Disclamier: I do not own Merlin or any of the characters, the only characters I do own are Anne and Fanny.

Chapter 4

Arthur ran towards Gaius's chamber, not knowing what was waiting for him when he arrived. But as he finally opened the door the first thing he saw was a body covered up by a sheet. Beside the sheet, was a young woman who had her head on the chest of the body. He took a step towards Gaius who met him halfway. Both Arthur and Gaius turned their back facing the guest so she wouldn't hear them.

"Sire, it's as I feared the little girl had the same thing as Merlin," Gaius reported keeping his voice as quiet as possible. Arthur shook his head and then let his eyes scan the room until they finally stopped at Merlin. He took a step forward and as he got closer, he noticed Merlin's chest was barely rising and falling. Gwen looked back at Arthur, her eyes puffy from her crying.

Arthur gave her a comforting smile before turning his attention back to Gaius. "The girl dying does that mean that Merlin will..die soon as well?" He looked back at Merlin more concern than ever about his friend. In the back of his mind, he was praying that Gaius was wrong. That the girl who died didn't have the same thing as Merlin that she died from something else.

"No sire, while Lily had the same symptoms as Merlin she didn't die from the illness. Her sister Tina told me that Lily fell down the stairs while having a horrible coughing fit." Gaius said in a calm voice before looking over his shoulder at Tina and looking back at Arthur. Arthur also looked over at Tina who was now also looking at them. Her eyes were more puffy looking than Gwen's and tears could still be seen running down her cheeks.

Letting out a deep sigh Arthur walked over to Tina with a sad expression on his face. Arthur was about to start saying something when an older man entered the room. He looked just a bit younger than Gaius with a bit more grey hair. The man walked over to Tina and hugged her before looking at Arthur and Gaius.

"Thank you for trying to save my granddaughter. If it's alright with you sire. I will have my son Wyatt come and collect the body later so Lily can be laid to rest beside her mother." The grandfather said while holding Tina closer to his chest as she began to cry loudly. No matter how hard the grandfather tried to console poor Tina, nothing he said or did stop her from crying.

"Your welcome, I only wish there was more I could have done to save her," Gaius replied in a sad voice feeling bad that he couldn't help the young girl. While at the same time feeling helpless to save Merlin. Arthur, however, stood there in silence, pondering the man's request to have his son come to get the body.

As Arthur was thinking Gaius took a step forward, shaking his head he quickly said. "I'm sorry, but your granddaughter was still infected with whatever sickness Merlin as. To ensure that it doesn't spread, its best that her body is burned."

Gwen stood up her face in complete shock by what Gaius had just said. "Gaius is that really necessary, surely we can allow this family to bury the poor girl." She said sounding sympathetic to the family and their loss. Especially since she lost her family and she understood how it felt to lose someone suddenly.

Gaius shook his head and looked at the family with sadden eyes. "I'm sorry my queen, but we know nothing about how this sickness is spread. Burning her body might be the only way to make sure that the sickness isn't spread more than it has already."

Tina started to sob even louder before her grandfather nudged her out of the door and down the stairs. Once the girl was down the stairs the grandfather turned and faced the group again. "I understand, I will make sure that my son knows that you will take good care of her." Bowing he walked out of the room and down the stairs before leading his distraught granddaughter home.

Once the grandfather left the room Arthur turned and looked at everyone with a grin on his face. Gwen walked over to him and placed a comforting hand on his right shoulder. Arthur looked at her with the grin still showing.

For a moment the room was silent no one dared say a word or move. Gwen was about to say something when all of a sudden a loud thump caught their attention. Immediately their eyes turned to where Merlin, who was on the floor failing like a fish. Gaius ran to Merlin's side and rolled him to his side waiting for it to stop. After a few minutes he stopped, and Gaius allowed Merlin to lie on his back again.

"Sire, if this continues I fear we may lose him like we did the girl. I think we might find answers in some of these books." Gaius said in a sad voice as his eyes remain on Merlin who he had grown to love like a son he never had. Not saying a word Gaius walked over to the bookshelf and started to pull books about poisons and curses. As he was taking them off the shelf Arthur and Gwen were there to take them and started to read.

Not long after they had started to read Lancelot and Gwaine entered the room with a grin on their face. "Sire, five more people have been reported dead all of them had fallen ill like Merlin a couple of days ago." Everyone turned their gaze to Gwaine as he told everyone what he had found out only moments earlier.

Hearing that there were others who were sick, made everyone wonder why they were just hearing about it now. Arthur walked over to the two knights with a grin on his face trying hard to not get caught up in his emotions.

"I want a sick bay set up outside the castle walls, and for word to get out that anyone who are sick to go there. Gwen, I want you to go with them and make sure everything is set up and that there are enough beds.

Lancelot and Gwaine you are to make sure that Gwen is not near the sick, the last thing we need is for Camelot's queen to catch this." Both Lancelot and Gwaine looked at each other and nodded their heads and bowed before leaving the room. But they didn't go downstairs, they wanted to wait until Gwen joined them.

Gwen however didn't move from her chair beside Merlin she just looked at Arthur shocked. "Arthur please I don't want to leave Merlin, plus Camelot needs to know that their queen is willing to risk her life to help. That even though there is a risk of me getting it that I am willing to lay my life on the line for them." Gwen said trying to convince her husband to allow her to stay with Merlin or help those who are sick.

Arthur and Gwen looked at each other than he let out a loud sigh while shaking his head. "Fine, but the moment that you are feeling tired or unwell you are to leave and go rest." Gwen nodded her head and gave Arthur a quick kiss before running out and down the stairs with Lancelot and Gwaine following behind.

Once they were gone Gaius returned to the books while Arthur took a seat beside Merlin. Before replacing the dry cloth with a wet one and placing it back on Merlin's forehead. As the wet cloth hit his forehead, Merlin let out a low moan before going silent once more.

Gaius was about to close the book when something caught his eyes, he reopened the book back to the page he was on. After reading the pages Gaius's eyes turned to Arthur with a big smile on his face. "Sire I have found it," Gaius said his voice loud and sounding full of hope. Arthur got up and walked over to Gaius. His face still had a grin as if he didn't believe there was still hope.

For a moment Gaius reread the page before looking back up at Arthur. "According to this book, this is a curse from the Old Religion. There is a way to break the curse the only thing is that the book doesn't say how. I know of a warlock who studied the old religion, he might be still alive and able to help us." Gaius relayed the information that he read though he left one part out.

That the reason the curse hadn't killed Merlin yet, was because for those with magic it would take longer to kill. Arthur looked at Merlin than back at Gaius and seemed to be lost for words, that they needed help from one who had magic.

"Gaius, if this curse was created by magic, how do we know that this warlock isn't the one who caused it. That he created it to get back at Camelot for what my father did to his kind years ago." Arthur asked in a not to happy voice especially since it was magic that killed his father a couple years ago.

"I know this man sire, I can assure you that this is something he wouldn't do. Dominic always used his magic to help people, he was too kind and gentle of a man to ever curse anyone. This curse was made by someone more powerful and angry."

Gaius told Arthur while keeping his voice down so as not to wake Merlin knowing the lad needed his rest. Arthur started to pace quietly back and forth between the table and the bed where Merlin was laying.

Arthur stopped in front of Merlin and watched as his friend tossed his head back and forth. Once Merlin stopped Arthur let out a deep sigh before turning his head towards Gaius. "Do you know where this warlock can be found?"

Arthur asked in a serious tone of voice. Gaius didn't say anything instead he nodded his head to acknowledge that he knew where he was. So Arthur than asked, "Where can we find this warlock?"

Thanks for reading everyone, I hoped that you enjoyed this. Thank you to all of those who followed this story and favorited it. Please leave a review to let me know what your thoughts were on this new chapter, I promise the next one will leave you on the edge of your seat.