Author's Notes: I'm sick so this chapter will be extra short, guys. Know what would make me feel better? Go to my profile and click on the "Hurt and Comfort" poll! Vote on your top 3 favorite stories (and send a review if you want to tell me why you like them). The more I know about what you like to read, the more I can give you! My Tumblr is also listed in my profile – come say hi!

Hurt and Comfort in Camelot

PenPatronus

The Taste Test

Part 4

Seven men crowded into Merlin's bedroom. Another dozen knights waited in the adjoining chambers. So many volunteered to help Merlin that there literally wasn't enough room. Leon, Gwaine, Elyan and Percival lifted Merlin's bed (with him still in it) and moved it to the center of the room. Gaius stood in the corner reviewing his notes. Arthur took a seat at Merlin's side, fluffed his pillow and adjusted his blankets, wiped up not just the sweat threatening his eyes but every drop, and mopped the blood that not only leaked from Merlin's nostrils but from his mouth as well. His skin was so pale that Arthur traced the blue lines on his arm from his fingers, past his bare chest and up his neck. "Gaius," Arthur said when Merlin began to cough, "Gaius, are you ready?"

Gaius sat his book down and adjusted his robes. "Form a circle around him," he instructed the knights. Gaius filled the Cup of Life with water and stood at the head of the bed. He patted Merlin's shoulder affectionately. "Hold on, my boy," the physician whispered. "Just a few more moments."

Merlin smiled at each man in the room. "If this doesn't work, thank you. Thank you all." He turned to Arthur. "Thank you, my friend," he whispered.

Arthur's throat worked. "Thank you, brother." He briefly ran his fingers through an inch of Merlin's hair. The young servant sighed and shut his eyes.

Gaius raised the Cup and shouted the incantation. "Ic, séo héahsácerd, þe ácwele strengþe ealdanæwfæstnesse!"

A minute passed.

Arthur, Gwaine, Leon, Elyan and Percival glanced warily around the room. "I don't feel anything," Percival said. "I don't feel tired at all."

"Just wait," said Gaius. "Give the spell time to work."

Gwaine stared at his hands. They didn't tremble. Elyan's posture remained straight, Arthur's shoulders didn't slump. Leon's face lost no color.

Two minutes.

"Gaius…" Arthur began. Merlin suddenly rolled onto his side and vomited blood. His wide eyes rolled back into his skull and his body started to seize violently. "Dammit, it's not working!" Arthur shouted. He tried to pin Merlin down to keep him from hurting himself.

"Gaius, what do we do?" Elyan asked.

Gaius looked back and forth from the Cup to Merlin's dying body, and back again. Another minute. No magic sizzled in the air. Merlin went quiet, limp. Blood continued to leak. You could cook an egg on his forehead. You could water an entire garden with the perspiration flowing off his skin.

"Gaius!" Arthur gasped. They heard it, then. Every man there had heard the sound before. A death rattle. Merlin breathed a final hitching mouthful of air into his lungs and then exhaled it in brief, painful hitches. Arthur grabbed his wrist. "No pulse," he said. He pressed his fingers to Merlin's neck. "His heart stopped – Gaius, his heart stopped! Gaius!"

Suddenly Gaius swung his arms over his head as if lifting a bale of hay. Arthur and the knights flew through Merlin's open door into an awkward dog pile in the adjoining chambers. They yelled the physician's name but he could no longer hear them because he shut the door. Even though it didn't lock, no matter how hard Arthur and the others pulled, it refused to open.

"What the hell is he doing?" Gwaine cried.

"Disobeying," said Arthur, both regret and resignation on his face and in his voice. "The spell didn't work. He couldn't borrow our lives so now he's sacrificing his." Percival rammed his shoulder against the door. "Don't bother," Arthur whispered. "He's using magic to block us. There's nothing we can—"

As suddenly as it closed, the door peeked open. Arthur led the way inside. He and Gwaine ran straight to Merlin. Leon knelt beside Gaius who lay spread-eagled on the floor with the empty Cup of Life still clenched in his hand. Merlin's lips were wet. In a single motion, Arthur grabbed his wrist, touched his neck and pressed his ear to his heart. "Arthur?" Gwaine started to sweat as much as Merlin. "Arthur!"

"He's alive," Arthur said, and repeated himself because he spoke so quietly the first time. "His heartbeat it twice as strong." Arthur sighed with relief and then turned to Leon.

Leon confirmed what Arthur already knew. "He's dead."

To Be Continued