AN: Strangely enough, Merlin does not belong to me. Shocker, right?

Yay! Chapter 5 is done. I'm actually enjoying this story. I'm glad you guys convinced me to keep writing it!

Vote on my poll pweese? *puppy eyes*

Enjoy the chapter!

Arthur was walking down one of the many corridors in his castle. He hoped Merlin had gone to wash his clothes as he'd asked. It would make it much easier to find his servant. He suddenly realized he had been so caught up in his own thoughts he'd forgot there was someone trying to kill Merlin. Mentally kicking himself, he sped up. He should have had someone guard the idiot.

The door to the washroom was already ajar when he got there. Pushing it open, he was surprised to see a mess covering the floor. Someone had clearly knocked over everything that had been stacked there.

His eyes swept the room, but he found no sign of anyone. Frustrated, he started to leave when something caught his eyes.

A pool of red was leaking out from behind one of the wooden boxes.

His eyes widened, and he looked closer. In between the fallen objects, he saw a familiar red shirt...

Heart hammering, he leaped towards the pile and started grabbing things and throwing them unceremoniously behind him. Slowly, the rubble cleared away, and the battered form of his manservant became more visible.

He did not look good. He was even paler than usual, and blood dribbled from multiple cuts on his cheek. But the main source of the blood was a lump on the back of his head. In his arms were Arthur's stained clothes. Fury rendered the king paralyzed for a moment as he realized his snake of an uncle had probably spilled the wine on purpose.

Merlin may be clumsy, but he was not this clumsy. This was an attempt at murder.

Frantically, Arthur searched the body for a pulse. He nearly wilted in relief when he found one, but tensed again as he realized how feeble it was. Merlin needed help, and quickly. Arthur didn't have time to call for the guards. He scooped up his servant as quickly as he could without hurting him further and hurried off towards Gaius' chambers.

0o0

Gaius' day had been going fairly well. He helped out one of the richer families in town who had had a bout of illness, and they rewarded him generously. Merlin had not yet informed him that there would be reason to suspect Arthur might need to visit him soon because another crazed sorcerer was going to make an attempt at his life. And to top it off, his back wasn't bothering him as much as usual.

So, Gaius had been having a good day. That was, until a certain panicky king of Camelot had burst into his chambers carring the limp form of his ward.

"What happened?" he demanded as Arthur put Merlin down onto the patient's cot.

"I found him in the washroom. All the storage had fallen on him."

Arthur paced, distraught, as the physician examined the servant.

"Help me take his shirt off."

Hands shaking slightly, Arthur took a fistful of Merlin's shirt and pulled up, rank and status completely forgotten.

He sucked in a breath. Merlin's torso was covered with bruises, black, blue and purple stretching across the pale skin. Cuts littered his chest as well, though they didn't seem to be deep. The layer of cloth had been concealing the fact that Merlin seemed to be having trouble breathing, and the thin frame shuddered as the lungs searched for air.

Guilt and rage warred in the king's chest. He had a pretty good idea of who did this, and every fiber of him wanted to find said man and punish him. To distract himself, he focused on Gaius' examination.

Finally the old physician stood, looking tired. "He has two cracked ribs and a severe concussion. He probably has some internal bleeding, though I suppose we can be grateful that one of his ribs didn't puncture his lung. Unfortunately, though, it seems he has gotten an infection," he said, indicating one of Merlin's deeper cuts that looked red and inflamed.

Gaius paused. He was also sure Merlin had been poisoned as well. He had noticed one of his poisons had gone missing that morning, but hadn't thought much of it because Agravaine had given up trying to poison Merlin and Arthur a long time ago - at least, poison their food. But there was every possibility Agravaine could have administered the poison after Merlin had been knocked unconscious. From what Arthur had told him, it could have been an accident, but the lump on the back of Merlin's head stuck out to him. From the position of the bruises, it seemed Merlin had been laying on his back when he fell, but then the front of his head would have bared the lump if it had been caused by a falling object. In that case, it had to have been caused by the fall itself, but it was much to severe to be caused by just that. Gaius thought it was more likely Merlin had been shoved or slammed against something first, and then had the boxes fall on him and made to look like an accident.

He said none of this to Arthur, though, because he knew how Arthur viewed his uncle. From what Merlin had said, he'd tried dropping hints, but the king had refused to admit that there was a possibility his uncle had turned on him. Accusing Agravaine would get him no where. So for now, he would have to roll with the punches and, as much as he hated it, go with the story Agravaine was sure to put out that it had been an accident caused by Merlin's clumsiness.

0o0

Arthur listened to Gaius' report with growing guilt and dread. This was all his fault! He'd known Agravaine was after Merlin. But something was nagging at him. Gaius seemed to be holding something back...

And then it hit him. Of course. Merlin was Gaius' ward, and Arthur had seen how close they were. His servant surely would have told Gaius his suspicions about Agravaine. And then told him how Arthur had rebuffed his attempts to tell him the truth. With yet another pang of guilt, Arthur realized that Gaius had probably figured this was no accident, but was afraid to tell the king the truth.

Arthur sighed. "What else, Gaius? Is there any evidence someone did this to him?"

Gaius looked at him in surprise.

"Someone like Agravaine, for example?" Arthur pressed.

Gaius stared at him, clearly shocked. Then he said slowly, "I think he may have been poisoned as well, sire."

The words were like a punch in the gut to Arthur.

"Can you cure him?"

Gaius sighed. "I'm not sure, sire. But I promise you, I will do whatever I can."

Arthur nodded mutely, and glanced down at the figure on the cot.

"I know you will."