Title: The Curse

Authors: Cassy27
Words: 1766
Characters: Arthur, Merlin, Uther, Gaius
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Merlin, sadly enough!
Spoilers: No spoilers in this post

This story takes place somewhere in season 1

AN: I wanted to thank everybody who took the time to review my first chapter, that always means a lot to me and it helped me write this chapter because I didn't want to disappoint you!

Here it goes, enjoy...

Chapter 2

Previously...

"Gaius needs to check you out," Arthur said. For a moment he wanted to help Merlin up again, but he soon retracted his hand. "And I shouldn't be touching people for as long as I am cursed," he added, more to himself than to Merlin.

"Yeah," Merlin once more agreed. Another reason why he needed to get to Gaius as soon as possible was that he needed to find out what the curse meant exactly because Merlin could feel something was happening inside him and he knew that Arthur had to get rid of this curse sooner rather than later.

* * *

The walk back to Camelot took them longer than they had liked, but Merlin had to stop and catch his breath every half mile. Arthur never said anything about it, but Merlin could see that he was growing annoyed.

"I'm sorry," he said, leaning on his knees again in order to rest a little.

"This isn't your fault, if any, it is mine." Arthur didn't look at Merlin. He glanced around in order to make sure that they weren't being followed. "How is the pain?"

"I can manage it," Merlin said, straightening his back again, "let's get going."

The next few moments were spent in silence, but Merlin could no longer hold in that one question that was still on his mind.

"What will you tell the King?" he asked. He knew there was no simple answer to this question.

Arthur turned around and frowned. "What do you mean? I will tell the truth of course."

"So you are just going to tell your father that his former girlfriend cursed you?" Merlin didn't understand why Arthur wasn't making a big deal out of this.

"She wasn't his girlfriend," Arthur said without hesitation.

Merlin didn't say anything more, he knew he had hit a sore spot. Having to know that your father loved another woman than your mother could be a hard fact to deal with.

Arthur swallowed heavily while turning his back to Merlin. He wasn't in the mood to discuss this right now. They had other things they should be worrying about like him being cursed and Merlin still experiencing pain.

They reached the edge of the city, the castle towering out from it from the center and Arthur knew that the hardest part was yet to come. There would be a lot of people and he had to make sure he would not touch one of them.

"Come on," Merlin said, noticing the Prince's hesitation, "the sooner we get to Gaius, the sooner this might all be over."

"You really think Gaius will have the answer?" Arthur asked, starting to walk again now.

Merlin nodded. "I know he has. He has never let me down before and neither will he do now."

"I hope so," Arthur sighed.

Another long time passed and finally they reached the castle. Arthur felt relief as he had not touched anyone in their journey, but the challenge was not over yet.

"You go to Gaius," Arthur said, "I'll go see my father and inform him of the situation."

"Alright," Merlin said and he went his own way. Arthur couldn't help but stare at his servant for a few moments. Maybe he should go with him and make sure that he reached Gaius' chambers. He didn't look well, his skin pale, and Arthur was starting to doubt if Merlin could even reach Gaius' chambers without passing out.

But he shook those thoughts away. He needed to speak to his father and that was his priority now. Walking through the halls, taking a flight of stairs and then entering the great hall where his father sat with a few other knights, Arthur made his presence known by clearing his throat.

"Ah, Arthur," Uther said, standing up from his chair, "how was your hunting trip?" He walked over to his son and was about to place his hand on his shoulder when Arthur quickly took a step back.

"Don't touch me!" he yelled, panicked by the thought that the King might suffer the same pain as Merlin. Uther's face filled with worry and concern.

"Nobody can touch me," Arthur explained, his voice more calm now, "I am cursed."

"Cursed?" Uther couldn't believe what his son was telling him.

"By Lady Ava." Arthur watched horror appear in his father's eyes. "She wanted revenge and therefore she cursed me."

"We will find her," Uther said, determined again and not showing his emotions anymore. He turned to the other knights in the room. "Send out a team and bring her back to me."

"She wanted revenge for what you did to her," Arthur said, not caring that he wasn't alone with his father to discuss this. For all he cared, the whole country could know about it. Uther always did things without having to worry about the consequences, but they always came back to haunt someone and in this case, it was Arthur who had to suffer the fall out.

"Leave us," Uther said, his voice deep and with authority. The knights didn't hesitate and left the room. Arthur walked over to the head of the table and sat down while Uther simply watched his son.

"What curse did she use?" Uther finally asked after a moment of silence.

"I don't know yet, I only know that when I touch someone, that person feels excruciating pain." Arthur remembered how Merlin had cried out again.

"But you are alright?" Uther took a few steps closer towards his son as if he wanted to see for himself that Arthur was unharmed.

"Didn't you listen?" Arthur rolled his eyes as he couldn't believe that his father didn't care about that fact. "People feel horrible pain when I touch them and there is nothing I can do to change it."

"Who did you touch?" Uther sensed that Arthur was shocked because of something he couldn't control.

"My servant Merlin" Arthur turned his gaze to the floor, sighing, "I have never seen anyone in that much pain, not even on a battlefield."

"Is he alright now?"

Arthur glanced up at his father. Was this true concern that he was now showing or was he simply faking the emotion? Arthur couldn't tell, he only saw that his father did seem to understand the struggle he was now going through.

* * *

When Merlin reached Gaius' chambers, he only realized then how high up in the castle they were resided. Having to catch his breathe again, he leaned in against a wall before walking down the final hallway. After that, he walked a little further and entered the room that belonged to Gaius.

The physician was busy making medicine for people who required it and a certain smell of herbs filled the room.

"Ah, there you are," Gaius said, looking up and seeing it was Merlin who had entered. He immediately focused on the boiling substance standing in front of him again. "How was your hunting trip?"

"Fine until a certain point," Merlin said, walking towards a chair standing at the table and letting himself sit down on it, "then we met an old acquaintance of Uther."

The tone in which Merlin spoke caught Gaius' attention and he looked up again. Only now he noticed the pale color of his skin and the shortness of breath. He walked towards him and placed his hand on his forehead, detecting a fever.

"What happened?" Gaius asked.

"Arthur got cursed," Merlin sighed. He didn't quiet know how to start telling him the second part of the story. Gaius would without doubt be worried instantly and Merlin wasn't sure if that would be justified or not. "And then he touched me and I swear, Gaius, I have never felt such pain in my life."

Merlin lifted his hand with the black skin and Gaius couldn't help but gasp. He took the hand in his own and studied the skin with care.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" Merlin asked. Gaius shook his head.

"This is where Arthur touched you?" he asked, now looking into Merlin's eyes.

"Yes and then the pain started. Lady Ava cursed Arthur and now everyone he touches feels pain I guess, I can't be for sure, I will have to look up the curse."

"Lady Ava." The name seemed to shock Gaius.

"You know her?" Merlin thought this to be his chance for the complete truth. "Did Uther really banish her three years ago because she is witch?"

After Gaius took a minute to think, he slowly started nodding. "Yes," he almost whispered, "she was the last person I would have suspected."

"Golec trube infor dande, tunde veary Arthur Pendragon, dare michela feste rildo." Merlin had repeated Ava's words so many times in his head, knowing he could not forget them, that he now could recite them with ease. "That is what she said."

Gaius frowned, trying to remember if those words meant anything to him. Then his eye widened and before Merlin could ask what had just come to his mind, Gaius walked over to a pile of books and started searching through them. Merlin waited on him to say something, to reveal what he had just thought of, but he knew Gaius would need his focus at the moment so he remained quiet.

"Here," Gaius said, placing the book in front of Merlin, "maybe the answer to what curse she used is in here. I will search through other books."

Merlin started searching through the book and soon found the words Ava had said in the ancient language.

"I found it," Merlin said and Gaius immediately came standing next to him. "It is a very old curse used by powerful sorcerers. The person who is cursed with this is doomed to kill everyone he touches as his touch is now lethal, killing the person in a slow and painful way until his heart stops beating after only a matter of days."

Gaius and Merlin turned to each other, both swallowing heavily. They didn't know what to say, to think or to do. Arthur had doomed Merlin to a horrible death for there didn't seem to be a cure for it.

AN: Here was the newest chapter and I hope it was liked! I never posted a new chapter so quickly, but I just thought that there was no reason to wait as I had this chapter finished earlier today. So here it was, let me know what you thought about it because reviews feed my muse =)

I will try and post the third chapter as soon as possible!