"What are you talking about?" Merlin asked with mock naivety.

"Your magic, of course," Liam replied with a manic smile.

"My what?" Merlin knew it wouldn't be a hard sell that Liam was actually insane.

"Stop playing games! You know what I'm talking about! Do you really think I would just leave you here for Emrys to come and save while my magic shield and I were away?" Liam really did look insane right now, so all Merlin had to do was look completely bewildered. He gave a look to Arthur and saw that he had bought the idea that Liam was off his rocker rather than believe Merlin had magic.

"I had the bars enchanted to that if anyone tried to use magic to escape, or to help anyone escape, they would have a shock run through them. Kind of like being struck by lightning. Then, whatever spell they were trying to cast would rebound onto them. For example, if one tried to break the bars their leg might break. I wonder what you were trying to do that made you go insane." Liam trailed off into thoughtful silence while Merlin was honestly baffled now. Since when was he insane? He looked over to Arthur to share another bewildered look but was disconcerted when he saw Arthur looking at him with guilt plastered all over his face.

Arthur could barely stand to look at the look of complete confusion on his friend's face. First of all Liam had concocted some cock and bull story about Merlin being a sorcerer but then he had hit the nail on the head when he had finally let Merlin in on the fact that he had gone insane. Arthur could only imagine how hurt and confused Merlin must be right now. Imagine finding out you were actually mad.

"Now that we've established that you must be a sorcerer, we can move on to more pressing matters; like the location of Emrys," Arthur couldn't believe what was happening, this man actually thought that Merlin had magic and was somehow connected to this Emrys.

"You can't be serious!" Arthur shouted, making Liam take his eyes off Merlin for the first time in what seemed like eternity. "If Merlin is who you said he is, wouldn't he have told you sooner so that we weren't stuck in this place with him missing a toe?" This seemed to stump Liam for a while, until he exclaimed,

"How am I to know the mind of a mad sorcerer?" With that, he pulled out the same knife he had used to cut off Merlin's toe from the same boot he had used to break his nose, and held it up to Merlin's throat.

"Tell me where Emrys is," Liam ordered, his eyes glinting madly from the reflected light off the knife.

"I don't know," Merlin said with so much authority and dignity that Arthur couldn't help but be overwhelmed by pride at his friend's bravery.

Liam's face had darkened at this. He ripped off Merlin's tattered top, revealing his bruised and protruding ribs, and started to very slowly carve lines into the flesh on Merlin's chest. The blood dripped down Merlin's pale skin while Merlin tried to suppress any noises from escaping his throat or his body from flinching in pain. Arthur watch on in horrified silence, knowing there was nothing he could do for his friend, knowing how much pain he must be in despite his show of bravery. When Liam had carved into Merlin's chest to the extent that his whole torso was dripping in blood, he stopped.

"Tell me where Emrys is," he said again. Merlin just glared back at Liam.

"Fine. Neal, get me the cat-o-nine-tails,"

"No!" Arthur screamed fruitlessly. Liam was grinning with some sort of dark humour, even though he was clearly angry. While he was waiting he wiped the blood from the dagger across each of Merlin's cheeks, making small cuts where the knife's edges touched his skin. Suddenly, Liam grabbed Merlin's cut torso and pulled down hard, causing a nauseating pop to fill the room as Merlin's shoulders were both horrendously dislocated. Merlin screamed out loud this time, Arthur realised he was screaming as well.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Arthur called out to Liam who only gave Arthur the briefest of glances before turning back to admire his handiwork. Arthur studied Merlin and knew he would be in so much pain it was difficult to comprehend. Hanging by his wrists with both his shoulders dislocated, on top of everything else, was mind-blowing and now he was going to be whipped. Arthur felt sick to his stomach, and being a knight he had seen his fair share of horrors.

Neal handed the whip to Liam with slight hesitation, even he thought this was too far. Liam circled Merlin so that he stood at his back, before bringing down the whip with everything he had. Merlin let out a gut wrenching scream, which Arthur was sure would haunt him until his dying day. It seemed to echo in Arthur's head long after it had stopped. Blood and flesh were ripped from Merlin, splattering over Liam's smiling face.

"TELL ME!" Liam screamed. He was now completely deranged and Arthur thought this couldn't get any scarier until laughter started to fill the room. Merlin's laughter. Merlin, covered in his own blood and hanging from the ceiling, was laughing like a mad man; which, Arthur reminded himself, he was. Liam faltered; he didn't understand what was happening. He liked causing pain, not laughter.

"Why are you laughing?" Liam screamed. Merlin didn't respond, he just kept cackling madly. Liam looked just as confused as Merlin had done when he had been told he was insane.

"Where's Emrys?" Liam asked in what seemed like a desperate attempt to keep himself in control of the situation.

"Inside. Inside. Inside." Merlin stopped laughing to repeat the word over and over. Arthur could barely take in what was happening, it was too surreal.

"Inside?" Liam asked, trying to make reason out of a mad man's insanity. Merlin had started to resume his head rolling, which was the very picture of insanity, and Liam decided that there was no way to get a reasonable answer out of someone who had gone completely mad. He unchained Merlin from the roof, making him let out a howl of pain and pass out. Arthur was quite grateful for this as it meant Merlin was no longer in any pain. Merlin was thrown back in with Arthur, who rushed over to help him. After Liam had locked them back up with his customary bang, he said with displeasure,

"It's quite clear neither of you know anything about Emrys. I will just have to go with the less profitable option of handing you over to the Lady Morgana without that information. She will be here in a few hours. I'd make my peace if I were you." He then turned to storm out of the room, something which became less intimidating and more amusing each time he did it.

Arthur looked down at his barely recognisable friend. He was covered in blood and what you could see of him was so skinny that it barely seemed possible. He looked down at his own wrists and realised that he was probably that skinny too. Arthur first decided to pop Merlin's shoulders back into place while he was unconscious, a feat easier said than done. While Arthur had managed the first one without a hitch, after pushing the second shoulder back into place Merlin woke up, screaming. He was inconsolable, screaming and yelling, confused and scared. Arthur tried to comfort him and lucky for him after only a minute or so Merlin fell back into unconsciousness.

Arthur then cleaned up the blood on Merlin's front, finding that despite the total covering of blood, only Merlin's chest had knife wounds and the knife didn't seem to have punctured a lung. The wounds continued to bleed, but with no way to stop it all Arthur could do was try and keep it clean. With that small triumph, Arthur moved around to fix up Merlin's back. There was only one wound, but it covered the entire length of Merlin's back, down to his backside. His whole back was covered in spattered blood and flesh and after Arthur had cleaned away as much blood as he could he found an awful looking jagged wound, with chunks of flesh missing along its length. It also continued to bleed and, deciding that this wound was worse than those on his front, Arthur removed his shirt and held it to Merlin's back. Arthur knew deep down that his attempts were fruitless. If Merlin even managed to survive until Morgana arrived he would be killed anyway. A part of Arthur felt guilty and selfish for trying to keep Merlin alive, it would have been a mercy to let him slip away, but Arthur needed him.

Merlin awoke yet again a while later. He let out a small groan but didn't seem capable of doing anything else. Arthur tried to talk to him, to ask him if he was alright, but Merlin wasn't there. It was that strange Merlin Arthur had grown to put up with while it inhabited his friend. He couldn't seem to let himself think of this crazy Merlin as the same person who was his best friend. Arthur tried to pull his shirt off Merlin's wound, but the injury had started to heal to the fabric. Not wanting Merlin to bleed anymore, Arthur just left it there and recleaned the wounds on Merlin's front.

When Morgana arrived a few hours later, Merlin was awake and back to his normal self, lying still on his side, unmoved since he was first thrown back into the cell. Morgana took in the state of Merlin with a small smile but her eyes invariably met Arthur's.

"My dear brother, how nice to see you again," she was taking in the famished appearance of Arthur while Liam sauntered into the room.

"How long have you had them for exactly?" she asked accusingly.

"Just got them in here this morning," Liam lied with ease. Suddenly he was flung against the wall, held there by Morgana's magic.

"Liar," she stated, she knew.

"Please! My Lady, I wanted to try and extract any information they may have had about Emrys. I had heard rumours about your predictions about Emrys and Arthur. I knew you were offering a reward for anyone who turned Arthur over to you. I thought if I could provide you with the location of Emrys and Arthur then I would be richly rewarded." He looked at Morgana imploringly.

"You were wrong," she said calmly moving her hand as though to break his neck.

"Wait! The boy, Merlin, he has magic!" Morgana's eyes rounded at this ridiculous information as she snapped Liam's neck. Any relief Arthur felt at Liam's death was immediately quashed by his and Merlin's imminent and unavoidable deaths. Morgana had returned her attention to her brother,

"I suppose you know what happens how, don't you? I shall kill you, no wait, I'll kill Merlin first, then I will parade your body through Camelot as I murder every man, woman and child who ever declared allegiance to you. Of course I won't kill dear Guinevere until she has watched everyone else perish,"

While Morgana was rambling on about her evil schemes Merlin was becoming more and more angry. Anger as he had never known before was pulsing through his veins. His magic, which had been unrestricted since Liam's death, was building inside of him. Suddenly Merlin's magic quite literally exploded. A huge bang, which blasted everyone off their feet, blew up. Half the building nearest the boys was completely obliterated. Morgana and the two guards were unconscious or dead, the boys didn't know. Arthur, who was miraculously not hurt, took the opportunity to grab Merlin, who luckily was also not hurt, and make a run for it, Merlin safe in his arms.

Arthur could not believe their luck. Imagine Morgana's evil, unstable magic turning against her at a time like that! Merlin on the other had gone into such a state of complete shock at the fact he had just exposed his magic to both Arthur and Morgana that he barely felt his wounds ripping and pulling as Arthur carried him away from their prison at a run.

As Morgana came to, her magic propelling the debris off her body, she couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. Liam was right, Merlin had magic, but there was something else. No ordinary sorcerer could produce that much magic without casting some dark and complicated old magic and yet Merlin had done it without batting an eyelid. The conclusion that followed felt to Morgana as though she had always known, that it was fate.

Merlin was Emrys.

Shock! Horror! Thank you all again for your amazing reviews and for favouriting and following. I hope you liked this chapter too :)