Chapter 2

No. Freaking. Way.

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"Kid, are you all right?" asked Dragoon while he waved his hand in front of Merlin's face.

Merlin snapped out of it and realized that he had been standing there looking at him for a full minute. "Yes, sorry, I just…, just…" just WHAT!?

"I have to tell you," Dragoon said, still showing a smile, "I know that I'm awesome and all, but yours was the most exaggerated reaction I have ever seen."

It took Merlin a little while to understand what he was talking about. "What?… Oh… Yes… Yes, I couldn't believe you were here, right in front of me." This is not happening …

"So…" Dragoon said, expecting an answer.

"So what?" Merlin still didn't grasp what was going on.

"Do you know anything about the man that's been pretending to be me?" Dragoon asked, as if the question was obvious.

"Ehm…" What to do, what to do, what to do? "What are you going to do to him if you find him?" Merlin asked.

"When I find him," corrected Dragoon showing a grin that caused Merlin to swallow. "First of all I'm going to find out what grudge he holds against me, and after that I'm going to make him pay in full. Don't worry kid," he added seeing the concern in Merlin's face, "I won't kill him or anything like that, I'm just going to make sure that he learns his lesson."

Merlin didn't know what to do. He obviously wasn't going to tell him the truth, but if he didn't do something Dragoon would just keep asking around town, and people would realize that the old Dragoon wasn't real, which might raise questions better left unasked. Perhaps he could make him desist from this search…

"Do you know he is a very powerful sorcerer?"

Dragoon just laughed. "Let me worry about that; now, do you know anything about him or not?"

Merlin was running out of options. He could send him the wrong way but that would only buy him some time, and then Dragoon would know that he had deceived him. Merlin really didn't want to use his magic, but a tiny forgetting spell could make both of their lives so much easier that was stupid not to do it. He raised his hand and started to cast the spell, but was suddenly interrupted when Dragoon's eyes glowed gold and he was blasted across the room.

"Now, now, kid, that's not very respectful of you; I'm very fond of my memories; some of them at least," said Dragoon, while he walked towards the corner where Merlin had landed.

His head hurt like hell. He looked up and saw Dragoon with his hand raised towards him. It was too late to stop him now; he closed his eyes and embraced himself for whatever spell was about to hit him. Nothing happened. He looked again and saw that Dragoon was offering his hand to help him stand up.

"You are a sorcerer!" Merlin yelled, still sitting on the floor.

Dragoon laughed again. "You really have no clue who I am, do you?" he asked and saw as Merlin shook his head. "Well, I guess that's to be expected in Camelot," he said, trying to hide his disappointment. "Come on kid, take my hand, you have some explaining to do."

Merlin took his hand and stood up. Who the hell was this man? He had just lied to him and tried to erase part of his memories, and he just laughed and helped him, fact that made him feel worse about using the spell in the first place.

"I'm really sorry," he said, "I didn´t know you had magic too". That was a lousy excuse.

"That's a lousy excuse!" replied Dragoon, "and besides, my name is Dragoon the Great;didn't that give some sort of clue?" he asked, in amusement.

"Yeah…," Merlin said, "you may have a point there, but in my defense this is Camelot, most sorcerers try to avoid it; well, except when they are trying to destroy it, or kill Arthur, or seize power, or kidnap someone…" Merlin kept counting in his head. "It's a long list."

"So, what are you doing here?" asked Dragoon.

Merlin wondered if he could trust this man. "Just learning how to be a physician," he lied.

"Sure…, come on kid, let's sit down," said Dragoon as he walked towards the table. When they both were seated, he turned serious and looked directly at Merlin. "So, judging from what you just did and the fact that you have magic I gather that you know the impostor and you are protecting him, right?"

Merlin knew that it wasn't a question. "Yes," he said.

Dragoon showed a little smile. "Good, now, as I said before, as long as he has a good explanation and promises not to do it again he should be fine." He paused for a second. "However, if his intentions are to harm me, or to harm innocent people using my name, then this is not going to be a good day to be him." Dragoon took a deep breath before carrying on. "Please kid, make both of our lives much easier and just tell me what you know about him."

So Dragoon cared about innocent people and said please, he couldn't be that bad; Merlin knew that he would have to tell him the truth sooner or later. He chose sooner. Merlin stood up and started pacing.

"Ok, I'll tell you, but just so you know, I'm King Arthur's personal manservant and if anything happens to me he'll send TEN THOUSAND soldiers after you, and also Gaius will be very sad because I'm like a son to him, and also…, also…," he smiled at the irony before adding, "you will never learn of my plan!"

"What plan?" asked Dragoon.

"Exactly! That's why you can't kill me!"

Dragoon waited long enough to make sure that Merlin had stop rambling. "Kid, I've already told you; killing is not my style." Not anymore at least… "You can tell me."

Merlin sat back down. "It's me," he said, "I'm the one that's been pretending to be you; but I didn't know that you existed! I just needed a secret identity and yours was the first name I could think of!"

"Do you know how far-fetched that sound?" asked Dragoon. "And besides, the one I'm looking for is an old man, so stop lying."

"I'm not lying!" replied Merlin. "I used an ageing spell so that the people of Camelot wouldn't recognize me."

Dragoon chuckled as if Merlin just told him a joke. "Come on kid! You can't be much older than twenty years old, there is no way that you could use an ageing spell, let alone reverse it, you would have to be freaking Emrys to do something like that at your age, so please, stop lying to me!"

Merlin looked at him and sighed. "I am," he said.

"You are what? Lying? I already know that!"

"No, not lying…, the other thing." Merlin wondered how long would it take for him to understand what he meant.

"What other th—" Dragoon's eyes opened wide and he looked straight to Merlin. "No…" he said while a smile started to appear in his face. "No way!"

"Yes way," Merlin replied.

"Prove it," said Dragoon daring him.

"How?"

"I don't know, use the ageing spell."

Merlin thought about the potion that he needed to undo the spell; luckily Gaius had left him one of them to use 'only in case of an emergency', which this certainly was. He closed his eyes and started speaking.

"Miht dagan, beþecce me. Adeadaþ þisne gast min freondum ond min feondum."

With that, Merlin disappeared and an old man stood in his place.

Dragoon jumped out of his seat. "Incredible, you really are him!"

"I'm glad you are convinced" said old Merlin. "Now if you excuse me I have to undo this spell before someone else sees me."

Dragoon watched as Merlin went, really slowly, to the other side of the room and grabbed a potion.

"Why not use your magic?" he asked.

Merlin didn't answer but Dragoon could see he was ashamed; it didn't take long for him to understand what was going on.

"Oh, you can't reverse the spell on your own, can you?" Dragoon asked.

Merlin just shook his head.

"Don't worry kid!, you are still young, you have plenty of time to practice, but there is no need to waste a perfectly good potion." Dragoon moved towards him and raised his hand.

"Edniwe hine geoguð."

Merlin could feel the spell going away and his young self coming back.

"I told you I was amazing," Dragoon said, in response to Merlin's astonished look.

"How did you do that!?" Merlin asked, while he touched his face to make sure everything was in the right place.

"Magic…" answered Dragoon. "I thought we already covered that."

"Yes, I know…, but, I mean, you aren't that much older than me, and I'm supposed to be the most powerful sorcerer in history, and still you did that like it was the easiest thing in the world," protested Merlin. The first time he had failed to make that spell work he felt betrayed, he wasn't used to his magic not being strong enough; and since that day every time he tried unsuccessfully to use that spell he remembered that feeling. The fact that this sorcerer made it seem so easy only added fuel to the fire.

Dragoon was starting to answer when the door suddenly opened, and a blonde young man burst into the room.

"MERLIN!, there you are, I've been looking all over the city for you! How do you expect me to get ready for the feast if my manservant is nowhere to be found?" Arthur gave him an accusing look. "You forgot, didn't you?"

Yes, yes he did.

"No, of course not, it's just that I had an unexpected visit and I just lost track of time," said Merlin, pointing at Dragoon.

With all the rush, Arthur hadn't noticed that there was someone else in the room.

"Well Merlin, aren't you going to introduce us?" he said.

"Oh, Yes, Arthur this is… my uncle… Drake..." What is it with me and dragon-like names? "...uncle this is Arthur."

Arthur stared at Merlin and cleared his throat.

"Oh, yes, sorry, this is Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot." Merlin knew that he should have stopped right there, but he couldn't help it. "He's the greatest swordsman alive, his enemies tremble at the sound of his name, men want to be him and women want to be with him, and the skies…"

"Merlin…" interrupted Arthur.

"Yes Arthur?"

"Shut up."

Dragoon couldn't believe what he was seeing. "So you were telling the truth about being the King's manservant," he said surprised. "How did that happened?"

"Well…" said Arthur, "he saved my life once and now I'm stuck with him for the rest of my life; but I guess it's not all bad, he's very efficient, he's a good company to have in my journeys, and sometimes you could swear that there is a wise man trapped inside his body, illusion that of course goes away the second he opens his mouth again."

Dragoon laughed slightly at that last comment, but he stopped when he realized something Arthur had said.

"So, you take your manservant with you on your travels?" asked Dragoon confused.

"I do, but don't you worry, every time there is some kind of danger he disappears and doesn't show up again until it's gone," said Arthur in a scolding tone.

"I bet he does," Dragoon said while showing a smile. "Well sire, it is an honor to meet you; I've heard much about you."

"All good I hope," said Arthur before remembering why was he there for. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to need to borrow Merlin for a while-"

"That's ok, we'll catch up later." Dragoon looked at Merlin and added "Don't worry nephew, I think I'll stay in Camelot for a while."

Merlin just nodded and he and Arthur left the room.

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"Merlin, how come you have an uncle?" asked Arthur as they walked towards his bedroom.

"Well you see, a long time ago my grandfather and grandmother loved each other very much, so they …"

"STOP!" Arthur yelled. "You know what I meant, why haven't I met him before?"

"Well, he and my mother had a really big fight a long time ago so they stopped talking to each other; in fact if you ask my mother she would probably tell you that he doesn't even exist." Merlin hated the fact that lying had become part of his everyday life, but what was he going to do? Every time the right moment to tell the truth was close something happened and pushed it away.

"And what is he doing here?" asked Arthur.

"Arthur, what's with all the questions?" inquired Merlin.

"Look Merlin, your uncle that you haven't seen in a long time and has a quarrel with your mother just appeared in Camelot out of the blue; if I've learned something from all these years, it's that his behavior is at least suspicious," said Arthur, remembering about Agravaine's betrayal.

Merlin knew what he was thinking. "Thank you, really, but I can take care of myself," he replied.

"Alright then, but be careful; have I already told you how hard is to find a good servant these days?" asked Arthur.

"You have."

"Good; now let's get ready for this feast, shall we?"

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Back in the court physician's quarters, Dragoon was staring at the door. When he first decided to go looking for this impostor he didn't do it to seek revenge or to protect his reputation. No, the reason was a lot simpler. He was bored. Now he had found the great Emrys. In Camelot. Working as the manservant of the King. Without him knowing who he really was. Dragoon smiled as a single thought popped into his head: This is going to be fun.

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A/N: I hope you liked it!

Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter, favs and follows =D.

I wanted to get this chapter out ASAP because the first one ended in a big cliffhanger, however now I have some exams coming up so I will take a bit longer to publish the next chapter (hopefully not too long). The good news is that after that I'm free for a while so I should have plenty time.

Thank you for reading and any feedback would be appreciated!

SPELLS:

Miht dagan, beþecce me. Adeadaþ þisne gast min freondum ond min feondum = Power of the days, conceal me. This spirit becomes torpid and callous to my friends and enemies.

Edniwe hine geoguð! = Restore his youth!

EDIT: Really little changes.

EDIT 14/03/2015: Changed the format a bit. Fixed some grammar and spelling errors.