AN.: Welcome back! I hope you noticed the mixture of references from Merlin 5x01 and 4x01 I included in the last chapter. The Juggling scene from 5x01 is still one of my many, many favorite scenes from Merlin.
Also, I hope you don't hate me that much for the cliffhanger in Chapter 6.
Accept Chapter 7 as an apology.
A big thank you to everyone who left a review and brightened up my day. Thanks go to mersan123, Moonlover04, CJananSx3, Gingeraffeealene, GuestM and Citruswyvern32.
All your messages made me smile like an idiot and forced me to sit down and continue writing this story.
"Magic!" "Sorcerer!" "Help!" Panicked screams suddenly filled the air, breaking through the shocked silence caused by the blast of energy. The people in the room were helpless, not knowing what to do, where to flee to, how to protect themselves… An unconscious manservant was lying in the middle of the room, a caring knight by his side. As soon as Gwaine had managed to get his legs to work again, he had stumbled over to his fragile friend, in spite of several obstacles lying in his way, may it be trays, food or limbs from people lying on the floor. Gwaine gingerly grabbed Merlin by putting an arm around his shoulders and lifted him so he could lean halfway against Gwaine's body. With his free hand, he stroked Merlin's cheek, almost cringing away from the cold that met him at the tips of his fingers. Gwaine felt like he had cotton stuffed into his ears while his heart was racing and his blood was rushing through them.
"-aine! Gwaine!" A hand on his shoulder forced him to separate his eyes from the young sorcerer's face. He met worried, steel-blue eyes. The king of Camelot had rushed over to the pair sitting on the floor, trying to do something to get this situation under control again.
"Gwaine." Arthur said, calmer now as he realized he finally had the knight's attention. "What happened?" Arthur's voice was calm, but also almost seething. His stern gaze jumped from Merlin to Gwaine's face and Gwaine could see that his king was working his jaw muscles vigorously. A lady from Bernicia, who had been lying close by, had recovered from the blast and overheard Arthur's question.
"Why are you even asking?" she screeched, spit flying from her mouth, her crazy eyes jumping from one face to the other. "This servant of yours is a sorcerer! We all saw it happen! Do something about it king Arthur!" The few guests that had also recovered from the shock agreed with her. A few knights from the other kingdoms even approached the little group in the middle of the room, their swords drawn. Of course, the knights from Camelot drew their swords in response to that.
"Stop! Calm down!" Arthur's voice suddenly drowned the bellowing of his guests. "Whatever this was, it happened in my kingdom, in my home and under my supervision, so it will be my responsibility to take care of. There is no need to worry, my knights are perfectly capable to deal with a sorcerer."
"It doesn't seem that way to me if you were not capable of realizing there was a sorcerer right under your nose!" The lord from Gawant interjected again, his finger pointing at Merlin. Gwaine had just about enough of this.
"It was not Merlin who performed magic!" The noise in the hall decreased significantly as almost all pairs of eyes landed on Gwaine, who was still holding on to Merlin for dear life.
"Gwaine… do you want to say… that it was you-" Elyan who had come closer, asked disbelievingly.
"What? No of course not!" Gwaine quickly denied the accusation. "What I meant to say was, that I recovered quickly from the blast and I scanned our surroundings immediately. Then I saw a hooded figure at the gate who used the distraction to make his escape." Gwaine hoped nobody would notice his nervous swallowing or how his hands started to tremble lightly while he hoped that they would buy the lie. It was not that far-fetched to think that they might buy it. In the chaos that had just taken place, nobody would notice a figure leaving the room.
"I saw the figure as well!" Another voice made all eyes snap into its direction. It was Gaius who had spoken up. He was standing there, breathing heavily and wore a serious expression on his face. Gwaine knitted his brow in comprehension. Oh.
"Gaius. Are you sure you saw someone fleeing from the room?" Arthur asked, not quite able to hide the hopeful note from his voice.
"Yes, Sire." Gaius nodded at Arthur before his eyes snapped to Merlin. Briefly, Gwaine's and Gaius' eyes met, their unspoken words making clear to each other that they both were willing to do anything it would take to help get Merlin out of this one.
"What makes you think the figure fleeing from this room was a sorcerer?" A man dressed in blue – his attire now stained – crossed his arms in front of his chest. He stepped closer to Gaius. "He could've just tried to get out of here alive while this boy-" he pointed at Merlin. "-tied to kill us all!" Gaius straightened his back and appeared, despite his age and fragile bones, ten times more intimidating than the lord in blue.
"Let's be reasonable for a moment. If Merlin, my ward, really was a sorcerer, why would he perform such a useless spell? Judging from the fact, that he is currently injured and unconscious, he clearly took the most damage from all the people present in the room. What kind of sorcerer would perform magic in front of everyone just to damage himself, faint and be caught afterwards? What would he achieve by doing that? Losing his life, for sure… Merlin has served the king of Camelot as a loyal manservant for a few years now and he knows what happens to people who use magic. He was also active in saving Camelot from magical threats. So let me ask you: What makes you think that this young, loyal and kind-hearted man- "Gaius pointed at Merlin now as well. "-is a sorcerer?" The silence in the hall after Gaius' words was deafening. The lord clothed in blue had taken a few steps back and had slightly shrunken in on himself during Gaius' speech.
With a meek voice, the lord answered, trying to defend his honor. "The shockwave of magic originated from him-" Gaius interrupted him.
"Oh that is interesting. I didn't know you had such a deep understanding of magic that you are able to know it's ways and how it works. Can you enlighten me about the spell my ward supposedly casted? And that – don't forget about that fact – even without saying a word to actually cast it." Without waiting for an answer, Gaius turned towards Arthur, his gaze softened.
"Sire, I'm afraid that the hooded figure that left earlier is the sorcerer responsible for this."
Gwaine was speechless. He looked at Gaius with shook. He wasn't sure anymore if his initial idea of Gaius knowing Merlin's secret was true anymore. Hell, after that speech, which had seemed so reasonable, he wasn't sure that he himself knew Merlin's secret. Come to think of it, even though Gwaine seemed to know the truth – the truth that the man leaning against his chest was a sorcerer – there were still a lot of things which didn't make any sense at all. Yes! Why would Merlin use magic in front of everyone and then just faint afterwards? Why would using magic make him faint in the first place? And why was Merlin able to perform such powerful magic without having to say a spell out loud? Gwaine had never heard of anything like this. Maybe there really was another sorcerer who had caused the blast and then had fled from the scene. No Gwaine, you made that part up, remember?
A lady in a brownish dress spoke up from one corner of the room. "I think I saw the hooded figure as well!" A few bystanders mumbled in agreement and all of a sudden, the vast majority of people in the room had seen the mystery figure fleeing from the scene. A few even said they saw the person outstretch a hand towards where Merlin was juggling and others said they saw the person's eyes under the hood glow. Gwaine almost sneered at their desperate cry for attention while he saw through all their lies.
"I think you are right. As you said, Merlin was always a loyal manservant and friend to me and most people know about that. They must've tried to hurt him to send me a warning or message." Arthur straightened his slightly slumped shoulders, turned towards the knights of Camelot and spoke to them in an authoritative voice.
"Men, I do not tolerate any more attacks from that sorcerer. He made an attempt on Merlin's life… I want patrols scouting the castle and lower village for the sorcerer. Stop anyone who looks suspicious or anything that seems suspicious and report to me immediately about your findings." He addressed his guests now. "I apologize for what happened tonight and I hope you are still able to rest. Rest assured knowing that I won't take a rest myself until that sorcerer is caught and locked away to make sure all of you are safe in my kingdom. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask and if you need medical attention, my court physician will be at your service." He waves a hand in Gaius direction. "I advise you to go to your rooms or assigned quarters to rest now."
After he had dismissed his guests and they started to disperse to go to their respective chambers, Arthur kneeled down next to Gwaine and Merlin and put a hand on Merlin's forehead. Ice cold. "Gaius!" Arthur roared just as the physician kneeled down next to him as well, having already been on his way to his ward's side. He made a show of examining Merlin despite already knowing what has happened. It had happened before in Gaius' chambers after all.
"The spell seemed to have drained most of Merlin's energy from his body – his life essence, if you'd like to call it that– hence the lack of warmth. He won't wake up for a while; he needs to recover first. I can make some tea to speed up his healing and help with his recovery. Do not worry Sire, his life is not in danger." Arthur let out a breath of relief. Gwen was hovering behind him, worry displayed on her face. She touched her husband's shoulder to comfort him and Arthur returned the gesture with grabbing her hand and squeezing it slightly. Leon, Elyan and Percival were gathered around their unconscious friend as well.
"I need someone to help me carry him to my chambers." Gaius said. All the knights raised their voices to offer their help, but Gaius had someone different in mind. "Gwaine, could you help me carry Merlin to my room? We should hurry, we need to get his temperature up as soon as possible." Gaius' gaze was fixed on Gwaine's face and Gwaine returned the stare, not backing down.
"Of course, Gaius." Gwaine slowly rose from the floor, taking Merlin with him and holding him close to his chest. "If you excuse us." Gwaine said in the general direction of the other knights and his king and queen.
"Gaius!" Arthur's voice made them stop for a second. They turned to look at Arthur again. "Take good care of him."
"We will, Sire." With that, Gaius and Gwaine holding Merlin rushed out of the room.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Elyan asked their king who was still looking after his manservant.
"We are going on patrol as well. We have a sorcerer to catch."
AN.: I really hope you were not seeing this coming haha. I hope you enjoyed reading.