In the episode "The Fires of Idirsholas", Merlin had to poison Morgana, and she was whisked away by Morgause. At that point the viewers know that Morgana has gone darkside, but Arthur and Uther don't. This story is set sometime between that episode and the next.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable. Merlin does not belong to me.

The Royal Seal of Camelot

Chapter 1 - Where Am I?

Merlin awoke with the brain-fogged feeling of magic overextended, and the awareness of pain somewhere nearby. The confused thought stumbled through his mind that he must move, must get away, right now. The smell of leaf mold was strong in his nostrils, and as he placed his hands down to brace himself, he discovered that he was lying face down on a carpet of last year's leaves.

The thudding of footsteps nearby galvanized him, and he tried to shove himself upright. He got as far as his knees as pain exploded down his side and up into his head. Strong hands caught his shoulders. He struggled, pushing his attacker away. There was a startled exclamation, and a voice that should have been familiar spoke, though the meaning of the words escaped Merlin as his vision blurred and grayed.

"Easy, Merlin! It's okay! It's okay. You're safe," he heard, then, in a tone that combined reassurance and warning, "Arthur's coming."

Reeling on his knees and still trying to get to his feet, Merlin heard another voice, one that he would have recognized from the grave itself.

"Merlin! Merlin, stop struggling. It's all right."

Arthur. Prince Arthur. Not bandits.

An even stronger pair of hands grabbed his shoulders very firmly, turned him, and eased him down flat. Merlin heard the royal command, "Just lie there." After a moment, the pain began to subside a bit, and Merlin's vision cleared.

Arthur was leaning over him, blond hair falling to brush against the sides of that narrow impassive face, gently but inescapably holding him down. It occurred to Merlin to find that gentleness vaguely alarming. Arthur usually seemed to feel that Merlin needed toughening up. As Merlin was fuzzily pondering the contradiction, movement to his right caught his attention. A familiar wiry young man had dropped to his knees beside Merlin, and was dragging his pack off his back. The newcomer ran a hand through dark shaggy hair, and his sharp hazel eyes flicked over Merlin as if checking for injuries.

Gwaine?

Gwaine saw Merlin looking at him, and a lopsided and slightly wary smile flashed over his face.

"Are you back with us? Just take it easy, okay?" Gwaine exchanged glances with the prince then began rooting around in his pack, coming away with a handful of bandages. Arthur released his grip on Merlin as Gwaine began carefully easing Merlin's tunic away from his side. Merlin tried to pull away, gasping as the attempt triggered a resurgence of the pain. There was something... Something he had to remember...

Merlin grabbed for Arthur's sleeve, heedless of the rising nausea and pain. "Arthur, wait, I have to tell you-" Merlin gasped. "The seal..."

The prince's clipped words seemed to recede into a gray fog that swept Merlin back under. "No, Merlin, lie still. Gaius is on his way."

-o-o-o-o-

By the time Merlin really awoke again, he was back at home, tucked neatly into his own bed, and thoroughly bandaged. He had vague patchy memories of a terrible-tasting potion, faces peering down at him, and the sway of a stretcher, but little else. At the soft creaking sound of his bedroom door opening, he looked up. A wizened face with a shock of long white hair appeared around it. Apparently, Gaius had come up to check on him. The old healer, foster father to Merlin, hobbled across the room and settled on the edge of the bed. He checked Merlin's bandages gently, then shifted away to seat himself more comfortably in the chair by Merlin's bed.

"All right, Merlin," he said, fixing Merlin with a stern look. "Tell me what happened."

Gaius knew, of course, how it had all started. It had been the day he had attended the sealing of a treaty with Arthur. Merlin had seen the great seal of Camelot before, but never from that close. From his vantage point beside and slightly behind Prince Arthur, he watched as the king prepared to seal the treaty that could greatly reduce the threat any king posed to Camelot's land and people.

As the king poured wax onto the parchment, and raised the seal, Merlin surreptitiously rubbed his eyes. The seal seemed to shimmer slightly as it was lifted from its ancient wooden box and moved through the short distance to the parchment. Merlin glanced rapidly around the room, and shook his head. It must be his imagination. Either that, or the previous evening spent in the tavern with Gwaine was taking its toll. He'd thought Gwaine had done most of the drinking, but maybe he'd had more than he thought. In any case, nobody else seemed to see anything out of the ordinary.

Then, as the seal touched the paper, Merlin nearly leaped backward. There was a blast of magic that fountained out of the seal and then rippled outward like waves in a pond. He must have moved, or made a sound, because Arthur turned unobtrusively and gave him a baleful blue glare. Luckily, no one else seemed to have noticed, as the court's attention had been focused on the sealing of the treaty. The applause that had broken afterward had covered both Merlin's startlement and Arthur's response.

With the ceremony ended, the court began to disperse. Merlin watched, perplexed, as the king returned the seal to its box and handed it absently to the tiny dark-haired page at his elbow, with instructions to return it to its usual place. As the child departed, the king strode out of the room, drawing most of the court along in his wake. An elbow impacted with Merlin's arm, and he looked away from the king's departure to find Arthur watching him with eyebrows climbing into his blond hair.

"Wake up, Merlin," said the prince. "Time to get back to cleaning my armor. And when you're done, I need the scrolls on my desk put away." With a sigh, Merlin followed Arthur out of the king's office and back to work.

For the rest of the afternoon, Merlin completed his usual duties, with only half his mind on the tasks. The seal was magical? How? As virulently against magic as King Uther was, Merlin could not imagine that he knew of its magic. As soon as Merlin could get away, he scooted back toward the apartment he shared with his foster-father, Gaius. The old court healer had adopted Merlin as ward and protégé, when Merlin had arrived at court, and knew of Merlin's powers. Gaius had privately as much as admitted to Merlin that he had practiced magic in his youth, and was also a veritable treasure trove of non-magical but unusual bits of knowledge. Maybe he knew something about the seal.

Bursting through the door to the apartment, Merlin scanned the room. Everything was as it should be, the shelves with their myriad bottles and bags, the old scarred wooden table covered with books and more bottles, and the stretcher propped in the corner ready to be put to use. The only thing missing was Gaius. His cloak was hanging on the hook by the door, so he couldn't be down in the lower town. He must be in the castle somewhere. Merlin whirled and shot back out the door in search of the old healer, only to come to a precipitous halt when he nearly ran down his quarry in the hallway. Gaius stared in amused astonishment as Merlin, having almost flattened him, proceeded to drag him into the apartment and close the door behind the two of them.

"Gaius, how is the seal magical?" he asked immediately.

"To my knowledge, it isn't. Not if we're discussing the royal seal of Camelot, at any rate. Merlin, what have you gotten involved in this time?"

"Nothing! Well, nothing yet. But the royal seal is magical, and I can't imagine how."

Merlin told Gaius what he had seen in the king's study that morning. Gaius, clearly intrigued, began digging through the piles of books on the table, apparently with a particular volume in mind.

"That's it. The History of House Pendragon. I was reading it the other day, and it does mention the seal. Did you know that the seal predates Camelot? It's not the present coat of arms carved on that seal. It's a much older insignia from the early days of the Pendragons."

"So it's been magical all this time, and nobody knew?"

"Perhaps. Magical items were once more common. There is another possibility, however. Magical items can also be created, at least in theory, through dedicated use by a person of great force of will. Which the early Pendragon lords must have been, in the long journey to become a true power in the land. And it was diplomacy, more than force of arms, which brought them to power. Certainly the situation was right for the seal to become magical. In either case, this is intriguing but hardly urgent. Why the agitation?"

Merlin wilted a bit. "I don't know. It just surprised me, I guess. The king is so intent on destroying magic users, that to see magic shooting out of the seal in his hand just seemed so…impossible, I suppose. You're right. Probably nobody but us knows that the seal is magical, and no magic user in his right mind is going to get close enough to King Uther to find out, so…"

At the last statement, Gaius' eyes glinted in suppressed merriment and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"All right," Merlin amended with a rueful grin, "nobody but me. And I'd better get back to work before Arthur comes looking for me. See you tonight."

Hope you like it so far! The next installments will start to connect the dots between palace and woods. Please feel free to comment and make suggestions - this is my first attempt at publishing fan fiction, and I want to make this story better!