Merlin stared at him with an expression the king knew all too well. It was fear. The sorcerer before him was absolutely terrified that he figured it out. Why was he afraid? Arthur was the one that should fear him and his powers.

"I-I don't have magic," Merlin lied. "Wh-what would make you think that?"

Arthur really had to choose his words carefully from here on out. He hadn't meant to say what he had, but that he had, they had no choice but to address the matter. "I came looking for you and saw you use magic to stop, Hilda, er, Morgana. I didn't think it was true at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. The tree branches, rockfalls, flying swords. Aside from myself, you were the one constant during those battles."

Merlin backed away and seemed to try shrinking himself by bringing his knees to his chest. He buried his head between his knees and chest, refusing to look at Arthur.

Arthur looked up at the sky and then back at his friend. He slowly stepped closer and then knelt down in front of Merlin. "I'm not going to hurt you. Promise."

Merlin said nothing as he peeked an eye out to look at Arthur.

The king sighed. "Am I mad, yes, but I think that's a reasonable response to finding out my best friend and manservant is a sorcerer."

"Warlock," Merlin quietly corrected.

"Warlock?" Arthur repeated. "Is there a difference?"

"Sorcerers practice it. Warlocks are born with it," Merlin explained, keeping his head buried.

Arthur just nodded. "Okay, my best friend hid that he was a warlock for ten years. Any other secrets I should know."

"Balinor was my father," Merlin answered, lifting his head up and resting his chin atop his knees. "His death made me a dragonlord. I can control and communicate with them."

Arthur couldn't help but laugh, but quickly felt bad for laughing as he recalled telling Merlin; "that no man was worth his tears." "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. It's just, I'm trying to process and it's a lot to take in."

Merlin looked at Arthur, studying him, sensing his emotions. Yeah, he was definitely mad, but was also feeling guilt and relief. The relief was buried deep, though, so he couldn't get a firm grasp on why he was feeling it. "What happens now? Hanging? Beheading?"

Arthur gave him a look of pure bewilderment. "I'm not going to execute you? Are you crazy?"

"I have magic," Merlin stated as if it wasn't obvious already. "It's still punishable by death in Camelot. We shouldn't even be having this conversation."

"I'm not going to kill you, Merlin," Arthur promised. "Stocks maybe, but only if I discover you're hiding more secrets from me."

"What then?" Merlin asked, confused. "Pretend this never happened? I could wipe your memory or something?"

Arthur pointed his finger threateningly at Merlin. "You are not wiping anything except my chamber floors. As to what happens next. I don't know. I'll have to think about it. For now, let's get you back to Gaius. Your head wound is bleeding again."

Merlin touched his forehead and felt the sticky substance leaking from the wound. "Yeah. We should head back."

Arthur helped Merlin get up from where he was sitting. "Or you could heal yourself."

The not-so-secret warlock shook his head. "I'm lousy with healing spells. Once in a blue moon, I can get them right, but only on someone else."

The king pondered this new information as they walked, for a bit and thought about all the times he'd come close to death. How many times had Merlin actually saved him? How blind had he been to how much his best friend really does for him? For Camelot? To ensure the future of Albion?

As they walked, Merlin thought about what Arthur's discovery meant for their destiny. Everything would be different now. Fate had been unravelled and rewoven to fit a new future. What did this mean for them? What did this mean for Camelot? For Albion? For Morgana and Mordred? What kind of questions would be asked? Did he have the answers? Will Arthur free magic? Or keep it banned, forcing Merlin and his kin to keep hiding?

Merlin winced as his head pounded from all the questions and uncertainties swimming in his mind. It was all too much for his current condition to handle. He felt like he was going to pass out from the pressure building behind his skull.

Arthur stopped walking and looked over at Merlin. "What's wrong?"

Merlin opened his mouth to answer but ended up throwing up instead. As he blew chunks of his breakfast all of the forest floor, Arthur stepped behind him, ready to offer some kind of support. He'd seen this before among his knights after they'd taken a heavy blow to the head. Gaius called it a concussion. Not much could be done for treatment aside from rest and tonic to help with the pain.

After Merlin finished unwillingly emptying his stomach's contents, he fell to his knees, unable to properly hold himself up. "Just give me a minute."

Arthur looked around. Camp was roughly a mile away. The knights, Mithian and Rodor would have been back for a while now, wondering where they were. They weren't in any immediate danger, but the king didn't like the idea of being exposed like this. He looked down at Merlin, who was holding his head in his hands. He couldn't leave him behind to go get a horse from the campsite. He had nothing on him except his sword.

"Let me help you," Arthur said placing a hand on the warlock's shoulder. Before he could protest, Arthur stood Merlin up and threw his arm over his shoulders. "We can't stay here."

Arthur was practically dragging Merlin as they entered the campsite. The younger man was completely out of it muttering nonsensical things. "Where's Gaius?"

"Tending to King Rodor by the main fire," Leon said, coming over to help Arthur. "What happened?"

"I don't really know," Arthur said. "One minute he was fine, the next thing I knew he threw up and fell to his knees, unable to stand. He's been like this since. I think it's his head injury."

Leon helped carry Merlin over to Gaius, who was finishing up bandaging Rodor's arm. The physician looked over at the trio and immediately got to care for his nephew. "Over here," the elderly man pointed over to where they had laid him down before.

He grabbed a tonic from his bag as they laid the warlock down. He sat down next to him and began to examine him, looking closely at the head wound and neck, where a bruise was starting to form from the magical choking he'd received.

"Where did that come from?" Arthur asked, appalled that he hadn't noticed it before.

"Morgana," Gaius answered. "When magic is used to cause harm, the physical effects take longer to appear. I should have looked him over better before letting him leave to follow you. His neckerchief helped hide the evidence of what happened." He uncorked the tonic he had grabbed and poured a few drops into Merlin's mouth. "This should help with the swelling and pain."

"What about his head wound?" Leon asked.

"Some heavy bruising has formed around it," Gaius noted. "Other than applying a poultice, there's not much I can do, but monitor it. Which will be easier to do back in our chambers. Treating him out here will invite infection."

"How soon can the horses and men be ready?" Arthur asked, looking over at Leon.

"Less than an hour," the knight answered.

The king nodded. "Then we'll leave as soon as they are. Make sure, Morgana is properly secured and once we're back, have her locked in the dungeon under heavy guard. I want eyes on her at all times."

"Yes, Sire," Leon replied, bowing quickly before taking off to get the knights ready to leave.

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update. But real life kind of took over and I haven't been able to finish this chapter. I'm hoping to squeeze one more chapter out of this story for you guys. Maybe even a sequel if I'm able to think of one.

As always thanks for reading. Don't forget to follow, share and leave a review. Thank you for your continued support.