Merlin - A Different Fate?

Chapter 7 - I Will Save Him... Or Die Trying

Arthur's POV

"Lay him on the bed, quickly. He's struggling to breath," Gaius orders, voice filled with urgency as we enter his chambers.

I rush over to the patients bed and set Merlin down as gently as I can. His chest heaves up and down at a frightening pace. Sweat lines his brow and his face is contorted into a look of anguish. It's hard to see Merlin in such a state. I'm always so accustomed to seeing that stupid grin on his face that it feels so... odd when its not there.

I hear Gaius call out to Gwen to bring a towel and water as he moves to sit beside Merlin. "Is he going to be alright?" I ask.

"He's burning up..." Gaius exclaims.

"You can cure him, can't you, Gaius?" Gwen asks, handing the old physician a towel.

"I won't know until I can identify the poison. Pass me the goblet."

Gwen hands the goblet over. Gaius rises from his spot after placing the towel atop Merlins forehead and begins to examine the goblet. His eyes narrow, clearly after spotting something. "There's something stuck on the inside," Gaius says, turning to his desk for supplies.

"What is it?" I rise, reluctantly, from my spot by Merlin's bedside.

"It looks like a flower petal of some kind." Gaius peels the petal from the side of the cup and holds it to the light with a pair of tweezers.

I look over his shoulder at the petal that may have just cost my best friend his life. It was an almost transparent oval with a yellow tinge around the edges. I've never seen a petal like it before but then again, I was never one to go picking flowers.

Gaius turns and grabs a book from his shelf and immediately starts flipping through the pages. I grab the goblet off the desk and start examining it myself, hoping to spot something else that might help that Gaius's old eyes may have missed.

"Ah ha," Gaius exclaims, pointing at a page in his book.

Gwen and I both turn to look at him expectantly.

"The petal comes from the Mortaeus flower. It says here that someone poisoned from the Mortaeus can only be saved by a potion made from the leaf of the very same flower. It can only be found in the caves deep beneath the forest of Baloch. The flower grows on the roots of the Mortaues tree."

I walk up behind Gaius to look at the book. "That doesn't look very friendly," I say, pointing at an image of a beast.

"A cockatrice, it guards the forest. Its venom is potent. A single drop would mean certain death. Few who have crossed the mountains of Isgard in search of the Mortaeus flower have made it back alive."

I start to pace around the room, agitated. This is dangerous. Very dangerous. More so than any other form of quest I have gone on before. I look towards Gwen who's keeping the towel on Merlin's head. She watches my every move, as though trying to calculate what I'm thinking. I shift my gaze towards Merlin, who's still struggling to even breath. If our roles were switched I know Merlin would go. He would have gone without so much as a second thought, without regret. So why should I not do the same?

"Sounds like fun," I say, marching towards the door.

"Arthur it's too dangerous," Gaius warns.

"If I don't get the antidote, what happens to Merlin?"

"The Mortaeus induces a slow and painful death. He may hold out for four, maybe five, days but not for much longer. Eventually he will die."

I look towards Merlin again. I cannot, will not, let that happen. Merlin of all people does not deserve a death like that, especially when it should be me in his place. I turn and leave the room, mind set.