The Hidden Queen of Camelot

Valiant cont.

As the sun shone brightly in the sky for the second day of the tournament Mariam found herself once again sitting beside Gwen as Valiant continued to dominate his opponent.  

"You're not worried, are you?" Gwen asked Morgana as the lady stroked the maid's cloak. 

"No." She said simply, however her tone betrayed her attempt of hiding how she was feeling. There seemed to have been a sigh of relief as Arthur continued his success, however Mariam could feel dread fill her body as Valiant once again won his match. The memories of the night before rushed forward and as the crowd began to cheer Mariam looked up to connect her eyes with her brother, the same fear in his eyes reflected back before he turned and left the training grounds. 

~~~~~~~

Mariam sat beside Ewan as she carefully wiped his his brow as Merlin "filled her in" on what he had discovered. She listened quietly and once he had finished she  looked at her brother. "So you aren't going to do anything?" Merlin just shrugged in response causing the girl to sigh. It was quiet for a moment as both were deep in thought. Merlin with the pending danger with Arthur and the snakes and Mariam  contemplating telling her brother what she had experienced. "Merlin, there's something I have to tell you-" 

"Merlin, about what I said yesterday... Look, Uther wouldn't really listen to you or me, but you are right. We can't let Valiant get away with this." Gaius said as he marched through the door. Merlin turned his gaze to their guardian surprised. 

"But we don't have any proof."

"Well, if we could cure Ewan, he could tell the King that Valiant was using magic. The King would believe another knight. But how we get the antidote...Well, that's another matter." Merlin's eyes seemed to shine with an idea as he jumped up and practically ran out the door. 

"Merlin?" Gaius called out. He turned back to Mariam just as confused. With a sigh Gaius focused his full attention on the injured knight. 

"How is he doing?" 

"His fever is still high, nothing seems to help." Gaius nodded before moving back to his work station. "Gaius can I talk to you about something?" Standing up she moved to stand at the table that held most of his ingredients for different potions and draughts. 

"Of course." 

"Uh...well you see, I've been having some strange dreams and last night I'm not sure how but I-" 

"I got it!" Merlin shouted as he ran back through the door. Gaius and Mariam turned to see Merlin holding a snake head in his hand, a proud smile on his face. 

"Bring it here, Merlin. Quickly." Merlin handed the head over to Gaius who began to drain the venom from the fangs. "I'll get started preparing the antidote."

"I'm going to tell Arthur." Merlin said as he turned and headed for the door.

"You'll need this." Gaius tossed the head back to Merlin. "And Merlin, what you did was very brave." Merlin nodded and turned to continue his mission. 

"Mariam hand me the dropper." Mariam nodded and did as she was told. "What were you saying, earlier? About your dreams?" 

"Oh, it's nothing. We can talk about it later. How can I help?"  Mariam and Gaius went to work to create the antidote for Ewan. After an hour, all their hard work Mariam smiled at seeing the result and once Gaius had given Ewan the antidote all they had to do was wait. Mariam  took her seat next to Ewan once more and continued to dab his forehead when she began to see his eyes flutter open. "Welcome back."