Arthur woke with a start. He was awaken by screaming and loud crashing noises. Arthur ran to the window, ripped the curtain back, and looked at the city.

Fire was everywhere, and buildings were being burned. In the horizon he saw more fires and smoke. Arthur rushed to grab some clothes, and then ran to Merlin's room.

Arthur bursted in, and saw a mess. Merlin's window had been shattered, and Merlin was currently hanging out of the window, shooting down spells.

"Merlin! We need to get out there!" Arthur yelled. Merlin looked back and nodded. Merlin grabbed two thick cloaks, and handed one to Arthur. The two ran down to the knights and armory to wake them.

"It's Morgana! I had a dream before I woke up, and she was leading an army. She has outnumbered up by the hundreds!" Merlin exclaimed as they ran.

"Every knight awake and on board." Arthur yelled down the hall. Many of the knights were already up, but some still slept.

"Gear up and stop the fires! If any other knights are not in the castle, find them! Gwain, Percival, come with us!" Merlin yelled. They saw Gwain and Percival stumbled out of their rooms, and run down to the armory with Arthur and Merlin.

They geared up quickly, helping each other into armor. Merlin denied the armor, and everyone grabbed a sword and a dagger.

"We need to asses the situation outside." Merlin told them as they ran outside.

People were running around screaming, and unfamiliar men held torches, lighting every house on fire. The other knights flooded out of the castle, and started to attack. Some of the enemies used magic on the knights to kill them.

"This is worse than I thought." Merlin told himself. The group ran back inside, and followed Merlin to Gaius's room.

Inside Gaius was trying to hide certain books with the aid of Don.

"Gaius. Don't fight back. Be cooperative. You just saw us grab some books and leave. That is all you saw." Merlin told Gaius. Gaius nodded, and continued to hide things.

Merlin ran to his old room, and retrieved the staff he stole a long time ago, and his miniature magic book. He grabbed some empty water bags, and handed some stuff to Arthur.

"What the hell is that?" Gaius asked, pointing to the staff.

"Later. For now we need to get out of here." Merlin rushed. They ran back outside, and Merlin ran to Gwen's house. He knocked on the door violently.

Instead of Gwen, Lancelot answered.

"What's happening out there?" Lancelot asked. Merlin was confused for a moment, but ran inside. Gwen was just walking into the living room.

"It's not what you think. He needed a place to sleep." Gwen said. Merlin stopped her.

"I don't care right now. Lancelot, you come with us. Gwen, make sure to obey Morgana. At least pretend that you are her dear friend, and you would help in any way you could. Alright?" Merlin told her. Merlin rummaged through her room as Gwen watched puzzled. Merlin took out a glowing orb from behind a bookshelf.

"No time for questions. We'll be back Gwen." Merlin told her. Lancelot and Merlin ran out, and they ran to the stables. They grabbed their horses, and ran down the street. Merlin rode in front, and he completely wiped out anyone and everyone in their way. Soon they were out of the city, and running towards the border on the east side.

Merlin pulled the purple stone out of his pocket, and spoke into it.

"Ethel. Tell Thew to leave the kingdom at once. Morgana has her men all over the kingdom." Merlin yelled into the stone. He listened close to the stone.

"Merlin. We are already gone. Some people came into the camp and hurt some people. But I am fine. We are going to the west side." Ethel told Merlin, in a small voice. Merlin gladly pocketed his stone, and they rode as fast as they could.

"How far until we reach the border!?" Percival yelled.

"We should be there soon." Arthur told them. As they rode, they heard thumping footsteps to the side. They looked, and saw Ebony in her raw form, running beside them.

"What the bloody hell is that!?" Lancelot yelled.

"That's Ebony. She'll help us." Merlin told her. As they rode, Ebony ran in front, knocking down trees in their way. Merlin used his magic to knock down a couple of trees, and he pushed barbed bushes out of their way.

Soon they were to the border, and entering no mans land.

As they ran, they started heading into the mountains. Merlin used his magic to feel the terrain, and to see if there were any hiding places.

They rode at a slower pace until dawn. They were deep into the mountains, far away from Camelot.

"I can sense a cave system forwards. We can take shelter there." Merlin told them. As they carefully guided their horses up the mountain, Ebony pounced up the incline.

The others could finally see what Merlin was talking about. There was a cliff at the top of the mountain, and there were caves as well. As they guided their horses up the steeper part of the hill, the horses stopped, and started to slide down. The incline was too much for the horses.

"How are we going to get the horses up there? Let alone get them down." Lancelot asked. Merlin looked around, and could see no way.

"I have an idea, but it might not be the smartest." Merlin said. Merlin carefully got off Night, and started to climb up the mountain. He was able to reach the cliff, and he pulled himself on.

"I can levitate you guys up here! Just hold onto your horses tightly!" Merlin yelled from the top.

Merlin first levitated his staff to himself, and then tried to bring the horses up. He mumbled the spell over and over, using every bit of concentration he had on the horse. He was able to lift one horse at a time, up to the cliff. As he landed the very last horse onto the cliff, Merlin collapsed to the floor. He panted from the exertion, and rested. Arthur hopped off the horse, and held Merlin.

"That was extremely tiring." Merlin said quietly. His voice was more raspy than usual, probably from the heavy breathing rubbing his vocal chords together too hard. Everyone else hopped of the horses, and tried to get everything situated. When they ran out, they only grabbed enough food they could carry, and loaded to onto their horses. Merlin didn't load anything onto his horse, as he had the staff, books, and orb weighing down the horse already.

Arthur grabbed an apple, and handed it to Merlin. It was heavily bruises, and had a rot spot on it, but Merlin still devoured it nonetheless.

"The army cannot scale this mountain fast enough to scare us. So I think we should be very safe for the time being." Merlin told them. Merlin finally had the strength to stand and walk, and they explored the cave system.

Merlin had read that the caves lead to tunnels that were all inside the entire mountain system. As they walked, the caves got too dark to see into. Merlin lit a harmless blue flame, and threw it down the cave. As the group continued down, they were met with forking tunnels. Merlin stopped the group, and used his magic to look down the tunnels.

"I think we should head back and eat something. Maybe take a rest. We can continue to explore the cave system later." Merlin suggested. They headed back, and ate small rations of food.

"Shit. I forgot to bring water." Arthur said. Everyone desperately looked for their water bags.

"I did as well." Lancelot said. Gwain and Percival did as well.

"What will we do without water?" Arthur said. He tried looking down the cliff, but there were no streams down there.

"I can go and fill everyone bags. I can have Ebony take me to the nearest stream." Merlin said. Ebony was currently sitting and waiting.

"Can you turn into something that can carry me and fly?" Merlin asked her. She transformed into a horse with wings, a Pegasus, and let Merlin climb on.

"Hand me your bags." Merlin told them. Merlin tied everyone's water bags to his waist, and Ebony walked to the edge.

"Well Merlin. I never thought I'd see you looking any gayer. But you always do cease to amaze me." Lancelot joked. Merlin smiled.

"I should be back soon. Bring everything inside the cave so no one below can see you or the horses." Merlin advised. Ebony jumped off of the cliff, and started to fly. It was obviously a new thing for Ebony, as a flying Pegasus carrying a person makes it hard to fly fast.

But she still flew up high, and fly to the nearest river she saw on the opposite side of the border.

It took awhile, but Merlin finally got onto the ground, and he quickly filled the bags. Merlin took a drink from the river, and then loaded himself back onto Ebony. She flew him back, and Merlin handed everyone their bags.

"Make sure not to drink everything all at once. Try not to eat anything salty if possible." Merlin told them. He set a warming fire in the cave, and laid on his back.

As the others drank a little, and talked among themselves, Merlin closed his eyes, and tried to channel his magic to speak to others. He remembers doing this once on accident while he was sleeping, but he didn't know if he could do this again.

He was trying to contact any druid groups in the area, most especially a Seer.

Merlin got up frustrated, and grabbed the little orb ball.

"What is that for anyways? I haven't seen one of those before." Arthur asked.

"It's a concentration orb. It should help me channel to the other druids. I've done it once, so I think I can do it again." Merlin told him. Merlin laid on his back with the orb in his hands. He concentrated hard, and thought about the Seer he met awhile ago.

Everyone was quiet, waiting to see if Merlin could achieve anything.

In Merlin's mind, he could feel a sort of connection. He felt someone trying to reach out to him. Merlin discarded what he was doing, and connected to the person trying to connect to him. He immediately felt a cold presence. A negative feeling.

'Merlin. There's no use in hiding. We will find you. Just surrender Arthur, and you can rule next to me. You can be my king.' He heard a familiar female voice in his head. Merlin grew angry.

'Why are you insisting on becoming Queen? You wanted magic to become legal. You got your wish. What else is it that you want?' Merlin pleaded. He heard Morgana laugh. The cackled reverberated through his mind.

'I have always wanted to rule the kingdom. I cannot just stay on the sidelines anymore. What is to happen to me? Arthur will just have me married to some man to provide business. I cannot let that happen. And besides. You and I both know that Arthur is going to die soon. It's his destiny. I might as well take over the kingdom now and spare it's people the grief of finding a new king.' Morgana told him.

Merlin's face became red. 'Arthur would not marry you off. He would let you be who you would want to be. You can live in luxury as his sister. You can marry a servant if you become in love with him. You can pick your own fate.' Merlin reasoned. It took Morgana awhile, but she replied back curtly.

'I do not have a use of a like-father-like-son, and his annoying magic lover. You give him time, and Arthur will burn you at the steak with all your other kind.' Morgana told him. Merlin could feel her connection fade away, and Merlin awoke. He sat up, and rubbed his head.

"Did you hear anything?" Arthur asked. Merlin nodded.

"I spoke to Morgana. She really wants to rule Camelot. She still thinks you will turn on our kind and burn everyone." Merlin told him. Merlin could see some water platter on the floor. It took him a moment to realize that the liquid was his own tears. Merlin was so overwhelmed with everything. He was drained, tired, yet the silence was deafening.

Although the cave was quiet except for the occasional splatter water from the ceiling, Merlin's head was so loud. He could feel the feeling of pain and anguish. He knew that the enemy was killing magic users. He could feel the power fading in them, and he could feel the power building in him. Scary enough, the feeling of druids dying, made Merlin feel stronger and healthier. It was like a curse with a turn out that benefited him.

Arthur scooted to Merlin, and wrapped an arm around him.

"I can feel them dying. Under her watch, her men are murdering the magic users. They declared their loyalty towards me, and died because of it." Merlin whispered.

"It's not your fault Merlin. Don't beat yourself for this." Percival told Merlin. He just nodded, and pulled his cloak around himself.

"We should get some rest. We'll need to consult a camp outside of Camelot tomorrow. The more time we waste, the harder it will be to take back the kingdom." Merlin told them. Merlin walked over to Ebony, who was lying down against the wall, and Merlin leaned onto her. Her thick black fur and body heat provided warmth. The other's followed his lead, and huddled to Ebony for body warmth. Arthur leaned next to Merlin, and let Merlin rest his head on his chest. Soon the group fell asleep.