Title: It's Like Magic

Author: Kiki1770

Rating: T for Language

Setting: Au to 4x05 "His Father's son"

Summary: King Lot is dead, leaving Essetir without a King. What will Arthur do?

A/N Sorry for the incredibly late update, I will make it up! I just got back from vacation, well more like collage touring. I've never seen a sight more beautiful than the green mountain ranges in Virginia and Maryland, even Pennsylvania and New York were incredible beautiful! I rode a subway for the first time in my life...it was something of an experience! Anywho on the with the final installment of Captured.

Short Story 5: Captured Part V

"How is he?" Arthur asked Sir Leon who was bent over and taking his unconscious manservant/warlock's pulse. Leon flipped back Merlin's eye lids and then took a quick stock of his injuries.

"He's out cold Arthur. He has many severe injuries, massive blood loss and I imagine that…err…the amount of m-magic Merlin displayed must have exhausted him. He won't wake up for a while." Leon said rather mournfully. Beside them, Gwaine let out a low whistle.

"Who would have thought? Merlin…a sor-warlock. If I hadn't seen the bloke's magic firsthand I would have never believed it." Gwaine shook his head. "I always knew there was something special about Merlin." Arthur rolled his eyes. Of course it was, now that he thought about, Merlin's magic really explained the enigma that was Merlin. It explained the boy's courage and defiance against nobility, his stubborn tenacity to willingly get involved in dangerous situations where Arthur's safety was concerned, and the scared, cornered look in Merlin's eyes when Arthur broached the subject of magic. It all made sense, it was all connected, magic was the missing piece that made Merlin…well Merlin.

"We need to get him to Camelot. Back to Gaius," Elyan urged, he handed Leon the scarce amount of bandages and healing salves they managed to retain. Leon was hopeful that they could stem the blood flow long enough to get Merlin back to Gaius.

"We can't just leave." Arthur sighed; he stood mournfully over King Lot's body, and crouched down to close the King's eyes. Arthur may have despised the man for what he did to his friend, but King Lot was a King. He deserved the respect of a burial. "I just dethroned the last living heir to Essetir."

And that was the real heart of the problem. Lot was the last heir; Lot and his nephew Cenred had been the last of the royal family, a bloody feud during Cenred's time having wiped out most of their royal bloodline. Now, the last King had been violently usurped by none other than King Arthur Pendragon and the warlock Emrys. The people of Essetir were hardly going to be merciful. Or so he'd thought.

"Ahem, my lord?" A peasant boy-made-knight interrupted Arthur's thoughts. The boy shifted nervously under Arthur's gaze but made no move to draw a weapon of any sort. Arthur regarded him carefully.

"Speak," He told the boy. Then he noticed the boy was not alone, slowly, all of Lot's men were regaining conscious. Arthur couldn't help but briefly smile at his manservant, the bloody idiot had left every last one of them alive and Arthur couldn't bring himself to blame him. Those boys were as much Lot's hostages as Merlin was. They gathered around Arthur cautiously, none drawing their weapons, but despite their peaceful stance, Arthur's knights flocked to his side in protective line of defense.

"We w-wanted to …err… that is to say that….umm… T-thank you King Arthur," The boy stuttered and flushed in embarrassment. Arthur was taken aback. They were…thanking him? The boy was glowing with gratefulness and humble awe. The knights surrounding the boy had a similar expression of relief in their eyes. When the boy noticed the King's confused looks he tried to explain. "K-king Lot was a blood thirsty tyrant. You've done us a great favor milord."

"But now you have no king," Arthur sputtered in bewilderment. The peasant boys did not seem to understand the magnitude of their predicament. Arthur sighed and tried to explain as simply as possible. "Without a king, the other kingdoms will flock to Essetir to divvy up her lands. You will no longer be under one rule, and it will only further the anarchy."

A pregnant silence fell over the peasant boys as the weight of Arthur's words sunk in. They exchanged mournful looks. Arthur couldn't help but feel their pain; so soon after being freed from Cenred's war hungry desires, they'd been subjected to Lot's tyranny. These people had been suffering constantly for the past twenty five years. These people deserved an peace, but without an heir…

"Ahem," Gwaine cleared his throat. All eyes turned to Gwaine, who under normal circumstances might have enjoyed the attention, suddenly seemed shifty and uncomfortable. "You're right on all accounts princess, the whole 'these lands will be ravaged by power hunger nobles-"

"I didn't say that!" Arthur snapped.

"But… you're wrong about Essetir no longer having an heir." Gwaine finished. Arthur raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms in disbelief. He gave an expectant look, waiting for the knight to finish explaining. "…King Joseph the third, the man who ruled Essetir during your grandfather's time, had two sons. One was Lot and the other was Cenred's father. But the King had another child; a bastard child of lesser nobleman's wife…that child was my mother."

A collection of sharp inhaling and gasps of shock echoed through the crowd; all eyes turned to Gwaine, Prince Gwaine of Essetir. But Gwaine's eyes were only on Arthur.

"You are of nobility…no, you are of royal blood." Arthur muttered in shook. Inwardly, he wondered how many more ultimatums his closest friends would give him in one day. "You are a bloody prince, Gwaine, and yet you serve under me like knight?" He snapped angrily.

"Merlin is bloody powerful warlock and he served under you as a servant!" Gwaine snapped back. Arthur, though he was still quite upset about it, couldn't deny the logic.

"You do realize I cannot allow you to continue serving me Gwaine." Arthur sighed. "You are Essetir's King now."

"Rubbish. I will do no such thing!" Gwaine snapped back. Arthur twitched and he fought the urge to smile. "I'm not fit to be King or a Prince or even a nobleman. I ran away from home when I was thirteen because only I decide how I live my life, not my bloody sodding family heritage. I've never been prince at heart, and have no desire to be one."

"But Gwaine-"

"Shut up!" Gwaine cut him off. "I've never liked nobles, hated them in fact. If it weren't for Merlin I might have never even ended up serving a princess like you. I'm not meant to rule Arthur, we both know this. But you are. You are – what did Merlin call you?—the Once and Future King. It's your bloody destiny to rule over the Five Kingdoms one day, so why not start now?" No one responded to Gwaine's outburst. Prince Gwaine took another deep breath and with a steeled resolution spoke in his haughtiest – his interpretation of Arthur when he's being a prat— King voice and addressed his people.

"I, Sir Gwaine, current King of Essetir, hereby formally hand over all the lands of Essetir to King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot." Then Gwaine spun around and jabbed an accusing finger on Arthur's breastplate. "I'll sign whatever damn papers I have to when we get back."

"Gwaine! You can't do this!" Arthur cried indignantly. "The people will never accept me-" But Arthur never finished his line. His voice was drowned out by the hundreds of peasants cheering and crying Arthur's name and Arthur didn't have the heart to protest them.

Stupid, Merlin. This was so his fault! Arthur was going to skin him when he woke up.

Phew! So this whole plot started with two ideas, one of Merlin hanging in mid air bleeding to his death, and two of Arthur becoming like a High King of Albion by winning the loyalty of other kingdoms. I choose to make this AU to 4x05 because Arthur just became King, learned to sort of ignore Agravaine's advice and follow his heart, and because he just united Carleon (with Queen Annis) and Camelot. I wanted to fit Hunith into this story, but alas I couldn't.

So! I got a ton of reviews asking me to continue the Freylin: The Physician and His Mistress, I have not only a second part, but also a third! I'll put both up tomorrow!

Review, review, review!

Kiki1770