enchanted | a. pendragon [on hold]

vii | the castle of fyrien

"Good morning, Morgana," Uther said.

Merlin, who had been the one serving them breakfast, moved to fill her cup with wine, but she quickly placed a hand over the goblet. "No, thank you." There were certainly still hard feelings about the whole poisoning incident.

"Anything the matter?" Uther asked, finding her behavior odd.

"It's Gwen. She didn't turn up for work this morning," Morgana told them, faking a frown.

"That's not like her," Arthur said.

"I know, it's strange," she agreed. "I hope nothing's wrong. Perhaps I will see if Lia has seen her."

"You needn't worry, Morgana. After all, if your maid can no longer be relied upon, we can easily replace her," Uther said. Both Merlin and Arthur were annoyed that he saw servants as dispensable. Gwen was their friend and they were both concerned.

"I'm sure she'll turn up soon enough," Arthur told Morgana in a more comforting tone.

"I'm sure," she agreed, smiling weakly.

As soon as breakfast was over, Arthur had pulled Merlin aside. "Go to Gwen's house, find out what's wrong. And check with Lia, as Morgana said. She may have seen her," he ordered. "And Merlin, as quick as you can."

"Yes, Sire."

Merlin rushed to the lower town to Gwen's home. On the way there, he spotted Lia. She was walking through the streets with a basket full of ingredients to bring back to the physician chambers.

"Morning, Merlin," she said, smiling when she saw him. "What's got you out of the castle so early?"

While he replied, he also grabbed her elbow and dragged her along. "Gwen did not show up to work this morning, and Morgana does not know where she is. Arthur sent me to find her and make sure everything is alright."

"Perhaps she slept in," Lia said, thinking on the bright side. "She did work very late last night."

"Still, something doesn't feel right," he muttered.

And his hunch was proved correct when they stepped inside the home. At first, nothing seemed out of place except for some bread that had been left out on the table.

"Gwen?" Merlin called, walking around the empty house.

"Merlin," Lia called, kneeling near the door. Gwen's sword was lying haphazardly on the ground next to a piece of cloth. She carefully picked it up and sniffed it, making sure to keep it a good foot away from her face. Lia could make out the fumes from that far away and coughed.

"What is that?" he asked.

"I think we'd better get Arthur."

| | |

"What's that?" Arthur asked.

Lia and Merlin had both entered his room with worried expressions on their faces. "We found it at Gwen's," Lia told him.

Arthur looked down at the piece of fabric unimpressed. "It's a scrap of cloth."

"I know," Merlin said, holding it out.

"She's a seamstress. How could that possibly be important?" he asked them.

"Smell it," he said.

"No thanks."

Lia rolled her eyes and took the cloth from Merlin's hand before putting it in Arthur's. "Just sniff it."

Arthur rolled his eyes before bringing the cloth to his face, covering his mouth and nose with it as he deeply inhaled.