Hey guys I can't believe how many people have started to read this again even though I had writers block for so long. thank you all who have read it and reviewed I really appreciate it. This chapter is going to fun we get to hear some stories of what Merlin did before he came to Camelot. the next chapter has a kicker that is a continuations of this chapter until a little later in the chapter so I hope you enjoy that one too. I am sorry about the cliff hanger but I have to do something to keep you guys coming back for more don't I lol I am just kidding. Well enjoy and please review it really makes my day let the show begin.

Chapter 9

Merlin was up most of the night but he had placed spells around the camp that would warn him if anyone came within a ten minutes from the camp. Merlin finally fell asleep about two hours before dawn and woke right as the sun rose. He decided to let Arthur sleep for a few more minutes as Merlin packed up camp and used his magic to erase any sign of their camp so that if anyone came this way which Merlin had no doubt they would they would not know that Arthur and Merlin had been there.

"Arthur, Arthur wake up it time to go." Arthur jolted awake in a panic Merlin could tell that Arthur was thinking that he was still with Ailya "Arthur, Arthur it's alright it me Merlin," Merlin could see Arthur starting to realize where he was "Arthur your safe Ailya is gone your alright." Arthur's was finally calm but his breathing was still a little fast but it was slowing down Merlin put a comforting arm around his brother saying "Arthur it alright but we have to go now it is almost a four day ride home." Arthur noticed that the sun was rising and said "Why did you not wake me earlier you said you were taking first watch not the whole night." Merlin smiled at Arthur saying "Arthur you needed all the rest you could get. After what you went through I only said I would take first watch so that you would sleep and not feel obligated to do anything." "Merlin you needed rest too you traveled for three days to find me and then you fought her and won and then on top of that you expended a lot of energy to get me out of there and healed my wounds once we got here. But now you did not get any rest at all because of me." Arthur felt terrible but Merlin knew how to put his worries to rest "Arthur I did get a few hours sleep I put a few spells around the camp that would warn me and wake me if anyone came anywhere within ten minutes of the camp but I did stay up most of the night watching over you." Arthur shook his head asking "Watching over me, why?" "Arthur you sleep was very fitful the only thing that seemed to help you sleep was me talking to you in any way. Most of the night I had a mental connection with you I made one using my magic just like I did when you fist times you insulted me in your thoughts saying that I had no place in Camelot and should go back to the hole I came from. I saw what you were dreaming about, you were reliving everything that Ailya did to you and the only thing that seemed to stop the dreams and help you sleep was for me to talk to you with that bond and for me to let you fell my thoughts and emotions through that bond so you knew that I was real and that I was here and that you were safe. Then you would sleep fine for a few hours but I would keep the contact but then it would happen all over again. You finally started to get some real sleep about two hours before dawn so finally went to sleep around that time I have only been up for the last few minutes. I packed up the camp and erased any evidence of us being here because Ailya had Mercenaries that she hired to try and keep me from finding you. I listened in on them for a short time on my way here. They receive orders from her every day two hours after dawn and they were told if they did not receive their orders they were to go to that a cave and see if everything was alright. If they found her dead they were to hunt us down. But there was a very large gap in her reasoning, she thought that I would take back the same way I came when I came to find you which so far I have but after we leave here I plan on taking you a different way and Ailya does not know these forests well she only knows certain routes. One of the ones she does not know about is close by but leads further away so we can get home hopefully without any problems." Arthur was nodding but then asked "Why was I reliving that, that has never happened to me before no matter what I have been through so why would it happen now?" "Magical torture does not just leave physical injuries Arthur. Yes regular torture does leave some emotional injury but magical torture can do much worse I would know our uncle disappeared for about two days when I was about eight he told me all about what happened when I was about twelve when I could fully understand. When she used your mind against you and also conjured that image of me that was used to mess with your mind and that left very bad emotional injury and at the same time she made sure that if you ever did escape that whatever she did to you would replay in your mind whenever you fell asleep or let your guard down. What she did not know though is that if you had a strong enough bond with someone who you cared about that that person would be able to help you. We are brothers and even though we have only been in each other's lives for a short while we already have that bond were we would risk our life the other and give our life for the other if we have to. With me having magic I can even be there in your mind while you sleep to help you through it. It will pass over the next few days but magical torture can leave much worse emotional and physical marks than any form of regular torture could ever do. But I will help you through all of it I have already healed the physical marks that her magic left but the emotional ones will take a few days but I will be there every step of the way. Maybe while we are traveling home talking about something you want to know about my life or want to tell me about yours will help keep you mind off it and when we stop at night you'll still know that I am there just like you knew I was there tonight. But we only have an hour left before the Mercenaries fine Ailya dead and then come back this way so let's go and once we are far enough away from here you can ask me whatever questions you want about my life before I came home and I will tell you whatever you want to know." Arthur nodded.

Merlin got on the horse and waited for Arthur to tie the bedroll to the saddle bag but when he was done Arthur looked up at Merlin and said "Why are you the one guiding the horse?" Merlin laughed and said "Well one you are in not fit state to do so I know you are still in pain even though you're trying to hid it and two I can see better than you what is up ahead but I need to be on the front of the horse to do that." Arthur looked at Merlin with a scowl and incredulously asked "How can you see any better than I can?" Merlin rolled his eyes and looked at Arthur with a look that said 'are you kidding me' saying "Arthur I can use my magic to see almost half a mile ahead of us so that we won't run into any problems at least not without me knowing about first. Now are you going to get on the horse or are you going to stand there asking questions?" Merlin said the last part a bit teasingly which made Arthur laugh and then with a hand from Merlin hulled himself onto the horse behind Merlin. Soon they were off.

Merlin set the horse into a quick trot making sure they got as far away from where they were as possible while at the same time covering their tracks.

They were almost two miles away from where they had been when Merlin finally slowed the horse down to a walk. "Why are we slowing down is something wrong?" Arthur asked "No nothing is wrong we are far enough away now and not in the direction that they think we would go. I have been using my magic to smooth out the horses tracks from here on out I won't be that it will take them at least a day to find our tail and by then we will be long gone. Now you can start asking questions if you like but if I tell you to be quite at any time you have to listen to me because that means something is up and I need to concentrate alright." Arthur said ok and thought about what he wanted to ask first "How do you know that I am this once and future king and your Emrys how did you find out about that?" Merlin laughed and said "Let's just say I could do thing most sorcerers including our uncle can't do or the few who can that studied for decades at very young age." "Tell me what it was that made you find out about being Emrys and me the once and future king." Arthur suggested Merlin smiled at the memory "When I was three our uncle Balinor and I were out in the woods just walking I got separated from him and I ran into a female wolf I actually remember all of what happened even though I was young because it was a very interesting experience. I was staring into its eyes they were blue like most wolves in this region, the wolf was pure white but she did not attack me she just stared right back at me I felt a connection with her and my magic reacted to that connection and since I was a child I really did not know what I was doing until our uncle explained it to me later. There is a very powerful and difficult type of magic that very few sorcerers ever can do even to the smallest degree and that is shape shifting. How that works is the sorcerer has to feel a connection with whatever they are shape shifting into but you can't do it with another human being it is too complicated. But once you have already done it ones with one creature you can do it again any time without ever finding that creature again just by remembering that connection and the feeling of being that creature. I really could not take on the form of the fully grown wolf at the time because I was only three years old but I did actually take on the form of a wolf cub but instead of having blue eyes or brown eyes like all the other wolves from this region I had gold eyes because of the magic that I was using. So I found our uncle in that form thanks to the extra keen hearing and other senses in that form he took one look at my eyes and knew it was me but he was completely gob smacked by it because I never learned or practiced how to do it I just did it at three years old. After I changed back with no problem at all we went home and after I was safe at home with our aunt Hunith he went to talk to the great dragon Killgarra and ask him if he knew anything about how I could do that at such a young age and without any training or practice. Killgarra then told him about how I was Emrys and you are the once and future king and everything that went along with it. He never told me what Killgarra said until we were on our way to Camelot for the first time, the night we came home. That is how I knew I could defeat Ailya and how to do it. Our uncle did not teach me everything I know I figured out some of it on my own. That is how I found out and know that I am Emrys and you are the once and future king." Merlin finally finished his explanation Arthur was intrigued by part of it and said "Ok now I understand that tell me more about that shape shifting thing. I mean what else have you shape shifted into?" "Of course you would want to know about that. Well I told you that when I was three I could only take on the form that a wolf cub well now I can take on that same wolfs from as a full grown adult male white wolf. It is actually a pretty interesting experience. One time Uncle Balinor and I had a pretty bad fight I was about fifteen and I took on the form of the wolf and ran away for about two weeks, during that time I found that same female white wolf that I had met when I was three she seemed to recognize me and because of that and her pack have no adult males in it at the time I ran with them for the two weeks. I hunted with them, practically did everything they did. But I started to miss home so I left them knowing that if I ever wanted to run on the wild side again I would be more than welcome with them and I used the skills I had picked with them and my knowledge of the surrounding area we were in to make my way back to Ealdor when I got there I stayed at the edge of the forest wondering if our Uncle would even let me back after what I did and how I acted. But then I picked up his scent which I knew in that form by then I had actually ran from it for three days before he gave up, further into the woods and I could hear someone out there just walking around. I knew he was not out there alone and I knew that the two others were not friendly to him and he did not even that they were there. I started running to where he was and just I could see him two men attacked him and subdued him quickly thanks to the element of surprise. One of them knew he had magic and place chains around his wrists that would cut him off from his magic and bind him at the same time. The other raised a sword to kill him and I snapped. I charged the man as a wolf and before he even knew what hit him I ripped his throat out the other man on the other hand was not so easy to surprise after that so I led him further into the woods because he wanted to kill the wolf that killed his friend but he also knew he could not keep our Uncle in place if he left so first he knocked our uncle out and removed the chains because they are pretty hard to come by and then he chased after me. I led him around for a while till he was completely lost, then I started to have a little fun with him and the pack I had been running with for the last two weeks was close by so I called in a few friends from that pack that I had lead on hunts many times all of them were the white wolf I had met when I was three's children they had been full members of the pack about a week and a half and were already the best hunters in the pack other than myself so all four of us usually went hunting together and had lot of fun romping around. Anyway they helped me bring him down and then I basically told them to get to the pack and that I would see them again one day and they knew better then not to listen to me since I was there superior in the pack hierarchy because of their mother bringing me in and she was the alpha female so with me running around with her an no other adult males leading them I in part became the alpha male of the group so it was kind of interesting. After they left I went back to where our Uncle had been he was still knocked out cold and I still did not know if he would want me to come home so I stayed as I was for the moment. I woke him up by licking his face and nudging him with my nose. It a took a few minutes but he finally woke up at first he jumped away not noticing at first who I was but that was to be expected, but then he noticed my eyes and it hit him immediately who I was. Tears started streaming down his face and he said my name out loud. I slowly walked over to him unsure if he even wanted me to come home but as soon as I was in reach of him he threw his arms around me and started crying saying that he was sorry for his part in the fight and that he had missed me and wanted me to come home. I knew at that moment that I had been wanting that for the last four days but I was too stubborn to see it until the day before when I had decided to at try and go back. I just wiggle out of his embrace for a minute I sat down an shifted back and I threw myself at him and cried saying how sorry I was and just clung to him for what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes. After all that though we talked it out and then I told him all that had happened the two weeks I had been gone which interested him to no end and amused him. From time to time after that I would get an itch to get away for a while I would tell our uncle where I was going and how long I would be gone and what I would be doing. Then I go to the forest and shape shift back into a wolf and run with the pack for a couple days and then return home. Over the last eighteen years I have shape shifted into other animals of course some magical creatures as well. There's been a few different birds, like the an eagle, a falcon, and few others, there has been a snake, a deer, a horse, a unicorn only once, a griffon, and a few other animals that I will never do again. But my favorite was always the wolf nothing could top it not even a bird. For some reason the pack I had ran with every once in a while for the past eighteen years followed me from their original area in the forest close to Ealdor to the woods we are in now that surround Camelot and the wolves in that pack know me well in both forms and know not to attack me and whoever is with me unless I give them the go ahead." Merlin paused looking at the darkening sky Merlin had been telling Arthur his stories all day it would soon be dark "It will be too dark to see soon so let find a defensible place to camp and stop for the night we will be safe." Arthur said ok and stopped talking so he could help keep a lookout for a place to camp.

They traveled for a few more minutes and still could not find a good place to camp but just as Arthur was about to say something he saw a female while wolf walk out of the forest she looked right at Merlin who nodded to her and smiled. Right after the white wolf walked away while Merlin said "They know of a cave close by that would make a good place to camp I think the reason she might lead me to a cave is because it is probably going to rain tonight. Still the overprotective mother she always was and we will be well protected because the pack has grown over the years and they are all close by. Don't worry they won't attack you unless I tell them to which I would never do." Arthur was amazed at what had just happened and Merlin nudged the horse into a trot and just as Merlin said there was a cave not two minutes away and it had started to rain lightly and was getting heavier as the minutes went by.

Soon enough Merlin had a small fire going and his white wolf friend had brought them a two rabbits which amazed Arthur even more. Soon the rabbits were eaten and it was silent both of them knew they were not going to get any sleep tonight with how the thunder and lightning were rolling and making so much noise so they just decided that they would stay awake and talk all night which made Arthur ask a lot more questions for about two hours and then they were silent each lost in their own thoughts. It was going to be a long night or so Arthur thought for about an hour later Merlin asked Arthur something that was going to make the night very interesting indeed.