Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, all characters belong to the BBC, only the plotline of the story is mine.

A/N: This story begins after the events of "The Disir", but before "The Dark Tower".

Chapter One: A Fate Revealed

The night air was still. The courtyard of the great castle of Camelot lay silent and deserted. Deserted that is, except for one young knight.

Mordred sat against one wall of the courtyard, gazing up at the stars, lost in thought. Less than a day before he had lain unconscious and dying from a terrible wound. Now he was healed, but he didn't quite understand how or why. He knew that Arthur had returned to the Disir to ask them to heal Mordred, but from what he understood, the price the Disir had asked had been one the king felt unable to pay. He had been astonished to come back and find Mordred alive and well, and the question of why he had been healed circled endlessly through Mordred's thoughts.

He was shaken from his reverie by a small sound. Instantly alert, the young man rose fluidly to his feet, drawing his sword from where it was sheathed at his side. His eyes searched the courtyard, coming to rest on a cloaked figure leaving the palace. The figure looked around warily as it walked, but it did not see Mordred.

Mordred silently slid his sword back into its sheath. The figure's build and the way he walked was familiar. Merlin. Whatever the warlock was up to, Mordred knew that it was nothing that was a threat to Camelot or the king. No one was more loyal to Arthur than Merlin. Still, Mordred's curiosity was sparked. Just where was Merlin going so late at night? It must have something to do with magic for Merlin to be so secretive, For almost none knew the servant's true nature, save Mordred and (Mordred suspected) Gaius, none knew that Merlin was the one that the Druids called Emrys, the most powerful sorcerer to ever walk the earth.

After a moment of hesitation Mordred followed after him, being careful to remain silent, Merlin already didn't trust him and he was unlikely to react well if he caught Mordred following him on what was clearly a secret mission.

Mordred followed Merlin out of the palace courtyard and through the town of Camelot. Once outside the city Merlin walked for several more minutes before stopping in a deserted field. Mordred slipped behind a tree, peering from behind it to watch Merlin. Was the sorcerer meeting someone here?

Merlin tilted his head back and began chanting to the sky in a harsh, guttural language. A shiver ran over Mordred's skin. He could feel the power behind the words, but they were not the language of magic that he had learned since childhood, this was something else.

A loud flapping sound filled the air and Mordred watched in astonishment as an enormous dragon landed in front of Merlin. Emrys was a Dragonlord? Mordred gasped aloud, unable to help himself, but luckily the sound was drowned when the dragon began to speak,

"Why have you summoned me, young warlock? What do you want to discuss?"

"Mordred."

The sorcerer's answer caused the young knight's knees to go weak. He clutched at the tree trunk in front of him to keep himself standing, listening harder than ever. Was he at last going to discover the reason Emrys distrusted him so deeply?

The dragon's voice sounded cold, "What of him?"

"He saved Arthur's life again, you know. Took a spear to save him."

"Be that as it may, you know his destiny as well as I, do not forget that, young warlock. The Druid boy cannot be trusted."

Mordred stood frozen behind the tree. He was half convinced he was dreaming. It seemed so absurd, standing here behind a tree listening to Merlin discuss his destiny with a dragon. He felt an irrational flash of anger as well, who was this dragon to judge whether or not he was trustworthy? As strange as the night had been so far, nothing could have prepared Mordred for what he heard next.

"I know." Merlin's tone was bitter, "Do you think I can forget the prophecy? That I can forget the vison? Forget that I watched him kill Arthur with my own eyes?"

Mordred's blood turned to ice in his veins. He sank to his knees in the grass, not noticing the dampness of the nighttime dew. A distant part of his mind heard the rest of the conversation between Merlin and the dragon, Merlin's explanation of what had happened with the Disir, how he had advised Arthur to refuse their request though it was what he had worked for for so long. The fact that Merlin had done this intentionally to prevent Mordred from being healed barely registered in the Druid's mind. He did not even notice when the dragon flew away.

The words he had heard Merlin speak repeated in his head, drumming through his mind, drowning out all else. I saw him kill Arthur….I saw him kill Arthur….kill Arthur…Mordred…kill Arthur

"No!" the word sprang from Mordred's lips in a strangled sound that was half-yell, half-sob.

Merlin whirled around and ran toward Mordred's hiding place.

"What are you doing here?!" the warlock shouted angrily. Mordred scrambled to his feet, taking a step towards Merlin,

"It's not true!" he heard himself yelling as if the words came from somewhere outside him, he grabbed Merlin's shoulders, shaking him as if that could make him deny what Mordred had heard "It isn't true!" But just as quickly as the anger had come over him it left, replaced by despair. Releasing Merlin, Mordred sank to his knees for the second time that night.

"It's not true," he repeated in an agonized whisper, tears streaming down his face, "I would never… I could never…" He swallowed hard, making his eyes meet Merlin's, forcing out the words through the lump in his throat,

"Merlin… Emrys, I am loyal to Arthur. I would give my life to save him. I would never betray him. Please Emrys, you must believe that." He felt as if he knelt before a court, pleading for his life, for his future. Pleading for Emrys to take back the words that still echoed through his head.

Emrys stared down at him, his expression torn between suspicion and compassion, "I…I believe that you mean what you say, Mordred."

Mordred heard the unspoken implication in his tone, "But you also believe that I…that I will…" he could not bring himself to say the words, "That is why you have never trusted me." Merlin nodded silently, his face grim. Mordred buried his face in his hands, feeling as if the court he had imagined earlier had just passed judgement on him and pronounced him guilty.

He wasn't sure how long he was lost to despair, crushed by the weight of his destiny, before he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard a voice, calling to him as though from miles away.

"Mordred. Mordred! Mordred, listen to me, look at me." With what seemed like an enormous effort Mordred dropped his hands and lifted his head to meet Merlin's eyes, as the warlock knelt at his side. Somewhere in the back of his mind Mordred realized that the warlock's tone was kinder than any he had used with Mordred in all the moths since he had come to Camelot and that he was looking at Mordred as if seeing him clearly for the first time.

"Perhaps I was wrong to hide this from you. From the moment you entered Camelot I feared you were only biding your time, gaining Arthur's trust before you struck. I can see now that that was wrong, that your loyalty is true." A strangely determined look entered Merlin's eyes, "knowledge of what is to come is a terrible burden to bear…but perhaps now that you know, now that you have heard this prediction…we can change it."

Mordred felt the faintest stirring of hope in his heart,

"Change it?" his voice was a whisper, "Change what you have seen… change fate… is such a thing possible?"

Merlin hesitated, "The future is not set in stone, Mordred. And what's the good of knowing what may come to pass if you cannot change it? I have to believe that it is possible."

Mordred felt strength reenter his limbs as the tiny wisp of hope that had entered his heart grew. He drew on the discipline he had learned as a knight to allow him to speak in a confident manner.

"Tell me of the prophecy. Tell me exactly what you saw in your vision."

Merlin hesitated and Mordred squared his shoulders, "I can handle it Emrys, if I am to change my fate than I must know as much about it as I can."

Merlin nodded. He took a deep breath and began to tell the Druid boy everything he knew, from Kilgharrah's first warning so many years before (at last Mordred knew what had caused the older sorcerer's strange hesitance to help him that night) to the old prophet and the vision he had had. As Merlin spoke, Mordred felt the weight of his fate press heavily on his shoulder's again, but this time he refused to give in to it.

"Camlann. Camlann is the key. If I do not go to Camlann than I cannot kill Arthur there." He knew that changing his fate could hardly be a simple matter, but he met Merlin's eyes with a look of grim determination that the warlock returned with a short nod of his head.

"This will not be my destiny. I will not kill Arthur. I will change my fate."

And that my dears, is the end of the chapter. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought.