Kings Of Cadagorien (Sequel To Cadagorien And It's Lost Prince)

Memories

I stand at the head of the council's table, beside my mother, with Ray, Manfred, Jon, Benedict and George. I explain the whole situation, including the difficult choice between following my destiny or my duty to the kingdom.

"But if it's your destiny, you can't exactly escape it, Merlin," Ray says, once I have explained everything.

"He's right, Merlin," George says. "If the dragon says it is your destiny to stay and protect Arthur, then you have to."

"What about Cadagorien though?" I question, biting my nails nervously.

"We can help!" George says, grinning. "I mean, I definitely don't want to be king, you can keep that job, but we can help run the place whilst you are gone."

"I can't expect you to do that, George. Running the kingdom is my duty," I explain, thankful that he is willing to help, but also reluctant to leave.

"We have magic Merlin, we can just use it to communicate with each other and you can give us orders, which we can just relay back to the kingdom. It's easy as pie," Ray shrugs, grinning.

"You're way too optimistic," I chuckle, rolling my eyes. "Okay, so we could do that, but what about the whole memory thing? Everyone in Camelot has to forget who I am... How am I supposed to manage that?"

The group stand in silence for a moment, thinking, before Benedict raises his hand.

"We could... put a potion in the water supply," he says.

"What potion? The only thing that would work is a potion, which would remove their memories altogether, rather than just the memories of me... And then there's Arthur, he has to drink the water at some point... Do we really want him to forget?" I say, the last part,making me worry. Arthur has finally accepted sorcery, if he forgets about me and my kingdom, what if he turns against magic again?

"It might be the only way, Merlin," Jon says, seriously.

There is a silence. We all know what must be done, but the thought of us destroying our chance at peace with Camelot, when Arthur is king, is hard. The hardest part for me, is letting him go. He'll just see me as his toad of a manservant again, rather than his trusted friend. I sigh, rubbing my forehead with the palm of my hand. I know what I have to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's not a week after I made the decision to return to Camelot, I am standing with George at the edge of Uther's kingdom. I have figured out a spell that can change my appearance enough for my to enter the city without anyone knowing who I am, until I am able to place several magic poultices into the kingdom's water supply. The plan is to get to Gaius and explain the plan, so at least one person in Camelot will still have the memory of who I am.

We make our way down to the castle gates, and as no one except Arthur from Camelot, knows what George looks like, he decided to join me. We reach the gates, nodding at the guards as we walk into the lower town.

"Guinevere can get us up to the castle," I whisper to my younger brother. "Her house is just a bit further up."

We reach the small home of my friend and knocked on the door.

"One moment!" A voice shouts from inside. There's the sounds of shuffling, and then door clicks open, revealing Gwen, who frowns questioningly when she sees me. "Can I help you?"

"Gwen, it's me," I whisper. Her eyes grow wide, as a smile grows on her face.

"Merlin?" She asks, her voice hushed. I nod and she looks up and down the street to make sure no one is watching, before grabbing my arm and pulling me inside, followed by George. The second the door shuts, she pulls me into a hug. "Oh Merlin! What are you doing here?!"