They were traveling through the woods, just the two of them. Arthur dismounts his horse, and he followed his lead, sliding off his horse as well, his feet touching onto the ground below. He lingers back as Arthur ties his horse to a nearby tree, watching the man from a distance as he walked ahead, examining his surroundings. Eventually it seemed as though he found something, kneeling down in order to have a look.

"Merlin! Here." Arthur called out towards him. He approached, glancing curiously in the same direction as the king. "It's all about staying alert. What do you see?" Arthur followed up. Without much thought he responded.

"I see a pair of breeches that need cleaning" his voice carrying a bit of a sulking tone to it. Arthur rose up to his feet, placing a hand upon his shoulder to guide him closer to what he had found. "Come and have a look." Arthur had muttered. He took a step closer, annoyedly slapping at a branch as he remained in a rather sulky mood. "Closer." the king spoke, and with a forceful shove, Arthur sent him down onto a knee in a pile of soggy mud, effectively soiling his breeches as well. He let out a small sigh of frustration directly after the shove.

"Now what do you see?" Arthur asked him. He slapped some of the mud off his breeches as he rose to his feet.
"Brilliant.. Two pairs of breeches that need cleaning." His 'I don't want to be here right now' sulky mood didn't seem to be going anywhere.
"On the branch" Arthur pointed out, and almost before he had managed to finish speaking, he annoyedly responded with the obvious. "It's broken"

"What does that tell you?"Arthur questioned on, and with a breath of air being released, he responded back. "Something left the trail." he said while simultaneously lifting his gaze from the branch, directing it into the forest. He noticed something that Arthur clearly hadn't.

"It's recent" Arthur stated.

"An animal" he plainly responded, not taking his eyes of what he had discovered.

"You think so?"

"A deer." he stated in the form of an answer.

"Would have to be a big one" Arthur interjected, still busy with studying the branch he had discovered to even glance up.

"With very big antlers" he was quick to add in, which warranted a swift reply from the king.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because it's looking at us."

At that statement, Arthur lifted his gaze, only to notice the deer that had been standing there for a pretty decent amount of time. He couldn't help himself but to mockingly reiterate the words Arthur had spoken to him only moments before.

"It's.. all about keeping alert." He couldn't help but to feel a small sense of satisfaction at that development.

The ruckus and sounds of his surroundings snapped him out of his momentarily dreamlike state. His body felt heavy and his mind jumbled. His eyes cracked open briefly, his vision passing over fighting which was taking place in the distance. He heard the sound of spells being shouted, and metal clashing. His conscious state did not last long before he drifted off once more. He hadn't even managed to see the person who was dragging him away from the source of the fighting. All he had managed to gather was that everyone involved seemed to have their hands full.

He lifted his gaze in awe as he moved himself across the drawbridge, passing a crowd of people. So this was the castle. It was huge and full of people. He carried on with a jump to his step, adjusting his knapsack as he moved himself into the courtyard, where a large crowd had gathered. There seemed to be something going on, and curious as he was he moved to enter the crowds in order to have a look at what was happening. It did not take long before he realized that this was an execution. His gaze trailed, finding the king standing on the balcony above the courtyard.

"Let this serve as a lesson to all. This man, Thomas James Collins, is adjudged guilty of conspiring to use enchantments and magic. And, pursuant to the laws of Camelot, I, Uther Pendragon, have decreed that such practices are banned on penalty of death. I pride myself as a fair and just king, but for the crime of sorcery, there is but one sentence I can pass." The King, Uther Pendragon spoke, as he lowered his hand, signaling for the executioner to take the head off the man who seemed to have been convicted of sorcery. He was shocked, and at the same time frightened.

"When I came to this land, this kingdom was mired in chaos, but with the people's help magic was driven from the realm. So I declare a festival to celebrate twenty years since the Great Dragon was captured and Camelot freed from the evil of sorcery. Let the celebrations begin." Uther carried on, only a mere moment after he had sentenced a man to die. No sooner than he had finished his speech, an elderly woman wailed towards him.

"There is only one evil in this land, and it is not magic! It is you! With your hatred and your ignorance! You took my son! And I promise you, before these celebrations are over, you will share my tears. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son!"

No sooner than she had spoken, Uther barked out a command to the guards.

"Seize her!" And as soon as that had been done, the elderly, grieving woman chanted a spell, which caused her to disappear in a whirlwind of smoke and dust.

He couldn't help but to wonder what he had gotten himself into.

His ears picked up on the sound of his name being called out towards him, and slowly he was roused. He was still being dragged, but his ears heard no sounds of combat any longer. His head moved lightly, and half-lidded, his eyes shifted around, seeing blurry images of people rapidly approaching his way. The voice that was calling his name carried a tone of desperation and panic. He could have swore that he had heard the voice before. It sounded so familiar to him. He then noticed that he was no longer on the ground, but that he was held up and supported by someone, and that someone seemed to be desperately trying to get away from those who were approaching. He tried to do.. something, but he found himself unable, his own body failing him. Before he managed to make sense of anything, black specs spread across his field of vision, before it faded off to black once more. His ears picked up on sounds for a little while longer, but they were all a jumbled mess..

"Are you saying I look like a toad?"Arthur questioned, looking rather confused and displeased at his previous statement.

"Yeah, and maybe one day you will magically turn into a handsome prince.. It's just magic's out, so that will probably never happen. Come on, let's go" he murmured back in response, just wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible, beginning to walk away.

"Merlin." Arthur let out, causing him to turn heel and walk a few steps back, irritably casting a glance in his direction, feeling generally upset at the entire situation they had been in.

"What?" he muttered, not even bothering to fully enunciate the word, simply eager to get a move on.

"I'm the one who gives the orders, remember?" Arthur carried on to remind him, which simply warranted a nod, a brief sigh and a "Yeah.." before a momentary pause.

"You ready? Let's go." he spoke, turning to walk off once again.

He awoke once more as he dropped to the ground with a thud. It couldn't have been long, but now, as he cracked his eyes open, the blurry figures were at his location. He heard a womans scream directly nearby him, and the sound of someone fighting back with all their might. The woman was begging for him to wake up. He managed to turn his head, glancing off in the direction of the sounds through half-lidded eyes. There were four blurry figures close. One of them seemed to be struggling against the three others. Her hair was brown, and the others wore red.. It took a moment before he realized who owned that voice. Weakly he managed to roll himself fully around onto his side, fully facing the group. He begun to murmur words, spells, as he helplessly attempted to fling the assailants away from the woman.

It hadn't been him that had done it, but in the blink of a moment, the three remaining red ravens were flung away from the woman, sent into a nearby building with a sickening sound. People flocked around her, as she had been rescued from the assailants, inadvertently blocking her from his sight.

A few individuals approached him rapidly, and he found his body being hoisted up, and his head supported. Yet another feminine voice called out his name, a hand gently patting at his cheek. The person was most likely attempting to get a response out him. His gaze shifted up, and his eyes landed on the face of Morgause, peering down at him. They were safe now, and as much as he hated admitting it, this woman had just saved his life, as well as Freya's. He was in her debt now, wasn't he?

Before he found the energy to speak, he found himself drifting off once more, as his vision faded to black.

**A/N: Back to First Merlin's storyline. I've decided that Good Merlin and Evil Merlin is no longer fitting, and therefore i'll be referencing them at First Merlin and Second Merlin, according to the order they appeared in the story. Hope this won't cause any confusion to those who've followed the story from the start

Good Merlin=First Merlin
Evil Merlin=Second Merlin**