Merlin's eyes locked onto the ice spheres of Lady Úna. Her claws digging into his arm, a death grip. Fear flooded through him, every muscle and nerve stretched to breaking pointed. Her blood red lips curled into a smile and she watched the boy turn and topple from his plinth.

The power she had over him. It was exhilarating!

"I believe you."

The three words came out of nowhere. Merlin jumped violently in horror, the pitcher toppling from his grasp and exploding upon the cobblestone.

"WHAT!?"

The claw around the servants arm tightened momentarily before disappearing completely. Merlin spared a glance, a smirk sliced through her flawless features, twisting her face to an evil mask.

"Arthur-"

"I'm pleased." The noble cut across Merlin. His brain was reeling. What!? How could Arthur agree with her? After everything? No NO NO! He can't! Something's wrong… something has to be wrong!

"Arthur no, wait! Think about this-"He took a step towards his King.

"Merlin enough! I believe Lady Úna. Her logic is sound, her kingdom prospers under her rule and I believe her. No more questions Merlin. It is not you place to choose what is right for my kingdom. You are dismissed, go."

"Arthur-"

"GO MERLIN!" Arthur leapt out of his chair. The two men stood face to face, neither prepared to back down. The air seemed to shimmy around them, a fierce aura. Neither blinked, they daren't move a muscle. Time slowed, seconds dragged like hours. Both men fighting a mental war.

Merlin's teeth tore into his lip. Each nail dug into his palm, cutting through the skin. He swallowed back his anger, forcing it down with his magic that fumed and bubbled dangerously. He could feel it, like a beast in his belly it curled and roared begging to be released, to stretch its wings and smite those who angered it. But Merlin was stronger. He knew when to walk away; he had for a long time.

"Fine…" His voice was a breath. Turning his back to his king, he fought the urge to run from the room. Arthurs chin twitched, he rolled both of his shoulders back straightening his posture, holding his head a little higher.

Merlin walked back over to the table, he knelt down by the broken pitcher gathering in the shards from the stone. A hand came to rest on his shoulder. The touch was threatening, a contrast to the words that accompanied.

"Leave it dear, I'll have someone attend to it later."

He could hear the sly smile painted on her face. He refused to look at her, locked under her grasp he stayed kneeling on the stone, eyes forced down to the puddle of liquid and broken glass.

"m'lady…" an inaudible mumble through clenched teeth and the hand disappeared once more with a squeeze. The servant rose without lifting his head. The fabric of his thin trousers faded from light to dark where the water had seeped in, drenching them.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something on the nobles lap. A small black box covered in symbols. The Iasachtaí Draíochta! It lay innocently between her slender fingers. I could grab it… I could get it and run…

"Merlin!" The king's voice reverberated around the room; it bounced off the ceiling filling his ears.

Fighting every instinct in his body, the warlock marched through the doors without another word.

BOOM! The jolt of the door slamming in its frame shook the physician's room to the core. Towers of books wobbled violently and the endless glass bottles clinked and tinkled in anger.

Gaius's head jumped up and swung towards the door. A dark silhouette hung silently in the still resonating doorway. The long fringe hid his eyes, arms loose by his side. The skin around his fists was stretched so tight, each bone was plainly visible underneath. He seemed to vibrate with the room.

"Merlin?"

Silence.

"Merlin? Merlin, talk to me, what's wrong?"

Still the boy didn't move. He stood frozen in the doorway, fists clenched and shaking. The uneven sound of ragged breaths seeped through the deafening silence. Fear ebbed at the physician. He got up from his seat and pulled his ward across the room to the cot. Pulling up a chair, he sat opposite the boy and tried to look into his eyes, tried to search for the cause of his adopted son's pain.

"Merlin…"

"I'm sorry..." the words were a breath. "I didn't mean…- I wasn't…- I couldn't-"

"Merlin-"

"No Gaius, I shouldn't have said what I said. You didn't know… I was being selfish. After everything you've done for me, after what you risk every day for me. I'm so sorry Gaius…"

"Merlin, be quiet." The boy stopped suddenly, peering up at his guardian through his bangs, eyes stained red yet completely dry. He swallowed, fighting back the tears.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I am the one who made the mistake and for that I am most sincerely sorry. But what is done cannot be undone. Now, we need to find out what Lady Úna plans are with that box. Forget about it Merlin, we have bigger worries." He smiled at his ward and placed a hand on his knee, the touch comforting both himself and the boy. Merlin gulped a breath, smiled and nodded.

"Right! Ok so…" He got up and went over to the small mountain of papers that cloaked the small desk. Merlin followed, trying to distract himself from the pool of guilt that flooded his stomach.

"I think I found something." Gaius held out the parchment for his ward. Merlin took it and gazed at the sharp black words on the parchment.

"Ah I see…" his eyes scanned the sheet.

"You do?"

"No I lied, what the hell is this?"

Gaius snatched the sheet back and cuffed his ward over the back of his head.

"This," he said, easing himself down at the desk. "It's a story. A legend, really from Eireann. It's written in gealige. Now I spent over 13 years studying the language and I'm still not fluent. Nobody speaks it anymore anyway. I think it's about the Iasachtaí Draíochta."

"Really!? Well does it say what it does?"

"It says that long ago, the King of Eireann grew jealous of the druids and their magic, so he ordered the monks to create something to help him. They made the Iasachtaí Draíochta, or Magic Borrower. It takes a sample of a druids magic and with a spell, releases back to a person without magic, essentially turning them into a sorcerer."

"How though?"

"Well according to this, inside the box is a stone taken from Tír na nÓg, the land-"

"The Land of Eternal Youth… I remember you telling me that one…" Merlin grinned.

"Yes exactly. So basically, because the stone comes from a place of magic it attracts magic from things around it."

"So what I felt? The weakness, that was all caused by a stone?"

"I believe so Merlin…"

I was taken out by a pebble… Way to boost the self-confidence…

"Did the King do it? Give himself magic?"

"He did more than that Merlin. He believed that it wasn't fair for only the few to possess such power. He believed that either everybody was allowed magic or nobody was."

"Surely the Druids didn't agree? They must have fought back?"

"They tried. They pleaded with the King to see sense but he ignored them. He gave magic to his people…."

"What happened?"

"Panic" Gaius replied simply. "Panic, for ten years terror ran through the land. The people were in agony, I don't think they understood what was happening to them. Do you remember Morgana when she was first discovering her power? The nightmares, uncontrollable outbursts of sheer power? It takes druids years to master the simplest spells. Suddenly people were overcome with this magic and they didn't know what it was, they thought it was a disease, a punishment from God."

Merlin looked down at his hands, wringing them together like rope. He remembered when he was young, going through his childhood as an outcast from the others. He remembered the rush of power when he was angry and upset, not being able to control it. His mother would take him into the forest, miles and miles from any village so he could let it go. He flattened trees and boiled rivers. His power terrified him. Nobody should be able to do that. All he wanted to do was be normal, to have a normal life and normal friends. Not be the freak. He thought it was a curse. For years he cried himself to sleep, as much as his mother tried she couldn't numb the pain he felt inside. It was different now. Now he had a place and his magic had a purpose, to protect the Once and Future King. But he had never forgotten those years…

"Merlin, you still with me son?"

"What? Oh right yeah, no I can relate that's all… Did they-um did the King fix it?"

Gaius looked on for a second at the boy. His eyes were dark, lost somewhere in the past. All he wanted to do was protect him from every evil that had ever or would ever threaten the young warlock. Merlin was his son in every way but blood. But how can you protect someone with such a burden to carry?

"Erm, well the people saw that their plight was the fault of magic. They believed that the druids had done something to them-"

"What!? But they hadn't! It was the King-"

"Yes Merlin but if you could suddenly out of the blue move things with the power of your mind, something that you knew was magic, who would you blame?"

"Yes but-"

Gaius raised an impatient eyebrow at his ward.

"But-"

The eyebrow rose a little higher, just scraping the hairline.

Humph

"So as I was saying" he shuffled the papers and glared at his ward. "The people blamed the druids for this new magic disease and exiled them."

"EXILED THEM!? Right sorry sorry!"

"The druids went to the king one final time; they forced the king to see sense and finally allowed the druids to heal his people. They took the Iasachtaí Draíochta and hid it. It hasn't been seen since…"

"Well until now." Merlin got up from the bench and began pacing the room. "So Úna's plan is to give everybody in Camelot magic so they can be equal?"

"I think so."

Merlin sat back onto the bed. His insides churned and writhed. Wasn't this a good thing? Wasn't this part of his destiny? To bring magic back to Camelot? Is this not what all of his efforts and fighting been for?

But if it was then why did it feel so wrong…

"Merlin" the physician laid a hand on his knee, "Lady Úna cannot go through with this plan. You heard what the magic did to the people; you know what it would feel like. Anarchy would reign through Merlin; the Kingdom could be levelled in a single thought. It cannot happen"

"But… but what if this is my destiny? What if this is how it's supposed to happen? What if by preventing this, I'm choosing the wrong road and stopping magic ever from becoming legal in Camelot?"

"What does your heart tell you?

Merlin looked at his guardian. His eyes were filled with age. Years and years piled one after another after another. Everything that man had ever seen, books he'd ever read lay in those eyes, the wisdom the knowledge. The trust…

"Good Mooooooorning Ladies!" The sing song voice tumbled into the room followed by a mop of brown hair wearing a knight.

"Oh god…" Merlin chuckled lying back onto the cot watching the rainbows from the jars flutter around the ceiling. All tension that had clouded the chamber that morning was instantly dispelled in three remarkably out of tune words.

"Listen, I turned her room upside-down, I couldn't see any box that fitted your description… Sorry was I interrupting something?" Gwaine stood awkwardly in the doorway, gazing at Merlin and the old man.

"Not at all." Gaius lied smoothly and got up, leaving Merlin to watch the rainbows alone.

"Oh… Ok so what's the plan?"

"Lady Úna had the box with her at breakfast today that's why you couldn't find it." Merlin replied, hoisting his aching limbs off the bed. "I guess she knew I'd go looking for it…"

"We think" Gaius interjected from the window, "that she wants to give magic to the masses, so to speak. That's was the Iasachtaí Draíochta does, it gives magic to the non-magic folk."

"What? Give the people of Camelot magic? You're joking?" His smile faded as two pairs of solemn eyes met his gaze. "That's ridiculous! Arthur's stupid but he's never go for that! There'd be pandemonium!"

"We know. It can't happen." Merlin replied. He looked at his guardian who smiled softly at him.

"But Dungal still outlaws magic? How come Lady Úna hasn't converted her own flock?"

"Dungal is a small kingdom especially compared to the size of Camelot. If she did turn her people into sorcerers, armies of men would be down on her kingdom in seconds."

"But they'd have magic? Surely they could just, I don't know, conjure magic fire breathing unicorns or something?"

"Gwaine it's more complicated than that. Besides they wouldn't know how to control it." Merlin's mouth slammed shut. Shut up Merlin how the hell would you know!? "It would be like you fighting a war with an army of farmers. They wouldn't have a clue what they were doing."

Gaius stepped forward hastily, cuffing his ward on the back of the head as discretely as he could. "No army would go up against the likes of Camelot. If she was to convince King Arthur of her plans then she would have one of the most powerful kingdoms and her biggest rival on her side, nobody would confront her."

"But Arthur would never go for this? He couldn't. Not after his father, the Purge? He would never say yes?"

Gwaine and Gaius both stared at the black haired boy who had suddenly turned suspiciously quiet.

"Merlin…?"

"He said he believed Lady Úna…"

"WHAT!? Oh that is it! Where is that princess I am going to rip his lungs from his throat and shove them so far up his-"

"GWAINE NO!" Merlin leapt up, his eyes flashed molten gold. The solid oak bench swung out in front of the raging knight. His knee collided with the wood and with a deafening crash Gwaine toppled to the floor, now screaming a dictionary of curses to the King and a bench. Merlin threw himself on the knight before he had a chance to barrel out the door and well… be Gwaine…"

"Gwaine we have to think this through. Arthur never would have agreed to something like that under his own terms, something's wrong with him we just have to work it out ok!"

"Can I not just break his nose? Please? It's too big for him anyway."

"No Gwaine!"

A grumbled 'fine' came up from the floor and slowly Merlin released the knight, not that he was much of a match for him anyway. This time the servant positioned himself between his friend and the door, just in case.

"What do you mean 'something's wrong with him?'" Gaius got up from the window and came to sit beside Merlin.

"I don't know… It's just, he's been talking a lot about Lady Úna's views on equality and whenever I try to debate them he just says he believes her."

"That he believes her?"

"Yeah… I can't seem to convince him otherwise no matter what I say. 'I believe Lady Úna.' Every single time. 'I believe Lady Úna.'"

"He's not very articulate is he?" Merlin and Gaius turned in surprise at the knight who was playing with a loose strand of thread dangling from his gauntlet.

"What?"

"Well, if you share somebodies opinion you'd more likely say 'I agree with' or 'I concur.' You'd never say 'I believe an opinion!' For a King who has to address a kingdom you'd think he would know that. Maybe I won't break his nose, I'll bash his head in, might make him smarter!" He looked up, a massive grin plastering his face.

"You're right…"

Merlin turned towards his guardian, his jaw wide open in shock. "What!?"

"Gwaine's right. I gave Arthur literary lessons as a child under his mother's orders; I taught that boy how to conduct himself at meetings. Never under my watch would he dare say he 'believed an opinion', I'm a good teacher."

"Sorry I'm still getting over the whole 'Gwaine's right' thing…"

"Oy! I am a very well educated person!"

"You washed your face with a leaf."

"At least I washed!"

"Merlin! Gwaine! Bigger fish here!"

They both turned to the physician, trying hard to smother the grins twitching at their lips.

"Well" Gwaine began, shifting a little in his seat, "if he wouldn't say that under normal conditions then what? Something is making him say that?

"Possibly…"

"Yes! Yes that's exactly what's happening! Remember the Mark? The Mark you found on my shoulder? She used it to control me. She touched my shoulder and told me to sit in the chair and only talk to answer her questions. I did, I had to. She made me I couldn't help it!"

"And she's done something like that to Arthur?"

"She must have- Wait….

The smell was overpowering. Roast boar, toasted pheasant, wild deer, mounds of potatoes, mountains of vegetables, apples, pears, everything Camelot had to offer was piled onto platters and spread over the overflowing tables. Merlin had never seen so much food in one place. Jesters entertained the masses while servants and chefs weaved their way through the crowed. The Great hall buzzed with chatter, it hummed with joy and laughter.

….Wait….

The king turned to his guest. "I hope your enjoying our feast?"

"Immensely" she replied, smiling.

….Oh no….

Lady Úna placed her hand upon Arthur's shoulder. She looked him firmly in the eyes. "Believe me Arthur Pendragon," she said. Her hands returned to her lap, fists clenched in determination. "You will be a great king. Far greater than your father ever was"

"What is it Merlin!"

"The feast… The night Lady Úna arrived in the castle, that's when she put the Mark on Arthur…"

"What did she say?"

"Believe me Arthur Pendragon"

HELLO!: Oh whoops forgot to turn off the font! Can I get a heyho for finishing a chapter in 2 days! Achievement!

So! That's my one big plot point out! Its definitely wrapping up from here which is good!

All the Italics are taken from chapter 2 so if you want to go back and check yes that was deliberate and all Arthur going 'I BELIEVE Lady Úna' was very deliberate and I am very uber proud of myself atm!

Anywhoo I hope you like it! Really I do!

Tally ho!