Chapter 1
Gwen sat on a blanket on the floor with Lily, the twins set between them. She didn't know how Lily could tell them apart. Mother's instinct, perhaps. Gwen thought she might knit them each a bonnet of different colors to help distinguish them. She tickled one of their tiny feet, eliciting a squeal of laughter. Gwen smiled, but it was tinged with wistfulness.
"What's the matter?" Lily asked.
"Nothing," Gwen said, forcing her smile wider.
"You've seemed down lately," Lily pressed.
Gwen dropped her facade and sighed. She hadn't spoken of this to anyone, but Lily was a good friend and Gwen's heart ached with the weight of what she'd been carrying.
"I love the twins," she started earnestly. "But…being around them lately just reminds me that I haven't given Arthur an heir yet."
"How long have you been trying?"
"Only the past year. When I was first crowned queen, we wanted to wait, have more stability in the kingdom as I got used to my new role. But now…I feel inadequate," she confessed.
"You are a strong, noble queen," Lily replied. "And are more than adequate."
Gwen gave her a weak smile at that. It was kind of her to say, and it wasn't that Gwen doubted her ability to lead as a queen. The truth was she wanted to have a child. She was ready and so was Arthur. Gwen was envious of Lily in that regard.
"Have you spoken with Arthur about this?" Lily asked next.
Gwen's heart clenched. "No. He hasn't brought it up since we decided we were ready to try. Maybe he's just being sensitive to my feelings, and I'm afraid to have that conversation with him, in case he's just as disappointed as I am."
"Even if he is, you could be there for each other in that," Lily said. "And Arthur would never be disappointed in you."
Gwen knew that, but she still couldn't help feeling worried about letting her husband and king down.
Merlin stood with the gathered court for the weekly petitions from the people. Most were about taxes, as usual. Some were about lost crops and the inability to supply Camelot's city with the expected grain. Arthur was kind and fair, promising relief where it was needed and kindly listening to those pleas that weren't. There was little for Merlin to actually do during these open forums, just like there hadn't been when he'd stood in attendance as Arthur's manservant instead of court sorcerer. Except now some of the people were casting wary looks Merlin's way as they asked if magical help might be prudent. In truth, Merlin had never considered using magic to restore crops. It'd be something to look into.
Arthur flicked a look at Merlin before responding that his court sorcerer would look into possible remedies for that.
It gave Merlin a swell of pride that the two of them were more in sync as time went on. It'd been a rough transition in the beginning, but things were going smoothly now.
Arthur adjourned the forum, but a peasant pushed his way through the exiting crowd.
"Please, Your Highness, I beg an audience!"
Arthur raised a hand to stall the exodus and retook his seat on the throne. "Go ahead."
"My name is Iwainell," the man said, sounding out of breath, like he'd run all the way here and almost didn't make it. "I come from a village north of here. I beg your help, Your Highness. A giant snake has been terrorizing us, taking livestock and people, even digging up the graves of the recently dead."
Gaius stepped forward. "Describe this giant snake."
The man's eyes reflected remembered fear. "It's massive, as tall as a house, with a pointed head like a dragon's. And it has two front legs, though it doesn't walk on them but crawls on its belly like a serpent."
Gaius turned to Arthur. "That sounds like a lindworm, Sire. It's a deadly creature with a very venomous bite."
"Please help us," Iwainell pleaded.
Arthur nodded in assurance. "I will send my knights and court sorcerer back with you." He gestured to Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, who moved forward for the mission.
"Thank you, Sire," the peasant gushed. "Thank you."
Merlin escorted Iwainell out to the courtyard where they waited as the knights went to arm themselves with swords and crossbows. Leon, Gwaine, Elyan, and Percival came out first.
"Lancelot went to tell Lily where we're going," Elyan informed Merlin.
It wasn't long before Lancelot came jogging out of the castle to join them, and then they set off with Iwainell back to his village.
It was quiet when they arrived, most of the villagers apparently shut up in their homes.
"Where does the lindworm usually come from?" Merlin asked.
Iwainell pointed east of the village. So the knights headed that direction while Iwainell stayed behind. They roamed around a bit, eyes peeled, but didn't find anything.
"You'd think a giant snake would be easier to spot," Gwaine grumbled.
"Lindworm," Merlin corrected.
"Does that mean it lives underground?" the knight retorted.
"It's not a literal worm."
"Keep yacking and you might drive it underground," Leon snipped quietly.
Gwaine scoffed. "It likes to eat people, remember? Hey, lindworm! Got a nice feast for you here!" He patted himself and turned in a circle. No giant serpent came out to attack them.
But then a scream rent the air, and they all whirled in the direction it had come from—the village. They burst into a run and arrived to find the lindworm slithering around the huts, hissing and snapping at the closed doors behind which its prey were hiding. The knights drew their swords and charged.
The lindworm whipped its attention to them and went diving the opposite direction. It crashed through a paddock fence, sending goats scattering in fright. Merlin raised his hand and uttered a spell. The magical attack hit the serpent and made it jerk. It turned and spat at him in response.
Gwaine and Elyan barreled into the paddock after it, swinging their blades at its lower half. It twisted around and snapped its fangs at them, but they ducked and darted around, steel still flying. Then the serpent snapped its tail like a whip and hit Elyan in the chest, which sent him flying through the air into the goats. Leon raised a crossbow and fired, but the bolt ricocheted off its scales.
Gwaine leaped forward in that split second of distraction and stabbed his blade into its third quadrant, managing to pierce its armored side. The lindworm screeched and whipped its head around at him. Merlin prepared to cast another spell before it could strike, but the serpent didn't lunge with its fangs. Instead it belched out a plume of noxious green fumes that engulfed Gwaine whole. He staggered back out of the cloud, coughing, and after three steps collapsed.
"Gwaine!" Merlin shouted, summoning up a ball of fire, which he launched at the lindworm before it could finish off his friend.
The serpent shrieked again and wrenched away to go crashing through the other side of the paddock fencing, dislodging Gwaine's sword from its body along the way.
Elyan reached Gwaine first as the rest of them hurried into the paddock. Gwaine was lolling his head woozily.
"Gwaine!" Elyan exclaimed, propping him up.
"Mm, I can get up," he slurred. But despite that statement, his jelly-like arms didn't manage to actually push himself upright.
Merlin dropped down on his other side and clasped the sides of Gwaine's face to hold him still so he could look at his pupils. They were dilated.
"I thought Gaius said the bite was poisonous," Leon said in alarm.
"Apparently its breath is too," Merlin huffed.
"Stunk like a skunk," Gwaine said almost drunkenly, then groaned.
Merlin looked at the others. "We need to get him to Gaius."
Lancelot moved in to help Elyan pull Gwaine off the ground, letting him hang between them. His feet clumsily tried to find their balance but failed. His pallor was also as green as the brume had been, and Merlin worried he was going to be sick.
The villagers had ventured out of their homes and were watching.
"We will return," Percival promised them.
Their expressions were forlorn as the knights hastened their way back to Camelot.
Gwaine was barely keeping his feet by the time they reached Camelot and was mumbling incoherently about worms as Lancelot and Elyan carried him over to the patient cot in Gaius's chambers.
"Was he bitten?" Gaius asked urgently, rushing over.
"No," Merlin answered. "The lindworm just breathed on him, some kind of toxic breath."
Lancelot and Elyan stepped back as Gaius bent over Gwaine to examine him. The knight was shivering and drenched in a cold sweat. Gaius hurried over to his medicine shelf and plucked a few vials off it, then returned and began to ply Gwaine with them.
"Someone fetch Lily," he said.
Lancelot immediately turned and jogged out of the room up to his chambers. Lily was standing by the open window, rocking one of the twins in her arms. She looked over in alarm at Lancelot's harried entrance.
"Gaius needs you," he said. "Gwaine was poisoned by the lindworm."
Lily wordlessly passed Rhedyn to the nurse and followed Lancelot back down to Gaius's chambers. They arrived just as Leon and Arthur did.
"How is he?" Arthur asked, striding inside.
From what Lancelot could see, Gwaine was the same, and the medicine Gaius had given him hadn't had much effect yet.
"The poison is fatal without an antidote," Gaius replied, then turned to Lily. "I'll need your help making one."
"What can I do?" she readily responded.
"Can you use your magic to extract oils from plants instead of having to wait for a distiller?"
Lily pursed her mouth in consideration. "I've never tried it before, but I think I can work that."
Gaius nodded and went over to their botany station, picking out which plants she needed to do. He then turned to the knights. "I'm also going to need a weasel."
"A weasel?" Percival repeated dubiously.
"That's the key ingredient for counteracting the lindworm venom."
"We can check with the trappers in the lower town," Lancelot said.
"And I'll read up on the lindworm," Merlin added. "See if it has any weaknesses." He cast a reluctant look at Gwaine, no doubt wanting to stay, but his study was now upstairs, so he had to leave.
Lancelot and the other knights headed out to the lower town. There were a few trappers who lived there, but none of them had any weasels in their recent catches.
"We need to go check your traps," Leon said.
"What, now?"
"Yes. This is of the utmost importance."
The peasants couldn't very well say no, so they all grudgingly set off, one knight with each of them, to head into the forest and check their snares. Several were empty, and a few had other species in their clutches. But then, to Lancelot's relief, one of the traps finally did have a weasel. The trapper extracted it and handed it over, and then the two of them made their way back to the edge of town where they met up with the others. Only Lancelot had the necessary animal, but one was all they needed. They hoped.
The knights hurried back to Gaius to deliver their catch. The physician had a complicated looking distiller set up on the table.
"Was Lily not able to extract the plant oils?" Lancelot asked.
"No, she is," Gaius replied, nodding over his shoulder to where she was deep in concentration over her work. "Which is fortunate, as it will save time since I also need to distill essence of weasel." He paused and looked at the knights. "You all might not want to stick around for this part." He then took the animal carcass and stuffed it into one of the beakers.
Elyan went over to the patient cot to check on Gwaine. The man was locked in the throes of shivering, eyes closed and pallor ashen.
"Hang in there," Elyan told him but got no response. Gwaine had passed the point of consciousness.
The knights were just about to leave Gaius and Lily to their work when Merlin came rushing in.
"Did you find a weasel?" he exclaimed.
"Yes," Leon answered.
"I'm working on the antidote right now, Merlin," Gaius added.
"Will there be enough left over to use on the lindworm?"
Gaius's brows furrowed. "Possibly. It will take some time to make, and it won't be much."
"Will the antidote also kill it?" Lancelot asked.
Merlin shook his head. "No, but it should give us an advantage, repel its bite so we can go for the kill."
"How long exactly will it take?" Percival spoke up. "What about the villagers in the meantime?"
Gaius's mouth thinned into a grim line. "Several hours, I'm afraid. It certainly won't be ready before tomorrow morning."
"Percival and I can go back and protect the village until it's ready," Elyan volunteered, wrinkling his nose at the bubbling carcass in the beaker.
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Merlin said worriedly.
"We can't leave them defenseless," Percival argued.
"We'll be careful," Elyan promised.
The decision was ultimately up to Arthur, but Lancelot knew he wouldn't keep his men from defending those in need. So while Elyan and Percival left to fulfill that duty, the rest of them had to wait for Gaius and Lily to finish the antidote…and hope it worked.