Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin
AN: Hello everyone! This is my very first fic, so I hope you like it. I know it's not terribly good.
The woman peered into the water, the sleeping figure of the King reflecting in her emerald eyes. Murmuring something incomprehensible, her eyes turned a blazing gold, and the image in the scrying bowl turned silver. The woman smirked triumphantly. "Soon, Emrys." she whispered, her silky voice echoing through time and space.
"Is it bad?" Arthur asked, trying to peer over his shoulder at the physician. The old man frowned, leaning to examine the cause of irritation. The rash was big, he agreed, but nothing to get worked up about. White, pink lining the edges and hot to the touch, it was like any other rash Gaius had seen. Yes, it was unpleasant, but nothing you wouldn't expect. The man had been wearing his armor non-stop for days; it was only natural his body had reacted to it. Gaius picked a bottle from a shelf, popping it open and smearing it onto the rash. "I expect it to be gone in a couple hours. It is, after all, only a rash, sire."
"It sure seems to be more irritating than one."
Gaius finished rubbing the liquid onto Arthur's back, watching as it disappeared into the King's skin. He glanced at Merlin. The lanky young man seemed to be quite amused, leaning against the table and smiling goofily at Arthur, who was laying on his stomach.
The King was glaring back, Gaius noticed, as the old man turned to put the bottle back on a shelf.
"What's the matter, Merlin?" Arthur suddenly exclaimed, losing the staring contest between the two. "Why are you smiling at me like that?"
Merlin grin grew even wider. "Oh, nothing. I was just thinking that the mighty King of Camelot has fought dragons, sorcerers, evil. After all that, with all your injuries, you didn't make a peep. But now, a rash, and you squeal and go straight to Gaius. Very heroic, milord."
The physician suppressed a smile. He had grown quite fond of their banter, and it was always worth his time to see what the next insult was. He looked expectantly to Arthur.
The King was most definitely not amused.
The servant ducked and dodged the household items that had suddenly become projectiles. Somewhat more skillfully and gracefully than he had before, Gaius noted proudly. He was becoming better.
Arthur rolled out of his laying position, grabbing his shirt. Merlin gave the old man a look that said: See? What did I tell you? and scrambled back into the hall, Arthur hot on his heels.
Gaius laughed quietly to himself when he heard the startled yelps of the maids and the sound of platters falling. He shook his head. Young people were so hotheaded.
The smile quickly turned into a frown as he realized he would be the one cleaning up.
Arthur struck the dummy with his sword, faintly aware that Merlin was watching from the side. The rash was infuriating. It itched so badly, but rubbing at it through his chainmail only made it worse. Whatever Gaius had put on it, it had only soothed the rash for less than an hour. At least he didn't have to drink a potion. Those things were foul.
His blade impaled the dummy, cutting through the straw effortlessly. The dummy jolted at the impact, the helmet on its head shaking as it did so. Freeing his weapon from the straw, he looked up as a figure approached. "Gwaine? What do you want, mate?"
Gwaine held up his sword, the blade glinting in the sunlight. His dark hair still had its natural wave in it, which was actually quite surprising considering the amount of fighting the knight had done today. "Come on. Let's spar." he said, turning on his heel and exiting the dummy area. Arthur grinned and followed without question.
"You sure you want to speed your way to certain death, Gwaine?"
"Isn't that what I'm supposed to ask you?"
"Very funny."
The moment they entered the clearing where the other knights were, Gwaine spun around and attacked. The sound of metal clashing and scraping rang through the clearing as the King blocked the blow and swung his own.
Slowly, the knights gathered to see the fight, laughing and cheering as the two men rolled, stabbed, swung and blocked. After a good ten minutes, no one seemed to have advantage of the situation yet, but the crowds hadn't subsided.
Merlin watched, intrigued. A lot of the people in the crowd were talking in hushed tones, glancing around to see if anyone was listening. Knowing that they were setting up bets, he smiled. I wonder how much they're willing to lose, he wondered. No matter how many times the King and knight fought, the outcome was always the same. How people still managed to lose money because of it was lost to him. The crowd roared- some, Merlin knew, in laughter- and moved forward to congratulate the two men. The servant caught a glimpse of them surrounded by the red cloaks of knights, holding their swords at each other's throats.
"That rash is infuriating. You know how many times it distracted me? In a real fight, I'd be dead because of it." Arthur complained, handing Merlin his weapon. "I'm pretty sure the knights were betting again too. They seemed to find it funny that we tied."
The servant rolled his eyes. Leave it to Arthur to be oblivious. His lips twitching upwards, his long fingers grasped the hilt of Excalibur, sliding it back into the sheath. "Well, I'm not surprised. You know, the outcome was pretty predictable."
"What, me winning?"
"I guess you really are as dense as you look." Merlin ducked, narrowly avoiding the slap that was heading for his head. "You and Gwaine tie every time."
"It doesn't happen that often."
"It does. This is your eleventh sparring this month."
Arthur scowled, his stormy blue eyes narrowing threateningly. Merlin ignored his intense gaze, his nimble fingers rapidly undoing the buckles of his armor. The metal plates were set neatly in a pile to be polished later, and as the servant moved to take off his chain mail, the King held up a hand to stop him. "I'm going to take a look at the new recruits, maybe take part in the training myself. Can you tell Gaius to prepare something for that rash?"
"Yes, sire." The raven-haired young man said, picking up the armor and exiting the King's chambers. He could tell that something other than the rash was bothering Arthur, but decided not to ask. They were at war, after all. There were plenty of things to be worried about. The recent sighting of Morgana, for example, was extremely troubling in itself, and that wasn't even the worst. The rumors of armies in the north...
A piercing wail cut through the air, sending shivers down Merlin's spine. Dropping the metal plates with a clatter, he spun around, sky-blue eyes searching for the origin. What on earth could have made that noise? Was it even human?
Faces peeked out of doorways, terrified expressions visible as they desperately tried to pinpoint where it had come from. People in the hallways stopped to see what was going on. All of the sudden, a maid carrying a bundle of sheets dropped her load and pointed.
Arthur was on hands and knees, heaving. He was not far from his door, he must have been on his way to the training grounds. The royal seemed to be in excruciating pain, but did not make another sound as he stared at the floor, panting. Merlin sprinted toward him, but skidded to a halt when the man collapsed. Writhing across the floor, Arthur groaned and screamed in anguish as he clutched his body. "Arthur!" Gwaine appeared, shoving a path through the crowd. Most of the frightened people stepped aside, eyes wide as they watched the knight scramble to reach their King's side. The noble commoner pinned the blonde's arms to his sides and trapped his legs, stopping the writhing. Several knights joined the struggle of holding the King down as Gwaine got more resistance. The servant watched, horrified, as his king's breathing became sharp, ragged gaps and a thin sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead. Then he became still, and his eyes fluttered shut.
Gaius leaned over the King for the second time that day, examining his lower back. The rash had disappeared without a trace, leaving only clammy skin to look at. The skin was still sensitive, however, twitching whenever he touched it.
"Is he alright?" Merlin asked, his voice soft and concerned. The old physician turned to look at him. The servant was paler than usual, his milky white skin contrasting sharply against the black of his hair. He looked tired, Gaius noticed, exhausted. The circles under his eyes seemed to be more obvious than usual, his goofy smile not there to hide them. The old man gave him a comforting smile.
"I'm not entirely sure." He said, turning his gaze back to Arthur. "We are out of stock at the moment. Get me some Yarrow, Angelica and Rosemary at the Rhonestyne trail."
"Ginger?"
"Yes. Be careful."
Merlin acknowledged this with a curt nod, scrambling out of the door to get the requested herbs. The poor boy had had nothing to keep his mind off of the 'accident', and being Merlin, he took every opportunity to help. Gaius sighed. The warlock's loyalty, he knew, was unwavering. But as nice as that was, his position as manservant to the King had made him a target to enemies of Camelot before. He knew valuable information. The physician really wouldn't have sent him to the dangerous Rhonestyne trail if he could have helped it, but it was the only place close enough to the castle where herbs could be found in abundance.
Merlin would be fine, he tried to assure himself. The boy had saved Camelot more than once. There were more pressing matters at hand.
The King.
What could have caused so much pain? Not a headache, that was for sure. According to descriptions of various witnesses, not even a severely broken limb could have managed to cause it. And the man was unharmed, he didn't have a scratch on him. What was going on?
Gaius busied himself as he waited for his ward to return. He mixed potions for Arthur to drink when he woke up, adding many distasteful ingredients that were unpleasant but necessary if the potion were to work. Holding the steaming concoction up to the light, he squinted his eyes to stare at it. It was the right color; a dark orange that didn't look at all appetizing, but it didn't smell quite right. Sighing, he set it down to cool, writing a mental reminder to add some leftover Ginger if he had it.
"Did you make any progress? How is he?"
Merlin burst through the door, his trusty worn leather bag slung around his shoulder. He looked a little ruffled, mud covering his face and hair sticking up in all directions, but he didn't seem harmed. The bandits hadn't found him after all. Gaius shouldn't have worried, Merlin could take care of himself.
"There's been little change, but I can't seem to find the cause. He doesn't have a scratch on him, and it couldn't be internal bleeding, he'd be dead by now."
Merlin rushed to the makeshift bed, eyes moving rapidly to take in the full sight of his King. The blond's breaths were shallow and quick, and Gaius didn't need to check to know that his heart was beating at the rate of a jack rabbit's. Suddenly, Merlin exclaimed: "Where is the rash?"
"Gone."
"How did it disappear without a trace? He was complaining about it right before it happened. He said it was itching right here." The young warlock moved his hand to point at the spot, finger touching the clammy skin lightly.
The moment Merlin's finger connected with the King's skin, a wave of silver light flooded the room, blinding the two men. A rush of sounds met their ears. Screaming and whispering voices seemed to circle their heads, beasts roared in the distance, children cried. Everything was silver -there were no objects- although their surroundings seemed to change with the sounds. A mysterious forest, a burning village. Then as soon as it had come, the silver dimension disappeared and they were standing next to Arthur again.
Everything was the same, no evidence of what had just happened remained. Yet, one thing had changed, they could both sense it.
Right there, in shimmering, silver letters, on Arthur's lower back stood one word; one name:
Emrys
AN: Thank you so much for reading! Tell me what you think, I am more than open to tips and suggestions. And yes, I know the characters aren't really like the characters in some parts. Next chapter (hopefully) coming up soon. Depends on school. :( (Edit 21 Okt. 2014: I changed it a lot, I know, but I just wasn't satisfied with it. I tried to keep it as unchanged as possible, just added some more detail.)