CARLEON – THE ARCHIVES

Merlin sat at a long wooden table, books spread and piled in front of him.

The bottle that he had taken from Norma was beside him on the table.

He glanced at it before down at the book in front of him.

"No."

He slammed the book shut and stood, turning to stand on another chair and finger through the books at eye level.

There were footsteps behind him and he turned quickly, knocking one book to the floor.

It landed on the stone floor with a resonating thud.

Merlin cursed quietly and jumped down as the footsteps walked closer, the person who made them cast a long shadow from the torchlight over him.

Merlin crouched down to pick the book up and stood.

He held the book to him and straightened when he saw a man stood just in front of him, devoid of his chainmail, arms folded, one eyebrow raised.

"Looking for some bed time reading were we Merlin?"

Merlin shifted, "Maybe, what's your excuse?"

"Don't try and be funny Merlin."

Arthur unfolded his arms and walked around him to sit on the table.

"What are you really doing down here Merlin?"

Arthur sat on the table, surrounded by Merlin's books that he had taken from the shelves in search of the liquid that he knew to be poisonous, that he had taken from Norma, that she intended to use on Gwen…

Merlin rifled through another book as he explained.

"When I finished helping you prepare for the feast I saw Norma hurrying out of the city into the night, I thought it was odd, until she arrived at the feast, trying to lift that," He gestured to the bottle on the table by Arthur's hip, "and put it in Guinevere's drink."

Arthur narrowed his eyes immediately and looked down at the liquid in the bottle.

He lifted it into his hand and held it up to the torch light.

His eyes narrowed further.

"Do you see that?" He asked Merlin without looking at him.

"See what?" Merlin looked up, and his eyes too narrowed at the sight of a purple tinge appearing through the liquid when it was placed in front of the torch light.

"A purple smear…"

Merlin slammed the book he held down on the table and reached for another, flicking it open hurriedly before slapping the page he wanted open firmly.

Arthur stood and peered at it at his side.

"There." Merlin pointed to the diagram of the liquid in the book.

The image clearly matched the bottle Arthur held in his hand.

THE CORRIDOR OUTSIDE ARTHUR AND GWEN'S GUEST CHAMBER

Fuelled with fright over what would happen to her if she failed to do what Odin and his daughter wanted, Norma hurried down the corridor, her steps silent on the stone, through the sleeping castle.

She held something wrapped in a linen handkerchief in her hands.

King Odin and Princess Annis are above me in station, wealth, and right… who am I to dispute what they want.

There is nothing I can do.

Hating herself but having resigned her part in what was to happen; Norma felt her hands were tied.

She stopped in front of a grate that lead to the chamber Gwen and Arthur were occupying.

She swallowed and set the small linen parcel in it, and unwrapped it slightly, revealing something that looked similar to bark.

She lifted one piece between her fingers, before turning around to touch it gently to the torch that burned brightly on the wall.

She turned around to face the grate and dropped it silently on top of the rest of the package, before she coughed slightly at the smell, and closed the grate before hurrying away.

Down the corridor, she passed Alys who sneered.

"Good." She dropped a gold coin at a quivering Norma who curtsied shakily..

"You were right to act again, my father would not be happy to know that you failed the first time." Alys sneered, "Go."

Norma nodded and curried away, hating herself.

Alys sneered and disappeared to her own chambers, just as the smoke from the grate started to seep into the air of the room where Gwen slept.

CARLEON – THE ARCHIVES

"The extract from the berries of Minas." Merlin read, "When turned into a liquid it acts as a deadly poison, two drops evokes excruciating and lingering death while a whole bottled dose kills the victim almost instantly… the corpse will bear signs of lethal food poisoning."

Arthur straightened, his jaw flexing.

Merlin looked at him to see him glaring at the bottle of poison.

He stared at his master, king and friend.

"If Gwen had drunk all of that there would have been no way of saving her."

"And it would have looked like food poisoning…" Arthur muttered, "And blame would have fallen at Carleon's feet, and peace would most likely have been avoided."

Merlin straightened.

"Then I was right in what I saw wasn't I… Odin is using Alys to blackmail Norma to kill Gwen and kill peace between you and Carleon…"

Arthur said nothing.

Merlin pressed on.

"You said yourself, he would not leave peace himself when you and Annis would still form an allegiance… he would want to kill all hope of a bond between Camelot and Carleon…this is what he wanted."

Something in Arthur's brain snapped together.

His eyes flashed up at Merlin.

"If that is what Odin wants Norma may feel she has to act again to take Guinevere."

Merlin stiffened.

Arthur's eyes flashed with panic and anger to his manservant and friend.

"Guinevere could be in danger…"

CARLEON – ARTHUR AND GWEN'S CHAMBERS

Gwen awoke to a tight feeling in her chest.

She pushed herself up but felt as though her head and chest were filled with led.

She was awoken by her own coughing.

Having been laid on her back, hands by her face, she had inhaled more of the air than she perhaps normally would, when curled in Arthur's embrace.

Her coughing ripped through her chest and she heaved and shook, tears streaming against the thick smoke that seemed to have settled in the air.

She couldn't breathe.

Where was the smoke coming from?

She coughed and heaved as she almost fell form bed, her head full of the smoke, her chest brarely functioning, and her legs shaking.

Her knees gave way and she knelt by the bed, clutching at her chest as she felt the room spin around her.

Where was the smoke coming from?

She coughed harder.

She couldn't breathe.

THE CORRIDOR OUTSIDE ARTHUR AND GWEN'S GUEST CHAMBER

Arthur and Merlin skidded around the end of the corridor.

Seeing smoke fill some of the corridor, and more of it pooling out from the door that lead to where his Guinevere slept, Arthur hurled himself forwards.

"Guinevere!" He bellowed, "Guards!"

Merlin followed him as he sprinted to the door and slammed into it, covering his mouth with his hand.

CARLEON – ARTHUR AND GWEN'S CHAMBERS

Arthur's eyes streamed immediately at the thick smoke in the air, that made his stomach heave and his head spin.

"Guinevere…" He coughed at seeing her knelt by the bed, shaking and coughing.

He used his energy to sprint to her side, moving his hand away from his face to pick her up, his hands under her arms.

He helped her to her feet and steered her with her hips to the window, which he shoved open.

She coughed and spluttered, the smoke flowing out around them.

He rubbed her back and coughed himself as she heaved and coughed, hands clutching at the window ledge, her thin nightdress offering no protection against the freezing air.

"You are alright…" Arthur coughed, rubbing her back, "You are alright."

Arthur looked over his shoulder to see Merlin moved through the lingering smoke to open the grate that led from the corridor into their room.

He watched as Merlin pulled a burnt and wrapped bundle of splinters and blow it out, coughing as more smoke was produced.

"What is that?" Arthur demanded.

Merlin sniffed it gingerly and coughed again.

"It is the bark of a rangwar tree; it evokes heavy smoke that can suffocate a person…"

Guards appeared at the door, Queen Annis with them, wrapped in a fur wrap.

"What is going on here?" She demanded.

Arthur rubbed Gwen's back who shuddered, the lingering coughs still in her chest.

The king looked over his shoulder and saw Norma skid to a stop behind the guards, shaking and pale.

He straightened, eyes burning with rage.