"Where have you been? You've been gone for ages!"
Merlin gave the king a sideways look. "I've been in Ealdor, and I've been gone for four days, just like we discussed. What are you doing awake so early? And dressed?"
He was slightly annoyed. He was actually early to work for once, and Arthur was already awake and ready for the day. For some reason, that made him feel somewhat robbed of his accomplishment. Add Arthur's unfair complaint to that, and he felt a little bit annoyed with the royal prat.
"Well, you certainly chose a fine time to take a trip," Arthur said irritably.
"Did something happen?" Merlin felt a twinge of concern through his annoyance. Looking more closely, there were bags under Arthur's eyes and an unfamiliar wildness in his expression.
"Did something happen," Arthur repeated with a snort. "I don't suppose you've ever heard the name 'Emrys'?"
Merlin froze. "Emrys? I don't believe I've met anyone by that name."
"I didn't think so," Arthur said with a sigh. "All right, let's go."
"Go where? You haven't even had breakfast yet!"
"To meet with the round table." Arthur laughed a little bit, grabbing a muffin off of his plate as he walked past. "We went on a hunting trip together while you were gone, and something happened that needs sorting. I'll fill you in on the way."
The tale took surprisingly little time to tell, considering how big it felt. Merlin grew more and more pale as Arthur spoke, but that didn't particularly surprise the king. Merlin had always been jumpy when it came to magic.
"That's quite a story," Merlin said when Arthur fell silent. "You believe it?"
"You think I shouldn't?" Arthur asked curiously.
"I don't know." Merlin looked like he was going to say more, but then stopped. Before Arthur could press him, Gwaine joined them.
"Merlin! Welcome back!" he clapped the younger man on the shoulder as they entered the room. "Has Arthur told you all about his magical nanny?"
To Arthur's surprise, Merlin scowled at Gwaine instead of joining in on the joke. Merlin never hesitated to team up with the knight against Arthur, but apparently Merlin couldn't find anything funny about the current situation, even at Arthur's expense.
Arthur took his normal seat at the round table. He'd had the table brought from the castle of the ancient kings (no mean feat, given it was solid stone) and set up in a room that they simply referred to as "the table room." Arthur still used the council chambers when he needed to meet with the council or with all of the knights. But for more sensitive issues, Arthur met with just his inner circle, whom he trusted implicitly. The Knights of the Round Table. The knights had spread out around it, but even so, it always looked a little bit sparse since Gwen, Gaius, and Merlin didn't sit with them as they had that first night.
"All right," Arthur said without preamble, hardly waiting to take his seat before he started talking. "Have we figured anything out?"
"The townspeople don't seem familiar with the name," Gwaine reported. "I hit four different taverns, and not a single soul batted an eyelash."
"I tried to subtly bring it up with some of the other knights, but no one knew what I was talking about," Leon said apologetically. "The name doesn't even seem familiar to anyone."
"Lancelot? Did you have any luck?" Arthur asked, watching the knight closely. Apart from Arthur, he had seemed the most upset at the druid's revelation.
"I spoke with Geoffrey of Monmouth and we went through the genealogies of all of Camelot's noble families going back five generations. There is no mention of an Emrys anywhere." Lancelot still appeared troubled, but Arthur was relieved to see that he no longer seemed as distressed as he had before.
Arthur drummed his fingers on the table. "What next?" he wondered aloud.
"We could put out a notice." The idea came from Percival, although he looked hesitant to propose it. "Say that you're looking for someone named Emrys, and offer a reward for information."
Leon looked thoughtful. "Even with a reward, his friends wouldn't be likely to come forward if they fear he'd be in trouble. Our best hope would be that he has an enemy who would reveal him."
"You could say that you're searching for him to offer him a reward for services rendered to the king," Lancelot suggested quietly. "But you can't say that unless you mean it."
Arthur huffed. "Services rendered to the king," he muttered. "Who knows what the man has done?" He turned to Gwaine, "Let's just do this by word of mouth. Can you start planting seeds that I'm looking for someone named Emrys, and there might be a reward involved if the information proves valuable? Nothing official, just…"
"Just gossip," Gwaine said with a grin. "Yeah, I can do that. People are probably already starting to talk just based off the questions we've been asking, but I can nudge things along. Does that mean you'll be buying a few rounds for the fine folks of Camelot?"
Arthur sighed. "A few, Gwaine, just to loosen tongues. We can't empty the royal coffers on ale." He sat for a moment longer, trying to come up with something else he could order people to do, but ultimately he had to admit that right now, they were playing a waiting game until they had more information.
"We'd better get to training," he said, standing. "Keep your ears open, and let me know immediately if you learn anything."
As they reached the door, he turned to Merlin to give him his chores for the day, but before he had the chance, he heard Lancelot's voice calling out.
"Merlin! Do you have a minute?" Arthur saw the knight grab his servant's arm, and the two of them disappeared down a side corridor.
"Are you all right?" Lancelot asked the question so quietly that Merlin could hardly hear him.
"Yeah, I'm okay," he whispered back. "I'm still in shock, I think. I literally just found out as we were walking into the room."
"What do you need from me?"
"I don't know. I had no idea what I'm going to do."
"Merlin!" Arthur appeared at the end of the corridor, looking annoyed.
"Coming!" he called back. "Come by this afternoon," he muttered to Lancelot as he walked away. "We'll talk."
"So Arthur doesn't have any inkling of who it might be?" Gaius asked later that day, and Lancelot shook his head.
"It doesn't seem so. The biggest clue the druid gave about Emrys's identity is that he's loyal and a faithful friend, and that she could sense his magic on all of us, so he had to be close."
"How many people are close enough for that?" Merlin worried. "I'm the only one around all of you that much."
"Not necessarily," Gaius said thoughtfully. "There are plenty of servants and craftspeople that come into contact with Arthur and the knights regularly, even if they're less conspicuous than you. The royal blacksmith, for example, could have enchanted the knights' armor. Or Silas, who helps Arthur with training the knights. You're not the only one who moves in and out of their lives. And the knights all interact with each other at training, so any of them could be a possibility as well."
Lancelot watched Merlin with concern. "What are you going to do?"
Merlin sighed. "I don't know. But it sounds like I at least have a little bit of time to figure it out." His eyes fell to the large book on the table in front of him. "In the meantime, Arthur is going to have me do research until my eyes fall out.
Gaius reached over and picked up the book curiously. "Cadwaladr's Bestiary," he read. "What on earth does he have you doing with this?"
"Apparently the druid said that Emrys is a 'creature of magic,' so Arthur has me going through any book I can find about magical creatures to see if there's a record of powerful sorcerers." Merlin let out a short laugh. "Who knows? Maybe I'll find something."
Gaius gave him a skeptical look, handing the book back. "I doubt you're in a bestiary, Merlin."
A knock sounded at the door, and Leon popped his head in, looking taken aback when he saw Lancelot there. "We've been looking for you!" he said in surprise. "Arthur asked me to gather the knights and Merlin – someone has requested an audience with the king. They say they have information about Emrys."