The Moment of Truth

S1 E10: Merlin, Arthur, Morgana and Gwen join forces to save Merlin's village from a ruthless group of bandits. Merlin is stunned when his mother, Hunith, turns up in Camelot, bruised, battered and desperate for help. Their village, Ealdor, has been attacked by a bandit, Kanan, and his men. Kanan is demanding all of the harvest and will be back in a week to collect everything – or the villagers will pay with their lives. If they give their food to Kanan, however, they will starve to death. Merlin gets Hunith an audience with King Uther, who listens to her story but refuses to do anything. Ealdor is beyond the boundary of Camelot's realm and none of Uther's soldiers can cross the border – to do so would be an act of war. Merlin, meanwhile, tells Arthur that he can no longer be his servant. He has to protect his mother and friends and will leave in the morning. Merlin goes to Gwen to pick up some weapons and armour but, when he gets there, he finds Morgana with Gwen. After hearing Hunith's appeal, they couldn't let Merlin go alone. He tries to argue with them but they're both determined to help the villagers. The gang sets up camp for the night in the woods and, as Merlin lies awake, unable to sleep, he hears the sound of a horse approaching through the darkness. It's Arthur, who tells him that he has come to help fight, too. When they arrive, they find Kanan and some of his men ransacking the place. There's a stand-off and Kanan is forced to back down as Arthur demonstrates his prowess with the sword. Arthur convinces the villagers that they have to fight, but an old friend of Merlin's, William, refuses – he blames Arthur for riling Kanan. Merlin realises that, unless he uses his powers, there is no way that they can defeat Kanan and his men, but will he risk exposing his abilities to save his friends and the villagers?