Connecting the dots

J.K.

Morgana was furious. Of course. First of all: her most loyal dog had just been fired as the royal advisor. Which left her without an influence in Camelot.
Then, as she had found out through a few semi reliable sources, Agravaine had used rumors to unite the kingdom in favor of Emrys.
With that and the lift of the ban of magic in reach, people would now turn even more to Arthur. Which left her deprived of the only allies she had: magical creatures and sorcerers. It made her look like the villain (which she was, she was just too blind to see it).
And to top it all of, everyone now knew that Emrys was destined to be her doom.

However, there was one good thing that had come from all this.
She now knew who Emrys was. And she already had a plan to take him out for good.
After all, who would support a sorcerer without magic?

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"Merlin, I know this may be sudden and quite confusing to you, but -", Arthur took a deep breath, not even looking at his manservant.
Well you see – if you had hidden – like – if you ever had the slightest talent for magic – if you somehow were a sorcerer all along – we'd be in a lot less trouble.
Because I am in need of a court sorcerer right now. And it turns out – well -
The people will not accept anyone but you – as -
So I'm asking you – would you like to be -"

"You want me to be your WHAT now?", Merlin stared at Arthur – eyes wide.
No no no no no. This cannot be happening. Not NOW! Of all times, you moron of a royal prat!

I assume you can all guess what had happened the day before. But just to be clear:
Let's rewind.

As said before, the days had been stressful lately. Especially for the servants. More specifically, it's been hell for Merlin.
And there he had already counted himself lucky for the weird lack of assassins lately.
Usually he took out at least two per week. The past month, he had exactly one case of assassin to take care of.
And that was this morning. The assassin had been a young sorceress. Which was what made it a bit complicated. Apparently she was a friend of Mordred's. One who refused to believe that Arthur was a good man at heart.

Which is why Merlin had all hands full to convince Mordred that they had to get her out of Camelot. Or else she might be burned at the pyre.
Or hanged. Or worse. Apparently she had killed a few guards when she had infiltrated the castle.

Because of that, Merlin had knocked her out and hidden her in the stables. Only then he had send another servant to go fetch Mordred.
Mordred was a mix of emotions. Happy to see his love, frightened for her safety and conflicted because of her actions.
So he agreed to help Merlin get her to a near druid camp somewhere in the woods.

When she awoke, Mordred promised her not to leave her alone. Practically ordering Merlin to go back to Camelot. They would only ever return when Arthur had changed his mind about magic.
Mordred would make sure she would not try to harm the king again.
Merlin, conflicted if he could let him go, made Mordred swear an unbreakable swear that he would not try in any way to kill Arthur. It was a pinky promise.
But Mordred was convinced he would die, would he ever try to break it.
Merlin knew of the prophecy. He was definitely not going to take chances.

Barely anyone noticed that he had returned. Well that's a lie.
Gwaine and Lancelot immediately noticed him and invited him to a night at the tavern.
Ok, maybe Merlin should have declined, since there were a few chores he had yet to take care of, but he decided after what happened with Mordred, he deserved a little breather.

For once in his life, Merlin was ACTUALLY at the tavern. With the knights, minus Arthur and a very – very drunk Gwaine.
Who was apparently making up some sort of story that people were utterly fascinated by.