As most days seemed to be doing lately, Merlin's day didn't start out the best as he was late. Again. He had been working as Arthur's assistant only a little over a week, and he didn't think he was doing nearly a well enough job, especially compared to Gwen's cool confidence as she arranged meetings and things for Morgana, who he had still yet to meet. Sort of.
Actually, Gwen had been a huge help. He was really knew to the whole "managing" thing, and really had no idea what he was doing most of the time. Gwen was basically doing all the important work for him, as he did what she told him to do and not seem completely lost as to what was going on. Even Arthur, who was thicker than condensed molasses, kept constantly poking fun at him for it. He grumbled back at his boss and friend, but really couldn't bring himself to be that mad. Arthur was weird like that.
Which brought him back to the present. Merlin may not have known how to do most of the things that were required of him yet, but he could organise. And organise he did. Soon Arthur's messy stack of haphazardly strewn papers was neatly packed into seperate folders, all neatly labeled and stored in a filing cabinet Merlin didn't think Arthur knew he had. Sure enough, when Arthur saw his newly clean desk, he had no idea where anything had gone. Merlin showed him how to find what he needed, and after grumbling about how he had no idea how to work the thing, he had to admit to at least himself that it was much easier to find things when he didn't need to swim through his desk everytime.
After that was done, Merlin again had nothing. So he went in search of Gwen.
"Actually, Arthur and Morgana both have a meeting with Uther in about fifteen minutes. We're supposed to be there as well."
"Why? What are we supposed to do?"
Gwen shrugged. "Nothing really. Just sit quietly and maybe take some notes. Most of the time the meetings are just about boring stuff like budgets and Uther yelling at Arthur for something or other. Today though, I think they're meeting with a rival company to negotiate a collaboration, so we just need to stand respectfully and invisibly by the door and try to remember what's going on."
Merlin grimaced. He could already see this going badly.
Arthur entered the meeting room, Merlin trailing along behind him. Uther stood at the head of the table already, shaking hands with Bayard, the head of Mercia, one of their biggest competitors. Morgana was there, looking strangely pale and maybe even sickly. He pushed his worry to the back burner as his father turned toward him.
"Ah, Arthur! I was just telling Bayard here how promising your future could be with the help of his company." Uther smiled, apparently forgetting that he hadn't wanted to talk to Arthur for two and a half weeks.
Arthur smiled dutifully. "Gentlemen."
He made small talk, as was expected of him in these situations, as he watched Merlin watch Morgana out the corner of his eye. It was odd, but he figured Merlin caught on to how she didn't look very good. It wasn't as though it wasn't obvious. Gwen was looking concerned as well, and even Bayard's man looked as though he was waiting to catch her should she fall. The only ones who didn't seem to notice where Uther and Bayard himself, who had effectively cut Arthur out of the conversation and were now chatting animatedly about something. Arthur sat, as did Morgana, and the two older men eventually noticed and sat themselves. Merlin and Gwen stood by the door, their shoulders brushing.
"So, Bayard. I just want to be clear with what we both want out of this meeting, is that acceptable?"
Bayard nodded. "Of course. Please, continue."
Uther nodded back. "Today I personally would like to welcome you as not just a competitor, but also as someone I could work with for the good of both our companies. I suggest a collaboration of our two organizations for the betterment of society. Does this sound acceptable to you?"
Bayard nodded, and they shook. "I suggest a toast. It has become something of a tradition in my company to share a drink from our glasses for good luck. Would you do me the honor of joining?"
"Of course, my friend."
"God, just kiss already." Merlin murmured to Gwen. She had to bite back a surprised laugh.
Bayard gestured to a young woman, who brought over a case with four beautifully adorned cups. He removed three and another man holding a bottle of expensive wine poured some in each glass.
They clinked their cups and Arthur went to take a sip before the cup was smacked out of his hand. Merlin stood there, holding the cup while Gwen and Morgana held the other men's cups away from their lips.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Uther shouted, fury making his once-pleasant features turn sour.
"The cups are poisoned." Merlin proclaimed boldly.
"What!" thundered Bayard. "You were trying to poison me with the wine of yours?"
"He said the cups were the ones poisoned!"
Arthur glared at Merlin and demanded, "What are you doing?!"
"My job." he whispered back. Arthur's eyes widened. So this wasn't some random thing. There was danger in this room. That was the whole reason Merlin was working there, not specifically for the money, but to protect Arthur and the business.
Uther turned from his bickering with Bayard to glare frostily at Merlin. Said man winced under the harsh gaze. "You have a lot of nerve coming in here and interrupting an official business meeting. What are you, an intern? How did you even get in here?"
"He's my new assistant." Arthur said as he stood, standing unaffected against his father.
"Well, son I suggest you control your little thing here so I don't fire him myself." Uther didn't look away from Arthur. Merlin would have thought he'd completely forgotten about him if they hadn't been talking about him.
"If Merlin says the cups are poisoned, then they are." he defended.
Uther sneered. "Oh please, what would he even know of poisons? He is just some random intern-turned-assistant that believes he's more important than he really is."
"The cups contain the pedals of the Mortaeus flower, a lethal poison with small doses. Part of it holds the poison, and another holds the antidote. If ingested, the victim will suffer a high fever for several days before the body eventually burns itself out."
The blunt delivery of the horrific experience surprised everyone, including, so it seemed, Merlin.
"How do you know what poison it is?" Bayard"s eyes narrowed.
"Because there is no poison. This idiot has clearly interrupted us so the relationship we have built today would end, Bayard, let us get back to business." Uther interrupted.
"I'm not lying!" Merlin defended.
"Then drink!" Uther commanded. Everyone looked at him in surprise. "If the cups truly are poisoned, then we will be able to tell."
"Father, have you gone mad?" Arthur raged, standing from his seat. Everyone rose with him.
"Uther, maybe it wouldn't be the best idea-"
"Have I gone mad? No, but I would think that you have! First you start acting like an angry child, firing your assistant and leaving work for several days, then you hire this imbecile to replace the perfectly good one I found for you-" Arthur did not like the way his father referred to people as if they were toys "-and now this? I do not know what has gotten into you, but it ends here! If he doesn't drink it, maybe I ought to make you drink it." Uther then turned and shoved his cup into Merlin's hands and glared expectantly at him. Merlin hesitated only a second before giving Arthur a firm look.
"Merlin, don't you-" but his head was already tilted back, the wine raised to his lips. Arthur fairly growled as Gwen let out a horrified, "Merlin!"
When the cup was empty, Merlin's suddenly shaking hands lowered. And lowered. And lowered still as the rest of him made to go with them to the floor. Arthur caught him and stopped his dive towards the floor.
"Arthur." he choked around frozen lungs. "Gaius- antidote-"
Arthur did not need to be told twice.
(A/N) Hi! Have a chapter after who knows how long. It's so hard for me to sit down and just do it, y'know? Especially now that I'm working during the day for the summer,and I'm exhausted after. Two parts to this episode, by the way. Have an amazing day!