Hiding

Chapter 6

Gaius looked up as Arthur burst through the door to the physician's chambers cradling a sickly and unconscious Merlin in his arms, immediately going into physician mode. This was no time to act like a worried father.

"Gaius! Merlin needs help quickly. I have no idea what's wrong with him. We found him like this, and he's only gotten worse since." Arthur rushed through his explanation as he set Merlin down on an empty cot while Gaius moved to help him.

"You found him with those manacles on him?" Gaius asked as he inspected the items in question, concern evident in his expression and the tone of his voice.

"Yeah, he was practically hanging from his wrists. We had to cut him down, and the cuffs were sealed magically , so we couldn't get them off of him. Why?"

"This is bad indeed." Gaius started, reaching for one of his books and flipping through the pages, "Those cuffs, Arthur. There's the magic keeping them closed, of course. But can you sense any other magic? You're much better at sensing magic than I ever was."

After a short pause in which Arthur felt the manacles with his magic, he said, "Yes. It feels... malicious, like it's keeping something trapped." Arthur's eyes started to gloss over, and he looked in a trance-like state. "But whatever's trapped there wants out. Badly. It's fighting. Fighting so hard, Gaius. It's hurting. It's dying. It won't last much longer in there."

Gaius looked at Arthur curiously as he shook himself out of the trance.

"Gaius... you know what's trapped in there, don't you? You know what's making Merlin sick, and you don't want me to know. Gaius, it's killing him. Tell me, please." Arthur realized he was begging, but he also realized he couldn't live without Merlin, and that he maybe even loved Merlin, just a little bit, loved Merlin's wit and his smile and his laugh and—and he was definitely more than just a little bit in love with his servant. This was going to be a very long night.

Gaius sighed and looked at Merlin once more before answering the prince. "The manacles stop magic. For most sorcerers, ones that learned magic, it isn't a problem, simply a preventative measure. The magic isn't essential to their existence. A warlock, someone born with magic in their blood and grows into it when they're older, such as yourself, would be much more affected by it. Magic is part of your blood, your being. But aside from being, perhaps, feverish and weak, most manacles of these sort wouldn't be enough to make you grievously ill unless they used certain spells, strong ones. Merlin, however, is in a category all of his own—"

"You mean Merlin has magic?" Arthur interrupted, much to Gaius's dismay. "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't Merlin tell me?"

"Your highness, I don't believe right now is the time for interrogations. You can question us about that all you want later, but Merlin's life is at stake here, and you need to understand why."

"Yes, of course. I apologize, Gaius. Continue, please." Arthur replied, sobered by Gaius's harsh words.

"So Merlin, I believe, is his own special brand of magic user. Technically he is a warlock, because he was born with magic in his blood. But most warlocks aren't able to use their powers until at least adolescence. Merlin has been using powerful magic since he was a babe. I have spoken with the Great Dragon. He believes that Merlin is a creature called Emrys.

"Emrys is a prophesied being, the most powerful warlock to ever exist. Emrys is made of magic, as he is magic itself. I am not familiar enough with the Druidic legends to say whether or not Kilgharrah is right, but I think that it would probably be safe to assume Kilgharrah is correct in his assessment of Merlin. Creatures of magic can sense each other, and Emrys is certainly a creature of magic."