Merlyn - Arthur x Female Merlin [1]

Chapter Fifteen: The 'Witch' Hunt

A sense of terror was spreading through the lower town. Guards led by Arthur were checking every home and building in the place, and they weren't quiet about it either. Merlyn couldn't help but cringe as she saw them charge into another home. It was chaos. Feeling Gaius' tight grip on her arm she moved with him back towards the castle.

As they made their way through the streets, Merlyn spotted another sick man sitting against a market stand grasping his stomach. Just one look told everyone that he was on the verge of dying. Merlyn wished there was something she could do, wished she could help stop this disease. Moving towards him, Merlyn knelt down beside him and took his outstretched hand in hers.

"I'm so sorry" Merlyn mumbled as she clasped his hand tightly. The man only gave a sad smile, tightly holding onto her hand. "Can you tell me your name?"

"R-Robert" the man struggled.

"I'm Merlyn" she whispered, giving him a smile though it was hard to keep in place, "I wish I could help."

"B-being here ... helps" Robert replied, his eyes slowly glazing over. His pale, blue milky skin was reflecting the truth – the disease had him well and truly in its grasp.

"It's ok, you can sleep" Merlyn encouraged. What else could she do? Merlyn sat with the man as the life slowly left him. She hadn't realised that tears were sliding down her cheeks as she reached forward and closed the man's eyes. Carefully, she placed Robert's hand on top of his other and grabbed a spare sheet. She covered the body before standing up.

Gaius was watching her from the side, a sorrowful look on his face. Merlyn shrugged her shoulders before she reached to rub her eyes – that's when she noticed her cheeks were wet. Sighing, she pulled her sleeves over her hands and used them to dry her face. As she finished, she felt someone's gaze on her. Turning her head she found Arthur staring at her, she could practically feel the sympathy rolling off him in waves. He had obviously been watching her as had everyone else. Giving him a tired smile, she turned back to Gaius without saying anything and began to trek back to the chambers. Worry was creeping into Merlyn's mind – any one of them could be infected and die: Gaius, Leon, Gwen, Morgana, Arthur, herself. Merlyn did not like the idea of any of those options becoming a reality but the truth was she didn't know if she could stop it.

~8~

More and more people had died and there was no end in sight to the disease. There had to be a cause. Merlyn was watching as Gaius sliced into the body of the first man and removed his stomach, once the organ was in his hands Gaius empty its contents into a flask. The odour alone was making Merlyn's own stomach contents roll.

"What are you doing?" Merlyn questioned.

"I'm examining the contents of that man's stomach" Gaius explained as he carried the flask full of yellow liquid over to a flame. It was pretty gross if Merlyn did say so and she knew what gross was - she had to deal with Arthur's socks. Gaius swirled the liquid around before he picked up a smaller vial with some red liquid inside.

"Will that tell you who did it?" Merlyn asked as Gaius began to combine the two substances.

"No, but it might tell us how it's spread" Gaius replied, he stopped in his actions and turned to face Merlyn, "One thing I do know, this is magic of the darkest kind." Merlyn couldn't help but frown. She didn't understand why would people use magic in that way? It could only hurt people – no wonder Uther was against magic when this was the type of magic he came across.

"Why would someone use magic like that?" Merlyn contemplated to herself.

"Magic corrupts. People use it for their own ends" Gaius answered. Merlyn hadn't been expecting an answer but she decided she should listen to what Gaius had to say on the subject.