A/N: I wish to thank all of you who have taken the time to review, and I am very pleased to see that this story is being well received.

I wish to remind readers that I live in the US and therefor have only seen season one of this show. NBC (damn them) have apparently decided not to pick up the second season so there are things that many of you may know concerning cannon that I am unaware of. I promise that I will do my very best to keep each character as close to cannon as I can given my limited knowledge of the on going story of these characters.

Once again I am deeply grateful to all readers signed or unsigned who take a few minutes to render feedback. It makes the sometimes endless hours of research and effort worth it.

Chapter Four

The next morning found Merlin awake early, having essentially slept for the entire previous day. Much to Gaius' relief, his nephew was also hungry and the physician was quick to prepare a moderate-sized helping of stew for the young man. Normally breakfast would be a porridge or gruel type of grain, but Gaius wanted Merlin to have the iron rich foods that would help him to recover from the anemia so he opted to make the stew instead of the normal breakfast fare. It had the previous night's untouched liver in it, along with carrots, potatoes, tomato chunks and watercress; all foods rich in iron that would help with Merlin's symptoms. Merlin's complexion was still rather pale which accentuated the dark circles under his eyes, but after a full day's sleep the discoloration was less apparent.

Gaius looked almost as rough around the edges as Merlin, having been up most of the night worrying about Nimueh and what role she had played in Merlin's illness, as well as what plans she might have toward Uther, now that Merlin no longer had magical powers to call forth. He remembered all too well how her last foray into Camelot had gone. Raising the wraith of Tristan Dubois to kill Uther was something she had to do in person, and in doing so she had shown that she was willing to venture back into the city. Her new physical appearance was known not only to the royal guard, but most of the royal household staff as well. If she had done something to Merlin while he was at the stables she would have had to pass by the royal guard at every turn to get there; a decidedly risky venture.

Gaius had sat up until the early morning hours breaking the situation down to its verified and logical components:

There had been an incident of violence at the royal stables that resulted in someone suffering a severe blood loss. This was an undeniable fact.

Merlin had been working in the stables the night that this happened; also a fact. Now the boy was suffering all of the symptoms of having been the person who lost the blood found the next morning, a medically proven fact.

But this was where things became less factual and more speculative. If it was Merlin's blood that was found outside the stable doors then where was his wound? There might be magical spells that could heal a wound completely, but it would take a powerful sorcerer or sorceress to perform such an incantation with success.

Nimueh had that kind of power, but if she had injured Merlin gravely enough to kill him, why would she heal him in the next breath; especially given the fact that she had already tried to kill him once before with the poisoned goblet?

Gaius didn't understand that aspect of his speculations so he moved on to another set of evidence within the confines of the puzzle. The Great Dragon told him that the object covered in blood was the tooth of a living dragon, and he implied that it was Nimueh who had wielded it. The finger markings in the dried blood could easily have belonged to her so that was a reasonable assumption to make. The tip of the tooth was missing as were Merlin's powers. Those were facts. It was logical to speculate that the missing tooth fragment was the cause of Merlin losing his powers if the blood on the tooth and the flagstone was indeed Merlin's.

The two sets of facts and speculations fit perfectly together. If Nimueh's intention was not to kill Merlin but to rob him of his powers, it made sense that she used some sort of ritual that entailed her impaling him with the tooth and leaving a piece of it behind to accomplish the task. That speculation would go hand in hand with healing the wound afterward. These theories were all well and good, but the real problem became how the magic worked.

Gaius had searched every text he could lay his hands on, including spending a fair amount of time in the dusty tombs of the library. He tried to find a spell or incantation that would need a part of a living dragon to thwart the ability to use or wield magic but could find no reference at all, even indirectly. None of the old fables even mentioned this kind of magic.

The Great Dragon had said that the old magic born in dragon-kind worked differently than human magic, so there might not be any way for him to discover an answer to that question. That could mean that Nimueh had intended to do one thing and something else actually happened, or it could mean that whatever Nimueh had done would turn back on her. As he tried to puzzle out what The Great Dragon had said to him another thought occurred to Gaius.

Perhaps he had been making an erroneous assumption based on Merlin's illness. He wondered if it was possible that the blood found was not Merlin's at all, but Nimueh's. A dragon's magic is very old and very powerful, but The Great Dragon said that only the pure of heart can use the old magic born in dragon-kind and that Nimueh's lack of understanding of that fact would ultimately be her undoing. He didn't say that the tooth had caused Merlin to lose his powers; he said that Nimueh was the cause of Merlin losing his ability.

What if Nimueh had impaled herself with the tooth, as part of some ancient spell to imbue her with a more powerful magic? Perhaps then she would have had enough power to incant a spell that would rob Merlin of his own magical abilities? Nimueh was far from pure of heart and if she were indeed wielding the old magic stolen from a living dragon it could indeed spell her demise.

He needed to know who was impaled in order to find out what he could do to help Merlin regain what he had lost. He couldn't alert Uther that Nimueh had come to Camelot without also telling him that the information came from The Great Dragon himself. Gaius needed to find proof first before he could go to the King or help Merlin.

Once the young man had finished almost two bowls of stew, Gaius sat down across from him at the small table and waited until Merlin looked up at him. With a questioning expression Merlin said, "What?"

"Merlin, I want you to tell me what happened the other night after you finished working in the stables."

It took a moment for Merlin to respond. He put the spoon down that he was holding and looked up at Gaius almost accusingly. "Nothing happened, Gaius. I came back here and went straight to bed, you said so yourself."

Gaius was clearly not going to let this go. "Yesterday when you woke up, you asked me if I had seen you come in the previous evening, and then you asked me if you looked alright. Why would you ask that if something hadn't happened?"

Merlin remembered the conversation clearly, but he wished he hadn't said anything at all. He felt ridiculous for overreacting to a nightmare the same way he had when he was a small boy and would only calm down in the arms of his mother. He didn't like the fact that he had the same nightmare again and felt just as frightened as he had the first time. Merlin was not accustomed to feeling fear, not like this. He may not be the brave knight that Arthur was, but he also was not the kind of person to back down from people or things. He had even stood up to the King on occasion, although it usually ended with him in the stocks.

Merlin answered Gaius' question with a bit more sarcasm than he intended. "Did I? Let me think. I don't really remember, but then - oh, that's right - I was, after all, half awake so naturally I should remember everything I said to you."

Gaius gave his nephew a stern look. "I could do without the sarcasm, Merlin. I think that there is something that you aren't telling me. You woke up screaming. What did you dream about?"

If Merlin had felt foolish before it was nothing compared to how he felt at the news that he woken up screaming like a little girl. He was painfully aware that he had made a complete fool of himself in front of Arthur yesterday because of this dream, and he was not about to relive it for Gaius. Thinking quickly Merlin came up with what he considered a plausibly frightening nightmare.

"It was the Griffin," he blurted out.

Gaius remembered the Griffin, but he hadn't realized that it had frightened Merlin so. It was true that the beast had nearly killed him and Lancelot had saved his life, but Merlin seemed to take that in stride and then he managed to kill the very same beast.

"The Griffin?"

"Yeah, it makes sense after all. I mean I spent the evening mucking out the stables. Arthur's horse kept nudging me looking for a sweet, and at one point he even stepped on my foot. I was angry at the time and that all mixed together in my subconscious to summon up the Griffin in my dreams. It makes perfect sense." he said, again a little defensively.

Gaius' eyebrows shot up in surprise, not because Merlin had dreamed about the mythological beast but because he had said that he was angry. "Why were you angry?"

Merlin hadn't meant to let that slip. He had been angry with Gaius, but he didn't really want to talk about it. He shook his head and forced a mirthless laugh. "It really doesn't matter anymore."

The forlorn tone that infused each word of Merlin's reply caused the physician to push the issue. "Merlin, please tell me why you were angry."

It was obvious that his uncle wasn't going to drop this line of questioning until he got his answer so Merlin sighed and pushed away from the table almost as though he were trying to put a physical distance between them.

"If you must know... I was angry with you for forbidding me to use magic for a week. I'm not a child, Gaius, even though you insist on treating me like one."

Merlin meant to stop there, but the feelings that had been building for the last few days bubbled over as if of their own accord.

"You ask me if I ate my breakfast in front of Arthur and the other knights like I'm an idiot who doesn't know any better. I'm not an idiot! I make onemistake and you punish me as if I do these things on purpose! Don't you think I know what will happen to me if I get caught using magic? Have you forgotten that the first thing I saw when I entered this city was a man having his head lopped off for using it? You didn't think that made an impression on me? I wish you would trust me for once. You know, I didn't actually have to tell you about the close call with Uther, but I did. I mess things up sometimes, I don't always think things through, but I'm not a child, Gaius. I know how to take responsibility for my mistakes."

Merlin rose from the table and turned away from his uncle. "Besides, none of this makes any difference now. With my magic gone, you won't have to worry about me almost getting caught again."

Gaius sat back somewhat stunned by Merlin's diatribe. "Merlin..." Gaius stopped and sighed. "When your mother sent you here to me, I made a promise to her. I told her I would keep you safe. You are my responsibility now, but you are so much more to me than that."

Gaius also rose from the table and walked up behind his nephew placing his hands on the young man's shoulders. "Merlin, I love you like a son, you already know that. If I'm hard on you it's only because I truly care what happens to you. I have never meant to make you feel marginalized. I was so worried when I was brought to you in the armory that I didn't think about embarrassing you when I asked whether or not you had eaten."

Merlin turned and faced Gaius feeling badly for having said anything at all.

"I'm sorry…"

"No, Merlin. I'm the one who's sorry. I know you have a lot on your shoulders and I do trust you to do the right thing; to take responsibility for your mistakes. I guess I sometimes forget what it's like to be young."

Over the next two days Merlin became increasingly restless while oddly, in juxtaposition, becoming more and more despondent. His energy was almost normal in the morning, and he would pace the floor wanting to go back to his duties for Arthur, or collect medicinal herbs and mushrooms for Gaius, or anything other than to be cooped up in the same room all day long. The frenetic bouts of frenzied pacing only lasted until midday when the early summer heat was at its peak, and then Merlin's stamina would give way to a weighty lethargy that sapped him of the ability or desire to even move. At these times the young man simply sat on his bed staring out the high window in his room at the passing clouds, his short dark hair plastered against his head with sweat.

Gaius' responsibilities as the court physician hadn't changed just because Merlin had come down with this mysterious illness, so he couldn't spend all day with his nephew. While he was out performing his rounds or tending to the ill gentry, Gaius worried about Merlin and what was to become of him.

On the evening of the second day Gaius tried to console Merlin, telling him that he had not given up on finding a way to recover Merlin's powers, but the young man didn't seem to register what had been said. He had no interest in his dinner, but Gaius insisted that Merlin finish as well as take yet another foul smelling and even worse tasting elixir. The young man complied without an argument which, in itself, bothered Gaius even more. Merlin didn't have any fight left in him, no wise-cracking remarks about the food or the medicine he was given to eat and drink. It looked as though he had given up and life was now just a matter of going through the motions.

Merlin's words when he first came to Camelot after Gaius had soundly scolded him for using magic right under Arthur's nose to make him look foolish came back with frightening clarity.

"If I can't use magic then what have I got? I'm just a nobody, and I always will be. If I can't use magic, I might as well die."

Gaius had to find a way to try and keep Merlin's mind off of his situation. The fear of what his rash young nephew would do concerned him more than the mysterious symptoms or the loss of his magic. He came to a decision that he hoped would not end up being a terrible mistake.

"Merlin, you are well enough to go back to your duties, at least during the morning and very early afternoon, but I would recommend you return here shortly past midday."

Merlin looked up at his uncle a little surprised by the announcement. He felt a short-lived burst of relief to be allowed to leave the confines of their shared living chambers, but it was quickly replaced with the desolation he had felt over the last two days. Even with his lackluster feeling of being told he could return to work, Merlin went to sleep early that evening and was up earlier than usual the next day. He was looking forward to getting out of the castle even if it only meant crossing the courtyard to the main keep.

Arthur was just waking up when Merlin arrived to get him dressed with the prince's breakfast in tow. When his manservant entered his chambers quietly and set the food down on the table, Arthur sat up in bed shocked to see him there.

"Merlin! I thought you were taking some time off? What are you doing here?"

Arthur could plainly see that what ever was ailing the young man was still an issue.

"Gaius said that I would be able to return to my duties at least during the morning hours. He wants me to return past midday to have me drink some other foul potion and sit around twiddling my thumbs."

Arthur was taken aback by Merlin's tone. He had always been a bit sarcastic but these words were delivered with a bitter tone that was completely uncharacteristic for the young man.

Merlin was perfectly polite and efficient, if a bit slow, at dressing the prince and quietly set about cleaning up the bed chamber while Arthur sat down to eat his breakfast. Watching his servant as he stripped the linens from the bed and pick up yesterday's discarded clothing, Arthur was struck by a strong sense of melancholy that hung around Merlin like a heavy winter cloak.

There were no quips about what a mess Arthur's chambers had become in his brief two day absence, no remarks about the intelligence of the heir-apparent who couldn't manage to dress himself without assistance, or undress himself without tossing everything about like a toddler gone mad on sweets. No sarcastic comments out loud or under his breath about rank bed linens, or filthy socks that could walk down to the royal laundry of their own accord. Merlin had become an unobtrusive, ordinary servant and Arthur hated it.

"Were you this charming sitting up in Gaius' chambers for the last couple of days? It's no wonder he wanted to get you out and working again."

Merlin just looked over at Arthur, and for a moment the prince thought he was about to make some sort of sardonic reply, but instead he simply shrugged his shoulders slightly and went back to his work. It occurred to Arthur that he had finally won an argument with Merlin and he would normally lord that over him, but seeing the desolation in the young man's eyes he held his tongue. After another few minutes of watching his servant's un-Merlin like behavior, Arthur had had enough.

"Merlin, I have patrol today and won't be back for some time. After you're finished here you should probably head back to see Gaius. Drink what ever he tells you to, so that you get better faster. I don't think I can take a polite Merlin for much longer."

Much to Arthur's relief that comment earned him a weak smile and a pillow tossed in his direction. There was a hint of his wise cracking man servant underneath whatever it was that had affected him and that bolstered Arthur's spirits. He decided to seek out Gaius before he left for patrol to inquire about the progress that was being made in helping Merlin.

Arthur turned to leave but stopped and observed Merlin as he gathered up the bed linens. The young man was moving as though he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. Suddenly Arthur was reminded of the look in Merlin's eyes the other day that seemed to say he knew all too well what it felt like to shoulder an immense responsibility. The prince frowned considering what responsibility Merlin could possibly have to worry about? It was madness, yet here was his servant acting like the world was about to end.

TBC