Disclaimer: I only own some boxsets... and I'm pretty sure that doesn't count. Tragic, really...
Well, Happy New Year to all my readers! :) I hope you've all had a fantastic year, I know I have! Thank you to all my reviewers, you mean so much and it's always so encouraging to hear your opinions. :) Also, I want to wish you all the best for 2010 - I hope to read many more of your fics and hope to continue writing myself, despite the impending doom which is university. :S
Anyway, onto Chapter 4. I keep thinking the characters are all slightly OOC, however. Continue to enjoy this, anyway and please remember to review. :P
Four
The Doctor and Rose entered the main hall the next morning to find it reset with a large table, the King was seated at the far end, surrounded in the luxury of too much food. Beside him sat Arthur and Morgana, while Merlin and Guinevere stood behind them respectively.
"Good morning, Doctor, Miss Tyler," the King greeted and gestured for them to sit down.
"Morning," they included everyone in their greeting before sitting down.
"I trust you slept well," Morgana asked the typical morning question.
Rose smiled at her, "We did, thank you." Morgana returned the smile and nodded before turning back to her breakfast.
The group of five ate in silence. Rose however could feel the Doctor fidgeting beside her. Luckily, to spare him any further discomfort the doors of the hall opened and in burst an older man with long white hair.
"Gaius," Uther greeted with a surprised voice, standing up as he did.
"Oh hello," the Doctor grinned.
"Sire… I… uh…. hello, sir," Gaius turned to the Doctor and Rose, confused at who they were and why they were there. "And… who are you, if I may ask?"
"I'm the Doctor and this is Rose," the latter gave a small wave and a grin, giving the impression she was apologising for the Doctor's interruption.
"It's lovely to meet you both," Gaius said. "As I'm sure you heard, I am Gaius the court physician here at Camelot and Merlin there," he nodded in the direction, "is my ward." He concluded quite suddenly before turning back to the King. "Sire, I bring grave news."
"What's happened?"
"We have had another disappearance," Gaius replied with a bow of his head.
"Who was it?" Arthur spoke up, after sharing a concerned glance with his father and Morgana.
"The new blacksmiths over on…" the physician began, but the Doctor and Rose heard little else as the struck up their own private conversation.
"Another disappearance?"
"Looks like it," the Doctor ran his hand over his throat, looking thoughtful.
"And you don't want to know the details?" Rose said, poking her tongue out between her teeth.
"Oh, details smetails. We'll pick up on that later. Names aren't that important anyway."
Rose frowned accusingly. "Names are everything!" she whispered harshly. "It's all we've got, when something like this happens."
The Doctor gave her an apologetic look, before muttering something about domestics, which Rose pretended not to hear. The last thing she wanted was an argument.
"Definitely going to have to investigate now," the Doctor was saying as he gave a small grin, as though he enjoyed the thrill of trouble occurring the problems happening. Rose returned the smile slightly, before frowning and turning to glance at the new arrival.
"So who's this Gaius physician guy?" she asking, turning back to the Doctor and lowering her voice further. "I've never heard of him in the myths and legends."
"What did I tell you…"
"Yeah, I know. They change. But you also said that legends always have the same central characters. Don't get me wrong, but Gaius sounds like a pretty central character around here. Court physician, Merlin's carer," she raised her eyebrows.
The Doctor made a thoughtful humming sound, "I don't know, Rose."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Doctor, Miss Tyler?" It was the King addressing them.
"Yes!" the Doctor spun around almost instantaneously with a smile, before letting it slide off his face as he considered the graveness of the situation.
"Sorry, but what kind of Doctor are you?" Gaius was the one who asked.
"Oh, you know. Little bit of everything," The Doctor replied somewhat smugly.
"Or so he thinks," Rose added cheekily, earning a small pout from the man in question.
"Point is, I know an awful lot about… lots of things," the Doctor continued and Gaius raised his eyebrow sceptically in a well practiced motion. "And I am the one who can help with discovering the reason behind these disappearances."
"He is very good," Rose stated, "with… disappearances."
"See! Thank you Rose," the Doctor exclaimed in response to Gaius' unspoken cynicism, turning his head to flash his companion a smile.
"You're welcome," she replied, before the Doctor turned back to the others and placed his hands on his hips, impressively.
"If you want these disappearances solved then you'll need someone with my knowledge and experience. You need me. I can and I will solve it."
Rose suddenly sniggered from behind him, after the Doctor received blank looks from the six Camelot residents. "I think you over did that a bit," she muttered to him, referring to his attempts to be impressive.
"Aw, really," he replied, disappointedly. "Did you think I over did it?" he asked the others, not waiting for a response before he turned back to Rose again. "It was the hands on the hips, wasn't it?"
"Yeah…"Rose trailed off with a grimace.
The Time Lord responded by turning to face the King of Camelot and his subjects. And with a sheepish grin he ran a hand through his hair. "Well, what are we waiting for then?"
"Uh… you," Arthur spoke up, in an obvious tone.
"Oh, right. Course. Sorry," he replied, ignoring Rose who was clearly trying hard not to laugh.
"If your knowledge is as vast as your proclaim, Doctor; go with Gaius. I want this sorted out before anyone else disappears. I do not want this sorcery to get a hold on my Kingdom," Uther commanded.
"Certainly, Sire," Gaius replied with a bow before turning to the Doctor. "I can take you to the place where our last victim disappeared from."
"You can?" the Doctor questioned before correcting himself at Gaius' glare. "Of course you can. Lead the way. Coming, Rose?"
"You bet," Rose grinned and the two time travellers bid farewell to the King and followed Gaius out of the room.
"Arthur," Uther turned to his son. "Keep an eye on this Doctor. He knows more than he is letting on."
"You sure? He was letting on a lot about his knowledge," Arthur answered seemingly automatically.
"Arthur," Uther growled.
"But I know what you mean. I'll get onto it," Arthur bowed to his father before leaving, Merlin by his side.
"Did you want me to do anything, Sire?"
"Of course I do, Merlin. I wouldn't trust anyone else," he smiled at his servant.
"Really? You really mean that?"
"Who do you take me for? Of course you're the only one I can trust with mucking out my stables."
Merlin rolled his eyes, mentally kicking himself for falling for Arthur's teasing. "I'll get onto it right away."
"Glad to hear it, Merlin." And with that, the Prince clapped his servant on the shoulder and turned down a separate corridor, which would lead him out into the city.