A Herald of a New Age

Chapter seven. A prophecy

|an| Hopefully this chapter puts stuff in perspective for everyone. And who better than to put things into perspective than our favourite Cryptic, obnoxious-and-yet-all-seeing, wonderful.. I'll leave you to guess.

(Incase anyone is wondering- though obvious- it isn't Arthur)

|an|

Arthur was sat beside Leon, who had awoken at last- feeling rather miraculously better- staring at the fire that Percival was building. He hardly thought about the fact that both Merlin and Elyan, the two people he most needed to keep an eye on, had been gone suspiciously long..

He was thinking about Gwen again.

He imagined her sitting on the other side of him now, telling him he should go and look for Merlin. He would reach out and tuck her hair behind her ear and they would talk out Arthurs worries together. She had betrayed him though. As everyone seemed too. Had ruling out Merlin as a candidate for the "spy in the midst" been a good idea? Or was he setting himself up? For some strange reason, Arthur felt as if he could accept anything right now, no matter how ridiculous. He would fully accept Gwen if she came crashing through the trees right about now...

There was a crashing in the trees.

Percival stood quickly up from where he had been lighting the fire, and Gwaine swapped his firewood pile for his sword quicker than you could say: Gwen. Arthur was also on his feet, and, strangely Leon was too.

Arthur wouldn't put it past himself to feel disappointed when it was Merlin who came out of the ever darkening trees, followed by Elyan and a stranger in a navy cloak, carrying a boy between them. It took him only a few moments to spring into action when he saw the boy was wounded.

"Lay him down on my bed roll." He commanded immediately.

Merlin shared a glance at the two men, beckoning them to follow what Arthur had said. There was something different about the way Elyan was looking at him.. The man with the navy cloak was looking in much the same way.

They laid the boy down on Arthur bed, and the King saw a Druid symbol on the young, pale wrist. Of course, he thought, looking back to the stranger, Druids. That would explain the funny looks. Was it just a soft spot that they had for servants?

He didn't need to worry about that now.

Arthur crouched beside Merlin and the stranger  whilst Elyan fetched that all too helpful, and all too costing bag of herbs.

"Sorry, and you are?" Arthur said, indicating the stranger who looked up at him in sudden recognition.

"Sire, my name is Derec. The boy is my son."

"Your son?"

"Yes, my Lord.." Derec said apprehensively. Of course he wouldn't know if Arthur came in peace. Arthur did his best to reassure the Druid father.

"Then, we shall do all we can to save him." Arthur placed a gloved hand on the mans forearm to indicate his sincerity.

Elyan had returned with the herbs at this point and Merlin began to tend to the scratches on the boys arms. Arthur was curious as to why he didn't tackle the obvious stomach wound first. Was he squeamish? Arthur cast this aside, he had to simply trust the physicians apprentice knew what he was doing.

"So my manservant and Sir Elyan found you?" Arthur started as they all began to assist Merlin as he worked in serene silence.

"Yes, I owe them my sons life I suspect."

"You- and I mean no disrespect, Derec-"

"No, I tried to heal him. My skills in healing are far outmatched by Merlin.." He trailed off.