Alaia Skyhawk: Mueeheeheeheehee :D
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.
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Chapter 49: It's a Matter of Perception ~Part 2~
Merlin was trying not to yelp, as Arthur dragged him through the castle holding him in something of a headlock. The two of them had to keep stopping, waiting for nobles and servants to pass by before continuing. The prince was not going to risk Merlin trying to make a run for it, not that he would given how serious he knew... despite being seriously funny to him... this was.
Arthur was supposed to be at a meeting in less than an hour!
Merlin did yelp a little, when they reached the stairs to Gaius' chambers and Arthur practically carried him up them by his neck. The two of them burst into those rooms, Gaius turning and staring at them in surprise when he saw the rather upset looking prince and the warlock whose head was jammed under his arm and pink in the face from slight lack of air.
"What's wrong?"
Arthur let go of Merlin, shoving him forward with a glare that said 'explain, because I'm not going to open my mouth until you do'.
Merlin glanced at him, wincing, before doing just that.
"Um... Gaius... Did your friend who taught you that spell ever say there could be complications if you happen to accidentally cut it short?"
Gaius frowned, walking over to the pair.
"What happened?"
Merlin started to look sheepish, Arthur still glaring at him.
"Um, I was just casting the first part on Arthur when someone knocked on his door. I cut the incantation off short, I've never had problems with cutting spells off before because usually it just means they don't cast at all, but this time... well... I sort of cut it off at the 'woman is heard' part and..."
Arthur sighed when Merlin stopped, slapping him around the back of the head as if he hadn't already expressed his displeasure enough. The sound of his voice caused Gaius to stiffen in shock.
"This idiot somehow managed to make me sound like a woman. I'm supposed to be at a council meeting in less than an hour!" He started to pace, running his hands through his hair. "This is a complete and utter disaster!" Merlin began to chuckle, at hearing him speak, and got another slap around the head. "This isn't funny, Merlin!"
Gaius regarded them both for a moment, before hurrying to the door.
"You two stay here and wait for me to come back. I'll go make up an excuse for you not to attend the meeting, Sire. I'll see if I can figure out exactly what Merlin did when I get back."
He exited the chambers, closing the door just as Arthur's demand for the warlock to get his spellbook and start looking through it was cut off by said warlock slapping the physician's silence book down on the table beside the prince. As for Gaius, he wasn't sure what to think of all this. Only Merlin it seems could create a mess up of this magnitude, and now it was left to him to buy his ward time to fix it.
He strode through the castle, arriving at the council chambers around half an hour before the meeting was due to start. Luckily only Uther was present, and thus the physician approached him slowly.
Uther saw him come in, regarding him querying as he came over.
"What is it, Gaius?"
The physician bowed slightly.
"I'm afraid I've come to tell you that your son won't be attending the meeting, Sire."
Uther frowned.
"Is something wrong with Arthur?"
Gaius shook his head.
"Nothing serious, Sire. It seems he's been suffering from a sore throat for a few days, and thought to stick it out and let it pass on it's own. This morning it was particularly bad, and his voice is quite hoarse, so when he received the message that he was required to attend he came to me for a remedy to ease it."
Uther sat in his chair.
"Then what seems to be the problem?"
Gaius clasped his hands, pausing a moment as if delivering news that would displease him.
"It turns out the soreness he was ignoring was in fact quite a nasty infection of the throat. It is easily cured, but I'm afraid I've had to forbid him from speaking for at least a week. He must rest his voice if his throat is to heal, and to ensure he does not permanently damage his voice."
The king remained silent for a moment, before sighing in resignation.
"That boy... What is the point of having a Court Physician, if you do not go to them when you are ill." He stood up. "I'm sorry you have to deal with this, Gaius. I'll make sure he knows to go to you immediately in future."
Gaius nodded in thanks.
"Thank you, Sire. Indeed illnesses are best treated promptly, for delays can often lead to serious complications." He bowed again. "I'm afraid I must go now, Sire. I still need to make the prince's medicine."
"Yes, of course. You may go."
Gaius turned and left, breathing an inward sigh of relief that his position as Court Physician made it so simple to buy time. He just had to hope that this 'complication' would be an easy fix, or pray that a week was enough time to find a way to deal with it.
~(-)~
"Say 'ah'."
"Ah."
"Merlin, if you cannot keep quiet could you please leave the room. You're being distracting."
Gaius frowned at his ward, as he then resumed examining the inside of Arthur's throat. The prince was glaring at his servant, mouth open wide while the physician prodded around inside it. When the physician stood back from him, he closed his mouth and muttered quietly.
"Well?"
Merlin let out another muffled splutter of laughter, earning a punch on the shoulder for it. Gaius shook his head slightly at the sight... at this rate Merlin would be black and blue before the day was over.
He turned his attention back to the prince.
"I see no actual changes to your throat and vocal chords, Sire, so the cause of the change in your voice is not physical."
Arthur frowned, giving Merlin a warning glance before he spoke.
"Then what did he do?"
The physician sighed.
"Going by the nature of the spell he was casting at the time, which alters the way the target perceives the voice of the caster when the second part of is triggered. It would seem when he cut it short he has somehow caused a reverse effect, whereby everyone around you is caused to perceive your voice as being female in nature."
Arthur gave him a long look.
"So what you're saying is that my voice hasn't actually been changed... Merlin's messed up spell is just making people think that it has?"
Gaius nodded.
"That would summarise it, yes. The Speaking Spell does not actually send the voice of the caster to the recipient, but rather causes the recipient to perceive the sound as coming from within their ears. That is why only the recipient can hear them, and not anyone else close by."
"So how do we fix this, then?"
Gaius hesitated, seating himself on a stool.
"I'm afraid I don't know. The spell used to be very popular before the Purge, and I've never even once heard of it going awry in this way. I can only presume that it did so in this case simply because Merlin is so powerful. If a normal sorcerer were to stop at the same place the spell would just fail, for to alter the perceptions of everyone around you the faulty spell must be very strong indeed. As it is though, we are lucky in one respect in that the Speaking Spell must be refreshed at regular intervals, otherwise it wears off after a time."
Arthur started to look a bit happier.
"So this will go away on it's own? How long?"
Gaius winced a little.
"Now that is not so fortunate... Depending on the strength of the caster, it can last anywhere from two weeks to two months."
Arthur got to his feet, once again very unhappy.
"Then what am I supposed to do now? I can't not speak for two months!"
Gaius sighed, glancing at Merlin before replying.
"I would suggest you borrow Liam from Sir Fernir again, at least for bringing your midday meal. That will allow Merlin and I to work on a solution without having to stop at noon for him to go get your food."
Arthur sighed, frustrated.
"Fine... Merlin, speak to Liam this afternoon and tell him I will require his services for that. It does not matter if my food comes up late; he is to attend to his usual master first. As for you, you'd better start working, Merlin... now."
~(-)~
It was a slightly puzzled blond man who made a second trip to the kitchens the following midday, Liam wondering just what job Merlin was needed for that he couldn't take the prince his noontime meal. He took his fellow servant's shortcut to the nobles' wing, having long since started using it himself to avoid the bustle of the more heavily used passages. It was strange indeed, especially given that the prince was ill and forbidden to use his voice. Maybe Merlin had been teasing him about it, and the prince had decided that putting up with it for one meal less per day was more than he could take.
Liam snorted to himself. Yes, that was probably the reason, although he doubted anyone else would figure it out. There was almost no one else who knew the prince and his manservant were friends.
He arrived at Arthur's chambers, opening the door and entering with the tray. Across the room the prince was sat at his desk, nodding to the servant before getting up from his seat. He also picked up a board of some sort and a grey rag, the purpose of which was revealed when he used the piece of chalk he also carried to write something.
He flipped the board round so Liam could see what was written, the words clear on the surface of the slate.
'Thank you.'
Liam smiled slightly.
"You're welcome, Sire. I'm happy to help. Do you need me to stay and take the tray back once you're done?"
Arthur sat down at the table, pausing to use his rag to clean the slate before scribbling something new. Again he held up the result.
"No. Idiot will do it."
Liam inwardly winced. Merlin was in trouble for something, the prince was referring to him as 'idiot'.
The door burst open, the aforementioned individual entering and pausing when he saw Liam was in the room. He then plastered on a grin, as if nothing was wrong.
"Hi, Liam, thanks for bringing Arthur's meal up. I've brought his medicine from Gaius, so I'll take his tray back to the kitchen before I go back to helping Gaius annotate his inventory."
Liam blinked.
"Annotate his inventory?"
Merlin tilted his head, looking apologetic.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you. Gaius is checking through all of his supplies and stored remedies, to clear out the ones that aren't usable anymore and list the things he needs to stock up on again. It's a lot of work, so he needs me to help him with it and even then it's going to take a few days. That's why he asked me to ask you to fill in for me during the day."
Liam stared at him. Well, maybe Arthur was just annoyed that his had happened while he was ill.
"Oh, ok. I guess I'll see you around." He bowed to Arthur. "Good day, Sire, I hope you recover quickly."
As soon as the blond had left the room, Merlin darted to the mantel to get the silence book and put it out on the table.
"I've got something to try, to break the spell I put on you."
The darkness of the glare Arthur gave Merlin dared the warlock to laugh again as he spoke.
"Get on with it..."
Merlin took a deep breath, before pointing at the prince.
"Sin ce acu ta athraigh, filleadh. Feach, an fior guth ta cluin!" His eyes glowed for a moment, before he raised his eyebrows a little. "Well?"
Arthur hesitated, and then spoke.
"You're an idiot."
That statement was confirmed, when not only did he still sound like woman, you could hear his real voice speaking beneath it... All Merlin had managed to do was make the prince sound like he had two voices.
The warlock winced, grimacing.
"Sorry... Gaius and I thought that since breaking the spell would be a problem, because it was never designed with needing to be broken in mind, that we'd try modifying it instead."
Arthur folded his arms.
"Well it didn't work, did it. What now?"
Merlin continued to grimace.
"We'll have to try and create a spell to unravel it. It's that or no speaking to anyone in public until it wears off."
"Well don't just stand there, get going!"
He threw his fork at the warlock, who hastily caught it before wincing.
"I have to wait for your tray first..."
"Forget the damn tray, take it back to the kitchen later!"
Merlin beat a hasty retreat, narrowly avoiding the empty mug that came his way next. Well at least he didn't sound totally like a girl anymore.
~(-)~
It was a short while later that there was a tentative knock on the door, Arthur having to physically get up and see who it was since he couldn't just 'tell' them to come in. Would it be Liam again, or his father? Arthur grimaced at the thought of the latter. One berating for 'not getting an illness checked out sooner' was enough for one day. When he opened it and saw who it actually was, he'd have faced a dozen tellings off.
It was Gwen...
He gestured for her to come into the room, heading for the mantelpiece as she spoke.
"I heard about your throat, but couldn't come before now. I just wanted to see how you were feeling."
Arthur sighed, waving her to come sit at the table as he set the silence book down on it. He might as well just get this over with. As soon as she was sat, and the book in place, he answered her.
"I'm perfectly fine, except that I have Merlin to thank for this monumentally huge disaster."
Gwen stared at him, able to hear his real voice but unable to deny the other she could hear. Seeing her expression, Arthur was actually glad Merlin had at least managed that much of a fix... This would have been ten times worse if the female voice had been the only one she could hear.
Even so, that was little comfort when she was forced to try and hide her smile as she began to chuckle.
"He's made you sound like a woman. How did he manage that?"
A thoroughly mortified prince sat down opposite her, putting his head in his hands.
"I'd beat the crap out of him for this, except that it wasn't really totally his fault. If not for someone knocking on my door mid-spell, I wouldn't be in this situation. He and Gaius are trying to figure out a way to fix it before my week of 'no speaking' is over."
Gwen was still chuckling, as she began to shake her head.
"Only Merlin... He really is as clumsy as they come sometimes. Do you need me to bring you anything? Take any messages to Gaius and Merlin for you?"
Arthur just smiled at her.
"Seeing your lovely face is more than enough, even if this is embarrassing."
She smiled at that, getting up to go.
"Well it's nice knowing that you're not really ill. Still, if you need me for anything, don't hesitate to ask. I'll see you later, Arthur, and don't worry... No matter what you sound like, you'll always be handsome to me."
He watched her go with a slowly growing smile on his face, closing the silence book as soon as she was gone. He might have been dreading telling her, but she more than countered that dread with her words. Being called that by her was more than enough.
He returned to his desk in a far better mood. He should look on the bright side; his 'illness' would mean more visits from Gwen.
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Alaia Skyhawk: Hehehe, see you all in part 3 :)
