Live To Die Another Day

[Arthur Pendragon]

Finally. Something was going right. The journey should not have been as complicated as it was. But Arthur had encountered far more dangers than he ever could have anticipated. He knew that the Forest of Balor was known for its dangerous lurking magical creatures, but that was not what had posed to be the greatest threat. It was a sorceress, one who still left Arthur with several unanswered questions -- as did many other bizarre occurrences from this journey to retrieve the morteous flower. She had manipulated him, led him to a trap . . . and then left him there to die. Yet not kill him. The words she spoke sting rang in his head: it is not your destiny to die by my hands. She knew exactly who he was, and he hadn't the slightest clue about who she was. Only that she had some strong personal vendetta against him it seemed, and thus, left him as spider fodder.

That was only the first strange thing that happened. The second was the bizarre light that had come to him which ultimately led him to safety. It was odd, because he knew it was not from the sorceress, yet, it had to have been conjured by magic. Which then raised the question, who had done it. Who had known he was in there? Why would they have helped him? On the one hand magic was being used to try and kill him. On the other, it was being used to try and save him. And it had. Without it, he would not have been able to see where he was going. He would have been left in darkness which would engulf him, while he waited for the Balorian spiders to eat him alive. It was too strange . . . and left Arthur with very unsettling curiousity.

And then of course, came the next lovely surprise, which was being greeted by a few knights who had been ordered to arrrest him. As that had not been bad enough, his father crushed the very thing that Arthur had gone through all this trouble to get . . . the very thing that Merlin's life depended on. Though he would never admit it, Arthur felt afraid in that moment. Afraid that Merlin would die because of him. His servant, had drank from the goblet for somehow, he knew that it was poisoned. Yet, willingly took a sip of it anyway, sacrificing his life for his master's. Whether he was a servant or not, Arthur had not wished for him to die so that he could live. It was a kind of guilt that never truly vanished, and guilt that he forever carried for all those in his past who had sacrificed themselves for him; who had died in his stead.

But in the end, everything had finally worked out. What was left of the flower had apparently worked, and Merlin was alive. That was the main thing. Additionally, Bayard was released and now they could work on strengthening their alliance rather than accusing one another of false claims. It was clear that Bayard had been set up, and now it was very evident to see. So with Arthur's release from the dungeon -- which was a massive relief to the young prince for he doubted he could spend a moment longer in there -- and then watching Bayard and his army set off, Arthur was now left with one thing: to check on Merlin. He made his way to Gaius' chambers and lightly knocked on the door before waling right in. He looked at Merlin, the very alive Merlin and though Arthur had heard he was alive, it was a bigger relief to see him.

Though he would never admit it out loud -- for even admitting it to himself was rather shocking -- Arthur was seeing his servant as more of a friend rather than merely a servant. Who would have thought. A prince and a servant as friends . . . yet it was undeniable for Merlin had proven just what lengths he would go to to protect Arthur. And that alone, meant a great deal to the prince. He looked over Merlin. He looked pale . . . well, paler than usual. And tired; possessing a very weak appearance, as he had a blanket shrouded over him. "Still alive then," Arthur questioned a bit teasingly. Just because he had accepted that Merlin was a friend, did not mean he was about to make his life any easier. In fact, it encouraged him to be even harder on Merlin. He couldn't have his servant slacking off now could he.

_{Setting: Starts in Merlin and Gaiu's chambers, but will probably move around
Time of Day: Evening
Timeline: At the end of The Poisoned Chalice
Tag: Merlin Caradoc
Notes: Let the bromance continue!}

[pie]

He'd nearly died. According to Gaius, the poison that he had drank had been strong enough that normal remedies wouldn't have been able to save him. A remedy had had to come from a flower he'd called the morteous flower, one that could be found in the caves of the Balor forest. A flower that Arthur had gone off to find. Merlin was amazed that the Prince had gone off to do that, gone off into danger to find the one thing that could save his life. Amazed that the man had cared enough about his servant to do that. He wasn't about to complain, though, for he was still, in fact, quite alive. Not feeling the best, but still alive.

However, he was still glad that he'd been able to stop Arthur from drinking from the poisoned goblet. Glad that Arthur was still alive and that he hadn't been the one to be poisoned. If dying had been the cost of what it would take to save Arthur, than Merlin would have done so gladly, which he proved well enough by not hesitating to drink from it. He couldn't deny, though, that he had felt like he was going to puke, like his heart wanted to come out of his chest, like something was preventing him from breathing, when he had brought the chalice to his lips.

He had been told it was poisoned, he had known it was poisoned, but still he drank from it. All to save Arthur, the man that he had disliked not too long ago, but had become friends with since being named his servant. He had to admit, he was thankful for the King doing that. They didn't always get along, but it wasn't so bad anymore. If he hadn't cared about the Prince like he did, he wouldn't have so readily accused a foreign leader of trying to poison the Prince off of some random woman's claims. Wouldn't have so readily drank from the goblet without a single protest, all to save him.

A small smile crept onto his face as he picked up another goblet, one filled with water -- though, it still cause slight hesitation, even though he knew this one wasn't poisoned. He drank from it, covered in a blanket he'd been using for a while now. Even though not too long ago he'd been burning up from a fever caused by the poison, his body's temperature was low enough to cause him to feel relatively cold.

"Still alive then?"

Merlin turned in his chair to face the familiar voice. He was relieved to see Arthur again, that he was able to see Arthur again. "Um, yeah, just about," he answered, glancing down at himself as he spoke. "I-I understand I... I have you to thank for that." Definitely thank, he thought as he looked back at Arthur.