A/N: I have no idea where this is going or if I'm going to continue it. Set some time in Season 5. Fair warning, might get a little gory later on. As always, if you have ideas or would like me to continue, let me know! (I don't own anything)

It had been a pretty normal day in Camelot, until a farmer from a village just outside the city burst into the throne room screaming hysterically about a smoke monster. Gaius and Merlin had spent the night researching the man's account and come to the conclusion that the creature was something called a Djinn, a smoke and fire creature with a mischievous side that liked to grant wishes. That last bit didn't sound too terrible to Merlin, but Gaius assured him that all the old texts portrayed the Djinn's wish granting abilities as a soundly bad thing.

Not that the creatures intentions mattered that much. It was a creature of magic, therefor Arthur had declared it evil and was determined to banish it from his lands. And Arthur being Arthur meant he couldn't just trust his knights to kill the thing, oh no, it meant he had to go out and do it himself. The prat.

Merlin shot a withering glare at the back of the kings head as they traipsed through the forest near where the creature had been spotted. He was running on barely two hours of sleep and in a horrible mood because of it. Arthur and his closest knights had decided to ride out at first light and Merlin could hardly let them go without him.

Currently they'd split up into three teams of two with plans to meet up in an hour and report their findings, which at the moment were absolutely nothing.

"Mer-lin" Arthur drawled through gritted teeth "Do you think it's possible for you to make any more noise? You'd think that after almost ten years of this sort of thing you would have finally learned how to walk quietly!"

"Oh, I'm sorry sire." Merlin quipped back "Am I breathing to loudly too? How about thinking? Would you like me to try and quiet my thoughts as well?"

"I'd call that impossible since it would require you to actually have thoughts." Arthur snipped "And I'd settle for you not crashing about like a drunken Percival. You don't see me making enough noise to alert the next kingdom of our presence."

"Well excuse me for not….."But whatever Merlin had been about to say was lost as the wind was knocked out of him when Arthur tackled him to the ground. An arrow embedded it's self in the tree next to where Merlin's head had just been.

"Bandits!" Arthur hissed, rolling off of Merlin and drawling his sword.

Merlin rolled his eyes. Of course there were bandits.

He tried to sneak around and find a good spot to take cover and help Arthur out magically, but the bandits had somehow surrounded them on all sides and were attacking from every angle. With no real weapon of his own, Merlin was forced to pick up a stray piece of a log and use it as a club. They were far outnumbered and the enemies kept coming in quick secession.

Merlin glanced over and was horrified to see out of the corner of his eye that no less than ten well-armed men were swarming at Arthur, far more than the king could hope to defend against. Sure enough not a moment later one of the attackers lunged and his blade nicked the king's ribcage, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Arthur!" Merlin called out. Something about his friends cry activated something in his subconscious and his magic answered. Without even thinking about it, Merlin lashed out and threw all of the bandits who were packed around Arthur into the air. Most crashed into trees with enough force to break bones but a few tumbled away into the dirt somewhat unharmed.

Dead silence fell throughout the clearing as every soul still alive stopped what they were doing to stare at Merlin.

"Sorcerer!" One of the men closer to him hissed at Merlin with distain and fear. Merlin wanted to roll his eyes. Way to state the obvious.

Then the bandits were running, fleeing for their lives in a chaotic frenzy, leaving their dead and wounded to fend for themselves.

All the while Arthur stared at him with wide eyes, a hand pressed to his injured side and his back against a tree. Merlin barely even noticed the bandits, except to process that they were no longer a threat. His immediate concern was for Arthur's wellbeing, and he let out a sigh of relief when he realized the cut to the king's side really was no more than a scratch. It was bleeding, but so long as they cleaned and bandaged it quickly, it wouldn't be a problem. Then the magnitude of what had just happened hit him.

Arthur knew. Oh god, Arthur knew.

The King drew his sword and leveled it at his manservant's throat. Merlin dropped to his knees and looked up at Arthur with big blue eyes swollen with tears.

"Please, Arthur Wait, just wait!" he cried, trying to quiet the growing rage building up within the king. The look in his eyes was a look Merlin had seen twice before, but never directed at him.

"No!" Arthur screamed back angrily "I thought…. I thought you were my friend! I thought I knew you, Merlin!"

"You DO know me!" Merlin screamed back in frustration. Arthur was probably the person who knew him best, better even than Gaius in some ways. He didn't know about the magic or the finer points of his life, but he knew him.

"No, no, I've never known anything about you. It was all a lie, wasn't it!? You manipulated me, just like Morgana! I bet you're probably in league with her too, huh? Probably have been from the beginning!"

"I am nothing like Morgana! And I would never join her! You are my king, Arthur!" Merlin swore to him "Everything I am, magic included, has and always will obey only you!"

"Liar!" Arthur hissed flinging his sword down at the ground in frustration. "You are nothing but a liar and I wish I had never met you!"

He stormed off into the woods and left the devastated Merlin behind.

Unbeknownst to Arthur, the very spirit they had been hunting heard his words and rubbed her hands together with glee.

"As you wish, Young King." She whispered "As you wish"

Yeah, I know this plot line has probably already been done before, but I couldn't resist. I've finished at least the next chapter, so that will be up soon.

Thanks for reading!