After Arthur had left Morgana turned to Hunith "Please don't worry Arthur is not like his father, he will say nothing. Now come on let's have a hot drink together and then you are to rest."
Hunith looked at her mistress in surprise "You are both so kind, but please do as I ask and don't get involved no good will come of it"
"I think Arthur is right, so let's leave this for now and we will find somewhere better to discuss this, or at least lock the door. But like Arthur I need to think."
Morgana sent an order down to the kitchens for hot drinks and insisted Hunith share one with her. They spoke no more on the subject. Well after they had both fallen asleep Hunith was woken up her mistress was having another nightmare, the potion Gaius had provided clearly hadn't worked. Hunith got up and went to comfort the young woman.
About the same time Arthur left his chambers and headed for Gaius's rooms. When he got there Gaius stood up "I think it's time for you to meet someone, it will also give us a place where we cannot be overheard." Gaius looked at the Prince "I have watched you grow and change as you have got older, I have hopes for you and so I am about to trust you with things I never thought I would"
"I will not betray that trust provided it does not endanger Camelot" Arthur replied "Burt I need to know what this is all about"
The two men went silently down the corridors and descended the stairs where they found two guards sleeping "I have drugged their wine, they will suffer no ill effects" Gaius told Arthur. Not saying more he opened two large doors and lit a torch left in a holder. The two men descended a further flight of stairs until they reach a large cavern that Arthur didn't even know existed. Stopping on a platform at the bottom of the stairs Gaius called out "Kilgarrah I have bought a visitor."
Arthur jumped back as the Great Dragon landed on his normal rocky outcrop and looked down at the two men, "Ah the young Pendragon I wondered when you would bring him to me"
"You talk!" Arthur said in amazement
"Indeed I do young Princeling" Kilgarrah seemed to have a smile in his tone of voice "And yes I am a dragon, your father has not killed all of them"
Arthur turned to Gaius "Explain why you have brought me here?"
Gaius looked at the Prince "Because you need to know the truth and here is a good place to tell it, although some will be painful for you." Then Gaius turned to Kilgarrah "Uther had Merlin flogged today with a knotted whip, I have treated him but he is badly hurt. I'm sorry my old friend I didn't know it afterwards"
Kilgarrah threw back his head and roared as if in pain "He is but a boy, I cannot help him yet he has not yet grown into our connection, if ever I see Uther I will fry him alive"
"That's the King you're talking about, that's treason" Arthur protested "He may be hard but he is the King and does what he feels best for his people"
Kilgarrah looked down at Arthur "He does what is best for himself, hatred and grief have sent him mad. How can it be right to burn children and whip them?" Kilgarrah turned to Gaius "You are right he needs to know" Kilgarrah agreed "Only then can Uther be defeated, the people set free, and Albion can be united"
Gaius looked at the Prince in sympathy "It started before you were born, your mother was barren and your parents desperate for a child. So your father asked the then Court Sorceress Nimueh to help them. Nimueh warned your father that there would be a price to pay, to give life a life must be taken, to maintain the balance, but Uther insisted she do the magic. Your mother agreed, her brother tried to stop them but they wouldn't listen. Your father needed a heir. So when you were born your mother's life was lost." Gaius hesitated when he saw Arthur's face "She held you before she died and said she had no regrets. She loved you dearly Sire"
"Why was I never told this? that my father used magic!" Arthur demanded
"He swore us to secrecy, for the next four years he became more and bitterer, blaming Nimueh for what had happened, even though he had been warned. Balinor, your mother's brother, did his best to help Uther, even though his beloved sister had died. But after four years it became clear that your father was becoming more unstable. So one night just after his wife, my niece, had told Balinor she was pregnant he decided to take his wife way to safety, to her cousin's, then return. Balinor's wife was Hunith, as she packed a few items he went up to say goodnight to you as he always did, as they came down those steps behind you to get Kilgarrah your father killed Balinor. At the same time his knights chained Kilgarrah. When a dragon lord dies is when a dragon is at its weakest and your father knew that."
"I cannot believe my father ever allowed magic in his kingdom, what proof do you have?" Arthur demanded
"Young Princeling you are here, I am chained and my Lady Hunith is treated as a servant and her son as a slave. What more proof do you need" Kilgarrah roared.
Gaius decided to continue after all time was of the essence "Your father uses sorcerers now." Gaius pointed out. "Lady Hunith was arrested and put in the dungeons, Uther didn't wish to kill her, as Hunith's cousin is King Cenred. But then he discovered she was pregnant. As Balinor was a dragon lord so would the child be, now he was dead. When she gave birth I tried to get the baby out but substituting a still born, but your father was too shrewd, so for the next four years mother and child were left in the cell. In the meantime your father found out that the baby had some magic and he also wanted to control Merlin when he came into his dragonlord powers at puberty. He had already decided to get his men to invent the collars so he could control the most powerful sorcerers, he knew he would get attacked and he need magic users on his side."
Arthur looked at Gaius in horror "Four years in a cell with a baby! His own nephew"
Gaius continued without answering Arthur "Then My Lady Morgana arrived so your father decided to get Lady Hunith to look after her, teach her the ways of the court. But he told Hunith myself and the boy that we would never be allowed to converse, and that if we tried anything the other two would be killed. He then put a collar on the four year old Merlin and dragged him away from his mother. The rest you know"
"That is monstrous, I don't believe you!" Arthur shouted "It is my father you are talking about"
"Young Pendragon, you are not foolish, you may be young but you know that Gaius speaks the truth" Kilgarrah said with some sympathy. "You yourself are already questioning some of Uther's decisions and it is your destiny to help your other half, as it is his to help you. You are two sides of the same coin. Had Uther not murdered his friend Merlin would have come to you, but things have changed, you must help him first"
Arthur stood in silence trying to tale in what he had been told. "I remember a man, from when I was small, a big man with a beard"
"Balinor, he tried to give you the love that your father couldn't. Uther saw your mother whenever he looked at you, Hunith also spent many hours with you" Gaius said.
"What do you expect me to do? I am sixteen not yet considered a man, I cannot force my father hand" Arthur asked in exasperation.
Kilgarrah looked down at the Prince. "You are the Once and Future King, you will be the king that unites Albion but to do that you need Emrys, the one you call Merlin. If you don't help him now he will not be there for you. It may be years before you become king but you have to protect him, find a way to get Emrys under your protection until he can be free."
"So how do I do that?" Arthur asked in exasperation "Just give me the answer."
"You will know when the time comes but you must seize the opportunity you will be given. Listen to the witch" Kilgarrah flew off into the depths of the cave.
Arthur turned to Gaius "So what do I do!?"
"I don't know my boy. I am sorry dragons are creatures of old magic and seldom give clear advice. But you will have to wait for an opportunity and seize it"
Arthur looked at the physician "Why hasn't Cenred done anything?"
"I doubt he cares, if your father had killed Hunith he may have been forced to do something, but he is a selfish man with his own problems. I fear Merlin nor Hunith will get help from that quarter, I myself am old but I do want to see then safe before I die. I to, was a friend of the Kings once, but that has long since passed. Uther has allowed me to live for two reasons, one to help control Hunith and Merlin and two because I am the best physician in Camelot. I ask you to be careful Sire, your father is a volatile man. Don't risk yourself, I have known you all your life and I am proud of the man you are becoming. You are not your father. But at the same time if you can help my family I will be forever in your debt"
"You're my family as well it seems, I have more family than I knew, an Aunty and cousin as well as you. I will do my best to help you."
"Then remember what Kilgarrah told you take the opportunity when it comes, but please don't force anything. Be patient. Come we must return before the guards wake."
Arthur grabbed Gaius's arm "One thing Merlin…..will be recover from the whipping?"
Gaius looked sad "I hope so Sire, but he is a small boy for his age and has hardly any flesh on his frame. He is in a great deal of pain but he has two special friends among the sorcerers they will care for him."
The older man and the teenager went back up the steps each deep in thought, one worried for his family and the other scared about what he had found out and how he could put things right.