A/N

You guys are the absolute best readers EVER! 56 reviews last I checked and only three chapters, I have NEVER had so many reviews and it REALLY inspires me to write more, thank you guys so much! This is for you guys!

Balinor ran faster then he had in his entire life, all he could about was Merlin, hoping he wasn't to late, hoping that he would lose Merlin before he'd had a chance to live. All of the guards that were supposed to be guarding Arthur's room lay on the floor dead, and the door was blown open. Uther shoved past Balinor who had frozen at the site of the dead guards shouting,

"Arthur? Arthur!" Balinor ran in after Uther expecting the worst. When Balinor first entered the room he wondered if a hurricane had blown through, all the furniture had been overturned and what was left of the bed was lying precariously on its side. Uther was frantically digging through the rubble trying to find Arthur. Uther scooped Arthur up in his arms crying,

"Arthur! Arthur wake up!" Arthur groaned and then his eyes flew open screaming,

"MELRIN!" Arthur looked around the room frantically calling for his friend, tears streaming down his face.

"Arthur what happened?" Balinor demanded.

"Someone blasted the door open" Arthur explained, "She started blowing everything up and kept saying 'Merlin' and… and then the bed blew up and then she grabbed Merlin and jumped out the window… Don't let her hurt him!" With a determined look on his face Balinor ran over to the blasted window and shouted for his dragon to come to him. Arthur gaped open mouthed at the dragon; I was midnight blue with bright green eyes. Before Arthur could really get a good look at it, Balinor jumped out the window and onto the dragon.

"Balinor wait!" Uther shouted but it was too late, Balinor was riding into the night, determined to save his son.

Merlin fought to escape the bindings on his hands and feet, but it was useless, he couldn't move an inch. The woman had tied him up, gagged him and draped him on the horse in front of her like a sack and they rode at breakneck speed through Camelot and into the forest. Tears flowed freely from the boys eyes as he watched Camelot rapidly fade into the distance, sure that he'd never see the city, his family or his best friend ever again. Suddenly a wall of flames erupted in front of the horse causing it to read and drop Merlin and the woman onto the ground. Pain exploded on Merlin's forehead and he felt blood dripping down his face and onto the ground.

"Let me son go!" A voice shouted that Merlin had been sure he'd never hear again. Merlin wanted to shout from sheer joy, to run into his father's arms, anything, but he was bound and gagged and landed, back turned to his father.

"Emrys is mine now! He will help me finally bring Camelot to its knee's" Merlin vaguely wondered why Emrys was, but the thought was shoved out of his mind when he was a fireball explode right in front of him. Merlin heard roaring, and saw balls of fire hitting the trees in front of him, soon though, the roaring stopped and all he heard was his father and the woman shouting things in another language. He knew his father had magic, but had never seen him use it in action, and since he didn't think he had magic, never learned anything. He heard the witch scream in pain again and then silence. Merlin whimpered and tried to roll himself over to no avail.

"Balinor!" A voice shouted in horror. Merlin tried to move to get the persons attention, but it was useless. Eventually, someone must have heard his whimpering because Merlin felt someone scoop him up in there arms. Merlin found himself looking into the pitying eyes of a guard Merlin didn't recognize. Another guard that Merlin believed was Leon's father. Merlin didn't know him that well because the only time he was at the castle was when he was training with Arthur. Leon's dad then took a dagger and cut the ropes and then pulled out the gag.

"Where's my dad?" Merlin whimpered. Both guards looked down at him sadly. Leon's dad took a piece of cloth and wiped the blood off of Merlin's face. When he was finished the other guard shifted Merlin in his arms and carried him over to a figure kneeling on the ground, staring at something lying on the ground motionless. Merlin closed his eyes and buried his head into the guard's chest, his body shaking. He was sure he knew who the person on the floor was, but didn't want to believe it. Merlin felt someone run there hand through his hair and heard Uther whisper,

"Merlin." Merlin opened his eyes and looked over at Uthers tear stained face and felt the tears falling down his own face.

"Is daddy…? Gone?" Merlin whispered his voice cracking pitifully. Uther slowly nodded his head, his face twisted into a look of pure agony. Merlin completely broke down sobbing as Uther scooped Merlin into his own arms. Merlin buried his head in Uther's chest, his then frame wracking with sobs.

Uther carefully shifted Merlin in his arms and pulled himself on his horse. He sat Merlin on the saddle so he was sitting side saddle and wrapped on arm around Merlin tightly and grabbed the reins with the other. Uther rubbed Merlin's shoulder comfortingly as they rode back to Camelot. Balinor had been thrown onto one of the horses, a blanket draped across his body. Uther spared one last pitying glance at the dead dragon, knowing they wouldn't be able to do much for Balinor's friend, and kin. Once they reached Camelot Uther climbed out of the saddle, still hugging Merlin tightly and walked quickly up the steps. Uther walked into his chambers, knowing Arthur at least would be in there, and not only was Arthur there, but Gaius as well. Uther carefully set Merlin on the bed and pried the boy's hands off of him. Merlin pitifully reached his hands out to Uther, desperately needing someone to hold onto. Arthur instinctively climbed onto the bed and pulled Merlin onto his lap wrapping his arms securely around him.

"Balinor is dead" Uther whispered, frightened by how dead his voice sounded.

"Huniths sacrifice was for not" Gaius added, his voice pained. For a moment Uther was confused then it all came flooding back to him, Hunith sacrificing herself to try and save Ygraine, and because of it Merlin was now an orphan.

"What do you mean?" Arthur asked, fear laced in his voice. Uther looked down at Merlin who pulled himself from his hiding place. Uther kneeled down in front of Merlin and whispered,

"I… I'm so sorry… You're mother… She's gone…" Merlin completely fell apart then, screaming in pain and misery. A glass vase shattered and the doors to Uthers closet burst open, but neither of the two boys noticed, both to absorbed in there pain and misery to notice much else. Gaius hurried out of the room, followed closely by Uther.

"This happened because Nimueh wanted to use Merlin for his magic" Uther whispered.

"I believe so" Gaius agreed.

"I know the legends Gaius" Uther informed him, "if people find out about his powers he'll be hunted like an animal…"

"What do you want to do?" Gaius asked.

"I promised Balinor that if something happened I would take care of Merlin… I intend to keep that promise… he'll stay here in the palace. I'll take him as my ward… I know you might not want to do this but… it's just to dangerous for him right now…"

"What are you asking?" Gaius asked.

"I think… until he is older… Merlin's powers need to be bound so that no one can find him and hurt him…" Uther whispered, his voice pleading.

"Are you insane?" Gaius demanded, "Do you know how dangerous that is?"

"So you know how many people would try and use Merlin for his power? To many have turned to dark magic Gaius… They wish to destroy Camelot and they will try and harm Merlin to get the power to do so" Gaius explained, "we tried to keep it hidden but somehow Nimueh found out… We can't keep him hidden anymore" Gaius sighed in defeat,

"I know…"

"Gaius, you know that I love Merlin like a son… I hate doing this to him but… I can't see what almost happened to him ever happen again… maybe when he's older and can learn to control it, to hide it better…" Sighing in defeat, Gaius shuffled around the room collecting potions and mixing them together, after a few minutes Gaius held up a dark brown potion saying,

"Merlin's magic runs deep inside of him… using this will severely weaken him. If I feel that it is putting his life in danger I will immediately stop giving it to him."

"Of course" Uther agreed.

"Eventually the potion will lose its effect on him" Gaius added, "but until then it was hide his magic from detection… but Nimueh already knows who he is so if she were to return…" Gaius warned.

"I know" Uther assured taking the potion from Gaius. Uther walked briskly back to his chambers and felt a weak smile tug on the corners of his lips. Merlin was curled up protectively in Arthur's arms; both fast asleep Uther cautiously walked over to the sleeping pair and eased Merlin out of Arthur's grip. Uther cradled Merlin against him and gently shook the boy awake.

"Hm?" Merlin asked tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. Uther almost broke down at the pitiful sight, but he forced himself to hold it together as he whispered,

"Merlin, Gaius wants you to drink this. He thinks it will help you feel better." Merlin nodded his head and sat up a bit and started to drink the potion.

"Will it hurt him? Arthur asked sleepily sitting up.

"It will do much more good then harm" Uther assured. Arthur looked at Uther strangely as Merlin whispered,

"I don't feel good…"

"Gaius said it might make you feel a little sick, its fine, and it should help you sleep though" Uther assured. Merlin dragged himself back to Arthur and curled up in his arms again. Uther wanted to tell them he planned on taking Merlin in, but he decided that it could wait until morning. As the two boys drifted off again Uther could only hope he was doing what was best for Merlin.

End notes

So is binding Merlin's magic for the best? So part way through the next chapter we'll be finally starting on 'The Dragon's Call' YAY! Well hope you enjoyed it and tell me what you think.