A/N: I didn't have a convenient spot to mention it before, but Merlin told Arthur a lot of the stuff he did with magic and stuff in the dungeons after revealing his magic, including the whole Morgana poison thing. Arthur was kind of wrung out by that point and didn't react to it a lot, but by the time he had thought through it all enough to be mad, he was already too familiar with impossible situations to truly be mad at Merlin for making an impossible choice. He only thought that Morgana should have been given the choice to take the poison herself instead of being tricked into it, because he swore that Morgana would have gladly agreed to the blackmail-Morgause-into-stopping-the-attack plan. Or at least so Arthur claimed.

The next morning was not fun. Merlin and Morgana did not want to talk to each other, and when they did, only Arthur putting himself between them stopped them from killing each other. He sat them down and forced them to confess everything to each other and apologize.

Merlin insisted Morgana couldn't be trusted. Morgana wanted Merlin arrested—although when she found out the reasoning behind the poisoning, she half-forgave him. Then she found out about his magic and was both more and less mad at him.

After everything, she still said that they should take out Uther. But Arthur refused. Murder was still wrong, and he warned her that if he caught her plotting that again, he would lock her up and throw away the key. When he became king, he would change the magic laws. Until then, they would work within moral bounds to protect innocent magic users—without getting themselves arrested.

It took a month, though, of learning to walk again, regaining his strength, chasing Gwaine down for training, and fighting nightmares to get Merlin and Morgana on the same page as each other, and on the same page as him. But finally, Morgana was willing to completely let go of Morgause and her plots to end Uther. She still wasn't happy with Merlin but promised to work on forgiving him. And she would work with Arthur to make sure she didn't turn into Uther.

Which was good, because Uther was on his way home victorious from the Kingdom of the Lesser.


Father rode proud and tall into the courtyard. His eyes landed on Arthur, standing on the palace steps, and he broke into a smile.

"Father," Arthur said.

Father swung off his horse and strode up to Arthur. He laid his hand on his shoulder, scanning him. "It's good to see you standing there."

Arthur nodded, an unbidden smile curving his lips.

"You look much better already." Father squeezed his shoulder and let go. He touched the long, hanging strands of Arthur's hair. "You need a haircut."

"I know." Arthur drew in a deep breath. "How did the fight go?"

"It went well," Father said. "I captured Lethervale and the guard you called Boar. You will be able to talk with them when they have been placed in the dungeons."

"Good." Arthur's stomach coiled, but he ignored it. He would be the one with the power now.

Uther moved on to Morgana. "Morgana."

Morgana nodded at him, not even bothering to smile.


Uther strode into the dungeon, his boots clipping against the stone. Normally, he would speak with prisoners in the throne room, but for the sake of Arthur's privacy, he wanted this chat to take place in the dungeons.

Lethervale leaned against the side bards of the cell, his arms crossed. Boar sat against the rock wall of the next cell. The cocky servant-turned-king had been so eager to share what he'd done to Arthur that Uther had had him gagged. Now, without the gag, he was free to gloat.

"Ah, here, comes the avenging father," Lethervale said. "Who saved his crippled son."

"You should have heard him scream when I broke his leg," Boar said. "His leg had just had an arrow pulled out of it, and the fool actually tried to fight his way out."

Uther's hands curled into fists, but he forced the anger to stay in. He was here solely to get the information Arthur wouldn't share with him. He would let his son, the one who had suffered most at their hands, deliver their sentence. "You never should have kidnapped my son."

"Oh, but I got just what I wanted," Lethervale said. "The once proud prince transformed into a beast. Imagine, your crown prince, your pride and joy, sleeping with our pigs and stealing their scraps. Strapped to a cart and pulling our burdens. Polishing our armor and cleaning our chamber pots."

Uther shuddered. The haunted look in his son's eyes made sense now. His proud son, treated like a hated object. "You are monsters."

"No more than you." Lethervale examined his fingernails. He chuckled. "His face when he realized the ransom wouldn't free him. He even tried to kill me."

Boar grinned. "Little prince up in his cage."

"Yes," Lethervale mused. "Rather like a bird. Of course, birds don't usually get reviled and abused by a large crowd."

"You will pay for everything you've done to my son," Uther said. He turned and stalked off.


Arthur sat very still as Guinevere prepared to cut his hair. Merlin had offered, but Arthur had told him that he'd rather go back to Lethervale than give Merlin a pair of scissors and let him at his head.

Arthur's door burst open and Father strode in.

Father softened. He reached out and touched Arthur's chin-length hair. "You look like your mother."

Arthur's heart stuttered. Father almost never talked about her.

Father gestured at Guinevere. "Carry on."

As the scissors snipped around Arthur's face, tension crept into Father's face.

"Lethervale and Boar told me what happened to you," Father said.

Arthur flinched. The scissors bumped into his ear. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Father said. "If you want, you can decide their punishment."

"I don't think I could be objective enough," Arthur said. "You should do it." He might be disappointing Father in not stepping up, but he had realized over the past month that he could never speak to Lethervale and Boar again, even to sentence them. Not without calling them "master." And he was done with that word.

"If that is what you wish, then that is what I will do," Father said. "You won't have anything to fear from them ever again."

"I know," Arthur said. Maybe someday, his heart would know it too.


Arthur didn't come to the sentencing. But he did watch the execution from a balcony.

His tormenters were dead, but he didn't feel more at peace.

A/N: I'm not entirely happy with this ending. Not sure why, probably the bittersweetness of it all.

As I said before, I do have a sequel in the works, but since I don't like to post fics before I finish them to prevent frequent hiatuses (side-eyes The Power of Speech with nervousness), I don't know when or if that will get posted. Unfortunately, I'm deep in the middle of writing an original fantasy work right now and also preparing for college graduation and everything that comes with that (getting an adult job, moving out), that I don't know when I'll be able to focus on fanfiction again. So until next time, whenever that may be! Toodaloo!