Morgana swirled around and pressed a glinting knife to the intruder's throat.

"Give me one good reason not to kill you where you stand" she threatened, before glancing up to see Agravaine's wide eyes looking down at her. She relaxed her position, and discarded her knife on the table. Agravaine's hand went to his throat and he rubbed his fingers over the spot where the cold blade had been.

"I am sorry to startle you my lady," he grovelled, and she turned away from him and sat down.

"Next time you may not be so lucky as to be spared. Why have you come?"

"I have important news. Very important."

She looked up at him, clearly unenthusiastic, and drawled "go on."

"My lady, it is about the boy Merlin."

Her heavily made up eyes narrowed.

"What about him?" She spat. Then she looked brighter for a second. "Is he dead?"

"No." Her face fell. "But he should be..."

Agravaine proceeded to update Morgana on the rogue shade's actions, including the poisoning and his violent death.

"But why would he go after a serving boy?" She asked, incredulous. Agravaine smiled infuriatingly, only wiping the smug look off his face when the high priestess glared at him. He hurriedly spilled his information:

"Merlin has magic."

Agravaine paused for effect, clearly expecting some kind of praise or gratitude for his cunning discovery. Instead he got a raised eyebrow.

"Merlin. The fool who...no. No, he can't have magic, he can't...he would have told me, would have helped me, not left me alone when he was right there knowing what I needed - are you certain? How do you know? Surely you are mistaken! He can't..."

Agravaine was taken aback. He had not expected this to panic or upset Morgana, but rather to fill her with dark glee or something equally sinister. He looked into her face, full of anger and betrayal and hurt and shock, and tried to speak soothingly.

"I overheard Gaius call him a powerful warlock, and he did not deny it. They thought that they were speaking privately, my lady. They had no idea that I was listening in."

Morgana stood and turned away from him again, not wanting this cowardly man to see her at her weakest. Because however much she wanted to deny it, it would make sense...all those times he had thwarted her plans, all those times he should have died but came out unscathed...

She knew instinctively that it was true. And that made her angry.

"I need to see for myself. When is Arthur to wed that woman?"

"They have decided on two days time, to allow the serving boy to regain his strength."

Typical sentimental Arthur.

"Leave me."

Agravaine was obviously more than a little hurt by his blunt dismissal, as he had thought that after his revelation he would be rewarded with gratitude, but strode out of the hovel and made his way back to Camelot under the dark night sky.

*M*

"Long live the queen! Long live the queen!" Merlin chanted with everyone else in the packed hall. He had spent a day and a half recovering in bed before Gaius finally cracked and allowed him to help prepare for the wedding, seeing as he was completely back to his normal strength.

Everyone had been very kind to him, because although none of the other servants knew exactly what had happened, the kitchen maids liked to gossip and all the staff knew that something bad had taken place. The royal wedding had been postponed, after all.

But today it was finally here. Guinevere Pendragon stood proudly next to her husband, both looking regal and stately and very smart, Merlin thought. He wouldn't have missed this for the world.

Gwen smiled up at Arthur, then reached over and took his hand in hers. A little gold chain circled her wrist, the links in the shape of tiny hearts. He beamed back, then together they turned and walked down the aisle.

A few minutes later, the newly wedded couple were seated at the head of a large table in the banquet hall, looking lovingly at each other as their guests began to trickle in and take their seats. Once everyone was present, Arthur stood, and the chatter in the room fell to silence.

"Citizens of Camelot. Today you have witnessed the union of myself and Queen Guinevere. As a dear friend once advised me to, I married for love. The advantages of this marriage are not material: Camelot does not gain land or an alliance from this. However, I know that I will be a stronger King for having Guinevere at my side."

He turned and looked down at his beautiful wife.

"I love her with all my heart, and I believe that she will make a fine queen. Thank you. Now, please enjoy the feast!"

He sat down to thunderous applause, and Gwen looked at him with adoration shining in her sparkling eyes. And then the feast began.

Merlin and the other servants brought out large trays and platters full of the best food the royal kitchens could supply. The scents wafting from them were tantalising, and it was all presented beautifully. Fresh meat from a hunt that afternoon; ruby red wine of the highest quality; exotic fruits of all colours. Laughter filled the air as the guests began to eat.

A few hours later, when everyone had drunk enough wine to relax them considerably, Merlin was starting to feel strange. He was still holding a carafe, but he looked down to see his hands shaking, and hurriedly moved towards a table to put it down. He did so carefully, feeling ever more odd as he tried to determine what exactly was wrong with him.

He felt sick, that much he was sure of, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly how. Wearily, Merlin decided to return to his chambers. It was probably just the excitement of the day coming so soon after his body's complete shut down. He wobbled as he tried to walk, then alarmingly felt himself begin to sway. He was definitely not well.

"Whoa mate, steady on," Gwaine exclaimed, materialising out of the crowd and clamping a hand firmly on Merlin's now twitching shoulder. The knight scrutinised his friend's pale face, then rolled his eyes to the ceiling, half amused.

"It always seems to be you, doesn't it Merlin. Come on. I'll take you home." Merlin opened his mouth to protest that he could manage, thank you, but all that came out was an odd wheezing noise. Gwaine, who should have been completely drunk by the amount of liqueur he had consumed, grabbed him by the shoulders and marched him out of the room. No one else noticed, and the nobles continued to socialise and feast as Gwaine dragged Merlin through the corridors.

They were half way there when Merlin's legs gave way under him. Gwaine swore as he took in the sheen of sweat on Merlin's face, the twitching that had now grown to convulsions. Merlin could feel his heart pounding in his ears like an incessant drumbeat. He heard Gwaine murmur that he was going back to get Gaius, that Merlin should not move, but Merlin laboriously shook his head.

"Please," he croaked, "don't leave me here. Take me to Gaius' room at least. I'll -" he broke off as he began to cough, distantly aware of Gwaine rubbing soothing circles on his back.

Finally he managed, "I'll need to be there before he can help me anyway. Please Gwaine. Don't leave me here. Take me home."

Merlin didn't know where this was coming from. It was like they weren't his words: they just appeared in his mind and he said them. He was being physically forced to say these things, but couldn't manage to contradict himself and he just stared up at the knight, trying wordlessly to convey his confusion. Gwaine took pity and struggled to pick Merlin up, then ran with Merlin breathing heavily in his arms, still convulsing and writhing and general looking extremely unwell.

Merlin would have been embarrassed by the way in which he was being carried - similar to the way Percival held him after the Dorocha incident - but he was too out of it to care. He wasn't in pain as such - at least, there was no identifiable pain, but something was definitely wrong - but still he knew that he needed to get to his room. It would all be fine when he got to his room.

He just needed to get to his room.

What seemed like an age later, they arrived outside the physician's room. Gwaine jiggled Merlin around to free his hand, then pushed at the door and barged in.

There was someone there. A dark cloak covered her face, but she looked up at them as Gwaine froze.

Morgana's eyes faded from gold and Merlin became still.

Gwaine laid him down on the floor and reached for a sword, a dagger, anything - but then there was a flash of gold and everything stopped.

The last thing he remembered was the rustle of a heavy cloak as she stepped towards Merlin, and then Gwaine succumbed to the overwhelming tiredness he felt and slipped into sleep.

Ok! Another cliffhanger...sorry...

Also in Arthur's speech he talked about Merlin telling him to marry for love. I know that this happened when Mithian came to Camelot so technically this never happened in this timeline, but I'm sure Merlin would have said something like this at some point, right? Arthur probably had a moment where Agravaine or Uther got to him about Gwen being a servant and it being his duty to strengthen the land and blah blah blah...
So yeah, sorry about that but I wanted to leave it in and I thought that it probably did happen at some point! :)

Ok...this time reviewers get...Bengal kittens :)

I've said it a gazillion times before but you guys are all awesome, thanks so much for reading this! It's fab that so many of you review, follow or favourite, so a giant thank you with cream on top from me!

I was thinking last night - and this was at about three in the morning so I wasn't at my most lucid - about how normally if complete strangers start following you you'd go to the police, maybe get a restraining order, not thank them with imaginary animals...hmm.

I'll stop rambling now! Bye!