Gwaine
"How did I do?" He asked Leon as they made their way back quietly to Gaius's chambers.
"You acted exactly like you normally do," was Leon's reply which earned him a huge grin from Gwaine.
"Really? Well then, I guess I've got enough talent to join a trope."
Leon snorted at his comment. "You do that, Gwaine."
Gwaine shrugged off Leon's response with a smile. For the first time in a while, Gwaine actually felt somewhat of a relief. It was true that they hadn't actually done anything yet, but the fact that they had a plan of action made him feel more in control. He was reminded again how much he hated being anchored down by rules and authority. Perhaps he would take a break after everything was over.
They arrived at Gaius's chambers without incident, Leon entering first and Gwaine locking the door behind him. He couldn't help but smile when he saw new dust miraculously appear at the doorstep the moment the two knights had stepped into the room. Merlin, you clever mate! Here I'd thought that was a onetime spell.
Speaking of his friend, Gwaine actually wanted to check up on him. The last he had seen of his friend was him looking utterly spent. It had to do with the last spell Merlin had casted on the gauntlets. After reading the passage he had found about the artifacts, Merlin had grown silent. There had been a pensive look across his young friend's face and he told them he had a set a gauntlets in his quarters he could switch them over with.
Gwaine knew it had to more than that, however. Morgana would easily see through a simple switch of an enchanted set of gauntlets versus an old pair. Gwaine had followed Merlin to his room and saw him cast some sort of spell on a spare pair of gauntlets. He had wondered initially why his friend would even have Arthur's armour with him, and he'd realized there two sets sitting by the side of the door. Clearly Arthur liked his armour nice and shiney.
He'd watched Merlin finish the spell and then suddenly collapse to the ground. Gwaine rushed to his side immediately, and all the while Merlin kept saying that he was fine. His friend was so not fine, and Gwaine stated as such.
"Merlin, you are not fine. Stop saying that you are."
"I am right now," Merlin insisted as Gwaine helped him to the side of his bed.
"But you won't be. The dragon said –"
"I know what the dragon said. I'll be fine until then."
"Until what, your wound rips through you a second time?" Gwaine narrowed his eyes at Merlin as he eyed the bloody tunic he still wore. "Why won't you tell the others? If Morgana did this to you, they'd bloody do their best to kill her. It's not like they wouldn't do it already, but if it means to save your life, we would put all our lives to help you." Gwaine had softened his voice near the end. He didn't want to sound angry, he was just concerned for Merlin's well being.
"I know you would, Gwaine." There was something in Merlin's eyes that said he understood they would do anything to save him but that they wouldn't be able to, not this time. "It won't work that way. I will find another way."
Gwaine had looked at his friend then. No. He wasn't letting this go.
"Merlin, I would crush that witch a thousand times over, no hesitation. You don't need any other way." His eyes narrowed at Merlin's lack of response to his words.
"What aren't you telling me, Merlin?"
Merlin avoided his eyes for a moment and then he seemed to make a decision then.
"Morgana wasn't the one that stabbed me, Gwaine."
It only took a moment for Merlin's words to sink in. Of course. Stupid him. Why would Morgana due the deed herself. She'd much enjoy it more if it had been… Arthur to wield the blade. Then that meant… seriously, Morgana had outdone herself this time.
"Morgana, does she knows of your magic?"
Merlin shook his head, "I don't think so. Not yet. But I'm sure if I see her face-to-face again, she will know."
"Then how did she… decide to use an enchanted dagger on you?"
"I think it's just coincidence, Gwaine."
At that Gwaine had simply stared at his friend. "What do you mean?"
"The dagger was an old birthday gift from Arthur. I don't even think she knows it's enchanted."
"That's just..."
"Yeah." Merlin agreed before Gwaine finished his sentence.
"Damn."
"Yeah."
Silence.
"We should bind your injury, Merlin," said Gwaine, breaking the quiet. He half expected his friend to protest, but Merlin nodded in agreement instead.
"Will you help me?"
Wow. Merlin must have been in bad shape to ask for help without even giving Gwaine the chance to offer it. At least his friend was admitting he wasn't well.
"Of course."
"There are bandages are outside, by the left shelf – facing the door's left, Gwaine."
"Ha. Got it."
"Gaius also has some healing paste in a tube like container. It's small, greenish in appearance and has a blue label on it. It's two levels up. You can use the footstool to reach it – hmm, maybe no footstool for you." Realizing Gwaine's height compared to his.
"Okay," Gwaine nodded. "Anything else?"
"That's it."
Gwaine retrieved the items and returned quickly. He'd received a look from Leon and a nod of understanding as well. Leon had known Merlin was hurt, just not how badly.
"Okay, here they are," he announced as he entered Merlin's quarters. He noticed then that Merlin had already changed into a fresh new set of clothes. Even added a red neckerchief to his outfit.
"Thanks," Merlin said and motioned him to unravel the roll of bandages. Slowly Merlin raised his shirt and Gwaine had to draw back a hiss to what he saw. It was an ugly and painful wound, even just by looking at it. This was 'healed' though? There was bruising all around the wound… no wounds. Merlin had been stabbed multiple times. At the moment, they were closed lines, each about an inch long. If Gwaine could bare to count them, there were at least six to seven… he felt sick to his stomach. How had his friend survived through it?
Gwaine dabbed the paste on the bruised areas and then wrapped the bandage tightly around Merlin's abdominal area. He could hear the younger man let out a slight grimace at the contact, but Gwaine didn't have much choice in the matter. It needed to be tight in case… in case the injury reopened again.
Once he was done he helped Merlin up and they returned to the other room where the other knights were deep in discussion. Upon seeing them, Sir Leon updated them on what they had decided.
"Gwaine, we have a preliminary plan," said Leon. "Sir Lucas has volunteered to be dead so he can fetch Gaius." Gwaine had casted an raised eyebrow at that, and Lucas' response was, "One dead knight makes no difference to this current King." True.
"Sir Dominic," continued Leon, "will serve to be our messenger to intercept Percival and Elyan. You and I, we will play it as if we know nothing of Morgana's plans so we can keep eyes on the King. We don't know what ails the King nor Queen right, so it is best if we control what we can control."
Gwaine nodded to the plan. "Sounds Good." Then he looked to Sir Lucas, "Are you sure you can ride with your arm like that?"
"I rode two days straight to Camelot, I can handle heading to Methor's Kingdom. Certainly far less dangerous than where Sir Dominic is heading."
"Will Morgana suspect that Sir Dominic is missing?"
"King Arthur actually has me heading out with the last contingent of Knights to fetch some sort of Goblet in Mercia's Kingdom. I will simply diverge from my fellow knights and head towards the return path that I am most certain Sir Percival and Sir Elyan will take."
The plan was set. If Gwaine did play chess, he'd have said the rooks and knights were ready to defend the King, but he didn't. And he wasn't really defending the King, more like opposing him at the moment.
"We can't allow Morgana to get her hands on the armor… but what of the gauntlets," trailed off Sir Dominic as his gaze fell upon a pair in Merlin's hands.
Merlin passed the gauntlets to Sir Leon. "Here, you can present Arthur with these tomorrow."
"Are you certain… he won't recognize his own gloves?"
Merlin smirked at that, "I doubt he will even question it."
At the younger man's confidence, Sir Leon felt assured and he took the gauntlets and placed it back into his pouch.
"Merlin, you should take a rest," he said gently. "I am uncertain what has happened to you since our absence, but you have worked hard all night."
"I will." Gwaine was in some sense glad his friend wasn't arguing. He did look more exhausted by the minute.
"Alright mates, let's get this show on the road," clapping his hands on the shoulders of Leon and Lucas with a smile.
The Knights had left shortly after, leaving no time to waste. Gwaine helped Merlin to his sleeping chambers.
"Thanks, Gwaine. For everything," said Merlin once he was lying down on his bed.
"Hey, don't say it like you're going somewhere where you shouldn't be," said Gwaine worriedly.
"Just take a compliment, won't you?" Was the joking response Merlin gave.
Feeling slightly relieved, Gwaine nodded. "Fine. But we're coming back to check in after we report to Arthur."
"Okay," the response was nearly a whisper and then Merlin was fast asleep.
Good. Merlin needed it.
Gwaine himself needed it too, and it took a lot to resist his urge to simply shut his eyes. They'd ridden two days straight back to Camelot. Adrenaline had kept him up all that time. Now it seemed he'd hit the wall. He'd report to Arthur and then he'd crash back here in Gaius's chambers.
An hour later, Gwaine was finally going to get some sleep. He needed, however, to do two things. The first was to check in on Merlin. And the second was he wanted to see what was written at the back of the order document. Gwaine wasn't blind, he had seen the inking of something that definitely looked like the word 'help' from the paper. To keep with appearances, however, he had crumpled it in front of the King.
Now, however, they were in the privacy of Gaius's chambers, and Gwaine could read it. Well. He could attempt to. Just like the gauntlet, the paper had scrawlings of symbols Gwaine couldn't make heads or tails of, all except the one english word on there, "Help."
He needed Merlin.
"Are those the same symbols from the gauntlet?" Asked Leon curiously peering over his shoulder at the note.
Gwaine nodded. "I think so. I am also sure this is a message from Arthur."
Leon nodded in agreement. He recognized the King's writing, even if it was jittery. It was a rather a relief that despite being controlled, the King was still fighting. The fact he managed to get a message out spoke volumes. There was still hope yet.
"Merlin then?" Said Leon noting that the writing wasn't in a language he understood either. Gwaine nodded. As much as he didn't wish to disturb his friend, they needed to figure out what this meant… perhaps it was the very spell that had been placed on Arthur.
Leon softly rapped on the door to Merlin's chambers. There wasn't an immediate answer which caused both knights to look to each other. Leon tried again, and still there was no sound coming from within the room.
Gwaine made a decision then and with one quick shoulder hit to the old wooden door, it easily fell away.
Oops. Was the first thought that went through Gwaine. Maybe I should have just waited a bit.
Merlin was sitting on the ground, very much alive, but his eyes were closed and beads of sweat on his forehead. A large old textbook was opened in front of him. It wouldn't have been too startling of a scene if not for the glowing light emanating from Merlin's hands.
Gwaine looked to Leon's face on his response. Yep. Just like his face was. Magic.
There was silence as they both watched Merlin complete whatever he was doing. Something went wrong, however because suddenly Merlin fell forward. Both knights moved in unison to help him back to a sitting position.
Gwaine could see droplets of red on the book. Damn it! He hoped that Merlin's injury wasn't already reopening.
Quickly he signaled to Sir Leon to help him lift Merlin back to his bed. Once the younger man was rested on the bed, he seemed to wake and realize that the two knights were there.
"Hey," he said and then his face became serious when he cued in it was the two of them, "How did it go with Arthur?"
Gwaine honestly wanted to delay telling Merlin anything, but the recent discovery of the note was too important to ignore. He hated to make his friend work in his present condition, but they didn't have a choice.
As he passed a cloth over to Leon to help wipe the blood that stained Merlin's chin, Gwaine explained his meeting with Arthur as well as the note he had received from him.
Gwaine gave the note to Merlin, who's eyes narrowed as he read it. Whatever information the document contained, it must have been bad because Merlin immediately attempted to get up after he finished reading.
"Merlin, you're not doing anything -," he started, but the look Merlin gave him shut him up.
"This spell, if Arthur has been under it since I've been away, then it won't be long before Morgana will win," explained Merlin as calmly as he could. Both he and Leon could tell he was trying to hold back absolute panic.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean to say that combined with what we uncovered yesterday, it is worse than we had thought." Wanting to elaborate more, Merlin attempted again to rise from the bed. This time with both Leon and his support, he was able to stand.
"I'll explain more once we get back to the passage I read to you guys last night."
"You mean this one?" Gwaine took the ripped page from his side pocket.
There was absolute mortification in Merlin's face. "You ripped the page from Gaius's textbook?"
"Well, yeah. Didn't see a reason why I shouldn't? It's important..."
If Merlin could look even more miserable at that moment, the look on his face said it all. "Gaius is going to kill me if I live through this," he muttered softly before taking the page from Gwaine's outstretched hand and sitting back down on the bed.
"I'm sure he'll be fine," said Gwaine. The old man looked harmless enough and he was always so friendly. He received a twitched reply to his comment from Merlin. "You don't know Gaius like I do. His books are like his temple."
"When you solve this and save Camelot, I'm sure he'll easily forgive you for this," said Sir Leon trying give some comfort to Merlin's anxiety.
"If, you mean."
"No, Merlin, he means, when." Emphasized Gwaine. He trusted Merlin would give them the needed advantage, no matter what condition he was in.
"So," Gwaine drawled out the so, "how does this make things complicated than what you told us last night?" Technically it was this morning, but details.
"Much more complicated," said Merlin looking very serious.
Guess that means sleep will have to wait, thought Gwaine.