What?! Drgonfire is alive?!

Surprise! I'm alive and I have a new username! Oh yeah!

Thank you everybody who commented and favorited this story during my hiatus. This chapter is dedicated to you guys!

Gold. Sparklyshinyglowy. Not for it. No. Never for it. Make the sparklyshinyglowy gold for HIM. Only do it if HE's near. Turn the lump to gold, catch his eye. Yes. HE will feel us.

It slithered through his mind like a wyrm made of ice. Honey ants crawled across his chest.

Who are you? He demanded.

The Mage Stone we are. Made of the soul of a dragon, young one. Young Lord. MerlinMyrddinEmrysAmbrosius. Yes we will work with HIM near. Make the sparklyshinyglowy gold.

Merlin sat up with a start. The snake-like magic retreated from his mind and he was left panting in the dark. Yep. Just another day in the beautiful kingdom of Camelot.

Quintus looked up from his book when Emrys plopped down onto one of the benches in Gaius' quarters. He sighed and marked his page before turning to the younger man. "I assume you felt it too."

"Hmm? Felt what? There was a hissing voice in my head not ten minutes ago. I came to see Gaius and figure out who or what is was."

"You could hear it?"

"Yes, why?"

"Intriguing."

There was a burst of movement as the physician's door flung open and spewed out Gwen. She looked scared and worked up. "Merlin!"

"Gwen?"

"My father," she gulped. "He's been arrested."

"What? Why?!" Merlin hissed as he fluidly rose to his feet.

"They say he committed treason."

"Treason?!" Morgana demanded.

"The girl's father was conspiring with a known sorcerer. Torin."

"Tom's a good man, sire," Merlin stated. Uther had made a point to make Merlin feel like part of the family, including the behind-the-scenes action. What little of his heart he still allowed to love was finding a way to see Merlin as he did his own children.

"Arthur saw the sorcerer with his own eyes. I have all the proof I need to find him guilty."

Arthur slid the gold that Tom had been found holding across the table for all to see. "Found this at the scene of the crime," he said quietly.

"So he was paid. It could have been for shoeing this Torin's horse," Morgana defended hotly.

"This is madness, sire, you don't have enough proof to condemn him," Merlin said.

"I have all the proof I need. His trial will be in the morning. Goodnight," the king stated before exiting the room.

Morgana sighed. She couldn't let Tom die, but what could she do to prevent it? Maybe if she slipped Tom a key and gave the guards drugged wine…

Dull nails dug softly into her arms. Merlin leaned in and whispered, "Whatever it is that you are thinking of doing, don't. I have a friend that can help get Tom out. Go to the Stone Clearing in two hours. He'll meet you there." Morgana nodded slightly and bade goodnight to Merlin and Arthur.

The clearing was cold and dark when Morgana reached it. There was a biting wind that made the trees howl like dogs of war.

"Merlin said you wished to speak with me," a deep voice rumbled behind her.

Morgana gasped and spun on her heel to find a glowing knight. The same description as the one Quintus said helped get the druid boy out of Camelot.

She gathered herself. "I was told you could help. My maid, Gwen's, father is slated to die for a non-existent crime. I want to break him out."

The knight stared at her for what felt like an eternity before nodding sharply. "I will help you, Lady. Bring your maid if she wishes to say goodbye to her father."

An hour later saw a teary Gwen, a determined Morgana, and the mysterious friend of Merlin's all gathered in one of the dark corners of the dungeon.

Tom gasped when he caught sight of his beloved daughter and scrambled to bar of the cage. She and her Lady were back-lit by a stranger, silver-gold light, revealing itself to be the form of a lustrous warrior who nodded minutely to him.

"Gwen! You should not be here."

His daughter had watery eyes and tear stain down her cheeks. "I know Da, but I had to say goodbye."

He smiled softly. "Dear child, don't fret over me. I made a mistake, and I'll pay the price if I must. Know this: I love you with all my heart."

Gwen sniffled. "Not a day with go by when I won't think of you."

The knight that had stood silently in the back until this point stepped forward. When he laid a hand on the door to his cell, the metal melting into a great pile of goo. "Thomas Smith, you have been found innocent of your crimes by the Old Knights. Come; I will take you someplace safe."

He took Tom by the shoulder and started towards the shadows dancing in the far corner when Morgana's voice cried out, "Wait! We don't even know your name!"

He glanced at her over his shoulder. "Myrddin. You may call me Myrddin, Lady."

With that, the knight stepped into the shadows, dragging Tom with him. The next thing the smith was aware of was a group of hooded people staring down at him. A little boy shoved his way through the crowd, a girl with sandy hair on his heels.

He looked at Tom with wide, glittering eyes. "Myrddin sent you, didn't he?" he asked in an excited whisper.

The girl shoved her companion. "Of course he did, Mordred. Lord Emrys and his friends all have a soft spot for you," she muttered, slightly grumpy.

Mordred, the boy, looked at someone over Tom's left shoulder. When he turned to look, it took him a moment of recognize him as Gaius' apprentice, Quintus. He looked different in a blue cloak instead of his customary brown pants and green shirt. Tom could remember, vaguely, Gwen telling him that Quintus, whom she had struck up an odd friendship with, was going to Tarra to celebrate a family holiday of some sort.

"Ah, Tom. I see you have arrived in one piece," he stated in his usual subdued manor. Mordred bounced over to his side and tugged on Quintus' cloak. His druid cloak.

"Can I show him? Can Kara and I show him the castle? Please?"

Quintus sighed. "Only if it is approved by Isildur and your guardians."

The children nodded vigorously and scrambled off, the rest of the crowd slowly moving away. The younger man plopped himself down on the ground next to Tom. "Mordred's a good kid; he and Kara will treat you right on their tour. It's a shame though. We can only get him to speak out loud when it is a matter concerning Lord Emrys, his friends, or Tarra."

"I thought Tarra was in the hands of Lord Ambrosius, a loyal follower of the king."

Quintus gave him an odd look and quirked a small smile. "Many of Merlin's close friends are tied to magic; including Lord Emrys."

Tom remembered stories his mother would tell him in his youth of Emrys, leader of the Druids and savior of magic. "I assume you are one such friend. Lord Ambrosius and Emrys must be close if your people are welcomed on this land."

"What? No 'heathen spawn'?"

Tom sighed, "I never agreed with what the king did in the wake of his wife's death. It hurt a great many people. My wife worked as a maid in the Degrance House before we moved to Camelot. One of the Lady's personal maids, in fact. Well, more like the Lady's companion seeing as all of the chores were done by magic. If broke my poor wife's heart when they killed her Lady for possessing magic."

Quintus nodded sympathetically and opened his mouth to say something, but the reappearance of Mordred and Kara stopped him. "Isildur and Samuel said it was fine as long as we take him to see Sir Bowen afterwards," Kara stated, slightly out of breath. Mordred grinned brilliantly.

Quintus stood. "Very well then; you may show him around. Oh, one last thing." The druid handed Tom and leather thong with a charm on it. "When you wear this, no one will recognize you as a smith from Camelot."

Tom nodded in thanks and slipped it over his head before allowing the children to pull him toward a small group and waiting boy and girls at the bottom of the hill. After introducing them as Snake, Sam, Daegal, Kate and Pam, Tom and the gaggle of children were off.

Morgana watched in horror as a line of shackled individuals were lead into the courtyard. She made her way towards Arthur, intent on finding out the cause.

"Arthur, why are these people being arrested."

"They have been in consorts with Torin," he told her reluctantly. "They are to be executed."

"Executed! I take it the king ordered this."

"Morgana, it is not our place to question my father's orders."

She growled frustratedly and stomped off. What right was it of the king that allowed innocent people that probably didn't even know they were helping a sorcerer to be put to death? How did that make Uther any better than the magician he claimed were heartless killers?

In her outrage, Morgana found herself storming into that hall and doing something she would greatly regret. She pointed an accusing finger at Uther. "You have blood on your hands, Uther Pendragon. Blood that will never wash off!"

He looked up at her angrily. "I will remind you that you are speaking to your king."

She scoffed, "King! A king is just and fair and strives to the same code that holds his knights. A king is understanding. A king does not kill innocents merely because a prisoner escaped the dungeons!"

He surged to his feet. "You know nothing of what it means to be king! The fate of the kingdom rests in my hands."

"Then the kingdom is doomed, for one by one you make enemies of us all. First the Knights of Old, then the druids and sorcerers. What's next, Uther? The farmers?"

He stood in front of her after three purposeful steps. "Take care, child, of I will have you restrained."

"You just try."

She was dreaming. Logically, Morgana she was still in her cell, but everything felt real. The grass, her dress, the warm breeze. She looked to her left and found a man sitting next to her.

He was tall and broad shouldered with red-ish hair and coppery eyes. "Was that absolutely necessary?" he ask in a gruff voice.

"Uther is an old fool that everyone is afraid to speak out against."

"They are afraid with good reason."

She huffed, "I don't know why I'm telling you this in the first place."

"Because, little witch, you have no one else to tell your deepest secrets to but the lonely man in the cave."

"Why visit me now, though? We haven't spoken since I first came to Camelot."

Her companion gazed up at the sky. "For ill or for good, your trials have begun. I hope you take my question to heart, Morgana, as it will be a driving force in the years to come."

"I looked up what your name means, you know. Cinniúint. It means Fate."

Leon swirled his cup slowly. "Let me get this straight. Uther locked Morgana in the dungeon for treason."

"Yes."

"And when she got out she told Gwen she would take the us to confront Torin."

"Mmm hmm."

"And now Torin and Morgana are planning to kill the king."

Merling fidgeted in his seat. "Yeah, that's about right."

Leon sighed and looked at his fellow Old Knight. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"I planned on following them and saving Uther's life, but I wanted to know if you wanted in on the fight."

Leon smiled lightly. "I do like a good fight. And it has been a while since I've gone toe to toe with sorcerers."

"So you'll come?" Merlin asked hopefully.

Leon stood up and walked over to Merlin, clasping him on the shoulder when he got there. "My dear Myrddin," he spoke quietly, "I wouldn't miss seeing you in action for the world."

Merlin casted a glamor over their armor to make it glow like his soul manifestation once they were safely out of the range of Camelot's eyes. Leon's eye lit up when he looked at the armor that looked so much like he imagined from the stories his mother had told him, feeling like a little kid in Audrey's kitchen.

"Whoa," he breathed. His companion laughed lightly and grinned.

"Come on, Leon. We have to catch up to them before they manage to kill Uther."

They mounted their steads and were off, hooves furiously pounding against the dirt road that stretched for before they. Loen flipped the visor of his helmet down and saw Merlin do the same, both realizing that it was pertinent to keep their identities hidden.

When they arrived, the idiotic thugs didn't even realize that they had been found out. Instead, they joked around and played some dice game. What. An. Idiot.

"You take care of them, I'll go save King Idiot's royal behind, deal?"

Leon rolled his eyes. "Fine. Next time, though, I get to take down the head man."

They both chuckled lightly and went their separate ways. In the quiet manner that his uncle had taught him, Leon crept through the bushes and into on of the mercenary's line of sight. Leon had brought the pommel of his sword done on him before rounding on the rest of the assembled men.

"Right. Who's next?"

Leon would deny until the day he died that he cackled like some gambling drunk as the three other men drew their swords to face him.

Seeing that Leon could handle his opponents, Merlin vanished into the undergrowth to go king hunting. He sighed in frustration; playing nanny for the royal family of Camelot was a full time job, and then some.

The knight pulled Cosain from its sheath with a faint sound of ringing bells at the sound of Morgana's scream and threw caution to the wind. Great swaths of foliage parted before Merlin as he burst forth from the forest to see Uther and Torin wrestling on the ground.

"Torin! Face me, coward, and leave the old man alone."

The sorcerer donned a creepy look when he caught sight of Merlin. "So we meet at last, Myrddin. I have heard much of you, Old Knight. I wonder though, why come to the defence of Camelot?"

"It is not your place nor mine to decide this man's fate. He will face the gods, when they deem it right." Merlin adjusted his grip on the weapon. "So are we going to fight or not?"

When Torin charged him, Merlin sidestepped and swiped his sword up the sorcerer's side. When he turned, shocked, Merlin deftly took off his head.

"How dare you-!"

"Can it, Kingy Pooh. I just saved your arse, again. Don't make me regret it."

Quintus rose an eyebrow, a trait he had picked up from too much time with Gaius, as he stared at the two knights across from him.

"You thought you would just go help Uther and leave ME to cover for you?"

Merlin rubbed his neck while Leon tried his very best not to laugh. "About that… The tavern, Quintus, really?"

The druid smirked evilly, "That's what you get, Sir Myrddin for leaving a man that can't lie to cover for you."

Leon couldn't hold back his laugh back this time.

Alternate Title: Myrrdin Emrys and the Really Creepy Voice in his Head.

Sorry for the crazy long break, guys. College is hard.