Merlin awoke early in the morning after a restless night, and stumbled down the stairs to wash his face in the basin. Gaius walked over to him and rested one hand on his shoulder. "I hope you do well today," he said gravely. "You have a great destiny to fulfil."
"It might be hard to do that when I'm dead." Merlin said, before quickly returning to his room to get dressed. When he re-emerged, Gaius held up a cup of disgusting looking liquid. "Bottoms up."
"What's this?" replied Merlin, raising an eyebrow sceptically.
"It will help your strength. It's best to drink it in one." Merlin pulled a face, then tipped up the cup and swallowed the cordial. It was quite an effort not to immediately spit it back out again, but he managed to swallow it, grimacing as he did so. "One day, one of your remedies is going to taste nice, Gaius." he grinned.

"I think you're being very brave." said Gwen, as she waited next to him. Neither man would be wearing chainmail, so she hadn't had to help him, but she had wanted to keep him company until Warin arrived. Then Merlin saw him sauntering towards the arena. He took a deep breath, smiled nervously at Gwen, and started to make his way towards the arena too. He gripped his sword tightly in his sweaty hand, and allowed himself a few deep breaths. He could see Arthur frowning from his seat next to Uthur. On the other side of Uthur, Morgana looked very concerned, and was whispering to Gwen, who had made her way round to her.

Uthur stood, and raised one hand to silence the crowd. "The fight will be to the terms set out by the challenger. It will continue until one or both men are unable to continue, either through injury or death." He sat, and regally nodded to the two men in the arena. Merlin and Warin bowed to each other, then Merlin raised his sword into a defensive stance. And then the fight began. Warin swung his sword hard at Merlin, who managed to block the hit, and swung his won sword back at Warin, nicking him on the leg. The crowd cheered, and Warin hissed, and began muttering, which Merlin assumed was quiet threats towards him. Almost immediately Warin started thrusting his sword at Merlin, who barely escaped getting hit each time.

Suddenly, Warin's sword grazed the side of Merlin's arm, just barely, but enough to draw blood. Merlin could see Arthur wince out of the corner of his eye. He was suddenly feeling tired, but assumed that it was just from trying so hard not to die. He continued attempting not to be skewered, and managed to get in a few jabs of his own, slicing Warin once more. He was now feeling extremely sluggish, and each swing of the sword was an intense effort, and he was certain that this wasn't an ordinary tiredness. The crowd gasped as he stumbled and Warin swung his sword towards Merlin's back. Somehow, Merlin managed to feebly block the blow, and Arthur punched the air subtly. However, Gaius frowned. He could see that something was wrong.