Chapter 3
Arthur was annoyed. Actually, he was more than annoyed. He was frustrated to bits. Merlin had decided not to show up for work today. This meant that a replacement servant had to cover for him, and for Arthur that meant that he had to spend a day listening to jokes about brass.
"…And then I said to him, that's not gold, its brass!" George guffawed loudly, but not too loudly, at his joke. His eyes immediately sought Arthur's for approval, and the prince regent managed to crack a small smile.
As George made to straighten up his room, Arthur bent his head lower over his desktop, determined to keep his face out of sight as he worked out some things in his head. He was trying to immerse himself in various important diplomatic documents of the day, but something kept popping up in his mind instead. Merlin and Gwen.
'What had they been doing together? And so late at night? And so secretively?' he mused. It was not doing his brain any good. He had been constantly tormenting himself with images last night of them embracing together in some manner, and consequently had received very little actual "sleep".
"George," he announced suddenly, the servant immediately dropping his work to turn and bow towards Arthur.
"Sire," the servant inquired politely.
"I'm going out. I probably won't be back for a few hours. Please see to it that my armor has been polished, my room clean, you know…the usual. I might be out on the field sometime later today, but I won't need you. Most likely, I won't need you until lunch. So feel free to make yourself scarce until then."
"Yes sire," said George submissively.
'Merlin wouldn't have given in that easily, nor would I have given him such a liberal amount of free time,' Arthur glumly thought as he made his way out the door and towards Gaius' chambers. He was missing his manservant's usual prattle, as much as he hated to admit it. It just wasn't a proper morning without either throwing something at least once, or else starting some sort of verbal battle with Merlin.
He reached Gaius' door rather quickly. He had been walking fast, wanting answers desperately. He would've gone to Gwen's but he knew that both she was most likely attending his father, as was her job. Since she wouldn't be home, he doubted that Merlin would still be in her house, but either with Gaius or the tavern if he was shirking his duties.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Arthur opened the door and stepped inside, not waiting for an answer before doing so. The sight before him shocked-no stunned his entire being.
The place was always a little messy. Gaius' potions and medical texts made the room feel slightly cluttered, but everything was always where it was supposed to be. It had a welcoming presence, but it still warned visitors not to touch anything by its sheer organizational system (which appeared to be none at all). However, this was not the normal untidiness which exuded "friendliness". This mess was complete chaos. There was a sense that the entire room had been turned upside down. Books haphazardly thrown here and there, various bottles taken down from shelves, and bits of debris had been tossed around rather carelessly. In the middle of this utter bedlam stood his scrawny, raven-haired servant with a pack by his feet. He was looking down, spinning in a circle, appearing to be looking for something specific. Arthur had no idea what it was, or how he was going to find it in the mess, but he was more concerned with the bag by Merlin's feet. It looked like the young man had almost finished packing for a journey-a journey which appeared to be very long, very tiring, and very extensive. 'Was Merlin leaving Camelot for good?' Arthur thought in a panic. Yet he forced himself to calm down.
"Merlin," Arthur said evenly from the doorway.
The young man was still looking down at his feet.
"Merlin!" Arthur said a little louder.
The lanky frame still didn't register Arthur's voice.
"Merlin!" Arthur raised his voice again, this time stressing his servant's name like he normally did.
"Huh?" Merlin looked around, bewildered.
Once he saw Arthur his face drained of the small amount of color it had.
"Oh," he managed to get out in a fairly emotionless tone. However, his actions immediately became more awkward once he realized his master was in the room. He didn't stop his actions, though, and he resumed his position of bending his neck downwards to look for some object that he needed.
"What's all this?" Arthur asked, gesturing around the room, in the general direction of Merlin's pack.
Merlin muttered something indistinguishable, and Arthur's eyebrows raised up underneath his fringe of gold.
"Sorry, didn't quite catch that," Arthur said pointedly, and a little loudly.
"Don't you know when someone is packing?" Merlin asked sarcastically, with a dash of sullenness.
"I get that, what I don't understand is why you are doing so."
"I guess I'll always remain a mystery to you then."
Arthur was shocked at Merlin's tone. It was clipped and to the point, with only just enough teasing to be considered "not hurtful". He wondered at what could have made Merlin act this way, and a feeling of dread settled in the pit of his stomach at the thought of what could have happened at Gwen's.
"Merlin, where are you going?" Arthur asked directly, trying a different angle at which to find out what was clearly troubling Merlin.
"Away," he answered distractedly, finally finding the missing neckerchief he was looking for.
Merlin stashed it away in his bag before giving the room a once over, and then shut his it. He attached a small sleeping roll to the outside of the pack, and then swung it over his shoulders. He could've just been arriving to Camelot.
He made his way to the door, but Arthur stood in his way, blocking the threshold with his larger frame. Merlin knew that he could've easily moved past Arthur, but his conscience was gnawing at his soul. He had been packing all morning, hastily asking George if he would cover for him. George, of course, had happily accepted (he always loved doing anything for the prince regent), which left Merlin free to go back to Gaius' chambers. The old physician was currently away from his rooms, attending his daily duties around the lower town. However, when he had first arrived, he had gone straight to Gaius to confront him about his knowledge pertaining to Freya.
-A Few Hours Earlier-
"Gaius!" Merlin yelled when he walked through the doorway. He didn't know that Gaius was in the main room.
The elderly healer looked up from his book, and took a deep breath. He knew what was coming. Merlin was going to try and save the druid girl. Again.
He had finally been able to place his unfortunate patient in his memory late last night. It was the girl in the cage-the one that Merlin had helped about a year and a half ago. He thought that she had died, but clearly she was alive and-well, not in good health, but certainly not dead. As far as Gaius could tell, she was the closest thing to a girlfriend that Merlin had had.
"Yes, Merlin?" he answered evenly.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Merlin practically whispered as he realized the man he had come to love as kin was closer than he thought. His eyes showed the depth of his brokenness, his hurt and sense of betrayal.
"I didn't want you gallivanting off, trying to save her. It's a fool's errand," Gaius said sadly.
"You know that I would-that I will-do whatever it takes."
"I know," Gaius said quietly, his eyes turning towards the floor as Merlin approached him.
Merlin sat down on the bench, now side by side with the elderly man. A silence stretched between them-it was neither awkward nor comfortable. It was simply there-it was. Just as Merlin and Gaius were for this brief moment in time.
"You must travel to the shores of the Sea of Grace. There, you need to collect one of the small yellow flowers which grow on the island in the center of the water. She doesn't have much time-maybe five days," Gaius finally broke.
Merlin's brow creased slightly. There was no question about whether or not he was going to attempt to save Freya. However, he didn't truly comprehend Gwen's warning until now. The Sea of Grace was at least a two day ride journey from Camelot through woods infested with various things which bore travelers no good will. Furthermore, there was rumored to be a powerful spell which prevented the sea to be found by normal means. It would only reveal itself to those who "knew the true meaning behind its name". Merlin had no idea what that meant-although he would trouble himself about that later. He was more concerned with time. The time he was away from Arthur-how was he going to explain where he was going?-and the time he spent travelling-Freya could die before he even made it back (assuming he was successful in his quest).
A silence settled upon them again before Merlin looked up from his lap, catching Gaius' eye.
"Thank you," he said with all of the heartfelt sincerity he could muster.
Gaius simply nodded before saying, "Remember to take enough protection with you. It wouldn't hurt if you brushed up on your healing and spell knowledge. I'm still not sure how she exactly received her scars, and on your journey you will be passing by the spot Gwen found her by. I think it would be wise if you tried avoid running into the same sorcerer, don't you?"
Then he rose from the bench, picked up his medicine pack, and walked towards the door. He knew that he would never be able to convince Merlin to stay, so he figured that he might as well give him all of the information he could to arm the lad against potential dangers.
He stopped before exiting the room, holding the door open, saying, "Please be careful, Merlin."
He nodded, confirming his understanding before Gaius strode out of sight.
-Present-
With all of this weighing on Merlin's plenty burdened mind, he wasn't sure he could stand lying to Arthur. He did it enough has it was, and he was sure that if Arthur ever asked him outright if he was lying he would have a hard time denying it. And with the young prince being so particularly determined to weasel information out of him, he decided to give in just this once.
"I'm going to the Sea of Grace." Merlin said.
Arthur was still blocking his exit path, and looked at Merlin with wide eyes at his pronouncement. The sea, and the land which surrounded it, was supposed to have extraordinary healing properties. However, it was also said to be protected by some of the most deadly creatures around. There could only be one reason his manservant would be foolish enough to try and seek it out.
"Does this anything to do with your visit to Gwen's last night?"
The words tumbled out of Arthur's mouth before he could stop them. He hadn't meant for Merlin to know that he had seen their rather secretive meeting, but it had been on his mind all day. The effect his words had on the raven haired man were instantaneous. He froze, and looked rather shifty-and a little guilty-for a few moments before recovering himself.
"In a way," were the words Merlin finally settled upon. He said them a little stiffly.
Arthur's brow immediately creased with worry, and asked a little gruffly, "What's wrong?"
Merlin's eyebrows flew up in understanding, and said hastily, "Oh no, it doesn't have anything to do with Gwen. It has to do with…a mutal…friend…of ours. She's ill. Extremely ill. And Gaius said this was the only cure for her. So I need to set out-to help her. I visited Gwen last night to…confirm…her thoughts about my mission."
Arthur's form nearly sagged with relief. The visit had been as harmless as he suspected, but his jealous tendencies had gotten the better of him.
However, it wasn't before long before he was asking suspiciously, "Oh yeah? And what were these thoughts?"
Merlin's hasty body language, and verbal skills were "sketchy" as best. The manservant really never had excelled at lying.
However, at these words Merlin took a more defensive, confident stance in front of Arthur.
"That she thought it was a perfectly good and reasonable quest. She loves our friend as much as I do," Merlin said evenly. There wasn't a trace of embarrassment or shiftiness to his voice anymore.
The prince was slightly taken aback at the change in Merlin's demeanor. So much so that he actually stepped back just enough so that Merlin could slip past him into the open doorway. As he bolted out the door, Arthur spun around and shouted after him.
His servant was quick when he wanted to be-he was already halfway down the corridor as Arthur rang out, "Hey wait a minute!"
Merlin stopped abruptly in his tracks, but didn't turn around, his pack resting on his back. Arthur half jogged, half strode down the hall to catch up with him. As he came even with Merlin's body, he put his arm on his shoulders.
Merlin turned to face Arthur, and they stood side by side, as Arthur said, "I love Guinevere very much, and if this friend of yours is as important as you both believe her to be, I won't stop you."
The servant's frame sagged and practically radiated with relief. Arthur hadn't yet put together that their "friend" was the druid girl, but he had no doubt that he probably would later. Right now he was more focused on the fact that Arthur wasn't going to punish him for trying to look for the Sea.
"However-"
Merlin groaned. This couldn't bode well for him.
"I also believe that this was an incredibly daft plan. I mean, trying to leave in the middle of the day, sending no one but George to fill your shoes. …it's completely horrible. And on top of that, you're going all by yourself. Do you really think that you'll be able to manage?"
"Well of course I will!" Merlin huffed, offended in a good-natured way.
"Nonsense," Arthur continued, "Which is why I shall be accompanying you!"
He took the hand which was holding Merlin's shoulder to slap him soundly on the back (or technically, the knapsack).
"Honestly Arthur there's no need," the lanky man said hurriedly.
It wasn't like he didn't appreciate his friend's help and determination, but he really wanted to go out on this quest alone. After all, how on earth was he supposed to explain the countless questions Arthur would probably be asking on the trip about his "friend"? And he wouldn't be able to use his magic-which he was sure he would be in need of-as easily on his journey.
"Don't try to be a hero Merlin, it really doesn't suit you," was all Arthur said cheerily before starting to walk away.
"I'll meet you at the stables in about an hour. Do be sure to have my horse ready!" he called cheerily over his shoulder as he strode off, leaving his servant alone to groan in an empty hallway.
It was going to be a very long quest.
