A/N Plot twists oh how I love thee!

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Chapter 13 The nature of the beast

There are times in a person's life when they realise exactly what they have and just how much it would hurt to lose it.

Gwaine had always been carefree, not irresponsible per se but more…wise to the ways of the world and hell bent on taking advantage of every drop of excitement and pleasure he could garner from whatever situation he should find himself in. After all you never know which day might be your last.

Becoming a knight hadn't made much impression on this way of thinking and indeed living. It had merely given him a means to earn the money to pay for his pleasures rather than gamble for them. The years of wandering hadn't been much of a choice when he'd had no-where to call home. They had given him a sense of adventure he had craved whilst his soul had been searching for something he knew he lacked.

Who knew he would find it in a bar brawl with a knife to the leg!

Waking up in that diabolically small bed had been one of the weirdest experiences of his life. Not because he had found himself in a strange bed, in a room he had no recollection of entering, but because he had woken alone, in pain and most unusual of all bandaged up in a bed of such small size he knew without doubt he had spent the night without a partner. He had almost certainly experienced each occurrence separately, (one didn't follow the life he did without them happening at least once). There had, however been no immediate recollections of any point they had all happened at the same time.

What followed had been a set of adventures the likes of which he had never experienced, and for a damned noble of all things. Not even just a noble either but the crown bloody prince of Camelot!

He had had too many bad experiences of ruthless, idiotic or downright cruel members of the gentry to have formed any opinion of the prince that was not derogatory.

He had swiftly changed his mind. Merlin had made him change it. There had been something so sincere in his assessment of the then prince's character that he had felt compelled to take a closer look. What he had seen was a man struggling against fate.

He may have been born to the title of prince, with a father who believed he owned the whole world. Knight's and nobles of the court who fawned constantly, and a passel of giggling servants who would have given their right arm for the honour of serving said royal. All this should have served to send him loopy, spoil him so severely that he was completely hopeless or both. What he actually was, ah well that was another matter entirely. He had fallen in love with a serving girl, had another servant as his best friend, confidant and moral compass and accepted every man no matter how humble his origins for what they were actually worth not what he thought they were. Here was a man he could place his faith and his trust in.

His new life had been brought about by the man now laying so still and silent upon the bed in front of him, and he realised not without a note of surprise, that everything he now was and everything he ever could be was worth nothing without Merlin there to share in the adventure.

…..

Amaethon obviously had some plan in mind when he conspired to send him here, but at this precise moment he had no clue what he was supposed to do. The only other time the dragon had ever seen Merlin so still, were the days after being stung by a Serket.

Lunch had not long since been eaten and the crowding in the chambers was rather ridiculous. Who knew his Lord had so many people who were concerned for his welfare. Eating said lunch had been a surreal sensation. His usual fare of eating part smouldering, part raw haunches of venison on a cliff ledge did not prepare a creature for eating with 'civilised' utensils, nor for perfectly cooked through joints of beef and sides of green things. Eauch. He would stick with what he knew and provide his own dietary requirement from now on. Gaius had covered his lack of experience and his facial contortions with a rather eager tale of his foreign origins and decidedly differing cultural eating habits.

He didn't particularly like the man but credit where it was due, he had managed to excuse him from a rather sticky situation.

To say Gaius had been surprised to see him had been an understatement of the highest order. There was really no surprise that he hadn't recognised him. It would have been more of a shock if he had to be honest. He had had to grab him as soon as he came through the door and try to explain his appearance in Camelot and well…his appearance.

There had been nothing in his demeanour, whilst he regaled the man with his unfortunate transformation at the hands of a God, to indicate how disturbed he was by the tale. Khilgarrah had been rather dismayed to realise the man either had nerves of steel, or was now so used to dealing with occurrences' of this nature that he had become immune. He was not used to creatures, let alone humans, so thoroughly surprising him. He didn't like it.

He must say this trip had been littered with firsts, not many that he had enjoyed. First time as a human, first ride on a horse, first meal and conversation with humans who did not know what he was, he could not say it was a pleasure.

The others had been talking amongst themselves quietly whilst they had eaten occasionally glancing towards the bed where the warlock still slept. There had been no mention of the nature of the illness that had struck his lord down, but he could smell the magic from here, this was no ordinary ague. He supposed that they were wary of him as the only stranger to their group. Gaius had not had time to explain. He had barely given the man the reasons for his perfectly timed entrance into the fray before the platters of food had arrived and he had been obliged to join their group.

"Gaius may I have a word." Arthur had been arguing quietly but earnestly with his wife for the last few moments so the sudden question caused many of the knights to jump. He removed himself from the table and pulled the older man gently over to Merlin's bedroom. "I understand your friend is a herb merchant of some note from the story you told me and knows many remedies. Could he possibly help with this. Can he be trusted?" The earnest question caught Gaius off guard but was tempered with relief. He had been trying to think of a way to include the dragon in the conversation without sounding desperate.

"I do believe he may have knowledge we can use. We can trust him with Merlin's safety sire, he has a unique connection to the boy and they are good friends. May I consult with him and compare what we know I'd like to examine my ward. I need to determine if there are side effects to this affliction. I'll let Elyan and Perseval show you what we have found, though it's little enough."

"Of course Gaius. We'll give you some privacy."

"So what is wrong with him? I can sense dark magic at work, but the amount should never have been able to overcome his level of power." Khilgarrah had been patient but now was the time for answers. Even with his voice pitched low, the command within it was still compelling.

"It is the Anginn sylfum. You know of what I speak, your kind helped create it."

"It cannot be! How?" There were few times a dragon could be rendered speechless with shock. Gaius wished this hadn't been one of them.

"Morgana has gained the knowledge of it, and somehow acquired Merlin's blood. I am worried that she may have made the connection between Merlin and Emrys. I pray to all the gods I am wrong." Gaius' hand had been automatically checking his ward as they had been speaking. His pulse was slightly faster than normal though not hugely, his skin a little greyer, his eye sockets more sunken and discoloured, and his breathing just a tad laboured. In addition he was now battling a small fever, not enough to be concerned really, more the sort of elevated temperature you might expect to get with a migraine. Altogether he was slightly worse than this morning but not by a great deal.

"When did the dreams start?"

"Four days ago."

"Four? Well he is Emrys. Where's the mark?"

"His neck, here." He turned his wards head to the side and noted the widened eyes of the dragon.

"It's black? The Anginn symbol should always be red, a symbol of the blood if cast properly, never black!"

"So it's not the Anginn?" Hope flared briefly in the old mans chest.

"No it is, the snakes are the Nathair to torture the mind during the punishment, they are the same but, black? There is something here that does not make sense. The spell has been modified, but Morgana does not have the training to do so To attempt to change it would be risking not getting it to work at all."

"So either Morgana changed it and cast hoping to get lucky…."

"Or she has a truly skilled magical helper. Just what is he playing at?"

"Who?"

"Amaethon. He has sent me here knowing I have the information you need. Morgana has somehow acquired a spell that should have been lost long ago, and has been able to restructure it without training when it took three of my brethren and a druid family to construct it before. The prophecies are in turmoil and two of the old religion gods have come out of hiding telling me the road must 'bend'. We are being played my friend but only the gods know why. If it is as I suspect Amaethon and Frige sent Morgana the spell."

"Then what are we to do? How do we break this? Are we supposed to? What did he tell you?" Gaius was understandably panicking.

"That my responses had to be my own."

"And what would your response have been?"

"That we need to tell Arthur about Merlin's magic and have him take him to the crystal cave. To do otherwise is a death sentence!"

"Good gods!"

"No, merely very manipulative ones!"