The Heartbeat
Chapter 8
"Like a Plague"
When Merlin woke up in the morning, the events of the previous night seemed almost a bad dream. He thought that it was better this way. There were more pressing matters than his shattered heart.
Merlin gazed around his new room for the first time in the morning light and thought that he quite liked it. Of course, the chamber needed a better arrangement to make it more personal but it was not a problem. In time, it would become truly his. Merlin had no doubts about it.
After breakfast, he went to Gaius who was left without any help for the time being. They planned to go to the Lower Town together to treat the poorer citizens of Camelot. Merlin hoped that they would let him use his magic. That was a part of the plan after all. People needed to get used to magic in order to start trusting it.
"How was your first night in a new place?" Gaius asked him tentatively on their way to the Lower Town.
That was a sensitive matter but Merlin didn't let himself show how uncomfortable it made him feel.
"Nothing special," he replied simply. "The bed is larger and more comfortable but it's just a room. I need time to get used to having my own place."
"You will get used to it sooner than you think," Gaius assured him.
"Probably." Merlin sighed inwardly. He needed to change the subject. "Tell me Gaius, is there something wrong in the Lower Town?"
"I'm not sure yet," Gaius admitted. "I was told about some strange occurrences of fever. It's short but unusually exhausting. We need to investigate it."
Merlin didn't see anything extraordinary in such fever until they arrived at the first house. The teenage twins, brother and sister, were lying in their beds in a very poor state. They not only had a high fever but also an angry-looking rash. Their mother explained to them that on the previous day her children were perfectly fine but they woke up in the morning in such state.
"So there was no common cold, sore throat or muscle pain?" Gaius asked the worried woman.
"Nothing like this," she assured him. "My neighbour's son had the same symptoms a few days ago and now when his fever's gone, he's not the same person any more. Gaius, is it going to happen to my children too?"
"In what way he's not the same person?" asked Merlin.
The woman looked at him desperately. "He didn't say a single word since then and he barely eats," she explained.
Gaius and Merlin shared a short look.
"I've never seen or heard of such disease," Gaius admitted. "We need to investigate it further before we draw any conclusion."
"I'd like to see your neighbour's son," Merlin told her. "Can you show us the way?"
The woman nodded and led them to the nearby house.
"Please, Gaius," she pleaded. "Save my children."
"We'll do everything we can to cure them," Gaius promised her, "but we need time to find out what we're dealing with."
The other victim of this strange disease was slightly older than the twins but he wasn't a fully grown man yet. He was sitting numb in an armchair and he didn't even seem to notice their arrival.
"Philip's been like this for three days," his mother explained. "I thought he would get better in time but I feel like I'm losing more and more contact with him."
Gaius examined the young man closely but besides his strange behaviour everything seemed perfectly fine.
"Physically, he's healthy," said Gaius. "The fever must have done something to his perception of reality but I've never seen something like this. Not once the fever was gone."
"So there's no hope?" the woman asked weakly. She looked as if she was about to faint.
"There's always hope," Gaius assured her. "Let Merlin check him," he suggested.
The woman paled even more. "But he's..." she started but didn't dare to finish her sentence.
"I have magic," Merlin finished it for her. "That's right. However, my magic may be his only hope now. I promise you that I won't do anything to hurt him."
She didn't look convinced, murmured something about her husband being angry, but agreed to the examination anyway.
Merlin used all his magical instincts to check the physical and mental state of their patient. As Gaius said before, there was nothing wrong in his physical state any more. However, mentally, he seemed blocked.
"Can I try a spell?" Merlin asked the woman.
Her face was as white as a sheet. She was clearly scared but nodded silently nonetheless. She wanted to get her son back, even though she didn't trust magic at all.
"Gwella ei feddwl," Merlin murmured under his nose and his eyes turned gold.
Philip raised his eyes and frowned. For a short moment, it looked as if regained his consciousness but then he lowered his head and was numb again.
"What happened?" the woman asked. "What did you do to my son?"
"Nothing bad," Merlin assured her. "I'm trying to cure him."
"He was conscious for a short moment," Gaius pointed out. "We can work with that."
The woman looked as if she was on the brink of crying.
"I'll try again with something stronger," Merlin told her. "Yn ei wneud ei hun eto," he said firmly. "Iacháu ef yn awr."
Philip started trembling frantically all over his body.
"My son..." his mother whispered.
After a few frightening moments, Philip stopped trembling and slowly lifted his head and looked around, frowning.
"What's wrong?" he asked weakly.
"Philip." His mother hugged him tightly. "I'm so glad to hear you."
"Let him breathe," Gaius told her and the woman immediately let go. She didn't want to harm her son. She was just so happy to see him conscious.
"I don't know if this improvement is temporary or for good," said Merlin cautiously. "I'd like to ask you two some questions. We need to find out what caused this strange state."
Unfortunately, they didn't reach any conclusion. It seemed that the strange illness came from nowhere. Gaius and Merlin visited some other victims and in all cases Merlin had to use his magic to make the patients conscious. At the end, they visited the twins again. They didn't reach the next stage of the disease yet and Merlin wasn't sure what spell he should use.
"We don't want to wake them up yet," Gaius explained to their mother. "It's better to have fever during sleep. They don't suffer too much in this way."
"What are you going to do, then?" the woman asked.
"I'll try to protect them from the next stage but I can't promise anything. We still don't know what causes this state," Merlin told her and then put his hands above the twins and whispered, "Cysgod y meddwl."
"What should I do now?" she asked him.
"Watch them and wait." Merlin gave her a small smile. "If they enter the stage of numbness despite my spell, send for me. I'll come and help them regain their previous selves."
"Thank you," the woman said. "You seem to be a good man despite all the things people say." Then she realised what she just said and her eyes went wide. "I'm so sorry."
"There's no need," Merlin assured her. "I know that people whisper behind my back."
"I'll tell them they're wrong. I'll tell them you saved my children," she said.
"We're yet to see if their state improves," Merlin told her carefully. "Me and Gaius still need to find out what's behind this epidemic. Otherwise, there will be more victims and we don't know the long-term consequences."
The woman paled a bit. She thought that it was over. She didn't consider the idea that this illness could still have some further effects on her children.
"Watch them carefully and let us know about any changes," Gaius told her on parting.
oOoOo
Merlin browsed through his magic books, looking for some answers concerning the strange disease. Unfortunately, he couldn't find anything which matched the symptoms. He doubted that it was some ordinary disease because after so many years of being a physician, Gaius would have at least heard about something like that. This illness must have been somehow related to magic and Merlin needed to find this relation. He needed to find the solution before the disease could spread all over Camelot. Merlin knew people and their tendencies. He knew that some people would be grateful for his help but others would grow suspicious. They would blame magic and all its users again.
Suddenly, he heard knocking on his door.
"Come in," Merlin said loudly and Arthur came into his chamber.
"Are you busy?" the king asked him.
"I'm working on some strange disease that touched people from the Lower Town," Merlin explained but invited him with a wave of his hand to sit at the table by his side.
"I heard something about it," Arthur admitted. "Is it serious?"
"I'm not sure yet. I used some spells and it helped for now but it's hard to tell if it has a permanent effect," he said.
"So they let you use spells on them?" asked Arthur, clearly excited. "That's good."
"The families were desperate," Merlin told him. "It's natural that they agreed to try everything."
"But that's exactly what we wanted." Arthur laughed wholeheartedly. "In this way they can get used to magic. They can see its full potential."
"Or they can just assume that magic caused the disease in the first place," Merlin pointed out.
"So it's caused by magic?"
"It appears so." Merlin sighed loudly. "I'm trying to find something with similar symptoms but there's nothing in these books. You should have seen these patients. They were awake but it was as if they weren't really there. They didn't seem to notice our presence. That was quite scary."
"Do you have any idea how this disease spreads?" Arthur asked him, concerned.
"I'm afraid not," Merlin said sadly. "The only thing that connects all the cases is that all of the victims were young. Children and teenagers. No adults. There was a case where brother and sister fell ill at the same time but their parents were perfectly fine."
"That's really strange," Arthur admitted. "We need to learn more about it. Do you need some help?"
"Gaius is working on it with me but I don't think we'll find something in our books." Merlin felt truly frustrated. He desperately needed a solution to this problem but he didn't know where to find it. "I don't know who could help us."
"We could involve the candidates for the position of Gaius' apprentice," Arthur suggested. "I got some recommendations and we can see how they deal with difficult cases. I think that's important in this kind of job."
"You already have some candidates?" Merlin asked, surprised. "That was quick."
"There's no time to waste. I know how devoted you are to helping Gaius. I know that he really needs help." Arthur smiled at him, saying that.
"I'm glad you're taking care of it," Merlin murmured.
"That's the least I could do." He took one of Merlin's books and started looking through it.
The warlock watched him for a few seconds and then asked, "what are you doing?"
"I'm just wondering how you managed to hide all these books from my father," he said quietly.
"Most of them belonged to Gaius," Merlin replied. "Most of them don't even have any spells. They must have passed as the books of science and in a way they are just them." He took the book from Arthur's hand and opened it on a random page. "Look, it doesn't look harmful at all. If you don't read it very carefully, you can't find all the mentions of magical rituals."
"My father would have never read such book attentively," Arthur admitted.
"That's why they survived the Purge. They appeared to be harmless," Merlin explained.
"You have something in common with them, then," the king murmured. "You didn't seem dangerous at all."
"I'm not dangerous," Merlin interrupted him.
"You're right. You're not but you could be," said Arthur.
"Are you afraid of me?" Merlin asked. "Please, answer honestly." He looked his friend directly in the eye.
"I"m not afraid," the king said. "I know you and I know that your heart is good..."
Our heart, thought Merlin.
"But not pure," Arthur continued, "because I can imagine what you had to go through in the past."
"That wasn't easy," Merlin admitted.
"I know. I just wanted to say that even though I'm aware of your powers, you're not frightening to me." Arthur smiled lightly.
Merlin hesitated but eventually decided to ask the question that had been looming in the back of his head for the last few weeks. "Were you afraid of me when I told you about my magic?"
Arthur's face turned a bit serious. "That moment is a bit fuzzy in my mind," he admitted. "I felt betrayed. I'm certain of it. But I don't remember fear. Not really. Perhaps there was a moment when I felt it but it must have melted away instantly. I was mad at you. I wanted it to be some bizarre dream because I could stand a lot but... So many people betrayed me in my life and I thought I was ready for anything but the truth was that I never thought that such blow could come from you."
"I didn't want you to feel this way," Merlin said sadly.
"I know. I don't blame you for it. I blame my prejudice." He sighed lightly. "I partly blame myself because I heard you saying that you won the battle for us and nonetheless all I could think about was that you were lying to me and that you betrayed me. I didn't feel this way even when I saw Guinevere collaborating with Morgana before I knew it was my sister's magical brainwashing," he admitted.
"Arthur," Merlin whispered but didn't know what he wanted to say. Nothing seemed right or relevant.
Arthur broke the eye contact and cleared his throat. "I shouldn't disturb you right now. You said you were busy." He stood up and moved towards the doors.
"I don't mind," said Merlin.
"You're too kind." Arthur looked around, trying to focus on anything but Merlin. "I'll summon the candidates tomorrow morning so they can help you and Gaius," he changed the topic.
"Thank you," said Merlin, understanding that Arthur was desperate to leave his chamber for some reason. "I'll let Gaius know."
Arthur nodded and left the room in hurry, leaving Merlin pensive and disturbed. There was something about Arthur that started worrying him. He wondered if it had something to do with the half of his heart that was beating in king's chest. He made a decision to investigate it more once they solved the problem of mysterious disease.
oOoOo
The next morning, Gaius and Merlin went to the throne room, where they were supposed to meet the candidates for the position of Gaius' apprentice.
Arthur and Guinevere were already awaiting them as they also wanted to participate in the meeting. They greeted shortly and turned their attention towards the door. After a short while, the six candidates entered the room.
Two of them looked very young. Too young in Merlin's opinion but he knew that appearances could be deceiving. One of them was in his early forties. Merlin wasn't sure if a man could be shaped to become a physician in the future at such age. The rest of candidates looked more or less Merlin's age and intuitively he gave them the greatest chance of becoming Gaius' apprentice.
Gaius explained shortly the responsibilities of his future apprentice, while Merlin told them about their first task which concerned the odd disease they encountered in the Lower Town. After that, they were assigned to small tasks either by Gaius or Merlin's side. All of them were related to the disease. In this way they could learn how they worked together for the sake of the kingdom and its people.
The meeting was over and they proceeded to work hard. However, Merlin could tell that not all of the candidates were happy about it. Especially the oldest of them, Patrick, who complained a bit about the length of the books that he was supposed to peruse. Merlin had to explain to him that it was an important part of this job and if he wanted to become a physician in the future, he had to get used to it. However, Merlin doubted that Patrick would become an apprentice. He lacked the most essential trait for this kind of job, namely patience.
At the end of the day, they weren't any closer to solve the mystery of this disease but Gaius grew a bit fond of the young man called James. He was humble and hard-working but in Merlin's opinion he was too reserved.
"You need someone who will challenge your decision when it's needed," Merlin told Gaius when they were left alone. "James is the most promising candidate but I'm not sure he'll be able to say no when the right moment arrives."
"We won't find another you, Merlin," said Gaius.
Merlin blushed at his words. "That's not what I meant. I only wish the best for you and Camelot."
"I know, my boy. I think we need to rest, though. Tomorrow is another day," the old man said. "We'll get to know our candidates a bit better."
When Merlin was about to leave Gaius' quarters, someone knocked at the door urgently.
"Come in," said Gaius and a middle aged man entered the room.
"I'm sorry to bother you at this hour but we need help in the Lower Town," the man said. "We have some more instances of the disease and my children, the twins you treated, didn't get much better. I wanted to wait until morning but my wife is devastated."
"I'm on my way," Merlin assured him and the man left them, nodding approvingly.
Gaius grabbed his bag but Merlin stopped him.
"You should stay," he said. "It's late and for now only my magic works."
"I'm a physician, Merlin. This is my duty."
"You will be more needed tomorrow morning," Merlin insisted. "You should rest. I'll take care of the most urgent cases and tell you about everything in the morning. It will be better that way."
Gaius didn't like it but he he agreed to stay eventually.
When Merlin was marching through the Lower Town, he noticed some figure lurking in the shadows. Intrigued, he came closer to this person and gasped in surprise."
"Hello, Merlin," the man greeted him. "I heard that many things have changed since my last visit to Camelot."
"Gilli?"
The man smiled at him and nodded.
"You were right all these years ago," Gilli said.
"But what are you doing here, hiding in the shadows?" Merlin asked. "You could have come to me or Gaius. You're an old friend."
"I heard these people need help," he said. "I'm here to help and I knew that you would come here sooner or later too. That's who you are."
Merlin smiled. He hadn't been thinking about Gilli in years but it was good to have him back. He had a feeling that they could become great friends in these new circumstances.
"Let's go help them, then," said Merlin and they walked arm in arm towards the house where the twins were waiting.