Take 65

Do Whatever You Have To

I can hear him shouting but can't open my eyes or move. I have an out of body experience.

I can see Arthur panicking and shouting. "You Dollop Head. You are NOT going to die on me. You just told me you loved me and you're going to wake up and we're going to talk about this." I see him start sobbing as my heart stops.

I'm dying. I'm dying and he loves me. He thinks I'm dead.

I'm back in my own body when he kisses me. It takes all my strength to kiss him back.

"Merlin!" He shouts. "You're alive!"

"I am." I whisper shakily. "I love you, Arthur."

He cups my face in his hand. "I love you too, Merls. Don't ever do that to me again. I thought you were dead. I thought I'd lost you. My best mate."

"I'm not going anywhere." I cough. "Promise."

He kisses me again and I kiss back.

"Merlin, you rest. I'm going to find us some food. You stay right here and don't move." He says, breaking the kiss.

"Arthur..." I plead. "Don't leave." I start shaking from both pain and fear and start crying.

- Arthur -
"Hey, hey, I'll stay. I'll stay. Don't be afraid." I try to calm him down but he won't stop. "I'm right here, Merls. I'm right here."

He falls asleep in my arms and we stay there all night.

I get up to find some food for breakfast and  when I come back Merlin is gone. "MERLIN! MERLIN WHERE ARE YOU?" I shout.

I run around the campsite until I come across Merlin filling a water skin in the river. "Merlin." I say angrily.

"Arthur, don't be mad. I want to help and this was something I could do." He explains. "I don't like being helpless. I am your servant and I can't do my job. At least I can do this."

"Merlin, you and I are going back to the camp. You're no use to anyone if your wound and the poison kills you. I won't have you dying on me." I order.

"Arthur-" Merlin starts to argue.

"Please don't make your wound worse." I plead quietly. "I can't lose you, Merls."

"Alright." He allows me to help him back to camp. "Only because I love you, prat."

"I love you too, Dollop Head." I mutter.

We hobble back to camp and make it almost all the way there before disaster strikes. Merlin trips over a root and falls over onto his chest, letting out a strangled cry. His bandages rip open along with his shirt as they get stuck on twigs and fallen branches when I lift Merlin back up. His blue tunic starts turning a deep purple hue that's spreading across his tunic. "Come on, Merlin. Just a few more paces and we'll be back at camp. I'll get you fixed up there."

"I can't make it." He warns.

"Come 'ere." I carry him bridal style back to the camp. "Lie back." He groans in pain as I cut open the bandages to reveal his wound.

"It's infected, isn't it." He states in a monotone voice.

"I'm going to patch it back up then we're going to get moving. If we can make a lot of ground today it'll be good. The horses are watered and ready to ride." I explain, not answering his question. "You're going to have a nasty fever soon and we need to get as far as possible before then. Alright, there you go. Can you stand?"

"Stand yeah, ride without falling off, probably not." He whimpers as I ease him onto his feet.

"Then we'll tie your horse's reins to mine and we'll get going. You can ride in front of me on my horse." I decide.

I get everything set up and soon we're riding aggressively towards Camelot. "We've got about 2 weeks at this until we get to Camelot. Can you ride for another few hours? I'd like to get another 10 leagues in today." I ask.

"I'll be fine, do whatever you have to." Merlin whispers.

I ride as long as I can with as little stops as possible.