"Isn't Gwaine coming to walk you home this evening?" Merlin asked as Anna gathered her things together.
"No—he and some of the other knights were escorting the Queen on a ride," Anna explained. "Though I would have expected them to be back by now," she added, glancing out the window at the darkening sky.
"Gaius!" someone shouted in the corridor, and Anna opened the door just in time for one of the stablehands to come charging in the room. "Two knights have been bitten by poisonous snakes," he panted. "They're bringing them up now."
"Merlin, hollyhock. Two grams," Gaius said as Anna threw off her cloak and pulled out two of the cots from the side of the room. In a moment, Percival and Leon were brought in on stretchers, escorted by Elyan and Gwaine and followed almost immediately by Arthur.
"What happened?" he asked urgently.
"We were riding," Elyan answered. "Came upon a nest of snakes. Didn't Gwen tell you?"
"Gwen?"
Elyan and Gwaine exchanged a look. "She got away—didn't she make it back?" Gwaine asked, though the answer to that was clear.
"We'll search for her," Elyan said, moving toward the door.
"No—you're tired, and we may need you tomorrow," Arthur decided quickly. "I'll form some of the other knights into a search party." He turned and strode out of the room, and Gwaine followed him. Elyan looked helplessly at Percival and Leon, whom Gaius and his apprentices were already examining.
"You can't do anything here," Gaius said, not unkindly. Elyan nodded in understanding and left, shutting the door behind him.
"I've never seen a snakebite like this before," Anna said, looking at the twin puncture wounds on Leon's arm.
"This was no accident," Gaius said. "There is dark magic coursing through their veins. By any rights, they should be dead." He looked up at Anna. "This would be an excellent time to practice using your new abilities."
She looked half-sick at the thought. "Won't someone know?" she objected.
"They're unconscious and no one else is here to see," Merlin pointed out.
"But won't someone guess that we used magic to cure them so quickly?"
"I don't believe so," Gaius replied, with a small smile. "I do have some reputation as a healer, you know." Anna turned pink, but sat down by Leon's cot. "Now, what you want to do is learn to use your abilities willfully, instead of just by instinct," Gaius coached her, "so I want you to really observe and analyze what you're doing. Firstly, think about what kind of magic you want to do."
"Ridding the body of poison," Anna said, and Gaius nodded, waiting for more. "It's snakebite, so there is poison in the blood. We need—I need—to purify the blood."
"Yes. Now Merlin is going to lend you power to do this," Gaius said. "But you are the one directing that power. You are like a funnel: you take in the magic that Merlin gives you and you direct it with precision toward the goal."
Anna nodded and placed her hand over the snakebite on Leon's arm. "What do I say?"
Gaius looked at Merlin, who thought for a moment. "Try Ic þe þurhhæle þin licsare,"he suggested. She repeated it several times until she had it, then nodded. Merlin put his hand over her own, giving her a reassuring smile. She returned it and closed her eyes in concentration.
"Ic þe þurhhæle þin licsare," she said, opening her eyes. Merlin's eyes and her own both flashed golden at the same time, and Anna lifted her hand from Leon's arm, peeking at the wound. There was no change.
"It didn't work," she said flatly.
"Try again," Gaius said patiently, and she covered it again. "Ic þe þurhhæle þin licsare." The wound was still the same."You should just use the hollyhock, Anna said, pushing her chair back.
"No, no," Gaius said, putting out a hand to stop her. "You can do this. What do you feel when you try to heal the wound?"
She frowned. "There's… an almost overwhelming power flowing through me from Merlin," she said at last. "It flows all over Leon, but it… it's like it bounces off. It doesn't do anything."
"This time, try to hold some of it back. Direct what you let through into the wound itself, and from there to the bloodstream," Gaius coached, and Anna put her hand over Leon's arm once more. This time there was a long pause as she concentrated on her task, and when at last her eyes and Merlin's flashed gold, they both remained so for a few moments longer than usual.
Leon shifted and moaned. When Anna and Merlin let go of his arm, the marks from the snake were gone.
"Good! Now quickly, before he wakes up!" Gaius said urgently, and they quickly repeated the operation with Percival. This time it worked immediately.
And not a moment too soon. Leon opened his eyes only a few seconds after they had finished and looked around dazedly. "Where am I?" he groaned.
"You're back in Camelot," Gaius said reassuringly as Anna got up unobtrusively, trying to look natural.
"Percival!—" Leon exclaimed as memory returned, and tried to sit up.
"Easy! He's fine." Merlin caught him as he lurched dizzily. "See?" he pointed to where Percival was beginning to stir under Anna's supervision.
"And the others?" Leon said urgently.
"Everyone's fine. Except—" Merlin and Gaius exchanged a look.
"Except?" Leon said impatiently
"The Queen has not returned to the castle yet." Leon tried to sit up again and Merlin and Gaius both held him back. "Arthur is sending out a search party. The best thing you can do right now is to rest. You will heal more quickly, and be a greater help to Arthur when he needs you."
Leon sighed, but did as he was told. He always was the most reasonable of the knights, Merlin reflected thankfully.
And it seemed Arthur would indeed need his help. A few hours later the search party returned. They had not found Guinevere, and it was too dark to find any tracks. With the knowledge that Morgana might be behind the disappearance, Arthur decided that he and his best knights would go in search of her at first light. Percival and Leon, Gaius had assured him, would be fully recovered by then.
Merlin relayed the message to the King in his bedchamber. Arthur nodded, but was silent.
"Arthur?"
"I lost Guinevere once before," he said quietly, not making eye contact.
"You are not going to lose her," Merlin said, advancing to him. "You're not. We will find her: I swear." He held out his hand, and after a moment's hesitation, Arthur clasped his arm, then gave a short, humorless laugh.
"What?"
"You make me these promises. But what can you do to fulfill them? You can't fight, you can't track, and you scare off the game when we hunt." His tone for once wasn't mocking. "And yet I trust you. I believe you can do what you promise." He looked closely at Merlin's face. "Why is that, Merlin?"
It was an opening. He could do it—he could say something. Anything—anything that would lead to telling Arthur the things he should know. That would lead to the conversation Merlin had been awaiting for so many years…
Merlin shook his head. "I guess the Old Gods smile on foolish optimism," he said brightly, blinking back tears.
Arthur gave another humorless laugh and looked away. "I guess so."
TBC