Forbidden Love | Arthur Pendragon [1]

Chaper 5

THE MARK OF NIMUEH

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The room was blurry and illuminated with light, at the point that it was almost impossible to see the furniture around. A melodic and angelic voice was resonating. Her beautiful voice was soothing and calming, similar to the sound of waves. She was singing a lullaby with tenderness and fondness in an unknown language. Her face couldn't be seen, she was turning her back. We could only see her long brown hair. But she was rocking a wooden cradle, decorated with splendid and beautiful engravings, in which a little baby girl, not older than a few days, was peacefully sleeping, unaware of the awful and terrible world outside. The woman continued to chant as she caressed the baby's cheek with the back of her hand. At the touch, the baby stirred in her sleep but smile nevertheless. Softness and kindness were emanating from the woman. With just a look, we could see that the woman was a caring and good person. She didn't stop singing the soothing lullaby. But the more it lasted, the more everything started to fade.

Eowyn suddenly opened her eyes, gasping. She rubbed her eyes and sat up on her bed. She frowned at the dream she made. It felt so real. She never made dreams that felt so real before. It was very disturbing. And who was that woman? She didn't seem hostile and bad, but not seeing her face was intriguing. Dreams are always inspired by what we had lived in our life: memories, what we saw, etc. But Eowyn doesn't remember to have ever seen that woman. She couldn't think any more about her dream as Merlin entered the room.

"Ah, you're awake," he said. "Come one, Gaius asked us to accompany him in the city. He want to check if anyone wants help," Eowyn nodded as she stood up. Merlin then left, going by to the main room. After finishing getting prepared, Eowyn joined her brother and her guardian and the three of them left the Physician's chambers. In the low city, the three of them were looking around, talking and joking - mostly Merlin and Eowyn -, to see if anyone seemed ill or wanting for something to asked for their help. Even though Gaius was mostly working for the court, he also helped a lot the peasants of the low city. They couldn't afford good health care so Gaius did it for free. Gaius was walking ahead as Merlin and Eowyn were mostly fooling around. But when she turned her head to the other side, her laughter died and her face quickly became serious.

"Gaius," she called as she walked toward a man that was lied down on the floor, on his stomach. Gaius, too, quickly made his way toward the man. Both Gaius and Eowyn crouched down next to the man. Merlin was standing a few feet behind them, not wanting to be any closer. Eowyn directly checked the pulse of the man, to see if he had fainted. But he was dead.

"Aren't you scared?" Merlin asked, looking worried.

"Of what?" Eowyn asked, examining the corpse with Gaius.

"That you might catch whatever it is,"

"I'm the court physician, Merlin. This is part of our job. Most of the time there's nothing really to be scared of," Gaius said as if it was obvious and turned the corpse so he was lied of his back. But by doing so, it revealed the unusual white skin and white eyes with the blueish veins of the dead man. Eowyn and Gaius were shocked to see the state of the man. They had never seen such thing before. The disease he had was surely new and unknown.

"You were saying?" Merlin asked. Even someone with no knowledge at all in medicines and sciences knew that it wasn't good at all.

"People mustn't see this. They will panic," Gaius said. No waiting any more seconds, Merlin took a cloth that was handle was hanging nearby and cover the corpse. Merlin and Eowyn managed to find a wheelbarrow and lied down the corpse in it, still cover. They all came back to the Physician's chambers but on the way, they met Gwen. Merlin tried to distract from what was in the wheelbarrow. Eowyn and Gaius waited as Merlin and Gwen were awkwardly talking. Eowyn saw Gwen giving Merlin a flower. Merlin chuckled and stuck the flower in his scarf. Eowyn noticed that every time Gwen was around, Merlin would be more cheery and smiley. Eowyn made a mental note to tease her brother later. Gwen finally left and Gaius, Eowyn and Merlin walked again in direction of their chambres. Arrived there, they put him on a table. Gaius took a magnifier and started examining the corpse again.