Strongest of the Warlocks: Chapter Four: Venom of the Snake
AN: Thank you to those of you that reviewed, they really made my day!
The next day Merlin had a thin bandage wrapped around her wrist to hide the bruises Valiant's grip had caused on her flesh, and it was something Gaius noticed immediately, no doubt from his occupation of choice.
"What's this?" he asked when she joined him for breakfast, practically inhaling her porridge before speaking.
"Oh, I just got nicked by Arthur's dagger, that's all," Merlin said in an evasive manner, but it didn't fool Gaius.
"Yet there is no blood?" he remarked.
Merlin didn't even bat an eyelid. "It congealed in the night, I'm just keeping it on so that it won't become infected."
Gaius, however, didn't believe her for a second, and he took her arm before she could pull it back, pulling the bandage away slightly to see the discolored color of her skin beneath. "Merlin," he said her name quietly and Merlin quickly retracted her hand, tightening the bandage once more.
"It's fine, it's not like someone tried to off me," Merlin said in such a careless manner that Gaius had to stare.
"Should people be trying to kill you?" he asked aghast.
"Well, wouldn't they?" Merlin replied, blinking owlishly. "You know, if they knew?"
Gaius couldn't really deny the truth in her statement. Only three options were open to those who practiced sorcery in the presence of others, and that was: to be burned, hanged, or to risk it and run. And he was sure that Merlin, while proud of who she was, would choose the latter rather than death.
Merlin downed her cup of water in an instant, before standing, gathering up her used bowl and spoon and moving them to the sink to be cleaned for later. "I'd love to stay and chat," she said with a bit of false-enthusiasm that anyone would have seen through, "but I've got to go watch men try to murder themselves for glory and money."
The disdain was evident in her voice as she threw her jacket up and over her shoulders, flipping the braided tail of hair out from under the collar and striding out of the room to head across the courtyard to where Arthur was waiting for her.
"You took your sweet time," he jibed at her as she fixed his armor over his chainmail.
"Oh, please," she replied with a snort, "I saw you walk over here less than a minute before me, you were not waiting that long!"
His eye twitched and Merlin couldn't help but smirk at the small victory that she had gained over him. She turned around to glance over at Arthur's first opponent of the day, a knight whose height exceeded even that of Percival's (an impressive feat given her…friend's stature) and wore a simple grey tunic.
She whistled lowly. "Good luck on taking that one on, looks like you're going to need it."
Arthur made a grunt of annoyed agreement. "He's as strong as a bear," he admitted grudgingly, "but he's slow."
Merlin appraised him with an arched eyebrow, holding his sword aloft. "And I suppose you think you're fast?"
A slightly insulted expression wormed its way onto his face as he turned to look at her. "Of course I'm fast!" he said, his voice rising slightly in pitch.
"Oh, really?" Merlin said, looking remarkably unimpressed as she rested a hand on her hip. The stature she had taken up was one that her friend Will had long since called her "Daring Stance," as if she was saying "Come on, what else have you got?" She held out the sword to him and he practically snatched it from her hands as though the longer she held it, the more contaminated it became. "Remember how I handed your ass to you the first time we fought?"
"That," Arthur said, just a trifle smug, "was not a fight."
"Oh, you mean because I'm a woman," Merlin said, her eyes sly, "because a woman couldn't have possibly kicked your ass in a fight."
"Now, wait—" Arthur tried to correct her before she spun him around and positively threw him towards the arena.
"Try not to die!" she yelled after him as the trumpet sounded and the battle commenced. Merlin didn't watch too much of the fight, other than to see that Arthur clearly dominated, winning with a decisive blow.
"It's not that you're a girl that's the issue," Arthur informed her between gulping down a bit of water to prepare for his next duel, "it's because it clearly wasn't a fight."
"If you're talking about the part where I didn't stick around to claim glory over you, I would have thought the reason why was quite obvious," Merlin retorted dryly, before spotting her guardian as he strolled past. "Gaius!"
"Merlin," he replied in kind.
"Can a woman best a man in a fight?" she inquired, causing the older man to pause, glancing between the prince and the maidservant, seeing quite well that this was apparently a subject they were squabbling over.
"I'd rather not say," he said instead, earning groans from both before Merlin's attention was drawn towards the next fight which was of Sir Valiant against a knight known as Sir Ewan. The battle was nearly over by now with Sir Ewan's helm rolling on the ground as he was pinned down by Valiant's shield.
Merlin narrowed her eyes at the tactic, but it wasn't that that had caught her eye, it was that one of the serpents on Valiant's shield appeared to be moving, just as one of the eyes had blinked the night before. It was unnerving.
And a second later Valiant was standing to cheers and his opponent was just lying on the ground. Merlin fought to move forward, her fists clenching from the effort. She wasn't used to letting other people do the caring for the injured.
Arthur noticed more than she gave him credit for, taking note of the yearning in her expression as she looked over to where Gaius was crouching.
He sighed. "I'm sure Gaius could use an extra pair of hands."
She positively brightened in a manner that almost scared Arthur, but Merlin was a weird one. Though, he supposed, one day she would be his Court Physician, so he might have to get used to it.
Getting a comatose Sir Ewan back into the castle was no easy task, and Merlin would be feeling a pull in her back for weeks, she was sure. And then she had to race back to Arthur's side once more until the end of the tournament, before making her way back to Gaius' quarters again.
"How is he?" she asked after unceremoniously dumping Arthur's armor on the table. "It didn't look that serious when he fell…but has he even awakened since then?"
"He has not," Gaius said, leaning back and allowing her the opportunity to inspect the knight himself. "And his injuries are small."
Merlin checked him pulse, surprised to find it so slow, as though the blood was sludge-like, moving through the body not even close to the speed that it should have. It was very worrying, especially since this man was a knight who needed a constant flow of blood throughout his body.
She tilted her head slightly, catching sight of two small marks on his neck. "Did he get these in the fight?" she asked, looking up with an expression of confusion.
"That is my belief as well," Gaius concurred, "but look at the shape of the marks."
Merlin bent closer in order to do so, inspecting the marks closely. They were very small puncture wounds, too small to have been caused by even the lightest prick of a blade (besides, most injuries caused by swords were slashes from the blade's side), and the marks were rather close together like—
"They look like bite marks," she said in surprise.
"Snake bite marks to be precise," Gaius said, nodding his head in agreement.
Merlin met his eyes, leaning back with a confused expression on her face. "But that doesn't make any sense…there's no way he could have gotten bitten by a snake during a sword battle, we would have seen it…" She cupped her chin thoughtfully, remembering how the snakes on Valiant's had seemed almost alive.
Gaius attempted to straighten his hopelessly crooked spectacles as he sat down beside the body of the unconscious knight. "Yet the symptoms are consistent with the same poisoning effects that snake venom induces: slow pulse, fever, paralysis."
"Is there an antidote to this kind of snake venom?" Merlin asked, striding over to fetch a bowl of water and a rag from his flaming brow. She laid it gently against his forehead with a murmur of a few phrases in the Druidic tongue if Gaius wasn't mistaken. Perhaps there was some magic involved, because the knight's form relaxed, expelling a soft sigh. "Can he be healed?"
"He can be, if it is indeed a snake bite," Gaius said, "which I suspect it is, however, in order to make an antidote, I'll have to extract the venom from the snake that bit him."
"And if he doesn't get it in time?" Merlin pressed, raising her eyes from the patient before either of them as Gaius busied himself with gathering a few supplies, dutifully evading her eyes, though she could imagine why.
"Then I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do for him," he said quietly, "he's going to die."
"Yesterday when I went to the armory to put away Arthur's armor and weapons," Merlin said suddenly, "I could have sworn that the eye of one of the snakes on Valiant's shield blinked, and then when he was fighting Sir Ewan, it looked like the snake moved out of the shield."
Gaius paused and turned back towards her. "Are you certain?"
"No, but I will be," Merlin said, grabbing her sword up from the table she had dropped it onto the table moments previously.
"No, wait, Merlin!" He tried to reel her back in, but it was useless. Merlin had an incredibly stubborn head on her shoulders, and once she got started it seemed as if nothing could stop her, which was entirely possible, knowing her. He sighed, muttering something under his breath somewhere along the lines of "meddlesome ward." But she at least had her heart in the right place.
Darkness had descended upon the castle, bathing the corridors in shadow with flames flickering ominously in their brackets. But finding the armory in the darkness was no difficult feat, remaining silent was far more difficult, especially when she saw what laid within.
Merlin pushed the door open slightly so that she might see inside, recoiling a little in case Valiant glanced her way, but she needn't have worried, his attention was completely focused on the mouse he had removed from a small cage, dangling the squeaking creature by its tail.
"Dinnertime," he said, sitting on the bench before his shield, and as he held out the mouse, three snake heads poured from the shield. Merlin nearly gasped, only silencing it just in time by smothering it with her hand. But she couldn't afford to do anything while he was still in there, it would be better to wait until he had finished his business and gone to bed. So Merlin ducked around the corner to hide in a darkened crevice until he left.
And once he had done so, he passed frightfully close to where Merlin was hiding, so much so that her heart beat frantically against her ribcage, and only when he was gone did she release the breath she had been holding and duck out of her hiding place to move towards the now-locked armory.
But locks were no difficulty for Merlin, not since Gaius had given her his grimoire which held a startling number of spells.
Merlin glanced around to be sure that no one was coming before raising her hand towards the door handle. "Aliese," she breathed, her eyes flashing golden as the lock clicked and the door swung open, admitting her inside.
The shield hissed in response to her presence.
"Come and get me," Merlin enticed it, resisting drawing her weapon until the last possible moment, "try for a bite."
One of the heads drew itself out of the wood to bare its fangs at her, but Merlin wasn't scared, not even slightly. Her blade was unsheathed in an instant, and she swung the sword violently towards the head, severing it neatly and causing it to drop to the floor, unfortunately this only served to rile up the other two heads, so Merlin beat a hasty retreat, snatching up the head before swinging the door shut behind her.
First to Gaius to create an antidote and then to Arthur who should know of the magic Valiant was using.
Realistically, Merlin should have realized how much in deep shit she was in (Will's words, not hers), but she didn't realize how utterly pear-shaped things had gone until it was too late to rectify the situation.
Merlin dug her fingers into her hair, resisting yanking on it viciously. Everything had been going fine when she told Arthur about the head and he agreed to bring it to his father's attention, since they had a witness, seeing as Sir Ewan responded well to the antidote, however, when they needed his word, he was apparently assassinated by one of the remaining snakes in Valiant's shield.
It was a he said-she said matter, with a servant speaking out against a knight, who were supposedly the epitome of honor (Merlin knew very well that this was not always the case), and Uther had overlooked her claim in an instant, not that she was surprised. But it stung her that Arthur thought she couldn't be trusted.
A weight sat down beside her and she barely glanced to the side to see that it was Gwen. "Hello," she said dully, only to be surprised as Morgana herself appeared at her other side.
"How are you, Merlin?" Morgana asked, her eyes soft and her tone gentle, a similar expression to the one that Gwen was currently wearing.
"Oh, I've been sacked, what's not to like?" Merlin muttered, scrubbing at her eyes as though rubbing sleep from them.
Morgana's smile was sympathetic and Merlin was sure that she had seen countless servants dismissed by the prince.
"Is it true?" Gwen asked, drawing her thoughts away from how much she'd like to ring the neck of the king with one hand and the prince with the other. "What you said about Valiant using magic?"
Merlin sighed, leaning back on the steps with a morose expression on her face. "What's it matter?" she replied gloomily.
"Of course it matters!" Morgana disagreed vehemently, but her words gained no response from the sullen girl.
"What're you going to do?" Gwen asked instead and Merlin's eyes shifted towards her, a dark eyebrow arched.
"Why should I have to do something?"
"Well," Gwen floundered briefly, "shouldn't you? I mean, you have to prove to everyone that you were right and they were wrong."
"As if they'd ever admit to that," Merlin said with a scoff, and Morgana had to agree with her there.
"She's right," Morgana said with a sigh, "Uther is terribly prideful, he would never recant, even if he was told prior that a knight was using magic, simply on the grounds that he is king and you are a servant."
"This is why dealing with royals is such a pain in the ass," Merlin grumbled before quickly adding, "no offense" towards the Lady Morgana who smiled in response, obviously not taking it to heart.
Merlin pushed off of the stairs to pull herself up into a standing position, grabbing her bag and straightening her sword at her side. "Well, I'd best be off," she said simply, reveling in the flabbergasted expression both women before her were wearing.
"Bu-But you can't just leave!" Gwen cried, standing as well with Morgana. "The final round is tomorrow!"
"I know," Merlin said, her eyes steady, the color darker than Morgana had realized. "And I'll be back by then, it's not as though I'm going that far…besides, I need some advice from a wise man."
"A wise man?" Morgana said blankly. "How is advice from a wise man going to save Arthur?"
A short laugh escaped Merlin. "You'd be surprised," was all she said. "I'll see you tomorrow at the fight." And then she turned on her heel making her way towards the castle gate, into the lower town and out of Camelot entirely.
"Am I the only one who thinks her leaving is a bad idea?" Gwen murmured more to herself.
In retrospect, Merlin probably could have asked Gaius for advice on the matter of proving that Valiant was indeed using magic, but she trusted Iseldir far more than she did Gaius, and Iseldir had known her far longer. He was the one who had to pull her away from the White Mountains when she snuck out of Ealdor as a child, wanting to climb it to see where dragons lay, he was the one who had taught her to heal and inspired her desire to become a physician.
So Merlin wandered along, whistling a jaunty tune, seemingly innocent of her surroundings but keeping a careful hand on the hilt of her sword just in case.
The road curved, heading off towards Odin's lands when Merlin cut away from road and into the lush greenery of the forest, the flora in full bloom at this time of year. It didn't take her long to find what she was searching for as she weaved around several clusters of trees to see an older man sitting comfortably on the ground with grey hair and knowing, pale eyes.
"Iseldir," she said his name reverently, but she did not bow, it just wasn't the way the druids did things, even though he was the Druid Chieftain, a title that commanded respect.
"Merlin," he said her name easily, and as he always did, as though restraining from calling her something else, what, even Merlin could not be sure, "how may I be of service?"
"I am in need of your counsel," she said without preamble, dropping to sit before him, playing with the end of her braid, a habit she had regretfully developed over the years.
"On what matters?" he inquired.
The words spilled out of Merlin's mouth before she could stop them until suddenly she was spinning her tale of the last few days, of what she had seen and what the court had believed, two things which were vastly different.
"You believe that this rogue knight will attempt to kill Prince Arthur?" Iseldir asked once she had paused for breath.
Merlin could only nod.
"So you must prove to Camelot that he is using magic."
"Yes, but I don't exactly know how to do that," Merlin complained, scowling into the earth, stalling her fingers as she attempted to rip the grass blades from the earth.
"There is a spell," he told her, and Merlin forced herself to remain silent to hear him out fully before speaking, "one that can allow that which is not animate to become so."
"So…" Merlin frowned thoughtfully. "You're saying that if I use this spell, others should be able to see the magic for themselves?"
He nodded.
"What is it?"
Luck was not on Merlin's side the next day, as she woke up rather late and alone in the forest. And unfortunately she had no way of knowing when the last match would be, meaning it could have very well been occurring as she came to this conclusion.
Merlin struggled to right herself, despite being completely spent from attempting to learn the animation spell the previous night, as she pulled herself sluggishly to her feet, throwing her bag across her back and gripping her sword as she took off at a run.
Thus, she almost ran into several trees (on the upside, she seemed to be more awake now, even if it was simply to avoid breaking her nose on another tree) before making it out onto the main road, but even then she didn't stop, her feet battering against the ground as she ran until the muscles of her legs burned and she was finally outside the gates of Camelot.
Merlin took a short breather, leaning forward to brace her hands against her knees, breathing in deeply so that her lungs hurt from the movement, but then that moment was over, and Merlin could hear the cheers of battle from within the village and that spurred her into action more than anything.
And she was off again until she came to a stop at the entrance of the arena, skidding in the mud as she ducked behind a pillar, careful to stay out of view from any onlookers as she watched the two knights collide with each other.
Arthur twisted to avoid a strike, slamming his sword against Valiant's shield, but it hardly did any damage, but his next hit caused Valiant's helmet to fly off, and Arthur threw off his own as well, to level the playing field, Merlin supposed.
This only resulted in Valiant becoming far more aggressive and Merlin winced at the uppercut he had thrust towards Arthur's face, causing him to fall to the ground, losing him shield as he dodged a fatal stab from Valiant's sword.
Arthur was shoved against the wall, Valiant's shield on his chest before he pushed the man violently away and Merlin was offered her chance.
She inhaled and exhaled slowly, extending a hand and reciting the words: "Bebiede þe arisan cwicum!"
Her eyes flared a bright gold and as Iseldir had described, the snakes protruded from the shield as Merlin had seen before, and the stunned disbelief on Uther's face that a knight would resort to using magic was well worth it in Merlin's mind, even before Arthur spiced off the two remaining heads and ended Valiant's life.
The relief she felt when she saw that he was dead sickened her, even hours later when everyone else in the castle was busy with the feast, Merlin kept carefully away from the celebrations, staying on the outer wall, looking out as far as she could see.
She shivered as a brush of cool air tugged at her skin.
"You know, it's probably warmer inside," a voice commented and she turned slightly towards the Reigning Champion, Arthur, who had a slight smirk on his lips.
Merlin shrugged a bit stiffly, remembering how he had yelled at her the other day. "I'm fine." Her eyes were focused out on the horizon once more.
Arthur shifted a bit awkwardly in his formal attire. "I wanted to say…I made a mistake, and I shouldn't have sacked you."
"Are you apologizing because you realize I didn't really humiliate you or because I was right?" Merlin asked, her eyes shrewd and Arthur grimaced.
"A bit of both," he admitted. "I shouldn't have said what I did."
Merlin couldn't help but smirk and pat his head in a slightly condescending manner. "Its very good that you know that, it means you're evolving!"
Arthur's cheeks reddened as he knocked her hand angrily away. "Oi!"
"I can do what I want," Merlin returned before he could say any more. "I'm not your servant anymore."
"Well, I'm rehiring you."
She couldn't help the pleased grin that formed on her lips at his words.
AN: So, that's 1x02 done, the filler might be next chapter, but I'm not really sure. And I'll be showing the development of Merlin and Gaius' relationship, because currently she trusts the druids more than him
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