A demi-sentient plague is making it's way through the land of Camelot destroying everything in it's path. It is all up to Arthur now to save his land as Uther is still reeling from Morgana's betrayal and something has happened to Merlin and Gauis. Without the combination of his faithful and loyal friend and his learned mentor, Arthur wishes that the weight of the world wasn't always on his shoulders. Or is it? There may be another who knows of the plague and only they can save them all... but they might have other intentions.
AN: I hope to update this once a week, or twice if you're lucky and I keep on top of the writing!
Hope you enjoy.
Echoes of Another Life
Chapter One
Merlin woke up feeling very relaxed and happy on his back in the middle of a field with long grass and wildflowers all around him. He opened his eyes and smiled up at the intense blue sky and sunshine. He stretched his arms up over his head in satisfaction and took in a deep breath to smell the earthiness and grass that surrounded him.
He sat up and looked around, bracing his upper body with his arms on the ground behind him.
It was a lovely day.
He pondered the view surrounding him with the valleys and forests in the distance.
"Merlin!" a happy voice that he knew well announced itself from somewhere behind him.
Lazily, Merlin peered around and smiled when he saw Gauis also lying in the fields with a matching expression on his face. Both were very happy with where they were.
"Where are we?" Merlin asked his mentor.
"Does it matter?" Gauis replied.
"Not at all," Merlin laughed back at him. Gauis joined in with the laughter and then they both flopped back down in the long grass to enjoy the warm day.
oOo
It was raining horrendously as Arthur with a few knights set out of Camelot on horseback to find Merlin and Gauis who had been missing for over a day. They'd been out gathering herbs while the weather was good and Merlin had promised Arthur that he'd be back in time to run his bath after a good day of training. And now it was the next morning and the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Arthur had stormed into Gauis' chambers that morning to demand Merlin attend to him, but neither of them had been there and that set alarm bells off in Arthur's head.
Asking around, Arthur had found out that neither of them had been seen since they went out to gather herbs. Arthur had taken some of his father's knights to go out and find them, in spite of the downpour.
While he desperately wanted to find them, he didn't want to make it look like he was desperate to find them. His father would only have made it... difficult... for him later on if he'd found that out.
Arthur's shoulders slumped slightly. His father would once have done just that, but since Morgana had betrayed him and had disappeared, and since Uther now had a barely existent grasp on reality, Arthur was essentially in charge of the kingdom. He would report to his father, as he always did, but he knew there wouldn't be a reaction. He knew that the blank blue eyes of his father would continue to stare out of the window without seeing anything.
Which was why Arthur so needed to find Merlin and Gauis. He needed his friends to help him and to guide him. He wasn't ready to be king on his own just yet. He wanted his father back. He wanted his friends back. If it hadn't been for Guinevere, Arthur wouldn't know what he would have done. He perked up ever so slightly when he thought of her. His love, secret though it was, she was everything to him. She had given him the final push that he needed to go against what he knew would have been his father's wishes and had gone out to find Merlin and Gauis. He just hoped that it wasn't all for vain.
Don't be stupid, Arthur chided himself, we'll find them. Don't worry before you even know if there's something to worry about. He looked around at the three other men with him, hoping that he looked as confident and as aloof as he wanted to look. "Let's find them- we need our Court Physician and his apprentice back in his place at Camelot," he told the knights, hoping that he wasn't betraying what he was really feeling.
He'd missed Merlin that morning.
Arthur complained a lot to Merlin's face about how he was woken up each morning, but it was secretly a great way to wake up. Merlin made Arthur laugh, not that Arthur would admit it to Merlin. And he saw Gauis as more of a father-figure than he saw his own father sometimes. Gauis had a quiet way about him that commanded respect, rather than the fear-inducing way that Uther had about him.
The rain plastered Arthur's hair to his forehead and it was dripping down his nose and off the end of it so much that he'd stopped long ago trying to wipe it away. The men in the riding group were all a bit subdued from the ride, all looking sodden in the same way that Arthur was.
They'd been out for some hours and Arthur was about to give the order to turn back when there was a shout from up ahead. Sir Hallan had ridden up to the top of the ridge ahead and was looking back at Arthur, pointing down below him. Arthur dug his heels into Sigral's side to make the horse pick up it's step.
As Arthur got to Sir Hallan's side, he looked down to where the man was pointing into the glade below the ridge and his breath hitched in his throat.
There were two bodies lying at the bottom, both absolutely sopping wet and muddy, partially covered in bracken and leaves.
Arthur dropped down from Sigral and ran down into the glade, almost tripping over brambles as he did. There were heavy footfalls behind him as the knights followed.
"Merlin!" he yelled, "Gauis!"
He got down there first and dropped at Merlin's side who was closer. He was breathing. Arthur shook his shoulders. "Merlin! Merlin, wake up!" But it had no effect. He looked over towards Gauis where Sir Thomas was trying to revive the physician, but he also had no luck.
"What's happened to them Sire?" Sir Hallan asked him. Arthur shook his head. He could see no injuries, no blood, no obvious attack on either of them.
"Why are they smiling?" Sir Thomas asked.
Arthur looked closer at Merlin. There was indeed a small smile on his face. It was faint, but his lips had definitely curled upwards slightly. Arthur looked at Gauis who looked the same. "I don't know..." Arthur said, trailing off. "But we must get them back to Camelot, quickly!" And he slid his arms through the mud and underneath Merlin's back and knees, picking the slight man up in his arms easily. Sir Thomas did the same for Gauis, and they carried them up to their horses back at the top of ridge where Sir William had stayed with them.
"You found them!" Sir William said, but his relief died as he saw they were both unconscious.
"Yes," Arthur confirmed, however unnecessarily, "now we ride hard for Camelot."
And they did. It was a fair trip by horse and would have taken several hours more by foot. What were they doing all the way out here? Arthur couldn't help but wonder.
oOo