*PoV Arthur*
"So why did he leave?" I asked.
"To seek help. He alone cannot fight an entire army all alone. He needs your help. But your father would rather see us burned at the stake or swinging from the gallows pole than help druids." Morgana looked over at Merlin as he stirred. He looked at her, a smile on his lips, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Thank you… Uhm…" he said.
"Morgana," she said. "You're welcome."
He looked over at me, and the smile reached his eyes. "I knew I would find you."
I smiled at him. "I knew you were real."
"I need your help. I-"
"I understand. I shall talk to my father. I'm sure he will understand if I explain the circumstance. And I will make sure that-"
"He knows you are helping a druid? Because that's going to work amazingly."
I sighed deeply and turned to Gaius, who'd come back into the room. He was holing a blue vial, which he passed to Morgana. "I'm glad to see you awake, Merlin."
"I knew I could count on you, Gaius," Merlin said, swinging his legs over the side of the table. "Please, you and Arthur must help me. I need you. Uther will see no gain in helping a protector. He hates us more than dragon lords! And what with a protector being a dragon lord and a druid, he will certainly have me hanging from the gallows by the rise of tomorrow's sun!"
"You're also a dragon lord? Wow," Morgana said. "You really don't have good luck here, do you?"
"What's a protector?" I asked.
"A protector is someone who guards, or protects, one of the magical gardens of this world. There used to be thousands, so many that the world was nearly filled to burst. But people like Uther and the other kings destroyed the gardens, filled with greed and loathing, that they themselves could not enter the gardens to feast on the fruit. The protectors can talk to each other, even if they are in different kingdoms. They can come into each other's gardens as well. I needed to find another," Merlin said, blushing and looking down at his feet.
"So, why do you need Camelot's help if you have more protectors?" I inquired.
"The others are not willing to help. It would mean leaving the gardens, our life line. The gardens are our lives, in the most literal scene of the meaning. If we leave for too long, the gardens start to die, as do we. We… as I said, we need those gardens. It's hard to become a protector, but some people are born to protect. When a protector is born, or created, so is a garden. It's hard to understand, I know. When we die, the gardens die. When they die, we die. I need to go back soon. We have to get Uther's help."
"How?" Gaius asked. "As you said, a Druid and a protector is not a good combination."
"Let me talk to him," I said. "You may come along, Merlin, if you choose. He will see you are just a boy, and hopefully show mercy."
"Arthur, you can't. He'll only shoot the idea down, and have Morgana and I executed. What good will that do?" Merlin furrowed his brow and looked down at the floor. It really did put us in a sticky situation.
"Merlin just let me talk to him." I moved forward and took his hand, lightly lifting his chin to make him look at me. "Please."
"Alright. But I will be with you."