For Your Entertainment

[ayoungboy]

The circus comes into town in the late afternoon. It's a quiet caravan, but the whispers start immediately. It's not a regular circus. This one - this is the Camelot circus. One of the most esteemed traveling acts in the country, and not for the faint of heart. This one has a flaming sword eater and a terrifying magician.

A few brave people try to peek at the preparations, but once the big tent is up, all that can really be seen are food stands being set up, and a few podiums for acts unknown. Everything else is hidden from view. You want to see? Come buy a ticket.

Comments

[ayoungboy]

Merlin's muttering turns incoherent as he falls a little bit past lucidity.

[royalpratness]

Two of Arthur's servants round the corner from the gardens and they immediately cone up to help him. One of them eases Merlin down from the horse and the other one takes Excalibur back to the stable after Arthur too has dismounted. He takes Merlin's limp form from the other man again and instructs him to immediately call his doctor.

Arthur carries Merlin up the stairs and into a guest room where a maid is already lighting up the fireplace.

[ayoungboy]

Merlin curls into Arthur, raggedy blanket draped over him. His eyes are closed, and he groans softly. He's lucky. It's pneumonia, but if they catch it now, he'll live.

[royalpratness]

Arthur sets Merlin down onto the comfortable bed, exchanging the raggedly blanket with a thicker and warmer one. The maid hurries out of the room to prepare some tea for Merlin while they wait for the doctor. Arthur sits in a chair next to the bed, not leaving Merlin's side.

About an hour later, Dr. Gaius shows up. He takes his time to check on Merlin, eventually diagnosing pneumonia. He gives Arthur and his staff instructions what to do (give Merlin a lot of water to drink, try to keep the fever at bay, lots of rest and prayer) and squeezes Merlin's hand comfortingly before leaving again.

[ayoungboy]

Merlin has a coughing fit soon after, and sprays a bit of blood. If left untreated, pneumonia would make the lungs fill up with fluid.

[royalpratness]

Even though his household staff assures Arthur that they will look after Merlin over night, Arthur refuses to retreat to his own room. He only briefly leaves to eat some dinner and when he returns, there are wet pieces of cloth wrapped around Merlin's legs to lower his body temperature. Arthur sits back down in the chair, leaning over Merlin to see if he's awake.

[ayoungboy]

Merlin groans, vaguely lucid. "...'thur?" He shivers under the cloth, still cold despite his raging fever.

[royalpratness]

"Yes, I'm right here." Arthur takes Merlin's hand, rubbing the back with his thumb. "You managed to catch pneumonia, but you'll be okay."

[ayoungboy]

"Oh, great," Merlin's hand twitches against Arthur's. "M'gonna die."

[royalpratness]

"You're not going to die." Arthur says firmly. "Not under my watch."

[ayoungboy]

"Pneumonia's deadly, isn't it?" Merlin coughs and closes his eyes.

[royalpratness]

"Not necessarily. You're young, you're otherwise healthy..." Arthur drops his voice, "and you've got magic. You will pull through."

[ayoungboy]

"Magic doesn't have shit to - do - with - this - " Merlin coughs violently.

[royalpratness]

"You mentioned healing magic." He also mentioned that he wasn't good at it.

[ayoungboy]

"...yeah..." Merlin peeks up at Arthur blearily.

[royalpratness]

"Anything you can do with that?" Arthur asks, hopefully.

[ayoungboy]

"I don't know...I'm pretty weak..."

[royalpratness]

"Then don't. Wait until you feel a little better. I don't want you to overexert yourself."

[ayoungboy]

"Why are you so nice to me?"

[royalpratness]

"What kind of stupid question is that? Really, Merlin." Arthur sighs. "You're seriously ill and you need help. I'm in the position to grant you this help."

[ayoungboy]

Merlin looks at Arthur like the man is nuts and just closes his eyes.

[royalpratness]

Arthur sighs, wondering if nobody had ever shown Merlin any kindness before. "Go to sleep."

[ayoungboy]

"See you," Merlin murmurs, but he squeezes Arthur's hand tightly.

[royalpratness]

Arthur stays with Merlin through the night while his maids take care of exchanging the wet pieces of clothes around Merlin's legs every other hour. The chair isn't exactly comfortable and Arthur finds himself waking up repeatedly.

[ayoungboy]

"Sir?" One of the maids asks gently, offering him a blanket. "Your friend has made it through the night, sir...his fever is starting to break."