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Chapter 1

Arthur was sitting in his room, twirling a sword in his hands.

It had been two months since his manservant, Merlin, had died right in front of him but had then come back to life. Arthur couldn't help but remember those final seconds before Merlin had died because of the wounds inflicted by a dragon Morgana and Morgause had conjured. Then he reminded himself that Merlin was alive and was still the same idiot as ever.

He felt yet another rush of anger at Morgana. Every time he thought of her, betrayal, anger and pain weighed heavy on him. She had betrayed them all and now, two months later, the entire city knew about it and they all had trouble understanding why. Gwen in particular had at first refused to believe that Morgana was now a sorceress bent on destroying Camelot.

Arthur then thought about what had happened afterwards. Ma'ab had said her goodbyes as she had made it clear that it was her time and then Freya had given him Excalibur, which was currently in his hands.

Both Merlin and Arthur had decided that Excalibur should be kept hidden. If anyone found it, who knew what would happen, so they decided to keep it in the prince's chambers in a hole in the wall hidden by a brick. Arthur had taken it out of its home to briefly look at it. There was no denying that, even though it was just a sword, it was beautiful; and it sang even when motionless.

Turning his mind back to Merlin and Freya, Arthur couldn't help but smile. He knew that almost every night, Merlin sneaked out of Camelot to go to the lake. After he had seen Merlin crossing the courtyard a couple of times, Gaius had actually told him about the boy's night time wonderings, and although the warlock was usually exhausted in the mornings he was a lot happier than Arthur had seen him in a long time.

Their friendship had changed slightly over the last couple of months as well. Even though there was still the being a prince and servant thing, Arthur felt that they were both being a lot more open with each other than ever before. He was still slightly bossy, but Arthur hoped that Merlin saw that he was trying to be playful instead of arrogant and rude. They were friends now and there was no denying it. Merlin was also a lot more open with his magic. Arthur still couldn't believe that the warlock had managed to hide that from him but now it seemed to be a natural part of life. The prince would sometimes watch Merlin use magic to do his chores but he noticed that Merlin was rather wary when he did so. And the prince could understand why; if Merlin was caught by anyone else then he would be executed for sure.

At that moment the door swung open and Arthur saw Merlin standing in the doorway.

"Dear God Merlin," the prince said. "You're actually early for once."

"Don't get used to it, I'm sure I'll still be late quite a lot of the time," the warlock said, smiling.

"Oh well, I suppose I'm used to it by now. How's Freya?"

"She's fine, though she still doesn't like that she can't really leave water. She actually told me to say hi to you."

"I guess it is my fault she's like that," Arthur muttered, guiltily.

"Arthur, please don't start that again. Freya is thankful in a way; she doesn't have to keep looking over her shoulder and she isn't hunted."

"But she can't live like a normal human."

"Arthur, I know you were the one who killed her but you can't keep beating yourself up about it. I thought Freya made it quite clear that she was fine – sort of fine – with it."

Arthur sighed. The night that Freya had returned, Arthur had told both her and Merlin how sorry he was for being the one who had killed her. The druid girl - though Arthur wasn't sure if that was what she was any more- had told him that she didn't hate him in the slightest and was just happy that she and Merlin were together again.

Arthur had noticed the look that Merlin and Freya had given each other; it had been so caring and loving. He hadn't been able to help feeling slightly jealous of how open the pair could be about their feelings. What would people think, especially Uther, if they knew of the Crown Prince's love for a serving girl?

"Arthur, why did you take Excalibur out of the wall?" Merlin asked, breaking the silence.

"I was wondering what these symbols were. I don't even know what language it is," Arthur replied.

"One side says 'take me up' and the other says 'cast me away'."

"I should have guessed you can read it."

"They're Old English runes; Gaius leant me a book on them once."

"I might want to have a look at that."

"Huh?"

"You never know I might be faced with something like this someday and I might need to read it because for all I know it could be a curse."

Merlin raised his eyebrows at his interest. "Arthur, it's in the runes but also in the language. Those runes don't literally say-"

"It was just an idea."

There was an awkward pause for a few moments before Merlin changed the subject.

"Is your father still sending out search parties?"

"Yes, but I told him it was a waste of time. Morgana is now a sorceress and it's more than likely that she's able to cover her tracks and the same goes for Morgause."

"Have they tried to get to the castle where we found Morgause?"

"A couple of men tried but they found nothing apart from a deserted fort."

"So no one has any idea where they could have gone."

"Well we can't send men into other kingdoms. It might look like we were declaring war..."

"But what if they're using that to their advantage? Was Morgana born somewhere outside the kingdom?"

"No, father told me she was born here in Camelot but she lived in a castle on the coast called Tintagel."

"And has anyone checked there?"

"Merlin, the castle was passed on to Morgana's cousin, Sir Kay and yes we have checked. Sir Kay is well aware of the situation and I don't think he'd hide Morgana. He hates magic almost as much as my father."

"Really?"

Arthur sighed. "There was... a nasty incident that killed his mother. Some renegade sorcerers attacked her and her party as they were heading back home from here. Morgana was only a few years old when it happened."

"Well, we shouldn't rule that out."

"Do you think they could be invisible?" the prince questioned.

Merlin shivered.

"I hope not. They'd be cursing us all in our sleep."

"Don't even say that. For all we know it could be true."

"And have you heard anything about Vortigern?"

Arthur was slightly taken aback by this turn in conversation but he could understand. Vortigern had killed Merlin's mother after all and, to both of their horror, it turned out that Hunith had been Vortigern's younger sister, who had been hidden at birth by Vortigern's mother's maid and taken in by Gaius and his parents. Gaius, Merlin and Arthur had no idea if Hunith had been aware that she had been adopted.

The prince still had troubling trying to associate Merlin, the clumsy manservant, with his uncle, a brutal tyrant who was hell bent on taking over Camelot. Merlin himself did not want to even think of the man as his uncle after what he had done, both to his mother and to Camelot. Arthur had to admit that Gaius had been more of an uncle towards Merlin than Vortigern ever could. Indeed, the prince was slightly envious of the father-son relationship the two shared.

Vortigern, yet unaware that Merlin had magic, had tried to force the warlock to join him. However, now that Vortigern knew that Merlin was the son of the Dragonlord Balinor, Arthur wasn't sure if he was still keen to tempt him. Vortigern had proclaimed the family of Merlin's great-uncle Evander as sworn enemies because Evander had defeated him for Uther.

Now Vortigern, Morgana and Morgause knew about Merlin's magic but Arthur was sure that they had no idea just how powerful he was. For Merlin had taken Ma'ab's place as the Leader of the Old Religion and this combined with the fact that he was a warlock and the last Dragonlord (the three knew about this) made Merlin possibly the most powerful being in existence. Arthur felt slightly humbled to see someone with all of that power do things like wash somebody else's socks or clean their armour. The prince had always laughed when Merlin complained about his chores but now he could sympathise. He also realised that Merlin's complaints could be a lot worse. The boy was too good.

Vortigern had also formed an alliance with the two sorceresses, which practically doubled the problem. All three could attack when it was least expected, though Arthur had to admit his father wasn't about to drop Camelot's defences anytime soon.

Shaking the thoughts away, he answered "No, meaning that he's licking his wounds. You got away from him twice so you can bet that he's plotting something. We'll know about it when he does." Arthur stood up and went to put Excalibur back in its place in the wall as to not see the pain in Merlin's face. It wasn't that he didn't mind Merlin be a bit more open, it was just that Arthur wasn't sure about how to deal with things in these situations.

"He might just lay siege to Camelot with Morgana and Morgause's help."

"Well you did injure Morgause so..." He stopped when he saw Merlin's face. Arthur could tell that Merlin had regretted letting the magic get the better of him, even for a split second. Morgause may be a sworn enemy but Arthur knew that Merlin had never meant to harm her like that.

"If Morgause is still injured then Morgana will be furious," Merlin muttered. "But I'm sort of more concerned about Vortigern because he does have Sindri and Lamya and a few more sorcerers under his control."

"What exactly can Lamya do?" Arthur asked. "You mentioned Sindri's abilities but you never said anything about his sister."

Merlin shivered. "Lamya can hit someone with all the emotions they've recently felt."

"But that would kill the person!"

"I think that's what she mainly uses it for. She could cause some serious problems."

"You don't say! Can she do it to more than one person at a time?"

"I've no idea."

There was a sudden scream that echoed up to the open window. Arthur and Merlin stared at each other before simultaneously running to see what was happening outside. From the window, they could see people hurrying towards the front gate.

"What now?" Arthur shouted and ran from the room, Merlin quick to follow him.

When the pair reached the front gate, they found that Uther and Gaius were already there.

"What happened?" Arthur demanded. "Has someone attacked?"

"No," Gaius explained. "But they made it quite clear that they are no friend." He pointed to the boundary wall. Prince and servant looked at and their mouths dropped open.

Burning on the wall was some sort of crest, much like the one that could still be seen on Merlin's door after Ma'ab had put it there. But instead of a word it was some sort of pattern.

"What is that?" Merlin asked Gaius, still staring at the mark, as Arthur walked up to his father.

"It's the family crest of Gorlois."

"Gorlois? As in Morgana's father?"

"Yes."

"So this is a warning."

"That or it's some way for them to watch us. We'll have to be very careful until we manage to get that off the wall."

"Gaius, Ma'ab's dead and we still haven't managed to get her mark off the door!"

Arthur appeared back beside him.

"Father wants me to go and look outside the city for any sign of Morgana or Morgause. Why he thinks Morgause is connected to this burn when it's the crest of Morgana's family, I have no idea."

"I don't think any of us do, Sire," Gaius lied. He knew all about it but he couldn't tell anyone, not even Merlin. Gaius didn't just keep Merlin or Uther's secrets. Over the years he had had many people confide in him.

"Merlin, go and saddle the horses, I'll be there in a moment," Arthur muttered to the warlock. Merlin nodded. It was times like this that you couldn't complain.

Walking back down the street, he bumped into Gwen.

"Merlin, what happened?"

"Morgana's family crest has been burnt into the wall," he explained, noticing the look of hurt crossing her face. Gwen was one of the people who were still having trouble excepting Morgana's choice to become evil. She had been Morgana's friend after all, despite being her maid. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's not your fault. She... she made her choice. What's Uther doing about it?"

"Arthur and I are going to look in the forest for a bit."

Gwen nodded and smiled. "Make sure you're careful. I know how reckless the pair of you can be."

"More him than me," Merlin muttered. Gwen laughed and Merlin carried on towards the stable. Making sure that nobody was in there and that the door and window were shut, Merlin muttered an incantation so that the horses would be saddled more quickly. Within a minute, Arthur arrived.

"Merlin," he asked, "you didn't use... you know? I can tell because you take more than a few minutes to get the horses ready."

"Yes," Merlin replied. Arthur rubbed his forehead.

"You need to be more careful," he muttered. "If anybody had walked in then you'd be up for execution by the end of the day, no matter if you're the Leader of the Old Religion. In fact, that wouldn't help at all; it would only make my father more determined to kill you. And you also said something about magic gaining perspective on good and evil and about how that should never happen."

"It nearly did. The earth just brought me back but I don't think it will do it again."

"Do you think you could be bled to death again?" It was alarming how quickly the conversation could turn to magic – powerful magic even - at the moment. "I thought you said that once you had fully received your powers then you couldn't die until you were old."

"That's what happened with Ma'ab. So unless I get stabbed in the next few months-"

"Merlin, don't change the conversation. I don't want you to end up dead because you were careless."

"Alright, I'm sorry." Merlin knew that Arthur didn't like talking or thinking about what had happened just as much as he did. Both had suffered and lost people, in different ways. Arthur had been cursed twice and he still had the scar on his hand from where Ma'ab's goblet had burnt him. Ma'ab's magic, though intentionally good had quite a lasting effect on the pair of them. Merlin had also lost most of his family and both had felt the loss when Morgana had finally resurfaced as an evil sorceress, though it had been somewhat worse for Arthur.

"Can I give you some advice?" Arthur asked. Merlin raised his eyebrows. Arthur rarely tried to offer him advice. "Don't use magic unless we're alone in my chambers, you're practising at Gaius' or you're in the forest with Freya."

"In other words, with supervision," Merlin muttered.

"I didn't mean it like that."

"I know; if your father finds out, I'm dead."

"He may still be slightly suspicious. I'm not sure if he believed that I got you away before the ritual."

Arthur sighed and jumped onto his horse then nudged its flanks. Merlin climbed onto his own and followed Arthur out of the stables and towards the forest.

The next chapter will have more happening, I promise, including a monstrous creature. I hope you're enjoying it so far.

Merlin Star