A beautiful and sunny day once came to Camelot. Merlin was on his feet from an early morning preparing breakfast and choosing clothes for the king. He almost forgot about Arthur's armour, what would be unthinkable, because the king has to be fully ready for training. And Merlin wanted to do his duties as best as he could and with no mistake to not give Arthur any opportunity to be angry with him. Everything because Merlin has finally decided to reveal his secret to Arthur after all these years living in hiding.
They knew each other for long enough to become friends. Merlin and Arthur trusted each other with their lives, so the warlock, regardless of the possible consequences, was determined to tell him the truth. It would be a test of their friendship and Merlin had a hope that the information about him having magic won't break it.
Merlin stopped thinking about it for a moment because he was about to enter Arthur's chamber. He opened the door silently and walked slowly towards the table to put a plate with bread, cheese and ham there, and then he headed back to exit. After a few minutes, he returned with the armour. He checked once again if everything was prepared and pulled back the curtains allowing light to fall into the room.
"Rise and shine, sire!" said Merlin with a smile on his face.
Arthur squeezed his eyes shut and turned to the other side, so now Merlin faced the king's back.
"Oh no, Arthur," the warlock walked over to the king's bed and pulled on the sheets. "You have duties to do and a training to attend to so don't make my already hard work even more harder," he really wanted to behave this day like a professional servant but with Arthur as his master it couldn't be possible.
"Five more minutes, Merlin," murmured Arthur. "For this time you can prepare my armour."
"I've already done it," Merlin replied. "Everything is ready so I need you to stand up, otherwise you'll be late for training."
Arthur raised his head and looked at his servant with disbelief. "Really? You sure you didn't forget anything?"
"Your breakfast, clothes, armour, sword," he listed pointing to the items.
"I'm impressed, Merlin," the king said and started eating breakfast.
"Yeah," the warlock chuckled, making Arthur's bed. "You see, I'm not that bad."
"Not all the time," Arthur smiled but something didn't feel right. He looked up at his friend who was busy folding the sheets. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
Merlin's gaze wandered to the king. "No, why?" he frowned.
"You're… strange today. I just have a feeling that something is not all right," Arthur answered.
At the same moment sir Leon peered into the chamber and informed the king that everyone was waiting for him on the training grounds. Arthur nodded telling him he'd be there in a minute.
"Well…," Merlin sighed when the door closed behind the knight. "Actually I wanted to speak to you."
"Is it important?" Arthur asked, dressing himself quickly. "We have to go, we can talk after we finish training."
"I think it is important, yes," the warlock said with uncertainty in his voice.
"A matter of life and death?" the king put on his armour. Merlin blinked a few times and walked over to help him.
"Well, actually you can say it is a matter of life and death," the warlock replied. "For me. Because this matter concerns me."
"Ah! So not that important," Arthur smirked patting his friend on the shoulder and then headed towards the door. Merlin frowned. "Come on! You can tell me later, now we need to go."
They both made their way out of the castle. Merlin followed Arthur with a thoughtful face. He knew that king's training was really important, but he wanted to say who he really is and get it over with. They passed the market place and walked through the lower town to soon cross the drawbridge. They entered the training grounds where some of the knights, led by Leon, practiced crossbow shooting. Merlin watched them, as he and Arthur were walking towards Leon, and suddenly a hand of one of the knights slipped and an arrow was fired at the king. The warlock's eyes glistened with gold immediately and the world slowed down around him. It was the moment to think of a certain spell. He didn't know why he chose this particular one, but he was sure that in that way it would get the attention of others.
"Fierst foreweard," Merlin whispered glancing at Arthur.
To his surprise, Merlin felt like an unknown force started pushing him down to the ground. Arthur, who was just a few inches ahead of him, began falling down as well. The warlock was already prepared to hit the pavement, but his eyes widened as he saw a black hole, a whirlwind, that appeared just right under their feet. Arthur was pulled into its abyss, and immediately after that also Merlin was dragged by the force of this bizarre phenomenon. Merlin felt his insides collapse. He couldn't move and couldn't scream. He could only watch as his friend was disappearing in the pitch black darkness, which surrounded him too after a moment. Soon the feeling of nausea subsided, and he and Arthur fell on the grass in some forest.
Merlin, with his eyes closed, waited for the dizziness to stop. He slowly raised himself to a sitting position and looked around for his friend. Arthur was leaning against a tree a few feet away from him. The king crossed his eyes with Merlin. It was hard to read a certain emotion from his face, it was probably a mix of fear, shock, and extreme confusion.
"What the hell was that?!" Arthur exclaimed. He tilted his head and started patting his ear as if it was clogged.
"I don't know," Merlin replied. "I was trying to save you from a flying arrow, but I guess there was something wrong with my spell."
Arthur was still busy brushing off the dirt, and it took a moment for Merlin's words to reach him.
"You… what?" he asked even more confused.
The warlock's face went pale and he looked at Arthur with wide eyes. "I completely forgot," he whispered and added a little louder: "I was about to tell you this morning, but you decided it wasn't important. Well, actually, that I wasn't important."
"Merlin, what are you talking about? Something strange happened and now we're lost."
"And what do you think it was?" Merlin asked, walking over to Arthur.
"For a second, I thought you pushed me because you were just right behind me and…," the king trailed off looking at Merlin. His eyes widened as if he had made some amazing discovery.
"Don't look at me like that, you're scaring me," said Merlin. He was sure that his friend had finally figured out his secret.
"It was you," Arthur stated. "And when you said something about a spell… no, no, no," he shook his head in denial. "It can't be true," he chuckled nervously. "Tell me you're joking or at least pinch me, it must be a dream," he started pacing.
"I wish it was a dream, Arthur, but unfortunately it is not," the warlock replied. "We have to get out of this forest and find a way back," he said, ignoring the king's nervousness.
"Merlin!" Arthur exclaimed. "You're a bloody sorcerer. How could you not tell me and how could I not notice?" he said reproachfully.
"Can't think," Merlin answered. "You're too… Well, I don't know how to say it to not insult you, but it wasn't that hard to hide my magic from you. Even when it was obvious you still failed to see it."
"Maybe I didn't want to see it," Arthur murmured, looking away.
Merlin blinked a few times trying to comprehend the meaning of the king's words.
"You want me to say that… you knew?" he asked after a moment.
"I didn't know," said Arthur. "Once or twice I thought I saw you doing magic, and I found a strange book in your room, but I just didn't want to think about you being really a sorcerer. And now I'm just shocked that it turned out to be true."
"Are you afraid?" the warlock looked at him hesitantly.
"Why? Should I?" the king chuckled. "I know you, Merlin. Despite your magic, you're still the same clumsy idiot."
Merlin pressed his lips together into a thin line. "Thanks," he snapped.
Arthur smirked. "Right, so now take us back to Camelot."
"What?" Merlin sent him a questioning look.
"Disenchant us back."
"Disenchant?" the warlock raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah, or whatever you call it. Just do something," said Arthur.
"But I can't."
"What do you mean 'you can't'?" the king frowned. "It's your fault we're in the middle of nowhere."
"Yes, I know. But I can't unmake it," Merlin stated. "I told you I had no idea what happened. I used a spell to push you so you wouldn't get hit by an arrow, but it seems that this spell must've been wrong," he explained.
"Great!" Arthur threw up his arms in disbelief.
"Oh, don't be such a girl, Arthur," the warlock smirked. "We'd better find a way, we'll always get somewhere. We will think about what to do next later," he said and walked away.
"Right," the king rolled his eyes and followed his friend.
They were walking through the forest long enough to notice that something wasn't right there. Although the terrain and views were very similar to those of Camelot, the trees in the forest were much denser and grass and plants were different. They had never seen ones like these in Camelot before. Soon, to their eyes appeared a large, high castle with many towers and turrets. It was surrounded by mountains and near the building was a lake. Arthur was looking around with wide eyes and opened mouth. Merlin also was amazed by this beautiful view.
"Whose castle is it?" asked the warlock.
"I have no idea," Arthur replied. "Maybe there's someone who could help us get back to Camelot."
Merlin and Arthur left the forest behind and headed towards the castle through the grounds. They didn't get very far because someone started shouting at them. They looked in the direction of the sound and they saw a big man screaming and waving his hands. He definitely wanted something from them. The warlock and the king exchanged glances and walked over to the man who was two times higher than them
"Who are yeh? And what are yeh doin' here? I can see yeh not students," said he watching them up and down. He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes as he saw Arthur's armour. Merlin and Arthur raised their eyebrows and looked at each other once again.
"We… are…," the warlock stuttered looking up at his face. "We're looking the way back to Camelot."
"Camelot?" the man frowned. "And what is it?"
"You don't know what Camelot is?" Arthur made a weird face. "It's a kingdom in which I am the king," he explained.
The man seemed not to understand any of it, he just looked at Arthur doubtfully. "Never heard o' it," he said.
"Well…," Merlin spoke up. This man's remark made him think that maybe his spell had gone much worse than he thought. "Could you tell us who you are and where exactly we are?"
"'Course," a slight smile appeared on the man's face. "I'm Rubeus Hagrid an' this," he pointed at the castle; "is Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
