AN.: I had this finished for a while now... But I had to change a few things to make it better and me ke me feel right about this. That's why it took me so long. Sorry~

Anticipating, three heads turned towards the heavy wooden door granting access to the physician's chambers. With a creak, the door swung open, revealing Arthur, Leon, Percival and Elyan. The latter, whose head hung low, was being held up by the two other knights. He was moaning slightly and as soon as Arthur stepped aside, Gaius was able to see a torn-up garment underneath the knight's armour. Blood was leaking to the floor. For a second, they all just stood there and stared at one another; Arthur had an expression of worry plastered on his face and a hint of pleading glinted in his eyes; Gaius was looking at them with an air of confusion and worry and the other two knight looked like they were stricken with guilt. One breath later and Gaius jumped into action, scurrying over to the new arrivals and focusing his attention on the knight in need of medical assistance.

„Oh, what happened now?" Gaius gently tugged Leon's arm towards the only two stretchers in the room, which were currently occupied by Merlin and Gwaine. Arthur jumped ahead of Gaius and looked at the knight and his magical friend. One look at Merlin made Arthur decide that his servant was laying down rightfully so. His focus turned to Gwaine.

„Gwaine, make room for Elyan!" Gwaine pressed his lips together tightly and without hesitation, lifted his hurting body off from the little comfort the padded stretcher had provided to him. Merlin followed his movements with the eyes of a hawk; To him, it was obvious that Gwaine was injured. His movements were slow and calculated and he appeared very focused. Merlin could almost hear the calculations spinning through Gwaine's head as he assessed how much of his own weight he could put on certain body parts without hurting himself too much. The others were too busy tending to Elyan to notice the expressions of agony rushing over Gwaine's features.

„Well? What happened to him?" Gaius asked again, having an odd sense of déjà vu as he peeled off the fabric from Elyan's flesh to find a set of claw marks underneath the bloody clothes.

„We were out on patrol, trying to chase that filthy sorcerer out of his hiding spot when the wyverns attacked." Percival started to tell after he made sure that Elyan was safely seated. He grabbed a chair from a table nearby and sat close-by without being in the physician's way.

„We rushed over to where people might need our help and sure found a wyvern trying to take a daughter from its mother in the lower half of the village." Percival sighed, clearly remembering the dreadful sight.

Leon continued the tale after Parcival's pause grew longer and longer. „The wyvern had its claws on the girl's clothes, and one was even stuck in her hair... Elyan intervened without thinking straight and managed to get himself almost killed."

"But I saved the girl." Elyan managed a weak smile in Gwaine's and Merlin's direction, trying to ignore the pain from Gaius' prodding and poking.

"Yeas, you did." Arthur spoke up now for the first time. He nodded to himself while trudging through the room, making the floorboards creak. He sighed heavily and stopped dead in his tracks.

"It's a miracle that nobody died today." Arthur quickly glanced at his injured knight. "I'm pretty certain, that today's attack was the sorcerers try to start an uproar. I think he either wanted to flee or he wanted to create a distraction for his next attempt to attack." Arthur grabbed the backrest of a chair, pulled it out, sat down and put his face in the palm of his hands.

"My guests are ready to have someone's head and if I have to guess, it's going to be mine."

"Do you really think it was the sorcerer?" Gwaine dared to ask as heavy silence clouded the room and almost made it uncomfortable.

"What else do you think it was, Gwaine?" Percival asked curiously. "The guards said they saw many wyverns in the distance."

"Maybe they were out for mating reasons? Or traveling somewhere as a flock?" Gwaine tried hopefully, his attention wandering over to Merlin who sat up now, hunched over nonetheless with an empty expression on his face and far-away eyes.

"As there was no new attempt of sabotage or attack by the sorcerer, it might be possible that it was coincidental indeed. But I can't oversee the possibility of a correlation between the recent incidents. Years of experience and having that kind of luck concerning incidents related to magic taught me that I cannot let certain matters go unregarded. We need to catch that sorcerer as fast as possible.

"Were many injured?" A small voice said, gaining everyone's attention instantly. Merlin looked up, his eyes bright and blue, pleading – and his face pale despite the fever induced flush.

"We are lucky that everyone was already on guard because of the sorcerer. We had many knights and guards patrolling and I asked everyone to stay safely inside. And the attack occurred at night; Most people were already asleep except for a few wandering or lost souls." Arthur said.

While they had been talking, Gaius finished cleaning, stitching and dressing Elyan up and after his assessment was complete, Elyan was free to go home.

"It's already late sire, you and the knights should go and take a rest now. Sir Elyan certainly needs rest." Gaius grabbed a salve and packed a few bandages for Elyan as Leon and Percival helped him get up on his feet.

"We'll watch out for any of your guests entering my chambers. I've prepared some nerve calming potions in advance in case anyone has trouble digesting the events of the evening."

With a knowing look, Gaius shoved a vial containing a greenish liquid towards Arthur and send unspoken words through a stern gaze. Arthur looked miffed at first but after a small pout, took the vial hesitantly.

He turned to follow his knights out of the room and soon only his footsteps could be heard. Gwaine dragged himself over back to the stretcher and sat down, holding back a moan. Merlin was staring ahead of himself again.

"It's not your fault."

"No. It is." Merlin's soft features were angry now, contorted into a mask of anger and frustration. Gwaine understood where that anger came from.

"You can't be held responsible for a sickness..." Gwaine tried to reassure his friend.

"I shouldn't have tried to go and see Kilgharrah. I called these wyverns. They injured you and Elyan and they could've killed people-"

"But they didn't! They only injured some of them. It's fine!"

"No, it's not. I don't know how long I can deal with this sickness and broken barrier anymore." Merlin huffed, at the brink of tears of frustration.

"We went to see the dragon to get help. We were interrupted, but he said something about conjuring ingredients. It's something." Merlin looked up at Gwaine from under his black bangs and then his gazes wandered over to the book Gaius had grabbed from the shelf earlier.

"And if Camelot wouldn't be searching for a sorcerer, there wouldn't be as many people on guard, safe in their homes, or knights patrolling. Maybe that made the difference between life and death today. There are too many 'what-ifs'. We must look ahead and find a solution to one problem at a time. And I will help you with that." Gwaine looked at Gaius for confirmation, but the old physician simply threw him a vial containing a similar greenish liquid like the one Arthur had received earlier. Gaius went to Merlin and gave him one too.

"This will help you sleep and it will take some of the edge of pain away." Gaius said with a nod in Gwaine's direction.

"You should both rest now as well. It was a long, eventful evening with many things happening. It's almost dawn now and we can't sleep the whole day tomorrow. I, for my part, need to search through that book to find the ingredient Kilgharrah had been talking about. Gwaine, you shouldn't let other people know about your injury. If they ask questions about your bandaged hand, make sure you and Merlin have the same story to share." Gaius left a candle on a stool in between the stretchers. Merlin snuggled back into his blanket, deciding that he wanted to stay close to Gwaine rather than go up alone in his room. Gwaine extinguished the candle after they both drank the potion. It tasted awful.

The sun had already been up when Gwaine and Merlin woke up from their sleep. Last night's events appeared like a dream in comparison to the alluring silence in the castle in the morning. Gaius had opened a window, inviting rays of sunlight and whispers of wind in. It smelled like it had rained earlier.

Gaius had prepared a rather splendid breakfast while Gwaine and Merlin had tried to rearrange their limbs and untangle themselves from their heavy blankets. Merlin's temperature had gone down during the night but he was still sniffling and had dark circles under his eyes. The few hours of sleep he had weren't enough to cover up his sickened appearance.

While they ate in silence, Gaius had started to look through the book. Merlin and Gwaine were throwing curious glances at the yellowed pages from time to time.

After breakfast, Gaius was so deeply immersed into the reading that he didn't even notice it when Merlin and Gwaine cleaned up the table and kept hovering above the physician's shoulders to steal a few looks at the parchment paper.

Since Arthur didn't figure on Merlin's attendance today, Merlin spent the day recovering from last night's ordeal. Him and Gwaine barely spoke because both were nervous about the information Gaius might be able to find.

A few hours had passed and the golden sun hung already low in the sky when Gaius looked up suddenly, a hopeful expression on his wrinkled face.

"I think I found something that might do the trick." He tapped a page with his finger several times and pushed his reading glasses up over the bridge of his nose.

"The Foxglove's use as a medical herb was discovered by Willhelm Schuhmacher, a physician specialising in heart conditions. This biennial plant is often grown as an ornamental plant due to its vivid flowers which range in colour from various purple tints through pink, and purely white. The flowers can also possess various marks and spotting. Foxglove has medicinal uses but can also be toxic to humans and other animals.

If harvested and brewed correctly, the plant can cure heart diseases. If harvested and brewed incorrectly, the plant's toxin has the potential to kill.

Therefore, foxglove is also a popular choice for brewing poison and unpopular for actual medical potions because of the high risks of fatality."

Gaius' finger moves down until it stops on a paragraph written in golden letters.

„If conjured using magic:

Magically conjured ingredients often have traces of the summoner's magic. In addition to that, the foxglove is an absorbing plant and absorbs the magic used by the magic user who conjured the plant. No more toxins are present in that state. Therefore, the foxglove is a popular ingredient for brewing magic restoration and magic healing potions."

Next to the book was a folded paper which had been lying loosely in the book on that exact page. Gaius unfolded it and held it out for Merlin and Gwaine to see. It was a drawing of a beautiful plant. The golden letters underneath it said, 'The foxglove'.

"This is how the plant looks like and on the next pace is a recipe. I could brew the potion with the herbs and other ingredients I already have here. The only thing I need is that you conjure a foxglove flower with the provided spell." Gaius finished and looked at Merlin expectantly.

Merlin's heart started to race. The solution to his problem was so near, yet so far. He only needed to conjure one little flower to end all the trouble and suffering he had been through in the last two days. It had only been two days so far... Merlin wasn't sure if he was able to survive more than that. Either he'd drain his whole life essence and magic on accident, or he'd accidentally expose himself as a sorcerer and would be executed by an angry mob of emissaries from almost every kingdom around them. His eyes were hefted on the picture of the drawn flower... He had done it before, lots and lots of times. For his mother when he was a child, to cheer a dear friend up, to court a lady and even for Arthur yesterday, without intending to do so.

"Well?" Gwaine was looking at him with worry and anticipation etched into the lines on his face. Gaius had decided to give Merlin his time to think and was busying himself with gathering the other ingredients they would need to brew the potion. Merlin sighed, defeated.

"I have no other choice, do I?" After studying the spell, he needed to cast, Merlin stood up from his seated position and was fixing his gaze to the table. Without glancing at the other two occupants in the room, Merlin said: "You should take a few steps back and keep clear of things that might fall on you. And someone should block the door."

Gwaine dived for the door and pushed the backrest of a chair underneath the doorknob to lock them in.

"Flos mixtaque ridenti arisan cwicum pufonimst onbreydan!" Everything stopped in the room, Gwaine had put his arms in front of his face to shield himself in case something happened and was now peeking out behind them to throw a glance at the table Merlin had directed the spell at; Nothing. The table was empty, no flower in sight. Merlin took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. He felt sweat running down the back of his neck. This time, Merlin took the paper with the drawing of the flower into his hand and stared at it. He was concentrating so hard, his vision around the picture blurred; The only thing he saw was the flower that would save him. His grip on the paper became stronger, turning his knuckles white and the image burned its way into his head.

Then, with a pointed look at both Gaius and Gwaine to see if they were ready, he tried again.

"Flos mixtaque ridenti arisan cwicum pufonimst onbreydan!"

This time, something did happen. A strong wind emitted from the table and forced them to close or cover their eyes, Merlin had a few seconds to blink and register the sound of wood creaking and then bursting before something hit him right in the head. He fell to the ground and the impact knocked the air out of his lungs.

"Merlin!" Gwaine's scream went under as Merlin was able to focus enough and direct his attention at what had hit him: Instead of the table stood now at almost two meters tall a carnivorous plant, which he had summoned and whose weight had crashed on the table and had burst it into thousand pieces of splintering wood. It swung its head filled with sharp eating tools around, looking for prey. Gwaine had protruded a sword from somewhere and went in for a slice when the roots of the plant suddenly lashed out and flung the knight backwards. Gaius had taken cover behind a workbench and Merlin couldn't blame him for it. Again, the plant moved towards him, his fangs opening, exposing the sticky and red inside of the mouth. Merlin dived to the side but felt that he lacked energy to do more than that. Gwaine had recovered from being tossed across the room and was up on his feet again, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly with determination. Grinding his teeth and biting through the pain, Gwaine swung his sword at the deadly plant again and managed to slice one of its roots, that was about to murder his friend, in half. The plant emitted a sort of cry, retreating the injured tendril immediately. It was safe to say, that the plant was extremely angry now; It now moved in on Merlin and used its leaves to shield off the knight who tried to get to his friend to protect him. Merlin tried to think of a spell to save him but feared it might be too late when the sharp teeth raced down towards him. Suddenly, there was the sound of shattering glass and a fizzling noise. Gaius had appeared out of his hiding spot and had a vial in his right hand. He threw it at the monster and as it broke, released the liquid on the beast. The plant's reaction was instantly: The giant head moved around in agony and the cry from earlier was back, louder than before and filled with more agony. The roots and leaves flapped around aimlessly, and the fizzling grew lesser and the smell of something sour filled the room. Gaius rushed around the plant and grabbed Merlin at the armpits, dragging his ward out of harm's way.

"Get away from the fluids! It's dangerous, they are searing." After all of them were in safe distance of the slowly melting plant, Merlin turned towards the door, pushed the chair aside and ran as fast as he could. Away from Gaius, away from Gwaine and away from all the other people in Camelot he could hurt. He was a danger to all of them and in that moment, he swore to himself that he would never use his magic again.

AN.: Will Merlin leave? How will he heal his barrier? Will Arthur find the sorcerer? Who knows...

Please review :)