Hello again! I hope I wasn't gone for too long, but I had a lot of stuff on my plate to take care of before I could start writing again. My homework's just gotten INSANE 'cause of report cards coming up and I have a test basically everyday this week. Two tomorrow, actually.

So anyways, thanks so incredibly much for all of the reviews. WE ALMOST MADE IT. 397. Insane, I know. So thanks a bunch to everyone who did review to the last chapter, but don't worry, there's still time before this story is over to leave a comment!

So anyways, enjoy this chapter, but I must warn you it isn't as long as I would have liked it.

Chapter 23 ~Panic

Arthur watched as Merlin cried out, falling backwards against the bed post. "Merlin?" he asked hesitantly, stepping forwards to grab his servant's shoulder.

The boy screamed at the touch, though it was gentle. His knees gave out and he slumped boneless to the ground, writhing in pain.

"Merlin? Merlin!" Arthur yelled, dropping onto his knees next to him. He had no clue what was going on, Merlin had been fine just a few seconds ago.

Merlin cried out, twitching like he'd been struck by lightning. Then the wheezing began. The screams were reduced to dry coughs.

Arthur was at a loss. In a frantic attempt to alert someone of his friend's predicament he called out for the patrolling guards.

The king cursed loudly when no one answered his calls. The guards were most likely in between duties; that one fraction of time when no one was guarding the king's room.

Arthur wondered if the fates were laughing at him right now. His life had been one cataclysmic tragedy to the next. His mother died while he was an infant, his father driven out of his mind by grief. He grew up in a sort of pompous delusion that everybody was below him just because he was son of the king. And then Merlin had rolled around, a startling clarity that had rocked Arthur's foundations. He suddenly started caring about servants, if not only one in particular.

And then fate had cruelly ripped Merlin away. It had devastated Arthur when his servant had died. Now the blindly loyal fool was dying in a way Arthur didn't think possible, a fate no man had ever deserved less. The king had been a fool for believing that the universe would really give him another chance with Merlin.

The king's hand shook as he reached towards Merlin's forehead. It wasn't even warm. Nothing to suggest an illness and nothing that could have triggered a fit like this. Merlin could be dying and Arthur had no clue as to why.

It was a strange feeling, panic. It filed into you in less than a millisecond and sent your thoughts swirling dangerously, making it harder to ration things out. And there was no way of escaping it, not one it had it's firm hold on your heart.

Arthur was feeling that now; a cold sort of pain. It wasn't one that you could feel physically, but it was so real and horrible that it just made you want to tear out your own insides just to make it stop.

Merlin was still shaking and cough-screaming, apparently in unfathomable amounts of pain with no foreseeable cause. The king watched as Merlin jerked suddenly, his breath coming in harsh, irregular bursts.

Without thinking, he grabbed a hold of the servant's bony shoulders to stop the movement. Merlin howled. Arthur wondered weakly how someone could scream so fluently while sounding like they weren't getting any oxygen at all.

The sound was so startling that it made Arthur let go of him immediately. He looked on in horror as the spasms increased in size and intensity. Merlin's body thrust itself to the side, his head coming into contact with the leg of the wooden desk.

Finally Merlin stilled, the blow to the head knocking him into unconsciousness.

Arthur could breathe again. As he approached the wayward servant he cursed his own foolishness.

'When someone is in pain and convulsing, the best thing to do is hold them down so they don't injure themselves and wait for someone who can help to arrive,' Gaius had instructed Arthur years back after one of his knights had experienced a seizure while on the training field.

"Sorry, Merlin," he apologized quietly, although he knew the slave couldn't hear him. Arthur slipped his hand under Merlin's head, feeling for blood or bruises. Luckily, other than a slightly swollen patch of skin on his crown, Merlin was alright.

Well, Merlin's head was alright. The rest of him? Not so much.

The wounds on his back- whatever they were from -had been reopened by the movement, red blood staining the bandages. Bruises littered the man's arms and legs, purples, blues, blacks and yellows standing out grotesquely against his sun-starved skin.

Wherever Merlin had been, his life had been rough.

Arthur sighed. It was just like Merlin to do this; start having the equivalent to a seizure when Arthur wanted his answers. The king had mourned Merlin's death for years, just wishing that somehow he had gotten it wrong and one day the loyal servant would show up at the door to the king's chambers with his late breakfast and signature smile in tow.

Arthur had craved that normalcy that he felt with Merlin for the past three years. The worst had been the few weeks after Merlin had 'died'. It hadn't been easy, just one day not having a best friend anymore. Losing a bond like that had almost broken Arthur, almost. Any lesser man would have crumbled under the guilt and remorse, but the king of Camelot was no lesser man. He powered through his troubles, head held high and jaw set firmly.

'No man was worth your tears'. That's what Arthur had believed until he had lost Merlin.

Merlin moaned slightly, shaking the king from his thoughts. Arthur still had no clue what had triggered the incident or if Merlin was even okay. He strode to the entrance and threw the doors open.

Luckily there were some guards on duty now. "Send for Gaius immediately. Tell him that its urgent that he comes to my chambers now."

The two didn't question the order, they knew their king was angry at them for being late for the shift change. One guard stayed to watch the door while the other began the march down to the physician's chambers.

Arthur sighed fondly as Merlin muttered in his deleria. Gently, he slid an arm under the servant's neck and another under his knees. Trying not to aggravate any previous injuries, Arthur set him down on his pristinely made bed. It just wouldn't do for him to be lolling about on the floor.

After watching the unconscious form of his former manservant for a while, Arthur took notice of the unopened letter on his desk. Merlin had brought that for him. He had insisted that Arthur read it so it must have been important. Maybe it could hold some of the answers that Arthur was craving.

He snorted. Yes, that was likely.

Regardless, he unfolded the letter, smiling at the easily-recognizable scrawl that filled the page. Merlin had definitely written this.

His eyes scanned the paper, eyes lingering on words like 'sorceress,' and 'enchantment,' and 'Blood Oath'. Arthur's brows furrowed in concentration as he read.

By the time Gaius rushed in, Arthur was sitting on his desk, looking completely incredulous. The young king barely even glanced up when the physician burst through the door.

"Arthur? Where's Merlin?" he asked, obviously beyond worried about his ward.

Arthur looked at Gaius with something akin to someone who had just been slapped. "We need to save him, Gaius. I can't let them take him away again, not again. Never again."

Oh look at that, more emotion. How pretty.

Okay, so I have a bit of a dilemma. I have been writing again. Its not a very long story, but its as angsty as heck. I've got almost 2 chapters completed (there will be a total of 3) and each of them is 3000+. So I just want to know, do you guys want the story and have to wait a while in between chapters, or just have me write the entire thing and then post it in a rapid succession?

Thanks again to all my reviewers. I love you guys c:

Wisegirl6