"So you met a sorcerer and you let him get away,"Uther said and he sounded terribly angry.

"Yes father, but he only announced himself as a sorcerer when he was on the Griffin," Arthur tried, but Uther slammed his cup from the table. In the time the cup needed to bounce against the wall, he grabbed Arthur's coat and pulled him close to his face.

"Listen my son, sorcerers do not have a sign on them that says they are sorcerers. But if one had a...Griffin as a comrade, you can expect he is no ordinary human."

"Yes father, that was my mistake," Arthur said and he sounded like a dog that was being punished by his master. "I will not make that mistake again."

"You will not," Uther said. "Tonight you will ride out with the knights of Camelot. Go to Cranfield. It is a village that has been under attack from bandits for some time now. Normally I cannot send any men so far away in our kingdom, but my guess is that Luke or whatever you call him will also come there. You will wait until he is in battle before you attack him. Take him withyou to Camelot. He will be executed here."

What! No! Luke was not a bad sorcerer! Why did Uther wanted to sentence him to death? He did a few steps forward to speak up his mind, but Gaius pulled him back at the last second. Uther however had seen him and he motioned he had to come closer.

"You obviously want to say something, so say it," he said impatiently.

"Well uhm, I ..."

"Merlin wants to go with me tonight,"Arthur finished his sentence for him and he kicked his leg so he would shut up. Ouch! That hurted. Arthur could be an idiot sometimes, but his strenght was nothing to joke about.

"Ouch, I mean eh, yes, I would like to go with Arthur," he said quickly before Arthur would kick him again.

Uther sighed heavily and walked back to his chair. "I cannot believe you have such a...simpleton as your servant."

"Yes father, he is a simpleton," Arthur said without any hesitation and he casted the prince an evil glance. "But...he can take care of the horses while we ambush Luke."

"Fine, do as you wish. As long as you bring that sorcerer back. If you can't take him back alive, kill him and take him with you. I wish to look upon the faces of my enemies so I will not forget them."

"Yes father," Arthur said.

"You complete fool!" Arthur yelled as soon as he had closed the doors from his chambers, leaving just the two of them. "Why would you want to go against my father?! Do you wish to be executed as well? Defending a sorcerer!"

"Ehm, no. I just wanted to..."

"No Merlin, keep your arguments to yourself," Arthur said and he sighed in the exact same way his father did minutes ago before he sat down in his chair by the fire. "Listen, I don't know Luke. I have no idea what kind of a person he is. However, he is a sorcerer. You simply can't ignore that."

"I told you Luke is not a bad sorcerer," he said.

Why did Arthur turn into his father when he spoke about sorcerers? He was a complete copy of the current king. Did the dragon make a mistake when he spoke about the future king who would bring magic back to Camelot? Maybe it was a different king. The future-king-to-be who was in front of him right now hated something he did not know anything about, but still refused to think otherwise.

"Merlin? Merlin!"

"Eh? What? Did you say something Arthur?" He saw Arthur look angry again and knew he had missed something important.

"I told you to ready the horses," he said and he gestured in the direction of the door. "All of them need to be ready so we can leave right after dinner. I will take five knights with me, so make sure you saddle seven horses. You can count to seven right?"

"Yes Arthur, I can even count further than that," he said in a bit sarcastic tone of voice. Then he suddenly realized something. "Wait. If I have to do the horses now, when do I get to eat?"

"Is that my problem?" Arthur said and he waved him away. "You figure something out yourself. Make sure the horses are ready right after dinner."

"Yes Arthur," he sighed before he closed the door behind him.

"Can you believe it?" he said annoyed when he walked around in circles in the living room. Gaius was making something that he was supposed to eat while he had to ready the horses at the same time.

"I am supposed to believe what exactly?" Gaius said in his usual, undisturbed voice while he put two plates on the table.

"Arthur! I have to ready seven horses! Seven! And they have to be ready right after he is done eating! Then I asked, I asked 'Arthur, when am I supposed to eat?' and he looked at me like I was offending him! He said I had to figure something our myself. How am I supposed to do that? How can I saddle horses and eat at the same time?"

"Well," Gaius said hesitant when he put some soup on his plate. "I do not want to encourage you to use your powers too much but...you are a sorcerer after all."

"Right!" he said happy. That was right, he was a sorcerer! He could do tons of things at the same time!

"Merlin," Gaius said and the serious tone in his voice made him pay attention immediately. "Don't do anything rash tonight."

"What are you talking about?" he said in a silly voice but a look from Gaius made him quickly swallow a big chunck of bread.

While he was still choking on it Gaius said: "You know what I mean Merlin. The boy you talked to me about, that Luke, is a sorcerer. Although you and him are friends I would advise you to stay away from him tonight. If you meddle in a conflict between Luke and Arthur...

"I won't," he said hastly and he got up after he finished his soup.

"Merlin, remember that it is your destiny to help Arthur, to keep him safe. You can't do that if you openly side with a sorcerer. And do not forget that Luke is a sorcerer as well; he has means to escape Arthur and his knights."

"Yes Gaius, I know. I will stay with the horses," he said and he ran away before Gaius would start a new preach about his responsibilities.

"Yeah, yeah, my destiny huh," he sighed when he looked at the horses in front of him. Seven saddles were put on their backs at the same time, as well as the bags and halters.

"Merlin! Where are the horses!" The sound of Arthur's yelling got him back to reality and he took the horses outside.

"Here are they Arthur, ready to go," he said and smiled. Arthur gave him one of his famous - you're slow- glares before he put his foot in the stirrup and wanted to pull himself up, but the saddle fell from his horse, which almost caused him to fall on his butt.

"Rea-dy-to-go huh?" Arthur said with a fake smile and he hit him so hard on his back he did a few steps forward to Arthur'shorse. "Does this look like ready to go to you?"

"Ehm, no," he said hastly and he quickly put the saddle back on the horse.

"Never mind, I'll do this myself," Arthur said and he pushed him aside. "You make sure none of the other saddles are loose."

"Right." He quickly checked all the saddles, but they were all finished. "It looks like it was only your saddle that I forgot to close," he reported to Arthur, who was on his horse already. A glare from Arthur made him smile again and go to his horse. Maybe he shouldn't have said that...

"Let's go,"Arthur said and he patted his horse on the neck so it would start walking.

"I don't see any bandits," he whispered while he glared through the bushes.

"Of course not you idiot," Arthur sighed. "Why would they walk to the lights of the village and announce that they are bandits? They will wait in the darkness for a certain time before they attack. And why aren't you with the horses?"

"I eh, I wanted to see what the bandits look like," he lied. Not very succesful; the look on Arthur's face said he didn't believe a word he was saying.

"Listen Merlin, we are here to arrest Luke, understood? If I see you warning him you are in trouble."

"I wasn't planning anything of the sort," he said and he shook his head so strongly the leaves above his head brustled.

"Keep-your-head-down!" Arthur hissed and he pushed him on the ground so his face was in the dirt. Thanks a bunch Arthur,really, he thought while he slowly brushed the dirt from his face. Screams in the village made him look up.

"There they come," Arthur whispered and he made some gestures to the knights that were with him. They nodded and spread out in all directions without talking.

"We should help them," he said when he saw an old man getting knocked down because he wasn't fast enough.

"We can't," Arthur said and although he tried to sound resolute, there was hesitation in his voice. "We are here to capture Luke, not to help the people."

"That's ridiculous!" he said angry. "You are the future king of Camelot. Isn't he supposed to protect his people? You're just watching as those bandits beat them up!"

"I know!" Arthur hissed and he was quiet for a moment, in which he eagerly waited for Arthur's decision. What would he decide? Would he follow his fathers orders or would he wait and look how his people were hit and robbed? "I can't face this any longer," Arthur finally said and he whistled. From two sides the knights of Camelot ran from the bushes into the village and Arthur jumped after them. Yes! He didn't listen to his father! He would save the people instead!

He ran after Arthur as well and grabbed the sword from his belt. He was not a strong fighter, but if he 'changed' hissurroundings a bit he would have an advantage. One of the bandits noticed him and attacked him with a big hammer, thatwould have surely broken a few bones if he hadn't dodged it in time. He ran to the stables of the village, that were empty because the bandits had released the horses a few minutes earlier. He ran to the end of the stables and turned around, just as the bandit stomped inside, his hammer in the air, ready to smash him to pieces. The bandit closed the door behind him and smiled his crooked teeth bare.

He looked at the floor behind the bandit and saw a saddle. He concentrated and spread his fingers next to his body so the bandit wouldn't notice. "Unheran achtung bragdan," he whispered and the saddle came to him, sliding on the floor and kocking the bandit on his back when he tripped over it. "Unheran achtung bragdan," he said and this time he pointed to a heavy-looking bucket that stood on a plank a few metres above the bandits head. The bucket dropped on the bandit's head, just as he sat up. While the man stood up and tried his best to remove the bucket from his head, he waited until the bandit was in front of the door before he pointed to it. "Onstyrian, onbregdan!," he whispered and the door opened fast when he waved his hand quickly. The door hit the bandit hard and he fell on the ground again. When he was sure the bandit wasn't moving anymore he ran outside.

It was chaos outside. The people from the village were trying to get away from the bandits, the bandits were plunderingeverything they could get their hands on and the knights of Camelot were trying to fight against each and every one of them. He didn't see Arthur and that worried him. Where was he? He saw another bandit trying to hit a woman and let a ladder fall on his head so she could ran away. Ah, there he was. Arthur was fighting with a bandit on his horse. Or at least he was. Arthur unhorsed him by knocking him from his saddle, but the bandit was quick to get on his feet again. However, Arthur didn't look like he needed any help. Better yet, he would get angry if someone would help him. Sometimes...

"Look out!" a man in the doorway of a house suddenly screamed and to his surprise it was meant for him. Before he could turn around however he felt the hammer in his stomach. The blow was so strong it blew him against a wall a for a moment all he could see were stars.

"Merlin!" He heard Arthur shout, but he knew Arthur was too far away. Even if he had beaten that other bandit, this one was too close to him. And he wasn't looking too happy either. That bucket must've hurted. He tried to get up on his feet, but a rush of pain told him that wasn't going to work. A few ribs had to be broken at least. He moaned in pain and tried to hold his swordin from of him, but his hand was shaking and the bandit only laughed. He raised his hammer again and he focused. He needed to use magic or else he was going to die.

"Merlin! Hold on, I'm coming!" Arthur yelled.

No! Don't come! He tried to see where Arthur was, but his vision was blurry. Arthur couldn't see him use magic or he would have to leave Camelot. But if he didn't his life would be over! He just needed to scare the bandit away. He noticed a burning plank next to him, probably from one of the houses that the bandits set on fire. He could use that. "Lyfte...Lyfte ic þe in balwen ac forhienan se wideor!" he whispered with all his strenght and the fire shot from the burning plank to the bandit, putting his cloak on fire. He let his hammer drop on the floor and looked scared out of his mind before he ran away.

"Merlin, what happened to you?" The voice of Arthur seemed to come from miles away.

"I...I got hit...got hit by that hammer," he panted, not sure if what he was saying was actually coming out of his mouth. Maybe he only said the words in his mind.

"I can see that," Arthur replied in cool voice. "We can bring you back to Gaius, he will fix you up. You've probably only broken a few bones or something, nothing to worry about."

Yeah right, easy for you to say, he thought but he couldn't find the strenght to say it out loud.

"What I meant is..." Arthur said hesitant, "why did that fire suddenly burst and attack the bandit? It couldn't have been a natural thing. It looked like magic. Did you do that?"

So he'd seen it.