Okay, thank you so much my readers for being patient with me through my January writing binge. I am very happy to announce that during this time, I have not only completed the material for this story, Fires Part One, but have already written half of it's sequel- the unimaginatively named 'Fires Part Two'. Please, feel free to suggest a good sequel title if you have one!

Also, if you are a Twitter fan, I have been posting brief progress updates and stuff there. You can follow me (at)sapphirenight9, and I'm not a regular tweeter, so you shouldn't have too much random stuff entering your feed. You'll recognise my avatar- I use the same one everywhere, so you'll know its me!

When Arthur knocked and let himself into his father's chamber the following morning, Uther was humming cheerily, sat at his breakfast desk with the mountain of food that Arthur could never quite train Merlin to produce for himself. The king gave his son a cheery 'morning' as he popped another grape into his open mouth.

"Mmm- Arthur! Come in, come in! I have a very good feeling about today. Look, we finally have the sun back after such a dreary winter; it's a good omen, I know!"

Arthur just muttered a 'yes, it seems so' to the ground, the frown still firmly planted across his face. Uther himself frowned momentarily, his jaw hesitating out of alignment as he paused in the rolling his royal breakfast around his mouth. He tilted his head in his equivalent of a shrug, not quite accepting of his son's level mood.

"Oh, come, Arthur. We've been stuck in this most appalling winter, you might as well show a bit of cheer."

When Arthur seemed unable to answer him, Uther turned and returned his attention back towards his breakfasting table. He chose another plateau from his table and manoeuvred it delicately into his mouth, chewing slowly as he looked at Arthur casually out of the corner of his eye.

"You know, I'm surprised at you, I would have thought you'd be relishing this day. Finally seeing your former manservant getting punished for his treachery. The boy has been lying to you for three years, it's about time he is removed. To think about the damage he could have potentially done… We are lucky he hasn't brought the kingdom to ruin after the amount of time he's served here. Thank goodness he seems to be as inept a sorcerer as he is everything else. Oh, come on, Arthur, you can't really not be excited to watch him burn. Or, is it that- you're still embarrassed that he'd managed to deceived you for so long. Son, ineptitude aside, no one noticed after three years of close company that he wasn't who he claimed; it is not only yourself who feel a slight amount of shame for letting him continue for this long unnoticed. You can let all that out of your system as you watch him burn tonight. I find that fire has a most hypnotic quality for allowing one to think with complete and absolute clarity. You will find yourself feeling better after today."

Encouraging heart-to-heart over, Uther turned back to his food shovelling another handful into his mouth. He missed the abrupt change of his son's expression.

"You know, I'm really looking forward to this. We haven't had a good burning for at least a good year. It's always so invigorating to see justice being carried out where it's deserved."

Arthur didn't return a reply.

After a few seconds of silence during which the air between them had only barely cooled, Arthur finally announced loudly,

"Sir Leon, if you wouldn't mind…"

Uther looked up in confusion as his chamber door opened once more, and the knight slipped into the room to stand beside it. And then more people continued walking through the door, hesitantly moving to line up along the farthest side of the King's quarters. The slab of jellied meat he had pilled into his mouth stayed frozen at Uther's lips as his eyes tracked the people who shuffled past- men, members from his court, strangers from the lower village, women, all in his room. People that ought not to have been there, that had no right to have been there.

These were the king's private chambers. And, whilst he was breakfasting.

Uther carefully placed down the cloth with which he had patted his mouth dry and took a long, cold hard look over the assembled men. There were a few nervous glances at each other- non of them looked very comfortable to be there. He then turned his gaze to Arthur. Fixed him with a cold glare.

"Get out."

Voice deathly cool, the intruders jumped and scrambled towards the chamber door. His gaze never wavering from the prince, it was nevertheless unequivocal who the order was directed towards.

Uther's gaze remained focused on his son as the final men and women fled out the door from which they came. The king was deathly still, calm in his rage. Within just a few seconds Arther was left standing motionless once again with his father, the mood now very much darkened.

When Uther finally spoke, his voice was quiet, barely more than a whisper though it carried unequivocally through the room.

"What do you think you are doing, bringing common people in here?"

"I was just trying to-"

"I asked what you were doing!" Uther thundered. "Bringing men into my room- courtiers, people from the lower village, into my private quarters! In what insane world did all reason fly straight out the window. And I was in such a good mood earlier…"

Uther shook his head.

"Father, I was trying to bring to your attention a matter that needs to be addressed now. This is serious; I was trying to get your attention."

Uther set his jaw.

"Well, I can safely say that you have it. And am I to assume, judging by the fact that those people were the same that I shared my infirmity with, this is still about the boy?"

Arthur nodded.

"Then I do not see why this can not wait till tomorrow. After all the mess has been dealt with and we can settle back into some sort of normalcy."

"I am afraid that will not work, father. By the time the mess has been dealt with, my manservant-"

"Ex-manservant-"

"…will be dead."

"No, Arthur, a dangerous sorcerer who has integrated himself within the highest circle of our court will have finally been punished."

Arthur froze. This wasn't doing anything, this wouldn't get him anywhere.

After a moment's silence, Arthur continued quietly,

"Be that as it may, I would still like to hold an audience with you about him before he is put to death. I have still not heard the full story; You owe me that much, at least."

Uther was silent. He regarded Arthur for a few moments, popping another grape into his mouth and nodded.

"You shall have your audience. In the Throne Room, in an hour after I am done with my morning evolutions. Though I still do not see why you had to ruin a perfectly good morning for this…"

"As I said, I needed you undivided attention. I need you to take this seriously."

Arthur turned his heal and like a petulant teenager strode towards the door. His father's voice broke his progress just before he reached the door. His voice was low, steady, though not without warning.

"Arthur, listen to me now, and listen to me carefully. That boy is going to burn. That boy is going to die, no matter what trivial arguments you put in place to stop it, and do you know why I am so certain? Because the boy deserves to. So you had just better get over whatever thrall he has on you and learn to move on. You need to get over this."

"I will get over this when I am sure you are not about to kill a good and loyal man."

Arthur fled the room, and left his father to whatever morning ablutions he still had to conduct. It was now a fight for Merlin's life, but Arthur was beginning to wonder just how successful they would actually be.

Thanks so much for reading!

I know this was a relatively short chapter. It is the first part of the overall 'Chapter 9', which in itself is quite lengthly. And then the next chapter is the epilogue! The end! The main section of chapter nine needs quite a lot of work which I was unable to focus on last month, so I thought that since there was a natural break here, I'd post it separately and allow myself the space to focus on the work that really needs doing. I cant say when Fires 9b (or, chapter 10) will be ready- keep an eye on my twitter account for updates, but I would imagine early March, as I have a second story I am also working on in tandem (being posting on another site).