"I can't let him die Gaius. Not without even trying to help."

"Of course Sire… but might I ask how exactly you intend on doing so…"

I felt a bit rude walking out on the poor old man like that, so many years I've known him for now, he's almost like an uncle to me. Caring for me when I was a boy- treating all my ailments and always offering the best advice.

But even though it felt impolite to walk out on who was, to me, a family member; I did so anyway. Putting my dying father before manners, I do so hope that Gaius understands. As I was leaving I noticed that although his face did not seem to be overly hurt, one of his eyebrows had risen far above its pair in what was quite a haughty gaze.

Oh well, I thought to myself. There would be time to apologise to Gaius later; after my father had regained strength (or even just consciousness). In the mean time my aim was to find Merlin. The one person I could think of who could help sort out the situation. Whether he would want to help however, now that was an entirely different predicarment. After how my father treated him I wouldn't be surprised if he never even considered to help my father again.

And it was in that mindset that I tore down to the dungeons. Ugh- the image of them was clear in my head; cobwebs hung low over the rusty iron bars and foul smelling odours mysteriously floated towards one's nostrils… I shivered at the thought.

I was nearly, a few corridors away, when I heard a loud crash followed by an ear-splitting cry for help. Fearing the worse (that Merlin had tried to escape using the force he had shown during the banquet) I sped towards the dungeons at a much quicker pace than before. It turned out I wasn't the only one to hear the incident either; footsteps were already pounding nearer and nearer from many different directions. Sure enough a hoard of my knights soon rounded the corner. Amongst the two dozen or so people I recognised Lancelot, Gawain, Elyan, Leon and Percival as well as one knight I'd rather hadn't shown up; Sir Kay.

Sir Kay and I have always shared a disliking, even as children we would struggle to beat the other in our childish wooden-sword fights. Of course he could never voice his attempts to ostracize me- me being the Prince of Camelot- but he did his utmost best to make me look a fool in front of my peers.

So as I saw the vile man come into sight I frowned, a look I'm sure he replicated on his elongated, slimy face that was still covered in the pock marks he gained as an adolescent.

Together (the group of knights and I) grew nearer the dungeons and I thought it time to ask what exactly was going on.

"What's happened? Is everyone alright?" I asked, not mentioning that when I said 'everyone' I mainly meant Merlin, the only man who had a chance to cure my father.

"We believe it to be the sorcerer, Merlin." Sir Kay informed me, his nasal voice irritating me more than usual as he ratted on my frie- servant.

All to soon Merlin came into sight and the scene that met my eyes had to be one of the oddest I had ever beheld; Directly in the centre of my line of vision stood Merlin, frozen, whilst on the ground next to him lay the remains of what looked to be a keg of mead. Behind my servant (should that be ex-servant?) crouched two- normally quite brave- knights and in front of him stood Sir Galahad, one of my finest knights, with his sword in hand and ready to attack.

Obviously not wanting him to attack Merlin I hastily intervened;

"What's going on here?" I asked, breaking up the frozen scene at once.

I didn't have to wait long before somebody spoke up, Sir Galahad moved forward instantly and began to speak;

"He was trying to escape, My Lord." He informed me of the situation- although I daresay what he said was quite obvious. Merlin's expression was so funny- he seemed to be snarling at the knight for telling me, as if I could not guess myself.

"Is this true Merlin?" I asked, making sure my face still looked shocked so I could keep up appearances.

Merlin shrugged and his posture shrank away from me. "Yes Arthur. I was trying to escape." He finally answered, not quite looking me in the eye as he concentrated on picking a bit of skin from his fingertip.

From somewhere beside me a knight spoke up without my permission; "That worked then, didn't it!" Sir Kay rebuked Merlin, "You sorcerers are all the same, couldn't do anything right to save a life."

His words hit Merlin like daggers 'sorcerer' made him flinch especially hard. I couldn't bare to see Sir Kay pick on him, even if Merlin was a sorcerer I decided that no one should be bullied like this.

"If you remember correctly Sir Kay, Merlin has just saved my life. You ought to show him the respect he deserves."

"I was just mentioning the fact that as a sorcerer, your father would have him executed on the spot." He then turned to Merlin and spat "Scum."

All thoughts of my father vanished from my mind as I heard the tone he used whilst talking to Merlin. My gaze hardened and I had to seriously concentrate on not hitting the arrogant man; how dare he talk to Merlin so disrespectfully?

"You are lucky that I am not my father." I replied in my best I-am-Uther's-Son-beware voice.

Glancing around the group of assorted knights I noticed that every other man was glaring at Sir Kay. Lancelot and Gawain looking especially fierce, it seemed that they too dislike the arrogant knight intently.

"Escort the prisoner back to his cell please Sir Galahad." I asked and at once he locked Merlin in his tight grip and began to take him back to his cell. Merlin meanwhile seemed to have given up struggling, he allowed himself to be dragged limply like a rag doll. I followed the two men and, when we had reached Merlin's cell, turned to face Sir Galahad.

"Do you think I could have a few minutes to interrogate the prisoner?" I didn't mention that at this moment he was my father's only hope of survival.

"I'm sorry my lord but the kings orders are that no one can see him." I almost laughed at the bitter irony; my father's orders condemning his own life. Almost, but not quite- the thought sickened me beyond reason.

"But surely that doesn't apply to the prince." I stated stubbornly,

"Actually My Liege, the king said it applies to you especially." Yes, I thought to myself, but the king isn't exactly in a position to assert his orders now, is he?

"Well then… I give my own order that as crowned prince of Camelot you have to let me see the prisoner." I was almost begging now, if Sir Galahad didn't step aside then my father- the king- would surely perish.

After a few minutes of thought the knight finally bowed. "As you wish My Lord. If you need anything please just call, your Highness." I was so grateful that he let me pass, so thankful to this man. I would make sure he had a pay rise at the very least.

Slowly I made my way to the cell that held Merlin. I expected him to look afraid, after all as far as he knew he was facing a death sentence in the morning. But to my surprise he merely looked tired, in fact he even yawned as he looked up at me. Those eyes, they should've been familiar to me but they couldn't look more alien.

"Merlin." I said in greeting.

"Arthur." He replied. There again was that sense of power I had seen earlier- that dominance that I had never noticed before.

"You're a sorcerer." I muttered, looking at the floor.

"Well, technically I'm a warlock… but essentially yes, I am a sorcerer. I have magic at least- if that's what you meant."

"Ah. I see." I desperately wanted to say more- to thank Merlin for saving my life- but I couldn't manage to make the words leave my mouth.

"So do I!" Laughed Merlin, the laugh sounding almost sinister as it echoed around the dungeons. He leant in so that only I could hear him "I can see that you have magic as well."

"I do." Was all I was able to say.

"Hmm, Gaius said a long time ago that you might- left over magic from Nimueh's…" He trailed off as though he had just said something incriminating.

"Nimueh's what?" I asked.

"Never mind. So tell me, why do you want to see me?"

I wasn't going to give up that easy. In fact I left a mental note to myself that we would discus this topic later. However, his words reminded me of my father.

"It's my father. He's ill and you're the only one who can help him." Even though I tried desperately to hide my angst, at the end of my sentence my voice quailed a little.

Merlin's frown deepened. "But if you posses the gift, why can't you heal him?"

"Because I am weak. You've seen me do magic, the best I can manage is a small charm- and even that I cannot hold for more than a few seconds."

For some reason unbeknown to me, Merlin's face twitched into a smile. I was confused and this confusion must've shown on my face. "Sorry, it's just that you admitted you are weak. I've never heard you say that before!"

I looked around to make sure that there was no guard nearby, before turning back to Merlin and whispering; "I only know one spell."

"What is it?" Asked Merlin, a glint of interest in his eye that I had not seen before.

"Abiddan bigcwide." I muttered. Immediately I felt the strange burning behind my eyes and I watched in awe as the small food dish (which had once held a prisoner's dinner) began to slowly rise off the ground. I managed to get it about two metres in the air before it came crashing back down again. "Wow, that's the longest I've ever been able to control it."

"I think it was quite good." Said Merlin "But I don't really understand your magic. Gaius said that most young sorcerers are like you when they are at this stage- they can't control the power that well."

"Surely you know what it's like. How did you manage to control it?" Ugh, this conversation was so awkward. The man sitting in front of me now was not Merlin. I could tell that by the strong magical rays that hung in the air, it was stronger than anything I'd ever felt and he wasn't even trying to perform magic.

"Well…Not exactly, I'm not a sorcerer as I said earlier. I'm a warlock which means I was born with my power."

I could literally feel my eyes bulging. Merlin had been born with his powers? Even I (with my limited knowledge of magic) knew that such a thing was very rare. It was almost unheard of.

Dear readers,

I can only beg for your forgiveness about the ridiculously long wait. All I can say is I was rather ill for a few days and after that I had a lot of school work to catch up on. Unfortunately I also lost the buzz for this story- I think it's beginning to resurface (fingers crossed!). Here's some random news- I'm working on a new story which should hopefully be quite interesting (it is in my head : ) ). But more information on that later- let's get back to this story; First I'm really sorry again for the wait and second; I'm also sorry about the writing quality of this chapter- I had a sudden burst of writing energy but this happened quite late at night so I'm really tired. Please let me know if there are any serious cringe-worthy mistakes, I will do my best to sort them out. Until next time then… Cheerio x