I'm back. Thank you for being patient with me- I've just finished some seriously major exams, but now I can post some more stuff. Keep an eye on Rise of the Legend as well. Hope you enjoy it

Chapter 10

Arthur splashed his face with water, which had come from a small wooden bowl Merlin had brought him.

"We're going to have to tell the knights something," Merlin admitted to his master. "They need to know why we're here. I mean, it's not my place to say if you should tell any of the knights and I know that this is a matter for your family, but you cannot expect them to sit here and wonder if we are just wasting our time."

"The plan is to keep this between myself, Gaius, my father and Aurelius."

"That's sort of gone out of the window."

Arthur turned on him. "If you tell anyone-"

"I'm not going to; it's not my secret to tell."

"Good; and if you hadn't guessed, Merlin, this is something that could tear the kingdom apart at a time like this. Everyone has only just found out that Morgana is my half-sister; the last thing that needs to happen is they find out that the last Dragonlord was my father's brother and that he had a child, who is technically third in line for the throne."

Merlin had to suppress a shiver, as he knew he was describing himself. It still made him feel disconcerted to think that he was his master's cousin.

"Alright, I see your point," the warlock mumbled, "but these are our friends; they won't go telling the entire kingdom and beyond that your father condemned his own brother's race."

"Merlin."

"Sorry, I was only pointing out."

"Well, next time don't say it in that accusatory tone. Magic is evil."

"So what does that make your cousin if they really are the last Dragonlord? Are you going to condemn them even before you get to know them?"

Expecting a retort, the warlock readied himself for an argument, but to his amazement, Arthur made no negative comment.

"I don't know," the prince said, honestly. "I really don't know."

Merlin sighed, and left it at that, something which relieved Arthur. It was like Merlin to make the most unnecessarily annoying comments, but despite that he did know when to stop before things went too far.

"Are you going to be asking around the village?" Merlin asked, tactlessly changing the subject. "We don't have anywhere where we keep archives, and none have actually ever been written."

"That my uncle's plan; he's the one who wants to do the questioning. However, I'm going to be searching along with him; I've known him to go a bit over the top when interrogating people. The last thing we need is for something stupid to happen- whoever is next in line to the throne here could declare war."

"I don't think so."

"How would you know?"

Merlin shrugged. "This isn't the most important of places to anyone who hasn't lived here. Everywhere else in the kingdom tends to ignore us."

Arthur knew that Merlin wasn't wrong there. Cenred and everybody else had refused to help Ealdor in its time of need, apart from him, Merlin, Gwen and Morgana. However, it now felt as if that adventure belonged to a different lifetime. Many things had changed, for better and for worse. Mainly for the worse, in Arthur's opinion.

"Still, we don't want any trouble."

"So, what will your father be doing?"

"Not much if I'm honest. All he plans to do is devise strategies to find the child as quickly as possible."

"He's still not talking much, is he?"

Arthur shook his head and peered at the wall of the tent, in the direction his father's tent. "Would you?"

Merlin hung his head. "It must be hard for you- he's distancing himself from everyone and you don't know how to help."

Arthur was about to reply when Elyan suddenly rushed into the tent, breathless. "Arthur, Merlin, you may both want to come quickly."

"What's happened?" Arthur asked, grabbing his sword.

"Your uncle wanted to question some of the villagers earlier, so he took me, Percival and Leon. What we got out of what he was saying to the villagers was something about the Dragonlord called Balinor and about this Balinor having a child. He got a bit cross with some of them because they were being a bit vague."

"What was he doing?"

"Apart from asking questions, nothing. Then somebody said something about Merlin's mother and how nobody knows who his father was. He stormed off towards Hunith's house, which is when I decided to come here. I'm afraid he may do something that we may all regret- he wasn't in the best of moods."

"Merlin!" Arthur called, as his manservant ran out of the tent. "Elyan, fetch Lancelot and Gwaine and meet me in the village. We may have to prevent a scene." The prince then pursued his servant, ignoring the calls of the others behind him, cursing his bad luck that predicting this sort of thing would happen literally minutes after he had spoken it out loud.

They reached the village in time to see a small crowd gathered around Merlin's mother's house. Both could hear the raised voices of Aurelius and Hunith, and Merlin pushed his way through the gathering of people in time to see a couple of soldiers grab his mother. Leon and Percival were quietly trying to beg Arthur's uncle to calm down.

"Mother!" the warlock called.

"Let her go," Arthur commanded, at which the soldiers obeyed, clearly confused as to who's orders to follow.

Merlin was at his mother's side as she fell to her knees. He saw the look of loathing that was in her face as she looked up at Ambrosius, whose sword was pointing at the pair of them.

"What are you doing?" Arthur demanded of his uncle. "You can't go about like this- this isn't Camelot."

"We are here on business, Arthur, and it does not help if people are uncooperative."

"That doesn't mean you have to intimidate them."

"Boy, you are going to be king one day and something your father will agree with is that you have to push to find the truth at the best of times."

"We saved this village not so long ago, so it wouldn't be good if we shattered our friendship over something that may not concern any of them."

"If you saved them as you say then they should show our family respect. And as far as I'm concerned, everyone is involved in this matter until we discover otherwise. The child of the Dragonlord must be found."

"You won't get far if you go around threatening the people here," a voice said behind them.

Aurelius span around to find a sword pointing at his throat. The person holding it was an incredibly irate looking Elayne, who was poised to run her victim through at any moment.

"This isn't your kingdom, Ambrosius. You may be a noble, but a noble must also respect all, even if they are not part of the monarchy."

"Put the sword down, child," Aurelius said, his anger leaving him as he gazed warily at the girl. The soldiers drew their swords because of the immediate threat. Percival and Leon looked unsure as what to do.

"Elayne, please," Arthur muttered, surprised by the change in personality Elayne was showing, having gone from the shy country girl to a fiery looking warrior. "Nothing will be achieved if you kill him."

"That may be, but what would have been achieved if he had continued to threaten Hunith in that manner? I don't care who you are or who you are related to, but such a thing is what I call an attempt on my family and I'm not prepared to let that pass. What exactly possessed you to behave in such a way?"

Aurelius looked incredibly reluctant to tell her anything, but he changed his mind when she brought the tip of the sword closer to his neck.

"A number of villagers explained that the father of the boy, Merlin, was never seen by any of the other villagers, though an elder remembered that Balinor and Hunith were friendly to each other whilst he was here. It's a possibility that the boy is Balinor's son."

"That doesn't give you an excuse to threaten any of the villagers here. Besides, you are incredibly misinformed. My brother knew Merlin's father, and I think you'll find that he was a merchant from Mercia. I take it Hunith tried to explain this to you, or did you display this animosity towards her before she had the chance to explain anything. Gaius will tell you exactly the same thing."

At that moment, Elyan arrived with Lancelot, Gwaine, Gaius and, to everyone's horror, Uther. At the sight of the king, the group of villagers dispersed so that the five could clearly see what was happening. Uther looked livid to see a commoner holding a sword at his brother's throat, and started forwards.

"I order you to lower your weapon," he shouted. The atmosphere that surrounded them was incredibly tense, everyone unsure about what would happen next.

Elayne turned her gaze away from Aurelius and stared at Merlin and Hunith. Both looked worried, and Merlin shook his head, pleading with her not to do anything stupid.

Sighing, the young woman lowered her weapon, but turned away and walked up to Lancelot, ignoring Uther.

"I need one of your gauntlets," she whispered, so that no one else could hear.

Lancelot could guess what she was about to do and he felt as if he should refuse her for her own safety, but there was something in her expression that made him comply. The knight could understand that Elayne was close to Merlin and his mother and that she would want to protect them from the truth coming out, which may result in Merlin, their friend, being killed.

Once Lancelot had handed her a gauntlet, Elayne walked, quite calmly, back up to Aurelius and threw the piece of armour down at his feet. There was a shocked silence as everybody waited to see what Aurelius would do.

Arthur watched as his uncle slowly bent his knees and picked the gauntlet off of the ground. The prince felt his insides curl inside him. All they needed was for someone to be killed at a time like this.

"Tomorrow at dawn," Elayne said, in a dark tone. "Single combat to the death."

With that she turned on her heel and stormed down towards her house, leaving everybody to stare after her, shocked.

The villagers began to disperse, giving Merlin time to help his mother to his feet and lead her back inside the house. Lancelot, Gaius and Gwaine followed, the latter rushing to Hunith's other side.

"Are you alright?" the physician asked Hunith, as Merlin shoved a wooden cup filled with water into his mother's hands.

"I'm fine, thank you," Hunith replied.

"Did they hurt you?" Merlin asked, angrily.

"No. The soldiers were a bit rough, but there won't be any bruising or anything. I think I was annoying Aurelius anyway- he didn't seem to want to listen to my side of the story. All he wanted was answers about Balinor."

"Did you ever meet him?" Gwaine asked. Merlin shot him a slightly reproachful look. "I'm only asking."

"I talked to him a number of times whilst he was here, yes. However, what worries me most now is what Elayne did."

"Shall I go to talk her out of it?" Merlin asked.

"You know she won't listen. We're the only family she sort of has now and Arthur's uncle threatened us as far as she's concerned."

"She's very protective," Lancelot commented, "though that's not necessarily a bad thing."

"Elayne's been like that ever since she was younger," Merlin explained. "She's very loyal to those she loves, even if it means getting herself into trouble."

"But why challenge Uther's brother?" Gwaine said, shaking his head. "It's suicidal. He'll tear her apart."

"Merlin, I can see what Gwaine means," Lancelot added. "You should talk to her. The last thing we need is for blood to be spilt on top of everything else that is happening."

Merlin shook his head, but held his hands up in defeat. "I'll go and see her now, before Uther decides to have her arrested or something like that."

"I'm not calling it off," Elayne muttered, turning back around to face her friend. Merlin was standing by the small window to her right, the late morning sun spilling through into the house, basking everything in its warm glow.

"Elayne he could kill you. That's not something I would want to watch."

"Well, you don't have to watch; and I won't die. There are things I've learnt that I haven't explained to you yet."

"Then if you end up killing Arthur's uncle, you'll be dead anyway. Uther would never let the murder of a member of his family go unpunished."

"Like all kings, he has to respect the rules of the field of combat. Don't worry though, I have a plan."

"Elayne-"

"Merlin, I know that you're worried for me, but I'll be fine, I promise. Did you really think I'd let that man point his sword at you and Hunith like he was doing so and not get away with it."

"Arthur was doing his best to argue us out of the situation."

Elayne sat on a small wooden chair, Ajax jumping into her lap. She ran her fingers repetitively through his fur. "Ambrosius would have come back for Hunith to make sure that she wasn't lying, and, I hate to say it, she was. I'm doing this for the pair of you, you fool. I would die to protect you; to me, you and Hunith are the only family I have left now, and your secrets are part of the future of everything that we see around us." Her voice was serene and mature, calm instead of argumentative.

"Since when did you know about my destiny?"

"Hunith filled me in. I must say it was a shock to find out that your best friend is going to help unite the land and stop Uther's relentless witch hunts, especially since said friend can't hold a sword to save his life." Merlin found himself laughing at this, and the girl allowed herself a grin. "That's more than likely the reason why... Will did what he did." Elayne scratched her neck and avoided eye contact with the warlock for a few moments, attempting to busy herself with continuously stroking Ajax.

In that moment, Merlin saw how his friend felt. "You blame yourself for Will."

"Sometimes. I think to myself that he'd still be alive if I hadn't left."

"You weren't to know that it would happen. None of us were."

"I know, which is why I mainly blame that filthy bandit who dealt the blow. He may have died for your master, but it was Arthur who killed Kanen."

"You did look shocked when Arthur introduced himself earlier."

"I never expected him to turn up here. I suppose, somewhere deep down, I want to try and blame him because Will took the blow for him, but I know that that isn't right, especially not after everything the four of you did for this place. I'd have loved to have seen you try and kill bandits. I remember you lasted all of four seconds even when me and Will tried to teach you combat skills."

Merlin scowled, sarcastically. "It was more than four seconds."

"Alright, I'll give you six."

The pair chuckled.

"Do you still remember it?" Elayne asked. "All of the days that we messed around and drove everybody up the wall, including my father."

"How could I forget? It was probably why he helped us build the Den. Do you know if she's crumbled into decay or not?"

"She's still standing. I think Will took care of her when we were both off doing our own thing. It was quite dusty, so I gave it a good spring clean. I hope you don't mind, but I've used her to store some things."

"What exactly for?"

"General stuff and weaponry I happened to bring back with me from my travels."

This made Merlin think of the fight that was looming for his friend.

"Could you guess that he'd pick up the gauntlet?" he asked, making his way over to another wooden chair.

"Noblemen from the aristocracy or monarchy sort of feel that they have to," Elayne explained.

"True, they feel that they can't seem cowardly in front of their men."

"Exactly. Anyway, what's it like working in Camelot, especially since you work for the prince and are an undercover sorcerer."

"It's good."

"Good? Something tells me that there is some bad stuff."

"Bad, good, a bit of both. The main reason I cope is because I have all of these brilliant people for friends."

"Do any of them know about the real you, though? I know that Lancelot, Freya and Gaius do, but does anyone else?"

Merlin shook his head. "They have no idea. I don't know how I'll be able to let them, Arthur especially, about who I am because of what happened to Morgana."

"The king's ward? Your mother mentioned her- she sounds like someone I'd get along with."

"Not any more. You said that I'm second in line to the throne of Camelot, but I'm not. I'm third in line. Morgana is Uther's daughter. She has magic, like me, but she chose to use it for evil. She revealed herself to the entire kingdom a couple of months ago when she tried to take over the kingdom."

Elayne looked astonished. "Oh my goodness. I take it you defeated her; otherwise you'd probably be dead."

"We stopped her though and she ran with her sister, Morgause."

"That must have been horrible for all of you."

"It's been worse for Arthur and Uther- it wasn't exactly nice watching them discover that a member of their own family could be so much evil, though she was influenced by her sister. I actually think it was Morgause who killed Cenred."

The young women nodded. "He had it coming to him. I still can't forget that he refused to help this village when Kanen attacked."

"Do you really think that?"

"Let's not go into that. He's dead and that's final."

"But-"

"Merlin, please leave it. I'm too busy trying to keep you alive at the moment. I will deal with all of that some other time. So, back onto the subject of your life, what's it actually like working for the prince?"

Merlin pulled a face.

"That bad?"

"No, he's fine, we get on well when he's not bossing me around. However, he can be a bit of a prat at times." The warlock chuckled again, making the young woman to raise an eyebrow.

"You don't actually say that to his face do you?" she asked, making a mockery of sounding shocked.

"That and other things."

"Merlin, my friend, what happened to you? You used to be such a shy thing, albeit with a huge personality when the time came for you to show it."

"I developed a larger sense of humour."

"Oh great, and I thought your jokes weren't bad enough."

The pair erupted into a fit of laughter, until it gradually began to die down. There was silence, during which time, Elayne stood and paced around the room, both Merlin and Ajax watching her from the chairs.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this tomorrow morning?" Merlin asked, still not sure if he thought Elayne could survive a duel with Aurelius Ambrosius.

"I'm positive. He'll never touch you or your mother again." The expression in her eyes was so penetrating that Merlin knew that he had to believe her.

The scene that stretched out during the rising of the sun was a grim one. The villagers of Ealdor and the visitors from Camelot were surrounding a small pig sty that had been cleared the previous night for the duel. The villagers were closest to their homes in a huge huddle, whilst soldiers lined the picket fence. The king, the prince, the knights, Freya, Gwen, Gaius and Merlin were gathered on the other side.

Aurelius was already standing inside the makeshift rink, his sword clasped in one hand and his helmet in the other. He stared straight ahead at the trees on the close horizon, waiting for his opponent to appear.

Uther and Arthur were watching him with mingled worry and dislike of the situation. Merlin and the others knew that they had berated with Aurelius to drop out of the duel, but he had made it perfectly clear that he had no desire to withdraw from a fight with someone younger, therefore less experienced than he was. Uther thought that he had a point; however Arthur wasn't so easily convinced. He remembered the previous day when Elayne had displayed surprising agility whilst climbing the tree to reach her pet monkey.

Lancelot meanwhile had been disappointed to hear that Merlin hadn't convinced his friend to withdraw her quarrel. The warlock noted that his friend was being slightly over the top for a person he had only just met. However, Lancelot wasn't the only one. Hunith and Gaius had also expressed their concern about the girl, as both had known her from when she was rather young, just as Merlin had. Freya and Gwen were also concerned because they could sense that Merlin would take a turn for the worse if Aurelius killed his friend. The pair had also confided in Merlin that they could guess that Uther would have Elayne killed if she bested Aurelius.

However, none of them knew Elayne like Merlin did. The look she had given him last night had given the confirmation that Elayne would be alright- it was the look that told him that despite the seemingly bleak situation, everything would work out. It always had and Merlin hoped that it would continue to do so.

The crowd of Ealdor's villagers suddenly split down the middle, and there was the rolling sound of whispering as a lone figure walked down the aisle. Elayne was dressed in a plain, black leather getup. The shirt finished at her shoulders in a triangular fashion, leaving the upper part of each arm exposed. The lower half was covered with a dark, metal grey armband that stretched to her elbow. Her boots were scuffed at the ends, showing how much walking she had done over the last few years, but despite this, the dark brown colour had not faded. Her leather trousers were tucked inside the boots. The shirt was also done up at the back with a number of buckles. She had let her hair hang loose, as if she thought it wouldn't pose a distraction. Ajax was perched on her shoulder, his fur coat clashing against Elayne's battle ensemble.

When the girl had walked into the makeshift arena, it became clear that she had no helmet and that the only weapon she had was a small dagger. At this, Aurelius looked staggered, and looked from her to his brother, clearly concerned for the girl's sanity. Aurelius wasn't a coward, but if he had his way, he wouldn't be fighting the girl as he had come to accept that what he had done was wrong.

"Are you sure about this?" Arthur asked Elayne, walking up to the edge of the fence, preparing to start the battle. Elayne merely nodded, bowed to Uther then bending into a crouched position.

"The duel is set to the challenger's rules- to the death," Arthur called. "Let the battle commence."

Aurelius pulled his helmet on, and span around to face Elayne.

Merlin, Freya, Hunith, Gaius, Gwen and Lancelot were now extremely worried. The girl would surely be killed. Indeed, Lancelot looked as if he was about to interrupt, until Gwaine held him back. He was watching how Elayne was crouching.

"How long has she been away?" Gwaine asked Merlin, still holding Lancelot. "Lancelot, don't make me hit you over the head."

"About five years ago," Merlin said. "I don't see how that is going to help Elayne now."

"No, that's not what I'm getting at. I think I've seen that move before in a Saracen travelling group that went to Northumbria many years ago. There was this man that was the only one currently alive who could pull off this move, though I think your friend is about to have a go."

They all turned their attention back to Elayne, who suddenly flew out of the crouch and seemed to spiral in midair, shooting like a javelin at Aurelius, who was thrown backwards. Without even touching the ground, Elayne grabbed Aurelius' shoulders and threw herself upwards, somersaulting and then crashing back down to earth, landing on top of the older man, kneeling on one leg and pinning him down, the dagger at his throat.

Elayne then leant close to Aurelius' ear, and they all leant forwards to try and hear what she was saying. To Merlin's horror, he didn't need to as it was as if Elayne was whispering to him.

"I'll let you live, Ambrosius, but, I swear, if you ever lay a finger on Merlin or Hunith again, and anyone in this village for that matter, then I will kill you. Ask questions if you will, but I will not tolerate any violence or hostility towards them. You should be thankful that word of your intrusion into this land hasn't been carried onto the next ruler of this kingdom, more than likely due to the friendship that your nephew holds with us. It'd be a shame to throw away something so rare."

With that, Elayne withdrew and held out her hand for Aurelius to take, which he did, half scowling and half amazed, allowing her to pull him to his feet.

There was silence from the crowd. The duel had finished as quickly as it had begun, and nobody had been expecting such a show from Elayne. It had shocked even Hunith and Merlin, who had known her for the longest. Uther and Arthur looked particularly astonished at how easily Aurelius had been defeated, especially in such a short time.

Elayne acknowledged both Uther and Arthur with a bow and turned tail and left the pigsty, making towards her home. Those who were quick to follow her were Merlin, Freya and Lancelot. The others were still standing there, gobsmacked.

"How is that humanly possible?" Freya asked, once they had arrived at Elayne's quite spacious home. "I would never have thought that that sort of move would be physically possible, even with magical aid."

"I learnt it a few years ago in Persia. I had dealings with the Hassassins."

"Hassassins?" Lancelot queried.

"The proper name for assassins- it was changed over time for some peculiar reason, which is odd since they were named Hassassins because they smoked this herb called hashish. They're this group that originate from Persia or Arabia; they're lethal and know just about every single type of combat there is and they improve on it, making themselves the ultimate killing weapons."

"You had dealings with assassins," Merlin said, frowning.

"No need to be so sceptical, they were first formed as a small army to protect themselves. Anyway, I was eager to learn some things; I was a young woman walking through the unknown with only a sword or two and a pet monkey."

As if reacting to the words, Ajax suddenly appeared, as if out of nowhere, and clambered onto Elayne's bed, his tail thumping gently against the covers.

"Knowing Uther, he will probably try to blame it on magic," Lancelot muttered. "He doesn't take too kindly to members of his family being defeated- I heard about what happened with Morgause."

"Let him think that," Elayne said, gesturing her hand towards the doorway. "I know that I don't use magic and I don't need anyone to tell me otherwise. They have no proof at any rate."

"You may want to steer clear from Uther and Aurelius," Freya cautioned, clearly worried.

"Thank you for the concern, Freya, but they can't scare me to hide in my own village. I'm not about to lurk in the shadows, especially if what Ambrosius did happens again. I know he's the king's brother, but I don't trust him, not just because of what he did."

"What makes you say that?" the warlock asked.

"He has this shifty look about him when he thinks nobody is looking. All I'm saying is that someone should keep an eye on him."

"I don't mean to sound disrespectful," Lancelot said, "but this is the king's brother. If anyone tries to spy on him, it may be seen as tantamount to treason."

"Sorry, I didn't mean spying; I just meant that we should just keep checking what he does around the village."

"In other words, spying."

"It's either that or we wait and see what trouble he causes. You don't think I'm right, do you."

"You may have a point, but Aurelius generally seems to be a good hearted man."

"You both have a point," Freya interrupted. "However, we should really be worrying about what Aurelius, Uther and Arthur's next move will be. They could somehow discover Merlin and Hunith's secret within seconds if we're not careful. I know that none of us want to see Merlin killed because of who he is." She squeezed Merlin's shoulder supportively.

Merlin was barely listening to the conversation, and had only just felt Freya grip his shoulder. There had been a niggling sensation in the back of his head ever since he had entered the house and it had continuously grown as the minutes had grown by. At this point in time he could hear disjointed words that weren't anything any of them were saying.

"Mistress... Friends... He smells tainted... No idea what that means... Smells like something's exploding at the moment... Could really do with a piece of fruit right now," the voice said, the sentences beginning to become clearer.

The warlock suddenly felt as if he was being plunged into an ice cold bucket of water. There was no mistaking it. He was hearing Ajax's thoughts.

PLEASE REVIEW! I've barely received any and I do appreciate constructive critisism, etc. Thank you for reading.

MerlinStar