Hey! Next chapter up and ready, hope you enjoy the hurt/comfort! Definitely more to come! Warning, Fridays are pretty short for me, so may be tough to write another chapter. I will do my best, but if not I should have the next chapter uploaded by Saturday night. Have a great weekend, and thanks to sandhopper, mersan, gaylelbf, and everyone else for your reviews, and welcome to everyone who just joined us recently, including Caz231163 and Dolphinsouls123, among others. Love you all!
Chapter 16
The gates of Camelot were a welcome sight for the three knights. They rode through, made their way to the palace stables, and dismounted, Arthur being careful not to jostle the unconscious Merlin on his way down.
"Elyan," he said quickly, "go to Gaius, let him know we have Merlin, and to prepare for his arrival. Bring back a stretcher. Elyan nodded and sprinted to the physician's quarters.
Arthur looked to his last remaining knight. "Gwaine?"
Gwaine's jaw was tight, his expression hard, out of concern, Arthur knew, for his injured friend.
"Help me with him?"
Without a word, Gwaine followed Arthur over to his mare. They untied Merlin from the saddle, eased him down to the ground, and knelt down beside him to wait.
Arthur gave Merlin a quick once over, to make sure he was still breathing. That he was, but only just. His skin had gone gray, and his body glistened with perspiration-from the fever, no doubt. "Just hang on a bit longer, Merlin," he whispered. Merlin remained motionless.
Elyan made good time, and quickly returned with the stretcher in tow. They lifted Merlin onto it, and hurried down to Gaius's chambers.
"Set him down on the bed," Gaius ordered, as soon as they came into the sick room.
He was already bustling around, collecting vials of different potions and medicines. A neat roll of bandages rested on the bedside table, along with disinfectant.
Arthur and Gwaine settled Merlin on the bed. Merlin's body shook violently, and his teeth chattered with cold, despite the warm fire crackling in the hearth.
"No!" barked Gaius, as Gwaine made to throw the pile of quilts onto the shivering boy, "Not yet! We need to get his fever down first. One of you fetch me a basin of cool water." Elyan left immediately.
"Now I'll need you to take off his trousers," continued Gaius. Despite the gravity of the situation, Gwaine's lips quirked up into a smirk. Arthur rolled his eyes and pushed him out of the way to follow Gaius's orders. He did his best not to move Merlin's injured leg, but Merlin still winced in pain more than once as he rolled the pant leg down. Arthur breathed hasty apologies, but did not stop until the trousers were off. Meanwhile, Elyan returned with the water, and Gaius put Gwaine to work, telling him to him sponge Merlin down with a cloth soaked in the cool water. Gwaine was surprisingly gentle in his ministrations, carefully dabbing the cuts and bruises to get some of the dirt out. Merlin moaned softly as Elyan took another cloth and shaped it into a compress for his forehead.
Gaius began unwinding the bloody, sweat encrusted bandages around Merlin's torso. He tsked when he saw the foul, yellow pus oozing from many of the cuts.
"I'm going to have to reopen this one," Gaius said grimly, gesturing towards a particularly large wound. "We have to cut it open so the infection can leak out."
Arthur shuddered. He could only imagine how much that was going to hurt. He backed off, unwilling to watch.
"Arthur."
He stopped guiltily, and looked up at Gaius. "I know it's hard," the elderly man said quietly, "but I need your help. Merlin needs your help."
Arthur gulped, but nodded and returned to the patient bed.
"I need you to hold him down now. One of you pin his arms down, and another should sit on his legs," Gaius instructed, ignoring the knights' horror struck faces. "Mind the right leg, it's broken." Gwaine hissed, eyes bright with fury as he realized the extent of the damage that had been done to his closest friend.
"That witch will pay for this." he growled, as he clambered onto the bed to hold Merlin's legs down. Elyan put down the compress and pinned down Merlin's arms.
Some part of Merlin seemed aware of what was going on.
"No...please…" he whimpered, kicking feebly with his good leg. "Don't…" Elyan grit his teeth and pressed harder.
"Arthur, brace his head," said Gaius. Arthur put his hands gently on either side of Merlin's face, trying to make it as comfortable as possible.
"Don't...don't hurt me…" Merlin whispered, struggling weakly. "Arthur...Art … ur …. please…" It soon became too much for him, and he slumped back against the bed.
"Shh," Arthur whispered, smoothing back Merlin's disheveled mop of hair from his forehead. "I'm here Merlin. You're safe."
Hearing his voice, Merlin's face relaxed somewhat, and he stopped trying to fight.
Meanwhile, Gaius had sterilized a surgical knife and heated it in the fireplace. He brought it over to the huddled group by the bed. Arthur blanched.
"Gaius," he pleaded, not even embarrassed at the tears sliding down his dirty cheeks. "Please don't do this. Don't hurt him."
Gaius's eyes were also wet. "I'm sorry Arthur," he said softly, "But sometimes you need to hurt in order to heal." He closed his eyes, for a moment, steeling himself. Then he brought the metal down on Merlin's abdomen, and sliced through the scabbing cut.
Merlin screamed so loud, they all jumped. He bolted upright, knocking the knights out of the way. He panted heavily, eyes wide open but unseeing. He cried out again, trembling with terror.
Gaius dropped the knife with a clatter, and hurried over to his young ward.
"You're alright, Merlin, he murmured, stroking the boy's forehead gently. "You're alright. You're safe. You're safe," he repeated, over and over again, until Merlin calmed down.
Shaking, Arthur looked at his fellow knights. Elyan was retching into the waste receptacle. Gwaine was white, and looked on the verge of being sick, but he seemed to be holding himself together for Merlin's sake. Arthur felt a wave of admiration for the knight. He shuddered, knowing he was never going to forget that sickening sound of knife carving flesh, the sight of the pus and poisonous fluid leaking from opened scab, and running out of the blistered pockets from the burn wounds Gaius had sliced open. He would not forget Merlin's screams. No doubt they would make an appearance in his nightmares.
Gaius continued to murmur soothingly. Merlin's eyes drooped, and soon his breathing was deep and regular as he drifted off into an uneasy slumber.
Gaius looked exhausted, but took the opportunity to give the boy a more thorough examination, checking for more infected wounds, and feeling for broken bones. Arthur waited tensely for his prognosis.
Finally, Gaius stood back. "Three of his ribs are broken," he announced, "As is his right leg. The ribs just need to be taped up, though it will be painful for him to breathe too deeply for awhile. But his leg will need to be reset." He grimaced. "I'll give him a sleeping draught before I do that. He's been through more than enough pain." He shook his head sadly.
"What about his fever?" Arthur asked quietly. "And the infection?"
Gaius nodded. "The infection should not be a problem, now that I opened the cuts again, provided we keep the wounds clean, and continue to flush them out with water. He lost a lot of blood, and is very weak. His body is malnourished, and we may need to spoon feed him broths for some time before he can keep down solid foods." he shook his head slowly. "But all that can be dealt with. The problem, as you mentioned Arthur, is the fever, which is too high." He rested his palm against Merlin's burning forehead. "His body is much too frail to fight the fever on its own. We'll need to keep sponging him down, and we'll have to try to get some water in him to keep him hydrated." Gaius hesitated, then finished slowly, "I don't know how much longer he has if the fever doesn't go down."
They looked down at Merlin. Even in sleep, his deep breathing was labored, and his body still trembled with cold, despite his forehead being hot enough to fry an egg. Merlin wasn't out of the woods yet. Far from it.