The party arrived in Nemeth, without incident, in the early afternoon. They reached the royal palace by the late afternoon, and were greeted by a restrained welcome, that to Merlin, smacked of mourning.
"Are we too late?" Merlin asked a servant quietly.
"I'm afraid the king died only hours after the princess left to find help," the servant said.
Merlin looked at Mithian. She was standing with her sisters on the other side of the courtyard, and she had obviously just heard herself. She was trying to contain her tears, but failing. Her sisters ushered her away, and Merlin was left at loose ends.
"I think I heard you say last night you wanted to help find out who did this. Would speaking to our court physician help?" asked the knight who had escorted them.
"Very much," said Merlin. "We haven't properly met, have we? I'm Merlin."
"I am Sir Gilbert," the man said. He was heavy set and fair haired, and his manner with Mithian had reminded Merlin of Sir Leon. The man was obliging, but obviously trusted enough that he felt comfortable speaking his mind. "I can take you to him now, or I can take you to your rooms if you prefer."
"Take me to the physician first," Merlin said. He didn't want to say it out loud, because it sounded ghoulish, but he wanted to examine the king's body, if possible.
"Yes, my lord," Sir Gilbert said.
Merlin chuckled. "I'm pretty far from a lord, Sir Gilbert. You probably have dogs with better lineage than I have."
"Those with magic tended to be given titles of respect, in my father's day," Sir Gilbert said.
"Oh, well, alright," Merlin said. Just another thing Uther took from me, Merlin thought to himself, although he suspected if he had been a nobleman, he might have been one like Gwaine, who had denied all association with nobility for years.
"Here it is," Sir Gilbert said, knocking on the door.
"Thank you," said Merlin.
Eventually a man of middle years with steel-grey hair and an abstracted expression on his face answered the door. "What is this?" he asked Sir Gilbert vaguely.
"I am Gaius's former apprentice. Gaius is ill. I hoped I could consult with you, and perhaps examine the king's body, if he is not lying in state yet," Merlin said.
The man's eyes lit up. "Oh yes. Do come in. The king's body is here, but I had no real idea how to examine it. I have never been an authority on poison. I did have Gaius's book on the subject, but I seem to have misplaced it…"
Merlin walked in the room. It was rather like Gaius's quarters, only more luxurious and far, far, more cluttered. Merlin imagined the book on poisons was likely somewhere within reach, but he had absolute confidence that it would be nearly impossible to find. "Don't worry. I've brought my copy. Would you like to have a look?"
Merlin took out his copy of the book and handed it to the man, who sat down to read, and seemed to forget Merlin's existence. "Is the king's body close by?" Merlin asked, before the man became too absorbed.
"In the examination chamber next door," the man said.
Merlin marvelled that the man had not even introduced himself yet. He made Gaius seem like a statesman and diplomat. Merlin looked at Sir Gilbert, who Merlin imagined was trying to find a graceful way to leave Merlin without seeming to abandon him.
"Would you like to join me in the next room?" Merlin asked. He did not feel comfortable being alone with a foreign king's body—after all, he knew hardly anyone in this kingdom.
"He is very good friends with the king's brother. They grew up together, and Anders has sacrificed having his own family to better look after Prince Tobias. It is for that reason that the royal family trusts him as they do, and for that reason he has the great honour of being the court physician," Sir Gilbert said.
Not because of any particular talent for healing, Merlin surmised from Sir Gilbert's comments.
Merlin noted the examination room was huge and had five beds—it was a far cry from Gaius's small quarters. The king was laid out on the bed furthest from the door, and Mithian was sitting on the bed, crying softly. She looked up at Merlin as he entered the room.
"Forgive me, I will come back," Merlin said.
"No, come and do your examination," Mithian said. "That is, if you think I could stand to be here while you examine him."
"Some people remove the liver to look for poison, but because I am using magic, I only need a few drops of blood." Merlin made a small incision on the king's wrist and took a few drops of blood and placed them on several different plates.
He put a different poison on each plate and then preformed a spell which would make the herb or powder that was closest in its makeup to the poison in the blood glow. It was nothing Gaius had ever taught him; in fact, he had learned it from a druid. He said the spell and immediately the arsenic began to glow.
"What is that?" asked Mithian.
"Arsenic," Merlin said.
"How does knowing that help us?" Mithian asked.
"Arsenic is usually ingested in food or drink, not administered using a needle or poisoned knife," Merlin said.
"So if we can find out who was serving his meals—" Sir Gilbert began.
"Then we can find out who paid them to poison my father," Mithian finished.
"It isn't necessarily meals. It could be a cup made with arsenic that he drank out of. It could have even been an accident," Merlin said.
"But we won't know that until we investigate," Mithian said.
"That's right. We should talk to everyone who came in contact with your father for the last—wait, was he confused at all recently? Or dizzy? Or did this all come on suddenly?" Merlin asked.
"The first he complained about a sore stomach, or anything out of the ordinary, was four days before he died," Mithian said.
"So we need to speak to anyone who had contact with him, for say, the last week. If Sir Gilbert is agreeable, he and I can handle this. You must mourn your father," Merlin said.
"I can talk to the Stewart, and get the two of you anything you require to have an inquiry. You may face some resentment, because you are a foreigner, but having Sir Gilbert with you should lessen that," Mithian said.
"I will find out why this happened," Merlin said, taking Mithian's hand and looking into her bloodshot eyes. "I promise you."
"I will leave it in your hands," Mithian said.
Merlin and Sir Gilbert left together to go to Merlin's quarters, and Merlin turned to the knight. "I'm sorry I volunteered you for this. I'm afraid I don't know much about your kingdom, and need someone's help during this investigation."
"I am honoured to be involved, and grateful to be able to serve Princess Mithian," Sir Gilbert said. "And more than that, I am grateful to be able to serve my late king one last time."