Chapter Six

Morgana sat up sleepily in bed and watched as Gwen laid out her dress for the day. She absently stroked the bracelet on her wrist. She had found it one evening, placed on her nightstand with a simple note saying 'From a friend, to keep the nightmares away'. She hadn't known what to make of it at the time and she still didn't. She had slipped it on, with an absent thought that it was ridiculous. She had been so exhausted that night after so many days without rest she had fallen asleep almost at once. And she had slept peacefully through until dawn. She had told herself it was a coincidence. Sheer happenstance. But she had worn the bracelet the next night nonetheless. And the night after. And every night since. And not one nightmare had troubled her.

"That young man," she asked Gwen, abruptly trying to distract her own thoughts. "The one in the throne room yesterday. How is he?"

"I think he's alright, my lady," shrugged Gwen, "He spent the night at Gaius'. Gaius said he calmed down somewhat but still seemed confused. And apparently he left very early this morning."

"Left where?"

"Camelot. He bought a horse and road away."

"Well," said Morgana, pushing away her blankets and rising. "That may be for the best. Uther was very upset last night. The man was delusional but still, just hearing his claims..."

"I know," nodded Gwen.

"Uther will always miss his son, though he never knew him," said Morgana, almost to herself. "Though the baby died with the Lady Ygraine…he still…"

"It must be very hard for him," agreed Gwen as she put out Morgana's shoes.

"Yes. I'm all he has. I've tried hard to be enough but sometimes…I know he wishes…" Morgana sighed.

"You have meant the world to the King," said Gwen gently, placing a hand on Morgana's arm.

"I try to understand him. I try to support and love him. I can't agree with many of the things he does, but I try to understand them. One day I'm going to take his place. One day I'll be Queen of Camelot…I hope I can right the wrongs. At the same time however, remembering that…I can understand why…why he's so afraid all the time."

"Uther? Afraid?"

"Yes. He's afraid of magic. But I think he's also afraid of himself. But I don't think he always realizes that."

Gwen handed Morgana her comb.

Arthur hadn't fallen back asleep after making his decision. He had waited a little awhile, and after formalizing more of his plans he had gotten up and left quietly. Vividly remembering his father's warning to not return to the castle, he was tense as he snuck along the hallways and made towards his bedroom. Once there he had fished an old pack out from the back of the closet and stuffed it with a few clothes. He then buckled his sword on and pulled a small bag of coins out from the desk.

He suspected no one would miss these things. After all they were his things and no one missed him. But a horse from the royal stables might be another matter, so once he finally reached the safety of the town he made his away to the public stables and bought a horse.

He rode it back to Gaius'. Gaius and Merlin were just sitting down to breakfast. Merlin looked extremely sleepy. Once again Arthur wondered where he had snuck off to the night before.

"Ah," said Gaius, as he entered. "I thought you'd run off. Sit down and eat."

Deciding it was better to leave full, Arthur had sat and Merlin had handed him a bowl of…something. He wasn't sure what it was supposed to be from looking at it and was even less sure once he had tasted it.

"Err..it's…" he coughed, "Very…er…"

He must have made a face because Merlin laughed and nodded. "But you get used to Gaius' cooking," he added, "Eventually…I hope."

"I'm not sure if that would be a good thing, or really really scary," said Arthur.

"Now no one is forcing either of you to eat anything," said Gaius. "Maybe I'll let you try making breakfast tomorrow yourself Merlin?"

"It couldn't be much worse," Arthur said.

Merlin snorted.

"Well now," said Gaius, as Merlin hastily volunteered to get rid of the leftovers as soon as Gaius had finished eating. "About you." He turned to look at Arthur. "What are we going to do with you?"

"Nothing," said Arthur standing up. And for the first time Gaius noticed the sword. His eyebrows rose. "I'm leaving Camelot for the time being."

"For how long?"

"I don't know. What I have to do may take a while. I have to…" he nearly confided in Gaius. But remembering his disbelief of the day before, he decided against it. "…find someone. I think they might be able me to help me."

"I see."

There had always been times Arthur had wondered what went inside the old physician's head. But never more than now.

"Is there anything we can do to help you?" asked Merlin, who seemed to have warmed up somewhat to Arthur over their shared dislike of Gaius' cooking.

"No, I don't think so. Not at the moment. But thank you." He realized he was feeling touched by Merlin's offer. Merlin would have helped him before, instantly, and had in fact helped on many occasions, but he had always been his man servant. It was his job. Even when Merlin went above and beyond his duty, even during that awful moment when that sorceress had tricked him with the image of his mother and he had almost killed his own father…even then when Merlin had saved him from a mistake he would have regretted his whole life, Merlin knew he was a prince and knew his father was the king. There were so many aspects involved; maybe none of them had occurred to Merlin, but they were there, and Arthur knew them. But here Merlin was offering help, for no reason, other than to offer help. And as Arthur road out of Camelot a short time later, he realized how much that really meant.