"Oh I have got to see this Island!" Merlin exclaimed excitedly. "You'll never believe this Gaius!" He continued between bursts of laughter, looking as though all his Christmas' had come at once. "None of the Dragonlords were killed, the simply packed their bags for Elfrael! Why on earth did King Uther claim to have killed them, surely he didn't actually think they were dead?"
"Merlin, I do believe that's exactly what he thought." Gaius replied. "You can be sure that if the Dragonlords chose to go into hiding they would have wanted to paint a rather convincing picture of their demise. It is no secret that they would have had sufficient magic at their disposal to fool all of Camelot!"
Arthur couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You want to travel alone, to an Island packed with Dragonlords? Is this Lord Bertram a Dragonlord?" Merlin couldn't actually want to travel to an island, ruled by sorcerers that nobody had ever even heard of save for a few myths, could he?
"He most certainly is Sire." was Gaius' immediate reply.
"He means me no harm, I'm sure of it. Please Arthur, this man knew my father." Merlin implored him.
"Ah yes, your father" Merlin had oh so foolishly just reminded Arthur of that moment when he managed to cut off what Ethan had been saying earlier. "What was his name? I seem to have forgotten what Ethan said when he mentioned it earlier. Oh that's right! You didn't let him finish. I want answers Merlin and I want them now."
Merlin, whilst shooting a pleading look at Gaius quite literally blanched. What was so terrible about Merlin's father that he felt the man's name couldn't even be voiced in Arthur's presence?
After staring at Gaius' encouraging expression for a few moments, Merlin seemed to come to a decision. "Arthur, I will answer any questions you have as honestly and completely as I am able on one condition."
"Name it."
"That you will neither execute nor banish me nor punish me in any way for anything I say in response to the questions you ask."
"Why would you need such assurances?"
"Because my father practised magic before the Great Purge" Merlin said in a voice so frightened and quiet, Arthur almost did not hear. Dread pooled in his stomach. How could he make such a promise whilst blind to Merlin's secrets? By Camelot's laws, Merlin could be executed simply for being this man's son.
That was wrong.
Arthur was momentarily stunned by the conviction of that thought that had popped unbidden into his head. However, he could not deny the truth of such a statement. Executing someone for no reason other than the identity of his parents was absurd. Barbaric! He knew his father wouldn't have hesitated to commit such an atrocity, that he had in fact done it in the past.
It was at that moment that Arthur was struck with an epiphany. If his father was wrong in this area concerning the legal ramifications of magic, perhaps he was wrong in others. Arthur was confident that in any case he could swear everyone in this room to secrecy. So why not grant Merlin clemency this once? Surely the idiot couldn't be guilty of anything that terrible.
"All right Merlin" he sighed "You have my word that you will be granted full clemency for anything that may come to light during this meeting. Everyone in this room is hereby sworn to secrecy. I cannot change Camelot's laws overnight and Merlin is already flirting with them. I do not want to be put in the position of having to publicly pass judgement on Merlin. Is that understood?"
Having received murmurs of assent from everyone in the room, Arthur gestured for Merlin to speak.
"Gaius?" Merlin asked, appearing to be deep in thought. "Were the Dragonlords really Lords? I mean were they actually considered to be nobility?"
"They were indeed." Gaius replied. "Since you have been granted clemency, I suppose I may speak freely without any fear of adverse repercussions."
"Of course you can Gaius!" came Arthur's shocked reply. Did nobody trust him anymore? How could Gaius fear that he would come to harm at Arthur's hand? "You needn't fear me" he continued, voicing his thoughts. "Surely you must know that."
"It was not I that I was thinking of when I voiced my concern Sire, rather it was Merlin." And just like that they were back to Merlin and his never-ending secrets. But it would seem the boy was not yet ready to talk as he once again managed to succeed in changing the subject. So skilful in the art was he that he managed to do it without seeming to be changing the subject at all.
"Whatever you were going to say before Arthur interrupted you Gaius, please continue. I'm not afraid of Arthur." Oh he wasn't was he? Well they would have to see about that!
"Before the Great Purge began, before King Uther chose to turn his back on magic, the Dragonlords ranked the highest of all noblemen." Gaius began, his storytelling voice implying that this was no time for interruptions. He had a story to tell and he expected all who were present to listen attentively.
"So highly regarded were they, that every ruler throughout the Five Kingdoms treated them as equals. To have them choose to serve a King as members of his Council was considered a great honour. In each Kingdom, it was customary for the position of Court Sorcerer to belong to a Dragonlord."
Surely not, Arthur thought. Surely Camelot had never had a Court Sorcerer, at least not during his father's reign?
"In fact, it was your own father, Merlin, Lord Balinor who held the position in Camelot." Gaius continued.
Arthur froze. Somewhere in the distance he heard Gwaine whistle. No wonder Merlin had cut that boy off! He knew Arthur would recognise the name. Balinor was the name of the Dragonlord they had gone in search of when the Great Dragon had escaped his bonds, the very man that had been killed by Cenred's men. And Arthur had been the one to tell Merlin that no man was worth his tears. He pushed the guilt he felt to the back of his mind. There would be time for apologies later.
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Merlin eyeing him warily, as though unsure as to whether his promise of clemency was still in effect. Even Gaius had paused in his tale to study Arthur's reaction, knowing full well the import of what he had said.
It was then that it hit Arthur like a ton of bricks. If Balinor was a Dragonlord then that must mean that Merlin… "I didn't kill the Great Dragon, did I?" He asked as he turned to glare at Merlin.
Merlin visibly gulped. "Before you continue ranting your well-justified outrage, I promise you that I had a very, very good reason for starting that rumour."
The Knights couldn't help it; they could not help but laugh at Merlin's placating tone. All except Leon, Arthur noted. Arthur understood this. Of his most trusted Knights, Leon had been the only Knight present in Camelot when the Great Dragon laid waste to his beloved city. He had come so close to losing Gwen that night.
"Is it dead?" Merlin jumped a foot in his seat when Leon barked this question.
"What?" he gasped, clearly startled by the Knight's ferocity.
"The Great Dragon, is it dead?" Leon pushed his point.
"First of all," Merlin began, the barest hint of steel in his tone, "the Great Dragon is not an 'it' his name is Kilgarrah. And no he is not dead, I banished him. When Arthur came to, I told him that he had struck a fatal blow, really what was I supposed to say? Uther would have had me executed!"
Leon wasn't happy, that much was obvious. But he held his tongue as Arthur began to ask his own questions. Arthur, for his part, did his best to swallow his resentment at the fact that Merlin showed absolutely no remorse for having lied to Arthur.
"Why did we have to go on that wild goose chase to track down your father?" Arthur demanded. "You could have stopped the Dragon the moment he escaped his bonds!" he continued angrily, "and why the HELL did you let that Dragon live?"
Merlin's eyes flashed with anger of his own. "I did everything I could to stop him Arthur!" He yelled back. "But at that time I did not yet have the power to tame a Dragon! It is passed from father to son. IN DEATH!" Merlin's chest was heaving from the force with which he had shouted these words.
"Call me weak if you want" he continued in a low shaking voice, his anger barely under control "but I couldn't kill him. Not when he begged me to spare his life. Not when I believed him to be last of his kind! Actually, that was one of his arguments for his clemency. It is also my duty as a Dragonlord to protect the Dragons. I would have been doing a rather poor job if I had chosen to kill off their race! Regardless, you ought to be glad that I showed him mercy. Without his help Camelot would have fallen numerous times since the night I spared his life."
The guilt returned in full force. Of course Merlin would have done everything in his power. Time and again he had proved is loyalty to Camelot. How many times had he tried to die for Arthur? At some point he would have to ask Merlin what this Dragon had done for Camelot at Merlin's command, but now was not the time.
"I'm sorry Merlin; I shouldn't have attacked you like that. I'm also sorry for what I said to you when your father was killed. I was wrong, and I take it back, every word." Arthur's voice rang with the depth of his sincerity.
"It's all right Arthur, you weren't to know", was Merlin's immediate reply. Arthur sighed. Merlin was always so quick to forgive him. Well the least he could do was prove that that trust and friendship was well placed.
"So", he said, with gentle eyes and a tentative smile on his lips, "you really are a Dragonlord." He felt Gwen's hand gently squeeze his, informing him that he had made the right decision. His heart leapt when he beheld the hopeful smile that Merlin returned.
"Merlin", Gwaine said slowly shaking his head, "when you told me that Uther banished your father, I knew the tyrant had to have been in the wrong, but never, not once, did I ever imagine something like this!"
"Wait you told Gwaine about your father and not me?" Arthur spluttered.
Merlin sighed. "Gwaine hates nobles. You're King of a land that executes people simply for having magic. Contrary to popular belief", he continued, casting a meaningful glance at Gaius, "I do not have a death wish, so yes, I told Gwaine and not you."
"If it makes you feel better, Princess, all he told me was that his father once served yours and he'd only met the man briefly before he died because the King had turned on him and he'd been banished from the Kingdom." Gwaine said in his best peace-keeping voice.
"The banished part wasn't entirely true." Merlin said in a tone of quiet anger. "He was hunted. Uther wanted him dead by whatever means necessary. He fled to Ealdor where he fell in love with my mother. But that wasn't far enough for Uther." He laughed humourlessly. "He sent his Knights after my father and he was forced to flee once more. He didn't even know my mother was with child."
Now Arthur felt truly awful. It was his father's fault that Merlin had grown up not knowing his. The guilt must have been rather plain on his face for Gaius saw fit to clear his throat and change the subject, albeit not nearly as subtly as Merlin was capable of.
4 chapters in 2 days! and this one is over 2,000 words!
This chapter turned out to be a fair bit more angsty then I was expecting! Although a guilty Arthur is far better than an angry Arthur where Merlin's concerned. As always please review! I may not be able to update for a week or so as I will be visiting my sister for Christmas, but the next chapter will be up as soon as it is written!