Arthur was stuck at the sorcerer's camp, if you could call it that. Elizabeth had set up a rock for a fire pit under the platform in the trees, surrounding it was a series of large logs and rocks to serve as seats. The pack that Jane had brought down was leaning against the tree. Elizabeth was now preparing to light the fire, using the kindling from the pack to make a tepee.

Arthur watched her carefully, he didn't trust of her. Her intense sister was a shape shifter, did she had magic too? Uther accused anyone who knew a sorcerer with treason claiming that all who knew a sorcerer were touched bye there evil. Arthur had thought this was a little extreme and would never condemn a person for simply knowing a sorcerer or offering them a place to sleep, but now the suspicion was creeping into his mind was she magic? What would they do if they found out he was Arthur Pendragon, king of Camelot?

Elizabeth now had the fire lit and has started adding some of the logs Arthur had gathered earlier.

The knights hadn't returned yet, he was slightly worried they had run into trouble, morgana would still be looking for them, or what if the shape shifter had turned on them? Don't be ridiculous Arthur reasoned with himself, they got us out of morganas dungeon, they would just kill us now. I don't think so anyway.

Elizabeth had put the pot filled with water over the fire judging that it was hot enough, wincing slightly as she did.

And then there was merlin, every time he moved he winced and his shirt was in tatters. He needed medical treatment, but they would have to get the herbs themselves, and merlin was the only one who actually knew what herbed looked like and what they did witch would make collecting them hard if he had to stay at camp. Maybe he could ask the women, merlin needed help, he might not get a choice.

Elizabeth steps back from the fire and sat down on don a branch.

Arthur still didn't understand why morgana thought that merlin had magic or why she though he knew this Emrys, who ever that was meant to be. Emrys was a stupid name, who would call their child Emrys?

There must of bean someone with a grudge against Merlin thing to get him in trouble with morgana. But who would have a grudge against merlin, despite Arthurs constant insults he could see anyone actually having a problem with merlin he was just too nice, kind and devoted to have any Emrys.

"Sooo…" Elizabeth said searching for a conversation topic and interrupting Arthurs thoughts "where you from?"

Arthur watched her, was she trying to get information out of them or actually trying for small talk?

Merlin had no such hesitations "Camelot" he replied straight away

Elizabeth said at them in surprise "congrats on being alive" she said.

"Why?" Arthur said cautiously.

"Surviving the Pendragon's takes skill and luck" Elizabeth said watching them, why didn't they know this?

Arthur was shocked. 'Surviving the Pendragon's' is sounded like he was a monster. He watched Elizabeth. She was genuinely scared of Camelot. Not surprising given her sister is a sorcerer, under Uther's rule she would be executed for knowing a sorcerer. But "surviving the Pendragon's". Plural. She didn't think he was any better. He hadn't executed anyone for just having magic during his rule and he had made peace with the druids, what more did she want. He want going to lift the ban on magic otherwise people would use it to achieve their own means, like morgana. And what did 'skill and luck' mean? It made Camelot sound like it was full of thugs.

"Yes" merlin said when Arthur didn't reply.

Elizabeth gave them a suspicious glance. "It fine if you don't want to tell me anything" she said "but if the things your hiding hurts me or my sisters, you won't live to regret it"

"Is that a threat" Arthur replied eventually, his face completely neutral, despite the images of Jane hauling arrows out of dead bodies replaying in his mind.

"No. stating facts" Elizabeth said before whispering something before her eyes flashed gold and another log floated onto the fire.

After a few minutes of silence, the sound of approaching footsteps could be herd.

Elizabeth put her hand on her sword before whistling to mimic a bird.

When a reply whistle sounded out, Elizabeth visibly relaxed, smiling and shifting out of the defensive stance she had taken.

Then Mary, Gwaine and Leon pushed their way through the forest to the camp. Arthur sighed in the relief at the very least Gwaine and Leon were safe.

He then returned to his thoughts about magic. Merlin had confessed to magic under torture. That had to be a lie, he would know if merlin had magic he was just in a lot of pain and thought that saying that he had magic would make it stop, right?

Arthur then remembered Merlin's face once he confessed. He looked hart broken, he looked guilty, he looked like a man hoping for forgiveness. If he was lying would he look like that?

Could merlin have magic? No. he would have known. But then Arthur started thinking about all the battles he had been in where a branch fell conveniently, or his opponent dropped their sward when he was losing or there was a well-timed earthquake. That was all a coincidence wasn't it. There was no way it could me merlin. Could it?

Arthur looked over at merlin the man, the friend he thought he knew. Did he have magic and if so what would Arthur do about it?

Elizabeth watched as Mary, Gwaine and Leon appeared, pushing their way between the bushes. Mary led the way with the knights behind her carrying the baskets.

"We got something" Mary said "but there not really enough for all of us"

"Maybe Jane had more luck" Elizabeth suggested, then turning back to the men she said "put the baskets over hear" indicating next to her.

"She would have to of had a lot of luck" Mary replied "you hurting"

"No"

"You so are" Mary said forcing a smile "we have arranged for herbs to be brought hear just before sunset"

"What? Why?" Elizabeth demanded

"We didn't know how bad you would be hurt of what we would need"

"But that will cost a fortune, we will be paying off debt for the rest of our lives" Elizabeth almost shouted

"No"

"What do you mean no?"

"That crystal we stole, it's worth a lot"

"How much" Elizabeth asked slightly concerned

Mary glanced at the men before repeating "a lot"

"What it do?" Elizabeth still suspicious

"Don't know, don't care"

Elizabeth shrugged off the worry, if it paid well she want going to ask too many questions, and turned to the baskets of food. One basket had rabbits and other small creatures they had court in sneer that Mary and Jane must of set earlier in the day and the other full of berries, roots and nuts that they had foraged. There would be heaps of food, if it was just the three of them; instead they had five extra mouths to feed. Jane had better come back with a lot of meat if they all wanted to eat.

There was a yell form Jane and the smack of a body on the ground. Elizabeth snapped out of her thoughts, leaping to her feet and reaching for a weapon before she even registered what she was seeing. Gwaine on the ground with Jane standing over him.

"Don't touch me" Jane growled him

"I just wanted to give you flowers" he smiled back holding the flower he hadn't lost grip of.

"You grabbed my arm from behind, how was I supposed to react" Jane snapped

"Not like this" Gawain replied getting up and offering her the flower

Jane just stared at it and shore on what to do. A life time of hiding didn't leave much room for romance.

"Take it"

Jane reached for the flower "thanks?"

"You're welcome" Gwaine beamed at her from the ground.

The men couldn't hide their chuckle.

Elizabeth sat back down and turned to the food, there was no danger from Gwaine. She took the basket of food that Jane brought and enchanted the knife sitting next to her to prepare the meat.

The men watched her suspiciously, eyeing her up and watching the knife cutting without a hand holding it. There misgivings were starting to annoy Elizabeth, it was lie they expected her to leap up and start using the knife on them. But they were from Camelot, where people could be killed for being associated with a sorcerer so maybe that is where there is suspicion and fear was coming from.

Yet merlin didn't look afraid, or suspicious, in fact he looked surprised. His eyes kicked glancing between Arthur and the knife. He had the bracelet that immobilized a person's magic, with a burn mark on the surrounding skin, so he must have magic. He had also confessed to having magic under morganas torcher- and being Emrys. There was no way he was Emrys thought. Emrys was a powerful and wise sorcerer, this man was younger than her and came from Camelot, couldn't practice much there. So merlin was a sorcerer who was surprised about the action reaction to magic?

It them dawn on Elizabeth Arthur must not know about merlin's magic, despite his condition under torture. Mind you people did tend to tell there tortures what they wanted to hear. How many of the other men knew? Why was he in Camelot if he had magic? Who were these men?

Merlin was trying to stay as still as possible so not to jar his injuries the cut on his back were sensitive and needed treatment before any infections could set in. any movement sent pain stabbing through his brain. During the ride hear he wasn't even shore if he stayed conscious the hole time, there had been occasions where Arthur was the only thing keeping him up right, preventing him from falling off a horse Mary to the ground.

The bracelet keeping his magic prisoner was still on his arm, heaving him cold and empty inside wit you without its familiar tough.

He needed to get it off. Without his magic he was defenseless. He couldn't protect Arthur.

If morgana managed to catch them then there would be nothing he could do to stop her. Nothing he could do to protect the people he cared about. Nothing he could do to fulfil their destiny. Nothing.

And he had no idea of how to get it off. It was a never ending circle with no latch or clasp to get it off and it was too tight to slide off. He had no idea how it was put on him, let alone how to take it off. He needed advice. The people he would normally ask would be Gaius and Kilgharrah. But Gaius was back in Camelot and he wanted it off long before he got there, and he didn't even know if he could call Kilgharrah with the bracelet on.

Elizabeth finished cutting up the river. Her eyes glowed as she whispered some words in the old religion and the cubes moved themselves to the pot of boiling water.

Merlin was surprised that the knights, especially Arthur were ok with the obvious displays of magic in front of them. They were desperate, him and Arthur were injured and would struggle with travel and they didn't know where they were. But were they really desperate enough to except help from sorcerers, the people who Arthur and Leon especially had grown up believing where pure evil and corrupt?

Maybe Arthur wouldn't react as badly as he feared when he told him about his magic, maybe he wouldn't be locked in the dungeon like Kilgharrah, or burned at the stake like countless others, or banished and forced to leave like Alice's, the love of Gaius's life. Maybe Arthur could accept the magic. But there would still be the lies he had told Arthur over the years could they be forgiven?

Mary handed merlin a bowl of the broth, waking merlin up from his thoughts. "Hear injured eat first" she prompted when he didn't take it straight away.

"Thanks" merlin said excepting the bowl. He was usually the one serving the food, it was nice to be on the other end of the situation.

Looking inside there was barely a few spoonful of broth in the bottom of the bowl, the women were clearly not prepared of capable of feeding five extra men.

There was only three bowls so merlin, Arthur and Elizabeth were eating first, then the others would have a go after them.

Merlin felt sorry for the women. Mary was a shape shifter, Elizabeth Jane magic and Jane may as well. Bye the way they acted, he guessed that they had bean fugitives for a long time, they were organized efficient and a little cold, all the signs of living on the run for years.

They would constantly be changing locations, fighting for food and trying to evade any authority.

That could have been his life if things had been different.

If he had stayed in Ealdor that would probably be his life. If Uther had found out about his magic and he managed to doge the flames that would be his life. If Arthur didn't let him explain when he found out about his magic that would be his life.

Merlin looked back down at his bowl and quickly downed the content. It was only enough to ward off starvation, they couldn't live off that little food for long.

Jane took the bowls back, gave them a quick rinse and then served the next three people, herself, Jane and Leon.

"So…" Leon said searching for a conversation to brake the tense silence that Merlin was too buzzy being lost in thought's to notice "that was good of you to lie to morgana like that Merlin"

"I just made it us" merlin tried to brush over the fact he confessed to magic

"no it was good, sometimes it's better to resist and then give false information, it can buy you time and lead your captives astray" Leon expanded using the knowledge that was ground into him since birth.

"Was it though?" Arthur asked looking up. He dad bean unusually silent, usually Arthur would try and break silences not leave it to Leon.

"What?" Merlin asked, trying to keep his breathing even. The longer they talked about his confession the more likely the truth was to come out.

"Did you lie to morgana?" Arthur said slowly and coolly "were you lying when you said you had magic?"