King || Arthur
Only two days after his friends had left, his father fell ill. At first, no one noticed anything out of the ordinary, what with Gwen gone. She knew his usual state of mind, and would have seen when he went from simply despondent to motionless but in pain. Instead, servants went about their usual care tasks, and it wasn't until Arthur went to see him that he noticed the pain behind Uther's eyes.
"I'm not sure I can locate the cause, sire," Gaius said. He watched with pity as the King stared out the window. "His state is rapidly deteriorating. Perhaps it's just his time to go. You can't say his quality of life this past year has been fulfilling."
"No, Gaius." He wasn't sure what made him say it. He knew his father. Uther wouldn't want to live like this. Arthur had been regent for the year, he could manage without him, but something wasn't right. "He can't just die so suddenly, Gaius. Something else is going on here."
Now it was Arthur being stared at with pity. "With all due respect, Arthur, this isn't sudden. It's been on its way for a long time now." He gave Arthur a pat on the shoulder. "I gave him something for the pain, and I'll check in on him every few hours. Aside from that, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do."
Nothing.
Arthur approached his father on his own. There were so many things Arthur wanted to ask. What happened to you? How do I stop it from happening to me, or anyone else? Is it really unpreventable? Arthur sat across from him in silence for almost an hour, drifting off into his thoughts. When he rose to leave, he looked at his father one last time.
Uther only continued to stare around the room, fingers clutching at the armrests of his chair, blood vessels in his eyes and limbs rising to the surface and painting his skin with an unnaturally bright hue of red. It was worse than Gaius had seen. It definitely didn't look like a natural progression of sickness.
Outside the door, Arthur waved down a servant. "Bring Gaius. Tell him to bring all his supplies, something has changed."
When Gaius arrived and saw what Arthur had, he said nothing. Reading the grave look on his face, Arthur knew to assume the worst, but hopefully Gaius at least agreed with him now.
"I think you may have been right, Arthur. This, this is no natural disease."
"Magic?"
"Or poison. Perhaps both."
"I'll launch an investigation." Arthur turned to leave.
Gaius reached out to stop him. "Be careful. The perpetrator may expect you to search for them. And you may want to stay away from accusations of magic if you intend on making it legal again."
The first people Arthur questioned were the two servants in charge of caring for his father. One of them had been Uther's personal servant before, and Arthur guessed that could be enough motive to help in an assassination. It was unlikely Uther had been kind to the young man. The other was a middle-aged woman Arthur had never spoken to. Gwen regarded her well, and therefore Arthur offered her the role when Gwen left it.
From their information, Arthur gained little. No one visited Uther most of the time. Gaius stopped by, but Arthur didn't even consider putting him on the suspect list. They noted Arthur's own visits, but that didn't help. Then there were two others — a servant that had brought a few of the meals, and Lord Agravaine.
He immediately searched for that third servant, perfectly positioned to slip something into some food and leave without a trace.
New to the castle, Tim looked nothing less than terrified to be in Arthur's presence. He reminded Arthur a little of Merlin when he'd first arrived, about 16 years old, rather confused about how he should act around the prince, and straight out of a growth spurt that had neglected to do anything but make his limbs longer. Of course, Merlin had looked a lot braver in his lack of knowledge.
"Do you know why I requested you to come here?" Arthur asked him.
Tim bowed another time for good measure and then shook his head.
"So when I say my father was poisoned, that would mean nothing to you?"
Arthur guessed if he'd held a hand to the boy's forehead, it would pull away sticky from sweat.
"No, nothing," he insisted. "Well, not nothing, of course. I would be sorry — not sorry because I did anything! Sorry, as in giving condolences, not an apology."
"So you believe he will die, then."
Tim's previously red face went pale. "No. I just assumed — and I shouldn't have done that, I'm sure the King will pull through. With the help of Camelot's physician, how could he do anything else?"
After gauging his initial response, Arthur got into when and where Tim had been the past few days. If he had poisoned Uther, Arthur doubted he'd poisoned him intentionally. He dismissed him, thanking him for his cooperation.
If none of the servants were involved, at least not voluntarily, who did that leave? Arthur considered his uncle. Agravaine had no love for Uther. He'd made that clear by only showing up when Arthur was on his own, whether that be because Uther had left on a journey when Arthur was a child, and most recently, when Uther had fallen into a living coma. What would Agravaine gain by Arthur becoming King?"
It wasn't hard to answer. Agravaine could expect anything: more land, more riches; a better position in court, better standing in society. It would guarantee him a place with power instead of eternally living on the edge.
During their meeting that day, Arthur scrutinized him. Uther's sudden change in condition ranked highly on everyone's agendas, someone even bringing up coronation plans for Arthur. Agravaine stepped on those plans immediately.
"King Uther is not dead yet," he said. "We must respect him, and Arthur's wishes to stay regent. Uther may yet recover."
At that moment, Gaius entered the rooms.
"Gaius? You have news?"
"I do."
He looked at Arthur, and Arthur didn't need him to say a word out loud. His father was gone. He didn't really listen when Gaius said it out loud, or when the Lords discussed the implications.
With that, Arthur stood. He needed to think. He wanted to think away from these old idiots, even if it wasn't wise to go. "We have nothing that needs immediate attention. Meeting adjourned," he stated. He left without a second thought.
"Stupid," he muttered to himself on his way back to his chambers. They wouldn't forget that.
Instead of thinking, Arthur found himself waking up hours later, the sky already quite dark. Someone left him some food on his table, but it had already gone cold. Cold as his father would be by now.
He considered calling for Gaius, or maybe even Agravaine, but the edge of a mirror caught his eye. Merlin.
Merlin didn't like Uther either, but unlike Agravaine, his empathy to loss wouldn't seem forced. Arthur ran his finger around the edge and watched the surface ripple until Merlin appeared at its center. He could barely tell it was him. It was so dark outside, but the angles of his face caught the light just enough that Arthur could make him out in the darkness.
"Hi Arthur."
He sounded just as close as usual, like he was in the room instead of miles away.
"What happened?"
"Who says something has to have happened."
Merlin rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, cause you usually look this miserable, I forgot. Or maybe you just miss me enough to cry about it. I'm flattered, really."
Arthur brought a hand to his face. Had he been crying? He didn't think so, but maybe he just hadn't noticed the tears, or maybe Merlin exaggerated his appearance. He looked into the mirror to check before remembering that the only face he could see in the glass was Merlin's, not his own.
"So, what is it?" Merlin asked.
"My father. He's dead. Poisoned or spelled, maybe both. Gaius might know more by now, but I haven't talked to him about it.
"I'm sorry Arthur. Whatever I felt towards your father, I didn't wish him a painful death."
"You didn't?"
"Maybe a few times. But I don't think anyone deserves that. Maybe sometimes people dying is for the best so that they stop killing others, but that doesn't mean you have to make their death long or painful. And it doesn't mean I have the right to decide whether or not their death is the right option to take."
Arthur and Merlin sat for a while (or at least, Arthur assumed Merlin was sitting somewhere) Merlin in the dark outdoors and Arthur in his candle-lit room nibbling at the food set out for him.
"Don't lose hope, Arthur," Merlin said finally.
"They say the darkest hour is just before the dawn," Arthur agreed.
"Feeling pretty dark right now?"
"Yeah. Must not be long till dawn, then."
"Yeah."
"You should get some sleep."
"I will. It's about time for Gwaine to take watch, anyway. But Arthur, I'll leave the mirror with whoever is awake. Don't hesitate to check in with us if you need it."
This was supposed to be a dual POV with Morgana, but I guess you'll get that part next time.
Happy 4th of July weekend to anyone in the US. Stay safe.