A/N: let me know what you think please :)))

Chapter 2

It turns out that Emrys has a bit of a sense of humor, Arthur has decided, based on the way that he keeps messing with his father's head. He also has a lot of guts since he has chosen to mess with Camelot's most feared leader.

Emrys continues to return Uther's knights and occasionally, they bring back notes with them. One even brought back an empty coin purse with a note demanding that it be filled with twelve gold and sent back with the next batch of soldiers so that Emrys could replace his blown out window.

"Sire."

Arthur looks up from the documents at his desk to the servant at his door. He smiles, gesturing her in because it's Gwen and he's always liked her, always liked her a little too much actually, "Guinevere, come in."

"Thank you, sire," she's wearing the blue and white dress she's worn for years now and she smoothes her hands over the wrinkles, "I actually was just bringing news about Emrys."

Finding Emrys had originally been a secret quest, only for the ears of the highest of ranks, but maids had been gossiping and soon news had spread to the lower town. Now, it even seemed to be a local joke about how Uther's knights kept returning empty-handed.

"No success, I gather?" Arthur leaned back in his chair and dropped his pen on to the documents.

"No, sire. They've returned again," And there's a hint of a smile behind her eyes. She does not fear sorcery as he does and she does not fear Emrys as his father does.

Arthur groans, standing to move towards the window with his back to Gwen, "My father is going mad. Emrys can't be caught and my father can't let it go."

Gwen is silent.

He turns to look at her over his shoulder, "What are you thinking?"

She looks nervous, blushes in the way she used to after he had pulled away from a kiss, back when they were young and in love and Arthur didn't have so many responsibilities, "Well, Emrys is anything but stupid, Arthur, that much has been made clear" and she's adopted the tone she used to use back when they were much closer, "He knows your father intends to kill him. Of course he won't let your father close. Would you?"

"What are you saying, Gwen?"

"Morgana and I have been talking," he laughs at that and she stops short, but really? Morgana is not one to involve in quests such as these, she is too quick to love, too quick to become emotionally invested. Gwen continues on anyway, "We think you should try a different approach."

He quirks an eyebrow.

"Maybe you should go. Just to talk with him. To see if he really intends to harm Camelot."

And it's really not a horrible idea. Of course, Arthur isn't thinking along the same lines as Gwen. He's thinking he'll go and talk to Emrys, convince Emrys that his father just wants to talk and then bring him back to Camelot to present him to his father, where his father would see him burned at the pyre.

He tells Uther as much.

Uther watches him steadily the whole time and when he's done, he's silent for a second. He turns towards Gaius, who seems to be listening intently, "What do you say, Gaius? Is it too dangerous?"

Gaius turns to him, "In all fairness, sire, Emrys has not actually killed any of your men. At very worst, we risk Arthur returning with no memory of this conversation, but that is all."

"And what if this was his intentions all along? To have my sole heir sent to him? What if he plans to kill Arthur? We have no idea what he is capable of."

Arthur hadn't even thought of that, but Uther is a smart man. Gaius seems to weigh this option for a second before he shakes his head, "Emrys is a druid. The druids are peaceful people, my lord. I do not believe Emrys to be of a threat."

"Thank you, Gaius. Arthur, take Leon and two of your best knights. You will ride out at dawn."

Arthur bows and makes to leave before Gaius speaks, "Sire, if I may be so bold, I do believe bringing Emrys here does risk danger to Camelot."

"So you do believe this Emrys to be a threat?"

Gaius shakes his head, "No, not Emrys. The others, my lord. The druids, and the sorcerers, they view Emrys as royalty, as a god in flesh. They might attack Camelot if they knew that their king was in danger."

Uther laughs, "Nonsense. As soon as he's within Camelot's walls, he will be beheaded. Then all of magic will cease to exist and they will no longer be a worry of ours. They will be powerless and Camelot will reign peacefully."

No more is said at that meeting, though Arthur can tell Gaius has more to say. Gaius is a smart man though and he knows his father well enough to know when to cease from speaking.

Before Arthur heads out, he goes to Gaius and asks him about Emrys. He wants to know what he's getting himself into. Gaius tells him of a man more powerful than any before him or after him, a man meant to unite the lands of Albion. He tells him of how the five kingdoms sought to make him an ally and use him to make Albion their own. He tells him of how the kingdoms hunted him for years, just to find no such man had been born yet. And when Arthur was two, reports had been brought to Camelot of a boy, just a toddler, who had been able to bend trees and rivers to his will.

And when Arthur had stood to leave, Gaius had told him to be careful, that Emrys' power knew no limits.

With that, Arthur rode out towards the west. He took with him Leon and two other knights, Sir Vidor and Sir Geraint. They had reports of Emrys residing just beyond the mountains of Caerleon. Arthur wasn't particularly worried about King Caerleon or Queen Annis, but he figured it was better to play safe and they stuck to the tree lines.

They camped out in the valley, just a few miles short of where Emrys had been seen, but night was falling quickly and Arthur figured they would look friendlier if they approached in daylight. None of the knights spoke much and Arthur was fine with that. At the top of the mountain, he spotted a small cabin, a light flickering in the window.

Arthur's eyes narrowed. The description fit everything the messengers had said. And it was where they were heading. It could very well be Emrys' house.

And just as he figured it out, the light in the window went out and the house disappeared into the night.

Not a coincidence if you asked Arthur. He was just surprised they had gotten this far without turning around or having their memory wiped.

They rode out again at sunrise.

There was nothing particularly extraordinary about the cabin. It was on a flat plain towards the top of the mountain, with wild grass surrounding it and a few, poorly planted bushes and flowers surrounding the base of the house. A small creek ran down along the side of it and tampered off into a pond a few yards away from the house. The house itself was simple, logs stacked on logs and a plain roof overhanging it. All the windows were open, and there was a small plant on each window sill. It was…homey.

The door was wide open too.

And standing in the doorway, leaning against it, was a tall, dark haired man. He was ruggedly attractive, with short, wavy black hair and stubble growing along his chin. He wore all black and was smiling easily at them.

They stopped their horses up short, a few yards away from the cabin.

The man watched them and then pushed himself off the doorway and walked towards them. Arthur swung door from his horse, hand on his sword. If Emrys was going to attack, Arthur knew he stood very little chance, but he might as well go down fighting.

"Arthur Pendragon?" The man asked, stopping a few feet away from Arthur.

Arthur nodded. Leon and the other knights dismounted behind him.

"Emrys is expecting you."

Arthur furrowed his eyebrows, "You're not Emrys?"

"No, no. My name is Lancelot," He held out his black gloved hand. Arthur shook it and the man smiled at him, "I'm just a good friend."

"Friend." Arthur repeated. Because for some reason he never thought Emrys would have friends or relationships. He always pictured him a recluse.

Lancelot gestured for him to follow. He led them into the entryway and it turned out the whole house was misleading on the outside. Inside the doorway was just a decent sized, wooden floored room. It was plain, poorly decorated, with a single table and chair over in the far corner. But off to the left, there were stairs leading into a basement. Lancelot led them down the stairs and Arthur stopped short at the bottom.

Because it was beautiful. He never thought he'd describe sorcery as beautiful, but this was like nothing he'd ever seen.

On the bottom of the stairs, there was an archway. The archway had a thin layer of moving color, white on one side and red on the other, almost like a waterfall rushing up both sides of the wall and joining at the top of the archway to form a brilliant, tiny dragon, magical wings flapping to its own accord, stuck hovering in one spot. The ground was made of thin wood and the walls were plain stone, but red and gold magic tendrils swirled through the air, curling around each other like snakes and bouncing off the walls.

There were a few closed doors, leading to different rooms, but in the center of the room was a large stone table with six chairs pulled around it. There were two men sitting, one facing away from him, and the other looking right at him.

The one looking at him wasn't smiling. In fact, he was glaring. His short brown hair barely covered his chubby face and he was wearing farmer's clothes. One of the gold tendrils swirled out of the air and wrapped around his arm and the glare lessened.

"Emrys?" Arthur said, approaching the table. The short haired man watched him before he let out a laugh.

Lancelot sat down beside the man facing away from Arthur. He turned over his shoulder to look at Arthur and gestured to the chair at the head of the table, "Almost. You can sit down."

Arthur sunk into the chair, his knights on either side. The man that still hadn't faced him was whispering to Lancelot, his black head turned away from him.

So that must mean the black haired one, by Lancelot, wearing a stupid brown cloak from what he could see, must be Emrys.

Arthur opened his mouth to talk, but the man, still facing away, said, "Arthur Pendragon."

It wasn't a question.

"Did your father send his payments?"

Lancelot laughed and so did Will. Good to know they had fun with it. Arthur opened his mouth to talk, but the man shook his head, turning to face the man across the table from him.

"Shame. He still owes me then."

His side profile was angular, sharp. His cheekbones were ridiculously visible, his black hair grown long enough to cover his slightly large ears, but his eyes were still cast down onto the table.

"I came to talk to you. To reach an agreement between my father and you."

The man still didn't look up. Instead he just smiled, almost sadly, "Your father does not want to talk to me. He wants to see me dead. Am I right, Arthur Pendragon?" And with that, he turned his head to look Arthur straight in the eye.

Arthur stopped breathing.

Because the man's eyes were gold.

Not the gold he'd seen in sorcerer's eyes before. Theirs had always been a dark gold, tinted with red and brown, as if the eyes were rejecting the unnatural color spreading through them. His, Emrys', were a bright gold, pure, shining, without any other color besides the black of his pupil. He could almost see the power emitting from him in waves.

Then, just as the fascination faded, the fear and anger set in. "Are you using magic on me?"

Emrys smiled and a brilliant smile it was, stretching from ear to ear and showing a perfect row of white teeth, "No."

"Your eyes…"

Lancelot smiled and sat forward, "His eyes are always that way. I was intimidated by it at first, but you get used to it."

Arthur looked back at Emrys and tried to get past the alien look in his eyes, but found himself staring. Emrys blinked, then smiled and stood, Arthur jumping to his feet, his knights moving with him. Once he was standing, Emrys was actually taller than Arthur himself and of a smaller build, but not at all scrawny.

Emrys shook his head, but he stepped forward. Arthur took a step backwards, "I will return to Camelot with you, with no fight, and will speak to your father, under one condition."

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"You will spend a week with me first. Here. With no weapons."

Well that was a stupid agreement. "And what's the point in that?"

"Your father intends to send me to the chopping block, I am entitled to one more week."

Emrys' gold eyes did not move away from Arthur. As stupid as Arthur thought the agreement was and as much as he didn't believe Emrys, it was the best chance he had to get Emrys to that pyre and eradicate magic once and for all.

He held out his hand and Emrys smiled. "Deal."

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