When he had been a child, Merlin believed himself to be a monster. He had listened to the propaganda of fear relating to magic which had come from Camelot; there had always been foolish, ignorant people who believed magic was evil and that it was destructive and all traces of it and its knowledge and those who practiced it should be killed.

But Uther's Great Purge took it all to a whole new level.

Merlin had been born and raised in a small, insignificant portion of the Five Kingdoms and the Great Purge was still being waged; stories of sorcerers and Druids being led to the pyres continued to circulate; rumours of olde places of magical worship being gutted and destroyed, with many a druid camp being destroyed by Camelot's knights rebounded.

While he had been excited at the prospect of learning about his powers when his control over them was still shoddy even though Merlin had an instinctive need to use it, going to Camelot to meet Gaius was dangerous; while many had derided him for his naivete and occasional clumsiness, and his stupidity, Merlin was smart enough to know how dangerous it was. Indeed, when he had arrived, Merlin had gotten his first taster of what would happen should anyone discover his powers.

A man was executed.

Once that happened, more than once Merlin had seen many people being accused by Uther and other people in Camelot's kingdom of being magical and then being killed. But Merlin had saved them. He had gotten many wake-up calls over the years, and he had helped several people like him, knowing it could very well be him about to be killed.

Discovering he was meant to be protecting Arthur was something he hadn't expected; when he had first met Arthur Pendragon, Merlin wished he could have used his magic, even uncontrolled by his later standards, to fight back and put the prince in his place. Saving sorcerers and druids behind Arthur's back was even more satisfying.

Merlin jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned and smiled. "You startled me," he said.

"Sorry," Morgana apologised before she looked up at him softly. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Merlin nodded, admiring her in her peasant's garb. For what they needed to do, it was too dangerous for her to go off in her unofficial princess guise; as a peasant, Morgana would be too noticeable, and she would likely be caught. A peasant was less noticeable. While she didn't like the clothes that much, Morgana was blessed with more common sense than Arthur.

Morgana nodded, waving her hand towards the door. When he had disobeyed the Great Dragon and Gaius and taken off the enchanted necklace given to her by Morgause, Morgana and he had talked and he'd told her about his past and how he had feared he was a monster. After that Morgana had helped him get away, so they could learn magic, and after they'd met the Great Dragon, who hadn't been impressed with Morgana's knowledge of his identity, he had mellowed out.

To say Morgana was stunned by the news she could be a danger to Arthur, and the kingdom, was an understatement and she was looking for a way of persuading Morgause to be an ally, not an enemy.

The two sorcerers made their way down to the dungeons, using their magic to get past the guards; it was painfully pathetic, really with how easy it was to get to the dungeons in a kingdom where magic was hated and feared, everyone was just really, really bad at recognising it.

The latest victim of Uther's never-ending massacre was a nervous-looking man with long, lank hair. He was trying to carve a rune into the wall. Merlin waited until he was sure he and Morgana were alone before he stepped in. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, my friend."

The man jumped back. "W-Who are you?" He stuttered.

Merlin didn't answer, he used his magic to speak for him. His eyes glowed gold and the lock clicked.

"Y-you're a sorcerer?"

"Yes," Merlin had learnt the hard way the less people knew he was a warlock, the better. "And we've come to take you away."

"Who's we?" Merlin sighed at his suspicious tone, but he guessed he couldn't be that surprised.

"Me," Morgana stepped into the light.

The man stepped back. "Aren't you-?"

"Yes, I just hope you keep it quiet," Morgana said, pushing power into her eyes to intimidate the man.

"Oh, definitely," the man said.

"Come on, we need to get out now," Merlin said impatiently. As they walked out of the castle, Merlin and Morgana got his story. His name was Nestor. He had been arrested for practicing runes, while at the same time, he was caught with several potions.

"What kind of runes?" Merlin asked; he knew enough of runes to know they can be both wondrous and beautiful. If Nestor made some kind of mistake then the damage could be incalculable.

"Healing runes, mostly. I was trying to help someone who'd gotten ill and someone else realised I was practicing magic and they raised the alarm. The knights caught me but I couldn't fight back; my mother died when I was young, and she taught me some basic magical arts but I always kept away from magic although I continued using runes and potions," Nestor said.

Merlin knew how he felt, and a glance at Morgana, who was listening, told him she was thinking the same thing. Learning how to be a sorcerer was dangerous these days. It made sense that some sorcerers didn't have time to teach their children how to use their magic, and while they might have left some knowledge the trauma of what happened to them would have made them not bother to look further.

Merlin and Morgana could both see that Nestor was too broken by the experiences of what happened to his family, and knew he would likely never recover from it, but at least he was using his powers for good.