When he returned to his chambers two hours later, he found Merlin pacing incessantly up and down in front of the fire, throwing off nervous energy in every direction.

The warlock looked over at the door expectantly as he came in, opening his mouth to ask what had happened, before realising that Gaius was not alone. Gwaine was trailing at his heels. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

Gwaine sauntered in, all muscles and confidence. "Thought you might like to know what you said last night when you went all…" he waved his hand in front of his eyes. "Vissiony. I didn't have a chance to tell you this morning before Princess Arthur had us all riding like the west wind."

Merlin shot Gaius a look, then back to Gwaine. "You heard what I said? You actually heard me?"

"Sure," Gwaine shrugged. "Or most of it. I mean it didn't really make sense or anything, but I heard most of what you were mumbling before you took a nose-dive into the mud."

Merlin put a hand up in the vague direction of his nose, then put it down again quickly. "So what did I say?" He followed Gwaine with his eyes as the knight sauntered past him, then he looked back at Gaius again. "Did he tell you?"

His uncle shook his head. "Not yet."

Merlin turned back to his friend. "Gwaine!" he insisted.

"Alright, alright," the knight said, holding his hands up. "I mean it was mostly nonsense."

"And?" Merlin demanded.

"So you said something like: the one with the silver tongue will find him on silent feet – or was that paws – oh I can't remember – um – something about the fire approaching – darkness coming that sort of thing, and then there was something about the prince – doing something…" he faded out.

Merlin and Gaius stood there expectantly, but nothing more was forthcoming.

"And?" Merlin exclaimed.

"I don't remember," Gwaine complained. "I was too busy trying to catch you. There's a limit to how many things I can do at once you know!"

"Gwaine, this could be important," Gaius insisted. "You're sure you don't remember anything else?"

Gwaine blew out his cheeks, put his hands on his hips and pulled an expression of extreme concentration. After a pause he said: "Okay, it might have been something about the prince making his choice?"

Merlin looked a bit confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't ask me, my friend, you're the one who said it."

Merlin made a noise of frustration, and went and put his back to the wall. "These visions are going to – drive me mad!" he exclaimed.

"Let's hope not," Gaius said, coming further into the room and putting his hand on Gwaine's arm in a grateful manner. "In any case, we've got more important things to worry about right now. Don't you want to know what was discussed at the council meeting?"

"Sorry," Merlin shook his head slightly. "I forgot. What did Arthur say?"

"He said that Alvarr is in league with Morgana," Gaius started.

"Well we knew that!"

"And that she is going to attack Camelot in less than two days' time," he went on.

Merlin's face crinkled in confusion. "He's betraying her?"

Gwaine cut in. "Apparently Alvarr offered some deal," he said. "Said he would pull out of the attack if Arthur agreed to his terms."

"And what were the terms?"

"Arthur wouldn't say," Gaius cut in. "He just said the price would have been too high, and that he didn't trust Alvarr to keep his side of the bargain. He said we just had to look on the information as a gift, and prepare the kingdom for attack. But he also said that Morgana is planning to utilise dark magic to destroy Camelot."

At that, Merlin's ears pricked up. "Dark magic?"

"Yes, Alvarr didn't pass on any more details, but he said that Morgana needed his help to perform the spell, and had also recruited another to help her: a young druid boy he said, with great powers."

Merlin's face darkened. "Mordred," he muttered.

Gwaine was looking confused at this point. "Who's this boy?" he asked. "You've met him before?"

"Oh yes," Merlin said. "He was in league with Alvarr last time he came here. He's got immense power – and I don't think he means the kingdom any good."

"He has a strong affection for Morgana as well," Gaius pointed out. "With her having such negative feelings towards Uther, she is likely to have poisoned his heart still further."

"Mm," Merlin said, thinking. "I wonder what this 'dark magic' is that they're planning to use."

Gaius shook his head. "I've no idea. But we can't do much about it until they get here."

"And there's no way of finding out what this deal was that Alvarr wanted to make?"

"He was pretty firm about it," Gwaine said. "He said: 'I will never trust a sorcerer to keep his bargain, or to mean anything other than harm to this kingdom.'"

Merlin's face fell at that, and Gaius noticing it looked at Gwaine in frustration. He had deliberately not used Arthur's words when recounting the information to his nephew. "You can't remember the critical words of a vision, but that you remember word for word!" he exclaimed at the knight.

"What?" Gwaine protested, confused as to what he'd done wrong.

Merlin was shaking his head incredulously. "Will magic never be accepted here?" he muttered. "After everything I've done, is Arthur ever going to feel anything other that hatred in his heart for those who practice sorcery?"

"My boy," Gaius went up to him. "This is a very specific situation and I don't think anyone in this room would be able to deny the fact that Alvarr is evil, or that he's used his magic not to help but to harm others. I think in light of that Arthur's quite justified in his statement."

Merlin put his hands on Gaius' arms. "But that's not what he said, Gaius," he protested. "You have magic, are you seriously telling me that you don't feel personally targeted when Arthur says something like 'I will never trust a sorcerer to mean anything other than harm to this kingdom'."

"You're a sorcerer!" Gwaine exclaimed from beside them, and Merlin suddenly realised that he'd just outed Gaius.

He looked at him apologetically. "Sorry," he whispered.

Gaius rolled his eyes. It clearly made not difference to him. "Arthur wasn't talking about you, Merlin," he said gently. "He doesn't know about you. And when you tell him, he'll feel differently about magic. He'll realise what a force for good it can be. You have to believe that."

But Merlin was unconvinced. "I don't know what to believe any more," he said.

There was a moment of silence between them.

Then Gwaine said again: "You're a sorcerer?" causing them both to turn and look at him.

Gaius raised his chin just a fraction, and Merlin thought he'd never seen his uncle look prouder. "Yes," he said.

Gwaine blew out an incredulous breath, and laughed. "Well," he said. "If you boys have any other revelations you'd like to make, now's probably the time."

Merlin considered.

"I'm a dragon lord," he said, shrugging.

"You're a what!" Gwaine's exclamation could probably have been heard in the kitchens.

"Anyway, moving on," Gaius said quickly. "We need to decide what we're going to do about the immediate situation." he ignored Gwaine as he made small incredulous fish noises in the background. "Merlin, I think Arthur's right and you should stay here until we find a way to control your visions." Merlin opened his mouth to protest, but Gaius barrelled right over him. "With Arthur preparing for war, he's going to be distracted anyway. The last thing he needs when he's worrying about magical influences is his trusted servant going into trances in front of everyone and spouting prophetic verse before falling face first to the ground."

Merlin was aghast. "But he needs me, Gaius! Now more than ever. If there's a magical threat against Camelot, that's kind of what I'm good at."

"Perhaps, but there's no reason why you can't be just as good at it from here as from the council chambers. Don't let this be a matter of pride."

"It's not!" Merlin protested. "But how am I supposed to protect Arthur when I don't know where he is?"

"Well, we'll just have to figure something out. Gwaine," he said, turning to the knight, who was still looking like someone had just told him that from next Tuesday, the sky was going to turn pink. "We'll need you to act as a sort of liaison between Merlin and Arthur. Can we count on you to let us know what the prince is planning at every stage?"

Gwaine looked between them. "You're a dragon lord?" was all he could say.

Gaius nodded. "I think we'll take that as a yes," he said, turning back to Merlin. "Now," he said. "I suggest we get on and do some research into just what this great darkness could be that your subconscious mind keeps trying to warn us about. Maybe a spot of reading will help keep us both us both out of trouble."

After the council meeting, Arthur found himself in one of those situations where he couldn't actually remember much of what he'd said. That was slightly worrying given the fact that he'd been ordering the defence of his kingdom, and he spent the short journey back to his room from the council chambers, berating himself for once again being distracted.

When in his room, he took off his sword belt, and threw it and the sword attached to it, angrily onto the table, before marching over to his window and gazing down into the courtyard below. Oddly, he'd somehow expected the world to look different, for people to be acting strangely, for there to be a air of doom and disaster hanging over his subjects. But all looked normal. In some ways it was a comfort, but he also found it isolating. How could his world have altered so much and yet for everybody else, today was just the same as yesterday? How could the building blocks that made up the certainty of his existence, have come crashing down so swiftly and had no impact at all on the people and places that were so important in his life?

And how could he have allowed this to happen?

A sorcerer in Camelot. And not just in Camelot but within his very chambers every day, working with him, helping him, laughing with him, hearing his secrets, his fears, those things that he'd said to no one else. He'd trusted his servant as he would a close friend, a brother almost. He'd risked much to save his life.

But then, he thought, hadn't Merlin done the same for him? Alvarr's words washed over him in the silence, this is a man who will serve you for all time.

He sighed. What the hell was he supposed to do? The violent anger he'd felt on finding out that Merlin had magic was beginning to fade, no matter how hard he tried to hold onto it. He wasn't daft after all. He knew Camelot's laws and it didn't take a genius to figure out why Merlin had never told him of his powers. It would have meant risking everything, his very life, and putting on Arthur a trust that the prince wasn't actually sure he deserved. After all, would he have turned Merlin in? Would he have turned him away? Would he have killed him himself for treason and betrayal?

He honestly didn't know, and five years of friendship at the end of the day, could be crushed in a single heartbeat; the drop of an axe.

And Camelot it seemed was somewhat larger than he'd ever imagined – that is if Alvarr were to be believed when he talked of the books that had been written about deeds not yet done. Perhaps what he was striving for here, as he walked his path, and followed where destiny led, was a greatness he'd never thought of.

Humans are too small to imagine themselves the centre of everything, creatures of greatness. But in that one instant, Arthur saw himself as a shining light, a noble king, a name that would be remembered for all time. It was overwhelming, almost too much for his mind to take. But then he shrank back quickly and was just Arthur again, a young man with a problem, a lot of people to protect, and a pounding headache from lack of sleep.

He sighed again. He was just going to have to do this, get over his own prejudices, accept his fate, and acknowledge that his kingdom would probably not be standing without the help of magic, banned though it had been for over 20 years. He was not his father, and though he could not, would not, go against Uther while he lived, and challenge the laws against sorcery, he could perhaps allow his own mind to soften against it. What other choice did he have?

But Morgana.

His sister, and the evil she could bring upon them all, troubled him. He spent the next few hours with papers scattered around him trying to strategise as to what she was planning, and what he could do to thwart her. He'd left Sir Leon to organise the knights, and knew that several patrols had left that afternoon to scout and take warnings to the outlying villages. And from the heightened noise from the courtyard, he supposed that those warnings were bringing in refugees. They'd better look to their food supplies as well – heaven help them if this turned into a long siege.

In the late afternoon, he visited his father to explain what was happening, though to be honest, he was unsure how much of it went in. Uther had been intent on some book or other when his son came in, and he barely looked up from it through the whole conversation.

Despondent, Arthur returned to his room. A part of him, the little boy part, wished that the father he'd grown up with could still be there at his side, fighting with him, advising him, leading him. But the part of Arthur that was already king in everything but name, knew that he had to throw off all such thoughts. This was his kingdom now, and he would defend it on his own.

There was a meal sitting waiting for him when he returned to his room, though he'd seen no one bring it. His papers were tidied as well, and the room looked generally cleaner. It made him think briefly of Merlin, even though his friend hadn't been cleaning his room for quite some time – though he had still been bringing him meals, which they'd mostly eaten together. He considered going to see him, talking to him, asking his advice as had become his wont these past few months. But he shook that thought off. He wasn't quite there yet. Merlin's lies, and the truths of his existence, were going to take a little bit more time to settle in.

He ate, quickly, without thinking, without barely tasting, planning a further council meeting for that evening to hear the updates from the patrols, the readiness of their defences, and the situation with the refugees.

He had all but finished, when a sudden movement by the window made him turn his head sharply. There was nothing there. Frowning, and reaching for his sword, Arthur got to his feet, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks, or if all he'd seen was the wind catching his curtains, as the window was indeed open allowing in trickles of cooling evening air. But he remained on guard as he crossed the room, nerves stretched, and so he almost jumped out of his skin when a large cat launched itself from the shadows and landed lightly on top of his bed.

"What that…?" he yelled in surprise, causing the cat to flinch, though it still settled itself easily enough, and sat, its tail neatly wrapping itself around its paws, the end twitching, and looked directly at Arthur.

Arthur opened his mouth to yell for Merlin, but corrected himself smartly, remembering that his servant would not be lurking anywhere nearby.

He hated cats, and certainly didn't want one in his room. He started to walk towards the bed with intent, and was already reaching out his free hand to catch the animal by the scruff of the neck, when it did something that made him stop dead.

It spoke.

"Arthur Pendragon," it said, in a voice that was really rather like what you might imagine a cat would sound like if it spoke. "Have you considered well my offer?"

Arthur's eyes widened. Sorcery.

"Alvarr?" he demanded.

The cat closed its yellow eyes and inclined its head to the side. It wasn't a yes or a no. Arthur could not even begin to imagine whether this was the sorcerer himself, or whether he had magicked an innocent animal to do his bidding. Not that cats were terribly innocent, Arthur thought, they always seemed to be up to something.

"I am here as a messenger as promised, the cat said, opening its eyes again. "Soon, night will be falling, and the time set for answering this bargain will be gone."

Arthur regarded it disdainfully, his shock fading fast as he realised the importance of the situation. It was, after all, something that had been troubling his mind since Alvarr had suggested the bargain to him the previous day. And again the choices rushed through him in a numbing blur.

Was the safety of his kingdom worth sacrificing one man? Would he do it if it were a stranger to him, if it were a criminal, someone he hated? He thought of Gwen, of his father, of his knights, of all these innocent people that he was condemning to war and possible death. And all he had to do was give up one person. One person who had lied to him from the day they had met, who had never been honest about what he truly was.

And who had always been his friend, protected him; kept him from harm.

He shut his eyes. Could you ever with good heart, make such a sacrifice? Did it make him less of a king that he could not?

He opened his eyes. "My answer is the same as before," he said. "I will not give up Merlin to you."

The cat seemed to smile in a very Alvarr-like way. "You are as great a prince as they say," it said in a rather patronising tone. "But you will soon find your high ideals trampled under foot."

From the keep, at that very instant, came the sound of the warning bell, ringing out stark in the evening air. Arthur, in confusion, glanced meaninglessly at the window, and then questioningly back at the cat.

"That will be Morgana's army sighted," the animal said, getting to its feet. "Having crossed Camelot's borders. The advance parties are less than two hours from the citadel."

Arthur raised his sword furiously. "You said we had two days!" he shouted.

The cat appeared to shrug nonchalantly. "I may have lied," it responded

But Arthur barely heard. He was already running from the room.

TBC