The Stranger

This day started like any other.

Merlin was on his bed, finishing dressing. The room around him was small and dusty, but all in all he liked it. He had been living in the physician's quarters for about five years now, and to him it was his home. Well, his second home after Ealdor, the village where he had been born and where his mother lived.

He left his room and walked past the empty bed where Gaius usually slept. Just a few days ago he had left the city to help with an illness that was striking the villagers in a northern town. Merlin had offered to accompany him, but these things usually turned out to be just a simple cold, so Gaius had decided that he should remain in the city, just in case he was needed there, either making potions or... the other thing.

You see, Merlin was a sorcerer, and not just any sorcerer, he was Emrys, a man destined to become the most powerful sorcerer that would ever live, and to bring back magic to all of Albion. Of course, that was easier said than done. It had been more than twenty years since magic had been banned, and with all the sorcerers and magical beings that kept attacking Camelot, Merlin's attempts to make people see that magic wasn't evil often led nowhere.

He went outside and took in the view. Camelot was a great city, and even from afar he could see the town coming alive. However, that wasn't where he was headed. Turning around he saw the castle of Camelot, a massive building built to stand the assault of an army, and the home of Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot, who some days was his friend, some his master, and some others just a dollophead.

Merlin's work was to clean Arthur's armor, serve him his food, help him dress, and some other not-very-pleasant tasks that came with his job description as the King's manservant. However, secretly he was also Arthur's bodyguard, protecting him against all those who meant him harm, and, believe me, there were plenty. The only problem was that this part of his job was so secret that even Arthur didn't know about it. Unfortunately, taking in account the King's thoughts on magic, Merlin didn't see this changing anytime soon.

He was walking through the castle gates when he remembered that this wasn't just Arthur's home now. Less than one year ago, Arthur had married Gwen, who had been Merlin's first friend in Camelot. It was surreal to think that she had gone from being the daughter of a blacksmith to being the Queen of Camelot, but Merlin couldn't think of anyone better for the job.

That thought made another person came to his mind. Someone whom he hadn't seen in over a year. Someone he had once called friend. Someone who was now a sworn enemy of Camelot. Morgana Pendragon, Arthur's half sister. A powerful sorceress who had discovered she had magic when Merlin was already in Camelot, and who, despite his efforts, had turned evil up to the point of trying to kill him and his friends many times.

Nevertheless, there was no reason to worry about her. She hadn't been seen since her last attack, and nothing indicated that that was going to change for now. Merlin walked towards Arthur's chambers thinking that today was going to be just another peaceful day in Camelot. And he would have been right, were it not for the horse that was galloping its way towards the kingdom.

The horse was white, with four legs, one head and one tail; there was nothing unusual about it. You couldn't say the same about its rider. Those who saw him passing by would think that he was some noble, dressed in fine clothes, probably going to some feast in Camelot. However, those who actually paid attention would realize that his clothes didn't show any family sigil, that he was traveling without the servants whom most nobles depend on to do the simplest of tasks, that under his cloak two swords shone with colors no metal could ever produce, and that in his eyes you could see the wisdom and the exhaustion of someone that had gone through more than any noble will ever experience.

Lucky for him, no one paid attention.

He could already see the castle of Camelot when that thought came back to his mind. The same thought that he had had many times since he first learned about him: Who would be so stupid to pretend to be me?

It had been almost two months since the day he found out about the impostor, and after a not-so-long investigation he finally tracked him back to Camelot; soon he would have his answers.

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.

It wasn't long until he reached the city gates. He left his horse in the stables and started to make his way towards the Citadel. Around him, the townsfolk were getting ready for their daily lives. They seemed happy, but at the same time he could see that they had had some rough times recently. Some memories started to come back to him, but he pushed them back; this was neither the time nor place for that. Looking around he saw that many buildings were hastily repaired and others laid in ruins. This wasn't result of some small grudge between kingdoms; this was caused by a full-scale siege.

"Look out!"

The scream brought him back to reality. A wagon full of crops was heading out of control right towards a kid standing still in the middle of the road.

He didn't think. He didn't need to. His eyes glowed gold and the wagon slowed down enough for him to run and pull the boy out of its way.

"Kid, are you all right?" the man asked.

And as the boy looked up at him, he realized that the buildings weren't the only things that had been affected by the siege. The kid had a burn scar that covered most of the right side of his face and both of his eyes; he was blind. Memories started to rise again.

"ALVIN!"

A woman was running towards them from the other side of the road, and the second that she screamed his name the boy started running towards her voice. She hugged him tightly, looked at the stranger across the road and thanked him many times. She thought about giving him some food or water, but his fine clothes showed that he couldn't possibly need anything she had to offer, so she just thanked him once more and took the boy home.

Yes, this place had suffered much. He couldn't help remembering the last time he was here, before the so-called 'Great Purge', when magical and non-magical people walked the streets as equals; good times now gone because of the doings of a mad king. Now Uther was gone, but the damage had already been done. The real question was if Camelot would ever heal... or if it would die.

Shaking those thoughts out of his mind he reminded himself why he was there for. He needed information, and so it was time to pay a visit to an old friend.

.

.

The court physician's quarters were empty, but he was surprised at how well stocked this magic-fearing kingdom was. Almost all the herbs he saw could be used in potions, but, as far as he knew, some of them had no application outside magic, and they were fairly rare. Maybe Gaius wasn't so blindly loyal to his king after all.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The man turned around to face the owner of the voice. Standing by the door he saw a raven haired boy carrying lots of herbs.

"Kid!" he said while showing a smile, "do you know where I can find Gaius?"

He was taken aback for a second. The man who was standing in front of him couldn't be more than thirty years old; did he really just call him 'kid'? He gave the stranger another look. He was a tall man with short and untidy black hair, his smile was goofy but his eyes, black as night, looked like those of someone older, tired. One look at his clothes was all it took for him to realize that he was wealthy, but he had met his fair share of rich people and this man didn't feel like one of them. There was something strange going on, and he would find out what it was.

"What's your business with him?" he asked.

"I'm an old friend of Gaius and wanted to catch up." He could feel something very familiar about this boy, but it couldn't be, not here, not in Camelot. "And you are?"

"I'm Merlin, Gaius' apprentice. He isn't in Camelot right now." Merlin didn't want to say too much, but he could see that the stranger was expecting a longer answer. "He went to help a village that was struck with an illness."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I really needed to talk to him." He looked again at Merlin and wondered if he could trust him. He had to be someone special if Gaius was training him. Anyway, what could he lose? "Maybe you can help me," he said, pointing at Merlin.

"Me?" Merlin asked, confused.

"Yes, I'm looking for a man that's been pretending to be me. A fool that's using my name for what I can only suspect is some kind of plan to destroy my reputation by blaming me for his crimes against Camelot."

"And what's his… I mean… your name?"

The man made a big grin; he always had liked to introduce himself. "You have the honor to be in the presence of the astonishing, the amazing…"

And when the man said his name, Merlin froze, for it was a name he knew far too well…

.

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"…DRAGOON THE GREAT!"

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A/N: Ok, here I go, first fan fic ever. First of all, while I double and triple checked most of the text, English isn't my first language so if anything is misspelled or sounds wrong please tell me =D. Rated T mostly so they can swear. Any feedback would be appreciated.

I hope that i left enough space so that you didn't read the name before reaching the last line, i was thinking of putting it in a separated chapter but it was a bit too much; also I hope that you liked the idea, I have the basics of the story and certain events in it, but i'm still working on a good ending.

Thank you for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.

EDIT: Changed a few things, added others, nothing very important plot-wise. Changed the format a bit.

EDIT 14/03/2015: Changed the start of the chapter a bit and fixed some grammar and spelling errors. Thanks mean melon for your great feedback which made this a lot easier!