Arthur woke me at dawn. The dark circles under his eyes told me that he'd hardly slept. Neither had I. New worries had replaced the old. Why hadn't Arthur mentioned my magic, the very reason why I had left Camelot? He must have known that I wanted to explain properly, that I wanted to apologise for keeping it from him. Did he hate me for it? If so, why was he here, helping me? Even amongst my confusion, I did not believe that Arthur was here to spy on me for Uther. Nothing made sense.

"Come on, Merlin, we need to leave." Arthur's voice interrupted my thoughts.

I didn't move straight away. "Where are we going?"

Arthur paused for a second. "I was thinking about Ealdor —"

"No," I shook my head vehemently. "That would endanger my mother. Besides, Uther probably has soldiers there waiting for us. He knows that it's where I was born."

"True," said Arthur. "And you can't address my father like that, Merlin. He is still the King."

"Sorry," I apologised through gritted teeth, refraining from adding that a King should deserve their title, which Uther didn't. I paused for a minute and then spoke again, with Arthur obviously struggling to think of a safe haven that we could reach. "I've been thinking." Arthur rolled his eyes. He obviously didn't like the idea of that! "No, listen to me! We could go back to Camelot, and —"

"What?" he said incredulously, his jaw dropping. "After all the trouble that we both went to in order to escape, you want to go back?"

I stood, letting my blanket fall to the ground. "I have a plan."

"Merlin," he sighed. "I know that this is hard for you to accept, but there is nothing for you in Camelot now. Gaius is gone, and my father won't allow you to live. You're a sorcerer."

"And you're Prince Arthur of Camelot, but that hasn't stopped you ending up here, has it?"

"Merlin, I came here to find you."

"But why, Arthur? All your life, you've been told that magic is evil and should be destroyed at all costs, that it killed your mother. Do you know how hard it was for me to keep my magic a secret? To wake up every day knowing that it could be my last? To know that all the times I have saved Camelot, you and Uther included, would have counted for nothing if Uther had discovered my magic? And then here I stand before you now, unharmed, and a sorcerer. I just don't understand!" All of my emotions came pouring out, but I was too exhausted to hold them in.

Arthur's expression was unreadable. "I was thinking about all of that while I was under house arrest." He paused before continuing. "When I first discovered that you had magic, I was angry. Angry that it was happening right under my nose, angry because I believed magic was dangerous, and angry because you hadn't told me. All those years you were my servant, all the quests we shared, and you hadn't told me that you were a sorcerer. When I'd calmed down and reasoned it all out — that you couldn't tell me because, admittedly, my attitude towards magic has varied at times, and my relationship with my father is very — I was just angry that you felt that you should have to hide your magic."

It took me a few moments to absorb all of this information, and to form a response. "You said believed."

"What?" My short response had puzzled Arthur. To be honest, I was still quite confused myself.

"You said that you believed magic was dangerous. Not believe. Past tense."

Arthur understood. "I remembered all the times that you had saved my life and that you had saved Camelot, even when it meant protecting the man that would have you executed if he knew how you did it. My father has always told me that all magic is evil and should be destroyed at all costs, that it killed my mother. If he lied to me about that, I began wondering what else he was lying about. But you're not evil, Merlin, and neither was Morgana until fear of our father's wrath pushed her straight into the arms of Morgause."

I wasn't sure if I agreed with him regarding Morgana, but it wasn't the time for that conversation. "Are you saying that you believe your father's attitude towards magic is wrong?" I needed to have that point clear in my head.

"Yes. You've convinced me of that much at least, Merlin."

"If you can see that, maybe you can convince your father that he's wrong about magic! I know that some people use magic for evil acts, but not everybody who is born with magic chooses to do that!" I wasn't sure that it was going to work, but surely it would be worth a try?

"My father won't listen. He'll just think you've put me under another spell."

I thought for a moment. "Then, we'll just have to force him to see that he's wrong."

"You're plotting something, aren't you?"

I smiled and nodded. Arthur sighed.

"Go on then," he said. "I'm not getting my hopes up too high, but lets hear your plan."