The guard soon arrived at the small meeting room, were King Uther, Prince Arthur and the rest of the advisors were having a meeting.
*bang*
" Sire, urgent news." Said the guard clearly appearing like they ran from one end of the city to the other.
" Well it had better be, or else I'll have you flogged." Stated Uther.
" it's…. It's…. It's the Archmage Taylor he's at the front gates of Camelot." The guard said breathlessly.
The entire room went deathly silent, and with tension so thick you could feel it in your hand.
Through barely concealed rage, Uther said, " Then prepare the throne room for. Our. Meeting. With. Him."
" Meanwhile the rest of you. Get. Out." Said Uther.
As Uther stood up he placed his hand on his chair's backrest and gripped it hard.
Arther stood up and asked Uther, " Who is the Archmage Father?"
"He is not someone that you need to concern yourself with." Uther replied.
" Father if I am to become Camelot's future King, I need to know who could pose a threat to all the people of Camelot." Arther said.
After a moment Uther agreed with his son's words.
" Fine. In short he is my greatest failure in the fight against magic." Said Uther.
" How, father?" Asked Arther, he may have seen his father's hatred for magic plenty, but the fact he didn't immediately order the detainment and execution of one who has walked openly into the capital was a first.
" Back during the great purge after the capture of the great dragon, there remained one truly powerful sorcerer out in the open, so l led a force of 10,000 men intending to kill him."
" Unfortunately, we didn't realise how truly powerful that sorcerer had gotten, what we believed to be an easy kill ended in our complete defeat."
Arther was understandably shocked, how could a force of 10,000 men fail to kill a single person?
But Ather held his tongue and kept listening to his father.
" Upon our Arrival, he attempted to talk with us, and we assume that meant he was scared of our number, so we demanded his surrender and he rejected so we charged at him, he was completely surrounded, but then before we realised it our bodies were frozen still where we stood."
" Do you see Arther, all 10,000 of us were completely at his mercy, and he didn't even attack us. He just forced us to sign a peace treaty, The only reason we got some benefits from it, was because of his personal belief that peace treaties needed to have benefits for both sides."
Uther then told Arther all the details of the peace treaty.
" So do you understand why I don't want you to worry about it." Said Uther.
Arther was both shocked by such a level of power, but also genuinely impressed and even felt some genuine respect for Taylor.
…
While on their was to the throne room, Merlin asked Gaius who the Archmage is due to the fact that Taylor never mentioned his title or his name, Merlin only ever referred to him as teacher, so he doesn't know who the Archmage actually is.
"Oh, Merlin. The Archmage is the most powerful sorcerer to currently live." Gaius Said with age and wisdom in his tone.
" Even with powers as great as yours, you currently aren't strong enough to face him if he choose to attack." Gaius said.
…
Once everyone arrived at the throne room they now awaited The announcement of his entry.
" Announcing the entry of Archmage Taylor." Said the announcer.
The massive double doors opened wide and Taylor entered With no small amount of theatrics followed by the knights and guards that ' guarded' he along the way.
The ladies of the court found themselves with a tiara of flowers on their head, and the men felt a handful of gems in each of their pockets.
" Hello beautiful people of Camelot. Ahhhh look at you all, there are faces I recognise, faces that seem to longer be present, and completely new faces, ahhh how time flies." Taylor said.
Obviously the blatant show of magic shocked all present, but none were more shocked than Merlin.
The sight of his teacher being the one who walked in almost made him unintentionally call out but before he could, he find his voice mute.
As Taylor walked in front of him he made movement so fast that none were able to perceive them, except for Merlin he unintentionally slowed time and sew Taylor put a finger to his lip and wink to him.
Taylor then stood before Uther, Arther and Morgana.
" Hello Uther, my old friend." Taylor said in a jovial manner.
But every one could see The barely contained rage coming from his body language.
" We have not and never will be friends." Replied Uther.
But Taylor gave a knowing look into Uther's eyes, he then turned his attention to Arther.
" Now let's look at you, you must be Prince Arthur, I hope we get to know each other better." Taylor observed Arther and could appreciate he's clearly well trained muscles and looking into his eyes, Taylor could see an objective wisdom beyond his age.
Arther was also observing Taylor, his thoughts unknown to any by himself.
" Indeed I am." Arther continued, " i'm sure it'll be a pleasure to get to know you as well."
Taylor give a genuine smile and said, " I'm glad you agree."
" By the way, i've also been practising swordsmanship maybe we can have Spar together sometime."
" Maybe."
Taylor then looked towards Morgana.
Her obsidian hair cascade down both sides of her head like a pair of waterfalls, in her hand the flower tiara that she got, her caribbean blue eyes showed that she loved it.
" Now you would have to be, The lady Morgana."
Morgana looked up towards Taylor and gave a polite smile, " Indeed."
" Now what can I say to a beautiful lady who's undoubtably heard it all?" Taylor continued after a moment of thinking, " Ahhh I know, I hope your future is as beautiful as a dream."
Although unintentionally, Morgana thought to some of her recent nightmare that she fears will come to pass, but Gaius understood the true meaning of his words.
Taylor and Uther talked, Taylor intended to stay in Camelot for the next couple years and would accept the 'protection' of 5 knights while he stayed in Camelot, they also came to an agreement that they would not enter Taylor's house so that he would have some privacy, and if called for Taylor would help fight against any sorcerer/sorceress that attacked Camelot.
But That was unlikely to happen because Uther would never ask him for help directly, and it was mostly used as deterrent information.
Taylor completely ignored Cedric
Taylor decided to go with Gaius and Merlin, saying that he will wait in the Royal physician's quarters until they decide which five knights would 'guard' him.
…
Entering Gaius's quarters, Taylor walked around looking at the medicine and poisons, Gaius made for his medical studies, Taylor also studied some of Gaius's medical books I order to understand how far medical science has progressed in this world.
While Taylor did this, Merlin and Gaius talked.
" Gaius, how was he able to show such obvious use of magic and not immediately get arrested?" Merlin inquired.
" Well Merlin, back during the great purge, Uther marched with 10,000 soldiers in order to kill him, but he failed, Taylor used purely non-lethal magic to stop them making not only all of them fail in their mission, but also showed that magic can be used without the intent to harm."
" This also forced Uther into signing a peace treaty in which Uther could not hunt or execute any sorcerer/sorceress that was a part of his faction called the sorcerers tower, bringing the Great purge to an end."
Merlin was stunned that his teacher was so impressive.
After finishing his reading, Taylor put all the books back where he found them, neatly and without damage.
Taylor then turned toward the duo.
" So Gaius, it's been a long time, how have you been?" Taylor asked.
" I have been doing quite well Taylor." Gaius said.
Taylor gave a smile to this old friend, he then looked toward Merlin, " it's been a long time, Merlin have you still been practising properly?"
"Yes Teacher, but why didn't you tell me that you're the Archmage Taylor?"
" it didn't really feel like something important."
Gaius was surprised to learn that the teacher that Merlin talked about was such respect was the Archmage.
Taylor, Merlin and Gaius talked about many different stories, Taylor talked about some of his travels that he gained with his identity in this world, Gaius talk about some of his escapades during his Youth, and Merlin even talked about some of his experiences after arriving in Camelot.
When Taylor heard about how we had a sword forged in dragon's breath, needing one in order to kill an undead, it give Taylor the idea to see what would happen if Albion blessed a weapon in their dragon's breath.
" By the way, Merlin, if you're Arthur's man servant, then why aren't you working right now?"
Merlin then explained about Cedric and some of the problems he had experienced recently, that got him given a day off.
" Sounds to me like Cedric, has been working hard in order to take your job from you, Best hope he's just a job hunter and not a grave robber." Unfortunately it seemed that Merlin didn't pick up on the hint.
" Well don't worry, i'm sure you'll be back to work by tomorrow."