A/N: Disclaimer in first chapter is meant to apply to all following chapters. I don't own, I don't claim credit, I don't get no money.
Chapter 2
"Sire… He flew away?"
Arthur, busy tugging off his gauntlet, did not notice how Gaius had paled at his tale. "That he did, the damned idiot! You wouldn't believe how long we looked through the - oh, for goodness sake, George!" the Prince broke off to snap at Merlin's hapless stand-in. "Have you never helped any of your masters remove armour before?"
"My apologies, Sire," George said contritely.
Arthur sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as if he had a headache. He was exhausted and filthy, but made the effort to curb his short-temper and address the servant more calmly. "Go back to my chambers and see to things there, George. I need a meal and a bath - preferably both very hot."
George smiled and left, relieved to be once more assigned to chores he excelled at. Arthur resumed his story for Gaius.
"Now, what was I… oh, yes, I was talking about the merry chase that miserable excuse for a servant of mine lead us on and - " Arthur looked up and for the first time got a good look at his old friend. "Gaius, what is it? What's wrong?"
The Knights, also in the stables seeing to their horses and generally grumbling with the same tired annoyance Arthur had been, fell silent at their Prince's exclamation. Taking in the scene, Percival wordlessly grabbed a nearby stool and brought it closer while Arthur took hold of Gaius's elbow and gently lead him over to it and bade him to sit down.
"Here, Gaius, drink this," Gwaine said, passing over a flask. The elderly physician raised it to his lips gratefully.
"I hope that's water," Arthur said wryly, only to step back as Gaius suddenly gagged and spit out a mouthful with a wet, messy splutter.
Gwaine shrugged, but didn't bother hiding his grin. "Well, you know what they say, Princess: hope springs eternal."
Arthur rolled his eyes, but quickly turned his gaze back to the Court Physician. "What's wrong, Gaius?"
"You said he flew away, Sire. Why?"
"Blame it on that sot over there," Arthur said, pointing a thumb towards Gwaine.
"Oi, like none of the rest of you jumped in!" the sot in question protested.
Gaius looked from one to the other, confused. "Sire?"
Arthur put a hand on the old man's shoulder, somewhat chagrined. Merlin's predicament had been amusing, and then massively annoying, but Arthur reminded himself that he was talking about a young man whom Gaius saw as a son. A son who was not only the victim of a spell they didn't know how to reverse, but - at this moment - missing as well. Arthur hesitated, uncomfortable that his irritable rant now had to become a confession. "We were… well, uh, teasing him a bit. And we might have been… laughing. At him. And the mess he'd got himself into," the Prince admitted, suddenly feeling about six years old and far less regal than he could remember feeling in quite some time.
Strangely though, instead of reprimanding Arthur with a raised eyebrow or a disappointed look, Gaius eagerly grabbed Arthur's forearm. "So he might have flown away out of nothing more than pique or anger?"
"Certainly. What else would it have been?" Arthur asked.
"Did he stay close by, taunting you? Or did he look…I'm sorry, Sire, this is a strange thing to ask about a bird, but did he look annoyed or put out? Did he fly away just to sulk, in other words?" Gaius stood and began to pace. He turned to Arthur with a slightly frantic look on his face. "Was there anything, anything at all, that he did that suggested he still knew what was going on?"
Five sets of eyes stared at Gaius with absolute perplexity, but one man guessed at his meaning.
"No," Percival said quietly. "He might have flown away in panic or anger, but it was more like he'd forgotten us."
Gaius collapsed heavily back on the stool and rested his face in his hands.
"I was afraid of that."
-x-
The hot dinner and bath waiting in Arthur's chambers were forgotten over the commotion set off by Gaius's eventual explanation.
The man was not the Kingdom's most renowned physician for nothing. Once he had raised his head and drawn himself up to face the business at hand, he had stated his concerns about Merlin's state of mind (or lack thereof) calmly and concisely. There had been no recriminations for Arthur's failure to bring back his ward safe and sound, no pleading with the Prince to do something, no expressions of fear or pessimism. The briefest, half-second long glimpse was all Arthur had had of the physician's worry before Gaius had became the wise, steady healer once more. Arthur had been grateful and therefore had, both consciously and unconsciously, striven to emulate his example. Though staggered by Gaius's words, Arthur realized that standing around, asking stupid questions and metaphorically wringing his hands, would help no one.
So, despite the growing knot in his stomach - the one that was confusing him even further by being there at all - Arthur took his reassurance in action. Gaius had barely finished speaking before Arthur was barking out orders to his Knights to find reinforcements and fresh horses and search the area around the castle. Stable-hands and stragglers in the courtyard were ordered to fetch torches (for it was now quite late) and do the same search on foot. Unseen by Arthur, some of the Knights outside of his main circle raised an eyebrow at the Prince's urgency, but one look at Gwaine's face and they wisely kept their mouths shut.
Meanwhile, Arthur had already torn across the courtyard, shouting for his steward, with Gaius following doggedly at his heels. Within minutes, servants were gathered in the main hall and told to search the castle in case Merlin had made it back and was perched somewhere out of the way, off having a sulk after all. Arthur did not share this reasoning with them, nor even that the bird in question was a person, but Gwen was taken aside and quietly told all. And, at Gaius's suggestion that even a confused Merlin might instinctively be able to find his way back to a place familiar to him, the willing serving-maid was dispatched to search Arthur's chambers and the physician's chambers especially thoroughly.
After that, extra lookouts were added to those already on duty on the battlements and towers and all were instructed to keep a sharp watch for a small, dark falcon. Needless to say they were all greatly puzzled by this demand, but none questioned their Regent's orders.
"What now, Gaius? What else can I do?" Arthur asked grimly.
"The nobles who rode out with you - have they returned?"
"You think they might have learned something from the prisoners we took?"
"It's possible, Sire," Gaius replied, though his expression mirrored Arthur's doubt. The nobles had been hangers-on, eager to say they had rode out with the valiant Prince and his Knights against the evil sorcerer and his bandit allies. Gaius had not been impressed by them - escorting the prisoners back to Camelot while Arthur and the others looked for Merlin had likely been all they were good for. Nor did he think the sorcerer would have bothered describing his magical spells to hired mercenaries, but there was always a chance someone could have gleaned a clue without knowing it.
"Right," Arthur said.
With Gaius accompanying him, Arthur tracked down the nobles who had returned earlier to the Dining Hall, where most of the group had already got themselves half-sloshed in celebration of their brave adventure. Taking their report by shouting angrily at the most sober, Arthur, as expected, learned exactly nothing. Whoever wasn't crowing over how well they had kept the chained-up bandits in check was complaining about the bandits' cheek at actually trying to fight back.
Muttering words blue enough to make even a sailor blush, Arthur stalked off with Gaius alongside, out of the room and towards the dungeons, only to be brought up short outside of the Royal Chambers by the spectacle of his King dressed in nothing but his nightclothes.
Arthur felt the same clenching of sadness around his heart that he always did at seeing his father so greatly diminished. His King and only parent - once so resplendent, so daunting, so magnificent and feared - was now standing barefoot in a chilly corridor, face colourless and drawn, his only garb a plain white shift hanging loosely on his withered frame. No crown encircled the mess of his hair and there was a wild-eyed look to him which told Arthur he was about to start raving again.
And it didn't help Arthur at all to hear a small, callous voice in the back of his mind, telling him that the search for Merlin wouldn't have happened at all if his father hadn't been ill.
"Arthur! I demand to know what is going on right now!"Uther screamed.
"Father, please, calm yourself," Arthur soothed, with as much patience as he was able.
"No! Arthur, you must heed me! There is sorcery afoot, I am certain of it!"
Well, yes, Arthur thought. There is. How pitiful Fate is that you are right and yet still afflicted, Father.
But instead of saying this, Uther's son lied. "Sire, there is nothing wrong. One of the ladies visiting court simply lost her favourite hunting falcon and is very distraught. Therefore, I have set the servants to searching for it. But I'll make certain they do not bother you. You are far too busy to pestered by such frivolous nonsense."
Looking on at a melancholy Arthur trying to calm his still shouting father, Gaius realized something: though he had unconsciously kept it hidden, up until this moment he had been absolutely furious with the Prince and his Knights. Mostly it was the fury that came with overwhelming fear for a loved one, but he had to admit there had been some small measure of resentment as well. Merlin had done so much for Arthur and his entire Kingdom, so for Gaius to watch the young man exhaust himself and make so many sacrifices day after day, only to receive little thanks and most often nothing but disdain in return, had rankled him severely at times. And then tonight, after running to the stables desperate for news only to hear more complaints, to learn that Merlin's so-called companions couldn't even do him the service of taking care of him when he needed them most, to hear instead that they'd mocked him and upset him and possibly even quickened the effects of the spell by agitating him…well, Merlin might be a full-grown man, but Gaius had suddenly had to fight down the same righteous anger any parent would have felt at those who had neglected and endangered his child.
But now Gaius could sympathize with Arthur, the boy he had watched grow up. To be forced to rule and yet still be answerable to a sick man, and worse, to be so alone - to still have a father and yet not be able to turn to him - was a disheartening burden to say the least. The Prince at least should by forgiven, he reflected. And perhaps the others too - they had dropped everything to search for his ward, after all. Why do that if not for brotherhood?
Gaius sighed. Though he was a little irritated to be stalled on his mission to find out what the bandits might know, not to mention terribly anxious for Merlin, he couldn't help but pity his King. Sometimes there was something in his old friend's eyes: a hint of awareness, as if a part of Uther knew how ill he was, but was trapped inside his own mind, helpless to do anything about it. Gaius hoped not; the very idea filled him with a resounding sadness.
And it was a sadness made even more horrible by the thought that Merlin might, at that very moment, be enduring nearly the same thing. Was there any shred of Merlin the man left? And should Gaius hope for such a thing if there was no way to turn Merlin back?
Gaius shivered. They needed to find Merlin. The King could wait; time was an issue for the young warlock in a way that it wasn't for his sovereign. So, after he and Arthur, working together, finally managed to get the King settled back in his sickbed - with the King in thanks screaming that anyone who had even the slightest dealings with magic would be summarily executed - Camelot's Court Physician had no compunction at all about pulling a vial out of his robe and dosing his King senseless.
Arthur glanced at him when the King fell so suddenly and so deeply asleep, however he did nothing except to look away and mumble with sad resignation that it "was probably for the best". They both left the room and were quickly on their way again.
Meanwhile, Gaius did his best to ignore the despair in Arthur's downcast eyes. He had his own pain to focus on that night.
My thanks to everyone for their wonderful response to the first chapter. Reviews, alerts, putting the story on their favourites list - it was all fantastic!
Oh, and CKTheHappyPig - I love your pen name! I'm a huge Blackadder fan and that was a great episode. And if I remember correctly, the pig had a particular name, didn't it? One very apropos for this fandom. And one that's sparking ideas... though I don't think I'll change him... Hmmmm.
