Boy From The Woods

A Familiar Face

Arthur shook his head. "I'm sorry father... I know they were captured along the debated border... but..." Arthur paused for a moment, contemplating if he should tell his father about how desperate the soldiers were to capture a strange boy named Merlin.

"It's alright, Arthur. You did the best you could."

The prince clenched his fists. Was failing miserably and letting his men be captured really the best he could do?

"We'll send out another patrol, a smaller one even more discrete. They won't travel around the border - they'll travel into the heart of Essitir, see what they can discover."

"I'll have it organized right away, Sire."

"Father?"

"Yes, Arthur?"

"Let me go on this patrol."

"No," Uther said simply.

"But-"

"No, Arthur. This is simply too dangerous and too important. I cannot lose you, you are too important to Camelot."

"But I-"

"This is the end of this discussion, Arthur. You are dismissed from this council meeting."

"Father I-"

"You are dismissed!"

---+---

Gaius observed the boy who sat on the physicians cot, his hands tucked under his twitchy legs.

"You found him... in the woods?" He asked curiously, not looking away from the boy.

"Yes," Morgana answered. "Strange... isn't it?"

"Very," Gaius answered. He pulled up a stool next to the cot and began to examine Merlin closely. He frowned. There was something about his face... his eyes... something familiar to the older man. "Merlin, I'm going to need you to change your cloths. I have some clean one's you can have." The boy nodded and began to pull his shirt over his head. The loose fabric slid off easily and brought a cloud of dried mud with it. Gaius squinted and brought his hand over four, large faded cuts that dominated his chest and stomach. "Merlin, what are these?"

The boy looked down at his own chest. "For practice," he said casually.

"Practice? Practice doing what?"

"Healing."

"You made those cuts... so you could practice healing?"

"I didn't make the cuts."

"Then who did?"

Merlin looked away. "I'm no supposed to say."

Gwen stepped forward. "When we found him, Cenred's men were after him. Maybe they're the one's who made them."

"There's also another thing you should know," Morgana said as she glanced at Gwen. "The men that were after him... they had us surrounded. We ran as fast as we could, but there was no way we would be able to escape. I thought we were done for. It was dark and we couldn't see where we were going so we accidentally stumbled off an enormous cliff face. We fell for what felt like an eternity, but when we reached the bottom... we didn't. It's hard to explain."

"It was like we were flying," Gwen tried. "Hovering inches from the ground. And Merlin's eyes... they were glowing. I'm sure he's the one who saved us."

"And he can make old dried up flowers grow in his hand just by looking at them."

Gaius looked back to the boy whose eyes were fixed on the light filtering in through the small window. "Was there ever any incantation... any spell?"