A Servant of Two Masters

A/N: This episode begins with Merlin in Morgana's clutches, as opposed to the true beginning.

"Fomorroh are creatures of dark magic."

Merlin didn't like the sound of that. Dark magic, so dark even Morgana called it dark magic. This was decidedly one of the worst situations Merlin had ever found himself.

"Even if you cut off their heads, you cannot kill them. Another will just grow in its place."

He looked at Morgana with trepidation as she walked closer. "In the days of the old religion they were revered by the High Priestesses, as they allowed them to control people's minds."

A sense of violation struck Merlin, not unlike when he found he'd been undressed and redressed while unconcious.

"Fomorroh will suck the life force out of you. Everything that makes you Merlin will be gone. And in its place will be one thought."

Morgana's intentions were clear - manipulate Merlin, get him to kill Arthur. To Morgana, Merlin was an underestimated servant close to the king, one who would be capable of dispatching of Arthur with mundane means.

Morgana was a dangerous enemy, but very predictable. All she did was hatch plans of varying complexity to kill Arthur, and this seemed to be one of her simpler ones. More immediately dangerous was the Fomorroh.

"One thought that will grow until it's consumed you completely. One thought that will be your life's work. You will not be able to rest until it's done."

He could take his chances with the Fomorroh and hope Gaius could stop him, or break out right now and reveal himself to Morgana. But he knew better; Gaius could not stop him or his magic, and Arthur was so defenseless against the cleverness and magic Merlin had been hiding for so long. If the Fomorroh took control of his magic, there is no way anybody would be able to stop him, and Merlin would never forgive himself. Well, that decides that.

Morgana knowing he was a sorcerer would be problematic, but he could save himself with dragonlord magic, surely - something Morgana may not recognize, and something Arthur already knew about.

"And that one thought is simple. You must kill Arthur Pendragon."

Merlin roared to the sky, summoning Kilgharrah to his aid, and roared at Morgana as she was thrown back and her head cracked against the hut. She slumped, unconcious.

It was Aithusa who ambled through the doorway of the hut, still tiny enough to fit inside the hovel with no problem. She quickly burned off Merlin's restraints, and he ran outside with her in tow to find Kilgharrah.

"Can you take me to Camelot?" He asked the great dragon. "And her?" he motioned inside to the witch.

"I am no common horse, as I have said before," Kilgharrah huffed. "But in order to capture the witch, I will."

Merlin levitated her body outside, and flew with the dragons to Camelot. They landed deep in the forest, only a half-hour walk away from the castle.

Merlin ran madly to Camelot, leaving the unconcious witch in the clutches of Kilgharrah's talons. He arrived on the training grounds, where Arthur was leading a teaching with the new recruits.

"Arthur!" Merlin yelled, and ran directly up to him. He got close to his ear and said quietly and hurriedly, "Kilgharrah has Morgana unconcious in the clearing close by, we need to get her to the dungeons before she wakes up."

"I am sorry, Sir Gareth will have to lead the rest of this lesson, matters of state call," he said regally as he rushed off the field. "Get the trusted," he told Merlin.

He could only pull together Leon and Elyan in time, and the four rode back out to the clearing with an extra horse and a bag. They did not want to be seen carting the witch inside.

They reached the dragon, and he released the witch distastefully. "What will you do with her," he asked.

"I want to put a sword through her right now," Arthur said as he drew.

At that moment Morgana leapt up from the ground, and cried spellwork. Everyone was blown back except Arthur, who charged the witch.

From behind Morgana, Kilgharrah went to pierce her with his talons, as if swatting a fly. Morgana leapt out of the way of both, but Kilgharrah easily went for her again.

Kilgharrah reared to cover her with dragon fire, but Morgana shouted intricate spellwork and was gone before the flames ever made contact.

"I know where she was hiding, we can ride there!" Merlin cried. He set off immediately and the knights followed him. Kilgharrah instead chose to fly away, and everyone cursed his uselessness while they rode.

"She isn't with Annis anymore; she is on her own, and she was trying to kidnap you, Arthur!" Merlin yelled over thundering hooves. "She was going to enchant me to turn against you, but I called Kilgharrah and Aithusa before that could happen," he shouted.

"Lets hope we can catch her before she vanishes again!" Elyan cried.

When they arrived, the hovel was already abandoned.

"Curses!" swore Leon. "Too late."

"Why woud she just vanish?" Elyan said. "Isn't she trying to kill you, Arthur?"

"It will do no good if she has no army backing her up," Leon said. "Because if Arthur is dead and she tries to assume the throne without an army, the people of Camelot herself will fight."

"I got the impression I was just a second-best," Merlin said. "That she was trying to capture Arthur, perhaps to ransom him in exchange for something to pursue an army with," he mused. "I couldn't say."

Arthur kicked a shelf in frustration. "And Aggravaine set this up?"

"No doubt he'll try and spin it as someone else," Elyan said. "Who else had access to the routes?"

"You say 'else' like he did in the first place," Arthur said. "He must have somehow gotten someone to tell him."

"So we could very well be dealing with two or more spies," Leon said.

"Or he could have drugged them," Merlin said. "No doubt Morgana would know black magic and truth serums that could allow that."

They clambered back on their horses, and headed back to Camelot. "Unfortunately, there's just no way to know."

"What can we do now?" Merlin asked.

"Nothing," Arthur replied bluntly. "Morgana is in the wind, again, and we can only wait for more information about her plot."

"We could remove Aggravaine, finally," Elyan said. "This incident has demonstrated he is dangerous, far more than we previously anticipated."

"Send him away," Merlin agreed, "And tell the council that he decided to leave."

"Send him away?" Arthur cried. "To where he can work with Morgana, and only help her more? I know you loathe executions, Merlin, but Aggravaine attempted to take my life, and he certainly deserves the death sentence."

Merlin hummed, and said "In my experience, taking life rashly only leads to more death. I just don't want to see Aggravaine's execution create more death where there coud have been less."

"How would removing a threat cause more death?" Asked Elyan.

"Kilgharrah once told me of a prophecy about a young boy," Merlin said, keeping things vague. "That he would ally with Morgana, and be the death of Arthur." He sighed deeply. "I attempted to kill him as a young man, before he had done anything deserving of death - it was that very action which created the hatred that the dragon spoke of." Everyone was silent, unaccustomed to Merlin's wisdom.

"But Merlin," Leon said. "Aggravaine has already done things deserving of death."

"I know," Merlin sighed. "I just detest the idea."

"Who is this boy?" Arthur asked quietly.

"You have met him, sire," Merlin said sadly. "A young druid named Mordred."

Arthur's eyes widened. "But you helped him! We helped him!"

"I don't believe in killing people for things they haven't done," Merlin defended. "And to my knowledge, he still hasn't done anything."

"I understand," Arthur conceded. "I just don't want to screw around with the prophecies of a dragon."

"In my experience, they're all bullshit," Merlin said roughly, "And they only happen because we buy into them."

"Loving the reverence for your kin," Elyan teased.

"I'm the last dragonlord, I'll say what I want," Merlin grumbled, as they proceeded back to Camelot.

Upon their arrival, they met up with the knights of the round table. Arthur said "I'd like to deal with Aggravaine immediately. What shall we do?"

"I'd like to tell the truth, if at all possible. Leaving out the parts with the lizard," Merlin said.

"Such irreverence," Percival teased.

"You're the King, just tell everyone what's what and be done with it," Gwaine said.

"His actions today alone are evidence of treason," Elyan said.

"But apart from our prior knowledge, we have no proof it was Aggravaine except Merlin's word, and the council will be riled you put a servant's word against the brother of Ygraine's," reasoned Leon.

"They already know of your intention to legalize magic, you're working with them on changing the sentences for magical crimes already," Gunivere said. "Just tell them what happened with the old sorcerer and your father."

"He has not been passed long," Arthur said. "They might cry treason."

"Treason? You're the King!" Merlin laughed.

"Kings have been assassinated by their councilmen before, and I'm already walking on thin ice with my stance on magic," Arthur said. "I'd rather like not to die before it is seen through," he finished dryly.

"Tell them of the enchanted sword at Annis' battle," said Elyan. "Surely they cannot fight that evidence."

"The enchantment remains obvious on the blade to anyone with magical education, Gaius could verify it," Merlin said. Gwaine noticed his slip of the tongue.

So did Arthur. "How would you know it's obvious?"

Merlin cleared is throat. "Gaius told me."

"When did you discuss this with Gaius?"

"Why am I being interrogated? I mentioned it to Gaius, he told me it was obvious," Merlin said.

Arthur turned a critical eye away from Merlin and said "Very well. Everyone, meet me in the council room. Merlin, remain behind," he said.

Everyone else walked away, and Arthur asked in hushed tones "Do you know magic, Merlin?"

"Me, Arthur? Don't be ridiculous," Merlin said, echoing Arthur's words.

"You seem awful sure magic will be good for the people of Camelot, and you often claim things about the arts without being able to say how you came across your 'hunch,'" Arthur said as they followed the group at a distance.

"I've always been interested," defended Merlin, dancing around the truth. "You don't have to have magic to know about it."

"Or read books about it in the dead of night?" Arthur asked.

Merlin blanched, something he felt was happening far too often with Arthur lately.

"Don't panic," Arthur laughed. "I only put it together just now. Until now, I merely thought you came across stories of… an inappropriate nature."

Merlin pressed his lips together. "For God's sake, Arthur."

"I admit, I never see a woman on your arm, I just assumed the fact frustrated you," Arthur laughed.

"It does, but I don't have time for it," Merlin sighed.

"Have you ever?" Arthur asked as they walked towards the castle.

He thought of Freya, her beautiful long hair flowing behind her in the sun. She was the picture of beauty.

"Once," he answered.

"What happened?" Arthur asked.

Then he thought of Freya, lanced through the side, delivered to the waters of Avalon, dying in his arms.

"She died," Merlin answered softly.

"Crap, Merlin," Arthur answered. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Merlin thought of the victory written all over Arthur's face, victory at having slain the monster terrorizing his town. He heard her dying cries.

"No, you didn't. You still don't. But I forgave you a long time ago," Merlin said, turning a piercing eye to Arthur.

"Why do I get the feeling there's something I don't know?" Arthur asked warily.

"Because there is," Merlin said. "But today is not the time for telling more secrets. Today is the time to finally oust Aggravaine from the castle," he said proudly, as they made their way through Camelot's halls.

"That it is," Arthur said as they entered the council room. The knights, plus a few extra Merlin was less familiar with, and the entirety of the council was assembled and milling about the room. When Arthur entered, they took their seats.

Arthur told them the story. Told them of a traitor, a traitor who worked with Morgana to enchant Arthur's blade, Gaius confirming the existence of an evil magic upon the blade. Then Arthur told them this traitor is responsible for the kidnapping of Merlin, and Merlin could attest in detail to what happened in both instances.

"The man who took Arthur's sword, and the man who brought me to Morgana, is Aggravaine." Merlin said.

Instead of being greeted with cries of "seize him!" Merlin was greeted with the sound of laughter.

"Arthur, you can't buy this," One old man laughed. "The word of a servant against the word of someone from the royal line?"

"Oh my goodness, Sir Lucan, seize Aggravaine," said Arthur with exasparation. "I'm the King, Lionel, I don't need to defend my trust in Merlin."

"You can't be serious," Aggravaine cried. "I'm being set up! By him!" He pointed at Merlin.

Merlin stared back witheringly. "Why would I do that?"

Instead of answering, Aggravaine bolted. Lucan and Percival bounded after him, Merlin and Arthur not far behind.

They turned a corner, only for Aggravaine to throw a concoction on the ground, and dissapear in a wisp of smoke.

"Damnit!" Merlin cried.

Arthur ran back to the council room in a few short hallways. "Aggravaine used magic to get away," he announced to the council members. "Now, will you see he was a traitor?"

"I thought you were going to legalize magic," another councilman mocked.

"It's not that he used magic," Arthur said with frustration, "It's that when accused he tried to escape without providing any defense for himself. He lacked a good one - his defense was that my servant was setting him up," he said dryly. "Do you see Merlin setting anyone up?"

The council members looked frustrated for the most part, Arthur's logic being sound. They hated that he cared naught for a man's status or position.

"If anyone sees Aggravaine, kill him on sight," he instructed the knights. "Council members, you're dismissed."

"That didn't go like we hoped," Merlin said.

"I can't wait to legalize magic so we can get some enchantments on the castle, stop people from magicking away," Arthur groused. "That must be a thing, right?"

"I'd be shocked if it isn't," Merlin agreed.

"We're stuck waiting, again." Arthur groused more. "For Aggravaine or Morgana to make their next move."

Merlin feared what Morgana might do - they won a victory over her every day, it seemed, but he feared the Great Dragon's words.

"She. Is. Dangerous." He warned. "You must beware."