The party returned to Camelot and to outsiders viewing the bunch, they would have never noticed the enormous change. Merlin resorted back to hiding his magic as Arthur slowly built the court up to his proposal of lowering the punishment for magic.

A few weeks after the return from the forest and it was finally the day. The day where Arthur Pendragon would demand the court changes it's law on magic from punishable by death to punishable by whatever is required from what the person has done. If someone kills another person or plots against Camelot then the punishment would be larger yet if someone merely produces a rose from thin air to give to their significant other no one should blink an eye.

Arthur was in no way prepared for this day. And he didn't have anyone to prepare him either. Merlin had been forced to flee a week back. A few of the old cranky councilmen had caught on to Merlin having magic and decided to take it into their hands to kill him. The council man decided to surprise Merlin from around a bend in the corridor and bind him with magic-restricting cuffs.

____________________A week ago______________

Merlin was walking down the hallway carrying Arthur's newly washed clothes for the next day. He wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings and this is were he was at fault. He never saw the ambush coming,and he especially never saw it coming from the three oldest men of Arthur's council. He was just turning a bend in the corridor when he ran into one of the men straight on. This man was the youngest out of the three by a few years but those years gave him the most strength out of the three. The man pushed Merlin backward roughly and Merlin fell onto the floor still holding onto Arthur's clothes. When two others rushed at him he had half the mind the produce a spell to push them back. The men were thrown back a few feet but somehow caught themselves better than their age should have allowed them to. Of course Merlin hadn't used the strongest magic with the spell because accidentally killing any of the council members would certainly leave no room for getting off easily. Then the first man kicked Merlin in his side as he saw Merlin's eyes flash gold. This gave the other two men time to get closer. And before Merlin had time to retaliate a second time, one of the men shut the shackles around his wrists and he started to writhe in pain. After only a few seconds in the shackles the light faded to black and Merlin went unconscious still writhing on the ground.

The men smiled at each other, proud of their accomplishment over the sorcerer. And they agreed that going to Arthur would be foolish as the king had been soft to sorcerers since returning from his last hunting trip. All of them were acquainted with Arthur's manservant on a level of some sort but felt no unease watching the young man convulse in pain beneath them. They had plans of their own to take him off to the forest where they would behead him quickly but all of it was put a stop to when one of Arthur's knights found them carrying Merlin's body throughout one of the back passages of the castle.

Percival had rounded a corner in the back passages of the castles and saw three older councilmen carrying Merlin between them down the hall towards Percival. His eyes widened and he ran toward the bunch quickly. When he got there the three men smiled up at Percival as if he would be proud of them for binding Merlin. One of them even started to speak," Sir Percival we have caught and cuffed a sorcerer." Apparently one of them quickly noticed Percival's horror filled face but that was to late as the knight carefully tore Merlin from between them. Hastely one of the men began to reply,"Yes it would be much better if you carried him to the dungeons for us." But Percival paid no attention to them and said," Where's the key!?" The youngest man produced a rusted key from his pocket and handed it to Percival. Then with nothing else between them Percival ran with the convulsing Merlin to Arthur's chambers and on the way passed a guard who Percival told to quickly bring Gaisus to Arthur's room.

When Percival reached Arthur's chambers Merlin was deathly pale and still writhing. Percival didn't even knock as he entered. When Arthur turned around from the window he had been looking out of and saw Percival carrying Merlin,Arthur's eyes widened in fear. He quickly asked Percival what had happened but Percival responded," No time." Percival quickly laid Merlin on Arthur's bed and attempted to use the key to unlock the cuffs. The key was in such disrepair that it broke. In to three pieces to be exact. Whenever he tried to turn the key, it shattered. The bottom portion of the key was left in the lock hole. Percival locked eyes with Arthur and then they both went back to staring at Merlin's pale convulsing body. Percival then said," Gaisus should be on his way but we have no idea how much time that should take what do we do?" Arthur hesitated to think before responding," I'd say get another key but all of the keys to the magic restraining shackles were made differently so as to stop escape. " He then continued after a moment of silence," What happened?" And this time Percival told him," I rounded a corner in the back passages of the castles and saw three of the older councilman carrying Merlin through the halls. They must have found out about his magic and planned to take care of it themselves."

At that moment Gaisus burst through the door. He was about to address the king but saw Merlin unconsciously convulsing on the bed and scurried over quickly. His eyes did a once over of his apprentice and immediately knew what was happening but wanted to clarify," I'm assuming these are magic cuffs?" Arthur and Percival both nodded. Gaisus's face sunk," If we don't get these off of him he'll be dead by morning. Where's the key?" Percival motioned towards the two pieces lying beside Merlin and the one piece stuck in the cuffs. Gaisus's face got paler," We have no chance of getting him out without the key unless we find a Druid camp or a dragon and only Merlin can summon Kilgharrah." Arthur now spoke," I was notified of a Druid camp a days ride from here and we'll need Leon to lead us." Percival responded," I will fetch Leon right away. Bring Merlin down to the courtyard and get the horses ready while you wait for me." Arthur and Gaisus nodded and then Percival ran out of the room to get Leon and Arthur picked up Merlin's shaking body and Gaisus followed him to the courtyard. They got many concerned and weird looks on the way but none of them noticed. By the time they got to the courtyard and started readying the horses with the help of a few servant the knights had arrived . The horses were ready in merely 6 minutes and the group set off leaving Gaisus watching them disappear into the distance.

The men rode swiftly. Urging their horses as fast as they could go. They had only but 7ish hours to get Merlin to the druids who would hopefully be able to save him. They crested upon a final hill five and a half hours later. From there they could see the light of a campfire burning in the woods beneath them. At that point they switched Merlin from Arthur's horse to Gwaine's in an attempt to go faster. The second Merlin was secured onto the horse Gwaine shot off away from the group and down the hill. He disappeared into the forest mere minutes later. The rest of the knights who had come and Arthur followed quickly behind.

Gwaine pushed his horse too hard and it tripped over a large root. The horse whinied in pain and Gwaine would not push the horse any further. He continued with Merlin on foot. yet that was slow going. The horse limped behind him. After a half hour of walking , people rushed at him from behind trees. But he quickly found that these were not bandits but a pack of 4 druids who had sensed Merlin nearby. One of the druids spoke up before Gwaine attempted to draw his sword," We come as friends to aide Emrys and your animal. Allow us to take them to our camp." Gwaine eyed the druids nervously for a few seconds before agreeing. He knew that Merlin had little time left. Two of the druids took Merlin and swiftly disappeared into the foilage. The other two went over towards the limping horse and said healing spells to help. The horse still had a limp but would heal quickly and be able to ride again in a weeks time. They then walked with Gwaine towards their camp. When Gwaine, the horse, and the two druids arrived they could see that Arthur and the other knights had arrived first and were situated around a large fire . Merlin was nowhere in sight. Gwaine allowed the druids to tend to his horse and he went and sat by Arthur and the knights. The knights present were Sir Leon, Sir Percival, Sir Lancelot, and of course Sir Gwaine himself. They were all sitting silently around the fire while the druids all went into another part of the camp where the knights had not been permitted to go forth.

An hour later all but a few of the druids returned to the fire. An elder stood in the center of the circle and addressed the knights," We have been able to free Emrys, or as you call him Merlin, from the cuffs. Despite this Emrys is weak. He must stay with us in order to properly heal himself." Some of the knights and Arthur began to reject this idea but quieted down when one of the druid children, a little boy, ran up to them and said," Don't worry about Emrys. He is welcomed here and is powerful enough that we have no doubt he will recover. I give you my word as a knight... of this camp." The boy ended with a wide smile that reminded them all of Merlin so they smiled back at the boy who after that returned to sit next to an older woman. The druid elder smiled at the boy's words and then continued," We offer you our hospitality for the night, knights of Camelot, and we extend our welcoming to the Once and Future King Arthur Pendragon as well. " The elder then left the circle and the other druids began to disperse as well. The knights all looked at each other and then to Arthur. Lancelot spoke first," We should head back to Camelot. We need to inform Gaisus of Merlin's safety and we must return to our duties as well." Arthur then spoke," I agree. We shall leave behind a message for Merlin to inform him of when to return."

The King then set off on the task to locate an elder who could pass the message on to Merlin. He found the druid elder who had spoken earlier. He asked the druid if he would be willing to pass a message to Merlin. The elder agreed. The message was," Stay at this druid encampment either until one of the knights comes to bring you to Camelot or return on your own if the camp moves.~Arthur" The knights and Arthur left that night for the castle.

The next morning Merlin woke up in a druid tent. He felt weak and as if his magic had been suppressed. Then he remembered. The councilmen. The cuffs. Then here he was. He started to attempt to get up but was to weak to do so. One of the druid elders came in at that moment saying," I felt that you were awake Emrys. My name is Aldvers. It is an honor to finally meet you." Merlin nodded respectfully and asked," How did I come to be here?" Aldvers explained," We sensed you in distress nearing our encampment. We sent out four druids to meet you. The druids found Sir Gwaine carrying you through the forest with his horse limping behind him. You were is magic-restricting shackles. They took you from Gwaine and quickly brought you here a few minutes before the once and future king and the other knights arrived. Sir Gwaine arrived soon after along with the other two druids who set forth upon the task of healing the horse. We had taken you into the large gathering tent where we freed you of the shackles and performed collective healing spells to quicken the process. Arthur Pendragon and the knights left before dawn this morning." Merlin processed what he had just been told and nodded once before asking another question," Did Arthur leave any sort of instructions for me?" Aldvers then recited the message. He next gave Merlin a poultice which was laced with a spell to help Merlin's magic return faster. After that he told Merlin to rest longer and then they would talk more.

When Merlin woke up later in the evening he felt better. Yet he was still weak and standing up almost made him pass out. Despite that he exited the tent provided for him and went to find Aldvers. While walking around the Druid camp, Aldvers found Merlin first. He offered Merlin a bowl of vegetables and rice which Merlin accepted gratefully. The two then went to sit outside of Aldvers' tent. Aldvers' informed Merlin of Druid traditions and how they worked. After that Aldvers asked Merlin to attempt magic. Merlin agreed and attempted a simple summoning of a strawberry. He could usually do this in is sleep because of the hard work he put into learning it after Freya passed. Yet because of the harm the shackles had done to him the strawberry was small,rotten, and deformed. It also caused a wave of fiery pain to shoot up from his hand and all the way up his arms. This pain resulted in Merlin dropping the strawberry the second it was formed. Aldvers nodded hopefully before saying," This is good. We were afraid you wouldn't be able to reach your magic. The pain should subside in a few days ,Emrys." Merlin rubbed his arms to ease the pain before muttering," I sure hope so."

__________________present time________________

Arthur was scared for the council meeting. And yet he was excited to be getting as close to revenge as he could get on the three oldest members. Seeing Merlin in that much pain on that night a week ago, gave Arthur chills just thinking about it. Merlin had been dying in front of his very eyes and the last memory he had of Merlin was of him deathly pale convulsing on a horse. He wouldn't see Merlin for another two weeks or even a month. Arthur couldn't risk having Merlin back in the castle as the laws were changing. He still felt guilty for having brought Merlin back to the castle after revealing his magic. Yet the past could not be changed so he tried his best to stray away from these thoughts. Instead he again went over his speech for the council. Gwen, Gaisus, and the knights all had looked over it. It would suffice.

The speech was written in a way that would enhance the attention on the abuse of punishment. That way the council didn't even have to agree that magic was good. All they had to agree on was that they had over used penalties. After the law was agreed to be legally changed, the speech would bring up the obstacle of their allies all hating magic as well. They would contact their allies and let them remain in their ways yet would only stay allies if the other power decided to abide by Camelots rules when in the border and to not rule any judgments of magic over people who live in Camelot. The court would also contact their enemies that were made over the magic ban and attempt to make peace. At that point the council would be assigned their tasks and be dismissed.

The council would begin at noon but before that he would conference with all present at the council who knew about Merlin. And now was that time.