It was over an hour later that a very red eyed Merlin quietly left the Throne room and made his way through the deserted corridors of the castle. He paused at the turning leading to the King's chambers contemplating the idea of confronting Arthur but silently shook his head before turning away towards the rooms of the court physician. He dragged his feet over the smooth stones that had become so familiar to him over the years that they seemed like friends. He sighed as he tried to gather the courage to face his mentor, knowing the old man would be broken by this news and worried about how he would react.
In the peace and quiet of his room, Gaius was sat in an easy chair reading one of his medical research books and making occasional notes on the paper scroll balanced on the arm of the chair when he heard the door open slowly and Merlin entered.
Having not seen his ward since first thing in the morning, Gaius had been expecting Merlin to return hours ago and was starting to get a little agitated. He was about to admonish the youngster for his lack of thought and concern for the peace of mind of an old man when he looked at Merlin and all such thoughts vanished from his mind at the bruised, tear streaked face of the warlock.
"He knows Gaius."
With those three words, it seemed that all the life drained out of the young man who stood in the doorway looking pale as a ghost and on the verge of collapsing. With a surprising agility and speed for a man of his age, Gaius stood up from his chair and crossed the room to place both hands on his ward's shoulders.
"Oh my poor boy."
At this, the small amount of composure that Merlin had vanished, and fresh tears started to run down his face. Gaius enveloped him in a hug and waited until Merlin had stopped shaking before gently leading him to a chair by the fire. He handed the warlock a clean handkerchief, then picked up a blanket that was warming by the fire and wrapped it around Merlin's still trembling shoulders. He poured two cups of herbal tea and pulled up another chair by the fire.
"Now, do you want to tell me what happened?"
Hesitantly, and punctuated with sniffles and hiccups, Merlin related the events of the day and what had happened in the throne room. At the end of the tale, he fell silent and gazed into the fire. "How could I have been so stupid Gaius? Just for once I was enjoying my magic, using it for me. Just one lapse in concentration and I've ruined everything"
Gaius sighed and rubbed a hand across his face looking ten years older than he had before Merlin started talking. He regarded his ward with concern and pity as he contemplated what to do.
"Over all the years I've known him, I've never seen him so angry. I think this has broken something in him and I just don't know if it will heal again. There's no going back from this now." Merlin put his head in his hands and sighed deeply, rubbing his eyes before getting up and going to his room, returning a minute later with his book and putting it down on the table with a thud. He thumbed through the pages for a few minutes before settling on the page he was looking for and reading the spell a few times before he looked up again.
"I know that I can't stay here but I've got a few hours until dawn, I need to come up with some simple protection wards that I can leave around the castle to try and keep it safe. Please Gaius, I need your help. I'll need dried rosemary, powered fox glove and some wild garlic together with oils and ash bark. Do you have these?"
Gaius rose from his chair and collected a number of boxes and bottles from around the room and bought them over to the table. Merlin went to the cupboard in the corner of the room where the mops and cleaning buckets were stored and reached down behind the old wooden bucket at the back to remove a small piece of stone from the wall revealing a hollowed out area containing a leather pouch in the wall. He removed this from the secret compartment and loosened the ties on the bag to upend the contents on the wooden surface of the table. A few jewels, stones and charms tumbled out, each of which, if discovered, could have condemned him individually. He picked out a small jet black bead and a bright blue crystal before placing the rest of the magical charms back into the pouch and putting it to one side. He did not think it was worth concealing it again immediately as he normally would - what was the point now that Arthur was fully aware of exactly what he was?
Collecting the pestle and mortar from the shelf he measured out the necessary ingredients and proceeded to crush them into a fine dry powder while Gaius stoked the fire and heated a small bowl containing a few drops of oil. When this started to smoke, Merlin placed the black bead into the bowl and consulted the book before picking up the blue crystal and muttering a few words in the old language. His eyes flashed gold and the crystal started to glow in his hand. He put it into the heated bowl where it reacted with the black bead sending small white sparks into the air around it. Gaius removed the bowl from the fire and placed it on the table as Merlin added the crushed powder and waited as a blue hue rose from the mixture which he then captured in a small glass jar and sealed with a cork stopper. He set the mixture aside on the edge of the hearth and removed the crystal and the bead, placing them back into the leather pouch. He handed the stoppered bottle to Gaius who placed it on the table and watched as it glimmered and pulsated with the magic energy that was needed to keep the protection charms in place.
Merlin then took the herb mixture which was now a fine powder and poured it into another leather pouch which he slipped into his pocket. "The castle is empty at this time of night so it won't take too long to set this up."
Gaius nodded "Be careful, remember the watch will still be patrolling."
Merlin smiled, he knew the rota of the watchmen in the castle better than they did which was not surprising as he was the one who had drawn it up when Arthur was busy with other tasks. "Don't worry, they will be in the guest wing at the moment which I can easily avoid."
He slipped out of the room and headed towards the council chambers keeping to the lesser used corridors of the castle and moving silently from shadow to shadow. The midnight bell had just sounded as he reached the council rooms. Stopping at the entrance to each room, he took a pinch of the herb powder and with his finger traced a magical rune on the door, which glowed blue for an instant before disappearing. As the drawn image faded from view, a thread of gold swiftly flowed from the rune, down the wooden face of the door and across the floor, trailing down the corridor towards Gaius' chambers.
Having completed this task for the council chambers, he then turned towards the royal wing. This would be trickier as guards were posted outside the royal chambers and he did not know what Arthur might have said. Peering around the corner, he saw 2 guards outside Arthur's door. Merlin breathed a sigh of relief, he knew these two were easily distracted and would be very bored and tired by this time of night. His eyes momentarily glowed gold and both guards slumped to the floor in a deep sleep. Merlin knew he had to work fast, this spell wore off in less than five minutes. He moved quickly to the door and traced the rune, this time adding 2 more powerful symbols directly underneath to afford a further level of security and safety. He paused, holding his breath and listening to the footsteps within the chamber coming towards the door. They stopped and turned away again as the owner paced back towards the other end of the room. Merlin allowed himself a small sad smile, this pacing was a familiar habit of Arthur's when he was worried or angry. It seemed that the King was getting as little sleep as his manservant this night and Merlin worried this would put him in a worse temper the next morning, not something he wished on anyone. Almost silently, Merlin whispered "Swefn" sending the spell under the door, safe in the knowledge that Arthur would be asleep in five minutes and wake feeling refreshed. This was one last favour he could offer the King. Merlin stood up and traced one final rune on the walls of the corridor before vanishing around the corner just as the guards started to stir.
He headed back to Gaius' rooms, tracing runes on several more doors to offer protection to the knights and council as well as the armoury, the kitchens and others areas vital to the safety and smooth running of the castle. It was almost two hours later that he finally placed the last rune on the uneven surface of the door to Gaius' workroom.
Opening the door, he found Gaius sat at the table looking at the stoppered blue bottle that was glowing with threads of gold pouring into it from across the castle. He walked across to the table, picked up the bottle and shook it lightly, making the entire mixture glow gold. "áþwínen" he muttered, making the obvious glow of magic vanish and leaving behind an apparently dull, cloudy liquid.
"Well, it looks like the anchor for the runes is working correctly." He handed the bottle to Gaius "You just need to keep this safe and the enchantments will hold. It won't help with a full scale magic attack but it will put a spanner in the works for any local unpleasant issues." Gaius took the bottle and put it on a shelf, carefully placing it behind several similar looking bottles to conceal it from sight.
Merlin gratefully took the warm tea that Gaius handed him and downed it, trying to relax and ease the throbbing headache that had taken up residence behind his eyes after this unexpected and unplanned use of his magic.
Gaius regarded him with concern "You look shattered, you should try to get some sleep."
Merlin sat at the table and sighed, running his hand through his hair making it stick up even more than normal. "I don't think that sleeping is in the plan for tonight, there's so many other things I need to think about..." He stopped as his eyelids drooped and he yawned, looking at Gaius suspiciously "just what was in that tea Gai..."
Merlin did not even reach the end of the question before sleep overtook him and he slumped forwards. Gaius caught him gently. "Do you really think I'd let you work yourself ragged for the next few hours when you need to rest?" he murmured fondly and settled the warlock as comfortably as he could before turning to tidy the room and pack some essentials.
A few hours later, just before the first rays of the sun broke across the horizon, Gaius rose from his seat by the dying fire and crossed the room to where Merlin was slumped across the table. The bruise on his face where Arthur had struck him had darkened and contrasted sharply with his pale complexion. Gaius tenderly brushed a stray lock of dark hair away from his face and his heart ached as he knew their time was severely limited. Gently, he placed a hand on Merlin's shoulder "You need to wake up my boy" he whispered.
Merlin muttered and gingerly opened an eye, wincing as his head ached and his body complained that sleeping across a wooden table was not the most comfortable option. For a brief second, he imagined that the previous 24 hours were a dream and everything was back to normal. Then he registered the look of grief in Gaius' eyes and realised why his mentor had woken him.
"It's almost dawn isn't it?"
Gaius nodded and pointed to the small bag he had packed while Merlin was asleep. "I've packed you some food and warm clothes. I'll send word as soon as Arthur sees sense."
Merlin shook his head "No, he thinks that I betrayed him, he won't forgive this." Suddenly, Merlin looked up at his mentor, with a worried expression "Gaius, what about the Ghosts?"
"They know what to do. Merlin, stop worrying about Camelot and starting thinking about yourself. It's almost sunrise and you need to get out of here."
"Well, there's no way I'll be able to keep the prat safe if I'm banished is there...so much for destiny." Merlin commented bitterly "Anyway, I know Arthur, he's not a mornings person. I've got at least another hour before he even considers it to be sunrise time."
He stood up and went to his room where he removed the lose floorboard and retrieved two wrapped up bundles from their hiding place. Returning to the main chamber, he unwrapped the white staff and placed it on the table before unwrapping the smaller bundle and taking out the wooden dragon his father had carved and a bronze ring with a small bird engraved in it which he thoughtfully rolled around his hand before giving it to Gaius.
"Please, give this to the king. Tell him...tell him I'm sorry."
He tucked the wooden dragon into his pocket and slung the leather satchel across his body with his precious magic book and the crystals tucked safely inside. He then picked up the bag before gazing around the room that had been his home and safe haven for the past six years.
"I don't want to go" Merlin sounded like a lost child and the words tugged at Gaius' heart. He hugged the young man tightly as though he never wanted to let go and he then stood back, with his hands on the warlock's arms.
"I promised your mother that I would keep you safe and I intend to keep my word to the best of my abilities. I've let so many people down in the past and I do not intend to make the same mistake again. For your own safety Merlin, you need to go."
Merlin sniffed and nodded. "I know" he said quietly as he picked up the staff and headed towards the door, turning on the threshold to take a last look at the man who he had trusted to keep safe his secret and his life since the day he arrived in the city.
"Thank you Gaius, for everything. I don't know where I'll go but I promise I will send you word that I'm safe."
With that, he turned and walked out of the castle, heading towards the main gates of the city.