"Now you die Emrys for your actions" the intruder whispered as he raised his hand towards the still figure in the bed. As the figure started to utter a string of words Gwaine didn't understand Gwaine sprang forward, and without hesitation sliced his sword across the man's throat cutting of the spell before it could be completed. Then he quickly stabbed the sorcerer in the heart just to be sure. Quickly glancing to the occupant of the bed, he ran to the door and shouted the alarm in case there were other intruders, noting as he did so the still bodies of the four guards lying on the floor.

Within moments the alarm bells started to ring and other guards arrived closely followed by the King and Leon. Arthur quickly scanned the scene and his face paled.

"Is Merlin safe" he snapped at Gwaine.

"Yes princess I killed the bastard before he did anything. I heard the noise of the guards falling, when the assassin entered the room he wasn't expecting to find me. He's dead, he was a sorcerer"

Just as Gwaine has finished speaking Gaius arrived with Gwen, they followed Arthur into the room, with Percival close behind. The disturbance hadn't stirred Merlin. Gaius quickly checked his wards still figure as the king turned to Gwaine:

"Thank you"

"Don't thank me princess, he's my friend as well."

"I do thank you, and owe you a debt that I can never repay" for once Gwaine was lost for words, he raised this hand and put it on the kings shoulder.

"No one will hurt Merlin while I'm on watch, unless they kill me first I promise you"

The body was removed and the guards were taken to Gaius's rooms to recover. It seemed they had not been killed but rendered unconscious by a spell. The King and his first knights then held a short meeting in Merlin's room to try to decide what other security they could provide for their friend, until he was able to protect himself. They soon realised that there was little else they could do, except be extra vigilant. It was also decided to announce the full repeal of the law against magic as soon as possible, in the hope that this would prevent other attacks from disgruntled sorcerers.

Over the next few days things moved fast, and Arthur was kept busy, he was still finding difficult to cope with the condition of his friend. There had been no change in Merlin's condition and Arthur hadn't been able to spend as much time with Merlin as he wanted to. That didn't mean the unconscious man wasn't getting plenty of company. No one had been able to prise Gwaine out from Merlin's side after the first attempt on his friend's life, not even to go to the tavern. Percival had bought some Mead to the knight, as he felt it would be too much for Gwaine to cope with his best friend's state of health and no alcohol. Leon had also been visiting and the Queen had insisted on keeping the place tidy. As she said she had been a servant for years so was no stranger to the work. Arthur didn't argue with her as he knew she felt as helpless has he did, anyway he didn't want any servants to enter the room.

A reply had come back from Merlin's mother. Hunith had replied that several of the villagers were ill, so she couldn't leave at the moment. But would she would come as soon as she could. If her son's condition worsened she would come immediately she was called for. Gaius explained to Arthur that Merlin's mother was the nearest thing the village had as a healer; the place was too small and poor to have its own physician.

Later that evening Gaius knocked on the door of the king's chamber.

"Come in"

Seeing the physician his face paled "Has Merlin's condition changed?"

"No sire I have brought you this" he had a small bottle in his hand.

"It's a sleeping draft, and before you say you don't need I need to tell you that you do. It hasn't been long since you nearly died, you lost a lot of blood and since then you have been under constant stress. You will be no good to anyone unless you get good night's sleep"

Gwen came in half way through.

"And I agree, you haven't been sleeping Arthur so don't say you have"

Arthur looked at the two of them.

"I don't need the draft, I need to be awake in case Merlin's condition changes" came the petulant reply

"But I disagree sire, even if Merlin's condition does change, there is little you can do and you do have a kingdom to run"

"I will see he takes it Gaius and thank you" smiled Gwen

Arthur realising he had lost the battle, and not wanting to have any friction with his wife if he refused, Arthur held out his hand and taking the bottle drank it.

"That is disgusting"

"You should taste what I have been giving Merlin then sire"

"No thanks, it's no wonder he stays asleep is all I can say"

Arthur wasn't the only one losing sleep over the young warlock. Gwaine was getting more and more worried about his friend. It was bad enough that he just lay there without moving. Despite trying neither Gwaine, Gaius or Gwen had been able to get Merlin to swallow hardly any liquid since he had returned to the castle. Eating anything more solid was out of the question until Merlin become conscious once more. His face was getting thinner and more pallid by the day. He was beginning to look like a living skeleton.

Gwaine spoke to Gaius and they decided that something needed to be done. So when Arthur managed to pop his head round the door for a visit the next morning, he found Merlin being propped up in bed in Gwaine's arms, with Gaius gently dripping water into his wards month and massaging his throat to get him to swallow. This way the pair had been managing to get very small amounts of fluid into the weakening man. Gaius had been surprised by the knight; he had been helping Gaius with much of the care for his ward, including some aspects of care he would never have expected help with. He hadn't truly realised just how much Gwaine cared for the young man before.

"How's it going Gaius, are you managing to get enough into him?" the King was worried he knew that if they couldn't get fluid into Merlin he would die.

"We are managing to get small amounts down Sire, but we need to try this every couple of hours to get any meaningful amounts into Merlin".

Arthur looked again at the pair and noticed just how tired they both were.

"Can you show Gwen and me how to get him to swallow, and we will do some of the turns. We are only next door and it will allow you two to get some rest".

Both the men looked at him as if he were mad and in unison said

"No"

"Gaius you can't go on like this, and I want you to have help, Iseldir has a couple of druid healers looking after the towns folk but you need rest and so do you Gwaine. I want to help he's my friend to and it was through me he's like this."

Gwaine looked at the King and realised that Arthur was hurting and need to help his friend.

"Tell you what Princess, you can help me next time, that will give Gaius time to sort out a few things. I know what to do and I can show you"

"That's settled then I will be back as soon as I have spoken to Leon, and thank you Gwaine"

Arthur left the room feeling pleased that at least he could do something. He envied Gwaine being able to spend so much time with Merlin, but he knew he needed to sort out the changes he was making. Once it was done he would be able to spend more time with Merlin. Arthur announced the repeal of the law banning magic that afternoon, and had said that anyone using magic to harm others would still face the consequences, but otherwise no action would be taken. It had seemed to have gone down well and Arthur wondered, by the reaction, just how many people still benefited from magic despite the previous ban.