Note: Just a wee one shot. It's Arthur's POV from chapter 3 and 4 in Reclaiming Camelot. I got a comment saying how someone would love to read Arthur's reaction. So if you want to thank anyone, thank hazelbunny. If it were not for hazelbunny I would never have gotten the idea to do this. I would recommend reading the first 3 or 4 chapters before reading this, because you might get lost, but I suppose you could read this without the other story - it just makes more sense with it than without.

Disclaimer: DO NOT OWN 'MERLIN' - I wonder if there's any better way to let them know than just repeating it over and over because this is just getting ridiculous!

Another boring council meeting, not really discussing anything that was even important, and not really agreeing on anything either. Not unlike every other council meeting. Arthur got bored very easily, very fast. Thank goodness it was over, and the council were leaving. He could go down to the training grounds and work with his sword, or persuade Merlin to help him with jousting. He smiled at the thought, knowing exactly what Merlin's reaction would be.

He heard the door open behind him, then close. He continued talking to Morgana, he had hardly talked to her recently, she seemed rather distant. The door had opened again, but this time was different. The door had been so forcefully pushed open that it hit the wall behind it. Turning, he was not entirely surprised to see Merlin standing there, he could be such an idiot some times. What did surprise him was the look of fear and worry on his face.

Then he understood why. The servant that was just over ten feet in front of him pulled out a dagger and was aiming it at him, but now he aimed it at Merlin. He watched, frozen, as Merlin jumped out of the way of the dagger. He moved forwards, about to go to his fallen friend, when the man turned and aimed a second dagger at, not Merlin this time, but himself.

He was fully prepared to jump out of its path, just as Merlin had done. Despite the speed at which this clash was happening, Arthur's instincts had already alerted him of the danger around him, but the man was less than eight feet away now. It would be too close to move in time.

He barely heard Merlin's voice as a vase smashed into the thug's head, forcing the dagger to take a different path.

Once the thug was taken care of, he looked to Merlin, just like everyone else in the room. The man who he owed his life to once again. 'This is getting a little repetitive' he thought to himself.

"Merlin…what do you think you were doing?" he asked, trying to hide the smile on his lips, and failing.

He heard Merlin's reply, and saw a similar smile on his face. He was about to move forwards, about to thank Merlin for saving his life - again - when the wind picked up. Not just wind, a twister, something he recognized immediately. Magic was being used.

He immediately recognized the women who emerged from the swirling air, and gripped his sword tighter.

Morgause.

There was something wrong, though. In stead of directing her attention to his father or himself, like he assumed she would do, her attention immediately went to Merlin. His servant, the bumbling idiot, Merlin.

She screamed at him, blamed him for her failings, and threatened finishing everything.

Then he saw her eyes turning in his direction, and he froze, like every body around him, despite the fire that grew in her palm. The fire that built up quickly, growing into a huge ball.

Suddenly it was hurtling in his direction. He could not help but react. His eyes closed, his grip on the sword tightening even more, ready for the exploding pain that would come from the contact with the fire. He knew that he did not have enough time to move, enough time to duck, enough time to escape the burning heat that was heading his way.

It never came.

Opening his eyes, he nearly recoiled in shock. It was dead in front of him, just hovering in mid-air, unmoving. Something to his right caught his attention. Morgause was not the only one with an arm reached out in the direction of the fire ball. There was another person, someone who was stopping the pain from coming, Someone who was protecting Arthur with magic. It was Merlin.

His arm was outstretched. His hand was shaking, as was Morgause's. He could tell that they were fighting for total control. The pain on both their faces showed it plainly enough. And his eyes. Merlin's eyes had changed from their usual blue to a brilliant gold. The gold consumed his eyes completely.

Merlin had magic.

Anger filled his mind. Merlin had lied to him, kept things from him, not trusted him. Merlin had betrayed him.

Merlin was focused on the fire ball, looking at it like he could move it with just his thoughts. His anger became momentarily distracted by the flying papers, falling paintings, moving furniture. The wind had picked up like it had before, but this was different. It was filling the entire room. A window shattered somewhere at the back of the room. The gale was getting stronger, forcing Arthur to the floor in order to protect himself from it's harshness, as well as the flying objects.

He looked from Morgause to Merlin. So much power was being used. It was incredible.

Merlin yelled, and he heard it loud, even over the storm that was happening. That was when the fire flew toward Morgause, not Arthur. Aiming for her, not him.

There was something else. A flash of red light went soaring across to Merlin. Something that made contact with his stomach. He couldn't focus on whatever magic Merlin had just conjured. He had to focus on Morgause. He had to focus on stopping her. The fire had missed her, but only just.

Almost as quickly and dramatically as she had arrived, he saw her vanish. She had left in anger…and was that fear?

He saw Merlin collapse, and saw the blood dripping from his nose. It had been almost too powerful, even for Merlin. He heard his father mumble something, but couldn't care less. Merlin had just saved them all, and with the one thing that Uther had despised most of all. Why had he done that? Magic was their enemy, and that made Merlin his enemy. Why was he saving them? He wanted an answer, but he was still angry at Merlin. Had he been lying to him this entire time? Then he remembered their second encounter with each other: "I could take you apart with one blow", "I could take you apart with less than that". That's what Merlin had meant, he had been referring to his magic. That meant that ever since he'd met him he had been lying.

His anger towards Merlin was building up, he couldn't believe it. The lies, the distrust, the betrayal. It was so un-Merlin, but here it all was in front of him.

Then he realized that the red light was still there. It lit up the room. The dagger in Merlin's stomach was glowing two different reds, one from the magic spell, the other from all the blood.

All of his anger seemed to vanish when he saw it. Merlin's face contorted with pain. His anger had been replaced with fear, fear for Merlin. He had just risked his own life in order to save his. This thought made it easier for him to think about why Merlin had not told him. Of course he hadn't told him! He was Uther's son! Although he knew he would have been angry at the beginning, he knew that he would not have revealed Merlin's secret if he had told him. How could Merlin ever be his enemy? He was the kindest person he had ever met. The very person who had just saved everyone's life, even if it were using magic. He had used magic for good, not to create pain or violence. He owed Merlin his life.

Then he heard his father order Merlin's arrest. He looked to Uther in astonishment. Had he even been in the room? How did he miss what Merlin had just done? He had saved their lives, even Uther himself. What was he thinking?

Looking back to Merlin, he wanted to go to him. Take him to Gaius. Despite the fact that Merlin had lied to him all this time, he didn't want to see him die.

He couldn't do that either. Merlin was disappearing. Vanishing into thin air like Morgause just had. By the time he had gotten to Merlin, he had gone. The guards had not tried to arrest him when Merlin's magic had started up, they had been too afraid. No doubt his father would think that he had run forward to arrest Merlin himself.

He thought of Merlin, and that dagger in his stomach. Suddenly becoming bored very easily, very fast, didn't seem like such a bad thing.

His father had quickly set up a search party, and sent them off to look for both Morgause and Merlin. Arthur was forbidden from searching at the moment, as the King knew that he would be affected by the news that his servant was a sorcerer. Uther had decided to give him time to let him come to terms with it, then he would send him to capture Merlin, and send him to his death for betraying Camelot.

Arthur still couldn't help thinking about how all this time Merlin had lied to him. He had lied to his face. He had learned magic, even though he knew it was forbidden. "Why Merlin? Why?" he thought.

He remembered how he had thought that Merlin had betrayed him.

Merlin had used magic, there was no denying that, but he had used it to save his life. Merlin may have went against the laws of Camelot, but he had just saved Arthur's life. Arthur always believed that magic was a form of evil, that there was no other way for it to be used, except in violence. Merlin had just proven otherwise. 'How many other times has he saved me?' Arthur wondered.

Everything now made sense. Every time Merlin had miraculously made his way out of a tight spot, or successfully distracted the guards when it had looked impossible - it made sense now. He thought back to all those times he looked back and saw Merlin cowering behind a tree or on the floor. Had he actually been using magic, keeping it hidden all this time? Protecting Arthur from the background?

How was it possible? He had always known magic to be evil.

No, he knew Merlin, and to call magic evil was to call Merlin evil. Arthur would bet his title, his life, that Merlin didn't have a single evil bone in his body.

That could mean only one thing. It was true when he had heard that magic was only a weapon, like a sword, not a force of evil and everything that he stood against. It was a choice. Merlin was more than his servant, he was his friend. His friend who had shown more loyalty than anyone he had ever met before. Someone he trusted with his life. And Merlin had chosen to stand with them, in the shadows. An ally in magic.

And his father was going to have him sentenced to death. He suddenly knew exactly what he had to do. This time, in stead of it falling on to Merlin's shoulders, Arthur was going to protect him. He was going to make sure that his father saw sense, he had to.

Magic was not all bad. If Merlin had magic, then he knew that magic could be used for good. He just hoped that Merlin would live to see the day that Uther admitted it. He had to admit it sooner or later. Merlin had just saved his life as well as Arthur's.

Arthur silently promised Merlin that things would change in Camelot, for the better.

Thanks for reading! This was a one-shot from 'Reclaiming Camelot', so if this caught your attention reading that would be a great idea - although this does kinda spoil one part of it :D Thankfully there's much more danger to come, and much more magic! :D