Why Strawberries Make Merlin Cry

The Dragon's Call

Part One

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Merlin's entrance into Camelot was rather uneventful in the eyes of the living section of the group, Merlin passed through the bustling streets of the lower town unseen and untested. His eyes were filled with awe and wonder. An amazement filled his grin that was raw and gleeful.

Gwaine, who was the closest to Freya and Merlin just chuckled and said - "He's never left home before has he?"

"No" - Will snickered with a short bob of his ginger curls - "Neither of us had, he wrote to me not too shortly after this and told me all about Camelot. The way he wrote about made it feel like he already loved it more than he did in Ealdor. I didn't write back for a while and he didn't try and talk to me either. I guess I felt betrayed. But when I saw this, I realised that I should never have let my selfishness over cloud the love of my friend."

"How does that work, he still loved Camelot more?" Leon voice was smothered in poorly hidden confusion.

"But you're forgetting the first thing Merlin did after seeing all the wonders, he wrote to me, straight away he wrote to me. That's why he's an amazing friend, because he never forgets you."

By the time Will has finished they've reached the busy courtyard, in fact, the too busy courtyard.

"What's going on?" Elyan asked, as trumpets began to blare from the parapets.

"It's Merlin's first introduction to Camelot's cruelty." Balinor's sullen voice was water wedged with hatred as he spoke the harsh words towards Arthur.

Merlin's small frame pushed through the dense crowd to try and get a better look at what was going on. Inane chatter rose all around him only to fall silent at the steady beat of a drum. Two guards began to drag a man onto the small wooden platform that had been erected within the centre. As the man's head was placed on a coarse stump, a loud, booming voice rang out from a balcony high upon the castle.

"Let this be a lesson to all, this man - Thomas James Collins - is adjudged guilty of conspiring to use enchantments and magic." Uther's cold eyes stared down at the crowed as he took a pause in his speech. "And persuent to the laws of Camelot, I, Uther Pendragon, have decreed that such practices are banned, on penalty of death.

I pride myself as a fair and just king, but for the crime of sorcery there is but sentence I can pass."

"What a load of bull." Gwaine mutters as Uther raises his hand into the air and let's it drop, along with the executioners axe and Thomas Collins life.

A disgusted gasp rings out from the crowd and all turn their eyes away in horror as Uther continues his speech.

"When I came to this land, this kingdom was mired with chaos! But with the people's help, magic was driven from the realm. So I declare a festival to celebrate twenty years since the great dragon was captured and Camelot freed from the evil of sorcery. Let the celebrations begin." The king's arms spread wide in greeting as he finishes his speech and a pleased half-smile grows on his aged face.

As the crowd began to disperse Percival's deep and normally soothing voice murmurs out a horrified and outraged, "What a way to be greeted into Camelot." Nods of agreement came from all around the group and they began to leave with Merlin when a great, sobbing wail grew from an older women in the crowd.

The crowd hurriedly parted around her as her eyes locked onto the king with piercing accuracy and undeniable hatred.

"There is only one evil in this land, and it is not magic" Her words are laced with a strange kind of sadness mixed in with bitterness and regret. "It is YOU!