Work Text:
Arthur was trying to be understanding. Merlin, though thoroughly insufferable at the best of times, had proven himself to be a decent servant over the past year or two, and he was quite keen on keeping him. But lately he'd been so distracted and preoccupied that he wasn't even getting his chores done. No, Cedric was going about at his heels to clean up after him, fixing all of Merlin's mistakes.
He'd made a point to congratulate Cedric on his efficiency and attentiveness, hoping to send a clear message to his actual servant about what was expected of him. Instead, it sparked an unbridled jealousy that Arthur hadn't expected and it only seemed to make Merlin's job performance worse.
He'd even come to the prince at the end of the day, warning that he'd had a bad feeling about his new peer, but Arthur had seen enough of Merlin's strange relationship to his job to know that he was likely just being a self conscious fool.
"Don't you think it's a bit strange? Him turning up out of nowhere, looking to work as a servant?"
"Relax, Merlin. I know it may be a foreign concept to you, but many people actually aspire to grace the presence of nobility."
"Graceful isn't exactly how I'd put it."
The prince was close to a tipping point when he'd heard about the horses escaping the stables. They were well broken steeds that weren't want to simply run amok in the streets, but clearly something had spooked them, sending them wide eyed and bucking through the lower town! Cedric had come huffing and puffing with the news, concern written plainly on his face.
And all he'd asked was that Merlin muck out the stables!
When he got there, Merlin was face down in the bedding, his pitchfork and shovel forgotten on the ground. As he came closer, he was aghast to see that he'd nestled his face into a pile of horse droppings. Arthur wrinkled his nose at the sight, never ceasing to wonder how on earth a man so careless and clueless could survive as long as Merlin had.
He knelt down over him, an incredulous look on his face, and poked him.
But he didn't stir.
Frowning, Arthur put a firm hand on Merlin's shoulder and shook him awake, eyes fluttering open and head lifting slightly off of his unfortunate pillow.
"What are you doing?"
Merlin groaned and brought his hands up to support himself, arms shaking as he attempted to lift his torso off the ground.
"Have a nice nap, did we?"
Merlin's brow furrowed just before his arms gave out and his face fell back down into the filth. He grunted, then tried to answer. "I, uh . . . Mmm."
Merlin blinked hard, Arthur's voice buzzing around in his head like a wasp. He could only understand about half of what he was saying. His gaze swam about, spotting the familiar sights of the stables. Hadn't he just been in Arthur's chambers?
". . . mistake . . . understand . . . one thing after another!"
Merlin frowned, not understanding, and teetering side to side as he tried to climb to his feet. The room wobbled around him as Arthur continued to rant and ask him questions.
"Are you listening?"
The question shot through his haze and he winced as it bounced around inside his head. Suddenly, Arthur's hand was on his shirt and he was hoisting him to his feet angrily. Why was he so upset? Merlin groaned at the dizzying feeling and the throbbing pain in his skull. He squinted at Arthur, his face coming in blurrily before he glanced around the stables, finding them empty.
"Where'res the . . ." he started, not sure what he was looking for.
Arthur's grip on his shoulder tightened, and he tried to take up his vision again, but then a familiar face appeared behind him in the doorway and Merlin scowled. It was that scruffy fella from the day before. That morning? Last night? Two days ago? His confusion made him more upset with the man, whose name escaped him. Surely he was being confusing on purpose.
"Merlin?" Arthur asked, and it took him a moment to recognize that it was his name. "What's wrong with you."
Merlin grumbled at the question, the noise of it sounding far too close, and he began noticing a putrid smell. He wasn't sure how to answer, the yellow of the hay below him glowing brightly.
"Don't be . . . good servant . . . just tired."
"No." Merlin twisted in Arthur's grip, to stare angrily at the other man. His words echoed about, only partially registering in his muddled state, but he had an inkling that whatever he'd meant was insulting, and Merlin was sick of being tossed around.
"Woah."
Arthur tried to tame him, keep him from facing the other person, but that only frustrated him more. He looked down his nose at Arthur, his face melting in and out of clarity, and yanked his arm out of his grip. However, the moment he did, the stables flipped around him, and his hands and elbows hit the ground hard.
He thought he heard Arthur start to interrogate him again, but before he could even think of listening, nausea surged up through him and his throat burned as he vomited into the hay. "Ugh," he groaned as he finished, arms shaking as he struggled to hold himself up. His lungs felt like stones in his chest as he inhaled and exhaled wetly through his soiled mouth.
Arthur crashed down next to him, and he winced at the movement and the sound. Why couldn't he just leave him alone and let him . . . He wasn't actually sure what he'd been doing. He thought of the other man again. Cedar. Sid? He'd forgotten what he was doing because he'd come and interrupted them. Arthur tugged on his shirt again, trying to make him face him, and his eyes were big and wide and so, so close. Merlin turned his cheek at him, trying to create distance, but Arthur cupped his face with his hand, forcing him to look back, and the movement sent his eyes rolling into the back of his head and he slumped down and to the side suddenly. He regained consciousness only seconds later, his face close to the ground but Arthur still mostly supporting him and pulling him back up. He swallowed hard, feeling ill again, and suddenly agreed with the hated man still lingering in the doorway.
He was very, very tired.
Arthur just barely stopped Merlin from face planting into the bedding and his stomach twisted into knots. He spun around, shouting at Cedric with great urgency. "Cedric! I need you to go and tell Gaius what's happened, and that we're coming."
Face ghostly white and mouth hanging open in shock, Cedric nodded hastily, snapping his mouth shut with a click. "Y-yes sire!" He scampered from the stables.
Cursing under his breath, Arthur adjusted his hold on Merlin, kneeling opposite him and trying to look him in the eye. "Merlin?" He jostled his servant, his eyes blinking hard as though trying to clear his vision, and he was frowning hard at the spot where Cedric had been standing.
A low hum sounded in the back of Merlin's throat and he swallowed hard, bringing his hands up to grab back at Arthur, but missing his sleeves and instead flopping them back down into the hay. His head nodded towards unconsciousness, and Arthur shook him again to keep him awake.
"What the hell happened?" he asked as he hooked one of Merlin's arms over his shoulder and lifted him up.
Merlin stumbled, feet crossing over one another as he tried to stand straight. "I don' . . ." He was taking irregular breaths, not able to wholly finish a single sentence. "Don' like 'im . . . I, um . . . Mmm."
Arthur's frown deepened at the nonsensical explanation.
"Where're the . . ." Merlin began to ask, looking around as though he'd only just realized the horses were missing.
"Alright," Arthur said, mostly to himself, and began walking Merlin out of the stables.
Merlin kept trying to fall forward, eyes half lidded and feet dragging behind them. It took Arthur great effort not to fall down with him. As they ascended the steps into the castle Guinevere passed them by, instantly worried about her friend.
"Arthur?"
Before she could inquire about him, Arthur interrupted her. "Guinevere! I need you to go and find the stablehand and tell him that no one is to go into the main stables. I don't know what happened but it may not be safe to go in there."
As much as she had wanted to ask questions, Gwen could sense the urgency of the situation and instead simply nodded and gathered her skirts.
He continued to rush through the castle, stopping only once when Merlin's grip tightened on his arm before he lurched forward and was sick again. His legs wobbled and his speech came slurred and unintelligible, so Arthur resorted to scooping him up into his arms the rest of the way.
"Sire!" Gaius exclaimed as Arthur burst through the door, his ward in his arms. "Bring him here."
"I found him in the stables," he grunted, depositing Merlin on the patient's bed. "I thought he was sleeping."
Gaius went about looking Merlin over, checking his eyes and listening to his breathing. "Merlin, do you remember anything strange happening before you woke up?"
Merlin hummed, trying and failing to sit up in bed before Gaius pinned him down with a gentle hand. "Don' . . . Jus' trying to . . . Um . . ."
"He's been like this since I found him," Arthur explained. He glanced around the room. "Where is–"
Gwen burst into the room then, hurrying to close the distance between them. "I found this in the stables," she said, out of breath, holding a small, lumpy pouch out for them to take.
Arthur took it with a confused frown before Gaius snatched it out of his hands and sniffed it. He grimaced at the smell, then looked back down at his ward.
"What is it, Gaius?"
He shook his head. "This is a poultice," he said, laying it out on the table. "It would have been burned releasing whatever was inside, but its craftsmanship is shoddy."
"Someone tried to poison him?" Gwen asked, looking horrified.
"Or the horses," Arthur suggested, remembering how the courtyard was full of stomping hooves.
"I can't be sure," Gaius mumbled. "It appears similar to one used for sleep, only terribly done. There's enough dried ingredients in here to put a whole bathhouse to sleep, let alone the stables."
"But who would do such a thing?" Gwen asked, hand over her heart.
Arthur looked down at Merlin on the bed, eyes sliding about the room in a daze. "Cedric," Arthur stated, looking up in realization before fleeing the room.
"Who is Cedric?" Gwen asked Gaius as they both stared at the door.
Gaius sighed. "From what Merlin's told me, he is Arthur's new servant."
Gwen looked confused at that. "Arthur took in a new servant? That doesn't seem right."
Merlin moaned from where he was on the bed and they looked down to find him trying to sit up. They both jumped back into action, easing him back down into the pillows.
"What can we do for him?"
Gaius turned to retrieve a wet cloth, and began to clean away the filth from his face. "He is likely to be suffering from a form of suffocation. Whatever was burned from the poultice displaced all of the fresh air. Open the windows and douse the fire, for me. The best treatment for him now is to get as much fresh air as possible."
"Is that really all we can do?" Gwen asked, moving to do as Gaius instructed.
Gaius hummed, frowning down at Merlin. "Was he sick?"
"What?"
Gaius cursed, knowing that Arthur would have been the only one to know the answer. He took the sickly stain at the corner of Merlin's mouth as his answer though. "Guinevere, I need you to go get fresh water. Quickly."
Gwen nodded and fled the scene.
Arthur stormed his way through the castle, mind alight with fury. He yelled Cedric's name as he burst into his chambers, eyes darting around for the meekly man. His eyes widened when he saw the cabinet beside his bed sitting open.
He rushed across the room and searched through it, cursing when he realized what was missing. "My keys," he muttered to himself. He hadn't attached them to his belt yet that morning, going straight from enjoying his breakfast to hurrying down to the stables to see to his servant's errors.
"That thief!" he shouted, marching back out the door.
Once Gwen had brought up a few buckets of water, she and Gaius began wiping Merlin down, having stripped him of his clothes. Merlin fought them, clearly not in his right mind, but they persisted, bathing him until Gaius was satisfied that there was no lingering layers of whatever he had been exposed to.
They dressed him in his night clothes, since they were clean, and brought him to his own bedroom. Gaius readied a few remedies to help speed up recovery, but was adamant that the best medicine for him was time away from exposure, and fresh air.
"What do you think it was?" Gwen asked, her arms folded as she watched Gaius finish.
"I can't be sure," he muttered, giving Merlin the last of his treatment; a sleeping draft, to keep him from disturbing his rest. "I believe whoever made the poultice was inexperienced. There are some compounds in it that I do not recognize, and may be imported."
"Should we be worried?" Gwen asked, motioning to the discarded pile of rags and clothes.
"No," Gaius said, shaking his head. "We had very little exposure. I doubt we will suffer any ill effects."
They both looked down at where Merlin was fighting off the medicine. It was a losing battle, his head nodding off as he stubbornly tried to stay awake. He'd complained loudly about the peppermint he'd been given to keep his sinuses clear, but now all he did was make a small noise, unable to get a full word out.
"It's strange, seeing him like this."
"Indeed," Gaius agreed. "Poisoning of this kind can cause drastic changes in mood and disorientation. He likely won't remember much of this."
"Will he be alright?"
Gaius pressed his lips into a thin line. "It is too soon to say, but he should recover. Lack of air can affect the mind, and it is a fickle thing. We can't be sure of any lasting effects until he is more himself."
After some thought, Arthur guessed the best bet to finding his lousy, lying servant was to head down to the vaults where the newfound treasure was hidden.
Sure enough, he stepped in to find Cedric with his back to him, a sack of jewels and gold hung over his shoulder. He was hunched over the tomb, shoulders drawn up around his ears in excitement as he reached down for the bright blue heart embedded in the heavy lid.
"Merlin was right about you."
He gasped, dropping his dagger to the ground with a clatter and spinning around. "Sire!" His eyes darted around frantically, searching for a way out.
"You almost killed him, you know, with your little stunt in the stables." He walked towards him, shoulders broad enough to block him in.
Cedric stammered, stuttering over himself. "I– that had nothing to do with me– sire– I– Surely this is just a misunderstanding."
Arthur hummed, pretending to consider his proposal, before grabbing Cedric by the shoulders firmly, shedding him of his pack, and escorting him out of the catacombs, his voice protesting all the way to the dungeons.
Merlin stirred awake hours later, taking in a deep breath as he returned to consciousness. He blinked awake, the breeze wafting in through the window tickling his nose. He sniffled, sitting up to try and rub his face, but the room spun and his head pounded at the movement. With a wince, he fell back down into the pillows.
"Merlin!" Gaius gasped, coming to sit beside him. "Lie still. How are you feeling?"
Merlin opened his mouth, then closed it again, swallowing down nausea. "Ow," he managed to say, voice low. "What happened?"
"Cedric has been arrested for trying to rob Sigan's tomb," Gaius told him. "We should count ourselves lucky Arthur caught him before he succeeded."
"What do you mean?"
"I was able to translate the inscription. 'He who breaks my heart completes my work.' Sigan was an incredibly powerful sorcerer. There's no telling what might have happened if someone completed his spell."
Merlin grunted in understanding, not particularly wanting to continue chatting. "What . . ." He paused, having trouble keeping his thoughts in order. "Why am I . . ."
"Oh." Gaius shook his head at himself for forgetting to mention. He retrieved the poultice from his robes. "Cedric tried to sedate you. But it seems he is not well versed in medicine as it did far more to you than that."
Merlin hummed, feeling sick to his stomach.
"Here," Gaius gave him a cup of water. "I'll have your dinner waiting for you when you feel better."
When Arthur stormed back into Gaius's rooms, he was not expecting to find Merlin, sat at the bench slurping down soup.
But there he was.
"Merlin!"
Merlin winced at the loud noise, still sporting a lingering headache, but offered a lopsided smile.
"Still alive, then?"
Merlin swallowed down his mouthful of soup and said, "Just about."
"I understand that Cedric has been sabotaging your work as of late."
"What?"
Arthur blinked at him. "You didn't know?"
Merlin shook his head. "He's a lying try-hard, but– what are you talking about?"
"He admitted to tampering with my horse the morning he arrived, and to overall defaming your character."
Merlin glared at him through the side of his eyes. "There, you see. I'm not as useless as I look."
Arthur closed the space between them with a hand shoved into Merlin's hair. He ruffled him up, talking over his servant's loud complaints. "Oh really? Is it Cedric's fault that you were late this morning as well?"
"No! No! Ugh."
Arthur faltered when Merlin brought his hands up to his head after he'd released him, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes with a moan.
"Sorry, I–" He spotted Gaius eyeing him across the room and quickly recoiled, the watchful eye of the doctor over his patient enough to have him cowering. He cleared his throat. "Really though, I should have listened to you. You're funny feelings seem to have a stroke of luck every now and then."
Merlin huffed, hoping his ears would stop ringing soon. "Yeah."
"But don't mistake that for me calling you wise, Merlin," Arthur jeered, spinning on his heel to saunter out of the room. "We'd all be doomed if we relied on your wits!"
"Wait, uh . . ."
Arthur paused, turning around with an eyebrow raised.
"About those funny feelings . . ."
"What is it?"
Merlin cleared his throat, becoming serious. "Gaius says there's a curse on Sigan's tomb," he said quickly, scratching behind his ear to calm his nerves. "And I think he may be right."
"Gaius?" Arthur asked for confirmation.
The old man nodded.
"I can only wonder what might have happened if Cedric unleashed it." A shudder ran up Merlin's spine and he looked back down into his soup with a frown. "The crystal heart . . . there's something not right about it."
Arthur thought back to when he'd caught Cedric, mere hairbreadths away from snatching up said crystal. He hadn't noticed it well then but, looking back, he could recall a strange change in the atmosphere that made his hair stand up on the back of his neck, which dissipated quickly as Cedric moved away from the large, glowing stone.
The prince nodded in understanding. "I'll speak with my father about it." Then, he smiled back down at Merlin, giving him a sharp nod of approval, before continuing his way out.
It was reassuring to Merlin, that Arthur took his word about the crystal, and he shook his head affectionately as the door fell closed. The prince was a handful, but a handful he was glad to carry.
"Still don't want that headache remedy I offered you earlier?" Gaius asked, when he was sure the prince was out of earshot.
Merlin chuckled, massaging his temple. "Yeah, maybe I ought to rethink that one."