Once they grabbed some food from the kitchens they quickly left and finally made it to Arthur's room. "Alright, we're here." Arthur told Merlin as he opened the door. However, he wasn't planning on seeing Gwen eating her lunch in their chambers at the moment. "Gwen...hello..."
"Oh, Arthur I'm so glad you're back I was beginning to...Wait...who is this small child."
"My name is Merlin." Merlin answered with a proud smile. "You're so pretty! You must be Arthur's queen."
She let out a soft chuckle and looked to Arthur for answers but only found the proudest of smiles on his face as he looked at his small friend. The smile he gave the child was a smile she had only ever seen reserved for Merlin and it warmed her heart to see such a smile pointed at a small child. "He um...He jumped in front of a spell for me. I got some food for him. Do you mind if he eats with us?"
"No! Of course not! I would love it." She answered with shock written on her face. Once Merlin and Arthur were seated she looked at the small child that was happily eating strawberries. "So...this is really Merlin."
"Yes. This is really Merlin. You should be glad he's a toddler. At first he was an infant...not even a year old."
Merlin suddenly felt a shiver down his spine, and realized he was cold. He looked around and noticed there was a fire place, and he was about to light it, but remembered what Arthur had told him. so, he tugged on Arthur's cape again. "Fire, Arthur?"
Arthur looked at his wife who seemed to be extremely confused as to what the small boy meant, and he contemplated whether to tell her or not. After about two minutes, he finally reasoned that she is his wife, but she has been Merlin's friend longer. So, he got up and made sure the door was not only shut, but locked. This only confused her further. "Arthur..." She started but he held up a patient hand.
"It's okay Merlin..." Arthur said as he stood by the fireplace. "Go ahead."
Gwen looked at Arthur, and then at Merlin who still sat next to her, and she gasped loudly in shock as she watched Merlin's eyes glow a brilliant gold she has seen before, and suddenly, the fire was lit in the fireplace, and he husband didn't seem to mind too much. "Arthur...explain this!" She shouted in shock in a voice much louder than she intended and quickly saw how Merlin jumped from his chair and ran to Arthur.
Arthur picked him up and patted his back gently. "Gwen..." He started sadly as he looked at her with a surprised expression.
"I...I didn't mean..." She heard soft cries coming from Merlin, and she found herself with a horrible feeling of shame.
"You said it was okay, Arthur...I sorry...I didn't mean to upset her...I sorry...I know I broke the rules...I sorry...but you said..."
"Hey...hey...What I said is still the truth. Remember what I said before we started riding the horses to Camelot?"
"People are afraid of me..."
"No...not of you exactly...but of your magic...some people..." He glanced up at Gwen who still held shame in her eyes, but also pride at how Arthur was handling the situation, and that along gave him a sense of joy that he needed at the moment. "Some people have been hurt badly by magic. Gwen has been hurt by magic." Arthur set Merlin down to let him decide what he wanted to do.
Merlin looked at Gwen for a few seconds, then to Arthur, then to the fire. "Gwen...I wanna show you somethin' come here." Gwen looked up at Arthur and he simply nodded his head as an 'it's okay go ahead.' and she followed Merlin to the fireplace. She watched as his eyes glowed gold once more and she felt her heart pound in her chest as Merlin made butterflies appear above the flames using the embers from the fire. They quickly shifted to other shapes such as a dog playing, kittens meowing, and a dragon flying gently through the flames. Then, the shapes stopped and the fire was ordinary once more. "See...it not scary. It won't hurt you. It likes you."
"It likes me? What do you mean?"
"My magic likes you. It also likes Arthur, but as a bwother. It likes you...like a friend. That why it hurt really bad when you got angry when I used it. It made me not feel good...my tummy and my chest got upset...but it better now."
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Gwen stated in as calm a manner as she could. "It's just...a lot to take in. The Merlin we knew...he never told us he had magic. He never even seemed to be the type of..." Gwen stopped in her tracks when she remembered how she officially met Merlin while he was in the stocks and Merlin had said that he could take on Arthur, and then how he was in disguise because he didn't look like the rough tough save the world kind of men.
"What is it Gwen?" Arthur asked curiously.
"Nothing...I'll tell you later...um...just how exactly is it that he can have magic at such a young age?"
"I have no idea. I was hoping Gaius could answer that for us, but he..." A knock sounded at the door. Arthur went to open it and was glad for the impeccable timing. "Ah, Gaius, we were just talking about you." Arthur looked back at Gwen and noticed that she had placed Merlin on the chair once more so he could continue eating.
"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner, Sire. Gwaine had pulled his shoulder out of place and I had to put it back in place." He stated as he watched Merlin eat some bread and fruit. "It's good to see Merlin eating. I assume..." He gestured at Gwen and Arthur nodded his head. "Right then..." Gaius closed the door behind him and walked further into the room. "What do you want to know?"
"Everything." Arthur answered quickly.
"This will go by a lot faster if you just ask questions, Sire."
"Fine...first off, how is it he has magic at this age? He is far too young to have studied it and he started the fire at our camp when he was still cursed as an infant."
"Merlin was born with magic, Arthur..." Gaius had decided to drop the formality, because this topic was far from formal, and it was unprecedented to say the least. "He is what is known as a warlock...but even then he is different from the others."
"Different how?"
"Hunith, his mother, told me of when he was born. She said that with his first cry the fire was lit, the candles burned brighter, and her wounds from giving birth had healed. He was born doing magic"
"The druid woman who spoke to me said that magic is as easy for him as it is for me to breathe."
"And it most certainly is. I'm not sure if it's my place to tell you this...but Merlin is far more different than being born doing magic."
"Care to elaborate?"
"There is a prophecy...it says that Emrys and the once and future king share a destiny. To unite the lands of Albion and bring about a great new age of peace, magic, and prosperity. It is said that Emrys is a warlock that will meet the once and future king at a young age and help guide, advise, and protect him as he makes his way to becoming king and after. Emrys is said to be the most powerful warlock that ever has been or ever will be...no one will ever be more powerful than him...and the druids...they call Merlin...Emrys. They revere him as your subjects do you. They practically treat him like a king from what Merlin has told me. They also say that Merlin is magic itself."
"M-Merlin? He's..." Arthur wanted to speak but the sentence he was about to say was attached to so many others. 'He's the so called Emrys? He's the most powerful warlock that has been and ever will be? He's that powerful? He's treated like a king? He's to help him unite the lands of Albion? He's meant to make him a great king?' However, all of his thoughts were squandered when he remembered something his half sister said to him. "My sister once told me...'Not even Emrys can save you now.' Does she know who Merlin is?"
"No, I don't believe she does...you see Arthur...Merlin has shown himself to Morgana in the form of...Dragoon..."
"No..." Arthur said simply feeling the heat leave his body and his heart speed up to a dangerous pace.
"Arthur!" Merlin shouted with a pained expression. "You're hurt?" He asked as he clutched to his heart.
He chose to ignore Merlin for now and looked at Gaius. "Tell me he didn't Gaius...tell me he didn't..."
"He hadn't meant to. There was a necklace around your father's neck that was placed there by Morgana. He truly wanted to show you that magic can be good, and even if Uther himself persecuted him for it...he hoped at least you would see it could be good...but he didn't see the necklace. The necklace takes any and all healing magic and reverses them tenfold. In light of that, Merlin really could've healed your father...had the necklace not been there."
"Morgana...killed my father?"
"In truth yes. She succeeded in that much, and in making your heart harden against magic that much more."
"Oh God...after that happened I told Merlin...Gaius...you have to tell us everything."
"You only need to ask, Sire...however, some questions...are better left for Merlin. I need you to respect at least that."
"I...I will. Okay...my next question is..."
"Actually Arthur..." Gwen began and looked at Gaius. "Why is it that Merlin is so thin?"
"He is thin, because him and his mother never had much to eat, but they got by with what they had. You see...for a while...at least until Merlin was about ten years of age...the village ostracized him and his mother."
"Why?" Gwen asked as her heart broke a little for her friend.
"Because...Hunith gave a man a bed for the night, and then one night turned into many more nights...but then he had to leave. He left her, not knowing she was pregnant. Everyone knew him after he had spent so long in the village...so...when he just up and left and Hunith turned out to be pregnant...out of wedlock no less..."
"Merlin was instantly known as a bastard child." Arthur's eyes went wide as the words fell out of his mouth.
"Correct, and it didn't help that it soon became apparent that strange things were happening around him. He had been stoned, and beaten, and screamed at for things that were not in his control yet. Finally, his mother couldn't take it any longer and sent him here to me close around his twentieth birthday. Anyway...he had been skinny up until the age of ten, because of everything that happened and the other villagers didn't want anything to do with them. So, Merlin learned how to fish, hunt, make minor medicine, and take care of fields all on his own, with some use of magic. Then...when everyone noticed how great of a fisher Merlin was, they stopped their harassment and started paying Merlin to go fishing and hunting. Soon after it had calmed for many years, but it was not forgotten."
"Wait...Merlin can hunt? He is lousy at hunting, I've taken him plenty of times."
"No...you've taken Merlin hunting when he can't use his magic. So, at that point he is a bit useless...but with magic, I assure you, he may even be better than you."
"I will believe it when I see it." Arthur laughed out, and noticed that Merlin seemed to be getting sleepy. Without thinking he picked up Merlin and placed him under the covers of his bed.
"You were talkin' bout older me...I heard...you got hurt...I don't want to hurt you. You are good."
"Thank you..." Arthur said with a warm heart. "Hey...before you fall asleep...can you tell me about the something bad from earlier?"
"Yeah..." Merlin answered with a shiver. "It outside the gate. It bad...bad feelings. It make my magic angry, scared, and sick all at once. It bad...it a person...a bad person."
"A bad person...?" Arthur asked as he looked at Gaius.
"Lots of times Merlin can sense powerful magic nearby and sometimes it can overwhelm him. I'm afraid that the 'someone bad' might refer to either the sorcerer who did this to him or Morgana."
"We really can't have Morgana here right now." Arthur groaned but was interrupted with a tapping sound on his window. He pulled the curtains back and noticed there was a raven with a scroll attached to it's foot. He brought the crow in and gave it to Gwen to hold as he took out the scroll and read it. 'Arthur Pendragon, I do hope your little friend is faring well...anyway, I have gathered my friends and I outside your gates, but not to where we can be seen. I have chased my Haiden here, and he seemed to be traveling with the high priestess Morgana. Stay on your guard and kill Haiden before you go after Morgana. I will keep her distracted until then. Haiden will not stop, and as much as I don't want to think about his death...it is necessary. He has caused so much suffering and pain and now he is working with Morgana.' "Well...looks like it's both of them, and the one who cursed Merlin is here in the city somewhere. We have to kill him to reverse the curse on Merlin, and then we can go after Morgana."
"It seems like questions will have to wait for now then." Gwen stated.
"It seems so. Gwen, I need you to bring in anyone that has black hair or blue eyes or both. We know he goes after those, and I'll go speak with my knights and let them know...a little of what's happened and I will give them a description of the man who attacked us."