His room had definitely seen better days than this. The pile of unwashed, crumpled clothes in the corner was already beginning to build up; there was dirty cutlery and crockery littering the few tables in the room and his bed had been unmade for two nights in a row. Gwen theorised that Arthur would have cleaned everything but the trouble was that he probably didn't know how to do it. She could tell that he had struggled with the sheets for hours that morning, twisted and tangling them into and even bigger mess, but he couldn't figure out where anything went and just dumped the pile into a corner. Gwen sighed, knowing that it wasn't really his fault. Arthur was a prince. He had many things to learn, and had training. Why bother with learning these menial tasks when they could easily be performed for him by a servant?

Gwen stopped her train of thought. Don't be bitter towards Arthur, just because you grieve for Morgana. Just because you've lost everyone that ever cared about you. It was almost true, now that Merlin had disappeared yesterday. Arthur had managed to excuse her from working in the kitchens for a day so that they could search for him together, but there were few places for her to look. There was such an abundance of people at the castle that it would be impossible for Merlin to be lurking around unseen, but Arthur still insisted that she keep an eye open for him while he searched outside the castle. Gwen looked but now there was the issue of Arthur's chambers. She might as well clean them in Merlin's absence.

It was almost midday when Arthur came inside to find her plumping his pillow and smoothing out his sheets. A look of surprise flitted across his face. "Guinevere! What are you doing here? Please tell me you didn't tidy this mess."

"You're welcome," she mumbled, trying to walk past him but he blocked the doorway.

"You shouldn't have, that's a servant's-" Arthur cut himself off and looked embarrassed.

"It's alright. I'm not ashamed that I'm a servant. We can't all be royalty," said Gwen bitterly. She immediately felt guilty as she studied Arthur's expression. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me, I'm upset for Morgana. Did you find Merlin?" she asked, changing the subject and smiling gently to show that she wasn't upset.

Arthur frowned. "No. I have no idea where the idiot has taken off to!"

"I talked to Gaius today. He has no idea where he's gone and Merlin didn't tell him anything. Gaius says that he's probably done something stupid out of grief, but I pray that's not true."

"Knowing Merlin, it probably is. I wouldn't be so angry if he had told me, but that's Merlin for you, running off at the drop of a hat," Arthur grumbled.

"Do you think…maybe he had some feelings for Morgana?" Gwen asked hesitantly, feeling that little pang! in her stomach when she said her name.

Arthur buried his face in his hands. "God, I hope not. That'd just make everything worse than it already is," he groaned. "But it would explain why he ran off. He could have told me! I could have helped him. I could have helped the idiot but he doesn't trust me."

"No! He worries about you, Arthur."

"Right," snorted Arthur. "And that's why he disappeared without a word. That's bound to make me worry less. Completely tactless of him as usual, to add one other problem to this growing list. Morgana, him, my father…" Arthur sunk into a chair that was no longer occupied by his dirty laundry.

"What happened with your father?" Gwen hadn't known that he was quarrelling with the King, but now she supposed it would have been inevitable. If she were the crown prince then she would have gone head to head with the kingdom's ruler to save Morgana. She was worth saving, worth rocking the boat for. Capsizing it, actually.

"We argued about things. He's so wrong about everything, but he's deluded himself into believing that he's right. Don't you think so?" Gwen kept silent and motionless while he talked but now she bowed her head to reply.

"Arthur…we have to be careful about what we say. It's dangerous to speak treason. Look at what happened to Morgana, if she's not exempt from these laws then I'm definitely not. I'm just a servant. I do agree with you, but we must be careful," she explained quietly. "We'll get through this." As she said it, they both were unsure as to whether that was the truth. Will we? Gwen asked herself. Quietly, she picked up a hamper full of Arthur's clothes that she would take to be washed. He began to raise himself from his chair, embarrassed.

"No, you don't have to do that-"

"It's alright, it'll give me something to do. No one has seen Merlin that I asked, and I asked nearly everyone," Gwen reported sadly as she left the room. As she walked alone down the corridors of the castle, her eyes stung as she fought back tears. It was difficult when she didn't have anything to do or something else to concentrate on because inevitably, her thoughts would snap back to those of her friends and family who were no longer there and reminded her of how truly alone she was. She coped well enough when she was with Arthur though, because while he was with her, she could pretend that she wasn't facing a long, bitter life of loneliness.

Can you die from being too lonely? She wondered as she passed the dining hall where the King usually ate his meals. Gwen stopped abruptly as she heard a piercing scream sound from in the room. She abandoned the basket and rushed in with some other servants and guards who had heard the cry. The King was standing over his food taster, watching coldly as the man howled and writhed on the ground in obvious pain. The man, who Gwen had seen only in passing, was clutching his abdomen and his eyes rolled back in his head, as his face turned exceptionally pale and his veins stood out on the white skin. A goblet of wine was spilt near the man's feet.

"Oh," Gwen gasped lightly. She could guess what had happened: someone had tried to poison the King. A shiver ran down her spine as she realised that a person had attempted to do what she had considered just the other day.

Someone had tried to kill the King.

Arthur, who had probably heard the commotion, ran into the room and saw the dying man at his father's feet. "What are you doing?" he exclaimed, crouching down feeling the man's pulse. A horrified look crossed his face, and after a pause he looked at his father. "He's dead. What did you do to him?"

Uther flapped a hand at Arthur. "This was not of my doing. Someone has committed treason by attempting to poison me. It is…unfortunate that-"

"Unfortunate! You let him taste the poison so that the forfeit of his life would sustain yours!"

"That was his occupation. He was well aware of the accompanying risks. Had I not taken the precaution of employing him to check for poison in my meals, it would not be a mere servant lying dead before you, but the king of Camelot. That would be unacceptable," Uther thundered. Gwen nearly put her hand on Arthur's shoulder but that would have been a complete faux pas considering the audience assembled here. But what Uther said next stunned almost everyone else in the room.

"I cannot be sure that the poison was in the wine. Who knows, he could have been suffering from some other affliction. Someone else must drink it so that we may be certain."

"Sire, it is almost impossible that anything but poison has caused this," Gaius interjected, appalled as the rest were. He had arrived after Arthur and had not yet examined the ill-fated man but this had not stopped him from making the obvious conclusion. "You cannot be willing to…" Gaius' sentence trailed off into uncertainty. It would be suicidal to call the King callous or cruel at this point in front of a crowd, Gwen deduced. She couldn't blame him, because they all wanted to keep their heads attached to their necks.

Uther stared coldly around the room, ignoring the words of the physician. He eyed, in particular, the servants and Gwen flinched and drew back when his eyes passed over her. She knew what he was looking for: a person to drink the wine, and so, die. She felt sick, at Uther for his thrice-damned cold heart. Her eyes widened when his malicious gaze fell on a young boy of about eight years. Gwen recognized him from the stables. Holding her breath, she watched and gulped hard as he picked up the goblet with his shaking hands and prepared to drink. The boy brought the goblet to his lips, wretched out of fear and then gazed pleadingly at Uther.

"Please, Sire, at least allow me to find some antidote for the poison so that another life is not wasted," Gaius implored.

"No. I will have answers now."

Gwen's eyes were drawn to a sobbing woman in the corner of the room. This was probably the boy's mother; she could see the woman pushing her way through the crowd tears streaming down her pale face. "Please!" she shrieked. "Please, don't make my son do this, I beg of you. I will drink the wine for him, I do not fear death. Please, I'm begging you. Don't make him give up his life, he is young and I am an old woman- I've had seen many years and he has not yet seen ten summers. I implore you to be just…" she cried, as a guard held her back.

The King's eyes narrowed. "Silence, wench, or I will have you removed from my presence!" He flicked his fingers at the young stable hand. "Drink."

Her heart pounding wildly in her chest, Gwen watched with trepidation as he boy tilted his head back and drunk. Silence filled the room as the goblet slipped from the boy's sweaty hands. He stood there, and they all waited with bated breath, but it seemed as though the boy would be fine. Gwen was sighing with relief when the stable hand choked and lurched to his knees, shivering. Sick gagging sounds filled the room while his body was racked with seizures and he began to mimic the last moments of the King's late food-taster. Gwen cast a furious glare towards Uther who was watching the spectacle with a satisfied look on his face. She could only guess by the slight smug smile on his lips that he predicted the outcome of his little 'experiment'. It was just another ploy to have his subjects fear him. If they couldn't respect him, fear was probably the next best thing to Uther Pendragon.

"NO!" screamed the boy's mother, when the boy's pain-racked frame ceased moving. He was dead.

"It was a shame that your son had to die. But rest assured that he died for a noble cause." These were the only words that the King offered the bereaved woman who was beside herself with grief. Gwen was aghast; surely he had something better to say for a mother who had lost her beloved son? The woman pointed an accusing finger at the King and screeched loudly, "Murderer!" This was definitely not the first time someone had called Uther that in many days and it almost certainly would not be the last.

Gwen was pushed to the side as guards rushed forward to assist in restraining the woman who was flying at the King with such a look of poisonous loathing in her eyes, that she would not be surprised if Uther turned and fled. But he gave her his icy glare and stood his ground while he allowed trained warriors to defend him against a frail, grieving woman. "Just get her out of my sight," he ordered them, as they marched her from the room. Uther then avoided making eye contact with the others in the room as the remainder of the guards escorted him from the room. Gwen glanced at Arthur. It was probably good that his father had an escort because she didn't trust him not to fly at Uther himself, he was shaking so hard with fury. His hands were balled into fists, and he stormed out of the room, taking the time to kick some vases over.

As she turned to leave, Gaius called out to her. "Guinevere, wait. Have you seen Merlin since we last spoke? I'm going to kill that boy when I find him. But I must admit, I am glad that he isn't here right now."

His last statement caught her by surprise. "Why?"

"I don't trust him not to do anything stupid. I'm sickened by that poor boy's death but it would have been worse for us if it was Merlin, which it probably would have been. He would have either drunk the wine for the boy, or tried to intercede." Gaius exhaled. Gwen noticed that the events of the last few days must have taken a toll on him. He appeared exceptionally stressed and worn out, and Gaius wasn't exactly young either. He noticed her observing him and hastily asked her, "So how are you coping Gwen?"

"I'm having trouble keeping my mind off Morgana…you know. But I don't suppose you can help me with that. I might feel a little better once we've found Merlin or at least where he has run off to."

"If you're feeling ill or are having trouble sleeping, then I can provide some tonics for you, but otherwise time will heal. Trust me, I know." He appeared resigned. "Time will heal everything."

After he had gone, Gwen mulled over what he had said. Time will heal everything. It had several meanings, she found. It applied to the untimely death of her best friend, but it also applied to something else. The tyranny and reign of Uther Pendragon. Even thought Uther acted as though he was all-powerful, he was mortal. He would die someday and that was completely certain. When he died, his rule would end and Arthur would take the crown. With time, all would be well.

Time, thought Gwen somewhat despairingly. If I have only Time to rely on to end this kingdom's suffering, that means I must wait. Wait, and watch other people suffer. There must be another way.