He got the first glimpse of it through the bare trees. Camelot in all its glory. As he entered the city he marveled at the busy bustling people. Merlin had come from a small farming town in Ealdor. In his bag he had his few belonging he could carry to start his new life. Merlin's mother had written a letter. He wasn't quite sure what the letter entailed, but it was for the man he was supposed to stay with.
His face fell when he heard the beating of the drums. He saw two guards drag out a man. It was an execution.
"Let this serve as a lesson to all. This man Thomas James Collins is adjudged guilty of conspiring to use enchantments and magic." The King spoke, his voice booming around the courtyard.
Merlin's blood ran cold. He was told of the terrible things that Uther Pendragon has done to anyone with magic. They were hunted down and killed, even women and children. He showed no mercy. However, Merlin hadn't anticipated on seeing a man beheaded within the first few moments of arriving. It could be him on that chopping block, and he knew it.
No, Merlin had never practiced sorcery, he didn't know any spells, but none the less, magic flowed through his veins. He was born with it. A glow in his eye and he could bend objects to his will. Only one person other than his mother knew Merlin's secret. His friend Will had found out about a year prior. It had gone down smooth, for the boys were closer than they ought to be. As if one secret that could get him killed wasn't enough. When Merlin's mother found out, she feared for her son's safety and sent him on his way to someone she hoped would help him to control the magic inside of him. His name was Gaius and he served as the court physician in Camelot, he was an old friend of Merlin's father, whom merlin had never met.
As Uther declared a feast to celebrate the now twenty-year-old ban on magic, a high-pitched moan of sorrow came from within the crowd. Everyone near the old woman that let out these screeches had stepped back. As the woman sobbed for her son, she cursed at the king and even threatened the life of the Prince. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son." She had managed to yell before Uther gave the order to seize her. She mumbled a spell and to many people's amazement, her body disappeared in a storm of dust. As soon as she was gone, the crowd dispersed. Merlin, still shaken up, set off to find Gaius.
He opened a great wood door to find an old man on a high balcony. As Merlin called out the physician fell backwards from the ledge, the railing breaking. Before Merlin could think about what he was doing, the bed was already flying across the room to cushion the old man's fall.
"What did you just do?" he said hauling himself off the bed covered in the debris from the broken railing.
Merlin's heart nearly stopped as he fumbled out "Well, I – I have no idea what happened." Merlin tried to argue, but clearly Gaius already knew. Relief flooded over Merlin as Gaius' main problem with the events that had just taken place was that somebody could have seen.
Merlin sat on his new bed after settling in. He had never had a bed before. He scans the room and his eyes rest on a window. He crosses the room and opens it. What he saw was breath taking. The full moon just over the horizon. The warm light coming from the homes and the accompanying smoke from their chimneys was more than enough to make him feel at home. The city was gorgeous Merlin had never seen anything like it.
Merlin had just finished running errands for Gaius. He walked outside the castle gates and stopped to watch a few men in small amounts of armor doing what he could only assume was target practice. With them was a small boy who couldn't have been older than Merlin himself. He observed as the boy raised a wooden target that only covered about half of his body. The boy had started to move around while a strongly build blond man threw a knife directly at the target. The boy was obviously caught off guard. He raised the target again as the men continued to throw knives at him, the boy protesting.
Merlin noticed the scared look on the boy's face and decided to step in. "Hey. Come on, that's enough." He said to the men.
The beautiful man in front of him looked him deep in the eyes with what appeared to be fury. "Do I know you?" he asked stepping towards Merlin. They exchanged some words before Merlin made the mistake of calling him an ass. Arthur stepped closer threatening him, egging him on. Merlin swung his fist towards the man, but he never had a chance of making contact with the large man's face. He twisted Merlin's arm around and held onto him. "I'll have you thrown in jail for this." He threatened.
Merlin in his usually snarky tone replied "Who do you think you are? The king?"
"No, I'm his son, Arthur." He hissed into Merlin's ear.
Merlin was dragged through the castle, down a long flight of stairs and thrown into a cell by two guards. It was his first day in the city and he had already insulted one of the most powerful men in the Kingdom and gotten himself thrown in jail. He sat on the ground, feeling like a fool. How can someone be such a pompous ass?
Light drifted through the cell window and Merlin awoke to someone calling his name. He looked around, but there was no one in sight. He leaned down on his hands and knees and pressed his ear to the floor. Just then he was interrupted as he heard his name being called again, but this time it was from his new guardian. He got up and turned around, ready for Gaius to chew him out. He was allowed to leave under one condition, a few hours in the stocks getting pelted by spoiled food.