By the time Jane and Merlin arrived at the physician's room the other knights had already laid their severely injured comrade on a small bed and Gaius was at work.
"Merlin, good, I need you to combine these herbs so that we can ease some of the pain he's in."
Jane stood transfixed. She had been spending the past few years of her life studying medicine and chemistry so seeing the way Gaius did things was a new experience. She almost wanted to step in and perform some procedures she knew but stopped herself. She couldn't bring new ideas in too early. The black plague might happen differently if they knew modern medical practices. And so she bit her tongue and watched Merlin and Gaius work. If it came down to it she would use what she knew, but for now she would try not to interfere with history too much.
As the small group worked to fix the injured knight Arthur strode into the room to assess the situation. Noticing the two uninjured knights he pulled them from the room, probably to find out what happened. Once Gaius closed the knight's wound and made him comfortable he gave him the mixture Merlin had prepared and he was instantly knocked out. Meanwhile, Arthur came back into the room minus the two knights. The three in the room looked to him expectantly as he relayed the report he had been given.
"The knights were patrolling the forest looking for Morgana. I didn't tell them why, I just hinted that she might be hiding near the borders of Camelot. Sure enough they found her." Now Arthur adopted a frown as he continued. "Unfortunately, Morgana saw them first. She ambushed them and left them in this sorry state." With that he seemed to change gears and looked to Gaius hopefully. "Tell me you've made progress in translating that tablet."
Gaius, however, did not provide the answer that Arthur was optimistically hoping for. "I'm afraid I'm only making slow progress, Sire. So far I've managed to translate a few words here and there but they rarely make any sense. Some of the words I've gleamed are blood and power, though not necessarily in that order."
Arthur gave an exasperated sigh and began pacing. "That could mean any number of things!" Jane was just as confused. She didn't think she was anything special. Sure she'd gotten that 'everyone is unique' speech but that's just what they tell people so that they don't get all sad about having an ugly nose or something like that.
"It's odd how determined Morgana is find Jane that she would come as close as she did to Camelot," Merlin said, looking around the room. Something had to be important about Jane, they just had to figure it out. "Can you think of anything in your life or family that might seem odd or make you different?" He turned to Jane and she paused, thinking about her life and all the family history she knew of. In honesty her family was pretty normal, no estranged uncles or crazy relatives. They were an average income family but they weren't struggling to get by or anything. She had once done this heritage project and had dated her family back several generations before it became a mess. As far as she could tell her family had been in England for a long time.
"I can't think of anything," she relented with a sigh. Merlin gave her an understanding look. honestly, this was all very confusing and he just wanted to figure out how Jane got here and how to send her back.
"Since Morgana is still lurking about I'm going to station guards outside your door as a precaution. they'll just think they are protecting a noble, nothing new." And with that Arthur took his exit. Merlin opted to walk Jane back to her room since she was still having a hard time navigating the castle. They finally reached her room and sure enough, two guards were standing on either side of the door.
"Well I hope you are able to sleep after this hectic day," Merlin said with a grin. It wasn't always like this, ok maybe it was. "If you think of anything just let me or Arthur know."
"Thanks Merlin, I had a lot of fun today." Jane turned with a wave and disappeared into her room where she nearly collapsed on the bed in exhaustion. Merlin made his way back to Arthur to help him get ready for the night. He walked in and Arthur looked up from the papers he was reading.
"So, what do you think of her?"
"She's nice. Definitely not a threat to Camelot if that's what you're wondering." Arthur gave Merlin a look and he raised his hands in defense. "I'm just saying, she trying her hardest to cooperate and she hasn't caused any trouble so far."
"If you trust her then I shall take your word," Arthur said as he gave up on reading and got ready for bed.
Hi. Sorry this chapter is kinda short and kinda late but I'm kinda tired. So review and follow and all that good stuff!
