Chapter Text
Arthur and Guinevere are sharing lunch in somber silence when a pageboy comes rushing in. The king gives the boy his half-hearted attention, only bearly keeping from spacing out.
"Sir Gwaine has returned, your grace." the gangly younglin informs.
"And what of his troop?" the king asks just in case, almost certain there was no opportunity for any of the men to get hurt or worse. The boy licks his lips in preparation to speak, "Every last one of them returns unscathed." Arthur is already nodding dismissively, not expecting of the page to go on. "Though Sir Gwaine did return with an addition. Although only briefly, I've spotted a man draped over Sir's stallion."
Now that gets Arthur alert immediately.
Without a word to anyone he hastly wipes his fingers clean and strides into the hallway. Gwen hesitantly follows, sending apologetic looks to the maids that had served them. The page boy only just manages to bow to the king before he's gone. Arthur's pace is brisk and his steps long, eyes darting out at every window in hope of getting a clear enough view to the courtyard. He's outside soon enough, heading straight for where Gwaine's still stood by his horse, as if expecting the king to come greet him.
Eyes searching beyond knight's red-clad shoulder, Arthur spots the mentioned man still on the horse. Not unlike the words he heard from the page, the figure drapes over the saddle almost lifelessy. He needn't look twice to recognise the worn brown jacket and heap of messy dark hair. His eyes, wide and wild, search Gwaine's for what, he isn't sure. Reassurance? Condolence?
Arm's length away his voice almost cracks, "Is he--"
"Alive." Gwaine curtly cuts in, grabbing Arthur's forearm in what looks like standard greeting to others but means comfort to the two. Fraction of a second is enough for Arthur's taut back to relax, lungs to push out a heavy sigh and eyes lose some of their distress. It's not a good look, not for a king who is there to guide and bear burden, but no one who'd hold it against him is looking so it's alright. Gwaine wordlessly steps aside; lets Arthur approach and feel Merlin's signs of life for himself. The king cradles unconscious one's face, sliding fingers to a pulse point on his throat and appreciating the steady thumping that meets him.
Gwen catches up moments later. Without needing to be prompted she turns back to send her maid to fetch Gaius. With caution she steps closer, looking to Gwaine first and nodding in both graditude and aknowledgement.
"Help me...Help me get him down." Arthur's voice is quiet, a furrow permanently residing between his eyebrows. Gwaine wordlessly gives a hand, holding Merlin close to his chest as they lower him from the horse and onto the cold ground. Arthur's eyes inspect his friend further, now that he's lying face up. Some may say Gwaine isn't acting according to the knightly ethique, kneeling on the stone and hugging a peasant to his chest, but Gwaine is no ordinary knight and niether is Merlin any ordinary peasant. They're in the same position as Gaius arrives with two serving boys carrying a stretcher. The physician is by all means professional, no signs of his undeniable love for the boy show as he orders for Merlin to be carried inside, nor while he examines him.
King together with his queen insists on being present. Gwaine is, although rectulantly, talked into leaving to his quarters to dress down and wash up. Gwen shows herself useful by fetching whatever Gaius calls for. Arthur is less so, only standing idly by and willing for his friend to wake. "Gaius...?" Gwen calls out cautiously, alarmed by physician's twisted expression. The old man sits back on a bench, hands twisting together in a cloth and eyes losing focus. His mouth hangs open, but his expression is by no means relaxed. Judging by taut muscles of his face, one would think him to be confused, disturbed, or even shocked.
When he doesn't respond to Queen's gentle prodding Arthur tries firmer, "Gaius, what's the matter?"
"Merlin is of good health, my lord."
Arthur doesn't let his face loose its careful edge.
He waits for the catch. When the physician says no more the king has no choice but to keep questioning, "He's of good health, but what?" Gaius' face is expressive yet it's hard to tell what he's thinking. King's eyes drape over his lifeless-looking servant's body instead, expecting to read something out of the situation. Arthur could almost think him asleep if he hadn't witnessed how utterly unresponsive Merlin was to any and all actions, from gentle whispers in the shell of his ear to not so gentle slaps delivered across his sunken cheeks.
"Gaius?"
The old one seemingly shakes himself out of something, his troubled expression closing off and getting replaced by a careful stoic mask. Chin raised, back straight, Gaius clasps his hands in front of himself and faces his king. "It's too early to draw conclusions, you must leave me to proceed with further examinations before I can voice anything."
Arthur feels like he's being played with. "In any case, you must have some speculations at least?" he prompts, the formality of his voice matching Gaius' perfectly. Gwen has been called naive in the past, but she isn't enough so not to pick up the tension and spot something written between the lines, even as it's too blurry to read coherently. Gaius holds Arthur's commanding eye contact for a moment longer before he ever so clinically replies, "Unconsciousness induced by an head injury seems most likely, however I've found no physical indicators that he's been hit as of now. That's all I can disclose without further inspection."
Arthur doesn't let up quite yet, even as Gwen's tilting away to take her leave. "That's all you can disclose yet it isn't all input you have on the matter at hand." he states plainly but doesn't wait to be graced with a response. He lets Gwen steer him out but doesn't follow her lead when she bids the physician goodbye.
"Arthur, what was that?" Gwen questions in a hiss as soon as they enter the privacy of their chambers. The king strides the length of their room with hands placed upon his hips. He huffs before replying, "He's keeping things from us." When Arthur turns back to face his wife he sees her watching him with confusion. Gwen, puzzled, gives a small and hesitant smile, "He didn't want to rush with conclusions, he said so himself. Diagnosing isn't as easy as you may th--"
"This isn't about the diagnosis, Guinevere!" Arthur cuts her off, hand raised as if physically pointing at her could get the words across easier, "Merlin has been gone since mid-winter and there's been something off about Gaius ever since then. I've had a strange gut feeling the second we delivered the news of Merlin's dissappearance."
"I remember." she softly tucks in, "You were saying he was hiding something even then..."
Their eyes hold contact for a long time. "Yes. And it's you who convinced me he acted the way he did because of Merlin, that I felt uneasy for the same reason." Arthur crosses his arms as his legs continue walking him around the room, "And now Merlin is miraculously found and Gaius just shoos us out..."
Gwen is frowning, "So what are you suggesting then?"
"I don't know!" he admits with bubbling frustration, "I can't make any sense out of all this but Merlin's instincts warned us of trouble enough times for me to know not to ignore my own!"
It's easy to tell Gwen feels discomfort by the mere implication Gaius' interests differ from their own. Arthur doesn't feel well putting doubt into the man himself, but something in him just knew he wasn't being let in on something and that something has all to do with Merlin's worrisome disappearance and equally worrisome state they've found him in.
Arthur can bearly believe the person he almost deemed permanently lost was only few hallways away.
"Arthur, I don't..." Gwen shakes her head, squeezes her eyes thight before collecting herself and putting on a strong front, "I don't know what it is about Gaius that sets you on edge, but I will not for a second believe he's anything less than loyal to us. If only you thought back on the many years he's served you, you'd know to feel the same."
Arthur seems to soften at her display of certainty. He steps closer, "Which is precisely why I can't just charge back in and accuse him. How do I get a straight answer out of him when I don't even know what to ask of him?" she seems to get his frustration a bit better then, but still can't grasp the cause of it, "There's just something peculiar going on and for the sake of his undeniable loyalty I have to trust him not to hold it back from me."
It took five days of Gaius' determined silence before he calls the king for conversation.
Arthur storms towards the physician's chambers, George is an insecure presence behind his left shoulder and all that see him wordlessly bow their heads in passing. "George, you're dismissed." Arthur thinks to say only meters away from Gaius' doors. The servant is rectulant to obey but he doesn't protest. Arthur charges in without knocking and some part of him feels satisfaction as he sees the physician start.
"Your majesty." Gaius says in greeting as he tidies up his table. "Gaius." Arthur nods and proceeds to sit at the cleared table.
"Can I get you anything to drink, sire?" Gaius offers in neutral politeness which makes Arthur's jaw lock. The king shakes his head before setting his glare dead on the physician. "Cut the chase, please. If you have something to tell me about Merlin then do so and if not, then you've already wasted enough of my time!"
Gaius, defeated, sits himself across his king and momentarily purses his lips. "He seems to be in sort of a magical sleep. I believe he would've found his way back sooner were he able to, so unless he was kept somewhere imprisoned, he must've been unconscious for anywhere between three weeks and two months. Now, if he were to sleep for so long from non-magical means, you can imagine his body would be nothing but a corpse by now. As it is, he seems even in better shape than he was before his disappearance. The magic of the curse, and that's if it is a curse, seems to be holding him alive and keeping him safe."
Arthur kept silent to process that for a while.
"And how do we break the curse?" the collected voice he uses isn't unlike that for discussing matters of state. But he can feels his calm manner slip from his grasp as Gaius' defeated expression makes itself known. Why now, of all times, can Gaius not keep his composure?
"I'm afraid the only thing that can awake person who has been put to sleep by magic is none other but magic itself, your majesty." Gaius says in a dejected voice, as if already knowing such a solution would never be acceptable. Arthur can feel not only his composure slip, but also his temper. He takes a deep breath though, remembering what Gwen said about lashing out at people.
"Is that why you hesitated to disclose anything?" he asks with forced calmness, "I'm not my father, Gaius. You know I don't...Sorcery brought Guinevere back to me! The only thing that old witch wanted in return for saving Guinevere is for me to remember it. To remember that magic saved her."
"Do you think I've forgotten? That I could ever forget it?" Arthur lets out an unamused laugh. The silence that follows is tense.
"Arthur..." Gaius is threading carefully, "It's not that I thought you would lose your wits at its mere mention..." the like your father would goes unsaid. Before he can continue Arthur nods, determined, "That's settled then! I'll ride for the Dolma woman immediately!" He goes to get up but Gaius' still ever so dejected face stops him in his tracks. Did the man not want to save Merlin or what?
"The Dolma is gone, Arthur." Gaius lets out finally. Arthur's tailbone hits against the wood uncomfortably as he drops back to sit down. Before he can ask for a meaning of the words, the old man speaks, "The reason I'm so hopeless is because I've already tried a variety of different spells to wake him and failed. Dolma may've been powerful enough to save him but riding after her would be fruitless because the woman no longer exists, niether does Dragoon. The reason I'm hopeless is because the only other witches and sorcerers, if still alive, are not within my reach and I have no means of communication with them. We can't use magic to help him because there's no one with magic that can."
Arthur, once again, soaks everything up in silence. "So they all just died? Great! They survive over two decades of persecution and when there's finally no one running after them they all just drop dead!" Arthur knows he's being hysterical. Does he care? Damn no, he doesn't! Less than a year passed since Dolma cleansed Gwen from Morgana's dark influence. If everything took place just a year later, there wouldn't have been anyone to save his queen.
And he thought Dragoon's beard would at least grow one more meter before the man met his end.
Arthur's frantic thoughts are cut through by a quiet but all too familiar voice. His head snaps towards the patient cot as he hears Merlin mumble something. He looks at Gaius with wide eyes, hope already shining and replacing the previous dread. The physician is quick to shoot the hope down though, "Ah, have I not mentioned he's also trapped in a constant dream?"
Brilliant. Not only did Merlin have to spend few consecutive months sleeping his life away, he also wasn't able to at least spend them in a peaceful slumber. Arthur's dread was quick to settle back into his chest. He stands and walks over to Merlin's bedside, finding a small stool there. He sits next to his friend and watches the face muscles twitching and shifting as he dreams.
"Idris..." Arthur manages to recognise the reoccurring word as a name, "Idris, no..."
He looks over his shoulder at the physician. Gaius is somberly observing them back. "Idris? Do you know of anyone of that name?" he asks and is once more dissapointed when Gaius says no. Merlin keeps trying to make Idris stop doing something and reconsider whatever he is doing. Words falling from his servant's mouth are almost too familiar. What with all the time he managed to stop Arthur himself from doing stupid things on impulse.
"Idris must be somehow connected to Merlin's predicament." Arthur concludes, voice of a strategist back in place. "I'll ask you to shake your memories for anyone by this name, and if he happens to be another one of your magic mates you better not hold back from telling me so."
Gaius' dares to glare at the king, "I'd never do anything to endanger Merlin's safety and you should know better than assume otherwise, young man!"
"Even if it means giving a sorcerer's identity away?" the king asks even as he already knows the answer.
"Yes, sire."