Thankfully Merlin slept for a large portion of the way back. Then, all of a sudden Arthur felt a stirring sensation in his arms. He new it was Merlin waking up in his arms so he found a place to stop his horse. "It's a good thing I've watched you do this a thousand times." Arthur said as he placed Merlin on a soft patch of grass as he he began to set up a small camp.

After the camp was finally set up all that was left was to start the fire. The logs were neatly placed, but no one to start them. "Alright...how did you usually do this?" Arthur asked as he placed Merlin a little closer to the would be fire. That is...if Arthur could start it. Arthur looked into one of the satchels that Merlin had conveniently labeled as camping equipment and fount two pieces of flint. "Right...this should do." He said to himself as he went back to the lifeless fire, but he found that Merlin was shivering inside his own clothes, which served to make Arthur's heart jump. He knew it was early fall so the wind was starting to gain its chill in the air, and it wouldn't have been a problem if Merlin were an adult, but he wasn't.

"Don't worry, Merlin...I'll get the fire started." Arthur promised, but out of the corner of his eye he watched Merlin hold his hand out to it. "Merlin what are you...?" Before he could finish his question he watched his infant friend's eyes turn into a liquid gold that shone with power, and all at once the fire erupted to life, and Merlin slid his hand back into the warm shirt he was wrapped in. Arthur couldn't breath, he couldn't speak, and he couldn't move. He could hear the very leaves themselves shake with the wind, the air that blew through the trees, a few small animals that were scampering away, and his heart pounding in his chest as he stared at the infant that just started the fire with a simple motion and what seemed to be a simple thought.

After a while, Arthur was finally able to move and he figured that perhaps Merlin would be getting hungry, but if he were to be honest with himself he didn't know if he wanted to, but as soon as that thought crossed his mind he willed it into the very fire Merlin had started. 'He is still Merlin...isn't he? He just has...he has magic...Merlin...my friend...my servant...my best friend...my confidant...has...' As he grabbed the necessary materials to make a bottle for Merlin he realized that the milk was still warm and for that he was thankful, but what got his attention was the giggling he heard behind him. When he turned around with the materials in his hands he almost dropped them at the sight before him. He walked back to where he sat so he could get a better look at Merlin while it was still happening, and once he sat down he noticed the look of pure delight and joy on Merlin's cherub like face as he looked up at his creation with golden eyes. Arthur looked up to where Merlin's gaze followed and was in awe at how the embers from the fire had turned into a dragon above the flames and was flying around. Then, as quickly as it came, it was gone and a fussy Merlin was heard crying.

He quickly prepared a bottle, and then hesitantly picked up Merlin into his arms. He gave Merlin the bottle of warm milk and he drank it greedily. As he continued to down the milk Arthur found himself in a strange and difficult predicament. More so than being a king taking care of a servant. No, that was easy in comparison to what he was dealing with at the moment. He was currently holding a magical infant, and that magical infant was Merlin. Not only that, but Arthur came to the quick conclusion that since Merlin is able to use magic as an infant right now then that means he could when he was originally this small, which also means that he was likely born with his magic, which then means he wasn't given a choice to have magic. He didn't choose it, but he could use it more expertly than anyone he has ever seen including Morgana.

Once Merlin had burped from drinking all of the milk he snuggled close to Arthur's chest and seemed to bury himself in Arthur's arms, causing a stunned gasp to escape the King's lips. "Merlin...what are you doing?" He whispered out, and noticed that Merlin had already fallen fast asleep against his chest. "What am I going to do?" Arthur asked himself aloud as he carefully placed Merlin into the warm tent and placed the soft blanket on him.

Just as he sat back down in his spot in front of the fire he heard footsteps nearby and immediately leapt to his feet and drew his sword as he carefully backed up to the front of the tent. "Who's there!?" He shouted.

"Stay your sword, young Pendragon. I am a friend." A woman wearing a long green dress with a dark blue robe stepped closer to the fire. She lifted her hood to reveal maple colored eyes and sun blonde hair as well as a pale face littered with dark freckles.

"Oh, really and how am I supposed to believe that you're a friend? A sorcerer just turned my servant into an infant!"

"I know, and you are not the only one who wishes to catch him." She smiled and sat by the fire.

Arthur looked down at her wrist and noticed that she had a druid marking. "You're a druid?"

"That I am."

"So why come to me...why sit next to me...and how did you know where I was at."

"I felt the magical pull from the little one in your tent."

"Merlin?"

"Yes." She answered but then she noticed a strange expression on Arthur's face. "What is wrong, young Pendragon?"

"He has magic."

"And you have air in your lungs. I don't see the problem."

"How are the two similar?"

The druid woman gave a calculative expressions as if she were debating whether or not to tell him something important, but he couldn't quite place what it might be. "He is young...small...an infant...and he can do magic just as easily as you can breath air. I wonder...what it is you will do with him."

"W-What do you mean by that?"

"Hmm...well it seems not even you know what to do." She chuckled lightly. "So, let me ask you...will you burn him, execute him, hang him, drown him, will you abandon him, or will you simply starve him to death?"

The thought of doing any one of those to an infant was enough to have Arthur actually spin around and throw up. "What is wrong with you!?" Arthur asked once he was sure he was done emptying the contents of his stomach.

"Ah, but you see...we had been asking your father that very same thing, because you see...he really did all of those things to children or infants who had magic or were simply related to those with magic. I know this because I was a small ten year old druid girl who helped look after the children. Then one day he came in with his knights and set fire to everything. I watched...frightened...as they killed and burned my friends and family...and I was not about to allow him to harm the small innocent children I took care of. They were all younger than four...yet they had talents and promise...but no magic...not yet. Anyway...I escaped through the valley of the fallen kings with seven children and soon we found another druid camp that had been traveling to find a new home. They accepted us, and kept us hidden with a protection spell...and now we have been able to fully grow...however...the man you seek...he was one of the children I rescued. He had once stumbled upon a druid camp that had just been burned to the ground and he vowed to make those who are against magic to feel as helpless as he did. He is wrong for it and it makes him no different than your father..."

"You...can't be serious. My father wouldn't...he..."

"He despised magic with all his being. He has killed people for unwittingly harboring someone with magic...they didn't know, but they were killed anyway. Those people had families, young Pendragon...and then suddenly their families had no one. I know that you know he's done at least that much."

"I..." Arthur couldn't find it in him to argue. Everything she said had been correct, so he had to believe her statement from earlier...that his father really did do those horrible things...to children. "Well...what does this have to do with you feeling Merlin's magic? That's not possible...is it?" Right as he asked he heard crying coming from the tent.

"He needs to be changed." She answered plainly.

"And how would you know? He's in there and we're out here."

"Because I can hear him. Do you not know how to change a babe?" She asked with a grin filled with mischief.

"N-No...I don't."

She smiled as she got up from her spot and walked over to the horse to get the proper supplies she assumed they had. "Well at least you have everything. Come I will show you. You will need to learn eventually when you have a babe of your own." Arthur followed her into the tent and watched her unwrap Merlin who wasn't wearing any cloth to begin with. "Well this will be easy...but we will need something to wrap him in...the blanket perhaps."

"Hold on...what are these markings all over him...what's that mark on his front...and the one on his back...?"

"The man you're after...his name is Haiden, and although he can transform adults into infants...their physical scars remain on their bodies...but are transformed in proportion to the small body of an infant."

"So, you're telling me...Merlin really has these scars?"

"Yes...every last one of them."

As Arthur watched her and carefully remembered how to change Merlin, he found himself cold with guilt, shock, and sadness. It looked like he had been cut up, burned, stabbed, sliced, and beaten...all over his body, and Merlin never said anything. He knew he couldn't have noticed it when his friend turned into a baby, because Merlin was already in the shirt when he wrapped him up...but to see it revealed like this, it was a physical ache to his heart and once again his thoughts and his heart were in the constant battle of 'He's a sorcerer...he's your friend.'

Once she wrapped him up in the blanket Merlin giggled lightly and he took both of his arms out of the blanket and pointed them to the front of the tent where the fire glowed brightly. His eyes glowed their magnificent liquid gold and Arthur looked to where Merlin was holding his hands up. To his shock and amazement he watched the shadows begin to morph and move. The first shadow was of a knight riding his horse, the second shadow was of a dragon flying through the air, the third shadow was of butterflies flapping their wings, the fourth was of a tree blowing in the wind, and the fifth was the druid symbol but only briefly. Then, the shadows stopped and Arthur found himself letting out a breath he hadn't realized he had taken in.

"Impressive isn't it?" The woman asked.

"How is it...that an infant can have magic such as this...or be able to use magic at all?"

"That...I cannot tell you for it isn't my place to say. What I can tell you is that you have my aid as well as six other men and women in catching Haiden and bringing him to justice. However...in the meantime, you need to look after him. I will personally let you know if he is near your castle or if he has caused havoc again. I think you scared him though...so he may keep himself hidden for a while or he may just advance...Now, I must be gone before they worry...and you must find out what you will do with him."

"He is an infant...I can't do such a..."

"Maybe not to an infant...but perhaps to an adult. I will tell you this...he won't stay small for long...because of his magic he will grow a little at a time, but he will have no memory of you aside from you taking care of him...until the spell is vanquished with Haiden's death and I promise you...that is the only way and it brings me no joy...but until then he will have a whole new set of memories...and they will all involve you. It is up to you as to what they may be. I suspect he will be a toddler tomorrow...but who knows. Goodbye for now."

She left the tent and Arthur scrambled after her, but when his head popped out of the tent, she was gone and there was no trace of her. He crawled back into the tent and looked at Merlin who was beginning to fall asleep once more, and he felt his heart constrict in his chest. "God, help me." He said to no one as he shook his head with a sudden weight on his heart and soul.