Goblin's Gold (Merlin 2)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Freeing Gaius

 “Hurry up,” Gwen whispered as she peered out of the door. Kiara and Merlin were pouring over one of Gaius’ many books, and trying their best to follow the instructions to make sure the poison and remedy were correct.

“I’m doing my best,” Merlin replied with a frown of concentration.

“Gaius usually deals with anything to do with poisons.” Kiara told her, nodding as Merlin checked the instructions a final time before pouring the liquid over the gold coins in the prince’s chest.

“As soon as the goblin’s out of Gaius, you must give him the antidote.” Merlin told Gwen, obviously worried that this plan would have the worst consequences.

“We only have a few seconds or Gaius will die,” Kiara murmured, but she already had a spell prepared that would stop the poison from killing him if she needed to. She was only going to use that as a last resort of course, because she did not want Gwen knowing about her magic. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her, but the more people that knew the truth about her the more dangerous it would become.

“He’s coming!” Gwen called out, shutting the door quickly. Merlin handed over the antidote, and Kiara helped him to close the lid on the gold, and hurriedly place it back in the position the goblin had kept it. They ran up the stairs and into the secondary room, pulling the door close behind them but slightly ajar, so they could see when to run out and give the antidote to Gaius.

They watched as Gaius immediately went to the chest and opened it, picking up the gold coins and licking them – just as the goblin would do. They watched him lick his lips, before he frowned and stumbled a few paces. The three of them stepped out from behind the door, Merlin holding the lead-lined box and Gwen clinging onto the antidote.

“You’ve poisoned me. You’ve poisoned Gaius.” The goblin replied, and he seemed shocked.

“Leave his body while you still can,” Merlin told him harshly.

The poison was clearly very strong, and it didn’t take long at all until he fell to the ground. Before he collapsed, the goblin left his body and started flying around Merlin’s head. Kiara rushed over to break Gaius’ fall, and gently laid him against the ground.

“Give him the antidote!” Merlin demanded, as he tried to catch the goblin and put it in the box. Gwen hurried over towards them, but the goblin flew into her and she tripped – the bottle with the vital liquid in tumbling out of her grip and falling with twenty or so other bottles almost identical in size.

Kiara opened her mouth in horror, and immediately started muttering words to keep Gaius alive – her eyes glowing gold continually. It wasn’t going to heal him, but it would slow down the poison until Gwen could find the proper bottle.

“Get in the box!” she heard Merlin yell at the goblin, but Kiara’s whole attention was focused on the poisoned man lying in front of them.

“Gwen?” Kiara managed to choke out worriedly, between spells. She didn’t lift her eyes from Gaius, knowing that her healing powers were a lot stronger when touching or looking at the injured person. She had everything under control for now, the spell she cast would stop the poison from spreading any further – but if they didn’t get the antidote Gaius would not heal.

“I can’t find the antidote,” she wailed, as Merlin jumped over to her and searched the fallen bottles. Kiara glanced their way for a second, before turning back to Gaius and murmuring another spell, anything to attempt to heal them. She knew that Gwen would have heard her speaking in a foreign tongue, but she hoped she would be too preoccupied to actually put the two together.

“Hurry!” Kiara called, wondering whether she could correctly perform a spell which would completely remove the poison from his body.  It would be risky, but if they couldn’t find the antidote that was exactly what she would have to do.

“This is the one.” Merlin declared, his fingers curling around a small bottle as he jumped up over towards Gaius. He handed the bottle to Kiara who promptly pulled out the stopper and dripped the liquid over his lips. The three of them watched, hardly daring to breath.

They glanced at each other as Gaius remained motionless, and Gwen looked at Merlin with worried eyes.

“That was definitely the antidote, wasn’t it?”

“I don’t know,” Merlin replied, glancing at Kiara with worry. “Can you do anything?”

“I can try,” she replied, glancing at Gwen cautiously. “If it definitely doesn’t work.” She didn’t want to give her secret away for no reason, even if she did trust Gwen.

“Gaius! Come on, please come on you stubborn old goat!” Merlin almost yelled in desperation, and they glanced at each other as he still didn’t move. Kiara was just about to start the dangerous and complicated spell when they all heard a quiet reply.

“Who are you calling a goat?”

The three of them let out relieved gasps, and Merlin couldn’t help but chuckle quietly as Gaius’ eyes finally flickered open. Kiara put a shaky hand against her forehead, so glad that she didn’t have to attempt to perform magic which could have caused Gaius even more pain. It was surprising how quickly the antidote actually worked, within a couple of seconds he was already sitting up and appeared as though nothing had happened to him at all.

“You’ll have a lot of explaining to do.”

~0~

The council was held as soon as Gaius was well enough to explain the whole situation, and make sure everyone knew that Merlin was innocent. Well, he wasn’t exactly innocent but the king certainly wasn’t going to find out the truth anytime soon. Kiara was welcomed into the council chambers too, and she stood quietly at the side, willing to speak up to confirm about the goblin if necessary.

“Are you telling me, that it was you who was responsible for the baldness, the flatulence, the boils and Arthur’s donkey ears?” the king asked, and Kiara had to bite back a grin as she remembered the ears and the braying.

“I fear I was, my lord, or at least the goblin was while I was possessed by it.”

“Magic has the power to corrupt even the  most honourable of men,” the king nodded, and Kiara’s grin quickly disappeared. Of course Uther would blame magic. It was the cause, in a way, but it was magic completely unlike what Merlin and Kiara possessed. A goblin would rarely use its powers for good, which was completely opposite to the druid’s beliefs.

“Indeed,” Gaius replied, and she could hear the faint sadness in his voice. “Although I must assure you that Merlin was entirely innocent.”

The king glanced between the two of them, before nodding again. “Then he is pardoned,” he agreed, and Kiara let out a tiny relieved sigh. She had expected as such, but the king was hardly a predictable character when it came to anything relating to magic – except that he thought it was all wrong.  A loud bang from the goblin inside the box distracted them all, and everyone’s eyes turned to it slightly warily.

“May I suggest that it is kept where no-one will ever open it,” Gaius spoke again and once more the king nodded in agreement.

“See that it’s placed in the vaults. Gaius? Do you know who was responsible for releasing the goblin in the first place?” the king called, just before they walked out of the chambers. Merlin and Kiara exchanged a secretive, amused smile quickly before they turned back to face the king.

 “I’m afraid I have no idea, my lord.” Gaius easily lied, and Kiara couldn’t help but smile brightly. This was the Gaius they all knew, the one who would happily lie outright to the king to save their lives. They finally had their Gaius back, safe, free from the goblin, and very much alive.