He knew it before he said it. He could feel it; but he would not believe it. Not until he tried, at least once.
The cup was out of his reach; he stretched out a hand for it, and spoke the word.
Then again.
Then again.
Nothing.
Fear skittered through every inch of his skin, terror froze every bone. Trying not to gasp for air like a drowning man, he reached out with his magic in the way that would normally put him in contact with every thing in the world around him.
Nothing.
He was locked inside his skin, deaf, blind, dumb, unable to feel or smell or taste. The richness had gone out of the world. Even the colours in the room seemed slightly muted now that he looked at them, missing that extra dimension that his power had given anything ever touched by human hands or grown from the earth.
Merlin felt a slight movement, and realised in the back of his mind that he was shaking. Arthur… Morgana would move now, it was inevitable. Arthur… there was nothing he could do to protect him now.
Nothing.