The Frosted Kingdom

The Heart Of The Storm

"Gaius," whispered Merlin feebly. His voice was hoarse and his throat ached. Actually, everything on his body ached, and now he could feel every bit of it. It was agony, the chill seeping through his bones and spreading to the stinging frostbite on his skin. His eyes felt painfully cold, he could barely see, and furthermore spots danced in his vision. The boy could faintly hear people talking, and he smelled nothing but the cold aroma of the curse. He tried to lift a shaking arm, and failed miserably, the agony shooting up his arm was too much to bear. "Gaius, p-please-" he ground out, though the task of speaking was strenuous.

"Merlin!" Said a seemingly distant voice, and soon Gaius was beside him, taking his pulse and grasping his hand. "It'll be alright, we've found a way to stop it. After I enchant this, Arthur's going to use it on Morgana-" He paused at the look of terror on the boys face, and before he could protest he resumed speaking. "No, it'll be fine. Merlin, they're sending knights, and you know Arthur."

"Arthur," Merlin wheezed. "Has killed himself many times." He gasped as he tried to sit up and realized he couldn't. He felt trapped and helpless.

"Merlin, he will be fine. It's not only you, this curse it's affecting all of Camelot." Gaius confessed to Merlin. Sighing, the boy closed his eyes and tried to distance himself from the cold, his thoughts were cut short when a spasm of cold ripped through his chest. He would have cried out, had his throat not closed up. For those few agonizing seconds, which felt like years, he was aware of only pain, cold, and a brilliant yet terrifying bright light.

After a long moment to catch his breath, the weakened sorcerer opened his eyes. Above him he saw a thick patch of ice, the ceiling around it cracking weakly. Was that because of him? Had his powers done that? If there was one thing in this world of mysteries and terrors that scared Merlin, it was loss of control. Especially over his powers. The second thought that crossed his mind was Gaius, had he been hurt? The sorcerer began to panic, his breath rattling in and out of his agonizingly cold lungs.

"Oh, dear." Said Gaius leaning over the boy. His nerves settled as he realized the old man was safe. "I'm going to give you a sleeping remedy. It'll help." Merlin wanted nothing more than to fall into sleep, to the peaceful darkness of unconsciousness, but he could do nothing but protest. If he fell asleep, he'd surely lose control over his magic, and he couldn't let that happen. Much to his discomfort, he could not speak. His body would not let him, and as he attempted, his hand began to glow blue. Fearing the damage his power would do, he channeled all his remaining strength into controlling it. Closing his hand was like tearing off his own fingers, the pain made his vision falter, but as he looked he saw that the glow was fading.

He had no idea how much time had passed before Gaius came back. He was faintly aware of someone moving around him, speaking to him, but it was all a blur. His senses dulled, and he gratefully fell into the lightless bliss of slumber.

. . .

"Gaius!" Shouted Arthur, sprinting through the halls until he came to the physicians chambers. He burst through the door. "It's- it's hailing! The ground is starting to frost, we must hurry. Have you completed the enchantment?" He paused for a moment, making his way to the bed on which his friend lay ill. He was twitching and shivering worse than earlier, his whole body turning and awful shade of blue. Gaius sat gloomily in a chair beside Merlin.

"I've enchanted it, yes, it's here." Gaius stood up and retrieved the chest from under the table. "You know what to do with it?" He asked.

"I do," Replied the king quietly. "Gaius," he said, resting a hand on the other man's shoulder. "We will do this, I promise. We've already sent men out, they returned with little but valuable information on Morgana's trail. We think she's in a hut, not far outside Camelot. She's just waiting out the storm."