Arthur:

Merlin, Arthur and their company rode into Ealdor to see a poor looking man being thrown to the ground as if he was nothing more than a sack of potatoes. The man on the horse, who was obviously the leader of the crew of bandits Arthur had heard so much about, raised his ax to strike the final blow to the man on the ground and, of course, the prince had to act.

A second later his sword was implanted in a post, just a few centimeters on front of the ugly leader, causing him to turn and see the blond prince riding towards him. Arthur would have laughed at the confused expression on the brutes face if he had had time between jumping off his horse and attacking the henchman that ran for him.

"Well! Kill them!" the bandit leader, Arthur believed his name was Canin, screeched at seeing his man cut down like nothing. Arthur turned to see a bald bandit charging at Merlin but he could run over and help his useless manservant, he was attacked by his own bandit. The sound of another horse drew Arthur's attention as he was fighting the bandit and he dared to look up for a second to see someone new jumping off his or her horse and into the fray. He wasn't quite sure if this new person was friend or foe but at that moment he really didn't care as he drew his sword away from his newly deceased opponent to the bandit running at him from behind. Suddenly, in a flurry of grey and black, morgana came to his rescue. He would have thanked her if she didn't turn around with that annoyingly self-satisfied smirk.

"Bring back memories of when I used to beat you?" she teased smugly.

To which he denied quickly "that never happened!"

Arthur watched as Canin leaped onto his horse again and pointing at the villagers and their new companions with his ax.

"You'll pay for this with your lives! All of you!" he cried before turning his horse to ride out of the village with the rest of his crew, or, at least, the ones that had survived.

"Rather that then have your ugly mug!" a rather feminine voice called after him, causing the prince of Camelot to turn and look at the hooded figure that had joined the fight half way through walking towards him. "I take it you're prince Arthur, what an honor!" she stated, bowing, but he could hear the sarcasm in her tone. The only part of her face he could see was a pair of piercing green eyes that were swimming with mirth and the bottom of a pale, pointed chin. "Where are daddies men? Gone to set up your cot?" the derision was clear as day and Arthur did not like it one bit.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" he asked, trying with all his might to be polite.

"My name is none of your business but as you saved Mathew's life…" she stuck out her hand "the name's Ida." Arthur glanced at the hand, suspicious of her sudden change of character, but, after deciding that this strange woman would not kill him, he grasped her hand firmly and shook it before pulling away and calling to Merlin. He didn't miss how the woman's eyes had cast down when merlin had turned to him but this wasn't the time for curiosity.

"Merlin! Gather the villagers, I need to talk to them." The raven-haired man-child turned to him and started to say something but Arthur didn't listen "Now Merlin! There isn't much time."

"Yes sire" was the only response he got.

He didn't miss how the woman's eyes had cast down when merlin had turned to him but this wasn't the time for curiosity.

Ida:

Ida watched the prince get up on the makeshift stage of boxes and smirked. He held himself just the way she expected, like a Boy who had everything done for him and then expected to be listened to, luckily for him, most of the villagers were so grateful to him that they were happy to do anything the royal prat said, even listen to the drivel he had the audacity to call a speech, all except for one.

"Hey!" the voice of William interrupted as he pushed his way through the crowd. "Am I the only one wondering who the hell this is?" he pointed up at the prince as he looked around at the villagers, distrust plain on his face.

"I'm Prince Arthur of Camelot," the prince told the people of Ealdor proudly.

"Yeah, and I'm Prince William of Ealdor" Ida failed to hold back her snort of laughter. It ignited as mall spark of pride in her for her old friend. Will hated those of royal blood almost as much, if not more than Ida did and was still apparently quite vocal about it.

Hunith turned to Will and, in a voice that only a true parent could use, told him off. "Keep quiet! He's here to help us."

Will just looked at her disbelievingly, "he's just made things worse! Canin will be back and when he is he will be looking for revenge." He turned back to the Prince, "You've just signed our death warrant." It was then that Ida had to step in.

"And what are we?! Horse dung!?" she called to Will as she made her way over to him, her hood tumbling off her dark hair in her anger. "Last time I was here, you had a lot more back bone William. You were willing to do anything to protect your village. Have you really changed so much in my time away?!"

"Ida! You're back!" was his shocked response. Ida's eyes flickered to Merlin but

"No! This is a projection!" she snarked. "Of course I'm back! I'm over in Odin's kingdom and the first thing I hear of this village in years is that it's being attacked by traders." She poked his chest hard. "No letters from you! Just a rumor that could quite possibly mean my only family is dead and a letter from Hunith asking for aid! I'm glad I did come back because apparently it's so far out of hand that we had to call in a bloody royal!" Ida pointed at the Prince in irritation. Will glared at her defiantly and opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted by Merlin's mother.

"Quiet! Both of you! He just saved Mathews life!" Hunith implored them but the prince, of course, had other ideas.

"It's alright Hunith." He told the older woman "This is William's village." He looked at Will, "What would you have us do?" For once, Ida stayed silent, wanting to see how much her brother had changed in two years.

Will looked around in defeat, "We can't fight against Canin. He has too many men."

"So what's the alternative?" the prat prompted and Ida almost snarled in irritation, she may have been mad at Will but she did not like this prince one bit. He was too smug for her tastes. Her expression quickly changed to one of disappointment though as she heard Will's answer.

"We give him what he want's."

"Are you joking!" Ida squawked, her green eyes flashing, at the same time that the royal asked, "Then what?" a ripple of murmurs ran through the crowd. "Those of you who don't starve to death will face him again next harvest" the muttering stopped but the prince continued, "and the harvest after that." Ida could not believe that she was agreeing with a prince but here she was.

William looked around at the villagers trying to win their favor back "We'll manage, we'll survive." He told them but was only answered with a chorus "how?"s.

"The only way he can be stopped, is if you stand up to him." The prince told Will but the young villager was not having any of it.

"No! You just want the honor and glory of battle. That's what drives men like you! Look, if you want to fight, you can go home and risk the lives of your own people, not ours!" with that, he stomped off in anger with Merlin and Ida both calling after him but only merlin followed to try calm him down. Ida would have probably just slapped him and, for some reason, she didn't think that would go down well.

It was Hunith that spoke first. "I'll follow you," she told the prince, "if I'm to die, then I want to go out fighting!" Following that, most of the villagers put their hand up to fight, including a grudging Ida who just nodded while looking at the prince who nodded back, a sign of a mutual respect born of the mutual danger.

A respect that would only grow with time.

...

Hi there Merlin fans! I really hope that you enjoyed the first chapter of my new story. I have been wanting to write a story about Merlin since I first started watching it and finally I am doing it! Please review what you thought of it and feel absolutely free to tell me of any errors I have made.

Lots of love,

Smudgster

2020 edit

This chapter has been slightly edited.