in one of its joints so it couldn't have gotten that far in the time it took him to get rid of the bandits, but he quickly dismissed the thought of looking for it. Even if he found it, the poor thing wouldn't be able to let him ride it for at least a few days, even if he did somehow managed to heal its injury, and caring for an injured horse would only slow him down when he needed to get to Camelot fast.

With that thought in mind, he turned back to the dead bandits and quickly checked them over for anything that he could have use for during the short trip to Camelot that still remained. They each had heavy weapons, but carrying such a thing would only slow him down. He contemplated taking the sword he had stolen from the first bandit he had killed, but ultimately decided against it. He was pretty close to Camelot and once he was inside the Castle Walls, carrying such an obvious weapon for no reason would only draw attention to him.

In the end, he decided that it wasn't worth the trouble of taking anything from the bandits. He was close enough to Camelot that he should reach the city within a few hours of walk. The sun still hadn't completely fallen, even if it was obscurred by the treetops from where he was standing, so if nothing else unexpected occurred he would be there soon enough. Not wanting to waste any more time than he already had, Merlin grabbed his bag and took off at a relatively fast pace in the direction of Camelot.

As he walked, Merlin once again found himself pondering over exactly what it was that made him feel in such a hurry to get to Camelot. There had been absolutely no evidence that whoever had killed that woman and left her in the forest were heading towards Camelot, yet he felt like he needed to get there. And even if there had been evidence to suggest that, why would it bother him?

While he pondered this, the walk through the forest went by quickly and before he knew it, he was standing in a field not far from Camelot itself. Looking up at the strong walls that protected the city, seeing the lights that flickered on the other side of them and hearing the buzzing of the late afternoon/early night activities, Merlin couldn't help but feel a little awed. He had seen castles before, citadels and strongholds of the Old Religion, but he knew the moment he layed eyes on the city of Camelot that there was something special about this one.

"Magnificent." he whispered under his breath.

Smiling to himself, Merlin picked up his pace, eager to see what the inside of the city would look like. He felt a kind of childish curiosity overtake him as he neared the city gates, where two guards stood on each side of the entrance. Seeing this as a good opportunity as any to start his search for Gaius, Merlin swallowed down his curiosity for the time being. There would hopefully be plenty of time to look around later, once he had found who he was looking for. Walking up to one of the guards, both of the armed men turned to look at him.

"Excuse me, sir." Merlin asked, once again recalling Nimueh's lectures about common courtesy and respect. "I'm here to seek audience with Gaius, the Court Physician. Do you know where I can find him?"

The two guards shared a glance with each other and then looked back at him, obviously trying to determine what his purpose was for seeking out Gaius. Realizing that he still had his hood pulled up, he immediately reached up to remove it to show off his face. Seeing that they were talking to a young boy, the guards seemed to decide that he was not here with bad intentions and let him through.

"He should be in his quarters in the Castle." one of them said as he pointed towards the palace in the center of the city. "Ask someone up there and they will show you the way."

Bowing his head in respect and offering a simple "Thank you", Merlin made his way into the city. The streets were fairly empty, which didn't surprise him as the sun had fallen by now and most people seemed to have retired from the day's activities. The most activity, Merlin noted, seemed to come from a large building that he guessed was the tavern. They had one of those in Ealdor as well, and he and Nimueh had at times sought refuge in local taverns while they were on the road.

For a moment, he was tempted to drop by to grab something to eat, but quickly dismissed the thought. Taverns were usually open until well into the night, but he had no idea how long it would take to find Gaius. He could come back there later if he didn't find him, or if Gaius for some reason didn't offer him anything to eat. He honestly doubted the later though, given his mother's description of Gaius as one of the kindest men she ever knew.

When he finally reached the center of the city, where the castle itself was located, Merlin had already began to regret his descision to not drop by the tavern. His stomach was rumbling almost incessantly, painfully reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything decent since the dinner with his mother the other day. He had been so focused on getting to Camelot that he had only taken a short break to eat some bread after he had found that corpse, not taking the time out to cook something.

'Incredible.' he thought bitterly as he entered the castle. 'If the bandits don't kill me during my next journey, I might end up killing myself from lack of self preservation.'

Hoping against hope that Gaius hadn't already finished his dinner, Merlin began to roam the halls of the castle, looking for someone to ask for directions. As he reached the inner courtyard, he noticed that a lot of people had gathered there. Stopping for a moment, he tried to make sense of the fuss they were making. They appeared to be... celebrating?

Merlin frowned. Why were they celebrating? It was well past the time of the Feast of Beltane and Samhain wasn't scheduled to be yet for at least a few months. While Merlin would never claim to be an expert on traditions, having lived his life as either a peasant boy (in Ealdor) or a fugitive (with Nimueh), he didn't think he had that bad a grasp on the yearly festivities that he would miss something that would warrant this much fuss.

Feeling his curiousity get the better of him, Merlin looked around for someone to ask, preferably someone who wasn't clad in more than their own weight in iron junk, or too drunk to stand up straight without wobbling. Eventually, he spotted a young girl, around his age, standing slightly off to the side on the other side of the courtyard, watching the festivities unfold. Without hesitating, Merlin made his way over to her.

"Excuse me, miss?" he said, drawing the attention of the girl. "This may sound like a stupid question, but why are people celebrating?"

The girl, who was slightly shorter than him and had a darker skin tone than his own, as well as curly dark brown hair, stared at him for a moment, obviously not having expected to be adressed by someone right then and there. It didn't take her long to regain her composure though and she offered him a kind smile.

"Oh, you're not from around here?" she asked and tilted her head slightly to the side.

When Merlin shook his head, she laughed nervously. Why was she nervous? If anything, it should be him that was nervous for asking such a stupid question. Or maybe it wasn't that strange after all to ask that if he wasn't from Camelot? Maybe this was something that only Camelot celebrated?

"Well Uthe-, I mean, the King announced a festival to celebrate 20 years since the Great Purge started, and the last Dragon was imprisoned underneath the castle." the girl explained.

Hearing the reason for the celebration, Merlin felt his jaws tighten. Really? The beginning of a mindless massacre was cause for a celebration? Turning away from the girl, Merlin's gaze hardened as he glared at the celebrating crowd in the courtyard. He felt his heartbeat rise, along with his anger at the people who were dancing and laughing with joy over the death of hundreds of people.

"Is everything all right? You look a little pale." he heard the girl ask.

Shaking his head to clear it of his disturbing thoughts, Merlin turned back to the girl and tried to offer her a reassuring smile. She appeared to be worried that she had somehow offended him (which wasn't that far from the truth). Trying to focus on that one positive thought, Merlin felt his the strained muscles in his face relax. At least not all the people in the castle were ignorant fools.

"It's nothing, I just haven't eaten anything in a while." he told her honestly.

"Oh," the girl nodded in understanding. "You've had a long journey, then?"

Trying to shut out the sound of the festivities, Merlin grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. Was he really that easy to read? Perhaps he wasn't as good at hiding his emotions as he wanted to believe then. He would have to work on that.

"Kind of." he said, before he remembered the reason he had been sent here in the first place. "I'm here to seek audience with a man named Gaius, do you know where I can find him? He's supposed to be the Court Physician."

The girl's eyes widened slightly in recognition of the name. So she did know where to find him then. It would appear that Gaius was pretty well known around these parts, Merlin thought. First the guard at the town entrance had known him and now this random girl. But considering that the man in question was the Court Physician, Merlin felt that he shouldn't be surprised. If Gaius' skills as a Physician was enough to earn him a position within the Royal Court, he must be really good at what he does and outstanding skill in general always attracts attention.

"Ah, yes. If you enter through that door," she pointed at the door in question. "and then make a right turn, you just need to follow the corridor and his quarters will be up the stairs and then to the left."

Feeling relieved that he finally had some clear idea of where to go, Merlin smiled at the girl. She seemed to be nice and didn't appear to be overly thrilled about the festivities either, something that made him feel happy. So maybe not all the people of Camelot supported Uther in his hunt for magic users.

"Thank you, miss..." he trailed off and tilted his head in question, realizing that he had never bothered to ask for her name.

"Oh," the girl said as she apparently came to the same conslussion. "I'm Guinevere, but most people call me Gwen. I'm the Lady Morgana's maidservant."

Merlin nodded his head in thought, taking a moment to try and memorize it. Gwen... sounded simple enough to remember. It had been a while since he'd met someone whose name he'd had to memorize, since Nimueh preferred to keep their interraction with local townspeople at a minimum and even if they spoke with someone, there was no need to remember their names. But considering that Nimueh hadn't given him any clear instruction as to what he was supposed to do here, he felt like he might be stuck in Camelot for a while and he didn't want to be rude and forget Guinevere's name if they ever met again.

"Gwen..." he said, nodding his head in acceptance. "I'll be sure to remember that. I'm Merlin."

Gwen smiled warmly at him and Merlin felt strangely content with the way she was smiling. Aside from his mother, he rarely got someone to smile. Come to think of it, the only other person he had made smile in the last few years had been Nimueh whenever he managed to live up to or exceed her expectations for him during their training, but that was more of an accomplished and satisfied smile, not a warm and friendly smile like the one Gwen had just given him.

Oh, and then there was of course Will, his childhood friend, who was always happy to see him during his short visits to Ealdor, but he rarely smiled at him, often opting to smirk and punch him in the chest playfully instead.

"Merlin..."she said, allowing the name to roll off her tongue as if trying it out. "That's an unusual name. N-not in a bad way though." she hastily added the last part, obviously worried that he had been offended by her again.

He smiled at her, this time a true and sincere smile. This girl was so pure and innocent, he had no doubt that she would screech in horror and hit him hard atop his head if she knew that he had ruthlessly slaugthered a group of six men just a few hours ago, nevermind that they had been bandits. A long time ago, Merlin too had been pure and innocent but that innocence was long gone by now. Still, it made him feel warm inside to meet such people, as the most interractions he had were with grown ups who had seen the world for what it was. This bunch included Nimueh, his mother and various tavern-owners, but when it came to innocence they were all the same.

"Well, the same could be said about your name, Guinevere. Unusual, but not in a bad way." he smirked as Gwen's cheeks turned a faint shade of red.

With that, he turned and began walking in the direction of the door Gwen had pointed out to him. He could practically feel Gwen staring at his back, as if she didn't know what to make of his behavior. Truth to be told, Merlin had no idea if maybe he had been a little too blunt with his last comment. He was used to giving cheeky answers like that, having Will as a childhood friend and living the last six of his years with Nimueh had seen to that. Or perhaps that kind of behavior simply wasn't common in Camelot? Having travelled a lot from town to town, and from village to village, Merlin knew for a fact that what was appreciated in one place could easily be hated in another place.

As he reached the door and grabbed the doorknob, he turned back to glance at Gwen over his shoulder. She was still staring at him. Okay, so cheek was obviously not something that was common around the Castle of Camelot.

"Oh, and Gwen!" he called and turned around to face her.

The girl in question shook her head when he called her name, apparently not having realized that she was staring. When her attention was back on him, Merlin offered her a smile, hoping it looked as warm as Gwen's smile had earlier.

"Thank you!"

MxM

Morgana had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as she witnessed how her guardian flirted shamelessly with Lady Helen, the esteemed "best singer" in all the lands. She had been invited to dine with Uther and Helen and, on Gwen's insistance that she leave her chambers and did something fun, she had accepted the invitation, but was already questioning her own judgement in doing so. And they hadn't even made it to the main course yet!

As always when an honoured guest was visiting Camelot, Uther had been eager to introduce Morgana and Morgana had done her best to smile at the woman, who had returned the gesture. But after that, Morgana had done nothing but sit to the side and watch as the King interracted with his guest. It was times like this that made Morgana feel like she was nothing more than an ornament to the King, a thing to show off Camelot's radiance. And she hated it!

After having spent the afternoon with her maidservant, looking through her extensive wardrobe for something to wear at the feast in two days time, Morgana had calmed down considerably. She was still feeling a bit anxious about the threat against Arthur's life, but she no longer felt like she needed to constantly keep watch over him. As the Prince of Camelot, Arthur was constantly being watched as it was. There was no need for her to go out of her way to add her own eyes to that bunch.

Sighing to herself, Morgana tried to focus on the food that had been placed in front of her. She idly wondered if Gwen was having a better time than she was currently having. Before she went to meet with Uther, Morgana had made certain that Gwen got the evening off to go and have some fun at the celebrations in the courtyard that Uther had arranged. Whatever she was doing, Morgana had a distinct feeling that her maidservant was having more fun than she herself was. The reasons for the festival were tainted in both their minds, but at least Gwen didn't have to deal with Uther Pendragon in person.

"What about your son? It's a shame I haven't got to meet him yet."

At the mention of Uther's son, Morgana's senses immediately sharpened. Hearing the way Lady Helen spoke of Arthur immediately sent warning bells through Morgana's mind and she went completely still, trying to hear exactly what was being said.

"That's Arthur." Uther confirmed before taking another bite of his food.

Slowly, as to not arouse any suspicion, Morgana leant forward to to grab her goblet and took a sip from it, all the while studying the two people in front of her. Since she was seated at the short end of the long table, with Helen and Uther seated opposite to each other in the middle of the long ends, she had a perfect view of what they did. And what Lady Helen said next made Morgana's heart skip a beat.

"Poor child."

Morgana had to summon up all her self-control to keep herself from rising from her seat at that statement. Apparently, Uther also found that comment to be a little (more like very in Morgana's mind) out of place, because he looked up from his food and frowned at Lady Helen questioningly. Whatever had been going through her mind at the time, the singer seemed to realize her slip.

"Yeah, poor child. He can't have had an easy childhood growing up without a mother."

The mention of "mother" made Morgana narrow her eyes in suspicion. Where did that come from? While it was true that Arthur, like Morgana herself, had grown up without a mother, why would someone just randomly mention it like that? The mention of a child separated from their mother sent Morgana's mind reeling back to the previous afternoon, when a mother and child had been separated by Uther's judgement. To her dismay however, Uther seemed to accept this as a reasonable explanation for Helen's comment.

"It hasn't been easy. The bond between mother and son is one that is very hard to replace." he commented. "Sadly, it appears to become all the more common that children loose one of their parents way too early in life."

It took a moment for Morgana to realize that when he said this, he turned to look pointedly at her. Seeing where the King was looking, Lady Helen also turned her attention to the girl sitting at the end of the table. After studying Morgana for a moment, Helen's face softened into a motherly smile, sending shivers down Morgana's spine and she had to supress the urge shake her head in response.

"Did you also lose a parent, dear?" Helen asked in which Morgana imagined she thought was a kind voice.

'Well, obviously I have lost BOTH my parents since Uther is now my guardian.' Morgana thought bitterly but wisely refrained from voicing her thoughts. It would do no good to act hostile towards neither Uther nor Helen right now. Instead, she tried her best to put on a convincing but sad smile. It wasn't that hard, since she was sincerely sad about both her parents' passing.

"Mhmm, my mother died when I was very young and my father died when I was 10." she explained quietly. "Though I'd rather not talk about it."

As she said the last part, she sent an angry glare at Uther for involving her in their conversation. In a rare moment of understanding, the king appeared to gracefully accept that Morgana had no wish to continue in the direction the conversation was going, as he nodded towards her and gave her an apologetic look. When Morgana said nothing else, the two older occupants of the table turned back to each other and resumed their conversation.

"Have you ever thought of remarrying?" Helen asked her host. "I'm sure a man with your qualities wouldn't have trouble to find yourself a new woman."

Hearing their new line of talk, Morgana choked on the piece of fruit she had just placed in her mouth and had to resist the urge to gag. What qualities? Brutality and ignorance? She could name a very long list of so called "qualities" that would make any sane woman scream and run the other way if Uther ever tried to propose to them. As she glanced over at her guardian though, Uther himself seemed rather happy with himself that Helen had uttered those words.

"Perhaps I will find love again," he said, sending a pointed smile towards Lady Helen. "but I'm afraid it's too late to replace Arthur's mother."

And they were back to the shameless flirting again. Morgana found herself feeling rather sceptical to Uther's claim that it was "too late" to replace Arthur's mother. She honestly doubted that even if he had remarried the moment Arthur had been born that they would've been able to completely replace Ygraine, neither in Uther's heart (if he even had one, something that she was still questioning) or as Arthur's mother. God knew that Uther hadn't managed to replace Gorlois as Morgana's father in any way, so she felt that she had a reason to be sceptic.

Looking down at her plate, she felt like she had completely lost her apetite and pointedly pushed it away from herself, before she stood up from her seat.

"I'm don't want to be rude, but I think I've lost my apetite." she told her company in honest. "So if you'll excuse me, I'll retire to my chambers for the night."

None of her company argued with her, though it looked like Uther wasn't too pleased with her abrupt departure. It wasn't suitable for a Lady of the Court to just up and leave during a meal with an honoured guest and Morgana knew she would be hearing about this later. She just couldn't bring herself to care. Uther may be her guardian, but that didn't mean she would do as he wanted on every given turn. Truth to be told, she often did the exact opposite of what he wanted her to do. For all Morgana cared, Uther was not the boss of her, King or not.

She licked her lips anxiously as she made her way through the castle, setting course for the courtyard. It hadn't been that long since they had parted ways so Gwen should still be at the celebration and right now, Morgana really needed someone to talk to. Lady Helen's behavior and her out of place comments about Arthur and the talk about losing one's parents had the word "suspicious" written all over it. And it unsettled Morgana greatly.

MxM

"So let me get this straight," Gaius said in barely hidden disbelief. "you were born with magic but couldn't control your powers, so Hunith sent you to live and be trained by a High Priestess and Nimueh of all people agreed to train you?"

As it would turn out, Gaius was an old man who appeared to always have one of his eyebrows higher than the other. When he had first introduced himself, Merlin had no problem imagining this man as his mentor's teacher. Gaius appeared to be a very strict man, a trait that he definetely shared with his former student, but Merlin couldn't exactly say that Hunith had been wrong in her description of him as a very kind man either.

When Merlin had first entered his quarters, Gaius had naturally been suspicious of him and his reasons for being there, but once he had introduced himself as Hunith's son, his behavior had quickly changed. Apparently, and to Merlin's great shock, Gaius had been present when Merlin was born. His mother had never told him anything about his birth so naturally, Merlin had been intrigued to learn that when Hunith knew she was nearing her labor, she had travelled to Camelot to seek the aid of her old friend, Gaius, who was one of the most efficient physicians in all the lands.

However, as Merlin's stomach had interrupted them in their conversation, they had agreed to talk more over dinner, something that Merlin was eternally grateful. Which led them to their current situation.

"Look, I already told you that's what happened. I don't know why Nimueh agreed to train me, but she's been doing it for six years now." Merlin said as he finished his cereal (or at least, he thought it was cereal. He would hate to discover that it was supposed to be something else).

Nodding his head in thought, Gaius leaned back in his chair and seemed to consider what Merlin had said. Honestly, Merlin couldn't understand why it was so hard to believe that Nimueh had accepted to train him. The Triple Goddess knew that Merlin would be the first to admit that Nimueh wasn't the most social person of the bunch, but that didn't mean she wouldn't help one of her own kind, especially not since the Great Purge started.

"Why is it so hard to believe that she would agree to train me? She is a High Priestess, of course she would want to help one of her own." Merlin questioned.

He wasn't really angry at Gaius for quesitoning Nimueh's motives. If it was one thing he knew for certain about his mentor, it would be that she never did anything unless she had a good reason to do it. He had never questioned her reasons for training him though, merely brushing it off as her helping one of her own kind learn how to control his powers, similar to how a parent would help their child learn how to walk.

"It's not really that I doubt that she agreed to train you Merlin. I'm more curious as to why she did it." he said thoughtfully as he leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows on the wooden surface of the table. "I knew my student very well and if it's one trait that distinguishes Nimueh from the rest of us, it is that she has a reason for everything she does. She wouldn't have trained you unless she thought she could gain something from it."

Merlin nodded his head slowly, thinking it over. He could definetely agree that Nimueh had a reason for everything she did, but he felt like Gaius was overthinking it. It wasn't that unbelievable that she had trained him simply out of the kindness of her heart, right? Regardless, he felt like there would be no convincing Gaius that had been the case so he tried to steer the conversation away from the topic.

"So... why do you think she sent me here then? She didn't give me any instruction of what to do while I'm here, she simply said that I should try and learn from you." Merlin asked, honestly curious to hear what Gaius had to say on that matter.

To his surprise, Gaius seemed to hesistate when he was about to answer. Merlin frowned, feeling confused about the old man's behavior. Was there something he was not telling him about his mentor? While he would like to think that he knew Nimueh very well, he was well aware that he didn't know everything about her. Did this Gaius know something about Nimueh that Merlin didn't?

"Let's just say that I have... a hunch, as to why she sent you here Merlin, but let's wait until she contacts you again before we make any assumptions." he said, glancing at Merlin with a serious look as he said it. "But I'll tell you this much; I sincerely hope that I am wrong in my assumptions."

At that, Merlin's frown grew deeper. There was something that Gaius wasn't telling him! Feeling a slight sting of irritation at the suspicions Gaius seemed to hold against his former student, Merlin was just about to ask what it was when the old man got up and began taking care of the dishes. Seeing that the conversation was over, Merlin took a deep breath to calm himself. It wouldn't do for him to lose his temper right now. They would, or at least he would, know soon enough why Nimueh had sent him here.

With that thought in mind, Merlin got up to help Gaius with the dishes. Between the two of them, the plates and bowls were clean in just a few minutes work. While Merlin would normally have used magic to clean his dishes, he recognized how dangerous it would be to do that in the heart of Camelot when someone could walk in on them at any moment. Given that Gaius was the Court Physician, it wasn't unlikely that someone could rush in and ask for his help without any previous notification.

When they were done, Merlin grabbed his bag and Gaius showed him to the "Upper Room", which by the looks of it was an unused storage room. After moving some of the stuff around, Merlin found that the room wasn't that bad and the bed, which Gaius told him he had used as a guest bed or extra bed whenever one of his patients needed to spend the nights in his quarters, was actually quite soft. Satisfied with his living arrangements, he dropped his bag to the floor and turned to face his new host.

"So... how are we doing this? We just wait until Nimueh contacts me?" he asked.

The old man had told him that he hadn't practiced magic for almost 20 years, not since the Great Purge had started, so receiving any lectures about the Old Religion from him, like Nimueh had suggested, seemed unlikely.

"Well, you cannot just live here in Camelot with nothing to do." Gaius said. "That would seem suspicious if we have to wait for her to contact you. In the meantime, you can help me do my job as Court Physician. I'm sure Nimueh taught you something about non-magical remedies, right?"

Merlin nodded his head in confirmation. His knowledge of non-magical remedies was very limited, but Nimueh had told him that there might come a time when he would have to survive without the aid of his magic. Though it was rare knowledge and even harder to accomplish, there were ways to block or undermine someone's magical abilities. With that thought in mind, Merlin had began to study some basic herbalism and ways to treat wounds and injuries without using magic. While he had never actually had to use this knowledge so far, he did have a certain knowledge about what herbs could be used to heal a wound faster and the like.

"Great! Then you can start first thing in the morning!" Gaius said with a smile before he put a hand on Merlin's shoulder and gently pushed him towards the bed. "Now, try and get some rest. You look exhausted."

As soon as the words left him, Merlin felt his jaws being parted by a yawn. He hadn't realized how tired he was feeling, but now that Gaius mentioned it he had been through a lot. Waking up early, finding the corpse, riding to Camelot in record time, killing the bandits and discovering that Uther Pendragon held festivals to celebrate the beginning of a bloody massacre... it was hard to believe it had all taken place within just a day's time.

Nodding in agreement with Gaius' order, Merlin sat down on his bed. After exchanging a quick "good night"-wish with his new ward, Gaius left Merlin to his own devices. Merlin sighed with relief as he lay down in his new bed. He was asleep almost the moment his head hit the pillow.

A/N: Yup, this is a shorter chapter, compared to the one before it and it will probably be one of the shorter ones alltogether. I prefer to write at least 8k of words for each chapter (not including ANs) and as you may have noticed, neither of the ones so far have matched that. My main reason for that is that in general, the word count in Merlin Fanfics appears to be a lot lower than the word count for Harry Potter or Pokemon Fics (which is what I am used to writing). However, this isn't just my story, it's yours too. You're the ones that are going to read and enjoy it, so I would be happy to hear your thoughts on the matter.

But regardless of word counts; if you enjoyed it and haven't followed or favourited yet I suggest you do that, and there is also this nice little thing down below called "a review", in which you can tell me what you think. I know for a fact that I am taking this at a pretty slow pace, but I promise you that we will get past the first episode in the next chapter. Thanks for taking the time out to read!