12 Lose ends, tight knots
"I am fed up with it" Arthur whispered. "I'm really sick to the back teeth with it."
"Brychan, come here at once!" someone shouted next to the Prince's ear with a less than considerate tone and volume of voice. The young man almost jumped up from the bed. At least that's what he thought he was going to do until his left shoulder taught him otherwise. He screamed when the pain shot through his body and reminded him that someone had pulled his shoulder out of joint.
"Brychan! I said, at once!
Arthur heard someone bustling to his side and then a cool hand touched his face. "Maybe Your Majesty could consider speaking a little bit quieter" a soft voice said very gently. "I would imagine that, under the circumstances, His Highness might find that a wee bit more convenient in his present state."
"My son is mumbling and screaming. Is this meant to comfort me or what? If that's as far as your glorious Druid healing art goes you can go to hell with it!" Uther was furious now. "If Gaius were here…"
"But he isn't, Your Grace" the same, soft, gentle voice replied with utmost patience. "And I take it that your son has been in better shape than he is right now."
"You bet he has been. Just now he's said that he is feeling sick again!"
Arthur decided to wake up now. He didn't want to but he found he had no other choice. This Brychan person, whoever he was, lacked Gaius' ability to tame the King and Uther definitely sounded as if nobody in his right mind would wish him to become even more upset.
"I only meant I'm fed up with being knocked over the head only to wake up some place, hearing people talk about me as if I weren't there. It happens far too frequently these days" he tried his best to explain himself.
"It seems the concussion has lost most of its effect." This was Brychan again.
The Prince opened his eyes and stared into a young, unfamiliar face that smiled most kindly.
"Arthur, my boy" Uther was now all gentleness as he sat down at his son's side. "How do you feel?"
"I have felt better. What happened?"
"Can't you remember anything?"
Arthur tried but his memory consisted only of blurred pictures that made no sense at all. He shook his head and winced at the pain this caused.
Brychan thought it wiser to interfere. "If Your Majesty were to leave now for half an hour I could finish the treatment. I assure you you'll find His Highness much improved afterwards."
Very reluctantly Uther let go of his son's hand and rose. "But remember I didn't give you permission to mess around with your magic."
"Father, if I've learned one thing then that the Druids know what they are doing with their powers" Arthur whispered, without thinking of how he should have come by this knowledge. He felt nauseous, confused and very weak, not at all up to a conversation with the worried King.
As soon as the door had closed behind his father, Arthur tried to look at his surroundings. To his astonishment he recognized Uther's bedchamber. "Why am I here?"
"Your father thought it wiser to have you in here. And frankly, so did I. Your own rooms are occupied by as many wounded as we could squeeze in, as are virtually all other available rooms in the castle and the city."
Brychan saw his patient try to sit up and quickly pressed him back down. "I know you don't understand this right now but if you allow me to finish your treatment I promise your memories will come back completely."
"What…are you going to do?"
The Druid smiled once more. "Just relax and close your eyes. Let me do the rest."
As soon as Arthur felt the warm, comforting sensation of Brychan's healing spell he murmured "you're sure my father won't have your head for that?"
The last thing he heard before he slept was the young healer's friendly voice. "Oh I don't think so. Not anymore!"
Other than Brychan had made Uther believe the Prince slept through the night and through most of the following day but when he came to he remembered everything and for a second he wished he hadn't woken up at all.
At least until he found Gaius at his side, asleep in an armchair.
When it came to consideration for others Arthur was very much his father's son at times. "Gaius! There you are. Where have you been? Where's Merlin?"
The physician almost fell from the chair while Arthur pulled at his arm impatiently. Groggily he rubbed his eyes and tried to focus. At the sight of the young man in front of him he smiled in spite of his tiredness. "Sire. It's good to see you back on your feet!"
Only now the Prince registered that he didn't feel any pain or weakness at all. It had all vanished. "Gaius what happened to you down there? Where's Merlin? Are we safe now?"
Although Uther had once pressed him into promising that he would never do so again the healer pulled his young master into a close hug, as he had often done when Arthur had been a child. "I wished your father could have told you this as he wished to do but he won't be back in Camelot for another week." He paused for a moment "Merlin is no longer with us, Arthur."
Gaius felt the body in his arms grow stiff. "Is he….?" These were the words Arthur had been afraid he'd hear.
"Not even I know whether he's alive or dead. I was unconscious when your father found you and him in the vaults, together with Morgana, her sister and what seems to have been King Marcus' body. One of the Druids from your troops was with Uther at that time. As you can imagine the King didn't need much persuasion to bring you out first. The moment Uther had left you with one of the combat healers he came back for the others but Merlin and Morgana had disappeared without a trace. Your father took care that I was taken to a healer and had the two bodies retrieved."
"Two bodies? Do you want to say that Morgause is dead?" Arthur remembered her as she had been in the battle. Fierce and strong, vibrant with life. So very beautiful. She couldn't be dead!
"She must have been killed the moment her body hit the wall. Her neck was broken when your father found her." Gaius sighed. "We got a message from the Druid elders the next day. They assured us that Morgana was going to be fine and that they were sure that you had destroyed the Dark Force once and for all when you killed the human vessel. There was no need for further containment of any sort."
"But what about Merlin?"
"They said he had been obsessed by the Dark Force for some hours, Arthur." The physician fought back his own sorrow and loss while he tried to explain the inexplicable. "The Druids thought him to be an inacceptable risk. I'm sure they will try to heal him if they can but most of all they wanted to make sure that he hadn't been ….. taken over, you see, like Sigan once was."
Gaius almost toppled over when Arthur suddenly jumped to his feet. "How could you allow them to take him, just like that? How dare they? They weren't there, down in the vaults, I was. If the creature really had had control over him I would be dead by now, you all were. It was Merlin who hindered the monster to kill me, to use my blood to open the second coffin."
The healer's shoulders fell when he saw Arthur start packing. "Where do you think you're going, Sire?"
"What does it look like? After them of course. To do what you and my father should have done while I have been ill. And if these arrogant bastards have touched one hair on his head I promise you they will remember the days of my father's rule as a time of heaven sent peace!"
"Sire, you can't do this." Silently Gaius sent a prayer to heaven. This was exactly why Uther had wished to tell his son the truth himself.
"You just sit back and watch me!"
Gaius collected all his courage and blocked the Prince's way. "Arthur, you will not leave this room except over my dead body. I have already lost a boy who was as dear to me as if he had been my own son and I will not stand by and see you run into disaster after I have helped to bring you up. I have changed your nappies more than once and I am entitled to be treated with some respect by you, Prince or no Prince!"
"Go out of my way, Gaius!"
"Then let me prepare for what you are going to see outside, My Lord! Camelot is in shambles, the fortifications have collapsed, we have hundreds of wounded or homeless people to take care of and the dead are buried in big pits by the dozens right now, while we are talking. We are running low on provisions, our army has been reduced by almost two thirds and the revenue of the devastated border regions to Mercia is a total loss for many a year to come. Our own barons' loyalty is questionable at best and Camelot's enemies are assembling at her borders, trying to make up their minds whether or not the apple is ripe to be eaten. We have only King Olaf for a friend and he has already given more than anyone could have expected of him."
"Go on! If you have more coming, spit it out!"
"Arthur, your father is out of his wits with worries. If you leave him now you better stay away for not even I would want to have you back here, ever again!" There. He had said it.
For a moment the physician thought these words would be his last. He had never really noticed how intimidating this handsome boy he had carried around as a child could look, now that he had grown up.
The drawn out silence became harder and harder to endure. Then Arthur turned and threw his stuff on the bed.
"My father won't be back for another week, you said?"
"Yes." Gaius cleared his throat nervously. "Yes, that's right."
"Then I take it that someone else should take things in hand right now!"
The healer slumped down on the nearest chair when the Prince had left the room. This may have been what Merlin most probably had wanted him to do but if he had known what this performance would cost the old man he would have thought twice. Gaius knew one thing for sure: He'd never breathe a word of this conversation to Uther.
12 months later the Pendragons had at least some affairs on an even keel again, albeit things were far from running smoothly. Arthur persuaded his most reluctant father to reopen the old vaults for one last time. The Prince retrieved as much as possible of the almost totally decomposed remains of Moredan's body, wrapped them up and started his long postponed journey to Vayatanu.
The way he imagined it, this journey would bring two sorcerers back home.
FINIS