Chapter Three

Gaius proceeded to perform every examination he could think of on Merlin and found that he was suffering from a sudden onset of anemia without any known cause. There was no doubt in his mind that what Merlin was experiencing was linked to the blood that was found outside the stables, but he was at a loss as to how. Merlin had been working in the stables the previous evening, and now was experiencing every symptom that indicated a large amount of blood loss, with the obvious and extremely enigmatic exception of having some sort of wound to account for it. It could be no mere coincidence. Likewise, Gaius could find no reason for Merlin to have lost his magical powers. The only logical explanation was that it was connected to the blood found outside the stables, but that made even less sense than Merlin suffering from blood loss with no wound.

By the time the court physician had examined and tested Merlin in every conceivable way, the boy had met his limit of endurance. Gaius wanted to question Merlin further but he lain down and simply wouldn't rouse enough to be adequately questioned. Merlin slept on while Gaius searched every text he could find that mentioned dragons and the old magic associated with them. He also looked for any kind of spell that could be cast that would heal a grievous wound without any sign of its prior existence.

As the sun began to lower in the sky, casting a red and orange glow over the castle towers; Gaius gave up his search for a spell or incantation and stretched his weary limbs. The door to Merlin's room stood open and the aging physician stepped over to check on his ward only to find him still sleeping, albeit restlessly. Knowing that Merlin would wake soon, Gaius set about making dinner for the young man and had every intention of making him eat it whether or not he wanted to.

Gaius carefully chose the food he prepared for Merlin opting for dark leafy greens and liver. He was well aware that Merlin might not care for these things but then, he didn't care for medicine either.

As the physician was preparing Merlin's dinner, Arthur knocked at the door and walked in when he got no answer. Gaius was so engrossed in his tasks that he hadn't noticed him enter, but had the grace to not act startled when he turned around to find the Crown Prince of Camelot standing just inside his chambers.

"Did you find anything?" the physician inquired, already knowing the answer he would receive.

"We found no one hiding within the city with serious wounds. The worst wound we found was on Gwen's father, Tom, the blacksmith, and that was superficial at best. I personally spoke with all of the guards at the city gates and no one left during the night with a cart large enough to hide a body and everything else has been searched. Naturally word has gotten out that there was a murder in Camelot which has made the people very nervous and on edge."

"Yes, I can well imagine that it would." Gaius said as he wiped his hands on a towel after handling the food.

"Gaius, you do know that the kitchen can prepare something for you?" Arthur said as he dubiously eyed the liver sitting on a metal plate and set atop one of Gaius' medicine burners sizzling away.

"Oh, this isn't for me, it's for Merlin."

"How is he?" Arthur asked having almost forgotten about the incident that morning in the armory after spending an exhausting day searching all of Camelot.

"He's resting at the moment. I'm afraid that he should not return to his duties for a couple of days. He would be next to useless right now in any case, as weak as he is."

Arthur looked around seeing books and papers out all over the reading table. It was obvious that Gaius had been searching for a remedy for Merlin. "What's wrong with him? Is it an illness?"

Gaius shook his head and sighed deeply. "I know what is wrong, I just can't understand how it happened." Arthur was obviously waiting for some further explanation so Gaius continued. "Merlin is anemic, decidedly so as a matter of fact." Seeing confusion on Arthur's face he elaborated. "Anemia is what happens when someone loses a large amount of blood."

Arthur's eyes opened wide with shock. "But he has no wound! Do you mean to tell me that we have been out all day looking for either a body or an injured man when all this time it was Merlin?"

Gaius raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and shook his head. "I wish I knew. I can find no sign or reason for it to be Merlin's blood on the flagstone in front of the stables. As you said he has no wound. There are other internal injuries that can cause anemia but he has no sign of that either. If a person is bleeding inside from a beating for instance that would cause anemia, but Merlin has not been beaten, at least not to his knowledge, and he bears no bruises or other evidence to suggest it. A poor diet can cause anemia, but that is also not the case as I have seen that he eats properly. That brings me back to the beginning. I have no idea what is causing this."

Arthur looked disconcerted by this news. "Can you do anything for him?"

"I can treat the anemia. At this point that is my only option." Gaius' frustration was clear in his voice and Arthur could see that the court physician was worried.

"Where is he; I have some questions I'd like to ask him?"

"He's sleeping at the moment, but I was planning to wake him shortly so that he could get up and eat something." Gaius said as he took a pair of tongs and peeled the sizzling liver off the plate to turn it over.

Arthur didn't think Merlin would find his meal particularly appetizing and felt rather sorry for his manservant knowing full well that Gaius would stand over him and make him eat the whole thing.

Rather than watch the cooking process any further, Arthur walked over to the short staircase that led up to Merlin's room. He was sleeping, but far from soundly. As Arthur climbed the steps up to Merlin's room he could see him tossing his head back and forth in the throes of some nightmare. Arthur became alarmed when Merlin gasped as though he couldn't breathe and clutched his chest, obviously in excruciating pain. The Prince called out in alarm to Gaius and tried to wake Merlin, who was covered in a cold sweat and was thrashing about.

"Merlin! Wake up, Merlin!"

Whether it was his shaking Merlin, or Gaius stomping up the steps into the room that woke the young man was not clear to Arthur. What was clear was the terrified look in his eyes as he tried desperately to scramble away from the prince's outstretched hands. In his efforts to escape whatever demons plagued Merlin's sleep he fell out of the far side of the bed. Arthur quickly rounded the bed and tried to help the young man to his feet, but Merlin didn't seem to recognize Arthur and scuttled frantically away from him until the stone wall of the chamber stopped his progress. Arthur and Gaius exchanged a bewildered look with each other before Arthur decided to resort to a different tone in the hope of snapping Merlin out of his tormented dream.

"Merlin, you idiot! Get up off the floor before you get sicker!"

That seemed to do the trick. Merlin blinked rapidly as his eyes came into focus. "Arthur? What are you doing here?" was all he could manage to get out, feeling ridiculous for sitting on the floor and not knowing how he got there. Merlin's distress at being found in such a pose was apparent to Arthur, but he chose to simply ignore the fact as he spoke.

"I came here to inform Gaius that I will not be requiring your services for the next few days because I have other matters that I need to attend to. It looks as though you could do with a day off in any case."

Arthur reached down to help Merlin get up while not appearing to pay much attention to his manservant, a feat that only Arthur seemed to be able to pull off. As he righted himself a wave of dizziness washed over Merlin and he staggered precariously, but Arthur had a firm hold on his arm and kept him dropping to the floor. Not wanting to draw attention to Merlin's weakness at the moment, Arthur continued his diatribe, sounding very much like the prat Merlin had taken him for when they first met, but the Prince's voice somehow still held a note of concern for his friend.

"Personally, I would love to able to take a few days off, but as Crown Prince I can not afford such a luxury. If I could switch places with you, Merlin, I would probably enjoy the change."

As Arthur spoke he guided Merlin back to his bed so that he could sit down before he fell over. "You have no idea how much pressure and responsibility I carry around every minute of every day."

At that statement Arthur finally caught Merlin's eye and was stunned to see a deep and genuinely knowing expression on his servant's face. For a moment Arthur was completely convinced that Merlin knew all too well what it felt like to bear a weighty responsibility, and he was equally astonished at Merlin's soft spoken reply.

"You'd be surprised."

This exchange seemed to have sapped Merlin of his strength, and he sank heavily down on the bed as if he were an old man worn out from endless days of toil and hardship. Gaius had wanted to get Merlin up to eat something, but the boy seemed so worn out that he decided a few more minutes of rest wouldn't be amiss. As Arthur and Gaius moved to leave Merlin alone to sleep a little longer, Arthur turned back to his servant. "Get some rest, Merlin."

He was unsure if Merlin even heard him as the young man's eyes slipped closed. Arthur followed Gaius out of Merlin's room closing the door in case Merlin wasn't actually asleep. He wanted to talk to Gaius but he didn't think Merlin should be privy to their conversation.

"He was scared, Gaius."

This pronouncement alarmed Gaius and he shot a glance back toward the closed door. "When?"

"When he opened his eyes, but still dreaming he was frightened; and that isn't the first time I've seen that look in his eye either. Today he was trying to move the target from the armory out to the practice field and it fell on him. When I got there he was pinned underneath it and he looked utterly terrified then as well. I have never seen fear like that in Merlin, not even when he stood up to my father. Is it possible he saw what happened last night, but blocked out the memory of it? That is actually what I was going to ask him about, but he is obviously in no condition to be questioned."

"Anything is possible. If that were the case it would explain the fear. I also wanted to question him further, but as you said, he is in no condition for that right now. I'll keep you informed if I should discover anything."

Gaius sounded more concerned than Arthur had ever heard him. "What can you do for him?"

"I will treat his symptoms; for the moment that is all I can do, until I find the cause of what has affected him this way." The hopelessness in Gaius' expression was more disconcerting than the concern in the old physician's voice. Arthur didn't have any idea what had happened but he was determined to find out. He knew that Merlin's illness had something to do with what had happened at the stables last night, and he meant to find out exactly what that was.

After Arthur left, Gaius went over to the plate with the liver cooking on it and removed it from the fire. Merlin needed rest more than he needed nourishment at the moment. He checked on Merlin and found that he was sleeping peacefully, so he quietly closed his door and moved over to his work bench lifting up papers and moving books until he found what he was looking for. None of his research had been able to shed any light on what was happening to his nephew and Gaius felt that it was high time to get to the bottom of things. Taking the broken tooth and stowing it in a fold of his robes, Gaius left to go down into the bowels of the castle.

The trepidation that Gaius felt the last time he had spoken with the Great Dragon was gone, replaced by grim determination. As he walked down the steps to the huge cavern below Camelot he thought about what he was going to ask. To his surprise the Great Dragon was sitting on the huge rock outcropping near the staircase as if he were waiting for Gaius. This made the old physician's mind up for him as he faced the beast with a torch in his hand.

"Two visits from you within a few months, Gaius? What occasions such a notable advent?"

Gaius was not in the mood to verbally spar with the beast. "So you knew I would come, fine." He reached into his robes and pulled out the tooth. "Do you know what this is?"

If it were possible for a dragon to smirk, Gaius was sure he was doing so at that moment. "That is the tooth of a living dragon."

This was actually a disturbing answer to Gaius. He knew that it was the tooth of a dragon, but the Great Dragon has specified that it was the tooth of a living dragon. "So it belongs to you?"

The Dragon's answer was not what the aging physician had expected. "No, Gaius, I have all of my teeth." the beast replied, baring those same teeth to demonstrate.

Dumbfounded at this bit of information all Gaius could think to ask was, "I thought that you were the last remaining dragon."

The Great Dragon seemed unperturbed by the revelation which had so moved Gaius and answered evenly. "Uther believes that to be true, but he is wrong. Dragons are not unique to Albion and the world is far more vast than Uther will ever know."

This was a perfectly logical explanation and one that Gaius should have realized. There may be no more dragons in Albion, but as the beast had said, the world was a very big place. While this information was an interesting point of fact it still did nothing to help Gaius figure out a way to help Merlin.

"Does the dragon's tooth have something to do with Merlin losing his magical powers?"

Gaius wasn't particularly surprised that the Great Dragon did not react when he mentioned that Merlin had lost his magic. It almost seemed as though the beast knew what had happened.

"Dragons are powerful magical beings, but our magic is not like human magic. It works differently."

"That is not an answer." Gaius answered in a frustrated tone.

"That is the truth." The Great Dragon answered.

Becoming angry with this beast would accomplish nothing so Gaius tried to get to the answers he needed with a different approach. "How does dragon magic work where Merlin is concerned?"

If the Great Dragon's answers had been perplexing before, it was nothing to what he said next. "The dragon who dwells inside of Merlin is, for lack of another description, his mate - in a magical sense. Nimueh may be familiar with our magic, but she does not understand how it works."

Gaius' eyebrows shot up in shocked astonishment. "Nimueh? What has she to do with this?"

There was the almost smirk again. "Nimueh has everything to do with Merlin's condition. She is the reason he lost the ability to use his magic, but she has failed to understand that only one who is pure of heart can use the old magic born in dragon kind. This was Nimueh's mistake, and ultimately it will be her undoing."

It was not lost on Gaius that the Great Dragon said that Merlin had lost the ability to use his magic, implying that this could be a temporary situation. "Will Merlin regain his powers?"

It was a straight forward question and Gaius would have appreciated a straight forward answer but he didn't get it. "Merlin must find his self-worth beyond his magic."

Feeling his frustration boiling over Gaius snapped. "Have you not been listening? Merlin's magic is gone."

The Great Dragon didn't seem to notice the harsh tone that Gaius had used and answered calmly. "It is not I who is not listening. Merlin must prove to himself that he is the legend rather than the magic within him."

With that reply the Great Dragon lifted himself up on his hind legs and flew off, unwilling to carry on any further with the conversation. Gaius held out hope that Merlin's illness was temporary but unfortunately he had no clue as to how to help him. If only he could get a straight answer out of the Great Dragon it would make things so much easier, but when has any dragon ever given a straight answer? Gaius looked up in the direction that the Great Dragon had flown off for another minute before turning to climb the stairs back to the base of the castle feeling bolstered by the hope that Merlin might yet regain his gift.

TBC