AN: Sorry about the break, school went back this week and we got son much homework, you would think that we were about to have exams. Excuses, excuses. I hope you like this chapter. Word count: 1997 words, so enjoy a long one. Btw, I used regular Greek for when Merlin is talking to Kilgharrah. I don't speak Greek, so blame Google Translate for any mistakes. Thanks to NerdGirlAlert, Guest, Guest, Ladyliz2, SongoftheDarquePheonix, Lya200, bubzchoc, Juliana Brandagamba, bleeb90, Triquetra123 and Guest for reviewing the last chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin


Merlin took a deep breath and quite literally roared into the heavens.
"O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd hup anankes"

Meanwhile.
Uther is conflicted. There, he said it. He has no idea what to do. The guards had been sent to capture the fugitives before they got too far away, and Uther was sure that they would be captured. The problem was, what to do with them once they were brought back.

His only son (though he wasn't anymore, he had been disowned), has been accused as a sorcerer. When confronted with this accusation, he ran. In Uther's mind, that is a sure sign that someone was guilty of what they were accused of. Therefore, Arthur is a sorcerer. There is now no doubt that he is, as he chose to run as opposed to face the consequences of his actions. Just like the corrupt, selfish and evil sorcerers that so constantly plagued his lands.

Hadn't he raised Arthur well? Hadn't he opened his mind to the truth at the right age? Hadn't he done everything to protect Arthur from being corrupted by the evils of magic? Why does everyone he cares about always fall to magic?

First his dear, sweet Ygraine, killed by the back-stabbing, lying Nimueh. Then Morgana, his gentle and loving ward, following in her half-sister's footsteps and being corrupted into the vicious thing she is today. And now Arthur. His son, the apparent reason his wife is dead, choosing to learn the deadly arts that he so often fought against, choosing to leave his father and his duties and revel in Satan's ways. No more. He will put a stop to this. He will double his efforts and bring his son to justice, heir or no heir, (though when he finds Arthur, not if, when, then it'll be no heir).

Having decided what to do, he addresses the remaining Knights.

"I want you to ride out and join the guards in finding Arthur. Sir's Pellinor and Kay will stay as guard, the rest of you will go out and you will not come back until you find them. If you must, kill his companions, but I want Arthur alive, no matter what you have to do to him."

All the Knights heard the hidden meaning. If he refuses to come, threaten his companions. If he still doesn't come, stay true to your threat. If he still doesn't come, then it's perfectly acceptable to torture him, just keep him alive. Subdued, but alive.

Some Knights were happy that they could finally get revenge on the person who pushed them too hard in training. Some were indifferent as to who they were capturing, on that they could go hunt someone. Some were displeased that they had to capture the man who they called a friend. Some were shocked and horrified that Uther would be so dismissive of the fact that this is his son and would order a man-hunt on him.

And some knew Uther, not well necessarily well, but better than the other Knights could claim. They knew that inside he was hurt that he had to kill his only son, but his duty to Camelot and his need to uphold his own, in their opinion, ridiculous laws, came before personal desires so, according to his 'logic', Arthur must die. They didn't want to hunt down their ex-Prince, but they couldn't go against Uther's order because it would be treason, and an ex-Prince wasn't worth Uther's rage at treason of any shape or form. So the Knights bowed their heads and all but Sir Pellinor and Sir Kay left to saddle their horses and ride out to find Arthur.


In the clearing, Merlin had just finished calling the dragon. The Knight's were shocked at the authority in the young warlock's voice. Elyan jumped back in shock. Lancelot stared at Merlin with a look of pride and admiration. Gwaine smiled warmly at the recently discovered warlock/Dragonlord. Percival's eyebrows lifted, but he didn't say anything and Arthur stared disbelievingly at his manservant.

Gwaine was the first to speak. "What language was that?"

Lancelot was wondering that too.
Merlin was brief and straight to the point, his mind occupied with other things. "That was the language of the dragons."

"What did you say?" Lancelot asked curiously.

"O dragon, now indeed I utter to you commands out of necessity. It basically means that all hell's going to go down unless he comes quickly. Which it is, because we don't really have a plan at the moment."

"Fair enough." Elyan said, joining the conversation. "So now what?"

It was Gwaine who answered. "Now we wait."

After a few minutes of semi-awkward silence, Elyan asked the question he had been wondering about earlier. "What's with the stick?"

"Hmm?" Was all the answer he received.

"The stick in your pack." He clarified. "Where's it from? Why'd you bring it?"

"Oh. It's not a stick. It's a Sidhe staff. It's from that time when Sophia enchanted Arthur to fall in love with her, so she and her father could sacrifice him to buy Sophia's immortality back. I followed them to the Lake of Avalon and used Sophia's dropped staff to kill the both of them and then pulled Arthur out of the lake before he drowned. I brought it because it's powerful and can kill Sidhe and other creatures easier then another spell would." Merlin answered.

The Knights were shocked that Merlin had done all that. Had Merlin really just killed two people like that! This was the same man who put his best efforts into scaring away game when they went hunting, the man who hid behind trees whenever there was a battle. Could he really just kill two people to protect Arthur. Yes, Merlin is beyond loyal to Arthur and would give his life to protect him. But had he really killed two people? Only Arthur was there when this was taking place, and he only had a vague idea of what really happened. So they didn't really know what Merlin was talking about.

Before they could ask, they heard the sound of beating wings in the distance and they all fell silent in trepidation of the dragon's appearance. Kilgharrah certainly seemed to be milking the audience. He slowly turned a circle over the trees and then he slowly brought himself down to the ground. He turned his head to face present company and growled, then seemed to be roaring incomprehensibly. The Knights didn't know what to make of this. They were under the impression that the dragon could speak English. They were doubly shocked when Merlin started roaring in the same manner. They seemed to be talking.

"Giatí me kálese?" (Why have you summoned me?)

"Arthur échei mageía." (Arthur has magic.)

"Boreíte simeío eínai?" Kilgharrah said, seemingly bored (Your point is?)

"Íxeres!?" He cried, indignantly. (You knew!?)

Fysiká íxera. I moíra den échei krýpsei pollá prágmata apó ména." (Of course I knew. Fate has not hidden many things from me.)

While Merlin and Kilgharrah were talking, the Knight's and ex-Prince were awkwardly waiting for them to start talking in English.

"What do you think they're saying?" Gwaine asked.

"No idea." said Percival.

Then the conversation, thankfully, changed to English.
"If fate hasn't hidden anything from you, tell me why Arthur needs me? He has magic, he doesn't need a protector. I'm useless." Merlin said.

The Knights didn't care that there was a large, scaly, fire-breathing lizard standing in front of them. They didn't care that it could kill them in a second. All they knew was that their friend, their brother was hurting, and they needed to fix it. They rushed to their friend and all started talking at once.

"That's not true!" Said Percival.

"You've helped us so much!" Gwaine added.

"How could you think that?" Exclaimed Elyan.

"Merlin, I know all of the things that you've done. Believe me when I say you're not useless." Said Lancelot.

"You aren't useless. You've probably done more things than all the knights put together have done." Arthur said.

"Listen to your friends, young warlock. As for whether the young Pendragon needs you, does the Once and Future King not need the help of the warlock Emrys to unite Albion?" Kilgharrah asked in a patronising tone.

The Knights were confused by the names, but it seemed to have an effect on their friend.

"That is irrelevant and you know it!" Merlin exclaimed, angrily.

"It is completely relevant. Much like the Once and Future King needs Emrys, Arthur Pendragon needs Merlin.*"

Percival knew those names from somewhere. After his village was burnt, he had stayed with the Druids for some time. They often mentioned those names, but he had no idea what they meant.

"But…" Merlin tried.

"No buts, Merlin." Kilgharrah interrupted. "You want to know why the young Pendragon needs you. The answer is simple. While the young Pendragon possesses magic, he cannot do even a little bit of the things you can do. Young Pendragon." Arthur jumped when the dragon addressed him. "What magic can you do?"

With everyone's eyes on Arthur he replied, "Shields. Only shields."

"I propose a test. Arthur shields himself while Merlin attacks." At Merlin and Arthur's shocked expressions, he added. "Not a harmful spell. Just try and stun him." When they still didn't move, he growled. "Now would be preferable. There still are guards chasing you."

"Just go with it Arthur. He won't let up until you do." Merlin said in Arthur's mind.

Arthur jumped almost a metre** when he heard Merlin's voice in his head.

"Merlin!? How on earth at you in my head?"

"Long story. It's a Druid thing. But that's not the point. Like I said earlier, Kilgharrah is famous for his stubbornness."

"What, like you?"

"Ar-thur"

"Mer-lin"

"Clotpole."

"Idiot"

"Dollophead"

"Girl"

"Prat"

"Bootlicker"

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

The Knights and Kilgharrah watched as the two warlock's faces morphed from shocked, to annoyed, to teasing and finally to angry. The Knights had no clue what was going on, but Kilgharrah did, was listening and was about to act on it.

"SHUT UP! The both of you are driving me insane!" Kilgharrah yelled into their minds.

"What are you doing here Kilgharrah?" Merlin asked, his face that of an innocent child.

"I'm shutting you up, before you drive me round the bend. Look at the Knights. You've been silent for so long, they have no idea what's going on. So start bickering out loud so they don't go crazy." Then he pulled his mind out of their conversation and started talking to the Knights

"So we go with it?" Arthur asked.

"Might as well. We don't have many other options, so, yeah." Merlin confirmed.

Merlin pulled himself from Arthur's mind and addressed Kilgharrah, resignedly. "Should we do this test thing now, or later?"

The Knights were now sure they had missed something. Three minutes ago, Merlin was set firmly against doing anything to hurt Arthur, intentionally or otherwise. Now he seemed to accept that he had to do it. And what was with the facial expressions from before. They seemed to be having their own silent conversation, but that was impossible. Right…?

Merlin and Arthur stood about twenty metres away from each other. They were just standing there. Then Kilgharrah called out "Arthur, put your shield up."

Arthur was uncomfortable using magic in front of so many people, but he swallowed his discomfort, raised his hand, and a shield the same colour as his eyes popped up in front of him.

Once his shield was in place, the dragon called out "Merlin, try and stun him."

Merlin looked apprehensive, but did as he was asked. He called out "Ástríce" (strike) as his eyes flashed gold. The spell flew towards Arthur, but was stopped by his shield.

Arthur smirked at Merlin, who, very maturely, stuck his tongue out at him. Arthur laughed at Merlin, before a stick from behind him flew up to whack him on the head. Arthur spun around, and finding no one, turned to face Merlin, the gold colour fading from his eyes. Everyone started laughing as the ex-Prince yelled.

"MERLIN!"


*I'm well aware that the Once and Future King is Arthur and Emrys is Melin, I just though that giving confusing and cryptic advice like this is something Kilgharrah would do

**Since I'm from Australia, I'm using the metric system.


Ok. So there's that. Some of you put in your reviews that Uther is too OOC, so that 'meanwhile' bit at the start was to show his thought process. But he has gone half-mad after Morgana's betrayal, so he isn't thinking right. Was Kilgharrah ok? I tried my best not to make him OOC, really, I did.
Special thanks to NerdGirlAlert, Guest, Ladyliz2, Lya200, Juliana Bradagamba, Triquetra123 and
Guest for leaving an answer to the Question of the Chapter. The quotes you put in are on my profile with the favourite quotes (go check it out). You can still put in quotes, if you want to, and I'll put them on my profile. My favourite quote is from The Dark Tower. "Left is right and right is left and the way behind is the way ahead." -Queen Mab.
The Question of the Chapter is: Who is your favourite Merlin character and why. If you have any suggestions for other Question of the Chapters, feel free to put them in your reviews.
See you in another life. ScruffydaDruid.