AM I THE ONE? | Arthur Pendragon [1]

The Only Chance

*Arthur's P.O.V.*

I kicked the door to Gaius's chambers open, and quickly barged in with Gaius, Guinevere, and Annabelle following closely.
"Lay him on the bed, quickly. He's struggling to breath." Gaius ordered, and I quickly walked over to, what I'm guessing is, his bed. "Gwen, fetch me some water and a towel."
"Is he gonna be alright?" I asked, actually concerned. I mean, that idiot saved my life! I lied him on the bed as fast and gentle as I could.
"He's burning up." Gaius stated, and Annabelle walked forward, with Guinevere behind her.
"You can cure him, can't you Gaius?" She asked with tears in her eyes, passing him the towel and the bucket of water that Guinevere got. I was surprised at how strong she was being. I'm sure every other girl would have instantly burst into tears if it was their brother. But Anna was strong. Very strong. And it made me admire her even more.
"I won't know until I can identify the poison." Gaius answered, putting the towel on Merlin's forehead. "Pass me the goblet." He ordered, and Anna quickly walked over to the table where the goblet was, grabbed it, and passed it to Gaius. He stood up and inspected it for a second, whilst Annabelle took his place on the bench and dabbed Merlin's forehead with the cold towel. Guinevere was standing beside her. "Ah. There' something stuck on the inside." He said, and walked over a table, Anna and I quickly following, whilst Guinevere took her place beside Merlin.
"What is it?" Anna asked, as we both walked over to Gaius.
"Looks like a flower petal of some kind." He replied, grabbing the pinchers, and trying to take something out from the wall of the goblet. Once he did, he rose it up into light, giving Anna and I the perfect view of it. It really did look like some sort of flower petal, but it was nearly see-through, with a little hint of purple to it.
"His brows on fire!" Gwen sighed, panicking a little, making Anna whip her head in their direction.
"Keep him cool. It will help control his fever." Gaius replied, still inspecting the petal. He then quickly put down the goblet on the table, allowing me to grab it and inspect it myself, with Anna standing closely beside me, and walked over to the other side of the table, grabbing a huge book while doing so. He then started to flip the pages, until he found the one he was looking for.
"Ah." He said, looking over the petal quickly, making sure the page was the one he was looking for, whilst Anna and I came to stand on either sides of him. "The petal comes from the Mortaeus flower. It says here that someone poisoned by the water can be only healed with a potion from the leaf of the very same flower." He looked at me, and then continued, showing us a picture of some cave. "It can only be found in the caves beneath the Forests of Balor." He then turned the page, whist Anna and I exchanged looks. We then saw a picture of that flower on some kind of stone wall. "The flower grows on the roots of the Mortaeus tree." I then looked to the opposite page, and saw a picture of a pretty nasty beast that reminded me a of some kind of lizard.
"That doesn't look particularly friendly." I said with a slight grimace, tapping the picture of the creature with my finger.
"Cockatrice. It guards the forest. It's venom is potent that a single drop would mean certain death." Gaius explained. I sighed quietly and looked over at Merlin. "Few who have crossed the Mountains of Isgard in search of the Mortaeus flower have made it back alive." He finished quietly, and I noticed the determined look on Anna's face making me worry.
"Sounds like fun." She said, before proceeding to make her way out of the chambers, but I automatically blocked her way.
"Annabelle!" Both Gaius and I exclaimed.
"It's too dangerous." I said, and she sighed before looking back at Gaius.
"If I don't get the antidote... What's going to happen to Merlin?" She asked, her voice shaking. Gaius sighed, before answering.
"The Mortaeus produces a slow and painful death. He may hold on for four, maybe five days, but not for much longer. Eventually he will die." I looked at Merlin who suddenly whimpered in pain, and then at Annabelle who had her hand over her mouth, trying to silent the sobs that were coming out of her lips. I might not have ever admitted that to anyone, not even to myself, but Merlin has been a good friend through all this time. I couldn't just let him die! And I couldn't bear the heartbroken look on Anna's face. I had to do something. Without a second thought, I rushed of out of Gaius's chambers, and through the door. I am his only chance now.