Arthur hurtled down the stairs, heading hastily for the Great Hall, where his father was certainly waiting for his report. And he was late... The sun had been up for at least an hour and the King had clearly stated he wanted the witch on the stake at dawn. And naturally, Merlin had failed to wake him in time...
There was a definite proof Merlin wasn't a warlock! If he were, he would certainly find a way to be up on time every once in a while...
"Sire, please accept my apologies for my tardi-" Arthur began while opening the Great Hall's doors. "-ness..." he finished to the empty room.
The King wasn't there. Could he be... late? That would be very unlike him. Uther Pendragon was never late. Perhaps some more urgent business had retained him somewhere? But what more urgent business could there be?
He decided to wait a little, just in case, and his patience was rewarded when, at least ten minutes later, the King finally entered.
"Arthur. I hope you come with good news," he said as he walked past him.
Arthur noticed he progressed with a slight, almost imperceptible limp. "Sadly, I don't, Sire. The witch is still at large."
"And why is that?" Uther demanded coldly. As he sat, he winced a little.
"I need more time. I will find her very soon," Arthur promised.
"There is no time! You must find her now!" Uther commanded while slamming his fist on the armrest. And as he did so, he winced again.
Arthur was getting more and more worried. "Is everything all right? Are you hurt?" he queried.
"I will be fine as soon as you find that witch," the King replied simply.
Arthur was a little puzzled by this answer at first, but suddenly it all made sense.
The King's distraction since the previous day. His obstinacy to find the witch so hurriedly. His lack of intervention himself. The slight limp. The stiff stance. The unusual way his right hand remained on his sword's pommel. The wincing.
"Your wish is my command, Sire. I will do my best to solve the matter before it becomes too obvious you are yourself affected by this curse."
"Affected myself? Don't be ridiculous!" Uther contested.
"Fair enough. Would you care to remove your gauntlets to prove me wrong, then?"
His father glared at him. "Watch your tongue, Arthur. I don't tolerate this sort of insolence coming from Morgana, and I will certainly not tolerate it from you."
"All I am asking is you remove your gauntlets and show me your hands," Arthur insisted. "If it turns out none is affected, then I will stand corrected. But otherwise, I think I deserve to know."
Uther hesitated a few more seconds, until finally, with difficulty, he removed his leather gauntlet with his left hand. As Arthur had feared, it revealed an entirely wooden right hand, stuck in a gripping position.
Well, at least he would have been right about one thing... Oh, how he wished he had been right about Merlin being a sorcerer instead of his father being struck by this disease...
After a few seconds of silence, Uther spoke calmly: "Find this witch and let her burn. This is all you need to worry about."
"You should have said something earlier," Arthur remarked.
"And what will that tell people? That their King is incapable of enforcing his own laws in his own castle? No. No one can know. I will not let it be said that any sorcerer managed to reach me!"
"What about telling me? Or Gaius? He can help ease the pain," Arthur insisted.
"I don't need Gaius and his useless remedies!"
"I'll go fetch him right now, you can't stay like this with no treatment!" Arthur affirmed while turning to leave.
"You will do no such thing!" the King ordered, standing up abruptly.
Arthur sighed as he turned back to his father. "This is misplaced pride. Yesterday I found two guards who had entirely turned into wooden statues! That's what awaits you along with certain death if we do nothing!"
"Do nothing? Have you not listened? I believe I've asked you quite repeatedly to find the witch responsible for this!"
As Arthur was about to protest, he realised: yes, the witch... After all, why not? She had managed to heal Gwen. Despite her recent ridiculous claims about being unable to repeat the feat, he could probably bring her to heal the King – even if the latter wouldn't approve. The others would wait; his duty commanded him to care for the King first and foremost.
"I will be back with the witch within the hour, you have my word," Arthur promised.
"Good," Uther agreed as he appeared to relax. "In the meantime, I'll... go rest a little. It seems this... little argument has taken its toll on me."
Uther began to head out, but as he walked away, he swayed a little. Arthur spontaneously extended his arm for support, but his father pushed it away to continue past him. And yet, after advancing only a few other yards, Uther paused and rested his unaffected hand on the nearby table.
"Let me walk you back to your chambers," Arthur offered, but got no answer. "Sire?"
Still nothing. Uther remained immobile. Now really concerned, Arthur walked up to him, and found his eyes shut tight and his face tense, as if fighting the pain.
"Father?" he asked softly as he put a hand on his shoulder.
Without any warning, the King collapsed. Arthur managed to catch him just before he hit the ground.
"Guards! GUARDS!" he called.
Two knights ran in nearly instantly.
"Help me carry the King back to his chambers," Arthur ordered.
Arthur couldn't take his eyes off his father, laying on his bed, unconscious, his face contorted with pain. First Gwen, now his father... This was a nightmare. A nightmare he wished he could wake up from.
And as he watched his father, Arthur suddenly realised he was truly on his own now. No more guidance, no more orders, only his own decisions. But what if he took the wrong ones? What if he didn't manage to heal his father in time? What if his father...
No. He wouldn't allow that to happen. Not now, not like this.
He didn't care about the consequences or about what the King would think when he came about. He would bring the witch here, and she had better manage to heal his father.
"Stay here," he ordered the two knights. "Do not leave him under any circumstances, I will be back soon."
Once the guards agreed, he left the room. As he started to walk down the corridor, he saw Gwen step out of Morgana's room, an empty tray in her hands.
"Guinevere? What are you doing here?" he immediately hailed her.
Gwen seemed a little puzzled by his question. "I woke Morgana up and brought her breakfast, as usual."
"So you left Livia alone at your house?"
"No, she's not there any more, she left."
"What?" Arthur exclaimed. "When? When did she leave?"
"Last night. She said it was what had been agreed. I thought you knew," Gwen finished hesitantly as she understood he didn't.
Arthur gave a nervous laugh. "Oh the nasty deceiving little witch! I knew it! I should have gone with my first instincts and confronted her yesterday instead of listening to Merlin!"
"I'm sorry, it's my fault," Gwen apologised. "I shouldn't have let her go."
"No, it's me. I should have known better than to trust a witch," Arthur affirmed. "But if she's gone, then..." he began, his father's situation in mind. "She left through the tunnel, right?"
"I suppose," Gwen answered with a shrug. "Arthur, do you need any -"
"No," he interrupted, maybe a little too coldly, and went on his way, leaving Gwen standing alone in the corridor.
He had to catch up with the witch. First, because her fleeing was proof of her guilt. Second, because she was the only one who could heal the King – and the villagers, incidentally. And this time he wouldn't let her pretend there was nothing she could do.
She couldn't have gone too far on foot in a only a few hours, it should be easy. But there was one place he had to stop by before leaving.
"Gaius," Arthur called as soon as he entered the physician's laboratory, "I'm glad to find you here. I have terrible news. The King has been struck by the curse and has been hiding it since yesterday. He's currently resting in his chambers, but he's under a lot of pain. Could you go there and look after him?"
"Of course, Sire, I will go immediately," Gaius agreed, looking thoroughly concerned. "However, I must warn you I still have no cure to this disease."
"I know, I'm working on a solution. Just make sure he's still alive when I come back in a few hours."
Gaius nodded and left with some equipment. As soon as he was gone, Arthur headed for Merlin's room, where he found his manservant still sound asleep. He went back to the laboratory, grabbed a bucket of water – or at least he thought it was water, but if it was, it didn't look very clean – and emptied it over Merlin's face.
At last, Merlin woke up with a start.
"It appears we don't share the same vocabulary," Arthur began while Merlin was still trying to grasp what was going on. "So, in order to avoid any future confusion: dawn indicates the moment right before the sun rises above the horizon. You know, the sun, that big shiny thing way too high in the sky right now?"
Merlin wiped some of the water from his face. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... Give me ten minutes and I'll be ready."
"I'll give you two. Meet me in the stables, we're leaving."
As he left the room, Arthur heard Merlin wonder aloud: "We are?"
"Where are we going?" Merlin asked Arthur as soon as he joined him in the stables.
Arthur continued saddling his horse. "After the witch. She escaped last night. Which proves she's responsible for the epidemic."
"That doesn't mean anything," Merlin contested.
"Why would she leave unless she was guilty?" Arthur insisted. "Besides, my father has been hiding that he was affected by the curse too," he announced. Merlin seemed shocked by this information. "He needs to be healed soon. And as far as we know she's the only one who can do that."
"What if she refuses to come back?" Merlin commented.
"I'll bring her back by the scruff of the neck if I have to, but she will heal the King," Arthur affirmed.
"And if she can't?"
"She can. But if she doesn't, that would only mean she refuses to. And refusing to save the King is high treason," Arthur concluded. "Come on, get your horse ready. We need to leave as soon as possible."
Instead of getting to work, Merlin remained thoughtful, chewing on his lower lip, as if he hesitated to say something.
"You shouldn't assume she left to flee the city. She left because I told her she could," Merlin finally revealed.
Arthur was dumbfounded. "You what? You actually told her she could leave?" he exclaimed.
Merlin nodded.
"And with whose authority exactly? Your own? Who do you think you are to take that sort of decisions?"
"I didn't think... I mean..." Merlin mumbled.
"You know what? Stay here, go back to bed, I don't care. You've done enough already. I'd rather not have you under my feet. I don't need you to mess things up any further."
Arthur grabbed his horse's reins and pulled it outside.