Chapter 9

Early the following morning, shortly after dawn, whilst most of Camelot was still sleeping, Merlin, Arthur and Elyan slipped out of the city. The early hour was to give them privacy, but even at that time in the morning, the first of Camelot's citizens were out on the streets, and their reaction to the party was the same in every case: they stood still, with their heads bowed, until the three men had passed. For each of the three was carrying something significant: Merlin, a shovel and Elyan, a small flat stone, but it was what Arthur carried that was most heart-breaking, because in his arms he was holding his son, wrapped in fine white linen which bore a single small Pendragon emblem embroidered in gold, the only indication of the identity of the life-less form within.

Gwen was still too weak for a long walk into the woods. Neither she nor Arthur could face laying their son in the dark vaults of Camelot surrounded by the dead, and they had decided between them that they wanted somewhere that was light and beautiful. They had chosen a clearing in the woods to the south of Camelot that had a small stream running through it, and it was a place that Arthur and Guinevere had been to together on several occasions.

It was the most heartbreaking task that Merlin had ever performed for Arthur, digging the small but deep hole down in the woods. Arthur was grim faced, as he stood holding the tiny bundle, and when Merlin had finished his task, Arthur knelt down next to the hole and laid his tiny child in the small grave. Arthur had insisted to Merlin beforehand that he would fill in the hole himself, with the words "I will bury my son", and although Merlin had half expected to see him shake his head when it came to it to indicate it was too much, Arthur was, as ever, true to his word and took the small shovel from him and buried his child. Each shovelful of earth that he put into the hole, however, felt like another stab to the heart. Elyan then handed him the flat stone that had been engraved with one word – Thomas – and Arthur silently pressed it into the top of the small mound of earth. Although he and Gwen had, in the months whilst she was expecting, discussed many names – both for a boy and a girl – when it came to actually giving a name to their son the previous day, they rejected the more traditional names for royalty in favour of the name of Gwen's father. Not a word was spoken during the whole of the simple burial.

As they walked back to Camelot in silence, the sun was rising in the sky, and although still early, there were far more people in the streets of Camelot than when they'd departed. It hadn't taken long for the news of what Arthur had gone to do to spread, and as they passed through the streets, time and time again, women and children would come up to Arthur, curtsy, and hand him flowers for the queen. It was unlike Arthur not to be grateful for these small tokens of good-will, and had Guinevere been recovering from an illness he would have been touched by the people's affection, but on that morning all he wanted was to be back inside, out of the public gaze and away from everyone. Nevertheless, he still acknowledged each and every gift that was put into his hands, and by the time they got back to Gwen, who was being attended to by Rowena, the three of them were carrying almost every type of wild flower to add to the white lilies with which Arthur had already filled the room.

As Elyan sat with his sister for a while, Arthur turned to Merlin, and asked in a distracted way, "What are my duties today?"

"None, I've cancelled them all again".

Merlin thought that Arthur might protest, but he didn't.

"Thank you, Merlin. You are a good friend. I cannot take any more time off after today, though. I must return to my duties tomorrow"

And the rest of the day was spent similar to the one before, with Merlin attending to their needs, running errands for Arthur, who would often think of something that still needed to be done, despite his normal duties being cancelled. Merlin was aware that once again Arthur was not eating.

It was only as the evening was fairly advanced that Merlin finally returned to Gaius' rooms, walking in to find him sitting at the table, with books scattered in front of him. But Gaius wasn't reading. He was sitting looking pensive with his glasses in his hand. Merlin realised that he hadn't seen Gaius to speak to properly since the previous morning, when Gwen had given birth. When he had returned the previous evening, exhausted after having been up most of the night and busy all of the day, Gaius had been out, a hastily scribbled note indicating that the physician was with Geoffrey of Monmouth in the library. Merlin had fallen asleep quickly and had been sound asleep by the time Gaius returned, and then Merlin had left for the burial just after dawn before Gaius was up and hadn't returned since.

Gaius looked up: "How did it go this morning?"

Merlin shrugged, "As you'd expect, I guess".

"How's Arthur doing?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. He's not talking about it at all. And it certainly didn't help having to deal with Lot's men yesterday". Merlin hardly paused for breath, being glad at last to talk to someone he could trust about his concerns for Arthur. "It seemed so cruel, Lot making a move when Arthur was at his most vulnerable. He couldn't have timed it worse for Arthur if he'd planned it."

"Maybe he did".

Merlin was stunned by Gaius' words. "What do you mean?"

Gaius sighed before he started talking. "I didn't understand what happened yesterday. Gwen was well, and she'd been healthy all the time she was carrying the child. I could understand it if the complications had happened when she'd gone into labour, but from what she described to me, the pains she had initially were not those of child-birth. And there were some things I noticed about the child when it was born that didn't seem to quite add up. I had some memory of reading about something similar before, but it's taken me almost two days to find what I was looking forward. I'm afraid, Merlin, that Guinevere was somehow given a potion – one that was made with the use of sorcery – that caused her to lose the child."

Merlin couldn't believe what he was hearing. Every time that Arthur knowingly encountered magic, it was being used for the worst, and the news that this latest horror had been caused by sorcery left Merlin feeling devastated.

"You think Lot did it somehow?"

"If I am right, I think it more likely that he's in league with someone far more capable to carrying it out."

Neither of them spoke her name, but both knew who he was talking about. After a few moments of silence, Merlin continued: "Arthur will have to be told, won't he?"

Gaius nodded. "Yes, but today isn't the day to do it".

There was something, however, about the expression on Gauis' face that told Merlin that there was something more, something that Gaius still hadn't told him.

"But that's not all, is it?"

"No, Merlin, I'm afraid it isn't".