匚ㄖㄩ尺卂ᘜ乇'丂 卄乇卂尺ㄒ // 卂尺ㄒ卄ㄩ尺 卩乇几ᗪ尺卂ᘜㄖ几

The Poisoned Chalice #2

Arthur leads his horse through the forest. He hears Nimueh's fake crying and approaches her as she sits on a fallen log with fake bruises. "Hello? Are you alright?" The Cockatrice roars behind him, "Stay back." Nimueh smiles as Arthur faces the beast. The Cockatrice lunges, Arthur rolls under it as it jumps, then throws his sword, killing it. Nimueh grimaces, Arthur looks at her and she gets up and backs away in pretend fear. "It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you. Who did that to you?" Arthur points to her bruises. "My master. I ran away from him, but then I got lost. Please don't leave me." She fake cried as she pulled him closer, he pulled away gently. "I won't. I'm not going to." He turned back to the cave, "You can take me away from here?" She asked as she tried to distract him.

"Not yet. There's something I have to do first." Arthur looks at the cave mouth. "Why have you come to the caves?" She tilted her head, "I'm looking for something. It can only be found here." Arthur spoke determined, "What is it? I know this place; I could help you." She asked him gently grabbing him, "It's a type of flower that only grows inside the cave. It's very rare." She suddenly sobered up and smirked. "The Mortaeus flower? I know where they are. I'll show you." Arthur and Nimueh enter the cave with torches.

———

"Arthur, it...it's a trap. My Angel, It's a trap." Quinn wiggled around as she felt Arthur walk through the cave mouth. "Her fever's getting worse, isn't it?" Gwen asked Merlin who nodded, "The poison's setting in." Gaius mumbled as he place his hand on Merlin's shoulder "eft gewunigen wilgesiþas, þonne wig cume." She muttered, "Shh. Could you fetch me some more Wolfbane?" Gauis asked as he turned to Gwen. "Yes, of course." She rushed away as Quinn wiggled harder. "Quinn, you must fight it."

———

Nimueh and Arthur turn a corner in the caves. "There they are." The flowers are on the across a large gap with a narrow ledge and long drop. Arthur looks down, "Keep back from the edge. Don't worry. We'll be out of here soon." He told her, but she started chanting. "Eorthe, lyft, fyr, waeter, hiersumie me." The cave begins to shake. "Eorthe ac stanas hiersumie me. Ic can stanas tobrytan..." Arthur turned to the women and glares, "What are you doing?!" She just continues, "...hiersumie me." Arthur drops his torch as the rock falls out beneath him. He jumps for the opposite ledge and catches it with his hand, back in the castle, Quinn too jumps. "I expected so much more."

"Who are you?!" Arthur demanded angrily, "The last face you'll ever see." A giant spider shows up. "It seems we have a visitor." Arthur edges away from the spider, draws his sword and kills the spider while dangling from the ledge. "Very good. But he won't be the last. I'll let his friends finish you off, Arthur Pendragon. It's not your destiny to die at my hand." Nimieh leaves with the torch, leaving Arthur dangling from the ledge in the dark. "Who are you?!"

———

"My Angel, It's too dark. Too dark. Fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme. Fromum feohgiftum." Gaius sees something glowing, "Merlin." Gaius folds down the blanket as Merlin steps back to see Quinn holds a glowing ball of light in her hand. "What are you doing?" Merlin asked, as Quinn muttered more.

———

Arthur sees the light in the cave. "Come on, then! What are you waiting for?! Finish me off!" The light floats above Arthur and he pulls himself onto the ledge. The light moves higher, but Arthur spots the Mortaeus flower on the wall. Arthur glanced up at the light, he knew it was Quinn, or at least something like that. He could feel her presence, could practically hear her voice calling for him. An in a second he saw a light, her standing at the top reaching down for him.

"Leave them, My Angel." Her voice came out in a whisper, Spiders screech and crawl toward Arthur.

"Go. Save yourself. Follow the light."

Arthur doesn't listen an climbs to the flower and grabs it, putting it in a pouch on his belt. The spiders keep coming, Arthur races to the top. "Faster. Go faster. Follow the light! Move. Climb." Arthur makes it to the top and the light disappears from Quinn's hand. As does her figure that he saw, he couldn't help but let out laugh. She saved his life once again, he didn't know how but he knew.

———

Soon after declaring to get the flower from Arthur, Gwen runs back in out of breath. "How is she?" Gwen asked as she walked over, "Have you got the Mortaeus?" She quickly nodded, "Here." Gwen hands it to him, "Her breathing's much worse. We have to hurry." Gwen sits down next to Merlin's at Quinn sickbed as Gaius begins crushing the flower leaf. "Why have you stopped?" Gwen asked the older man looking at both of them. "The poison was created using magic. We may need magic to make an antidote." Gauis glanced at Merlin who nodded, "But we can't. It's forbidden. Even if we could." Gwen told them with a frown, "I'll try and make it work without it. Oh, I need some fresh water."

Gaius hands her a bowl and she runs off. Gaius lifts the bowl he's holding, and hands it to Merlin as he reads the spell. "Sythan arrest wearth feasceaft funden. Denum æfter dome. Dreamleas gebad he gewinnes longsum." The potion sizzles and foams for a moment. Gwen runs back in and hands him the bowl of water before rushing back to Merlin's side. "Thank you." Gaius pours the potion into a small cup and goes to Merlin. "Hold her nose."  Merlin pinches her nose as Gaius pours the potion into Quinn's mouth. "Swallow, Quinn. Swallow it." Merlin grumbled.

"She's stopped breathing. What's happening? Gaius?"

As Quinn stopped breath, Arthur gasped out in pain as he clutched his own heart. "Quinn" he whispered as Quinn gasped awake in the bed. He wanted to be with her but his father had caught him on the way back in, he just barely managed to get the flower to Gwen.

"You're alive!" Merlin hugged her, "No. I'm the ghost come back to haunt you." She spoke sarcastically as Gwen grabs Merlin's face and kisses him. "Sorry, I'm just...I thought." Quinn laughed at them before wincing at her headache "What happened? The last thing I remember is drinking the wine."

Late that night, Quinn found herself at the same abandoned building from before. "Hey, I see your up and about" Quinn laughed as Arthur walked over and sat down, "Yeah, had to live for something" She mumbled as he grabbed her hand. "I thought I lost you, and then there was this guiding light that lead me back to you. It felt like you too." Arthur murmured with a small smile as she laughed, "I will always come back, My Angel" Arthur quickly turned to her, grasping her face and kissed her like there was no tomorrow. "Will you stay forever, then?" He hummed as he pulled her closer, causing her to laugh as they look up at the stars.

"As long as you promise the same."

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