The Royal Scandal *Book One*

The Mortaeus Flower S1 E4

💚  Edited--17.6.20 💚

Gaius, Arthur, Gwen and I quickly ran back to Gaius' room. Arthur had Merlin flung over his shoulder as he was clearly the strongest out of all of us.

I ran ahead so I could have the door open ready for them. I got there and within ten seconds, they'd already reached me and got Merlin inside.

"Lay him on the bed quickly. He's struggling to breathe," Gaius ordered Arthur, who instantly obliged. "Gwen, fetch me some water and a towel." Gwen grabbed a bucket and ran towards the outdoors tap. "Chelsea, you know where to find my books. Start trying to identify the poison."

"On it," I said, lifting my dress and jogging over to the bookshelf, looking for his book on poisons.

"Is he going to be alright?" Arthur asked.

"He's burning up," Gaius said placing the back of his hand on Merlins forehead. I took note of that on a scrap of paper, as I needed to know all of his symptoms.

"You can heal him can't you Gaius?" Gwen asked, returning to the room.

"I won't know until I can identify the poison," Gaius said, not taking his eyes off Merlin. He took the wet towel from Gwen and placed it on Merlins forehead.

"How long should it take for you to identify the poison?" Arthur asked.

"Depends on how quick your sister can find it," Gaius told Arthur.

"Brilliant, so basically, Merlins life lies in my hands. Just fantastic," I muttered the last bit to myself grabbing a book off the shelf and putting it on the table. "Pass me the goblet," I said to Arthur.

Arthur quickly passed over the goblet and I observed every inch of it. While the others were questioning Gaius on Merlins condition, I noticed something in the goblet.

"Gaius, there's something stuck on the inside," I told him.

"What is it?" He asked, getting up to get a better look.

"Looks like a flower petal of some kind," I said, trying to get it out with a pair of tweezers I'd found on the table.

"His brows on fire," Gwen told us, as she sat by his side holding the towel to his forehead.

"Keep him cool. It'll help control his fever," Gaius instructed her.

I turned back to Gaius' book that I'd found and started flicking through to the section of flowers. It didn't take me long to find a page that sparked my interest. Holding up the flower petal, I compared it to the drawing in the book. Once I'd decided that this was the flower, I let the others know.

"The petal comes from the mortaeus flower," I said to them all. Gwen stayed where she was but Arthur looked over my left shoulder while Gaius was on my right. "It says that someone poisoned with the mortaeus can only be saved by a potion made from the leaf of the very same flower. It can only be found in the deep caves beneath he forest of Baloch. The flower grows on the root of the mortaeus tree," I read from the book. As it was written in another language, Arthur couldn't read it but I'm pretty sure Gaius could.

"That doesn't look particularly friendly," Arthur said pointing to a drawing of a dragon type creature.

"A cockatrice, it guards the forest," Gaius said. "This venom in potent. A single drop would mean certain death. 'Few who have crossed the mountains of Isgard in search of the mortaeus flower have made it back alive.'" Gaius read from the book and I felt Arthur leave my side. I watched him intently as he began pacing; a habit he had picked up when he was either nervous or in a deep thought.