Forbidden Love (Rewritten) | Arthur Pendragon

3 • THE MARK OF NIMUEH

"You'd be a dead servant. Right, get this covered up,"

"Hey, I'm not your servant,"

"No, you're my dogsbody. Come on, hurry up," Gaius demanded. "Eowyn, come on, the King's waiting,"

"I'm coming too?" She asked, eyes slightly widened.

"Of course, you're my apprentice,"

At the Council chambers, Gaius and Eowyn shared a look when they saw a man, lying on his back on the floor, with white skin and white eyes. It was the same symptoms seen in the man they just found.

Arthur watched as Eowyn and Gaius kneeled beside the corpse. He knew he should be focusing on what they were doing and the corpse, the cause of death, though unknown, appeared to be frightening. It was concerning for the well-being of his people. Yet he could not seem to tear his eyes away from Eowyn. He had hardly gotten the occasion to be near her and therefore, barely knew anything about her, except for the fact that his servant was her brother. He had never seen a woman whose interest lay in sciences. It was not a discipline directly open to them. From the way Gaius would challenge her knowledge, it was obvious that she was skilled and had earned Gaius's trust as a physician. He had seen, during the tournament, how she would second him. She had a high intellect, even be could tell. Which differentiated her further from Merlin.

"White skin, white eyes, blue veins... The exact, same features seen on the other case," she told Gaius who nodded. "It's the second case in a short amount of time. It's spreading fast. If could affect the whole town in weeks, maybe days,"

"What's happened to him?" Uther asked, worry in his voice. He had been pacing as he observed Gaius examining the corpse.

"I don't know, Sire," Gaius stood up. "It's the second case I've seen today,"

"Why didn't you report it to me?"

"I was attempting to find the cause,"

"What did you conclude?" The King asked again. Eowyn knew that it was mostly because of worry and fear. None knew what happened to that man, what kind of disease he had, how he caught it, where he caught it, or when he caught it. It was too early to know anything about the illness.

"I don't think it's time to hurry to conclusions. The scientific process is a long one,"

"What are you concealing from me?" The King asked.

Gaius sucked in his breath and glanced at his pupils. "Sire, I have seen nothing like it... The victims are dying in 24 hours, and it's spreading fast,"

"What is the cause?" Uther asked again even though Gaius made it clear he had no idea.

"I think you should say that the cause, the most likely cause, is sorcery," Gaius declared.

And the effect was immediate on Uther. Without losing a second, the king pulled Arthur aside and began muttering him things, probably orders to find the sorcerer. The body was then brought to the main square and covered in a white sheet while Gaius and his apprentice strolled in the town in the hope of finding any clue on the source of the disease. As Eowyn had expected. Arthur and a handful of knights had begun searching for the sorcerer by conducting a door-to-door investigation, looking into every household for any hint pointing at the use of enchantments. Eowyn was not exactly sure how she felt about that. No, in fact, she knew very well. This search was baseless and stupid. Searching for the sorcerer was indeed a necessity, but how many innocents would be accused or perish? One hint found in one household does not necessarily mean that the owner was the one who had cursed the town. Perhaps, wielders of magic were hiding in the royal city but perhaps, they had nothing to do with that. Yet, they might die from Uther's unreasonable way of thinking.