Gwaine caught up with her as she reached Merlin. "Merlin. Can you hear me?" she said, turning his face toward her. His skin was pale and his jaw was distended. There were traces of spittle and some kind of black liquid by the sides of his mouth. Anna checked the back of his head and the small wound on his forehead. There was also a gash on his right leg below the knee.
"He doesn't look good," Gwaine said quietly, watching the way Merlin trembled with every breath.
"He's been poisoned." Anna's jaw was set, and he didn't like the look on her face. She pulled out her waterskin and poured some into Merlin's mouth.
He sputtered and opened his eyes, looked around in confusion until he saw their faces.
"Merlin, can you speak?" Anna asked in her healer's voice: a combination of gentleness and command.
He made a terrible sound as he took a breath. "Yes," he managed around his swollen and immovable jaw.
"Do you have any idea what kind of poison you've ingested?" she asked.
He shook his head, rolling it back and forth on the rocky ground beneath him. "It was not just herbal" he managed. "It was Morgana—magic."
Anna pressed her lips together. Gwaine knew what it meant—mere herbal remedies would be no use. Magic had to be defeated with magic.
"Can you heal yourself?" Anna suggested calmly and clearly, erasing the small traces of worry from her face.
Merlin shook his head again and then retched. "I tried. I couldn't," he said at last.
"Try again."
Merlin slowly turned his hands palm up and lifted his head, shaking with effort. The yellow light in his eyes that they had each seen before flickered like a guttering candle. He took a labored breath and tried again, and again the light flickered. Finally his head fell back as he lost consciousness.
"Oh God, Merlin," Anna said despairingly, cradling his cheek.
Gwaine put one hand on her shoulder and one on Merlin's. "Isn't there anything we can do?" he asked.
"Nothing," she said bleakly, tears filling her eyes. "The only thing that can heal him is magic. Come on, Merlin!" she said, giving his face a shake. Suddenly she gasped and jumped. Gwaine, staring at her, saw her eyes flash golden. A look of terror crossed her face as it happened again, the golden glow growing stronger this time.
"Anna?" he said nervously.
Merlin's eyes flew open, glowing brightly. He and Anna stared at one another for a moment like two cats with their yellow eyes glowing in the dark. Then Merlin's head fell back again and Anna jerked her hand away from his skin like she had been burned. She turned to stare at Gwaine in fright for a moment, then turned and examined Merlin. He was unconscious again, but his jaw seemed more normal already, and his breathing had eased. Anna pressed a hand to her mouth.
"You healed him," Gwaine said wonderingly.
"I didn't!" she said quickly.
"You did. With magic. Your eyes glowed—like his."
"Oh God!" she said again, and covered her face with her hands.
"Hey!" he said, pulling her close. "It's alright. It's fine. …It's more than fine," he added. "You saved him!"
Anna lowered her hands and looked down at Merlin. He looked like he was improving by the moment.
"It wasn't just me," she said weakly. "He did part of it. I—I have to do something about the wound in his leg." She pulled out her bag and began rooting around in it for herbs and bandages. Gwaine, realizing that she needed action to distract her from what had happened, silently helped her to lay the wound bare and wash and bind it.
Merlin was looking distinctly better by the time they finished. He seemed to be sleeping rather than in a deep unconsciousness like before.
"We should let him rest," Anna said at last.
"What about Morgana? She must have had some reason for poisoning him," Gwaine pointed out. "What plot is she hatching?"
Anna frowned. "We can't learn anything about it until he wakes up," she said at last. "And I don't want to endanger his recovery by waking him too early. It can wait." She turned and gave him a shaky smile. "Whatever it is, he can stop her."
"We can stop her," Gwaine amended with a smile, and put his arm around her again.
000
Gwaine felt Anna shift beside him and opened his eyes blearily. The two of them had fallen asleep sitting with their backs against the cliff face, Anna's head on his shoulder.
"What is it?" he asked groggily.
"Merlin's stirring," she answered, crawling forward. "Merlin, can you hear me?"
Merlin took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He smiled up at her. "Good morning," he said softly.
Gwaine lurched forward. "Merlin! How do you feel?"
Merlin groaned and sat up, with a hand from Gwaine. "Like I've been run over by a horse," he said wearily as Anna picked leaves out of his hair.
"Why did Morgana poison you?" Gwaine asked. "Do you know?"
"She said something just before I blacked out—that I was always spoiling her plans, and that she wouldn't have it this time. She said—I wouldn't be able to protect Arthur from her anymore."
"So she is planning something?"
Merlin nodded. "And soon. We have to get back to Camelot!" he struggled to his feet with Gwaine's help and strode off at a pace no one would have thought him capable of who had seen his state the night before.
"Anna—" Gwaine began.
"Go on; I'll catch up," she said, stuffing supplies and food back into her bag.
Gwaine glanced sideways at Merlin as he hurried to keep up with Merlin's jerky, long-legged stride. He wondered if Merlin even remembered what had happened the night before. But this, he supposed, wasn't the time for it—there would be time enough to talk after they had saved Arthur.
The sun was just coming up as the three of them climbed up out of the Valley of the Fallen Kings and made their way toward Camelot.
TBC
