Chapter 2… Camelot

When Merlin reached the border, night had fallen. He had travelled far for one day, thanks to his magic. He had taken a 3-day journey, in one! Now both he and Arrow needed the rest. He crossed the border (or what he thought was the border anyway, it's not like he'd ever been here) and then dismounted. He patted Arrow, and relieved her of her burden. "Good girl" he murmured to her. She seemed to be compatible with his magic, as she seemed comfortable with it.

Merlin fed the horse some apples he had brought and poured some water for her in a bowl. After securing her to a tree, he began setting his own camp by the same tree. There wasn't much to do, he laid his sleeping cot and made some fire. Then he set up some alarm spells, so he would know if anyone approached he's little camp. Eating some of the bread and cheese, he settled in for the night. Soon his mind wandered back to Ealdor. What was their reaction when they noticed he had gone? He should've left them a note at least; in his hurry he'd forgotten to do that. That night Merlin didn't have the best sleep. At first he couldn't fall asleep, and then when he finally did, he was plagued by nightmares. It was safe to say that when he got up in the morning, he didn't feel rested at all.

Merlin debated with himself whether to use magic again for the rest of the journey, or weather now that he was over the border he was safe. There was another four days of normal speed riding left. In the end he decided to use magic for another day.

When night fell again, he only had half a day ride left till Camelot from what he knew. He rested the same that night. The next morning Merlin decided to not use his magic and actually enjoy being out in the forest. Everything felt so alive here; he could feel his magic connecting with the wildlife. He could feel the beat of a bee's wing, every graze of the wind on flower petals. He could hear the heartbeat of the rabbit nearby and the footsteps of a deer grazing among the trees. He had never experienced such a high with his magic before. This was what they had taken from him, when he was cooped up in that castle.

He reached Camelot just past noon, when he got to the gate of the city; he dismounted and walked on foot, leading Arrow. He couldn't get enough of the city. Camelot was beautiful! Everywhere he looked there was something going on, it was so busy! So much life, just like the forest. There were stalls off all sorts and their owners shouting on top of each other to be heard. Woman and men were going from stall to stall, haggling, arguing and laughing. Then there were the children, running and playing among the crowd. At one point he walked past the smithy and was bombarded with the sound of metal hitting metal. Then he walked past the fabric store and was assaulted with all sorts of colours. This was what he wanted to see, to be a part of!

Soon he reached the Citadel, he looked and asked for a public stable and then settled Arrow, paying the stable hand handsomely and telling him "to look after her."

As Merlin faced the castle, he was struck by how different it was with the one back at the Ealdor. Were Emrys castle was dark stones and tall towers (A.N. imagine Hogwarts!) The Pendragon Castle was light stones and battlements. Merlin liked the difference. He stood not knowing what his next action should be, to look for his two friends or the kind physician. The choice was taken from him however, as he heard his own name and his heart sank.

"Merlin?" He turned and came face-to-face with Gaius himself.

"Hello…" Merlin said after an awkward pause, were Gaius just stared.

"It is you!" Gaius exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I ran away…" Merlin explained.

"What?" Merlin had almost forgotten how high Gaius' eyebrows went.

"It's a long story," Merlin looked around. "Is there any where private we could talk?"

Gaius ushered the young man through the castle and to his own quarters. His rooms reminded Merlin of Alice, the court physician of Ealdor. There was the same aura of spices and herbs, and the place was cluttered with vials, cauldrons and books. Once they settled, Merlin told Gaius the whole story. Gaius, of course, was disapproving.

"Please help me Gaius!" Merlin begged him. "I don't want to go back to that life! I cant! I want to know a normal life. I want to see how the people live, please Gaius! Please help me!" Gaius looked sympathetically at the young man in front of him; he never did like what they had done to the boy.

"Okay I'll help you," Gaius decided. "Lord knows you'll try to escape again if I don't, then you'll go somewhere where I or anyone else can't keep an eye you." Merlin smiled. He thought this was a good argument to use on Lancelot if he seemed reluctant to help. "But you'll have to listen to me Merlin!" Gaius suddenly barked out. "You have to keep the extent of your power a secret! No one must know how powerful you are. Please stay out of trouble, if you are pretending to be a peasant, it will not be easy to get out of any trouble."

"See Gaius, that's why I need you" said Merlin. "To remind me of what I must and mustn't do!" Then he stood up grabbing his stuff. "If you'll excuse me, I need to find Sir Lancelot and Sir Gwaine, before they find me." He made his way towards the door, when Gaius stopped him.

"Merlin" he turned with a questioning look on his face. "Where are you going with those?"

"Err…" Merlin looked down at his stuff, confused at Gaius' question. "To find somewhere to stay and then leave them there…" he finally answered.

"You can stay in the back room there," the physician said pointing to the door at the back of his quarters. "There is a bed there, you can leave your stuff. Besides this way I can keep an eye and you."

Merlin smiled at the kind old man, before making his way to the backroom that was to be his bedroom. He climbed the few little steps leading to the door in excitement. The room was small. It had one small bed, a small wardrobe and a small window. But already, Merlin liked it better than His own room back in Ealdor. He felt freer in this little room then he ever did in that huge room. After unpacking his things, he walked back to the main chambers, where Gaius had some food ready for him. Looking at the food, Merlin realized he was starved. He had never gone so long without food before. With a quick "hank you" Merlin dug in, and wolfed it all down. When he was done, he got some direction towards where he could find the two knights of Ealdor and then set off.

As much as Camelot castle looked different to that of Ealdor, the life in the castle didn't seem to be that different at all. As he walked through the unfamiliar corridors, the dashing of the servants, from place to place felt very familiar. Even though he was trying to get away from life in Ealdor, he was glad for this one thing. He wanted something that would remind him of home.

Making his way through the castle, Merlin had to ask for directions a lot, despite having got some from Gaius. The two knights he was looking for didn't seem to be in the training field, their own quarters, the dining hall, the kitchen and the Tavern (the last two he look to mainly for Gwaine). The last place he could think of was the armory. After asking for further directions, he made his way down, and as he got close to the door to the armory, he could hear voices, one definitely belonging to Gwaine.

"If Arthur stops entertaining pumpers asses sons of lords for 10 minutes, we might actually get some training done!" someone was complaining.

"You forget Elyan, Arthur is a pompous ass himself," Gwaine answered the stranger, Elyan.

Merlin peeked in through the door. Sure enough, there was Gwaine, sharpening his sword and Lancelot, fiddling with his armor. There were also three other men, in the room, which Merlin assumed where knights his two friends had befriended on their stay here. One was blonde with curly hair, one was dark skinned and handsome, and the other was too tall and too big to be allowed. Merlin didn't want to confront the two brothers in company, but he didn't see another choice. He had spent a lot of time trying to find these two.

"Merlin?" Gwaine's screech snapped Merlin out of his thoughts and he looked up and into the shocked eyes of his friend. The whole room had gone quiet at the shout, and they were staring at Merlin, the three knights that Merlin didn't know looked at him curiously. Lancelot was looking at him with shock and horror. Gwaine too was looking shocked.

"Hi…" Merlin said sheepishly. He didn't know what else to say. He didn't really want to say anything in front of the other knights. He looked pointedly at the two brothers and then around, hoping they'd get the message, but they seemed too in shock to say anything.

"Merlin, what are you doing here?" Lancelot, finally snapped out of his initial shock.

"Well that is a long story," Merlin said pointedly. "Perhaps if we talk somewhere else… Sir" he added in the end, hopefully, to get them the message to not say anything that'll give away his identity.

"Right," Lancelot got up, dragging his brother; "We can speak comfortably in my quarters." With that he led the way out of the armory and through the castle, towards his quarters. Throughout the short trip, the two knights of Ealdor, kept looking back and staring at Merlin, and his peasant clothing, clearly still not believing what they were seeing.

Once they reached the rooms that Lancelot was staying at, the elder knight closed and locked the door, before he and his brother faced their Prince.

"Right," Lancelot demanded, "explain!"

So Merlin told them both the whole story, as he had done with Gaius, starting from when he began to visit the Tavern back in Ealdor, and ending with his arrival in Camelot. As Merlin had predicted, Gwaine was supportive.

"This is so awesome!" He had said, "Can't wait to take you out to the Tavern." Merlin had smiled at him before facing Lancelot. Lancelot, of course was not happy, just as Merlin had guessed.

"Are you insane?" He snapped to Merlin, "we have to send you back. I'll send a message to King Balinor. What were you thinking?" Merlin panicked, he couldn't let Lancelot send a message back to Ealdor.

"Please Lancelot," he begged his friend, "I can't go back! Please! Help me! If you send me back, I'll just runaway again, and this time you wouldn't be there to keep an eye on me!" He used what Gaius had said, he had been right, it was a good argument to use on the older knight. Already, he could see the indecision on Lancelot's face. "Please give me a chance to experience freedom, before I'm locked up again." His words had the effect he was going for, and broke through Lancelot's defenses. Merlin could see the moment the knight changed his mind.

"All right," he finally said grumpily, "but you'd better not get into trouble, and listen to us, and don't do anything reckless." Merlin agreed with a big grin. "We need a cover story for you to tell people, especially to Leon, Percival and Elyan. They know we know you."

They spent the rest of the day and the better part of the night, coming up with the story. In the end they decided on Merlin being a servant who grew up in the knights' household, and now have come to Camelot for a change of scenery and work, after that Lancelot and Gwaine told Merlin all about their time here in Camelot. Everything was apparently wonderful about Camelot! From the royals down to the townspeople, all except Prince Arthur and his band of friends, Gwaine explained.

"Well the prince isn't too bad I suppose, but when he's in the company of those spoiled wannabe knights, well he gets carried away." Was all Merlin got.

It was late when he got back to Gaius. He apologized, when he saw the old man waiting for him, and then explained the cover story they had come up with. The old physician thought it a good story and added that Merlin and Gaius had met when the physician was in Ealdor, and that Merlin had come to help Gaius like an apprentice.

Merlin was really tired that night, but it was a while before he fell asleep. He was excited, and worried. He couldn't wait for tomorrow, when he would start his new life.

End of chapter

Again I want to thank everyone who's been leaving me such lovely comments, and continue to add me and my story to their alerts and favorites.

I also want to apologies for any mistakes or misspellings or any thing like that in this chapter. I am currently lying down in bed, eyes half closing, but I'm pushing myself to finish this chapter and post it for you all.

I've decided that we will meet Arthur in the next chapter, as I think he needs a whole chapter to himself.

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