Author's Note – Did this over a period of days, so I got a little lost and had to reread what I had already written :S anyway, it's all done now :D

Disclaimer – literally do not own 'Merlin'. If I did I would know what was going to happen in the 5th series by now, and I REALLY REALLY want to know :D

All mistakes are mine, and the plot is totally made up by me – at one point I totally went through a chapter making it up as I went along, but the general idea was still there :D

I was literally in tears writing this chapter – used own experience for the first scene. Sorry if it's a little OOC, seeing as it was from my point of view.

Summary

When told, through their usual banter, that Arthur would not survive a week without Merlin, he predictably decides to give Merlin the week off to go visit his mother, in order to prove otherwise. Merlin immediately decides to not look agifthorse in the mouth, and takes advantage of thesituationto get some free time. Little does he know that there are surprises in store for them both. With both friends and enemies surrounding him, Merlin will have to tread carefully if he wants to protect both Arthur and his secret.

He was dead.

Arthur hadn't moved since sitting by his father's bed. He had walked into the room and immediately had went to his father's side. He could hear Uther's uneasy breathing from the door, and knew that his father had minutes left. He had taken his father's hand. He may have only imagined his father's grip tightened when he had spoken to him. He may have only imagined his father's eyes flickering open, trying to see his son one last time.

It changed nothing. Uther was no longer breathing. His laboured breathing had stilled, his hand had dropped silently from his son's, his eyes remained closed.

Arthur sat in silence, he had done for nearly half an hour now. No one had entered his father's chambers since he had arrived. At the beginning he had found himself only able to shed a few tears, not really believing that his father had actually died. But as time had passed on, the more time he had to think about it the more real it became. Even though he looked at his father, and it looked as though he was only sleeping, he knew the truth. He could see how lifeless he was, his chest no longer moving.

He knew that he would hardly have any time to grieve, that this half hour would be all that he would get until after the battle. Should he tell his men about this? Should he let them know that they were going into battle with no King alongside? Sure, he would be crowned King after the battle – if they won. But it wasn't really the same. The King had always lead the battle, lead his men into the fight, to victory.

There was a gentle knock at the door, making Arthur lift his head from where he held his father's lifeless hand in his. Although he had not spoken, the person entered quietly and gently closed the door behind her. Gwen made her way over to Arthur and stood behind him, placing her hands on his shoulder's in comfort.

Arthur lifted his free hand to one of hers, letting her know that he was grateful.

"I'm so sorry Arthur" Gwen whispered gently.

"You've nothing to be sorry for" the Prince replied, but not harshly. He knew that of all people, she would understand how he was feeling at that moment, having lost her father herself.

Gwen didn't know what else to say. That was why she had said that. What else were you supposed to say to someone who had just lost someone so important to them? There were no real words, none that could really comfort them. You could do your best to help, do little things here or there to help them deal with it easier, but she knew from experience that there were no real words that would make everything feel a lot better.

In the end, all you could really do was be there for them when they needed you most.

Arthur soon left his father's side, knowing that he was needed elsewhere. He did not have time to grieve, not with the threat of Morgana drawing nearer. There was still the matter of finding out who the traitor was. He had left his chamber before hoping that the others would continue their search, trying to find out who it was.

He finally found Anya talking quietly with Alwyn and Percival, and asked if they could follow him. They found a quiet corridor, with no one around so that they could talk. Before any of them could say anything, Arthur decided to get straight to the point.

"We need to find the traitor" Arthur said, looking at them each in turn. "Has anyone got any ideas?"

"I don't know, Arthur. You're asking me to suspect some of the people we druids are supposed to trust above all else…" Anya replied, wishing that none of this was happening.

"Think about it…when you think about someone betraying us, who's the most likely?" Arthur asked. "We can at least talk to the person in private, ask them about it, and find out why they've done this".

Anya hesitated. "My first thought would be…James. He didn't seem happy when he said that his people were going to help us. But I still can't believe that James would do such a thing".

"We will ask him to accompany us to another room; we will only talk to him. If he is the betrayer, then we will try and convince him to return to his fellow druids" Alwyn started. "If he is not the betrayer, we will tell him that we are suspecting all the leaders and that since he is not the traitor, Lael must be".

"That sounds even less likely, Alwyn. This is Lael we are talking about. His druids have rarely been attacked because they have been the most careful of us all. He always makes sure he had all the facts before acting or making a decision, he does not make them lightly" Anya commented.

"I know, my dear" Alwyn replied. "But you said you felt that someone was not with us when the leaders were gathered for the decision. Since I, Thana and you are not the traitor, it leaves either James or Lael".

Anya nodded slowly in agreement. Just because she agreed didn't mean that she liked it.

Merlin had started trying to walk, and found that – with the help of the wall he leaned against – he could just about manage it without falling over. Kilgharrah had only laughed the first time the warlock had tried, when he had immediately fallen straight towards the ground in front of him.

Soon, he managed to walk without stumbling, but his head was still painful, and every time he took a step, a slight sting would vibrate through his temple. It was something he could deal with if need be, but at that present moment it was irritating him.

"I really wish I was better at healing spells…" Merlin mumbled.

"It takes a great deal more practise to be an expert at those, Merlin. They are some of the hardest spells to learn" Kilgharrah replied.

"Which explains why Morgana wanted Anya's druids to side with her so desperately" Merlin commented, looking up at the Great Dragon.

"Indeed. If she had the Amala Druids on her side, the Witch would most definitely be able to win this battle, Merlin" the dragon replied. "But without them, Camelot have more of a fighting chance".

"We've taken on Morgana before and won, Kilgharrah" Merlin said, thinking of the last time she had attacked Camelot.

"Yes, but this time she will have learned from her mistakes" Kilgharrah argued. "She will have a better way of attacking Camelot. She will not have made her attacks easy to overthrow. Merlin you must promise me that you will not underestimate the Lady Morgana".

"She's not exactly a 'Lady' anymore, is she?" Merlin replied. "I promise I won't underestimate her, Kilgharrah" he added, when seeing the look the dragon was giving him.

"This whole thing would be a lot easier if we knew what she was planning. I mean I know that she has soldiers from Odin, and mercenaries – which admittedly shouldn't be that hard to take care of" Merlin continued, thinking of the knights that Arthur had trained. "But what if she doesn't attack like we expect her too? She knows the castle, she could be trying to sneak in the men by causing a distraction at the front of the castle".

"I'm glad to see that you are actually thinking about this, Merlin" Kilgharrah commented. "Do you know what else the Witch has up her sleeve? Something she could use as a distraction?"

"Yeah…she said that she had some sort of old magic, something Morgause had managed to teach her. She said it could control magical creatures – Wyverns and Serkets" Merlin explained.

"Dark magic!" Kilgharrah growled. "That is magic of the darkest kind, Merlin! To take away a being's freewill is something the old religion had banned since the beginning of magic. It is too dangerous and powerful to deal with. If the being that was under the spell were to be harmed or killed it weakened the caster of the spell, and the spell was so powerful sometimes the caster would become too weak to undo it. It was decided that magic like that should never be used, only those that did not respect life would it".

"Well, lucky for us Morgana is unaware that Emrys is a Dragonlord" Merlin replied, smiling slightly. "So perhaps her attacks will be easier to overthrow than we thought?"

Merlin grinned as the dragon scoffed.

"That takes care of the Wyverns, but what of the Serkets?"

"You will have to find a way to break the magic Morgana has used, Merlin" Kilgharrah explained. "There are only two ways to do that. Either you are powerful enough to use a spell to overcome the magic, or you must kill the source of the magic".

"Do you think I'm powerful enough to overcome magic like that?" Merlin asked, looking straight into the dragon's eyes, hoping for a straight-forward and honest answer.

"I do not know, Merlin" he replied, truthfully. "Only you will know when the time comes whether or not you are strong enough".

Merlin looked down at the ground. At that precise moment, he knew that if he had to do the spell he would be unable to. He was still too weak from Morgana's attack.

Morgana smirked as the Wyverns moved slowly towards her. She raised her head as they approached her, as if she were looking down on them. The creatures before her, as one, lowered their heads, showing their respect to her – the one who now controlled them.

She had expected the magic to work, but certainly not this well. She had never used it before, after all. She had expected the magic only to work with a few of the creatures, and only slightly affecting others. But she now had control of every one of the creatures that Helios had managed to capture. She had her very own army of magical creatures. Now she could attack from the sky as well as the ground. She would have the advantage. The druids that had betrayed her would not be able to defend themselves for long against these creatures - maybe if there were not so many of them, but she had a whole nest of Serkets, and at least a dozen Wyverns. They could not easily defend themselves against Wyverns from the sky, and both soldiers and Serkets from the ground. And without Merlin finding Emrys in time, they would not even have their protector to help them. Their betrayal of her would be in vain.

She turned to face Helios and Alvarr, who watched in both amazement and shock. She walked passed them and back to the clearing with the Wyverns following her. As she entered the clearing, she saw the Serkets had gathered together, taking up most of the clearing itself. As for the men, they had grouped together as far away from the creatures as possible. They were obviously still very uneasy about being this close to something they had long ago learned to be wary of – especially if that something could kill you with a single move. Even some of the weaker sorcerers looked cautious – those who were more powerful were less worried, but she could tell that they were all still afraid.

She smirked as she looked around at the warriors she had collected. She knew that her sister would be proud of her.

"I saw Morgana, James" Anya explained, as the man in question paced back and forth across the room.

Arthur stood by the door, watching the scene before him. He knew that Anya and Alwyn would know James better than him, and if anyone was going to get the truth out of him it would be one of them. Gwaine and Percival sat at the table that was on the other side of the room nearest the window. The other knights had wished to be present, but Alwyn was fearful that James might feel like he were being cornered.

"She said that there was a traitor here in Camelot. It couldn't be Thana because she has been taken by the Witch. It's not me, it's not Alwyn. That leaves you and Lael" Anya continued. "We just want to find the truth. I'm sorry James, but we had to ask. If it were you, we just want to know why…".

"It's not me, I swear Anya…" James started, continuing to pace, thinking about some way that he might be able to prove that he were speaking the truth. "What if I swore it? In the old religion? I would not be able to swear that I was telling the truth in the old religion if I were lying to you?"

Anya and Alwyn looked at each other.

'That might work…' Anya thought to herself, knowing that Alwyn was thinking the same thing. She turned to face Arthur, about to ask for permission to use magic right there and then – the quicker they got this over with the better.

"You don't need to ask, Anya. If using magic will tell us if he is telling us the truth or not, then do it. We need to know, and before Morgana attacks" Arthur said, stopping Anya before she could say a word.

She smiled her thanks to the Prince, and turned back to face James. Anya moved slightly forward, ready to cast the spell herself.

"Permissum suus lacuna narro nusquam tamen verum" she said, her eyes turning the familiar bright shade of gold.

James felt the magic course though him, and stood a little straighter. Anya nodded as she watched him prepare himself to speak.

"I swear by the old religion that I am not the one who has betrayed you" James said, his eyes flashing gold as the magic took effect.

Other than that, which was expected, there was no reaction. Anya knew that he was telling the truth. She let the magic go, releasing James from the spell, and backed away again.

"It isn't him" Anya said aloud to the room.

"Then who is it?" Gwaine said, obviously annoyed.

Anya shook her head. "If it isn't James, then it has to be Lael" she said, regretfully. "There's just one thing, James. When you revealed your decision to stand beside those of Camelot, you were not happy. Something had angered you. That was what originally had me thinking that you were more likely to be the spy".

"You're right, I was angry" James replied. "When…Emrys spoke to us, trying to convince us that peace with Camelot was better than fighting, I believed him at once" he continued, almost slipping up and saying 'Merlin'. "I had spoken to him previously, and I saw how tormented he was about the blood that would be spilt, and already had been spilt because of the Witch. I saw no other option than to side with Emrys and Camelot".

"I take it then that not everyone in your group believed that that was the best idea?" Alwyn asked.

"No, not everyone did. At first everyone seemed up for it, to come here, to Camelot. And then when one person asked if it were really the right thing to do, doubts were created in other people's minds. Some were afraid of Morgana's power" James replied. "We druids believe in increasing our power in all aspects of magic, that is what makes us so good at defending ourselves. Because of this, and the great power that Morgana possesses, some might see it as more beneficial to side with her, and learn more from her. But then it was realized that the same, if not better, could be accomplished by studying under Emrys. He has been foretold to be the most powerful warlock ever to exist; we would benefit more from his teachings".

"So all doubts were erased?" Anya asked, the tenseness in her shoulders dissolving slightly.

"I believe so, yes" James replied.

"James - who was it that first mentioned their doubts about the decision?" Arthur asked.

Somewhere in the back of the Prince's mind, he could see that creating doubts in other people's head was the precise sort of thing a traitor would do. Who was this person that had tried to prevent the peace between the Virtus Druids and Camelot? Anya looked from James to Arthur and realized the same thing that he was thinking.

"That was what had made me so angry…"James replied. "It was Kali".

Anya stood shocked. "Kali…?"

It made sense. All of it suddenly made sense. With Lael or James as the traitor, there was no real motive, but for Kali…. Anya knew that Kali was only little when she had lost her mother, but she had lost her in such a brutal way. It even fitted with her empathy power telling her that something was off! Kali was there when the decision was being made. They had totally forgotten that it was not just the druid leaders that were there, there had actually been other people there as well.

And Kali had been one of them.

Thanks to everyone for responding to the last chapter. Hope that you enjoyed this one :D It's getting close now – can't believe it's nearly over!

Translator:

'Permissum suus lacuna narro nusquam tamen verum' – used Latin translator. Means
'Let his words speak nothing but the truth'.

Reviews:

flyaway213 – thanks! :D it's so great to hear that you love it so much! And thanks for reviewing :)

asdf – thanks a lot! :D you're welcome, he he :D hope you enjoyed it as much as you did the last!

ReadingRaven019 – I know, he he, I just wanted to put it up – it was that or wait until I could add it on this as one huge chapter :D hope you liked it :D

nycorrall – he he, you had me worried there XD thanks a lot! And thanks for reviewing :D

Niyin – thanks! Glad to hear that you enjoy it so much :) lol I get obsessed with using '…', especially when I'm typing really fast (I don't think much about stuff like that :S) haven't had a proper chance to look back at it yet, but if I do, I'll see if I can sort it out a little :D is there another word/term for 'carried out' :S lol anyway, I do see your point, sounds too repetitive :) thanks for letting me know :D don't worry these chapters shouldn't get that short, I aim for a certain amount and don't post it until I get that or more :D Only had to do post less than that once, thank heaven! Thanks for reviewing! :D

sarajm – you're welcome :D they are indeed! Hope you liked this chap! Thanks for reviewing :D

risenmitten – Yup, yup! Glad to hear you're looking forward to it :D You did indeed get to find out :) had to kill him off I'm afraid, there were no other options. Don't really feel that sad to be honest :S Is that mean? Anyway, thanks for reviewing :D

Heart of Diamond – thanks! It's good to hear that you still enjoy this :P and thanks for reviewing :D

Thanks again to everyone for the response to the last chapter!

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