Thank you for all the support, it has meant so much to me. So, here we are, the final chapter, hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have.

Chapter 5 The Recovery:

He was lying on a soft and familiar bed. The room was dark and comforting; the heavy scent of fresh herbs infused the air. He was in his chambers, lying on his bed which is where he'd wanted to be all day but he could not remember how he got there.

"Feeling any better?" Gaius's gentle inquiry broke through the warlock's musings.

"What happened?"

"Well, Arthur carried you in here last night, after you collapsed in his room". Gaius paused, "The king was quite frantic, saying it was an accident, he said you had been out of sorts all day, acting strangely and not yourself, but he swore he had not meant to hit you so hard"

"He hit me?" Merlin squeaked and instinctively brought a hand to his forehead feeling raised skin in the shape of a crescent, tender to the touch. Great, he had been branded a citizen of Camelot, to roam forever with a giant capital 'C' embossed on his face.

"Apparently," Gaius continued, "But I don't think that's what caused the problem." He leaned in, examining his ward with a raised eyebrow "Did anything else happen yesterday Merlin, any other mishaps?"

"I slipped on some oil in the Armoury and knocked myself out. I was fine, my head hurt a bit, but I didn't have a mark on me; there were no cuts or scrapes, nothing"

"Nothing?"

"I had trouble concentrating and my words were getting a bit muddled and it was hard to spell and read. Everything kept getting mixed up" supplied the warlock, slightly abashed.

"You did not think to mention it? Merlin, you were suffering from a concussion, you of all people should know, after someone hits their head you have to be careful. There was a sizeable bump on the left side of you skull above your ear" explained Gaius "I've seen knights injured in a similar place, lose the ability to speak altogether and sometimes they could no longer understand what people were saying and were forced to retire".

Merlin swallowed, his mouth having lost all its moisture. "I'm going to be left like this permanently?"

Gaius chuckled, "Come now Merlin, your affliction was relatively insignificant"

"To you maybe, but it was pretty damn significant to me" thought Merlin indignantly

"Besides" the Physician continued " I have given you a cold compress and some Hawthorne to stimulate blood flow and your magic should take care of the rest. I anticipate a full recovery; you just need to recuperate overnight"

The sorcerer's eyes were already half closed and he lost the battle to keep them open.

"Sleep well, Merlin, I'll see you in the morning" the old man whispered as he gently closed the door on his exhausted but peaceful ward.

He awoke, feeling warm and well rested. Sun filtered through shutters illuminating specks of dust and making them sparkle in the bright light. Before the Warlock had realised what he was doing, he had whispered in the language of the old religion and with a deft hand the particles rearranged themselves into a majestic dragon that spread its wings and flew toward the window. Merlin blinked, letting the dust go back to its original form.

Merlin smiled and felt euphoric, but he had to be sure. Fishing into his pocket he pulled out a piece of paper, with a list of jobs written on it. He glanced at the paper and cringed, a couple of the words were miss spelt and he had written something about 'mucking out houses' and 'polishing Arthur', flushing he turned the parchment over and wrote the most complicated spell he could muster, perfectly. Oh yes, he was back. He said the words that would erase both sides of the paper; he couldn't have anyone finding either side of that piece of incriminating evidence.

He felt good, he felt great. Camelot and her inhabitants were safe once more, their secret sorcerer fighting fit and ready for action. Merlin swung his feet over the edge of the bed with vigour, his right foot landing in the recently used chamber pot. He brought his knee up in a reflex action, hitting his chin and unbalancing himself, a movement that caused him to fall backwards and off the bed with a crash.

The door to his chambers was flung open, Gaius observed the scene.

"You're up then, sleep well?"

"Never better, everything's back to normal" the sheepish ward replied.

"So I see" Gaius raised an eyebrow. "I'll leave you to get dressed, don't be late for Arthur" was the Physicians parting shot as he left the room.

Merlin began to get ready, some things don't change; he had always been clumsy, no one was perfect, but very occasionally he felt pretty damn close. The thought brought a crooked smile to his face and illuminated his delicate features. Today was going to be a good day and he wanted to get on with it.

THE END

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So, there you have it, all finished as promised. Writing this little story has been a wonderful ride for me and I hope for you too.

People in the show were constantly being hit on the head and rendered unconscious. After an interlude sufficient for them to miss something important or be held back, they would awaken, fully restored with no consequences or apparent side effects to being bludgeoned in such a delicate place. This story was my attempt to redress the balance.

When I started on this journey, I was advised to tackle something I knew; thankfully, I have never suffered a concussion - although I know those who have. However, being dyslexic, I am only to familiar with misspelling, misreading, jumbled words, letters and meanings and all the frustration that causes.

In an early draft, this was very nearly a story of Merlin the 'magic welder' and how he helped the once and future king with his 'accent', I have my husband to thank for proof reading and spotting those gems and others before they made it into the text.

So, thank-you for helping me bury some of my own literacy demons, I know they will come back (zombie style) but at the moment, all is good. Dyslexia never goes away, but I can cope with it much better now.

You never know, I may even be tempted to dip my nib in the inkwell of fanfiction again - but for now, I am content to sit back - read and enjoy the work of others.