Time slowed.
Elaina could feel the impact of the blade but no more and her legs buckled beneath her waiting for the pain to begin, while her heart rattled her ribcage in panic. Arthur's arms were barely hanging onto Elaina as he stared at the culprit, feeling powerless all of a sudden to do anything as he registered what had happened.
merlin anticipated the next movement, "no! don't remove the-"
Another jolt made Elaina cry out and the blade was pulled free, allowing a warmth to trickle down her back and that was when she could finally register the pain. A wave of nausea washed over her as the searing hot flesh was severed. Only then did Arthur's arms tighten around her before she could hit the floor, signalled by the sound of Elaina being like a wounded animal, with merlin swooping in.
"idiot! That was the only thing stopping the blood!" he shouted at the mercenary, springing into action and removing his scarf. He wrapped it around Elaina to add pressure to the wound like Gaius had taught him, but the blood was soaking through the fabric too quickly.
Elaina missed it when morgana seized her sword and flew at the men who were starting to rouse themselves off the ground.
"leave here!" she screamed; her teeth bared like fangs.
They scuttled on their feet, tapping each other in agreement to do as she commanded and returned to the foliage for cover, save the one who had inflicted the wound. He lingered behind almost soaking in what he had caused under payment by the woman threatening him now. His blue eyes squinted in confusion, wondering why she was suddenly at the defence of the people she had proclaimed not to care about. although admittedly it weren't the prince bleeding out in the mud as had been planned. instead he had witnessed the brave act of a woman putting herself in harms way. If he were honest, he was impressed by her courage to embrace death like that, as he was constantly around men who would think nothing in dealing it, but the prospect of their lives coming to an abrupt end, petrified them into pitiful cowards. that is why they ran from this so-called sorcerer Morgana, yet he refused to fear her or what she might be capable of, as he would never belittle himself to endure such an emotion nor overlook the fact that death comes to all, thus he would be more accepting when his time was up.
With the weapon still in hand, he nodded at the woman slowly losing consciousness to mark the respect that she had earned from him, which was a hard accomplishment where he was concerned not that it mattered now, and he went to join his men again.
When they had gone, Morgana turned and stared at Elaina whose skin was becoming so pale. The sword dropped from her hand as her clutch eased and she dropped to her knees.
"Elaina?" she called.
Morgana repeated her name waiting for her to answer, but her sister remained silent with her eyes growing heavy.
Hearing her name, Arthur shook and snapped himself out of the trance he was under, registering the limp form in his embrace. She was getting cold and rain had begun falling. They needed to get her to Gaius.
"come on!" he commanded, having little choice than to take Elaina with him on his horse. He saddled, with merlin and morgana ushering her up to him. She groaned but nothing more.
"stay with us Elaina!" he begged.
The ride into Camelot felt longer than the departure. They did not stop at the gates and all three shouted for the crowds to part and to get out of their way. Many gasped to see Elaina flopping almost lifelessly in the arms of the prince, with the rain mingling in with the blood and staining the white horse they rode on crimson red.
Once in the courtyard of the castle, no moment was spared. Arthur carried her through the corridors with people pressing themselves against the wall to get out of his way so he could get to the physician.
They left a trail of water and blood behind them, which morgana followed frantically horrified that this was her sisters' blood and she the cause of it being spilt, with or without the intention.
She didn't follow them into Gaius's room. Guilt held her back from watching over her sister as she battled for her life.
the wound was only one aspect of the injury…
While everyone was distracted, she slipped out once more needing Morgause's knowledge, because nothing could be done with just Gaius's hands that could see Elaina survive this.
Elaina felt as if she were bobbing in and out of water, now and then momentarily breaking the surface of a deep ocean to comprehend what was happening, then once again enthralled by the clutches of the waves that seemingly enjoyed her struggle to breathe.
"what on earth!" Gaius exclaimed around a mouthful of lunch he had prepared, steaming on the table and not a single bite taken from it yet.
Arthur had given the physicians door one urgent boot and it had flown open, his muscles bulging from holding Elaina for so long and while his cheeks were flushed, she grew paler and her lips almost blue.
"Elaina has been injured!"
As much as he could, Gaius hastily got up from his chair and signalled to his own bed in the room that would make do, though Arthur was already heading towards it.
"quickly set her down there."
Gaius laid his hand on her face, feeling the way her body was too cold to indicate an onset of infection, but to remain in her rain sodden clothes could create another illness she couldn't fight off at the moment and her body needed to channel on healing.
"She needs to get dry" he instructed. As a physician he would assist but she was a lady of high standing and whose dignity he would try and preserve as merlin would need to stay in the room to help him also.
The best he could, Arthur scraped back the hair that was sticking to Elaina's face, running his hands over her to wipe the moisture away disregarding the fact that he was just as wet from the rain, yet he hoped that the heat from his exertion, would warm his touch against her skin.
"I'm sure Gwen is on her way!" merlin finally caught up and ran to Gaius's medicines and his satchel keeping his tools. A kettle was set to boil to stew some bandages along his way and he threw in some needles, clamps and scissors, anything really which he thought the old man would need to stitch up the wound.
"Arthur best you step out the room."
Gaius couldn't get near to Elaina as the prince was lingering over her, adding friction to her limp arms and puffing hot air across her fingers, as he had her hand in a tight grip. His eyes were wide in his head, as if should he blink then she would be taken.
"I can't just-"
Gaius was used to dealing with frantic relatives when a loved one was his patient. It was best to be firm with them, otherwise time was wasted in convincing them to listen to his judgement on what needed to be done in order to tend to them, such as his freedom to move around them.
"you're of no use hovering over her like a worried hen, now go!"
Gaius with all his might ripped Elaina's hand from Arthur's and gave the prince a shove to take his place and he could finally lift her blouse to see the wound beneath.
In his reluctance, Arthur slowly backed away retreating to the stairwell that led to Gaius's room so he could collapse on the first set of steps. He felt as though there was something he had to do, anything but as he glimpsed back to where merlin and Gaius were acting on their second nature in medical care, he knew he wouldn't know where to begin and that the old man was right in saying he would only be in way.
He had to hold his head up otherwise it would just hang from his shoulders, covering his mouth that was contorting into a sob as he noticed all the blood that was covering him. Proof of Elaina's sacrifice and suffering.
Footsteps could be heard pattering like the raindrops outside, behind him.
"Arthur, what happened?"
Gwen had been in the middle of setting the kings table when the news came that the lady had been injured and seen carried into the castle by Arthur. As her handmaid and friend Gwen didn't give it a seconds thought and abandoned her post to head straight to where she thought Arthur would take her. Along the way she had seen the blood with the sight gripping her heart. the vivid crimson didn't let up the entire time she ran to Gaius's room, with the blood cementing the seriousness of the situation.
"I don't know," he croaked, "there were bandits and I thought we got them all then; well then she saved me…"
His hair and clothes were dripping, and it was difficult to tell which cascades of water were his tears or not. But for a grown man to look so broken and guilt ridden, Gwen didn't need to further investigate to confirm his upset. She wanted to comfort him, but his needs were emotional while her lady's called for more active support to physically benefit her. She spared a caress across his cheek, which he leant into then swiftly entered the room where all the drama was unfolding.
She froze in her tracks to see the amount of gauze that had already been used in blotting the injury strewn on the floor and the ragged breathing coming from Elaina.
"oh my god!" Gwen gasped, scanning the surroundings to see where she should start but Gaius waved her over.
"Gwen, can you help strip her please."
He had a spare sheet ready and tore a hole, so her left side could be exposed for him to have access to. Merlin had already set a table with his freshly cleaned tools and a stool for him to perch on, so he could get started in delving into the wound to tie off any of the arteries severed, which were the cause for the heavy bleeding and to stitch it back up.
the handmaid blocked Elaina from view as she unbuttoned and hauled the tunic up over her head, taking the sheet Gaius had prepared and covering her nakedness with it. As she did, Gwen was astonished by the gaping hole nestled in the curve of Elaina's left side. she had helped Gaius before in tending to knights and bound her father's cuts and grazes working as a blacksmith and her brothers from all his fights, but this however, was nothing like she had seen.
"Gaius… why is it black like that?"
It almost looked rotten, like the tissue was that deprived of circulation that it was dying, shrivelling into a chasm and taking more of the flesh with it as the wound looked more than just a thin stab wound as had been described.
"the used blade had been poisoned, see how its travelling through her veins."
Gaius used a tweezer to follow her twisting veins which started to show upon Elaina's snow-white flesh, as the toxins travelled through her circulation. Sooner or later, she would be choking on whatever it was used to subject her to this torture and he had been trying to decipher what it was that could possibly have been used.
"leeches merlin! They might draw out the poison. Gwen, keep her turned on that side will you."
He barely touched the wound when Elaina screamed and it was a frighting sound for all who cared for her, making Elaina writhe on the bed. Arthur came running in alerted by her obvious projection of agony and saw how Gwen was struggling to hold her in place. He wouldn't be removed now and came to her aid putting his strength in keeping Elaina still.
With a nod in readiness, merlin put a few drops of a numbing agent in the area, then with a silent prayer he began to do what he felt was little, that he actually could to solve the problem.