Dear Arthur,

I know that by the time you read this letter I will no longer be in Camelot, at least I hope I wont be, because I can't bear to see your face contort in rage at what I'm about to tell you.

Before I begin I just want you to know that despite all that you have been taught I never chose this.

I never chose to have magic, it is buried deep within me. Always has been and it always will. I can't change that, just like you can't change your eye colour; it is a part of who I am.

Secondly: you need to know that just because I have magic it doesn't make me evil, in fact it's kind of the opposite, I've saved your life so many times I've lost count… Seriously, I'm not even joking!

Remember that time you got bitten by the Questing Beast? Did you not think it even a teeny bit suspicious that you lived when Gaius couldn't find a single mention in any of his books on how to save you? And Gaius has a LOT of books.

Well that was me, I saved you. If I'm honest I don't really have time (or enough parchment) to explain how I did it, but let's just say I was more than willing to sacrifice myself for you.

Ooooh, and there was that time when you fell in love with Sophia (well, she enchanted you…)- she and her father were evil faeries trying to get back to Avalon (you probably wont understand much of this) but they needed a human prince in exchange for immortality- that's where you come in.

So they put you under a spell and dragged you off to the lake of Avalon where you nearly died but were saved by yours truly. You nearly drowned actually, I was quite worried for a while.

There are so many other times when I saved you Arthur, I know you wont but please try to believe me. In time things will change and then you will be a great King. The dragon told me… actually forget I mentioned the dragon, you're probably not ready for that story yet. But one day…

But I have to leave Arthur, I don't know when I'll be back or even if I will ever come back. The reason I have to leave is because I was seen Arthur, I was seen by half the knights of Camelot.

Elyan saw me, Gawain saw me, Leon saw me… Even Kay (you know, that knight you're always moaning to me about) saw me.

All I was doing was saving your life but they all turned around at the wrong moment and well… I was seen.

They shouted out after me but I was already out of earshot, you know me Arthur, I always run away.

You might have noticed that my handwriting's pretty scrawled, that's because I tripped (I can hear you laughing from here) over a tree root and landed on my wrist. I did try to fix it but my healing powers need a bit of work.

Anyway, now I'm stalling. What I want to tell you (but don't want to weird you out) is that I will never use my magic against you. I will use it instead to protect you.

As long as there is blood in my veins and air in my lungs, I will do my utmost best to make sure that no one even thinks about trying to harm you.

And believe me, as far as having magic goes, no one is more powerful than me (no, I'm not boasting-much…).

Just do me one thing Arthur, don't forget me. I wont forget you, not ever. Even if I live to be an old man with a long grey beard and a pointy hat (not that I think I'll ever let myself go like that!)

Forever your protector,

Merlin (or Emrys, that's what the druids call me- another long story!).

P.S. Tell Gaius that he shouldn't drink the green liquid in my bedroom- I was practising the sleeping potion and it went a bit wrong...

P.P.S. Tell Gawain to cut down on the drinks, when I saw him last he was completely out of it!

P.P.P.S. I'm going to stop now. Not because I've run out of stuff to say but because I don't have any more parchment.

-Merlin-