Author's Note - Sorry, these are getting shorter. Next chapter I can promise will be longer! Quite a lot occurs in this chapter even with the shortness. Hopefully its quality and not quantity that counts :)

Thanks for the reviews and for goodythreeshoes help!

The forest was quiet in the dawn as the light from the moon cast a shadowy latticework of leaves over the earthy ground. A fox, heading back from a night's foraging, stiffened at the sound of rustling, its russet ears pert. The sound stopped. Then, with luminous eyes, it slunk away into the undergrowth returning to its underground den. Several bluish clouds hung in the sky above the woodland, just visible through the twisted branches of the oaks and chestnuts, their edges tinged by the moon, giving the atmosphere a sombre ambience.

Segwarides glanced up at a couple of early birds that were silhouetted against the pale backdrop and listened to their calls. As he continued to walk, he kept his eyes peeled for any indication that another person had passed through here. Sharp hunter's vision allowed him to pick out the barely detectable footprints that had scuffed the hard frosted ground. He was heading in the right direction.

Rubbing his hands together in an effort to keep out the pre-sunrise chill, the knight caught sight of a familiar pair of limbs clad in brown trousers and buckled boots. He pushed an overhanging branch out of his way and ducked into the natural clearing, his gaze seeking out Merlin immediately. The boy sat in the low bough of a tree, cupped between the arms of the ancient sycamore like a child on his grandfather's knee. His legs were dangling down, heels knocking gently against the thick trunk as he stared off into the distance with those startling blue eyes. He didn't acknowledge the knight's sudden appearance.

With a little more nervousness in his gait than would usually be there, Segwarides wandered across the leaf litter, the crunch beneath his feet echoing loudly in the quiet forest. He approached the tree and turned, leaning tentatively on the solid sycamore, feeling the grooves and nodules of the bark beneath his shoulder blades.

Then he took a deep breath.

"So…." he paused, letting the word hang in the air awkwardly, "You're a sorcerer."

Merlin didn't reply but his head tilted a little and he looked, for want of a better word, defeated. There were lines on his young face that hadn't been there before. Finally, he rubbed his chin with the flat of his fingers and quirked the corners of his lips, wryly. "It would seem so."

Nodding, Segwarides realised that he hadn't quite believed that Merlin was a magician, even after seeing it with his own eyes. That was until the manservant had confirmed it. He was a fairly down to earth person and such a revelation was hard for him to get to grips with. After all no one, not a single person could say that they had ever suspected Merlin of sorcery. Of being a terrible liar: yes. Of being a tad slapdash when it came to cleaning Arthur's chamber pot: yes. Of being a closet cross dresser: yes. But never of crimes against the king. Not sorcery.

But was it really a crime?

What Segwarides had seen was Merlin putting his own life at risk in order to save everyone around him. He hadn't sought any credit or rewards, Seg didn't doubt that he wouldn't have even mentioned it the next day if he hadn't been caught. He thought sorcerers were proud creatures: selfish and greedy and arrogant. Merlin fit none of those things. The knight still couldn't get his head around the fact that Merlin was pretending to be a servant of all things and to the Prince of Camelot of all people! Why would he risk his safety and his life in such a way doing demeaning chores and being pushed around by a prattish – at times - prince? None of it made sense.

As he pondered all of these things, Segwarides gaze wandered over to Merlin and he watched as the manservant fiddled awkwardly with the bark of the tree. He caught a section of it beneath his nail and proceeded to scratch away the rough greenish-brown surface in order to reveal the smooth pale golden coat beneath. Strangely, he found himself likening the tree to Merlin – there were so many layers yet to be unveiled, each more unique than the first. All of them protected by a tough, protective exterior.

Oddly, he would never have put Merlin down as the secretive type; after all, his skill at lying was atrocious. And yet he had the biggest secret to hide of them all.

No one had spoken in quite a time and the young knight realised that perhaps he was the one meant to be taking the initiative.

"How long have you been…you know…a sorcerer?" It was as if saying the word would open a can of monsters and Segwarides felt guilty when he saw Merlin flinch.

"Ever since I was born," Merlin replied, quietly.

He still wasn't making eye contact with his companion; instead, he distracted himself with the movement of a squirrel that was scurrying round and round on the forest floor. Its had a little white splodge on its red chest that Merlin focussed on; it reminded him of the North Star.

"You mean you didn't learn it?" Segwarides sounded perplexed, perhaps even a little sceptical.

"Yes, I had no choice in the matter. I was born and I had magic, ever since I could crawl…" Merlin tailed off as if he'd said too much. Then, with a slight smile: "I used to make my mother's skirts catch alight just by blinking."

Segwarides stared at the younger man with fascination. He'd never heard of a child being born with magic; he'd always thought it was a learned capability by those who wished to use of it for dark means. Uther had made it sound like all enchanters deliberated garnered spell books and practiced the dark art in order to cause misery to all those less important than them, weaker than them.

"You stunned all those bandits…." Seg began, remembering how he had woken up to the sound of voices and groggily looked towards the source. He remembered the flash of light and Merlin standing in the centre of the camp – an immovable statue of power. "You stunned all those bandits just by blinking too. I saw you. And then you lit the fire just by touching the kindling with your fingertips. If you have such power then why on earth do you waste it serving Arthur Pendragon?"

Suddenly, a thought came to him.

"Unless you are using such a position to get close to the prince and then kill him?"

Finally, Merlin looked at him, his neck snapping round as he glared at the upturned face of the knight. There was a cold fury dancing in his cerulean irises in a way that Segwarides could have sworn golden sparks flew from the depths.

"Don't you dare suggest that I would do anything to harm Arthur! It is my destiny to protect him. It is my destiny to fall should he fall. I cannot let anything happen to him or Camelot will be destroyed. Do you have any idea how many times I have saved his life?"

The boy was gripping a branch of the tree now, white knuckles straining beneath his taut skin. His body was tense rather than dejected; as if Segwarides had gone so far as to insult his birth mother.

"How many times?" Segwarides found himself asking.

"I don't keep count." Merlin's head dropped again and his shoulders slumped back into the arms of the sycamore.

"Really?"

"Nineteen," Merlin said, abruptly. He flushed at his precision.

"Wow, that many?"

"And that's just Arthur, not his father, not Morgana, not Gaius, not even the people of Camelot…I'm a walking, talking life saving-machine." There was that wry smile again, creeping onto his thin lips.

"I'm surprised you've kept it a secret so long," Seg admitted, "But, you and Arthur seem so close, why haven't you ever told him?"

"Well, to start with, I didn't have a death wish. You weren't there when we first met; Arthur hated my guts and I his. It took a certain wise…someone to inform me that I would play a great part in his destiny and that led me to save his sorry hide the first time. He still didn't trust me and I wasn't about to tell the son of King Uther that I could perform magic when he would undoubtedly send me on the way to the chopping block. No. And then things got complicated. And more complicated. And more complicated. There was just never the right time. The more our relationship grew the less I wanted to break it."

Merlin sighed heavily at the end as if he had shifted a great weight off his chest, one that had been piling up and up for months. It had been strange to his own ears to hear it all come out in one rambling gush and he couldn't even fathom what it would be like to be on the receiving end. He watched the muscular knight closely, observing the thoughtful stance that he had struck and the way his fingers twisted awkwardly by his sides.

Eventually, Segwarides turned up to look at him once more on his bird-like perch. Those intense brown eyes bore into him like a blacksmith's tool; all penetrating and unforgiving.

"I could so easily turn round and stroll back through those trees and tell them that you are a sorcerer," Segwarides stated, slowly.

The manservant barely missed a beat. "And I could so easily blink and kill you on the spot."

This was met with stunned silence as both men analysed what had been said. Merlin was mentally kicking himself, blood colouring his cheeks as he realised the weight of what he'd revealed. He barely wanted to look at Segwarides for fear of what he would see.

"I'm sure you could," the knight finally said, his voice surprisingly calm as if he had accepted the fact that Merlin could murder him in an instant. "But I trust you not to."

Merlin looked confused. "But why do you trust me? Why, in fact, did you not tell Arthur that I was a sorcerer when you could have so easily? You are putting yourself in danger by not informing him."

"You fought those bandits to protect us. You did all those other things to protect Arthur. You are his friend and you said that Arthur needs all the friends he can get; just like the dragon."

"But you don't trust the dragon."

Segwarides made a face. "I don't trust the dragon but I trust you Merlin."

"Is that why you didn't tell him?"

"Yes, because you are my friend and I knew that you weren't ready to tell him yet. It wouldn't sound right coming from me anyway."

As he said this, the young man knocked his head against the tree trunk and closed his eyes. He was aware that his decision not to tell Arthur could be life-threatening but he was willing to do it. What was absurd was that when he began this journey he would have never considered risking his own life for a servant, he would have never even imagined not condemning sorcery but here he was doing both. Then again, he was doing both for Merlin. And Merlin was just genuinely a very special person.

"What if he reacts badly though?" Merlin said his voice hoarse with fear, "I don't want to lose his friendship. I can't. It would destroy me."

"Merlin," Segwarides replied, sincerely, placing a tentative hand on the boy's slender arm, "I can't say how Arthur will react. I'm not a prophet. But what I can say is that he's half accepted that dragon baby hasn't he and you mean a hell of a lot more to him. Trust me, I know."

"But the dragon didn't lie to him."

"You didn't lie. You merely withheld some information. Arthur's never even considered the fact that you could be a sorcerer and therefore you haven't even got close to lying to him."

Merlin rumpled his ash hair and looked up into the sky, catching sight of a flurry of movement that suggested the bats were returning to their roosts. The gentle flapping of hundreds of wings filled the air with a strange thrumming noise – like the beating of a tiny heart.

He felt odd. His mind was being pulled in so many different directions and he still couldn't believe the fact that Segwarides, a Knight of Camelot, hadn't turned him over. If someone had told him that when he first began this quest then he would never have believed it. He had accepted the fact that Lancelot hadn't told anyone because he was indebted to Merlin and he was also leaving. But why should Segwarides give Merlin the benefit of the doubt? What had the manservant ever done for him?

"Thank you, Seg," he eventually stated, turning his gaze upon the tall, sinewy man who was leaning on the tree beside his legs. The blond looked up at him and smiled. It was a genuine smile and Merlin couldn't help but feel warmed on the cold morning. "Thank you for believing in me."

"That's all right, my friend," Segwarides replied, sincerely. He ran a calloused finger around a knot in the sycamore, tracing the uneven contours. Brown eyes met blue. "But, Merlin, you must make a promise to me." He paused. "You must promise that you will tell Arthur about your magic before we return to Camelot…or I'll do it for you."

Merlin stared at the young man for a few seconds, slightly taken aback by the demand but realising that Segwarides was giving him a chance. He'd always wanted to tell Arthur about his magic; to value him for what he truly was. There had been so many instances, so many opportunities and he'd chickened out every time. But now the knight was forcing him, making him promise and he had to comply. There was no running away from this.

He inhaled deeply. "I promise."

They clapped their hands together to seal the deal and both broke the tension with identical smiles. Merlin found that he had formed yet another bond where he would have least expected it. A bond of shared secrecy and mutual respect.

Segwarides released the boy's hand and pushed himself off the hard surface of the tree. He stretched his legs slightly and then glanced into the distance where the sun was finally creeping out, morphing twilight into sunrise. Letting out a well earned yawn, he turned back to Merlin and allowed a small cheeky grin to work its way onto his unshaven face.

"Can I see a little of this magic? Now I'm not half asleep and half terrified out of my mind?"

The warlock looked surprised by his request. It had been the last thing he expected. Then again, he recalled all the times Will asked to see him perform a spell after he found out that he could.

Not wanting to scare the knight, Merlin decided to perform a trick that he'd perfected since the age of five. With a golden flash of his eyes, the leaves on the ground swirled upwards as if caught in a gust of wind. They danced in the air for a few seconds; a colourful haze of tawny, russet, honey and chestnut before taking shape. What was once an anonymous pile of leaves was now a small floating person.

It had rippling arms and legs and a round head that somehow had an expression even though it was merely made up of dead plants. And then it began to walk as a real human would do; slowly at first like a toddler and then increasing in speed and grace.

Merlin smirked as he performed the magic, watching as Segwarides stared with shock and then with wonder and amazement. He was entranced by the beautiful little leaf child. Blinking, the warlock allowed the leaves to disperse and float back down to their original place.

"That was…amazing."

"I didn't have many friends when I was a child," Merlin admitted, "So I made my own, sometimes out of leaves, out of sticks, out of snow. Whatever I could find."

Segwarides looked sympathetic. He hadn't even considered what it would be like to grow up like Merlin had. It can't have been easy for a child to hide such a massive secret. It probably isolated him quite a lot. In fact, it was quite astonishing that the boy had grown into such a kind-hearted, friendly, enthusiastic young man considering how easily he could have been bitter and twisted. Seg guessed it was partly credit to his mother and partly down to the fact that Merlin must have been born like that. It just furthered his awe of the manservant.

"Shall we head back?" Seg asked, jerking his thumb in the direction of camp.

"That's probably a good idea because if we're gone too long then Arthur will immediately assume I've been eaten by ogres and come in search."

"Yeah, that's a thing that still confuses me. If you're an all powerful wizard then how on earth do you get in such trouble?"

"It beats me."

Young one, you have hatched.

The little dragon lifted its head to the heavens, golden eyes glowing in the semi-darkness as it tried to ignore the uncomfortably tight leather belt wrapped around its snout.

I have and I don't know where I am. I'm scared.

You are in safe hands with the boy, Merlin.

The one with the gentle voice?

Yes, he has magic. He is bringing you home to me.

Where is home?

Camelot. You have a destiny here to fill, along with the warlock and the prince.

Where is my mother? The voice was pitiful, desperate for a familiar figure.

She is dead. Just like the rest. I am sorry. My name is Kilgharrah. I am the only other dragon left in existence, young one.

A pause. Confused. But I can sense another.

You can? Kilgharrah's voice was abrupt and intense making the hatchling flinch away.

They are near you. They do not speak but I can feel their emotions: contempt and anger. They want revenge.

So, the prophecy is true. Somehow, the young dragon knew that this was not directed at it but merely a stray thought. Have you spoken to Merlin?

No, I was too scared. And now they have bound my snout so I can't.

Well, he too can speak in this manner; you need to communicate with him.

I'll try. And what of the other dragon?

You need not concern yourself with that, young one.

All right. There was a pause as the young dragon felt the telepathic link breaking. Kilgharrah, you have a name, if I have no mother then how am I to have a name too?

Young dragons are named by their mothers or their guardians. I am now your guardian. I am named after a mountain. I shall name you after your colour: Alizarin. Red.

How do you know?

I have seen you in the prophecy. You will do great things.

And then the link was broken and Alizarin was left feeling alone and frightened all over again.

By the way, sorry for spelling Kilgharrah wrong last chapter. I have been corrected by FireChildSlytherin5! Thanks!

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