Depressione pt.36
Hello, hope you are having a good day.
"Who are you?" Balinor asked.
"My name is Lancelot." Lancelot greeted.
"I've heard a lot about you, Lancelot. Come in. We could use your help."
"Where's Merlin?"
"He's resting. He's very ill. So are all of the children."
"Lancelot, it's good to see you again." Arthur said as he stood up to greet Lancelot.
"It's good to see you too." Lancelot answered. "How is he?"
"Not good. He's sleeping again. Well, at least I think he is."
"Can I see him?"
"Yeah."
Lancelot went to Merlin and saw that he was awake.
"Never learn, do you?" Lancelot teased.
"I couldn't miss seeing you again." Merlin croaked.
"You've changed."
"You haven't."
"How do you feel?"
"Not good."
"Well, you are ill."
"Yeah. SO are most of the kids and I can't do anything to help them."
"Hey, everyone will be fine."
"I hope so."
"They will. Have faith."
Merlin smiled slightly.
"Get some rest. I'm going to make myself useful and help Arthur." Lancelot sighed. Merlin nodded and went to sleep. Merlin woke up later that day and saw Balinor and Freya tending to Brea.
"What's wrong? Is she alright?" Merlin moaned. Hunith went to Merlin and held his hand.
"She's fine. She just gave us quite a scare. So did you. You stopped breathing for a few minutes. When you stopped breathing, Brea started coughing more than any child has ever coughed. When you started breathing, she calmed down but now she's coughing up blood. Balinor says that it's just from the harsh coughing she did." Hunith explained.
"Can I hold her?"
"Yes."
Freya picked Brea up and took her to Merlin. Merlin took her and held her close.
"Don't scare us like that ever again, Brea. We all love you too much and we couldn't bare to lose you." Merlin whispered. Brea opened her eyes and grabbed Merlin's hand and started playing with it. Merlin and Freya smiled at Brea. Hunith left the three alone and went to check on the other children. Freya kissed Merlin's forehead and squeezed his hand.
"Don't scare me ever again, Merlin. I wouldn't survive long without you." Freya whispered. Merlin looked at her and then looked at Brea.
"You won't. I promise."
"You'd better."
The two kissed and spent the next hour holding Brea and resting. Balinor came over and put his hand on Freya's shoulder.
"He needs to rest." Balinor sighed. "Get some rest. I'll watch him for a while."
"Ok." Freya answered. She kissed Merlin and then went to get some sleep. Balinor grabbed a cup and put something in it with the water.
"I need you to drink this, Merlin."
Merlin did as he was told. When he was done, Balinor checked his pulse and temperature.
"You're getting much worse. Hopefully, the stuff I gave you will help you." Balinor sighed.
"What was it?" Merlin wondered.
"Boneset, echinacea, lemongrass, and yarrow."
"I could taste the lemongrass and yarrow."
"It should help you fight whatever this is."
"I hope so."
"How do you feel?"
"Weak and cold. Tired. My head hurts. My legs are numb."
Balinor started touching Merlin's legs while Merlin told Balinor how he felt.
"Merlin, do you feel this?" Balinor wondered.
"Feel what?" Merlin mumbled.
"Do you feel my hand squeezing your legs?"
"No but I'll be fine."
Balinor grabbed Merlin's arms and started touching them. Merlin whimpered painfully.
"Does it hurt?" Balinor questioned.
"Yeah." Merlin whimpered.
"1 being no pain and 10 being unbearable, how bad is the pain?"
"8."
Balinor touched Merlin's torso and Merlin cried out painfully.
"10. It's a 10." Merlin cried.
"I'll go get you something for the pain." Balinor whispered. Balinor went to the other side of the room while Merlin tried to keep himself calm. Arthur looked over and saw the look on Merlin's face.
"What's wrong?" Arthur asked.
"I'm getting worse. I can't feel my legs and the rest of my body hurts. Dad's finding something to help with the pain." Merlin replied.
"You'll be fine. You've survived much worse. Remember when you were poisoned at the banquet?"
"Yeah. That was bad. I felt so weak for nearly a month."
"Gaius had you wearing a blanket for a good week."
"My fever was there for a couple of weeks too."
"Yeah. You almost died from that but you didn't. You survived that and you can survive this."
"Thanks, Arthur."
Balinor came over with a cup of pain medicine.
"I need you to drink this slowly. It's going to be very bitter." Balinor warned. Merlin did as he was told. After one sip, Merlin tried to push the cup away but Balinor stopped him. When Merlin was done, he groaned. "Do you feel any better?"
"No. It's worse. The pain's worse." Merlin groaned.
"It's should start helping you in a few minutes. Arthur, can you watch him while I go figure out what this plague is?"
"Sure." Arthur answered. Balinor left the two and looked through one of his books. Lancelot came over.
"DO you need some help?" Lancelot asked.
"Sure." Balinor sighed. Lancelot grabbed a book and started looking through it. "I wish Gaius was here. He would know what this is. He always knows. Before the Great Purge, he was my mentor and a very good friend. He and Alice were always a very good team. Without them, I wouldn't be a father, husband, or anything for that matter."
"What if we find him?"
"What do mean?"
"A couple of us can go look for him."
"That could take days and they don't have that long."
"Balinor, something's wrong with Merlin!" Arthur exclaimed. Balinor put the book down and went to Merlin. When he got there, he saw that Merlin was having a seizure.
"When did this start?" Balinor questioned.
"Just now. He was telling me that something felt strange and then started doing this."
"Let's get him on his side and get the blankets off of him before he gets worse."
They did what they could for Merlin. Several minutes later, Merlin finally calmed down.
"Will he be alright?" Arthur wondered.
"I don't know. I hope so." Balinor mumbled.
Balinor checked Merlin's temperature.
"His temperature has dropped way too fast. It was nearly 105 and now it 92. That's why he had the seizure." Balinor sighed.
TBC