The cook found the second body. Arthur had been initially suspicious of the cook- the lower body of the young man had been roughly cleaved off with something sharp and with great skill. He stopped being suspicious of the cook when he saw just how shaky the man was, and just how pale his face had become.
There were three sacks of salt missing from the kitchen. Arthur wouldn't have noticed, but Merlin mentioned it to him- there had been a shortage at the feast and he had been sent out to replace them.
The young man who had been killed looked like an older, tougher version of the boy from a week weeks ago. He was fair-skinned, but was obviously used to working outside. His body was thin, malnourished, and he had a surprisingly tough square jaw. His eyes were grey rather than blue and his hair was dark, but not as dark as the first body.
Gaius looked over the body and said that his legs had been cut off before he died. There were fingerprints around his neck, but his true death came from blood loss. There was enough swelling around his throat that he wouldn't have been able to breathe as he died, trying desperately to get away.
There was so much blood.
The boy's name was Garret. He had come to Camelot at the urging of his mother from one of the farming towns just outside the city. He had found work running messages throughout the town for various nobles.
His mother buried him in a small ceremony in their hometown, where he had lost all but his mother to the plague.
There was a number on his left arm. Four.
