Arthur opened his eyes slowly, woken by some sound like a cough. He straightened and stretched with a yawn. His back ached. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was and what he was doing there. A tender smile found its way to his lips when his gaze fell on Gwen, still sleeping.

Then there was that sound again. Definitely a cough. He turned and discovered Merlin, standing by the door and looking at him with a stupid grin. He immediately withdrew his hand from Gwen's and stood up.

"Merlin," he greeted. "I'm guessing this is morning already if you came back here."

"Indeed, it is," Merlin confirmed. "Gaius sent me to tell you your father wants to see you."

Arthur nodded. "Do you know why?"

"I'm betting it has to do with the fact that a witch has escaped from the dungeons and that hundreds of people in the city seem to have been cursed overnight."

"Cursed?"

"With apparently the exact same curse as Gwen. I saw some of them on my way here. And by the way, Livia, the witch, is still hiding in my room as we speak."

Arthur frowned. Hundreds of people cursed... "This is strange."

"What is strange?"

Arthur turned, and saw Gwen awake and straightening to a sitting position. "Guinevere, good morning," he welcomed with a smile.

She smiled back at him. "Good morning. So, what is strange?"

Arthur hesitated. Gwen was still recovering, he didn't want to trouble her with all of this yet. But they might not have much time to figure all of this out. "It seems there are other people in Camelot who contracted the same disease as you did. Do you have any idea how you got sick?"

Gwen shook her head. "I really didn't do anything out of the ordinary yesterday."

"Could you go through the things you did that day until it happened and it started to spread?" Arthur asked.

"Well, as usual I went to wake Morgana up in the morning," Gwen began. "We talked while I got her ready, mostly about those sorcerers who got killed. She was still quite upset about it. Then at some point I started feeling sick, so Morgana sent me home. I stayed here and tried to rest, but after an hour those blotches of wood began to appear. Like I said, nothing out of the ordinary," she finished with a shrug.

"Morgana!" Arthur suddenly remembered. He turned to Merlin: "We should let her know Guinevere is cured, she must be worried."

"I'll go immediately," Merlin offered, "I had promised to warn her if there was anything new, I completely forgot about that last night..."

"I'll go with you then," Gwen stated.

Arthur turned back to her. "No, you're still convalescent, you need to rest."

"It's all right, I'm fully rested," she assured.

"Guinevere, there's no need to strain yourself," Arthur insisted.

"I'll be fine," Gwen promised as she pushed her sheets away and turned to stand.

Arthur immediately picked her hand to help her up. He didn't care if Merlin saw that. Well, actually he did, but he cared more about Gwen's well-being. And apparently she hadn't lied and seemed to be in good shape indeed.

"I have to go meet my father," he finally declared. "Merlin, take Guinevere to Morgana and take good care of her."

"Of course, Sire. I'll take as good care of her as if she were the Queen of Camelot herself," Merlin promised with a teasing grin, looking proud of himself.

Arthur stared at his servant, then bent to whisper in his ear: "Remind me some day to give you a lesson or two about that insolent tone of yours..."

"That will be with great pleasure, Sire!" Merlin provoked one last time while Arthur left the house and headed for the castle.

All along the way, he crossed the path of many of those diseased people, hailing him as soon as they recognised him, seeking help. Apparently the guards had received orders to keep them away from the castle. That was probably for the best – there seemed to be so many of them they could cause a riot.

Arthur wondered what had caused all this as he climbed the stairs that led to the castle. If this illness struck the whole city, could it have the same sort of origin as that one time when a monster had plagued the water supply – what was its name again?

They needed to learn more about these dryads and their magic. He'd have to ask Merlin to bring him to that witch so he could ask her some questions.

A sudden thought crossed Arthur's mind. He paused for a second at the Great Hall's door, where his father was certainly waiting for him.

What if there wasn't any dryad involved - if there even was such a thing as a dryad? What if the witch was really the one responsible for all of this? What if she had cursed all these people just to be able to prove her point?

In any case, he would not allow her to leave Camelot as long as that matter remained unsolved. Culprit or not, she should be able to help heal the villagers like she had healed Gwen.

Arthur finally entered the Great Hall.

"Ah, Arthur, at last," Uther greeted impatiently.

"Sire," Arthur greeted as well.

"I am sure you must have heard the terrible news already," the King assumed. "Hundreds of our people have been struck by the strangest malady. Gaius already confirmed that it was undoubtedly caused by magic. At the moment he's out in the city doing his best to try to ease those people."

"I saw a few of them on my way here," Arthur informed him. "They seem very affected and quite in pain."

"Try to stay away from them. For all we know it could be contagious. A knight reported to me a few moments ago that no one beyond the city's gates seemed to be infected. Which is a relief, at least we should be able to contain the spreading."

Arthur nodded.

"On another note, the witch has escaped from the dungeons." Uther continued, clearly upset. "Apparently she was helped by some intruder. Naturally, the head of security has been dismissed."

"Who, Lewin?" Arthur asked, remembering who was in charge of the dungeons' security the previous night, and knowing that the intruder mentioned was no other than himself. "Lewin is a very capable man, I'm sure he must have been taken by surprise, maybe even by magic, who knows."

"What happened last night is intolerable. No one should be able to breeze in the castle and the dungeons so easily," Uther countered.

Arthur knew that the only reason why he had managed to get into the dungeons so easily to free the witch was first, because he knew the premises by heart, more than enough to get in and out blindfolded, and second, because he was always informed of the castle's security plans and knew where to expect guards that night.

Lewin's competences were not to blame in any way. He felt guilty that this qualified man had been discharged because of him, especially since he knew he had a wife and four children to provide for – including a newborn boy. He made a mental note to have him hired back as soon as he had the chance.

"Anyway, this is all clearly the witch's doing," the King went on. "I should have had those two sorcerers executed when we had the chance. It wouldn't have come to that if I hadn't been so greedy."

"Are you sure she's the one to blame, Sire?" Arthur objected.

"She escaped the very same night this curse appeared. I don't believe in coincidences. She must have sought vengeance. However, the good news is all the garrison's at the gates assured me no one left the city last night. Which means she's still here. Arthur, I want you to find her and whoever helped her and harbours her, no matter what it takes. Spare no effort."

"Of course, Sire. What about the sick villagers?"

"I'm afraid we don't have any other choice than to let Gaius work. Our priority is to find and neutralize the witch. I'm convinced the curse that has befallen Camelot will disappear with her."

Arthur nodded silently. He wondered how he would manage to let his father believe he was actively searching for the witch while he already knew where she was – at Merlin's – and had better make sure she wasn't found if he wanted her to help Gaius heal the villagers. He was going to have to thread very, very carefully...

The Great Hall's doors opened, and Morgana entered the room. Arthur was surprised to see her there, he thought she'd remain with Gwen longer.

"You had me sent for, Sire?"

"Indeed, I have, Morgana," the King confirmed. "I know you had planned to go down to the city today for alms. However, this has to be cancelled. There's an epidemic raging there and I won't let you put yourself at risk."

"What sort of epidemic? Maybe I could give a hand," Morgana offered.

"You couldn't, it's been provoked by a curse. Hundreds of villagers are already suffering from it. It seems their skin is turning into wood."

Morgana seemed taken aback. "Wood? Yesterday I sent Guinevere, my maid, back home because she felt sick. It turns out she was ailed with the very same curse you're talking about by nightfall."

"All the more reason not to get any more exposure. I'm sorry about your maid but there's nothing you can do about it, and Gaius is already swamped taking care of all the other people."

"Oh no, she's quite all right, she recovered already."

"Really? How?"

Arthur tensed. What had Merlin told her exactly? Had he mentioned they had used magic to heal Gwen? And if he had, would Morgana hold her tongue or use this as a new argument for her never-ending verbal battle with the King in favour of magic? The last time Gwen had been linked to some magical event – when her father had miraculously recovered overnight – she had been accused of witchcraft, and Arthur didn't want that to happen again.

Morgana shrugged. "I suppose Gaius healed her."

She seemed to sincerely believe that, Arthur noted. Which meant Merlin hadn't told her how Gwen had really been cured.

"Gaius didn't mention anything about that when I saw him this morning," Uther retorted.

"Then I don't know. Arthur, didn't Gaius heal Gwen?"

Arthur felt both gazes on him, especially his father's heavy one.

"Is that true, Arthur? Did you know about that? Was this girl really healed?"

Arthur gave a quick nod.

"How?"

Arthur felt cornered. How was he going to get out of that one?