To You I Pledge (BBC Merlin)

Chapter 20 - Balance of Power

It was Merlin's first feast where he was not serving Arthur as his manservant and to his shock he found he had been given somewhere to sit. He was on the end of one of the lower tables, about as close as he could be to Arthur without actually sitting on the same table. According to Arthur, having him lurking about like a normal guard would make people nervous, so Uther had made arrangements to allow him to take part in the feast and talk to people.

One of the barons, the one who had brought the players with him, had already returned to his home with his retinue and whatever agreement had been made with Uther, but the other Baron, Cedric of somewhere or other that Merlin had missed, was still in residence and was leaving the next day. According to Arthur, Cedric drove a hard bargain and had also been very interested to see the outcome of Merlin's trial. With that all done that just left the feast and then Baron Cedric and his party up and leaving.

Merlin was up for a feast, especially since, firstly, he was actually a guest rather than serving at it for once and, secondly, he was beginning to feel completely well again. His shoulder made itself known every now and then, and his arm was not quite as strong as it should have been, but it was nothing he couldn't ignore. He was sat next to Gaius and opposite a woman called Eve who was someone's Aunt visiting from some town Merlin couldn't pronounce. She seemed to find him fascinating and kept asking him about love spells while he kept claiming ignorance even as she pointed out how useful they would be in finding Prince Arthur a wife. Merlin didn't actually follow her logic, but then he rarely did with the womenfolk.

The two tables down the other side of the hall were where Baron Cedric's people were, along with some of the knights. They seemed to be enjoying the feast as well. Merlin had the feeling Cedric, on the top table next to Uther, was not enjoying the feast as much and found him fascinating as well, but for very different reasons to Eve. There was definitely tension in the air every time the man looked in his direction, and there seemed to be a few others who agreed with him.

Uther was a strong king, of that there was no doubt, but Merlin couldn't help feeling that not everyone liked this decision. There were only a few, but he could still sense it. It was just something he was going to have to live with, after all Camelot was not used to dealing with such things as he when they did not involve the chopping block or a pyre.

As Merlin did his best to not look as if he was uncomfortable he saw Morgana suddenly stop talking to Cedric's lady wife and place her hand to her throat. He turned to look properly and realised that Morgana seemed to be in some pain.

"Gaius," he said, trying to be discrete about it; "there's something wrong with Morgana."

Gaius looked up as soon as he spoke and from the frown that immediately appeared on Gaius' face, Merlin did not think this was just nothing. He hurriedly moved off the bench to let Gaius out as it became clear Morgana was not recovering quickly. Unable to stop himself needing to find out what was going on, he followed Gaius towards Morgana as others began to notice that something was going on.

"What ails you, My Lady?" Gaius asked as Morgana began to breathe in small gasps.

"No air," was Morgana's breathless response.

"Are you choking?" Gaius asked, but Morgana immediately shook her head and pointed to her goblet.

Merlin waved his hand over it before Gaius could pick it up, but he felt nothing from it and just gave Gaius a little shake of his head. This was not magical and all he could do was leave Gaius to figure it out and the physician picked up the goblet and sniffed it.

"The wine does not smell right," Gaius said, lifting Morgana's chin and carefully looking her over.

"Poison?" Arthur asked and it was clear that Morgana's lips were beginning to turn blue.