Merlin awoke feeling groggy and confused as to where he was and why he was there. He only felt pain and a strange feeling of disappointment. He remembered having a discussion with Arthur about his health. Arthur had seamed to think that Merlin needed to be taken to Gaius' to rest, and Merlin had disagreed, in the end, the two had reached a deal that Arthur would accompany Merlin and then take him to Gaius' when he had finished his chores. If Merlin looked worse whn Arthur dropped him off, he ould have the next day off of work. Merlin now felt a huge disappointment at the fact that Arthur had been right, Merlin was unwell and needed the day off.

As Merlin slowly opened his eyes he noticed two fuzzy blobs that resembled people sitting in two more fuzzy blobs that resembled chairs. The whole room was full of fuzzy blobs that resembled things Merlin knew well, and he soon worked out that he was in his room. The room came into focus and he recognised the two people as Arthur and Gwen. They had both fallen asleep in their chairs, and it looked like Gaius had popped in to wrap a blanket round them. Merlin smiled.

The window in Merlin's room was not letting in any light, only the white light of the stars. Merlin assumed that it was a moonless night, but the stars still looked beautiful to him. The warlock looked at everything in the room in great detail, noticing many things that he han't before, desperatley trying to fight off sleep.

The servant slid his hand out from underneath histhin blanket and gingerly touched the backof his head. He shivered at the feeling off stitches and then almost cried out as he realised how far the stitches went up his head. It must have been a tremendous wound.

Merlin tried so hard to distract himself from the pain, but he found that in the end, he couldn't. White spots danced on the floor of his room, the light from the stars. Merlin heard reasuring breathing coming from his master and his lady, Merlin heard and saw many things, but he only ffelt the pain, and the warm, fresh tears that kept running down his face.

Arthur woke with a start as soon as he heard a floorboard creak next to him. He stood up and drew his sword, and stood protectively over Merlin. He sighed and sheathed his sword when he saw Gaius with his hands up in a sign of surrender. "Ah, Gaius. Um... I-err... I apologize for... well-"

"No need, Arthur. You're instincs are very highly developed, I should've expected nearly being slaughtered." Gaius smiled.

"Thanks... what're you doing?" Arthur sat back in the chair he'd just jumped up from. He heard soft footsteps from the other side of the doorand assumed that Gwen was out there, doing something useful.

"I was going to wake Merlin, see what he could remember, and then send him back to sleep again."

"Could I talk to him?"

"I don't see why not. I'll find out what I need to know, give him the sleeping draft, then you can talk to him."

"I wont have long then?"

"No. But I don't want to exhaust him, and I'll give him a draft that takes a while to work."

"Alright. I understand."

Gaius moved over to the sleeping form of his ward, and gently shook him. Merlin didn't wake. He shook him again, Merlin still didn't awaken. Arthur tried, and Merlin groaned but did not wake. Arthur shook his head.

"Why isn't he waking up?" Arthur asked.

"I was hoping he wouldn't be like this." Gaius stood from the bed. Arthur looked up at him.

"Like what?"

"This." Gaius obviously didn't want to explain, and if Gaiius didn't want to explain, Arthur didn't want to know. The old man rushed out ofthe room, muttered something to Gwen, grrabbed a bottle and rushed back into the room.

"Gaius, what's wrong with him?"

"Nothing, he's just... well, he's not really sleeep, but he's not really unconcious either. He's somewhere in the middle. Which can potentially, make waking himuo ever more difficult. I keep a potion for these tpe of cases, however. It might take a fewhours for him to wake, though. One of us should stay next to him to be sure that when he wakes he is comfortable and to be able to get the information I needed."

"I'll stay with him. I was planning on that anyway."

Hope that this was as good as the first chapter. (: Need help with plot. (As always.)