Merlin was halfway down the road, when he froze staring down at the smoke coming from the walled settlement. For while he was not a native of Camelot, even he knew about the mysterious Earth People. He heard the tells of what lied behind the settlement walls. Devices run by water, or that could print out books by the dozen. Of course, it all rumor.
Much had changed since the Earth colonist first landed. An uneasy truce had been brokered and they had been allowed a portion of land, though most chose to stay away from them except for a few local towns who had come to know them. Even Merlin decided to go out of his way to avoid it.
Meanwhile in Camelot, Arthur, no longer the little boy that had been kidnapped/rescued by a well-meaning solider, but a young man of almost twenty, walked up to a and began to knock. "Morgana!" He called out, knocking on her door, "Morgana, are you in there?!"
"Arthur?" A voice behind him asked, causing him to whirl around. It was Morgana, trying to hide the fact that she had been crying. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to check on you after what…happened." Arthur answered.
There had been an execution that morning of a man named Thomas Collins for sorcery and his mother had, perhaps understandingly, made a scene, threatening Arthur. The executions were usually upsetting for Morgana anyway, they were upsetting for him to but he was better at hiding it, so he just assumed what happened would make things worse. Thank God the woman hadn't been caught.
Tears welled up in Morgana's eyes. "He's me ordered to come to the feast." She told him, "As if nothing happened or this is something to celebrate!"
Arthur let out a sad sigh. "Come here." He said, gesturing towards himself.
Morgana threw herself at Arthur, allowing herself to be wrapped in his arms as he whispered soothing words in her ear.
Between seeing an unjust execution, poor Morgana's distress, everyone else's apathy, the fact that when Morgana got upset, she reminded him so much of Arietty, it put him in a foul mood for the rest of the day to put it lightly. A bad mood he wound up taking out a poor servant boy named Morris later that day.
"Where's the target?" Arthur demanded.
"There, Sir?" Morris replied nervously.
"Into the sun? "Arthur responded, though he knew very well what the young man meant.
"But it's not that bright." Morris elaborated.
"A bit like you then?" Arthur mocked him, laughing at his own cruel words along with the knights behind him.
"I'll put the target on the other end, shall I, sir?" Morris suggested, beginning to carry the target towards the wall.
That was when things really started to get out of hand. "Teach him a lesson." One of the Knights with him called out, "Go on boy."
Deciding to give the people what they want, Arthur pulled out a dagger. "This'll teach him." Arthur told his audience.
"Yeah." Another knight encouraged him.
The knight who started this laughed, repeating, "Teach him a lesson."
Arthur threw the dagger at the target.
"Hey!" Morris protests, as the dagger hand come dangerously close to him, "Hold on!"
"Don't stop!" Arthur ordered. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He knew that everything that day wasn't Morris' fault and he was being unnecessarily cruel but at the same time…he didn't really care.
Morris took a few steps back. "Here?"
"I told you to keep moving!" Arthur shouted, throwing another dagger, "Come on! Run!" Something about hurting someone else just made him feel so much better.
Morris shuffled his feet along trying to carry the large target as Arthur kept throwing daggers at it.
"Do you want some moving target practice?!" Arthur shouted, getting more manic, actually aiming for Morris at some points. (Fortunately, those shots missed). Even the knights who had egged him on earlier were starting to get a bit scared.
That was when Merlin stumbled on the scene.
Morris finally dropped the target and it rolled to Merlin's feet. He put his foot on it so Morris couldn't pick it up. "Hey, come on, that's enough."
Enraged at the intruder interrupting, Arthur began marching towards him, calling out, "What?!"
Merlin started to lose his nerve, but her said in what he hopped was a firm voice, "You've had your fun, my friend."
Suddenly Arthur went eerily clam. "Do I know you?"
"Er, I'm Merlin." He introduced himself, extending his hand.
"So, I don't know you?" Arthur asked, then suddenly her voice rang out in her head. Arthur, be polite!
No, his mother would not approve him being rude to somebody who had done him no harm, even if it was a complete stranger. As a mather of fact, he wouldn't approve of any his behavior the last few minutes. Even though he was fully grown she'd probably have him over her knee right now. His father-his other father, most certainly would. Well, neither of them was here, were they? No, they weren't, Arrietty wasn't and what was the likelihood of him every seeing them again? This was how he had to act, and they wouldn't ever know.
But God will know. A voice rang out in his head.
Suddenly Arthur's very soul felt like was on fire. He had been taught from a young age that God wanted humans to be kind to one another, and he had been so very unkind over nothing. Was its Morris' fault his biological father was tyrant? Was it this Merlin person's? No to both counts.
He was so lost in his sudden thoughts that he almost missed Merlin's answer, "No."
"Well then," Arthur began, taking the hand that Merlin had already pulled back, "I'm Arthur Pendragon, the King's son."
Merlin's heart plummeted. This was not going to end well. What was that colonist saying people had started using? No good deed goes unpunished?
"Listen," Arthur began, lowering his voice, "You're right, I went too far, but please, just—play along so that I look good in front of the knights? Otherwise I'll never heard the end of it." He knew as he was saying it, they would never say it to his face, as there was the whole 'future ruler of the kingdom' thing and the fact that half of them thought he was an insane bomb that could go off at any moment. Still, they would talk behind his back, which Arthur also knew.
"What—" Merlin began. However, before he could ask for an explanation, his arms were being pinned behind his back.
"I should have you thrown in jail!" Arthur shouted, "Lucky, I'm feeling generous!" Then he threw Merlin to the ground. "Go on. Get!"
Merlin didn't have to be told twice. He ran off and Arthur stomped off back to his men.
He was on his way back to the royal physician's quarters when a young woman with curly dark brown hair pulled back on her head walked up beside him. "I saw what you did earlier." She told him, "I was very brave."
Anxious, Merlin did a half turn to look at her.
"I'm Guinevere, but most people call me Gwen." The young woman introduced herself, "I'm Lady Morgana's maid."
"Right, I'm Merlin." He introduced himself, shaking her hand.
"Are you alright?" Gwen asked as they continued to walk.
"Yeah," Merlin answered, "Just a bit sore. That's what I get for being stupid."
"I don't think it was stupid." Gwen told him, "It's great you stood up to him."
"What?" Merlin responded, "You think so?"
"Arthur can be a bully and everyone thought you were a real hero." Gwen explained.
"Oh yeah?" Merlin asked.
"Mm-hmm." Gwen nodded.
"Can I ask you something, Gwen?" Merlin asked, "Is Arthur always that…mercurial?"
"It's not usually that extreme." Was all Gwen said.
"You should have seen him, Gaius." Merlin told the man he was staying with, a friend of his mother's, later, "He was just-torturing that poor man servant, I swear to you, even the knights looked afraid, then, when I stepped in, he got- enraged, but then he's shaking my hand and introducing himself as if nothing happened, then he's pinning me to the ground. I know I don't know much about Camelot's rulers, but does madness run in their family?"
Gaius was silent for a moment. "Merlin, you have to understand." He began, "Arthur has been through some rather traumatic events."
"What sort of events?" Merlin responded.
"I don't think I should tell you." Gaius told him, "That's Auther's business. Besides, I have other matters I wish to discuss to you. What did your mother say about your gifts?"
Yes, and there was the reason Merlin had come to Camelot in the first place. That magic that was banned in Camelot on pain of death? Well, Merlin had a natural ability for it. In spades. It was only a matter of time before it got him into trouble back home, so Hunith, Merlin's mother, though Gaius could help with the situation.
"That I was special." Merlin answered simply.
"You are special." Gaius confirmed, "The likes of which I've never seen before."
"What do you mean?" Merlin asked, slightly scared.
"Well, magic requires incantations, spells." Gaius explained, "It takes years of study. What I saw you do was…elemental, instinctual." During his first encounter with the Court Physician, Merlin had displayed two incidents of magic, once, saving the man from being hit by a bookshelf, the other, freezing a bucket of water.
"What's the point if it can't be used?" Merlin asked. Aside from the fact that he couldn't control it all that well, Magic was outlawed in the country he was currently in.
"That I do not know." Gaius admitted, "You are question that has never been posed before, Merlin."
"Did you ever study magic?" Merlin asked.
"Uther banned all such work twenty years ago." Gaius reminded him.
"Why?" Merlin asked.
"People used magic for the wrong end at the time." Gaius explained, "It threw natural order into chaos. Uther made it his mission to destroy everything from back then, even dragons."
"What?" Merlin balked, "All of them?"
"There was one dragon he chose not to kill, kept it as an example." Gaius walked back, "He is imprisoned beneath a deep castle where no one can free it. Now, eat up. When you're finished, I need you to take a prescription to Lady Helen. She needs it for her voice."
"Can I ask you something else?" Merlin asked, "How does the colony fit into the band on magic?"
"They don't." Gaius answered, "The colonist has weapons far more powerful than ours, and there was…."
"There was what?" Merlin asked.
Gaius paused a moment, carefully crafting his responded. "When the prince was four, he was in the middle of a battle between the colony's soldiers and Camelot's." He began, "The colony's men found him, took him back with them. They tried to use that to make Uther negotiate, but even with his son at stake he was stubborn. They boy was their prisoner for elven years. It was only after he was found outside the colony's wall with a colonist girl that he was rescued, and an official peace was reached."
Merlin was silent for a moment. No wonder Arthur had issues. Then a detail of the story hit him. "Wait, what girl?""
"I do not know all the details myself," Gaius explained, "But from what I understand it she was daughter of the family who kept him. Now, that really all I can tell you about what happened, so go."
When Merlin entered Lady Helen's guest chambers, they were empty. He put the potion bottle by an effigy and book. Curious, he picked it up.
That was when the woman herself came walking down the balcony corridor. Hearing her coming, Merlin quickly put the book down to cover up any evidence that he was snooping.
However, Lady Helen was still unnerved by the complete stranger in her room. "What are you doing here?"
"An…" Marlin began, "I-I was asked to deliver this." He held up the bottle to clarify the statement. That when he glanced to a half-covered mirror and instead of the striking ebony-haired women before him, was wrinkled gray haired old women. Hopping he was just seeing things, he handed her the bottle and left.
Merlin was hurrying away from the castle as fast as he could through the lower town, when he caught sight of hooded figure running through the street. "Hey!" Merlin called out, unable to help himself for a moment.
The figure, startled, tripped, but caught himself before he fell to the ground. In the process the hood fell back, revealing a head of blonder hair. Not knowing what else to do, Arthur pulled the hood back up and ran into the night, hopping whoever had spotted them hadn't seen enough to recognize him.
