Arthur watched in horror as Merlin was dragged down to the cells. He wasn't sure how long it had been since he had seen him be taken, but he could tell that the time was too short for Merlin to have had a proper trial. From that, Arthur could tell that the King was angry, restless and worried. None of which bore the slightest hope of a change in his own sentence.

He wondered what sentence Uther had passed for his servant. It must seem odd: first Arthur, and now his servant, had been locked away for crimes. Soon everyone who had ever even seen the Prince out of the corner of their eye would be in jail.

He knew Merlin had been placed in a cell near to him by the closeness of his voice when he eventually spoke.

"Arthur?"

"Merlin! What happened? What did the King do?"

"Nothing surprising."

"He should have given you a fair trial."

"True." Merlin sighed. "But he's angry and grieving, Arthur, and not himself. Besides, has he ever given anyone a fair trial? I thought it was just a formality."

"He is the King, you know."

"And?" The Prince couldn't see Merlin's smile.

"And he's my father." Arthur wasn't seeing the funny side of it.

"And...?" Merlin prompted again, eager to lighten the mood a little.

"And I'd appreciate it if you showed him a little more respect." Arthur hissed through his teeth at his servant.

A small laugh escaped Merlin's lips. Arthur was very easy to get to sometimes: even without knowing it, he would be wound up by his servant time and time again.

"Sorry." Merlin paused in thought. "I should tell you that Gwen and Morgana are going to try to get you free. They're going to look for evidence of the real sorcerer and for any signs that he may be impersonating you. Hope is not yet lost, Arthur, you could still make it out of this alive."

"Do you think he really believes it? That I'm guilty?"

"Of course not! But he's just like you; he's got too much pride to break his own laws. If he has you executed it will break his heart."

"I don't want to do that to him Merlin."

"He's doing it to himself. I mean, you may be a prat but somehow I believe he still loves you." Merlin snorted. "Funny way of showing it."

"Merlin!"

"Ok, ok. I'm sure lots of people care about you, even love you. For example, I'm sure if you asked Gwen-"

"Merlin..." Arthur's voice was low and dangerous.

When the servant replied it was with the height of innocence. "Yes Sire?"

"How anyone could care about you is a mystery."

"Yes Sire."

"Merlin?"

"Sire?"

"Shut up."

"Yes Si-"

Something clattered against the wall to the right of Merlin's cell and he left his sentence unfinished.

"I'll stop talking." He whispered through the gloom, barely containing a smile. The hope he had brought Arthur seemed to have brought a little life back to the Prince.

"Good." Arthur smiled to himself. Merlin had given him a reason to live. Perhaps he would not die a sorcerer in his father's eyes. He could only hope that whatever it was that the king's ward and her maid were doing, it worked. God knew he needed to be out of this cell. And soon.