A Friend's Sacrifice

[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 curiosity.

And then of course, came the next lovely surprise, which was being greeted by a few knights who had been ordered to arrest 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 walking 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. The fact that he had accepted that Merlin was a friend, only meant that any teasings were coming out more as a friend to a friend then a servant to his master. But again, Arthur would not admit this . . . well, maybe not yet.

_{Setting: Starts in Merlin and Gaius' chambers, but will probably move around
Time of Day: Evening
Timeline: At the end of The Poisoned Chalice
Tag: Merlin
Notes: A better layout for this thread will come soon!}

[consultingwarlock]

When Cara came to Merlin and told him about the poisoned chalice, there was only one thought running through his mind. Protect Arthur. He knew he didn't have a lot of time, as Bayard sounded as if he was drawing his speech to a close which meant the Prince would soon be drinking the fatal liquid. He had burst into the hall, not caring about potential consequences, and grabbed the cup out of Arthur's hands, warning him of the danger. The eyes of the whole court had turned to him then, the incredulous voice of Arthur ringing out in the silence. But he wouldn't back down in the face of scrutiny, so turned next to Bayard and, proclaimed to all the people in attendance; "Bayard laced Arthur's goblet with poison."

That was when things turned hostile. Lord Bayard, furious at the accusation, drew his sword, prompting the knights from both Camelot and Mercia to do the same. Guards had rushed in, drawn by the sounds of ringing metal as the blades were unsheathed. Merlin stood his ground as Bayard demanded his evidence, and although Arthur stepped in to try and blame the accusation on consumption of alcohol, the King saw through his lie. He prompted Merlin again to reveal where he had heard this information, and, not wanting to land Cara in trouble, Merlin had simply said that he could not say.

Taking the goblet from Arthur, Uther had walked towards Bayard, hand outstretched. He had pointed out that if the Lord was indeed telling the truth, then he would have nothing to fear from drinking the goblet. Merlin watched as Bayard sheathed his sword, beckoning for the cup to be handed to him. He held his breath as it looked as if the goblet was about to be handed over, but then... Uther's negative response echoed around the hall. The King had then turned slowly in Merlin's direction, and the cup was instead held out to him. Taking it with only the slightest hesitation, he gazed into the liquid as if he could discern whether it was indeed poison or not, as a heated argument began over his welfare.

But Merlin heard none of that. Taking a few steps forward in Bayard's direction, he made eye contact, gaze not wavering from the face of a Lord who thought he could get away with poisoning the Prince of Camelot. Moving the cup out of Arthur's reach as he went to take it off him, he kept up his stare, lifting the goblet up in a mock toast. Steeling himself, he turned towards the royal table, where he saw Gauis' anxious face looking back at him. Thinking to himself 'For Arthur', he raised the cup to his lips and drained the contents, expecting something to happen... when nothing did. A sinking feeling settling in his stomach, he said quietly, "It's fine..."

Just as Uther motioned to Bayard proclaiming that he was free to do as he wished with Merlin, something happened. Suddenly, it was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room, and Merlin choked, trying to clear whatever was preventing him from breathing. His face scrunched up in pain as he tried in vain to draw in a breath, pushing at his throat in desperation. All the strength left his body then and he collapsed to the floor, goblet rolling out of his limp hand. Eyes closed, he was vaguely aware of the commotion surrounding him but soon gave up trying to decipher what the words meant, the pain overtaking his senses and forcing him down into the dark's comforting embrace.

As he regained consciousness, he was aware of a sobbing sound from nearby, which greatly confused him. Who would be crying? Why were they crying? What day was it? Why did he feel like he'd just been put through a weeks worth of Arthur's training sessions in one go? All these questions pierced through his foggy mind, and with great effort, he opened his eyes. What he saw confused him still, and although he knew it had to have something to do with the poison, he didn't know how far he'd come to death. Trying to cover up his discomfort at the thought, he looked at the two figures hugging and said in jest, "That's disgusting! You should be ashamed of yourself, you're old enough to be her grandfather!"

At Gaius' exclamation of 'Merlin! You're alive!', he grinned up at the physician and retorted, "No, I'm the ghost come back to haunt you." Before Gaius could reply, Merlin was startled to find Gwen pressing her lips to his, and before his mind could process the fact, she'd pulled away. Had Gwen just... kissed him? Maybe he should drink poison more often... Smiling somewhat bashfully at her, he replied to her excuse for the contact and went silent, still slightly dased from recent events. Shaking his head in an effort to clear it, he looked up at Gaius and asked what had happened. The last thing he remembered was drinking the wine, and from their expressions a lot of things had occured in the time he had been unconscious. They both looked at each other then, and Gaius sent Gwen off to break the news of Merlin's recovery, while he told him about recent events.

Later that day, Merlin was sat huddled under a blanket at the table, still incredibly weak from the after effects of the poison. He was feeling slightly better, having washed and changed into a new set of clothes with the help of Gauis. He was now drinking slowly from a goblet, having been told that the best way to flush out the poison was to drink lots of fluids. Awareness still foggy from his exertion, he didn't realise Arthur had approached until he heard the Prince's voice ring out, 'Still alive then?' Turning to face Arthur, he smiled sheepishly, looking down at his body as if to check it was still there. "Erm, yeah, just about," he answered, none of his normal quips springing to mind in the face of the situation. He was well aware from what Gauis had told him earlier what Arthur had risked, disobeying the King's orders for a servant. And he was still trying to make sense of that. He risked his life for Arthur's instantly, but for Arthur to do the same was another thing entirely. Looking up at Arthur from where his gaze had dropped, he said sincerely, no trace of mockery in his voice, "And I understand I have you to thank for that."