A/N: Kudos to anyone who catches the blatant David Eddings rip-off.

It was another four days before they were ready to search for Morgana, as Arthur had various duties to attend to as Regent that he'd been neglecting during the past week which couldn't be put off any longer. Merlin wanted to go alone, he had argued about it with Arthur several times. Yet Merlin hadn't been able to bring himself to directly defy Arthur and sneak off alone, like he had when he'd gone to Cenred's lands. Arthur's reaction to his disappearance had both surprised and touched him, and he knew his role was to guide and protect Arthur as his Prince and Regent, and not be a law unto himself.

So although Merlin was tempted to go off on his own tangent, he didn't. He knew his power and strength was growing, it frightened him sometimes. He needed Arthur to keep him grounded and perhaps rein him in if the need arose.

Arthur had also wanted to spend some more time with his father. It had pained Merlin to watch him, Arthur had wanted him with him during his visits, the king was getting more incoherent and disturbed. The only relief he seemed to find was when he was in a drugged sleep, but Gaius was reluctant to give him the medicine often as he was concerned it was placing too much pressure on the King's heart. Gwen sat with them too, for some reason her presence seemed to calm the king, even though he didn't seem to know who she was, or even who Arthur was much of the time.

In the end, it was decided that Merlin, Arthur, Gwaine and Lancelot would go on the search for Morgana. The prince had also decided this was the perfect time to begin his visits to the druids. Merlin was far less sure about the wisdom of this, if the druids were sheltering Morgana and Morgause and he created conflict within the druid encampment that was sheltering them, then as far as he thought this wasn't ideal at all.

Merlin wasn't happy about Lancelot and Gwaine coming either, but Arthur had over-ruled him, they set off now, on horseback. The path through the woods near Camelot was a well-used track, they were still able to ride the horses two-abreast here. The sunlight filtered through the trees, the air was warm but mild. After several hours they stopped for a break, Merlin tied his horse's reins around a tree branch and sank down gratefully against the trunk, pulling an apple from his pack and taking a bite, and watching the others lazily.

Gwaine and Lancelot sat on the ground several yards away, and Arthur found his own tree trunk to lean against not far from them. None of them were prepared for the bandit attack when it came, the first clue was the arrow that quivered to a sudden stop in mid-air in front of Merlin, the second clue was the yelling and shouting as the group ran to attack.

Arthur leaped up but hadn't even had time to draw his sword when a gold shield exploded in front of them, the blast of energy sending several of their unfortunate attackers flying backwards into the air to crash onto others behind them. As a group, the bandits froze mid-attack, their weapons dangling from suddenly nerveless hands.

One of their attackers, probably their leader, was on horseback, and his horse pulled up just short of the shield, rearing backwards, its hooves pawing the air. Then Arthur's mouth dropped open, because the horse began to enlarge, its head elongated and its neck stretched up, and its eyes turned a wicked, glowing red. Rough grey scales began to form all over it, its hooves turned into claws, it opened its mouth and roared out a stream of fire, showing off its sharp teeth; it had turned into a dragon.

Merlin was watching this alteration, his head tipped to one side, an inquisitive and slightly fascinated expression on his face, the half-eaten apple held negligently in one hand. He hadn't stood up since the attack began, he was still leaning back against the tree, seemingly relaxed.

And he hadn't finished yet. The man sitting on top of the horse, or dragon as it now was, was immobile with shock, as were the rest of the bandits who'd been watching this hideous transformation. He suddenly seemed to realise he was sitting on a dragon and scrambled off with haste. But as he fell to the ground, his skin turned green, he grew taller and thicker, his muscles bulged, and terrible fangs dripped from his lips; he'd turned into an ogre.

The saddle broke off as the dragon unfurled his wings and gave them an experimental flap, sending a gust of wind over everyone. Merlin took a bite of his apple, watching the horror-struck faces, then suggested offhandedly to their stunned attackers, "You'd better run."

Less than a frozen moment later and with much screaming and yelling the bandits fled, followed by the large green ogre who did not seem to realise what he'd become and who was doing plenty of screaming of his own.

Merlin grinned to himself, taking a final bite of his apple then tossing it to the side. He stood up, brushing his pants off casually. He glanced at Arthur, who had a hand on his sword hilt but hadn't yet managed to draw it, and at Lancelot and Gwaine who were still sprawled in stunned disbelief on the ground.

He commented to no one in particular, "That was fun, I haven't tried it before, but it worked well, don't you think?"

Arthur swallowed, and tried to speak but all that came out was a croak. He decided to sit back down.

The bandits were long gone, if you discounted the faint screaming in the distance. The shield flickered once then disappeared. Merlin smiled happily at his three friends. "You know, it's much easier for me to perform defensive magic when I don't have to hide it from you all." There was no response. "Um, not that any of you were much help, anyway? Your turn next time, huh?"

Arthur finally found his voice. "Err, yes, of course. Yes." His hand flopped off his sword hilt. That was all good, very good. But there was still a little problem. "Uh, Merlin? What are you going to do with ... the uh, the dragon?"

They all looked at the dragon, it had wandered over to their horses but instead of trying to chew on them it was busily cropping at a tuft of grass, its long scaly tail draped over a small tree, flattening the branches. Did dragons eat grass? Arthur wondered why their horses weren't scared of it, he was certainly wary of it, although a lot smaller than Kilgharrah, its appearance was much fiercer. He didn't think Merlin's dragon had those nasty red eyes either.

"Oh." Merlin's eyes glowed, the dragon vanished and the horse re-appeared in its place. "It wasn't really a dragon, Arthur, just an illusion." He smiled kindly. "Illusions are easy, but transfiguring the horse into a dragon would have been very difficult. And I didn't need to, I only wanted to scare them off, not kill them, so why bother? Was the dragon-ogre thing too over the top?"

Arthur slumped back against the tree, he felt a little weak for some reason. Dealing with a bandit attack in the usual way involving risking life and limb may have been preferable to witnessing Merlin's version of bandit defence. If this was happening again, he wanted a warning first. He cleared his throat, "No Merlin, it's fine. It's fine, really."

"Great." Merlin looked around brightly. "Will we keep going now, then?"

After several more hours, they came to a small clearing near a stream. It was already early evening. Merlin stopped and dismounted, he was a little impatient, since the attack, he'd been thinking about something as they rode but wasn't sure how it would be received by the three men with him. He decided to wait until after they'd eaten and settled in for the night to discuss it with them.

Arthur handed him his horses reins and Merlin tethered the horse to the tree beside his own mount.

The prince had recovered from his shock, he dropped the packs he'd taken from his horse in the middle of the clearing. "Merlin, you set up camp, and Gwaine, Lancelot and I will get some firewood and see if we can find any small game."

Merlin pulled the packs off his own horse and dropped them beside Arthur's gear. "Um, I'll set up camp and get the firewood. You can hunt, if you must." He turned around to check where Lancelot and Gwaine were, then put a hand up in the opposite direction, his eyes flashed and he murmured, "Scrépe bearu, bannuc ellen, gedafen for æledfýr, efeste hlíp tó mec!"

A flurry of logs and small branches came hurtling out of the trees towards him, and with a twist of his wrist he directed them to the centre of the clearing, where they formed a pile. He re-arranged them with another thought, and sent one log off to the side that was really just too big to burn, it would make a good seat.

He glanced over at his and Arthur's bags on the ground, his eyes changed colour but he didn't speak as they unpacked themselves in a neat arrangement around the unlit campfire. Lancelot and Gwaine were standing stock still, holding onto their bags, Merlin gave them a questioning glance which they didn't seem to understand, so he did it anyway, and their bags tugged themselves out of their hands, their bedrolls neatly arranged themselves too.

Merlin was pleased, it had taken only a few minutes, he had his usual sore bottom from sitting on a horse for half a day and now he could relax. But there was one more thing to do. He glanced at the fire, it wasn't yet dark but it was starting to cool down so he may as well light it now. After all, it would be no effort to get more wood later if they ran out. The wood was quite dry and would burn easily, so he didn't put much effort into it and his eyes barely changed colour as the flames crept around the dry wood.

He watched the fire for a moment to ensure it had taken hold, when he was satisfied it had he stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders, glancing with deliberate nonchalance at the three statues nearby. "Well, what's taking you all so long? Do I have to do everything? Oh ... I'm sorry, did I forget to mention, I have magic? Are you hunting before it gets dark, or not?"

Arthur's punch on his arm almost sent him onto his backside. "Show off," the prince muttered, but he was amused. "Maybe you should come hunting with us, too."

"Ah, no, I don't think so. You can kill some fluffy little bunnies without me." He dodged the next whack, and threw Arthur a cheeky grin which the prince couldn't help but return.

Merlin hunkered down on the log he'd saved from the campfire as the others headed into the bush to look for game. It had been easy to follow Morgana's trail. He'd picked it up from where he'd left her outside Camelot several days ago. He was mainly following his own magic trail, she hadn't used his magic of course but he could still sense where it had been. He'd also heard her snarl his name a few times, so now he was sure that was a side-effect from taking her into his own time, since he'd been able to track Arthur in the same way.

Her trail was heading north so he wondered if she was heading for the druid camp led by Nathaniel as Iseldir had mentioned. He could contact Iseldir to ask, but they were still more than a day's travel from Nathaniel's camp, and although Iseldir would be able to hear Merlin he wouldn't be able to respond, so Merlin didn't bother about it.

He watched the flames in the fire build up, and absently made a dragon shape out of the clouds of smoke. He hoped all his magical displays weren't alarming his friends too much, but now that he was able to use magic openly in front of them he found he wanted to use it whenever he could, all the magic he'd suppressed for years was bursting to come out of him. It felt good to use even the simple wood gathering enchantment again, he'd used that regularly with Will in Ealdor, but not once since he'd come to Camelot.

The dragon shape dispersed as the smoke floated higher into the sky, and he made another. He wished the others would hurry and come back, he was impatient talk to them and to see what they thought of an idea he'd had while they'd been riding.

He wondered how much longer they'd be, he'd been keeping a half-hearted eye on them, on Arthur anyway, it was habit for Merlin to track Arthur's movements, he did it without thinking, long tendrils of magical threads reaching out and touching him every few minutes. The hunt had been successful, they'd caught something but he didn't know what, and were on their way back to the camp now, not more than a few minutes away.

It was a fluffy little bunny, several of them actually. Arthur very kindly tossed them onto his lap. And Merlin had to skin them, he wondered if they expected him to use magic to do it, but he'd tried that once before and ended up covered in blood and fluff and other ghastly bits and pieces he didn't want to think about. That had been a couple of years ago, but the memory was still vivid enough to mean he wasn't in the biggest hurry to try it again, especially in front of Arthur.

Once the meat was roasting over the fire, Merlin glanced around at them all. Arthur had stretched out his hands towards the fire to warm them. Lancelot and Gwaine were sitting on Merlin's log. He cleared his throat to get their attention, and said a little nervously, "Um, look. I'm worried about what might happen to you all, when we meet Morgana and Morgause, especially if they're with other magic users and things get hostile. I ... want to shield you all."

"What?" Arthur dropped his hands from the fire and turned in Merlin's direction.

Merlin repeated, "I want to shield you all. I've been working on personal shields, not like the one I used when you saw me with Kilgharrah or that I used on the bandits, but individual ones. They'll protect you against most magical attacks and help if anyone tries to physically harm you."

They all stared at him.

Merlin stood up, and stepped over Gwaine's outstretched legs. "Gaius let me experiment on him, we have two choices, I can either link it through your chainmail, or just wrap the shield over your skin. I think the personal ones over your skin are better, they're much easier for me, I can just put them on you and forget about it. It's a little more difficult to keep up the enchantment in the armour, it might be something to do with its surface, it's not very smooth, I have to keep renewing it." He picked up his water flask and took a sip.

He began to pace. "The other thing is, there's a slight glow when I do it, it wouldn't be noticed in sunlight but it will be at night, or in deep shade. So if you want the armour one, it will need to be taken off if we're out of the sunlight and we don't want it to be known that I'm using magic. But if you let me put a personal shield over your skin instead, I can keep it under your clothes so the glow won't be seen and I won't need to take it off at all, not even at night."

He paused. They were all looking at him in complete astonishment, he hoped they weren't totally adverse to the idea. He rushed to finish the explanation. "Look, it's a good idea, it will mean if I'm distracted and I can't stop you getting hit by an enchantment, it'll bounce right off you. And if you were shot by an arrow it won't leave anything more than a light bruise, maybe not even that. That might've been useful today, if I'd been too slow with the large shield. But I can't protect your head, or your hands unless you wear gloves, because you'll glow and give it away so it's not totally foolproof ... but what do you think?" Merlin was uncertain, they were all looking at him strangely. He knew they were all his friends, and they accepted his magic, but maybe this was a bit too much at once, he might have overdosed them on all the magic today.

"Uh, I know you're all worried about this, I can tell. But there's no need, honestly, it won't hurt you, it won't control you, or restrict your movements, it might be a little warm on your skin but you probably won't notice it after a while – won't even feel it. And the glow isn't that bright. Come on, it's got to be better than getting injured or killed, so what do you think, will you let me do it?" Merlin stumbled to a stop, nervous.

Lancelot gave him a look of complete exasperation. Then Gwaine and Arthur stood up at the same moment, and moved towards him. The prince shook his head. "You really are a complete idiot, aren't you Merlin?"

"Err?" Merlin was unsure if being an idiot was a good thing or not.

Gwaine clapped him into one-arm bear-hug. "What Arthur means, is of course it's a good idea. Why wouldn't we try it?" He dropped his arm and gave him a thump on the back and Merlin tripped forwards.

"Um, I don't know. I mean, it's magic," he said as if that explained everything.

Not be be outdone, Arthur gave Merlin a whack on the arm. "Idiot. I'll go first then. What do I have to do?"

Merlin blinked. "Uh, okay." Being an idiot was a good thing. "Um, I discovered with Gaius it's easier for me to get the shield on if you're standing up. And I need to put one of my hands flat against your skin when I do this, so your waist or chest is best as it's too difficult if I try just holding onto your hand, or an arm."

He helped Arthur take off his chainmail. "You can leave your shirt on. Now, I'll put my hand against your chest." He turned around so he was facing the prince, and pushed up his shirt, placing his hand flat against Arthur's stomach. Gwaine and Lancelot crowded around to watch.

"Ouch Merlin, your hand's cold!"

Gwaine couldn't resist. "Better warm it up for the princess, Merlin."

Merlin grinned at him, and did as he was told.

Arthur frowned. "What, you can do that too? What else can you do with magic?"

Merlin shrugged. "This and that, I guess. Now, are you ready?" Arthur nodded. "Then keep still, it should only take a minute. And you need to focus on my eyes, they'll go fairly gold but try not to look away, it works better if you keep looking at me."

Merlin took a deep breath, then his eyes flared a deep, burnished gold. His voice was strong and commanding. "Bordrand ic ásciepe, ferhweard þes mann fram swegl and drýcræft demm. Béo béor teo fær, ensura non anda canne cume teo þes álibbend ðu ic bebierge." As he finished the incantation his eyes flashed again. Arthur struggled not to break eye contact but the glow in Merlin's eyes was almost blinding.

Merlin's eyes went back to blue, he dropped his hand out of Arthur's shirt. "You alright?"

Arthur nodded, and pulled up his shirt sleeve, checking his skin. "It does glow a bit, doesn't it?"

"It's a bit noticeable through your shirt but once you have your chainmail on you won't see it. And remember, your head isn't protected, so use your arms or your body to protect it if you need to." He tilted his head to the side. "What does it feel like, is it too warm?"

"You haven't tried it on yourself?"

"No, not this type of shield, it'd blunt my magical senses. So, what does it feel like?"

Arthur thought about it. "It's warm, but not too warm. It feels nice actually. Kind of comforting, like snuggling under a blanket on a cold winter's day." He tipped his head to the side. "It has an odd energy to it, like when I've won a tournament, or that rush you get when you've going into battle. And it has a smell too – all these strange things, like rain after a drought, or those cakes we have on feast-days, it smells a bit like Gwen's hair after she's just washed it ... and ... you, of all things." He seemed to suddenly be aware of what he was saying and his uncharacteristic rambling, and stopped hurriedly, a slightly disgusted expression on his face.

Gwaine and Lancelot were smiling, and Merlin was embarrassed, he hadn't been expecting such a detailed answer. "Arthur that's nice to know because that's your interpretation of my magic. Sounds like you don't actually mind it at all."

"I told you I was alright with it."

"I guess you really are." Merlin was still embarrassed, and slightly overwhelmed. "Lancelot, are you next? Don't worry, I'm not going to ask your interpretation of it."

"Merlin, I'm happy to give it. Come on, let's get started."

Arthur watched Merlin go through the same thing with Lancelot, then Gwaine. His shoulders slumped when he finished, he seemed tired. Arthur put a hand on his shoulder and handed him a cup of mead.

"Here, compliments of Gwaine. The brighter your eyes, the more power you use, right?"

Merlin turned to Arthur, surprised. "Yes, how did you know?"

"The dragon said something about it, when you were talking about moving time." He said to Merlin carefully, "Your eyes were pretty bright then. You didn't use too much magic on us, did you? Are you tired?"

Merlin smiled. "I'm not tired from overuse of magic, Arthur. That was just a few drops in a lake." He glanced across to Gwaine who was grinning to himself and pulling up his shirt to admire his golden glow. Merlin tried not to laugh.

"Alright, now one thing to remember, just because it protects you from physical harm doesn't mean you can try anything stupid. If you step in the campfire you'll get burnt, or if you cut yourself with a knife, you'll bleed. That's because those injuries would be self-inflicted, it won't protect you from your own stupidity. And remember, it doesn't protect your head or hands at all, so be careful."

Gwaine was examining his golden arms now.

"Gwaine, put your chainmail back on now, huh?"

Merlin went back to the fire, Arthur hunkered down beside him and checked the meat. It was ready. "Anyone hungry?"

They all sat down by the campfire to eat, it was dark now. Arthur finished his meal and leant back against his pack, linking his hands behind his head and watching the glow of the flames, thinking. Merlin was beside him, he swapped from watching the fire to staring at Merlin. Arthur had never felt such peace and contentment before, not even when he knew Gwen loved him. Never before had he felt such a sense of things being finally right. The only dampener on his general feeling of happiness was his father's poor health.

Knowing about Merlin's abilities put them officially on an even par, though he'd not thought his servant was anything less than him for a long while now, but now the knowledge of their linked destinies and Merlin's abilities had really opened his eyes to his friend's true worth, not just to him but to the future of Camelot. So many people who didn't even know it were dependent upon Merlin, perhaps more so than they would be on him as the future king. Arthur felt he could finally acknowledge Merlin's worth and importance to him, which in a way was crazy because his magic still had to remain a secret from most.

Feeling his stare, Merlin turned and made a face at him, Arthur would have thrown something at him but he was too comfortable to move. Arthur's cup was empty, Gwaine poured him a second drink of mead.

"Merlin?" Gwaine held up the bottle, but Merlin waved away the offer of another.

The mead had settled in Merlin's stomach, one cup had been enough.

Gwaine waved the bottle back and forth. "Come on, Merlin. We're out alone, in the forest. You'll be alright."

Merlin thought about it. "Well, if you want to wake up in the morning to find the horses have turned into wilddeoren, you've turned into a girl, and your own personal shields keeping you safe from harm have cut off the circulation around your necks ... although you probably won't wake up at all if that's the case ... then sure, be my guest. Pass me more mead."

Gwaine pulled the bottle back and Arthur suppressed a grin.

Translations:

"Scrépe bearu, bannuc ellen, gedafen for æledfýr, efeste hlíp tó mec!": DRY WOOD, SMALL BRANCHES, FITTING FOR FIRE, HASTEN HERE TO ME

"Bordrand ic ásciepe, ferhweard þes mann fram swegl and drýcræft demm. Béo béor teo fær, ensura non anda canne cume teo þes álibbend ðu ic bebierge.": SHIELD I CREATE, GUARD THIS MAN FROM PHYSICAL AND MAGICAL HARM. BE STRONG, IMPENETRABLE TO ATTACK, ENSURE NO INJURY CAN COME TO THIS ONE WHOM I PROTECT.