I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I.

Chapter Eleven – updated 27/12/11

Catherine had started sprinting towards the castle as soon as she had seen the explosion of gold light.

"Catherine!" Gwaine yelled, hot on her heels as she darted through the remains of Cenred's castle, scrabbling over the rubble to get to where the explosion had come from.

"Where is she going?" Arthur shouted, his sword in hand ready to do battle with whichever sorcerer they came across first. He'd never seen so much magic, never mind the sort of power that it took to destroy a whole citadel.

The golden light had begun to dim and the group could just make out a figure standing in the centre of it, dressed in a pair of loose trousers and a mop of black hair messily standing on end in places.

"Merlin?" Arthur whispered, watching as the last of the golden light retracted into his manservant, dropping them all into darkness.

"Of for…" Catherine's curse was cut off half way through, and a torch flared into life. Waving it erratically from side to side she scoured the ruins for her baby brother, heading for the area he'd been standing in before. A soft thump sent them all scrambling towards the same spot, the flames from the torch falling across Merlin's unconscious face.

"He has magic." Arthur muttered quietly, finding all the mysteries that had seemed to surround him since Merlin's arrival slotting into place. "He has magic." He repeated, the shock wearing off and a little hysteria making its way into his voice.

Catherine didn't notice the Prince stumble away into the darkness; passing her torch to Gwaine she was busy examining her brother, checking that his injuries weren't too serious. Elyan managed to find some spare wood and started to build a fire, allowing Catherine a little more light to work by before he moved back towards their camp to collect their belongings and move them down to the ruins. He doubted Catherine would want to move Merlin tonight, and she would need the supplies they had brought to look after him properly.

The Prince wandered away from the rest of the group, his head was spinning and he was aware he was clutching the hilt of his sword more tightly than necessary. What was he planning to do? He wondered, was he going to run Merlin through? Everything his father had taught him told him that magic was evil; those who practised magic wanted nothing but destruction and pain.

"Arthur?"

Lancelot's voice rang out behind the Prince, it struck him that the Knight must have followed him away from the ruins.

"Arthur you have to come back." Lancelot pleaded, unable to clearly make out Arthur's outline in the darkness. "It doesn't look good, Merlin's in a bad way."

Remaining silent Arthur sank down into the grass and sat with his sword resting in front of him.

"Is my father wrong?" he asked, knowing the Knight was still standing behind him. "Does magic make you evil?"

"How can you even think Merlin's is evil Arthur!" Lancelot asked angrily, astounded that the Prince could consider that someone like Merlin would ever do anything to cause hurt needlessly. "He is one of the most good-hearted people you will ever find!"

Arthur nodded mutely, not making any move to stand up though.

Back in the ruins Merlin was lying beside the fire, Elyan setting up the camp around it as Catherine and Gwaine kept watch over the unconscious warlock.

"He's burning up." Gwaine observed, biting the knuckle of his left thumb nervously, he hadn't done that since he was a child.

"He used too much magic." Catherine told him, rummaging around in her pack for something. She came out with a small cloth bag, the top tied tightly closed. Striding over to the fire she pulled it open and dumped the powdery contents into the flames, stepping back as they turned purple and leapt into the air.

"What the…" Gwaine shielded his face from the heat of the fire, feeling the hairs on his arms sing as the inferno flickered and danced in front of him. "Catherine!"

With a look of fury Catherine hurled the manacles that she managed to remove from her brother's wrists into the fire, hearing the satisfying sound of melting metal as she moved back to her brother's side and the flames died back down to normal.

"What was that?" Gwaine spluttered, sharing a look of shock with Elyan who had frozen halfway through skinning a rabbit. Catherine shrugged at them both.

"Something I picked up, it increases the heat of the fire, useful for destroying things such as enchanted objects."

"And the manacles were enchanted objects?" Elyan asked, slightly confused.

"Sort of." Catherine explained. "There dampened Merlin's power, supposedly making it either impossible or very difficult for him to perform even simple spells."

"But we saw-"

"You saw something that should never have been allowed to happen." Catherine interrupted, cutting Gwaine off. "Merlin has access to more magic that anyone else there has ever been, and he just tried to channel a large majority of it. He's lucky it didn't kill him the fool."

"Merlin's stronger than you think." Gwaine said calmly. "He's not just your little brother, he isn't going to break at the slightest knock."

Catherine felt like laughing as she felt the tears began to slide down her cheeks, she hadn't cried in years and recently she felt that all she seemed to do was burst into tears. She hated that she had missed so much of her brother's life, he's carved out something and she was still trying to work out if she fit into it anymore.

"He'll pull through Catherine." Someone reassured her, and looking up she realised it was Arthur standing beside her. He still looked hurt but his sword was in its scabbard, and he's hadn't made a move to dispose of the sorcerer at his feet.

"The idiot can't die." Arthur said more to himself than Catherine. "He doesn't deserve to."

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