It had been a week or so now since Sarrum's death and his men's hasty departure. Merlin felt certain they would think twice before trying something similar again, especially with their mastermind dead. No, Merlin wasn't worried about them anymore. With the kingdom back to the state of relative calm, he was once again concerned about Mordred and the prophecy.

Arthur on the other hand was thinking about alliances that might actually work.

"I've been thinking we should approach Helva next," Arthur was saying. "They won't disagree with us about magic and could prove a useful ally."

"It makes sense," Merlin replied. "Especially since we already have allies within Helva's walls. Should be an easy alliance to make."

"What do you mean?" Arthur asked.

"Don't you remember when I told you the Catha were on our side?" Merlin explained.

"Honestly Merlin, sometimes it's hard to keep track of all the things you tell me these days," Arthur sighed. "I do recognize the word Catha though."

"I first learned of them when Morgana had them kidnap Gaius to learn of my identity," Merlin began. "But once they learned who I was, they turned on Morgana and sided with me. They also live in Helva."

"And who exactly are these Catha?" Arthur asked.

"The Catha are an order of priests of the Old Religion. The one I met was named Alator," Merlin began. "He is a High Priest of the Old Religion. He might be the last one, though I know there are less powerful magic users who follow him." Merlin decided to leave out the fact that this particular order was highly skilled in the art of torture. There was such a thing as too much information, and Arthur didn't look like he should be informed of that particular fact at the moment. No matter their skill set, Merlin knew the Catha to be his true allies, and he wanted Arthur to agree with him.

"And you believe they would make good allies?" Arthur asked.

"I know them to already be my allies," Merlin replied. "Which makes them yours as well by association."

Arthur merely nodded at Merlin's words. He seemed to be thinking hard about something.

"In that case, I feel it's probably best if you approach them on my behalf," Arthur said after a moment's silence. "Make sure he knows about Camelot's change in attitude towards magic before you invite him to join us."

"I can do that," Merlin said.

"And then there is the city of Helva itself," Arthur continued. "I bet they will need to be approached separately."

"Makes sense," Merlin agreed.

"How much power does the Catha hold over Helva?" Arthur asked. "Who should be approached first?"

"That, I am not sure about," Merlin replied. "Though, as I already have a rapport with Alator, it makes sense to start there."

"Very well," Arthur said. "I leave it in your capable hands, then."

Merlin had almost gotten used to this, though he couldn't say he was completely accustomed to being a pivotal figure in Camelot's politics. Arthur came to him for advice more and more each day. Merlin was used to giving Arthur advice. He was, however, less used to Arthur giving him the authority to represent his kingdom. The more time he spent helping Arthur in his office instead of polishing armour, the more Merlin was feeling like a court official.

As he left Arthur to the rest of his kingly paperwork, Merlin began thinking up how to best contact Alator. It wasn't like he knew exactly where to find the Catha leader, and going on a mission blind seemed like a bad idea. Even so, he'd have to come up with some way. One idea he had was to contact the druids. They might know how to get in touch with Alator. Either way, it was a problem to be solved tomorrow. The hour was growing late, and Merlin felt sure he'd come up with better ideas come morning.

Merlin's mind was still very much occupied when he walked back into his and Gaius's chambers. He was halfway to bed when he first noticed something was wrong. It looked like there had been a struggle. A stool was knocked over, and a small table lay on its side. Merlin looked around more thoroughly, and instantly fell into a panic when he saw Gaius's still body laying on the ground.

"Gaius!" Merlin called out as he moved quickly to his mentor's side. He was relieved to find Gaius breathing, though he was still unconscious. Who could have done this, and to what purpose?

But first things first. Merlin magically lifted Gaius's still form off the ground and onto his bed. Then he performed a basic reviving spell, and Gaius opened his eyes.

"Merlin," Gaius mumbled.

"What happened?" Merlin asked.

"Someone came in," Gaius said. "Knocked me out from behind. I don't know what they were after."

"At least you are alright," Merlin smiled.

"That is hardly the point," Gaius said, trying to sit up in bed. "It is no easy thing to break into Camelot. They must have had a purpose." Gaius managed to sit up rather easily, and so Merlin let him stand, though he still kept a close eye on the old man to make sure he wasn't about to fall over.

"We should search to see if something was stolen," Gaius replied. "Or left behind."

"Good idea," Merlin agreed.

They spent a solid quarter of an hour combing through the room looking for signs of why the intruder had come. It wasn't until they searched Merlin's room that they found something.

"Come here," Gaius called from the other room. "I think I've found something under your bed."

Merlin put down the books he'd been holding and walked towards his bedroom door. Before he reached it Merlin heard a loud thud and Gaius cried out. Merlin began to run.

Gaius was sitting on Merlin's bed, his face almost completely covered by what looked like a huge slug. Worried Gaius would suffocate, Merlin tried to magic the slug off Gaius but to no effect. Instead he picked up the nearest heavy object and used it to whack the slug off Gaius.

The slug fell to the ground where Merlin hit it again with the pointed end of the shovel he was holding. When the slug stopped moving, Merlin decided it was dead and turned to Gaius.

"Are you alright?" Merlin asked.

"I think so, yes," Gaius said. "What a nasty thing. And as it was under your bed, we can be pretty confident it was a trap for you, not me. If the intruder had wanted me, they had ample opportunity while I was unconscious."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Merlin asked again. He didn't like the idea of Gaius taking the hit for him.

"Maybe a little weak," Gaius said. He looked down at the creature. "Even so, we should find out what kind of creature it was." And with that, Gaius tried to get up, likely to check in his books, but he very clearly didn't have the energy.

"I'll look it up," Merlin said, moving forward to stop Gaius from trying to get off the bed. "You rest."

If he hadn't fallen asleep at that moment, Merlin felt sure Gaius would have disagreed with him. Merlin couldn't help but wonder if the slug had poisoned him. He felt sure this was a trap set by Morgana. Her first attempt to kill him after discovering his identity had failed. It wasn't surprising she'd tried again. If anything happened to Gaius, it would be Merlin's fault.

The trouble was that Merlin wasn't completely familiar with Gaius's system for organizing his books. Since the change in laws, Gaius had been able to display even his once illegal books openly and had thus reorganized the entire collection. Merlin was still failing to find the correct book when he heard the frame of his bed creak and saw Gaius returned to the main room.

"Didn't I tell you to rest?" Merlin reminded him.

"I am feeling much better," Gaius said. "And I doubt you've managed to find the right book without me."

Merlin couldn't argue with that, what with the piles and piles of books stacked around him. Gaius looked through the books on the table and discounted them all. He then went up the stairs and pulled a very old, very dusty book off a shelf that Merlin would never have thought to check and brought it over to the table.

"That was a creature of the Old Religion," Gaius said. "I'm almost sure of it." The book hit the table with a loud thud. Gaius opened it and turned to the chapter on creatures. Within minutes, he'd found the image he was looking for with an inscription at the bottom.

"It is the sign of the Gean Canach," Gaius said reading from the book. "A fearsome creature forged by the tears of the earth mother Nemaine. It devours the magic of others, draining them of their power."

"I thought all such creatures were destroyed in the Great Purge?" Merlin asked.

"All but one, it would seem," Gaius continued. "We can only count ourselves lucky that it got me instead of you, which I feel certain was Morgana's intention."

"I might have interrupted it in time," Merlin said hopefully. "Try doing magic."

As if to humor him, Gaius attempted a small bit of magic. Nothing happened. Merlin almost couldn't believe it possible that magic could be stolen like that. The idea scared him more than he was willing to admit.

"My magic is a small sacrifice to make," Gaius said kindly. "I am an old man, and nearly thirty years out of practice. My magic has no power to shape the future. If you had lost your power, Merlin, the entire kingdom would be in great danger."

Even though he knew Gaius to be sincere, Merlin couldn't help but feel guilty. It was his fault Gaius had lost a part of himself, and yet there was another part of Merlin who couldn't help but feel overwhelmly thankful he hadn't been attacked by the slug. The idea of not having his own magic scared him in a way he'd never known before. The idea of being that helpless, that useless to protect the people he loved, was a worst nightmare that Merlin hadn't even imagined was possible until this moment.

"It seems Morgana has realized you are harder to kill than she thought," Gaius continued. "Destroying your source of power must have seemed like the next logical step. We should expect more such attacks in future."

Merlin wanted to tell Gaius he was sorry, but the words just wouldn't come out. His mentor somehow seemed to know what was bothering him. Gaius reached out his hand and gently rested it on Merlin's shoulder before looking him right in the eyes.

"You are not to feel guilty about this," Gaius said. "Do you hear me? This is the best outcome we could have hoped for from such a trap. If you had found it first, I hate to think what the consequences would have been."

Merlin only nodded mutely.

"Right. Well, I think it's time we cleaned this place up," Gaius said.

"Let me," Merlin said with a forced smile. He raised his hand and chanted an incantation. The stool righted itself. The broken bottles fixed themselves, though there was no saving the liquid they'd once contained. The table returned to its normal place, and all the books filed themselves away on the shelf where they belonged, or at least where Merlin put them. He wasn't totally sure he'd gotten Gaius's system right, but at least they were put away.

"Ah, lovely," Gaius said. "Now there is time for a cup of tea before bed."

Merlin served the tea, and they drank it in comfortable silence. Merlin kept watching to see if Gaius was actually more upset than he seemed, but he couldn't find any sign of it. Either Gaius was a very good actor, or he had really made his peace with losing his magic forever.

"Now all that is left is disposing of that slug and its box," Gaius continued. "I think it's best I do that in case it has any other tricks up its sleeve. Why don't you sleep in my bed tonight? Just in case."

"If that's what you think best," Merlin replied. He didn't think it mattered at this point. The damage was done, but if it would make Gaius feel better, then that was what mattered.

Despite his mixed feelings about the whole situation, Merlin managed to fall asleep quite quickly. His troubled mind wasn't able to keep his exhausted body from rest. Even the strange feeling of sleeping in someone else's bed couldn't stop his eyelids from falling.

Merlin awoke to the light coming in the window. The first thing he did was check on Gaius, who was already awake and working on remaking the liquids that had been destroyed by their intruder last night. At Gaius's request, Merlin fetched them both breakfast from the kitchens.

No matter how hard he looked, it seemed to Merlin like Gaius was okay, so he decided not to worry about it anymore, or at least to try not to think about it. It wasn't like he didn't have other tasks to complete and prophecy problems to worry about.

"That is a good question," Gaius replied when Merlin asked him over breakfast how best to contact Alator. "I can't say I have any more knowledge about that than you do. In the past, it has always been them who contacted us."

"It's possible they'd do that again," Merlin continued. "If they've heard about the change to Camelot's laws."

"Possible, but not a guarantee," Gaius agreed. "Probably still best to seek them out. If Morgana's trap last night proves anything, it is that we are in need of more magical allies than we currently have."

Just then, they were interrupted by a member of the castle staff bursting into the room.

"The king needs you," the woman said. Merlin couldn't remember the woman's name, though he felt sure she was a maid in the castle. "He asked me to fetch Merlin right away."

"You'd better go," Gaius said, smiling at him before turning his attention back to his breakfast.

Merlin got up and followed the maid down the hall and through corridors until they exited into the courtyard. There he saw Arthur standing at the top of the stairs. What he hadn't expected to see was the group of about a dozen men and women standing at the base of the stairs looking up at Arthur. Merlin recognized the man standing right at the front of the group.

"You certainly work fast," Arthur whispered as Merlin came to stand beside him. "The Catha are here."

"But I haven't contacted them yet," Merlin replied. He glimpsed only a second's confusion on the king's face before Arthur turned back to his guests with his diplomatic expression firmly in place.

Alator raised both hands, one of which held a staff, and turned his attention to Merlin.

"Long have the Catha considered themselves the allies of Emrys and the world he hopes to build, even if not openly so," Alator began in a loud, deep, yet non-threatening voice. "But today we can finally come out of the shadows to pledge open and official loyalty to Emrys and all those he stands with."

"Camelot gratefully accepts your allegiance," Arthur said. "And welcomes you within its walls."

Though it was obvious Arthur's words mattered to them, it was also clear by the way everyone in the group turned to look at Merlin, that his words were not the ones they were looking for.

"Umm," Merlin said awkwardly. This was even stranger to him than all the credit he'd been getting lately. Servants didn't get the attention like this.

"It is you, Emrys, that we will follow," Alator continued. "And it is you who must welcome us." He got down on his knees then, and with him, every other member of his party.

"Yes, yes, I welcome you," Merlin said, nervously. "Just please, don't bow."

To Merlin's great relief, all of them stood up, though some still had their heads bowed.

"We would also like to extend our welcome and offer of friendship to Helva itself. If there is anyone here who could send a message to their ruler, it would be much appreciated," Arthur continued.

"It can be arranged," Alator replied easily.

"If it is welcome to you, I can arrange a meal to celebrate our alliance," Arthur continued.

Arthur then went on to invite them all to stay the night, offering comfortable guest rooms to them all. The Catha took him up on their offer, even suggesting one of their number remain behind to assist in the defense of Camelot and display their alliance to others. Arthur agreed to that as well.

Everything seemed to be going so smoothly. So why couldn't Merlin shake his nagging worries?

Guest Review by Be:
This is such a wonderful story! There are so few fics out there that actually capture the characters, this could have easily been canon. Brilliant work and I look forward to your next update

My Reply:
Aww thanks so much! That is exactly what I was going for! When I do alternative versions of canon I always try to keep them as canon and in character as possible! This is just what I was aiming for! Thank you. ^_^

What do you guys think about this chapter? In the show Morgana is currently hunting down the Catha to hear Emrys's identity. Obvious in my story she already knows who Merlin is so I thought it would make sense for the Catha to display a more official alliance with Merlin since they no longer have anything to hear from Camelot or Arthur. Now that Morgana doesn't have a spy in Camelot (Gwen) to try and kill Merlin I thought it made sense for her to try something else and since in the show her first act after learning Merlin's secret was to send that slug I thought she was likely to do it again. This time though Merlin wasn't returning from a trip to the tavern with Arthur and was therefore paying more attention so things went a bit differently.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. :D

Sneak Peek Chapter 12

Arthur woke to the very familiar sound of Merlin's voice, along with the abrupt opening of the curtains. This had always been his servant's favourite way of waking him, but today Arthur's hangover wasn't in the mood.

"I'm the King of Camelot," Arthur groaned. "If I want to sleep in I will."

"Ah but what fun is there in that?" Merlin laughed.

Just then Arthur had an idea. He sat up in bed and looked the warlock right in the eye. "Can magic cure hangovers?" he asked.

"Probably," Merlin shrugged. "I've just never tried it."

"Consider this an order from your king to learn how to magically cure hangovers," Arthur said as he forced himself out of bed.

Merlin laughed. He was standing there holding a clean set of clothes for Arthur like he had almost every morning since the day Uther had employed him.

"You know you don't have to do this anymore, right?" Arthur stated.