A/N: After much debate with myself, I have decided to write a second chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much I have enjoyed writing it.

It had been two weeks since Merlin had been beaten by Uther's knight. By now all of Camelot and a few of the outlying villages have heard what happened. Merlin, himself, was forced to the confines the chambers he shared with Gaius until the trial could be held.

Uther had wanted the trial to over and done with as soon as Merlin had woken up a few days after the beating. Gaius convinced the king to wait until Merlin had a chance to heal from his injuries more.

Now the time for waiting was up. The trial was set to be held the following morning. Both Merlin and the knight faced chance of punishment. Merlin, if found guilty, was to face punishment for not watching where he was stepping. Or as the knight put it, "Purposefully running into me with the intent of bring me harm."

If the knight was found guilty, something that was very unlikely to happen, was to be stripped of his knighthood and banished from Camelot.

Merlin knew the odds were against him. He was just a servant after all. The king would believe the knight and that would be the end of it. It wouldn't matter what the witnesses would say, even if one of them was a knight.

Merlin was currently laying in his bed looking up at the ceiling wondering what his punishment might be, when Gaius walked in.

"You can't think negative," Gaius stated as if reading the young warlock's mind.

The warlock lifted his head up enough to look at his mentor, the laid it back down again. "Uther is not a man of reason. He'd sooner accuse an innocent child of sorcery than to hear the truth."

"Uther will listen to what you have to say. Arthur and Morgana have made sure of that," Gaius said as walked over to the bed and sat down. "Sit up."

Merlin did as he was told, and slowly sat up as he placed his good hand on his injured shoulder and bit his lip. The physician opened his medicine bag and picked up a poultice.

"Just because he will listen doesn't mean he will believe me," Merlin pointed out as he removed his injured arm from the sling it was in with practiced ease.

Since Merlin could barely lift his right arm past his chest, he was not wearing a shirt. Gaius began to unwrap the bandaging around his apprentice's shoulder while dabbing it with the poultice. "Just remember. You were not in the wrong. You apologized twice but the knight would not listen."

"He'll just deny it," Merlin muttered bitterly.

"Stop being so negative," Gaius chided.

"What if I am found guilty?" Merlin asked. It was a fair question. "What will my punishment be?"

Gaius stopped what he was doing and looked into the boy's eyes. "Best case scenario? You will no longer be Arthur's manservant and sent back to Ealdor."

"Worst case scenario?" the warlock questioned.

"Flogged then sent back to Ealdor while the marks are still fresh," Gaius answered unwillingly.

For a few seconds Merlin's face was masked with fear. The fear quickly disappeared as he sighed. "Either way I go home and am never to return Camelot."

Gaius stared at the boy with sad eyes, then went back to tending his shoulder. When he was finished, he re-wrapped the shoulder and packed up his medicine bag.

"Get some rest Merlin," the elderly man said as he got up to leave.

Merlin laid back down, but did not close his eyes for hours.

The next morning Gaius helped Merlin put on a shirt and get ready for the trial. By the time the two were finished, Arthur was walking into the shared chambers. With the prince were two guards and Sir Leon.

The guards were to lead Merlin to the throne room as Arthur, Leon and Gaius walked behind them.

"Nervous," Arthur asked as he looked Merlin up and down.

"No," Merlin lied trying to put on a brave face.

"Good," Arthur said. "But if things don't go according to plan, just know that your job as my manservant is safe."

"How can you promise me something like that?" Merlin asked.

"Because I am the prince," Arthur answered.

Merlin didn't dare smile at that. Arthur might be the prince, but he couldn't assure that his job was safe. The king had the higher power.

As Merlin walked toward the king and the knight who beat him, he could feel everyone's eyes on him. He could hear some of them muttering about him. He could sense that a few of them were pointing at the fading bruises on his face and his slinged arm.

Merlin stopped walking when he was five feet from the king. He forcibly pushed down to where he was sitting on his knees. The young warlock bit his tongue to keep from making any noise. He could not appear weak in front of the court.

He glanced to his left and saw that the knight, who had been identified as Sir Rowland, was standing and in shackles. Merlin looked past the king and saw that Arthur and Gaius had taken their rightful places behind him. He knew that Sir Leon was standing with the witnesses in the back of the throne room.

"Stand him up," Uther ordered the guard standing right behind the secret warlock. The guard obeyed and pulled Merlin to his feet by grabbing his injured shoulder.

Merlin didn't have time to bite back his sudden gasp of pain as it jolted throughout his entire right side. Neither did he have time to wonder why Uther was allowing him to stand, when it was not allowed. The tria had begun.

"Tell me your story, servant," the king demanded as he stared at Merlin with cold eyes.

Merlin quickly tuned the pain out and spoke of what happened in his point of view. As he spoke the court was silent, each member coming to their own conclusions.

When he was finished. Uther turned and faced Sir Rowland. "Is what he says the truth?"

"No, Sire. The boy lies," Rowland answered. "He intentionally ran into me and didn't bother apologizing. I only reacted by punishing him."

"Were you not aware that this young man was the Prince's manservant?" Uther asked.

Merlin did not like the way Uther said 'was'.

"No, Sire. I did not know that he was the Prince's manservant," Rowland replied.

Uther stood up and looked in the direction of the witnesses. "Sir Leon, come forward."

Leon pushed through the crowd of witnesses and walked up the throne room. He stopped right in between Merlin and Sir Rowland.

"Tell us what you saw," Uther demanded.

"I saw Merlin, bump into Rowland and apologize," Leon answered. "Rowland said and I quote, 'You think that just because you're the prince's manservant you can get away with what ever you want?'. After Merlin apologized again, Rowland punched him, to where he fell down, and started beating him. I intervened and pulled Rowland off of Merlin. I then lead Merlin back to Gaius' chambers."

Uther was silent for moment as he compared all three stories. The king then looked back at all the witnesses and spoke. "How many of you can confirm what Sir Leon is saying to be true."

Merlin didn't dare look back to see how many raised their hands, but the shared expression between Arthur and Gaius was enough for him to know that a lot of hands went up.

"Eight of the ten witnesses confirm Sir Leon's story," Uther announced "Before judgement is passed do either guilty parties have something say."

Merlin didn't move or breath. He didn't want to jinx anything. Rowland stayed silent as well.

"So be it," Uther stated as he looked straight at his son's manservant. "Merlin, you are free from any punishment. You may go and return to your duties as Arthur's manservant."

Merlin let out the breath he had been holding and bowed the best he could. "Thank you, Sire."

As Merlin was led out of the throne room, he heard Uther denounce Rowland from his knighthood and be forced into exile.