Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a castle. And in that castle -
Arthur didn't bother knocking on the door to Merlin's tower. If Merlin hadn't knocked all those years he'd been Arthur's manservant, Arthur wasn't going to knock on his door now that he was Arthur's Court Sorcerer. Especially not if he insisted on living at the top of all those stairs. Arthur wasn't as young as he used to be, even if he'd rather dance on the Round Table than admit it to Merlin.
The door banged open. For once, there were no complaints from the tower's occupant. Arthur frowned and started winding his way through the labyrinth of experiments and books. "Merlin? Merlin! You haven't fallen asleep over your books again, have you? You know what happened last time." Namely, Merlin had provided an excellent example for why one should never fall asleep over a book that contained magic. Arthur had successfully used that incident to get Merlin to stop bringing up the donkey ears.
He rounded a table and finally saw Merlin.
Merlin, who was lying on the floor, with a smashed cup beside him.
"Merlin!"
A great curse was laid, but not one of death.
Merlin had still been breathing. Was still breathing now, Arthur reminded himself fiercely, as he paced outside the physician's quarters. Merlin was fine. He would be on his feet any minute now. There was no need to worry Gwen or the knights, because Merlin would be just fine.
Galahad, the physician these past twenty years, opened the door. His face was drawn.
Arthur froze. "He's not - "
"He's alive," Galahad assured him. "But, sire - You'd better come in and sit down."
His mouth pressed into a thin line, Arthur did so. "Well?"
"It's a sleeping curse," Galahad told him. "Only his true love's kiss can wake him."
"Now who's the princess?" Arthur muttered. The silence that followed the question grated, so he continued quickly. "And who's that? I didn't think he was seeing anyone."
Galahad's expression told him he wasn't going to like whatever came next. "I cast a spell to find out."
"And?" Arthur didn't care if he had to send the knights on a quest to find some girl Merlin'd only seen in visions or if they had to drag in Morgana herself. Anything to break the curse.
Galahad winced. "She's dead."
The words were like a physical blow, but Arthur was used to recovering from those. "Then there has to be another way," Arthur said stubbornly. "There has to be."
"Maybe he could have found one," Galahad said wearily, "but I can't."
Arthur felt an increasing need to throw something. "How long - How long can he stay like this?"
Galahad shrugged. "Indefinitely. His magic will keep him alive."
Arthur nodded. "Good. That gives us time."
"Time, sire?"
"Find out who cast the curse," he said grimly as he stood. "Maybe it'll break when they're dead."
A place was prepared until such time as the curse would be broken.
