(Author's Note: Still don't own Merlin or the Arthurian Legend. Ok we finally find out some of what Merlin did while he was gone.)

Part 5 No Pawns For A Broken King

{Merlin's POV}

Finally the day had ended. I was sore everywhere. I had fought three fights and won them all. The last one had been close but I had walked away with nothing but a scratch on my upper arm.

Lancelot knew, Gwaine must have let something slip but that was ok I might need their help. So with the cut as my excuse I went to Gaius knowing that Gwaine would be there and hoping that Lancelot would be too.

They were there and Gaius was pouring over the book I had brought back with me.

"Merlin! Good I was just about to send Gwaine to get you." Gaius said looking up as I closed the door. Lancelot looked almost skeptical.

"Is that really you?" I untied my neckerchief from the bottom of my face. His eyes widened.

"Wow. You look. . . Grown up." He finished lamely. I pouted a little.

"Come on! I don't look that different!" Gwaine laughed.

"Well the scruffy look is new for you. Doesn't really fit though." He smirked, I tried and failed not to smile.

"It's good to see you, but I have to ask. Where have you been?" Lancelot hadn't expected to see me again after what I had said and done last time we met.

"That doesn't matter right now. All that matters right now is that I'm back and Arthur's in danger." Gwaine and Lancelot raised their eyebrows at me. I sighed, sat down and began to explain.

"About a month ago I was in Allened's Kingdom tracking down a band of creatures called Shifters. They had been causing a lot of trouble all over and I had to stop them. I managed to hint down and kill all but one of them. He got to Allened before I could. Allened's got something against Camelot, always has, so he hired the shifter to kill Arthur. I managed to track him all the way here when I heard him planning to sign up for the tournament. But then I lost sight of him. He's changed his form again and I don't know who he is now." Gwaine gaped at me, Lancelot looked proud and Gaius had gone back to the book a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"We have to warn Arthur." Gwaine said pulling himself together.

"No. I won't have Allened succeed. He means this to start a war. Arthur doesn't need a war." Lancelot nodded at my pronouncement.

"Shifters are easy enough to get rid of once you manage to mind them." I said smiling. My staff could both reveal them and kill them.

"Yes if you have the right tools. And according to your book your new staff is one of those tools." I grinned sheepishly. Lancelot stood and patted me on the shoulder.

"You should get some rest. You'll need it for tomorrow's fights." I nodded and went back to the tavern. Once I was in my room I sighed and sat back on the bed. How would I do this? I had gotten so used to using magic over the past seven years that just going two days without it made me tense.

How could I stay in a place like Camelot? A place where, even though I had friends hell family, I could never accepted. I sighed and lay down staring up at the ceiling.

{Arthur's POV}

I tossed and turned, a nightmare haunting me. A familiar stranger stared at me eyes of burning blue fire gazing from under black unkempt hair. He stood there and I called out to him.

"Merlin."

He heard me; he turned and began to walk away.

"Wait."

I tried to follow but my feet were stuck. I looked down and saw faces, faces twisted in pain and rage. But worse than that was the liquid that bubbled up between the faces. Blood, bright crimson and strangely cold, I started to sink into it. I screamed out for help. Merlin just kept walking. I was up to my waist now.

"Please! Merlin."

A voice, Morgana's voice, rang through the black.

"You will feel everything your father has done! Every pain he has inflicted. It took me years to find this spell, but now that I have you will suffer and drown in the sins Uther left behind!" She laughed high and cold and suddenly I realized it couldn't be just a nightmare. I was dying, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Suddenly a warm familiar light washed over me and the liquid stopped rising. The figure in the distance that had been Merlin whirled and shifted, revealing its true face. It was Morgana. Her face was contorted in rage, confusion and undisguised fear.

"That's impossible! He vanished seven years ago! You can't be back. You disappeared. No. NO!" The panic in her voice was rising as the light grew brighter and the liquid began to dissolve. A voice that was so familiar and yet so foreign spoke from the light itself.

"No Morgana, I will never abandon Arthur. You should know that. I will always stand in your way. You will not harm Arthur." The voice spoke with more authority than Arthur himself could have used. But there was pity there as well. Morgana shrieked as the light touched her and dissolved.

I turned to find my rescuer had been standing behind me. He pulled me to my feet and smiled. I couldn't make out his face but I could see his eyes. Bright clear blue, like sapphires. Yet they glowed with a golden sheen, a magical sheen.

"Thank you." I said stunned. Maybe not all magic was bad. He had saved my life after all. And I felt that somehow I had known him for years. I couldn't quite make out his face. He raised his hand and placed it on my shoulder. In that same voice of a familiar stranger he spoke.

"Time to wake up Arthur."

I sat bolt upright in bed, sweating. I was sore from my waist down but not in serious pain. I looked down and saw that my waist was covered in bruises. That hadn't just been a dream. My shoulder was warm and the warmth spread down to my waist. The bruises faded and the soreness vanished. I sighed and looked over at Gwen.

She was sleeping peacefully. I stroked her hair and lay back down thinking. So Morgana was still alive. That could only mean trouble, yet that light and that boy had saved me. My guardian angel had returned once again to save me. I didn't sleep anymore that night.