I prefer to keep my chapters small and let you wait for the next one rather than giving too many details. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

You are probably wondering what happened with Merlin and the guys. Here it is. And a bit of Drakar's history.

What do you expect of me?

A few days later. Back to Arthur's camp in the forest next to Camelot

Merlin and Kira were both ready to strike, but none dared to move. They were hypnotized. The two sorcerers stood on opposite sides, the knights and the king between them. Eventually, Kira noticed his discomfort upon being so close to his masters as he checked from time to time on them for fear they should notice him using magic. Soon she figured it was his fear of being noticed that prevented him from attacking as there was no doubt he had magic. She could see that in every inch of his body. Spending so much time in the company of dragons had helped her see things that would be invisible to others.

If he was afraid of being noticed it meant they'd been ignorant to his powers. Then another suspicion arose in her mind. It wasn't only his magic she'd felt inside him. He reminded her of the comfort only the dragons could offer to her. The strange mixture of ancient magic and youth. A wisdom above ordinary and the ability to create unbreakable bonds.

Kira was the daughter of one of the lieutenants of king Kalgard, the grandfather of the current prince and the deceased husband of the queen. After king Kalgard's younger son took the throne from his elder brother, she had to go into hiding. Her entire family was killed and she only managed to survive due to the help of dragons the new king Roganakh had imprisoned deep in the heart of mountains. The queen never found out about the actions of her younger son and nor had she suspected that some of her beloved dragons were chained in a cave.

Much as king Roganakh had tried he had never managed to gain their trust and so, in order not to risk exposure he had to get rid of them. Because he didn't have the power to kill them, he was forced to find an alternative. Many of his brother's loyal men had been killed during his reign. Her family was among them.

A dragoness had adopted her immediately and for many years she'd lived in the forest, eating fruits and hunting animals. Life had made her cold and calculated. The dragoness had taught her a lot of things, but nothing that could compare with the love of a mother. The dragoness loved her in her own way and so did the other dragons even if they hardly displayed it. The way they grew their baby dragons were very different from the humans' ways. The woods weren't a nice place and if she wanted to survive, she couldn't allow herself to become sentimental.

"They don't know, do they?" she spoke in his mind. As she expected, he reacted immediately.

"What do you want?" he retorted.

"I'm not your enemy. Though, I don't think you're going to like my master. He demanded to bring King Arthur and his knights to him. It's a long story. You can come with me. I can tell you more on the way. I promise I won't say a thing to your master if you don't want to. You can pretend to be my prisoner so they won't suspect."

"What does he want from them?" Merlin replied. He couldn't decide if he should trust her or not.

"From them, nothing. I think what he wants is you. Yet he didn't know that. And better he wouldn't. I don't intend to tell him."

"Can you stop speaking in riddles? I don't understand." Merlin continued. However, Kira's two companions had already gotten impatient as they didn't understand what she was doing.

"I can't explain now. I don't trust them. Just play along. I doubt some ropes would cause you problems, would they? Even if he was tempted to let his hand down, the warlock still hesitated. "I know about Kilgharrah. There are others like him in Drakar."

Kira was honest. She'd never thought about betraying the Prince. She'd made an unbreakable vow not to tell someone from the city about the dragons or about Eugene and his father's deeds. Yet Merlin wasn't from Dakar and if she was right he could be the answer to her people's problems. Eugene had never been that clever. That loophole would cost him dearly. Finally, she would avenge her father's death.

"Don't tell anyone They don't know," Merlin begged her. He finally let his hand down. "If they got hurt, you'll regret having known me."

"They will be alright." She promised.

It was the last thing he heard as she struck him down. When he woke up he was already well tied and on his way to Drakar. He looked for his friends. They were all tied and on the back of the horses.

"The Prince wants to meet Your Highness," Kira addressed Arthur. "The fame of you killing the Great Dragon has reached his ears and he is pretty curious to find how you managed that." Her voice was cold. So different from the one Merlin had heard in his head.

"How did you know?" Kira didn't answer Merlin's question immediately.

"You have your grandmother's eyes." Came her reply.

"I have a grandmother?"The idea of finding another of his family's members made him happy.

"And a crazy cousin as well. He happens to be a prince which means Drakar will be damned the moment he becomes king. As I said, it's a very long story and I can't tell anyone from Drakar what happened with your father."

Merlin was shocked at how fast they arrived at the city. The truth was, Kira had given him a lot to think about. He had so many questions for her. So, he didn't notice when they were brought in front of the prince.

He heard as if from a distance the complaints of his friends. He imagined it had been a piece of cake for Kira to capture them. The warlock wondered how crazy he had been to allow Kira to strike him, but the dragons had always been his weak spot.

He studied the tunnels Kira and her men led them to. They were old and full of dust. Lots of eyes watched them from the darkness. Merlin could swear he saw a huge greenish frog as big as a dog spying him. Soon another frog joined her and they looked like they were talking.

"These are krokobaus." Kira told him telepathically. "They are very mischievous creatures. They like seeding conflicts. Long ago, one of the ancient kings of Drakar threw these creatures in the camps of their enemies. It was one of the most glorious days of Drakar. The enemy's soldiers fought with each other like mad.

"What do these creatures do?" Merlin continued.

"They enter deep in people's minds and search for any dark thoughts - grief, frustration, fury, hate - and magnify them." Kira explained.

"Do they not affect you?" Merlin asked as he noticed two other huge creatures had joined the former.

"I don't let them read my mind."

"Great. I suppose it's just a piece of cake." Merlin muttered annoyed.

There were many other questions that crossed the warlock's mind, but soon he forgot about them as he noticed something that looked like a cat - a black and white cat- just she had a very huge head and a very skinny body.

"It's a cat." Kira spoke again telepathically as she guessed his confusion. "Not all the creatures in Drakar are magic, Merlin." She laughed.

"But she's so skinny. She must be starving." Merlin couldn't help feeling sorry for the tiny creature.

"People are starving every day in Drakar, Merlin. It's just a cat." She added a bit harsher than she meant to.

"You're saying it as if it were my fault. What do you expect me to do?" Merlin retorted.

"What do you think? Just be the king the land needs."

"But I'm not a king."