Okay, I really liked writing this chapter. Due to the fact that I have far too many things planned this is going to probably still have another five or six chapters, sorry for misleading you.

Gaius rushed down the castle steps. "Oh, my boy, what has happened to you?" he said, but it was so low that Arthur wasn't sure if he had heard it at all.

A knight had already dismounted and was standing next to Arthur's horse with his arms out; clearly meaning to take Merlin from Arthur so he could also dismount. After he had gingerly lowered the boy, mindful the entire time of his injuries, into Sir Osric's arms, Arthur got off his own horse. His joints were stiff and ached a lot due to all the abuse they had taken recently. Arthur's entire body was shouting at him to go and sleep for the next five days, but the prince knew that he couldn't. Merlin was far more important.

Sir Osric carried Merlin over to Gaius and the physician took one long, sorrowful, worried, painful look at his ward, and then the mask slipped into place. "Bring him to my chambers, quickly." And with that the old man turned around and hurried up the steps; probably already thinking about what to do for his boy.

Arthur wanted more than anything to follow but he knew that he couldn't. Unless he was ill, or unconscious, or injured he was always supposed to report to his father immediately after an event like this. Disobeying that rule would only end up making things worse for Merlin; Arthur remembered all too well what his father's reaction to Merlin's selflessness had been last time.

"Because his life's worthless?"

"No, because it's worth less than yours."

No, putting Merlin before his father could only cause more problems for the boy. First he had to report to his father, and then he would go and see Merlin.

Arthur wearily made his way to his father's council chambers, wishing all the while that he knew what was going on with Merlin. This was exactly how it had felt last time.

When he had been riding, and fighting, and searching in the hopes of finding the cure for Merlin he couldn't help but fear that the idiot had already died and that it was all for nothing. And when he had gotten back he hadn't even been allowed to see him before he was locked up in the dungeon. And when his father had crushed the flower he had feared that his servant's life had been crushed along with it. But thankfully it hadn't been so; the flower hadn't been destroyed beyond use and Gwen had come to get it.

He'd been so afraid when the real maid with his food had appeared and the guards had known that she wasn't supposed to be there. For several agonizing hours he had wondered if Gwen had managed to get the antidote to Gaius in time, or if the guards had caught her, or if maybe Arthur had just taken too long in his quest and Merlin was already dead.

The waiting had been a torture all of its own, and now that's exactly what it felt like. He knew that Merlin had the best medical care that Camelot had to offer and that Gaius wouldn't let the boy go without a fight, but he simply couldn't help but worry that something horrible was happening to his servant as he walked to give a painful report to a ridiculous father. But Arthur knew that worrying wouldn't help any and that he just needed to get his talk with his father over with and then he could see to his friend. So he resolutely pushed all the painful thoughts into the back of his mind and walked right into the royal court.

"Arthur." Uther looked up from something he had been reading and the prince could've sworn that he had heard some concern mixed with relief in his father's tone.

Arthur knew that the second he had been spotted a guard would've been dispatched to inform the king of his son's arrival. Even so, Uther looked as if a weight had been taken off his shoulders when he saw his only heir. And for a moment Arthur forgot about Merlin and the living nightmare that had been the past twenty-four hours, and simply enjoyed the feeling of knowing that his father did care somewhat for him.

But then the moment was gone and Arthur straightened up and walked over to stand a few feet away from his father.

His father seemed to pull himself together as well because his voice lost the concern. "Arthur, you're back. I trust you are not unwell?"

That's his way of asking 'are you alright?' why can't he ever just ask that? Arthur wondered."I'm a bit tired, but it's nothing that a few hours of sleep can't cure," he replied.

Uther's eyes softened marginally. "What happened while you were gone?" he asked.

Oh, so many things, Arthur thought. "While my servant and I," Arthur made sure to refer to him as just that; he doubted his father had forgotten his recent disobedience so soon, "were on our way back we came across a man."

Uther stiffened at that, no doubt he had heard about the sorcerer who was probably already in the dungeons; so the king probably knew what was coming.

"He looked like he'd been attacked by bandits. However, he was not a man in need of assistance as I originally thought, but was in fact a sorcerer and had merely enchanted his appearance."

Uther looked really angry at that and Arthur couldn't help but feel irritated by it; didn't his father ever change at all?

"He knocked both me and my servant unconscious with his magic. When I woke up we were in an underground dungeon that he said had once been a safe-house for those who used magic." Arthur was about to continue when he saw the look on his father's face.

"Ah, those things. Yes, I remember them; I used to be so confused when those who weren't very powerful would seem to vanish into thin air. And then I realized that they didn't vanish at all, but instead they simply went underground. I thought I had destroyed all of those outposts; apparently not. The knights will have to be more vigilant."

There was a gleam in his eyes that Arthur recognized as the excitement he got when it came to having some new magical threat to hunt down. The prince didn't think that his father was even aware of his addiction to it, but the Arthur found it mildly disturbing.

"Anyway, please continue," Uther said.

Shaking himself out of his less-than-pleasant thoughts, Arthur decided to do just that. "The sorcerer, who called himself Arcturus, told me that he wanted information about Camelot and its defenses, as well as its weaknesses."

"What did he plan on doing with the knowledge?" the king asked.

Arthur was glad of the distraction so that he could put off telling his father about what had happened next; he just wasn't sure if he could handle it yet. Years of training and plenty of preparations for becoming king were all that was keeping him from breaking down. Ever since Merlin had drunk that blasted poison things just hadn't made any sense, and now; with the last twenty-four hours feeling like a kind of hell he hadn't known existed, Arthur felt like it was all too much. But he held himself together.

"He said he was going to sell the secrets to whoever could pay the most and had the greatest chance of bringing down Camelot with them."

"Someone with magic?" Uther asked, even though his son was pretty sure that the king already knew the answer.

"Yes." Arthur paused, he just wasn't sure if he could go on, but he did. "Obviously I refused to tell him anything."

Uther scoffed; as if the idea of his son doing anything to hurt Camelot was ridiculous. Little did he know that Arthur would've told the man whatever he had wanted to know if it would've meant Merlin being alright.

"So he…"Arthur felt a big lump in his throat, but pushed past it with a lot of difficulty, "he was going to torture me but thought that-that my servant, Merlin, had to know some of what I know and he de-decided to t-torture him instead."

Arthur was barely holding it together. The small breaks in his speech could be explained as hesitation or exhaustion or even the concussion he probably had, though, he hadn't felt like he had one until now.

That's what anyone hearing this conversation would think of his pauses as, but Arthur knew better. He knew that it could quite possibly be a combination of all of those, but in the end he knew it was because he had watched his best friend get tortured and he hadn't been able to do anything about it.

"I'm sorry, my son," Uther said, looking genuinely regretful, "It's never easy to watch anyone get tortured, especially someone you know. And it's even more horrific to watch them break; knowing that that might happen to you someday. Everyone has their limits."

Though Arthur could tell that his father was trying to be understanding and even comforting his words only made him angry.

"He didn't break, father!" He barely managed to keep himself from yelling. "That man tortured him nearly to the point of death and he still didn't break! He didn't tell the sorcerer a single thing that could be used against Camelot! I don't know if I could've been that strong. And this all came from a servant who a little over a week ago you told me to let die."

Arthur stared at his father in anger, and his father stared back; stunned. Even though Arthur hadn't directly yelled, but the tone in his voice and the words he used was something that could get him thrown in the dungeons again.

The prince put his head in his hand; his headache was coming back. There was a strange silence in the room for a minute and Arthur could only be glad that it was just him and his father there; no one else needed to see his tantrum. If they had then he would most definitely be thrown in the dungeon, and he really didn't want to be kept from Merlin like that again.

He turned to look at his father. Though his voice was quiet; it lacked none of the power and passion that it had before. "Last I saw of my servant he looked half dead. I dare any knight, or noble, or royal, or servant to go through the same thing he did and not be very, very close to breaking. Because I swear to you, father, he wasn't."

Arthur turned and strode out of the room and made his way to Gaius' chambers; not knowing the impact that his words had made on his father, on a certain king's ward hidden in the shadows, and on a warlock that, though he was nearly dead, still heard his prince's declaration. And though it would be many years until he remembered what his friend had said about him, the words spoken by Arthur Pendragon of Camelot would end up making all the difference in the world.

I, personally, really liked the last five hundred words or so, but whenever I re-read something I've written it always ends up not being as cool as I thought. Well, I hope you guys liked it. Oh, and I was really surprised that a lot of you liked the last chapter; guess it was better than I thought. Once again thank you for all the reviews, I'm nearly to a hundred! I had originally hoped to get to 50, but this is awesome! Thank you all, you guys totally rock! I love you all! (: