I don't own Merlin folks. Otherwise there would be a sixth season.

Merlin was convinced the world was conspiring against him. First, Arthur had dragged him on one of those terrible hunting trips just for the sake of killing something (the fact that he gave the meat to the lower town was totally irrelevant, because what did those poor bunnies ever do to him?) and then Uther had to go and bring a powerful artifact out of the vaults in another one of his hunts for sorcery that only seemed to end up wrongly accusing innocents. And occasionally Merlin, but Merlin wasn't exactly innocent by Uther's definition of the word.

Uther had called all the palace staff, knights, guests, and Arthur, to tell them about his new plan to sniff out sorcery in Camelot. Merlin was hoping that this plan did not involve a witch finder like last time-once was enough, thank you very much.

Merlin stood in the back of the room, leaning against the pillar like usual, with Gaius next to him looking as unruffled as ever. Uther strode down the center of the group, Arthur trailing behind looking bored. Most of the audience seemed to think it was best to just humor Uther at this point, and Arthur was no exception.

Uther started as usual with his speech about the fight against sorcery in Camelot (since I have been King... In our valiant battle, we... etcetera) and Merlin could feel himself leaning more and more heavily on the pillar. Some of the knights were talking over in the corner, not even pretending to pay attention. When one of them gave a particularly loud laugh, drawing the attention of half the audience, Uther paused and gave them a look that could curdle milk. They shut up immediately.

"As I was saying, I have discovered a new weapon in the fight against sorcery. It is something that sorcerers used to bolster their ranks before the Great Purge, but now we may use it against them. I confiscated it in the early days, and until recently had no inkling of its true value. An ally informed me, and now we may use it to completely eradicate sorcery in the heart of Camelot!" Uther paused and glanced around the audience, who were now listening with rapt attention. Merlin stopped leaning on the pillar and narrowed his eyes at the king.

Merlin's intuition was... twitching. Something about that glimmer in the King's eyes was foreboding. It was the look of a man who knew he'd won and was waiting for his adversary to realize it. A man who knew he'd outwitted his enemy and impaled him on his own sword. It was not a look that Merlin liked-especially on Uther.

The King continued, "I have in my possession a witching stone. It was used by sorcerers to bolster their strength. A witching stone forces a sorcerer to undergo a magical quickening," here Uther gave a nasty smile, "which doubles their magic. Normally this occurs only when a sorcerer has attained great age-ninety years or so. But for a young sorcerer, it forces the change, leaving them helpless for days. The more powerful the sorcerer the more powerful the pain-but I've heard that for even the weakest it is unbearable. Sorcerers that have already had their quickening-well, they can't do it twice and are killed by their own magic."

Uther's smugness was palatable and his eyes cold. It was suddenly all too clear to Merlin that this man had murdered hundreds of children for the crime of magic. Guards suddenly blocked the exits and servants' passages. Whispers spread through the crowd.

"I will be testing each and every one of you with the witching stone. Any attempts to leave before you have been tested will be seen as an admittance of sorcery and execution by pyre will follow. Arthur, with me. The rest of you, form a line!"

Gaius and Merlin exchanged panicked looks. Both knew that neither of them could touch the stone. While Gaius had not used magic in years, he still had it, if in paltry amounts. And Merlin's magic was like a river-powerful and uncontainable. Doubling it would be like releasing all the water at once, then shrinking the area it had to flow through by two. Merlin was an outlier-the witching stone could kill him or do nothing at all. Neither man had any wish to find out which.

Merlin swallowed. "Gaius, what-"

Gaius bent down to the floor and started looking for something. "Merlin, help me. Quickly!"

Merlin fumbled for a second. "What are you-oh, the switching spell."

Gaius didn't bother to reply, still scrambling around for a pebble or stone. Merlin joined him on the ground, both men crawling desperately around for something that at least resembled the witching stone.

They found nothing. The palace cleaning staff had done their jobs admirably, unfortunately. Merlin glanced back at the knights and servants behind them. "Oh, this is ridiculous!"

His eyes glowed golden and a piece of marble roughly the size and shape of the witching stone broke off of the pillar. Gaius whacked him on the back of the head for magic use in such a public place, but quickly grabbed the stone and scrambled into line behind the palace kitchen staff.

Uther worked his way down the line, handing the stone to each person with an unreadable expression and quick, sharp movements. Most of the people seemed apprehensive to handle something magical, and quickly gave the stone back to the king. Arthur watched the whole affair with a bored expression, apparently not even entertaining the idea that there might be magic in the castle.

Uther reached Gaius much faster than Merlin had been hoping. "Sire, if I may-"

Uther brushed him off. "Your hand, Gaius."

"I am just worried it might reawaken my, ah, previous talents, sire."

Uther remained impassive and unreadable. "If you have truly given them up, Gaius, then I believe that the stone will do no harm."

Gaius swallowed apprehensively, before extending his hand. "Very well, sire."

Merlin tilted his head down to hide his eyes, and whispered, "Conaetir."

Merlin's eyes glowed gold as the stone in his pocket replaced itself with the one falling towards Gaius's palm.

Gaius caught it with little fanfare. The surrounding servants (who had been watching unashamedly) let out a breath of relief and Merlin's shoulders relaxed. The King let out a small smile and snatched the stone from Gaius's palm.

Uther moved to stand in front of Merlin, gesturing for him to hold out his hand. Merlin did so without hesitation, and Uther plopped the stone in his hand before quickly snatching it back and moving down the line.

Gaius and Merlin shared a relief filled glance before moving to stand with the others who were cleared by the king.

Arthur and Uther were almost done when a serving girl at the end of the line broke ranks and sprinted for the door. It took less than a second for Uther to react. "GUARDS!"

The two guards by the door lunged forward and grabbed the girl, hauling her back to face the king. Merlin and Gaius could see her face but not Arthur's or Uther's. She looked absolutely terrified. Her eyes darted back and forth like one of Arthur's poor rabbits and her lips quivered.

Uther stepped closer. "Sorceress..."

The girl squirmed with renewed vigor. "N-no, your highness, I would never-"

Uther lunged forward and pressed the fake stone into her arm. The girl winced, like she was expecting it to bite her. Nothing happened. Merlin could feel Uther's frown.

The girl stared wide-eyed down at the stone before her still fearful eyes scanned the crowd. It looked like she was begging someone to come to her aid.

Uther growled, "Why did you run?"

The girl's eyes landed on Merlin. It was only for a brief second, but it was enough for him to get her attention. Merlin mouthed, "You were afraid of the stone!"

The girl's eyes flickered back to Uther. "T-the stone, your highness. My-my mother told me about such things-she said that they could turn nice girls into witches-I wasn't thinking, sire."

Uther made a noise between a growl and a hum. "Very well. But watch your step, girl. I will keep a close eye on you."

The girl nodded quickly. "Yes, sire. I apologize, sire."

Uther turned with a flare of his cloak. For a moment he stared with narrow eyes directly at Merlin, before turning and continuing with the rest of the line.

Merlin let out a second sigh of relief and gave a shaky smile to Gaius.