CHAPTER 15 : TWO THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED MINUTES
Falling forward had thrown Merlin into the shadows and his eyes were better able to pick out the dust sheet covered bed, the feet of the chest of drawers and Baxter's shoes which were uncomfortably close to his face. He noticed that the door to the room was slightly ajar so if anyone walked by he intended to shriek like a banshee. He felt his legs being released and he was pulled closer to the centre of the room. He tried to flex them but they were numb, killing any ideas he had of running away.
He felt that the door into the corridor was more ajar than before but credited it to the old building and uneven floor and doors which had wills of their own.
He was manhandled upright and thrown on the bed. Baxter loomed over him and stroked his cheek saying, "…and what's a pretty boy like you doing here?" Merlin pulled away but didn't say anything. "Missing your friend are you? Well, by the time I've finished with you he will no longer be interested in you."
In his mind, Merlin was saying, "Don't listen to him, he's all talk…he's a coward, Arthur said so!"
-0-0-
Mike Barkley was a junior, not too involved with college life except academics, he longed to be considered a player but he wasn't. He had found himself caught up in a group which at times he despised but he hated sitting alone in the Dining Hall at the mercy of anyone who might pick on him. At least, being a member of this group offered him protection and a social life.
His conscience had been bothering him and he found himself just before supper on Tuesday evening in the offices of Security asking to see Mr Bates who looked up at him, nodded and looking down at his desk to the piece of paper his clerk had handed him, said, "Mr Barkley, how can I help you? Take a seat. We're rather busy at the moment."
"I have information which I would like to share which I hope will be helpful and you will be able to keep my name out of it, as truthfully, I am scared of one of the other parties involved."
Bates ears pricked up. On the sheet in front of him was also the notation that Mr Barkley was known to socialise with Mr Baxter's group. Bates wondered if this meeting was going to open up the Emrys disappearance.
"Do you mind if I record what you are about to say?"
Barkley shrugged, "Not if you think it is necessary."
"I do! So, where do you want to begin?" Bates asked conversationally.
"I know," Barkley took a deep breath looking as if he wished he was anywhere other than in this office, "who took Merlin Emrys on Sunday night and where he was taken."
Bates looked at the young man surprised, there had been no beating around the bush. He had his attention immediately and seemed willing to keep talking. "Is he on college property?"
Barkley nodded, "Well, he was when we dropped him off around four on Monday morning. He wan't hurt and I was told to go back to my room as I was no longer needed."
"Who told you that?"
"Baxter, he said that it was a joke and he'd be free in time for breakfast but he wasn't as his friend was looking for him and then the place was crawling with security so I knew that they still had him or something had happened and they'd changed their minds."
"Where was he?"
"In the empty room next to Baxter's old room on the top floor."
Bates stood up and said, "Could you wait here until I get back?" Barkley nodded. Bates left and Barkley dropped his head in his hands wondering what he had let himself in for, yet surprisingly he felt a little better.
-0-0-
The feeling was coming back into Merlin's ankles and they were burning, he could hardly think of anything else. "Why did you do it?" he finally managed to ask as his throat felt raw and dry. Maybe, if he kept him talking Baxter would get side-tracked from whatever he intended to do.
"Oh, the Wonder Boy has found his voice!" Baxter said mocking him as he roughly grabbed the waist of Merlin's sweats, "Then perhaps you can show me what keeps Rich Boy Pendragon so enthralled with you"
Merlin froze and as he did so, the door burst open and someone hurled himself across the room at Baxter, pulling him off him and throwing him against the chest of drawers. The impact forced the air out of Baxter's lungs and he slid to the ground giving his head a resounding whack. He didn't try to rise.
Arthur had Merlin in his arms holding him close, murmuring to him, wiping the tears which were starting to spill down his face.
"Are you all right?"
Merlin hiccupped, "Yes, you arrived in the nick of time. He'd just let me out of the cupboard and I'd fallen over because my legs won't hold me up. He threw me on the bed and had started saying questionable things about me."
"But he didn't hurt you?"
"No, I think the fact that I peed myself might have put him off."
Arthur smiled, "That's why there are showers and laundry service in college. I'd better let Bates know that I found you." He pulled out his phone and spoke to someone in security who said that Mr Bates was busy with a student. Arthur said, "Arthur Pendragon speaking! Please, tell Mr Bates that I have found Mr Emrys on the fourth floor and I think we could do with some medical assistance." He snapped his phone closed and turned his attention once again to Merlin.
"Arthur, is that water? I'm parched!"
"Yes, Baxter was carrying it. It was that which first drew my attention to him…he was skulking around with two large bottle of water." He reached over and broke the seal, warning Merlin to only take little sips not large gulps as that would make him more than likely throw up.
He left Merlin for a moment to check Baxter, who was breathing regularly but was still dead to the world. He told Merlin, "Best place for him!" He picked up some of the chains which had been used to secure Merlin in the cupboard and wrapped them around his legs just in case he suddenly came to and tried to attack them or knowing him to be a coward, probably try to run off.
"Are you feeling any better?"
Merlin nodded, "Much better with you beside me. I spent all my time planning what I was going to do when I heard voices in the corridor but this is not a very busy area and all I really heard was what I think was plumbing and the chimes of Big Tom in the distance."
"I'm sorry about all this as I know it was my fault," Arthur said sadly.
"Not really, maybe only fifty percent…" Arthur pulled away to look at him and Merlin smiled or tried to but did't really succeed. "I'm kidding! Remember what Ellie, I mean Dr Lucas his aunt said, that he was strange from the time he was a kid and had a tendency to latch onto someone whose life he then tried to make a misery." He glanced over at Baxter, who was beginning to come to, "At least, this time we will not have to prove anything as it's right in front of us."
Arthur explained, "Before supper, I saw Baxter carrying the water. I wondered where he was going so decided to follow him. He walked out the main door even stopping to tie his shoe so he would be noticed on CCTV. He walked around the perimeter and entered by the Late Gate now wearing a woollen hat with the water bottles in his pockets. He then took his time and it took a long time to reach the fourth floor. At one point I thought I'd lost him but I heard him ahead of me going up the next flight of stairs. I was worried that if he saw me he'd change plans. I was sure that he was going to his old room but was surprised when he let himself in here.
"The door did not close completely and I could hear what was going on. I knew he was talking to someone. I stayed just within hearing distance and then I realised he was talking to you. I drew closer and saw him over you on the bed and…" he look down at Merlin who had fallen asleep with his head resting against him. He smiled, he'd probably had little sleep over the last what he reckoned was around forty hours.
-0-0-
He heard people coming down the corridor.
Arthur said, "Wake up, Merlin, the Cavalry has arrived!"
A voice called out, "Mr Pendragon?"
Arthur answered, "Bates, we're in here!" Suddenly, Arthur felt most of the stress leave his body, Merlin was safe but needed to be checked out medically, he hadn't tried to help him stand up as he wasn't sure of the condition of his legs. He had a bruise on his jaw where he'd hit the floor and his ankles looked chafed by the ropes. He knew that his knee should be rechecked as it wasn't so long ago that he had sustained an injury to it.
"Damn Baxter." Arthur looked over at him as he still lay crumpled on the floor. He had been moaning and every now and again trying to move his legs. Maybe it had been good that he had had knocked himself out when he fell as otherwise Arthur might really have damaged him.
Bates appeared in the doorway, followed by someone in a St. John's Ambulance uniform who immediately came over to Merlin and took his pulse. He nodded at him and started checking out his eyes and asking him where it hurt.
Arthur moved away and let him get on with it. Bates motioned to Baxter on the floor and asked what happened. Arthur grinned saying, "Divine retribution! He was threatening Merlin whom he'd pulled out of the cupboard and had thrown on the bed. I walked it and pulled him off him and threw him out of the way and he hit the chest of drawers, then fell and whacked his head on the floor. He's still alive and I wrapped the chains he'd had on Merlin around his legs so he couldn't escape."
"I don't think that will be happening any moment soon." Bates said as he took his pager and called his base, "We'll need ambulance service for the fourth floor." Arthur heard a muffled voice and then Bates said, "One semi-conscious and the other also will need a stretcher as a precaution." Again something Arthur didn't catch before he heard Bates say as he smiled in Arthur's direction, "Yes, you can tell them that Mr Emrys has been found safe and sound."
-0-0-
The next couple of hours flew by. Baxter was dispatched to hospital for observation. He was conscious and in a foul frame of mind. He hit out at one of the ambulance attendants ending up in extra restraints. He was furious being strapped on a stretcher blaming everyone from Merlin to the Dean of the College and he had a few choice words for Bates and his security team as well.
Merlin was a much better behaved subject, he was quiet and when they moved him he flinched at the pains in his knee and his calves. He tried hard to stand but he couldn't and it was decided because of the number of stairs and the lack of a lift that the only way to get him safely to the ambulance was a stretcher chair.
Arthur was nervous that one of the men would slip and lose control and the whole contraption would go hurling to the next landing. They assured him that they had lots of experience extracting patients and that Merlin was quite safe with them. The paramedic suggested that as Merlin would need his coat and shoes when he left hospital, that someone might get them. Arthur offered to get them.
The staircases were steep and narrow and the men certainly were experienced as they raised the stretcher to the height of the banister and the newell posts to get it around each landing. The chair stretcher Merlin was on was easier to manoeuvre. "You're safe, Son!" said one of the older men adding with a big grin, "we haven't dropped anyone yet…today!"
Merlin grinned back. He would certainly have a tale to tell Gawaine and his mother once all this mess was settled. For a second, he wished she was here as with her experience, she would try to minimise the problems and he could almost hear her saying, "If you do what the doctor tells you, you'll be right as rain in a couple of days!"
Arthur was waiting for him on the main floor with a backpack. He had had to get permission from Drake to get the clothes and Conroy had accompanied him. His heart had flipped seeing the mess of Merlin's room. It wasn't hard to imagine Merlin lying unconscious is this mess.
The patients were loaded into an ambulance and Baxter complained the whole way, getting more vocal as they reached the Radcliffe A&E. Merlin sat quietly and spoke only when he was spoken to.
-0-0-
As the ambulance pulled away, Drake took out his cell phone and nodding at Conroy that he was going into the back, to make a call.
He called his wife, "Maeve Dear, could you call Ellie and tell her that her nephew has been taken to hospital. No! Nothing serious just fell and knocked himself out. Shouldn't say any more. I promised I'd try to keep her up to date. See you after my shift."
Drake returned to the front office, he had to be careful as in his position as things which went on in his job were confidential but anyone could have seen Baxter being taken away, he felt that that information was public knowledge. Ellie who seemed to be the only member in Baxter's family who cared, deserved to know.
-0-0-
"Hello, Ellie?" There was a moment's pause before Maeve heard her friend's voice. "It's Maeve." She knew she would be worried getting a phone call at this time, "Tom asked me to phone to let you know that Baxter has just been taken to hospital. He couldn't go into details just that he was knocked out."
"Hopefully, he'll get some help this time," Ellie then asked after Merlin and Maeve said that Tom hadn't mentioned him. "Can I call you tomorrow and we'll have a real chat?"
"That sounds good. Hear from you then…" Ellie shook her head, she hoped that Tom wasn't hiding something more serious but time would tell.
-0-0-
Arthur sat with Merlin in A&E, "Been here before haven't we?"
All Merlin could think was that he was happy to be alive and glad to have Arthur with him as waits in A&E could be interminable, as you were bumped by newcomers who were in need of critical care, which he wasn't going to complain about.
After having his vitals taken and answering basic questions, he was given the alternative by a triage nurse of being put on a drip unless he would promise to keep up his fluid intake. Arthur offered to make sure that he was drinking water regularly.
As they returned to the waiting area, he then added quietly to Merlin, "I will be at your beck and call if you need to pee!"
"Sounds like some type of Victorian torture," Merlin said still clutching a water bottle.
"Might be...!" said Arthur with what he thought was a maniacal grin but which reminded Merlin of the surprised look on the face of a baby when someone near it sneezes.
"I place myself in your capable hands!"
"Merlin, I'll have you know we are in a hospital not a house of wanton pleasure," Arthur said trying to appear shocked, which once more he had failed to do.
Merlin could not help but laugh. Arthur also smiled glad to see that he had retained his sense of humour.
A nurse came over and smiled, "Well, you seem to be bouncing back." He glanced down at the clipboard. "Any less pain in your legs?"
"I think so," Merlin said only slightly wincing as he raised one and then the other straight out before him."
"Good, keep up with the fluid consumption, the toilets in this area are all handicapped so you should be able to manage, if not your friend will help you." He turned to Arthur who nodded, Merlin was happy to see this time without any maniacal or sex-anticipated grin.
"I'll see you in a little while."
"Thankfully, you're not a priority," Arthur said as the nurse walked away.
Merlin nodded, "I seem to be accident prone but I'm really not, just a little clumsy but usually I manage to save myself and come out none the worse. Not this year, however!"
"Remember that time by the river when you put on that gravity defying acrobatic display after you stepped on a moss covered rock." Arthur laughed, "Honestly, I could have sold tickets for admission if there had been any spectators."
"But you have to agree that I saved myself and didn't even get my trainers wet." He became thoughtful then said, "We've had fun together haven't we, Arthur, it hasn't been all bad times?"
Arthur decided to tell Merlin about the preliminary reports he had read from the Disciplinary Committee. "If the decisions reached were based on what has happened prior to this weekend, I would think it will be interesting to see their final report."
"I still think I'm lucky to be here…" Merlin went to say, before he was interrupted by yelling. Soon nurses and doctors were running towards the hallway but not before Baxter made an appearance brandishing a pair of scissors and a scalpel.
A doctor held onto his arm but he was no match as Baxter was determined and just pulled him along; he glanced around the room, saw Merlin and Arthur and lunged towards them.
As Baxter reached them, Arthur stood up to shield Merlin and Baxter holding the scalpel at waist level barged into him. Arthur crumbled as the blade sliced upwards through his good jacket.
Arthur was later to say that if you were going to be stabbed, the best place was certainly the hospital.
Two guards materialised out of nowhere and pinned Baxter to the ground. All fight had gone out of him and he lay there crying. The doctor who had been trying to stop him abandoned him and saw to Arthur. They rolled him over and a scalpel covered in blood fell to the floor. Merlin jumped up but his legs wouldn't hold him and he slumped back into the wheel chair.
The doctor called for a nurse. She was there almost immediately with gauze pads and next thing a stretcher appeared and Arthur was whisked off.
Merlin was left sitting all by himself, staring after the staff who were accompanying Arthur and then at the pathetic reason for a human being who was crumbled at his feet. His wished he had been the type of person who could have kicked out and caught Baxter in the face as God knows, he really deserved it. But he couldn't do that no more than he could step on a spider. Anyway, he had no energy and could only think of Arthur and not retribution, divine or otherwise! He glanced down and saw that he didn't have any shoes on as they were still in the backpack Arthur had packed for him. He smiled sadly, a lot of damage he would have done!
Baxter was loaded onto another stretcher after being put in restraints and being given some sort of shot. 'Hopefully, Euthasol!' Merlin thought and then realising what he'd be thinking said quietly, "Please, God, look after Arthur and I didn't really mean that about Baxter!"