Always Be With You - Merthur

Chapter 22

Merlin pov

Merlin felt useless. Gaius had also told him to get some rest, but he could already feel that the wound on his head was healed. At least on the outside. The place where it had been felt like it was fully closed, but there was still a dull ache. Not that bad. Merlin turned his head sideways to look outside. By the amount of light still coming into the room, he could tell it was still just afternoon.

Supressing a groan, he propped himself up against the wall and waited until it stopped feeling like his head weighed more than the rest of his body to place his feet on the floor, searching for his shoes. It was quite warm inside the room, even though it was nearly cold enough outside to snow. The air smelled of baked potato and chicken, Merlin realised how hungry he was when his stomach painfully contracted.

As if on cue, Gaius walked in, holding two plates with dinner? A second glance at the window told him that - yes - it was still noon. "Why-?" "Merlin, how are you feeling." Gaius asked setting one of them down on the table and sat down in the chair next to him, holding the other out for him to take. Frowning slightly, Merlin took the plate with a quiet 'thanks' and gave him a silent question while taking a bite off the chicken. Wow. His taste buds tingled happily when he tasted it. He smiled in gratefulness. Gaius made a satisfied noise and smiled back.

"You haven't eaten for a whole day now and I thought something warm might be welcome."

"You were right."

"Good, I made a bit for myself too, I'm afraid I didn't get to have my breakfast this morning when... Morgause happened."

Merlin chuckled drily and continued his meal in silence. Gaius followed his suit and grabbed his plate to eat too. For a moment, there was nothing on his mind until his gaze fell on the stairs. One of the books Lilith was always reading whenever he saw her was laying open on the floor, a small, thin key between the pages, gleaming in the sunlight. He turned back towards Gaius, who was now sitting at the dinnertable.

"Was Lilith here?" He asked, glancing back at the top of the stairs. Gaius looked up. "She should still be here. Guinevere has told her not to leave, there are guards patrolling everywhere and they don't react kindly to anyone sneaking around." That made Merlin sit up. Was she upstairs? He called her name, but no answer came. "Gaius, where is she?"

The physisian frowned too now. He stood up and went upstairs to check. Merlin felt anxiety settle in his stomach, he shifted in the bed, putting aside the almost empty plate before getting up from the bed in a hurry to follow Gaius. He pushed past him into his room and winced when he saw that it was empty. "No, she can't have just gone out alone!" He dragged his fingers through his hair.

"Do you have any idea where she might have gone?" He asked, worry shining through his features. Gaius shook his head, also looking a bit concerned about it. "Is there a reason she might would want to leave?"

Merlin froze. His mind raced at such an alarming speed that it made him dizzy. It showed him various possible reasons until he could only focus on one. Cenred. He was here too. Could she really have been stupid enough to do that? He considered it. He did kill her entire camp, she had the right to be angry, but...

"I have to go." Merlin mutered, already making his way back down, towards the door. Gaius turned in time to see him slip through the door, but didn't say anything.

~o~

He entered the throne room via the side entrance without a care and immediately spotted Arthur and his knights plus another handful he didn't personally know. Uther was present too. He managed to free him, that's good. As much as he disliked the king, he had to admit, the man was pretty handy with a sword. All of them were battling against Cenreds men, it looked like they were a bit outnumbered, but Camelot had much better knights.