Whew! We're into the double-digits chapter wise! I'm not sure about the whole "update daily" thing for this chapter because I'm honestly not sure when I published the last one. I think I'm still within two days.

Thanks to Shadowdragon1317 for the beta! :)

If there's one thing that Gaius hadn't been expecting, it was to have Sir Leon and two guards suddenly barge into his chambers in the middle of his solitary dinner, two unconscious youths in tow. But years of being a physician had already prepared the old man for this sort of thing and he quickly forgot his bowl of watery stew and sprang into action.

The boy that Sir Leon held in his arms was in obvious need of medical attention. His breathing was hitched and shallow and, despite his thin clothes, beads of sweat were forming on his pale skin. The other boy, however, looked like he merely collapsed from exhaustion, possibly from the cold, but definitely not in any serious danger.

"Bring him over here, Sir Leon." Gaius pointed to his own bed close to the fire. The knight nodded and came forward with the youth.

"Put the older one in the other bed- thank you." The guards did as they were told wordlessly and turned to leave but Leon remained firmly by the younger boy's side.

"What can I do Gaius?" The knight asked seriously, his green eyes staring at the old physician intently. A list of things ran through Gaius's head all at once. First they would need to get some medicine into the boy, then get his fever down, of course they'd have to do a full examination of both youths to check for injury- oh but the older boy would need to get warm- blankets, maybe some warmer clothes.

"Go in the spare room and fetch as many blankets as you can find." Gaius sighed wearily. He had just spent a majority of his day treating a chill that was working its way through the lower town and he had been looking forward to a quiet evening of reading and replenishing his potion stocks but it seemed that he'd have no such luck.

With Leon gone to find blankets, the old physician began examining the boy on the bed. He was pale as the snow and shivering slightly despite his close proximity to the fire and the two blankets already draped over his long, thin frame. For some reason, though Gaius did not know this boy and had seen worse illnesses in younger patients, the physician felt a strange paternal feeling towards the boy- almost like it was his own son lying on the bed.

Gaius was brought out of his thoughts when Leon returned with the blankets and the physician set about his practiced work. First they took care of the younger boy. He was mostly unresponsive but the pair managed to get a potion into the youth with little difficulty. Then he instructed Leon to see if the knight could get some heavier clothes from the servants' quarters for both boys while the physician checked them over for injury.

The raven-haired lad seemed clear of injuries expect for his ankle, which was swollen and bruised but merely sprained. Gaius made a mental note to give the boy something for the pain when he woke. The older boy, on the other hand, was covered in little scratches and bruises that appeared to be fairly new, the most worrying of the injuries being a large, purple bruise that covered the boy's left temple.

The physician checked the boy's eyes to check for concussion. He stared into the deep blue orbs for some time, not really paying attention to what he was supposed to be doing. Those eyes… they looked so familiar. But there wasn't time for that. Gaius heaved himself off of the blond's bed where he had been sitting after he was sure that the youth wasn't concussed and returned his attention to the younger boy.

Leon returned a moment later, two sets of clothing in hand along with a young woman with chocolate eyes and dark mocha skin.

"Hello Gaius." She said solemnly, looking down at the unconscious boys.

"Guinevere! Shouldn't you be attending to the lady Morgana?" Gaius raised his eyebrows in surprise. Guinevere, Gwen for short, was no stranger to the infirmary. She would volunteer her services when things got too busy and was a natural-born healer and nurturer. It was only a shame that she was destined to be a serving girl and not a physician.

The dark-skinned woman shook her head with a smile. "My lady retired early tonight and then I bumped into Sir Leon, asking for servant clothing of all things."

Sir Leon stiffened and looked slightly embarrassed. Gaius just chuckled softly.

"We have to get them into the dry clothing now- you should wait outside for the time being Gwen."

Gwen looked like she was going to protest for a moment before bowing her head submissively, a gesture learned after years of being a servant, and left the physician's chambers. Gaius heard her settle just outside the door before turning to Leon and taking the clothing.

Despite the blond's injuries, the physician moved to undress the younger boy first. The fever had completely soaked the youth's clothes and it would do him a great deal of good to get into something clean and dry.

The raven-haired boy's body was unremarkable. He was thin and pale- fairly common for a peasant. The blond, on the other hand, was a completely different story. He was build was the exact opposite of the other boy. He was muscular and sturdy. Leon commented that he had a better body than most of the knights, and Gaius had to agree.

When everything was said and done and the two boys were both buried under a mountain of blankets with medicine and a little water in their bellies, Leon excused himself. Gwen had ventured back in when they finished changing the boy's clothes and was sitting next to the raven-haired youth, gently wiping his brow with a cold cloth.

"What happened to them Gaius?" The dark-skinned servant asked quietly, concern lacing her voice.

Gaius sighed deeply. "I'm not exactly sure, Gwen. We'll know when they wake. For now all that we can do is wait."

Gwen looked down at the boy tenderly, cooing like a mother would to a baby. The old physician couldn't help but furrow his brow in concern for the youths. Given the severity of their injuries at least the blond boy should have woken by now. Yet, they both remained asleep.

What on earth happened to you two?

A strange smell greeted Arthur's nose when he felt himself coming back to the waking world. Or, more like a series of strange smells. There were earthy smells, sage, rosemary, thyme and the light scent of smoke but then there were also sweet smells, almost like perfume too. It wasn't unpleasant- just overwhelming. He was vaguely aware of the popping and cracking of a fire somewhere in the background, along with a strange grinding noise- like two rocks being smashed together. With a spectacular groan, the blond forced his stunningly blue eyes open and stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling.

He had no memory of how he had gotten to wherever he was but it felt strangely safe. Arthur blinked a few times, then without thinking tried to sit up. This proved to be a horrible idea, the blond found quickly, when every muscle in his body screamed in protest and he fell backwards with a grunt. The grinding-noise stopped abruptly at his cry.

"Awake then are we?" Arthur nearly fell over out of fright when a kind, older-sounding voice called out to him gently.

"Merlin?" The blond suddenly remembered his brother.

"The boy is fine- he's resting. Here, drink this." An aged face swam into Arthur's line of sight. The man must have been close to his 70th year. His skin was wrinkled to the point of being ridiculous and one of his eyes didn't seem to open correctly, giving him a slanted appearance.

Something cold was pressed to the blond's lips and he struggled against it for a moment.

"It's just medicine to relieve your aches my boy. Drink." The old man said firmly yet compassionately. Arthur gave in despite his reservations and let the liquid slide into his mouth, wishing a second later that he hadn't. Whatever it was- it tasted more horrible than anything the blond had ever had before.

He gagged and resisted the urge to spit the liquid out, which was not an easy feat.

"Here, drink this too." There was a hand that helped to sit Arthur up in the next second and the edge of a cup was raised to his lips. The boy was pleasantly surprised to find that it was water, not whatever the horrible substance from before had been.

Now that Arthur was upright he could get a better view of the room around him. It was a large space but every inch of it was packed with something. There were multiple tables, completely covered with strange glass containers that were filled with bright liquids, books of every size; loose paper was strewn all over the place too. There were shelves lining the room either holding vials of potion or books.

In the center of the room there was a merrily crackling fire with a bed pulled close to the flames. Under a mountain of blankets, Arthur could barely make out the form of his brother sleeping soundly.

"Are you Gaius?" He choked after finishing the water. The old man raised an eyebrow at Arthur.

"Yes… May I ask your name?" Gaius asked.

Arthur hesitated. He looked back over to Merlin before continuing. "I'm… I'm Arthur and my brother is Merlin."

The old physician stared at the blond for a moment with his mouth slightly open.

"Hunith and Balinor's children?" Arthur nodded. His heart did a flip at the mention of his parents. Up until this point he had only thought about Merlin and hadn't confronted the memories of leaving his mother and father in the woods. Or the notion that they might be dead.

"Oh." Gaius sighed.

There was a pregnant silence which made Arthur fidget a bit under his pile of blankets. He kept glancing over to Merlin, who was still silent and unmoving, then back to Gaius, who was staring at the blond like he was a ghost.

"How much do you know?" The old physician asked suddenly. Even though his voice had been quiet and steady it still made Arthur jump.

"Everything." Arthur breathed, suddenly finding it hard to meet the old man's gaze.

"Everything?"

The youth pulled at the fringed edge of a blanket. Whenever Arthur found himself in an awkward situation he would unconsciously start fiddling with whatever was around, a nervous habit he picked up from his mother.

Looking back, whenever Hunith was explaining why Arthur had blond hair or why he didn't have magic she would begin to sew or cook or do something to occupy her hands. At the time the bond had thought nothing of it but now it made so much sense.

"Everything. About Nimueh, about my real… my real parents." The last word came out as barely a whisper. They felt so wrong.

Gaius just nodded thoughtfully.

"So it's true then I'm- I'm really… a prince?" Arthur asked sadly.

"I'm afraid so my boy." The physician reached out and gripped Arthur's hand. The blond surprised to find that the old man didn't seem to be happy about the fact that he was a prince. In fact, Arthur got the opposite feeling. Gaius was looking at him with something that could only be described as pity.

A low groan from the other bed brought Arthur out of his thoughts.

"Merlin!" The blond hissed as he tried to push back his mountain of blankets but was instantly caught by Gaius.

"Stay here, I'll look after him." Arthur wanted to protest but the mere act of struggling to get up had sent an overwhelming wave of exhaustion over the youth.

Gaius stood up from the stool he had been sitting on next to Arthur's bed and walked wearily over to where Merlin was beginning to stir, grabbing a vial of something off a table when he passed.

"Merlin?" The old man called out gently.

At first there was no response and Arthur's heart sank when he thought that his brother had gone back to sleep. But then the blankets shifted slightly and there was a hiss of pain.

"Oh- Ow… what the..?" Merlin's voice was gravely and laced with sleep and confusion. "Arthur?"

"I'm here Merlin. You're okay now." Arthur wanted to go to his brother but he realized that getting up would probably just end with him crumpled on the floor, so he decided to settle for trying to calm the younger boy from afar.

"Arthur I don't understand… who're you?" Gaius had sat down on the edge of Merlin's bed and was busy checking the boy over. Even though he was far away Arthur could tell that his brother's eyes were glassy and that the fever still burned within him.

"Merlin calm down, Arthur's here with you too, you're safe." Gaius said soothingly.

"No I… but we were… and there was someone else- they attacked us… Where are mother and father?" Merlin was starting to get frantic, trying to push himself up, trying to get away from the kindly physician, tears streaming down his fevered face.

A pain shot through Arthur's heart at the sight of his brother. He didn't know what to say- the words seemed to be stuck in his throat. What could he possibly say the Merlin? That he had willingly left their parents in the forest with a crazed sorcerer bearing down on them? That he had ran away? Because even though Arthur had tried to justify his actions- saying that he did it for Merlin's sake- it wasn't true.

Deep down, the blond knew why he ran. He ran because he was afraid. Not for Merlin, but for himself.

Coward.

"Merlin! Merlin you need to breathe, my boy, breathe!" Gaius was speaking to the raven-haired boy in a hushed, yet urgent voice.

Arthur couldn't stand this any longer. Ignoring the horrible soreness in his limps, the blond pushed away his blankets and swung his shaky legs over the edge of the bed.

Actually standing was definitely the most challenging thing that Arthur had ever done. His body seemed to disagree with his decision to get up and was fighting the boy all the way on this one. Once he finally got his arms to cooperate and push him up from the bed, his legs decided to give out and the process had to be repeated all over again.

It didn't help, of course, that the now frustrated physician was yelling at Arthur to get back into bed and for Merlin to calm down. By the time that the blond actually made it over to his brother's bedside the noise had attracted three guards and the curly-haired knight from before.

"Arth-ur!" Merlin croaked when the older boy came into view.

The raven-haired boy did clearly not understand what was going on around him. His sky-blue eyes were bloodshot and glassy, tears streamed down his face openly. Arthur's stomach did a horrible flip when he saw the state of his younger brother.

"Shhh… Merlin calm down. It's okay…" Arthur reached out a shaky hand and started stroking the mess of damp raven hair soothingly, unsure of what to do.

Even though it was a small gesture, Merlin responded instantly to his brother's touch, blue eyes zooming in on the blond's face. Before Arthur realized what was happening the younger boy relaxed and closed his eyes, sinking back down into the coarse pillows beneath him.

Arthur let out a shaky laugh. He wasn't actually happy or even relieved. It was just so ridiculous that for all of Merlin's struggling had been stopped by a simple touch from the older boy.

The blond put his head down on Merlin's chest and closed his eyes. Now that the adrenaline was gone, Arthur was beginning to feel very… sleepy. Not sleepy, completely and utterly exhausted actually.

Ignoring the stunned guards, knight and physician, Arthur closed his eyes and let out a shaky sigh, falling into peaceful darkness with the steady rise and fall of his brother's chest beneath him.