A/N: Hi there! New followers this month, you guys are motivating me! I just got back from watching Bohemian Rhapsody and. It. Is. A-mazing! Highly recommend it to one and all. In the meantime, let's go on and see what's up in Camelot, shall we?
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin or any of its characters, obviously. If I did, Lancelot would have been a tap-dancing knight.
Geoffrey of Monmouth was technically not a proper noble anymore. He'd given up his title to his younger brother Sir Gregor to live a life of philosophical enlightenment, pursuing knowledge as Master Archivist of Camelot. His sacrifice had paid off, however, the position granting him the same access to the Council as his old title would have, and more than anything the ear of the king, a rare privilege he shared with Master Gaius, the Court physician. Both men were now in the Council Chambers, along with king Uther and a dead body.
"What's happened to him?"
Gaius bent down to examine the man, and Geoffrey could almost hear the strain on his old friend's knees.
"I don't know, Sire. It is the second case I've seen today."
"Why didn't you report it to me?"
Gaius looked up, one of his bushy eyebrows rising.
"I was attempting to find the cause."
"What did you conclude?"
The king must have been nearly frantic to ask questions at this speed to one of the few he trusted more than anyone.
"I don't think it's time to hurry to conclusions. The scientific process is a long one."
That, apparently, was not the right thing to say.
"What are you concealing from me?"
Gaius remained calm, proof that he had been dealing with the irascible king for a long time.
"Sire, I have seen nothing like it. The victims are dying in 24 hours, and it's spreading fast."
King Uther began pacing.
"What is the cause?"
Gaius and Geoffrey exchanged a severe look before the Court physician spoke.
"I think you should say the the cause, the most likely cause, is sorcery."
As always, at the mere mention of sorcery, the king chose the immediate offensive, pulling his son aside to whisper instructions.
"We must find who did this."
The young prince nodded.
"I will, Father."
"Conduct door to door searches. Increase your presence in the town. Double the guards on all the gates. And lend the physician your servant."
Arthur, who had been dutifully nodding to all his father's requests, suddenly stopped and stared at Uther, incredulous. Said servant had been standing at Gaius's side, completely ignored until now.
"Merlin? But..."
The king would not take any objections.
"We need Gaius to find a cure. He needs all the helps we can give him. If Gaius is right, believe me, this city will be wiped out. This is the kind of magic that undermines our authority, challenges all we've done ..."
Geoffrey was impressed by the king's discourse, and wished he'd brought his darling niece along. She could have written it down for posterity.
"... If we cannot control this plague, people will turn to magic for a cure. We have to find this sorcerer, and quickly."
There was only one thing to answer to such an impassioned tirade.
"Yes, Father."
"Drusilla? Child, where are you?"
Where you left me an hour ago and where I always bloody am, Uncle Windbag!
Her uncle's harried voice was rarely rising in the archives, a place he considered to be nearly sacred. Must be bloody important. With a sigh, Drusilla put down her armful of patents of nobility - which she should have re-shelved at least a week ago after the tournament - and walked out of the small room into the main archives.
"I'm here, Uncle! What is it?"
Geoffrey relaxed a smidge when he saw his niece walking towards him between the rows of bookshelves, her black braids swinging left and right behind her, the sleeves of her green dress pushed back up to her elbows.
"I need you to find information for me. There is a grave illness spreading in the Lower Town. Master Gaius will certainly need to consult our archives. Can you gather all the information we have on illnesses with these symptoms?"
He handed her a short list on a piece of paper. It had clearly been written by someone else's hand. It was not Geoffrey's flawless writing, nor was it in Gaius's illegible scrawl. It was messy, with ink spots and scratches, but with round, widely spaced letters.
Geoffrey harrumphed next to her and Drusilla turned her head back to him.
"It would be wise to look everywhere in our library. And I do mean ... every section."
He had only whispered it, his eyes shifting nervously left and right, but it felt to her like a clap of thunder. Drusilla nodded, took the small silver key he was dangling in front of her and hurried into the depths of the royal archives.
Not all of the archives were accessible to the public. There were obviously some restricted sections, with documents so old and fragile, only an expert hand could touch them.
But there was another section, not only cordoned off but locked up by an iron gate, in which even the young lady had never been allowed. This highly restricted room contained all the written records of magic in the kingdom. Spell books, chronicles of warlocks and witches and their deeds, records of the customs and beliefs of the Old Religion, and even a history of the dragons and Dragonlords in the land. Everything that had to do with magic before it was banished, or that could inspire someone to try their hand at it, was locked away in this dusty chamber. And Drusilla now had the key.
''Merlin do this, Merlin do that, Merlin polish my armor, Merlin clean my room ...''
Merlin was stomping to the castle's archives room hurriedly, all the while grumbling about Prince Arthur and his extensive - and oh!-so-intrusive - search of his room earlier. That had been a close call, and surely he would suffer Gaius's remonstrances for years to come.
Luckily for him, Arthur was not as much of a prat as Merlin gave him credit for. As soon as he'd been 'given over' to Gaius, Arthur had taken him aside and ordered the gangly boy to come to him with any request from the old man. 'Anything Gaius might need to end this plague' were his exact words. Arthur could not sit idly and watch his people suffer, and if lending his bumbling manservant to the Court Physician would help, then so be it.
Merlin made it to the entrance of the archives room, expecting to see Geoffrey of Monmouth seated in his hardback chair, dozing off over some obscure manuscript, but the old man was not in sight.
"Hello? Geoffrey?"
No answer.
Merlin waited for a minute or two at the old man's desk, then curiosity led him into the maze of rows after rows of laden shelves, in search of the Master archivist. The boy had no idea the archives were so extensive. They seemed to stretch endlessly in every direction, arched doorways hiding more rooms filled with books and rolled up parchments. If there was any kind of order in this labyrinth, he had no idea what it was. Worry began to bubble angrily in his chest. He had to find Geoffrey. Gaius had given him very specific things to search for and, if he did not find the archivist soon, he'd be forced to wander aimlessly among all the knowledge of the kingdom ad vitam eternam.
A shuffling sound brought him to a sudden halt. Someone was walking in a nearby row.
Following the sound, Merlin came to the end of a row, only to find a large bundle of manuscripts walking his way at high speed. Before he could utter a sound, he was rammed into and fell, arms flaying uselessly, onto the hard stone floor. He shook his head left and right, trying to get his bearings now that he was on the ground. Amongst the dropped manuscripts was a girl about his age, doing the very same thing.
"Oof! Sorry, I didn't mean to barge into you like that ..."
She immediately began picking up the mess, stacking everything haphazardly in her arms. Nice going, Drusilla! King Uther should use you as a battering ram! Merlin began helping her, grabbing parchments and manuscripts left and right.
"No no, it was me. I saw you coming, I should've moved out of the way ..."
She insisted, rolling her eyes at him.
"Oh please, it was absolutely and positively my fault. I knew I should've just made more than one trip ... Although I'm glad you're not uncle Geoffrey! He would've been so mad!"
Merlin thought for a moment that a mad Geoffrey the archivist was not easy to imagine. In front of him, Drusilla snickered at the thought of her uncle's nostrils flaring, the tell-tale sign of his wrath. He would've certainly sent her to the kitchens for this. Again.
"Your uncle?"
The surprise in his voice made her pause. Still kneeling on the hard floor, she carefully balanced what she was already holding and extended a hand.
"Right. You're new here. I am Lady Drusilla of Monmouth, and I'm at my uncle's beck and call, obviously. The official title is assistant archivist and copyist, but let's be honest, I'm his lackey!"
She let out a loud snort that might have been a laugh. Merlin took her small hand in his and shook it vigorously.
"Well I'm Merlin, and I'm ..."
Recognition lit up her eyes as the pair stood, having picked up all the dropped items.
"Arthur's new manservant, right! I knew I had seen you somewhere. My deepest sympathies on getting stuck with him, by the way."
Merlin could not help but laugh at the pitying smile she gave him at the mention of the Prince. It took him a second to respond, balancing books and manuscripts in his hands clumsily.
"Let me help you with that, milady. Where're we going?"
Her arms full and a rolled up map under her chin, she led the way to a small room on the outskirts of the archives.
Unlike most of the archives, this room had a high ceiling with several hanging chandeliers and a stained-glass window that made colorful patterns on the floor and the tables. There were writing desks in the sunny patch, an inkwell and quill sitting on top of one, and a large table - it was more a workbench than a table, really - with maps spread out on it.
"Drop these over here, would you?"
Merlin followed her orders, still looking all about him at the shelves full of books and curios all around the walls. This room felt much more comfortable than the rest of the archives. It felt lived-in, and whoever lived in it enjoyed spending their time there and made efforts to make it their own. Part of his mind suspected that the young lady was that someone.
"So, Merlin. Nobody wanders in this dusty place without a good reason. What can I help you with?"
She had turned towards him and was rubbing her hands against her skirt. Without the pile of books in hand, she did look a bit more like a noble, in a simple - yet obviously expensive - green velvet dress with golden embroidered detail. Her hair - as black as his - was hanging in two braids behind her shoulders. Yet she lacked the flawless posture of the Lady Morgana and wore no glittering jewels, except a pair of small silver earrings. He nodded gratefully, glad that his prayer for someone to help him had been answered.
"Gaius sent me to do some research on this illness that's spreading in the Lower Town. D'you think you could point me to the right shelves?"
Drusilla smiled almost triumphantly at the dark haired boy, her arms extended to encompass the whole table.
"Well aren't you in luck, uncle Geoffrey asked me to do the same thing about an hour ago. I was just pulling out the last manuscripts when you found me."
Merlin chuckled incredulously. Lucky indeed! Drusilla immediately set to work, quickly separating the small mountain of documents in three, talking to him all the while.
"This first pile has information about ailments and sicknesses. You can start looking through these, try to find those with the same symptoms. The second pile is documents and maps of the Lower Town, anything in there might help us know how it's spreading. And this one ..."
She stopped herself and eyed Merlin suspiciously. He noticed because he looked up from the tome he had just opened to stare back at her.
"What? What's the third pile about?"
Drusilla fiddled nervously with the ends of one of her braids between her fingers, looking around as if she thought there might be spies hidden behind the bookshelves. Merlin thought this girl made for a particularly strange noble lady.
"Alright, can you keep a secret?"
I don't know, can I? Merlin wanted to laugh out loud yet said nothing and only nodded, looking as serious as he could.
"I should not even have access to these. They're from the locked section of the archives, and it's only because the king is beyond worried that I was allowed to get them out."
She stopped again, worrying her lower lip between her teeth nervously. Merlin was equal parts curious and worried himself, so he looked her in the eyes and swore to take her secret to his grave. That seemed to do the trick.
"These documents are about magic."
"Magic!?"
The word had escaped him in surprise. He would have never thought that Camelot would have records about magic, not after the Great Purge. Drusilla slapped his arm lightly, eyebrows furrowed.
"Sing about it in the Banquet Hall, why don't you! I told you I'm not supposed to even know these exist, let alone share it with you. We've barely met a minute ago!"
"Then why did you?"
That was a very legitimate question, one that Drusilla was asking herself at this very moment too. Part of the answer was that, if Gaius had sent Merlin up there to research the illness, then he could be trusted to know about its origins, be they mundane or magical. Other than that, she was really just too excited about her uncle trusting her to keep it to herself. She wanted to tell someone and that boy had suddenly appeared, with a perfect reason for her to share this with him. It might seem a bit too convenient, even. What if this boy couldn't be trusted? What if ...?
He'd known about the knight's shield during the tournament. Before anyone had any idea, he was ready to go to the king, talking about a magical shield and snakes that came to life on command. He'd lost his position as Arthur's manservant over it as well. Not only that, but he'd gotten that very position in the royal household by - spectacularly - saving the prince's life. As annoying as Arthur was on a daily basis, Drusilla would never have wished him harm. This boy - this ... Merlin - he had already proved to the court that he could be trusted. Arthur obviously trusted him, since he'd taken him back in his service after the tournament. Why wouldn't she trust that judgement?
Hang it, let's trust the strange big-eared boy.
"I don't know why, but I trust you. However, those are really old manuscripts, very fragile. So I'll be the one searching through that last pile. There's blank parchment on that shelf over there and I have another quill somewhere. We should note everything that we find, then you'll take it back to Gaius?"
With a grin, Merlin nodded and they set to work.
The pair worked mostly in silence, copying every bit of information they found that could pertain to the illness. Drusilla quickly realized that the note she had been given by her uncle was from Merlin's hand. She recognized the round letters, the spacing and the general messiness of the boy's note-taking. She sent side-eyed glances his way from time to time, finding another person's presence in her study hall mildly disturbing. Not many people came here, even less stayed to work alongside her. It was refreshing, however, to see someone else as absorbed as her in parchments and books.
Merlin was oblivious to the young archivist's scrutiny. He was busy deciphering a particularly incomprehensible passage of a science treaty on the spread of a plague long ago forgotten. It was nice to have someone else looking through the piles of manuscripts with him. The young lady seemed to know her way around the archives and their contents like the back of her hand, which would save him from hours of pointless work and a certain headache.
"Merlin? You said the disease has not spread out of the lower town yet, didn't you?"
He looked up and saw Lady Drusilla bent over one of the city maps. He'd tried to look them over earlier, but found he could barely make sense of the detailed plans, and left this part of their research to her. Now that he thought about it, Merlin felt a bit ashamed at the amount of work he was leaving to her. She was working through the city plans and the pile of books on magic - which she hadn't allowed him to touch, much to his unavowed annoyance - while he only had the first pile to work through.
"Yes, so far it's only affected the people down there. But if we don't find out how it's spread soon, it will reach the citadel."
"What did you find about that so far?"
Merlin looked over his notes, scratching his head. They were messy and he'd filled pages of random information in no order whatsoever. His eyes wandered to one of the pages she had filled out with notes next to his own. For a second he felt a pang of jealousy at the sight of the girl's flawless calligraphy. She wrote in small slanted letters, her lines always straight and without any ink blotches or crossing outs. He huffed in frustration.
"Can't find anything in there ... You've got a very good hand, you know. My notes are a mess, and yours are ..."
Her amused snort interrupted him. She was leaning her hip against the table, arms crossed and grinning.
"Goodness I hope so! Uncle's had me working on my calligraphy ever since I came here!"
That tidbit of information piqued Merlin's interest - plus he would not mind a bit of a break. He came to stand at her side, leaning against the table like her.
"Oh? And where were you before you came here, milady?"
"I was born in Deira, up North. My father was sent there on a diplomatic mission, and he ended up marrying one of the court ladies and founding a family."
Merlin noticed how Drusilla was absently rubbing at a leather bracelet on her left wrist. There was a large ring attached to it. Curious jewel.
"What are you doing here in Camelot, then?"
He noticed her easy grin falling rapidly and tried to repair his obvious blunder.
"Oh gosh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. It was ..."
She waved away his concern with a dismissive hand swat.
"It's fine. Really, Merlin. It is. I just haven't talked about that with someone for a long time."
With a sigh, she carried on, her eyes glued to the bookshelves in front of her.
"My parents were killed in an ambush in the woods, on the way back to Camelot for a visit. I was just six years old. I ... I hid under the carriage and the bandits never bothered to look, I guess ... I was found the next morning by a patrol and they brought me here, to my uncle Geoffrey. He's the only family I have now."
The pair stood in silence for a moment. Drusilla was blinking rapidly, aware that she had in fact never spoken of the incident in the woods before. Everyone at Court had known about it already, so she had never needed to speak of it, and that had been fine. Saying things out loud made them feel too real, too close for her comfort. It was no good getting emotional right now, they had work to do. Deflecting was the way to go, for now.
"What about you? What made you appear in Camelot? Surely you're not here just to serve the bloody prince!"
They both chuckled, the fog of long-buried sadness between them quickly evaporating.
"No, my mother sent me here so I could um ... study with Gaius. He's a distant relative ... Her uncle, I believe."
"So you want to be a healer, then?"
He bobbed his head noncommittally.
"Something like that, sort of."
She nodded decisively.
"Well, you couldn't find a better teacher. Gaius is the best physician there is, in the whole kingdom!"
Merlin acquiesced happily, already growing fond of the old physician - and of the young lady next to him as well, if he was being honest. Even though he had been sent to the archives to help stave off the spreading disease, he found he enjoyed the time spent with the strange young lady. Not only was she much warmer than any of the other nobles he'd already met in Camelot, but she was obviously very knowledgeable, a trait he could not help but admire. Knowledge was something scarce in his recent life.
"Alright, Merlin. Enough of that, let's get back to work."
As they got back to their quiet work, both had matching smiles tugging at the corners of their mouths.
Merlin came back to the physician's rooms just in time to be interrogated by Gaius about a new victim in his chambers.
"I've got the information you asked for, Gaius."
The old man barely looked up from the body that lay on his table.
"Took you long enough. Didn't you ask Geoffrey for help?"
Merlin dropped his papers on the table, nearly upsetting a phial of belladonna extract. He righted it hurriedly, hoping the physician would not notice the blunder.
"He wasn't there, but his niece ..."
At that, Gaius unfolded himself with a knowing smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"Ah, yes. You had yet to meet the Lady Drusilla. And I guess that she's the reason for your tardiness?"
Merlin could have blushed at the tone the old physician was taking with him, but he huffed and crossed his arms.
"She helped me search through all the archives for you and we copied anything we found pertinent. Maybe you'd like to read through it?"
He picked up the large pile of parchments and waved it in the air for emphasis. Gaius shook his head and went back to his business, pointing at the cadaver.
"In a moment, Merlin. What's different about this victim?"
Merlin, still clutching all the papers he and the Lady Drusilla had filled with possibly useful information in his hand, looked down to the body on the cot.
"Er ... She's a woman."
The old man did not seem impressed by the answer.
"Sometimes I do wonder whether your magical talents were given to the right person. Anything else?"
"Erm ... She's a courtier."
Gaius nodded.
"Ah."
Scratching his head, Merlin tried to reach the conclusion he was obviously supposed to.
"How does that help us?"
"Courtiers seldom go down to the lower town. So what does that mean?"
Merlin tried to come up with an answer as fast as he could.
"Erm ... That she hasn't spoken to any townspeople."
Gaius would need to help his young pupil on this one.
"Yes, it suggests the disease is not spread by contact."
Merlin carried on, trying to get to the end of the mental thread he was pulling.
"Oh! And they probably ate different food."
"Good. Anything else?"
"Hmm I doubt they breathe the same air."
Gaius urged Merlin on, eager for him to get to the point.
"So what's the only thing they do share?"
It only took a second for him to find the answer, especially after spending the morning with his head bent over the lower town plans.
"Water. Water? You think the disease is spread through water?"
Gaius finally looked at Merlin with a smile and a significant eyebrow rise, handing the boy a bucket.
"Merlin you're a prodigy. Get me a sample while I read through what you've found in the archives."
And on he went to the lower town well!
Lady Morgana rarely - if ever - went to Lady Drusilla's bedchambers, with reason, she realized now.
The rooms, not much different from her own in size or layout, were cluttered and messy and wholly unacceptable to receive guests in. Dresses, a great deal more than Morgana thought the girl owned, were strewn about on the furniture, her grey riding cape on the back of a writing chair. Books were piled up on the table, leaving only a small corner to eat on, large tomes had taken over the writing desk, and parchments filled with calligraphy and scribbles were sprinkled all over the reigning chaos. A large fire was roaring in the hearth, making the room feel stuffy and far too hot for a late spring evening. Morgana sighed.
Drusilla walked in a few minutes later, engrossed in a manuscript. She opened her door and walked in, never lifting her eyes, and let out a shriek of alarm when someone cleared their throat. The young lady looked up, hand over her hammering heart, to find her friend Morgana standing a foot away, arms crossed and an amused smirk on her face.
"Must be a bespelling read you've got there."
Bespelling indeed, it was a parchment on the magical exploits of Aethelfast the Fair, pinched from the secret archives!
"Mor ... Morgana! Don't scare me like that, you madwoman! I could have died on the spot!"
The king's ward rolled her eyes at her friend's theatrics. Trust Drusilla to make a mountain out of an anthill!
"I didn't mean to startle you, I just need a little help with that blasted lacing."
She turned around and pointed to her dress and its complicated back-lacing. Drusilla instantly came over and began undoing the knots. She knew how uncomfortable those gowns could be after a long day. Which was why she often opted for plainer side-laced dresses herself.
"And why d'you need my help? Don't you have an absolutely lovely lady's maid for that?"
Morgana sighed.
"I gave Gwen some time off, her father's fallen ill ..."
Drusilla gasped behind her friend.
"What? No! Tom's sick? Is Gaius tending to him? Have they found a cure?"
Morgana could not give any satisfying answer to the girl's barrage of questions, sadly. No answer at all would mean plenty. As Morgana turned again to face her friend, the younger lady fell into her arms for a hug. Drusilla had always been an affectionate person, and it felt to Lady Morgana like a breath of fresh air, especially compared to King Uther, cold and stoic no matter what, or Arthur's callous boorishness. Both girls were growing dreadfully afraid of this illness that was wiping out the people of Camelot - and now was reaching the people they knew and cared about - and took whatever comfort they could find.
"Thank you, Drusilla. That ride was the best idea."
They were walking down the hallway at a brisk pace, Drusilla - in her riding clothes and still a bit winded from their early morning ride - holding a green cambric dress in her arms. Both young ladies had decided to help each other with the numerous changes of clothes of their day, so that poor Gwen could have as much time at her father's side as possible. The pair were just reaching Morgana's bedchambers when they saw the open door and heard Arthur's voice.
"... of the laws of Camelot, that you did practice enchantments."
They could not get inside fast enough. What they saw was Gwen being manhandled by a pair of guards, panic growing in her brown eyes. Morgana started.
"Gwen?"
The lady's maid struggled against the guards.
"But what have I done? I haven't done anything!"
She turned her eyes to Morgana and Drusilla, pleading.
"Help me, please!"
Drusilla recovered from her shock first.
"Arthur, what's the meaning of this!?"
Morgana followed immediately.
"What are you doing?!"
Arthur glanced at the pair of noble ladies, standing on the threshold, unitedly glaring at him.
"I found a magical poultice in her home."
Morgana scoffed loudly, crossing her arms.
"Oh, that's ridiculous!"
The prince snapped back with a ready retort.
"Then how do you explain her father's recovery?"
Drusilla, who'd spent the last few days engrossed in all kinds of medical manuscripts, began counting the possible answers on her fingers.
"His constitution, what he ate or drank, perhaps Tom had not been as severely infected as the other victims, he may have caught some other illness and not this plague, the disease might be losing its potency ..."
At her side, Morgana kept talking as well.
"She's innocent. I know she's innocent!"
Arthur cut both of them and their cacophonous arguing with one quick gesture.
"What can I do? I can't turn a blind eye!"
And just like that, he left the room, followed by the guards who were still holding a pleading Guinevere between them.
"Arthur, wait!"
Drusilla, refusing to give up, ran after the prince and grabbed at his arm.
"Arthur Pendragon, listen to me! You can't do this!"
With a glare, he shrugged her hand off.
"I have to, Drusilla. King's orders."
Meanwhile, Gwen's pleas were attracting attention. The young archivist saw Master Gaius and Merlin staring from a crossing hallway. At the sight of the old man, an idea came to her. Maybe Gaius could convince the king to let Gwen go?
With that in mind, Drusilla stopped running behind Arthur and turned towards the physician's chambers.
"... they think Gwen's a sorceress! They think she caused the disease!"
Raised voices reached her through the oak door. She was evidently not the only one upset about Gwen's predicament.
"But she didn't!"
"Oh and how are you going to prove that?"
The door opened violently and a flustered Merlin almost barreled into a stunned Drusilla, her hand still poised to knock.
"Oh! Lady Drusilla. Wha-what are you ...?"
She cleared her throat daintily.
"I ... I want to help Gwen. I know she can't really be a sorceress. She's not evil. She can't have set this disease on the city. Gaius, won't you plead with the king, please?"
Merlin moved away from the door and let the young lady in. She all but ran to Gaius.
"You're the foremost expert on magic in Camelot. The king will listen to you. Gaius, please tell him Gwen's not an evil sorceress!"
The old man shook his head in defeat. Drusilla had never before seen the physician defeated. Gaius never gave up, no matter what. The old man had been a comfort in her life ever since her own arrival to Camelot a decade ago. If even he could not make the king see reason, things were looking truly bleak!
"Drusilla my dear, I will evidently do everything I can for Guinevere. But unless this disease is repelled, I'm afraid there isn't much we can do."
The young lady felt the back of her eyes prickling. Gwen - poor, poor Gwen! - almost lost her father, and now that he was healthy again, she was accused of witchcraft. How unfair was that?
"There must be something! I can't believe that Uther will have an innocent killed, it would be murder!"
The Court physician sighed. The distraught girl was too young to know much about the Purge and all it entailed, about the king's very own kind of madness. Sorcery was nothing short of taboo in the kingdom, and if Uther ever caught even the faintest whiff of magic it would surely mean a swift death for everyone implicated, fairness be damned. Another wave of uneasy concern came over the old man when his eyes landed on his ward. The determined glint that had just appeared in the boy's eyes was enough to make his own worry spike and he only patted the Lady Drusilla's head softly, offering a smidge of comfort.
"Waterborne diseases ... What do we have on that?"
She was back in her personal study hall - no matter how much her uncle Geoffrey kept protesting that it wasn't hers alone - reading over some of the notes she'd taken with Merlin, trying to find anything that would help Gwen. Gaius had mentioned the cause of the illness must be linked to Camelot's water supply, and the guards had already cut it to ensure no one else would get sick, but how could they stop this plague? The only thing she could find were several mentions of 'cleaning' or 'purifying' the water. And how does one do that, hmm?
She groaned in frustration. If only books could speak out loud! She could ask them directly, instead of rifling through useless tomes for hours on end. For the first time since she had been allowed to roam the archives, Drusilla felt helpless and lost in the middle of all that knowledge.
"Lady Drusilla? Are you in here? Lady Drusilla?"
Who in the name of Camelot would be looking for her? And who would even use her bloody title? Seconds later, Arthur's manservant appeared in the arched doorway, breathless. Ah.
"Merlin? Why are you running? Has something happened to Gwen?"
She was already halfway out of her chair by the time he got enough breath in him to answer.
"Not yet but I need your help. Those plans of the lower town ... The ones that showed the water well ... We need them, Gaius and I. We're going down there to find out the source of the disease."
While he spoke, Drusilla all but ran to the workbench on her right and began rifling through the numerous rolled up maps she'd pulled out a day ago. She found the one she was looking for with a triumphant 'a-ha!' and spread it out for Merlin to see.
"Got it."
Merlin, suddenly right at her side, grinned.
"Great, can I borrow this? We'll bring it ..."
"What? No!"
The gangly manservant stopped, his hands hovering over the precious parchments, and stared at her for a beat.
"Why not? As soon as we know what's causing the disease, we can tell the king and he won't burn Gwen! We need the plans."
The raven-haired girl shook her head no, arms crossed.
"I know but ... These maps are some of the most precious documents in the archives. I can't let you take them, Uncle Geoffrey would have my head on a spike!"
Merlin gave a frustrated groan, hands pulling at his shaggy hair.
"But we need them! We can't let Gwen die!
"I know that ..."
"Then just hand me the plans. I promise I'll take care of them. I'm sure your uncle would understand, if you do it to save a life ..."
She could not suppress the bark of cynical laughter that came at that.
"You don't know him much, that's for certain!"
Facing Merlin's desperate, tear-filled eyes, however, was just a little too hard for the young lady. As he turned around to go, an idea - a ridiculous, mad idea - blossomed in her mind.
"Wait."
The gangly boy spun around and eyed her, not daring to be hopeful. She began stammering, trying to etch out her own idea properly as she spoke.
"I can't ... I can't let you get the plans out of the archives."
Merlin was already frowning by the time she finished her first sentence and started her second one.
"What I can do is ... well, I can take you down there myself."
The incredulous look he gave her would have been priceless, really.
"What?!"
"Look, I have a good memory ... Not just good, great in fact. I already know most of those plans on the tip of my fingers. If you give me ... say an hour, I can memorize the way down there properly and you and Gaius won't even need the damn plans at all!"
Merlin was far from convinced. Gaius would certainly have a few choice words for him if he let a noblewoman - or noblegirl? Was that even a word? - go along with them.
"I don't know ... Gaius won't like it."
"He doesn't have to like it. It's the only way I can see for you to do this."
Then again, she was raising a very good point. He nodded.
"Alright, can you meet us in an hour, you think?"
The young copyist nodded emphatically, her braids swinging behind her.
"Absolutely. Positively sure. Now go, let me study those plans."
"Thank you!"
Merlin grinned at her before running back out as fast as he'd come in. Drusilla grinned too as she bent over the spread out map.. She was going on an adventure!
Merlin opened the door to the physician's rooms an hour later to find Lady Drusilla on the doorstep. She had pinned her braids tightly to her head, and wore a - very plain - brown plaid dress and sturdy riding boots. Merlin grinned.
"Why do I have a feeling you're fairly used to sneaking around the castle, milady?"
Drusilla grinned right back, shaking her head left and right.
"I will neither confirm nor deny your suspicions, young man."
Gaius came to the door before either of them could say another word.
"Merlin, don't just stand there, move along ... Lady Drusilla? What can I do for you, my dear? Are you ill?"
Drusilla turned her surprised gaze onto the dark haired boy in front of her.
"You didn't tell him, did you?"
Merlin looked the exact definition of embarrassed at the moment, scratching the back of his neck, his ears - those really were big ears! - flaring red.
"Um, I hadn't ... hadn't gotten to that part."
Gaius eyed the pair suspiciously, one eyebrow raised.
"And what was it you haven't told me yet, Merlin?"
The boy began stammering an answer, but Drusilla cut to the chase.
"That I would be leading you into the tunnels. Couldn't take the castle plans out of the archives, you know my uncle. Merlin here didn't stand a chance."
They both expected the old physician to protest, but Gaius only nodded gruffly and waved a hand to her.
"Very well. Lead the way, Drusilla my dear."
The trio went down to the outer wall, and found the small gate that would lead them to the city's water supply. Just as the plans had foretold. They came up to the first of many forks and intersections. Merlin stood right behind Drusilla, manning the torch, and he could hear her muttering under her breath.
"Left here, then right, and another right ..."
In the dim light of the torch he could see her fingers twitching oddly as she counted on them. The gangly boy chuckled under his breath. She had literally learned the path down here on the tips of her fingers!
After a good long descent, which made Merlin wonder if they were perhaps getting any close to the dragon's cave, they arrived at the underground pool. Gaius took over the torch from his ward.
"The water from here supplies the whole town. Take a sample."
Merlin took a small vial from Gaius's outstretched hand and immersed it. Meanwhile, Drusilla eyed the moving shadows the flickering torch was throwing against the walls, an uneasy feeling creeping up her spine.
"Let's take it back and examine it."
Drusilla's curiosity was piqued when the physician spoke of examining the water, but before she could ask a single question, something reared out of the water. The three of them jumped back, Merlin - having been the closest to the water - the farthest away. It had only appeared to them for an instant, but the young archivist had had an impression of a lumpy dark body, and teeth, rows of pointy teeth. As fast as it had appeared, the creature disappeared in the dark waters again, leaving them breathless and - in her case, at least - terrified.
"What the hell was that?!"
The gangly manservant's exclamation expressed her own feelings perfectly.
"Here. It was an Afanc."
"A what?"
Merlin's and Drusilla's voices had risen in perfect unison, asking the same question. Merlin had been pacing the room left and right, while Drusilla had been sitting near the hearth, fiddling with the leather strap tied around her wrist. Attached to it was her father's ring, and she could not help but wish for him to be here at the moment. Sir Gregor of Monmouth would have gladly dispatched any magical monster that came near his darling daughter.
"A beast born of clay, and conjured only by the most powerful sorcerer."
Gaius's cluttered rooms had never felt so warm and welcoming to Drusilla. She was glad for the fire burning and the herbs hanging in boughs from the ceiling. It kept the ugly image of the creature - which now had a name - at bay.
"Now we have to find a way to defeat it. But where?"
The old physician was eyeing his extensive collection of books doubtfully. Merlin moaned, hands raking through his inky black hair.
"That could take days. Gwen'll be dead by then."
Gaius was not about to let himself be bullied by his own ward. He glared at the boy.
"Have you got better idea?"
Grabbing his coat, Merlin hurried out of the rooms without another word, like a man on a mission. In the silence that followed, Gaius and Drusilla stared at the door, both dumbfounded by the boy's rash actions.
"Does he often do that?"
The old man's put upon sigh answered her well enough.
"Morgana?"
The young archivist had been helping Gaius with the research on the Afanc for the last few hours, and was on her way back to her own rooms for a quick nap when she came across her friend. The king's ward was hurrying down to the physician's chambers, desperate to find someone who could help save Gwen.
"Drusilla, come with me. Uther wants to execute Gwen tonight. We have to do something."
She grabbed the other girl's arm and dragged her down the stairs with her. No nap, then. The pair burst in through the doors in the middle of a discussion between Gaius and Merlin.
"They're bringing forward the execution. We have to prove Gwen's innocence."
Gaius glared at the girls who had just barged in, praying they had not heard too much of his conversation with Merlin.
"We're trying."
Didn't she know it! She had been down there with the old man, rifling through the books he'd accumulated in a lifetime of study, trying to find anything that might help them destroy an Afanc, to no avail. Morgana, at her side, was getting desperate.
"Please, just tell me what I can do to help."
Merlin immediately answered.
"We need Arthur."
Both girls were taken by surprise.
"Arthur?"
Merlin walked to the table, showing Morgana the passage they'd found about the creature.
"There's a monster, an Afanc, in the water supply. That's what's causing the plague."
"Well we must tell Uther."
Morgana turned back to the door, but Gaius stopped her.
"The Afanc's a creature forged by magic. Telling Uther won't save Gwen. He'd just blame her for conjuring it."
The king's ward deflated remarkably fast.
"So what are we to do?"
Merlin's voice was firmer than she'd ever heard it before.
"We need to destroy it. Then the plague will stop and Uther may see sense."
Morgana caught on, her face taking on a scheming expression.
"And that's why you need Arthur."
"He's our best chance. But he won't want to disobey the king."
Drusilla could see her friend's best devious smirk growing by the second.
"Leave that to me."
Morgana then left the chambers, heading purposefully for the prince's chambers. Meanwhile, Drusilla eyed Merlin and Gaius from across the table laden with books.
"Have we found a way to kill it, then?"
Both men exchanged a look. Gaius sighed.
"It's only a hunch, I'm afraid. But since the Afanc is a creature of water and earth, it seems only natural that it would be destroyed by the other two basic elements of nature. It's a simple science, really."
Part of Drusilla felt very unsafe at the idea of returning to those dark tunnels on a simple hunch, but the situation was dire. Gwen would die if they did not succeed. Better a hunch than nothing at all!
Lady Morgana brought Arthur down to them quickly, and would not hear a word about staying behind.
"Gwen's my lady's maid. If anyone has reason to go down there, it's me."
Wisely, Gaius and Arthur refrained from commenting.
Drusilla led them down the tunnels again, flanked by Morgana and Merlin. Arthur had insisted on taking the lead, sword in one hand, a torch in the other. He stopped at every crossing, ostensibly to check their surroundings, but really he was just waiting for Drusilla to tell him which way to go next. Their descent took longer than before, the group entirely too aware of a malevolent creature lurking in the shadows. The young archivist could feel her skin breaking out in goosebumps under her sleeves. She'd never had trouble being in underground chambers and tunnels before, but maybe she would after this.
"You'd better be right about this, Merlin."
Trust Arthur to complain, no matter what!
Suddenly, from the depths of the tunnels, they heard a low growl. Morgana gasped and Drusilla instinctively grabbed the other girl's arm, getting closer to the light of the second torch, her eyes wide as she scanned the surrounding shadows. Arthur glanced back to the girls, and even in the near darkness Drusilla could see he was not treating this flippantly anymore. He nodded to the pair.
"You two should stay here."
He should have known they would argue indignantly.
"Alone in the dark with no weapons to defend ourselves? Great plan, Arthur."
He didn't need the light of the torch to know Drusilla was rolling her eyes at him as she spoke. However, the sarcasm could not hide the slight tremble of her voice. He knew she was frightened. Morgana's voice was more steady in his ears.
"We're coming with you."
"No."
The king's ward raised her chin in defiance.
"Scared we'll show you up?"
Arthur could not keep the exasperation from his voice.
"Father will slam the lot of us in chains if he knew I'd endangered you."
"Well good thing he doesn't know about it, then."
If Lady Morgana was only one thing, it was ever-ready with the perfect retort for the annoying prince. To his credit, Arthur tried his best to stay calm and be the voice of reason.
"I'm telling you, Morgana, turn back with Drusilla. You could get hurt."
"You could too ... if you don't get out of my way."
Morgana shoved him aside and took the lead without a single look back. Merlin was greatly amused by this, he had to admit. Seeing Arthur being verbally lashed was sure to be the highlight of his week!
Drusilla could not keep herself from adding to Arthur's misery.
"I'm curious, Arthur. How exactly did you expect to find your way in here without me?"
The prince only huffed in annoyance and the group carried on in silence, until Morgana raised a very good point.
"How are we going to find it?"
Merlin muttered under his breath.
"I just hope we find it before it finds us."
Those words sent another unwelcome shiver up Drusilla's spine. Just as she was taking a deep breath to calm herself, Arthur spun around, tense.
"Stop."
Drusilla tensed, again grabbing onto the nearest arm, which happened to be Merlin's. The boy did not even notice, his attention focused on the tunnel ahead.
"What?"
A tense second passed by, then another.
"It's just a shadow."
Arthur exhaled, relaxing a smidge before forging ahead. Lady Morgana kept advancing, head high and torch firmly in hand. Merlin gave his new friend a small reassuring smile as he followed the other two.
Go on, you coward! Forward! Drusilla's fear of being alone in the dark tunnels was the only reason she was still advancing along with the others. Her nerves were humming and her muscles tense. How stupid of her to insist on going where she had no reason to be! Next time, she would stay in the archives, where she belonged.
They reached the water supply without any other incidents, only to find it uninhabited. Arthur told them to spread out, making the young archivist curse her foolishness under her breath again. Why oh why had she wanted to be in the thick of things?
Staying near Morgana, she inched her way into one of the nearby tunnels. A loud roar was heard again, and Arthur yelped. In an instant, Drusilla and Morgana had rejoined him as Merlin appeared from another tunnel. Morgana quickly checked Arthur, seeing no obvious wound.
"What is it? Are you alright?"
The prince nodded to Morgana.
"Yeah."
Drusilla was very near biting her nails in abject worry. She could feel her own heartbeat in her throat and had to forcibly push the words past it to speak.
"Did you see it?"
"Yes."
They were now all looking around, mistaking every moving shadow thrown by their torches for a monster. Arthur was holding his torch high and wielding his sword, ready to strike, and Merlin had one hand on Drusilla's arm, keeping her near the wall.
"What did it look like?"
"It - It's quick!"
There was a tinge of alarm in Arthur's voice, which was enough to make Drusilla's worry spike up again. If even the one holding a weapon was scared ...
The four of them were going in circles, trying to see the beast approaching, yet they did not see it until it was almost in front of Morgana, who let out a scream. On instinct, the young archivist flattened herself against the nearest wall, a hand on her mouth to keep from screaming right along with Morgana. What in the blazes was she thinking, going down there? She was going to die, half-eaten by a magical monster, she just knew it! She saw Arthur run towards the creature with his sword in hand, then stop. The Afanc had disappeared in the darkened tunnels again.
"Where is it?"
They kept turning in circles, until Merlin edged into one of the larger tunnels, straining to hear something.
"I think it's gone this way!"
Drusilla pulled herself from the safety of the wall and followed the others, holding tightly onto Morgana's free hand. The king's ward was holding onto hers just as tight. Arthur had taken the lead again, Merlin following him closely, and the girls were closing the group with the second torch held up and an ear out for any noise coming from behind them. They reached one of the many junctions between two tunnels and, as Arthur and Merlin were checking both sides, a snarling came from the left tunnel. Moments later, the Afanc appeared, slowly making its way towards the light of their torches. That was the first good look Drusilla could get at it, and she immediately wished she had closed her eyes. The beast was a misshapen mass of clay, it's skin oozing dirty water, with small beady eyes and jaws full of long, sharp fangs.
It came directly at Arthur, who waited until the Afanc was right in front of him to strike. He stepped forward and swiped at the creature, but it struck him back. With a metallic clang that was almost drowned out by the monster's roars, Arthur lost his sword and moved back. Drusilla let out a whimper of fright. She felt a tugging on her arm. Morgana dropped her hand and inched herself forward, torch at the ready. The young archivist almost called to her friend, but it seemed to work. The creature had taken a step back when Morgana had brought her torch closer. It could work!
The Afanc charged Morgana and swiped at her, making her drop her torch. Before the beast could swipe at her again, Arthur was charging at it with his own torch - their last remaining one. That caught the creature's attention. Arthur began circling around it, thrusting the torch in its face, trying to corner it. Drusilla grabbed Morgana's arm and pulled her backwards, where she was standing with Merlin. The three of them watched as the prince was engaged in a strange game of push-and-pull with the creature, each inching forward, then back, trying - and failing - to get the upper hand. From behind her, Drusilla heard Merlin yelling.
"Arthur, use the torch!"
Moments later, just as Arthur was shoving the torch in the Afanc's ugly, opened maw, a strong wind came down the tunnels. It caught the flame of the torch, and for a second Drusilla was terrified that it would snuff it out, that they would be caught down here in the complete dark with an angered monster. Instead of extinguishing it, however, the wind made the flame grow brighter and larger, feeding it. The Afanc got caught in the growing inferno and, with a terrifying roar, it burned down and disappeared.
"Dad!"
"My little child!"
Seeing Gwen and Tom hugging was wrecking Drusilla's composure something fierce. She began blinking furiously and rubbing her nose against her sleeve, hoping no one would notice. Merlin's amused smirk next to her was proof that she had been noticed, unfortunately.
Gwen came to Morgana and Drusilla and clasped the girls' hands in her own. The young archivist could feel how much rougher her friend's hands were, especially compared to Morgana's delicate fingers. Drusilla's own hands were not as rough as Gwen's, but they were definitely not those of a proper noble lady either. For the first time ever, she found that her work in the archives made her different from her friend. She was pulled out of her momentary musings by Gwen's effusion of gratitude.
"Thank you! Thank you both!"
Before Drusilla could be overwhelmed by the sentiment in Gwen's eyes, Morgana shrugged off the whole thing gracefully.
"Don't thank us. It was mostly Merlin."
The manservant in question snapped out of his goofy grin when he heard his name. Gwen eyed him with new eyes, equal parts grateful and incredulous.
"Really?"
The Lady Morgana decided on the spot that Merlin's blushing face was one of the most adorable sights in Camelot and piled on the compliments.
"He's the real hero here."
Gwen scrambled for words.
"I-I don't know what to say."
Merlin shrugged, going red to the tip of his ears.
"I didn't do anything."
Tom, almost choked up by emotion, nodded to the trio.
"I'm - I'm grateful to you all. Come on, Gwen."
They exited the dungeon, arm in arm. Now that the pair had gone back to their lives, Drusilla's thoughts went back to the parchment in her left hand. She began slowly ascending the stairs, fiddling with the small piece of vellum. She wanted the others' opinion on it, but then again it was a bit embarrassing to ask.
"Merlin. I wanted you to know, your secret's safe with me."
Morgana's voice, still in the room a few steps below, came up to the girl's ears. A secret?! She stopped climbing the stairs and listened intently.
"My secret?"
"Merlin don't pretend. I know what you did."
"You do?"
Was that a hint of panic in Merlin's voice?
"I saw it with my own eyes."
"You did?"
What? What had she seen? What had Drusilla missed?
"I understand why you don't want anyone to know."
Ohhh was it something shameful too?
"Well obviously ..."
"But I won't tell anyone. You don't mind me talking to you about it?"
Drusilla couldn't help but think that she would get on the case of extracting information out of her friend the very moment they were out of the dungeons. Not tell anyone, indeed!
"Er ... no. I-I, it's, er ... You have no idea how hard it is to keep this hidden."
"Well, you can continue to deny it, but I think Gwen's a very lucky woman."
Drusilla could practically hear the smirk in Morgana's voice. Gwen? Oh. Ohhh!
"Gwen?"
"It's our secret."
Moments later Morgana appeared in the stairwell, grinning like a cat. Drusilla shook her head with a fond smile as she waited for her friend to catch up with her. Both ladies ascended the stairs back to the - more dignified - parts of the castle together.
"You shouldn't tease him like that. It's cruel."
Morgana made a dismissive gesture with her hand, an airy and elegant movement that made Drusilla green with envy. Why couldn't she be that graceful too?
"Oh please! It's adorable, really. Now what was on that parchment you kept fiddling with behind your back?"
As soon as they were out in the hallway, Arthur, who'd been lounging fashionably against the wall - how often did he practice that pose in his bedchambers? She might have to ask Merlin about that - strode over to them and kept pace easily.
"I saw Gwen and her father coming up ..."
All but ignoring the prince, Drusilla shrugged and handed Morgana the parchment she'd been scribbling on.
"Does this look like what we saw down there?"
There was a detailed sketching of the dreadful Afanc on the page. Morgana nodded, showing it to Arthur on her left, who nodded as well.
"Not bad, Drusilla."
"Yes, that's definitely what lurked in the water well. But why are you drawing it?"
She took back the sheet and set it aside in her pocket.
"Uncle Geoffrey wants me to write down an account of what happened. He says it might save lives if there ever is another plague like this one."
Arthur nodded, pensive.
"Good thinking, but let's hope there never is another one like that."
Drusilla nodded vigorously. She was hoping nothing as terrifying would happen to them for a long long time, better yet never. That had been plenty of adventure for her!
A/N: (insert evil laughter here) Muahahaha! We all know that her wish won't be granted, far from it! Bring on the poisonings and the foul magical beasties and the fake-noble knight-wannabes!
Okay so, Merlin and Drusilla have finally met, and wasn't that a total meet-cute! I've been giggling like a little girl writing that part from first draft to final revisions ... And there will be much more giggle-worthy moments in this fic, ye be warned!
I've started writing the next chapter, but with Halloween and Christmas prep already in full swing at home and at work, I'm afraid I can't guarantee that I'll post it anytime soon. In the meantime, keep reviewing, it's like holiday gifts in advance for me!
