Chapter 3

"I remembered after your mother's breathing became normal and she saw your brother, she wanted to hold him. So I handed your brother to her. She was so happy to see him. I still remember that beautiful moment when both mother and son were looking at each other and smiling. Your brother was cooing happily." Gaius continued.

That beautiful image of the memory nearly brought tears to both Arthur and Uther's eyes. Uther was feeling both sadness and anger; sadness because he himself had not been there to witness the beautiful moment and was never given the chance to hold his son and anger that he didn't know where his son was and Gaius was denying to reveal the whereabouts of his son. He would find out where his son was, that was the promise of a father.

"Your mother gave him a name. As they already had a name for you, but as the birth of your brother was a surprise, she wanted to name him herself. So she named him…" Gaius trailed off.

"Please Gaius, please tell me my brother's name. What did my mother name him? Tell me." Arthur nearly begged Gaius.

Gaius looked down solemnly and said "I am sorry, Arthur, I cannot. I promised Balinor that I will never reveal your brother's true identity to Uther. The step we took all those years ago broke us. We knew we were tearing a family apart but whatever we did, we did to protect your brother. Now do you want me to continue with the story or not?"

Arthur sadly shook his head and told him to continue, while Uther was shaking with anger. Promise Balinor, my foot.

Gaius continued with the story "Then again your mother's breathing increased. She tenderly kissed your brother's forehead and touched her forehead with his and whispered something which only mother and son could hear. Then handed him to Balinor. She made me and Balinor promise that we both would look after her two sons. Suddenly your brother started crying and Igraine took her last breath. The power of the Old Religion and the balance of the magic was stronger than your brother's power because when she was holding onto her life, his eyes were continually flashing gold. It meant his magic tried its best to save his mother's life however it failed."

Everything and everyone was silent.

"In the other room, you had started crying too. As if both of you felt the loss of your mother. I went to call Uther when Balinor took the child to the nursery. We both decided we would surprise Uther with the child. When he would have been sad with Igraine's passing, may be the sight of the second son along with the information that he is gifted, would make your father happy. But we hadn't realized how wrong we were." Gaius continued with a solemn look.

Arthur looked at him with tears in his eyes and wondered why did they had thought that they were wrong? What had happened?

"When your father got to know about Igraine's death, he broke apart and in his grief he started to blame Nimueh and magic."

Uther froze at that information and told Gaius to stop. However Gaius still continued "No, Uther this truth has to come out now if you want to know about your second son." He looked at Arthur and continued "Your mother couldn't conceive…"

"Enough, Gaius. You promised you would never speak of this to anyone" reprimanded Uther.

However Arthur was shocked still. He had heard those words before "mother couldn't conceive", when Morgause showed him the illusion of his mother. However he thought it was just magic deceiving him, isn't that what Merlin had told him. Had Merlin lied to him? Why? He definitely needed to have a chat with his manservant regarding lying to him, when all this was done with.

"Gaius please continue" said Arthur. "And father, you will not interrupt him. I want to know the truth, because I am tired of the all the lies and of being in the dark. I want to know the truth, and you already know that I know a version of it through Morgause."

Uther became quiet but was not at all happy. However he ordered the midwives to leave the room as this was a personal matter. Both Mary and Martha bowed and left.

Gaius continued "Your mother couldn't conceive so your father went to the sorcerer Nimueh. She was the High Priestess of the Old Religion. He made a deal with her that she would make Igraine conceive with magic"

Gasps sounded throughout the throne room.

"However there was a price to pay. There is a rule of the Old Religion which states to give a life, a life must be taken too. Nimueh warned your father about this but as he was so desperate for an heir, he still went through with it. May be Uther thought that some random peasant or random citizen would die but he never thought that it would be Igraine." Gaius explained.

Uther closed his eyes and bowed his head. Arthur was frozen, he felt both anger and sadness. Anger towards his father. All the knights looked at Uther in both pity and anger. Pity because he had just wanted a son and for it he lost his wife, however anger because if this was the real reason for the outlaw of magic then it had been a huge mistake on their part.

"So when your father got to know that Igraine was dead, he started to blame Nimueh and magic, and started the Great Purge, Balinor went to him and tried to make him understand. However Uther didn't listen to him, rather turned against him as he was a dragonlord. At that moment we understood that we could not tell him about the second Prince. If we had told him, then the babe might not have survived Uther's hatred. So then and there we decided not to let anyone know that a second son had been born and Balinor took him away and went as far away from Camelot where even the shadow of the Pendragons or Uther could not fall upon the innocent child." Gaius finished.

A pregnant pause. No one knew what to say. Arthur's knees gave away and he slid down to the floor. He couldn't believe all the things Gaius had just said. He and his brother were born because of magic; his brother had magic but was taken away from him because of his father's prejudice against magic; he wasn't allowed to grow up with his brother because of his father's hatred. All the knights bowed their head in grief.

Uther was shocked but stood up when Arthur fell down and said "I would have never killed my own son. How could you even think that I would kill my son?"

"Wouldn't you have?" asked Gaius. "You hunted down your own brother in law. What guarantee was there that you wouldn't have killed your own son who was born with magic? And Uther your son doesn't just have magic, he is magic himself. Magic runs in his veins like blood. No warlock could ever use their magic so early in their life like your son did."

"May be you wouldn't have killed him, but with your hatred you would have made him believe that his powers were evil and that he was a monster, and I couldn't let that happen. I heard one time when he tried not to use his magic for a week, his body started to itch and then bleed. It happened because he was suppressing his magic. When his step mother noticed that she made him promise that he will never try to suppress his magic ever in his life. You know the chains that you have which blocks magic. If you ever put those chains around him, it could literally kill him. And with your hatred towards all sorcerers, I don't know Uther what you would have done but I wasn't willing to take that risk." Gaius continued.

However the more Gaius explained the more shocked everyone was getting. Arthur felt like his eyes were about to bulge out of his sockets. Magic itself? Run in the veins? What? He had never heard of anything like this. Uther and the knights were shocked too. Gwaine had never heard of anything like this in his life and among them he was the one who had roamed around most kingdoms and had seen and had heard of crazy things.

Gaius looked tired. "I know you all want to know where he is or what his name is, but I can't endanger his life by revealing this information."

"But…" Uther trailed off when he saw Gaius hold up his hand.

"I heard what you said but I still can't tell you. Suppose now you won't do anything to him because you want to see him but what about the future. What happens when something bad happens in Camelot and you blame him? No, my Lord, I can't take that chance. If you want to put me in the dungeon or kill me, I will not stop you but I cannot reveal his name or where he lives. Just know that he is happy wherever he is, he has a lot of friends who care deeply for him and he has a family. May be step but still a family none the less."

All of them understood that they are not getting any more information from Gaius now. He wouldn't tell them. However Arthur and his knights hadn't given up. They will give it time, let everything cool down and then try coaxing the information out of him. They could use Merlin's help too.

"I understand Gaius that you are trying to protect my brother and I thank you for that". Arthur said to Gaius who looked up at him surprised. Even Uther was shocked. "You look tired. It has been a long day. You should go and take some rest. In fact we all are tired. I will retire to my chambers." Then he gave his knights a look which clearly suggested that they were not retiring so soon, however they would all meet their Prince in his chamber. They nodded their heads, bowed to the King and left.

Gaius left after them. Arthur looked at his father's shocked expression and said "Father, I will retire to my chamber now. If you don't mind I would like to have dinner there by myself. You should take rest. We will talk about this later."

Uther heard an edge to his son's voice by which he understood he was not giving up so easily. He nodded his head in agreement. Arthur stepped out of the throne room with a new mission in his mind, he would find out who is his brother was, where he is and finally he would bring him home.