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All day something hadn't felt right to Gaius. He wasn't sick nor was he experiencing any mental ailments, but he couldn't quite shake the feeling that something had gone wrong. He tried to ignore it, figuring it was just the delusions of an old man, and went about his day as usual. It wasn't until nightfall, when the knights returned a day earlier than they were supposed to, did Gaius finally realize why he had felt off.
He had been making dinner, something light since his appetite wasn't exactly there, and had just taken the pot off the fire when his door burst open. In surprise, Gaius dropped his pop, sending bits of stew all over the floor and himself, and he snapped, "It's called knocking…" his words died on his throat when his wizened blue eyes settled on Sir Percival cradling a badly bleeding Merlin in his arms.
"What on earth happened?" Gaius demanded hurrying forward, leading Percival over to the cot in the middle of the floor.
"We're not sure," Arthur answered softly, following Percival. It was a testament to Gaius' worry, that he actually missed the king entering the room.
"That's bullshit and you know it," Percival snarled settling Merlin on the bed.
"What does that mean?" Gaius asked without looking up from examining Merlin's head. It appeared that he had been hit no less than three times. Whoever did this had been aiming to kill him, and fortunately for Merlin they had failed.
"Percival is under the assumption that a fellow knight did this to Merlin," Arthur explained as he hovered worriedly over Gaius' shoulder, "but we were attacked by a few dozen bandits beforehand, and one or two had gotten away. They could have easily…"
"Pull your head out of you arse, Arthur," Percival argued pulling himself up to his full height. He towered over the king, his eyes blazing. "You heard Lucian."
"Heard Lucian, what?" a new voice said and both Arthur and Percival turned to see Gwaine standing in the doorway. "Why are you all standing…?" he trailed off when he spotted Merlin, his face turning paper white. "What the hell happened to him? Who did this? I want names! Where's my sword?" Gwaine wrenched his sword out of its scabbard, holding it tightly in his right fist, and repeated, "Who did this?"
"We don't know," Arthur answered just as Percival spat, "Sir Lucian."
"That twat?" Gwaine turned towards the door, throwing over his shoulder, "They won't find his body."
"Wait, wait, wait." Arthur rushed forward, placing himself between Gwaine and the door. "I want whoever did this brought to justice just as much as you two do," the king continued quickly, raising his hands in a defensive position, "but we can't just go after Sir Lucian without proof."
"What more proof do you need, sire?" Percival moved to stand next to Gwaine, placing his hands on his hips. "You heard what Lucian said, and I saw the looks he was throwing Merlin when we were setting up camp."
"That still doesn't…"
"Boys," Gaius called cutting off their argument. The trio turned to look at the elderly man, and they had the audacity to look insulted. With a huff, Gaius said, "I do not find it appropriate to be arguing here of all places." He gestured to Merlin, who still had yet to wake up, and the three men's faces morphed into a guilty, worried mask. "I suggest you either leave or sit quietly over there." Gaius gestured to his table before returning his attention to his nephew.
"I say we gather Leon and Elyan and split up, question all the knights, and see if they saw anything," Arthur suggested looking at his knights
"But Lucian…"
"If you can find me proof, cold hard proof, I won't stand in your way." Arthur gave both his knights a pointed look before returning his gaze to Gaius. "I will send Guinevere to help you, and please have someone find me when he wakes up."Gaius nodded without looking up, listening as the trio left the door closing behind him. It wasn't lost on the older man that Arthur had stressed the word when, meaning the king had faith that Merlin was going to wake up.
"And he's right, Merlin," Gaius said softly, resting his hand against the side of the younger man's face, "you are going to wake up."
Merlin
"This is a complete waste of time," Gwaine muttered darkly as he and Elyan sought out on of their fellow knights, Sir Ethan. "If Percival is so sure Lucian did it, we should be pummeling the ungrateful git into the ground."
"Did Percival say why Lucian did it?" Elyan asked curiously, his voice low so eavesdropping villagers couldn't hear their conversation.
"He did it because he's prejudice against Merlin's kind," Gwaine replied opening the tavern door. He allowed Elyan to go ahead of him, following closely behind him.
"You can't exactly change thirty years of prejudice overnight, Gwaine," Elyan pointed out softly.
"I get that, I do, but it's Merlin. I guarantee that kid has saved everyone's asses at least a dozen times since he came to Camelot. The fact that Lucian, someone who has known Merlin for nearly ten years, can turn on him just like that," the knight snapped his fingers, "makes me rethink the idea of letting Merlin stay. He shouldn't be around people who can't even be controlled by their king."
"Arthur will be sure Lucian, or whoever did this, pays for harming Merlin."
Gwaine merely grunted in reply, looking over the heads of the patrons for Ethan. He spotted the dark knight sitting in the back, head down, looking into his tankard. "He doesn't look to be in a celebrating mood," Gwaine commented maneuvering through the crowd.
"Was Ethan with you when Merlin was attacked?" Elyan asked curiously and Gwaine nodded. "It makes sense, then. Ethan has always liked Merlin, ever since he took the fall for when Merlin dropped soapy, dirty water over cook's head on accident."
"Then maybe he'll be able to help us," Gwaine commented ignoring the barmaid when she asked if he'd like the usual. Ethan didn't look up when Gwaine and Elyan approached, so the taller of the two plopped down in front of him and said, "Fancy seeing you here."
"Go away, Gwaine," Ethan whispered, his voice dull, taking a long drag from his tankard. "Unless you're here to kill me, then get it over with quickly. I don't want to live with this guilt anymore."
"Guilt? What guilt?" Elyan questioned taking a seat next to Gwaine, leaning over the table.
"Hold on a second, did you hurt…?" Gwaine leaned forward, his face almost touching Ethan's, and darkly hissed, "Did you hurt Merlin?"
"No," Ethan replied shaking his head. "I didn't hit him, if that's what you're asking, but I might as well have."
"What does that mean?"
"Problem gentlemen?" a new voice said and Lucian approached their table, Victor following closely behind him. He rested his hand on Ethan's shoulder and asked, "Are they bothering you?"
"Leave him alone, Lucian," Victor said softly. "He obviously is upset about something."
"You're not upset about that abomination are you?" Lucian spat removing his hand from Ethan. "What reason do you have to be upset with him? He got what he deserved."
"Take it back," Gwaine snarled wrapping his hand around his sword's hilt.
"No," Lucian replied sharply. "No, I won't take it…" Gwaine sprang to his feet, knocking his chair over, and threw himself at Lucian. He swung at the other knight, watching as he scrambled back, tripping over another chair and crashing to the floor.
The entire tavern went silent, everyone watching Gwaine and Lucian warily, as Gwaine stepped forward, resting the tip of his sword right against Lucian's throat. Lucian, his dark eyes widening, exclaimed, "What the hell, Gwaine?"
"Why did you do it, Lucian?" Elyan asked coming to stand next to Gwaine.
"Do what? Wait," Lucian raised his eyebrows, something akin to amusement crossing his face, "you think I hurt your precious Merlin? Please, if it had been me I'd have made damn sure he was dead. I would have removed his head."
"Don't lie to me," Gwaine snarled, his sword pressing into Lucian's sensitive flesh. "I'll leave you lying here, gurgling on your own blood."
"I'm not," Lucian snapped trying hard not to move. "He deserved what he got, sure, but his attacker went about taking care of him all wrong. He's nothing but a dirty, rotten con artist who deserves to be killed like every one of his own kind. They should have set him on fire the moment he lost consciousness."
"Gwaine no!" Elyan yelled when the knight raised his sword, intending to stick it through Lucian's head. The shorter knight caught his hand, halting the attack in mid-air, and softly said, "He's not worth it." He then turned his attention to Lucian and said, "Get the hell out of here before I release his wrist."
"You're both completely barking," Lucian snapped scrambling to his feet. He then rushed out, letting the door slam shut behind him. Once Elyan was certain Lucian was gone, he let Gwaine go and turned his attention to Ethan only to find the knight gone.
"Where'd…?"
"He ducked out while you were talking to Lucian," Victor explained slowly, keeping his head down. "Would you like me to go and find him for you?"
"If you could," Elyan replied nodding, "and please bring him to us if you do. He obviously knows something."
Victor nodded and turned to leave, but stopped mid-step. "Lucian may not have done it," he started slowly, wringing his hands, "but perhaps you should have let Gwaine kill him." He then left, leaving Gwaine and Elyan standing silently, side-by-side, the latter still gripping his sword tightly.
"You should have let me end him," Gwaine hissed keeping his profile to Elyan.
"And what would that have proved?" Elyan retorted turning to face Gwaine. "Tell me that, Gwaine."
"Sod off," Gwaine snarled and stormed away, ignoring the stares that followed him all the way outside. He replaced his sword in his scabbard, seething, his body shaking with anger. Half of him wanted to track down Lucian, shove a sword through his gut on principle alone. While another part knew that Merlin would never, ever forgive him if he did.
With a huffed sigh, Gwaine decided against murdering Lucian (for now), and decided to go and see if Gaius needed help. This investigation was getting them nowhere, and Gwaine felt he'd be of more use with Merlin.
He turned down an alleyway, using a shortcut back to the castle, only to stop when he spotted a body lying against a wall, blood dribbling down his cut jugular, staining his armor and the ground around him. Curious, Gwaine started forward, eyebrows furrowed, and felt his stomach drop when he recognized the body.
Someone had killed Sir Ethan.
It was not my intention to turn this into an episode of Sherlock, but that's what happened. Sorry for the murder mystery (Okay, not really because I am excited to write one :))
So, thanks again for reading :D
P.S. Sorry for all the OCs in here. I generally try to avoid them at all costs, but they are kinda important to this story.