Hi!
I did it! I wrote another chapter! I even have the rest of the episode almost done, but I thought I'd post this part first and then finish off the rest as it comes along without rushing it. Thank you all for being so patient with me; huge thanks to all the people who commented or followed the story regardless of how slowly I've been writing.
I am getting back on track with everything, so hopefully my muse won't decide to abandon me again and I will be able to keep the chapters coming!
On with the story!
It's always the pretty ones...
The feast and the celebration of the signing was in full swing. Gwen had found Merlin's hat as amusing as Elena had and the two had chuckled when Merlin hastily took it off as soon as the trio spied a pretty handmaiden across the hall, staring at Merlin. Gwen chuckled as Elena teased Merlin about the attractive girl and then excused herself to attend to Lady Morgana who looked almost as bored as Elena felt at the head table.
It wasn't so bad at the feast. Things were actually happening, people were talking, moving. Then the time for the signing came and the proceedings in the Hall came to a grinding halt.
The whole signing was obnoxious, in Elena's humble opinion. For something as trivial as signing of a piece of paper, even a peace treaty between two warring countries, there was too much… stuff. There were too many people in the hall. There were too many fake pleasantries involved. It was all just too much.
While Bayard droned on about peace and loses and new beginnings or some such, Merlin was approached by the pretty handmaiden Gaius told Elena about with a distressed look about her; after a few words the two escaped to the hall outside.
Uh-oh.
Elena wasn't sure what exactly it was that did not sit right with her about the entire situation, but she just knew that things were about to go south. Because Merlin the warlock was involved and because this was Camelot. Stuff happened at feasts.
And of course, right on cue, just as all the ridiculousness was about to be wrapped up with a toast Merlin burst back into the hall yelling about Arthur's goblet being poisoned. And of course, Bayard took offence and the hall nearly erupted into violence; hell, even Morgana picked up a weapon, never mind that it was a table knife – Elena would have laughed, if the situation wouldn't have escalated into Uther demanding Merlin drink the wine to prove it was in fact poisoned and he was telling the truth. As if Gaius couldn't have examined it and maybe tested it or something, to check and see if he was right. No. Uther demanded Merlin must drink it, or else. A really backwards way to prove it, but neither Arthur nor Gaius could do anything to stop the stubborn King.
Arthur tried the 'he is drunk' approach, then 'misunderstanding' approach to excuse Merlin's accusation and draw the attention away from him, but nothing seemed to sway Uther's opinion and set course of action.
"Merlin," Elena tried, since Arthur was failing so spectacularly at diffusing the situation, but with one look from the secret warlock she shut up and let him have at it. Stubborn suicidal git, she thought tersely and Merlin's lips twitched, no doubt guessing where her thoughts had gone. He just knew her that well already.
Didn't mean she was any less invested in making sure he didn't do something stupid. That dragon did say something about watching his back after all, and she intended to do just that – which included stopping him from trying to kill himself by drinking poison, even if it was to save Arthur.
Of course, the crux of the situation was that she couldn't stop Merlin drinking the poison without getting him into even more trouble with Uther than he already was; never mind what Bayard might do to get revenge for his 'wounded' pride.
So Merlin drunk the wine.
Nothing happened for a minute and Merlin had muttered that it was fine with quite a bit of surprise; Elena wasn't so sure – mostly because when Merlin said something was wrong, it usually was, and while she wouldn't discount that the handmaiden had lied, she still thought that the situation stank.
And then Merlin coughed.
He coughed and choked, face scrunched up in pain and turning red from the lack of air, until he fainted and slammed into the floor.
Everything was still and silent as the attendees stared in mute disbelief at the unconscious servant until Uther started yelling. "It was poisoned! Guards!"
Bayard was no fool, so there was no fighting – the Mercians were escorted out of the Hall and to the dungeons while Uther raved about traitors and threats to Camelot.
Which seemed trivial to Elena because Merlin was on the floor dying and no one save her, Arthur and Gaius seemed to care. Gaius directed Gwen to take the goblet and Arthur heaved Merlin over his shoulder; Elena felt useless as they rushed through the castle to the Physician's rooms, left without a task and simply tagging along with the crew.
While Arthur settled Merlin down on a cot with surprising gentleness, Gwen raced off to gather water and towels, Gaius had shuffled over to check his ward, leaving Elena standing awkwardly on the side clutching the goblet Gwen passed to her on her way out.
It was an ornate goblet, deceptively pretty and all that – except it was killing her friend and Elena had a sudden urge to throw it against the wall with all her strength. It won't have done any good and probably won't even make her feel any better, but at least then she would be doing something.
She was pulled out of glaring at the goblet when Gaius said he needed to identify the poison and needed the stupid cup to examine it. Which led to the discovery of a flower petal and Gaius finally giving Elena something to do – namely climb up the rickety stair and bring down two books on herbal lore to search for the petal Gaius now had in hand. They were both flipping through the books when Gaius found it.
The Mortaeus flower did not sound remotely good and Elena was not surprised it was a poison. The fact that it only grew in some obscure cave, guarded by some incredibly ugly and deadly creature, only made it worse.
Really Merlin, Elena thought in resignation as she studied the creature they will need to kill or avoid to get to the flower. You definitely know how to pick them. Nothing less than absolutely deadly.
Arthur obviously agreed. "Sounds like fun."
Really, if the princess kept going at this rate, Elena would have to start liking him. And then Gaius had to be a pessimistic voice of reason. But Arthur made up his mind and nothing was going to sway him; which meant that Elena was going along for the ride – the princess really would not be able to survive a day without someone watching his back. Merlin was out of commission – so now it was Elena's job to protect the prince.
"If I don't get the antidote, what happens to Merlin?" Arthur asked sounding almost nonchalant.
Gaius paused. "The Mortaeus induces a slow and painful death. He may hold out for four, maybe five days, but not much longer. Eventually he will die."
Arthur nodded and with a determined expression marched out of the room. Elena glanced between the door and Merlin, still struggling to breathe, groaning in pain and sweating from the fever; her eyes shifted to Gaius and then Gwen and with a stubbornly set jaw Elena hurried out after Arthur.
"No, you are not coming with me," Arthur said stiffly before Elena could even open her mouth as she chased after him down the corridor. "That's an order."
"Don't give a damn," she retorted. "The King will have my hide if I don't go with you. Besides, I want to help Merlin, too, and I am no use to anyone sitting there moping. You can either accept that I am coming, or try to stop me, but I will follow regardless."
Arthur glared, but as per usual it did nothing except make Elena even more determined to do the exact opposite of what he told her to – so with a put upon sigh, he shrugged and ignored her smug smirk, continuing on to find his father and get his permission to ride out.
Uther was… less than pleased and even less forthcoming. Elena was almost spitting nails when Uther called saving Merlin a fool's errand, especially because Gaius said it would work – she was offended on Gaius' behalf because the King was a complete and utter arsehole and needed a good slap as much as Arthur often did. What was worse, Arthur, while displeased with being ordered not to go, seemed to just accept it and stomp away to his room to sulk like a scolded child. Elena followed him, far too worked up to be able to open her mouth and not say something she'd regret later, so she didn't say a word until they were in Arthur's rooms and the door was shut behind them.
"You can't be serious!" Elena finally burst out as Arthur tossed his sword on the table, seemingly giving up the idea of going. "Are you really so spineless that you will do as daddy commands, regardless of whether or not said father is an asshole?"
Arthur glared at her venomously. "Watch your tongue! You are speaking about Camelot's King!"
"Like hell, I will!" Elena yelled, on the verge of losing it. "Merlin drank poison for you and this is how you repay him? By hiding behind your father's commands and like a good dog going back to your rooms when ordered?" Arthur didn't respond, so Elena went further. "If you are too craven to defy your father and help Merlin, then you really don't deserve his loyalty. If you won't go, I will go alone and should both Merlin and I die, on your head it will be!"
They glared at each other for a long moment, neither of them willing to forfeit their staring match. It was interrupted by the opening of the door.
"Say what you want about the food, but you can't beat our feasts for entertainment," Morgana said nonchalantly, clearly ignoring the thick tension in the room.
"You have a very weird sense of humour," Elena commented, but she was smiling and Morgana just grinned in response, before turning back to Arthur.
"Morgana, I'm sorry," Arthur sighed. "I should have made sure you were alright."
"Disappointed, actually," Morgana winked at Elena and the Shield barely stifled laughter. "I was looking forward to clumping a couple around the head with a ladle."
"I'm sure the guards could have handled Bayard and his men," Arthur tried to hide his amusement at the picture Morgana had painted in both his and Elena's mind.
"But why let the boys have all the fun, yes, Elena?" the girls chuckled at Arthur's unimpressed look, no doubt at the implication that he needed a girl to protect him. He was so easily riled up.
"Morgana, you shouldn't get involved. It's dangerous," well, that certainly dissolved the light mood Morgana managed to create.
The lady frowned. "Spare me the lecture. I've already had it from Uther."
"If it's any consolation, you weren't the only one," Arthur commented dryly.
"Not that I listen to him," Morgana continued as though Arthur had not spoken. "Sometimes you've got to do what you think is right and damn the consequences."
Arthur frowned. "You think I should go?"
"It doesn't matter what I think," Morgana shrugged nonchalantly. Elena watched Morgana out on a first grade performance of manipulation with baited breath.
"If I don't make it back, who will be the next king of Camelot?" Arthur asked, a note of desperation in his tone. "There's more than just my life at stake."
"And what kind of King would Camelot want?" Morgana asked stubbornly and Elena smiled, almost beaming as Morgana skilfully twisted Arthur to her will and convinced him to do the right thing, still making it look as though it was him making the decision. "One that will risk his life for that of a servant? Or one that does what his father tells him to?"
Arthur accepted the sword and with a solemn nod to Morgana headed for the door. Elena grinned and hugged the lady on her way out, almost skipping after Arthur and making Morgana chuckle watching the two run off on what certainly would seem like a suicide mission.
Except they were Arthur the best knight in Camelot and Elena the Shield who could also fight – and they were both far too stubborn to die on a quest, so… there was nothing to worry about. What could possibly go wrong?
And there it is. I may have picked a bad place to end it, but I had it all done up to there, so I couldn't stop myself. If this was a bad idea, do let me know. I don't mind either way, but if you prefer an entire episode per chapter, I can do that. It will just take a tad longer to write and edit, that's all.
As always, please let me know your thoughts and ideas; while I have a plan, nothing is set in stone and I've already been kicking a few 'fix it' things in mind. I don't know.
Thank you for reading!
Lia