"I come with an offer my lord," the man standing in front of the king said. Arthur motioned for him to continue, "I bring an opportunity for you to rid you kingdom of the most powerful users of magic." Arthur looked intrigued. "Tell me sire, what do you know of warlocks?"

The man suddenly had Merlin's full attention.

"Nothing, what are they?" Arthur asked.

"They are like sorcerers sire, except that they do not have to practice magic – or even use incantations – because they are born with it. Some are able to use it from birth; others discover the ability later in life."

"I have never heard of them."

"Both Morgause and the Lady Morgana were witches sire. Powerful ones at that, neither as powerful as Emrys of course."

"Emrys?"

"The most powerful warlock ever to exist, if the druid legends are correct then the power he holds could bring about the doom of Camelot with nothing but a sneeze."

"I have never heard of him, we must find him at once!"

"I do not believe that you will be able to find him sire, he may not even be born yet. I had thought- but no. It can't be you, not with that attitude."

"What don't be me?"

"Well the legends say that Emrys is destined to protect the once and future king, that he is to help unite the land of Albion and bring magic back to the realm. I had heard rumours that you were the once and future king but I suppose with that attitude to magic it is unlikely that a warlock would ever willingly reveal himself."

"So how do you propose to find these warlocks anyway?"

The stranger bent down and picked out a plant, "this is a mandrake sire. I err… procured it from a sorcerer before I executed him. It has been enchanted to scream to witches and warlocks when hurt in a certain way. The scream is torture for them and it is impossible for them to not react."

Merlin's whole body was tense; there was no way he would be able to escape. He knew that those with magic could hear the scream of a mandrake but there was no telling if this man was being truthful or not. It is possible that with an enchantment it may work just as he said it would.

"For the most powerful the pain is worse, for example the Emrys that I mentioned earlier would probably actually lose control of his magic and lash out instinctively in self-protection."

Gaius shot Merlin a worried glance.

Arthur leant back in his chair and gestured around the council chambers, "the floor is yours."

The man bowed slightly before pulling a length of rope and a knife from his bag. He wrapped the rope around the top of the plant twice and pulled hard five times.

Nothing happened.

He picked up the knife and stabbed it viciously into the centre of the plant.

Nothing happened.

Merlin let out a sigh of relief. It was a dud, nothing to worry about. He didn't notice the man smile and twist the knife.

Several things happened.

A loud shriek pierced Merlin's skull like fire and he fell to the ground with a yell, his hands tightly over his ears. It felt like the dragon had managed to get inside his head and decided that a bit of fire would help the décor.

His eyes snapped open, a bright, pure gold. The mandrake flew from the man's hands.

"Wait," he thought, "I didn't do tell my magic to do that."

The screaming had gone but the fire continued to rage, Merlin continued to yell out. Each shriek coinciding with a burst of chaos. Windows shattered, flames jumped higher on their torches, the whole castle seemed to shake.

Gaius leant down next to his ward and prised his hands off his ears, "Merlin, Merlin you need to listen to me. You need to stop; you've got to get control."

Merlin's face screwed up in pain but he stopped yelling; a single tear of pain escaped and rolled down his cheek.

"Come on Merlin!" Gaius was slightly more firm now, "think about how annoying it would be if you ended your own destiny by bringing down the castle on top of Arthur. After all that hard work!"

Slowly the castle stopped shaking, the flames died down and the windows repaired themselves. As Merlin stopped shaking he let out a gasp and fell into unconsciousness.

"Well that was unexpected," the man said still holding the knife.

"Not really." Gaius muttered.

"Well that was a reaction worthy of Emrys."

"Idiot." The old man muttered, "That's because Merlin is Emrys. At least to the druids anyway."

The man's jaw literally dropped.

Everyone turned to face the king who was sitting stock still in his throne, too shocked to speak. A barely noticeable nod to the guards and a still unconscious Merlin was dragged from the room to the dungeons.

"The council is dismissed."

No one moved.

"NOW!"

Arthur's thoughts swirled through his head.

Merlin… Merlin… Merlin who couldn't even raise a sword, Merlin who could trip over a bug, Merlin who would willingly give his life for Arthur's.

Merlin his friend.

Powerful?

Nah.