A short extract for the ride back to Camelot. Was originally in the ending for 'the moment of truth' but I felt that chapter went on for too long so broke it in two.

I just want to say I feel like Camilla comes across a bit Mary Sue in this one just to warn you. Also it is explained why she hates magic so much but I promise you she won't have a connection with all the other series villains, fanfictions really annoy me when they do that.

Vex

"Coin for your thoughts." Merlin said as he joined Camilla. She stood to the side of the group, her back to the camp. She sat on a rock playing with her dagger twirling it around. It calmed her when she did it, feeling the connection back to her mother for that was who the dagger belonged to before her death.

"They're not worth it." Camilla smiled as she briefly looked over her shoulder before turning back to look at the woods. She heard the sound of leaves rustle as Merlin took a seat next to her as the rock was big enough for both of them.

"Then it's a good thing I don't have a coin." Merlin joked causing Camilla to smile. The rest of the group had retired to bed by now but Camilla found sleep an impossibility for her at the moment.

"Go back to sleep Merlin, I'll take this watch." Camilla told him.

"Well you had the last watch when you weren't supposed to. Arthur won't like it if he finds you took my shift as well." Merlin pointed out.

"I will deal with Arthur." Camilla said as she continued to play with her dagger.

"You have been silent since we left Ealdor." Merlin commented.

"We both have." Camilla pointed out. "And both for the same reason."

The two went silent looking at the night sky.

"There's something else though." Merlin noticed.

She looked at him but then back at into the world with a heavy sigh. "What Will did with magic today just...

"Just what?" Merlin asked after Camilla trailed off.

"What Will did with his magic makes me question everything I believe." Camilla said finally admitting it to herself.

"What do you mean?" Merlin asked confused.

"Magic has always been evil in my eyes." Camilla refused to look at him and instead focusing on the world around her. "But what Will did, using it for good...well...I believed every person with magic intends to use it for evil but Will used it to stop it. And then the whole thing with the druid boy and his father. What if everything my father preaches and I know is wrong? I liked Will but I was always made to believe sorcerers are horrible selfish people but Will was neither of those things."

"Why do you hate magic so much?" Merlin asked next. "You were brought up the same as Arthur yet your hate for magic is a lot stronger than his, just less than Uther's."

She was silent thinking how to tell him.

"My past experience." Camilla said quietly. It went silent for a while before Camilla decided that she needed to tell someone. Only her father had heard what happened that day, she hadn't even confined in her brother but there was something about Merlin.

She felt drawn to him and she knew that she could tell him and he wouldn't look at her any differently. He would still act the same around her so in that moment she felt she owed it not only to Merlin but also herself to tell the truth.

"I'm two years younger than Arthur and yourself so you can tell my father remarried shortly after Arthur's birth. It was in order to strengthen the kingdom during the great purge so even though he did not love my mother and was still grieving over Arthur's, he married her anyway. She was a princess from the land now ruled by Cenred who took the throne when I was 9. So technically I have a rightful claim to the land you grew up on."

"I would much rather have you as the ruler than Cenred." Merlin commenting causing Camilla to smile.

"At the time the kingdom prospered as there was a renewed life in it as it fought against magic however there was this one sorceress who wanted my father's death more than most. Her name was Nimeuh." At her name she could feel Merlin freeze but she decided to press on. "She felt the tide turning in the war and decided something needed to be done so one day when my mother and I were out riding, I was 4 at the time, she snatched us away. It was a last ditch attempt but it worked. Camelot began to fear magic again because two people so close to Uther had been taken."

"Nimeuh planned to raise me in the ways of the old religion, said I could be the most powerful weapon against my father, his own kin against him. She couldn't take Arthur you see because by the time she had devised this plan he was too old and too loyal. The first step in this brainwash was to break me and by doing that she tortured my mother." Camilla said feeling the familiar sting of tears in her eyes. "Her screams echoed in the caves where I was being kept as well as the hiss of magic words that caused her pain. I would see her at night when Nimeuh was finished for the day but only so the next day was even harder."

"One day though when mother returned I had been secretly making a weapon from the rocks, sharpening it so that when Nimeuh stepped in arms reach I stabbed her. It wasn't a mortal wound but enough for her to collapse for a few moments and give me and my mother chance to escape." Camilla at this point looked at the ground swallowing back the lump in her throat. "We made it to the mouth of the cave when my mother couldn't continue. I knew Nimeuh would be after us so I tried to pull my mother along but I was too weak. Nimeuh came then and laughed at how pathetic I was saying a spell. I don't know how but my mother seemed to know what it would do but she pushed me out of the cave just in time for the roof to come down and block the entrance."

"I screamed and shouted trying to pull the rocks away but I couldn't. I heard some guards passing by so I ran out to get them to come help but once they saw who I was they grabbed me instead and brought me straight back to Camelot. When they finally got a patrol together, my father leading it, we reached the cave and it was no longer unblocked. We never found her body."

"It backfired on Nimeuh though because the people now had a true reason to fight magic and not just for my father's hatred of it." Camilla said with a sad smile one tear escaping the corner of her eye. "Arthur has never experienced something like that and neither has Morgana but I have and I have seen what evil magic can do first hand."

"But you also saw today what good magic can do." Merlin reminded her trying to help her forget.

"So now you can see why I am conflicted."

Merlin simply nodded his head understanding and the pair returned to silence before Merlin broke it.

"What would happen if I could prove to you that magic itself isn't bad but it is the people who use it?" Merlin suggested.

"Unless you do magic yourself Merlin I doubt it." Camilla joked. She realised now though why he had hinted towards defending magic in the past, it would have been because of Will. He knew someone with magic who used it for good. "Merlin if you can prove to me that Camelot would not fall if magic was at the heart of it, then...I will marry you."

Merlin was a little taken aback, there was something in his eyes, but he quickly recovered.

"You truly believe it not possible."

"I'm a see it to believe it kind of person." Camilla shrugged before not being able to resist yawning.

"But right now you're a sleeper." Merlin said with a smile which Camilla returned. "Go on Camilla, rest. I'm the servant this is what I'm here for."

"I am going to sleep because I am tired and have done a watch. Not because you are the servant." Camilla told him before walking back to the camp and lying down. "Goodnight Merlin."

"Goodnight princess." He replied with a cheeky smile on his face as he thought of Camilla's marriage proposal.

If only she knew