Chapter Two : The Practical Uses of Mandrake Root
Merlin flipped through the last pages of the thick book, hurriedly scanning the the text and trying to get the last of his studying done before Gaius was due back.
"Purple-ish green in colour…it's cry can be fatal…" He muttered to himself. Earlier in the day, he had made the mistake of telling Arthur that Gaius expected him to memorize the whole of "700 Practical Uses of Mandrake Root". With a gleeful grin, Arthur had proceeded to recite a list of chores for Merlin to complete by that evening. Needless to say, Merlin was not exactly well versed in the uses of the mandrake root by the time Gaius returned from his shopping.
"Merlin! Help me with this shopping!" Merlin jogged over to the door, making sure to not bump all the complex contraptions Gaius had set up on the work table that morning.
"How was your day, Gaius? Did you get a lot of work done? Here, let me help you with that!" Merlin burbled. Gaius looked at the boy suspiciously.
"What is it, Merlin?" Gaius glanced worriedly at his work table. "Have you ruined my experiment?"
With a reassuring smile, Merlin told him of the work Arthur gave him, resulting in his not doing his homework. The old man sighed.
"And have you finished the work for Prince Arthur? I won't have you not finishing work for the sake of some herbs, Merlin, now run along."
Merlin jogged along the hallway leading to Arthur's chambers, hoping he would catch him just running out the door. Ideally, Arthur would be busy being a prince somewhere, so Merlin could finish his work with magic. All of a sudden, an unseen force hit Merlin with incredible strength, nearly knocking him over. He fell to his knees and his head whipped around, looking for the source of the pain. After a couple of seconds, he realized that the pain had come from inside his head. Merlin pondered his sanity for a minute or two, before realizing that it was the same kind of pulse that he felt when there was immensely powerful magic in Camelot. Perturbed by his discovery, Merlin considered informing Gaius right away. Every ounce of his gut instinct was telling him to, but all that work he had to do for Arthur….
"Merlin! What happened?" Gwen cried, hurrying over to where Merlin still sat, dazed.
"Oh, Gwen! Nothing happened, I just…fell." Gwen gave him a skeptical look, but asked no more questions. As she accompanied him back to Gaius's, Gwen asked "Merlin… you wouldn't happen to have seen Morgana lately? I just went in to help her get ready for bed, but she wasn't there. I'm not worried, yet, but it's just strange, you know? She's usually right there, sitting on her bed, but today I've seen neither head nor tail of her since dinner."
Merlin chuckled. "Gwen, I'm sure she was just talking to Arthur, or Uther even. I'm sure if you go check on her now she'll be there. I'll be fine, I just tripped over my own feet. Embarrassing, really. Don't tell anyone, okay?"
Gwen looked slightly bemused, but agreed. She said goodbye to Merlin and made her way to Morgana's chambers.
By the time Merlin stumbled through the door of his home, Gaius was in bed and there was a bowl of what looked like cold water with some soggy chunks in it. Hesitantly, he walked towards the table and sat down. The "stew" didn't taste too terrible, and Merlin was starving. After the first half-hearted sip, he down the dinner Gaius had left out for him in a matter of minutes. As he crawled beneath the covers of his bed, he contemplated all that had happened that day. He had dismissed Gwen's fears for Morgana, in retrospect that may have been unwise. After that first pulse of intense magic, the rest of the evening had been comparatively quiet. The ringing and buzzing in his head had only just died down, when Merlin lay his head on the pillow and immediately fell asleep.